Friday, February 29, 2008
Movin' on Up
Mace, Check, 100,000vlt stun gun, Check
What a day
I think I am addicted to LOLcatz. It's where I got the pictures from a few weeks ago with the cats and animals + funny captions. I could look at them all day just waiting to find one funnier than the last. My friends are aware of my addiction as I've started being a "pusher". They receive them in their mailbox now. *sigh*
As if this whole ordeal with the gun and my husband couldn't get any more ridiculous. We had this whole fight and he hadn't even bought the gun. Can you believe that? I just found out today. I was like do you know how much easier this whole thing could've been on you if you had just said that to begin with instead of lying and saying you'd already bought one?? You = stoopid man. He had a deposit on one, which he was going to purchase this weekend. I swear I just want to throw up my hands sometimes!
It was a very long day. I was woken up by my husband saying you need to get out of bed, I just called the cops. Uh, I didn't realize my sleeping late was that big of a problem that we needed to turn it into a domestic dispute. Our neighborhood has been seeing a rise in break ins lately. My husband was unaware of this because, well, I didn't tell him. He would just worry and it would add more fuel to the gun idea. When he pulled into the driveway, he saw footprints from our neighbors front window, across our yard, up to our other neighbors window. (thank god for snow for once huh?) The officer who responded to the call has been working on these break ins and said the foot print was damn near the same size as the ones from the previous break ins. Whoever it was never came up to our house. The officer at first thought maybe it was the gas company but he took one of our bills and called them to check, they haven't been out here since beginning of January. (ours is done every three months) Now our house is on a list of houses that are driven by randomly by police officers during the day. Shawn asked if there was anything we could do and the cop said let me put it to you this way. 'I leave my patrol car parkedoutside and my next door neighbor was robbed.' They are doing this in broad daylight, taking whatever they can grab easily. It doesn't matter if they think you're home or if you have dogs. One house had two large saint bernards and somehow these guys manage to get in and out without being eaten. Thankfully, there's no amount of food that will prevent Molly from eating an intruder. My voice or my husband's is the only one she will listen to and then sometimes, not even that. The only thing odd that I noticed this morning (yes it happened in the MORNING, my neighbor comes home during her lunch to let out her dogs and noticed the tracks but thought it was the gas company) was that Molly would NOT stay out of the window. I have a black blanket over it to block out any sun so it's obvious when she is looking outside. No matter how many times I told her to go lay down, she would just get back up a few minutes later and look out again. Normally if she sees someone outside (even if they're walking half a block away) she will bark. She didn't bark this morning but she was persistent. The cop asked if we ever have people walk through our yard and my husband said the only tracks we've seen all winter were from the neighborhood bunny. (and yes, we worry when we haven't seen his little foot prints in a few days) By the time the cop left, I was late going to pick up Princess but knew they'd hang out for a while. No. No one was there and there was a note on the door saying to come on in but it wasn't for me so I wasn't just coming on in. I sat in the driveway a few minutes before heading home (thankfully it's RIGHT down the road from me) to call their phones. No answers over and over again. I was pissed but thought maybe something happened. I eventually got a hold of the persons house I was supposed to meet them at and he says he ain't seen her and that he'll have her give me a call if he does. I got a call alright, two hours after I was supposed to meet her and at that time, I was at walmart getting a new tie out for Cash. (he snapped his sometime today) By the time I got home it was after 8 and I told her I'd just pick the dog up on Saturday. She was spayed today and had a tooth removed. Hopefully that will speed up her milk drying up. Maybe she even got a tummy tuck while there.
I had to post this one. I'm a big Lord of The Rings nut. Hey, I even had a bird named Gollum!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Fighting all around
The gun will no longer be an issue after this weekend. After a knock down all out fight, my husband decided to sell it, more to shut me up than anything. I still don't think he feels in the wrong at all but I'm just dealing with the issue of the gun being gone at the moment. I'm also going to require some sort of proof that he's sold the gun. I may seem overboard but I know how men work and I'm sick of the what-she-don't-know-won't-hurt-her. I always find out eventually. Always. I haven't gotten the details of all of this yet as I was too pissed. He claims to have bought the gun a month ago but you have to fill out a form and wait a certain amount of time before you can obtain a gun so I don't see how that works. You can't just go in, say I want a gun and they hand it over. I also don't know how much this cost us. We are truly struggling right now and for him to go out and buy a gun... it just makes me furious. I think of what that money could've went for instead. I haven't been going to the grocery store for almost a month now because we just can't afford it. We had been buying and extra thing here and there for months so I am able to go a little while without us starving. I am so grateful that he gets profit sharing this weekend. It'll be such a weight off my shoulders to have all those bills caught up, finally.
The parakeet seems to be getting along nicely with the cockatiels. Better than the cockatiels have ever gotten along together. Little Romeo goes from one bird to another but mainly stays with Charlie. Who knew all this time, Charlie just needed a parakeet for a friend. The rats are not getting on well. I still have them separated but the two that came together and were born together are fighting like crazy. They are fine until it's time to eat and then it's like all hell is breaking loose. These are not animals that are hurting for food either. Tonight I put in an extra food dish on the other side of the cage, hoping to stop some of the bickering. No one is being injured other than scrapes so I'll just let it play out.
I go to pick up my new foster this afternoon. I was sitting here earlier trying to remember how I introduced Doodle to the rest of my dogs. She was so happy go lucky that I just brought her in the house like she'd lived with us forever. I had no problems with that introduction. This one I will do differently I think, depending on Princess' temperament. I will probably leave her on a leash and let them out one by one to meet her. Seems the safest bet. If we have too much trouble with everyone getting along, I will have to send her back and exchange fosters. Don't worry, she'll still be in a home.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Princess
This is my new foster. We haven't picked her up yet. Her name is Princess. The name pretty much settled it when deciding on a new foster. She is a mommy but her pup just became weened. We have no idea what her past life was other than her name. She was left in an overnight drop box at a local shelter with her pup. I will not be taking the pup, too much work for me. She will have to be spayed before leaving my house, which can't happen till her milk dries up. Again, I don't think I'll have her long even though she is a large dog, she's still a good looking large dog.
A new level of Pissed
Monday, February 25, 2008
Updates
I've already received a quick update from Doodle's new family. Her new name is going to be Chance. I don't know how she'll feel about that. She sounds to be settling nicely. We routinely send out an email after about a month asking how the new pet is doing and I still plan on doing that but I was happy to see that she wanted me to know how she was.
I feel so behind on everything after being down for so long. I've gotten all the rescue stuff caught up finally but I still feel like I've missed so much. My mom came over this past weekend and picked up my house for me so it's not as in as bad of shape as it would've been.
