This is Not About Me

This post is not all about me for some reason.

It’s not even all about Mom. It’s not a birthday party for Mom’s old book, Keep Your Ear on the Ball.

Or her ALMOST new ebook, What If I Don’t.

Today, we want to say “Surprise!” and “Happy Birthday, Pam!” to our bloggy-friend Sammy’s Mom.

If you don’t know Sammy or Pam, you can visit them here. If you want to see ME (and a bunch of bloggy friends) in a special happy birthday video, click below. Hey, wait a minute…maybe this IS about me, after all!

Characters

Mom writes about characters – human, animal, bug, and imaginary characters. Usually they’re silly or funny or goofy. Sometimes, she tells me that I’m a character. That’s a good thing, right…? Everything Mom’s characters do and say helps us get to know them. We also learn about characters by their body language, gestures, speech patterns, and how they look.

How I look helps people learn about me, too. My face speaks volumes. There’s my happy face,

my other happy face,

and my face at the vet waiting for my rabies shot. Go figure…

My favorite way of showing my personality is by the things I wear. People ask how I feel about dressing up. Whenever Mom dresses me, I get very excited because I know that something fun is going to happen. Sometimes, we’re going to work at the VA

or the library.

Sometimes, we’re getting company. And sometimes, she’s just going to take pictures of me and give me lots of treats.

This week, I was featured on a blog called Dear Bliary. If you visit there, you will see a lot of my best looks, and also a couple of looks from Mom’s old dog named Smoki (who lives inside me). You can get to know more about both of us in just one click!

School Visit

I want to say for the record that going to school was as much fun as I predicted it would be. Wait! No! It was TEN times more fun! When Mom and I arrived, everybody was working in groups to invent their own original math games. We were impressed. These kids sure do love to learn!

The first place I discovered was the shelf with the lunchboxes. Mom said, “We are NOT staying for lunch.” and “Don’t even think about it.”

Then I saw a poster that looked a lot like me. but I noticed it said the word, “Listen Up” which clearly has nothing to do with my life.

The whole time I was there, I was kissed and held and cuddled and touched and hugged and carried and petted like crazy.

The kids showed Mom and me the picture books they wrote and illustrated. Now Mom is worried because they are definitely steep competition for her.

They even gave Mom and me a thank you card with lots of words inside and cupcake stickers on it. Perfect.

After all that fun and love, I was exhausted, so I rested in the car and then took a quick street nap when we got home.

Mom has another school visit on Thursday. I wonder what I should wear…

Finally!

It’s FINALLY spring around here – complete with warm air and tulips at the park. Actually there are some crazy thunderstorms and flash floods, too. Next stop – Butterflies.

Soon it will FINALLY be tennis season. Actually, I don’t play and Mom doesn’t either, but I’m pretty sure that other people do. I have a tennis dress and a tennis ball, so I will look good while I’m not playing.

Next stop – Mom will probably try to teach me to hold a racket.

And by the way… FINALLY, Mom has Book #2 out for people to read.

Actually, it’s not the Book #2 she was hoping for. It’s her story in Humpty Dumpty Magazine! They made it the May/June Build a Book Activity.

When kids tear out the page and follow the directions – cut the dotted lines / fold the solid lines – bing, bang, boom, Book #2. Yay!

Next stop – Book #3. Wait. What??

Countdown Wednesday

Today, Mom and I are counting down about a author visits. She’s going to visit a school on Friday, so she can talk about being a writer, and read her book to the kids there.

Why I don’t like author visits.

3. Staying by myself. Mom will go away in the car for a long time. That means, no walking at the park, no jumping through my hula hoop, no treats in my IQ puzzles, and no bowling practice. Boring.

2. Bags. Mom will pack up tons of things to show the kids, and she will also put her laptop and LCD projector into bags. Bags are usually a LOT of fun. My head fits in there perfectly, and sometimes bags have treats in them. Or bacon. Or cake.

 

But school visit bags are off limits. Mom says the word, “Get your bony little head out of there.” No fun.

1. Kids. Mom will talk to tons and tons of kids at her school visit. I love kids. And they love me. Whenever kids see me, they pet me and hug me and say how cute I am. Plus, kids taste delicious, like candy. And sweat. And dirt. Yum.

 

What Mom likes about author visits.

3. Driving. Taking a road trip is always fun. Of course it would be more fun if I went along, but….

2. Reading. Mom loves reading stories. Story time was her favorite time of the day when she was a little girl at school, and it was her favorite time of the day when she was a teacher. Of course, I also love story time, but….

1. Kids. Mom has talked to hundreds and hundreds of kids in her careers as a teacher and an author. Thousands, maybe. She predicts that the kids at this school will ask her some of the same things kids at other schools have asked, “Are you rich?” and “Did you draw the pictures?” and “One time my dad got his finger stuck in the car door…” which is not a question, but….

 

I Am NOT a Jedi

Renn is a brave, little boy spending some not-so-fun time at the hospital this week. Mom and I are writing a special blog post today just for him. You can read about Renn at The Brain of a Jedi.

Mom’s author friend, Susanna Leonard Hill has  links to lots more well wishes for Renn on her blog. Take a look, and while you’re at it, send along some prayers and happy thoughts for a tough, smart little Jedi and his family.

