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!

Giving back to end 2017

During the year, we do our best to donate and give money to charities we believe in and donate blood, but we have never done a community give back.

Today we went to one of my client’s location to help put together backs for the homeless. The bags were going to the VFW and then the Women’s Shelter.

Holly, the owner of MpowerD, who put this together, has been doing this for 25 years and the last 4 years have been in memory of her brother.

It was a great time.

When your day doesn't go as planned, Karma comes back for forgiveness

I tell you what - when your day doesn't start well, it continues to not go well, but you never know, Karma might come back for forgiveness.

I did not sleep well on Wednesday night.  My alarm was to go off at 5:30 AM for networking, but I was woken by Theo having to go out at 4:30 AM.  At least he is such a good dog to let me know when he needs to go out.

Meetings for the morning didn't go as planned.  No biggy, just go with the flow and ended up getting more done in the office than I thought.

My "hockey game" schedule was screwed up because usually the games start at 7 pm and we need to head out by like 5.  Last night's game didn't start until 7:30 so we needed to head out around 5:30.  I was ready to head out at 5 and then remembered, we still had time.

5:30 and we were on our way to the hockey game in DC when the tire light came on in Dan's car.  We were probably about 10 miles from home. He pulled over on the toll road (dangerous at night), and Dan thought he saw something in the tire (ended up being a rock), so we went to the nearest gas station to check the air/add air if needed.

The pressure on all 4 tires (which we just purchased in October from Hogan & Son) were all good, but weren't sure about making it to DC, so looked up the nearest "Goodyear" on the map since we purchased them on our Goodyear credit card. Thinking if something is wrong with the tire, it's covered under Goodyear.

Started driving and lo and behold, it was the Herndon location of Hogan and Sons! When we were getting closer, I was starting to wonder if it was going to be their location or not, but really wasn't sure at all.

We arrived there at 6:40 PM.  Dan was hoping they could plug the tire (still thinking there was something in the tire), and we would be on our way. Mel, the employee working, was hesitant at first because they still had work to do AND it was close to closing, plus he had never seen us before.  He said that we could leave the car and definitely work on it tomorrow. The whole time I'm thinking, well, there goes the game.  Too late to sell them too.

He did take the time to do a visual inspection and as soon as he asked when was the last time we had service and Dan said it was at Hogan and Son in Leesburg, he pulled the car in.  He thought that it might have been the core of the valve stem on one of the tires and changed that. It still didn't fix the light, so said that all of the the tires were ok and good to drive on.  He believed that all 4 tire sensors went and gave us an estimate.  

I asked what we owed, and he did not charge us anything.  He did ask for an online review.  I guess they had have a bad manager previously and they are trying to change their perception. As soon as he started helping us out, I thought about sending them something from SendOutCards.

We got out of there by 7:30 PM and only missed the 1st period of the game. 

When we got to the arena, we got our food and we were standing outside of our section since there was only about 5 minutes left in the period.  We weren't even standing there for that long, when some guy came up to us and said, "Would you like our tickets?  We are leaving.  They are right at the glass."  I'm like, "Are you serious?  You just made our day.  We were late getting here because of car troubles." We walked over to the section and decided to wait until the period ended.  After the flood of people coming up, we went down to the seats.  Yup - right at the glass. 

We settled in, and the next thing you know, this guy said, "You're in my seat."  Both of us were thinking, "Oh shit. We've been duped. Nope. He just meant we needed to be over one because the seats weren't numbered right.  I tried to chit chat with him throughout the game, but he was more interested in talking to the photographer who was in the aisle.  He was cool though when he did talk to me.

We made it on (national) TV.

I forgot how much I liked the seats at the glass.  We used to have seats there a couple of years ago.  Dan, on the other hand, would rather be up a ways to see the whole ice.

The car is at the Leesburg location today for a thorough inspection, and we are hoping that it's not all 4 sensors!  However, more than likely, it's better to changed all 4 sensors because then next thing you know, the next one will go. Since I know the manager (from my networking group), I texted him this morning and even though he's on vacation, he gave them a heads up that we were coming up.

Cashing in on my online income!

It's that time of the year when I cash out on all of my online accounts.  There were a couple that I didn't have enough to cash out on (Swagbucks, Ibotta, and CheckOut51), and one I decided to wait for another 500 points to then cash out.

Anyway, here's what I got!

Mypoints
$10 Walmart gift certificate
$10 Walmart gift certificate
$10 Kohl's gift certificate
$10 Kohl's gift certificate

Recyclebank
$10 off $50 coupon at Harris Teeter

SavingStar
$32.27 cash to Paypal account

Upside
$65.36
I also need to go shopping at a gas station convenient store by the end of the year - I have $29.87 in credit to use....Now, what to get at a convenient store!

Interested in earning from free money or stuff?  Check out my Online Income page and join as many programs as you want - they are all FREE!

