Sammy Stuff

Sunday Sam

February 10, 2013 by Darlene

Happy Sunday everyone! What’s everyone up to this weekend? I decided to get caught up on some housework that I’ve been diligently ignoring but sooner or later it must be done. Of course I’ve been reading and trying to catch up on The Bachelor episodes as well as The Biggest Loser. I’m still hopelessly addicted to those shows. lol. Our weather has been pretty good actually other than the snow we got yesterday. It warmed up so at least it’s pleasant to go outside although lately you take your life into your hands going for walks as it’s so icy. Still I hope we have no more cold snaps until spring manages to arrive!

On the reading front I’m finishing up The Sign of the Weeping Virgin by Alana White as well as reading The Thwarted Queen by Cynthia Sally Haggard and Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys for review this week. I’ve been so lucky with books lately as they’ve all been quite good. I’ve also got a couple of book spotlights with giveaways to round out the week so I hope you’ll all pop in to check it out. What about you all – what are you reading?

And then we have Sam and the snow once again this week. With it being warmer outside he’s really enjoying himself playing in his snowbanks so those are the pictures you’re going to get once again. Sorry about the lighting on them but our backyard doesn’t get the sun in the winter unfortunately. In the house all he does is lay in his bed and sleep or sit on the couch and bark. lol. Enjoy…

I make it my puppy mission to annoy mommy as much as I can so I rub myself in the snow every chance I get on our walks. It’s especially fun when I stop and she isn’t expecting it.

There is nothing more fun than having a bath in the snow! Way more fun than when mommy throws me in that awful tub.

Hmmmmmm, there must be something down in here…

Shucks! I couldn’t find a thing in that snowbank.

Yum! I love the snow but not so much when it’s frozen to my snoot!

I hope you’ve all enjoyed Sammy this week. Maybe I can manage to persuade him to do something more exciting next week. Have a great week!

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Sunday Sam

February 3, 2013 by Darlene

The River Valley covered in snow. There’s some beautiful walkways and such and it’s a wonderful place to take a walk when it’s not too cold.

Happy Sunday everyone! What are all of you up to this weekend? Well this should come as no surprise but it’s snowing here again. Yup, more snow. I can’t believe it already – this is the worst winter we’ve had in years and I’ve had enough. Not that Mother Nature cares that I’ve had enough but I can still voice my frustration. It has thankfully warmed up though – at one point last week we were at forty below with our windchill. That’s already dangerous weather as you can’t even step outside if everything isn’t covered up so I’m glad that passed through. Anyhow as usual Sam is loving the snow as you’ll see in a picture below. I’ve got to remember to take a video with my phone when we go walking and he’s dragging his head and body through all the snowbanks for next week. It’s hilarious.

As for reading I’m savoring Temple of a Thousand Faces by John Shors (be sure to enter my giveaway if you haven’t already). I am loving it. It’s a chunkster so it’s one of those perfect books that you can really sink into and enjoy for a while. I’m also reading Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell and it’s really good as well. One is a paper copy which I can only read in the daytime and one is a digital for nighttime reading. The joys of getting older when you can’t see paper copies at night anymore. lol. So those reviews will be up at the end of the week and the beginning of the week will be devoted to a few book spotlights and giveaways so I hope you’ll pop in and check them all out.

Now on to Sam. I got a few pictures of him although it’s like pulling teeth sometimes. I beg him to turn around and he adamantly ignores me. I got a few more under the covers because I can’t resist them – they are so cute. Enjoy…

Sometimes I like to do naughties up against these things but mommy gets a little excited when I do. There shouldn’t be so many of them standing there tempting a puppy like me since they look a little like trees if you want my opinion. Sometimes I like to chase them when one of my humans is pushing them along the sidewalk – that’s pretty fun too!

This is my favorite snowbank. I come from my walk and hop right up on it. Mommy says I’m going to roll myself right off the other side onto that sidewalk but I don’t think so…

I’m really tired but she insists on pointing that iPod of hers at me whenever I bury myself under my favorite blankie. Oh well it must make her happy because she does a whole bunch of oooooooooohs and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahs when I do it so I guess it’s ok.

Ok, enough mommy. It’s sleepy time for me. I know I’m cute but I want to sleep already. I love everyone on your blog too but two pictures is enough when it’s bedtime for puppies.

