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Posts Tagged ‘Schnauzer’

  1. Puppy Love

    May 17, 2013 by Britton_Riley

    It’s almost the weekend and I can’t wait! I get to see my mister again and we have BIG plans. We are going to Orlando Saturday afternoon! We have reservations at a resort that looks to be very nice!

    Since I’m home alone….Ahhhhh!

    I get all the extra special greetings from the pups. They get so excited when I come home. Tonight I came home 3 hours later than normal because I had to have my hair did. I mean really, did you think the blonde hair was really my natural color?

    I love coming home after being at the salon because I love all the puppy nuzzles I get. My hair smells so good, the boys bury their noses into my hair, sniffing and sniffing and it tickles! They went crazy tonight. They were running and jumping and barking. It was awesome! Fletcher jumps so high, we call him “Kangaroo Boy”. Higgins stayed right by my side as I was standing in the closet changing clothes while Fletcher was lurking around the corner, barking for us to come get him. I told Higgins “let’s go get him” and all craziness broke loose! I chased them around on the floor for a while, they loved it!! Talk about getting your natural happy neurotransmitters (serotonin) flowing! Who needs a drink when you’ve got sweet loving dogs around!

    Once all the initial excitement was over and I took my makeup off and changed my clothes, we all got into bed. They both were all over me, almost like they wanted to get in my skin. Sir Higgins planted himself right next to me and MADE me pet him. He bats my face if I don’t. Then, if I pet him and stop, he starts smacking me in the face some more until I resume petting him. He’s so bossy!

    Here he is starting to bat his paw at me….

    Fletcher plastered himself to the other side of me, but before I could get a picture I sneezed and he ran off. Sneezes don’t bother Sir Higgins, but Fletcher gets downright offended if you sneeze. He jumps up, gives you the famous schnauzer stink eye, and leaves. I  try to apologize to him and ask him to stay, but  he usually leaves anyway.

    So, Sir Higgins and I continued on with our sweet, although sometimes violent snuggle session….

    Category Life Post Scram, SCRAM | Tags: | No Comments

  2. Beach Bums

    July 30, 2012 by Britton_Riley

    Look ma, no Scram!

    Scram free at the beach!! Oh, it was wonderful!

    I played in the waves until I was sea sick. It was magical!

    Then I fell asleep in my beach chair for a little while.

    And I enjoyed drinking plain old  juice more than ever before!

    The boys had a great time too. We played frisbee until the boys were downright water logged!

    After the big game of frisbee, we went back to our chairs to do some tanning….

    Sir Higgins tanned his rump first. We kind of thought he looked like when the house falls on the witch in The Wizard of Oz….

    We did some digging and others did some bikini watching. I think it’s pretty obvious who was doing what….

    We took long walks on the beach in the evening and first thing in the morning. There were tons of other dogs there for Higgins and Fletcher to meet!

    This was our evening walk after my mister and I came back from our dinner.

    We were sad when the weekend was over and it was time to leave, but can’t wait to go back!

    We got home around 3 yesterday afternoon after spending half the day on the beach. The car is loaded with sand and now so is my washer and dryer. I don’t freak out about those types of things, that’s why the amazing Oreck people exist….VACUUMS! My mister has trouble with that concept when he first sees all of that luxurious sand everywhere, but we’re working on it :) A little sand won’t kill anybody….hey, just think of it as a souvenir!

    AND it’s fairly easy to clean up.

    When we got home, I quickly filled the washing machine up with towels and headed off to the grocery store. I made dinner, bathed dogs, finished laundry, took a shower, and finally landed comfortably in my Tempurpedic. (Let’s just say….”resorts” that are dog friendly aren’t always the cleanest places….and let’s just say I was afraid of the bed and didn’t get much sleep the night before….and let’s just say we may be finding another place to stay the next time we go to St. Augustine…..)

    Shew, yall….what a weekend! I’m pretty pooped for a Mondee morning!

    Category Life Post Scram, SCRAM | Tags: ,,,,,, | 7 Comments

  3. War Stories

    June 20, 2012 by Britton_Riley

    Well, he made it. Fletcher did great at his dental appointment and came out with some fabulous pearly whites!


    Now tell me, y’all who wouldn’t want a kiss from this sweet little mouth??

    (That is my thumb AND my sore. I always get blisters when I kayak….I need to get some yakin’ gloves.)

    My mister loves to read over my shoulder as I’m writing to you and he was less than thrilled by the picture I’ve posted of Fletcher’s teeth. He said “hey, what if I did that to you??”

    …..and then he did….

