the goodlist

..hee hee yes, mom, I did everything u asked and see? I even washed between my toes! so...how many hours til Santa finally leaves our presents and we can be ourselves again? 

happy Christmas Eve my friends :)

the owling :)

hee hee, finally mom and henry gumption are done with the owl mask they are making for auntie robin! i am sure she will not mind if i borrow it for a little while.  christmas is like, forever from now.

now, if only i can figure out how to get this orange stool out of my...

(oof! shuffle shuffle)
































...way!  hee hee, wait'll duk duk comes home and gets a load of me.   

wooty hoo, wooty hoo! 

 yep, he's gonna be so scared, i bet he upchucks all his gummy worms and his monkey chow chili.  

yep, yessiree, and no complications with santa at all because this is payback for what he did to me last week. well, payback times ten because duk duk is to owls like i am to stinky big dogs.  scare-reee!

yep, yessiree, any minute now, when duk duk comes home from his fowl and feathers club..no wait, that was yesterday. when duk duk comes home from his little swimmers..no, wait..duk duk..o snap, he  went to the lake today to visit his grandma, didn't he? sheesh, he will be there all day!...







hee hee, only seven more hours til duk duk comes home and he gets the bejeebies scared out of him! wooty hoo! wooty hoo!! :) :)

i doot the robot dachshund cutetastic :)

okay mom, we will, but can u please let us say goodbye to them first? i promise it will not take long.  

well tiny shiny representatives of our second litter of tiny robot dachshund christmas ornaments, me and duk duk just wanted to say even though we have burned the midnight poopie oil for many nights now making you, it has been a pleasure and an honor bringing you into this world so that you may bring happiness and joy hanging on the christmas trees of your new families.  and, seeing as how our time left together is very short since we will be putting you up for adoption at NOON EST today in our mom's etsy shop, me and duk duk wanted to invite the entire litter to our very special christmas party in our heat cave, where the super special disco robot dachshunds, who will also be up for adoption, are already decorating and preparing for the big send off event! ready..set...run!! :) :)

 (ps - have a great wooty weekend my friends and hope to smell u at noon today in my mom's etsy shop!! :) :) )

.

pbsj please :)

Wednesday is almost over, but I just couldn't let it pass without sharing a little chumley sized, bright eyed, shorty legged cheer. :)

Goodniteynite my friends and if I happen to be making a midnight snackie, may I please have a Pbsj sammie too? :)

little lapper boy

bye bye, henry gumption! thank u for visiting on my birthday weekend and helping dad clear the leaf piles out back so I do not accidentally get lost in them when I am chasing kitties and squirrels. and maybe we will c u again very very soon I hope because me and duk duk will totally need a makey break what with all the robot dachshund ornaments we need to finish! :) 

(ps - tiny chumley's blog posting might be a little more sporadic this week as we try to finish up robot doxie ornament orders and squeeze in some last minute posts to the etsy shop) :)

today i am eight :)

"....and the Antler King celebrated his eighth birthday surrounded by friends, feasting on delicious cake and sweet juicy berries til their tummies were round and full and tight as a drum..." :)

still coming pretty soon

Still busy getting things together for what I think will now probably be either a very late Wednesday night or possibly Thursday's night listing of ornaments (sorry so flaky but tiny chumley's birhday is also coming up and hoping to make him a little sumptin sumptin too tomorrow). So today just a teeny behind the scenes peek at part of my workspace when it was actually less messy than it is now, and a pic of one of the later stages of the ornament making process. And of course a picture of a little certain someone who is more than ready and waiting to send out the super doot doot dooty doot.  :)

now doot this! our first etsy book and a peek u know what :)

Hello my friends, it's me, Baxter, your roving rover reporter, happy to report to you today about half of our Etsy Christmas Wooty Project that me and duk duk have been working on for a very long time.  That's right, we wrote a teeny tiny Christmas story and turned it into a teeny tiny book! It's so tiny that you can pretty much read it in less than five minutes. You know, the length that all good books should be. Because, well, as u might be able to tell from our grades in reading this year, who has time to really read any more than that?

