Job Aspirations?

I figure that if things don't work out for me at my current job, I can always apply to the TSA (Traffic Safety Administration) as a professional Cheeto Sniffer. I had this package all picked out on Christmas Eve. Problem was that it didn't say "To Mary-Margaret" on it. It was for my Cousin Cade. We negotiated a bit and he let me open it for him.



Notice how I only took off the wrapping paper but I left the bag of Cheetos intact? Cade and I both share a love of Cheetos, me ever since my Auntie Dee (Shadow's mom) sent me a baggie full for my birthday. I was rewarded for my efforts and let me tell YOUUUUU, it was absolutely worth it.

Heavenly!

MMOB

Round One! (The Day After Christmas)

Here's me and Sammy the Cat playing "tag". Auntie Sissie thinks that Sammy doesn't like me but that's silly. EVERYBODY likes me. I think. Er....I hope? Well, anyway, me and Sammy are having fun. See?

All that chat and stuff in the background is Mom and AuntieSissie talking about sales and shopping, and maybe a little of my Cousin Carter, too. We had a house full of family, I tell YOUUUUU!

The Challenge and The Tease came before round one.

Here's the Challenge - note how I try to negotiate peacefully with my opponent? She isn't interested, apparently.



Here's the Tease:



We're both being like....way cool, you know? Neither of us wants to show our hand.

Love,

MM

My Mom and the "Cousins"

 
Here's me and my cousin Sophie (Sophia Maria Teresa Alphonso Alberghetti). We are BFFFF (Best Female Fur Friends Forever). We met at about 6:15AM on 12/24. Long story but...oh heck, I'll tell you.

First off, it's pretty snowy stormy in the middle of the country. So our plane is delayed maybe an hour 'til 7:35PM. About 6:00PM Mom reaches for her cell phone at the airport and realizes she left it at Aladdin's Park and Ride. She gets a lady named Scarlett to watch our carry on, grabs MEEEEEEEEE and RACES out of the terminal back to where the bus let us off. She flags down another Aladdin bus and the driver speeds back to the parking lot. Mom hops off and runs to the car, grabs the cell phone and jumps back on the bus (where she left me, I might add!), hands the driver a really nice tip and he takes us right back to the airport. We skid into the gate at 6:45PM, out of breath but in time to board. Between you and me, I never saw Mom move so fast in my whole life.

OK...back to meeting Sophie. So our plane lands about 1:22AM and we get our luggage off the carousel, go outside (brrrrrr!) and NO AUNTIE SISSIE. "Uh oh", Mom says, and gets out her cell phone. There are three messages on it, the first one saying "Uh...this isn't good news, but my car broke down and I'm waiting for Joel to come and get me!". Mom calls Auntie Sissie and finds out she's about 39 miles out of town, freezing, with both Cade (who wore a jacket) and Randy (who thought he'd be sitting in a warm car and only wore a T-shirt). This would be a good time to mention they live about 110 miles from the airport, I think. Mom offered to get a hotel and worry about hooking up with them later, but Auntie Sissie and Joel said "No way!", and they picked us up a couple of hours later. We waited in a "park and ride" building across the street from the terminal for a couple of hours and let me tell YOUUUUUU. It's pretty scary being all by ourselves which we were for about an hour after the other two people left. Plus, Mom expected me to use my piddle pad right there smack in the middle of the waiting area ...like hello? Strangers could walk in and see me? Uh....I don't THEEEEENK so!! I have manners, you know.

About 3:45AM we looked up and saw Auntie Sissie come in the door. She helped us with our luggage and we all jammed into a little Hyundai. That would be 3 grown ups, 3 children and ONE SMALL DOG in a teensy five person car (we probably coulda gotten a ticket for that, huh?). We got to know each other pretty well, I might add. It was icy and snowy and really REALLLY cold so it took a while to get to Auntie Sissie's house. The door opened and WOO HOO! Sophie and I were nose to nose....both of us said "YIKES!" at the same time. But from then on we were everly the best of friends.



I'll tell you more later.

Love and kisses,

Mary-Margaret

Christmas Fun & My Uncle Rudy's Title

Everybody went out to Macaroni Grill for dinner except MEEEE and my Uncle Rudy. Not to worry, though. We'd rather have chicken. Noodles aren't my cuisine of choice.

