Rubin & Cherise

I realized yesterday that I have never written anything about Rubin & Cherise, my fur children. They have been great with Marley.In the first few months all my attention and energy was spent on Marley. I really didn't have much to give them and I have felt so guilty about this. It's easier these days now that Marley does not require as much attention. The four of us have a great relationship.
I think, as with all babies and children, pets are a little apprehensive. When Cherise sees Marley coming, she bolts. She wants nothing to do with her unless she has food stuck to her then Cherise is all over her. Rubin on the other hand is a lot more patient. He will tolerate the ear pulling, eye gouging to a point. When he's done he gets up and walks away. Another tidbit about Rubin is his foot fetish. He loves to lick people's feet! And yes Marley's little tootsies have been attacked by the beagle tongue. Her favorite is when she is kicked back in her bouncy seat, with a bottle watching her Baby Einstein DVD and getting a slobbery beagle foot massage.
Now of course Marley is in LOVE with Rubin & Cherise. It doesn't matter what's going on or what mood she may be in. She stops stares and talks to them. The noises she makes are amazing she refers to them as zaza and da-da.
Now off the subject of Marley and her fur siblings. I was feeding Marley breakfast yesterday morning and heard strange noises in the backyard (The kitchen window faces the backyard). I looked out and could not believe what I saw! Rubin & Cherise climbed the tree! Ok, the tree is small but not that small and they were almost to the top. I had to stop feeding Marley because the first thought I had was "Oh my goodness what if they fall!". Thankfully they didn't, then I started thinking what am I going to tell the vet, "my beagle fell from a tree?" Now this thought sent me into a fit of laughter, it still does. In a fit of laughter telling the story to hubby, this is what I imagined the dialogue would be in the vet's office.

The Vet walks into the examining room and yells at the technician:

Vet: Where's the cat? Am I in the wrong examining room?

Technician: No sir, I told you it's a dog.

Vet: I thought a cat had fallen out of a tree?!

Jocelyn: No sir, it was my dog

Vet has a huge look of bewilderment on his face and says to Jocelyn

Vet: What was your dog doing in the tree?

Jocelyn: I'm not sure, but could you please examine my dog?

Vet examines dog,bewildered and muttering under his breath..."What the...How?!...what the...A dog fell out of a tree, now I've seen everything..."

Continuing with my fit of laughter... by this time I'm convinced my sides are going to split. I imagined the dogs not falling from the tree but not being able to get down from the tree. What would I do? I haven't climbed a tree since I was a kid! Who would I call? The Fire Department! Yes, the Fire Department they get cats out of the tree all the time, right?! And again we are not talking about a cat we are talking about a dog!!!! Now I have to stop, I have tears rolling down my face from laughing so hard, never mind the fact that my sides hurt. I can only imagine what the fire fighter would say. Probably something similar to the vet and then he would tell me to keep my dogs out of the tree. Like that's going to happen. Beagles have a mind of their own. Unlike labs they are self pleasers and they do as they wish.

So, I had to take a picture. Unfortunately the sun was shining through the tree so I couldn't get a really good picture. I have named the picture "find the beagle" and you can see it on Marley's shutterfly website.

Words of Wisdom 7/17/06

I have a few new Words of Wisdom seen by a few friends. Enjoy.

On a billboard:
Don't make me come down there- God

Bumper Sticker:
Jesus, please protect the U.S from your followers

Sign on a Cathlic Church in Houston, TX"
Staying in bed and shouting "Oh God" does not constitute going to Church.

A Priest's parking spot in Maine:
Thou shalt not park here

Location unknown:
Don't let your worries kill you, let the church help

Infant to toddler?

I was on the phone with my Mother a few minutes ago when hubby starts waving his arm to get my attention. So, I walked over to the couch where he was sitting and saw Marley. She was standing with one hand on her push walker and the other hand on the couch. She took her hand off the couch and put it on the push walker and started walking!!!!! She was smiling and giggling then she fell. She got up brushed herself off and with out the help of the couch did it again. I stood there with my jaw to the floor which quickly turned to a huge smile. I am so proud of her. I just can't find the words to express my joy.

