10 posts tagged “maddie”
Show us a puppy.
Our puppy Oliver is such a cute handful though our senior dog Maddie will always be our puppy too.
Today was one of those days so here are 9 things I'm grateful for...
1. ibuprofen. My beautiful, invisible necessity.
2. Benedryl/Atarax. So versatile, such a life saver.
3. Hot cocoa. Simple and Scrumptious.
4. Sherbert. Fruity, yummy goodness.
5. Scrubs. Funny and great relaxer for bad day.
6. House. Love the layout of our house, so comfortable.
7. Dogs. Both of them are laying right next to me and are so sweet for however long we have them.
8. Kitty. Not only do we have kitty spayed but found her a good home.
9. Friends. Had a great conversation with 2 friends today.
Yesterday evening, we took Wrangler for his first trip to Starbucks. Of course we couldn't leave Maddie behind. And I thought it was a good opportunity to better his training and his feeling as being one of the "pack". I know that the first walk we took him and her on together the other day really made leaps and bounds in his behavior. He began listening when we gave him commands and didn't seem so ill at ease as the first couple days. I'm a big believer of walking your dog being the key to having well-behaved dogs. And I definitely believe last night's walk helped get him more into the hang of things. The dogs seem much more relaxed around each other and he seems happier.
I can handle both dogs while walking under normal circumstances. Maddie on the left and Wrangler on my right since he's stronger and I'm generally right-handed. If they were of the mind of it, I could definitely be pulled away but that's the same with even one dog of this size. They're both rather well-behaved so I think I can pretty much handle them on a walk by myself. That is until mud and little dogs are thrown into the mix. But I think I've learned something from that experience.
That will be another post.
There was a very nice woman working at Starbucks who gave each of them a doggie treat. She confided that she always carried a few in her pocket since a lot of people bring their dog and she's trying to get over a fear of dogs. We let her feed it to Maddie since we knew how she'd behave but I fed Wrangler because we've had him for a shorter period of time and weren't as sure about his behavior. Maddie's a huge teddy bear (while Wrangler is a bit more energetic but no less loving) so she pet Maddie for a little bit before going inside. The dogs behaved themselves wonderfully and I think within a few more walks, Wrangler will be in the hang of it all.
Here are some pics of the trip.
His name is Wrangler. He's an 8 year old black lab from a family up in the mountains.
Unfortunately, circumstances were such that they could no longer keep him and needed to find another home for him. We had planned to drive up to get him on Wednesday but a storm came in with snow and sheets of rain. So couldn't do that. Luckily, there was a break on Saturday and it was warm and beautiful for enough time that we could go get him. Here are some pics:
Maddie was of course up to any ride. We were happy to see that her and Wrangle got along very well. He's very strong. The first time I held his leash he nearly pulled me down a hill. I'll need to train him appropriately before Rain can walk him. Even then, I might have to be the one walking him. Still, he's an absolute sweety and though we are so happy to have him, I'm saddened that it had to be such a sorrowful experience for his last family. I really felt for them as they are going through some of the things we've had to go through this year.
The first night went rather well. He only cried a little bit. But around midnight, I was going to bed and he jumped up into the bed with me! We have a rule about the only piece of furniture the dogs can jump up on is the couch in the sunroom since it's our most casual room. I probably would be ok with the dogs sleeping on my bed with me but my grandma made me a wonderful quilt and it can't get dirty. So, though I was temped to let him sleep like that the first night, I thought it'd be meaner not to be consistant. And I refuse to have a double standard for my dogs. So, I tried to get him to sleep on the couch in the other room. Usually Maddie sleeps up there too though they both have dog beds too. As soon as I went back to go to sleep again, he jumped up on my bed again and refused to move. Here's vid and some pics.
Don't you love how he doesn't even budge? It's only recently that he's started taking us seriously. Usually I use more of a commanding voice when I expect to be answered but it was midnight and he was so cute and I felt so bad...Eventually I got him down by moving his dog bed into my bedroom but it in all probably took about a half hour. Which is a lot when it's already midnight and you're tired. Luckily, he seems to understand the house rules now.