Then they all came back to MY house and we opened pressies. Here's Mom with probably one of her favorite gifts: Pictures of her grandkids (also my cousins) Cailin and Clancy.


My cousin, Cailin, already tipped off my Mom that she wanted navy blue Converse sneakers with NO laces. It's really kewl to wear shoes like that these days.

We got my cousin, Clancy, a "Blue Man Group" percussion set. It's so neat-o. He can even put his mp3 player in it and play along. I think he'll have a lot of fun with that.



Oh yeah. Here's me in my new Christmas sweater. Help! I've turned into an Ewok! Arrrrrrgggh! (Just kidding. I love it. Hoodies are SOOOO in style these days!)

Duke Rudy the Possible of Fiddlehope in the Marsh Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

When I told my Uncle Jason and Auntie C that I was a titled aristocrat, they thought for SURE my Uncle Rudy would be, too. See?

And My Uncle Jason is

Earl Jason the Subversive of Fiddlehope in the Marsh Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

and Auntie C is

Her Royal Highness Colleen the Fifteenth of Bartonhurst in the River Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Oh this is so much fun. I bet all my relatives and friends have titles, too. What's yours??

Love, Mary-Margaret

We Puttered About Today!

Ran more "ear ends" in the morning, me cozily nestled into my Outward Hound side sling. Truly it's not bad unless I want to look at something behind me. Then it gets a bit awkward. Or "Awk-weird". Like Mom goes "Awk!" and I get "Weird". (Yorkie humor...don't worry if you don't get it!) Picture is of sling to give you idea of what it's like, but that's not me or Mom, if you want to know.

Parking was difficult. Mom circles these lots like buzzards over road kill. "Aha!", she says, as she pulls into a non-space. "Huh?", I say? And she explains that the space would have been clearly marked if the landscapers hadn't covered half of it with a heap of mud, which our 4-wheel drive CR-V has absolutely no trouble pulling into and onto, granted maybe at a 30 degree tilt. So we are parked and we trot into "The Mall", me dangling merrily at her side.

The only negative about the side sling is that my nose is only at about Mom's hip level. People think I'm part of her purse until I smile at them from under all that leather. Then they say "Awww...look at the puppy. What's IT's name?".
"Mary-Margaret O'Brien", Mom tells them.
"Is it a boy or a girl?", and Mom has to bite her tongue to keep from saying something non-Christmassy. So she pauses for a moment and lifts an eyebrow while they reconsider the question. Er...yeah, people! And how many boys do you know named Mary-Margaret?? HMMMMMMMM???

Also I have trouble seeing over countertops, and occasionally I get jostled into the side of a display case, but still...it IS comfortable for the most part.

Later we went to Miss Cathleen's to get Mom's nails done. Again, no walk for me and she almost forgot my water. I think the newness of our relationship is waning a bit.
Ah well....such is life. Cathleen is pretty busy over the holidays. I suppose I'll forgive her. I truly DO like her a lot when she's not so rushed.

Later, guys!

Love, Mary-Margaret

Snorfels and Scarves

Today was my bordatella (sp?) booster. The vet puts drops up your nose and.....helloooo, people? They go right back out on the examination table. Mom asked what the point was if they just got snorted back out again. Dr. Gindi (say "Yindi") said only one teensy drop had to make it in my nose for it to work. Still, today I got TWO kerchiefs to wear. I picked out the red one with little snowmen on it. (sorry, no picture...not my fault!) And then I got another one for being so good about my snorfels. It's light blue with more little snowmen. Kewl, huh?

This afternoon about maybe 4:00 we got a call from a lost person. Mom gave her directions and it was a good thing she did. She delivered the everly most beautiful basket of plants from Mom's friends Pat, Shelly, Carolyn, Elaine and Dee. They're also my "aunties". Anyway, it had maybe five or six different kinds of green plants, AND a really pretty little red bird with feathers and everything (not alive) sitting in the middle. It was very fresh and moist, still. Mom kept the florist's card for future use. They all said they were thinking about us. They're sad my Grandma is gone, too, and they wanted to share that with us. Wasn't that nice?

Lots of people commented on my Grandpa playing his harmonica. Mom belongs to some Yorkie Mom's groups and the ladies were very complimentary. Did I mention that a lady in Grandpa's apartment building even told Mom that she thought my Grandpa was the "cutest man in the building"? Yup! She did.

G'night for now.

