::tidbits::
.................................................. * Who's Hieu?
* My photos on Flickr
* My Tweets
* My Blips
..................................................
::twitter::
.................................................. ::flickr::
Natural Paws opened up a retail store near the Galleria a few weeks back and we stopped in to visit. I couldn't resist the little octopus plushie toy! It's a Chewish Dog Toy by Copa Judaica. I love that it is black! The Vietnamese word for squid and black ink is the same - it also happens to be the name of my grandma's dog. So in a roundabout way, it was meant to be. Extra cool points for having SMUTZ embroidered on it!
Wilson loves to travel. He's not the -best- traveler, he likes to be in the front with us and whine as if it we were the meanest parents for strapping him into the backseat. The best part of traveling, for Wilson, is the delicious meals prepared for him upon his arrival. Mom likes to spoil him and Wilbur with their own bowls of soups, freshly cooked beef, and the occasional eggroll. These are not table scraps mind you, oh no. No sir. These are freshly prepared with only the naturalest of ingredients, served in their very own porcelain bowls or plates - no plastic or stainless steel. And they're always followed up with big meaty soaked and boiled beef joints. Marrow chunks for days.
This was his first Thanksgiving with us. And we let him know we were thankful for having him in our lives. Without him, my knee pits would be cold at night, and my lint roller would be underutilized. And he's always there protecting me from the eminent dangers that lurk just outside the tub when I shower. Without him, I might be sporting the life-alert necklaces. So, thank you Wils, thank you.
Here are some of my favorite pics from the Thanksgiving Holiday at Moms.
Wilson pawed at my feet. I lifted him up and he curled up into a little ball in my lap. As I patted his bottom, I asked him, "Wilson, if we were sleeping in a train station, homeless and hungry, would you share your kibble with me?"
He looks up, "Hungry? Why would we be hungry? Stop talking nonsense! You have a job, woman!"
You don't see him here but Wilson's trying to sit on the armrest - his own makeshift center seat.
Where Wilson is a spaz, Rico will sit calmly. Where Rico is a Spaz, Wilson is a perfect angel.
Rico's "stress feature" is most likely a bug in the program. Wilson has a similar feature, we'll call it the "sleep feature" where he licks himself to sleep. Though he hasn't licked a lot lately, possibly because Rico is licking for the both of them.
Well the good news for yesterday: it has been confirmed by a certain group of people that I am, in fact, a pretty neat person. And now that neatness will be put to the test. I am excited, I am also a little worried. Mostly excited. I can't wait to share the news, but it'll be a while yet.
The odd news for yesterday: my boss was annoyingly distracted by the little ant bite scaring around my ankles.
The bad news for yesterday: nail trimming for puggies is not my strong suit. years of dealing with kitty nails and my own, you would think... so i read the directions, i consulted several knowledgeable websites, i handled the device carefully, and then (dun dun duuun), i snipped too close. given everyone's reaction it is possible i was under more trauma than Wilson. i don't think i'll be doing that again.
The comforting news: last night was night three with the new addition to our pack. for the first time Rico and I agreed on a good sleeping spot for him and everyone got a good night sleep. the first two nights, was pure hell.
Here's one of our first pictures of Rico. He loves to cuddle. He has to cuddle! If not, he'll gladly sit elsewhere but he will lick and lick and lick a nice wet spot. Just for you.
My birthday weekend started out with a bon voyage party for my friend Joan and her new husband Ron on Friday. They were married earlier at a ceremony in her hometown. The party was in Austin so we were looking forward to seeing her and my Austin friends.
Saturday and Sunday we spent with Jenny & CJ in San Marcos with a side trip to San Antonio. Of course, one of the best parts of the trip was meeting Miss Chicken Nugget!
Chicken Nugget is a fashion model and beloved pet chicken of CJ's.
Here she is in the sombrero we picked up for her in San Antonio!
And Mr. Darcy had to have his picture taken with it, too!
Nick comes home today after work to find the food bowl and part of the food bowl stand missing.
There's a leg. And there's another leg under the dining table.
And there's scattered dry food. Everywhere.
