<singing> "Getting to know you......" (long)

[Higgin's Mom]

Its' been reeeeeallly quiet around here lately, and I don't want to see this board go off into the sunset......

I thought it might be nice to tell a little something about ourselves so that we can be more encouraged to come and say hi to friends. And I put it here, under General Discussion, rather than Off Topic, because I think it's as much fun to know about our Yorkie's families as it is to know just about Yorkies. I'll start.....then, don't you be shy......

Higgin's Mom is called "Mary Ellen" by her family and friends, and "Menah" by her eleven grandchildren. Menah is how the first grandchild (now almost 20!) pronounced Grandma and it sure has stuck!

I am 65 years old and, after outliving TWO husbands, I found the most wonderful man (also widowed) in the world on Match.com in 1998. We've been married for 5 years now and live about a mile down a small dirt road on a lovely little lake in central Maine. Since we had lost our beloved spouses, we decided that we would take early retirement in order to have some good active years of having fun NOW! And that is just what we are doing!

We both love camping and have camped for many years in our very spacious LL Bean tents. We look like an advertisement for that store when we camp!
My family and friends call me the "Martha Stewart of Tent Camping" because we have every luxury! But because we have every luxury, it takes two hours to set up or break down camp.....and we wanted to travel......especially to warmer climes in the wintah (Maine for winterrrr). So we bought a neat little molded fiberglass egg shaped trailer called a Casita. It is 17 feet long and has everything we need. We ordered it last August and picked it up at the factory in November and camped in the warmth until May 1st! 164 straight days in that little thing and loved it! Along the way, we have made sooooo many wonderful friends, getting to know many of them on a Casita Club message board just like this one. That is how we met Bettyeanne and Patrick -- online -- but also IN PERSON WITH TOTO at a Casita Rally in Florida in January.

Of course we fell in love with Toto. And another darling tiny Yorkie, who camped near us most of the winter, named Chanel. When Don married me, he also married Pogo, my 12 year old Doodle who is half Dachshund and half Poodle, and the best dog I have ever known. Since Pogo is getting on in years, I wanted to get a puppy while Pogo was still active enough to properly "train" her. We wanted a female. But which breed? I wanted a Pug, because they are laid back and look like me! But Don, who has only known Pogo, and NEVER had a puppy in his life didn't want a dog....BUT....if I HAD to have one, the only puppy he would consider was a Yorkie! I warned him about terriers! And terrier energy and attitude! But then I realized that I am married to a terrier, so our new dog would be like Don! We found Higgins, or rather HE found us since the only female in the litter wasn't at all interested in us and Higgins just pranced and kissed and.....well....you know how it is.

My hobbies? I love needlework of all kinds, from knitting to counted cross stitch, and you can usually find me working on some project or another. And I'm a voracious reader, too. Mostly escapist fare and I'm about to start "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson, a delighful account of walking the Appalachian Trail. Don read it first and kept me awake nights laughing.....

Our kids (I have three 43,41,38 and Don has one, 35) are spread out....in Rhode Island, Maine, Kentucky and Virginia. They enjoy visiting us in Maine and our fleet of kayaks and canoes gets well used. My oldest grandchild came to live with us and finish her senior year in high school in 2002-03. Now she's in college in Kentucky.

I love food! And it sure shows as I am 100 pounds overweight. Officially obese, and I had the heart attack to prove it. I keep trying to get it off! Higgins keeps me getting up and down and moving though......Speaking of food.....Bettyeanne is FAMOUS (no kidding!) for her peanut butter pie. If we are really, really nice to her, maybe she'll post the recipe, eh? (Oh Lord, I'm sounding like the Canadians I camped with this wintah!)

Well okay, there's some about me......How about some about you?????

Hugs,
Mary Ellen

[bettyeanne]

Opps!! That is wonderful!!! I'll join in that .... in a bit ... having problems with the DSL! ;-( Will have my post up soon!!! ;-)

[bettyeanne]

GREAT idea!! Here goes ….
My name is Toto’s Mom [known to most “humans” as Bettye] and I’m a “Yorkaholic”. I am known to the “Little People” in my life as “Nonnie” and they are known to me as “Grandchildren”!

