Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Riley.

And, yes, we celebrate our dog's birthday, even though some may be ashamed to participate.

*Help me come up with a clever caption to this picture.  I'll share it on While Wearing Heels Facebook page later.

The Great Christmas Card Reveal

Before I reveal our 2012 Christmas card, I have to confess it was 100% inspired by A Little Glass House. 

As I mentioned, this year, we opted to leave Riley out of our Christmas card.

Riley seemed offended when we broke the news to her.  

She hoped maybe by romping with a stick in the background, we would reconsider.

She even went the stealth mode.  Fortunately, this wasn't Grace's 'money shot'.

In the end, though Riley was incredibly persistent, we went with this picture.

With a caption that said: The Christmas Spirit Drives Even The Smallest Ones' hearts.

And, wouldn't you know it, we've already been asked, where is Riley. 

Looks like she'll be back on next year's card.

Painting.

I've been busy painting.

I thought I had worked out a good system. I paint a coat, run errands for a few hours, return and paint a second coat.

The one thing my system did not account for was Riley.

Fortunately, there was only a small trail of prints to follow and it led to Riley.

When I questioned her, she said, 'Who me?  I'm an angel.  How could you ever accuse me of such a thing?'

Though, there was no denying it in the end because I caught her red handed...

or white pawed :)

If a cat has 9 lives, how many does a dog have?

From the start, Riley has lived her life much like Charlie Sheen {I have to give credit to my husband for this comparison}. Regardless the risk, Riley is always looking out for the reward.

A diaper bag attack, one of Riley's go to moves.  She is a gold fish cracker and Smarties junkie.

Since Riley lives her life with such reckless abandon, her careless behavior has resulted in her escaping death quite a few times.

Every year, Riley wages war on Spring, she takes it as a personal insult when she starts to see flowers sprouting through the ground. She will pounce and attack, furiously digging up any new blooms. This was something we had just grown accustom to until...

one year, she got so sick, the iris of her eyes filled with blood {sorry if you have a queasy stomach}. She had a team of top notch veterinarians {my father in law being one of them} baffled about what could have been the cause. The best conclusion, she got some sort of rare bacterial or fungal infection from the soil she had dug up. She fully recovered {after a heavy dosage of medicine} and her mischievous green eyes returned to normal.

Fortunately, besides for her normal naughtiness, she hasn't used up any more of her lives for the past few years until 2 days ago.

Riley's strengths are that she waits, watches and takes advantage of any opening she sees.

My husband, love him as I might, does not thrive on multi-tasking. As he was simultaneously taking a chicken breast off of the grill, he was also turning off the propane. Riley, sensing a moment of weakness, leaped into the air and stole the chicken from the tongs. She swallowed half in one bite. The piping hot chicken ended up burning her esophagus and possibly her stomach in her risk versus reward attack.

We've spent the past few days nursing her back to health. She is on restricted diet of Pepto-Bismol, ice and finally rice, and of course lots of TLC.

I never would have guess that this precious little puppy would have defied death as many times as she has {thank God}.

Though I tease about how naughty Riley is, beyond a doubt, this dog is not only pampered BUT also very much loved.

I can only hope that if a cat has 9 lives, Riley has at least that many if not more.