Last night he got a bandana like Maddie. His is Spongebob and it has dual purpose. One is he looks so fricken cute. Another is that now I can see him outside at night by following the ghostly yellow bandana prancing around the yard. Very useful, mind you. What was really cute though was when the kids were saying goodbye to him last night. Specifically my neice Jaden who just can't pronounce his name. I had to get video of her cuteness.
Here are some pics of the dogs today. They seem to be falling into a groove which is so nice. I'm not one of those people that loves pets the most when they are "new". I want to get through that period fast. I love having everyone snuggly fitted into the family and knowing the drill. He's a really sharp, sweet dog so it's coming along really nicely. We're very happy to have him.
It feels like this is some sort of mantra to help me get through. I think these posts have been a blessing reminder when many things are quite bad. So here's today's five things I'm thankful for.
1. Went to the SPCA today. Saw all the poor animals. I am so thankful we took Maddie home from that. I'm so thankful that we never gave her back, despite her cancer. She is one of the best dogs I've ever had.
2. I had a pretty good sleep today. I wasn't able to sleep last night but once I got to sleep today, it was nice and restful.
3. Though I've had to fight to get myself started each day -it's just one of those weeks- I have been adding to the end of my novel every day.
4. Ice cream. We had ice cream tonight. It was amazingly good.
5. I'm thankful for Aput introducing me to this group and inspiring me to make these posts. It really has helped me a lot.
5 Things I Am Thankful For Today.
1. I was allowed to sleep in.That was very nice.
2. Found out that our Old English Sheepdog, Maddie, loves to dress up. At the moment, she's sleeping on her bed in one of my t-shirts and a Disney's Princesses kerchief. We have the most adorable dog ever.
3. Rain made a wonderful dinner today and we had more of the dessert she made yesterday. She makes the best frosting. Ever.
4. A friend on a board I frequent put a little message up of appreciation. I was mentioned and it made me feel wonderful.
5. I've found out that I quite like the movie Ella Enchanted which is very good since both Rain and my sis love this movie and are watching it constantly right now.
Hello all my lovelies.
Look, I think I might actually be getting back in my vox groove. Poor you. Yay me!
Yesterday was a very busy day. It was my little sister's 8th birthday! I think this was the first time that it really hit me how fast she's growing. It's kind of blowing my mind. I remember holding her as a newborn. I even remember running around with my mom while she was pregnant going to all the ultrasounds and everything. It's quite an experience. I think she's taught me a lot of things that I'm just now starting to figure out. Anyways, as you can tell, she's the apple of everyone's eye.
Rain and I had her birthday party over at our house. I probably would've been a little more excited to start with if our house still didn't have all kinds of boxes in it that morning. You see, I think it was last week that I woke up to find my diningroom filled with boxes. I wasn't so much mortified that they had been brought in while I was dead to the world (happens quite a bit) but that my diningroom was filled with boxes! I can't think when things are in such disarray.
But Rain and I pulled ourselves together, worked all day on it, and by the time my sister came over to help decorate the tree, it looked pretty damn great. Here's a couple pictures. If you wanna see more to really see how far the house has come go check out Project Oh My. I should have a post there of some sort.
It was a lot of fun to decorate the tree with my sister. It was also very weird since like most of the stuff in our house, we inherited it from my parents. So, all of the ornaments and decorations were there from growing up which is really nice and has all kinds of memories attached to them, but I know we have them because my parents lost so much. It was very bittersweet.
It's strange because I really was not looking forward to decorating the house. I never do. I guess it's because I always fear the decorations are going to take over and I prefer for the holidays to compliment, not take over. But after everything was up, it made me smile and feel much more in the holiday spirit. I didn't even mind Rain's godawful Christmas music in the background.
Here's a pic of the tree and lights from the background later that evening. We have it in the front window so it can be enjoyed inside and out. (BTW, it's a fake tree.)
The party was great fun. There was a good amount of people but not so much that it was chaos. I think sis was happy with it. I was happy with it, especially because I got to spend some time with my father which I haven't been able to do in a long time. I think he was happy because he and mom got my sis exactly what she had been wanting. And who doesn't love getting a kid the gift s/he had been wanting so badly?