Nothing major happening recently. Went to my mom's and made lasagne tonight. Still debating on taking in another foster. We just got in a gorgeous Shepherd mix that I'm considering. I don't think we would have her long and that's basically what I look for in a foster. I don't want to have a dog for six months. Most of our dogs go in and out pretty quickly but you will have one or two that we just can't seem to place. I'd like to go to the next shelter pull. They tend to look at smaller dogs that are easy to adopt out and I'd like to give a few big dogs a chance. I think the only way that will happen is if I'm there and volunteer to be the immediate foster.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Another Movie
Clean 'em, Cage 'em and Get 'em Out
Those two rats I got last month are t.r.o.u.b.l.e. They are very smart which makes my life a little more difficult. They can get the cage doors open, take their toys off, take their food dishes off, water dishes off. Basically their cage is a big rats nest. I moved them to a larger temporary cage tonight. I would've done it sooner but seeing how these last two weeks were, this was as soon as it was going to happen. I also moved the last of the parakeets into the cockatiel cage. Was a much smoother transition than I had expected. I wasn't worried about my female, Violet as much as I was the male, Charlie. Charlie doesn't like anybody, never has, never will but he puts up with them to an extent. He has always liked to sit at the bottom of his cage and watch the parakeets eat so I was hoping before I put Romeo in there, that all would be well. Charlie just hissed in his face a few times but seems to be leaving him alone otherwise. Violet could care less.
Doodle did go home today. Her new mom seems really nice and like a good fit. They bought an enormous amount of stuff at petsmart for her. (and we all know how their prices are) She has tons of new toys, a large doggy bed and a new harness. They were planning on stopping halfway home at a rest stop to take her for a walk. (I'm not sure if that was to get some of the restless energy out of the dog or the kids!) It all went very well and I hope to have some updates from her some day. I wasn't planning on staying the entire adoption event but we just got absolutely slammed the entire time I was there. I always imagine how I would feel if I was the person that didn't have a choice to be stuck there and usually guilt myself into doing the "right" thing. Damn conscience. Most of the dogs we had at the event got adopted (one by someone I went to school with and know will make a great home), a few cats and all three of the guinea pigs. For the first hour I was there I couldn't figure out for the life of me why I couldn't stop sneezing. I was thinking oh that's just great I'm getting sick again. It was the guinea pigs. I had to stand as far away from them as possible to avoid sneezing fits. I was so grateful when the last one left. My director tried to get me to take home another foster today but I had already made up my mind that we were going to wait a bit. I want to make sure my daughter understands what has happened with Doodle and can handle having any more fosters. I was a bit offended when someone asked me if I really thought she would notice the dog was even gone since we have seven of our own. My daughter is two, that doesn't affect her memory. She was also quite fond of Doodle and would call her to follow her through the house. (which Doodle would eventually give in and do but I think it was more to get Jas off her back) I wanted to do a litter of kittens but my husband won't budge. I can't stand puppies but love kittens. (puppies are WAY too much work when I have seven other dogs along with every other animal under the sun) He's not a fan of cats and I can't say I blame him. Some of ours have been downright rutheless about their litter habits. (hence the outdoor living arrangements) I also felt the dog they were pushing on me might have some issues with small children. She didn't show any aggression towards kids but I was purposely pushing her buttons to see how she would react and it didn't take much to get her to react and nip me. The only thing I can say for her is that she respected me more than anyone else in the organization by the time I left. Sometimes we get so busy that a dog will just yap continuesly and no one makes them shut up. I can not take that. It drives me up a way. Within an hour, I had her to the point of only barking when another dog was face to face with her cage. It didn't take much. I didn't need to yell or beat her. I simply stayed near her cage, told her no BEFORE she would get a chance to bark and if she ignored me, I gently pinched her hind end to get her attention. (also worth noting, she had NEVER been crated before this event and I kept her crated through most of it as I feared I would get suckered into taking her and didn't want to have to deal with her at the next event acting like a basketcase) You may call me the mutt whisperer. ;) I'm really good with dogs that I don't have to own. My dogs however are not highly trained at the moment. They know the basics but Cash and Rocky both have issues with manners (your space, my space and when to just calm down) and the aussies have barking issues. (typical of herding dogs) However, I look like a friggin pro at events with the rescued dogs.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Back, finally
Oh dear readers where have I been? Trust me, my absence was not of my own doing. Let's go back to Tuesday night when it all started. (see flash back-esk interlude)
All day I was feeling better from the cold that has been plaguing me recently. Jasmine and I were wrestling on the love seat when she jumped up, landing with her full weight onto my temple. (with her hard head) I immediately felt dizzy and a little sick to my stomach. Not to be deterred, I decided to take a shower. The longer I was in the shower, the worse I felt. My back just kept getting more and more painful. It was as if I had been hit with a baseball bat. By the end of my shower/Jasmine's bath, I couldn't stand and spent quite a while just sitting in the bathtub. I figured it was just a bad muscle spasm and would go away with time. I still hadn't fed the dogs so I got them started eating and doing some computer stuff for hubby. All the while, my back is still increasing to hurt. After an hour, I finally went into the bedroom and immediately started sobbing when my husband asked me what was wrong. I told him my back wouldn't stop hurting and I didn't know what was wrong. Soon after that, I really started to feel nauseous, to the point where I was in and out of the bathroom thinking I was going to throw up. By now, Shawn had obviously decided that he couldn't go to work with me in this condition. Around 3:30am, I started throwing up, violently. I was freezing cold, shaking, teeth chattering. I knew I was hyperventilating but I couldn't seem to remember the proper way to breathe. Shawn called my mom and asked her to bring me some medicine to stop the vomiting on her way to work. (she had it from a previous minor surgery) A part of me wanted to go to the ER but I kept imagining sitting in the waiting room for hours, all the while throwing up and feeling at my worst ever. I really didn't know how I was going to make it through the night until my doctor's office opened. The nausea finally died down after taking one of the pills but my back pain was just as strong as ever. Eventually,I decided to sleep on the couch so that Jasmine could sleep and I could be in pain without the worry of waking anyone. Finally, I was able to fall asleep sometime around nine in the morning, only to wake again at noon, feeling once again like I was going to throw up. I wandered into the living room, begging my husband to go get more of those pills from the kitchen. I then told him to call my doctor and get me in - today. On the way to the doctor's office I was groggy and dazed, as I had been since the start of this madness. Normally, I only have to wait a few minutes before being taken to a room at my doctor's office but of course, not that day. I fell asleep in the waiting room. Eventually, we were called back and asked numerous questions with the usual the doctor will be in shortly. How wrong they were. I kept hearing the doctor that I was to be seeing that day (not my normal doc) being paged by the hospital. It was almost a half hour before someone came back into the room. I was so happy to see my regular nurse. (I'm assuming the other doc got called away on a hospital thing and I was sent back to my normal doc) She took us into yet another room to wait some more. My doctor asked some questions and made me do some physical tests, requiring me to walk in place with my eyes closed, and such. After all is said and done, he tells me I have suffered a concussion at the hands of my daughters own head. I got sent home with a take some tylenol and call me if things don't get better. What I actually did was go home and pass out for five more hours. That night I still had some back pain and mild nausea but was feeling a little better. Today I'm still having difficulty eating anything but most of the pain is gone. Can you believe I got a concussion from a two year old?! In hindsight, I realize I should've went to the ER but I thought I either had food poisoning or whatever my husband was sick with the week before. Let's just say, I've had better days.
