Christmas Treats

It's the last Tasty Tuesday of 2013... can you believe it?  We sure can't!

Grampa Dan & Gramma Sue know the way to the Lapdogs heart... a big 'ole tin full of some of their favorite treats all the way from Charlotte, NC! 

The cookies are from the Canine Café in Charlotte and have been one of the Lapdogs favorites ever since I started bringing them home from vacation.  Unfortunately, we haven't been down to Charlotte since 2010, but Grampa & Gramma help us out.

Needles to say, this gift was very popular!  The Lapdogs are enjoying their Barbara's Canine Catering cookies, which are handmade and all natural.  I've had the pleasure of meeting Barbara in person a few times over the years when we've stopped in the store.  She's a wonderful lady and the Lapdogs say she really knows how to bake dog cookies! 

If you're in the Charlotte area, be sure to stop by the Canine Café.  And if not, they do ship!

Have a safe and Happy New Year's Eve, and please stop by and send some good thoughts to our dear friend Sugar and her Mom.  They are going through a very tough time right now and need all of the positive energy they can get.

Holiday Mischief

Happy Monday!  Are you all still enjoying the happy mischief of the holiday season?  This year we received some "vocal" gifts from the Lapdogs Gramma & Grampa in SC.  Let's just say, Tut was a little obsessed...

First came the musical gift card boxes for the humans.  As I was unpacking a big box of gifts to put under our tree, I accidentally set them off.  Tut came running and, well, it was a long night of Christmas music.  While he never quite learned how to make them play on his own, he properly trained Mommy to push the button whenever he nudge them.  And yes, this has happened off and on pretty much every day.  Apparently, my boy loves his Christmas tunes.

Then came the barking card.

I'm not sure he loved the barking card as much as the little music boxes of Christmas joy.  As you can see, he tried to bite it and learned to shut the barking up by closing the card.  At one point, he closed the card and nudged one of the music boxes.

While Tut was occupied with these little musical items for days, Lola held out for one thing and one thing only.  Unwrapping.

It doesn't matter if the gift is for her or not, she will gladly unwrap it for you.  Luckily, she doesn't try to unwrap anything until she's told it's okay.  Otherwise, we would have quite a bit of mischief and embarrassment on our hands.  Imagine coming home to a living room full of unwrapped gifts and having no idea who gave them to us... oy!

A short time before Christmas, we were informed by the great folks who run the Purina Dog Chow Families blogger program that the program was ending.  We had a great time participating, learning and sharing, and are sad to hear it's over.  However, we were I was very excited about the huge box the UPS man brought to us two days before Christmas.  And yes, I really mean huge.  Zeus didn't seem that impressed, but I sure was.

Check out all of the amazing goodies stuffed inside.

This human surely feels spoiled.  Thank you to Purina and the wonderful ladies who ran the program.  We received a Brookstone car organizer, 2 stadium blankets, rolling backpack, family game set, digital photo frame, all weather digital camera, digital video camera, leash and water bottle.

We sure hope you all had a little happy mischief in your holiday this year.  The memories made are truly priceless...

Black & White Sunday: Reindeer Style

Happy Sunday!  We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Three out of four Lapdogs posed nicely in their antlers, while Lola learned how to photo bomb... 

Merry Christmas

From the Lapdog Household to Yours...

 Merry Christmas!

Merry Little Eve

Merry Christmas Eve to all!  It's a busy day of wrapping and last minute preparations, followed by one of our family celebrations this evening.

We've had a little holiday destruction already   :::cough::: Sophie :::cough:::

I managed to get all of these hand-knit gifts completed and sent off... (there was a lovely cowl in the mix too, however I posted pics of Miss Lola wearing that several weeks ago)

Unfortunately, it does not look like we will have a white Christmas this year.  This prettiness from last week is gone.

First it turned to this...

And is now it's a muddy, sloppy mess.  I'm not supposed to be cleaning muddy paws in December, am I? 

Well, back to finishing all of the last minute to-do's, as soon as I can get Tut out of my lap....

Tut's Holiday Stress Advice

Happy Christmas week!  I hope you don't have too much left on your to-do list before the celebration begins.  I'm just happy our tiny little tree is up and ready to go!

A new ornament resides at the top, holding special meaning this holiday season.

 

While I had hoped to get a couple of reviews posted this week, things are just a wee bit crazy-busy around here.  Besides, I'm going to guess that many of us are - dare I say - too busy to spend much time reading blogs and reviews this week anyway.  So, we'll get back to our normal reviews and some great giveaways - ah-hum, Rachael Ray Nutrish goodies, cough-cough - after the holidays.

Did everyone get all of their Christmas knitting and other handmade goodies completed?  I ended up throwing in the towel on a couple of planned items, and I'm still working on one last gift in hopes of having it completed in time.