I am 61 years old and I also had two husbands, one lasted 13 years and the other 2 ½ years, boy, was I young and stupid!! My son, Chris, and the father of my gorgeous 14 year-old granddaughter, Kayla, is 42. My Amanda [Mandy], is 25 and the absolute “Light of My Life”! I raised Mandy alone and it was the most rewarding period of my life! She is married, has a wonderful husband [in banking] and is the mother of 5 year old Austin and 1 year old Abbi. Then after years of being a “single” mom, I [excuse me, Mary Ellen] found the most wonderful man in the world!! [There must have been two?! ] Actually, he was my best friend [still is]! I was 48 when we married 13 years ago and this is really the odd part … he was also a “single” dad raising a daughter, Jessica, who is 25 and the mother of my beautiful grandsons, Tyler, who is 6 and Michael, who is 5!!

I worked as Administrative Assistant/Bookkeeper for a State funded Emergency Medical Services organization which educated medics, doctors, nurses, etc. It was a complicated, time consuming job and every second of my “free” time was devoted to Mandy! Patrick was “Chief Videographer” at our local CBS affiliate when we met and was “on call” 24/7 so I learned lots of “stuff”! He had worked for other TV affiliates and even ESPN … so it was exciting for me although day-to-day to him! We eventually had our own production studio and after years of “killing” ourselves we decided that since we were at that time suffering from the “empty nest” syndrome [and totally bored with television production] that we would make a career change and that’s when we started in the “Gas & Oil” & “Fibre-Optics” Industries in Right-of-Way. We travel the country making way for gas pipelines or fibre obtics That’s where we are now … however ….

Last year when we were in Missouri working, my Patrick and I saw a little Casita travel trailer for the first time! Now, I knew that he and his family camped when he was a child … granted, his parents were both attorneys and they on occasion took the maid with them! OK … first I knew he still had that love for camping! Not me, if it doesn’t say “Holiday Inn” on the door, I ain’t staying! “WHY be uncomfortable?” was my motto! So, when he began wanting this travel trailer …. He distracted me by showing me all this Yorkie stuff online! NO, I said. After the death of our poodle, Nichole, I said NEVER again would I get that attached to another animal!! NEVER!!! OK, those little faces began to get to me …. I began looking at them … I began reading the research …. the books … devouring all the information!!! Then, magically [anyone out there familiar with the determination of the Irish?], through a vet who turned out to be Dr. Lucy, he located this breeder in Marietta, GA who had some puppies [she breeds strictly show dogs] and she might talk to us! She indeed had babies that were born in July and it would be several months before she would consider parting with any, if then. Oh yeah ... she's gonna talk to me . Although their bloodline is “pure”, some of them just don’t make the weight requirement to show [which is 4 lbs for Yorkies]. Well ... she couldn't keep all of them for herself ... could she? By this time I was so involved with getting prepared for eventually getting this little piece of fluff … I can’t tell you when Patrick ordered the Casita … nor how many times he showed me the “extras” on the Casita website that you could add-on … I just vaguely remember saying “yes, dear, that sounds great … why don’t we get that”. Needless to say when I emerged from my research on Yorkies we had not only ordered the Casita with every available add-on offered … but we were scheduled to pick it up in Texas in late October! By this time also, Patrick had talked the breeder into taking a refundable deposit and would consider letting us take a peek at the yorkie babies in late October! Now … I grew up a “Southern Daddy’s Girl” and was accustomed to “getting my way” or “I’ll tell my Daddy”! I was so certain that this “pick of the litter” was mine that I would go to the pet store and come out with bags of “stuff” … ordered “stuff” online and had it sent to our hotel so often I had to tell the manager … “Honest, we don’t have a dog in there … yet … but we’ll discuss it?” Pat is fond of saying that Toto has more “stuff” than we do!!

Late October … met breeder at Dr. Lucy’s office … got my “baby” [didn’t even look at the other two we could have chosen] on Wednesday … left Saturday to pick up the Casita in Texas and wound up in Destin, FL camping and visiting with friends who live there! By the time we got back home we had put over 2500 miles on the Casita and Toto!! Funny thing is … this little 1 ½ lb. “distraction” that “Mr. Smarty” bought for me so I would hardly notice the new Casita … wound up with both of us wound around her little paw!! We both agree that it was the smartest thing we have ever done. We find it hard to believe that it’s been seven months since we adopted her and we are still amazed every time we look at her … she is our joy!!! I can't say that I love camping ... but as Pat likes to say "I put up with it"! I do somewhat enjoy most of it for short periods of time it's fun ... but being claustrifobic [sp?] I can only stay short periods!

