Sunday Shenanigans.... Aka - Dog School Adventures

So Ned has been with us a few months now, and one of my promises to Luke if I got another dog was that I would enrol him or her in obedience classes. So last week, Sunday 3rd April, we started with the Shepparton and District Dog Obedience Club.

The first class came at a bad time, we had finally arrived home at 2am the night before from 4wding, and after a cruddy night sleep on the Friday, a 7am wake up and get organised was not looking good...

Class for new dogs starts the first Sunday of the month at 9am, We had to be there at 8:45 so by 8am we were all loaded into the Pajero raring to go. Achy after my fall the day before I was really dreading school, I had no idea what to expect considering Ned had only been socialised with other dogs and travelled in the car when he was in the pound and when we brought him home.

We got less than a km from home and I was already asking to go home. Ned kept sooking and barking and howling, even though we were paying him attention and had his favourite toy with him. So we pulled over and he sat in front with me. Things went a bit smoother from there and we arrived at dog school about 40 minutes later.

I went in to enrol and pay membership fees while Luke walked Ned around the oval. I was gone less than 20 minutes but by the time I got back to Luke and Ned he was at the end of his tether and was struggling to keep him under control. Ned was extremely excited (understandably). This was where I took over and as instructed inside walked Ned amongst the other dogs. This was to encourage socialisation and calm him down. We were going well until he met a massive doberman looking dog. It was HUGE. Ned instantly collapsed, rolled over, tounge hanging out his mouth and closed his eyes - he was playing dead!! I couldnt stop laughing at him! I am annoyed at myself for not getting a photo of this, the big dog kept sniffing and then when Ned thought it was safe he jumped up and went to keep socialising with other dogs "more his size"

The first lesson went ok, considering my eyes were hanging out of my head I learnt lots. We studied how to get our dogs to sit, heel and also do a right about turn and then were congratulated on our efforts and sent home to practice. Ned and I practiced madly for 10-15 minutes each day, heeling (walking alongside) then sitting, then heeling and then a right about turn and before we knew it week 2 had rolled around.

This morning we were running late, I had trouble getting started so early on a Sunday morning. My body kept telling me "But its the weekend stupid!" We arrived spot on 9am and had no time to socialise or calm down. It had been raining overnight and the wind was freezing! The lesson started with recapping what we had learnt the previous week. Of course because Ned hadnt had a chance to socialise he wanted to play with his new friends and was not interested in heeling or sitting or turning around. This went on for about 10 minutes before we moved on to our next lessons - Getting our dog to stay, come and do right angle turns. WOW. I was so scared Ned would bolt away, but it was nothing like what I expected. We had a hold of he dogs leads the whole time and by the end of the lesson Ned had no qualms in staying and then running to me when called. I can't wait to see how he responds in the future and eventually off the lead!

So I guess so far it is all good.  I must admit by the end of the lesson we are both buggered. Ned and I both crash in the car and Luke enjoys some silence for the trip home, then Ned and I both had a few hours sleep when we get home!

I will update you all again after our 4th lesson. The "beginners" class goes for 4 weeks and then we are graduated to the next level if we want to. After 6 weeks of dog school they hold a graduation ceremony too. Fingers crossed we both have the patience to make it that far!

You can find more info on the Shepp Dog Obedience Club Here
Ciao for now

Fave Flicks Friday - Fast and the Furious

What a great idea, all come together on our blogs and review our favourite movies... Thanks Mez! x


I'm a car fan, and can appreciate a great Aussie actor, so today I am going to rave about the Fast and the Furious series.... What more could you want, Vin Diesel... *drool*...... Paul Walker *mega drool*... and hot cars (which even though the effects are unrealistic still look awesome!) A typical car enthusiasts favourite movie The Fast and the Furious film series consists of five street racing films produced by Universal Studios, with a sixth installment on the way. (WOOHOOO!) While none of the films have had very high critics praise, all of the films have been top grossers at the box office, proving that you dont have to please the critics to be able to make money ;)

Who could say no to these hotties?