    I told him that picture didn’t work out so well. He told me it didn’t work out so well for Fletcher, either….I suppose he’s got a point.

    This Scram experience has been so very enlightening. Not only have I learned a TON about myself, I have really learned a lot about other people. I have kept my Scram my secret, hidden under my pant leg, from most of my work peeps. I have chosen to tell a select few about this secret. You never know how someone is going to respond. I have found that everyone has a story.

    On a couple of instances, when I have shared my secret hiding under my pant leg with someone, they in turn share with me a skeleton that lives in their closet. Not because I ask them to, but it just comes out. It is funny how when someone finds out that you have flaws and have made mistakes, they trade war stories with you, and there is instantly a certain comradery that is felt. It’s kind of cool! I have traded war stories and learned lots about people, thanks to Scrammy. No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. We all have demons.

    I’m enjoying life without hangovers. I woke up in the middle of the night with an upset tummy. That really makes me think of being hung over and how I don’t miss it one bit. I think of the times that I felt so sick, I didn’t know whether to kneel in front of my porcelain friend or sit upon it. Such a nasty feeling!

    …..if only it was THIS much fun the next day!

    Category SCRAM, Scram Bracelet Diaries | Tags: ,,,,,,,,, | No Comments

  4. Guess Who….

    June 19, 2012 by Britton_Riley

    ….is getting a pedicure today

    Nope, not Scrammy

    Scrammy loves pedicures, but that’s not who…..

    It’s Fletcher! He’s going to have his teeth cleaned AND get a pedicure this morning.

    I’m really looking forward to his fresh puppy kisses after those teeth get cleaned. It never fails, when he greets me he always manages to slip me some tongue. GROSS!!! But I guess if it’s gonna happen, I’d rather it happen with clean teeth :)

    I hope he does well today. I’m nervous for my little guy.

    Remember how Scrammy (the first) was losing the belt buckle?

    Well, Scrammy #2 has already lost the buckle. I found it laying on my kitchen floor over the weekend.

    I’ve never had a baby, but it made me think…. this is kind of like finding your newborn baby’s dried umbilical cord stump!…..only not as gross. And if your cat gets a hold of it (like on Sex and the City), it won’t completely gross you out either.

    Strange and completely random, I know.

    How do I come up with this stuff?

    I have no clue.

    These are my NON chemically induced thoughts! :)

    Category SCRAM, Scram Bracelet Diaries | Tags: ,,,,,,, | No Comments

  5. Bellybutton Lint

    April 30, 2012 by Britton_Riley

    How perceptive are you?

    Do you notice anything?

    (Besides the fact that I need a pedicure and probably a good shave…and clearly these are my favorite flip flops!)

    Ok wait….let me get in the tub….now look….do you see it? Do you know what’s different???

    Come on….think, y’all!

    Scrammy jumped from my RIGHT leg to my LEFT leg!! How, you may ask?

    Remember how I told you I had LOTS of exciting things to catch you up on from the week? Thursday I got a call from my lovely, AMAZING, fabulous, FANTASTIC Gabriele…at first, I kind of panic a little bit when I see that she’s calling because I wonder if there is a problem at the Mothership. Well, she had bad news and good news for me….the bad news was I have finally gotten the low battery alert that we’ve been waiting for. The GREAT news is that my Gabriele already had someone here in MY town lined up to take care of changing my battery! I just love it when someone can bring you a problem AND the solution all at once…softens the blow!! That means she saved me a 500 mile trip to Tennessee….and then 500 miles back home. (That’s a lot of miles for a battery change.) I think Gabriele just earned her superhero cape, don’t you?

    Gabriele’s phone call came in the morning, so I was able to just go have the “procedure” during my lunch time. My mister and I had already made plans to have lunch together, so I just told him to meet me at the Georgia Probation office instead….Georgia Probation Office….isn’t that scary? As it turns out, it wasn’t scary at all. The nice man that Gabriele contacted was waiting for me when we got there. Actually, he was dealing with one of the criminal peeps he has to keep up with. He looked like he was quite finished with their conversation, but she wanted to keep talking. She finally left and it was MY TURN! I asked if he was the one who had spoken with my Gabriele. He said I had the right guy and we were on our way back to his office to take care of Scrammy!

