Basset Birthday Surprise

Birthdays are always a big event at our house, especially mine since it happens to fall on New Years Eve.  This year Mister planned a more low key evening and friends dinner party for us (compared to last year) and I was over the moon to celebrate.  But before we had our NYE/Birthday celebration Mister had a trick up his sleeve.  And even before that I had plans of my own (unaware of his secret plans).

Earlier on Wednesday I had it in my mind to pick up a dresser from Ikea for Floyd's room to switch things up in there and create more usable storage.  And when I get those things on my mind I want them done and put together right then.  So that's what I did.  Thinking nothing of it at 7:30 that evening, wine in hand, I went to town putting this dresser together.  

Mister came home with birthday groceries in tow and started cleaning the bathrooms.  This was sort of unusual but I didn't think much of it.  They were on my list to do before the dinner party and I thought it was just helping me out.  Because he was doing that and I was taking on Ikea craziness, we didn't eat dinner until about 10:30 and so by the time I finally sat/laid on the couch I was in and out of sleep pretty quickly.  He continued to be up and around which was again, sort of strange, but not totally.  

During this time, Mister snuck down and opened our front door and a few minutes later I heard the pitter patter of basset feet and knew they weren't Floyd's.  I shot up to see Pierre and his parents Casey and Eric walking up our stairs!! It was THE best birthday surprise.  I had no idea and I could NOT believe they were in our house.  I was literally in my pajamas and here they were having driven from Charlotte!! I couldn't believe it!  

They really all out did themselves and I felt so loved and happy to be able to share my birthday with them.  

Thursday was just the best birthday day.  We lounged around and had coffee, a delicious lunch at Nation, a trip around Party Source and headed back home for our dinner party.  

We had some gifts in there too :)  Mister loves theme gift giving and this year did '31 years means you get gifts for your ears'.  These included headphones, BEAUTIFUL earrings and other goodies.  He really outdid himself. 

He then outdid himself AGAIN with our dinner.  

He (and Casey!) made two kinds of ham (I love ham), asparagus, burgundy mushrooms (told you we loved them) and roasted garlic mashed potatoes.  

We had such a great night with our friends and managed to stay up to see the ball drop.

 The rest of the weekend was spent lounging and hanging and doing lots of basset snuggling. 

 It was perfection.  I was just so so happy the entire weekend, thankful for our friends and just generally over the moon to have such loving friends around me to help me celebrate.

I can't thank everyone enough for such a fabulous birthday weekend!! 

Besties, Bassets and Birthdays

This weekend we had the pleasure of having Casey, Eric and Pierre (!!) in town to visit and celebrate Mister's birthday.

Fun is an understatement for the weekend.  We had been planning, counting down the days and looking forward to this weekend for quite a while.  We were excited to show them a few new places around town and spend time together with the bassets snuggled on our laps.  

Almost more than having precious friends stay the weekend, having two bassets trotting around makes me SO happy.  

Friday Mister and I snuck out of work early to greet our guests and get an early start on the weekend. 

We had a little mini tour of downtown and had a great time showing them Rhinegeist.

We had every intention of swinging by the store and picking up food for dinner.  But by the time we headed home we decided pizza and wine was a better option.  

Turns out it was.  Delicious pizza, fabulous wine and good friends around the table was the perfect way to end the night.

Saturday Casey and I hit up bootcamp to work off some of said wine and get a good start on the day.  We rounded out the morning with banana bread, multiple cups of coffee and, of course, basset snuggles.   

Saturday night we headed back downtown to Goodfellas Pizzeria for crafty cocktails and...pizza.  Again.  

It's a good thing we all love pizza because we sure had a lot of it.  Goodfellas knocked it out of the park.  The cocktails were SO interesting and delicious and the pizza was some of the best I've had in a very long time.  

As for the rest of the weekend, I will let the photos do the talking.  

Bassets in the sun warming their bellies warms my heart like none other. 

And a very, very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my handsome MISTER!! Floyd and I (and Pierre!) hope you have THE best day, you deserve it!  

