Sachiko - Our Shiba Inu

Good evening!

We love our doggy.   She is such a good pup!!   Sometimes, she is a challenge because she loves to steal our socks.  She doesn't just take them and collect them under the bed either.   She chews them up!   We have to throw them out.  You'd think we would be better at protecting our socks.  We're not!!

She's a primitive breed and one of the oldest Japanese breeds.   She was bred to hunt small game.   Of course, she doesn't have to hunt for us.  However, you can't take the hunting instinct out of this dog.   She has replaced her instinct to hunt small game with... Legos.   I'm not kidding.  We try to protect them from her but it's useless.  Somehow she manages to sneak into the boys' room and get one or two a week.  It's a small victory for her.   She laps around the house like she's accomplished something great.  That's usually how we know she got something.  She can't hide her enthusiasm.

Here is a link to wikipedia.  It does give a good job of describing the Shiba's history, appearance and temperament. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiba_Inu

We went to a breeder in South Carolina to get Sachi.  Go figure.   An AKC registered breeder lived 15 minutes from our house.  It isn't easy to find a breeder of Shiba Inu's and we found one practically in our backyard.  Sachi was 3 months old when we met her.  She was being trained for show.   Her father was a champion show dog.  (We like to think so.)  Here's a link to the breeders website.  Her father is Little Big Man and her mother's name is Sunshine.

http://www.frerosekennels.com/

Anyway, they stopped training Sachi for show because she was a little on the small side.  However, I think she's the perfect size.  :)  Her birthday is July 16, 2006 and we got her in October of that year.

You may think a Shiba Inu is for you because they are such beautiful dogs.  They really aren't for everyone.  Shibas are very strong-minded, independent, aggressive to other dogs, and must be consistently socialized as a puppy.   Every vet that I have taken her to is so surprised at her temperament because she has a very sweet nature.  Aggression is a problem if not trained properly.  We are very fortunate she is so good, but it also took a lot of training and socialization the first year.  These dogs cannot be off a leash either because their hunting instinct is too strong.

Here's my favorite picture of her from last winter. 

We chose a Japanese name for her.  It means "joy" and when you add the ending of "ko" to Sachi it means joyful child.

A Music Video starring some Plants and some Zombies

Warning:  Watch this video at your own risk!  LOL 

This is a video from my favorite video game. 

Is it Friday yet?

Geez, writing a daily blog is tough.  It's hard coming up with new and interesting topics to write about without being boring or making it like a journal.  Ugh.  The last thing I want to be is boring.

Steven is practicing his sax again.  I guess he is competing at a Music Festivial next month.  He will have to play a solo piece as well as an ensemble.  He's been very diligent about practicing.  He's already finished his math homework.  We probably should find a current event article tonight, but we generally tend to wait until Wednesday and Thursday night to do it.  Every week, he has to write a paragraph on a current event article in the news.  It must be local, state, national and international news articles....one of each.   All four paragraphs are due on on Friday. 

This morning we woke up to snow.  Who knew?  I wasn't expecting any.  LOL  I'm going to post a picture and a video I took this morning.  Pay close attention to the video because it'll be over quick.  I got the last few seconds of Sachi running through the backyard.  Crazy dog loves the snow (as long as it's not -54 deg.)  LOL

Today, I had training after work.  It wasn't too bad.  It was training on screening Pre-K students for next year.  We just started the last quarter of the school year.  Can you believe it?  We only have about two months left of school.  Here's even better news...next week is spring break.   :D

  Nice amount of snow.  Although not enough to close school or even delay it.  The roads were pretty icy though.

Random stuff:   I wake up at 5:30 am every morning and not because I like to.  The first thing I do is shower, dry my hair and then start the coffee.  :)  Tom and Tommy watch the news every night.  They are mostly interested in politics.

Studying Asia and Other Things

Tommy is studying Asia in his Honors Geography class.  Last night, he asked me to get out of bed because he just remembered he had a presentation on South Korea to give Monday morning.  He had his Power Point slideshow already prepared and just needed to practice.   I thought he did very well.  Anyway, he had me go over the guidelines for his project.  I thought this was different.  His teacher gave a list of requirements needed for this assignment.  I went over all requirements and checked them off because his slideshow included every element required.  The last paragraph I read on his checksheet stated, "If you complete all of these requirements, you will have earned a C."    The teacher goes on to say that if they wanted to earn a B or A, then they must provide additional information.  Huh?!!  Tommy included two additional slides to his presentation, but I have no idea if it will earn him an A and neither does he.  Oh well.  I thought that was strange.  I've never heard of a teacher instructing her students on all requirements needed for a "C".   