Love,

Mary-Margaret

Grandpapa's Christmas Wish

My Grandma went to the Rainbow Bridge on November 27, just three weeks ago. My Grandpapa really misses her a lot. Every Christmas they would put out a tiny little Christmas tree that was given to him by HIS grandmother...his "Baba"...and my Grandpapa would get his harmonica and play "Silent Night" for my Grandma.

Tonight, he celebrated his Christmas wish to my Grandma like he has been doing for over a half a century. I know my Grandma was with us, because we felt happy and sad and full of love all at the same time. I told Mom that I wanted to share his Christmas wish with you. I really love my Grandpapa and the beautiful memories of my Grandma.

We all miss her very much, too.

Love and kisses, Mary-Margaret

My very good friend, Jami....

Jami and I are friends. Ok...I am HER friend, anyway. She's a Chihuahua and she's pretty grumpy. So far she's had two litters of pups and they've been re-homed. I like that term "rehomed". Jami is not a mother type person. She growls sorta really low in the throat just enough to say "Back off, Dude" when somebody gets near.

Mom tells me that I shouldn't take it personally. It's not like the Barkley twins - Bella and Bonnie - down the hall. They yap at EVERYTHING, but then you gotta understand. They're Maltese, and Maltese kids are just like that. No, with Jami I think it's because she doesn't know how to be friends or get along. She didn't get to go to Puppy School like I did.

I told her dad, my Uncle Fidel, that I'd mentor her. Yup. I would do that for my good friend, Jami. She really has a good heart, I think.

Love, Mary-Margaret

PS: See what I mean? Jami is like totally everly so standoffish (another word I like), but it's hard to make friends unless you know how to BE a friend. :o)

Yawn....!!!

Ho Hum. Guess where I got to go today? Hmmmmmm? Come on....guess! It's everly so MUCH fun. Oh, excuse me...do I sound just a tad sarcastic? Golly...I wonder why?
We've moved our work week around so Mom and me can have Tuesday off to go to Santa Monica and see Grandpapa, which is fine with me. He gives me ice cream (steak, stew, scrambled eggs, etc), you know. But today is Saturday and here we are, doing billing and payroll and...oh? You noticed I'M not doing anything? MY POINT EXACTLY!!!

Now you see why I wanted to stay HOME this morning. I tried to tell the Mom person and she just kept saying "Come on and quit fooling around, Mary-Margaret!". At least I could have laid out in the sunshine and watched the grass grow at home.

The pictures are from Mom's new cell phone. She got tired of always having to put it on speaker just to hear someone. It got so that people would ask "Are we on speaker?" before they'd start talking to her. She has a little pink thingy she wears on her ear, too, so she can have her hands free to cuddle me. Also, on the plus side, this new one has a 1.3 megapixel camera and it DOES bring out my cheekbones, don'tcha think?

Love, Mary-Margaret "Ho Hum" O'Brien

Me and Dierdre

My very good friend, Mr. Mercer, came in to see me today and he brought his daughter, Dierdre, with him. She's helping out a bit at the office. Too bad she wants to be an accountant. Personally, I think she'd make a great attorney.

She's very observant, you know. She could tell immediately that I wanted a belly rub. Oh gosh, that felt good. And then, as she was leaving, she very politely told Mom that she thought I was throwing up under her desk. Which I was, actually. A few times. Musta been someone I tasted? Or something I ate, maybe.

Blegh. I hate it when I do that. Really takes the wind out of my sails. Fortunately for me I don't have to clean it up. I feel ok now ...ate about half my dinner. No dessert, though. I think my gravy days are over and it's back to health food again. Mom's being overly cautious tonight.

Tomorrow, I get beautified at Miss Marilyn's. I think I'll ask for green and red ribbons for Christmas. Yup!

Love,

Mary-Margaret (urp!) O'Brien

A Taste of "Pawlitics"!!

Ohmygoodness. We've been on the run for the past few days what with working really late on Monday, going to Santa Monica to help my Grandpapa Tuesday, and meeting Auntie Vicki at The Pantry in Los Angeles for brunch today. I absolutely got to know the nicest man in the parking lot when we were leaving. He told me he used to have a mother and three daughter Yorkies and they all lived to be about 22 years old. "Whoooooooooa!!", I said.
"What did you feed them?", Mom asked..

