There ya’ go! That’s the count (as of today ’cause my lazy mom didn’t get yesterday’s mail yet) for the Christmas Card Challenge. Pretty darn good I think for a previously unknown little Doxie who had never in the History Of The World, (at least for the past 5 Christmases since I’ve been with my mom) received even ONE Christmas card. Now I have 61! Most of mom’s cards are from her coworkers and I don’t think they should even count since they’re pretty much forced to give her cards, whether or not they even really want to!

We haven’t been allowed to open our presents yet because mom wants to wait until we get together with her human daughter and her family. I’m not very happy about that but since I have so many cards to look at and count, I guess I can wait. Mom says we’ll either go to see her human daughter on Saturday (and then I’ll get to see my boyfriend, Scooby, too!) or they’ll come to see us on Sunday. I hope that Scooby gets to come along if they come to see us on Sunday … I don’t think Scooby’s ever seen where I live now and I know he wants to come with them!

I told mom I need to bark in my blark early today because mom is having snacks and I see she poured a glass of wine for herself … I know she’s just trying to forget that I got all those nice cards … so I thought I should make her help me with my blark before she gets too many of those wine glasses. ROFBMAO!

Mattie and Pouncer and I all got extra hugs and kisses this morning because it’s Christmas Day and Mattie and I each even got a WHOLE chicken stick for a treat when we got up. Mom has put some real chicken and other stuff in the slow cookery thingy for dinner so I’m sure we’ll get some chicken pieces later and maybe mom will even light candles and we’ll have a candlelight dinner!  She usually does that for my birthday (mom just made up a date for my birthday (July 2) since I rescued her and she doesn’t know when my birthday really is) or our anniversary (May 18) but I think she might do it tonight too for Christmas!

I’m gonna try to get mom to give us another chicken stick … sometimes now when I start to ask for one, Mattie — mom is trying to teach her to talk too — will manage to make a little sound and then mom gets so excited that Mattie is learning to talk that she junps up and gets us a chicken stick instantly! I like it when Mattie talks to mom!

If I get any more cards, I’ll be sure to update the final count in my next blark. I’m pretty sure I have more cards in the mailbox but mom just doesn’t want to get the mail because she knows I’ll get even more cards!

Hey Mutchy, mom says you’re a slacker and you’re not even going to be at work for at least the next week but I told her that I want to say hi to Lola anyway because it’s not Lola’s fault that you’re a slacker! So, hi Lola!

DECK THE HALLS WITH CARDS FOR KISMET …. FA LA LA LA LA – LA LA LA LA … ALL FOR ME AND NOT DONE YET … FA LA LA LA LA – LA LA LA LA. HANG WE NOW THE CARDS FROM DOGGIES FA LA LA LA LA – LA LA LA. ONLY MINE AND NONE FOR MOMMIE FA LA LA LA LA – LA LA LA LAAAAAAAAA …..    BOL    BOL!!!!!

How do you like my little Christmas Carol??  I think it’s the best Christmas song ever because I’m getting so many beautiful cards and mom is only geting a few! Some of the ones she did get were from her coworkers so I don’t think they should even count!

I hope no one is upset with me because I haven’t baked for the past few days … I’ve been so busy looking at my cards and counting them and barking at mom about all my cards that I haven’t had a chance to bark in my blark! I finally got mom to sit down with me tonight and help me with my blark so I could update my stats (I learned that word from watching sports on tv) but I don’t think mom thinks this is as funny as I do … but I don’t care, ’cause I’m Kismet and I don’t have to care!

Mom says Christmas is coming in just a few days … I’m sure that I’ll be getting lots of presents and Mattie and Pouncer will probably get some too. I can’t wait to see what I get … I hope mom catches a silly squirrel for me so I can chase it around the house and tear it apart! There’s so much snow outside now and it’s so cold for my little Doxie toes and my little Doxie tummy that I don’t stay outside any longer than I have to. We all want spring to come soon!

Mom needs to get me a chicken stick now to celebrate my Christmas Card count. I’ll bark again soon with another update … I’ll bet I even get a few more cards between now and Christmas Day!

Hey Mutchy, say hi to Lola for me!

 Well, I don’t know if it even needs to be said … but I’m still FAAAAARRRRRR ahead in the Christmas Card challenge with my mom.

As of today, I have 40, that’s Four Zero, 4 0, Forty, For Tee, Fort ee … got it??  Mom, however, has received only Two, as in 2, To, Too, Tu, (as in “et tu brute’?” — mom’s been reading Shakespeare to me at night and that’s the only part I’ve remembered so far) … Anyway, I’m so far ahead mom will never ever catch up with me … I think it’s so funny I’ve just been ROFBMAO …

I hope my blaking buddies didn’t mind that I let Mattie bark in my blark last night. She doesn’t get much chance to talk (of course that’s certainly not because I’m talking all the time. I only talk when there’s something that needs to be said and is it MY fault that those occasions happen so frequently??).  She told me that she really enjoyed barking to all my friends and it looks like Lola already has said she will be friends with Mattie so Mattie is feeling really good about that.