And as Dom (aka Vin Diesel) says in the first movie ": I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters: not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free." I think I could live by that....


More drool pics to finish my post:

So if you havent yet, I reccomend you see it - even if only for the perve factor.

Ciao for now,

Our latest family member.. Ned

If you follow my blog, you would have seen that a while ago our baby girl Patch was hit by a car. This left us feeling a huge empty spot in our lives, and I was at the point where whenever a friend spoke about their pups at home I would burst into tears. It had only been a week but we talked and decided we needed a new friend to love and spend our lives with.
I didnt want to just get a puppy, I wanted to rescue a dog or puppy from a pound or rescue centre. This is when we met Ned.
He was a 5 month old "Bitsa - x" and located in the Shepparton pound. Huby thought he was cute so we bit the bullet and went to meet him on our lunch breaks one Friday.
He was very friendly, and quite happy to recieve belly rubs and pats. I fell in love. Obviously, he was not Patch but he was another pup, in need of a loving home. We decided to talk it over during the weekend. It was the longest weekend I have experienced, umming and ahhing, working out if we really were ready for a new addition or if it was too soon. So many people had different opinions and it kept clouding our decisions. It came down to the Sunday night and I had told the lady at the pound we would let her know either way Monday. I was still feeling the emptiness and not 100%. I went and sat at Patch's grave and talked to her. I think speaking it aloud helped me make the decision. It was when hubby came out and found me chatting away with Patch at her gravesite that we made the decision - Neddy would be coming home with us for a trial, if he chased too much or was too into the cars that went racing past we would re consider...

Monday morning arrived and we went our seperate ways, Luke to work and me to a driving course. I was looking forward to calling the pound and telling them we would take Ned home. 8:30am arrived and of course I jumped on the phone - I may have been a bit early as they didnt answer,  so I tried again about 8:45. Emma answered and I told her we would love to take Ned home and will be in later that day to pick him up.
The pound closed at 4 so I had to finish what I was doing early and head over to sign some papers and then take Ned in the car to pick up Luke from work. 3pm finally arrived and I headed off to the pound. Once the paperwork was completed I was taken out the back to collect Ned, He was very excited to be leaving the pound, though kept stopping and checking over his shoulder as if he expected someone to come after him. I reassured him and he trotted to the car.
At first he was hesitant, but then he got into the car and we went off to get Luke.

We got to Lukes work and he still had a bit of time until he was knocking off. So I took Ned for  a walk. He loved it, and this is where I first noticed his trait - one ear stands up and one ear flops most of the time!!

Once Luke finished work it was off home to meet John and Julie and explore his new home, and hopefully meet our cat Ginge without upsetting him!

Fast forward to today, Ned has been with us about a month and already made himself perfectly at home. We have managed to train him not to chase cars, and he no longer shows interest in anything going past on the road - such a relief!! Our next adventure is to complete dog training. We start the first week in April (provided the course gets enough interest to go ahead!) I have many funny (and not so funny) stories about Neddy already, though if I was to sit here and type them all you would probably fall asleep before getting to the end of this post... I'll save the stories for a rainy day :)

It is nice to get home and be met by a dog bounding up the path towards you. No matter what mood I am in it always makes me smile. Even better are the cuddles whilst sitting outside on the lawn giving Ned belly rubs. He (and Ginge cat) are our only babies for now.

I'll leave you with two of my favourite dog related quotes:

"There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face." -- Bern Williams
"No animal I know of can consistently be more of a friend and companion than a dog."
- Stanley Leinwoll

 

Until next time

x

My first ever girls weekend away...Palooza 2011

So it has been a few weeks, and I think I am recovered enough to briefly recount the awesome weekend that was Palooza. I've been inspired reading Kell's posts, though mine will just be a quickie for now!

I don't know where to start, from the moment I picked Kell up Thursday night until the moment I arrived home it was the best weekend I have ever experienced. My body ached in places that I had not known existed from laughing so hard and my face hurt from all the smiling I was doing for days afterwards. This was my first ever girls weekend away - and will definitely not be the last. It was just what the doctor had ordered :) We left Thursday night and came home on Sunday arvo.  