In other news, while I was suffering, Doodle was working on finding herself a forever home. They filled out an application and I finally was able to call her today. It sounds like a good home. She will live in a lake house in the summer where she will enjoy swimming till her little heart's content. In the winter's, she will go with the family cross country skiing. Someone should be doing a second interview with her tomorrow (over phone as she lives 5 hours away) and then hopefully, they'll be able to pick her up on Saturday at our adoption event. I'll be sad to see her go but she's getting a fantastic home with two kids. The mother got noticeably upset when speaking about her previous dogs passing which is a good mark in any foster mom's book.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
The monkey chased the weasel
Jasmine did great at the movies as usual. The Spiderwick Chronicles is a bit on the scary side and most 2 year olds should NOT go to see it. It would scare them half to death. Jasmine however seems to be used to scary movies and responds to them better than the average toddler. You would think a movie theater stuffed with under 10 kids would be loud, but they didn't make a sound the entire movie. I was stunned.
Still feeling a bit crappy today. I slept for something like 16 hours. Not so much because I was sick but more because I knew I could because my husband was on Jasmine duty. You have no idea what it's like to KNOW you don't have to get out of bed for anyone unless you have kids. I was however pissed when I got up as the house was a mess. My husband doesn't pick up after himself at all so I guess he doesn't feel the need to pick up after his daughter either. Makes you feel even worse when you realize once you DO start feeling better, you have a massive mess to clean up. Therefore, I threw some dishes in the dishwasher (which my husband still claims not to know how to work, although all you have to do is add dishwashing liquid and press start) and did a load of laundry. The best I've felt all day was after I got out of the shower. I stayed in the bathroom with Jasmine and colored on the bathtub walls (it's shower safe) and inhaled as much steam as I could. Seems like every humidifier we get ends up broken so I don't bother anymore, not to mention I like hot steam and my husband prefers cool. After Jasmine finally fell asleep, I went to take all my evening pills (and then some), as I was getting a glass of water, Savannah whined from her crate in the backroom. (she's still not house trained so we're crating her... she makes me feel like I'm abusing her) I wasn't planning on letting the dogs out again but then that little pain in the ass voice in the back of my head said you know how long it's going to be before they're let out again... and she'll be in that crate all that time. Fine. I let everyone out and am soon alerted that my neighbors dogs have also just been let out. (I swear there'd be a lot less barking if we didn't have a privacy fence and they could all see each other) When I go to let my dogs in, I do it in shifts. It's a pain to let 6 dogs in at once (my other two females were asleep in the bedroom) so I typically try and get the pit bull in first so I can put him in his crate. (he gets way excited, then everyone gets way excited) Just as I was turning around to let Cash and Rodeo in, I heard fighting and a dog crying. It only took me opening the door for the fight to end but Rodeo was none the less traumatized and didn't want to move. I had to go out in a t-shirt and underwear to get that damned dog. No worries, he was not injured in the fight, but this caused my neighbors dogs to get into a fight so she's out there screaming at her dogs and then Rocky gets out of his crate and attacks someone (I honestly don't know who it was... once I turned around, the fighting stopped and no one had slimy hair except Rodeo and he was in a crate already). My head is pounding and here I'm left thinking this is what I get for letting you all out and being nice. And you know what Cash was attacking Rodeo over? An unfrozen puddle. Apparently, everything has been frozen for so long that at the first sight of thawing, my dogs go nuts. I'll have to double check and make sure my husband gave them the right amount of water before he went to bed as well. (I fill up everyone's bowl, my husband prefers to go on the lighter side of things because there's less accidents but I know I wouldn't want to be without water if I was thirsty so that's my view of it) I can't even be sick without being surrounded by chaos.
After I got home from everything yesterday, I asked Shawn if we could go to Hacienda for chips and ranch. Being as I sounded pitiful, he said ok. (it was 9 at night) I ended up getting a small margarita and felt a thousand times better afterwards. And I like getting to see the servers there that I am friends with outside of their work. There are quite a few up there that we love dearly and wouldn't trade them for anything. We make friends in the weirdest places but they end up being the best friends you could ask for. It really feels like family over there, maybe distant family, but still family. Every year, if we know one of them may be home alone on a holiday, we invite them to our house. This is more grandpa's tradition than ours. (no he didn't go to random restaurants and ask who was lonely) If anyone ever mentioned around him that a friend of theirs would be home alone on a holiday he'd say well bring 'em on over. My grandfather felt that no one should be alone on holidays but especially not on Christmas. I'm sure this is a tradition that will keep going throughout theyears. It's one I don't plan to break. I'm the type of person that LOVES the house to be overflowing with people and we haven't had that as much over the years, as we can all be together only here and there. (distance) I don't think my mom is as much a fan of the overflowing house. ;) I think it's overwhelming to her but I love having different people to talk to, conversations to jump into and fun to be had. That's one of the only reasons I liked holidays with my dad's family was that the house was always full. You could always count on people to be everywhere. Hopefully, my kids will love it as much as I do or they're going to dislike their childhood somewhat. This may be the reason I want more kids than my husband would ever want. I would like to have three of my own and adopt one or maybe two more. They would be out of country adoptions and mostly likely from China, at least the first. The second I wouldn't mind adopting from Africa but I don't know how easy that is. I would adopt from inside the states except for two things, these kids need homes more (in China they literally leave babies in a room to die because there's no food to feed them, there are so many orphans, mostly girls because girls can't work, boys can) secondly, it's takes years and years to get a baby in the US and I absolutely do not want a Caucasian baby. Everyone who can afford to adopt is typically white. My family is not primarily white. I am the only white one in this house and I like it. I love that my daughter has a different culture than I do. What does Caucasian culture have? Well if you look at the last three hundred years or so, we've taken other human beings as slaves, gave the Native Americans small pox wiping out entire tribes. I'm glad there is something else that she can look to in her heritage than that. Yes white people did good things here and there too but I'm not talking about those right now. And I wouldn't love my adopted child any less than my birth children. But I doubt that will happen unless I win the lottery and trick my husband somehow. Well, I'm done. Why am I even still going on and on when I should be laying down killing germs off of my body?
