Cheese

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before or not, but I'm crackers about cheese. It's one of my favorite snacks ever, and I really really can't get enough of it. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of cheese doled out in our household. Occasionally, a little bit of parmesan or gouda crumbles land on the floor while Papi is cooking, or I get a smidge of pizza with some cheese on top. But an extra special treat is when I get a piece of extra sharp cheddar, as seen here. It's my favorite cheese. It's also Lulu's favorite, so sometimes we both get a little crumb. Lulu's whiskers stand on end when she smells cheddar, and she sometimes even meows for it. I don't know if other cats are big on the cheddar, but that's up there with mashed potatoes in her book.

Lulu thinks about breakfast

I have discovered a way to get my breakfast delivered as early as I want it.

Before Emma came into the picture, when I wanted my breakfast, I would wake up Mami by patting her on the nose or sitting on her pillow and leaning over to stare at her until she woke up. Sometimes I'd have to lick her eyelids, but eventually she'd wake up and feed me.

But once Emma arrived, I decided to take a more indirect approach. You see, at night, Emma has to be locked in the bedroom with a gate so she doesn't get into trouble while the padres are asleep. When she wakes up in the morning, she cries until Mami takes her outside, and then we get fed.

Well, if left on her own, Emma sleeps until Mami's alarm clock goes off. But that is too late for me. I prefer breakfast at 7 a.m., just after the sun comes up. So I've figured out if I go into the bedroom really early and wake Emma up, she'll cry for Mami. It works every time.

I tested my theory this morning by not waking her up, and sure enough, she slept until 8:30! That means I have to wake her up bright and early tomorrow, so that we'll get fed at a more proper time.

Fuzzy

I've been told that I might need a haircut by strangers, but I resent that. I am naturally fuzzy, much like a teddy bear, and I don't see the need to get all slick and foofy for fashion's sake.
I know that sometimes cookies get caught in my beard, and that when I wake up my forehead fur kind of gets smooshed to one side of my head, but that's all part of being a choodle. I didn't get the curly hair of my father, or the straight hair of my mother. I'm kind of in between. And that's the way I like it.

What not to wear

As you might know, I have an extensive wardrobe. Most of it fits in a doll closet, but I also have a fancy trunk to keep my coats.

I don't care to wear many things, especially not dresses, although I don't mind wearing a t-shirt when it's chilly, or a coat when it snows. But in general, I prefer to keep my attire limited to a collar (currently red).

As far as human clothes go, they're okay for sitting on or chewing or hiding, but I'm no judge of appearances. Mami usually asks Papi's advice when she has a fashion crises, but he's in San Fran today, so she had to ask me about whether or not I thought her shoes went with her outfit. I told her I don't wear shoes, so I didn't have any input, but if she took them off, I'd be happy to chew on them for her. She decided to keep them on.

Tricks

So I'm now almost 1 1/2 years old, and I'm finally getting the hang of a few tricks. Well, they're not really tricks so much as things I do well, that makes Mami happy. For instance, I'm a very good sitter. I sit super well, and for a long time, and I will do it whenever I'm asked, even if I'm really excited about catching a ball or a treat or something.

I am working on stay. Sometimes I stay, othertimes not so much. I will wait though, until Mami says "Okay" before I eat my cookie. And when Papi says "Hold up" when we're walking, I'll stop and wait at the corner instead of walking into the street.

I do not lay down. Nothing Mami can do will make me lay down. Even if she puts a treat on the floor, I won't do it. I maybe will steal the treat, but I won't lie down for it. Of course, if I steal the treat, Mami fishes it out of my mouth again, but still, I tried.

One of my really good tricks is that when I bark at something, Mami goes "Tssst" at me and I stop. If I'm stinky and want to go back and bark again, Mami says "Go to bed," and I go lay down.

My weirdest trick is giving leg. When Papi holds out his hand and says "Give me leg," I will give him my back foot. It's pretty cool. No one's sure where I learned that, but I do it every time.

Also, I know the names of all my toys, and I can pick them out when you ask me for a specific one.

Those are all the tricks I can think of right now. If I learn something new, you'll be the first to know!

Sleepy time

I had a long lovely walk yesterday out in the sunshine, and it was so warm I didn't even need my jacket! I walked all the way to Papi's office and back, and got to sniff out all the messages other dogs had left, and leave a bunch of my own.

The only trouble we had was this nasty gray squirrel who was swearing at me from a tree. I didn't like him at all. I didn't bark, because I didn't want to dignify him with a response, but he sure was vulgar.

Lulu doesn't care for walks. She prefers to sleep in the sunshine, or when it's dark, on the couch. Last night I was very tired from the walk, so I curled up in a ball on Mami's robe while they watched the new Battlestar Gallactica. I think that show's kinda boring. There aren't any dogs in it.

A fun but short visit

I had just woken up yesterday afternoon from a long winter's nap, when Mami came home, scooped me up and put me in the car.
Well, as you can imagine I was worried. I mean, I didn't even have my jacket on, and she didn't put me in my carrier or anything. I thought maybe it was an emergency, or that I was going to the vet.
But then, only a few minutes later, we pulled up to this house, and there were my friend Tony and Lisa, and they had a little visitor for me to meet, Tony's goddaughter.
That was so exciting! I got to run and romp and play and kiss. I love little kids. They are the best. I wish I could be around them all the time. But I only get to see kids on very special occasions.
Anyway, here's a photo of me in the snow before it all melted away. Now it's not so cold, and I can run without getting ice between my toes.