So now we’re going to go pester mom for chicken sticks … I can’t wait until tomorrow when I’ll get even more cards and mom will get NONE because I’m pretty sure she only has two human friends so she’s gotten all the cards she’ll ever get!

This is Mattie barking tonight. Kismet said I could bark in her blark to say Merry Christmas to all of Kismet’s friends and I hope they’ll be my friends sometime too. So, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody!

I don’t talk as much as Kismet because I’m a Terrier and my personality is a lot different than a Doxie. I’m a lot more athletic because I’m not two doggies long and a half a dog high like Kismet is. I’ve got normal size legs and a normal size body so I can jump up on things and I can twirl around and walk on my hind legs … I twirl a lot when I know mom’s going to give me a treat! I don’t usually say anything to mom but I think she’s trying to get me to talk to her more because sometimes she tells me I have to say “please” before I get my treat. It’s hard to learn to talk when you’re as old as I am but if I even am able to make a little sound, mom gets so excited and tells me how good I’m doing and then we all run to the kitchen and I get my treat!

I’ve been living with my mom for less than two years but I’m really happy to be here. Kismet and Pouncer had already been living with mom for a long time but when she heard I needed a new home, she decided that I could live with them. It was real different at first being here because mom took me to somebody she calls a puppy doctor … I hadn’t been to see a puppy doctor for at least four years and I needed a lot of things done. I had to get all kinds of shots that hurt and then they put a little chip between my shoulders. Mom says that’s so I’ll be able to get home again if I ever get lost. I hope I never get lost, I don’t ever want to live anywhere else! The worst thing the puppy doctor had to do was to clean my teeth and I had to have a lot of teeth pulled out because they were rotting in my mouth. I guess the bad teeth gave me bad breath too because no one would get close to my face until they were pulled out. Now mom gives me hugs and kisses all the time and she never says I have bad breath!

After I’d been with mom about five months, we were going for a little walk by the lake and a big mean dog got loose from her dad and ran down the hill and tried to kill me. She just came down the hill so fast mom didn’t even see her coming and she rolled me over and was tearing me up before mom could get to her to pull her off of me. Then we rushed to the emergency puppy hospital and they gave me some medicine so I couldn’t feel the pain anymore, they took x-rays and that mean dog had torn up my insides so bad that my intestines had fallen and were just being held up by the skin of my belly.  The puppy doctors said they thought they could fix me so mom told them to do that. Of course, when they operated I was much more badly hurt than they had thought so they had a hard time repairing the damage. Some of my intestines had to be removed and then stitched back together. When I woke up I was in a cage with heat lamps and tubes everywhere and my body was stitched up and bandaged. I didn’t even know what happened but I was scared and everything hurt and they wouldn’t let me go home right away. I had to stay in the hospital for about four days and then mom took me home. Mom took a lot of time off from work for the next two weeks to take care of me. These pictures of me were taken shortly after I got home. When I look at them now, I can’t believe how bruised I was. But I know I was really sore for a long time and I didn’t even want anybody to touch me. In this picture to the right, I was trying to smile at mom and tell her that I was getting better and that things would be ok again soon. Once the stitches were out and the cone off my head I was as bouncy as ever … mom, however, says she was so emotionally drained she laid on the couch for two days! (Mom says I should tell everybody that if they click on the picture, it will get real big and you’ll see some of mom’s shot glass collection behind me. She says to be sure I say that it’s just a collection and she really doesn’t use all of them every day! … yeah right, mom, BOL)

After I had my initial puppy doctor work and got fixed up from being run over by that mean dog (mom calls me her $5000 dog … good thing she got me for free!) everything has been very good for me. I like my stepsister, Kismet, and I even like my cousin, Pouncer. I’m a lot like Kismet in some ways because I can’t wait to catch a silly squirrel or a silly rabbit and tear it apart. I guess we’ll have to wait for summer now because mom says all those silly squirrels and silly rabbits are sleeping because it’s winter. I’m also a lot like Kismet in that I LOVE chicken sticks … I think I’m going to tell mom that we need one right now … I’m not used to talking so much and I know mom’s going to give me a reward for barking in Kismet’s blark!

Kismet will be back soon with an update on the Christmas cards challenge she has with mom. I don’t want to give anything away … but Kismet is still waaaaaaay ahead! Shhhhh, don’t tell anyone I barked that!

