To Ms Sandra From Mom

Mom will be doing a post today so you will have to wait to hear from us til tomorrow:

Ms. Sandra,

I have been thinking and thinking about what to say to you. I know a lot of time has passed and I hate that I am just now posting a blog to you. 

When I read the horrible news I cried. I broke down and sat on my couch and held (my) Shelby and cried my eyes out. It broke my heart. And, still, writing this to you I have tears in my eyes.

You are a strong woman. I am so in awe of you. What you lived through is my worst nightmare. I mean that. Fires are my biggest fear. I know that your life changed in an instant. I simply cannot imagine and for that reason I am truly at a loss as to what to say. I feel like words are so inadequate. 

I want you to know that I admire you. I admire your strength and bravery. I admire you for what you did to help (your) Shelby. You changed her life. You made her whole. You brought her in and showed her love. You gave her the life she deserved and she knew what love was because of you. You opened your heart and your home to her. It breaks my heart that she is gone- that they are gone- but I know that they knew true love. That is so important to remember.

I do not know you. I don't know if you believe in someone higher than ourselves or not. But, I do. I believe in a loving God. I also believe in a God I will never truly understand, but have learned to trust. I truly believe that He has great things planned for you. 

I found the poem below and wanted to share it with you. It was really written about children, but it has been changed to fit. I read a quote one time that talked about how we don't really own pets, but we lease them and if we're lucky we have a long lease. I believe that pets are here to teach us things. I have learned a great deal from my girls and I know that many of the good changes in my life have come about because of them. I am truly a better person because of the MilShelb. I also read a quote once that said something like, "It is a fearful thing to love what death can touch." It sure is. It is scary. But, in the end, it is always worth it. 

Here is the poem. May it touch your heart and bring a smile to your face. Please know that you and your family are in my daily thoughts and prayers. 

"I'll lend you for a while a pup of mine," He said.
"For you to love the while he lives and mourn for when he's dead.
It may be six or seven years, or twenty-two or three,
But will you, till I call him back, take care of him for me?
He'll bring his charms to gladden you, and should his stay be brief,
You'll have his lovely memories as solace for your grief."

"I cannot promise he will stay; since all from earth return,
But there are lessons taught down there I want this pup to learn.
I've looked the wide world over in My search for teachers true
And from the throngs that crowd life's lanes I have chosen you.
Now will you give him all your love, not think the labor vain,
Nor hate Me when I come to call to take him back again?"

"I fancied that I heard them say, "Dear Lord, Thy will be done!
For all the joy Thy pup shall bring, the risk of grief we run.
We'll shelter him with tenderness, we'll love him while we may,
And for the happiness we've known, forever grateful stay;
But should the angels call for him much sooner than we've planned,
We'll brave the bitter grief that comes and try to understand!"

Adapted from Edgar Guest

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today our Mom turns 26 years old. That's so old! But, we think we should say happy birthday to her.
So...

Happy Birthday, Mom! We love you and we are glad you are our Mom. You're pretty ok in our book. (Especially after you spent the entire first week of your 2 week holiday break making our room.)

Sometimes you look real pretty.

Lots of times you look real rough.

But, you love us.

And, like we said, you're pretty ok in our book.

And we love you. Happy Birthday, Mom!

We Take Back All That Stuff...

We take back all that stuff that we said about our pawrents messing up the house.
You know why?

Because...

You're looking at our OWN room!!

Look at our shelves with our books and toys... all on OUR level!

That's right, our OWN room!

Our OWN picture wall.

This is us on Christmas morning playing in OUR new ROOM!!

Look at the polka dots Mom hand painted all for us.

Here we are on Christmas with our pawrents. They're pretty ok in our book!!

Thank Mom and Dad for your hard work and for our PAWESOME new room!!!

Merry Christmas from the MilShelb

We want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We hope you and your families have a fabulous time together. :)

Our Mom Has a Request

Our Mom has a request. If you ever sign petitions, please go HERE and sign this one. There are gas chambers in South Carolina and it just breaks our Mom's heart.

