Living For the Weekends.

This summer is different than all our others.

This summer we are living for the weekends.

We are grown ups now.

And when I say grown ups I mean Mr. B works full time and

Roxie and I lounge around the apartment {and I am part part time nanny} and we wait for

Mr. B to get home.

Roxie enjoys her favorite sun spot in the morning and I catch up on some shows.

The days pass by and we look forward to the weekends.

The taste of summer we once experienced every day is now just two days a week

and we try to enjoy every moment of it...

The great helpers when we visit my parents' house.

the extra love and attention {as if she could possibly get any more!}

the acres of open grass to run around in,

the chickens to chase {and their poop to always find and eat!}

the many cute photo opps,

A taste of the sweet stuff {which we seem to be getting every weekend}

30 365 day-eat-junk-and-hopefully-work-out-one-day shred is in action bytheway.

Car rides up north to Mr.B's parents' lake house,

Where someone tries really hard to get comfy...

At least her legs are crossed and she is sleeping like a lady..

the sunny days on the boat

She stays like this when the boat is in motion.

She is not a big fan of the wind...yet.

Note: Roxie and Mr. B -apparently this was an eyes closed photo.

The newest photo of The Smelly Family :)

Yes, her eyes are still closed...she fell asleep like that.

The boat wipes her out.

She chooses to sleep like this.

We enjoy life at the lake.

And time with family.

And we love our weekends.

And we can't wait for this upcoming long weekend!

She Did It!

I was trying different sounds on the computer

to catch Roxie doing the infamous boxer head tilt.

She did it.

And she did it with flying colors.

The most extreme head tilt I have ever seen.

And of course, by far the cutest.

The sound is supposedly a "dog growling", although I realize it may come across as something along the lines of me and manly burps.

It's not.

I promise.

Apparently, she was scared the second time around after I hit replay.

Which, needless to say, was also cute.

You really can't help, but love her to pieces.

She is too stinkin' adorable.

I guess this should be a puppy blog now because I am pretty confident that, the rare times that I now post, it will be about her.

I am obsessed.

(I took this with my iPhone, so the quality isn't the best.)

Thanks for all your encouragement as far as the choke collar vs treat training!

She really a naturally amazingly well behaved puppy!! She has the best temperament!

The choke collar was something I didn't feel comfortable with and seemed to be making her aggressive - which is very unlike her personality. So I am done with that for now, I have been doing treat training and is so going so well!

Can't Do It.

I need help.

Roxie will be 10 weeks old on Thursday, I have tried to start training her with the whole "secret to training the perfect dog" thing.

It's so hard.

Originally I was for treat training.

Watched a bunch of episodes of the Dog Whisperer and some other videos online and decided I was against treat training.

I felt like the dog wasn't really being trained, but always looking for/constantly sniffing your hand for/following/wanting the treat and not really obtaining the command being taught.

I see this infomercial for the perfect dog, read the reviews and thought this was it.

At first Roxie was great. She was very calm, loved to sit, cuddle and follow you, never barked, or bit you....

Now she has about 3 "psycho" spells a day. I would much rather have just 3 than for her to be like this all the time, but it's 3 too many for this lady. She's pretty much bipolar and turns into a completely different puppy and it's a little scary. She gets into this big-I-need-to-bark-and-bit- everything-and-everyone. hard. and then two minutes later she is back to Snugglefest 2010.

I am thankful that she isn't like this all the time. I have no idea what I would do if she was. Lord knows I wouldn't survive if I had a dog like that.

When we first got her, we realized she was too little to understand what she was doing and how to be trained, but we also didn't want her think she could get away with certain things. But as the days go on she is learning more and more and we decided it's time to be serious.

So we pulled out the "command collar".

It breaks my heart.

I realize this is part of "parenting", you discipline out of love, but I am starting to feel uncomfortable with this whole mock choke collar situation.

It seems to be making her more aggressive. She doesn't obey like the dogs on the DVD. I am wondering if maybe she is too young. But either way she needs to learn these things now.

I'm thinking about getting my money back from the training DVD and doing the puppy classes, although the dogs that I know that have been don't seem to be the most obedient....but then again when you see me in the backyard dragging Roxie through the grass as she remains extremely stubborn and laying on her back- my dog doesn't look too obedient either.

So I am feeling a bit discouraged.

And sad.

I don't think this is something I want to stick out. It seems to be getting worse, not better.

Between her red neck, her cries, squeals, yelps and barks and feeling like she hates me..I am not sure this is the method for me.

So please tell me what has been successful for you!!