"You don't want to know", said the nice man. And he asked how much I weighed and my name and then he told me his name and we even snuggled and kissed and stuff. My mom and Auntie Vicki tried to talk to him a little bit but mostly it was just him and MEEEEEEEEEEEE!! Aunt Vicki got a picture of him and me cuddling, too. Mom's battery went out on her camera! Some investigator, huh?

Oh...his name? You wanna know who I hang with? HMMMMMMM????? Richard "Dick" Riordan (he says it like "Reardon"), former mayor of Los Angeles and....ta daaaaaaaaaa....the owner of The Pantry AND now also owner of Mort's Deli in Pacific Palisades. (I heard he owns Gladstones4Fish but I'm not a fish person except for Chilean Sea Bass with Mango Chutney....but I digress!). I tell YOUUUUUUUUUUUU. It was really nice going TO The Pantry, but even nicer getting to taste Mr. Riordan, who said I can call him Dick. I've tasted people all over the country but my friend, Dick, is everly the best tasting person in the whole wide world (not including my GrandPapa, of course!) Yup!!

FYI - Wouldn't you know it? Aunt Vicki caught me discussing Dick's recent run for California Governor with him. I was simply expressing my thoughts on his opposition. A man that tastes THAT good, in my opinion, would have made a great Governor.....or....whoaaaaaaa...! Maybe President? I've heard the Republicans are looking for a strong candidate to break out of the pack. Just a thought but....what if the political parties had a "cook-off" instead of a debate? I'd be happy to be a judge. You can tell a good candidate by the way they work in a kitchen.

Love,

Mary-Margaret

PS - Mom said to tell you all that if you ever get to Los Angeles and The Pantry, get their coleslaw. It's FABULOUS!! Even for breakfast! He's got my vote!!!

My very good friend Lorenza

  This is the card my very good friend Lorenza from Mexico sent me. I think she's definitely got the spirit of Christmas in her. Doesn't she look like she knows how to have fun? Hmmmmmm??

MMOB

PS: I think I have about gotten 60 cards so far. We sent out maybe 110 today. Well, tomorrow, actually because we have to put the stamps on and mail them. I hope you will let us know when you get yours.

PPS - I am absolutely HOOKED on vanilla ice cream. Thanks, Grandpapa, for introducing me to that epicurian delight. Mom had to buy low fat "light" for me. Also she's making noise about me having to finish my dinner first. Like...that makes no sense. If I eat all my dinner I have no room for ice cream. Ya see?

Sending Christmas Cards!

Oh gosh! Thank goodness my mom knows what to do. She's been working all morning on helping me with my Christmas Card list. Wow!! I've never gotten any Christmas Cards before. This is sort of overwhelming to me. Thank goodness my mom has thumbs. We're about half-way through our list and have added even more pups to it. I hope I don't leave anyone out. If I do, it's Mom's fault. I'd NEVER leave anyone off. Nope! Not me. I just LOVE Christmas, don't you?

Cheery Mousemas to all.....

Mary-Margaret O'Brien

Personal Hygiene

Mom is very VERY proud of me. Yesterday, Aunt Sonia came out of the work room and suggested (very politely) to Mom that she might replace my piddle pad. One sniff later, Mom totally agreed with her. So out with the old, in with the new. I even got to go out to my most favorite ground cover by the parking lot when Mom went to the dumpster.

Unfortunately for me, Mom was in a hurry and rushed me back to the office before I was ready. I...um...er....hadn't quite finished with my most serious business and here was this nice, fresh piddle pad without even ONE spot on it. I felt sorta bad but (to put it gently) what goes in must come out. So I finished up my stuff...(you know what I mean?)....and then picked up the corner of my piddle pad and very daintily covered the little pile. Hey....I'm neat, you know.

Mom goes back in the work room and "hmmphs" because she thought she'd flattened out the whole pad. She picked up the corner to lay it straight and started laughing. "Sonia?", she said. "You could just TELL me that there was something on the pad!".
"Huh? What are you talking about?", said Sonia. "I didn't touch it!"
And she came back to admire my handiwork, too.

Then they both looked at MEEEEE. Well? What could I say? I just sorta grinned and shrugged while Mom made a little package out of it, tossed it in the outside garbage, and laid down another clean pad.

Apparently she doesn't give me credit for being totally housebroken AND considerate, too.

Love,

Mary-Margaret

PS - No pictures taken or published due to the graphic nature of the potential content.

Understanding about life!