Saturday, February 16, 2008
I think we're alone now
I am coming down with a cold. Colds suck. No one considers you sick enough to be waited on and yet you feel sick enough to be waited on. Where's my bell damnit? Hopefully it doesn't get too awful. As of right now, it's just the first signs of a cold coming on, scratchy throat and just all around knowing. Therefore, I will not be attending tomorrow's adoption event. Someone wanted me there so she could meet Doodle but I'm not up for it. Plus, I have a date with my mummy. ;) We're taking Jasmine to see the Spiderwick Chronicles. She's been asking to see it ever since she saw a preview of it. I will need to call the lady back tomorrow and schedule a time when we'll be at petsmart. I'm also going to tell her to fill out an application. No sense meeting a dog if you won't get approved and it's obviously not going to be a walk in the park for whoever ends up getting this dog. Everyone loves her a great deal at the rescue so they're all looking for what's best for her. It's getting to the point that we don't even want to adopt animals out to boyfriend/girlfriends. You cannot imagine how many animals have been returned because they split up. It's in the CONTRACT that if you should split up, you should already have decided who gets to keep the dog. I literally had 80 emails today from the rescue. It was a busy email day for sure.
Last week, my husband and daughter got up early and went to get some breakfast from the kitchen. The dogs were barking and my husband told them in not quite nice terms to shut up. Immediately after saying that he heard a woman's voice say "Hello?" The voice was coming from our kitchen. He said he would've thought he was hearing things but Jasmine said "Daddy what was that?" Must have freaked him out pretty good because he came in the bedroom and woke me up. Now, I am used to hearing weird things around the house. Once a week or so I hear an older man coughing. Every night I hear folk/country music playing from the attic. Occasionally I'll hear conversations but you can't make out what is being said. This happens to me no matter where I live. So yes, I'm used to it. Apparently, when I'm not the one hearing it, it really freaks out anyone who comes in my house. I mean they're used to me saying weird shit happens but when another person has confirmation that weird shit happens... wow. My mom had nightmares that entire night after my husband told her. And SHE doesn't even live in my house! It doesn't bother me so much anymore. Once and a while I wish they (whoever they are) would turn down the shitty music so I can sleep but other than that, I pretty much just act like they're not there. You just get used to hearing those noises. My mom says ghosts follow me. Can people be haunted and not places? I had similar issues when I lived at my mom's and as far as I know, they have since stopped since I moved out. The dead seem to like me. Before this started happening, I didn't really believe that people saw/heard things. I figured there was always a logical explanation for what they were hearing. Now that it is happening to me, I feel sometimes, there isn't an explanation. Hey, at least I'm never alone.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Gorillas
After such an awful day of death in the human world, I found this on TIME's website. It is the first sighting of gorillas having face to face copulation in the 13 years that these researches have been studying them. It is considered extremely rare. He looks so sweet holding her and afterwards, he held her hand. I love gorilla's and have a difficult time seeing them in captivity. Have you ever looked directly into the eyes of a gorilla? I have and what I saw wasn't an animal. It was like looking into the eyes of a human. They have so much depth to them and a wiseness. I feel they are very sad and frustrated when kept in captivity. I wanted to climb in that enclosure and hold that gorilla, although I knew it would probably be the last thing I ever held.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
My thoughts are with NIU
Northern Illinois University is about three hours from my house. It is were the deadly school shooting took place on Thursday morning. This is the fourth in less than a week. Can anyone remember what it was like before Columbine? A time when you could send your kids to safe schools and be pretty sure that they wouldn't be gunned down. I honestly do not understand where the shooters are coming from. At my most depressed, I never wanted to harm anyone else, let alone strangers who did nothing to me. I may have harmed myself, but never anyone else. Then they show their true cowardice by killing themselves. Now they don't have to face the families of those they have killed. What does this accomplish? It happens so much now that you won't make headlines for more than a few days and then after that, the only people who remember you are those that you injured or the families that you killed. The rest of us eventually forget your name, your face and move on with our lives, hoping it won't happen again. What were you thinking when you took those guns on campus? This will show them, they'll listen to me now. What's the point of getting people to listen when you're dead and labeled a nut job? I for one prefer that people listen to me without the threat of physical violence. At first, I didn't want to do a blog about any more school shootings. I feel it's just giving notoriety to those that do these things and encouraging other depressed nut jobs to do it again but I am truly sick of seeing this on the news every few weeks. My eyes well with tears at the sight of these young people terrified and grieving. It's not fair that the shooter doesn't have to live with what he's done. It's not fair that he probably died instantly. It's not fair that he felt no fear as he died. I'm sure in the days to come we'll hear he was a loner, quiet, seemed depressed, etc. I don't care. I don't care if he never had a friend his whole life. You don't have the right to take someone else's life. I bet at least one person that he injured or killed would've been willing to befriend him, knowing he was lonely. I doubt that even crossed his mind though. Will this ever stop? Or do we need metal detectors at every entrance to every school? Is there anything that can be done to prevent this?
I win, you lose
Last weekend at the adoption event, I told one of the director's that one of her foster puppies has mange. I felt a little blown off and as if I didn't know what I was talking about but that she was planning on a vet visit for the dog. Today I get an email, the dog has mange. Being younger, my opinion seems to go unnoticed as if being any older would make me anymore animal savy. I should be over it and used to it by now but it still annoys me. I swear, I am more intelligent than I act/look. ;-o Off to the shower for me and then to feed everyone, so see ya in a few hours.
Oh what an evil, evil Child I have bore
Ta Daaaaa
I made a very big faux pa last night. I was trying to do a hundred things at once, all while watching movies on the ipod. I didn't realize what I had done till late this afternoon. I awoke with a sticky feeling in my eyes, figuring I just had a hair or something in there overnight, I just went about my day. It wasn't until I went to put in my contacts that I realized what had actually happened... I had never removed them in the first place. This can actually be very dangerous and I knew a girl in high school who took her contacts out the next morning, only to lose all the pigment in her eyes. She had to wear contacts for the rest of her life, even if she were to get laser eye surgery or else she would have on eye without color. Luckily, I have asked my eye doctor what I should do if this ever occurred and she told me not to take them out immediately, rather put wetting drops in and let them take effect and after an hour or so, remove them. I have never left my contacts in overnight and was shocked when I realized what I had done. I had to search for half an hour to find my glasses as I never wear them, ever. They not only give me migraines but are also not what I would've picked out. My husband was with me as I was trying on glasses and when I found the pair I was in love with, he made a face, thus I put them back. They were very groovy 60's style glasses. These still have a bit of 60's style but not as much as I would've liked. My husband's style is not quite as funky as mine and he prefers the normal to the extreme. I like a little of both and if I had to choose, I would choose the extreme.