I didn’t want my picture taken and nor did I want to have the hair trimming that mommy had every intention of giving me. What do I care if I can’t see out of my eyeballs anymore. I know where my food is and my treats – that’s good enough for me so I stuck my tongue out at her. She laughed – that wasn’t quite the effect I was looking for.

Bye everyone. Have a good week. Mommy and I send hugs to all of our bloggy buddies.

Isn’t he the sweetest! I just love him so much and he’s such a cuddle bunny. I’m very blessed to have him in my life. I hope you all have a great Sunday with family, friends, or just relaxing and reading a good book which is exactly what I’m going to do.

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Sunday Ramblings with Sammy, of course!

September 30, 2012 by Darlene

Happy Sunday everyone! Did you all have a good weekend? We’ve been having some really nice Autumn weather and I’ve been enjoying it. The coolness in the air seems to be getting sharper each day and our weather forecast is now heading downhill. lol. Sammy is taking advantage of the cooler days by doing this…

Awwwwwww mommy, now everyone is going to be teasing me about my chubby little belly…

He looks like quite the chubbums in this picture. lol. I had him at the vet and surprisingly he hasn’t gained any weight since he was there in the beginning of the year so lucky for him the word ‘diet’ wasn’t mentioned. Everyone was laughing at him at the vet and couldn’t believe how nicely he was sitting. He sits on my lap just like a young child would and he just looks around. It’s adorable and I wish I had a picture. I’ll try taking one with my phone next time. I’ve been practicing some of Cesar Milan’s training techniques on Sam and I’m happy to report that they are actually working for me. He is becoming much better behaved on his walks although we still have work to do on the barking at the front door. I had thought I was taking a video for you all of him barking at a dog going by but no, being the bonehead I can be, I forgot to turn on the button for the video. Other than that Sam spends his days playing as you can see… you can also see that he owns a good chunk of the living room…

Mommy, you caught me trying to bury a sock. Could you please mind your own business while I proceed to make sure you never find this sockie again.

In other news my Dad’s surgery for the pacemaker has been booked for October 12 so keep up those prayers please. These next few weeks will be stressful waiting for the day to arrive as I already feel sick over it but I pray that after the surgery he will be on the road to being the man he used to be and therefore much happier – for all of us. I really don’t have a lot booked for after next week on the blog so October will likely be a slow month as I have been kind of staying away from requests in case he was called in.

On another note has anyone else noticed that Network Blogs has gone crazy since they changed it on Facebook. I’m not sure what’s up with it but my followers seem to be disappearing by the minute and it wasn’t until they changed it that it started happening. I’m thinking of pulling it off the blog if it isn’t going to be working properly. I’m also hearing rumors about Feedburner not being around anymore. Can anyone enlighten me on that too? What else can you use for people to subscribe to your blog – are there any other good places out there?

Well that’s all I have for you today. I’m going to settle in and finish up my book, Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow by Juliet Grey. This is the second in a trilogy of her novels on Marie Antoinette and this one is fantastic as well. Look for my review on Tuesday. As for this week I hope to get some pictures of the leaves turning as I expect this week they will start changing color and I’ll post them for you next week. Maybe some good ones of Sam too I hope providing he lets me. He has even wizened up to the iPad and knows it takes pictures of him. lol.

I hope you all have a great week and again, thank you for the prayers and good thoughts for my dad! Love ya all!

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Sunday Night Ramblings and Book Winners

July 8, 2012 by Darlene

Good evening everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend! It’s been quiet here as Sammy is sick and it’s so hot outside that nobody wants to move anyhow. On a good note my dad came through his surgery good and is doing well so far. We’re praying that this new-fangled surgery works because if it doesn’t back he goes for a pacemaker in both the upper and lower parts of his heart and we don’t want that at all! Poor little Sammy isn’t too happy though – he has tummy troubles and I doubt this heat is helping. It worries me sick when he doesn’t feel well though so I hope it passes soon.

This week will be busy with book reviews on the blog. Thankfully the last couple of days I’ve really felt like reading so that helps. Of course there isn’t much else to do when you’re sitting down in the basement all day with your puppy. It’s really the only place he’s comfortable because it stays cooler down there and truthfully I don’t mind it either. Because we have winter for so much of the year most people out here don’t have air conditioners but really we should because we can get some awfully hot weather in the summer. The only bad thing is when we get hot weather like this we also get tornadoes so I hope that doesn’t happen. On a blogging note I sure hope to get to reading your blogs this week. The last few weeks between worrying about dad and trying to get caught up so I could have posts ready for the week I didn’t pop by anyone’s blog.

