ALMOST THE TRUTH.

I have this thing about lying.
I hate it and I'm not very good at it.
But... I guess I'm admitting that I do lie!
Sort of.
LOL!

But my lies are usually half-truths.
Things like when the cashier is checking out my items
and I have cat related things and she asks -
"Oh! How many cats do you have?"
and I reply - "Two".
Now that's true.
I mean I do have two cats.
She didn't ask me "How many cats do you have in total?"

Or I don't share information
and that feels like a lie.
If I acquire a dog or cat and don't tell me sister
or blog about it.... it feels like a lie to me.

But I don't HAVE to share EVERYTHING right?!?!?
and I usually fess-up at some point.
I'll write a blog post about whoever and hope that no one notices that
they suddenly popped up in my home.
And my sister,
she's pretty used to it.
She'll come over and as the little ones walk around she might look down and say
"Who's THAT?"
and THEN I tell her.
She knows it's useless to make any critical remarks to me.
I get very defensive and sometimes I'll start listing off all the animals I've said NO to.
Here are two just in the last few weeks!
I just said no to this big guy but happily the owner is going to keep him -

I found a home for this little one year old terrier that was brought in,
she was really hard to resist too
because she reminded me of my Jimmy Chew
but now she's in a home with a little girl -

Or... I'll get angry and hurt and sometimes I will point out who all that I've lost.
But lately my sister has no room to talk.
When her own dog had puppies, they ended up keeping TWO
and both she and her hubs has each rescued a cat.
(I'm going to write a post about one of those cats soon!)

Anyway there's a definite stigma to people with numerous pets.
It conjures up images of hoarding situations I guess and
that's rather insulting to those of us who strive to make it as nice as possible for them.
In my line of work, most the people I work have many.
One of them has a raccoon and her home is spotless! (There's another post! LOL!)

My employee that I've written about, the one that I call a Mini-Me
is forever rescuing some ancient dog or calling me to help.
(and THAT'S ANOTHER POST.)
But we talk about how we pride ourselves in making our homes as pet friendly and yet stylish as possible. (THERE"S another post!)
How almost every purchase we make, has them in mind, whether it's a new sofa or flooring.
We both hardly ever buy anything for ourselves but think nothing of getting something for our pets.
And we talk about how we can never quit our jobs because we get discounts on pet care.

So the other day we were talking on Facebook about dogs
during the Thanksgiving Dog Show on TV.
We were talking about the different breeds and she got on the topic of how she has these little dogs that people have given her but the ONE dog she really really wanted she couldn't have.
It was a little dog who had boarded with us and she fell in love with him on the spot.
It was a little Border Terrier.
She said they would never want to give up that little dog but she was madly in love with him.

I told her to visualize it and it mostly likely would happen!
I told her I was VERY careful about thinking about any pet and then saying it out loud.
I said both my Poppy and my Ping were boarding dogs.
Both had owners that would bring in lots of supplies and fancy beds and special food
and have them groomed on a regular schedule and appeared to adore them.
People who I never ever would think that they'd give up their pets.
Both are perfect little dogs so why would anyone give them up?
And to be honest, both of them were always my favorites.
Then one day Poppy's owners called me out of the blue and asked me if I'd take her.

And then a year later, I had Ping's owners return from vacation and asked me if I would just keep her!
I was in total shock but I did!
So I told my worker, Mini-Me to just think about that little dog and maybe it would happen.

So I went to work the next day, Friday
and it was very busy.
The kennel was packed because of the holiday.
Among my boarders was a little 14 year old Chihuahua that I've taken care of for years.
She used to have a "brother", a little Yorkie that boarded with her,
but that little dog had passed last year.
Her owner is a wonderful older woman whom I'm very fond of.
She shared a lot of things with me when we first met years ago.
She went through a bad divorce and had to move away and had finally came back to the area
and that's when I started taking care of her dogs.
I took care of them all the time.

Then she remarried a couple of years ago and they moved an hour away.
She had called me to ask if I would be mad if they found a vet in their new town.
I encouraged her to!
I said she needed someone close in case of an emergency.
She said they would still drive in to board her little dogs with me.

So she brought in her little Chihuahua Katy and told me how happy she was to see me.
It had been a while.
She said she'd call and check on her little one while she was gone.
She was afraid of how Katy would adjust to boarding without the other dog
as she was always the timid one.

So we put her little carrier in the run, so that she could sleep in there
and have a safe place.
My workers said that she was timid coming out
and one of them had to take the top of the carrier to get her out.

