Spay/Neuter-Rama

Well today was the day of all days. I decided to get Smartie, Abbie and Jerry all "fixed" over this vacation from school since we would be able to monitor them and make sure they did not lick or chew on their incisions etc. I originally for an estimate of $1300 from my regular vet all three dogs together. I thought this was kind of pricey as did some of my friends so I figured I would ask my friend from "dog class" who is a vet at North Shore Animal League. She almost had a heart attack.
So PS I canceled my appt with my vet and I was now getting up at 4:30am today to get all the dogs to North Shore by 7:15am so they could all be "fixed" good and proper and I wouldn't have to get ripped off. I took Tom and Jerry to my parents, left Tom there (he is already fixed), got Abbie and Smartie, switched cars and made it out to Port Washington on time. It took 2 hours to examine and get bloodwork and check for heartworm which wasn't even in my vet's original estimate. These alone would have tagged on an additional $100 a dog at least. So everyone gets their pain meds and is zonking out as I leave and I get a phone call from Paul to come home because my car deal is going through!

So I drive all the way back to my mom's to get the title for my trade in and head to the dealer. I left Port Washington at 10:45am and did not get to the dealer until 1:15! It took 2 hours at the dealer during which is when I got the phone call that everyone was out of surgery and was awake from anesthesia and doing well. It is now 3:30, my mom's car is out of gas practically, I haven't eaten and I am supposed to get back to pick up my dogs between 3 and 4 and I am still sitting at the dealer waiting for stupid stuff almost 2 hours away from my dogs! I only got to sit in my car for a minute or two before I had to leave to get my dogs. I figured Paul could get the rest. So he got to drive it home and to a party I ended up totally missing :( because I just couldn't fit it all in one day.) I made good time back to the vet arriving by 5:10 with a stop for McD's and fuel and everyone got a nice dose of sleepytime pain meds for the ride home. The trek to my mom's wasn't too bad because everyone slept so we did the car and dog switch-dropoff and Tom, Jerry and I finally headed HOME!
We arrived at 7:15ish and I am going right to bed. I am not even going to wait up to see my new car. I will check it out in the morning. So in the end the vet trip to my friend out in North Shore (and there isn't any special discount applied except a $10 off coupon for additional dog that anyone can get) came out to be $584 instead of the $1300 + I would have been charged had I gone to my regular vet. I cannot say that I didn't spend the difference when I bought my new car today..... but on a normal day that would have been a great savings! Thanks DR. LAUREN STEIN VMD (Tom, Jerry, Abbie and Smartie's (well maybe not Smartie's ) favorite vet!

My New Car!

Well after my car practically drove off the road during the last ice storm and lost its power steering and heat/fan/air conditioning cooling system not to mention the car had 140,000 miles on it we decided it was time for a new car. So Paul and I spent he better part of the last two weeks trying to figure out what car works best and then beating down the dealers for a good buy and with a lot of patience, and great guidance from Keri, Paul got to drive my car home from the dealer today. (I was already gone to pick up the pooches from the spay/neuter rama- see other post) So I have a brand new silver Honda CR-V!

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a great day. We were very busy. Last night we had a huge feast with our good friends Mairanne and Dominick. Dominick's parents and grandmother cooked a delicious Christmas Eve fish dinner complete with four pound lobsters that were DELICIOUS! Even Paul ate some. We tasted homemade wine and ate and ate until all our sides hurt. When we got home we opened our presents since we wouldn't have time on Christmas and the dogs had as much fun opening theirs as we did ours. Tom really got into the idea of stepping on the paper and ripping it to find a ball or toy or cookies. Now I am sure I am going to find ripped packaging all over the house. I better be careful. Christmas Day was very busy and we started off at my parents house with my sister and Kevin for brunch. It took so long to open presents. There were so many. All the dogs got so spoiled too. Paul and I cooked and it was nice to leave the mess behind! Sorry mom. I am sure Jeanine didn't hold up on her end of her the deal to do the dishes, but at least the food was great! My sister and Kevin headed up to Kevin's family and we then headed over to Paul's parents to celebrate Christmas there with his family. We had a great day and the prime rib dinner was delicious. (The ribs the next day were even better.) We opened presents and then when Paul Jr. arrived we opened more presents. After a brief hiatus we switched into birthday mode to celebrate my mother in law, Christine's, birthday. Paul's aunt and uncle and cousin came to celebrate too along with his cousin Michelle and family from Kentucky. Finally after yummy cookies, cakes and what else, more presents, it was time to pack it up for the day. We had to peel the dogs off the carpet they were so tired!

