PS

For those of you wondering - tons more has happened in the last few months. And I plan to post some more photos soon. In fact, ISSB is remodeling the bathroom as I type (there are sure to be good ones from this "little" undertaking). So stay tuned, I will try to be better at this.

Until then, here is one of Sarge to tide you over.

Happy Sarge Day 3!!!

Today is our three year anniversary of bringing home Sarge. He is still the boss around here and always keeps things interesting.

Here I am bringing him home from the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria VA.
Scratches!
The men bonding.
Hugs!
And a recent one when he was peacefully resting.
And many more........

Last weekend in April: MinneSNOWta?

Last week in April, flowers blooming, spring showers, 94 degrees in Sunny Austin (a little too hot for me, donchaknow)…and we were making our way to the Spring Open House at the Clay Coyote.

My mom actually told us NOT to pack coats. Please take a moment to take in the photos below:

Yes, folks, that is a blizzard in April. FYI: ISSB is NEVER going to want to move here.

We still had the Open House albeit a bit slower than usual. So all you Minnesotans out there, if you didn’t make it (1) no one blames you the weather was crap, and (2) all will be forgiven if you pop over to the Clay Coyote’s brand new website and rack up a hefty order. I highly recommend the new Dessert Heart jewelry and any pottery in this section.

The visiting artists for the weekend were:

Don Cherney from Clayton WI will bring his cast pewter jewelry and his lovely wife, Sharon Cherney with her leather bags and purses.
See Sarge the Gallery Dog in the back, lapping up the free scratches? He was, as always, a hit!
Patti Berg, from Embarrass, MN and her really cool hats.
Clay Coyote Open House, long-timer, goldsmith Patty Conlin. And Hutch local, Tom Soucek and his watercolors.
Here are Rachel and Mom (the one that looks like me) taking a hug break in the packing and shipping department. Open House weekend always calls for more hugs.Over all, although a bit chilly, it was a lovely trip to see Mom, Too, and the rest of the Clay Coyote family.!!!

Super Birthday Bowl XLII

The fourth Annual Super Birthday Bowl was a hit! If only the Pats had taken home history. I will say, the former Minnesota super stars lit up the night (Mulroney and Moss).

We had cake, apparently Ian (el Gringo) and the senoritas at the Mexican Bakery have some communication issues. This is (and I say is because clearly there IS a lot left) the biggest cake I have ever seen!!!!

Here are Jax and Nina, two of the spunkiest guests of the evening. The house and the patio were full – thankfully it reached 80 degrees yesterday. Perfect patio weather – on my birthday, suck it June Boy ‘bout time I have a pool party!

Sarge was, of course, in heaven! He and Yvette became fast friends, we just had to explain to her that he like kids better than adults because they were the same size and age! She thought he was great…who doesn’t?

Here I am wishing for Obama to come out on top not only tomorrow but in November.

And last, here is what happens when we let 30 people loose on my pollo verde! If you haven’t seen it, I did a post a while back with the step by steps. I don’t deserve all the credit, it is my mom’s recipe, but as I told Francisco, not bad for the “white girl from Minnesota.”

Sarge Says Happy New Year!

Cheers to many more!

Happy Birthday Robin!

This is your day, but we have all the fun! Hey!

PS: Sorry, Sarge is trying to minimize his carbon footprint by reusing birthday signs.

Go Red Sox!

He is getting ready for the start of the World Series tomorrow!

Settling in to the couch - ready to cheer!!!
GO Sox GO!

Happy Birthday to Dave!

30, wow! That's like 210 in Sarge Years!

Funny lookin’ dog

Sarge had been getting a little shaggy.

After his last trip to Shampooch (the grooming place that gave him razor burn and a lopsided cut) I had been on the lookout for a new groomer. Midtown Grooming in Austin was the winner, so we dropped him off to get trimmed. I okayed a summer cut on his body – but I never expected to see his head looking like this!

He is half-Bichon for crying out loud.Guess we are going to have to keep searching….I hear good things about Groomingdales. One thing’s for sure, he won’t need to be cut for a while!

