I used to watch Saturday Night Live with my friends and many of my favorite skits involved Mr. Bill, so when I saw this toy for Chili Dawg, I just had to get it.   Never mind that my puppy has 37 toys (my daughter counted–yikes!).   The Mr. Bill toy actually says “Oh Nooo!;” how could I resist?

This is how I found the toy in the pet store:

Chili Dawg loved it.  It was his favorite toy and he carried around the house, room to room.

Just like the original Mr. Bill, the toy ran into some problems.  Chili Dawg chewed him up.  At first it was just part of a leg–not too bad, so I sewed it up.

Then it got much worse; Mr. Bill lost both legs and a whole arm.  Determined to save Mr. Bill, I sewed him up again.  You can’t hear it, but Mr. Bill is screaming “Oh Nooo!”

Chili Dawg played with Mr. Bill all day everyday, missing limbs and all.  Eventually he tore through my stitches and began disemboweling Mr. Bill.   We found stuffing all over the house and more than once Mr. Bill lost his voice box.   I heard “Oh Nooo!” coming from Chili Dawg’s crate while I saw Mr. Bill in front of me on the floor.  Chili Dawg was eating the voice box.

Finally, there was nothing I could do.  Nothing more to sew, nothing left to save.  Mr. Bill was completely flat, devoid of any limbs or stuffing, voice box lying on the kitchen counter, just an empty shell of his former self.

Reluctantly I threw away Mr. Bill, but I couldn’t throw away his voice box.  It’s still in the kitchen drawer.  Every once in awhile we hear a muffled “Oh Nooo!”.

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Today I’m participating in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop: 3.) It has been said that kids these days are pushed into too many extra-curricular activities and are not given the freedom to play and be bored and to use their imaginations. Is this true?

I dont’ know if this is universally true or not because I’m not all up in people’s business to know what their kids are doing after school, but I know that it’s not true of my kids.  I purposely do not put my kids in too many extra-curricular actives because:  A). I don’t like driving them to said activities and B.) I do think they need time to “be bored” and use their imagination.  Of course, this only happens if I restrict access to television and the computer.   But even during the summer months when they are mostly at home, they find things to do both inside and outside to keep themselves occupied.

In his downtime, my son has taught himself how to pay the acoustic guitar and keyboard.  He doesn’t read as much as he used to, but he has taken up reading Harry Potter to his sister, which means that the are spending time together as well.  I like that.

Both of my kids love to play with our puppy when they are at home; he’s like their own living stuffed animal.  When they are bored, they will pull out the Dog Tricks book and try to teach Chili Dawg a new trick.  Last week when we were snowed in, we taught him this trick:

My daughter is an artist and spends most of her free time creating.   She creates elaborate hairdos for her American Girl dolls, she makes friendship bracelets for everyone (even the dog) and draws for hours.  Here’s an art piece that she made from materials in the recycling bin:

One of her favorite made-up games is “Spa.”   Unfortunately for me this spa is more interested in planning and marketing than it is in the actual spa services; my foot rub lasts about 30 seconds. The creation of the spa is the most fun for my daughter: she creates an  elaborate menu of spa treatments, mixes up special lotion, fixes snacks, colors signs and even makes a credit card scanner.   The entire spa creation can take her several hours.   This was one of the ways that she kept herself busy during Snowmageddon 2011 last week.  And she sewed too.  She made pillows for everyone, a toy for Chili Dawg and this cover for my Apple keyboard.  It even has a velcro closure at the top.

See? Bored kids are creative kids!

Visit Mama Kat’s Losin It to write a prompt of your own.

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

I am not a Baby Person.  (I mean other people’s babies; of course I love my babies.)   I will pinch their fat legs and say “awww” at their universal cuteness, but I won’t ask to hold your baby.   I’m good.  I like my clothes without spit-up and prefer the smell of fresh air to poopy diapers.

I like dogs in the same way that I like babies: I notice, I coo, I pet them if they look well-groomed, but I won’t let your dog lick my face; I can only guess where his tongue has been.   I’m sure his breath smells bad and he may have fleas.

But my dog, MY DOG, I love.  I kiss him, rub his belly and snuggle his nose.  He may have fur (and fleas and stinky breath) and I know where his tongue has been (ewww) but he’s more than a dog to me, he’s family.  He’s home.

The last few years have been stressful for me.   It was pretty traumatic moving away from my beloved New Jersey town and although we have been in Georgia now for 7 years, it still doesn’t feel like home.   I live here, but I’m not rooted.   Adding Chili Dawg to our family last year made me feel a bit more anchored.

