Tuesday, February 24, 2009

This is why I need to hire a dog-walker...


And now, let us all pause for a moment of silence, to mourn the tragic and sudden death of Froggy. I came home tonight to find that he had... wait for it... *croaked* after being lobotomized by Snuggles. Poor Froggy. He was a gentleman of a frog. Perhaps a bit (ahem) *stuffy* at times, yes. But he lived a good life, albeit short.

Witness, if you can stomach it, the carnage...













Yahweh be praised, Sheepy was mercifully unharmed in the bloodbath. Although, for quite some time now he has been mysteriously missing both ears. I like to refer to him by his Spanish nom de plume, "La Oveja Sin Orejas," just cuz it sounds so poetic and rhyme-y and stuff.


Methinks it's time to hire a dog-walker to come and take the Burgle-Bean for a long walk on the days that I have class. Ya think?

Monday, February 23, 2009

Rachele and Snuggles Sittin' in a Tree...



Those who know me well know I lost my heart in Perú last summer on a mission trip. I brought home a new outlook on life, unforgettable experiences and lifelong friends. My best friend from Lima, Rachele, came to visit a couple weeks ago. She stayed in my ridiculous pink guest room and we had the best time.

Rach

(A.K.A. Rachele Alesandra Franchini Cueva)


Here we are, sitting on the giant shoe at City Bites. You know... the giant shoe that has a sign on it that basically says, "Don't Sit on the Giant Shoe!" Not to worry, the guy working there said it was okay. Probably because Rachele was hot and had a cute accent. :o) Just guessing. BTW, the only thing cooler than regular-sized Chuck Taylors is a giant Chuck. And the only thing cooler than a giant Chuck is a giant Peanut Butter Swirl cookie from City Bites. But only because it can be eaten and a giant Chuck cannot. Well, I suppose it could but, um... ew.





Peruvians are some of the most loving and genuinely dear people I've ever had the pleasure of being around. While Rachele is like a sister to me, I have not yet been able to meet her family. Still, they sent with her the most lovely gifts for our family. I can't wait to meet them in person because I already love them. If you want to learn the true meaning of AGAPE love (I've got that on the brain since it was the topic of yesterday's sermon), go to Perú. What I see in Rachele and the other peruanos I met last summer is what Jesus talks about when He says to come to Him like a little child. In these precious, precious people I see such a childlike wonder and innocence. It's almost too hard to describe what I mean by that. But those who got to meet Rach while she was here--my family--and friends, can attest to it.
At the Melting Pot


One really cool thing that I got to witness while Rach was here was her warming to Snuggles. If you can even believe it, "pit bulls" have an even worse reputation in Perú than they do in the U.S. Hard to imagine, I know. When Rach first arrived I'm pretty sure she was scared of Snuggles. I could see it in her body language. He would jump up to greet her (I know - I'm still working on that with him) and she would go completely rigid, turn away and sort duck away from him. And when I told her he was a pit bull, she was astonished. And a little freaked out, I think. She said, "I can't wait to tell all my friends at home that I was around an actual pit bull!" When she told a friend at home that she was staying with a pit bull, he said, "I'm scared! He's gonna eat me!" I hated that Rachele was nervous around Snugs and I was hoping against hope that he could prove himself to her and show her what "pit bulls" are really like.
Well, I got my wish and Snuggles got a new BFF! By the end of the week, Snuggles was cuddling up next to or on top off Rach all the time. She got a cold while she was visiting and napped a lot on the couch. She told me that Snuggles could tell she didn't feel well and that he laid down with her and took care of her while I was at work. He even started to obey her commands in Spanish! It was adorable.

Here are some pictures of my best buddies, shortly before Rachele's departure from OKC.







The night before Rachele's flight was to take off for Lima, I was hanging out in her room while she packed her things. It was then that I witnessed the most precious, adorable, REDONK thing ever! Snuggles brought in his squeaky bone. He gently placed it into her suitcase. He nosed it into the middle and left it there. He left the room. He came back with his sheep. He put his sheep in the suitcase. He left and returned again, this time with his froggy. He put the froggy in the suitcase. One at a time, he brought in his favorite toys and left them in Rachele's suitcase. I was just in awe of the whole thing. I regret so much not getting it on video! But I was just so caught up watching him play out this cute little drama that I didn't even think of it until he was finished.


Mr. Pouty McPouterson


The day Rachele got home she sent me an email asking me to tell everyone how much she enjoyed the visit, how much she loves them all and how much she will miss them. Then she specifically asked me to give many "besos y cariños" to Snuggles (love and kisses). She said she missed him so much she wanted to cry. She has posted her pictures with him on her Facebook saying how she loves him and misses him so very much and talks about how he is the most caring and loving pit bull in all of existence!

I can't say I'm surprised Mr. WigglyPants won yet another person over.


I had a friend mention this weekend, "Hey, did you know that some people want to like, ban pit bulls or something? Like, they want to pass laws against them and stuff. Crazy, huh?"

