My boring life!

Mom is complaining that I don't want to write all the much anymore. Well, let me tell you. Some days are just plain old boring. Let's see now. Yesterday I went out, sniffed around, decided no cats had come by and went back in.

Then we went to the bank and I said "hello" to everyone there. Oh...well, one thing I like to do when we get to a signal? I like to look at the people in the car next to me. Then I start saying "hello" over and over until they look at me. They always smile and wave at me. Yesterday, one of the ladies even pulled out her cell phone camera and took a picture of me. See, I don't bark or anything. But I start talking, like...."aroo...aroo...wurf?", which is like saying "Hello" and "Have a nice day!". That's fun to do.

Ok...so we get to work and I check out the planters. The gardeners took out one of my most favorite plants...like this big round thing with long skinny leaves and all the boy dogs would leave me messages on it. It's gone now, and there are tiny posies there instead. Oh big whoopeee. No boy dog worth his stuff would even bother with them.

Mom went to Miss Cathleen's place to get her nails done. This is like sooooo routine for me now. I check out all the rooms and closets and then I find a nice splotch of sunlight to nap in. When Miss Cathleen got out the lotion bottle I ran over to remind her that I get my paws and tummy done, too. She remembered, and picked me up and rubbed the nice smelling stuff in. Then I went back to my sunbath.

Hmmmm....oh yeah. Back at the office. I took all my toys out of my bed and distributed them neatly throughout the office? And.....oh, I used my piddle pad for serious business that sent Mom and Terry squeezing their noses shut. Took a bit to get that particular scent out of the office, too. Well, they could have taken me out and I got ignored, so what else was I supposed to do? Hmmmm?

That was it. Pretty much. See? BOOOOOR-EEEEENG!!!

Cheers!

Mary-Margaret O'Brien

DogBlogTV.com #15

Ah...as Simon and Hallie pointed out earlier, the 15th episode is now complete. This is TV especially made for us Yorkies. I get a kick out of it. Us Yorks have such a great sense of humor. Check it out at DogBlogTV.com. There are FIFTEEN episodes and I just LOVE every one of them. Mom holds me in her lap and we watch together. I tell YOUUUUU. Bert and Ernie have NOTHING on "the Brother" and "the Sister". They are TRUE TV STARS. Do you think maybe we could nominate them for an award? Wow...just think. Two yorkies on the red carpet with Joan Rivers. That would be too cool.

Love,

Mary-Margaret

PS - Thanks, S&H. Mom signed us up for the emails, too. Next time we can call each other up and maybe even watch it together? Oh, that would be everly so much fun. MMOB

Not that I'm complaining but....

...you know how some people (ahem? I said PEOPLE) do not take their pup seriously? Like, I know when I'm being patronized. "Oh yes...big kitty, Mary-Margaret", and "Good girl, Mary-Margaret", and "Oh, is Timmy in the well again?". And those certain people just say stuff to hear themselves talk and THEY ARE NOT LISTENING!!

For example, this morning I went out a few times on my morning sniff-a-thon. Sure...I was looking for cats but I haven't seen them for a while. I get to go for a few minutes at a time before Mom calls me back in. Then, I sit on the back of her chair where I can see most of the back yard. Woo hoo....I see something really interesting and I want to go out right then and there, but she's watching some stupid movie and just says "Uh huh...OK, Mary-Margaret!", and she doesn't move. So I hop up and down and try to take her hand in my mouth. Maybe if I DRAG her to the door she'll get the idea. Nope. She just laughs and "beeps" me on the end of my nose with her finger, and keeps on watching.

Fine, I say. So I hop up onto the couch and grab the remote. Darn thing has too many buttons, unlike the lamp on her desk that I can now turn on and off. Finally, in frustration, I chomp really hard on it and try to run off with it. "You get back here, Mary-Margaret! Give me that!", and she takes it away from me. Now I'm REALLY getting frustrated.

Finally, like all of a sudden it clicks with her. "Oh? You want to go out?", she says. Well, no duh! So she opens the glass slider and I go shooting through my little doggie door. By the time I get to the other side of the yard, whatever it is I wanted to see is gone. GRRRRRRR! It just makes me SOOOOOO mad.

I really like just standing there up against the wall and looking at the street below. I get to see joggers, and people walking dogs, and fire engines with sirens, and kids riding bikes. There's all kinds of really neat things to see when you're on a hill above a street. Except every time I'm out and Mom hears the tires squeal rubber, she thinks maybe I hopped the fence and she comes running. So I have to go in, whether I want to or not. People and PARENTS, especially moms, are SO uptight about squealy tires. I'm NOT going anywhere. I just want to see what's happening in my back yard.

