I'm gonna cry

It was one of those days -

I got home, let Boomer out of his crate, feed Jordan and him, played in the back yard, turned on the television and sat on my sofa. Next thing I know I wake up to a TV commercial.

Doesn't sound too bad since falling asleep on the sofa is one of my favorite ways to get some shut eye.

New Rule in life: NEVER fall asleep on the sofa. (with your puppy not in his crate )

Now, understand how I am when I sleep...nothing wakes me up, I take forever to get going in the the morning and it takes 3 alarms just for me to open an eye. I woke up not only to a TV commercial about Aveeno Sunblock, but I as I glanced over to check on the two guys, I jumped up the quickest I ever have...

My main back love seat pillows have been destroyed! This is the back padding of the loveseat, not the little side pillows that you can easily replace. I thought maybe I could restuff them, but the material is torn up and the zippers are missing.

This stinks royally.

Am I going Crazy? Is there a pill for this?

It's been a crazy week training my new pup, Boomer. I'm not home as much I as would like to really dedicate to him, but somehow he forgives me.

I've never had a puppy, only dogs or cats, so this new puppy phase is a new experience for me and I feel like I'm failing at being a good "mom". I think I have patience, but it seems lately I'm saying "no", "stop", "Boomer!!", and "What's this?!" more than ever.

I'm going to be blunt and honest here. Things that drive me crazy with Boomer!

1. He chews up all my shoes.
2. He's started chewing, chomp chomp, on the bottom of my computer chair (thinks it's a bone I guess)
3. He chases my older dog, Jordan, and always tries to mate with him. Of course, Jordan doesn't like it at all.
4. He whimpers and whines when I crate him, as if I'm hanging him from his toes for a good 3 hours every night until he is exhausted. I have to crate him, or he has many surprises for me in the morning. This could include one or all of the following: Trash can emptied, toilet paper everywhere, pillow stuffings all over the floor, chewing up anything he can find that is not too heavy for him to lift up.
5. Eats and drinks like there is no tomorrow - and well, too much food or water in a puppy = a suprise all over the floor.
6. Jumpin' jumpin' maniac. He loves to play and wants to jump, jump, jump. I want to rest, rest, rest. *smiles*
7. I get about 2 - 3 hour of sleep nightly since he wakes up throughout the night and starts the normal crying. He's either wanting to play, go outside or just wants to wake up! He doesn't know how to eat only his food, he will eat Jordan's and Pumpkins! Oink!

Don't think I'm being a whiner - I do adore this little guy. I'll tell you the things that I adore about him and these definitely outweigh my crazy complaints on Boomer.

1. Love the way he looks up at me and his eyebrows are wrinkled.
2. Love the way he appreciates a small treat - he will sit down and not move until I say "get the treat".
3. Love the way he welcomes me home after a day at work.
4. Love the way he responds to "Boomer"
5. Love the way he lets me rub his cute ears and scratch softly under his neck.
6. Love the way when I get the leash he runs in circles.
7. Love the way he strrrrrrreeeetches when he comes out of his crate (I would do the same).
8. Love the way he loves Jordan and Pumpkin as if he's known them forever.
9. Love that he still doesn't know how to bark.
10. Love the way he finds me giving him a rib bone is the best thing in the world.
11. Love his brown ears and tail w/the white body.
12. Love that gives me the doggy kisses when he thinks I need cheering up.
13. Love the way he tilts his head to the side when I'm speaking to him. He pretends he understands me!

I'm really lucky to have these three guys in my life. Jordan is a complete angel, Boomer is an angel in training, and Pumpkin is the best cat I've ever had. He's definitely and angel.
The best part - all three of these guys came into my world unexpectedly because they had no home and they let me take care of them unconditionally.

Jordan was a good friend of mine, Alinda, and she trusted me to take care of him. Thank you Alinda - he's been an amazing companion. We both miss you...

Pumpkin was found by a client of mine and they were not able to take him since they had two cats of their own. Thank you "J" & "L" for thinking of me when you wanted to find him a home.

Boomer was found by a good friend of mine that I play pool with. She found him at her doorstep and could never find the owners. Thanks for thinking of me and I'm glad you did!

Alright, I better attend to Boomer - he's into something - just heard a crash. *smiles*

Bobblehead (n.)

Definition:
a toy figure with its outsized head on a spring, which causes the head to bobble easily

Cute dog (you know who he looks like) + pool cue + pool table = Absolute cuteness.

I've never been a fan of bobbleheads -- but this one is adorable. Looks like I'm going to have to order one soon.

Is he a cute dog or a 'cue dawg'?

Puppy whines all night...

I'm trying to go to bed and for the past hour Boomer has been whining in his crate. He sounds like he's dying and has the highest pitched sound. I know it's a natural survival skill for dogs. I'm sure my upstairs and next door neighbor are absolutely loving this. They usually let me know by stomping on the floor. Yikes - sorry neighbors.

I have to ignore him to let him know who is alpha. I did take him out for a bit around 12:15am to see if he would calm down and go to sleep next to me and he just wanted to jump and play. He ran out of the bedroom and was pretty quiet - ut oh...know what that means. He's into something. So I get up and go to the living room. Yep, he's playing tug o war with one of my t-shirts (but in silent mode).

I put him back in the crate and put a cover over the crate and the whine fest starts all over again. I tossed one of my t-shirts in the crate so he has something to play with. It breaks my heart - but I know he's testing me. Mr. Boomer, you are not gonna win (yet).

His appointment to get neutered is on July 2nd. I'm thinking this will calm him down a bit - if I was a guy, it would definitely take me back a notch *smiles*

I'm going to take him out for some running after work tomorrow night - guessing a tired puppy is a happy puppy. Hmmm, as I'm writing this - there is silence for the first time in an hour. Now I should prolly quit typing and sneak back into bed before he wakes. Goodnight all. *softly walks back to bed*

Wow, I'm going to get to bed by 12:45am - it's an early night!