I am watching Becoming Jane (for once not on the ipod). It's about Jane Austen's life, again not a huge fan of these movies but it has Anne Hathaway in it and I love her. She is what young girls SHOULD be looking up to in terms of celebrity. Instead they look up to women like Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan. Ms. Hathaway doesn't do all the partying that these girls insist on, she's not parading around like a hooker in Vegas, not to mention that she's a pretty good actress. 3:10 to Yuma was a really good movie. There have been other westerns that I've liked more but this one was pretty good as well. I also watched Rob Zombie's Halloween the other night and didn't think it was terribly good. I suppose compared to the other Halloween movies, it was a little more scary but on today's scare scale, it wasn't much. I have been watching a great deal of movies lately. Usually at night, I either read or play computer games, I must have needed a change of pace.
My husband is once again staying home from work today. I find this frustrating as his is the only source of income. He says he doesn't feel well and I hear we're going to be broke. As it is, we've only been doing the grocery store stuff twice a month. I can't wait to be out from under this house. It's a good learning experience for the next home but I would like to be done with it now. I've learned my lesson, now let me start over. If only I could win a bunch of money. ;) We all know how lucky my family is when it comes to money falling into our lap. Being an adult sucks. Too bad I didn't listen to my parents when they told me that for all those years. You think when you're young that anything is better than being stuck under the "man." You feel trapped and as if your decisions are made for you. It couldn't possibly be as hard as it sounds but it is.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Cow gonna get me
Just another week
My husband came home sick from work. He was throwing up and felt flu-ish. I'm not sure if it's the flu or just what he usually has. It happens about once a year, he throws up on and off for 24 hours the sleeps another 24 and then he's fine like nothing happened. He's been tossing and turning all night, trying to keep the rest of us awake. A part of me once to kick him out to the other bedroom but I know how pissed I'd be if rolls were reversed.
After watching the book club movie (which was REALLY good by the way), I watched Little Miss Sunshine. It was a cute movie but I expected a little more considering all the hipe it got last year. Just finished the Brave One, very good movie. Lots of action but still made me cry for my own reasons. I just started 3:10 to Yuma but I'm going to have to put the ipod on the charger before long.
Lost the two parakeet babies today. Not real sure what happened. Birds don't tend to show illiness until it's too late to do anything about it. I only have the male, Romeo left now. I'm going to try and put him in with the cockatiel's and see if they can all get along. I'm about finished with birds now, seeing as how I've lost four in under a year.
Monday, February 11, 2008
I have never read a Jane Austen book
I wanna talk about Trees!!!!
I found this when I was looking through an issue of the South Bend Tribune and thought I'd pass it on. It's a really cute contest that the DNR do every year. Other states should consider it as a way to get people out in nature instead of stuck to the tv. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. Notice the link is in pdf form so it will take a minute to load.
Yesterday continued
Ok, back to yesterday's adoption event. We had a lot of nice people come in and a few even filled out volunteer applications. I talk a lot about how much I dislike the Notre Dame students but most of the people we got in yesterday that were friendly and polite, were from Notre Dame. We had kids from other colleges come in and they were not friendly or polite. One set of little morons came in as we were getting ready to pack up. Around that time, I was the only volunteer around the dogs. (which was a major pain in the ass because two other volunteers had been there for a moment and handed off three puppies to three different sets of people... I have two eyes and they really only focus on one thing at a time, you do the math) A girl came up to me (with a slight attitude) and asked what she had to do to get one of the puppies. I could tell by how she asked that I was in for one of those, wish I could bang my head against a well moments. I told her the usual line, fill out an application, and someone would get back with you within five days depending on how busy we were with other apps. She said so I can't take him home today? My answer was of course no, even though in certain circumstances we do allow the family to take the animal home immediately. She walked back with her group of male friends and kept petting the puppy. I figured they would just leave as she hadn't asked for an app. My director came back and was packing up one of the booths when one of the boys came up to me and asked if I knew of any pet stores where they could get a dog. My director, not knowing the entire details, told them to fill out an app. or go to petfinder.com and look for puppies there. He said no, we're getting a dog today. Where can I get one? I told him I didn't know. (a lie) He said so you don't know anywhere close and again I said no. To be honest, it is Petsmart's policy that if we are there for an adoption event that we are not to solicit for other organizations so legally, I was bond by contract to say that I didn't know. He huffed and walked away. Now my director being a little short of temper by this time, walked away mid-conversation and I don't blame her. Now that I am fairly confident answering questions, I don't mind if they get fed up and go some where else. Once she came back though I asked her if we were allowed to euthanize the humans? She said, you know I had that exact same thought. I said the very least we could do is spay and neuter them. Then we had a conversation about how we've seen two year olds throw similar tantrums. I also took my first phone call that day. Luckily, in previous "real" jobs, I've had to answer the phone so I knew how to properly do so. "Hi this is Jamie from such and such. How can I help you?" She wanted to know if she drove from Chicago today, if she could take home a dog the same day. I told her no, that she would have to fill out an application and someone would get back to her after checking her vet references. She then proceeded to ask a few more idiotic questions that now I'm used to answering and told her to go to the website and get an application. Really, it's not my fault that these people from Chicago, decide to fall in love with dogs that live hours away from them. I know the Chicago shelters. There are plenty of dogs, cats, puppies and kittens to go around and no need to search other states. When I got back to the booth, my director asked me what they wanted. I told her she wanted to know if she could take home a dog today and I told her no. She said good for you. In this organization, it is not looked upon highly if you fumble or let people walk all over you. I think that was a fear with me in the beginning as I tend to be very nice and as gentle as I can be when telling people no. I'm glad that they are noticing that I can stand my own ground. It will prevent THEM from trying to take advantage of my kindness and warm heart. At another point during the day, a man and woman walked up and were asking questions about Doodle. At about the same time, a guy came up with his one year old and they were petting her. Being a mom and knowing how toddler's can act with dogs, I paid more attention to what the little girl was doing than to the adults. The last of what they had to say was all I caught, "She's not even listening to me" Well, I can only hear so many things at once. When you're at an adoption event, it's loud, dogs are barking, people are talking. I was very proud of how nice I proceeded to be to these same people. I began talking to them once again, saying something about how good she is with children, etc. Had they filled out an application, I would've marked it a big fat no. If you don't have enough patience to deal with the adoption process, you don't have enough to deal with a dog. When people ask me if they can take a dog home the same day, I always say no even though that's no always our policy, it's my policy and my director is already well aware of it. I'm just thankful that their attitude towards me has changed in the past few weeks.