Rant over. Thanks for listening.

Love, Mary-Margaret

Star flew out the window

Yup. That's what she did yesterday when her mom got off the freeway to come to work. Except me and my mom didn't work because it was a holiday. Star's mom said that Star was SOOOO excited about the thought of seeing me that she just jumped right out of the car window. Lucky thing it was at a signal. So Star's mom, Debi, just got out of the car (while all the other cars waited) and told her to GET BACK IN THERE. And then she almost told Star that she couldn't play with me but figured that a reminder swat for doing that was enough punishment. Not that Star couldn't take it, but Debi couldn't. She just loves Star everly so much and would absolutely DIE if anything ever happened to her.

On a high note, me and Mom made up for yesterday and did a bunch of serves that no one else wanted. We went back into the hills of DeLuz, then into Aguanga, Warner Springs, Oak Grove, and Sage. You know, I must bring my mom good luck, because she got every single one of her jobs done. She says it's amazing that she got so lucky. I think it's just good timing on her part, and it helps when people see a little Yorkshire Terrier smiling at them from their carseat. Sorta takes the edge off the unexpected surprise, I think.

One guy forgot that Mom served him a couple of years ago. It took him a long time to come out of his house. First he admitted who he was, then he said "Oh, he's not home!". Mom said "Yeah...you said the same thing when I served you two years ago. I'll just tape the papers to your intercom here and you come get them when you're ready!". Then we left. Lucky thing Mom keeps good notes.

Oh, and I sorta made a friend. He's a really HUGE German Shepherd and he lives on a ranch way back a dirt road. He and I visited through the car window while Mom and his mother talked over an electric fence. Mom ended up pushing the papers under the fence so she wouldn't get shocked, but the lady was really nice about being served.

Did I mention that I really LOVE my job??

Have a really good Sunday. We get to go out serving again, only this time back in the wine country hills.

Love, Mary-Margaret

My Uncle Nick

Mom's brother, Nicholas, has something called CLL (Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia) and will need a bone marrow transplant. Probably. Anyway, he reads my blog and Mom sort of hinted that since us Yorkies have such a good record with our prayer circle that maybe we might include him, please?

He lives in San Simeon, CA in case you want to direct your prayer energy someplace exactly.

Thanks, everyone. I'm going to post on my blog, too. This is a tough one, but if anyone can do it, it'll be us Yorkies...er....and God, of course.

Yayyy for Yorkie Power!!

Paws Up....Paws together.....Heads bowed!

Mary-Margaret

My Favorite Thing in the Mooooorning

Even when it's a bit nippy outside, I have to say that there is NOTHING like sitting in front of a block wall with the sun shining down upon you. I just sit there, close my eyes, and feeeeeeeeeel the rays. MMMM-yeaaaah! Mom says my great Aunt Susie and my Aunt Rose used to do the exact same thing. Must be a girl-thing? Don't know, but it's one of those simple pleasures that leaves me smiling all day.

Have a good week end.

Love,

Mary-Margaret

Star and MEEEEEE

  

Me and my BGF Star

We rassle all in good fun. And then we dance.
  

Absolutely NOTHING is better than spending the afternoon on a play date with my most best girl friend, Star. Gosh, I had the BEST day ever.

MMOB

PS Doin' the "Hokey Pokey". You put your left paw in, then your left paw out, then your left paw in and you shake it all about.

My Spa Day and MORE!

People were asking me if I fell into a puddle or something. My hair was all sort of rumpled looking. But it gets that way just before I visit my personal stylist, Miss Marilyn. Here's me waiting to go out a couple of days before I got all spiffed up.

And here's me with Miss Marilyn. Whew! I got my hair and nails done today. Oh, I just love going to Miss Marilyn's Puppy Day Spa. She calls it something else....don't know what, I can't read her card, but she's always got cuddles for me and nice kids to play with.

Today, there were her three Maltese pups. Mom forgot their names and I couldn't write them down, so we're kinda stuck here. Maybe like Chelsea and Charlie and...oh, fooey! Well, then there was Bello (my most handsome boyfriend), and Tucker and Charger. Charger has one BLUE eye. How neat is that? He looks like maybe a Siberian Husky but he's only 13 weeks old and already he's twice as big as me

Terry started at the office today and she is everly so thoughtful. She even took me outside for a walk. I met up with Bob (the biscuit man) and he said "Oh, hello. Is that Mary-Margaret?". I think Terry was very impressed that I have lots of friends. Well, I do, you know. And I don't mind introducing her to all of them.