The very bottom of his checksheet said (optional) they could bring food on the day of their presentation or a souvenir or artifact.  An interesting fact:   Tommy included three major industrialized cities in his presentation.  All three of them his Dad has been to.  Cool huh?   Tom brought me back a tea set from Japan and South Korea when he visited.  We were living in Hawaii at the time.  I could tell Tommy wanted to bring one of the tea cups or something with him.  I pulled them out and had him look at them.  He was quite impressed.  (I must admit, I have a pretty cool tea set collection.)   I told him I didn't think I could send anything with him since it may break...and then he noticed the newspaper they were wrapped in.   Oh happy day!!   He ended up taking the newspaper to school to share with his class. 

Here's a picture of the newspaper.

Here are a couple of pictures of my tea pots.  One is from Japan and the other is from South Korea.   I'm very sad though because I can't find the sugar and creamer that belongs to one set.  It's not in the box and I can't even remember if it came with it or not.  I just don't recall and neither does Tom.

Spelling Test

Hello!
I couldn't think of a title for today's blog post so I decided to call it Spelling Test since I am sitting here looking at Steven's spelling list #19.  He's had tougher lists but they've been on a break for three weeks because of PAWS testing.  Here are the words:

women
produce
pull
son
meant
broken
interest
chance
thick
sight
pretty
train
due process
amendment
literacy test
grandfather's clause
poll tax
Civil Rights Movement
citizenship
self-interest

Can you guess what he is studying in school? 

We are having a very lazy Sunday.  We woke up to drizzling rain, flurries and just an all around wet day.  I decided to make soup (again) in the crockpot.  It's just so easy.  I'm trying a new recipe from Allrecipes.com.  Anyway, it's corn chowder soup, with corn bread and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  The strawberries were on sale yesterday so I bought some.  :)

Steven is practicing his sax right now and Tommy is doing....well, I don't know but he should be getting ready to leave with his Dad.  He needs a haircut. 

I never made it to the library yesterday so I have to go today. 

I'm going to end with another picture of Tommy rock climbing.  (Darn blogger won't let me add it right now.  I'll try later.)

Random stuff:  The jelly beans were good.  I say "were" because we ate the entire bag already.  Tommy asked me why I only bought one bag.  I've got another bag hidden.  Shhhhhh...don't tell.

Random photo

Here's Steven practicing the Sax this morning.

Rock Climbing

The boys went rock (wall) climbing today.  Here are some photos. 

15 Places a Kid should see before they are 15

Happy weekend!!

I'm attaching a link which shows 15 travel places kids should see before they are 15 years old.  Amazingly, I've seen most of them (10) and my kids have seen a few (3).   I'm wondering how I can get Tommy to the rest of them in the next two years.  I also think Mount Rushmore should have made this list.  No matter what...my kids are going to see Mount Rushmore.  This will be our next trip.  :)  I've always wanted to see it. 

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/03/24/15.places.before.15/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Today, we are taking the boys to rock climb.  It's a rock climbing wall so don't get too excited.  Tom wants to get his certification so he can climb when he wants and take the boys too.  :)   I will take pictures and hopefully post later tonight.

I also want to go to the library.  Tommy has a book report due after spring break.  He's got to pick a book out and start reading.  

Random stuff:   We like watching Big Bang Theory.   I have a craving for jelly beans and I've made sure to put them on my shopping list.

Lego Creation

I tried including a picture in my last post but for some reason Blogger wouldn't let me. It won't let me create new paragraphs either. I don't know why. I will figure it out eventually.

Here is a picture the boys took of their Lego Ninja Supercruiser. It is their very own creation.  Can you see the minifigure walking the plank? lol

Click on the picture for a closer look. :)

TGIF!!

Thank goodness it's Friday!

