the story of the disconnection of the grade 8 brain....

Intriguing title, isn't it?

My daughter will want to kill me when she reads this. She won't think this is very funny.

On an ordinary school day, my oldest arrives home around 3pm. My son, although 4 years younger, does not finish school until around 4 pm. So on this particular day, when my daughter arrives home from school, we decide to take our 4 legged little girls for a walk, but we decide to drive to Tyler's school and use his school as our starting point. This makes it easier as when we get back from our walk, as we meet Tyler at his classroom. The 2 children and the 2 dogs pile into the car and we start for home. But Tyler needs new runners, so I decide to make a quick stop at the sports store at the mall. Hunter chooses to sit in the car with the dogs, and I expect to be not more than 20 minutes. Just before I get out of the car, Hunter asks if she can listen to the radio while we are shopping. I leave the radio on for her.

Tyler and I head into the sports store. He is not a big shopper and he quickly narrows down his choices to 2 pairs of runners that he would like to try on. He tries on the first pair and runs around the store to see how they feel. This always cracks me up. Then he tries on the second pair and takes another lap around the store to see how they feel. He decides that he likes the first pair the best and just as as we are boxing up the first pair to go to the counter....in walks Hunter.

She announces to me, "I was bored, so I decided to come in. But don't worry Mom, 'cause I locked the dogs in the car."

While I was blissfully unaware, my daughter's grade 8 brain had suddenly disconnected itself.

I hear myself squeak out, "But Hunter, where are the car keys?"

Her blue eyes blink at me. "Huh?"

"Hunter, you wanted to listen to the radio. The keys are in the ignition!!"

Big blue eyes look at me. "Oh." "Ooooooh".

Yes. Ooooooh.

I tell the sales clerk that we will be back to  pay for the runners. I rush out to the car to confirm with my eyes what my brain is telling me. The keys are hanging from the ignition.  And just when I am fighting the brain fog to figure out what to do.... I hear it.

Bawling. Tyler is bawling.

A big, loud fog horn bawl. It echoes across the parking lot.

He is worried that the dogs will die of thirst or starvation before we get them out. His green eyes are puddled with tears. I assure him that the dogs will be fine...we did leave the windows down about 2 inches....plenty for fresh air. But not plenty for an arm to slip through.

My husband is in Cleveland for work. He will not be home for 2 more days.Our extra set of keys are with him. I know that we can call the automobile association to get a tow truck, but sometimes it can take hours. I go into the mall to get 2 wire coat hangers, but I have never tried this trick before. I really don't know what I am doing, but I have long heard stories of how bent coat hangers can save the day. This is the part where my brain disconnects. I try the old trick of trying to get the coat hanger wrapped around the hook thingy for the lock on the door. I really don't know what I was thinking. It doesn't work, of course. I call the car dealership where we get our car serviced and tell them about my predicament. Now, back in my little hometown, they would have sent out a cute back shop boy with a master key to come to your rescue. However, this is the big city....they don't do things like that...they are too busy.

Hmmm.

Just when I am weighing my options{Call tow truck. Wait for tow truck. Walk home. Call tow truck from home}, a few parking stalls over, my cute boy does arrive.... in the form of a red Ford truck. He gets out of his truck and asks us, "Did you guys lock yourselves out of your car?".  Before I can even say yes, he is over taking the coat hanger out of my hands. He see the red crying eyes of my nine year old and says, "Don't cry Buddy! We'll get the door open!". I feel instantly grateful to this young man. I can also tell by the look in his eyes that he is determined to get our car open for us. He tells us that he has locked himself out of his car lots of times and he always gets the door open. Great! We are being helped by a cute MacGuyver. After 40 minutes of fiddling, he finally gets enough pressure on the lock button with the coat hanger and we hear the 'click' of the doors unlocking. I have never wanted to hug and kiss a complete stranger so much in my entire life. My children get to see a good samaritan in action.

I thank him profusely for taking the time to help us. I ask him for his mailing address so I can mail him a thank you. We leave, waving to our hero, and start to head home. Suddenly, I have a thought.  I run in quickly to grab a movie gift card for our hero at the grocery store, but by the time we get back to the mall, he is gone. He spent more time helping us than he spent in the mall.