Debi came by with my good friend, Star, and we had a play-date. Star knows when she's coming to visit me and starts scratching at the car door to get out and come visit me way before Debi even parks. We tussle and play, then we hang out for a bit. Mom gave us both those yummy chicken chewies from my Aunt Vicki, and we both munched on those for a while. I let Star take hers home, too. She said "thank you" but it sounded a bit different. Kind of like "wuuurf". I knew what she meant.

OK...we have pictures again. Mom will try to load them on later when we get home. I'm still at the office and really getting very ready to leave. Come ON, MOM!!! Please???

Catch you later, Dear Diary.

Love, Mary-Margaret

Taking care of bills and Potty Party!

I have been exceptionally good. I know that because my mom TOLD me so. Not perfect, mind you. But GOOD! She and Sonia were all over me this afternoon. Well? I mean, what would YOU do? The pouch man came and Mom fished out what SHE thought were all of the envelopes. Except I know better. I always check INSIDE the pouch. A bit later, she looked under the desk and saw some of my shredding artwork. "Huh? Where'd that come from, Mary-Margaret?", she wants to know. It's Foothill's statement, she finds out, after piecing it back together. She looks at me. "So I'm supposed to call Rick and tell him 'the dog ate your statement'!", she asks? Hey...whatever works for you, go for it. Next time she'll do a better job of removing envelopes from the courier bag.

Then she tells Sonia she'll be back in a minute and grabs the restroom keys. I'm right there with her. She looks at me and says "I suppose you want to go, too?". Well, yeah! So she grabs a clean piddle pad and off we go. She barely gets the thing unfurled and spread on the bathroom floor when I squat. Aaaaaahhhhhh, I say. She says "More?", but I am too busy being proud of myself at the moment. I know I did a really good thing.

She folds up the used, damp piddle pad and stuffs it behind the step stool in the work room back in our office. We get about 3-4 piddles per pad (they're really absorbant) and why waste it? Anyway, she gets all busy so later I take care of things on my own. As she passes the work room just before we go home she looks in and starts to laugh. She calls Sonia over and they both pat me and tell me what a good girl I am. All I did was pull my piddle pad out from behind the stool without anybody's help, spread it on the floor in the work room, and "take care of business" on it. Carpet is absolutely dry.

Sheesh! Mom just doesn't give me the credit I deserve sometimes. OK...I admit I had it upside down so I made a puddle instead of it soaking in, but isn't it the thought that counts? Hmmmmmmmmm??? I hope they don't expect me to unfold all my own piddle pads from now on.

Maybe it's time for "pull ups" for me. Because (singing) "I'm a BIG girl now!".

Love,

Mary-Margaret

Missing photographs?

If you're wondering how come you're not getting pictures of me and my adventures, it's because my MOTHERRRRRRRR keeps forgetting to charge the camera battery and the cell phone, so we can't do pictures. I am reminding her again this morning. OK...done. She's getting up......moving toward the camera bag....removing the battery charger.....hunting for the camera....uh.....uh......AHAAAAH!!

You should have some later tonight.

Love, Mary-Margaret

Me and Mom's Bag Man

The "Bag Man", John, came by today and dropped off the pouch. Of course, I looked to see if there was anything for me and there wasn't. Darn. So I got this idea. Maybe I'll just go with the Bag Man tonight and he can bring me back home tomorrow? Maybe? Hmmmph. I got about half-way down the hall when he stopped and started to let me inside the pick up bag and Mom came rushing out. "You get OUTTA there, Mary-Margaret!". She's absolutely no fun at all.

Earlier I got a box from the UPS lady. Now that WAS for me. Mom ordered me an Outward Hound sling carrier. It's pretty neat. She says it's easier to put me into than my front carrier and...well, between you and me? I get more wiggle room in this sling thing.

We have a new person starting on Wednesday. Her name is Terry and she's going to work three days a week. Mom and Sonia think everybody in the office should work part time and spend the rest of the time either taking trips or doing stuff with their family. Terry thinks so, too. So it works out fine for everyone. Sonia told Mom to start taking Fridays off and that would give her a three-day weekend. Sonia gets Mondays and Wednesdays off, and Terry gets Tuesdays and Thursdays off. Works fine for me, too.

I've got way too much energy, Mom says. I'm all over the place and even having races with my babies. I always win so there's not much of a challenge there. I need to get out more. Maybe Puppy School once in a while. I know those new kids need someone to mentor them. That would be MEEEEEE! I'm good at that.

OK...time for bed.

G'night all.

MM <--- that's my nickname

Maggie Rose is a Blogger, too!

