It Happened Last Night

Yesterday afternoon the dogs caught me. Caught me wrapping up their Christmas toys! Dogs don’t miss anything! A simple crinkle noise from a package, sends them running to investigate. I sat on the rug in the living room wrapping up each new squeaky toy, rope pull, and stuffies, while they hoovered over my back the entire time. I was caught, but I continued to wrap!

But I made a mistake. When wrapping up a larger stuffie, I pushed down on it while wrapping and it “oinked”! “OMG” I thought and I turned around to look at Nikita and Bella and they were close to drooling! Their eyes were glazed over and the moved in to sniff the wrapping paper. I can’t believe that stuffie gave me away and squeaked on me! (darn stuffie)

I did not think much about the toys after I placed them in their Christmas stockings and a few under the tree. The dogs sniffed their stocking a few times then followed me into the kitchen where I continued on with my holiday baking, and was glad to know that I got everything all wrapped.

Then last night after dinner, Nikita went back into the living room and never left. She just sat there, in front of the tree and her pink Christmas stocking and looked at it. I watched her as she scooted closer and closer to her stocking. Then she laid down right in front of the tree and stayed there the entire night. We thought it was the cutest thing we have ever seen, a dog who was getting excited about Christmas presents. I went over to check on her and she looked up at me with those sad puppy eyes as if to say “can I have that thing that oinked?” What a sweet dog. I tried to explain to her that Christmas is not here yet, but all she did was look at me with that sad look on her face. All she wanted was that thing that oinked.

It was time for bed, and Nikita was still laying under the tree, where she had been laying for hours. I had to do something. I picked up their toys under the tree and removed the stockings hanging on our stocking holder and carried them into another room. Nikita followed. I gave Nikita a hug, kissed her on her nose, and told her it would be ok. She went into the kitchen and laid down.

I was just amazed on how persistent she was on keeping an eye on her presents under the tree, after one of them gave themself away by oinking. (darn piggie)

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Happiness Is Found In The Little Things

I started the journey of Christmas wrapping the other day. I take my time. I make presents look pretty, beautiful, to a point where some don’t want to open them to ruin the beauty, but they do in the end. (I used to wrap my one brother-n-laws presents to his wife because he knew of my wrapping talent and he wanted the gifts to look awesome – she never knew)

Anyhow, I came to the end of a roll of wrapping paper, and Nikita noticed. I think she was lurking behind the couch to watch for it, and would not put it past her. She walked over to me as if to ask “may I have that?” and of course I gave it to her because I know of her love for cardboard tubes. She drools over them, no really, she does. She has also been known to sit for a long time in front of the counter in the kitchen, just looking at the paper towel roll that’s almost empty. “Not yet” I tell her, and she walks away, but looks over her back just to make sure.

After Nikita got her wrapping paper tube, she runs to her bed, a safe place, to guard her new toy from Bella. She watches closely where Bella is.

She then grabs it and runs into the living room to have some fun. She definitely knows how to keep her toys balanced!

Here she is practicing to be a baton twirler!

Who said you can’t snuggle with your toys. Can you see Bella’s head in the photo? She is waiting for Nikita to drop her cardboard.

Bella Boo always wants to be the life of the party, time to strike a pose!

Hey, get the camera back on ME!

After some time rough housing with her new toy, happiness finds time to nap. It is the little things in life that matter the most…even a cardboard tube can bring out happiness. (but, I am sure that Nikita walked back over to the counter to check on the status of the paper towel roll!)

Wordless Wednesday

It’s Wednesday, and you know what happens here on this day of the week – – the garbage man cometh and the dogs are always waiting for him!

Nikita and Bella love to sit at the front door and watch the neighborhood, and it appears that they miss nothing. Just like the little spider that was crawling down the front door that they noticed.

I love our dogs!

Changing Into Another Season

Summer is gone, but I am not even sure that we even had a Summer over here. This was a strange Summer as we did not have the typical temperatures we normally do. The garden suffered a little with all the rain we got, but it is still alive and producing all the Juliet Tomatoes we could ever wish for. The pepper plants are doing well and we have been enjoying all the home grown peppers in our meals.

