Trying times with Fostering

So Pup GJ is still with us until about August 8 because her owner is still in the hospital.  We are actually going to take her back on the 5^th, just to give us time to get back to normal.

This has been trying for us – she is very much a puppy.  She is not housebroken and usually doesn’t use the pee pads when she is in the bathroom overnight.  She has separation anxiety – from me.  When she is out and I go upstairs (we have a baby gate at the stairs), she just barks.  We keep her in the downstairs bathroom at night and when we aren’t at home and she has tore up the carpet from underneath the door and scratched the paint off of the door.

The housebreaking is going ok during the day.  We just make sure that we take her out every 1 ½ to 2 hours.  We’ve had a couple of accidents.

She nips like crazy – like I said, very much a puppy.

On the good side -

Theo finally warmed up to her at the 2-week mark and started to play with her.  Before that, it was basically running away from her (because of the lunging/nipping).  Now they really play.  It’s nice to see Theo play – he sounds SO mean, but as long as his tail is wagging, we know it is ok. Plus there’s a different growl when he is mad.  He’s even gotten in the play stance.

When Pup GJ is calm, she is really nice.  She will cuddle with you.  I’ve missed that.

The Latest Foster

We have a new foster! We picked her up on Tuesday, June 26.

We had been waiting for a call, but hadn’t gotten any - until about 2 weeks ago.  We got a call about 2 kittens, but time I called back, they had already found a foster.  Then there was an e-mail sent out about a dog that needed a foster. Right after that, we got a call about 2 kittens again. So I left it ou to the shelter to decide which one that we should take.

The pup was chosen for us as she needs a place for about 30 days.  She was tested with other dogs and did fine - and she is - it took a few days for her and Theo to figure out each outher’s roles, but it is getting better every day.

She is owned by a homeless veteran who is in the hospital and somehow the shelter got her.  She isn’t quite housebroken, but is pretty good about using pee pads. At first Theo was afraid of her - not sure what to think.  Now, almost a week later, they are almost at the point of playing together.

Adventures in Fostering

Last night Dan and I started a new foster adventure!

It's a special case for the shelter and the pup (about 1 1/2 years old Chihuahua mix) will be with us for maybe a month. Here's what we've learned so far.

1. Kittens are easier to foster

2. We DEFINITELY do not want a yip-yip dog

3. Theo doesn't care for yip-yip dogs (he's a little stressed)

4. Theo is a gentle dog and will stand up for himself (or guard mama) when the other dog is acting up.

5. We definitely have been set in a schedule and this is a (good) disruption.

We know that eventually we’ll get back into a schedule.  It’s a little stressful, but luckily we know we’ll eventually get into a schedule with the visitor.

Wish us luck!

🎶🎶What does the fox say?🎶🎶

Several neighbors have posted about seeing a fox in the neighborhood.  Even Dan saw it one day while walking Theo.

Today was my day.  I saw him at the corner of Bowfonds and Brockton. Theo didn’t see him.

When the town goes dark and free money in the mail!

So, several weeks ago we both scheduled appointments to get our batteries on our IPhones changed out with Apple’s defect recall on the battery.

I decided to go today and get it changed out.  When I got to Reston Town Center, I pulled into the garage and noticed that the lights were out.  I thought maybe it was just the garage and parked, and walked towards the store.  There was a parking attendant and I mentioned to him that the lights were out and he told me that the electricity was out for the whole center.

So I continued to walk over the store and found out that the power had been out for at least 15 minutes.  I figured I’d hang out for awhile and see if the power came back on.  Nope - I waited about 45 minutes to an hour and nothing.  So, I extended our time to change the battery, and we’re going to set a date to go out for the whole day (dinner, movie, shopping) on a weekend.

One good thing that happened today was that I got a $20 gift certificate in the mail from Copperwood  Tavern.  Last week they had a Facebook contest on National Puppy Day by posting a picture of your pup.  Of course I posted.  I didn’t win the big prize ($50 gift certificate), but they offered $20 to EVERYONE who posted as long as you sent them your address.

