Fortunate Friday

Hey It’s Jet here.

Sabre and Miss Susan of Long Life Cats and Dogs, way far away in South Africa, bestowed the Very Inspired Blogger Award on our blog!  Whoo hoo!  Miss Susan jumped right into blogging last month and has already amassed (vocab builder) several well deserved awards.  Her trajectory (vocab builder) went from animal lover, to adopter of “unadoptables,” to student of animal behaviorism, to shelter volunteer. From Miss Susan, “Long Life Cats and Dogs has been started, in order to introduce people to the lives of the people and animals in these shelters.

With a writing style like your favorite author, where you can’t wait to turn the page and stay up too late reading, Miss Susan tackles topics great and small, serious and light-hearted.  Recently we compared horrible buggy creatures; South African Parktown Prawns versus Miami’s Grandpa Palmetto Bugs!    Miss Susan also introduced Mom to a new fruit (Marula fruit) grown only in six African countries.  Mom included this info in her latest Kitchen Counselor newsletter.

The Rules:

Thank the blog that bestowed the award: check.

State 7 things about yourself.  (I’ll let Mom take this one.)

1. I wanted to share my life with animals since I was young; however, a family member had an allergy. I promised that when my life permitted, I would make up for lost time!
2. I committed to adopting or rescuing; which began with a kitten in college, a cat found on our townhouse roof during a hurricane warning when I was 25, then Puffy and Fluffy (dubbed Pluffy by Miss Mary Ann) in 2003, Koko in 2005, Jet in 2008 and now JJ in 2011. I’m a sucker for golden retrievers thanks to my Aunt Harriet, who allowed me to dog sit her “once-in-a-lifetime” golden girl, Brandy, during the majority of my teen years.
3. I try to volunteer as much as having 3-4 jobs will allow.
4. I miss pet therapy at the children’s hospital.  Now that Koko has crossed over the Rainbow Bridge and economic times changed, I will have to wait until another time in my life to pick that activity up again.
5. I’ve had a windy road career wise culminating (vocab builder) by becoming The Kitchen Counselor, my absolute passion.
6. I enjoy needle crafts like knitting and needlepoint, reading, photography, and wish I could travel, scuba, rock climb, hike and go to the spa WAY MORE OFTEN.
7. I think I need a weekly massage to help my hands and arms with all the writing I do!  I’m deeply grateful and appreciative for the warm welcome and comments of support for both Jet’s blog and all of my Kitchen Counselor writing.

Share with (Miss Susan didn’t tell us how many… since she listed six, we will do the same) six other blogs.  We’re sharing with some newer friends.

1. Clowie’s Corner – We have already learned so much from Clowie.  Transferred from England to Spain, I’m practicing my Spanish with Clowie and the humans are swapping food info!
2. You Did What With Your Weiner –  We love (and sometimes have pangs of envy) all the adventures Chester and Gretel share.  They have impeccable (vocab builder) fashion sense, attend parties, hike in gorgeous locations and dine at only the best dog shops.
3. Through the Eyes of Tweedles –  Tweedles published two books and writes with a poetic flare.
4. Saved by Dogs – Jenny, Gracie and Lil’s human writes, “This is a space for those whose lives would not be complete without their companion dog, or who have had or look forward to having a special dog friend in their life.”  They have felines, too, just like us!
5. Texas, A Cat in NY – We’ve known this feline awhile, however, he inspired us of late because he handled the traveling of his humans with class and dignity.
6. Bringing up Bella –  We admire her human’s description of the blog, “Bella is both fearful and reactive and I hope these stories will highlight her amazing resilience, joy and growth as well as my own learning curve as her guide through this life’s journey.”

Another great, very inspiring, day.

Advertisement

Wowee Wow Wow

Hey It’s Jet Here.

What a week we’ve had.  It started a little rocky with Monday’s Mischievous remote control, however, by midweek, Ish’s eggs were in the fridge, we found that cool swimming elephant picture and received The Sunshine Award from Savannah and the Liebster Award from my adopted, Little Sister, Poppy.  We absolutely LOVE sharing and passing the awards forward.