A bowl.
But the rest of the food bowl stand, and another food bowl are missing.
He looks, and he looks.
And there it is.
Under the bed. With Peanut's tags attached.
Apparently under one of Nutters routine 40 trips to the food bowl, his tags were caught in the stand. His struggle to free himself took him through the dining table, around the living room, and under our bed ripping out his tags from his collar. Poor guy. So traumatized, as soon as Nicholas got the food bowls all set up again, Peanut stopped in for another therapeutic snack.
A quick stop at the Petsmart tiny doggie isle brought us to the most appropriate kitty shirt ever! Peanut now has a little Old Navy hoodie and the signature Hieu-household black t-shirt. (Everyone in this house has a black t-shirt) He's not quite as dressed up as say... my friends's pets, but he's starting to build up a wardobe.
So here's Peanut in his new "I really don't like the vacuum" T, sleeping on his Ikea mouse in his Ikea tent.
Our very own Spaceman Spiff made his way into his dryer-capsule high atop the stacking washer/dryer and spoke a very heartfelt farewell to his fans and family. Wasn't sure where he was going this time, or if he would make it back home. He thought for sure, he would go somewhere never seen by any kitty in history.
At about 7 this morning, I heard the familiar sound of change jingling over by the dresser. And then some nom-nom sounds on plastic. I got up to see a little Peanut fiddling with Nicholas phone in the de-thinging tray, shoo'd him away and crawled back into bed.
Turns out, the boys were hungry. They were used to being fed at 7 in the morning during the week, and didn't fancy us sleeping in as their tummies rumbled. Peanut must have figured out that food came shortly after Nicholas' phone vibrated at 7am. Since it hadn't vibrated this morning, food wasn't going to be served. So he found his way onto the dresser and tried to revive said phone in the hopes of summoning foods.
And this whole time we thought he was just a box of rocks. Turns out, there's some grey matter in those rocks.
It was about to be that time of year for the boys. Time for a checkup and obligatory anti-cootie shots. Nicholas got them in their going-out clothes and I met them at the vet’s office yesterday. Peanut turned out to be the lady’s man. Soft as a bunny and oh-so-cute. His checkup went well. He gained a little weight and got a little longer it seems. Vivi’s checkup wasn’t so happy. He got the regular checkup plus butt-squeeze (to avoid future butt-sack ruptures). He also had to get blood work done to check for abnormalities that may be causing his IBS.
Lessons learned from this trip: Peanut does not like car rides. He has a genuine fear of the outside.
Today, Nicholas is taking Vivi back for more definitive tests and re-hydration. It seems that his thyroid readings were “questionable” which could be the reason why he’s been leaving puddles of pee in inappropriate places. We shall see. I love my little old man. It’s been 11 years. He better be around for another 20.
So that smellly stuff the guy sold me for my plants were just that: smelly stuff. After putting in a change of water, I put in half the recommended dose of the smelly goo and let the fishes be. I snuck out of bed at 1am to see the the night critters in the tank scavange for foods...
Only to find dead bodies.
4 of them.
According to one guy, the smelly stuff they sold me suffocated the babies because it pulled out the oxygen. Another guy said it was the nitrogen level. And then he told me that plant that looked eatened... does that on a regular basis. Then it comes back.
My babies died for no reason.
We're hoping there will be fixing of the situation. *crossing fingers*
My aquarium plantage has slowly being eaten away. And on a consulting trip to the Fish Gallery to ask if my new itty bitty algae eaters were the monsters responsible, I found a whole slew of new and exciting creatures to add to my growing collection!
I also found out it wasn't the teeny algae eaters, my plants were apparently under nutriented. That or the guys wanted to sell me more smelly stuff to put in the water.
I did actually go home with two khuli loaches. I apparently need a third, according to popular sources. But I also found out that this cool little aquarium store has all kinds of shrimp in all kinds of colors! Red, blue-ish grey, orange, peppermint striped, all kinds! I'm going to pick up a little tank and start me a collection of these little critters!
And a puppy. But I think Nick'll say no. To a puppy, not my shrimps. Shrimps = Good.