I was supposed to go there today to pack up the cats. I was still awake at 6am and that's when Jasmine woke up. She was throwing up on and off all the morning. I called in the afternoon and told them I wouldn't be able to make it. I feel badly because I know they're weren't all feeling well but my kid comes before them.
It is cold here. I don't mean the usual winter cold, I mean REALLY cold. The wind has been blowing all night, making the temperature seem much colder. (wind chill) Even my furriest dogs only stayed out a few minutes tonight. I really can't wait till summer.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Let a little love in your heart
I was getting ready to go to sleep when I got a text message from a friend of mine. I'm really starting to get worried about him. I know he's been depressed for a while (although he would never admit it, as he hates to make others worry) and it seems to be getting worse. He blogged late tonight about the only time he feels alive is when he's asleep. He says he's fine but again, I don't know that he'd tell me if he wasn't. A part of me wants to go over there right now so that I can see for myself that he's really fine and not lying but it's getting bad out and I still have to work in the morning. I've been hyper vigilant ever since my friend killed himself all those years ago (ten years this month) so when I see one of my friends in distress, I worry more than usual. I've always had very maternal instincts about myself and seem to want to mother everyone to death but I can't help it. I just want to make sure those I love and care about are ok. If no one mothers them and shows them they really care (far too often these days we worry more about embarrassing ourselves with acts of love and kindness towards those we care about than humiliating ourselves to strangers) then how are they to really know? Sometimes people get lost in their own despair and all it would take to bring them back would be a heart felt word from those that care for them. We just have to open ourselves up more to being vulnerable as hard as it is, sometimes it's even harder if you don't.
In other news, we adopted out 8 cats and 4 dogs today. I took Doodle with me but no one showed a real interest in her other than a curiosity about her mix. (she has a funny curly coat) Only one woman came in that I would've approved for her anyways. They really would've made a great pair but she didn't have a fenced yard and didn't want to get a larger dog and not have a place for it to exercise. It's a shame, I really liked her for Doodle. I'll be back there tomorrow. I didn't think we had an adoption event but I was mistaken. Drat. It's so tiring dealing with morons all day. (worst day adopting EVER, will explain when I'm less tired) I also have to help get the cats out of the love a pet adoption area (where the cats are left for the week) as our week is up and another adoption agency will move their cats in. Hopefully, I can get an early start on it and be done before 5.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Time flies... have I really been blogging for six years?
For those who are interested or weren't around back then. (has it really been almost three years!!) This is the link to the journal I wrote after I had my daughter along with the problems, etc. http://journals.aol.com/solace223/AnAnimalRescuersLife/entries/2005/06/27/the-whole-story/1270
Eh, I don't have much to write tonight, not much to say. I'm doing the ipod movie thing tonight. Watching Joshua. I don't really know what it's about yet. Something along the line of baby born, older brother goes evil. Not sure though. I'm going into the adoption even about an hour late tomorrow. I stay an hour late so it makes it even. I want to grab a coffee on my way in. Standing around answering questions for hours takes a lot more out of you than you would think. (typically idiotic questions... does it shed... does it bark) I'm also doing something special tomorrow that no one is aware of. I bought a ton of Valentine's day candy (only a little chocolate, more sweet yummy smelling things... and I don't think I have to explain why I don't want to smell peanut butter breath all day) and I have a large bowl that I filled up (more like shoved every last piece of candy in there) and I'm going to have it out for the volunteers or people who are just passing by. I thought maybe it would get a few more people to come over. Occasionally there is another event going on at the same time as ours. It makes it a pain in the ass to get adoptions and sometimes people get confused, come over to us and say well I want to adopt such and such dog over there... well that's not our dog. It's like being a used car sales man, you want to get all the "good" customers to your lot first and get them signed on the dotted line before they wander over to the other lot. I also thought it would something for us to have to keep our throats from drying up. I'm sure the petsmart police will be over to give me a reason as to why it could cause bodily injury or we could offend someone for having the holiday food around. *rolls eyes* They have so many new rules there for such stupid reasons. We are no longer to put up anything on the cat cages other than their name tags and they have to be properly filled out. You cannot put any decoration on the tag, no smiley face, no stars, nothing. Because, we might offend those that aren't happy or don't like that the universe is a big ball of stars. *rolls eyes* They're just really starting to get on our asses about what we can do, what we can't do, how we do it etc. They're just going overboard nazi on us. I don't know if they're worried about other less fortunate rescues not getting as much attention because we have more money to decorate. But when we do the glass wall outside of where the cats are, no one knows who put it up, except us so when they use the love a pet, it draws attention to whoever is there at the time, whether it be our animals or others. And it always looked so beautifully done. I really wish they hadn't taken that away from us. But now everything has to be flat, boring. The animals are supposed to be the attraction but most animals are black and they get looked over. Hmmm, I just had a thought. I'll get some bandanas for the next event and color them up some. I can't see how they could possibly object to that. And if they do, it's cold out, the dogs need scarves. *evil grin*
Another thing that most don't know about after the birth of my daughter, I began severely depressed. It happened as soon as I woke up in my room. I felt different but wasn't sure how yet. I felt disconnected from my baby. I expected to feel immediate surge of love. I didn't. I had no idea who she was and when she would stare at me, what I should of felt was awe and love. What I felt instead was uncomfortable, confused, estranged. Thank god I had read enugh books on post pardum depression to know what was happening. I thought I could get past it on my own. I was very wrong, so wrong. When I got home, all I could was cry and sleep. If it hadn't been for my mom and husband I would've put my daughter up for adoption. I know gasp. But this DOES happen and other women need to know about it so they can understand when it happens to them. It was one of the most awful times in my life. I thought everyone would be better off without me around. I felt like they had to take care of me and her all at the same time. Why not cut one of us out of the picture and make it easier for all. A week into this I gave in and took the little pink pill. I hate those pills but without them, I am a raving bitch one second, sobbing uncontrollably the next. And that's on a good day. Within 24 hours I noticed a difference. And within a week, I felt like I should have from the beginning. I felt all that love come back and just felt normal finally. That week was hell, pure hell. With my next child I plan to already have a three month supply of my paxil so that the second I give birth, I can pop one of those perfect pink pills. I don't want to go though that ever again.