When I would come in to work though, she would get up and tiptoe out her carrier
and her little tail would wag.
So Friday I came in and she tottled out and sat the front of her run.
I picked her up and took her out to the play yard.
The other dogs had already been out and it was just me and her.
I held her tiny body against my chest and looked down at her little face.
I told her "You are such a brave girl! Yes you are! You are SO brave!"
Then I set her down in the yard and she found her "spot" to  potty and looked at me.
"Good job Katy!" I said to her
and her little bottom wiggled and she hurried back to me.
I picked her up and held her to my cheek and I said,
"Oh ! I could just take you home!"
Yep, I said it out loud.
I know I was tempting fate. that it was wrong of me to let The Universe hear me
but I know her mom and how much she loves her.

So I took her inside and fluffed her bed
and kissed the top of her head and put her back in her run.
She was the last one that needed to be let out
so I walked to my office area.

The phone was ringing and I picked it up.
It was Katy's mom.
I flopped down in my chair and was smiling as she asked about her little one.
I laughed and told her I had just been outside with her!
I told her how I told Katy how brave she was! and her mom was surprised to hear how she came and sat at the front of the kennel run.
I gushed how good and sweet she was and I told her that I hoped she didn't mind but I told Katy that I could just take her home, that she was THAT good!
I told her not to worry, that she was doing really well.
I said she was eating and didn't seem stressed.
That's when she started crying.

She was crying really hard and at first I couldn't completely make out all her words
but then she was telling me that she wasn't well.
She was saying she had heart problems.
Problems like what Florence Henderson had just died from.
She was sobbing and was saying lots of things
and she said that every single day she worried about if something happened to her,
what would happen to Katy?
She said her husband was a nice man but not a dog person
and that if something were to happen to her, she feared that he'd just take Katy to a shelter
or.....
She was crying and saying things that had me cry too.
I grabbed my kleenex box and wiped my face as she went on
and then she said "Would you take Katy?"
I answered that of course I would, that if she needed a home that I would definitely take her.
Not to worry about it anymore, that she could have a home with me.

She suddenly was overjoyed and told me how much peace that brought her, knowing that.
She said she knew how much I had always cared for Katy.
Then she said she preferred not to see her again.
I stammered a bit, I think and said, "You mean Now?"
"Yes!"  she was adamant. Yes, she wanted me to take her NOW and
that she just felt it would be easier not to see her again.
I was really crying then and
I asked if she maybe wanted to think about it but she said she was sure and
they'd be in the next day to pay the bill and bring me her things.

So.................
Katy's owner came in on Saturday.
Her husband went up and paid the bill and then carried in all of Katy's belongings.
While he was doing that, Katy's mom handed me an envelope.
It had her phone number on it and some cash in it.
That's a first for me!
No one has ever given me money when giving me their dog!
I started to  decline it but she interrupted and said not to be rude but she knew I worked hard
and... They had money.
So I said ok and after they left, I made a payment to my bill at work.
LOL!

I took Katy home and everyone smelled her.
I held her as Blue smelled her butt and then he walked away.
She just walked around the house with everyone following.
She tried a bark with a jump at Charlie my cat but he just looked at her

and if a cat could roll his eyes, he did.

It's weird but she's not scared at all.
She follows me around everywhere and no one cares except Ping.
Ping wants to be with me all the time and always on my lap
and I made her take turns with Katy.

Katy's walked close to Blue many times and I hold my breath but
he just looks at her and then goes back to sleep.
It's all very weird.
It's like she just clicked into place.

Last night I woke up to go to the bathroom and Katy stirred from her little kennel
so I took her out and let her sleep with us.

She went right to sleep and didn't wake up and want out until the morning.
I have dog beds scattered about the house and she likes sleeping in the kitchen as I'm at the computer.

Later I looked over and cranky fussy Button was snuggled in the bed with her.
Button hates everyone.

I don't really know what's going on here but when her mom called this morning and
I filled her in on how she was doing, she couldn't have been happier.
But I kinda lied when she asked how many dogs I had
and what breeds.
I told her about Ping and Poppy and the cats
and left it at that.
I don't think she'd have understood and she sounded so relieved on the phone,
I didn't want to ruin that for her.
She said a huge weight had been lifted off of her.

