Aww Mondays: A Marine Goose

On one of Abby's morning walks, we discovered this cute goose in the Marine uniform and went back later to get a picture of it.  You just never know what we will find in our neighborhood.

Find more AWW Mondays and at Jodi's Journey.

(We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during June and July to The Wounded Warrior Project which helps wounded warriors and their families returning from current conflicts.)

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6 Friday Fragments (funny, Google, Graduation, celebrities, job, beards)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

1. Senior Moments

   Jodi's Journey had the funniest post I saw this week with this funny video about Senior Moments. Fortunately, I'm not this bad off yet!
   

2. Google Search

   It was nice to know someone actually did find our blog through a Google search. It was nice of them to leave a comment letting me know too! They searched for "how to fold a napkin" and did the crown fold using the instructions I shared!


3. Graduation and Certified

   The highlight of our week was with Abby completing her advanced training class at PetSmart and passing her Canine Good Citizen Test. We are so proud of her!  Of course, her diploma is displayed on our refrigerator!

4. Andy Griffith R.I.P.

   
   
   I was sad to learn Andy Griffith died of a heart attack at age 86. I was surprised to see he was divorced twice and was on his third marriage. I was also surprised to see he never won an Emmy award but Don Knotts did for his role as Barny Fife on The Andy Griffith Show. My dad always enjoyed watching him on "Matlock" too. He loved his hometown in N.C. and even has a street named after him! I learned all this from an article on Yahoo News (sorry, I didn't get the link). I enjoyed reading The Way Back To Mayberry--Lessons From A Simpler Time by Joey Fann.

5. Cat Sitting

   Remember when I wrote about My Dream Job? Well, I actually get to take a crack at it during my vacation week coming up the week of the 16th. A friend has asked me to take care of her two cats and two birds while she is gone and I am excited!

6. Beards

   
   
   When reading Gone Missing by Linda Castillo this week, I learned that in an Amish community, men who are married have beards. That is definitely more noticeable than a ring! I wonder if this is actually true. My review of this book will be posted tonight on our book blog if interested.

(We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during June and July to The Wounded Warrior Project which helps wounded warriors and their families returning from current conflicts.)

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Canine Good Citizen--Congrats Abby!

Saturday Abby passed her Canine Good Citizen test with flying colors. We are so proud of her! She waited until after she was completely done with the whole test before she barked her happy woo hoo bark. Now all I have to do is wait for her official tag from the American Kennel Club and start calling around to see which nearby facilities will appreciate her visits. Here is the list of things she had to do:

Accepting a friendly stranger

sitting politely for petting

letting evaluator brush her and look at teeth, ears, eyes and touch between toes

walk along side owner without pulling

walk through a crowd

sit and down on command/stay in place

coming when called

pleasant reaction to another dog

ignoring distractions

separation from owners for 3 minutes without whining, barking or pacing

During the test, she was not allowed any food/treats, just praise and petting.  Not allowed to pee or poop during the test or will fail.  Dog fails if dog growls, snaps, bites, or attacks.

After Abby passed the test, we of course clapped and congratulated her.  We took a picture of  her with the other dogs who helped provide distractions and assisted with the test.  Right before I clicked the picture, Abby decided she should be front and center and moved up away from Gerard.  Then we stayed and helped Bosco, the big black rescue dog take the test too.  His owner was surprised that was all there was to it and thought Bosco could do that too and did!  Afterward, we went to the park for a couple hours to celebrate.  It was a big day for Abby and us! 

Abby was tested at PetSmart by her trainer, Vickie, who didn't want her picture taken.  Vickie was such a good trainer and she said "Abby was one of the most docile dogs she ever met and is absolutely one of the sweetest, most loveable dogs I have ever tested." 

Abby says, Happy 4th everyone!  Hope you all are good citizens too!  Fly your flag!  Woof!  Woof!


(We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during June and July to The Wounded Warrior Project which helps wounded warriors and their families returning from current conflicts.)

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Our Favorite Reads For June by Haynes, Flynn and Rivers

Since Gerard's reviews are short, I let him have a tie for his June favorites.  The second one of his I read as well and didn't care for it at all.  Although I had several good books in June, my favorite was a contemporary Christian fiction combined with historical fiction by Francine Rivers.  It had the flavor of a Belva Plain book but without all the detailed description.

Gerard had a tie between two:

You just have to make time to read Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes —it's awesome!! It tells the story of young pretty Catherine Bailey. She was in a very abusive relationship with Lee. The thing that makes this book so good is that it follows her and Lee's relationship but also three years later as she is trying to recover and get back to being normal again. You get two stories at once! The writing is superb and the ending shocking! This is a page turner that is hard to beat. It doesn't get any better than this! Must read!

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn tells the story of Nick and Amy. On their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy turns up missing. Did Nick have something to do with it? WOW oh WOW! It doesn't get much better than this story that is told by Nick and Amy. I had a love-hate relationship with them both! I never knew what was going to happen next and had a hard time putting it down. I hated to see it end! The writing is superb! I think this would make a fantastic movie and loved this book! Don't let GONE GIRL pass you by, believe the hype!

Gerard and I differ on our opinions of this book. I didn't care for it at all and only read about 1/3 of the way. I really didn't like either Nick or Amy all that much and the bad language turned me off too. It seemed I was plowing through it but wanted to keep going since Gerard thought it was so good. Then I saw another blogger's review of it and they didn't like it either. They said the first 100 pages were very boring. The reviewer compared it to Still Missing by Chevy Stevens and Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson because of the ending leaving the reader feeling tricked. I wish I could remember where I saw it so I could share the link here with you, but I can't remember. Anyhow, I was bored with this one so gave up on it and went on to read something else--"Impeccable Petunia" which I had a request to review.

Karen's Favorite for June

The Scarlet Thread by Francine Rivers is contemporary fiction about God’s sovereignty and faithfulness. After 13 years of marriage, Alex decides on his own to leave his steady job for an opportunity in California as a video game designer. His wife, Sierra, does not want to move and becomes angry and bitter. I particularly liked reading the part about the issues in the contemporary marriage. The couple has four times as much money but becomes very unhappy and Alex asks for a divorce. Sierra’s Godly mother gives her an old journal and a quilt of one of their pioneer ancestors, Mary Kathryn, who also had to move against her will back in 1847.

The author beautifully combines this contemporary fiction novel with historical fiction by showing the parallels between Sierra’s and Mary Kathryn’s journeys, women from two different time periods. They both are bitter and resentful towards God at the beginning but as he works in their lives, they come to see his love, faithfulness and goodness. Great writing with a wonderful message and a great ending! I think this would be an excellent book club read because of the marriage issues and the spiritual journey. It even has discussion questions in the back! This is my favorite read for June and balances out Gerard's dark books of late!

Visit Grab A Book From Our Stack to see all our book reviews (and more pictures of our pets).


(We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during June and July to The Wounded Warrior Project which helps wounded warriors and their families returning from current conflicts.)

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Monday Mischief: There Goes Our Unity Candle

Spunky Doodle in the act of tearing apart our unity candle

The beads and ribbon are just so tempting!  And the flowers at the base easily come out too!

Sorry, mom, but it wasn't just me.  Manny helped too!

The cats have pulled the beaded frame off so much that the holes are too big now to hold it in.  I tried turning the candle around and sticking it into the other side as best I could but it's crooked.  Oh well, I'm sure it won't stay that way for long anyway.

This post is part of the Monday Mischief blog hop.

(We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during June and July to The Wounded Warrior Project which helps wounded warriors and their families returning from current conflicts.)

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