Out of all the pumpkin plants that we had planted, we only got two pumpkins out of that entire batch. We are bummed, but we think that perhaps we planted too many in one area, so next year we will do half the amount. We could have had a few more pumpkins this year, as we had lots of pumpkin vines crawl up the back fence, then fell due to the weight of the growing pumpkins and the vines got cracked, and that did them in. By the way, the adorable “Pumpkin Patch” sign was a gift from our neighbor Steve! (Thank you Steve for such a wonderful gift!)

The Cleveland Browns beat St. Louis on Sunday 26-24 on their first home opener game, and they said that this is the first time in ten years that the Cleveland Browns won on a home opener. Amazing! It was a nail biter game, but a win is a win, and we’ll take it! I took advantage of cheering on the Browns to a win by dressing up our Skellie as he sat in the front yard waving to everyone who passed by the house. The funny thing is, is that when I brought Skellie into the house afterwards, I sat him at the kitchen table and left him there overnight. When I woke up the next morning, he scared the crap out of me because I thought someone was sitting at the table! LOL  (never will do that again)

With the changing of the seasons from Summer to Fall, we need to take advantage of this time of year and start clipping the seeds from all of our flowers and save them for next year. I have a huge supply of Marigold seeds that I have harvested & dried for next year already. Once your flowers die back, make sure you clip off the dried flower and extract the seeds. Let them sit out and dry thoroughly, then label a small baggie and place them in there for next year.

I hope to get a few more Fall Mums from the garden center because I want to place them in this wood box that I painted & stenciled for the front porch. My little yellow mailbox already adorns a nice purple mum too! One of my nice huge paper mache pumpkins is also on display here!

Nikita and Bella must know that the season has changed too, because all they pull out of their toy box are their Halloween toys! Their favorite one is the huge stuffed pumpkin that they always play tug-of-war with!

What is going on at your end of the world with the season changes? How are you enjoying the Fall season?

Wordless Wednesday Photo Bomb

Some times, it’s the silly things in life that make you laugh the hardest.

Birthdays Make You Smile

I’m so happy because I just celebrated my 4th birthday this month!

Oh what fun I had on my birthday! I can’t stop smiling!

Other than Mommy making me wear this stupid birthday hat (like she always does), my day was awesome. I can’t believe she made me go outside so other doggies could see me in this ridiculous hat. How embarrassing!

You can’t look mean while growling at another doggie when you are wearing a birthday hat! I can hear them laughing at me under their breath.

I got lots of toys for my birthday, including some tennis balls. I demolished this one in about five minutes. I guess they don’t make tennis balls like they used to, eh?

I got to play with and chase lots of balloons that Mommy blew up for me! She even tried to make some balloon animals with these skinny ones, but all they did was pop! I guess it was not as easy as it looked in the directions! LOL

Here I am taking a rest from all of the fun I had on my birthday and sat by the back door for awhile. Mommy followed me around all day taking pictures of me, but that is what she does best. She always make me feel special on my birthday.

What do you doggies do on your birthday?

Happy Birthday Nikita

Nothing brings so much love & happiness into your life, like having a dog by your side. Our sweet girl, Nikita, is celebrating her 4th birthday today, and she has brought so much joy into our lives since we rescued her.

Nikita came from litter of seven pups, and after they were born, their Mommy was poisoned with anti-freeze and died, and the pups were in dire need of help. The APL rescued all the pups and saved their lives. A foster Mom named Brea, took all seven of the pups into her home and fed them around the clock so they could be nice & healthy.

I remember the day we first saw Nikita. We were heading into PetSmart for kitty food and noticed that the APL had a pet fair going on in the parking lot. We decided to go take a look at all the little kitties and doggies before we headed into the store.

We saw a bunch of fluffy puppies and had to go see them. Nikita was the first one we picked up and she gave us kissies all over our face. We were hooked. We adopted her right there on the spot and our lives changed forever, not to mention, hers. Nikita found her forever home and happiness!

