My Life in Blog Years

It’s Sunday night, after 9 o’clock. I’m in my pajamas. Nothing unusual is happening… or is it?
The doorbell rings. I had a dream about this once. It was not a pleasant dream. The dogs bark in alarm, and I’m half expecting a man with a hook for a hand to break down the door. Should I even answer it? The doorbell rings again. I can only guess that this hook-handed bandit is very persistent, and I may as well save the owners of the house the trouble of having to repair the door, so I open it, only to find...

…it’s not a dream (not a bad one, anyway), and it’s not a hook-handed man - it’s my long-deployed husband!?!?  There he is in his uniform, looking dashing. Here I am in my pajamas, hair all mussed up. “What are you doing here?!?” “I had a very elaborate plan to surprise you, but it rather involved getting here about 4 hours and $250 ago.” “What are you doing here?!?” I repeat, “You’re not supposed to be home for two more weeks!” ”I had no reason to stay on the ship for two more weeks, so I flew home from Hawai’i. I’ve been planning to surprise you for a few months now. I guess it worked!”

D has already reminded me that my greeting was a bit like my response to his proposal (“I don’t know what to say!”) . But come on! How would you react to your husband showing up on your doorstep (unexpected) on a Sunday night, in his uniform, after being away for SEVEN MONTHS? So I’m very happy to have him home. The girls are ecstatic to have their other favorite lap back as well, though it was amusing to see their reactions; Luna reacted much like I had – thrilled but in shock – and Penny took a few minutes to remember that she was crazy about D.

So here are a few pictures. In order:

(1) Standing majestically at the base of the Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
(2) Jumping off a perfectly good ship in the Northern Arabian Sea
(3) Reading a Motor Trend on the bridge of his ship, with a pair of F/A-18 Hornets launching from the flight deck (photo care of Camden Bennett)
(4) USS John C. Stennis

I was having a 'moment' this evening (and apparently was having a not-so-obvious-moment at work) when the realization finally hit that within the last 13 months (390+ days), I’ve only seen my husband for 60 days. 60 DAYS! That means that we’ve been apart for nearly a year… and I am absolutely ready for my husband to come home!
This is the photo that started the water-works...

This is the photo that started the water-works...

This is the face that Luna has been giving me all evening...

...and this is the lovely video my friend at work sent to me.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/36519586 w=400&h=225]
a story for tomorrow. from gnarly bay productions, Inc. on Vimeo.

We were thrilled to be asked (like many of our other blogging friends) to review the service and experience from Mr. Chewy.
If you don’t already know, here are the facts about Mr. Chewy-

• Mr. Chewy delivers pet happiness by conveniently shipping 70+ brands of pet food.
• Orders of $49 and over are FREE! Orders under $49 are a flat rate of only $4.95. You also have the convenience of setting up a delivery schedule by setting the time frame and quantities while maintaining the ability to pause, cancel or change any part of the schedule.
• Most customers receive their orders within 3-5 days of placing them.
• They have programs for non-profit organization and shelters that help support animal welfare.

Before I ordered anything from Mr. Chewy, I wanted to compare pricing between Mr. Chewy and the two other pet stores that I frequent for my dog food; Petsmart (a convenient yet cooperate big box store which conveniently raised their prices), Maser's (a family owned full line pet store, which is a good twenty minutes in the opposite direction of my commute).

PETSMART

1 x Blue Buffalo Adult Small Breed Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe, 6-lb. bag-$19.49
1 x Blue Buffalo Adult Large Breed Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe, 15-lb. bag- $31.99
1 x Blue Buffalo Blue Mini Bars Banana & Yogurt Natural Mini Dog Biscuits, 8-oz.- $9.99
Merchandise Subtotal: $ 61.47
Sales Tax: $3.99
Estimated Total: $65.46

MASERS PET STORE

1 x Blue Buffalo Adult Small Breed Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe, 6-lb. bag- $16.99
1 x Blue Buffalo Adult Large Breed Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe, 15-lb. bag-$25.99
1 x Blue Buffalo Blue Mini Bars Banana & Yogurt Natural Mini Dog Biscuits, 8-oz.- $9.99
Merchandise Subtotal: $ 52.97
Sales Tax: $3.44
Estimated Total: $56.41

MR. CHEWY

1 x Blue Buffalo Adult Small Breed Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe, 6-lb. bag- $16.99
1 x Blue Buffalo Adult Large Breed Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe, 15-lb. bag- $28.99
1 x Blue Buffalo Blue Mini Bars Banana & Yogurt Natural Mini Dog Biscuits, 8-oz.- $4.99
Merchandise Subtotal: $ 50.97
Sales Tax: $0.00
Sipping & Handling/free on any order $49+ : $0.00
Estimated Total: $50.97
As you can see, the cost to order my food from Mr. Chewy runs about $15.00 less than Petsmart, so with that information in mind, we ordered our basics, and the ordering process couldn’t have been easier!  We received our order promptly and well packaged, and I can see us setting up a delivery schedule in the near future!
(Disclosure: I received a store credit in return for a review. All statements and opinions are completely my own.)
Make sure to check out their website at www.mrchewy.com, along with their Facebook Page for more information.

Do you know what a Rubit Clip is? I had heard of them but didn’t really know what they were or what purpose they served until I read this review from Youdidwhatwithyourweiver. The Rubit (roo'-bit') is a dog tag clip that lets you easily transition tags to different collars. It’s simple; you unclip the Rubit from your old collar and clip it to the new one. Wow! Can we say genius!! They sounded too good to be true, so I had to get a few to try out.
What do you know, they are actually very cool and easy to use- and all I can think about is no more broken nails!  I don’t know about you, but I am always breaking my nails whenever I have to deal with dog tags.
I took the suggestion from Jessica over at Youdidwhatwithyourweiner and ordered a small tag for Penny as she is a ‘small’ dog. I also ordered the plain silver clip knowing that if a colored one is used (like the pretty red or blue) the coloring eventually rubs off.

Yay, Finley graduated from puppy training! That being said, she still needs a lot of work and attention as she is just one of those puppies that needs constant supervision. Finley is “wild at heart'”, my father says…and boy is she. Wild or not, we love her and are happy that she passed with flying colors! Now on to agility training right?   Well… maybe not quite yet.

Finley (and Janet) posing for my camera.

Shake…

Stay…

Boy these floors are slippery!

Going through a course with a classmate

Got to take a picture with the cool graduate hat!