You know about that picture I put up on my blog? A couple of ladies kinda thought maybe it wasn't a good idea. So I explained it like ...like....this.

Me and my mom thought it was really beautiful...the lighting, the flowers, and mostly my Grandpapa saying "good bye" for the last time. The combination of love and sadness in his eyes pretty much summed up 67 years of marriage, four kids, at least six grandchildren (but I could be off one or two), five great grandchildren and definitely one grand dog. Maybe more grand dogs and cats, but mostly MEEEEE!

We all have pictures taken when we're born, birthdays, weddings, holidays....why not of the last celebration of our lives?

That's what me and Mom think, anyway. Besides...if you want to know the real scoop, my Grandma wasn't in that box, anyhow. Just her body. Her soul is still all wrapped around us and will probably be that way for a long time to come. Like Mom told her 6 year old grandson (and MY cousin), Carter: "Her batteries ran out!" and for him to think of a balloon after you let the air out. The balloon just lays there, but the air from inside is still all around you. And then Carter understood that the part of Grandma he loved wasn't laying in the coffin. It surrounded him for always instead.

Yup. Even I understand that.

Love and puppy licks...

Mary-Margaret "The Philosopher" O'Brien

Yogurt and IceCream and Steak...Oh My!!

I have to tell you that my diet has really gone to heck over the past week. But not necessarily in a bad way, you know? First off, I was pretty hungry by Thursday night. Wednesday, I'd only had a little piece of a breaded chicken cutlet on the plane with the bread part taken off. Thursday we were out at the Enterprise Fish House in Santa Monica and I could NOT stand it a minute longer. So I spoke up. Mom tried to "shush" me but I was HUNGRY. You cannot "shush" a hungry Yorkette.

Wow....I'm probably the only pup on the West Coast that has ever had Chilean Sea Bass with Mango Chutney. And I have to tell you, it was really GOOD. Later that night my Grandpapa snuck me a bowl of vanilla ice cream. (..urp...!)

The next morning he made me scrambled eggs with a bit of sweet onion, just like he used to make my Grandma. I was in heaven. That's about when I decided to put in for a transfer. Oh yeah! Yum! Then I had my chicken from Bob's Market on Ocean Park, and then on Sunday I got sirloin steak, medium rare, diced in little pieces.

Tonight Mrs. Shaima came by the office and brought frozen yogurt. Me and Mom had vanilla with raspberry swirl, and Mrs. Shaima had chocolate malt and chocolate peanut butter. She told me I can't have chocolate. I still don't know why. She says it's poison, but humans eat it all the time and you don't see them dropping like flies. Nope.

Mom says to enjoy it while I can because it's not healthy for me to eat this way on a regular basis. Like, hello? She's having all this weird stuff and she's on MEEEEE about it? Tonight we shared some cashews. Tomorrow it's back to the old grind.

Mom keeps wanting to pick up the phone and call Grandma. Then she remembers that the only way she can talk to her is if I write in my diary. Lucky she has me, huh?

Love and kisses...

Mary-Margaret O'Brien

PS: Aunt Leslie told Mom she thinks that the picture of my Grandpapa saying goodbye to my Grandma is morbid. Me and Mom think it's really beautiful and touching. What do you think? MMOB

Grandma - Saying "Goodbye"

 
Remember my Grandma as the beautiful lady she was and always will be. I miss you already and I promise that I will keep writing every day so you will never have to wonder what I'm doing again. We are very best friends, you and I. Someday I'll catch up with to you while you're on your forever journey and we can be together while we wait for the rest of the "fambly". You just do your special whistle and I'll find you, ok?

I love you...........

Everly yours forever,

Your Grand Dog, Mary-Margaret

We're HOME HOME HOME!!!

OHMYGAWSH! We got back today from Santa Monica and I have PILES of Christmas cards. To MEEEEE!! Mom might have one or two from her vendors, but the rest are MINE MINE MINE. We bought some in Pennsylvania to send to my friends and, if we don't get it done by this weekend, we'll do it then. I think I have about 120 to send out. Yup. That sounds right.

I'll tell you more later. Mom's about ready to fall asleep. It's been a weird month. But I'll be writing for my Grandpa now, AND for my Grandma. I figure she can still read my email from where she is, don't you think?

Thank you everybody for your good wishes and your sympathy. It really means a lot to both me AND my mom.

Love you....

Mary-Margaret