I think Megs enjoyed her trip too, When I learnt Megan wouldn't be able to join us, I made a cardboard version of her, and man did she get around the place! We spent parts of the weekend posing cardboard Megs in various situations and places and taking photos and sending them back to Megan, hopefully next time she can join us for real.

The humidity made us wonder whether our pilot had gotten lost and landed in Singapore as it was bloody horrible!! We had the coolest flight attendant ever on the way up to Sydney. We flew Qantas so of course, free booze - woohoo! When she came past the first time I excitedly told her it was our girls weekend away.... (I was a tad like a kid at Christmas and very excited to be on the plane and headed to Sydney finally) So then she came back not long after with some more wine.... and then a while later with some more wine and some pretzels.... SCORE!!!!

The accommodation was fantastic, right opposite Hyde Park, beautiful views and an awesome air con. We participated in some awesome activities - from Jet Boating, to Burning the floor at the Retro club, and shopping at Bondi Junction what more did we need?!

The only thing I really think what the hell about the whole weekend is the freaky people we encountered..... I swear we had a freak magnet on (not naming any names) It ranged from the tour guide who was victim of the energy vampires to the taxi driver who told us we deserved our husbands to cheat on us because we had gone away and left them, and that they probably would cheat because all men are bastards, and to trust him because he is a man, and then there was the receptionist at the motel who thought we were offering manicures (with arms full of Adriano Zumbo goodies) rather than asking where was good to go and get Mani/Pedis..... There were certainly some characters in Sydney!

I also got to finally meet some of the wonderful NSW girls, from both Twitter and I-do forum days. What a way to top off the already epic weekend, meeting characters who I had conversed with online for the past 6-7 years in person... wow! (By the way, if you are reading this you are all just as gorgeous in real life xx)

So its a bit of a ramble, but that is a basic overview of my very first girls weekend away. I may return to post some of the stories in more detail but for now, Thanks for a SENSATIONAL weekend Fleur and Kell :)

BRING ON PALOOZA 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Farewelling my best mate. A tribute to Patch.

I'm having a hard time at the moment, and I thought writing it all down may help.

On Tuesday the 8th of February at approximately 7:05am I had to say farewell to my baby girl Patch. She came in to our lives in June 2009 after a friends fiance found her chained up and left in the Mall in Shepparton. Her fiance wouldnt let her keep Patchy girl so along I came :)

It took some major sucking up and convincing on my half but I won, I finally had a fur baby of my own to love and cherish. We brought her home on the 25th of June. She was about 3 months old. I remember hubby was very anti puppy, and we had specially taken the old wagon in to have her sit in the back on a blanket. When we went to pick her up after work she wouldnt sit in the boot, she kept sooking, so I got to keep her on the front seat with me. Of course I was so excited, and kept praying she wouldnt pee on me, but it was from then on that our bond formed.

Patch wormed her way into everyone's heart. She was anyones friend. All you had to do was give her a pat and from then on she would follow you everywhere.

She picked up some fantastic tricks during her time with us. One of which included playing soccer. We started this with the golf ball, then a tennis ball, and then when we realised she didnt like returning them we brought her a soccer ball for her first birthday in March 2010 so that she could continue to push it around the yard and we could chase her having a laugh and getting fit at the same time

Patch made many friends. In particular she took a liking to our cat Ginge and our friends boxer pup Moe. Quite often when the cat was outside we could hear hissing and fast moving claws on the ground. That often meant the dog was trying to play with the cat but the cat didnt want to play!!!! Then there were other times like the image below, where you would look out the window and see the two of them laying peacefully together.

Whenever we were heading to Barooga, we would try and take Patch with us to play with Moe. The two of them got along like a house on fire and it was quite funny to watch them play.

Patch was always there for us. One of my fondest memories is one where I had been going through a tough time, so I would go outside and lay on the grass staring at the sky, Patch would quite often come over and lay her head on my chest for a head rub while I vented. It was asif she was listening to all my problems.