Of course I have a human family that I care for everyday.  I plan, I cook, I drive, I play.  I love and propel them towards their dreams.  It’s both what I love to do and feel called to do.   But they are humans and as such they are complex creatures intellectually, physically, emotionally and spiritually.   Those relationships are as rewarding as they are exhausting.

Humans: can’t live without ‘em and can’t throw yourself off a cliff when they get on your nerves.

But my relationship with Chili Dawg is wonderfully simple: I love on him and he loves on me.   That’s it.  No words, no deeds, no negotiations necessary.

That’s love.  That’s home.

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Every parent of young children knows that time of day called “the witching hour.”  It’s the time of day when normally sweet, adorable children turn into monsters and just wile out.  Tantrums, mayhem and general unruly behavior reign.  I survived that stage with my kids and was happy to have that unpleasantness behind me.

Except that I’m here again.  Everyday between 5-7 p.m. Chili Dawg loses his mind.  My normally sweet, doe-eyed cuddly fur-baby turns into a wild-eyed, stalking beast.  We call him Menace or Rascal during this time.  My friend Laura calls hers Damn Puppy.  Yeah, that works too.

Okay, maybe he’s not a menace to society, but definitely to my house!  He steals paper from the printer, he gets into the trash can, he digs at the rug, he shreds newspaper–he literally stalks the house looking for things to destroy.   Nothing is safe and unless things are placed on a VERY high surface, they will be eaten, torn or chewed.   As the sun sets my house echoes with shouts of “DROP IT!”, pounding feet and scuffling paws as the kids try to rescue whatever he managed to steal this time.   We’re hip to his game and batten down the hatches when he starts to prowl, but he’s a crafty one and finds new ways to wreck havoc everyday.

Usually we’re exasperated, annoyed and inconvenienced by his antics, but when I saw this, I was scared.

He stole the bottle off my bathroom counter sometime between 6-7 p.m.   I found 5 aspirin on the floor and could only guess that the rest (about 25) were inside Chili Dawg and the piles of vomit on my bed.   A call to poison control and the animal ER confirmed that it was serious due to possible kidney failure, stomach problems and bleeding out.

A quick visit to the emergency room turned into a 4 day stay in the animal hospital.  The vet called each time they instituted a new procedure.  And the business manager called to tell us how much it would cost.   My husband asked, “how much?”  And I answered, “You don’t want to know.”  Some things are best left unsaid.  Just know that it was lots and lots and lots of hundreds.

Thank God that we had the money to pay.  And thank God that I had the good sense to buy PetPlan pet insurance not long after we got Chili Dawg.  Because of insurance I didn’t have to make a decision about my pet’s medical care based on finances.   Chili Dawg was in serious jeporady and we wanted the vet to do whatever necessary to ensure his full recovery.  We were so scared and couldn’t even imagine our little boo hooked up to IVs in the hospital!

(Sidebar: this when social media becomes more than just cyber chit-chat; people in my networks were so helpful with information and supportive with prayers and thoughts about Chili Dawg.)

The vets and techs at Village Vets took great care of Chili Dawg (an awesome practice, if you are here in Atlanta) and PetPlan took care of my claim quickly and without dispute.  Within 11 days of submitting the claim, I had a check in my mailbox for the full amount of my vet and ER bills, minus the deductible.  Most pet owners I know don’t have pet insurance; they think it’s an unnecessary expense or that it’s a scam that won’t pay out when redeemed.  Well, I can tell you that it does work and it is worth having.

Chili’s first day home from the hospital.  See his bandaged leg and sad eyes?

As for Chili Dawg, after a week of recovery at home he’s back to his rascally rabbit self.   Just today alone he’s stolen several socks, my camera (!), 3 towels, paper, a dyer sheet, a stuffed animal, a sweatband and a pillow.  He’s a menace, alright!  But we love him so much and happy to have him back where he belongs.

*I bought PetPlan after careful and exhaustive research of all pet insurance, hoping never to use it, but thinking that it just made sense to have it.  I was not paid or prompted by PetPlan to write this blog post.  That would be ridiculous, of course, because I wouldn’t know if it worked unless my pet was ill, but I’m saying it anyway because you never know how some people think.  I only identified the company in my post because I was impressed by their customer service and fast response.  The moral of this post is to put all medication up very high–higher than you think necessary–for the protection of your pet and that pet insurance is worth the expense.

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.