On another note, this movie is super creepy. The mom is nutso after giving birth and her son who is like 4 or 6ish, has always been a little nutso.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Just animals
Tarin doesn't seem to be in much pain. He runs around like an idiot but when he calms down, he limps a little. I put plastic bags over his feet when he goes outside to keep his foot dry. Tonight, I went out with him because he keeps getting them off. I turned my head for half a second and no longer heard the swish swish of his bags. He got them off in record time. And of course, when I got him inside, he was bleeding. He had torn off that dead skin that was over the cut. There was still some hanging on and based off what just happened, I knew it would just get stuck on something and tear again. I laid him on the floor and had Jasmine get me some kleenex for the bleeding and I grabbed a pair of wire cutters. (cringing yet?) I cleaned him up and then went to cut off the remaining skin. Jasmine freaked. I thought I was going to have a two year old pass out on me. I explained to her that the skin was like a fingernail and he couldn't feel it anymore. After reassuring her a few times, I cut it off. She took the wire cutters away from me, put them on the counter and said you leave those alone mommy. ;) Tarin actually seems to limp less now. It was interesting to look at part of his pad close up. There's tons of tiny skin fibers that look like a centipedes legs and the further into the skin you get, the thicker they get. Dogs pads are actually really soft when they haven't been calloused. Tarin is a bit of a pretty boy so his are always fairly soft, probably why it cut open so bad in the first place. Nurse Mia oversaw the entire procedure. She is my husband's border collie and is always concerned when there is an injury. She is in puppy love with Tarin so she was even more concerned. (she will care for any dog, even if she cannot stand it) She stood over me the entire time and then licked him when I would move out of the way. This is the same dog that if I had been paying attention, would've alerted me to the fact that I had a severe infection in my uterus while pregnant with my daughter. This is the same infection that almost took my life. This dog would NOT get off my bed no matter how much trouble she go into. And she kept her head on my stomach the entire week before I went to the hospital. After I found out what was going on, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that she was trying to tell me.
I still have the Doodle girl. I was willing to approve the application (I'm leaving it more up to them with apps. on my fosters as I could be too biased) when suddenly, everyone decided that she deserved a better home with kids and maybe a dog. ;) I think the kicker was that they wouldn't be home for at least 8 hours a day and Doodle gets finicky around that time to go potty. So today I got her washed up and ready for this weekend's adoption event as I will be taking her on Saturday. This is her first event so it should be interesting to see how she reacts. There is always a ton of dogs and people at this petsmart and it can be overwhelming to the best behaved dogs. In a way it's good to know that others have seen what a great dog she is and that she deserves the best possible home but I hope they don't become so picky as to allow a good home to be passed up. I would love to keep her but I can't and the longer we have her, the harder it will be to give her up. This is a test on my part. If I can handle giving up Doodle, I can handle fostering any dog. If this is too hard on myself and Jasmine, then I won't foster again. I'm not going to put myself through extreme heartbreak every few months and I definitely won't do that to my child.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
WARNING :: GRAPHIC PHOTOS
I just had a LONG bitch fest and aol scraped it so I must start over but I no longer feel like bitching so we will so goodbye to that part of the entry and get straight to the Ewwwww part. ;)
Tarin in his pretty blue bandage. He such a photogenic dog.
This discolored part is all dead. I would take the scissors to it but the skin underneath still needs to be protected from dirt and so it can heal better.
You get a slight view of the deepness but it's a lot worse than any of these pictures could show.
You may be able to see that there are actually two splices under the large cut. The are around my thumb is where I am actually holding back that large piece of pad. You can see where it looks kind of grey, that's where it is just starting to die.
I really wish there was some way to show the depth of this cut but this is as good as it gets right now. Again that dark part by the pink is where the pad is starting to die, the rest has already died. On this one you can see the splice a little better. So, who wants lunch now? ;)
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Sometimes Gravity is a Bitch
I'm thinking I might just go to bed early tonight. Jasmine fell asleep a half hour ago, the animals are all taken care of and there's no movies I wish to watch. Basically, I'm bored and sleeping seems fun in a strange kind of way.
My little brother (I like still being able to say little even though he's 20 and towers over me) broke his hand today. He's going to feel like the back end of a donkey when he goes to work tomorrow and they ask how it happened. He fell... up the stairs. Now, I think I've only done this once or twice, however I've seen my brother do it a number of times. He seems to have no problem when gravity is on his side and helping him down the steps but going up is a whole other story. Now there are two out of the three people living at my mom's with a broken appendage, my brother and grandmother. (xmas grandma broke her wrist) I think I may be staying away from the cursed house from hell for a while. ;)
Yesterday, I asked my husband to scratch my back. He must have decided to take this job really seriously as he scratched half a mole off. If you don't have moles, you're lucky because they hurt like a bitch when they have been scratched, cut or partially removed. It's far more painful than if it had been your typical piece of skin. I mean I was planning on having it removed and all but I was going to have a licensed professional take care of it.
Because, Nice Matters
Wouldn't the people I went to high school be shocked that I received the Nice Matters Award today. I want to thank my mom for raising me to be a generally nice person. My husband for living with the not so nice qualities. My brother for putting up with the really not niceness as we grew up. And finally, the sun for rising each morning. ;) Basically, this award is given out by other journalers to bloggers that they feel are, well, nice, whether you reach out to those online, around you or just make someone's day by writing your blog. Apparently, I am supposed to pick out six more bloggers in which to present this award to. (couldn't it have been more like three?) I was going to spread the love as Kelly did from http://journals.aol.com/fowfies/the-new-chicken-chronicles/, which is who I received my reward from, and try to give only to those who had yet to receive it but those who have been the nicest to me and those around me in the journaling world can have two, can't they?
