Visit to Idlewood Dr.

One of Linus' favorite things to do is romp around with his cousins, Ellie, a red boxer, and Lucy, a black daschund. I say "cousins" but I guess techinically they are aunts, which would make may parent's dogs my sisters. That's kind of weird, maybe we should drop the whole real-life family references as they pertain to dogs. But these sort of references become oh-so endearing at moments when Linus bounds to the garage door to greet his "Uncle Noah." Or when we're visiting my friends they earn the label "Aunt Jessica" or "Uncle Patton." You get the idea...

All of us loaded up in Shawn's Corolla and went on a visit to my parent's house last night. Since Christmas, my mom's health hasn't been so great, so we've been taking on dinner for the family a couple times a month to help out. The bonus of our trip out is that Linus gets to play in a big, fenced yard and hang with the cousins, who usually end up chasing him around the living room and under the dining room table. In their game of "chase," Linus will often try to scamper under a dining room chair, consequently knocking it over with his huge knob of a head, not realizing he's grown so much he can't dash under them anymore. This usually leads to chair toppling over left and right, nearly crushing him. Thank goodness he's nimble.

Last night we made spring risotto with asparagus and shrimp, an excrutiatingly long process that has to be timed perfectly. It's a great recipe, though (http://www.thefreshmarket.com/recipes/recipes_details_review.aspx?RecipeID=279). Fortunately, my parents had time to spare and the Winter Olympics were on television, and since I don't own a television, I usually get hooked on anything on the screen. Shawn and I play a lot of scrabble. Don't judge.

Oh yes, and for those of you who might be interested in making fun of me some more, I also don't own a dishwasher, I don't text and I just got a microwave a couple months ago. I do own a coffee maker, courtesy of my recently wed sister.

Linus loves many people, all people actually as most Frenchies do, but he especially loves men (no, not that way!). And of the many men in his life, he gets very excited ab0ut my brother, Noah. "Uncle" Noah entered the house after spending time on campus, to which Linus dashed from his position in the living room to greet him with his wiggling, stooped to the ground body. He snorts and pouts and sniffs. When Noah picked up the little chunk, Linus gave him a quick and sloppy face bath. I must note, Linus is very hesitant to share kisses with anybody.

But he also gave out kisses to my mom last night, which was particularly special. Her eyes fluttered and she let his muzzle run along her cheeks. And she almost formed a smile. And it's those sort of moments when you know your dog is more than just a "dog."