Theo is still feeling sore.  He yelped when Dan wiped him down after the walk, but he seems to be doing ok since he was laying on that side.  He’s not playing as much today.  We’ll see how he does tomorrow.

Success for yearly shots!

So about a month ago, Theo had his yearly checkup and shots.  He was suppose to get 3 shots, a nasal  shot, and blood work.  None of it happened.  We started by looking (or should I say, trying to look) at his ears. We had to muzzle him and it still didn’t go well.  We had given him some treats previously to putting the muzzle on, and he got so worked up that he threw up - with the muzzle on, and then more when we took the muzzle off.

That was that.  Since he was so worked up, we ended the visit and went out to dinner.  We are so lucky that our vet is also a good friend, so we always end up hanging out afterwards.

Today was the 2nd try and we also gave him Xanax to help calm him down.  I’m not sure if it helped or not.  We did get the 3 shots in and decided to pass on the heartworm check since we are deligent at giving him his meds.  The nasal shot didn’t go as planned.  He was on to us.  We decided to let us try to give him the shot after they left - thinking he would calm down and we would be able to get the syringe at least close to his nose.

It didn’t get any easier.  He still gave us a hard time, but we think we got the medicine in.  Not sure how much, but hopefully at least enough.  It’s for kennel cough, which is an optional shot anyway.  It just is dependent on if you board your dog.

Poor pup is sore in the shot area and is restless.  Dan has touched his back where the shots were given (not even thinking about it) and he’s yelped.

It’s bedtime now, so hopefully, he’ll sleep and feel better tomorrow.

What if you are ok with your mediocre life and where are your efforts?

A friend just shared this article on Facebook.  The original blog can be found here.

This article resonated with me so much.  Even with my own business, I'm not out after millions - I just want to be able to enjoy life.

I'm ok with working my business and making money.  Sometimes I wish I had the ambition to be more motivated to make more money, but will working harder make me happier?

Sometimes, I think "I wish I did this or that like so and so," but then is it just falling into peer pressure and is their life really that happy?

I'm terrible at making goals - I'm more of a person of this is what I want to do right now.  Of course there are some things that require "goal setting," but I consider them planning.  Like trips.  Usually you have to plan for them right?

You know all of those "how to save money" tips?  Doesn't apply to me.  Saving money has always been easy for me.  Maybe because I grew up around it?  I really thing that has something to do with if you are made for "goal setting" or not. 

Our family never did any kind of goal setting - at least that I saw.  We just lived life day in and day out.  Planning was for trips or get-togethers, things like that.

I am ok with my mediocre life.

This is another great article that came across my Facebook feed today.  Follow your effort and not your passion.

I guess that's why my effort is at the computer, helping others in their business.  I'm good at it and I enjoy it. Like the article says, start small and that's where I am now - even after 5 years in the business, but I know that my network of clients and referrals know I'm good.  And going back to the first part of this, I'm ok with staying small.

Obviously, these were two things I needed to hear and blog about today.  Hopefully, I'll do more of this....Of course, no goal setting or planning for this! 

Weekend Scrapbooking - Day 2

The scanning continues today.....

What I have realized as I'm scanning -
1.  I have saved items that were already scanned in. Mostly because I was thinking I would need to refer to it when I was scapbooking it.
2.  It used to be a simpler time...I am scanning wall calendars that were our "home calendars" and to think that I just had that one calendar with all the data is amazing.  Oh to be back to that time.
3.  I'm finally getting to the items that aren't even scanned in!

And I have a new app that someone told me about - PhotoScan by Google.  It's awesome!  I can take a picture of something that is bigger than what I can scan and it will get rid of the glare of the lights where I take a picture of it.

Weekend Scrapbooking - scanning, scanning, and more scanning

It's a scrapbooking weekend again for me. 

My goal is to scan in all of the memorabilia that I have that hasn't been added to an anniversary book or whatever yet.  At my last crop, I got quite a bit scanned in and confirmed that I had it in a scrapbook.

Another goal is to get rid of all of my traditional scrapbooking stuff.  Already I've sold some of the stuff and selling more this weekend.  I'm so happy that I can sell my stuff at Carol's Crop because usually at the other crops I go to you can't sell stuff.