Mom’s week went well, too.  After six, yes SIX visits to the Division of Motor Vehicles, she finally received her new driver’s license yesterday.  (the issues were all paper and eyesight related, not driving test related, in case you were worried!)  She caught up on this stuff called bank reconciliations which made her face turn purplish on Monday.  She had three unexpected good things happen in Kitchen Counselor world. And… despite last night’s Heat/Celtic game results (congratulations Celtics, well played), so far, our Heaters are up 2-1 in the series.

JJ, Mom, and I had a few good things happen together.  We made three constitutional walks, two at night and one in the morning before or in between bands of horrendous downpours.  You know how um… uh… ok PETRIFIED I am about storms, so, we consider any time we can get out during this type of weather pattern a victory.

During our Tuesday evening constitutional, we noticed a beige, waterlogged little cutie running across a yard into the street.  Mom cajoled (vocabulary builder) it (him after further investigation) to join us.  Mom checked his tag and learned his name was Gizmo.  He looked like a pug wrapped in apricot poodle fur!  The tag only had a phone number and we left our phone home. He kind of looked like this except he had much curlier, poodle fur and he was missing an eye.

Mom rang the first bell and a nice lady (mortified of K9s) agreed to dial the number and then pass the phone to Mom.  We left a vm.  Mom, JJ, Gizmo and I rang 2 more bells until we learned from Miss Kitty at the 3^rd house she thought Gizmo belonged diagonally across the street.  We trekked over there and rang the bell.  A lady answered and confirmed Gizmo was hers.  She had looked and looked and needed a shower before looking more.

Mom told us how proud she was that we helped return a K9 to his loving family, creating a happy ending.

Another great week!

Thanks to Life With Dogs, Confessions of the Plume and Two Little Cavaliers for hosting the Saturday Blog Hop.

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Fabulous Friday

Hey It’s Jet Here.

As if Thank You Thursday wasn’t wonderful enough (see special awarded blogs here), my adopted Little Sister, Fluffy Popcorn (Poppy to her friends,) bestowed the Liebster Award on my blog this week.  Mom and I admit we have always been curious as to what Liebster meant.  Poppy, ever the curious K9, and her super creative Mommy, dug around and found out:

“Like most people who have received the Liebster Blog Award, Mom Googled to find out what “Liebster” means. 😀 This was what she found. “Liebster” means “beloved”, “dearest”, or “favorite” in German. The origin of the Liebster Blog award is somewhat unclear but there’s a general consensus that the award originated in Germany. The award recognizes bloggers with fewer than 200 followers.”

When you’re a bit newer to the blogging world, receiving this award carries such deep feelings of appreciation, acknowledgement and welcome.  The rules of the Liebster Blog Award only allows us to select 5 bloggers to pass this award on to.  With that in mind, we wish to share and pay-it-forward to:

• Savannah’s Paw Tracks  – A new friend who has taken the blogosphere by storm.
• 2 Brown Dawgs Blog  – We cannot tell how many followers they have, however, they saved my sister, JJ’s life!
• For the Love of My Dogs  – Miss Deanna saves K9s from the same place Golden Rescue South Florida sprung me from with 4 days to spare.  We admire her big heart and how she walks the talk to help K9s.  We hope we can meet her and the crew for a pack walk someday soon!!!
• Kol’s Notes –  Mom cannot tell how many subscribers Kol has; poor Mom, she tries so hard to be tech savvy!  We love Kol’s writing style and find ourselves giggling every time we visit. Plus, Mom LOVES to read anything having to do with food, cooking, etc… (she is The Kitchen Counselor after all!)
• The World According to Lexi  – Mom cannot tell how many subscribers they have.  We love Nitro’s story, his weekly park pictures, the farm pictures and what a special life Miss Christina provides for her 4 legged family members.

Hey:

• Rumpy ,
• Snoopy,
• Sugar ,
• Hawk ,
• Leroy ,
• Bunny,
• Henry and Zachary,
• GloGirly,
• The Creative Cat,
• Dr. Rayya,
• My Dogs Love Me  and so many other blogs which inspire us with your writing and creativity… your blogs are too big to share this award with!