Have a safe and happy week, with as least stress as possible!  Tut reminds us all that sometimes, we just have to blow a few raspberries if we forgot to do something, buy something, or make something... keep it fun!  (My boy sure gives great advice, doesn't he?)

Driving By....

Happy Friday!  It's been a crazy busy week around here...

We've had snow...

I've been frantically trying to finish some last minute Christmas gifts...

And there's been a lot of cuddling going on... (yes, that's Lola under Sophie)

Enjoy the rest of your Friday.  We'll be wrapping....

The Antlers Are Back

Oh. Mmm. Geee.  Mama found da antlers again. ~ Zeus

Mischievous Babies

There's really not a whole lot of mischief going on around here today.  Well, unless you count last week's sleepless nights incident. Lola developed a UTI which resulted in a trip to the Emergency Vet for antibiotics and a couple of exhausted humans after those sleepless nights. She's doing much better now, thankfully, and the humans spent part of the weekend catching up on zzz's.

There's a little human mischief going on with trying to get all of our holiday preparations and shopping completed.  I'm sure we're not the only ones with long To-Do lists however, so instead of dwelling on that today, let's all smile!  I have a few foster baby updates to share and nothing puts a smile on our faces like cute, mischievous pooches, right?

First up is the tiny tot, Maverick.  He just got a new blankie and is all set for another New England winter...

Little Rosie is always getting into something!  Her Mama managed to snap this super cute pic of she and big sister Rascal snuggling in their chair.  Yes, I said their chair.  Don't you just love the cover? 

Not that I can't help but smile every single time I see photos of any of my foster babies, but there's something extra special about Booth, aka my little Boo.  Add in an adorable football costume and my face hurts from grinning ear to ear!

The beautiful Addie just celebrated her 2nd birthday.  She's such a big girl now!

And of course, there's Miss Belle.  If you read our blog regularly, you see her a lot ... since we get to see her all summer long at the race track!  She's truly a special little lady and holds a big piece of our hearts!

There's nothing better than getting a photo or update from my foster babies adoptive families!  I'm really enjoying their Christmas cards as they start to arrive.  We were not able to foster any babies this past year, but I hope we'll get back to providing a loving, temporary home to some special little tykes in 2014.

Black & White Sunday: Oh No

Happy somewhat snowed-in Sunday!  I'm very happy to have no place to go today, as I have a To-Do list that rivals Santa's Nice List.  I have never felt so behind with all things Christmas as I do this year... sigh.

Check. While the man is clearing snow, I managed to get our tiny little table top tree up and decorated.  While I would have loved to go back to our full size tree this year, I'm just not organized enough and time is running out. 

Check. Black & White Sunday post is up.

Zeus, "Oh no.... she found the damn antlers again."



Next on the list. Retyping my Christmas card list, which was lost on my old laptop.  Finger, toes and paws are all crossed that we might actually get our cards from Shutterfly tomorrow, or Tuesday at the latest.  They should have been here a week ago... but don't get me started on that.

I've got football on TV (go Pats!), dogs snoozing all around and lots to do today.  After the card list, I'm hoping to get some blog posts set up for this week (being back to work 5 days a week really throws a crimp in my style) and some Christmas knitting time in.  Enjoy your Sunday!

{This Moment} See Beautiful: Happy Knits, Happy Baby

Friday the 13th?  Hopefully it's a good day because I'm far too behind in everything Christmas this year to have any mishaps today.  I've never been so far behind and felt so unorganized as I do this year.  sigh...

It is See Beautiful Friday and we are once again participating in the {This Moment} See Beautiful blog hop.  There's something truly special and beautiful about giving gifts handmade with love... not only this time of year, but all year long.  

For this final See Beautiful Friday of 2013, I'm combining it with my knitting passion and Fiber Arts Friday... and get this, I actually have not one, but three finished objects to share.  I finally got the Chevron Baby Blanket off the needles, washed, blocked and delivered to a very special little lady!

Since I had some leftover yarn, I decided to whip up two simple hats as well...

The best part was delivering them to the precious recipient last week.  She's been snuggling with her blankie ever since and Mom reported to me that she loves to stick her fingers through the holes. 

Seriously now, have you ever seen anything so precious and beautiful?  I love knitting, and I love knitting for others.  Knowing my work is so appreciated and loved means the world to me.  This little Princess will surely have many more hand-knits in her future.

Now it's back to the Christmas knits...

Both projects are using bulky yarn which means I might will actually get them completed in time for gift giving.  My "want to do" list is much longer than I believe I will complete, however I will keep plugging away as best I can. {insert the "I will start holiday knitting sooner next year" statement here}

And, of course, no See Beautiful post is complete with my beautiful babies.  Apparently Zeus and Sophie smelled something beautiful when I snapped this one.  Enjoy the rest of your day!

One of These Things is Not Like The Others

Happy Hump Day.... let's get wordless!

*The "other" is a friend I made at Jenness Farm.  The make fabulous goat milk soap, lotions and lip balms!