Not Just Another Cute Face.....

I couldn't resist putting another pic of my adorable cousin Lorelei onto the blog. Thanks fave cousin in law Bill for sending me the pics since someone else stopped sending pictures..... hmmmm who could that be??? I love you anyway cousin. At least you live close enough now for us to come and take our own pictures!

Holiday Cupckaes

I was pretty busy and I got kind of lazy the week before Christmas but I still had to make cupcakes for my class. This is all I could muster but they still look cute.

Pictures with Santa Paws

Abbie, Smartie, Santa, Tom & Jerry

Today Paul, my dad and I ventured out in the elements for our annual holiday photo with Santa Paws. We realized this year was very different from years past- we now have double the dogs we had before. It had been Ranger and Smartie and then last year it was Smartie and Tom but this year it is Abbie and Jerry's first Christmas so now there are four!. What a time we had trying to get them all to fit in the photo. Everyone was so good and sat and behaved. Abbie was a little antsy and Tom is very camera shy but we got a lot of great shots. Unfortunately when they tried to print them out everyone was cut off so we had to take them again. Then the fun began. Tom and Jerry were watching the out of control dogs dragging their owners around the aisles and refused to look at the camera. Santa accidentally unleashed Abbie and she was loose for a few moments and didn't waste a second trying to escape to her Daddy who was holding the cookies. Samrtie started barking and only wanted to look at my dad so he had to practically stand on top of the woman taking the picture. It was comical but I have to say that while I waited for my photos to print I watched several other people and their pets get photos and many of the animals were out of control and didn't even know how to sit. The workers were very impressed with our pets and said that we had the most pets in one picture and we were one of the best behaved. They didn't think we could pull it off but here are the pics to prove it. Happy Holidays!

I liked this one because no one was looking anywhere near what they were supposed to be looking at and Santa's eyes are closed!

Congratulations Smartie Jones

Smartie Jones age 3 1/2 years old passed her AKC Canine Good Citizen and her Therapy Dog Test Today. So she is now certified to go into libraries to work with children in Reading to Rover programs, hospitals to work with sick people, rehab centers and nursing homes to work in other capacities. We are so happy for our friendly, lovable Smarto! Hopefully next year I can put Tom through the program. The recommended age for Border Collies is three because of their high drive.

Happy 16th Birthday Paul Jr.

On December 20th Paul Jr turns 16!!!!! So this weekend we celebrated with a little party with family. Here are some pics. from the day.

There is going to be tough competition at my house between Paul and Paul Jr now with this new system.

A new coat and hat from Grandma.

Bad Boy Jerry

Jerry wearing Paul's half eaten pj pants.

