Shakeup at Shoalwood

No, not what you think, no, I'm not leaving the boy after what....45 years.  No the shakeup has to do with this home of 30 plus years getting a face lift.  It has been such an experience for us to see "this old house" start to
look less like the Clampets live here and more like some real nice older folks do.

The entire process took about 2 weeks of very loud pounding and sawing and more pounding.  I now know why some
people leave on vacation while their home is being renovated. But, we stayed through it all and glad we did.  Mainly because there was usually some questions that needed answers fairly quickly.

"Matati"

I have been a Grandmother for over 3 years and I can't say it gets any easier. Don't get me wrong, I love my role as the grandmother who is called "Matati". It is just that when it comes to the discipline aspect of my role, lately, I have hit a brick wall...... hard.

My grandson, Archer, is 3 years old and truly such a joy in our lives. However, lately he is a handful! Very independent and that is fine, but also very argumentative and stubborn and that is not fine when the grandparents are exhausted.

I have yet to send him to 'time-out', but I came very close a couple of days ago. When my children were young and would act similarly, there was no 'time-out', just a swat on the butt and sent to their room. Archers' parents use the time-out method.

To give you some idea of how trying it was, this was the scenario: It is 9:00 p.m. on Friday night. Archer's bath has been ready for about 30 minutes and is getting colder by the minute. Archer is playing with his remote controlled tractor and keeps running into the dog. The dog is being extremely patient, mainly because she is a Golden Retriever who is used to these shenanigans, but also because her arthritis is so bad, she will only get up if she absolutely must. After several verbal commands to stop, from me and from Grampaw, Archer is totally ignoring us, and I am ready to take the toy away and prepare myself for the screaming fit. Then out of the blue, he says: "It is my toy, all mine, and I can do whatever I want with it!"

Hmmmm....really. This is not the Archer we have known. This child is some sort of alien in our house. I take the tractor away, and the remote control device and yes, the screaming begins. I go into the bathroom and close the door. Just me, and a tub of lukewarm water. The urge to get in and put my head underwater so I won't hear Archer is strong, but I just sit there, on the edge, literally, almost in tears. Yikes.

Then I hear this little voice on the other side of the door, "Matati, I need to come in and take my bath." I open the door, he struts in, takes his clothes off, gets in the tub and begins playing with his bath toys. It was like nothing ever happened, like we had just survived some sort of time warp. Amazing. Incredible. Almost scary.

Sadies' Adventure - A Field Trip

The woman who bought Sadies' sister, "Alice", wrote me with an update on her.  Seems like the sisters are on the same page with their tricks and personalities.  Very cute.  She mentioned that Alice chews everything, including furniture which Sadie doesn't seem to have a taste for.  So to remedy that situation she had heard that Petsmart had something called "Bully Sticks" .  She bought some and that is all Alice chews on now.  So, I packed Sadie up and headed to the Petsmart store and also to check into classes for her to take.

We were in the aisle where all the chewy things were and this couple walks by with a very tiny black and white Bichon Friese. He was adorable and was walking around without a collar or leash.?  However, he stayed right by the couple and didn't wander off.  I was very impressed and asked them about him.  Turns out, they were from Mexico and drove all the way to the Woodlands that day to pick up their new baby, "Bruno".  When I asked about the way he followed them around, they said that that is just what he did without any training.  Hmm...then I found out from one of the sales girls that the couple told her that "Bruno" just didn't like the way the collar felt around his neck.....  Interesting.
Sadie was about to have a heart attack about this little puppy, so with collar and leash on I put her on the floor and she immediately went nuts for the puppy.  I realized that she was out of control but when I tried to pick her up, she wriggled out of her collar.  Yikes!  The couple scooped up "Bruno" and Sadie bolted through the store.  We all were chasing her, but she is super fast and with her hair on her feet she would slide to make a turn into a different aisle very quickly.
The whole store went on 'Lock Down', with my Sadie touring the place at 80 mph!  They locked all the doors so she wouldn't run out into the parking lot and finally was caught while watching the little guinea pigs!  Lordy.  I was a wreck.  One of the employees tightened the collar for me and asked if I wanted to enroll her in their obedience classes.  I looked at her like she had just granted my fondest wish.  Yes please!!  She looked down at Sadie who was straining and  pulling on her leash and said, " We're going to teach you NOT to do that pulling on your mom".  I almost started crying.  I was so happy. 

Yes, sign us up! 

Oh.....I got the Bully sticks, she could care less, not to mention the smell is enough to knock you down. It smells like something died.  Oh yeah, something did, a cow. 

So, Sadie starts next Wed. evening, 1 hour class, one day a week for 6 weeks.  Also made an appt. to get her trimmed up since she is now a shaggy dog.  I followed Lanny's lead and slick her hair back out of her face, but I use water.  Ill get a picture of her and send it to you guys.