Is Mia A Hovawart?

And what is a Hovawart?

Image from Google Images

This is a Hovawart.  Until this morning I had never even 

heard of this breed of dog.  It is a German breed but they

are in the United States.  The name means estate guard dog

 and they are from the Black Forest.  When I saw the photo 

I thought ~ huh, that looks like my Mia the Wonder Dog.  

This photo is Mia.  We found our princess in a shelter

and they told us she was a Black Lab/Shar Pei mix.  We 

couldn't see any Shar Pei in her but that's the info the

shelter had.  When we took her to the vet, Dr. Sean said

she was a Black Lab/ Golden Retriever mix and that was

when I found out the dogs from the same litter can have

two different fathers ~ I never knew!  As time went on 

and her hair grew so long we just figured she was an All

American mutt, we thought there must be some Irish

Setter in her because of all her fringe.  She is an absolutely

striking animal, when we hike people are always telling me

I have the most beautiful dog.

From Google Images

This is a Hovawart puppy.  

This was my baby on the day I brought her home from

the shelter when she met her neighbors Max and Chessie

and they let her play with their toys.

I think she could be a Hovawart.  It only took me 12 years

to figure this out!

Ice, Ice Baby

We have a problem with our ice maker.  It's not

a mechanical problem, it is a problem with its

mere existence...  according to Mia the Wonder

dog that is.  She hates the ice maker.  For years,

we bought bags of ice so we could disengage the 

ice maker so it wouldn't bother Mia.

That is until this summer and my discovery of

iced coffee.  You see, up until this summer I 

had never had coffee, the smell just didn't 

appeal to me ~ at all.  

In May Wonderful and I were at International

Quilt Market in Pittsburgh.  We had worked all 

day in our booth, taken the booth apart and 

packed the car and were heading West for a 

six hour drive home.  Wonderful said he needed

some coffee so he pulled into a fast food place and

decided to get an iced coffee since we were so hot

from packing the car.  He had them put some 

flavoring in the coffee and it smelled delicious!

I took a sip and I was hooked.

So a few times this summer I drove through the 

fast food place and got the iced coffee and loved

it.  But, my family had to be honest with me, I

had a problem.  Did I mention that I have been

caffeine free for over a decade (except for any

caffeine that is found in chocolate)?  Yeah, it seems

caffeine just is not good for me.  I start talking a

mile a minute, I start coming up with all these

fabulous plans and my family just looks at me

like, "who is she"?

So now I make my own decaf coffee and pour 

it over ice and add a flavored creamer and it's

really good.  

Except for the ice...

We have started using the ice maker again 

because we are going through a lot of ice.

And that is no bueno for my puppy dog. 

I try to get her outside when I'm getting 

ice out of the bin so she can't hear it.  Or 

I'll very quietly put in piece by piece into 

the glass but she knows...  can she smell 

it?  But the worst part is when the ice 

maker decides it needs to add more ice 

to the bin.  When the ice falls in, Mia 

freezes and then looks at us and

then skulks away, looking something 

like this.  She heads upstairs and hides behind 

the bed.  We call the noise "Ghostie" because 

that is what we imagine she must think, that

there is a little ghost inside the freezer, throwing

ice cubes around.  

Poor Puppy.

And don't even ask about windy days that may

make the curtains move or thunderstorms.

My Baby!

Happy Birthday Mia!

This is a picture of my baby on the day I

brought her home from the shelter.  As

soon as I took her in my arms, I knew we

were meant to be together...

On the ride home we were thinking about

what we should name her.  I looked in her

little face and told her she had won the pet

adoption jackpot ~ her life just changed and

she had become a princess!

Since I was reading The Princess Diaries to

the kids at the time, we decided to name her

Mia for the girl in the book who suddenly

finds out she is a princess.  Of course in the

book the girl is named Mia Thermopoulis

but our baby is named Mia Furmopoulis.

This beautiful bundle of fur turns 9 today.

She is my best friend and my constant

companion.  She has the kindest eyes

and the sweetest personality.  Everyday

on our hike we will pass someone who says,

"What a beautiful dog!"  and she is ~

inside and out.

Happy Birthday Mia the Wonder Dog!

Me Time ~ October 4, 2011

I'm having my own Me Time this

week, getting ready to go away for

over a month.

Here's the beginnings of my

East Coast project.

And a certain someone who knows

this is not going to be good news

for the puppy dog...