Finally, I have some book winners for you tonight. As a side note I just finally sent in the book winners from the last few weeks so if you haven’t seen your books arrive yet that’s why. Sorry but I was sidetracked by everything else and quite simply forgot.

The Queen’s Vow by C.W. Gortner — Aimee

The Bird Saviors by William J. Cobb —Colleen Turner

The Concubine Saga by Lloyd Lofthouse — Hattie N.

The Last Romanov by Dora Levy Mossanen — Nise

The Secret Keeper by Sandra Byrd — Amanda

Ocean Beach by Wendy Wax — Mary W

Congrats to all the book winners and that’s it for this week. I hope you all have a great week. Take care everyone!

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Sunday Ramblings, Sammy & Book Winners

June 24, 2012 by Darlene

Hi everyone! How do you like my haircut? I guess it’s ok – I’m still cute as ever!

Happy Sunday to you all! What did everyone do this weekend? I had high hopes of catching up on my reading but as usual got sidetracked by everything else and barely read at all. On a good note summer finally arrived! It’s been pretty warm this weekend and with that come some rain showers and thunder storms which I love. Sammy doesn’t seem to mind them either thankfully but he is definitely a winter dog. He’s not fond of the heat at all. He’s fine on his morning walk when it’s still a bit cooler but by afternoon he’ll go a ways down the alley and back home. lol.

I thought this was a cool picture. It had finished raining and the rain was just hanging off the branches of our birch tree. It looked like little diamonds to me.

As you can see our garden has gone crazy this year. Usually it isn’t this grown in until about the end of July but it’s done really well this year. We’ve got some potatoes, peas, carrots, green and yellow beans, beets, and onions. I can’t wait for the beans especially as they are my favorite. I could plant a whole garden full of beans only and be happy.

This year instead of buying already grown marigolds at the store we got some teeny tiny baby ones from our elderly neighbor and they are beautiful compared to the bought ones. They are really full and even the flowers are nicer on them. I took a few pictures although the yellow one didn’t come out the best. Anyhow back to my neighbor for a minute – he’s such a great fellow. He’s in his eighties, lives alone, and just loves to garden. He starts with his little seedlings in March and has them all set up in his garage with a heat lamp. Then he starts to plant and he has a gorgeous little area in his back yard set up. I’ll have to ask him if he minds if I take a picture to show you all.

And here’s a plant we have out front. I have no idea what it is but I love the pretty red color of the flowers.

You can never have too many toys I always say!

As for Sammy he’s the same as always. I think he had an off day yesterday which is probably partially from the heat and partially from eating too many little extras. This guy loves to eat and thankfully has a much stronger tummy than Buddy had. He especially loves chicken and turkey – oh and potatoes and pasta. lol. I think he’d eat pretty much anything but we only give him tastes and only things that are good for him – no junk. Still, he weighs in at a whopping 27 lbs as of this past week. He’s big and he’s heavy but he’s adorable as all get out.

Uggggh! It’s too hot out today to do any playing. I’ll just lay here and be King of my castle instead!

I also have a special request for all of you who say prayers. My dad goes in for heart surgery on July 4 (my birthday). Dad said he thinks that it’s good luck that it’s on that day because on that day the most important thing in the world happened to him – I was born. Yup, that caused tears but it was such a sweet thing to say. That’s my papa though – he loves me. It’s a serious operation and of course I’m terrified. No matter my age I will always be a daddy’s girl. I’m scared for him to have the operation but in the last year especially I’ve watched my vibrant dad get more tired every day and I can only hope that this surgery will restore his health so he can again enjoy all the things he loves to do. I’m hoping to keep up the blog but I guess we’ll see. If I have to cancel some things, so be it. My dad is much more important to me. Here’s a pic of Dad and Sam after a nap.

My reading isn’t going the best. Like I said earlier I manage to get sidetracked easily. There is quite a bit going on this week on the blog starting with a review of Her Highness, the Traitor by Susan Higginbotham and then an interview with her as well. Wednesday brings a review of The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesay while Thursday there will be a guest post and giveaway with Robin Nolet, author of Framed. For the end of the week I have a review of Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber. Keep in mind though that some of these may be subject to change if the need arises.