FINALLY … mom told me that she’s ready to let everybody see the little video she and I made this weekend. I think it turned out really cool! I chose the pictures and the music and mom just set it all up for me. It’s really easy to do … and look how great it turned out!

This is so easy anyone can do it! If you want to check it out, just click on the button under this sentence and it will take you to the Animoto site …

Or you can click on the button on the left side of the page … mom and I LOVE Animoto!

I’ll get mom to count up all my new Christmas cards and I’ll have an updated total tomorrow. I’m pretty sure I’m still winning the Christmas card challenge since I’m getting cards every day and mom’s not getting any! It’s getting funnier every day!

Ok, I’m going to go chew on a chicken stick and make mom play my video for me again … Hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do!

That pretty much says it all … I’ve been getting cards from everywhere from my Dogs With Blogs friends! Mom can’t believe it!  She’s been sending out cards for me too … I help her as much as I can but mostly I just sit back and watch her working so hard for me and snicker … I  love seeing how many cards I’ve gotten (28 as of today) and how few (0!) she’s gotten … bark, bark, bark, I just have to BOL when I see all my cards on the wall! There are so many cute doggies in the world … some of them aren’t even Doxies if you can believe it! I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself.

I was going to let Mattie bark in my blark tonight but I just had to blark about my Christmas cards. Maybe I’ll let Mattie bark tomorrow, she says she wants to bark a Merry Christmas greeting to everyone too … mom tells Mattie that MY cards are for her too so she doesn’t feel left out … so she must have gotten into the Christmas spirit.

Ok, I’m going to go count my cards again and make sure mom didn’t miss any … it would be just like her to make a mistake in counting. It’s just like the Minnesota Senatorial election … recounting and more recounting and they never get the same number twice! So maybe there just won’t be ANY Senator from Minnesota this time around since they can’t figure out who it should be … that just makes perfect sense to me!

Barks to all my barking buddies! Hey mom, bring me a chicken stick to chew on while I look at my cards again …

We had a very busy weekend. Mom had to get some Christmas cards made so I could send them out to all my new friends! Mom was going to make the cards on her computer herself but then she decided she would just do it the easy way and made them on the Walgreen’s website. They were ready in an hour! I couldn’t believe it was so fast! Much faster than if mom had gone to the store to buy card stock paper and then she said she was almost out of colored inks and by the time she fumbled around trying to force creativity that just isn’t there (sorry, mom … I luv you but … well, you know) … we wouldn’t have even been started by tonight.

So I’ve got my cards … they have my picture on them and mom put Mattie’s picture on them too although mine is bigger and that’s the way it should be since I’m the Doxie in this house … and we addressed a bunch of them to my friends at Dogs With Blogs. Actually mom addressed them all since I’m not very good at holding a pen in my paws (no opposable thumbs, you know) and I just watched her and made sure she spelled all the names right. It was a fun afternoon! Not as much fun as catching and tearing apart a silly squirrel would be but fun for being inside.

Remember I said we were working on another project for my blark? Well, it’s not quite ready yet … actually I think it really is ready but mom says she needs to wait for an email from somebody before she can put it on my blark … I just think that’s so silly. I want to put it on my blark NOW! I’m almost in the mood to put my ears inside out again and tell mom what I really think … but since it’s so close to Christmas, I suppose I should just pretend to agree … I KNOW I’m going to get lots of presents this year and I don’t want to spoil that!

Mattie says she wants to bark in my blark sometime and I told her that she could. I’m pretty sure she won’t be as interesting as I am but mom says Mattie should have a chance to bark too. So, once again, since it’s close to Christmas ………..

Time to get mom ready for bed … sometimes it takes a while for her to realize that we’re right and it’s time to go to sleep. Mom can be so silly sometimes!

I’ll be blarking again soon! Oh yes, it’s chicken stick time too!

Mom got the mail today and was she surprised! There were FIVE Christmas cards for me from other dogs who belong to the Dogs With Blogs website. They were from all over the country and two were even from Mexico!

Mom said that the Christmas card score is: Kismet – 5, Mom – 0. Bark, bark, bark, I just have to bark out loud at that! It’s so funny!

Mom says that now we have to get busy and start sending out cards too so that’s probably what we’ll be doing this weekend. I can’t wait! It’ll be so much fun to send out Christmas cards! I’ve never done that before even though this will be my fifth Christmas with mom since I rescued her … I know it’s just because I told mom I want a blark so now I’m just making friends all over the world! This is SO exciting!

Mom and I were working on a special project most of the night so this blark will be pretty short. I’m not going to tell you what it is but it’s very exciting and I think you’ll see it on my blark next week! You’ll be VERY impressed!

Mattie and I are ready for bed now so we’re going to go hang out by the chicken stick bag to wait for our slow mom to be ready too … Barks to all my friends!