Well for those of you who received the Christmas card that said "Santa, we've been good all year...." Jerry just may have been telling a lie. Although Jerry has been easy to train mostly because he is very smart his little genius schemes have gotten him into big trouble. He is crated during the day while we are at work and he has figured out a way to "reach" things (usually articles of clothing) hanging from the closet, across the floor, the laundry basket, a few feet away from his crate and weave them through the bars and eat them. Not entirely but usually enough so they are ruined and no longer wearable. When we arrive home we find the clothing stuck in the bars of the crate and Jerry runs and hides because he knows he is in BIG TROUBLE. We have moved his crate numerous times but every couple of weeks he is back up to his old tricks again. So of course days after I sent out the adorable Christmas cards what does the little bugger do but eat Paul's pajama pants out of the laundry basket at least three feet away from the crate. We are convinced he gets mad at whoever locks him up in the morning and then spies for something that belongs to them. He then moves the crate during the day to get closer to the object until he can reach it. I know it sounds far fetched but he does this often. We couldn't figure out a good way to punish him aside from putting him in his crate until we realized he doesn't want anything to do with the object once we find it. So after we found Paul's pajama pants half eaten, Paul made Jerry wear them for the rest of the night. Jerry was horrified. He wouldn't get up off the floor. He laid on the floor motionless and watched Tom play. Maybe this time he will learn not to eat our clothes. For those of you wondering Tom is wonderful he does not eat clothes or anything else. But, he is probably sleeping on the bed all day because we keep finding tennis balls hidden on the bed.

Welcome to the World Drake Salvatore Maiolo!

Paul's cousin Kathleen and her husband Christopher welcomed a baby boy born at 10:41 PM on Wednesday November 28, 2007. He weighed 9 lbs 2 oz and was 20.5 inches long. Isn't he a cutie!

Fox 5 Update

Thanks to all of you who emailed after watching and yes Tom has decided he will give autographs only to those of you who will play ball with him! j/k For those of you who asked for the direct link to the segment click on the link FOX 5 SEGMENT on BIOFEEDBACK

Winter Coats

I know it's hard to believe that Tom and Jerry could actually need a winter coat with all the nice weather we have been having but I don't trust it to stay this temperate for too long. Soon enough there will be snow and ice and they will be out there at 5 am freezing their you know whats off. Yes it really does get COLD up here where we live. So we(Tom, Jerry and myself) went shopping and Tom and Jerry tried on coats and Christmas sweaters at the pet store so they would be all ready for the winter and the holidays. And for your information I was not the only psycho in the store with my pet trying clothes on them. There were several others. One had a whole cart of clothes! Anyway some nice little kid thought this was the coolest thing and didn't want to have anything to do with her mom shopping for cat food so she came over and helped try clothes on the dogs too. The dogs were so well behaved and let me try on a bunch of coats. Poor Jerry he is like the tall skinny kid that has to get the big size but it's too big! Here are some cute pics of them modeling their coats off at home.

Happy Turkey Day

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had a pretty quiet day. Paul and Paul Jr worked out in the yard trying to tackle the never ending piles of leaves for most of the morning while I wrestled the turkey in the kitchen! I definitely got the better end of the bargain because they also had to entertain Tom and Jerry and the never ending game of ball.. ball.. ball.. ball.. You get the picture. My parents and sister came for dinner and Kevin- Jeanine's boyfriend came over for pie and cheesecake later on while the girls sat around the store circulars plotting our "Black Friday" escapade. As for the famous "Michelle" cheesecake which is only famous because Jeanine and I eat almost the whole thing ourselves every holiday and have to start the day off with a ceremonial slice as soon as we both arrive at the location of the celebration. It has become a sisterly bonding tradition that our thighs could not be without or at least our stomach doesn't think so or is it our mouths?? It was delicious as was everything else and I am not saying that because I am the chef! And yes even the dogs ate some too but no turkey only the veggies and potatoes.

As for the holiday shopping my mom and I are just about done. Maybe one or two little items left to get and that's it. We conquered Black Friday!