200th Post!

We have lived in Texas for 380 days, and this is my 200^th post on the Phlog! In honor of this post, I am going to share a few key tidbits about the phlog and in the comments section I would like you to leave a note about your favorite phlog post, photos, quote, etc…

The tidbits:

• 4, 468 people have visited the phlog
• the number one visited page on the pholg is “Home Buying One-Oh-My-Goodness-We-Did-It!!!”
• "AT&T Sucks" is the post that got the most comments – coming in at 11!
• According to Technorati 23 other blogs link to the phlog
• Phlog visitors come from near and far:

The top Google search terms driving people to the phlog are:

1. salon evolve
2. austin girl's phlog
3. sarge the wonder dog
4. dogs who lick frogs
5. pollo verde

Thank you all for reading! Again, please take a moment to comment about your favorite phlog thing!

Recovery...

Got a bug I can’t seem to shake for the last 3 months. Sorry about the lack of posting, but we haven’t done much lately. And I am not sure a picture of the couch with me in my jammies was in real demand.

But, here is one of Sarge holding down his end of the couch.

I am off on Sunday for a 10-day trip east. It is a pretty exciting trip, although there will be tons of work; I have some play penciled in. More soon. Gotta beat this bug before I get on the plane.

Horizontal Dog!!

Sarge really likes his new back yard - here he is leaping off the back porch. Ian caught this with his camera phone.

Happy Easter!

Love, Sarge

One frog Sarge wouldn’t want to meet in an alley

Ian’s mom sent this one over this morning. Sarge would really jump if he every saw this frog! Sorry about the lag time between posts lately. My mom was in town helping us get the house ready. We spent the entire weekend working in the yard and tearing out the floor – all the way to the dirt – to prepare for the foundations guys to come in. Depending on the weather and their other jobs they could be in as early as this week. They need about 5-6 days to complete the work. Then we can put the floors back down. I have a ton of photos from the weekend to put up tonight.

I’m not dead yet…

Just at SXSW. We have a houseguest from NYC. Things are crazy. More pics and news in 2 days.

Until then, here is a gratuitous puppy photo…

Happy Sarge Day!

Today was our one year anniversary with Sarge. When we brought him home from the shelter we were so excited!

Here is him leaving. His name was Little Bit and for a week he was known as The Dog Formerly Known as Little Bit (TDFKLB).

Thank goodness for the naming competition (which Ian likes to point out that he won). We now have Sarge. He seems to be a Sarge too, I think that the name really suits him!

We can not believe it has been a year. We have done so much. In fact, Sarge has been to 16 states: AK, CA, CT, DE, MD, MA, MN, NC, NJ, NY, OR, PA, RI, TN, TX, and VA.

Today, for his birthday (he is 2 ½ we are celebrating half b-days and anniversary at once) he came with me in to work, he got lots of extra scratches, and treats. I took him over to the groomer’s for a nice bath and some TLC.

Overall it has been a wonderful year; I can barely remember life B.S. (before Sarge). He is truly a joy to be around each day. He has his weird little quirks and his bossy days, but don’t we all.

So cheers to Sarge – and many more wonderful years!

Has your dog licked a frog?

If so, and you are madly searching google for what to do. First, stop reading and call the vet. We had to bring Sarge to an all night emergency vet.

Now, you might wonder, why is she still posting about this? Let’s begin by saying the first post was the real deal. We had just had it happen and it was so outrageous I had to tell the world. But, it didn’t stop there. I photoshopped a pic of Sarge in his “Dead dog” pose and turned him a little green as a slight joke – he is ok, it is alright to make a little fun.

But it turns out that people are searching google daily (I have Analytics to tell me these odd tidbits) and they are finding my blog. I am not kidding. There seems to be a major epidemic of dogs licking frogs.

So my plea is, tell me why? Is your dog ok?

Mine is, in fact he is more than ok…he is Sarge the Wonder Dog.

Fix Couch: A sad day in TX

Ok, I failed. If I were trying to get the Presidential Suite at the Philly Marriot I would have succeeded, but on this one (as the article warns) I was destine to fail.

