Dexter's Resolve

Dexter would like to wish you a very Happy New Year and has taken over the blog today. He required a little help from Sierra. Dexter wanted to do it all himself, and he's smart, but he hasn't figured out the typing thing yet.

Dexter's made a few resolutions, though he's already admitted it might be hard to keep them. He thought if he shared them with you, maybe he'd have the willpower to follow through with them. I'm not having high hopes, but we'll see!

1. I will not eat anymore iPhones (they aren't actually very tasty, though they make a lovely crunching sound when the glass shatters).
2. I will only climb up on the Futon that has been allotted to me (Yeah, fat chance)
3. I will not bat at your feet when you are walking downstairs (Ooo - That's gonna be a tough one)
4. I promise not to put my cold nose on your cheek when you are just falling asleep. I'll wait till you are fully asleep!
5. I promise not to head butt (I'm sorry I gave you a black eye momma)
6. I will try real hard not to bother the old dog (I just wish he'd play with me - just a little)
7. I will listen and follow your commands (as long as you have a treat in your hand)
8. I will poop in the same spot (just to clarify, the entire back yard is my spot!)
9. I will not promise to not drink out of the white porcelain bowl, nope, just can't do it, a never-ending flavored water supply - too amazing to pass on. Sorry.
10. I will bark at everything that passes behind the fence. Yup. The joggers, the walkers, the horses and their riders, the turkeys, the turkey vultures, all the other dogs, and sometimes...I'll just woof to woof, cause I'm a dog, and I roll like that!

I'm pretty sure I can keep a few of those...well eight, nine and ten should be a piece of cake anyhow.

Hope you all have a wonderful start to the New Year. May it be as amazing as the scent of Sierra's boots, which taste quite nice, Thank you very much!

Where can a girl find a couple extra hours...

I am busy. Busy prepping to enter the Amazon Breakthrough Contest in a couple weeks. This entails re-editing a published novel to see if I can make it shine even more. It means crafting a savory pitch that will get people salivating.

It means taking a hard look at Return to find any niggling little irritants that need to be removed, and finding errors that have snuck past (I know there are still some in there), though its been edited and proofread more times than I can count.

And, while I'm trying to accomplish this, to help Ravyn and Zelera get a little more acclaim, I've got all the normal daily life activities to pursue.

There is an Iphone that needs replacing, as the dog decided to eat it. The Lifeproof case does not protect against Doberman, in case you were wondering.

Christmas decorations need to go away...sigh. Back up into the garage attic I go.

Child number three's Bell kit was stolen from the car two days before Christmas. So, I need to find new bells...preferably used. And, buy the book again. It's a convenient excuse for her to not practice at the moment.

A couple Christmas gifts need exchanging. I refuse to do those today. Augh!

The bookkeeping for our business needs to be done, so we can decide if we will be jumping off the fiscal cliff, limbs flailing, wallets drained. Gotta have the numbers in order to plan...would be so nice if our government would do that as well. Oh, but I'd better not get started on that...that's a whole 'nother post...

The house could use a top to bottom clean-up. After the chaos of NaNoWriMo and the joys of the holidays, this place is a disaster. Okay, who am I kidding, it's always a disaster, but still...it'd be nice to get it tidied.

Then, there's the whole keeping up with blogs, twitter, Return's facebook page, etc. Something I've been not so good at the past couple months.

My dear sweet husband gave me a wonderful new camera for Christmas! The Sony NEX-5R! Oh the things it can do! I'm so excited, I can't wait to start fiddling with it. Another tiny nibbler of my time. But, I fear it's not high on my priority list at the moment. (Sad face)

So, it you know of a way to turn back a little time, or extend it and would like to share that information with me, I'd be ever so grateful!

Hope your Christmas was Merry, and you are looking forward to 2013!

Lovely Blogger Award for Me? Aw shucks...

Thank you to http://helenamallett.wordpress.com for the honor! You are a wordsmith talent, and I'm humbled by your nomination.

Seven random things about me...

1. I'm the baby out a family of eleven children
2. I love rock climbing, though I don't get out enough
3. I'm an extremely proud momma and wife
4. Words give me a warm fuzzy tingle inside...what can I say, I love 'em
5. I love The Nightmare Before Christmas (Halloween and Christmas!!!)
6. I just got a new love in my life, his name is Dex. He's a Doberman puppy!
7. I tried Stand-Up Paddle boarding and loved it! Wish the boards weren't so expensive.

And the nominees are (drumroll please)

http://sharonbayliss.blogspot.com/
http://krystal-wade.com/
http://wizardofotin.blogspot.com/
http://tangentshell.blogspot.com/
http://www.colleenchen.com/
http://www.sylviavanbruggen.com/
http://glosdrumbeat.blogspot.com/
http://jessarussowrites.blogspot.com/
http://dreamersloversandstarvoyagers.blogspot.com/
http://www.waynewsmith.com/2012/10/wordless-wednesday-guest-photographer.html
http://lindabloodworth.wordpress.com/
http://www.create-with-joy.com/
http://odetomyabode.com/
http://www.scotzig.com/
http://emmyneal.wordpress.com/

Okay, so for some reason, my ability to use the linking tool is sadly lacking. Instead of figuring out how to do it properly, I'm just listing the links. You all know how to cut and paste. I admit, it seems lazy, and you're right, it is. But, that new puppy I mentioned above is needing a walk...like now! If I don't do it this way, it won't get done at all! Sigh.

Let sleeping dogs lie...on top of me?

So, our dog Topo is getting old. He's going to be 14 next month. We couldn't ask for a better guard dog, and he did his duty proudly for many years. He's a cute old man, and we love him dearly, so we're letting him retire and getting him a friend, one younger and ready to take on the guard dog responsibilities.

So, yesterday we headed off to just "look" at a 5 month old Doberman. Both hubby and I thought for sure we wouldn't really want him, because he's not black and rust. But oh boy were we wrong. He has a very sweet temperment and is beautiful to boot. He melted my heart! We tossed some names around and stuck on Dexter, which almost everyone agreed on.

This dog is already completely, thoroughly rotten spoiled. Dexter came home with us last night, and as we were going to bed, we weren't sure how we were going to get him to lay still. Topo sleeps in the crate and he's not much of a sharer. I thought I'd gotten Dex to sleep alongside our bed, but as I climbed under the blankets a wet nose was snuffling my cheek. Hubby says,"just let him up." I'll be darned, I wasn't expecting that! Dexter snuggled down right between us and nodded right off. But, just like any other kid, he sure is wiggly. And at one point in the night I woke up with 40 or 50 pounds of Doberman draped across me. Let sleeping dogs lie? Not if they're keeping me awake!

I'm guessing there'll be more posts about Dexter in the near future. Luckily he's pretty much potty trained, and he did very well today on a lead for the first time. Just going to be working hard on all those basic commands and then some. Good thing Dobie's are so smart!