Fridays with Floyd : Houndini 2.0

For today's post we shall talk about things that Floyd does that make his mothers heart stop before 7am.

Thursday morning Floyd and I got up, as we always do and he went outside.

No more than a few moments later he was howling (at WHO knows what) but seeing as it was before 7am, I don't figure the neighbors would really love that.

So I stepped out onto our porch to shush him. 

Mid shush I realize he is on the other side of our fence.

As in, in the neighbors yard.

As in, what in THE HECK FLOYD?!

I stood there stunned for a second because I thought it was a shadow that he was on the other side and there was no way he could be in the neighbors yard.

Well my eyes were, in fact, not deceiving me and he was, in fact, in the neighbors yard.

I ran down the steps and as I was nearing him and (apparently the escape route) corner, he just sauntered back to me.

I lifted part of our fencing wiring up and he just pranced back into the yard like nothing was wrong.

I scooped him up (not the easiest task) and proceeded to carry him back inside.

All the way, asking him a plethora of questions while he just stared at me and waited for his breakfast.

'How did you get out?'

'How long have you been sneaking out?'

'How did you figure out you could get out?' 

'What was your plan after getting out?'

'Do you sneak back in?'

Unfortunately he didn't answer me.

But fortunately, when I let him out on Thursday afternoon I watched him pull his magic.  Or least try to.  He pranced right to the corner, stuck his snout under the wiring and started to leave our yard.

#rascal

This is the second time Floyd has pulled a Houndini act, you can see the first one here. 

Fridays with Floyd : Mopey

Someone call Snow White and tell her we have one of her dwarfs, Mopey.

We all know that Floyd looks sad on a daily basis...has. it. nailed.

I promise you, 100%, he is not.

But, I will say, homeboy knows how to work those droopy eyes. Especially to strangers.

As his mama, I can tell if he's legit sad or just playing you.

I'll give you a hint, he's usually playing you, vying for a treat.

Last Sunday he was legit sad and it broke my heart. In a million chunky paw pieces.

See Floyd and I ventured to Knoxville to meet Casey and Eric to return Pierre and we were all sorts a mess about it.  We LOVED having Pierre and the boys got along so, so well.  Especially towards the end, they were doing SO well together.  They were following each everywhere, looking out for one another when one was rascalling and even snuggling. #meltmyheart

So safe to say, there has been less of this

and this

and we are all finally starting to turn the corner of not so much sadness.

But it's not been an easy week.

Floyd went with us to return Pierre and the boys were so adorable in the car.

I only wish I could put into words my excitement to see them basically snuggling.

and when your basset bff goes back to his parents, you cope with a pupaccino.

It only seemed appropriate.  I like ice cream when I'm sad...

I am not laying when I say Floyd was moping around on Sunday.

He was laying in Pierre's room looking even sadder than usual.  He was off by himself a lot and was just not himself.  Casey reported that Pierre was the exact same way.

'I miss my brudder basset.'

And to break my heart even further, every morning this week when we've gotten up, Floyd will go and stick his nose in the corner of Pierre's door as he would every morning before I let Pierre back.  And I have to say, 'he's not in there buddy.' Wahhhhh

So when do you think I should ask Mister if we can get another basset?

I scream, you scream...

....we all howl for ice cream!

We live vicariously through vacation rules at our house. 

As in, you can eat whatever you want when you're on vacation (among other rules).

These rules also automatically apply when you have guests.

And we have a guest, as you've seen.

So in honor of Monsieur Pierre, we took the boys on a bit of an adventure last night.

It started with nuggets from Chick Fil A.

(Floyd would like to thank his Aunt Casey who graciously sent him his own personal gift card to Chick Fil A to buy nuggets with.)

If you want to mesmerize bassets, put some nuggets in front of them.

*Don't judge, I'm getting my highlights redone next week...

And then we rounded out the evening Frosty Paws at our local Graeters 'Dog Night Out'.

It's safe to say we have two very happy hounds on our hands. 

DAWG in the house

I will fully admit that we are crazy dog people and often talk in Floyd and Pierre's respective voices and carry on full conversations and songs for them....