So, Katy is here to stay I guess.
She's 14 and will be 15 in March but appears to be in good health.
Yep.... so there ya go,
I hesitated writing about this but then I read Tammy's comment on Kim's blog
HERE
and that made me want to share.
Seemed like I should or I'd be in some way lying........

Stay tuned for more "not lies".

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope you have a great day filled with food and family!!!!!!
Remember family doesn't always mean blood related.
But rather people who you love and who have your back
and you have theirs.

I'm thankful to have my sister and her family here, for now.
I realize that some day we might be all living in different parts of the country,
so I'm thankful for TODAY.

I'm also thankful you all of YOU,
my blogland family.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

And I'm thankful that I'm not a turkey!

TOPICS

I've talked about changing around my blog.
I want to zero in on some specific topics.
Things that are on my mind most of the time.
So... what would that be?
What do I think about first?
Food.
I wake up and as I lay there I think,
"What am I going to have for breakfast?"
I LOVE breakfast food.

There was a time in my life when I didn't even eat breakfast.
I was thin then.
I've heard the research on the News and such.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
If you eat breakfast, you tend to be thinner.
It's like filling your tank with gas and gets you going.
You can't function on an empty tummy.
Blah, blah, blah.
I'm so sick of surveys and being told what works best.
I grew up with the food pyramid that turned out to be a big lie.
I now believe nothing.
I used to have a cup of hot tea and I was good to go.
I could go until lunchtime before I was hungry
and now I'm hungry a couple of hours after breakfast.
So... I'm gonna talk about THAT.
Not healthy recipes or anything like that.
That would be crazy! To think I might start "cooking".
But yep, I'm gonna share thoughts about quick and easy,
not expensive but maybe not healthy...
Anyway, yeah. I will talk about food from time to time.

So after I sit up I think about my pets.

(my toy poodle Ping Pong)

I think of them because I have to get them outside to potty.
I think about them as I clean up after them
and as I get them fed and ready for their day while I'm gone at work.
Or if I have the day off, I have them around me
playing and cuddling and being adorable.

(my cats Ghost, Harry and Charlie)

So, as ALWAYS I will be talking about MY pets,
Other peoples pets, rescues and such.
Pets all the time!

Which segues into my home.

and talking about my house and making it pet friendly
and keeping it clean
and the struggle.

Which rolls into my actual house
my location,
my sometimes desires to move
and my desire to stay put
and all that it entails.

And working on the house I have.
(ok, THIS is NOT my house but it kinda reminds me of it, or the feeling about it...)

(source)

Not the typical blog type of stuff with amazing makeovers.
Nope, this will be about fixing stuff myself.
No handy man or husband involved
No big dollars spent.
I think it's wonderful if someone has someone else to cut a board for them
or lug an appliance and I'm not jealous but I am envious.

I'll talk about my job, my work that gives me a paycheck
and my safety-net and what enables me to care for my pets properly.

I'll talk about my Art

and what I want to create and what I AM creating.
I'll share ideas and what inspires me.
I'll talk about the struggle of creating what you think might sell
versus just creating what you want to create and the struggles of that
and how, for me anyway, it leads to procrastination and sucks the joy out it.
and
I'll talk about artists that I love.

I'll also talk about how to save money on some things.
What works for me anyway.
How bargains aren't always bargains.
I'll also write about things I've found that I love and think they deserve a great review.

I'll talk about NOT minimalism
Which I thought I wanted to achieve and now realize it will never be for me
but rather, I just want the "EXTRA" stuff gone.
No excessive clutter but not spare and sparse.

I'll talk about getting older.

The shock that only your body is old but it has nothing to do with your soul.
Yeah, I'll talk about not thinking "young",
because I was really clueless when I was young
but rather I'll talk about thinking positive
and being happy and not thinking OLD.

And I'll talk about retirement.

Not how to invest or anything like that.
Lord knows I know nothing about THAT.
There are a lot of books out there about investing and etc.
No, I'll talk about different ideas,
things I will probably NEVER do but might sound great to someone else.
Just doing whatever makes YOU happy!

I'm probably forgetting some important topic
but that's what I've got for now!

Yep, and with all this talk about TOPICS,
I hope people feel free to jump in and leave comments
and share their thoughts and ideas too!

THE GRUMPY OLD MAN TURNS ELEVEN

Today Blue turned ELEVEN!
I took this photo just before leaving the house this morning.
I used a couple of apps to make it more like a painting-

Yep, He's eleven and he is a grumpy old man.

The grumpiness has been building.
The occasional ROAR of irritation when someone is in his way
or laying his spot.