I just can't believe it. All my friends are getting their own blogs, too. Isn't this wonderful? Go see Maggie Rose. We can keep track of what we're all doing all the time now. I'm SOOOOOO excited and happy. Good job, Maggie Rose and Boomer. Pretty soon, it'll be like having our very own club.

Yorkies rock!

Love Mary-Margaret

My pal, Boomer!

My very good friend, Boomer, from Fairbanks, Alaska has started HIS own blog, too. I just finished reading it and he has a really interesting life. It's a big Yorkie world out there, and we each have a story to tell. Boomer was a rescue. The more I hear about rescue dogs, the more I know I'm really REALLY lucky to have been adopted like I was.

Today, I watched some TV, and I tried to be like Lassie and grab my mom's hand to take her outside. The main problem is that there are about 2 feet between my tail and the floor if I have her hand in my mouth. So either I am kicking air OR I'm in her lap with a mouth full of hand. I am NOT big enough to be a Lassie dog and I don't think I'm going to try any more. So I attempted to communicate with her verbally.

Yes, I know I'm using big words. She says I should expand my vocabulary. Only when I talk, it mostly sounds like "errr-ruuurrrr" and "wurff?". Still, I did get her to get up and go to the door. AND, after a bit of "communicating", she actually picked up my leash and took me out. I go on the leash after dark in case there are any owls flying about.

I don't think she likes it much when I hop off the back of the chair anymore. Today I got caught around my middle, and then by the hairs on my rumpus. She held fast to me for a bit before she let me go, all the time saying "No, Mary-Margaret! You STOP that!". I was more gentle the next few times and she didn't complain too much. I think it's more HOW I hop off, and I should not extend my toe nails out so far. Otherwise it hurts her. You learn something new every day.

That's about it for a lazy Sunday. Hope you all had a good weekend. I'm looking forward to checking Boomer's blog out every day now. His mom is doing a really good job of teaching Boomer to type.

Love, Mary-Margaret

Paws Up! Paws Together!!

OK, gang. We've been called upon once again to work our magical prayer circle for "Beth", mother of Dashi. My mom's friend, Vicki, says that us Yorkies pray better than any group she knows. Dashi - will you keep us posted on how your mom is doing?

Paws up...paws together....and pray!

Love,

Mary-Margaret

Saturdaaaaaay! Wheee!

I got Mom up about 7:00AM this morning. Got right to the chin-licking part. Didn't want to mess around. I had some serious "out" to do. She made coffee and we decided to watch a Bill Murray movie. Can't remember the name of it, but there was a cat in it and a dog or two.

Now, I mention the cat because I have this knee-jerk reaction to cats, no matter WHERE they are. The absolute second I see a cat on the TV I take a flying leap from the back of the soft comfy leather chair, bounce once off the seat and then stop in front of TV set. Mom knows to move over a bit to the right so I don't land in her lap. In case Mom missed the cat, I immediately draw her attention to it. I "arf" at the TV, then race back to Mom, jump on her leg, then back to the TV. She finally says "Oh, good job, Mary-Margaret", so then I hop back up onto my favorite spot and we keep watching.

Dogs I can either point out or not. They're no big deal. But cats? Man....that's where I take charge and absolutely make sure Mom sees them. "Yes, that's a kitty!", she says. "Good job!", she says. So I know I'm doing my part.

I'm not sure what we're doing today. Maybe serving some papers. There's one that we keep going on that is waaaaaaaaaay far back in the hills. So far we haven't found our target, but we know there are a whole bunch of really big dogs that live there. I have to wait in the car on that one.

See ya later...

Mary-Margaret

Full of Vinegar!!

That's what Mom said. Boy, I had energy today. All over the place. I also found out that not everybody enjoys my attention, if you get my drift? We had a client that I met when I was going down the hallway. He sort of made a funny face and backed up. HAH! (I thought!). Boy I sure scared him. I don't get that reaction from a lot of people so I rather enjoyed the moment.

When I came back from my little walk, he was still there. Far be it from me to pass up such an opportunity for bonding with a perfect stranger. So I started hopping up and down to get his attention. He turned a bit green, but I did get my ears rubbed a little. When I suggested the belly, though, he spoke (in broken English, I found out) "Enough!". OK...I can take a hint. So I backed up about four feet and lay down, chin on paws, just ogling him. I don't think I blinked once, but he sure squirmed. (hee hee) And to top it off I had another one of my lethal gas attacks. Even Mom and Sonia swooned a bit, but that client didn't say a word. And I just kept staring.