Another great, thanks so much, day.

Mischief Monday – Mom Got Punk’d!

Hey It’s Jet Here.

Wish I could have been there to see this… I will retell as best Mom described the situation to Auntie Liz on the phone.

Mom waited patiently on Saturday morning at Dr. Shaffer’s to pick up JJ.  Lots of activity swirled around Mom:

• A Mom and a daughter brought in their big American bulldog named Disney,
• A man dropped off a small dog,
• A Father, son, and Grandmother picked up their rat terrier looking dog,
• Victor and two other vet techs periodically came out to take animals to the back, bring animals to the front or chat with the humans.
• Judy answered phones, prepared bills, spoke with humans, and greeted the animals.

Mom stood at the desk area while Miss Judy prepared JJ’s medicine labels and her bill.  Mom minded the time on her phone because she wanted to make sure she was ready for her 10:25 a.m. And the Women Gather blogradio spot.  (She broadcasts every Saturday for The Kitchen Counselor, take a listen.  I’m usually sitting beside her when she calls in for the show!)  Her written piece, wallet, and keys rested on the counter as she watched Miss Judy.  Miss Judy called the back with a “code 15” (I think that means pick up.)  Victor brought the K9 out the door and around the corner.  Mom rushed over to say hi, give lovies etc…

In her head she thought, “What did they do to her?  She looks a little different.”  About 30 seconds passed before the pooch went potty.  Mom looked at Judy and said, “what’s wrong? JJ doesn’t have accidents?”

The whole room cracked up laughing as Miss Judy said, “you’re right!  That’s because that’s NOT JJ!!!”

Well Mom cracked up laughing too and they replayed the scene over a few times explaining how JJ and Mikalia had runs next to each other and everyone thought they looked so similar they thought they would play a prank on Mom.

How’s that for mischief?

Another great, they got Mom good, day!

Thanks to Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog, My Brown Newfies and Luna, A Dog’s Life…for sponsoring the hop!  Click on any of the sponsors to join the hop.

Mischief Monday: Fine Motor Skills Required

Hey It’s Jet Here.

Last Wednesday night, Mom intended to get started on her Kitchen Counselor Servings Newsletter.  Instead, she spent 2 ½ hours on the phone with this person called Mr. AT&T.  We heard everything because she had Mr. AT&T on speakerphone.  This thingie called the internet connection wasn’t working.  She followed all of pleasant Mr. AT&T’s instructions.  He would ask Mom, “so, can you get online now?”  Mom would reply, “unfortunately, no.”

Mom:

• sat on the floor looking at the back of the thingie I try to melt into when it storms (CPU unit for you computer folks),
• played with lots of wiry thingies,
• clicked,
• rebooted,
• asked Mr. AT&T to check with his superiors,
• she had lots of that patience stuff.

Many times during their conversation, it seemed like Mr. AT&T spoke French while Mom spoke Portuguese!  (not really, you know what I mean!)

Anyway, somewhere during hour number two, Mr. AT&T asked Mom to check this modem thingie.  Mom realized he meant gateway and told him she would need to go into another room.

JJ and I dutifully followed Mom to lend support.  Mr. AT&T asked what color the lights were.  Mom said
green.  He asked her to unplug/plug which required Mom to figure out lots of wiry stuff again on the floor.  She did and nothing changed.  Then Mom had a technical epiphany.  Look at what she saw.

She told Mr. AT&T, reconnected the wire, and poof, everything improved.  She hung up with Mr. AT&T (after a bit more stuff that messed up other parts of her computer like this Outlook thingie).

Mom assumed her contemplative (vocabulary builder) face.  She looked at me, then JJ, then Puffy, then Fluffy.  This sizing up looking process took about 5 minutes.  The hour chimed 11:30 p.m. and Mom told JJ and I that we were off the hook.  She told chatterbox Fluffy that she knew he didn’t do it.  She glared at Puffy and said, “How did you do it this time? Only you have the fine motor skills to fuss with that wire, Sir Puffy.  Look what you caused.”  He stared Mom down indifferently, feeling quite proud of his technical skills.