We went down to Florida again in January for the Casita Rally and met lots of great people in person that we had gotten acquainted with on the Casita Forum … best of all met Mary Ellen, Don and Pogo who are great friends and we plan to eventually get up to Maine to visit. We haven’t met little Higgins in person yet but just fell in love with him the first time we saw his picture!

I used to have hobbies [being a workaholic I had to be constantly doing something!] … like Mary Ellen … I loved reading … recipe collecting … needlework … sewing … woodwork … tole painting … you name it, if it was a craft I did it! Now … I don’t do any of them much anymore. I hope to pick some of it back up at some point but for now I am so busy with work and 24/7 Yorkie … I hardly have time for anything but an occasional good book. Toto pretty much consumes all my time when I’m not working and sometimes when I am working!! She loves to nap on my lap or in her bag when we are at the courthouse!

I also am overweight, about 25-30 lbs! When you consider that I am not quite 5 feet tall, that’s a lot! My problem is I really HATE to cook and I’m not overly fond of food. To me, cooking is boring so on those rare occasions that I cook, I like to take a recipe and add variations to make it more interesting or make it mine, I don’t know which!! I eat mostly because I don’t want to die … and we eat out all the time! I wore size 5 jeans when I met Patrick and now am size 10!! Now … Pat is someone who loves to eat!! There are those occasions that I do enjoy cooking … if I have plenty of time and if it’s something that I know people really like. Like the Peanut Butter Pie that Mary Ellen mentioned. I made some of those for a potluck at the Casita Rally and everyone loved it! And … I do share my recipe … if anyone wants it?!

Mary Ellen didn’t mention her famous “reading” that she did at the potluck! The “New England” accent had everyone in stitches! We had such a great time and look forward to the next annual rally next year! Since I gave everyone the pie recipe … I have to come up with something “new & exciting” and let one of the other ladies bring the pies!! And … someone out there … ask Mary Ellen about the “Pink Flamingo”?

Okay … that’s waaaay too much about me …. anyone else …. ????

Puppy kisses,
Bettye

[Higgin's Mom]

Geeeesh, I forgot to put anything about work in there.....Don't think about it much anymore! After 20 years as a corporate housewife who dabbled in the antiques business, I was a handknit designer in New York, primarily for Coats & Clark; then I went into the sailing yacht industry in many capacities and worked all the east coast boat shows; met husband #2 and went into the wholesale cut diamond business which was a LOT of glittery fun; wound up in Vermont where we owned our own marketing/advertising/public relations agency for many years; went to work for the State of Vermont Employment & Training Department doing job hunting skills workshops for clients as well as public relations duties which included a daily morning radio show (my favorite job!). Jill of all trades, master of none, and thoroughly enjoying retirement.

Ah, the persistance of the Irish: that's why this Irish lady has her Yorkie! And her Frenchman has any tool he wants from Home Depot (HIS toy store!). Don and Patrick will have the most up-to-date, fancy Casitas the world has ever seen! They are competing, I think, to see who can add the latest greatest modifactions! All to our comfort and benefit, of course. Bettye, but the time they get through, you can put a "Holiday Inn" sign on yours!

It was Patrick, online before the Florida Rally, who brought up something about signs of being "trailer trash" and I came right back with the fact that I would represent the State of Maine well with lobster lights on my awning and a flamingo, of course in my "yard." When we drove into the campground and got out of the car, this big redheaded guy hollered "Where's the flamingo?" and I got it right out and went over to meet Patrick! During the rally, we passed the flamingo around to each of the 27 Casitas there and the person who finally wound up with it is going to bring it to the rally next year. Ya gotta have a flamingo near yer trailer in Florida, right?

And I think you ought to put the peanut butter pie recipe in the Off Topic file right here on YorkieTalk, Bettye......

Hugs and hoots! (Did you know that the black bears in Vermont HOOT????)
Mary Ellen

[fasteddie]

Thanks for letting us get to know you. Here goes me:

I'm a 27 year old guy with a passion for Yorkies (and especially my Yoda). So I decided to start this little forum a few months ago, as I didn't really find a good place to talk about Yorkies. I work in the computer field, and live out here in rainy Seattle (rainy except in summer!).