Mom said "Mary-Margaret, That's NOT nice!", but I held my ground. I kept it up until he left. Then I hopped up into his chair and pretended to be a client. When that got me no where, I hopped up onto the desk and just stretched out as if I really belonged there. One of these days I'll get my own desk, probably. I mean, they'll just HAVE to, won't they?

Tonight I ran about in the yard but came in when Mom asked me to. Then I got kind of crazy and just wanted to play "Catch me if you can". I won a few times, Mom won a few times. Then I guess I must have scratched Mom pretty hard, because she said "STOP!", and when I didn't I got swatted. HAH, again, didn't hurt anything but my feelings. So now I'm back on the desk in my home office with my head on my pink towel, pouting everly so slightly and peeking at Mom out of one eye.

I'm not REALLY in trouble but sometimes I just need a reminder. That's all. Everything is just fine. Honest!

Nitey-nite!

Mary-Margaret "The Pill" O'Brien

Feeling much better, thank you!

Just popping in to say I'm feeling everly so much better. I slept soundly all night, didn't barf once, and woke up about 7:00AM. Mom was still sleeping so I hopped onto her back and started dancing. She laughed and said, "Oh, that feels good, Mary-Margaret". And she didn't move. So I figured out to stop the dancing and go lick her chin. That did it and we got up. I went outside on my morning sniffathon, and she made coffee. Must have had a 24-hour bug or something. But I'm fine now. I thought you'd want to know.

Love,

Mary-Margaret

Feelin' a bit punk today!

Dear Diary: This whole day just started out all wrong. I woke up before Mom did and threw up on her comforter. She just cuddled me and carried me to the bathroom in her sleep where she grabbed a towel and cleaned up after me. Then she went back to bed and snuggled me. This made me feel even worse, you know. The comforter was her really expensive silk (maybe or something that feels like it) one that she took TWO whole years to put on her bed because of her fear of dog barf.

Anyway. Getting past that, we get ready to go to the office. We stop by the bank on our way in and Marilyn, one of my favorite tellers, says to Mom: "What's the matter with Mary-Margaret? She doesn't look like she feels well today!". Mom says "Huh? You can tell"? and she says yes, she can and I just don't seem very perky today. So I laid my head down on Mom's shoulder and snuggled in. I guess I don't have to perform for the bank people today, which is good.

So then we get to work. I walk in and Sonia says "What's the matter with Mary-Margaret? Did she have too much Halloween candy?". Well, the truth is, I didn't get any. I just sniffed KitKat wrappers in the trash, so NOOOOO, I don't think THAT's the problem, but then no one asked me.

I slept most of the day, going out a couple of times and sniffing. But they're trimming the bushes and groundcover back, so it wasn't as much fun as usual. About the only time I really got excited was when Mom says "You want to go home, Mary-Margaret?". And then I raced down the hall and bumped right into Hector, the engineer who is Zeus's dad. Then Mom's phone rang and she ran back, and I sort hung around Hector a bit. Then he picked me up and took me back to Mom and said goodbye to me.

When I got home, I went outside to see if the cats were around but they weren't. Then Mom cut up my chicken and I walked right by it. Sort of like I wasn't even hungry. So then, I snuggled with Mom for a bit and then went and ate all my dinner and snuggled back some more. She told me if I didn't feel any better tomorrow I could go see Dr. V. I'm pretty tired anyway, so maybe a good night's sleep will do me some good. I'm using the pink dish towel for a pillow and am starting to doze off.

Catch you later.

Love, Mary-Margaret

My Home Office

  

In case you all wondered where I did my work at home, here it is. Sometimes I help Mom on the computer. Except usually she goes "OH NOOO, Mary-Margaret! Darn it!", and has to re-boot or something like that. Well, if you ask me, any computer guy worth his salt wouldn't have put the "esc" key where a pup could lie on it.

Today Mom felt sorry for the left over KitKat bars so she polished off a few. She told me they were the mini ones so the calories didn't count as much as the big ones. I'm not allowed to have chocolate, as you all know, so I raided the trash cans and inhaled the scent off the wrappers. Sonia had vacuumed this morning. I don't think she'll appreciate my handiwork. I'll have to be really nice to her tomorrow.

Margie took me for a couple of walks today. She likes to have a cigarette and I'm good company for her. Besides, smoke rises and I don't have to smell it. Mom is allergic to it and always snorts when we come back in. Sometimes she makes strangling noises. But Margie is a good sport. Even when Mom threatens to spray Febreeze on her. They goof around like that, you know. I stay neutral. It's safer.

OK...well, g'night all. Time for bed.

Love,

Mary-Margaret