Our Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve day is full of cooking, an early dinner, and opening presents.

We always start out day with making knots and zeppole (or at least what we call zeppole).  Our fryer was done last year. We got it as a wedding gift (I think), so it was like 20 years old.  It was getting so hot and the temperature gauge did not work.

Early this year, we purchased an air fryer.  It works ok with certain things - like French fries and a couple of recipes that are made for it, but today, we really wanted it to work for knots and zeppole.

We had two fails.

The first was using gluten free flour for the knots.  It did NOT work well two fold.  First the flour isn’t the same consistency as regular flour when it comes to making the dough for the knots.  It took awhile to be able to make knots.  Next fail was the air fryer.  It didn’t work at all.  I put little balls of dough in it to try it out and put the time to the same as doughnuts.  They were cooked, but it tasted bland.  It tasted a little better with the cinnamon-sugar on it, but still didn’t taste the same.

So to the back up plan.  Old school oil heated up in a pan.  Then they came out a little better.  They cooked better, browned, and then added the cinnamon-sugar.  Success.

The rest of dinner went well - the zeppole went well, the spaghetti and the oranges.

Presents went well.  Theo has a wonderful first Christmas.  He loved all of his presents - 3 toys and a bunch of treats.

Dan got candy and 2 TV seasons of a show he wanted - Ash vs Evil Dead, plus I got him some Star Wars sleepwear. He got me a Shar-Pei book that I wanted and a window cling that says I love my Shar-Pei, along with a bracelet, a scarf/wrap and some candy canes, fruit and peanuts.

Tomorrow will be cinnamon rolls for breakfast and Chinese for lunch!

When you trust someone to watch your dog....

About 6 years ago, we dropped off Esa and Zed for a two night overnight stay at Howl of a Good Time while Dan and I went to an outside concert.

The location was recommended by our neighbor because they took their dog there.  We didn’t just drop them off, we researched and visited before dropping them off.

It was uneventful (except for Esa not wanting to get in the car to leave). Zed did fine with the big dogs and we were told that he stayed most of the time with the person who was overseeing everything.

I do remember a couple of months later, our neighbor told us that another neighbor took their puppy there and it was killed by another dog who was there.  I don’t know if the dog was the owner’s dog or a boarder.

Anyway, we were shocked to see a press release this weekend that the owner was charged with animal cruelty because a small dog was injured and the location owner did not take it to the vet in time.  The dog later died.

This is so sad, because this is the guy’s (and I’m sure other people who work with him) livelihood.  He seemed like a very nice guy, but obviously one (major) mistake and he is paying.

20 years later, and still know how to skate!

For the first time in about 20 years, Dan and I went ice skating.  One of my friends, Kobby, has been asking about going since about July and we FINALLY went today.

I wasn’t sure how I would do.  I figured it would come back and sure enough it did - at least the basics - keeping my balance, basic stopping, strides.  But let me say this, my feet HURT! And I am a little sore.

Since Dan and I did so well, he mentioned about going again, so hopefully, we will.

We prefer Kinder Eggs

We were shopping and saw the US version of Kinder Eggs, called Kinder Joy.  Due to the toy inside the candy, they are not available in the US, but we figured they would taste the same.  NOPE.  Not even the same candy.

It was still fun to put the toy together.

Painted Rocks

I have heard about rock painting for a while and on our way to Canada in August, we found a couple and Dan kept saying “You should start painting rocks.” What? You want me to take on another hobby?  

When we were in Canada, my friend Suzanne was asking me all about the painted rocks.  So when I saw that there was going to be a Mandala rock painting in Frederick, Maryland, I told Dan that I wanted to go and he immediately said, “You should ask Suzanne to go.” So we went to the class!

We had a great time at a place called AR Workshop. I dind’t even know this placed exsisted and there is one right down the road from us.  They do different craft workshops.   The place is really cool and is a franchise.  Which would be really cool to own.

We had a great time learning how to do Mandala rocks. It is easy to do - we used pencils ✏️ (the eraser side), skewers, and the handle side of a paint brush. 

I stuck with the blues while Suzanne used all different colors. I really like it, so may eventually do it.

The funny thing is, the teacher was in her 20s, and didn’t know anything about The Kindness Rocks Project, and we had to tell her all about it.

A night out, and a trip to the doctor

I finally went to the doctor today and got some antibiotics.  I also had a strep test done, but that was negative.  I was wiped out afterwards, but feel a little better now.

Last night I went to the soft opening of Naughty Girl Donuts in Sterling.  It was fun and I got a gift bag and purchased a couple of donuts for Dan and a cupcake for me.

I saw a couple of people that I knew and met up with one of my BNI family members.

I signed up for rock painting class on Sunday.  I’ve been wanting to try it, and a friend signed up making it show up in my Facebook feed, so decided I’d go.  I’m looking forward to it since it’ll give me a chance to try it without spending too much to try it out.