Thanks for your help!

They're At It Again!

Been having to spend lots and lots of time SNOOPERVISING the pawrents. They've decided to take apart the room that was the guest room and tear out the carpet and put down laminate floors. They said they're moving the guest room back in there. They had moved it upstairs and now it's coming back down? They can't make up their minds!
AND dumb dumb Mom decided to paint the room yellow. Apparently she's having some issues with it. It is taking A LOT longer than usual and it is taking LOTS more paint. She keeps complaining to Dad. Dad finally went in there tonight and did one wall... but then they RAN OUT of paint. That Mom... she just can't get this right. So, we have to send her back to the store tomorrow to buy more paint. She is mad. She says it shouldn't take this much paint. We say TOO BAD and hop to it!
This always happens when Mom gets a "break" from work. She goes around tearing up OUR house and then it takes her forever to put it back together.

Mom says she can see this and so can Santa and Santa doesn't like whiners so we'd better go.

Just Remember...

Wowee! We got an Award!

We got this pawsome award from Dachshund Nola. She's a great furiend and we are very honored!

Liebster Award

These are the rules for the Liebster Award:

1. Thank the giver and link back to them.

2. Reveal your top five picks {with less than 200 followers} and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Hope that the people you’ve sent the award to forward it to their five favorite up-and-coming bloggers and keep it going!

Our five picks are for:

1. Mona and Weenie. Weenie is a pawsome BF and we love him! Mona is a sweet, funny furiend!

2. Puddles. Our pal Puddles was MIA for awhile but we are THRILLED she's back!

3. Our furiends at the Trubblesome Trio. They're a fun bunch of furiends!

4. Maggie Mae... because she's awesome!

5. Pip, because Pip is a good guy who always has good blog ideas and has a 

What a Horrible Day

Mom got home from work and was very excited because she is a teacher and today began her Christmas break... 2 weeks of sleeping in and cuddling us! We can't wait.

But, then Mom checked the blogs. We all sat on the couch and settled down to hear your stories.

And then Mom gasped aloud- so loud that we shot up off the couch and asked her what was wrong.

And she told us, with tears streaming down her face, that the Pitti Pack experienced a tragedy last night. We are heart-broken for them.

Pip is going to do something awesome tomorrow. Please go to his blog and leave a comment. He will donate .50 for each comment left.

We are now digging in the couch cushions to find some moolah to donate.

What a sad sad sad day.

A true tragedy.

Run free, our dear furiends. Run free.

Thanks!

Thank you for all of your comments about the heart worm, etc. Mom and Dad have talked about it and they are going to talk to our vet and see what she suggests. However, we will NOT be taking Trifexis next month. Many of you said you do not take flea meds in the winter or at all. Because we do not have the best immune systems and because Milly is allergic to flea saliva we have to take any and all preventatives that we can. We do understand why some don't, though, and we really like that people do what they feel is best for their pet... just like Mom and Dad do for us.

Mom has been super busy so we didn't get to post again until today. We're sorry!!

We did get a new two-legged. That makes it TEN cousins that we have. TEN two-leggeds. We also have 2 (yes, only 2) four-legged cousins. Goodness. TEN. What is the world coming to?

Say hello to baby Imogen. This is Mom's first niece on her side of the family. We won't get to meet her until this summer though because she lives far away in Indiana!

The Mom Person is Freaking Out!

Last night Mom stayed up past her bedtime and read this blog. She was very sad and upset and concerned and scared. She said that she feels so bad for Iris and her persons. We do too!! She is also very concerned because we take Trifexis!! YIKES! Does anyone else take this? Mom said she is calling the vet  to ask if it is safe because I (Shelby) get bad poopies after I take it and maybe it is not good for me. You know, I have lots of bad reactions to medicines. (I cannot take rabies shots because I am deathly allergic!) What kind of flea/heartworm do you take??? We cannot have a topical flea med because it bothers Mil's skin because she is allergic to flea saliva (among other things) and has very sensitive skin.
Mom would like any and all suggestions and she said please go read that blog!!