Anyhoo, are you ready for the great unveiling because drumroll please...











 Ta-daah! Just in time for the holidays and available now for a limited time only in my mom's Etsy shop, introducing me and duk duk's first ever book that is sure to become a treasured stinky holiday classic, ladies and gentlemen I give you, The Poop on the Stoop!!

 
Hee hee, yeah I know, it is so cool, right?  And yes, my friends, it is so tiny that you can hold and read it with just one paw.  Although since my legs are so short, I prefer using two paws, just so I do not accidentally roll myself.

Speaking of rolling, I had a wonderful time playing with my puppy Hank yesterday, which kind of explains why the second half of me and duk duk's Etsy Christmas Wooty Project is not ready today. But do not worry, if the sun comes out on Tuesday like the weather man thinks it will, then we can finish taking pictures and work on our Etsy listings so that our christmas ornaments will be in the shop on Tuesday or Wednesday night.  And as you might have already guessed, although there will be more couthy options available, me and duk duk made a very very special ornament to go with our story, which I will give you a tiny peek at here now.  I hope u saved room on your tree. :)


This is Baxter your roving rover reporter, tiny book author and ornament designer, wishing you a very merry Monday!

doot doot doot: B is for Brooches..and some necklaces too :)

hey friends, with any luck by the time u are reading this, me, duk duk, chocobot, lulu the tiger, and lil pink puppy will all be on the orion blasting off for a day trip to mars, so mom had to write today's blog post. i sure hope mars has poopie snakes, or at least they will by the time i leave  :)

There are stories to be told in vintage goods and the things that others often donate, throw away, or take for granted.  Sometimes the stories are obvious, yet most of the time, with only the signs of age and perhaps the remnant of a price tag or hand written inscription or other such cryptic clues to guide us, the stories are often left up to us to recreate, to imagine and reimagine as we see fit.  It's these sort of existential footprints that I now realize draw me to vintage goods and handmade items like a mischievous little weenie dog to kitty poop.  There is beauty in everything, but especially in things that make me think, remember, and reconnect.

I remember the the desire to fill my insatiable pre-kindergarten appetite of mental stimulation as being the primary reason I would wander as a small child into my dad's den at the first house we lived in.  The den, and the house,  I am sure are much smaller than I remember it, much like the greenish gray encyclopedia I thought was the largest, heaviest thing on the planet.  It was good for standing on to reach high places, good for pressing things, and good for tripping over it if I or my brother had so carelessly forgotten to put it away, as we so often did with everything.  Dad's den was filled with books on topics I could have cared less about as four year old, but I remember looking at them, the rows of mad men era paperbacks and hardcover technical books, the blue Webster's dictionary that we would in later years have to use when we made the mistake of asking what a word meant, and the Charlie Brown Peanuts books with super cute old school Snoopy that I would read over and over again after we moved to our second house. From the eyes of a four year old given the restriction to not touch anything, Dad's books were awesome.

Dad's books were never as neatly arranged again after the first move.  Many of the books I think stayed in moving boxes, pulled out only if they were absolutely needed, or otherwise left to languish in the creepy part of the basement where nobody wanted to go except for mom, who probably didn't really want to go either but was the only one brave enough to deal with the unfortunately placed washer and dryer and the random scary unwelcome live squirrel.  It was probably there at our second house that my family perfected the easier-to-buy-it-again-than-look-for-it habit that serves them still to this cluttered day.

We moved again for a second time with even more books in boxes, including my own growing collection of dyn-o-nite dynamite magazines and other scholastic book club purchases.  As empty nesters, Mom and Dad moved again, with even more books in boxes. In their current house, they have books overflowing not only in boxes but on every shelf and pseudo shelf imaginable.  When my dad fell gravely ill a couple years ago, the flickering prospect of him needing clear paths and a healthier breathing environment gave me something to ruthlessly do while we hoped and waited for better news.