It's a good thing that I used to blog quite a bit, because I have flyers and such and nothing else - a couple of events, I don't see pictures (which is weird - especially if we went somewhere with the dogs!). I must have them tagged wrong.

What is it about Shar Peis that other dogs don’t like about them?

I feel so bad for Theo.  He just wants to say hi to dogs and then something goes wrong.

Today was an EVENTFUL walk and it started just a few houses down the street.

We were walking on our side of Chesterton and I could see the dog across the street jumping up on the gate.  There was a sign on the gate and it was making noise.  The next thing I know, there are two dogs coming at us - a blond lab and a pug.  They seemed friendly, and I just started going to their house and they didn’t follow.  So I rang the doorbell (like really rang it) with Theo in tow, and the owners came out.  They were all calm and the dogs came back to them, no problem and luckily, there were no cars going by during this whole time. Theo and I went back to our side of the street and the lab came up to Theo, started sniffing and next thing I hear is growling - from the lab.  Now, it could have been that the owner was grabbing the collar and trying to get him going, but I doubt it.

So we continue our walk.  The bus was coming by one corner (on Middlebury) and there was a little shih tzu so we went across the street and continued walking.  After the bus left the owner and dog started down the same way we were going (just on the other side). The dog was barking the whole time at Theo. As I got closer to the poop drop off, the owner stopped to get a bag and kind of gave me a funny look (maybe because you could only see my eyes because it was so cold) because I was coming towards her I think and I said, “I need to drop off.” She grabbed her bag and continued to walk. We dropped off the poop, and then started walking the same way as they did.  Of course, they got to the corner and turn around, so I pulled Theo over to the side and said “Wait.”  thinking the owner would just continue walking. No - she let’s the dogs stiff and the next thing you know, the little shit, nips at Theo.  The owner never asked if it was ok for them to snif or if Theo was friendly. Never said a word to me.  Once the dog started nipping at Theo, she just said “____ your are such a bad dog.”  - Never apologized - nothing.

We started to head back home (on Bowfonds) and I heard people getting into their car in their driveway (which I couldn’t see down until I got to the driveway). Next thing I know, a dog (maybe a poodle mix), was coming down the driveway and I’m yelling “get your dog!” The owner is yelling at the dog “Jagger, sit” - she said it a couple of times and the dog didn’t listen.. The whole time I’m pulling Theo towaards me. He’s calm.  Once the owner grabbed the dog, she said, “Is he friendly?” I said, “yes, but sometimes dogs don’t like him.”

It’s so hard to explain to strangers - yes he’s friendly, but sometimes the dogs that he meets don’t like him.  I read on the Facebook Shar Pei owners group that other dogs can’t read Shar Peis so sometimes it ends in fights when they met. I read today that Shar Peis give off a scent that is different than other dogs so if a dog has never encountered a Shar Pei before, it gets nervous and then starts a fight.

Who knows - I haven’t see any scientific info, just people posting. However, the more I see, the more I believe.

Starting the new year with good and bad

So today, we were supposed to go to Dan’s mom & her husband’s house (Lois and Harry) for their annual New Year’s Day open house. The three of us were supposed to go, but as I woke up, I got a sinus headache and was getting so grumpy.

Dan ended up going alone and taking Theo.  I ended up taking like 3 naps and still not feeling 100%. My head still feels full.

Theo did well at grandma & grandpa’s house - even with a full house.  Dan did say that he get a little testy at the end when people were leaving and he was ready to go.  He was grabbed/trying to stop him and I guess he tried to nip someone.

I ended up talking to my brother, Brett, for awhile, and just watching tv.

We got our annual stocking from Lois and Harry full of goodies - fruit, cookies, candies, little stuff, and lottery tickets.  We always have fun with the lottery tickets - even more fun that we actually won $130!!!

So, 2018 is starting out as a turn of luck! Let’s see what happens when the lottery numbers are pulled on Wednesday!  We purchased a couple of tickets since no one has won in awhile and the jackpot is BIG!