He's just low on patience.
He'll do that bark growl that sends the other dogs into a tizzy.
They jump up and bark at him
and he storms through the herd of them like an angry bull.

If anyone really gets in his face,
he'll grab ahold of them and slam them to the floor and hold them there
until they stop fighting and are totally submissive.

Years ago when Jimmy Chew was very young, he challenged Blue
and Blue body slammed him to the ground and held him by the throat.
Jimmy was so terrified that his anal glands expressed themselves.
Jimmy was fine, just wet with saliva but he never challenged him again.

Sometimes when Blue is really in a mood and is stomping around roaring
I can tell that Jimmy thinks he needs to protect me.
He doesn't, I'm the Alpha dog
but Jimmy will stand in front of me and face-off with Blue.
He will  bark with all his might as his whole body trembles in fear.
Yep, Jimmy can push my buttons and sometimes really frustrate the Hell out of me
but I know he's got my back.

Lately though, Blue's fuse has been super short.
The other day as the little ones ran through the kitchen for the laundry room to get their dinner,
Blue decided to walk out of the kitchen and into the living room.
I always feed Blue first, so it wasn't like he was hungry but
all the little dogs rushing past him, must have annoyed him
because I heard that ROAR
and then a horrible little scream.

It was my little Poppy.

She doesn't even weigh a full 5 pounds
and he had her down.
Now if it was one of the bigger dogs it would have just been a moment
of catch and release
but in this case, he caught her head and left a little small cut above her eye from his tooth.
I was there in a second
and of course I couldn't yell at him to STOP!
because he's deaf.
But I grabbed ahold of his head and neck and pulled him away
and he instantly ran and hid up the kitchen table.
He always hides there when he gets into trouble
because no one can see him there....

or so he thinks.

I realize that he's just being a cranky ass because if
he really meant business, she'd be dead.
But... it has me on hyper alert now.

I talked with Doc and because we just ran all sorts of blood-work tests
and did x-rays and everything on Blue when he was so ill,
we know there's nothing physically wrong with him except as Doc says -
He's a grumpy old man. That's what happens to us, we get grumpy."
I told him about Poppy and Doc said, "She's just a mouthful!"
and then he just shook his head and said "that's what can happen with a pack".

Without going into extreme detail about pack mentality,
I'll just say that I'm aware of that and that wasn't it.
It wasn't the group of them in some sort of frenzy
or them trying to weed out the weak
or one or more trying to take over the group.
They know I'm the leader.
There's no doubt of that.
Even Blue knows, that's why he hightails it to under the kitchen table.

Nope, it's just Blue doesn't really care about the other dogs.
They just mostly annoy him.
He's a people dog.
And if he sees Lily or my sister he jumps up and down in excitement.

Yep, I think I'm living with a "Lion" (who I love with all my heart)
and a houseful of "Lemurs" who like to run around and play
and get in the way of the Lion who just wants to sleep.

So I'm making sure to keep the lines of visual communication open with Blue and me.
That's always worked before.
He has always watched me to see what to do and not to do.
I just have to stay very attentive to him when he gets up and moves about.

As I type out this post, he's at my feet.
Not on the dog bed
or my BIG chair that he loves but on the wood floor.
I do adore this grumpy dog.
I brought birthday cupcakes in his honor to work

and wrote on the medical board for all to see that today was his Eleventh birthday
and I thanked everyone who made that possible!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRUMPY OLD MAN!
I love you with all my heart
and I hope all the little ones just stay out of your way.

The TIME isn't all that's gonna CHANGE!

Now that Daylight Savings Time is here
I guess I have to accept that it's actually Fall.
I love Fall!
But I dread what comes next.
And now with the time change
and most of the leaves on the ground...
I know it won't be long before it's COLD.

The temps this weekend have been quite warm for the Midwest.
Yesterday it was low 70's and almost that today.

I worked in the yard, planting roses that I had bought and a few other discounted perennials that were waiting to get in the ground.
I tidied up the yard a bit and moved things around.
I don't know if you recall but I had my washing machine die at the beginning of the summer.
I had rolled it out the back door, across the patio and then out the the yard.
No one could see it as it was hidden from view by morning glories, vines, trees and fencing in some areas.
But now that it's all dying down and most of the leaves have fallen, I needed to get it out of my yard.
It was too heavy to put on a dolly and I wasn't able to wobble it back and forth because of the grass,
so I rolled it.
Yep.
I could do about 3 rolls and I'd have to stop and rest.
When I got it down part of the driveway to a spot not too far from the street but still partially hidden by the house, I waited.
I live on a busy street and traffic goes by in spurts.
I waited for a break in traffic and then rolled it like crazy to the curb.
It's odd that I was embarrassed about being seen rolling a washing machine
and yet I share the fact here on my blog for the world to read.

