Versatile with a capital V

This honor was bestowed on me by Payton the Pug at Pugnacious P. I'd like to thank her for this award. It means a lot to me.

It comes with rules, however. I have to tell you 7 things about my mom. Here they are:

1. She has gypsy blood. By that, I mean she (and we) move around. She has no fear of moving to new places, where she doesn't know a soul. She left home at 17 (from Syracuse, New York) and has lived in Phoenix, San Diego, Tucson, Sacramento and now Fort Worth. She has a list of places she'd like to live (no snow), and can't wait to retire or win the lottery to check them out.

2. She's a graphic artist. She does 99% of her work on the computer, and loves every minute of it. She's worked at all sorts of places that need graphic designers: a t-shirt shop, ad specialty shop, print shop, sign shop, and the marketing department in a real estate office. Right now she works for a company that sells formula and equipment to sanitize, disinfect, sterilize and remediate bacteria, viruses and pathogens in hospitals, food plants and government buildings.

3. She hates to cook. She wishes she could - she watches the Food Network all the time. But something happens between her motivation to make something delicious and the actual creation of the food. So she'll continue to live vicariously through the food shows.

4. She wants to come back in her next life as someone with musical ability. In spite of years of piano lessons and a love of music, she can't carry a tune. You know those people that think they can sing on American Idol, but really stink? She's those people. Only she KNOWS she can't sing.

5. Mom and dad love working in the same business. They met while they worked together, when they were just friends. Then they started dating, and got married, and went to work at another place together. They were together 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and got along great. Right now, they work different jobs, but hopefully they can swing working together again.

6. My mom creates stained glass artwork. It's dirty, and she has cut up fingers, but she loves it. She can't wait to get into a house where she can start doing it more.

7. She's a reality television junkie. Survivor, Amazing Race, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, Cake Boss - if it's a reality show, she's probably checked it out. It's her guilty pleasure. But for the record, she would never actually go on any of those show. Except Greatest American Dog.

Ok, so now I must pass on the award to seven other deserving bloggers.

1. The Westover Pug & Pap Pack @ http://westoverpugpack.blogspot.com/
2. A boy, a girl and a pug @ http://aboyagirlandapug.blogspot.com/
3. Beautiful Siobhan @ http://nicepug.blogspot.com/
4. I'm so excited to be a Pug @ http://jemimajones.blogspot.com/
5. Oisin The Pug @ http://oisinthepug.blogspot.com/
6. Pug Possessed @ http://pugpossessed.blogspot.com/
7. The gang at Smushie Ranch @ http://livingwithapug.blogspot.com/

I hope none of these are redundant. Now let the games begin!

Wacky Wednesday

Mom is about ripping her hair out this week, thus no blogging. We were supposed to close escrow on our new house over 2 weeks ago, but screwup after screwup means it won't be until tomorrow. Hopefully.

Then we have to move this weekend. Yuk. But we'll have a house of our own. Yay.

Sad day

Mom is a little sad right now. A good friend to all of us has died. In fact, she was a good friend to thousands of rescue pugs and their owners.

http://www.pugpros.org/in-memory-of-gena-austin.html

Gena Austin lost her courageous battle with cancer on Tuesday. Mom cried when she found out. Gena was a good friend, and fellow pug rescuer, and a wonderful human being. Mom was always amazed at her energy and dedication to rescuing pugs. Mom would get tired just thinking about all that Gena did. Mom's going to miss her great (and often naughty) sense of humor, her complete adoration of pugs, her unbelievable patience with pugs and people, and willingness to help every single pug that she could. When they would get together, they would talk for hours about pugs, dog training and rescue.

The Pug rescue world is a little sadder today.

Wordless Wednesday

Announcing: Movie Monday

My mom and dad watch a lot of movies. I mean, a LOT of movies. They'll plow through 5-10 movies a week. And because they do, they're always looking for new, interesting and entertaining movies to watch. If they're looking, I figure other people might be, too.

Starting today, I'm going to let you know the movies that they watched the previous week. Just in case you would like to know a little something about the movies that are out there.

First, a little background.

