My Sister Anna & I this weekend
This past week I was gone for 5 days at a conference for bloggers called Blissdom. I have been to this conference in the past and we decided to go again this year. At the last minute we lost our babysitter and Paul ended up staying home with the kids.
Bloggers go to conferences for many reasons. Personally I attend to connect with other bloggers, learn something from the speakers and build relationships with brands. It can be quite a sacrifice to go. Ticket costs are around $300, hotel $500, travel, food etc. I pick and choose carefully which ones I attend because it involves time away from my family and money.
I will not be attending Blissdom again. It was poorly organized and the speakers were HORRIBLE. So bad in fact, I walked out of 3 of the 6 classes I had. The speakers were unprepared (they admitted it) the content in some cases was completely different then the class description, one class was an hour long and lasted 20 minutes, there was no actual INFORMATION shared, in a few cases just a slide show about how great the speaker was…. The other bloggers were AWESOME as usual, and the brands were great! Just a heads up if you were considering attending this conference in the future.
On that note… I drove home Sunday from Dallas with Heather H. from Freebies4Mom, one of my very favorite bloggers! When I got home my sweet husband was at church with the kids and had dinner in the oven #rockstar! The house was a little trashed but kids were alive and well. 🙂
Right before I left I had gotten a package in the mail from DoggyLoot. I had ordered some nice dog treats for the dogs, much nicer then we normally get them. With free shipping I splurged a little. The package came as I was leaving and I told them to go ahead and open it.
As I was waiting for the family to get home I noticed the big dog playing with a kinda large chew toy. He LOVED it! I was so glad he was so happy and glad I had ordered it! Later after the kids were home, I saw the little dog playing with the same toy and trying to hide it from the big dog. “How cute” I thought. Then again, I noticed them from across the room each chewing on one end. THEY WERE SHARING! I was shocked!
Wow! I was even considering writing a letter to DoggyLoot telling them what a great product they had and how amazing it was with my dogs. They usually fight over toys, but they were actually sharing it. Awesome.
As the day got later I saw the little dog struggling to pull the chew toy up the stairs. I jumped up to help him as first, dogs are not allowed upstairs, and second, he looked like he might fall off the steps.
I ran halfway up the stairs and grabbed the toy from the dog. We fought over it a little… I won. 🙂 As I held it up to look at it before I shooed the dog downstairs, it had a really weird texture. I turned it over a few times and before I could catch myself I even smelled it.
Then. I. SCREAMED.
And screamed and screamed and threw the “chew toy” across the banister and down into the living room.
It wasn’t a “chew toy” it was FREAKING SQUIRREL JERKEY!! Like a REAL, once live, run over in the street, dried DEAD squirrel that my dogs had been chewing on ALL DAY in my HOUSE!
I screamed and ran, and screamed some more trying to shake the imaginary squirrel jerky off my hands as I bolted to the kitchen sink, and scrubbed and scrubbed until my hands were red. I think I was even crying.
Worse then any cockroach or spider I have had to bravely step on or scream for my husband from a chair, I had to get a dust pan and scoop up the squirrel jerky. Fighting off the dogs, I managed to get it outside and into the trash, the entire time hyperventilating and shaking.
My dogs sat dejected by the back door all night, looking longingly at the trash (more so then normal). I tried to emotionally recover and not gag from all the bleach I was using.
Miraculously, I had forgotten to tell my husband about the “incident” when he walked in the door and was telling him how much I had missed him and how good dinner smelled. As he was recounting the past few days he walked over to grab something out of the little dogs mouth she was trying to hide in the corner. He picked up it and looked at it… IT WAS THE SQUIRRELS TAIL!!!!
I don’t remember much after that.
Part comedian, part Dad, part athlete. He will boss around your children while they play ball.
Just as angelic as she looks, this girl could easily raise a Village by herself, and all the children would grow up to be President.
Self proclaimed, she would be a webkinz dog. Because, "they're cute, and puppies are too. And they're sweet and they always get along with other puppies."
This mini-Martha Stewart can handle ANY craft you send her way. She isn't all bows and rainbows, she's got karate kid moves!
