Can't Resist--I'm a Proud Doggie Mommy

Coquette just returned from a day at the doggie beauty spa. I wish you could see the cute little pink bow they put in her hair, but it doesn't show up well in the photograph I took. However, she is clean, sparkly, and proud as a peacock of her new look. Isn't she adorable? Can you tell that my two children no longer live at home? I lavish all of my affection on my Pomeranian (well, my husband gets some of it). Oh my gosh, I'm one of those weird cat ladies--except my cat is a dog. Aren't I?

Calling All Hugh Grant Fans

Hugh Grant has a new movie coming out next month called Did You Hear About the Morgans? with Sarah Jessica Parker and it looks like a scream. They play a soon-to-be divorced couple who are forced into the witness protection program and have to go live together in a cabin somewhere in the forest (or so it seems from the trailer I saw). I howled while watching it.


I've seen every movie Hugh Grant has made--my favorite being the best movie of all time--Love Actually--in which he plays the British Prime Minister in his own inimitable way. Yes, yes, I know Hugh Grant has a less than sterling reputation off camera--but he is a master comedian and I absolutely adore him on the screen.

Those eyes, that charming British accent, the slightly goofy way he tries to dance. What other older lady such as myself wouldn't go ga-ga for such a guy?

Are you a Hugh Grant fan? If so, tell me your favorite Hugh Grant movie or scene--and I'll tell you mine!

(photos from www.stark314.wordpress.com and www.phdepressed.blogspot.com)

Daring Doggie

On our walk today, my little Pomeranian Coquette decided to show me her daring nature. We spotted a large (and I do mean large) German Shepherd walking ahead of us with his owner on the other side of the street. Immediately, Coquette gave chase--barking frantically in her upper decibel range and pulling with all her little might on the leash. I knew her, "Mommy, let me at him!" cry.

The shepherd and his master glanced back at us in a somewhat bored fashion and continued on their way. I should note that this German shepherd was about six times the size of Coquette, had sunken dark eyes like Svengali, and a snarling curl to his lip that seemed to say, "I eat little dogs like you for breakfast." He scared even me.

Coquette, however, was determined to catch him and--what? Bite him? Attack him? Chat him up about the weather? I wondered. Just what would my Pomeranian do with a German Shepherd if she did manage to catch him?

Do all little dogs have a Napoleon complex? Why don't they pick on dogs their own size?

(photos from www.dailypuppy.com and http://haysvillelibrary.wordpress.com)

Spooky Light Pops on in Middle of Night

There we were, sound asleep in bed, around five a. m. yesterday, the morning of Friday the 13th--when all of a sudden our ceiling light pops on! My husband Milt and I both sat bolt upright, shocked.

"Why did you turn on the light?" he asked.

"I didn't," I replied, thoroughly freaked out.

"You must have bumped the remote in your sleep," he said. Our ceiling light is part of a fan that we can run by remote control from a gadget that I keep on my nightstand. The off-on button for the light is quite small and requires pressure of at least a few seconds to bring the light on.

"I didn't," I reiterated.

"That's weird," he said, grabbing his flashlight from his nightstand and heading out to check out the rest of the otherwise totally dark house. I heard him trekking around, checking doors and even going down the basement to examine the circuit breakers. He returned puffing, and crawled back into bed. "Everything looks fine. The circuit breakers are all on."

"Even if they were off," I said, "that would hardly cause the light to turn on."

"I know," he replied, puzzled. "Maybe it was a car going by, using a remote control garage door opener that just happened to have the same code as our light."

"You think?"

"No," he said, "Unlikely. Probably just a short in the wiring. If it happens again, I'll call Jim." Jim is our trusty electrician--actually more like a friend of the family because he's repaired so many electrical problems for us. Gosh, I thought, maybe Jim set our ceiling light to malfunction so he'd be able to come out and repair it many months down the road. Get more business. Talk about conspiracy theory, Patricia.

"You know," I said to my spouse, "we're forgetting the obvious reason."

"What?"

"Ceiling light fixture goblins," I replied. "It is Friday the 13th." Milt groaned.

"Turn the light out and see if the goblins turn it on again," he ordered. "If they do, then we'll talk." I did. They didn't.

Any ideas why our ceiling light had a mind of its own on Friday the 13th? Has anything like this ever happened to you?