Maddie loved having everyone there. Perhaps a little too much. So we had to put her out at certain times. But she matches the christmas decorations beautifully. It's the getting her to hold still for a picture part that is hard. Here's a couple though. (And I'm going to go through in edit and add one I took a moment ago of her but cannot upload right this moment. Edit: Now added)
There's a particularly funny picture where I was laying on the floor and Maddie had jumped on the livingroom couch (a no-no) and while she was jumping down, I took a pic and the christmas tree was in lights behind her. And I realized when you flipped it on its side it looked like she was shoot fire out of her eyes.
Snape's Girl got back from college for Xmas vacation yesterday. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see her but we will be seeing her today hopefully. I really look forward to having her back for whatever amount of time it is before she abandones us again. She hasn't been in our house yet so that should be fun. And we of course have to plan our Xmas tea party! I really look forward to that!
So that's what's been going on the last couple of days. And if you're wondering where the mistletoe is, it was supposed to represent Christmas, you spoilsport. Getting all literal on me. Sheesh.
My dog is dying, my cat is peeing blood, and someone is trying to rob my house. I'm just feeling a little bit overwhelmed right now.
-Me, this morning
To the Tune of Random.
It seems that the long absense form the internet has affected my vox posting skills. Rather sad considering there's so much going on. I suppose that's the problem, there's so much going on all the time, it's hard to keep up nonetheless share.
Rain and I have been in our house for over a month now. I'm very happy with this house. Maybe its because I spent so much time working on it in the weeks going up to our move, but I feel very comfortable here and I have since the beginning. The layout of this house is just fantastic. People before 1960 really seemed to understand that you can make a comfortable house while still using space appropriately for living. The livingroom is just big enough to feel roomy but small enough not to feel overwhelmed. The diningroom is perfect for more formal dinners but no one feels out of place to have pizza in here or to sit down and get some work down on a laptop. The kitchen is a lovely galley style that seems so much bigger because the counters are the narrower size used in the 20s. That breakfast nook is perfect for guests to sit at during a party when the hostess is in the kitchen and you can easily have a conversation going on between the sunroom, kitchen, and breakfast nook. I think we'll be getting a lot more use from the breakfast nook once our kitchen is fully functional. The kitchen sink is supposed to be going in tonight! I am so thrilled. You guys have no idea how much you subconsciously rely on a kitchen sink until it's not there. Blasphemous's dad will be over to hook it up for us. So nice of him.
I love my bedroom. Even with its three doors leading in (not including closet door.) The uniqueness of having so many doors kind of adds to its charm. It's a little funny though to have so many shortcuts going through my bedroom. Sometimes, one can be a little overwhelmed with the options. For example, should someone knock on the front door while I'm in my room, what path should I take? Should I go out the door leading into the dining room and go to the livingroom that way or should I go out the door leading into the hallway and go into the livingroom like that? Or getting to the kitchen. Should I go out the door leading into the diningroom and go into the kitchen like that or go out the door leading into the sunroom and go through the kitchen like that? Seems really silly but the first few days, I had real trouble getting around because there weere so many paths. Maddie really loves that. She likes for me to go through one of the doors and for her to try to guess which door and room I'll use to get out. That can keep her entertained for a good long time.
Maddie is fitting in rather well with the routine around here. She's an absolute doll but not the brightest bulb. I'm used to German Shepherds and so I keep assuming that all dogs can learn a command within five minutes and be able to remember it from thereon out. Not so with Maddie. She needs a strong hand and repetition. It's not that she's stupid. It's just that she's not a German Shepherd. I've done some more research on Old English Sheepdogs and found quite a few useful tidbits of information. For example, OES (Old English Sheepdog) only have their tails docked if they aren't born naturally without a tail. That's why they're called Bobtails in the UK. How interesting since I thought they were like Rottweilers and had their tails docked when puppies. We think Maddie was naturally tailess because it's so close to her bottom that no one could safely dock a tail that short. There are definitely some ups to having a dog without a tail. We don't have to worry about her accidentally knocking things over with it or hitting the kids with it. And she does this little butt wiggle which would've been wagging her tail except she doesn't have one. It's so cute and reminds me of Casey, the rottweiler that my family had when I was a child.