Finally we have some book winners from last week and this week:

Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon — Nancye D and Amy from The House of Seven Tails

Big Sky Country by Linda Lael Miller — mamabunny13

Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto — Linda K and Lisa P

Staying Grounded in Shifting Sand by Linda J. Ferguson — Carl

Arranged by Catherine McKenzie — Holly G and Bethie

Love is Murder edited by Sandra Brown — Pamela J

Sea Change by Karen White — Mary from Bookfan

Skeleton Women by Mingmei Yip — Karen W

Days of Splendor by Juliet Grey — Carol W, Beth from Beth’s Book Reviews, Colleen T, Patricia N, and Muzette from Up All Night Reading

Wow, that is quite the list! Congrats to you all! I hope you enjoy your books. That’s it for me this week. Today is going to be spent with my books and Sammy – I hope! Have a great week everyone!

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Saturday Ramblings, Sammy, and some Winners!

May 26, 2012 by Darlene

This is my neighbor’s apple tree. Is it not gorgeous! Ours is in a remission this year and only has a few blossoms so I thought I’d take advantage of my mom and dad #2’s next door instead. I think apple trees have to be one of my favorites when they bloom – I love the pure white blossoms.

Good day everyone – although it’s almost over already. It’s been a fairly warm day here today but we just can’t seem to get rid of the wind. Sammy still isn’t fond of the warm weather. Even on our walks his main mission is just to get home again. I’m going to book him in for a grooming appt so maybe it’ll help when he’s a bit cooler. Still it’s nice to finally get flowers and gardens planted and to see flowers! The apple trees are blooming as are others and while they’re beautiful they sure aren’t nice to someone with allergies. Which reminds me I must apologize for being so absent for this last while. I injured my shoulder/neck somehow – well I think it was when I was packing up some books to give to charity and wrenched something. Either way I was totally out of commission and in a great deal of pain. I couldn’t even blog for about 4 days there which is unusual for me and truth be told it’s just finally starting feeling better yesterday. Poor Sammy, always begging to be lifted and I couldn’t. When he gives me that ‘woe is me’ look, my heart melts.

Anyhow, not much else going on. One would think that when you can’t barely move an arm you’d get lots of reading done but that isn’t so for me. I couldn’t even concentrate on reading and it was very frustrating. Anyhow right now I’m reading The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen for review on Monday and I’m really enjoying it. I’m hoping to finish it up tonight as tomorrow one of my best friends is coming over to celebrate her birthday so we’re going to have presents, cake and a movie. I sure don’t want to be finishing up a book and a review then. lol. Other than that next week is completely booked with book spotlights, giveaways and a few reviews – a busy, busy week ahead! I also hope to do some serious blog visiting!

Now for a few book winners:

A Gift For My Sister by Ann Pearlman — Amy @ My Friend Amy and RJB

The Flower Reader by Elizabeth Loupas — Colleen T

Ninepins by Rosy Thornton — Beth @ The Crazy Life of a Bookaholic Mom

The Sumerton Women by D.L. Bogdan — blodeuedd @ Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell

All the Difference by Kaira Rouda — Susan at Suko’s Notebook

Butterfly’s Child by Angela Davis-Gardner — Carol W

The Whip by Karen Kondazian — Wendy H

Fatal Tango by Wolfram Fleischhauer — Marjorie, Carl, and Gale N

The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore — Staci @ Life in the Thumb

Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton — Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit

Wowser, is that a lot of winners! To those of you who won the last batch of books – just a note to let you know I’m just going to be sending those in. With not feeling well I didn’t get to them but I am today.

So that’s about it for this week. I’ve got this extra cute picture to share with you this week of Sam. He was sitting in front of me and he has such long ears that sometimes they flop over his head and it just looks too cute. He has the habit when he’s sleeping of flopping them over his eyes. He’s such a personality this dog. His newest game is to bury his sock and then he’ll come and sit in front of me until I get up and go look for it. I go to where he has it and I toss things around asking him where it is and then of course I find it and his little eyeballs get all big and excited so I throw it, he chases after it, and then we start over. lol. That pup of mine has me completely wound around his little paw.

Yup I’m cute! How do you like my new hairstyle – it’s called the Ear Flip.

I hope you all have a great week and will stop by and join in on all the happenings here. I will be visiting this week and getting caught up once again!

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