I'm playing catch up this morning because I've accomplished less than nothing over the weekend (including yesterday). My mom's surgery went well even though the surgeon had to remove more mass than she originally thought she'd have to. It went well though and not once did she take a pain pill. She said she didn't have any pain - it was sore, but not painful. So Friday night she comes out of the bathroom and says, "Where did you get the kids laundry hamper?" It's a colorful canvas bag that sits on a wooden rack/frame thingy. "Wal-Mart." (where else) "They had them on clearance." Long story short she wanted to go get one for her house and so we spent the whole day Saturday - less than 24 hours after surgery - shopping.
The hospital had called to check on her and my brother's response was "Well she must be pretty good, she's been shopping all day." She spent the weekend with us and she's home now. Today she's going with my grandma for her eye surgery. Cataracts.

I haven't accomplished anything this morning. I'm searching for dog commands in another language. The kids try to be helpful and help train him and, though I appreciate their entheusiasm, they render every command I know useless. The dog's name is Gimli, by the way. My husband cared not for any name I suggested, but when my brother threw the name Gimli out as he read The two Towers, my husband jumped on it. Oh well, at least everyone can remember it, and the pup knows it too. Saturday I bought several types of treats that I thought I could use for training. The last ones I bought were too hard for the tiny puppy teeth Gimli is equipped with. It wasn't long before I had helpful training volunteers lined up to give commands. Emily decided to "test" the treats (being helpful) so she laid out a sample buffet to see which was liked best. Now I have 3 dogs with the runs and no treats to train with.

The other language commands was the best idea I could come up with. Let's see the kids mess with that. Only problem is I don't know any other languages and I'm finding that there's something seriously wrong with French (German, Gaelic, etc) spoken with a deep southern accent. Luckily, in Gaelic, the command for sit is Suidh (pronounced Soo-ee) That one, I might could get away with - though people might think it's odd using a pig call on a dog.

Back to the drawing board.

So we're shopping with my mom on Saturday and Emily sees those "Fur Real" pets and decides whe wants nothing in the world more than to spend 30 bucks on this cat that looks like the real thing. What? "Em, (I said) we already have NINE "for real" cats at home." Dang thing even sheds. How's that for getting your money's worth?