My Early Christmas Present!!

MilMil Tree
My MilMil Tree
My MilMil is a tree.

hahahaha Just Kidding!

Now, on to my story.
This morning started off like any other. My dad was out of bed super early. Mil was out of bed and down the hall with dad. I was snugglin' my Mama. Her stupid alarm clock went off and she hit the snooze for 5 more minutes. Then,  she rubbed my belly and told me how great I am. :) I love mornings with Mom.

So, Dad came down the hall and said good morning and then Mil and I went outside. Mom went to turn on the water to take a shower. Just as she was stepping in to the shower she heard Dad (who never raises his voice) yelling at the top of his lungs, "MAGGIE (Mom's name) GET OUT HERE! I NEED YOUR HELP!!!" Now, if you recall, the last time Dad yelled was the day I killed a squirrel. So, Mom knew he meant business and grabbed her hot pink towel wrap and went running down the hall.
She found us all on the back screened in porch. We were running and barking like CRAZY! She then realized there were THREE of us. WHAT?! Three? Yes. Three. Me, Mil, and THE CAT. Cat? No. We don't have a cat.
HOLY COW!!! Santa brought me a CAT!!!!!
I was so excited, but the cat did not want to play with me. The cat kept running and banging into the screen and was NOT being friendly. I just wanted to play with it!!
Anyhow, the cat finally found its way off of the porch and I was hot on its trail! Mom was hot on my trail. She was yelling like a crazy person, "SHELBY, STOP!!!!" I'm all like, "not now, Mom. I'm busy."
The cat made it over to the fence and was out of site. DARN!
My early present from Santa ran away. :( Man, oh man.
Mom and Dad were NOT happy with me. They just don't get it. I don't know why they're mad. Their early Christmas present didn't RUN AWAY!!

Christmas Cards

We got one Christmas card yesterday and one today! We love this!

We're hanging them in the kitchen on the end of the cabinet this year. :) We are so excited! Hopefully we will mail the rest of ours very soon!

Can You Believe It?

I KNOW there are TOYS in this bag!!! I know it! BUTT, Mom says they're NOT for me!! She says they're for my two-legged cousin, Noah. UGHHHH!!!!

Checking out the gifts.

THIS is for ME?! (Mom: No, Mil. It's for Noah.)

Mil: Who's Noah? 

Mom: Your cousin. You know who Noah is.

Mil: Noah doesn't live here.

Mom: He still gets a gift, Milly.

Mil: UGHHH!!! Life is SOOOO unfair!!!!

Mom: Stop being dramatic.

The Gamecocks Sign

We had two furiends ask (and figured more probably wondered but didn't ask) about the sign in the yard next to the mailbox that says "Gamecocks" from our last post.
Let us explain.

Our pawrents are PROUD alumni of the University of South Carolina. The mascot for this school is the Gamecock.

For those of you from the South (US), you know that football is not just a game. It is a way of life. A Religion. People believe in it. They eat, sleep, and breathe it. In our house they "bleed garnet and black". In South Carolina there is a BIG football rivalry. Pretty much everyone in the entire state picks a side. You're either a Gamecock (like us) or a Tiger (Clemson). Last night we played Clemson and won for the third year in a row! Our Dad was so excited we thought he might pee his pants. He hates Clemson. See, that's the thing, if you love the Gamecocks then you have to hate Clemson. There's no other way around it. True Gamecock fans pull for 2 teams- Gamecocks and anyone playing Clemson.

So, the sign in the yard is so that people know where we stand! It's a way to show our Gamecock pride. Go Gamecocks!

It's That time of Year Again

You know the one. The one where the people put on weird music and put a fake tree in the house. Yep. That's the one.

This is our mailbox. All ready for Christmas. (We blurred out the house number, but there is normally a number on that thing.)

The little tiny tree on the mantle.

The big tree. (Now, remember all of these trees you are seeing are fake.)