Dad's doing pretty well for a fella his age now, thanks, and yes, books and I have a history.  A connection that runs deeper than I am old.  Which is why I think I find such beauty in books, regardless of their subject matter, and why I felt inspired to make with them.  They speak more than just the words on their page.  They speak of times gone by, representing not only thoughts,  but, by how they are designed and made, the craft, conscience and intentions of an era.  They are grounding and inspiring, comforting and sometimes disturbing, funny and heartwarming.  They do more than any precious gemstone could ever do.

The weather and our life lately hasn't exactly been conducive to helping tiny chumley finish his Christmas ornaments by today as we had hoped, but luckily my work with books and metal have been brewing for, as tiny chumley would put it, for forever now.  Which roughly translates to this past summer, when I realized I could give new purpose to the lovely thrift store books and kitchen countertop sample chips that nobody wanted anymore, and create new brooches with equally interesting backs, allowing meaningful connections for others.  The same others who also coincidentally love dachshunds of course, who maybe like to show their love like I do, in a fresh, modern, retooled vintage sort of way. A way like no other.

Today's scheduled doot doot doot that will activate in the etsy shop at 10:00PM EST tonight features the first three of these brooches as pretty updates on the cameo silhouette style, and three etched and enameled necklaces that really seemed go well without being all matchy matchy.  They're all labors of love, and hopefully they can share that love with with someone special this Christmas. :)

deep thoughts with baxter :)

mom, do u really think santa has the bandwidth to watch everybuddy all the time? :)

 

drawing with friends :)

mom, can you please tell Henry gumption that it is my turn already?? he's already drawn three Christmas cards and me and duk duk have not even drawn one yet!!

what? I know he is our guest but he is totally hogging the colored pencils U got from the flea market and me and duk duk want to see if it is true that they get all watercolory when u add water to them... no, I do not think Santa would consider this an unreasonable request nor am I really talking back because I started the conver-- okay okay. well, may we at least borrow the brown one for a few minutes and then give it back to him?? 

yessss! hee hee, fork over the brown pencil and some paper my friend. time to draw some poopie snakes ! :) :)

black friday + shop small + sunday funday + cyber monday :)

Extra! Extra! Doot all about it! Black Friday savings on super cool dachshund desk calendars now thru Cyber Monday! Twelve months of cuteness for less than nine dollars! Extra! Extra! Doot all about it! Dog and duk operators are standing by so clicky clicky now-ee now-ee before they're all gone-ee gone-ee :)  -->  https://www.etsy.com/listing/209493886/dachshund-desk-calendar-2015-tiny

hee hee okay mom, does that make up for me and duk duk's attempt yesterday to try and prove that frozen turkeys can fly? i really think it would have worked, by the way. we just need a taller deck. or a bigger trebuchet. :)

happy thanksgiving :)

...no a little more to the left, duk duk. now higher. ooops now a little to the right aaaaannd - perfect! okay lulu the tiger and lil pink puppy will help u finish the welcome banner for grandma and grandpa and unkie, and just as soon as i am dry from my bath,  i am going pedal chocobot to the store to get more crayons and glitter so we can finish the centerpiece for tomorrow! :)

doot doot doot: black wooty monday is today :)

 Yippee! I love how this litter of doxie necklaces turned out, with their deep richly textured etch and oxidized black backgrounds giving them the look and feel of beautiful old press printing plates.  This is the first and only batch of little black beauties that I'll be able to make for this holiday season, and it seemed fitting that they should be offered up as part of the Black Friday fun.  But since tiny chumley will be busy entertaining his grandma and grandpa and uncle Thanksgiving weekend, he'll be puting this litter of pups up for adoption in the Etsy shop tonight, as part of baxter and duk duk's new and improved Black Wooty Monday. And then we can all rest until December 1st, when even more wootiful bounty will trickle their way into our Winter Wootyland :)

