it's Freddie Girl!

Boxthinking

Click comic to enlarge...

Today's songs were picked...just because I like them.  I couldn't decide which one to use so you get two songs today.

SONG(S) OF THE DAY..."A PLACE TO BE" and "NORTHERN SKY" by Nick Drake

FUN WORDS TO SAY...SNARKY!

SNARKY...definition...sharply critical, cutting, snide, cranky, and irritable.

 Okay, you have to admit...SNARKY is just a fun word to say. And when somebody says or does something "sharply critical", "cutting", "snide",  or is simply "cranky" or "irritable" toward  you, it just takes some of the "ickiness" out of how it makes you feel to use the word SNARKY. Think of it as a "comfort word". For instance...say like, oh, I don't know...okay, you're thinking that you are lookin' good in your new collar and bandana, and then somebody looks at you with that "look" on their face and says..."you're not REALLY gonna wear that ARE YOU?" Then you get that kinda warm feeling all over and then you start feeling kinda stupid...yeah, you know what I'm talking about. So you usually just say it under your breath or to somebody else after THEY leave, something like..."WELL! That was a pretty SNARKY thing to say!" And then you're thinking that you should have said something TO THEM like "WELL, that was a kind of "not nice" thing to say, and GET THAT SNARKY LOOK off your face!" But most well mannered individuals don't ever communicate that to whoever made them feel..well,like some word I'm not allowed to say. So now YOU have become CRANKY, and IRRITABLE...and YOU are likely to do something SNARKY to somebody too! SNARKINESS BREEDS SNARKINESS! Excuse me...LIGHT BULB MOMENT! Soooooo, WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED HERE? I'm thinking maybe we should all TRY TO BE A LITTLE LESS SNARKY. Or at least try to use a little more tact when being SNARKY, maybe just be SNARKYish. But, everybody is going to be a little SNARKY at one time or another...so let's just look at the positive side of this. It gives us all the opportunity to use the word SNARKY...and that is a good thing. Why you ask...BECAUSE IT IS A FUN WORD TO SAY!

SONG OF THE DAY..."NOTHING EVER HURT LIKE YOU" by James Morrison

Mommie Is Still Practicing!

Hey everybody, SURPRISE!  It's actually a NEW POST!  Does that make me two for two?  I don't really know what that means exactly but it seemed like a good thing to say. Remember last time I told you Mommie was learning new stuff and new ways to do our blog and comic strip?  Well, she is still practicing and today I thought I would show you some of the stuff she's been practicing on.  Mommie used to just draw the strip exactly like you would see it.  But she's been going to the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonist Society for a while and all the nice cartoonists there who REALLY know what they are doing,  have been helping Mommie out with some "tweaking".  So now she is learning how to do more stuff on the computer and putting the strip together a different way.  Now she is taking each drawing of me frame by frame and putting it in strip form. More recently our strips have been frame by frame but reading downward.  Anywhooooo, Mommie practiced doing this with drawings she already had of me and we wrote some new captions on them, "just for the heck of it". You might also notice the "tweaking" of the drawing of me too.  She's been experimenting with how to get me "just the perfect color" for the web and for reproduction in print and stuff.  So here is the "practice strip".  You can help us out by letting us know which way you like it best.  The way it is today, you will probably have to click on it to make it big enough to read.  Frame by frame downward is big enough without having to click.  Um, okay...here it is.

"Watcha think"?  

We'll bring more stuff to you later, but for now let's get to the song of the day.  Actually today I'm gonna give you a song...PLUS a BONUS SONG!   Yay!  I'm really liking a group called Gomez today.  You are getting their songs "Airstream Driver" and "See the World".  Hope you enjoy them!

Have a good one....love, Freddie Girl and Mommie

SONG(S) OF THE DAY..."AIRSTREAM DRIVER" and "SEE THE WORLD", by Gomez

I'm Just Saying...(game shows)