Another great wiry day.

Thanks to Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog, My Brown Newfies and Luna, A Dog’s Life…for sponsoring the hop!  Click on any of the sponsors to join the hop.  (Unfortunately, WordPress does not accept the coding.)

Food Network Mischief?

Hey, it’s Jet Here.

Did you notice we did not post yesterday?  I thought about raising a ruckus with Mom until I heard her conversation with Auntie Liz.  On Saturday, Mom had this exciting opportunity to attend a taping of a Food Network show.  Since Mom is The Kitchen Counselor, you can imagine how appreciative she felt towards my Tia (Aunt) Maite’s sister-in-law, Veronica, who provided this invitation.  Well, Mom knows a bit about tv production and thought the filming might run a bit late.  The call time of 11:00 a.m. turned into a real filming time of 3:30 p.m., finishing at 6:30 p.m.

Mom then ran home to feed and quickly walk us and off to the hospital she went to visit my Grandpa.  She finally returned home at 10:30 ish, kindly (if belatedly) walked us, had dinner and began preparing for the Farmers Market the next day from11:30 p.m. to 12:15.  We went to sleep around 1:20 ish and woke up first at 4:36 and rested (well tried) together until around 6:00.

Mom intended to go to Publix at 7:00 (really went at 7:30), arrive at the Farmers Market promptly at 8:00, work until 1:00 ish, walk us, visit Grandpa, return home in time to feed us dinner, and take my dictation and post late, but POST.

Food Network mischievously changed all that!  Mom greeted Veronica in the parking lot and saw my Cousin Christopher too.  He was the paramedic on the set both days.  Mom was as proud of him as Tia Maite would have been if she was there.  Everyone at the Market pulsed with excitement with the anticipation of being on tv!

The shoot time of 9:00 a.m. became:

• Probably 11:00, maybe 11:30,
• We’re deciding where to film, should be about 1:30 p.m., no… make that 2:00,
• Production assistants popped up, some standing guard like casual soldiers in the designated filming area and some scurrying talking into their walkie-talkie mikes like secret service people saying probably 3:00,
• Assistant directors, culinary production teams, wardrobe and lights arrived around 3:30, really soon, sorry.
• Filming began around 4:00 and went to 7:00 ish, with almost all the vendors gone!

Mom arrived home pooped, ate dinner, made her calls and fell asleep on the couch watching… Food Network of course!

Another great culinary day (for Mom!)

Thanks to Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog, My Brown Newfies and Luna, A Dog’s Life…for sponsoring the hop!

Eat Mom’s Books

Hey, It’s Jet Here.

A while back, Mom came across a wonderful website for her Kitchen Counselor newsletter, Servings, as well as her personal cookbook collection called Eat Your Books.  The premise:

• You input the names of cookbooks, magazines and blogs that you follow,
• When you want a recipe, you can search all of your personal sources in seconds,
• If you want, you can then grab the source in your own home!

Mom reads A LOT.  She describes her speed as that of a turtle, however, she happily travels down the pages one by one, whether the page belongs to a book, magazine or a computer screen.  She always has reading material in bed, using anything from a strand of yarn to a magnet, to a laminated style bookmark.  Over the years, I may have, on occasion, batted a book with my paw, or swished one with my tail sending them flying to the floor.  One of my more mischievous moves would cause the book to fall behind the bed.

Mom recently finished two books by this guy, Clive Cussler.  She loves his books when she needs a fast read.  Since she follows several of his series, they feel like old friends.  Auntie Liz gave her a book by Geraldine Brooks called People of the Book for Hannukah.  Mom began reading it last Sunday night.

Day one: Mom’s yarn bookmark went missing.  JJ and I blamed the felines.  Day two: Mom replaced it with a bigger, sturdier bookmark.  Day three: Mom went to read a few more pages before bed and this is what she found.

Now, I’ve already confessed my literary adventures, so I’m not throwing anyone under the food bowl, but…. It wasn’t ME.  I would suggest it might have been a reddish/golden K9 of the female persuasion.  Mom’s a trooper, she’s gently continues turning the pages.

Another great, literary day.