   

mom, please be sure everybuddy also knows that me and duk duk have been working very hard on this year's christmas ornament and we hope our friends will all save a spot on their tree because the ornament and the story we wrote that goes with it is sure to become a new tradition that will stink and delight for years to come! :) :)

little boxes

With all the clashing and crashing noises going on around him, tiny chumley couldn't help but venture out from his heat cave yesterday to see what was up. I was stacking my thrift store score of old and unwanted cookie tins, an eleventh hour find to support my eleventh hour ideas for things that will most definitely turn into weenielicious wooty for the etsy hop.   Our weekend, as you might guess, will be super makey busy.   I can only hope that your weekend will be just as much fun :)

have a super weekend my friends and guess what - all the while mom is working with metal this weekend, me and duk duk will be putting our teeny tiny christmas book together so stay tuney tuned because we are also in charge of the ornament for this year and well, just u wait and see!! #supercoolchristmas2014 :)

winter has come

well, mom, if u want to see more of us, maybe u can install a webcam inside. :)

news i cannot use

ruuuuuuh?  i have 2 take a bath for school pictures this week?

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! :(

the little lady, part two :)

okay duk duk, u get our test kibble and i will come back around to turn the dial.

mmmm, warm kibble. hee hee i cannot wait!

 

doo bee doo doo, doo be do, doo bee doo doo doop be doo doo doo doo...

yeah i think u r right duk duk, we should probably stir it.

hee, why, i do not mind if i do do doodley do! oh duk duk, this warm kibble is fantastic.  do not tell the sales lady but i think we should totally give her ten bags of gummy worms for it , maybe twen - say what? oh smap! quick, u hide the kibble and i will unplug the stove. and remember, do not act too interested and let me do all the talking.  and whatever u do, do not make me laugh.  okay, time to put on my poker face!

 miss, this stove stinks and not in a good way. and, seeing as how it was probably previously owned by a girl, my friend here and i are very concerned about cooties and the costs to decontaminate it.  we can offer you five bags of gummy worms and not a gummy more.

 

 

the little lady, part one

 















 



no duk duk, you're gonna break the door!! move it! i can do it, i promise.

"works, burners get warm" see i told you i could read it without my glasses.

hee hee, and mega WOOTY! duk duk u r so right. this would be perfect! we could make hot monkey chow cider, chunky chicken water,  poopcorn, baked gummy worm alaska, monkey chow krispie treats, monkey chow pancakes, monkey chow fried rice, monkey chow chowder, monkey chow chili, monkey chow chicken chower, monkey chow lasagna, monkey chow kiev, cream of monkey chow and who knows what else. without even leaving the cozy comfort of our heat cave.

hey, before the saleslady back, let's plug it in and see how hot it gets!

hmmmm, okay is this the cord we want? or is it this thingy by the exhausty pipe with the metal whatchamajiggy and the two prong pokey things?  hmmmmmmm....

(to be continued..)

chunky chicken water with the kitchen kielbasa

Hello friends, it's us, baxter and duk duk! I'm wearing a napkin today because I want to share with you an  easy peasy recipe we just created.  We call it Chunky Chicken Water.  And we call it ez-pz because all u need to ask your mom to thoroughly boil in plain water a boneless skinless chicken breast, the cooking water your mom cooked the chicken in (skimmed of any fat), and some raw carrots.   Then, when you are ready for a delicious and lovely special snackie treat, just pull these ingredients out of the fridge and follow these three easy steps to tummy nirvana...


1) Put some of chicken water in a very cute bowl.  No reheating is necessary but if u do, make sure it is not too hot, know what I mean?

2) Sprinkle in some raw carrots for color, texture, and tastiness.

3) Add as much shredded chicken meat as your mom will allow and there you have it, delicious chunky chicken water!

There are probably a million more things u could add to this, like cooked rice or you know, blueberries or stuff.  Just always be sure to check and make sure what u are using is going to be good for you,  and most of all, remember to hold on to that tasty cooked chicken water.  I know, so easy, right?  Oh, so how does Chunky Chicken Water taste? Well, see for yourself in this video we made too!





Hee hee okay, this is me, Baxter your roving rover reporter and friend, and duk duk, wishing you the happiest of Fridays and the weekend! :)