Hey peeps! Well, what has been running through my mind today? I bet you are all just sitting around with baited breath waiting to find out. Okay, here's something. Mommie was flipping channels on TV on the other day and one of those game shows was on. In the beginning they introduce all the contestants one by one, and each gets to say a little something about themselves. I don't know if one of the requirements to be on the show is that they all have to have "Stepford families" or not, but COME ON. I mean, it's like they all start by saying "I'm married to my BEAUTIFUL wife", or "my AMAZING husband", and "I have three AWESOME children!" Do they...DO THEY REALLY? I'm waiting for that ONE CONTESTANT to come on the show and say "my husband is a real BLEEEEEEEP...and those kids! WHAT WAS I THINKING!" I'm sure that will never happen, but you wonder if that is sometimes what they really want to say. They are all soooo excited, they have to be "jacked up" on caffeine and decongestant or something...they HAVE to be. But then again, what do I know? I'm just a dog. I guess I'd be all "jumpy and screamy" if I had the chance to win a million dollars in front of a gazillion people on television. That could buy a lot of "meatballs"! Oh, but what if you are really stupid on the show and screw up on a really easy answer. Then all the late night comedians will be making fun of you on THEIR show, and you'll be the headline on everybody's internet homepage. You will definitely get MORE than your fifteen minutes of fame. AND THEN... some network executive might notice you and THEN you wind up on some "REALITY" TV show where you have to eat bugs and swim with snakes or something...AND if you are good at it...YOU WIN A MILLION DOLLARS! I think if you really want to WIN a million dollars, it might be better to just be as smart as you can be and try not to freak out on the show, rather than having to "consume" or "roll around with" all kinds of stuff that make you "hide your eyes" when you see them on the documentary channel. OR, you could just work hard and do what you do best....and maybe the million dollars will come to you anyway...I'M JUST SAYING!

SONG OF THE DAY..."MONEY FOR NOTHING" by Dire Straits

FIRST ANNUAL VETERINARY APPRECIATION DAY!

WOO HOO!  Veterinarians everywhere...HAVE A HAPPY, HAPPY DAY TODAY!  Today is your day!  They say "every dog has his day"....not sure exactly what they mean by that, but TODAY IS YOURS!  We APPRECIATE you every day, but like we mentioned in the post before....we thought TODAY would be a great day to CELEBRATE YOU!

Okay, Mommie and I are the one's that came up with this, so it's kind of like our own private holiday...but WE are gonna celebrate this holiday EVERY YEAR on APRIL 10TH,  so who knows if we spread it around...THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!

So THANKS AGAIN Dr. Josh, Dr. H., and Doctor Bell who took care of me when I was just a pup, and a bunch of other doctors I had to see along the way.  HAVE A GREAT DAY!   love, Freddie Girl

Thank You Dr. Josh (and all the other veterinarians in the world!)

Hey everybody! We decided to have our own little holiday in honor of Dr. Josh and all the VETERINARIANS in the world. It's our blog, so I guess we can do whatever we want to, right? I'm gonna let Mommie tell you more about it...oh, and also THANK YOU to all the VETERANS who have taken care of us too! Thanks, love, Freddie Girl

Hi everyone. Thank you very much for reading our blog. As many of you may know or remember, the real Freddie Girl passed away last year on April 10th. It was a very, very sad day for me, so this year I decided to do something kind of "in honor" of my Freddie Girl. I can't express how much I miss her, but I do think she had a hand in sending my new puppy Oliver to me. He is a wonderful little cockapoo who could never take Freddie Girl's place, but he has a new special place in my heart just for him.

Freddie Girl lived to be 14 years old and I know I would never have had her for that long without the love and care of her veterinarians. So on April 10th, I thought it would be a good day to thank Dr. Josh (and Dr. H.) and share that appreciation with all the other wonderful veterinarians in the world. We invite you to join in and show YOUR appreciation to the SPECIAL VETERINARIANS  in your pet's life.

When I checked to see if there was already a holiday to celebrate veterinarians, I did find that WORLD VETERINARY DAY is held on April 25th this year. It is always the last Saturday in April. You can find more information on this at www.worldvet.org. Their purpose is to encourage practitioners to use the occasion of World Veterinary Day to promote the profession by holding open-door days, visiting schools, and showing clients and the public at large how veterinarians touch everyone's lives on a daily basis.

 So, not to infringe on an existing holiday, I thought we could still have a VETERINARIAN APPRECIATION DAY, to compliment World Veterinary Day. WVD involves time being donated by the veterinarians to show what they do and love...so VETERINARIAN APPRECIATION DAY could just be a day for all of us who already know and respect what they do...to simply say THANKS (and maybe throw a little gift or a card their way). 

This also coincides with NATIONAL PET MONTH which is April 4th through May 4th. April seems to be a good month to celebrate our pets and the people that love and take care of them. I hope you will join me in giving THANKS to all the VETERINARIANS in your world. 

I'm planning on making this an ANNUAL EVENT to be held EVERY YEAR on APRIL 10TH. So, if you are reading this, feel free to pass the blog address (itsfreddiegirlcomics.typepad.com) on to all your friends and family, and anyone else you think would be interested. Either way, thank you for reading and if you get a chance, say a BIG THANK YOU to your pet's doctor for taking care of your beloved best friends! Have a great day!      Love, Mommie (and Freddie Girl)

SONG OF THE DAY..."Fix You", by COLDPLAY

(pun "kind of " intended )   :-b

STUFF YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW!