    I was really glad my mister was with me. His favorite thing in the whole wide world is asking questions….about EVERYTHING! I think even Socrates, the great thinker and master question-asker himself would probably feel like ringing my mister’s neck! I don’t always have answers for his many questions, so I was happy he was there, at the source, to go to town with questions. Of course he only really asked ONE…and I already knew the answer. The question: can I put lotion on my dry, irritated skin under Scrammy? The answer is NO, just as I suspected. Our new Scram friend explained that one of his criminal peeps is also on SCRAM and that she applied lotion to the area and it detected alcohol or some other funky reading. He said that he gave her a breathalyzer, so he knew it wasn’t that she had consumed alcohol. Basically we need to keep any type of foreign substance away from the area under and around Scrammy….except Dove soap. Scrammy loves to stay clean and LOVES Dove bar soap! I have gotten Dove bar soap all up in Scrammy’s business and never had a problem reported to me. Dove bar soap gets 2 thumbs up!!

    Our new Scram buddy got out his tools, the new battery, and was ready to go to work.

    Here are the special tools used to take Scrammy apart.

    This is the new battery and various other of Scrammy’s “Bits & Pieces”

    I didn’t realize that in order to change my battery, they would have to take Scrammy completely off, but they did. Oh how great it felt to be able to rub my skin where it had been sitting for the past 90 days!

    What a relief! It felt so “FREEING” to have it off for a few minutes. I just kept rubbing & scratching my Scram-free skin. It felt so good!

    Ta Daaa! Here it is….

    I asked my new Scram buddy if we might be able to switch legs….in order to give my right one a break. He said he would need to check with Gabriele, but he didn’t see why it would be a problem. As it turned out, my Gabriele was unavailable at the time, probably off helping some other Scrammer in need…because she’s just that awesome….so our new friend evaluated the area of my skin where I’d been wearing the bracelet and made an executive decision to go ahead and put Scrammy on my left leg.

    Before Scrammy’s bits & pieces were put back in their place, I was able to get up close and personal…..and look who had lint in their bellybutton….hehehe

    Sorry Scrammy, I hope I didn’t embarrass you!

    Before we were done, we needed to be sure the Mothership knew Scrammy was ready to go and safely back on my leg.

    They attached this device so I guess you could say that the “junior Mothership” was officially tapping in to the Big-Mutha Mothership.


    The entire “procedure” didn’t take long and before we knew it, we were saying goodbye to our new friend. Who, by the way, said he would be happy to take my Scram OFF when the time comes! AWESOME!!! Those Scram peeps sure have been good to me :) I am looking forward to seeing him again in about 86 ish days! (If I am allowed…..gotta clear this stuff with “the powers that be”)

    Thursday wasn’t just a great day for Scrammy, it was a great day for Sir Higgins. He had a birthday to celebrate!

    Sir Higgins turned 4 years old on Thursday!!

    For Fletcher’s birthday, we had Ice Dream and it was a HUGE hit.

    Now that it was Higgins’ big day we loaded the boys in the car and headed to Chick-fil-A for a special birthday Ice Dream…..

    As we headed down the road, I told Higgins where we were headed…and he was SO very excited! He was SO excited in fact, that he couldn’t help but lick his lips in anticipation of that cold, sweet treat….

    So off we were to the Chick-fil-a drive thru, and with that yummy sweet treat in our possession, we were quickly headed home….we had a birthday party to throw!

    Our birthday boy enjoyed his special treat so much, it was a GREAT 4th birthday party at our house!

    (Don’t worry, Fletcher got an Ice Dream too! He loved it!!)

    Category SCRAM, Scram Battery Change, Scram Bracelet Diaries, SCRAM Tear | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,, | 3 Comments

  6. Double Digits!

    April 16, 2012 by Britton_Riley

    mail

    Higgins and Fletcher got new “clothes” this week! Their new collars arrived in the mail, so we had to take them out for a spin to show them off. Sir Higgins, as he prefers to be called, is sporting the traditional Scottish Highland Plaid and Fletcher‘s couture is the very classy, vintage Gucci Stripe. (Fletcher isn’t quite as particular about how he’s addressed. He’s more of a simple kind of guy.)

    They may be dogs, but they are so chic!

    Do you know who loves Scrammy even more than I do? My liver! I believe that if it could, my liver would probably jump out and give Scrammy a big wet sloppy kiss…..and then jump back in of course.

    Today is a milestone, y’all….I’m in double digits! I don’t always pay attention to my countdown clock, but one of my fabulous readers pointed it out to me. She also just happens to be on Scram too AND is on the same schedule as me!  My halfway mark is just a few short days away…..

    ….and I will be patiently awaiting the phone call that I’ve been anticipating…..you know, the one where they say Scrammy’s battery life is low and I have to have it changed. It should be interesting telling them at work that I have to make a trip back to Tennessee…LIKE NOW. I’ve been told that I will have a few days to get my fancy butt in there, but I was hoping to have some time to plan. I don’t think it will work out that way, I suppose that’s just all part of the punishment.