The boys had their Scout meeting last night. It was Steven's first Troop meeting as a Boy Scout. Tom took them to their meeting and I got to stay home and take care of the laundry. I multi-tasked and watched some TV too.

I don't watch much TV but I love the show "Hot in Cleveland" with Valerie Bertinelli and Betty White. It's so funny. Anyway, I watched their season finale last night. Who's watching American Idol? Yeah, we are too. Steven loves watching that show. I think we're a little behind. We'll have to watch the recordings tonight. I'm kind of curious about DWTS but not sure I want to spend the time watching it.

Tonight, we are having Chinese food for dinner. Maybe we'll throw in a little Euchre later on. We are all just so grateful it's Friday. Both the boys just finished their Proficiency Assessment tests at school. Three weeks of testing. Ugh.

Random stuff: I miss Diet Coke, Tommy gave up chocolate for Lent and Steven plays Alto Sax.

Insomnia

I'm awake! I can't sleep so I get to write on my blog. I usually post something after work but I just may have two posts for today. :)

I'm very excited because I have two followers. Hehehe. It's my mom and my brother. :D

You may notice I've added a little feature to the end of my posts. I did this for those of you that don't like to comment and are accustomed to the "like" button on Facebook. Hahaha! I've added "like, boring, educational and amusing." You can just click your comment if you want. I hope at some point I have something educational to share. 

Why is it I can think of more to write on my Facebook status which generally exceeds 420 characters but I'm struggling to come up with two paragraphs on my blog?

Random stuff: My favorite DS game is Plants vs Zombies.

Daylight Savings Time

I like DST! No really. I like coming home in the evening and enjoying the daylight for a few more hours. It feels like we have more time. I think it also helps me relax more since I feel like I have more time.

I've also determined that winter makes me grumpy. The sun seems to be out more and I'm feeling happier. I think it's due to DST and more sun. I'm really looking forward to spring and summer.

Tonight, we played Euchre again. Steven really loves this game. We stop playing at 7:00 pm and get the kids started on their homework. The funny thing is, before DST, we felt like the kids had to start on their homework earlier. DST gives us more family time.

Yep, I like Daylight Savings Time. :D

Random stuff: My dog is shedding like it's already summer. Ugh.

Biking, Basketball and Sunshine

Hello!

Yesterday, my kids went out in the sunshine, came home, ate, watched some TV and then crashed early. The 70 degree weather was unusual for us and I made sure my kids made use of the warm weather.

The tween went out bike riding with his best friend. He came home and we had a lengthy conversation at the dinner table about growing up. He ended up in bed before 8:00 pm. The youngest played basketball for hours with his best friend. He came home barely able to walk. This is what happens to kids in the winter here. It's just too cold to go outside. They both tried their best to get all their exercise done in one day. Ha! Steven went to bed at 7:45 pm to read, but ended up crying, asking us if he could just go to sleep instead. I guess they were on sunshine overload. By the way, Steven wasn't crying because he was worried we wouldn't let him go to sleep. He was crying from being tired and nightly reading is homework. He was just too exhausted to read. I think trading reading for a good dose of vitamin D was worth it. :)

Today is a new day. Seriously, we must have 60-70 mph winds. It's insane. I wanted to grill some chicken tonight for dinner. I don't think that's going to happen though. The grill might blow away. I'm not kidding!

Speaking of growing up, I've got to tell you about my tween. He's growing. We can't keep him full and we can't keep him awake. Haha! He told me today that he fell asleep on the bus coming home from school. I guess when he woke up he had missed his bus stop and he had to call his Dad to come pick him up. He's also fallen asleep in Science class and Health but on different days.

Random stuff: Tommy took fencing today at school. We played Euchre tonight and somehow I could actually play. I've always had some kind of brain block on that game. Anyway, Steven was my partner and we won! :)

Boy Scouts

A New Blog!

My first blog post. I hope it is successful. I've given up Facebook for Lent and I don't miss it as much as the soda I gave up. I do miss sharing all the things happening with the kids and posting photos too.

It is such a beautiful day today. It's 70 degrees!! I kicked the kids outside to play. Of course, one is inside a friends' house, but at least he's not in this house. Ha! The other one is playing basketball with a friend.

You just can't have a warm day like today and not use the grill. We're grilling hot dogs and making macaroni salad. :)