Yoda has the roam of the house when we are home and when we are not, he has his own little cubbie hole in the kitchen area (complete with heating pad, toys, clothes with Mommy and Daddy smell on it).

After deciding that we had enough room for a dog (we previously lived in a small condo), my girlfriend and I looked at different types of dog breeds. She just happened to fall in love with Yorkies and from there we started looking around. Luckily, we found a really cool breeder up in Everett, WA. She said she just got a new litter so went to visit the next day. She was really nice and friendly, and you can tell they love their dogs. We picked out Yoda, as he was the runt of the litter, but there was something about him that made us want him.

[bettyeanne]

Originally Posted by Higgin's Mom

It was Patrick, online before the Florida Rally, who brought up something about signs of being "trailer trash" and I came right back with the fact that I would represent the State of Maine well with lobster lights on my awning and a flamingo, of course in my "yard." When we drove into the campground and got out of the car, this big redheaded guy hollered "Where's the flamingo?" and I got it right out and went over to meet Patrick! During the rally, we passed the flamingo around to each of the 27 Casitas there and the person who finally wound up with it is going to bring it to the rally next year. Ya gotta have a flamingo near yer trailer in Florida, right?

And I think you ought to put the peanut butter pie recipe in the Off Topic file right here on YorkieTalk, Bettye......

Hugs and hoots! (Did you know that the black bears in Vermont HOOT????)
Mary Ellen

Ahhh ... retirement .... that's what I'm waiting for!!! We find, most days, our work really interfears with our play!!! The persistance of an Irishman is the reason I have a Yorkie! Sometimes that Irish peristance just makes me crazy!

The funny thing about Don & Pat's Casita competition will be the day they have added so many "neat" things and made so many modifications that they can't pull them out of the driveway!!! That wiggly thing you will see in the driveway will be me rolling around and laughing on the ground!!!

I have pictures to prove that darn Flamingo made the rounds! There is sits on our awning complete with Mardi Gras beads around it's neck!! Pretty glitzy it is!! And Pat had Dragonfly lights instead of Lobsters! Lights is lights!!

I will put the recipe in Off Topic and will post that web link for those "Vermont Hooting Bears"! We thought it was a "Mary Ellen "myth!!!

Puppy kisses!!!

[bettyeanne]

Hi, Fasteddie! and thanks for this site! I hope we will be able to share and learn here for a long time to come!! ;-) I know it's a lot of hard work but it is appreciated!!

[Higgin's Mom]

It sure IS nice to have this site, Fasteddie!!! Many thanks!!! And....<singing, again> "It's so nice to have a man around the house (site)...." Oh yeah, yer only 27 and you haven't a clue about THAT song, it's so old........lol

[fasteddie]

Thank YOU for participating so much and making this place a joy everyday.

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by Higgin's Mom

Oh yeah, yer only 27 and you haven't a clue about THAT song, it's so old........lol

Hey, I'm just a little bit older than him, and I know that song! In fact, my mom took us to see the live Broadway play starring Yule Brenner as the King!

[fasteddie]

No clue here about that song!

[MeganS]

OK i don't have as much to write as you guys do considering i'm only a kid. here goes.
I'm 12 years old and live in New Jersey. I know I'm gonna get killed for saying this but i never really liked yorkies i thought they were kinda weird. I've never wanted a purebred either. i've always had mutts - pound dogs. infact my best friend is my 7 1/2 year old choc. lab, irish settter, etc. mix rusty.
i fell in love with yorkies when i got bandit just this year. he shortly died just 30 days after we got him. the entire town practically mourned his loss. he was my birthday present. the place we got him from said he was from a breeder. one of the wonderful people on here did some research after bandit died and found out he was from a puppy mill!!!! :-(. So then we knew we couldn't live without a little yorkie baby. (bandit turned my family into dog people lol) so my mom had been looking in the paper and found a lady who's dog had puppies. she's had 2 litters in her life and we met her and she was awsome. so on saturday we picked up our new baby tucker. i've become a yorkie lover and i'm glad!!!
my favorite things to do are ride horses, play guitar, and do agility and just work with my dogs on different things. my only job is going to school. my teacher is great and all my friends are in my class so i love it. only 8 more days though. my teacher is moving to puerto rico for 2 years. :-( so i don't really want the year to be over. I've ALWAYS been an animal lover. when i grow up i want to be 3 things. an aspca officer. american society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. i want to be a vet. and when i get older i want to be president. don't laugh at that i'm very into polotics lol. ok you can laugh.
so any way that's about it about me....i think maybe just a little too much... oh whatever now we know eachother.
and fasteddie i had NO idea that you made this sight all i can sa is THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! i don't know how i ever survived without this place (or my yorkie baby)