Now that that's out of the way and you are really calling us crazy...

From the moment Pierre and Floyd first met we developed this story line that Floyd is a grumpy old man and to him Pierre is a DAWG.  The important detail here is that Floyd is, in fact, NOT a dog, but a human.  

But of course. 

And since Pierre has been vacationing with us, this story line (cheap way of entertaining ourselves) has taken on a whole new life.

I thought I would share with you just a few of the one liners we've Floyd has been saying lately.

Floyd : "Prease get the DAWG off the couch, I am on my neighborhood watch."
Pierre : "What we doing Froyd?? Froyd I ruv you, you are my best friend!!"

"Guys, I don't want to alarm you, but there's a DAWG in our house."

"Ugh, he's going to get hair all over the couch."

"Who do you think is going to walk this DAWG? I already have to walk you two every day and I really don't have time to also walk a DAWG."

"Are you honestly going to make me ride in the back of the car with a DAWG?"

"Who let this DAWG in the kitchen?"

"This DAWG we have taken in is getting drool on the floor!"

"Ew ew ew, gross, DAWG hair!"

"Can you please make that DAWG stop barking? We only howl here, duh."

"Prease make sure that DAWG sleeps on the floor, the bed is for us humans and I wouldn't him to get hair on the sheets. Ew yuck."
"Why is that DAWG running around with a ball in it's mouth?"
"That DAWG keeps getting my belongings out of that box you have for me on the floor without asking."

Annnnd this concludes my dose of crazy for the day.

Next week I hope to be back with less 100% basset craziness.

Smiles all around

Surprise, surprise I'm back with more basset goodness.

It's just impossible not to take pictures of these two together.

Which is what we spent the majority of our weekend doing.

Well that and running, sporadically DIYing furniture (tutorial coming soon!), dinners with friends, gardening, Whole Foods wine tasting, puppy walking and dog parking and, of course, puppy snuggling.

I'll let the pictures do the talking though...

Is there anything better than 2 bassets tromping around in life jackets?
Answer : no, except for that smile on Pierre's face.  That will brighten up anyone's day.
I've never seen a dog so happy as Pierre running around that park.  That is enough to warm your heart for days.

Fridays with Floyd : Basset Buds

You know what's more fun than 1 basset?

2 bassets.

Life at our house has been anything but calm but I really love it.

I love having 8 chunky paws follow me everywhere and having 2 big ol lumps snoozing (and snoring!) on the sofa at night.

Only time will tell what shenanigans will go down this weekend with this pack of hounds.

Have a great weekend friends!! 

Weekend Wrap Up : Double Hound Town

This long weekend has been one for the books and I really didn't want it to end.

For one, I feel like I've been off work for 5+ days and it's been awesome.

The weather has been TOP notch (and we deserve that after this winter, that's for sure) and 

I got hug Casey's neck on Friday.

On Friday I took a quick jaunt to and from Knoxville and met Casey and Pierre for dinner to pick up Pierre for his summer stay at Camp Floyd's house.

Pierre is staying with us for a bit and to say we love having 8 chunky paws and 4 long ears in the house is an understatement.  

Walking two dogs in a whole new world but I sorta love it.

Not to mention, we've had a LOT of help this weekend getting everything accomplished on our to do list.

Saturday we did a lot of yard work and a DIY project (reveal and instructions coming later this week!).

Pierre helped me with some measurements.

Sunday we met some friends at the park and Pierre preferred to rest on Mister's shoulder

and then park it on the chair for the day.

Mister and I rounded out the beautiful day with grabbing some drinks and apps around town and soaking up the great weather.

Monday I went for a run, walked the boys and then made some yummy food for a cookout.  You  haven't lived until you've tried cooking with two bassets under your feet. 

And all the cooking really wore them out...

Just FYI, it may turn into the Floyd and Pierre show around here for the next little bit - they are just too cute together. 

Fridays with Floyd : Bassets are Funny

Bringing some Friday basset awesomeness your way today.
We laugh daily at Floyd.
Hourly most days.
He just has so many quirks. And does so many weird/strange things every. single. day.

Case and point.

So when we find other basset things we 1. laugh and 2. feel comforted in the fact that Floyd isn't the only strange one out there.

1. Mister sent me this video earlier this week and the amount of times I've watched it already is embarrassing.

I mean, I just can't.

It's all so true.

The sneezing, the drool on the sofa, the slow tours of the neighborhood.

2.  If you need an entertaining break at work today look up #bassethoundsofinstagram
Hours of entertainment.
I also just discovered @worldoflabs
Equally entertaining.  Basically, I could spend hours on instagram looking at dogs.
#crazydoglady

3.  Floyd had a traumatic nail cutting experience earlier this week so I treated him to nuggets.
Pierre has told him how delicious they are and I can't believe he's never had them! #badmom
He thought they were pret-ty tasty.

And by traumatic I mean, I could hear him barking in the from of Petsmart and he was in the very back.  Granted home boy is dramatic but it seemed worse than normal.  Can someone make an automatic at home nail trim system? 

Happy weekend, friends!!

Floyd's Friends : What's Dixie Doing?

Oh hey, Floyd's Friends is BACK.

And we are back with a basset, is there a better way?

I'm so happy to introduce you to Robyn and Dixie today from What's Dixie Doing?

Hi there! It's so nice to meet you! I'm Dixie & i blog over at What's Dixie Doing? so my grandpa can keep up with me now that my mom got married & i moved out! Speaking of my mom, her name is Robyn and she blogs over at Invincible Summer, which ironically happens to be my favorite blog of all time!

My mom told me all about this Floyd character and how he reminds her of me! So i just had to check ole Floyd out & boy was she right! I get so excited when Floyd shares on the blog & i am so excited to be one of Floyd's friends! He's my first & favorite friend.... besides my sister, Bailey. (mom made me say that) but Bailey is a Sheltie so she just doesn't understand us basset hounds!

you know there are some misconceptions floating around about bassets. everyone thinks that bassets are super lazy, but that's just what we want you to think! because, actually, we are pretty adventurous. for instance, one night my dad left a loaf of bread on his desk which just so happens to be the room i sleep in. as soon as i was sure him & mom were fast asleep... i hopped right up on that desk & got the loaf of bread! they probably thought it was safe because i have short legs & am low to the ground - but i have my ways of getting things when i want them. the trick is that i have to want it.

another misconception about basset hounds is that we are slow. which, again is what we want you to think! you wanna go on a walk & i don't? i'll drag my feet, pull the leash & stop to sniff everything that has a scent. you want me to come inside? i'll take my precious time walking around the yard as slow as i can so i don't have to come inside. you put food down & leave the room? I AM THE FASTEST DOG ALIVE & I WILL GET YOUR FOOD!

speaking of all things basset hound... i wanted to share with you guys some of my favorite basset habits!

Dixie's Favorite Basset Habits

finding a huge pile of pillows or clothes, jumping on them to fluff them up & plopping down!

going on a walk with my family, but only if it's a quick one! 

 laying in front of the fireplace or heater. 

 smelling all the smells out of the window! (and dreaming of being outside)

 being the cutest dog on the planet!

 sneaking up on to beds or couches that i'm not supposed to be on!

(but i'm blending in pretty well, aren't i?!)

 laying in silly positions to make my mom & dad laugh!

 hating nail trims & all things vet related!

letting my ears just flop in the wind!

what about you? what do you love about bassets? 

Oh Dixie, you may be Floyd's long lost sister!
You markings are so similar to Floyd's and it sounds like you have a lot of the same habits.
Food on the counter left unattended? Check
Moving quickly when you steal something you shouldn't have? Check

Those are definitely true basset qualities.

Thank you so much for coming to visit today Floyd and us!!

If you and your pup want hang out with Floyd just shoot us at email at totalbassetcase{at}gmail{dot}com and we will get you on the schedule!

And the Lacelets giveaway winner is : Linda.  Congrats! I will get your information over to Lacelets!

Happy weekend, friends!