Happy Birthday, Penny!

Today is Penny’s second birthday.  We were going to make a cake like last year but we got a little lazy, plus we were sure she would enjoy a bone more! When I look at her now, it’s amazing to see how much she’s grown. However, she still has that cute puppy look on her face.

She was so shy when she was little. The day we adopted her she wouldn’t even come closer to us. Poor thing, I think she was just handled by little kids (like 3 year-olds) and she didn’t enjoy being lifted up. She used to whine every night (for at least the first week) in her crate. We chose to do the crate training and I personally think it is awesome. It did break my heart to hear her cry every night and I just wanted to put her in bed with us and cuddle with her but we knew it needed to be done, otherwise she would be even more spoiled than she is now.

She loves snow and fetching, but more than anything else, she loves her frisbee. She would play with it for hours until she has a heart attack or something. She likes to stand by the door when she needs to potty. She learned to sit and lay down before she was 6 months old. She learned how to shake and high five before she was 8 months old. She learned to roll over a month later. We run out of tricks to teach her by then! Such a smartypants. We also taught her to play dead, speak, talk and dance. Then we did the put-the-treat-on-the-nose trick, and I started wondering if I teach her commands with Spanish words… would she still get it? Well, she does. I taught her ‘agua’ (water) and she knows I mean go drink some water. It’s so amazing to realize how smart a dog can be. A dog or any trained animal, she just doesn’t stop amazing me. I’m such a proud mama

Her first birthay, Feb 26, 2008

I think she has stopped growing now (phew!) and has calmed down a lot, although she still has a lot of puppy energy left (dang it).

Thanks for putting up with me while I make you do silly things!

You’re such a good girl, Penny! Mommy and Daddy love you very much and our lives wouldn’t be the same without you, even after you peed on my bed at midnight, even if you chewed and ate most of my chapsticks, even if you growl at me when I get near your favorite bone. I still love you.

I kinda miss Blogger today

One thing that sucks from WordPress is that it’s harder to look at your stats. Or more like, impossible. When I was using Blogger I was able to see my keyword analysis, my entry and exit pages, browser locations and just in general every single detail. Now I can’t access that – unless I buy a domain, which I find a little useless for me since I’m not big at design and all that smart stuff (or should I say the truth and embrace my lazy self?). I barely have time to post little nothingnesses anyway.

Now that I’m back I went to check my stats at StatCounter. I still have my older Blogger blog included so I went to check out how my keyword analysis was lately. Here’s a few interesting things (oh my, how do i love bullets):

• Most searched (and found): Peru’s dos and don’ts
• Funniest: How many continents are there in Peru
  
• ‘What?!’: Body worlds embryos how did they get them 4 weeks – yea, good question. Good luck with that one!
• Second place for ‘What?’: Butt dust to get high
  
• Most random: Somebody that doesn’t like kisses

I can’t imagine what I would find if Statcounter had access to my statistics on WP…

Have you found anything weird on your stats lately? Any other stats and visitor reporting program as good as StatCounter or better out there?

Pay it forward

Ria posted something about this a little while ago and I got my little present right after that. I didn’t even get a chance to take a picture or anything because J eat it right away.

Men. Always starving. How can they go through life like that?

I got my Mike and Ike’s in the cutest little bag… I should take a picture of that now that I think about it. I just have to fund that bag. I think it’s somewhere on the bookshelf where we leave the mail. Yep, I can see it from where I ‘m sitting right now, but I’m too lazy to go over there, snap a photo, download it and post it. I will brag about it later and update this post then It’s kind of late for a convalescent to still be up anyway, if that can count as an – lame – excuse.

I will be giving away 3 little presents, nothing huge – ahem! please do not expect an ipod or a camera – but sent with much love and with the only intent to put a smile on your face. And that way, you’ll think of me for a tiny second and that will be enough to make me happy

So there! Comment away, my friends. I will randomly select 3 comments and will be posting the results on Monday… this is so exciting! I love giving presents… time to go shopping (once again)!

Long time no see!

OMG! I have so many things going on right now I don’t know where to start.

Let’s see… where should I start the catching up? I’m going to go ahead and start with my side (a.k.a. my life so far) and I’ll leave the reading for tomorrow, since I just checked my Google Reader and there are a little over 1000 posts to read. Yea, one thousand posts. I have to confess I had to click on mark all as read to a few groups (see, I have my favorite blogs, my cooking & recipes blogs,  my new blogs (new blogs I found and they’re starting to grow on me), my shopping blogs and a few other groups. Well, I marked everything as read except for my favorite blogs. It came down to 400, and I’m going to start reading them and commenting this week (finally!) I’m looking forward to knowing how your lives are going

Anyways, here’s a few updates on mine:

Did I mention…

- that I was slowly dying about a two weeks ago and that’s why probably I didn’t even have enough energy to go home, turn on my laptop and post a little something for you guys? Yes, seriously! There was a (very small) ‘leakage’ of carbon monoxide in our office. I guess not enough to kill us but enough to make us all sleepy and tired. Then again, I don’t know if that was my normal self – being tired and sleepy – or if it was the actual poisoning. Who knows. We’re back to normal now (I hope).

- that I’m (again) being monitored at work on internet usage? (Or else I feel that way anyway… I’m paranoid! – Will that be a side effect from the carbon monoxide thing too? Bleh.) I can check email and browse the internet but the real question is: …should i? would THEY know? can someone get fired for using the internet for too long? am I being productive enough? Should I concentrate on working or should I change my Facebook status? What’s more important? Very hard decisions, you know.