Laundry

I have to say, one of my favorite things to chew is a nice pair of socks. Now, being a choodle, I prefer slightly used socks, ones that are aromatic and fresh off the toes. But I'm not adverse to chewing on a clean pair, if that's all I can find. I especially like the rolled up ones, because they're easier to carry around and get between my paws.

Sometimes I steal socks and hide them under the bed while people are getting dressed. Then they get confused and wonder where their socks went. I kind of get a chuckle out of that. But usually, I prefer to lay in bed and give them a good chew until someone takes them away from me.

Cold weather

Let me tell you, after awhile all this snow and ice gets to be a little boring. I liked it at first, but when it stayed below freezing for five days in a row, I started to get a little tired of it.

Papi won't let me go walking when it's this cold outside, because it's too hard on my paws, and I don't have much belly fur. My coat just doesn't cut it when it's this cold out.
I suppose I should be grateful for staying indoors, but I have been super bored. I need a walk at least every other night, and it's been a whole week since I got to do more than run around the back yard. Today it started to warm up a little bit, finally, so maybe soon I can go for a nice long walk again. I can't wait to stretch my legs!

My new cloak

A few of my fans have requested a photo of me in my new Princess cloak, so here it is!

Lulu turns 6

Saturday was Lulu's sixth birthday. She doesn't make much of birthdays, cause she takes after Papi that way. She'd rather just be left alone and not reminded that she's getting older. But we gave her a little birthday treat all the same. Mami put a big plate of nice chunky Albacore tuna out for her, and kept me from stealing it until she'd eaten it all up. It made Lulu real sleepy, and she went and napped for hours and hours afterward.

We've taken down the tree, but we just got our Christmas photos back, so here is Lulu in front of the tree when we first put it up. She likes the lights.

The weather outside is frightful

But it's toasty warm inside! Although I did have fun racing around in the snow this morning with Mami. I got to eat lots of it, and jump and jump around in the grass, and I got covered in white. But I'm so fast, Mami couldn't get any photos of me, I just whizzed past her! We got 3 1/2 inches in the back yard, she used a tape measure to check on the fence posts. It's pretty cool outside. I went back in and sat on the couch with Lulu to watch it come down. Papi was sad because they didn't cancel classes so he had to go to work. Mami had to go too, but she likes driving around in the snow.

Lulu has something to say again

I know I haven't posted in a long time, but really, the holidays have been far too busy for me to pay attention to such things. There have been trees to sniff, wrapping paper to sit on, ribbons to tangle up in, not to mention keeping an eye on that little beast, Emma, who is always getting into things. I have to keep her in line by jumping out from under things and grabbing her ankles. She doesn't care for that very much. She's always running to Mami when I pounce on her. Such a wuss.

Anyway, as I was saying, there are a lot of things that fill my schedule each day. For instance, the other day I went through the house and opened every drawer and cabinet door I could. This morning, I was routing around under the sink. And sometime last month, I climbed in the bottom drawer of Papi's dresser, and shoved a couple of pairs of his pants underneath the drawer so they would be securely hidden. He didn't find them til this morning. He didn't seem real happy that they were covered in dust and cat hair and shoved under the drawer. I'm not sure why.

So if I don't do much cat blogging, you must understand that there is only so much time in a day not spent napping that I can attend to my public. Ciao Meow for now.

Capes n such

Well, we haven't turned in our Christmas photos yet, but my Abuela wanted to see me in my new cape, so Mami took a camera phone picture. It's hard to tell how pink it really is, but you can get a general idea. There are better pictures on the digital camera that I'll post later, when Mami gets them to the store. For now, you can enjoy a little fuzzy splendor and just imagine how rosey pink my outfit is.

Lately, I've been spending a lot of time and energy playing with my sister, Lulu. Because it's too wet to do much outdoors, we have to be content with ambushing each other in the hallway and chasing each other under the guest room bed.
Lulu is a very stealthy cat, even though she's pretty big. She likes to creep down the hallway and spring at me, and then I have to bounce on top of her head.
Usually there's some growling and rolling around and occasionally, I get bit and there's a scream. But not too often.
Sometimes we fight too early in the morning and wake up Mami and Papi with our big growls and thuds under their bed. They just don't get how much fun it is to wrestle.

Compadres

As you can see, I really like to spend time with my human friends. I don't have that many animal friends because I'm kinda small. Lulu is my only good animal friend, and even she sometimes smacks me around a little. But my human friends are all very nice to me, and let me give them lots of kisses whenever I want. Here is a picture of me and a friend from Papi's work. I think she was impressed by my new rocker t-shirt.

Presents!

My Abuela in Albuquerque sent us boxes and boxes of presents for Christmas, including several outfits for me. This is a reflective rain coat that I can wear when we take walks at night. I don't really like to wear it, as you can see, but it's very practical. It's really the hood that bothers me. It makes my ears feel funny.
I also got a princess cape. I'll post a picture of it sometime. It's pink with faux fur trim. It's pretty fancy.