Like I said, Maddie is an absolute sweetheart, even if a little bit more energetic than one would expect from a six year old dog. She regularly demands as much as three walks a day. And often these are not small walks around the block we take her on. She loves taking a walk down to the Tower District which is probably a half mile away and then taking a twisting way back. Not a really long walk but not a short one either. She likes to have a little run on her walks and loves to say hi to any children on the way. Maddie loves children which is fantastic since we have so many children in the family. On walks, she's very good at ignoring any aggressive guard dogs on the way and does a very good job of walking with her head at my thigh. She's so good on a lead, sometimes I can forget that she's on a leash at all.
Rain and I have been doing a lot of hoe-ing in the backyard to get the bad weeds up. And we've been removing any glass we find. It's to the point now that Maddie can run around back there and she loves the size of the yard. We need to find her some of the tennis balls we have around here because she loves to fetch.
We still haven't gotten to moving over the plants from my parent's yard to this one. We definitely want them here and planted somewhere before the first frost but its only recently that we've even been at the point that we could start thinking about it. I think the house will look so much better once it has some semblance of a yard. I think a lot of the reason that the house's bad paint job sticks out is because of the lack of proper landscaping. And, of course, the paint job just sucks.
We're having family Thanksgiving here so that will be interesting. Hopefully once the sink is put in and the fridges exchanged, we'll be able to finally get our kitchen in runnning order. I'm really hoping the our vintage 54 stove works. It worked when we got it but since then, it's been moved several times and things could fall out of place. This stove is gorgeous, you guys. I'll take a pic and upload it later but this is what it looks like. Good thing is we'll have a functional kitchen and be able to make our own meals. Bad news is, I'll be having to learn how to make our own meals. I know my mother had to have been at my point in the beginning and maybe even my grandma but it's hard for me to think they weren't born with an ovenmit on. I don't think I'll be bad at it once I learn to relax but until then it'll stress me. Especially things dealing with the burners. I'm good enough at things going into the oven. It's the damn burners that get me every time. And they know it. I think they giggle about it at night when I'm sleeping. The oven's more of a Hufflepuff, all "Come on, let's give her a chance." Those burners are Slytherin, all boastful of their mad potion skills. Show offs.
I still need to sew our blinds. Yes, you read that right. I need to sew them. My grandma has volunteered to help but I still have to sew blinds for the windows in this entire house. This house has a f*ck-load of windows. Give me a moment to count . . .1-2-3...22-23-24...I think I'm going to have to sew 24 panels. Luckily, it's not going to be all that complicated. At least in theory. We're making Tie-Up shades. You might be asking why we're making this instead of buying it. Simple. Our windows are HUGE! Normal window treatments are made for windows about 84 inches long. And then if you want the superbig ones (that are pretty damn expensive) it's 110 inches long. Our longest window is 120 or more inches long. Damn! So we're breaking it into these managable panels that will help keep the house insulated. Because there are several places in this house that if you stand next to a certain wall or window, you can feel a draft. So far my mad skills to find the warmest room in the winter has come through again. Which sucks because I'm the only person in this house that likes to sleep cold! Though our house has enough wholes to put the Titanic to shame, I'm throwing down my covers every night. How rude! Full House tone and all.
We've finally got most of the shelves installed in the bathroom and the medicine cabinet up in there. Finally, we have an accessible mirror. We aren't really mirror people but at least it's there if we need it.
It's great being close to so many useful things. We're a three minute walk from my sister's school and a ten minute walk from my favorite area of town, Tower District. We can walk down and get the best Chicken Pot Pies EVER! At the Chicken Pot Pie Shop. And we can rent movies and get Starbucks and all the best live theatre is here. And the dollar store. It's amazing what that store has and why we'd ever pay more than a buck for it.
I suppose that's a long enough post for now. I could probably go on for another five or ten pages, there's so much going on. Ten thousand important things at once. Some of the most important but also the most depressing of those I've purposefully not posted about. Maybe in the future, when it's over I'll be able. But right now it's too raw.
Hopefully, now that we have internet, I'll be making more posts. I think it's a good thing for me to have this vox. I've never been a diary person. But I think it's good for me to document what's going on in my life. At some point, I'll probably need to come read them and have a good laugh over what I wrote or good cry over what was left out. . .
There's lots of things happening today. Sink, Performance, Novel, Project Runway. And I bet you this song is going to stay in my head all day.