Thanks for the suggestions for naming our new puppy. One of you suggested Charlie and that’s his name. Sorry it took so long to post but I’ve had a bit of an oops healthwise. I’ve been in the hospital since the day I posted last. I’m fine or I will be soon enough.

I thought we might name the dog Chewy because he looks a lot like chewbacca but Mr. Flirty didn’t like that idea. Charlie seems to fit him just fine. He comes when we call him and he sits on command. Sounds good but he still has a few accidents on the mat at the door. He knows he’s supposed to go outside to do his business but if the door is closed, well, it’s on the mat. He hasn’t learned to bark.

Charlie is a cavoodle. Half cavalier king charles spaniel and half miniature poodle. He’ll be about the size of a cocker spaniel the breeder tells me. He has wool-like fur like a poodle, it doesn’t smell “doggy” and it’s in beautiful chocolate brown curls everywhere except between the toes of his back feet, on his chest, under his bottom lip and a few white hairs at the tip of his very crooked, twisty tail. Ok, so he’s not perfect and he wouldn’t win any prizes in a dog contest. He won my heart and that’s enough for me.

What’s life with a new puppy like? It’s been a long time since we’ve had a puppy in the house. My runners don’t stay tied, my bras and panties get dragged from the laundry room to his hiding place behind the night table along with all the toys he’s not currently trying to bite into oblivion and there are little sticks everywhere that he drags in after piddle time.

He’s absolutely wonderful.

I might have a lot of cleaning up after him but the way he snuggles that little head in my neck and then lets out a big sigh is priceless. Here’s Charlie today.

I followed a link today to a website that had a tower banner for Kiva.org. Anyone ever heard of it before? I think it’s a fantastic idea for a way for those more fortunate to help someone else who hasn’t been quite so lucky.

I visited the site and it looks really good. The goal is to match up “lenders” with those who need a helping hand getting their business going. It’s all about microcredit. Small loans that make a huge difference in someone’s life.

There’s a woman in Sarajevo who needs money to plant her spring crops, and a woman in Nigeria needs some money to buy fish to dry and sell, a surgeon in Nicaragua needs $1175 to build a room onto his house out of wood and many more. The woman in the photo is Agatha Adutwumwaa, a 60-year-old mother of 6 in Ghana who needs a loan of $675 so she can buy fabric in bulk and not have to travel to a nearby village for supplies quite so often.

So why does my cynical mind wonder if this is all for real? I guess I’ve run into so many online scammers that I don’t automatically think of something wonderful like this being real. I want this to be real.

Has anyone had an experience with this site? If it’s legit, I’d do my bit to help someone if the money I loaned went to the person and not to some big organization. It really pisses me off to donate to a large group only to have 15% or less of the money donated actually go to doing good works.

Imagine it, a bevy of beautiful hopefuls trying to reach the finals of the Miss England beauty competition. You can see them now, all slender beauties without a hair out of place and their swimsuits superglued to their asses. All, except one. Her name is Chloe Marshall and she’s a perfect size 16 and weighs in at 175 pounds and boasts a 38DD bra size.

What’s so surprising isn’t that she entered the contest at all, but lots of people would raise an eyebrow at someone “chubby” thinking they were good enough. Oh no, what’s surprising is that Chloe won. In her real life she’s a trainee beautician and is the first “roundy” to ever reach the finals.

The 16-year old Chloe said, “Everybody thinks you have to be a tall, slim blonde and I’m a curvy brunette. I want to show it is possible to be beautiful and not a standard size zero.”

“The reaction I’ve had is great. Other girls have told me I have really boosted their confidence, which is terrific,” said Chloe, who is the average size for a British woman.

To Chloe I say well done. It’s wonderful to see her beauty outside and inside recognized for what it is.

If you haven’t seen the video of Skidboot, please take a few minutes to look at it now. It will cheer you up, inspire you and it will put a smile on your face a mile wide. It’s what love is all about. What a remarkable story.

I know this is off-topic but to my mind there’s nothing like the love of a good dog. Plus, it’s the holidays.

The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.

-Anonymous

There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.

-BenWilliams

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.

-Josh Billings

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.

-Andy Rooney

Dogs love their friends& bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love& always have to mix love & hate.

-Anonymous

Anybody who doesn’t know what soap tastes like never washed a dog.

-Franklin P. Jones

If your dog is fat, you aren’t getting enough exercise .

-Unknown

My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That’s almost $21.00 in dog money.

-Joe Weinstein

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.

-Robert A. Heinlein

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

-Mark Twain

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.

-RogerCaras

If you think dogs can’t count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket & then give him only two of them.

-Phil Pastoret