    When I go get my battery changed, I wonder if I should have them put Scrammy on my other leg…..just a thought.

    I was at the store yesterday and found…..

    MOCKTAILS!!! So fun, right? Someone over at Crystal Light must be a reformed drinker to have come up with such a fun little drink. What can I say…they had me at MOJITO!

    I learned something new today. Did you have any idea that soy sauce contains anywhere from 1% to 5% alcohol? Yep, it sure does! Crazy, huh! I guess I can cross that off my list of condiments to use for the next 99 days…..

    How do you find relaxation? Exercise? Reading? Watching a movie? I haven’t really found anything to take that mean old edge off quite like a glass of wine used to….but I’m still searching. Tonight I took a bath and listened to music. It was definitely relaxing, that’s for sure. I long for the day….not when I can have a glass of wine again….but for the day that I can take a bath with BOTH feet in the tub!

    The simplest things make the biggest difference….

    Category SCRAM, Scram Bracelet Diaries | Tags: ,,,,,,,, | 2 Comments

  7. Fully Exposed

    February 24, 2012 by Britton_Riley

    Happy Friday, y’all!!

    Are you having a great day? You should be, it’s almost the freakin’ weekend! Do you have anything fun planned?

    We are going to the Daytona 500 and I am SO excited!! Bitten and Bound has already done a story about the FABULOUS Danica Patrick and her most recent crash! (Unlike mine, I don’t think her crash involved alcohol.) I just think any woman succeeding in a man’s world is a true inspiration for us all!


    Here we are, just me and Scrammy at Starbucks….fully exposed!

    At first I was a little self conscious, scoping the place out to see if anyone was looking but now as I have gotten settled into my comfy chair with my iced cafe mocha (with soy milk of course), I have pretty much forgotten I have “CRIMINAL” slapped on my leg for all to see.

    It was 81 degrees here yesterday (79 degrees today) and I had to turn on the air conditioning in our house…in February!! Have you ever heard of such a thing? I think it has been unseasonably warm for just about everyone. How is it where you live? Needless to say, Higgins and Fletcher have only worn their sweaters one time this winter.

    I have no choice but to get over the humiliation of what people must think when they see me with this “thing” on my ankle. (Sorry, Scrammy…I mean no disrespect by referring to you as a “thing”, I am only trying to make a point.) I am not going to go all summer in long pants. I find myself saying to my husband before we go out in public “Will it embarrass you if I wear this? I mean, you can see my bracelet…” He has made it abundantly clear that we are NOT going to stay home and be hermits due to what people may think when they see Scrammy and that he does NOT expect me to cover up (especially when it gets hot). He said that we are going to go about life as usual and enjoy everything as normal. (What a supportive husband I have!) We live near the beach now and we are GOING to the beach, dangit! Scrammy or no Scrammy! :) Hopefully people will overlook the stigma and appreciate Scrammy’s ever-changing bling!

    Here is an up close look at today’s fashion:  I hope the gals at Bitten and Bound will approve!

    So Fun! I prefer the “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” approach. It is much more enjoyable than the “Poor pitiful me, look what the cops made me wear” approach! …..#1 pet peeve of mine (other than people clipping their fingernails at the office, that’s just gross)……not taking responsibility for one’s own actions! If you are guilty then you are guilty. Own up to it! It was YOU who made that bad choice. It is NOT the cop’s fault for pulling you over!

    There were lots of “characters” in the 9 week substance abuse class that I had to take as part of my punishment and the one I loved the best was “Macio”. He was always saying funny stuff. He was in the class because he got caught with marijuana and would always complain that it wasn’t fair that he was in trouble. He got pulled over for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, although he insisted that he did. For him, the point wasn’t that he was driving on a suspended license or that a huge cloud of pot smoke wafted out the window into the police officer’s face, but that he did in fact stop at the stop sign, he swore he did. In his mind, he never should have been pulled over.            Mmmmkay…..sure.                                                                                                When people are high, they think and move in slow-mo. Clear out the cobwebs, Macio! (We would say stuff like that to him, he was a good sport and deep down I know he knows he was in the wrong, not the cop.)

    The dogs and I went for a morning walk today and first we saw this:

    Now THAT’S a hard core Florida Gator fan, y’all! It even has Tim Tebow’s name written below the #15 and on the back it says “The Swamp”.

    As we kept walking, we came upon this sign someone had posted in their yard:

     

    Higgins and Fletcher were a bit offended.

