Three in Tennessee

We're just wondering if Libby Lou looks more like a Shih Tzu (or Sheezu as Tatum would say) or a very tiny Alpaca?! There was some questionable haircutting at her last grooming appointment. Probably not the groomers fault as Libby had some serious tangles on her chin and face. She also acts really wild and crazy when a comb or brush is within two feet of her facial area. So, the groomer shaved her face. It's okay, it will grow back by prom.

I'm supposed to be outside mowing the weeds... But how can I go out there knowing that this is inside?
After all the smiling, kicking and arm waiving, Tatum was tired. Felicity grabbed her favorite toy and joined her for an afternoon nap. Hey, Where am I going to sit?

At this rate, I may never mow again.

Our poor, little Felicity had to go to the vet this morning. Last night we noticed that her left eye looked kind of "squinty". Then we slept in (way in) today and by the time we got them out of the dog den, it was after 11:30. One look at my girl and I called the vet right away. They close at noon on Saturdays, but told me to come on in. Feliciteetu was so happy to be in the car, but was not happy to go to the vet. Dr. Hall at Blount Veterinary Clinic diagnosed her with a corneal ulcer. He gave her two different kinds of drops and told us to watch the eye closely. She'll have to go back in when the drops are finished. Hopefully it heals quickly or she'll have to go back in before the drops are done. Dr. Hall said that corneal ulcers can be caused by just about anything (being scratched, rubbing against something, having a hair in her eye, etc...). So, I've done the eye drops once since we've been home and so far she acts more like me when I need eye drops than Matt. Thank goodness! Matt doesn't like eye drops at all. He usually turns away right when the drop is going in. My little trick, that is hard to do with a dog, is to look towards your nose and then put the drop in at the other side of your eye. That way you can't really see it. It's kind of hard to do that with Matt when his eyes are closed! :) My dad used to do that, too. Too funny!

Anyway, since Felicity isn't able to give Libby "the glare" right now Matt and I will have to amend the words to our version of the Walker, Texas Ranger theme song. Our version, The Eye of the Shih Tzu is Upon You, is about Felicity glaring at Libby while Libby is eating or just bothering Felicity. :)

...cause when you're at the food dish look behind you...cause that's where the Shih Tzu's gonna be.

Here is our first quilt for our future baby! Matt's mom, Linda, makes a quilt for every grandbaby. She's been working on it for a while and gave it to us when we were in Iowa. I picked out the colors and let Linda loose to do the rest. It's so nice and really well done.

As you can see by the pictures, "my assistants" were very excited to have a new blanket in the house. I don't know if anyone elses dogs are like this, but if there is a new blanket or something really soft around, they will find it.You should have seen them during the garage sale. Did we ever tell you about the time some of Matt's gym shorts fell out of the laundry basket? The dogs laid on those shorts for a week. We didn't have the heart to put away the shorts. The only reason Felicity is not in any of those pictures is because she was being very obedient and "stayed" off the quilt. :) Anyway, back to the quilt, I told Grandma that her granddogs would give it a little loving if I let them. After pictures, we put it up so the Sweet Tus will not think it's theirs. Maybe we should have her make granddog sized quilts?!?

Here are some pictures from our trip (I can't seem to line them up right...maybe Matt will fix it).
Libby with Grandpa (Matt's dad).
Lunch out with my mom, dad, Aunt Buelane, Uncle Johnny & Peg.
Felicity taking a turn on the treadmill at my mom's - it was her favorite napping place!
Francie in the car and ready to roll!

We just returned from a trip to Iowa/Nebraska. We left last Thursday, June 14 and returned home Monday, June 18 - it was a short trip with lots of driving, but it was worth it. Matt was in a wedding in Nebraska. He got to catch up with some friends there and also eat at Runza, one of our favorite NE spots. I got to spend time with my mom and we took my dad to lunch on Saturday. That went well. After Matt returned from the wedding, spent time with his side of the family. Swimming, hanging out, etc...it was fun. His neice and nephews are really growing up. Austin (17), Max(9) and Bella(7) truly make us laugh. And it's not fake laughing - it's genuine. Matt said that Bella said "first of all" several times during one story. No second of all, thirdly, in closing, etc...So, that's our new thing. First of all...