I called up the company in Virginia where we bought the couch. They gave me the name and number of the third-party that we have our five year stain warranty through. I called them (Stain Saver at 1-866-RIPP-OFF, nope, that’s not right) and the first woman said she would take the needed info to fill out my claim. She asked me 20 minutes worth of questions and then she put me on hold for 5 minutes while she "processed my claim." Then she came back and told me that she couldn’t help me because the stain was not a food or beverage. The warranty only covers food or beverage stains. Not dye transfers (from pants other than blue jeans – you never know these could have been someone’s red jeans…). Any ways, I requested a supervisor; she didn’t want to put her on. But I was transferred after a 10 minute wait. The supervisor was even ruder than the first woman. She told me noting could be done. I asked to speak with her manager, she said there wasn't one. I informed her that I didn’t think she owned the company so someone was higher than her. She said her manager’s name was Nancy. I asked for her last name or extension. She said she couldn’t give that out. I asked how many Nancys worked there she said 2. I asked how I was to get in touch with the proper one. She said just ask for the manager, but that she didn’t come on until 12:30. I told her to put me thru to another supervisor. Another 5 minutes on the phone and I was put on with another woman. The second supervisor told me that it didn’t matter that they don't treat dye transfers I didn’t report the stain within 5 days of noticing it so it is not covered.

There. Take that. I felt like I was in a racquetball court. Hit the ball one way = NO! Hit the ball the other way = NO! No matter what it is my belief that they were never intending to come out to my house to try and remove the stain. That said, Ian’s mom said that she has actually had people come out and remove stains for her. But now I know, (1) tell them you found it yesterday and (2) make sure that you spill red wine and (3) never let anyone with pants on sit on your couch. Boy, some things you just have to learn the hard way (PS: I really hope this saves some of you from this same experience).

Well, I finally hung up vowing to call Nancy and lodge a complaint about the lack of professionalism of her staff. And I told the supervisors that I was going to call the furniture company and tell them about my experience.

I did call Belfort Furniture up. And I spent 5 minutes telling the customer care representative about the experience. I said that I realize that they can’t help me, they are not going to give me my $50 bucks back, and they are not going to replace my couch. But I really like my couch, I really had a wonderful experience with them in the couch-buying-process and I think that they should know that even thought they are not responsible for that third party warranty company, they are associated with them. And they are selling their warranties and it is resulting in a bad experience for Belfort’s happy clients. Not everyone will be as understanding as me; I realize that they are just a conduit to the third party. The customer care representative told me that he would pass on my complaint to the person there who is responsible for setting up the third party relationships.

So take that Stain Saver. My couch may be pink, and you wasted an hour of my day, but 100s of people read my blog every week and just maybe the next time they call up it will be 2-day old strawberry syrup and you scrub and scrub. And in the end you will have to buy them a whole new couch!

(Sorry that was long winded, hope it was slightly educational.)

New Project: Fix Couch

Now that we are pretty much thru the process of buying a house, I am working on new project. I hope this one is not as stressful.

We bought a couch a few years back. I really like this couch. It is the most comfortable couch I have ever owned (NOTE: all previous couches came from with the side of the road or Craigslist). Anyways, during our going away party there was an unfortunate incident where one corner of our couch was turned pink. It is really not that noticeable, but I know it is there.

When we bought the couch we added on an extended warranty. I know, I know, Consumer Reports took out a full page ad right before Christmas telling everyone NOT to buy an extended warranty. Silly us…even tough we bought the couch in 2004 and we had no idea of the future warning.

Well I am about to call it in. I am going to get my couch back to new or I am getting a new couch. Ian is not taking bets on this because he is “pretty sure I can do it.”

So here goes nothing. I will let you know how it goes!

(PS: Sarge LOVES the couch!)

Ok H.A. this one’s for you and Brian!

Thank you both for this awesome gift, it brought joy to all of us!

Sorry it took me so long to put this up, but Sarge doesn’t have thumbs so it takes him a while to do such a big puzzle!