This is going to be a blog of catching-up.

Tonight Riot pooped on the bathroom floor - a long line of pebbles.

"Riot, why did you poop on the bathroom floor?" I asked (calmly!)

"Because I couldnt find the potty," he said.

Hmm. That excuse didnt fly and I made him clean it up and sit in timeout. When I told his dad about it later, he said, "Well, at least it was in the right room."

I was exasperated.

The other night I thought Evalyn was dead. Katie left me to watch her and when I checked on her sleeping self and touched her arm, it was ghastly cool. I turned on the light and when she squinted and almost woke up, I shut it off and bolted, hoping I hadnt woke her up.

I hadnt and thankfully, she was alive.

While I dont believe in abuse of animals, tonight I spanked my sometimes-ruly German Shepherd when she dug a steak out of the trash (for the 2nd time) just as I turned my back on her. I promptly drug her to the trash and she had a come-to-Jesus- moment via my flip-flop. Really, she thought she was dying.

After that, I scolded her harshly and she scurried around the living room trying to find something to hide behind, looking at me with her chocolatey brown eyes that were indeed sorry for her actions.

Following her unorthodox obedience session, she hasnt left my side and is curled up on the floor beside my bed sound asleep. Apparently, discipline for dogs has the same effect it does on children. Maybe now her lumbering self will pay closer attention to me as the flip-flop relayed that I really do mean what I say.

The other dog, on the other hand, is a little touchy tonight and did not appreciate Riot or Josey jumping over my legs while I was sitting on the floor. She let me know by trying to nip the back of their legs as they jumped. She also didnt appreciate it when Katie came sliding in on my mattress earlier, rather abruptly. I mean, shes usually bitchy but tonight seems a little much.

In BIG NEWS, Josey ate her first ever steak dinner tonight. Thats right, folks, you read correctly. Josey ate three bites of steak, a baked potato, corn and a dinner roll. It took her nearly 1.5 hours of sitting at the dinner table to eat her first bite of steak but once she did, she realized she liked it and wanted to eat more. There was some gagging going on, even on the third bite, but I think it was more because shes not used to eating that texture. But let me just say, there was a lot of celebrating at our dinner table tonight!