The dogs were all packed and ready to go with us! For the most part, they stay in their dog den in the car, but on the way home, Francie looked terrified after Libby had barked in her face for the 19th time (seriously, we counted) so we let them sit up front with us. Probably not the safest move, but Francie was actually shaking. We do not know exactly what prompts the random, really short, snarky barks. At no time has Libby been touched, poked, rolled on or looked at by the other two dogs. And yet, she barks. We counted on the way home and after 14 hours we were at 21 barking episodes when we pulled in the driveway - then she did it ONCE more before getting out of the car for a grand total of 22 times. We don't know if she feels inconvenienced or she just wants attention. Hard to say.

It's good to be back. It may take a few days to recuperate from all the driving! We are having our Adoption Fundraising Garage Sale this weekend. It is going to be great!

We made the determination that we either needed a full-time canine stylist to continually put Libby's hair up in a Pebbles-esque pony tail, or get her hair cut. We are happy to report that the hair shortening procedure was wildly successful thanks to Concord School of Pet Grooming.

In a related story, Libby has eyes. We suspected sonar, but eyes have been confirmed.

Alright. We had quite a traumatic evening on Saturday. It was more like a traumatic 20 minutes. I would rank it right up there with the 2 times Matt has had an allergic reaction to some unknown substance and the time Francie ran around our old neighborhood for 45 minutes and we couldn't find her. Ok, so here it is...

I guess that Libby was feeling extra free/spunky/adventurous/liberated this weekend...I let Francie and Libby out on Saturday while Matt and Felicity were watching tv and I was going through some adoption literature in the kitchen. A little while later Francie was standing at the back door all by herself. Matt let her in and couldn't find Libby in the backyard. We threw on our shoes and ran out the door. I went out back behind the fence and Matt ran up the street and went on our normal w-a-l-k route. There was no sign of Libby anywhere. I just kept thinking of how little, teeny, tiny she is. She could easily get lost somewhere. Or someone could find her and just keep her because she is so sweet. I know I'm biased, but the general consensus among our peers is that she is a super, sweet girl. Anyway, Matt and I met back at the house about 10 minutes later. Still no Libby. That is when the hysteria set in. We got in the car and drove around for about 10 minutes. We were very afraid of what we might find. We drove on the busy roads by our house and looked in all the ditches. I was trying to figure out how we could get to Kinko's to make posters while still looking for her while it was light out. I was about to start knocking on doors when we pulled up by our house. Just then Matt's phone rang. Libby had been found! Thank goodness for that nametag we got at PetSmart. That was the best $6 we ever spent. I'm pretty sure the people on the other end of the phone heard me sobbing. Seriously, I think they did.

Apparently, Libby had found an opening near the fence gate and got out. She walked all the way up our street and hung a right. She is not a grasswalker (usually) so she probably walked in the street like it was no big deal that a furry, super cute 6 pound dog was just wandering around the neighborhood. She had actually walked quite a ways. We pulled up to the people's house and I had to refrain from running up and hugging all of them. I was still crying so hard that I could barely talk. They said that they saw her walking and she came "trotting" up to them and was so sweet. She was wagging her tail and playing happily with everyone. We talked with Libby's rescuers for a minute while I toned down the crying and then we went home.

I know that Libby was only gone for 20 minutes, but it felt like hours. So...I'm super glad that we bought her a nametag and I'm very grateful for the kind people who found her and called us. The end. :) See it was so traumatic that I don't even have a good closing statement. Oh well...

In light of the weight of the previous post, here’s something to smile about…

It has been one of Teri’s long-time dreams to film “Air Bud XVII – The Fast and the Furriest.” Air Bud was not available, so Teri cast Francie as the lead.

Breathe easy, the dogs are not usually accessorized. This shot was taken leaving the groomers.

Meet our shi tzus *read sweet tus* Felicity (right) and Francie (by power of deduction, left). They are both rescues and very much part of our family.

We even have the bumper sticker that says "My shi tzu is smarter than your honor student." Teri won't let me put it on the car, so it's on the fridge.

I just wanted to provide fair warning - you'll prbly be reading a lot about them here.

Besides the paperwork, we've been keeping ourselves busy with our dogs.

We added one to our bunch in May. So now we have Felicity, Francie and Libby - those names will make sense to any JJ Abrams fans. If you aren't JJ fans, then I'll explain. All 3 names are from our favorites shows - Felicity for the show Felicity, which is more my favorite show than Matt's, but he has endured many an episode and even bought them for me on dvd; Francie was a character in Alias and Libby was in Lost. I started the obsession with Felicity and Matt ended it with picking Libby's name. We are maxed out on the dogs and JJ Abrams names right now. All 3 girls are so much fun, laid back and sweet as can possibly be.