She was also a great helper dog, Whenever Luke was working on cars, or loading or unloading the wagon or 4WD she would be there ready to "help". Whenever we loaded bags into the car, she would jump in the back and look at us as if to say "Ok where are we going" She always followed Luke to the shed, and would sit staring at him as he worked away on an engine, or worm her way under the car as he did some work...

Patch would have been 2 on the 16th of March. She will forever live in our hearts as our gorgeous ever cheeky and affectionate "pupstar"

Thanks for reading,

New Year, new me....

So it's the New Year, usually that means New Year resolutions, but not for me this year... sure I have goals for the year, but I have not made them just because it was New Years Eve and everyone else made some....

This year my focus is on health & well being, along with our future.

I have made reasonable weight loss goals, and hope I can stick to them & raise the quality of my lifestyle so that I'm not relying on a gazillion pills every day to get me though and so that Luke and I can enjoy the rest of our lives together without worrying about my next specialist appointment or blood test results.

I feel like I have let fibromyalgia take over my life, I just gave up for a while, this year things have changed and I am taking a stand against it.

One of the things that will make life easier is to loose weight, and get moving in the pool. So step one is taken, I have re activated my gym membership and will be going back to aqua twice a week. I am hoping to loose at least 5 kg by April 1st for a glamour shoot I was given as a birthday gift, then I want to be 110 kg by June 30. Reasonable goals to start with I think, with healthy eating and exercise I believe can achieve them.

I hope you will stick around and join me as I embark on the journey that is 2011, Happy Belated New Year to all!

Thanks for reading,

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Stylish Blogger Award!

I'd like to thank my mum and my dad for having me, my husband for putting up with me..... oh whats that? I dont have to give a speech? Ok... I''ll just get on with it then shall I?? :)




I am so excited to have recieved my first ever blogging award from the gorgeous Megs at Truly Blessed Life. Her address: http://trulyblessedlife.wordpress.com/


Thank You Megan!!!!


In order to recieve this award I have to

• Thank and link back to the person who gave me the award
• Share 7 things about myself
• Pay it forward to 15 recently discovered bloggers
• Contact those bloggers and let them know about the award

So I have thanked Megs above, but I will do it again... THANK YOU MEGS!!!
Without further rambling....
Here are 7 things about me:

1. I am a Scorpio
2. I wear glasses
3. For once in life, I am happy in my job.
4. Icecream needs to be enjoyed slowly, I can not bite into them and when hubby says "hurry up" I eat them even slower ;)
5. I once was so desperate to get over the flu I grabbed an onion from the kitchen, cut it up and left it in the bedroom. I was over it in 5 minutes due to the stench and threw a perfectly good onion out.
6. I have fibromyalgia. It doesn't stop me from living life, but can be a real pain (literally) on the bad days.
7. Everytime I watch Luke race at the drags, or on the track, my heart leaps up into my throat and I occasionally close my eyes. Thank god for video cameras and cameras with "burst" photo option LOL!!!

Now for the 15 bloggers I have discovered:
Life in Cats Pyjamas: http://lifeincatspyjamas.blogspot.com/
This Little Piggy: http://libbylittlepiggy.blogspot.com/
Confusion Soup: http://confusionsoup.blogspot.com/
Fat Mum Slim: http://fatmumslim.blogspot.com/
Lucy in the Suburbs: http://lucyinthesuburbs.blogspot.com/
Life as Kir: http://kirrily.blogspot.com/
Renee's Ramblings: http://ren76.blogspot.com/
Mental and Mundane Madness: http://mentalmundanemadness.blogspot.com/
Feisty Kel: http://feistykel.blogspot.com/
Racheous: http://racheous.wordpress.com/
Mez: http://mezhead-dayslikethese.blogspot.com/
Liz: http://thisthatandeverythingelse.wordpress.com/
Budget Wedding Planning: http://budget-wedding-planning.blogspot.com/
We heart Life: http://weheartlife.com/
Bits and pieces of J: http://bitsnpiecesofj.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading,