cat | Gwendolyn Rose

I like going into the card aisle at the grocery store or even stopping by Hallmark just to look through the cards. Granted I usually end up buying one or two so I don’t do that very often. I did stop in Hallmark the other day to try and find one last card for Christmas and ended up not buying anything but just sitting there reading the cards for a good chunk of time before I realized I had to get going so I could feed ~~her royal highness~~ the dog before she starved (Corgis always think they are starving even when they are little pudge balls).

This was one of my favorites that I saw there and I would have purchased had the people I still needed a card for understood the card…I am afraid they are not really animal people. *gasp!*

Christmas with pets…

If you have pets then you know this is true! Last year we ended up with our Christmas tree cordoned off with an x-pen so little puppy jaws and claws could not reach the presents or the ornaments. This year we decided to try letting her near the tree and she has done well about leaving the presents alone and we did refrain from putting any ornaments down low. Well, there are a couple but they are metal (i.e. not easily broken by a curious Corga!). The only time she touched one (it was a white metal horse) she jumped back when it moved and started to bark at it. Since then she’s left it alone!

In the past, my family had two cats and we had to anchor our tree to the wall…I don’t remember exactly what our cats did but I have a feeling it had something to do with climbing up inside the tree and thereby making it fall over. So my parents were smart and just anchored the tree so the cats could play inside their new evergreen treehouse.

I tried to find some pictures of trees by people with pets, but it was difficult to find anything! I know I have friends that have to set trees on tables and presents up on shelves but I either couldn’t remember who had those trees or I couldn’t find their pictures! I resorted to Google Images….

Dogs knock over Christmas trees too, of course!

Or you have THIS problem…

I found way more cat photos than I did dog photos but I did find this link with some helpful reminders about Christmas safety. It is quite close to Christmas but some things to maybe think about next year.

“O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, How dangerous can you be-e-eee…”

Oh the things you find on Google images!

I just wish to impart some thoughts upon the general public on some smart ways to shop with your dog. Well, really to anybody that actually reads this blog and/or may wish to share this with any fellow humanoids. Here are 10 things on how to be a smart shopper when shopping with a pet at the local petstore or just shopping in general. As a disclaimer I would like to add that these come from my own humble opinions and are in no way associated with where I work. If you think about them you know you’ve seen them from the grocery store to the mall and back again. These aren’t things that only happen in petstores!

Be nice to the staff. They will do all in their power to help you so long as you are patient with them. Golden rule, right? Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Keep Fido on a short leash. What I mean by this is if you have a Flexi leash, please do not let it run aaaaaall the way out to the end where you have no control over him. “Leashed pets are always welcome” is what the sign says but it also means controlled pets are always welcome. No body wants to be tripped or bowled over by some errant dog that is 20 ft. away from his human.
If buying lots of cans or small things, please help take them out of the basket. You’ll just hold up the line if you wait for the cashier to do it. This ain’t yer local Wally World!
If you bring in children, please have them on a leash. Oh wait…. But really, if you have children, please do your best to watch them and not let them approach or harass other people’s animals. One day they might get bit! <– this goes for going on walks too. Also, please do not let them bang on the glass of the small animal cages.
Don’t forget your wallet! Yes, you may go out and get it but please do hurry. When there is only one cashier it backs things up if there are people waiting.
Please be ready when you get to the register. By this I mean: wallet out and rewards card out (or in the process). You know you’re going to pay, you ARE in line at a register. Why else would you wait in line?
If you have coupons, great! 🙂 I love coupons! I mean it, I really do, but just remember to be patient when the cashier is having to type in a 500-digit number code when the coupon doesn’t want to scan. Hint: crumpled coupons don’t scan all the time.
Not everything is on sale. Sometimes you really do gotta pay full price.
The treats by the register are to be considered as samples. One or two per customer! If you want more, please BUY them! Think of this as Costco, you only get one sample. They don’t let you dump them all into your bag at Costco do they? Didn’t think so.
Last but not least, if you are on the phone, please pause your call for a couple seconds while you checkout. Or better yet, hang up! It would really save a lot of ~~frustration~~ ~~annoyance~~ hassle if you just give the cashier your undivided attention for one minute so they can do their job and get you on your merry way even quicker.
Bonus: If you have a return or an issue with an item, please address it in a civilized manner. Usually, the cashier can give you the assistance or service that you are asking for. They really do want to help you and keep you happy.

Awwwww! Just try and tell me this isn’t adorable!

When I was looking for a fun picture to add to this, I came across this in my Google Search: Shopping Guides. It is a guide that is divided up by the type of item a customer wishes to buy. I would say this could be very handy and I wish I had seen it sooner!

This lady had to buy some more sweaters to keep Fifi warm. Poor thing has no hair!

As something funny and also has to do with shopping, I would like to share this “article.” If you have never heard of The Onion before and do not know what it is, you might want to check out this explanation here too. At one point I had a friend on Facebook who was a bit ~~dumb~~ naïve and she thought that something I posted from The Onion was real and freaked out. We are no longer friends after she caused a huge drama/fiasco which resulted in a bunch of problems with some good friends of mine. We even had a nickname for her but now that I try to think of it I can’t; that is how well I have blocked this person from my mind! *pats self on back* EDIT: I remember now. We called her “whiney pants.” She didn’t know how to take a joke and was very whiney.

Here is the audio/”radio” version. And here is the print version that I found when I was trying to find the “offending” piece. I have some friends at West Point and when I shared this they got a kick out of it. Remember, it is just a joke. Sheesh.