Here I am! This is me in my little coat!! Don’t I look very stylish and avant garde? I think I look so much taller too so I like to wear it every chance I get! Mom didn’t make me wear my booties and I’m glad she didn’t even mention them because I would have just said NO! Maybe someday when I have to go outside in big snowdrifts and I’m wearing my booties anyway … maybe … then I’ll let her take a picture of me in those silly booties … we’ll see …

This is my “cousin” Pouncer. I don’t think she’s really my cousin at all … the only thing we have in common is four legs. Pouncer is alot hairier than me and not nearly as personable. She likes to sleep on mom’s other pillow right beside mom’s head and when she thinks it’s time for mom to get up, she taps her on the forehead with her paw. Mom really likes that a lot … NOT!!!!

This is Mattie with her surprised look … I think she’s surprised because mom finally got her camera out and is taking pictures! I know everyone thinks I’m a lot cuter than Mattie so I told mom it was ok if she put another picture of her on my blark.

Ok, now for my BIG news … guess what?????? Mutchy let Lola have a blog bark too! It’s a really nifty blog bark and I made mom put a link to Lola’s Nifty Blog right here on my blark so everybody can go check it out and say hi to Lola too! Be sure you tell her how happy you are that her mom Mutchy finally realized that Lola needs to be in with the in-crowd and have a blog bark! Lola does a good job with her blog bark too and she’s even got two pictures on it already! That’s way more than mom had of me until today!

So go check out Lola’s blog and you can spend all the time you want admiring me and my coat! I’m going to make mom put more pictures of me on my blark soon!

Off to the chicken sticks!

And Mattie and I are SO HAPPY we could just dance around and around all day … actually, that’s exactly what we did yesterday when mom came home with TWO bags of CHICKEN STICKS!

Mom went to the Chicken Stick store yesterday afternoon and there they were! Bags and bags of chewy goodness … our chicken sticks! Mom got TWO bags so she wouldn’t have to worry about our sanity for at least a few weeks and she said she didn’t even care how much they cost! We luv our mom! When she got home, Mattie and I smelled the chicken sticks right away and starting begging to have one … mom gave us each a WHOLE chicken stick … that hasn’t happened for a really long time. Especially in dog time … later she gave us each another WHOLE chicken stick! I think mom was almost happier than we were that she had finally replenished our stash!

We had a really nice long weekend with mom … she was home four whole days with us (you guessed it, that’s 28 days in dog time) so we were in doggie heaven. One day was a day mom called Thanksgiving and mom made a little turkey for all of us … she was supposed to go somewhere for a big dinner but since we weren’t invited she didn’t go! Bark, bark, bark, I’m so funny … I’m just kidding. She would have gone without us but she just decided she wanted to stay home instead.  Mom’s human daughter and a man that mom calls her son-in-law came to the house and cut down a tree in our patio. I guess mom had asked them to do that because I’ve never seen them come in and start destroying our property before. Anyway, it only took them a few minutes to do that (because it was just a small tree) and mom made the man some kind of food that she called “Bang Bang Shrimp” and mom and the man ate it and said it was very good … but mom’s human daughter said she doesn’t eat sea bugs so she wouldn’t even try it! It smelled really good and Mattie and I would have eaten some Bang Bang Shrimp but no one offered us any … it was very sad. Then mom had to clean up the patio. She said she had to take the murdered tree away and clean up the murder scene, so she picked up the branches in her arms and carried it to a little lake about a minute from our house. She did that about ten times and the body had been disposed of. Then she cleaned up the evidence of the murder. She said she was pretty sure we’d gotten away with it because no one saw her carrying the body parts to the lake, and she was wearing gloves so there are no fingerprints on any part of the tree, and she cleaned up the patio so no one could tell there had been a crime committed. She says if anyone asks where the tree has gone she will just tell them it left home and she doesn’t know where it went.  I think it was a perfect crime although, as a Doxie, I haven’t had a lot of personal experience with clandestine behavior.  So we’ll see …

Later, mom took several pictures of me in my little coat! She took pictures of Mattie and Pouncer too which I thought was totally unnecessary but mom thought that they’d feel left out. I know she really just wanted pictures of me … she was going to put them on the computer but since it’s been so long since she used the camera, she can’t find the little cord that links the camera to the computer so she can get the pictures loaded. She isn’t panicking — yet — and she says she’ll find it soon so maybe next time I bark in my blark, she’ll have the pictures ready to go … p.s. don’t hold your breath …

Stay tuned to my next blark for a really BIG announcement … I won’t tell you what it is but it has something to do with mom’s friend Mutchy and Mutchy’s little wiener, Lola … remember I’ve been trying to get Mutchy to let Lola have a blog bark too … so maybe ???? Nope, I’m not telling … just read my blark next time to get the SCOOP!