Fox 5 News

A doctor I have been seeing for my migraines primarily to learn Biofeedback techniques was chosen to be taped by Fox 5 News' Dr. Sapna Parikh for an upcoming segment she will be doing on the benefits of Biofeedback. The doctor had to choose a patient to demonstrate these techniques on and to be interviewed and she chose ME! The best part was that the news people wanted to tape a part about me and "my life" (specifically something that I may not have been able to do if my migraines could not have been controlled as they are) so I chose to be taped with Tom and Jerry of course. So today we went to the park and played psycho frisbee and ball and did tricks for the camera. Tom and Jerry even ate cookies off the camera's lens! They were so cute and Dr. Parikh wanted to walk Jerry and he--> all thirty strong pounds of him dragged her petite little self all over the field. They were very cute. The interview was hard though. I didn't think I would be nervous but I really was. I could almost feel a tension headache coming..... :) Then the session at the doctor's office where we demonstrated some of the breathing techniques went great. I guess it will be weird to see me with all that stuff on me and my eyes closed (what I really look like) I wore black to look skinnier! :)

The day was so nice to be off. I really did miss my class though. I worked so hard last week and all weekend for parent conferences and tomorrow I have a late meeting and I will end up working most of the aftenoon so I kind of felt like it was a deserved day off but I was also really happy to help out this doctor. She is really great and had helped out a lot this summer during our really unfortunate time. Before I left though I made sure Dr. Parikh (the Fox 5 medical reporter) had my contact info because I want to see if I can get a class trip to the news studio out of this deal. At least I won't feel so bad about missing a day on my kids.

So as for now the segment is scheduled to air next Tuesday, November 20, 2007 on the 10:00 News and then the next day on Good Day NY. It will also be on the website http://www.myfoxny.com I will keep you posted if the date or times change.

AND YES BIOFEEDBACK REALLY WORKS. They didn't make me say that either!

Cousin Ben's Blog

You must check it out. He is the hippest dancer I've seen around. And cute too. I can't believe how much he has grown since my wedding. He was such a little peanut then. He is still little but he is certainly moving and "grooving" his way into toddlerhood. Hopefully we will all catch up soon with the Indiana crew. We miss you guys!!!!

Ben's Blog

Cousins David and Grace

Here are some recent photos Grace and David. They are Michelle and Nathaniel's kids who live in Kentucky. Paul and Michelle are cousins.

Read more about David and Grace at http://www.michellemccallum.com/

Our 1 Year Anniversary!!!!

Happy Anniversary to US!

The Best of Lorelei

Jeanine and I had a great time entertaining our three year old cousin or may I say she entertained us during our other cousin Bridget's baby shower. She is a true charm. She had us in hysterics the whole time. I wish that all three year olds could be that much fun all the time. She is always fun to be around.

Sabrina & Mike's Wedding

Paul and I went to Sabrina and Mike's wedding last night out at Jericho Terrace. Sabrina used to work at PS 182 and we miss her so much........ The wedding was lovely. Sabrina looked fabulous. We had a good time. Here are some pics from the event.

The girls from 182

Tom's Q Ribbon

Yeah I know. Tom got his first Qualifying ribbon three weeks ago and I have been too LAZY to post. But hey better late than never. All four pups were out on the job today doing a demo for PCOTC at Webb Field for the Parade of Pets which was a nice opportunity for my dad and I to work on our agility with Tom, Jerry and Smartie. Abbie had a nice time walking around greeting everyone with Jeanine and Kevin since she isn't on the agility scene yet. They had a great turnout and it wasn't too cold so it was nice. It was kind of sad though because last year I brought Ranger to this event. It was one of the last outings she went on before she died.

Here is a shot of Tom doing an agility demo for PCOTC at the Guiding Eyes for the Blind Walkathon Fundraiser at FDR Park on October 7th. This photo was courtesy of their photographer.

Photos from this Weekend's Trial

Here are some photos from this weekend's trial courtesy of Barry Rosen Photography. I will upload some of Smartie's as soon as I get my hands on the CD. My dad and I had montages made and I will be putting Tom's first "Q" ribbon in with the montage in a shadow box to display on the wall. I can't wait to get one of Jerry now. He is still too little to compete, maybe by next fall.

Way to Go Tom!