- That my car is back to life? Yes, my jeepie has more lives than a cat (an American cat, if I may say so) and after a nice – $2500 – treat he is back on the streets and roaring again. It sounds more alive now with a new transmission. The plan is still to sell it ASAP – I haven’t checked with Jeremy to see if his feelings for the jeep have changed… you know, boys become very attached to their cars – and go see what kind of car can we get for $5000 at the end of the winter season. Hopefully a newer one.

- That my boss in on Facebook now? Dang it, now I can’t talk shit about work anymore… yea right, like I ever talk about work on Facebook or here. Not likely! I self-censor enough to know better than that. Plus working in Human Resources and all… I know it wouldn’t be a good idea. Although that doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t have anything to say about it – believe me, I HAVE PLENTY. Maybe I’ll create a more anonymous blog to vent just about work. (some time, if I have the guts – I think I vent enough with J, though)

- That I got my little pay-it-forward from Ria??? Because I did! I got a box of Mike and Ike’s on the mail about 10 days ago. THANKS! I’m so sorry I’m such a procrastinator… I haven’t mentioned anything or said thanks but that made my day! (and Jeremy’s too because he ate it all in the five minutes… does that count as one extra pay-it-forward?) I have to do a special post for that.

- That I got new skis?

- That J and I will be celebrating our anniversary next week? And Penny’s second birthday on Thursday? Nothing crazy – we’re broke – but we’re together and happy And that’s what counts!

- That Amazing Race, Survivor and Lost are addicting? I’m so into those shows.

- That I saw the Shopaholic movie on Valentines? It was entertaining and better than I expected it to be, but it was definitely not the best movie, and not like the book AT ALL. At least it was better than Twilight.

- That I have a cold and a very sore throat? It sucks to be sick. Even more in the mornings as I wake up and at nights. During the day  do fine – get distracted at work – but when I get home I just sulk. But I think I’m entitled to do so!

I think this post is getting too big, so I might chop it down and split it in a few other posts. How have you guys been? I’ll go stalk your blogs now!

It’s good to be back

Forward Friday: I want to go to the dentist too

Thanks for all your comments guys!

Have a great weekend

Catching up!

So my jeep broke down and is now at the shop. The transmission was bad and needed to be replaced / rebuilt and that’s 2400 freaking dollars coming right out of our vacation savings.

I guess what I’m saying is that we’re not going on a cruise trip anymore   I’m so fucking pissed! J -jokingly – said I jinxed it by telling you guys about it and of course, after I said it to whole the world (a.k.a. my 10 readers) it just won’t happen.

First thing we did was have our taxes done and see if we can afford a newer car. Well, we just got enough to have the jeep fixed and I know some of you are wondering why in hell didn’t I just get a new car! We thought about it but we know our jeep and it’s pretty reliable. If you get a ‘new’ car for $3000, you just don’t know what you’re getting into. It could be just fine or it could break in two months, you just won’t know. With the jeep, we think we could get a couple of years out of it, or we can sell it, or we can give it as a down payment  for a nicer car. Haha it just seems like I’m still trying to convince myself that we’re doing the right thing… can you tell? I was not keen of the idea of fixing it (I want a new car!) but J convinced me. Oh well, let’s hope it all works out.

(For the record, if it doesn’t it’s all J’s fault and he will be getting shit from me for a long looong time…)

On a different note… I got my new skis! They arrived on Monday and we put the bindings and everything else on (is there anything else besides the bindings that go on the ski?? IDK.) I haven’t used them yet – I’m really nervous because they’re longer than my other kiddie skis… I’m going to fall! And since the snow is not so great now I might wait for the weekend, I think we’re getting some snow on Friday, yay! I might also try snowboarding this weekend (any tips, Ria?)… really exciting!

I also realized my (not so) little Penny is celebrating her second birthday this month! I can’t believe she’s almost two years old, she still looks like a pup to me. Her real birthday (which I got from the place we adopted her from) is February 26, so for that celebration I’m going to post pictures of her since she was little until now. I know, I know – I already post way too many pictures of her, but what can I do, I such a proud mama

It feels good to be back girls! I still need to catch up on my comments and GReader, I’ve been reading a little from work but not a whole lot so I have A LOT to catch up on!

Again, it feels good to be back! I’ve missed you guys

Things I learned last week

• It’s ok to not blog everyday. And then you get to miss it and appreciate it more.
• The more you talk about your near-future plans, the more you’re jinxing them.
• I know things happen for a reason, but ohgodtellmewhynow.  I don’t seem to see the real reason right away…
• Being nice can get you farther than being rude and demanding.
• Being extra nice at work gives the best impression of you to other people and can make someone’s  day happier (plus it can start a good friendship)
• It is fun to blog every night, but it is also great to just do nothing instead and just cuddle in the couch while watching an old movie.
• You can work a lot and do the job for two people and probably nobody will ever notice, and both of you will get the credit for it. And I’m learning to be ok with that.
• I have found out that I would much rather work by myself and go at my own pace (which is pretty fast and  productive) than work in a ‘team’. Well, unless the other team members are all about getting it done soon and then play rather than play, play – work a little – then play, play, play until it’s 5 o’clock. Or maybe I’ve become this all-about-work person because everyone around me has chosen to play 24/7 and I felt unconsciously forced to step it up and hide my playful side. Who knows. Maybe I’ve just become boring, responsible adult. Ugh.
• I’d rather take people that criticize me and tell me in my face what they think it’s my problem than people that are not completely honest with me and patronize me the fakest way.
• I’m completely different at work and at home. At home, I always let J take all responsibility for everything and I’m just a follower. It feels good to just follow directions if he’s around and I feel really protected and taken care of.
• I really enjoy watching Oxygen’s Bad Girls Club (is this so wrong??)
• After you figure out when it’s the worst time for your car to break down, it will break down (very punctually).
• I miss you guys!