    They would never dream of throwing their cigarette butts into someone’s yard!

    Plus, they travel with only the cutest accessories for any other waste they may need to “drop off” so they may take it with them to dispose of properly.

     They might have some bad habits, as everyone does, but they certainly don’t “do business” in a neighbor’s yard without an “Oopsie, ‘scuse me” and a “don’t worry, I’ll have our girl -(that would be me, y’all)- scoop that up and take it with us when I’m done”.

    That Higgins and Fletcher ……..they are such responsible, polite little citizens!

    A new question for our rock star Kathleen (I call her my SCRAMx Angel!):

    I had this one on my list when I was preparing to have my SCRAM put on, but forgot to ask. We have a newbie joining our Scrammer family next week (Welcome Emily!!) and she has had some great questions. Here is one I am sure others may be curious about:

    Will exercise have any impact on Scrammy? Can the bouncing or jarring that could result from running or jumping cause any kind of interference with Scrammy taking a reading? (Specifically treadmills, a spinning class, a pilates class, jumprope, running, aerobics class….are all of these acceptable with Scrammy?)

    Category SCRAM, Scram Bracelet Diaries | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, | 3 Comments

  8. Tapping In To The Mothership

    February 5, 2012 by Britton_Riley

    (Originally Written and Posted January 26, 2012) 


    
I wonder if the ladies at Bitten and Bound would write a fashion faux pas story if I added latex gloves to my wardrobe….which I may do, because I am really afraid to touch anything around the house for fear that I may accidentally touch something containing alcohol. (Household cleaners are a no-no listed on my sheet of ‘don’ts’)
In addition to Lindsay Lohan, other celebs who have been on SCRAM include Andy Dick and the singer Eve! I never realized how common this thing was!

    
Here is my direct line to the Mothership!

    It sits on my dresser beside my bed, ready and waiting for the aliens. You can’t see what the display says in the picture, but it has the day, time, and assuming it is behaving it says “monitoring”. That round button will blink red if there is a problem.

    
As soon as I got home, the lovely Gabriele helped me tap in to the Mothership…..and then she took lots of money from me just as I had expected. Gabriele and I are going to get to know each other very well over the course of  my 180 day sentence. She is about to find out just how high maintenance I am when I have to call her before each time I go to have my hair colored! Luckily she is awesome, enjoys my humor, and has a really cool German accent!

    We manually performed our first info “dump” to the Mothership and it went through without a glitch! Scrammy dumped 62 readings….wow, what a memory it has! (Sure could’ve use that in nursing school) It will be “dumping” (aka the aliens will be invading my bedroom as I sleep) every night at 3 am.

    I thought all was well, until this morning. The monitor was blinking red and the message said to “wake the bracelet up”….UH OH!! SO, as the ‘apt pupil‘ that I am, I followed the instructions and I am anxiously awaiting Gabriele’s expertise (it is too early to call her now and she told me to only call the after hours line if my leg catches on fire…turns out my Gabriele has quite a sense of humor!). I am confident that she can find the glitch, talk me through the troubleshooting, and put my mind at ease.
I wonder if something happened when I showered last night…(my first shower with Scrammy). What a scary experience that was! I  worried about getting too much water on it, that I would accidentally get water in it, that my shampoo or conditioner may have contained alcohol (I read all labels….the conditioner had the word alcohol in the ingredients, so I didn’t use it. Eeek, I can’t go 6 moths without conditioning!) After I dried it off, I thought “Oh dear, have I been too rough with Scrammy? Should I have patted to dry instead of going over it so vigorously?”….and then my husband pointed out the blinking red light as he was saying goodbye to me before heading to work this morning. Had the aliens lost their way last night when they were supposed to be invading my bedroom? Did the Mothership ever get the dump they were expecting at 3 am? Oh dear! GABRIELE, HELP!!

    
These are the sweet faces who greeted me when I got home! Fletcher & Higgins missed their mama!
Leaving a 37 degree Tennessee morning, coming home to a 78 degree South Georgia day was quite nice!! So happy to be home to my 3 boys!

    One question that arose, courtesy of my cousin was about pumping gas. Kathleen??? Is pumping gas going to interfere with the unit? Is it something I should avoid?

    Also, I know that I need to keep my distance from my husband if he has been drinking (for fear that some of his perspiration would get on my skin)…if he uses cologne or lotion (prohibited products for me), do I need to take the same precautions? Oh my! This is not cool for newlyweds!

    Category SCRAM, Scram Bracelet Diaries | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,, | 5 Comments