She is really good at sitting, being cute, potty outside, being cute, sleep through the night and being cute.

Still needs to learn all the other commands (including how to walk on a leash), tricks and when to stop biting.

Oh, that's another thing. I am having a hard time figuring out where the line is drawn between puppy play and the evil crazy puppy that has taken the biting too far. I tried spraying water on her face and of course..she loved it. I will try again with a little mouth wash in it and see what happens.

Please help.

Sincerely,

Ms. J and Mr. B

You know it's your first puppy when...

You freak out halfway through the 6 hour drive home because you realize she might be a boy dog.

Why would a girl dog have "something" sticking out between her legs?!?

You and your mom try to convince yourselves that a boy's thing isn't set as far back as a girl's.

You look an idiot and ask the vet....just to be sure.

You now call it a pe-jayjay.

{yes, I am very creative when it comes to making up unique names dealing with the private area}

When you're wondering if there should be any concern with the conjoined nipple on her belly....only to find out it's actually her belly button.

You take 1084876 pictures of her every move.

Even the creepy-eyes-rolled-back-dead-to-the-world-mouth-wide-open-look-at-my-little-baby-teeth-sleep.

You take a picture of her paws because you think it is so cool that they are black polka dots.

Only to have it eventually "click" that this is a sign of your precious little pup growing up and her once untainted-pink-smooth-as-a-babies-bum-pads are transforming into uncool black pads.

You are paranoid about every. little.thing. including dehydration.

You have the hardest time disciplining her because you think she is the most adorable thing and how could you ever yell at this sweet sweet face?!

You say something along the lines of "She is too cute!!!" 1098497592028750 times a day.

She's Here!!

She's so tiny.

She loves to cuddle,

She did great on the long 6 hour car ride,

And she's so adorable....

She slept pretty much the whole way...

totally candid & totally funny.

She slept through the Red Sox game with Mr. B

& she rested on my leg while I blogged about her

{my hand isn't that big in real life}

She's been sleeping all day and we are hoping that won't mean she will be up all night.

But it's ok if she is because she is so stinkin' a.dor.a.ble.

ONE WEEK

One

week from today Mama Grace, my sister and I are taking a mini road trip to pick up this little cutie!!!

I feel like time has gone by so slow.

Probably due to the fact that we have technically been waiting since March.

We are so excited that it is now only days away.

Isn't she adorable???

I am getting a little nervous as she approaches her last vet appointment because that is when we lost the other pup we were supposed to get. But we trust that God will work everything out! So far she is super healthy, cuddly when you want to cuddle and playful when you want to play.

The other night I was having trouble falling asleep so I was watching TV. There were other things on, but I chose to watch an infomercial. Because I am cool like that. They suck me in every.time. Such a talent they have- the ability to make you want need to buy it right now.

So Don Sullivan's How to Train the Perfect Dog sucked me in that night. How could I resist a trainer known as The Dogfather?? He must know what he is talking about.

{credit}

Ummm...Hello?!? With just 3 2 easy payments YOU can have the perfect dog.

Sold.

It took everything in my power not to wake up Mr.B {I am sure he is very thankful that I didn't} For some reason, I don't think we would've shared the same excitement.

I haven't heard many success stories from the puppy school, so I decided we could save a little money and try this out.

I finally bought it last night.

I haven't received a confirmation email or anything yet, which makes me a little nervous.

So now [if I ever receive it} it's a given- we will have the almost perfect dog. AND all with just two easy payments....how 'bout that :)

Here's the Thing....

To look like this....

I need to give up this...

And these...

And these....

And these...

And my all time fav., my staple....

And trade it in for this....

with little dressing, no cheese and no croutons {aka boring and gross}...

And give up this....

For this...

Hiking...

Exercise...

Sweating...

You see, it's really not my thing.

I just don't know if I am ready.

I don't think it's worth it.

But I do.

But I don't.

I really don't want to {and won't} give up on all that deliciousness.

So instead, I complain that I don't have that body because I would match rather it magically appear than to do all that. It's a lot easier.

So any secret tips on how to look like that without exercising and giving up all the goodness are welcome. =)

Sidenote: Yesterdays' post was not supposed to be a poor-me-negative-nancy! My life is wonderful, I thought those little things were comical. I appreciate all your kind comments though! If crumbled bread, burnt breakfast and a bright purple wall is the worst part of my day- I'm doing pretty good!

Double Sidenote: Let's talk So You Think You Can Dance for a sec. There is just way too many contemporary dancers. Sometimes I get it and like it, sometimes I don't. It's getting to be a little much- where are the hip hop dancers??