Today Tom had only one run at Contact Agility Trial in Carmel where he did a wonderful job behaviorally FIRST because that was our goal and then he managed to come in second place while doing so because he had a super clean run. We lost some time on weave poles because I forgot what I was taught just the other day as a neat trick (always the handler's fault.........) so we were 3.81 seconds over time and no Q but hey we got a big red ribbon and I think Tom looks really proud of himself. We have three runs tomorrow so hopefully we will do just as well and maybe even better.

Marianne' s Breakfast & Babycakes

Us girls at work decided to throw Marianne a little surprise congratulations breakfast now that she has officially announced to everyone that she is having a baby. Claire and Yvonne organized. Sandy decorated the teacher's room in the brightest of yellow and everyone came to celebrate. We were all probably late to get our kids too! eek! I wanted to make Marianne something very cute so I decided on the baby cupcakes. When I saw the picture it looked very cute especially all the different expressions the babies had- smiling babies, sleeping babies, cooing babies, crying babies... Well I kept it simple just sleeping and smiling ones, and hopefully that's what she will be blessed with a lot of- sleep and smiles.

Dom's Yummy Tuna

Check out the tuna tail up top!

We were invited to Dom and Marianne's tonight to celebrate Dom's first tuna catch- a whopping 60 pounder. Although we ate nowhere near that amount it was very tasty and Paul even liked it and he hates fish! We had a great time realaxing outside as the weather is getting cooler and Tom and Jerry tried out their new ex-pen. We made all the dogs do some crazy stunts and ate some more of Tom's delicious cake. Hopefully Dom will catch another one soon! Hint Hint...... :)

Happy 2nd Birthday TOM!!!!!

Jerry and Tom

Today was Tom's second birthday and we celebrated by taking the dogs to the farm for apples and donuts (for us.) They just got to be petted and enjoyed the warm weather. We are trying to socialize Jerry because we found he is terrified of small children particularly little boys. It could be because he watches my neighbor's son across the street for countless hours each day screaming, carrying on and playing loud games with his toys, throwing things and making quick movements jumping from rock to rock. So anyway we managed not to eat any small children on our trip although Tom almost took out a chicken which surprised me because he used to live on a farm. When we came home Paul and I had Tom's yummy cake (his party theme was pirate since he is going to be a pirate for Halloween) and he and Jerry got some rawhide snacks. Then he got his new soccer ball and his new frisbees. What more could a Border Collie want. And no neither dog went anywhere near that cake. They know better than that!

Tom's Birthday Butcher (hair)Cut

Well I thought today was going to be a great day of cleaning, shopping and catching up with the fall decorating after I dropped off the pups for a day at the doggie spa. (ok just kidding- I took them to get a full service groom at a local place) I figured I could use the time to clean the house top to bottom without the dog hair recollecting behind me as I vacuum since they would be gone for four hours. I thought I was pretty specific with my instructions of Tom's haircut- trim underbelly hair and cut hair around his rear end and rear legs very short. I even signed the line where it said I did not want my dog shaved. Why then at 3:20, a half hour before Paul was supposed to pick them up was I getting a call that said Hi we are calling to verify you didn't want your dog shaved. I said NO I did not want my dog shaved, I left specific instructions on what to do. Is everything ok. They said yes everything is fine. We have your instructions right here. I asked if the dogs were behaving. They said that the dogs were perfect. Ok so then I get a call from Paul upon his departure from the store without the dogs because they were not finished that Tom was partially shaved! WHAT! My poor dog. The person who entered the info into the computer entered the WRONG info and it wasn't until the woman started shaving Tom on his neck that she thought that this might be a mistake since it was not that common for Border Collies to be shaved. HMMMM Good guess. I am glad they used a seven blade or something and didn't do too much so it isn't that noticable. It really isn't that bad and he sort of needed a good cut (NOT A SHAVE) but I made them give me a discount because I had to drive out of the way to go back to get them since they weren't done earlier. He was such a trooper. He will look so handsome for his birthday tomorrow even though he is missing a good amount of hair on the back of his neck and the top of his head. I guess he wanted to be a smoothie like Jerry!

Tom after his haircut