Mom is afraid of Jedi warriors (No, she’s not. I am…). In fact, she’s afraid of warriors of all kinds (No, she’s not. I am…). Light sabers scare her (No, they don’t. They scare me…). And forget about Darth Vader’s voice. She’s terrified of that guy (No, she’s not. I am…).

So, we’ll have to work with what we have. My cuteness!!

Here I am dancing like a cute ballerina.

If you want to see how smart I am, here I am solving a problem while looking cute.

If you’ve never seen a dog eat Cheerios, watch how cute I am using my Cheerios machine.

And if you need a laugh, watch me tame the laughing mechanical dog (still while looking cute).

And when it’s time to sleep, stop by my booth for the cutest kiss you can get for a nickel…

Hang in there, buddy! xoxo

Take-My-Picture-Tuesday

We had an awesome snowstorm, last week. Mom took me for a lot of walks, and each time we went out, it got deeper and deeper.  Here I am trudging through the snow.

It was almost up to my my belly, but not quite. That would’ve scared me! It was deep enough to make walking slow and difficult, but FUN!

Mom is working on two new stories at once. She’s in deep, just like I was. Each day she works for a little while on one of the stories and then she works a little while on the other one. It’s slow and it’s difficult, but she’s having fun. That’s because being an author is a blast! It’s just like being a dog in the snow!

Love

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I love love. I could kiss, cuddle, and snuggle 24 hours a day. Mom should’ve named me Valentine.

Even though Mom loves me a lot, she apparently does not have time to kiss, cuddle, and snuggle with me 24 hours a day. She says, “Sorry, Sweetie. I have things to do.” and “Go play with your toys.” and “Why are you staring at me?”

Mom loves her work, so she needs time to do that, too. When she was a teacher, she thought it was the best job in the world. Now that she supervises student teachers, she thinks that’s the best job in the world. She also thinks being an author is the best job in the world.

Somebody (Mom thinks it was Kathy Lee Gifford, but it was actually Confucious) said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I guess Mom has never worked a day in her life! Isn’t she lucky?

Have a super-special Valentine’s Day filled with lots of love, kisses, cuddles, and snuggles. xoxo

Five Word Friday

Today I will ask 5 questions that have had me thinking lately.

1. Why is coffee so magical?

I think coffee makes people smart. Whenever Mom sits down to write, she always puts a cup of coffee next to the computer. I think it magically helps her brain.

2. Is a laundry basket a bed?

Bed is a good place to read books. Mom reads books a lot. A laundry basket is a good place to sleep. At least until Mom says, “OUT!”

3. Can a light chase away monsters in the dark?

When Mom writes about monsters, dragons, dinosaurs, or cats, I am afraid. I am also afraid of the dark. And balloons. And the golf cart. And pumpkins. And street signs. And soccer players. And….

4. Is a dog head good medicine for a sore knee?

This is how I help Mom when her knee hurts. I help her with her writing, too, mostly by staring at her when she’s trying to work.

5. If a chair is not pushed all the way under the table, is it OK to climb up and eat cake out of the box? I love cake.

Speaking of cake and coffee… Thanks to our friends at DogDaz for inviting us to coffee and our friends at Bumpy Road to Bubba and Angels Whisper for including us in their coffee party.  Definitely take a visit to their blogs, if you haven’t already. Also, we will include ALL our blog buddies in our coffee party, so feel free to take the badge and answer the questions if you’d like to join us.

1) How many cups of coffee per day? Mom has 2 or 3. I have as many slurps as I can beg, borrow, or steal.

2) What is your favorite caffeine delivery system? Mom likes her Keurig. I like when she leaves her cup on the table and doesn’t push in her chair.

3) What was your best cup of coffee?  They are all perfect.

4) What was your worst cup of coffee? No such thing. Even the stale, strong coffee in the teacher’s lounge at Mom’s old school, was delicious to her.

5) What does your favorite mug say? Mom’s favorite has a c-c-c-cat on it.

6) How do you take your coffee? Cream and sugar – very light and very sweet, just like me!

7) When was your first cup? Mom drank coffee flavored milk when she was little. My first taste was the morning after Mom found me at the rescue event.

8) Have you ever gone on a coffee tea date? We’re on one right now!

Mmmmm….

Editing and Enhancement

Mom finished her January story for 12×12. Whew! That was the closest she ever came to the end of the month.  Her story is a first, first, FIRST draft, and it will need a LOT of editing before it sees the light of day.  Mom said, “You have to start somewhere.” and “Writing it is the first step.” and “Do NOT eat the hat!”

Soon (Eventually), Mom will look closely at her January story and fix it up till it’s ready to show her writing group named DavidLaurieandOtherDavid. She said, “I’ll probably have to cut about 100 words.” and “I’ll streamline the dialog.” and “The ending needs lots of work.”

Bob said my picture didn’t need too much work. I guess that’s because of my extreme cuteness.  Check here to see Bob’s comments about what he did to it. Also look here to see more of Bob’s work, or here to enter his Sunday Frameable Keepers Challenge.

Mom said the new picture is brighter and sharper and my fur and the teddy bear’s fur look fluffier.  Thanks, Bob! 

Here I am enhanced!

The original is on the left and the enhanced version is on the right. Cute and even CUTER!

I guess because of my super cuteness, my friends at DogDaz gave me the Super Sweet Blogging Award this week. I’ll keep it displayed on my Awards page.  Thanks, DogDaz!