The types of movies that they like:

Horror movies, especially zombie movies

Action/Adventure/Thriller movies, with lots of special effects

Foreign films. Better still, foreign horror films.

Odd, unusual, and quirky movies.

Bollywood!!!!

The type of movies they're not big on:

Romantic comedies. They watch them, but they're last on the list.

Anything with Sean Penn in it. Or Mel Gibson. Or Julia Roberts.

Anything too gory. They love horror, but that's more about being scared than grossed out.

This weekend's movies viewed (in no particular order)

The Tourist (starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie) THRILLER/COMEDY

Cute movie, but it couldn't decide at first whether it was supposed to be a thriller or a screwball comedy. It turned out to be a semi-serious thriller with moments of great humor.

Mom gives it - 4 stars out of 10

Rubber (starring nobody you've ever heard of) HORROR

The story of a tire that turns into a murdering psychopath. Yes, you DID hear that right. The tire, through it's thoughts, causes anyone it doesn't like to explode. The whole movie is interspersed with a group of spectators watching through binoculars, then commenting on the movie they're watching. VERY weird, VERY confusing, but oddly compelling. Mom and dad finished watching it just to see what happens at the end. And it wasn't SO horrible that they turned it off.

Mom gives it 2 stars out of 10

Welcome (starring more people you've never heard of) FRENCH DRAMA - Subtitled

The story of a French swim coach that befriends a Kurdish 17-year-old illegal immigrant Iraqi boy that wants to sneak into England from France. His girlfriend is being forced into an arranged marriage, and he's desperate to save her. The swim coach runs into a lot of legal trouble because he associates with the kid. Also enlightening about how people try to sneak onto an island, and the lengths the authorities have gone to stop them. Warning: the movie is very sad, but the characters are great, and it's well acted.

Mom gives it 7 stars out of 10

My Name is Khan (starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, 2 huge Indian stars) INDIAN DRAMA set in the US - Subtitled

The story of a man with Asperger's Syndrome that embarks on a cross-country journey to see the President of the US. It's after 9/11, and he's a muslim that only wants to tell George Bush that his name is Khan, and he is not a terrorist. It also shows how he grew up, came to America, and met and married an Indian woman in San Francisco. In the process, in a convoluted twist that can only happen in Indian film, he ends up saving a community in Georgia that is devastated by a flood. It's a little preachy, but shows all sides to a sensitive subject. SRK (as Shah Rukh Khan is known as) is OK in the title role, but he plays a little less than "functioning" autistic man, in my opinion. The score is beautiful, the characters are great, and the story is interesting. It's kind of like Forrest Gump meets Rainman meets Slum Dog Millionaire (his past experience help him along the way). The best part is that it was filmed in San Francisco, and if you've spent time there or live there, you will see all sorts of familiar sights.

Mom gives it 7 stars out of 10

They watched more movies, but mom wasn't really prepared to critique them. So she'll do a better job next week. And she wants me to tell you not to be afraid of subtitled films. She thinks they make for a better films, because you become so engrossed in the film because you're concentrating so hard to read the words.

If you're interested in learning more about the movies, visit www.imdb.com.

And make sure you let my mom know about any movies you like.

Wordless Wednesday

http://siriusphotography.zenfolio.com/p305885124#h1ce80fb0

Arnie was the winner

When mom got home yesterday, this was in our mailbox.

An envelope, addressed to Arnie:

For the record, I've never gotten mail. I think it stinks that this came to just Arnie.

You see, he was the winner.

Yup, you heard me right - WINNNER - of Bellatrix's contest.

http://bellatrix-imapug.blogspot.com/2011/07/winning.html

When mom wasn't looking, I took the envelope.

Try as I might, I just couldn't get to the prize inside.

I really tried to tear it up, but I still couldn't open the envelope.

Then mom used her thumbs to open the present up, and gave it

to Arnie, because he was the winner.

Inside was a Snozzle.

And a SECOND SNOZZLE!!!! Glory Days, there's one for me!!!

Here's Arnie enjoying his snozzle.

I am in my crate, because, um, I don't share.

Thank You Bellatrix!!!!

Happy Fourth of July

Spending the day celebrating our independence trying to stay cool.

Hope you have a safe and fun holiday.