My first is one of the first journals I began reading on here. She reaches out to those online as well as troubled kids in her area. She rescues animals of all kinds and nurses them back to health, sometimes literally. ;) I doubt there are many that haven't passed by her journal at least a time or two, Kas at http://journals.aol.com/hestiahomeschool/HomeschoolingJournal/
The second goes to a dear friend of mine. She, by far, has been one of my closest friends and I believe at times, we've felt like we could trust no one else with our problems. She received this award just days ago and I don't expect her to do another 6 picks. ;) Lisa hasrescued more cats in the past year than I can imagine taking in, in a lifetime. She raises bison and watusi. If you haven't guessed it yet it's http://journals.aol.com/wwfbison/life-on-a-bison-farm/
Another who has received this award, is Indigo. She always brings a fresh point of view to her journal. She puts her thoughts and feelings into such beauty that it frequently reminds me of poetry. She is always thoughtful of those around her, online as well as in life. http://journals.aol.com/rdautumnsage/ravens-lament/
This one, most may not have considered for the nice award. He can be sarcastic but he never ceases to put a smile on my face. I don't know how I started out the day without his journal. It doesn't hurt that he's a Packers fan either. I cannot believe that some sarcasm loving Packer woman has not taken this guy off the playing field. Who else will give you pictures of rabbits with pancakes on their heads? It's none other than Dan at http://journals.aol.com/dpoem/TheWisdomofaDistractedMind/
Where are we now? Ah yes, number five. This a man who I know has brightened many a young artists day by posting a drawing that they have done. If that's not nice, I don't know what is. He encourages those around us to see past the bland and find the colors. I love his drawings as many others do as well. I truly believe that he cares a great deal more for everyone that crosses his path than he could ever express. Visit Russ at http://journals.aol.com/toonguykc/InnerOuterDemons/
Finally, one more. Now that I've gotten to this point, I realize how many people I will be leaving out. They know who they are as I visit them regularly. If I added every journaler that I had a shared moment with, I would have carpel tunnel in no time though. So without further ado, here is number six. If I realized that I had at some point and time been at 7th and Montana and had my picture taken, only to be talked about later online, I would not find Marty as nice as I do. He always has something interesting to talk about and it all comes from a Starbucks. (and you thought YOU eased dropped too much!) Sometimes I think it's too much coffee, it gets to people you know. ;) He always has a friendly word and his blogs make me smile. Here is Marty at http://journals.aol.com/martygord/HeardatStarbucks/
Cute, Fuzzy and even Friendly
Marty commented that rats may get a bad rap and that he doesn't really think of them as cute and fuzzy pets. ;) The first rodent I owned were two female mice. Unfortunately, I bought them from a pet store where the males and females were housed together. Do you have any idea how many babies a mouse can have at one time? We lost count around 20. Most of them were deformed and she ended up eating them. (at least I'm assuming as I never saw them again) Only two survived completely and go figure, they were both males. They say you're not supposed to house mice together like you would rats but I never had a problem with fights so maybe if they are raised together you won't have as many problems. At any rate, mice aren't as cuddly as I was hoping. Basically, they freaked out anytime you did anything other than feed them. I had wanted rats from the time I was young. A friend of mine's cousin had one when I was very small and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. And in my child's memory, the thing was sewer rat huge. I could never convince my mom that rodents would make good pets. Which is why I bought the mice and then told her about them later. My first encounter with a rat as an adult was when I was working at the last shelter. He was a big ole white male and always seemed very tame when with anyone but I was a little leery of him from the get go. One night, I was asked to go get him from his cage to show him to another volunteer. I got bit, bad. I have been bit by horses, birds, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, cats, dogs and goats and yet the most painful bite I have yet to receive was from that little rat. He bit me in the webbing between your thumb and index fingers. After that day, I thought there was no way I would ever own one of the little biting bastards. A few years went by and my memory (or the pain of it) of that incident faded a bit and I decided what the hell, it can't hurt any worse than the first time and I bought three male rats. All three were completely untamed and yet allowed me to pick them up and put them in their new cage without biting me. I have never to this day been bitten by one of my own rats. My two year old daughter has never been bitten by them either and she can be aggressive at times, yet they've never lashed out at her. (they just avoid the hell out of her) They are very intelligent and friendly. They make a great pet for someone who doesn't have the time for a dog or cat or someone who lives in an apartment. They are actually said to be as smart as some dogs, although I haven't seen that yet. When I was a kid, a friend of mine had horses and there were always rats around trying to get into the feed. We would go in the shed and actually catch them and thankfully, none of them ever bit us. They were more interested in seeing if we had any leftovers under our fingernails. Now, being older, I realize that I was tempting my fate with rabies and god only knows what else. Now onto the pictures of our new (domesticated) rats. I apologize for the poor picture quality. Rats have to be the hardest animals to photograph, especially without help.
This is Toby. The doesn't mind being held and seems sweet and curious.
We haven't named him yet. He doesn't like to be picked up much at least not yet. He does however love to be petted, particularly on his face. He sustained quite a few bites from Tikki today.
Monday, February 4, 2008
The Newbies
Think Spring, screw what that little rat Phil said ;)
Tomorrow I will be driving an hour north, along lake michigan to pick up two young male rats. I hope no one fights when I introduce them to Tikki.
I was criticized a great deal by my father for liking the old farm house. As if I wasn't aware that old houses have a farm more likelyhood of having problems than a new construction. I won't be buying this house and if I was, I would have a full inspection done before I bought it. I had a full inspection done on this house and it has been owned by my family since the 60's. I LOVE old farm houses. I don't have a rhyme or reason for it. It's just what I like. I like the history in those old houses, the staircases and the architec. There have been only two houses in the past three years that I have found that I was in love with, this one and another that took about a year to sell, both out of our price range. We are not looking to buy right now. I want to sell this house, move back into my mom's and save money for a down payment on our future (and hopefully final) home. I'm hoping to get more than I paid out of this house but I'm not sure if it'll be possible with the way the housing market is. There are only three school districts that we are willing to locate to, two in Indiana and one in southern Michigan. I will not have my daughter go where I know there are gangs and where the schools are crap. I know I can not prevent everything from happening to her or from her seeing bad things, but I won't knowingly put her in a dangerous situation. I still get updates from cressy and everett on houses. I have certain areas that I would like, certain price ranges, and certain amounts of land. They send me houses based on my search criteria. I enjoy looking at them, even the ones I wouldn't buy. It's neat to see how other people decorate. How they live. I try not to look with a critcizing eye. Some don't have a great deal of money to spend on their housing once they make the actual buy. I try to see what they do with what they have, not how expensive the things they have are. I feel like I know a little bit about them after seeing their homes.
I'm using the ipod again tonight. I actually quite enjoy the thing now that I haveit figured out. Shhhh, don't tell my husband. I protested greatly when he decided he wanted an ipod instead of a playstation 3. I'm watching September Dawn, at my husband's request. It claims to be based on true events and it's one of the few movies that my husband paid enough attention to, to be able to retell what happened, including the year and day. Knowing what I do from Shawn, I know the happy feelings I have about it, will soon be gone. The movie is supposedly based on the mormons in the 1800's and a masacre that was said to have caused by the mormon church. He was considered the high minister (or whatever you call mormon) and his word was considered as that of the word of god. If you questioned his word, you were questioning Christ and therefore sinning. They were killed for this. I don't know much more than that. I will let you know if it's a watchable one or not. Hope you're all having a wonderful day. Close your eyes. Can you smell it? The spring air is just around the corner. Can you feel the pollen in the air, breathing life into other flowers? Can you feel the trees coming back to life? Slowly pushing their lifes blood up towards the branches, preparing for buds, then leaves. Can you hear the soft breeze in the trees, on the grass. It's almost over, the colds of winter. Spring will be here and I have been ready since November. Have a good day. Think warm thoughts and maybe it'll get here all that much faster.