Hey everybody...Mommie and I thought it might be kind of neat every now and then to share stuff with you that we find interesting....so that's what this column will be about.  We'll share the links with you at the bottom of the post so you can read the real story.  I'll just kind of summarize things for you.

So, we were reading in one of the newsletters we get about this thing called the "cuddle chemical".  It's some sort of hormone called oxytocin that goes up when mommies look at their babies...kind of like a love drug.  Well, they found out that the same thing happens in humans when they look into the eyes of their puppies and kittens! So, they tested people when they played with their dogs for 2 and half minutes...some of them kept making eye contact with their dog and the other people were instructed not to look into their dogs eyes.  Turns out the people that made eye contact had a 20% rise in their oxytocin levels and the other people's levels actually went down.  This oxytocin stuff is supposed to make your stress go away, breed trust and just lift your spirits in general....pretty cool, huh?  Soooooo, now I know when I do something that might make Mommie "not so happy" I just have to make sure I look her right in the eyes for at least 2 and a half minutes....then I'm home free!  Then Mommie will just melt instead of being mad at me....although Mommie melts when she looks at me anyway 'cause I'm just so darn cute...at least that's what Mommie tells me all the time.

Here are the links to the real story so you can read all about it for yourself...

www.newscientist.com/dognews and www.woofreport.com

Check them out and have a great day!  Love, Freddie Girl

Fun Words To Say... BOONDOGGLE

BOONDOGGLE...As a noun it means "work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value", or "a public project of questionable merit that typically involves political patronage and graft". As a verb it means "to waste money or time on such projects".

(edited on Wednesday at 3:41, just  'cause I felt like it!)

I was gonna talk about the meaning of the word boondoggle and why I chose that word, but quite frankly....how much can you really say about BOONDOGGLE? Turns out it is more fun to say than to talk about! So, hey, EVERYBODY SAY IT WITH ME!  Come on, it will be fun...BOONDOGGLE, BOONDOGGLE, BOONDOGGLE! But, admit it,  you gotta love the word because it has "DOG" in the middle of it.  Mommie said that there was some stuff going on now that the new President is having to deal with, and some of the newspeople have used the "boondoggle" word when referring to all that.  I'll have to check with my "newsie" friends, Preston and Ogelthorpe and see what they have to say.  Anyway, every now and then we will have a new "fun word to say". 

Now, let's use the word "boondoggle" in a sentence...

I think Sebastian is just trying to "boondoggle" me into thinking he is sooooo important by having to talk on his cell phone and check his messages all the time!

Song of the day..."SHOW ME WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR" by Carolina Liar

A Whole Lotta Green!

Song of the day..."HOLIDAY" by Green Day

Soooo NOT Into You!

Song of the day..."GOTTA BE SOMEBODY" by Nickelback

Job Insecurity!

Song of the day..."LET ME BE MYSELF", by Three Doors Down

 -------------------------------------------------------------------Just a couple of things....Once again, thank you to alphainventions.com for showing our blog on your blog and for bringing us sooooo many new readers. Thank you readers, please come back and visit, A LOT!

Also, Mommie is experimenting with color, so bear with us until she gets it figured out. Sometimes I might look paler than other times, and sometimes darker.  Today is more of a pale day, but consider it a work in progress, that you get to witness.  It's kind of hard to decide, considering I'm a black cocker spaniel, how dark to draw me....we still want you to see me, and not just a black ink spot!  Thanks for your patience while Mommie is "tweaking" the artwork.

Have  great weekend everybody, and keep checking in on us!  Love, Freddie Girl

Say No To Chocolate...I Don't Think So!

Song of the Day...LOVE SAVE THE EMPTY, by Erin McCarley

Crows Leave Footprints On Your Face!

I picked the Bob Dylan song "Forever Young" for Mommie, one because it is one of her favorite songs, and also because I know that Mommie hopes everyone will always see her as being forever young...in spite of that old crow and his "gravity robbing" friends. Mommie said she's not sure about that saying about the "older you get, the wiser you get", but you do find yourself understanding the concept of gravity much better. And what's up with those "crow's feet" anyway. We lived in this other state before, I won't tell which one it is because I don't want to offend those who live there and like it a whole lot more than we did. Mommie called it the "collagen killing" state because it was so hot and it was just relentlessly sunny all the time...except for the daily 15 minute thunderstorms. It's also a popular state for older people to move to, and Mommie said everybody just looks 65, they are really 35, because of that collagen thing again. Don't misunderstand, it's a lovely state with a lot of lovely nice people, it just didn't suit Mommie's red hair and fair skin...but I think the crows are really attracted to fair skin. Mommie and I were also noticing that when women get crows feet and wrinkles everybody just talks about how old they look, and how you should do something to get rid of them. But when men like George Clooney get crows feet around their eyes, people talk about how cute they look with that "crinkley, smiley, eye thing". Why is it that wrinkley eyes are just endearing on men? Oh well. Mommie isn't exactly thrilled about the getting older bit, but it sure does beat the only other possible option. So, Mommie just figured out she might as well just keep laughing and enjoying life, and maybe people won't notice the road map of life that has started showing up on her face. So, here's to all the wrinkley, smiley eyed women out there....may you stay FOREVER YOUNG! 