Christmas presents wrapped from Mom's shopping yesterday. (Not a one with our names on it. We checked it out.)

The fireplace... excuse the pee pad.

Our stockings. We have the red ones. You can's see it from here, but we have our names on our stockings. Mom monogrammed them by hand for us.

How about you? Is it beginning to look like Christmas at your house?

We'll be working on making our Christmas cards for the Christmas card exchange later today! :) We're excited!

Happy Turkey Day!

So, yesterday our Mom (you'll NEVER believe this) cooked Thanksgiving! She made a turkey, stuffin', green beans, cheese-garlic biscuits, mac and cheese, cookies, and cupcakes. she also bought two pies (apple and pumpkin). We were SHOCKED! Mom does not cook. Like, ever. She doesn't really like to, but yesterday she was a cookin' machine.

Here's part of the mess.

Turkey in the crock-pot. Man, did that thing smell GOOD!

Here's Mom looking rough. I think she was getting a bit frazzled. She says she wasn't, though.

We're waiting on our turkey! (Mil looks evil. lol)

More mess (don't tell Dad. He hates messes.)

More mess. Mom says that she decided that it isn't really the cooking she dislikes as much as the cleaning.

Cupcakes just about ready to go.

Need some help, Mom? (Yum... I found something here on the floor to sample.)

Yummy.

Mom's dinner. :)

Cheese-garlic biscuits. They were yummy (so we heard. Mom didn't give us any.)

Lemon cupcakes!

They smelled delicious! And, Mom put gold sprinkles... bling bling!

We are thankful for many things! We want to say thank you to all of our Blogville Furiends. We love y'all and are so glad we have your friendship.

A Hog Family Emergency!

So, our Mom has been gone this weekend (and left us with Dad) because her best friend was getting married and she had "wedding festivities" to attend. Whatever that means. To us it meant that Saturday (a day normally spent laying on the couch with Mom) was a day all alone because Dad was at work and then HE left us to go to the wedding. Ugh. Anyhow, when Dad got home (he got home before Mom) he saw that something TERRIBLE had happened. Shelby (that mean, rotten sister of mine) had gotten to Henrietta and... well, her stuffing was leaking! So, when Mom got home he told Mom that she would have to do surgery in the morning on Henrietta. I told Mom it just couldn't wait until morning... that was so long away!! So, Henrietta had surgery last night while Shelby (ugh, dumb butt Shelby) and I looked on. 

Here she is all fixed up. (She's balding.)

Here's a close-up. Poor girl. 

Here's Mom and her friend, Katie before the wedding.

Dad and Mom at the reception. Apparently a reception is where you eat and dance. We found this funny because Dad and Mom do NOT dance... and for good reason. They look silly when they dance. Mom had to dance with the wedding party though. We're sorry we missed that!

This is our Gma and Gpa at the reception. (There are our Mom's pawrents.)

Marvin

We mentioned Marvin before, but we wanted to update you. We checked Noah's Arks Rescue website today and saw that Marvin is improving nicely. You can click here to see his progress. We are so glad there are people who will step up and lend a Doxie a hand when needed.

Marvin, we hope you find a fabulous furever home real soon. May it be filled with love and kisses and hugs. We know you deserve it!

Happy Veterans's Day

Happy Veteran's Day!

Lots of thanks to those who have served and are currently serving our country.

Remember, there are lots of awesome, pawsome furiends who are serving our country, too!!
Many thanks to them as well!

A Little Yard Work Today

Today we snoopervised Dad in the yard. We've been telling him that our pathway pavers were way too buried... so today he finally went out and did something about it.

Here's Dad digging. He's almost finished.

Here's me (Shelby) playing the hot lava game! :)

Milly bossing us around from a short distance away.

Here I am inspecting the work.

Look how deep that hole is. We told him those things were buried!

Milly came over for a close-up inspection.

Done playing the hot lava game... on to really inspecting the work.

Good job, Dad. 

Now go get me a snack!