Anyway, I got it to the curb and started weeding and planting up by the house
and I kid you not, within 20 minutes a truck stopped and two people loaded up my broken, doorless washer with mud and scratches all over it.
They will probably get a few dollars when they scrap that thing
and i was happy to have it gone.

So I worked in the yard for a while
and finally went inside when it was time to feed the dogs.
While outside I thought a lot about whether I really want to move
and why and where.
I came up with decision and I'm pretty sure I've got it figured out.
I'll save those ideas for another post.

Last night I spent a lot of time on Pinterest.
That always helps me and motives me.
It gave me several ideas about my home.
Totally different ideas than I've had before.
But I think that's what I need to do,
to look at things from a whole different perspective.
I'll share those later too.

But that got me to thinking about writing posts
and about people who read my blog.
I must say, the comments I got, the condolences about Vera....
Touched my heart and my soul.
I didn't feel so alone and it helps with the grief.
I am so glad that I have this world, this blog world full of wonderful caring people.
I'm blessed to have my blog friends.

So.... I'm going to concentrate more on my blog.
I'm not sure what all I'm going to do but I'm going to get organized,
read and learn from some of the links I found on Pinterest
and study some of the blogs whose layout and style I admire
and change it up.
I've got several ideas.
So if you see some changes, you know what's motivated it.
All of you!

Again! Thank you for being there!!!!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Heaven has another Angel Dog.

I had to let my perfect little dog Vera Wag go to Heaven this afternoon.
I was lucky to have her for the last 8 years of her life.
She turned 13 this year.
I thought I would have had longer with her
but she didn't want to eat and worse than that, she was giving me this "look".
My friend/co-worker Katie, the one who went back and took care of Blue after his surgery,
talked with me about Vera and how she was feeling.
She came back to boarding this morning and I was holding Vera and I was saying how Vera was giving me this pleading look.
I turned to her and found her crying and Katie said that maybe I needed to tell Vera it was OK to "go".
So I told Vera that it was OK, that she could go to Heaven and she just stared at me with big frightened eyes.

We had our monthly staff meeting today over the lunch hour and afterwards Lily came back to see Vera.
She walked into the run and knelt down next to her bed and just started crying.
"Why are you crying?!" I asked as I cried too.
Lily said that she could tell that Vera was ready.
That she wanted to go.
I told Lily I wasn't sure if I was ready for her to go yet and Lily got up and told me to call her if I needed her.
(She had the day off and left.)

Katie had left early for the day and I texted her and told her about Lily.
She answered back that she thought that Vera was trying to tell me something.
She thought Vera's eyes were trying to send me a message.
That she was ready.
As I was texting Katie, telling her that I needed to call Lily, Katie walked in the door.
She had come back to work to help me and Vera.

I called Lily and she came back too, in just mere minutes.

I'm so thankful to these two wonderful girls who helped me accept that it was time to end Vera's suffering.
As I held Vera, Katie commented how she could feel the bones in her back and there was nothing to her legs, just skin and bones and
Just the huge tumor that bloated her belly.
Vera's little face stared up at me and Katie said
"Can you see it? The way she's trying to tell you that she's ready?"
Through my tears I said Yes.
The three of us went outside and sat in the grass with Vera.
Katie gave her an injection to relax her
and then she went and got the vet, not Doc but the newer woman vet who helped me with Stretch.
She came outside and knelt down in the grass with us and released Vera from her tired and swollen body so that she could go to Heaven.
I thanked her and she told me she was so sorry and went back inside.

Then Lily commented that now Vera would be with Raini,
my little cat that passed at the beginning of the year.

Vera loved that cat.
Lily said "Now Raini can give Vera massages in Heaven".
(Raini loved to knead on the dogs, especially Vera.)
That made me cry even harder but then...the thought of them together started to bring me some peace.
I thanked Lily for that, and for being there
and I thanked Katie for returning and helping me.

I held Vera for a few moments more, but she was gone.
I handed her to Lily and she said she'd take care of her and I left to go home.
I cried as I drove, I know it was for the best but...
life is so damn unfair sometimes.