Boom! Boomer

This is the newest addition to the household as of Friday, June 8th, Boomer. I liked the name from Battlestar Galactica and it fits him perfectly. He answers to it *smiles* Although he answers to "hey you", "come here", "cutie", "baby", "oh no, not again!"

He prolly thinks that "Oh no, not again." is his name. I've said it a total of 28 times.

Friday - 6 times

Saturday - 11 times

Sunday - 6 times

Monday - 5 times

The reason I know how many times I've said that is because that's the number of times he has decided to use the bathroom throughout the house. Either straight in front of me or in his secret spots in the kitchen, bathroom, living room, bedroom, etc.

I've always had grown dogs or cats, so have never gone through the puppy training stages from potty training to obedience. Routine is to let him out ever 1 - 2 hours and especially after he eats or drinks. Not much sleep since I'm alway checking on him throughout the night or he decides he wants to play in the middle of the night.

He's wanting to play with Jordan, but Jordan is thinking, "I'm the guy of the house." So Jordan is going through an ignoring stage with me and growling or snipping at Boomer. Ah, jealousy.

The cat and him get along though - that's the good news. Now to get Jordan and Boomer to become playmates and more importantly getting him potty trained.

He's a cutie and I think eventually him and Jordan will be pals - they are both loving dogs, so how can they not be?

The best 8 year old I've ever seen shoot pool

I was at league on Wednesday and as I was walking in, I saw a young boy getting ready to break. I noticed him because he was the shortest person in the pool hall. As he got ready to break, he stood back up, chalked his cue, realigned the cue ball and then with a solid stroke, broke the balls. He broke them pretty solid and one went in.

I had to go over and watch just to see him shoot. It’s pretty rare to see a child shooting a good game of pool since it’s tough for them to even get into a pool hall to practice. He shot a mean game of pool! Very calm in demeanor, but was witty when he did speak.

He never got upset if a ball didn’t go in and didn’t act any different if a ball did go in the pocket. Very neutral with his emotions while playing. I asked him his name and he said, “Holmer. What is your name?” I said, “Jennefer. Very nice to meet you.” He was very sweet and shook my hand while introducing himself. I asked him how long he had been shooting and he said about 4 years. I then asked his age and he was 8 years old!

Oh my…he started shooting at 4 years old. His dad plays in the league and is an awesome shot. As I was talking to him, found out he had a table at home that he practices on and his dad teaches him the game – it definitely showed.

League was about to start, so I headed over to my team. We had enough players, so me and my captain were sitting out during the match. Wendy from the other team comes over and says, “Holmer would like to play a game with you if that is ok.” Um, Of course it’s ok! Holmer comes running over to the practice table that I was at and said, “You want to play a race to 6?” Ut oh, I’m thinking I’m in trouble if he knows the pool lingo. I agree to play a race to 6.

This is the crazy part. He won 3 before I won my 6 games. He won them straight up (not me giving him shots, not me scratching, just plain straight good pool). He very politely shook my hand after the match and said, “Nice game.” He looked a little sad – pretty much the same look we all have after losing a match. It’s never fun to lose. I told him he played a GREAT game and he would beat half of the people that play in our APA league. He could of easily beat me 6 to 3 – I think I just got lucky.

I would say on a scale of the 2 – 7 system in APA, he was a solid 4. He had a great eye for making his shots, knew banks much better than me, had a solid stroke, confidence, and great cuts shots. It was really amazing to watch him play and he was great at conversation throughout the match.

He said the funniest things that would make me and Wendy giggle. I have to list them! Here we go…

1. “I want to be just like Alison Fisher…BUT not turn into a girl.”
2. “I’m Alison Fisher’s biggest fan. I wonder if she gives autographs on her favorite pool ball? My favorite pool ball is the 15, do you think that is hers?”
3. “You better not break and run. I don’t mind losing, but I hate when people break and run.”
4. Wendy whispers to Holmer, “Play smart against Jennefer. She’s a 4.” He replies, “Oooooh, now you tell me!”
5. When I was at 5 wins and he was at 3, he whispers to Wendy, “I’m gonna play well and hold Jennefer at 5!” Too cute.
6. “If you don’t want to scratch on a straight in shot, us the field goal method.” (he was referring to coming off the rail and glancing the object ball into the pocket when it’s sitting smack in the middle of the pocket – when you come off the rail, the ball goes in a 90 degree angle and he called it the field goal because a field goal is 90 degrees)
7. “Do you play foosball? Do you want to play?” (I’m horrible at foosball, but played and got really lucky and won.) He then said, “You are good at everything!” (Boy is he wrong!)
8. “Do you play air hockey? Do you want to play?” (I’m really horrible at this game. He beat me pretty badly.)

Holmer is pretty competitive, but a great winner and great loser. Since he can win and lose gracefully, he will do well in whatever he chooses to do. He was so sweet, smart and witty – all at the age of 8. Amazing. He then said, “Dad says we are going, but I want to have a pool party (not swimming, but billiards) at my house in August for my birthday.” He then said, “Since I met you and Wendy, both of the teams are invited and you can meet my friends.” How sweet is that?

I’m still in awe about what a great game he plays. I expect and have a good feeling that he will be playing in some junior’s tourneys and will be a shark in the next year or two. If it was allowed for minors to play in APA, he would be one tough person to beat. Not only is he great at his shots, he plays some pretty darn good safeties. He snookered me several times to get ball in hand. He has the mental discipline and makes great decisions on the table.

Thanks again Holmer for the games…hope to play another match with you soon.