[schatzie]

Higgins Mom - I have been around long enough to have had the pleasure of reading many of your threads/posts. Your thread today is so sweet and have enjoyed reading your's and other member's replies.

I don't have much really to say about myself. (However, Fasteddie might argure that point when I am on Yorkie Talk live chat, LOL and under the influences of a few glasses of Merlot wine)

Let me try to tell a little about myself in a nutshell.

I am so very happy living with my husband and my fur babies in Arkankas and getting closer to celebrating my 40th birthday.

As Higgins Mom, my passion in life is RV camping and enjoying God's beauty and meeting new people.

I find myself wondering how I ever waited so long to find out the love of my Yorkie, Schatzie yet blessed to know I finally have.

Cooking, camping, gardening, and enjoying my friends are my favorite hobbies.

The most important lesson so far in my life that I have learned is to never say never and that everybody has a story.

My husband and I work together in our home based business. I find it pretty awesome that him and I can be together 24/7 and still kiss each other goodnight everyday!

[babi1542]

Hi I am a 43 yr old ESOL teacher ( english speakers of other languages). I have been a teacher for the past 21 yrs. I have two boys 17 Chris who I hardly see anymore as he spends his life at his girlfriends house and then I have my gum ( stuck to me) Kevin that is 11 yrs. old,He will begin middle school not in August. I have been married for 20 yrs to a wonderful and supportive husband. He is a workaholic! He gets up singing , like if he is going to a party and I get up thinking is is Saturday yet?. I just got my first Yorkie. Pebbles in March and today I got a second Yorkie boy , Gary. My favorite hobbies are reading, and being on the computer. I am a Yorkieholic in YT. I have learned so much from this forum, to the point that it made me get two yorkies. Fasteddie thank you for this forum, you have no idea what a wonderful thing you did. I feel that all of you are part of my family, whenever I have a prob. I can just ask and right away many people will answer my questions.! Thanks for everything and God Bless you all!

[browniesmom622]

ok here i go i dont know how much im gonna write lol

i live with my mother and 26 year old brother im gonna be 18 june 22nd i didnt know my father for 13 years so when he started comming around he figured he owed me and thats where brownie comes from i always wanted a puppy of my own i love raiseing him speaking of camping when i was litttle every memorial weekend we would go camping at sandy valley camp ground in whitehaven pa they were like family there i have gone in nearly 7 years i miss it so much thats where i learn to swim and everything they are great people there i had a normal childhood i grew up with my bestfriend we met when we were 2 and were not as close as we use to be but i still see her she now has children i grew up with lots of animals gunieapig cats fish dogs and growing up i was taugh that they were part of the family when i was growing up i hung out with mostly my brother friends now i concider them my brothers 2 years ago we lost one of them in a very bad car accident and he was only 24 he didnt drink or do drugs he just hit a dip when he was driving i hung out with him everynight my grandmother lives down the street shes 84 my grandfather died 5 years ago i believe that animals are better than people they dont hurt you or anything else a human would do and they always there for you im very girly i love to have my hair and makeup and always love dressing up and sometimes i do it to brownie lol 5 years ago my 14 year old friend had a baby her baby was very premature she was 2 pds when the baby was 7 months we started watching her for free for 12 hours a day we were there for everything first words steps foods i have it all on tape its 5 years and were still watching her i was homeschool from 7th grade on right now i have my 3 cats 2 dogs a fish and my guniea pig i wanna get another puppy soon i love tigger and dolpins i love to rollarblade i cant wait to have kids ok im running out of things to say so if anyone has any questions just ask also sorry for jumping around alot lol luv ya