So I mailed the gift card to our hero.

I hope he likes it.

And here's a picture of our pretty little girls when we got home. They don't look any worse for the wear.

dear molly & rigley...

Please leave the toilet paper alone.

Thank you.

a boy and his dogs...

Our little dog Rigley is the most passive little dog. She just lets Tyler carry her around like she is the princess of his castle. Here she is asleep in his arms while he is watching a little TV before bed. I am not really sure who loves who more.

Tyler is having so much fun with the dogs. I can't even begin to tell you how much attention he lavishes on these little girls. He is always playing with them or laying on the floor with them. He decided he should read to them in French so they could be 'bilingual'.

Adopting these 2 little dogs into our family has been a wonderful experience. The kids are learning so much about how to care for and love a pet. Hopefully this adventure in nuturing something purely for love will stay with them as they journey in life.

"poop mat"...

A totally new term in my vocabulary.

Apparently, little puppies of smaller breeds that have a lot of fur can develop a "poop mat" when they poop...which means that poop has matted in the fur and dried. The next time the puppy tries to "go", the poop mat makes doing the job difficult and the puppy often will strain. (Still with me?) This can cause the puppy discomfort, hemorrhoids and constipation.

Our little puppy Rigley developed a poop mat 2 days ago. I noticed it but thought it was "normal". (What was I thinking?) Tyler told me that Rigley was having trouble pooping, and when I looked, I could see that she was straining and rubbing her butt along the ground.

A quick call to the vet and I learn about "poop mats". The recommended at home treatment is a bath to wash away the offending material, followed up by some ointment.

So I filled the bathtub. Washed the puppy. Dried the puppy. Rubbed some Polysporin on the butt. Then proceeded to scrub the tub, wash my hands, think to myself "eeew, gross", wash my hands again. Feel sorry for the puppy. Cuddle the puppy.

After raising two kids,I thought I was done with poop.

my days.....

I am having lots of fun 'mothering' these 2 little girls. They are so cute & cuddley....and they make your day seem fun and bright. I spend lots time putting the girls out and then bringing the girls in. They have periods of peppy play followed by big naps...they are still babies. The kids are having lots of fun with the girls and they are definitely learning responsibility when I call, "Hunter/Tyler, your dog just peed. Go get the mop please."

On Monday, I spent several hours in the kitchen making pickled beets. This is only my second time making them and this was my first attempt to make beets on my own. I picked up 10 lbs. of beets at the Farmers' Market on Saturday for this project and I was really pleased with how it went. We will probably open our first jar for Thanksgiving dinner.

eight new little feet in our house...

The kids have been wanting a puppy for over a year. The request appeared on the christmas list. It appeared in letters written to Dad during summer vacation. It was the request that would not go away. So on Sunday morning, Ron roused me out of bed early to look at puppies on Kijiji. We viewed some really cute puppies which led to a discussion about breeds. Althought we loved our Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Brandy, we felt a smaller breed would be better for our children. We wanted a dog that they could handle on their own....take for walks, play and feed on their own. We decided a breed that would be 10 to 15 lbs. fully grown, and that did not shed, would best suit our family. Ron began calls and made an appointment to meet with a breeder to look at some Shih-tzu puppies that were 2 months old. We surprised the kids with the announcement that we would be going to look at a puppy.....they were beyond excited.


Little did we know that we would meet 2 completely adorable puppies...sisters from the same litter and the last of a litter of 6 puppies. Our intention was to go home with 1 puppy...but Hunter chose the puppy with a lot of black, while Tyler chose the puppy with a lot of white. Hmmmm. I looked at Ron and asked if we could take both home. He said, "Are you crazy?". I said nothing more, but the next thing I knew, he was doling out money for 2 puppies and we went home with each child holding a little puppy on their lap. Oh happy day!
This little girl that Tyler is holding is a chunky little puppy who likes to sleep a lot. She is also a very laid-back puppy. He chose the name "Rigley" for her, along with a blue collar and leash, as well as an Oilers bandana. She will be completey ready when hockey season starts!

This little girl is quite delicate in build and full of pep. She gets into things quickly and looks for trouble. Hunter named her "Molly" and chose a pink collar and leash for her.

And by the way, the color of the bucket and mop is red.