SONG OF THE DAY...."Forever Young" by BOB DYLAN

Sneakin' Back In...Part 2

Hey....everybody say "Yay"!  Did you say it?  Okay, I'm sayin' Yay 'cause I'm actually doing another post like I said I would.   Mommie's will come tomorrow because I have more to say from yesterday's....and the blog is called "it's Freddie Girl" not "Mommie's Blog"!

Well, first of all I forgot to say that I hope you all had a happy holiday season, since I kind of disappeared for it.   And also, kudos to everybody that voted in the Presidential election, and for those of you that didn't....I'm sure you had a good reason not to, like maybe you weren't old enough or lots of other stuff.  I kind of left you guys saying that when it comes to politics I'm a "watcher" not a "doer", but that was just about running for office...not voting.  I, of course, had a good reason not to vote....well, I'm a dog, and they wouldn't  let me.  Now that things have changed maybe it won't be too long before I can vote too!  We can always hope, right?

Now...I just wanted to do a little "music hounding" about why I picked the song "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals for our first song of the year.  When we listened to the words, they inspired Mommie and me to really work hard this year to chase our dreams.  The first line of the song is "Wake up kids, we've got the dreamer's disease"....which if you've got to have a disease, that's not a bad one to have, I think.

It goes on and here are some more of the lyrics to the song:

But when the night is falling

And you cannot find the light

If you feel your dream is dying 

HOLD TIGHT

You've got the music in you

Don't let go

You've got the music in you

One dance left

This world is gonna pull through

Don't give up

You've got a reason to live

Can't forget

We only get what we give

There's a couple of more phrases but I'll give you the ones that hit me more and made me think....

But when the night is falling

And you cannot find a friend

You feel your tree is breaking

Just bend

Don't let go

I feel the music in you

Fly high

What's real can't die

You only get what you give

Don't let go

One dance left

It's a cool song and it just motivated me to get started back on our blog.  We only get what we give...it wasn't getting done with us just sitting around.   And when it seems like the world is about to fall apart, just go with the flow and ride it through.  Everything will be okay.   Don't let go, I feel the music in you....music just helps Mommie and me get through the day...and we are going to share a lot of music with all of you with our "song of the day".  

We didn't know that much about the NEW RADICALS other than they sang this song we liked so we did a little research.  Well, it turns out that the group that made this great song that made Mommie and me get up and continue to "reach for the stars" is what they call a "ONE HIT WONDER"! Pretty ironic, huh?  But, I guess they did catch their dreams with this one great song, and then maybe it wasn't fun for them anymore.  So, when they call you a "one hit wonder" and talk about you like you are failure after that...you shouldn't jump to those conclusions.  You can have lots of dreams, and if you achieve one of those goals, and then find out that's not the dream that makes you happy...it's okay to move onto another.   Maybe the REAL DREAM is to just be HAPPY!

Thanks for listening...Mommie will be on call tomorrow with some explanations as to why we have been missing in action for awhile.  Have a good weekend, love, Freddie Girl

Sneakin' Back In

Yeah, sorry I haven't been around much....like I said, I'll let Mommie take the heat for that one. I'm sayin' this like there is actually somebody around to be tellin' it to. But if there IS SOMEBODY out there please tell your friends we are back and we are gonna try really hard to have something everyday. Even if it is just a new song every day...THAT we are definitely planning. I'm really into music too, so I'm planning on doing a lot of MUSIC HOUND columns for you. I've got a lot I want to fill you in on. Maybe I can turn some of you onto some new artists you don't know about. We have a lot of stories to tell you, so there will be lots more Dr. Josh, Preston & Ogelthorpe, Sebastian and a whole slew of new buddies you will meet. So hang in there with us...we want to be a FUN part of your day...EVERYDAY! Thanks a bunch, love, Freddie Girl!

SONG OF THE DAY:  "You Get What You Give" by the NEW RADICALS