WILW 7.6.11

Link up at this kind of love to play along!

I'm loving that today is my Mom's birthday! 

Happy Birthday, Mom! 

Hope you are able have a relaxing birthday.... ha! 

Wait.. has my Mom ever had a relaxing day? Between 6 kids, 3 grandchildren, a nursing career (and now a new legal nurse consulting business), dozens of animals including dogs, cats, ducks, peacocks, fish, turtles, hamsters, gerbils, etc etc etc.... I'm not sure I've ever known Mom to have a "me day." 

So here's to hoping that you spend your time in a lounge chair in the sun. Promise to make you a strawberry margarita next time I see you! 

I'm loving braids! Ever since I had hair long enough to fasten into a braid, I've been a fan. My older cousins taught me to french braid when I was really young, plus I was a child of the 80's so I often begged Mom to create all kinds of funky braided hairdos. 

I'm loving the fact that my niece Katelyn is spending the summer with her Dad on the East Coast. She's in my time zone... hooray!! Hopefully I'll get to see her in about 2 weeks!  I'm loving that she's so grown up she even has a prepaid cell phone for the summer. I'm pretty sure her Mama meant for it to be for emergencies, but she calls me every other day to discuss 

Justin Bieber.

Jammin to the Beib.

I'm loving my dogs.... Rocko & Bowser....as always, of course... but it's just that I recently spent a whole week apart from my furbabies and it's so good to have them stinking up my car again, shedding all over my clothes, and snoring loudly on the couch beside me. 

I'm loving the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. I'm a nutrition nut struggling to navigate my way through marketing ploys, scientific research, hype, quacks, southern cooking, locally grown produce, social eating, and everything between. I may not always make the healthy choice, but I am determined to eliminate the crap from my diet once and for all. I believe food is the most important medicine around when it comes to preventative care.

I've always been fascinated with the concept of fasting, and I've even tried a few detoxes in the past. All the major world religions embrace fasting. It's been practiced since history has been recorded. This film was incredibly inspirational and I'm about two seconds from splurging on my very own juicer.

Have a fabulous Wednesday! 

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WILW 5.4.11

Wow.. Wednesday already? Wait, it's May? Sheesh! OK obviously I need to get organized. I thought winter was going to last forever and now here it is almost 90 degrees. Anyhoo today I can't stop thinking about the dear creatures that make my heart strings go haywire at the drop of a hat. I'm talking about the wild and woolly animal kingdom, from the cute and cuddly to the creepy crawlies. I think there's much to be learned from our animal friends.

I'm loving silly/ sappy/ cheesy animal pictures, like these. No matter how lousy my day is going, these cutesy photos get me every time. I can't sit through a romantic movie to save my life, but I can't get enough of the mushy animal pictures. Go figure.

I'm loving my furry family, whom I missed dearly last week.

I'm loving the animal behaviorist and author Ralph Helfer. He wrote Modoc and Zamba, two of the best books about animals I've ever read.

I'm loving these PETA ads. Don't worry, I'm not going to throw red paint on you if I see you eating a burger or try to shove my cruelty-free beliefs down your throat, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't appreciate PETA's wacky ads. They are all about attention-getting tactics in the hopes that you will educate yourself about things like the fur trade, factory farms, and animal abuse. Once you have the facts, it's up to you to decide what's right. It's all about awareness!

Happy Wednesday!

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A Mutt & a Groomer, Part II

Click here to read A Mutt & a Groomer, Part I


Rocko had his appointment with the groomer! Yesterday morning
we were up with the sun and at the "salon" (their word, not mine) for the
long-awaited professional hair cut. It was empty except for a pretty young girl
with a blue smock and silver acrylic nails. Relief! I was pretty nervous
about lots of foofy dogs and their owners gawking at us. Now it was
just me, Rocko, and this sleepy-eyed groomer.

I explained to her that Rocko had never been professionally
groomed before. She took one look at him, asked me
how old he was (he's 4) , and told me flat out it just might not
be possible. I stared her in the eye until finally she opened
her mouth to say something, looked at Rocko again, then
nodded her head and grabbed a clipboard for me to fill out. I've been
told my facial expressions are very readable. It's possible I looked a
little hostile. Oops. Give me a break- it was before 7am!

After the paperwork, I glanced down at Rocko and was mortified to see
that in our rush to get out the door I'd grabbed the leash that
was held together with duct tape. It started to unravel months
ago but being the thrifty sort of girl I am, I saw no reason to throw
it away.... because, I mean, duct tape fixes everything, right? But
now here I was in a fancy doggie salon and surely any moment more
people were going to walk in with their designer-clad pooches
and be completely horrified by my duct tape leash!

Thankfully the groomer pretended not to notice and I hightailed it
out of there after much reassurance that she would be able to
give him a great cut and would call me in a few hours. I purposely
asked her to go as short as possible to buy time before the next cut
if I decided to go this route again. She asked me if I'd like her to keep
some length on his head and tail and I shrugged and said, "Ummm, sure."
Result: hysterical disaster. 

When I arrived 4 hours (!) later to pick him up, I almost peed
myself when I laid eyes on him. I laughed so hard I forgot to care
about the duct tape leash or the crowd of people and dogs.

Sucky camera phone

Are you ready for the before and after?

Before

After

So now my dog has a giant bushy tail, fluffy cheeks, and a totally
shaved body. I suppose I pictured a little more blending happening
between the neck and head, but he looks like he's ready for bootcamp.

Is it just me or does his collar no longer fit?

 And perhaps it's my imagination, but he is even
behaving goofier than normal...

Why?!?!

 Rocko's undercoat is significantly lighter than his outer coat,
and he has a black stripe down his back that is much less obvious
with his normal hair length.  Instead of being black and brown he
is now black and 3 or 4 shades of brown.

The black stripe.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset. This is all new to me, and I realize
that this cut doesn't look weird on a Shih Tzu. But my dog is going
to develop a complex if I don't stop laughing at him every time I
look his direction. He looks so skinny and awkward... hahahaha.. aww

No matter how silly he looks, the cut was a total success. He was a 
perfect angel and he is much cooler (as in body temperature). The best part? 
I don't have to vacuum daily and keep a lint brush in my car!! Woohoo!

Source URL: http://joshhamiltonblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Animal%20Kingdom
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