I could not ever imagine life without this sweet girl in it, as she brings so much love and happiness to our lives. So Happy Birthday Nikita, you’re four years old today, and we just wanted you to know how much we love you! We have done so many silly things together, we dressed you up even though we knew you tolerated it for our sake, but you have always been by our side and showed your love and affection, and every night since we rescued you, we snuggle together before we fall asleep. We love you with all our heart Nikita!

Wordless Wednesday

Some times, you just have to “roll with it”.

 

Wordless Wednesday: This & That

Summer brings so many unexpected joys! Soak them all in and enjoy the little things in life that make you so happy!

Nikita enjoying a nice warm evening out on the lawn with us watching the traffic.

Nikita saw “another doggie”.

Bella just “chills” when she is outside. Her face says it all. “What’s Up?”

Blue Hydrangea, oh so beautiful! I want these too! Look at all those buds!

Pistachio Hydrangea! We saw this at Lowes and I want it so badly!

Woke up the other morning and saw one of the dog toys sitting in the bathroom. I loved how the shadow of the alligator reflects on the side of the bathtub.

Our froggy made it to the backyard and somehow he crawled up onto the netting we have over our flower garden. He is so talented that he could join the circus!

It’s the little things in life that matter the most.

Wordless Wednesday

Nikita is fascinated by paper. Period. I can crumble up even the smallest piece of paper and she hears it… and wants it badly! Then stares at me until I give it to her to play with.

The skies offer a wide variety of views lately.

This little fly landed on the front door while I was looking out.

That’s me in Grandma’s gazing ball in her backyard.

Bella always gives me this look – “It wasn’t me”.

Let the woo woo’s begin as the garbage man cometh, all heck breaks out! The mechanical arm on the garbage truck drives Nikita and Bella crazy.

Seeing this on a daily basis always cracks me up because little Bella Boo can barely see out the bedroom window. Best buddies forever.

Pledge For Pets Fundraiser Results

The 9th annual Pledge For Pets Fundraiser was held this past Friday & Saturday at the APL and it was all about the animals!  The grand total that the APL raised for their event was $84,518.33, and Nikitaland’s total fundraising amount was $1,175 !  Thank you again for those of you who helped us raise this much needed money to help those animals in need and we hope that they all can find their “forever homes”.

When we first arrived at the APL, I needed to turn in all the checks and cash that I raised offline, so Nikita and I headed into the Cash Room. From the second we entered, Nikita got tons of hugs from the volunteers at the APL, and lots of belly rubs too! As you can see, Nikita is not shy from asking for belly rubs!

Glenn Anderson from Q104 just loves our dogs and he always makes sure that he poses for a photo with us!

Bella was a little shy at first, because there were just so many people at the APL, but she quickly warmed up to everyone and won their hearts over.  I can’t tell you how many people approached us and asked if our dogs were up for adoption! What?!  It did not surprise me that they asked this, because the APL had lots of other dogs walking around that were up for adoption and I guess Nikita and Bella just blended in. No way would we ever give up our beautiful girls to anyone!

Bella took a pee break outside and strikes a pose!

Nikita met another new friend named Katie.

Our local radio station, Q104, was at the APL hosting the event and as always, they did a super job in broadcasting the event and getting the word out about the importance of how your donation impacts an animals life. Alan Fee, Glenn Anderson, and a newbie intern always make this event so enjoyable.  They even got the intern to sit inside a dog cage to help collect “cage sponsors” and I even walked over and gave the intern a doggie treat while she was in the cage.

After we spent a few hours watching the live radio show, it was time to head home. We knew the dogs had enough and were tired, so we packed up our things and journeyed home.  We knew the dogs would pass out when they got home.  When we got into the car, Bella decided that she wanted to drive home.  Nikita took a nap in the back seat.

We are so proud to be a part of this event every year, as it means so much to us, and we are so thankful for everyone who helped us raise the much needed donations to help the animals find love, happiness, wellness, and a forever home.

We hope to see your continued support next year! Hugs from all of us at Nikitaland!

Say “Cheese!”

P.S. – FYI, Saturday, May 3rd was also our five year anniversary too!