Yep... yep, it is...


P.D. A mi hermanita, Rachele... muchos besitos y abrazos de Snuggles y de mí. Te extraño muchísimo, Sis.


Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Snuggles is famous!

Ch-ch-ch-check it out!


(you thought I was gonna say "Ch-Ch-Ch-CHIA!" didn't you? Ha ha, you were wrong...)



So Snuggles is starting to make me feel a bit inadequate about how much more popular and cool he is than me. Consider the following Exhibits...



First off, he is in the Spay Day Online Pet Photo Contest for the cutest pet so please go vote for him!
Here's his entry:
Snuggles

My person: Heather, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, United States

Nickname: Snugglebug, Snuggies, Snugs, Buggy, Burgle-Bean

Favorite thing to do: Why, to snuggle, of course!

Most endearing bad habit: Moaning like a moo-cow when we go for car rides.

I fell in love with his goofy ears the instant I saw him on Petfinder. And he's so incredibly loving and cuddly despite having been an abuse/neglect rescue case. He's the world around which I revolve.

My Charity: Volunteers for Animal Welfare, Inc. (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States)

Click here to vote for Snuggles!

Proceeds from the voting ($5= 5 votes , $10 = 10 votes, $25 = 25 votes, and seriously, do I need to go on explaining this to you, dummy?) go 100% to the local Oklahoma organization Volunteers for Animal Welfare, Inc. They provide low-cost spay/neuter and vaccination services to needy Okies.

4 out of 5 dentists agree that Snuggles is adorable and the 5th dentist was recently fitted with cement shoes and is currently vacationing at the bottom of Lake Hefner... so, uh... I'm not trying to threaten anyone, but uh... well, yeah I am. So... go vote for Snugglebug! Or else I'll have to commence poking you with a soft cushion! MUWAHAHAHAHAHA...


Exhibit B: head over to my friend Nancy's awesome new website The Pit Bull Princess and get a load of my Snuggies on the front page REPRESENT-IN! Besides Snuggles, there are some other really cute things on the site, like the vintage advertisement-inspired pibble posters:



And lastly, I ran across some Snuggles posts on the Best Friends site of Forever Friends, the awesome rescue group I went through to adopt Snuggles from Petfinder. They even gave my blerg a shout-out:


These two feature Snugs in his yellow raincoat with little yellow duckies:




Sigh... I am SO PROUD!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Hed. Asplode. From too much cuteness!

Instructions for chasing all your blues away:

Step 1: bottle feed a puppy.

The end.


Several weeks ago a gal named Carrie found a litter of 5 pibble puppies in a shed on her property. Momma was nowhere to be found and the babies' eyes hadn't even opened yet. Carrie contacted Forever Friends Humane Society and after a lot of scrambling around by a group of folks, the pups were rescued. Two stayed here with my friend Sabrina and three went to Missouri with my friend Lillian. Both of these women have bottle fed puppies before so they were eager to take on the challenge.

So a couple weekends ago Brina let Mom and me come over to visit her 2 babies. Words cannot express the extreme cuteness. We even got to bottle feed them ourselves. Holy crab. Just. The best thing. EVER! Tiny puppies whining and grunting and crawling around like little army men with milk mustaches and goatees.

I mean.
Just.
What.
I can die now.

And the puppy breath... oooooooh, the puppy breath. Did I mention the puppy breath? I was kissing one of the pubbies goodbye and he started biting my nose and I almost had a seizure from the complete and utter adorability of it all.

Here are some pics of the visit. On your mark... get set... be jealous!!!







Pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-TINIEST BURP EVER!







Parting is such sweet sorrow. That I shall say "goodbye" 'til it be morrow...





(taken with my mom's iPhone - that's why these 2 pixes are iBlurry)



Here are a couple of short video clips I took, too.

Can you even believe the itty-bitty growlage? ACK!



Sigh...



Lilly sent me some pics of the other three babies this week, too. Here they are, being ridiculously adorable, making out and playing with the rest of their puppy play group.








Thanks, ladies! Brina and Lil, you two are my heroines (the girl version of "heroes"... not the kind you have to detox from. Although, truth be told, I may have to check myself into puppy rehab after this.)


Thursday, February 5, 2009

Press Button, Get Bacon

Okay, so I haven't blogged in a while. Sue me. I've been busy with other super important-y things. And stuff. Aaaaaaaaanyhoo, Mom was berating me (okay, not so much berating me as emailing me and politely asking) about the lack of new topic-age, so here's something to placate her...


A picture of a hand dryer that looks like a bacon dispenser:




AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, it totally looks like bacon!

(Check out thesneeze.com if you never have.)



Um... what else...

LOST this season is so totally rocking my dome. I'm loving it like McDonald's.


Er... um...

OMG, it's Snuggles in his new sweater!


Don't judge. He actually likes wearing it!




That's all I got for now, sports fans. Back soon with more mind-blowing blog topics that will intrigue you, titillate you and possibly cause you to burp or have heartburn (worst case scenario.)