Not "Pick-Me-Up" like caffeine, she wants you to pick her up! AND NOW!
Anything that can be destroyed WILL be destroyed!
Practically Perfect in Every Way for now! Nicknamed "The Panda" she is rolly polly and lives by the motto, "the little one, is KING!"
The resident Labradoodle, Miller got his name because Mom won and got to name the baby! Need something chewed up? He'll take care of it. Especially if it's expensive..
Thanks for sharing!!! I needed a great laugh at the end of this long day!
Oh Tiffany that is really horrible! Really, really horrible! Ick and yuck and I’m so sorry that happened to you!!
so, what ever cae of the package?.. did they get a toy and did they like the doggy loot.. or did doggy loot send you the squirrel…..lol
Oh I have no idea! I am not sure they opened it, I just assumed they did!
Oh my side hurts from laughter!!! (& the occasional gagging) Thx for sharing this…when I finished reading/laughing, I had to share with the hubby! (who also is now laughing)! Love it!! Just feel for u!!! 🙂
LOL!
Oh, I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face!! Thanks for posting about your horrific moment, I think what was the funniest was that I would have been doing exactly the same thing you did. You are the best, Tiffany !!
you should have called us..i could have took all the kids. i hate paul missed it.
You are so sweet! It turned out for the best, the kids had so many games it was insane.
Oh my Tiffany! I have teas running down my face laughing and crying for and with you all at the same time.
I have 4 fur babies and the things they are so proud to bring in and show me, roll around in and corner, never cease to amaze me. Squirrel!!
4!? Heavens, why do they do that?! 🙂
I have tears in my eyes! That is the funniest story. Thanks for the good laugh! But really, that is so disgusting, and I would have been so freaked out!
I know in time that you too will laugh at this. I however had to stifle my laughs so as not to wake my children, thank you for the morning chuckle!
Ok I must be the only one who wasn’t laughing…. I am with you this is the grossest thing ever!!! And what company would sell squirrels? That is just so nasty!!! And now when they bring you home a live one…. oh my gosh!!! So sorry, I would be crying too!!! Have you tried antlers? They are THE BEST! A little pricy but they last months and the dogs love them. And the best part…. they weren’t breathing the day before!!!! Hope your week is a little less dramatic :0)
Oh sorry that was confusing…. NO they don’t sell squirrels, my dog had found it in the street and brought it inside. The kids had never even opened the box from Doggyloot, I just assumed they had.
OH I had thought it was the toy from the vendor and they sent you the squirrel jerky!
That was truly funny!! Similar thing happened to me.. To spare you the details just replace your dogs with my cats and the squirrel with a baby bunny 🙁 not a good few days before Easter story! Thanks again for the laugh!
LOL LOL LOL…..
Had to take a squirrel away from my dog just the other day–GROSS!
I even tried to get my 11yr old son to it for me since my husband wasn’t home. (what a mom!)
At least it wasn’t in the house, although that has happened before too.
Hahaha… that is very funny! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I am both dying of laughter and grossed out at the same time! Thanks for blogging about it…it made my day
OMG!!!!! Is all I have to say
TMI! gross is right.
do they need a vet check after this? i don’t know, just wondering.
i miss my cat that use to catch the big cockroaches that come in garage. now the suckers scare me once in awhile instead.
Reminds me of the time we saw our dog playing with his rope toy outside. Couldn’t believe it because he normally didn’t pay much attention to the toy. Then I noticed it had a long tail. Wasn’t really a rope toy but a super yucky still alive RAT. Still don’t like to think about it.
OMGosh!!
Tiffany, this is why your blog is great. It’s not just the great tips and latest deals, it’s a look inside your crazy, wonderful life! It’s a smile, a laugh and the realization that we are all in it together! Thanks so much!
LOL! Thank you Pattie!
Oh my gosh that is so funny!!
Thank you so much for sharing tidbits of your life. I laughed so hard my side hurt. I had my husband laughing just as hard as I read it to him. Oh the books you could write! LOL
Tiffany, too funny. Darn dogs anyway.