Marley's favorite recipes

So, I have yet to buy a good baby food book. Why? Well, the area where I live is a beach town full of bookstores packed with Judith Krantz novels. I did find one bookstore that actually has good books and a great variety but they were out of all their baby food books and I have not had a chance to go back. Why not order it online you ask? Because I'm too cheap to pay for the shipping. I have spent a lot of time online finding recipes, suggestions, charts, etc. Here are some great websites:

www.wholesomebabyfood.com

www.babycenter.com (of course!)

www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com

The one thing I am not fond of is the suggestions to mix fruit with vegetables. Fruit is great but it's sugar so I only feed her fruit in the morning. There are plenty of veggies (sweet potato and corn) that contain sugar.

Using these resources and my own imagination I have come up with some very tasty meals to please my baby's palette.

I have nothing against feeding Marley the jarred stuff if it's one ingredient like squash, sweet potato, peas, etc. or the fruits because it is just water and the veggie or fruit. I have in a pinch bought stage 3 beef and vegetables, which I will not do again the stuff smelled like Chef Boyardee. Marley loved it but all the ingredients on the label made me wince. Marley loves chicken but will not eat the jarred chicken. I don't blame her, dog food smells better.

Here are some of Marley's favorite foods:

Breakfast: Fruit and yogurt or oatmeal (YUM). I use Gerber baby oatmeal for the iron and an organic whole fat yogurt such as Stoneyfield. I buy Gerber or Beechnut fruit except for bananas, canteloupe and apple sauce.
I was amazed to find in the yogurts for babies all the added sugar and the God awful ingredient high fructose corn syrup.

Lunch/Dinner:

Chicken with broccoli and a little cheddar (organic of course) and a small side of squash

Une melange de legume- Corn, peas, grean beans and lima beans-boy was Marley happy, good thing too because Mom came up with this one cleaning out the fridge.

Black beans and rice sometimes mixed with some corn and a side of carrots, sweet potato or squash

Lentils and rice with a side squash

Beef and vegetables. I bought ground sirloin, browned it added a little water and put it through the food processor. Oh my! It looked and smelled terrible. I mixed it with a lot of peas and Marley LOVED it!

More recipes to come! We are doing cauliflower this week.

Words of Wisdom 7/8/06

On a sign in front of a church in Manteo, North Carolina:

The real Superman died for you

On a sign in front of a church in Salvo, North Carolina:

Remember that God sees you on vacation too

A bumper sticker on a car seen in the parking lot of our local grocery store:

Surfin' for Jesus!

A bumper sticker that has been seen several times:

3 nails + 1 cross = 4given

A billboard seen in Harbinger, North Carolina:

Freedom paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ


More to come........

Living in the south

I call myself a full blooded Yankee wilfully transplanted in the south. I have always been intrigued with the American southern culture. Originally being from Northern Virginia, which is still south of the Mason Dixon line, I am considered a Yankee here in North Carolina.
I do love the south. There is a lot to say about southern hospitality. There have been many locals that have made us feel completely welcome. The one thing that does not go over very well is when I am asked what church I belong to. I tell them I was raised Catholic but do not practice. It doesn't go over very well partly because of being raised Catholic and mostly because I do not belong to a church. To truly fit in I should belong to a church...oh well. I have my own views on religion. I have my values, I believe in the 10 commandments yet I don't feel that I need to belong to a church to be whole. I will always be "different" when it comes to religion.
The reason I am bringing this up is that Hubby and I are in a competition. We have been noticing a lot of signs in front of Churches and bumper stickers that we find absolutley hysterical. I certainly do not want to offend anyone but I decided to post these on my blogger page so that I had one place to write these "words of wisdom". At the end of each month Hubby and I are going to vote on which one is the most clever. If you read please help us vote! The title will be "Words of Wisdom".
Enjoy.