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!

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.

We almost got one of our former fosters!

I always wonder how our former fosters are doing.  And since I have friends at the shelter, we were contacted yesterday that Lil' Pete was returned to the shelter due to allergies.

I was so interested in seeing him again!  He was one kitten I was really thought about keeping.  So, I left the scrapbooking crop I was at for lunch and then after lunch we headed up to the shelter.  The crazy thing was, I was working on his scrapbook when I got the text that he was back at the shelter!

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do - just visit or actually adopt.  With just getting Theo, it was a hard decision to just pass on the opportunity, but we (or should I say, I) decided that it would be better to get Theo used to everything before adding to someone to our family.

Plus, if we adopted him, we might not be able to foster anymore (especially if the kitten(s) are sick.

We so enjoyed getting to see him again and so happy that we got to see him again.

Fostering Day 4 and 5 (so far)

The kittens are definitely settling in.  I, on the other hand, need to stop playing with them and get to work!  Yesterday, I did TRY to work with them out running around and that didn't work out as well as I hoped.

The black kitten is definitely feeling much better.  I don't think he sneezed at all yesterday.  The black & white one is still sneezing quite a bit (in fits), and does get a little congested when it is about time for another dose of medicine (2x per day).

The b&w one also has some butt issues.  He scoots his butt across the floor which I looked up and I think he was constipated.  Today, he seems to have a little issue of not having a little control.  This morning I keep finding poop on me and then on the breakfast nook chairs - yes, they are climbing all over the place.

Sunday night they decided to start jumping up on the breakfast nook chairs and then yesterday onto the table and onto the top of the crate, so my whole afternoon was chasing after them to get down.  The chairs are now (cleaned and) in the other room so no more climbing.

They also like to get in the window sills of our family room.  Luckily, no climbing the drapes (yet).  Esa's ashes, favorite toy, leash, and collar are also in our family room, so they like to climb all over those items.  I'm sure Esa is loving it.  I can picture her playing with them in our house, trying to get them to chase her. Zed could have cared less about cats.  They probably would have gotten on his nerves.

Both are definitely bonding with us.  Yesterday morning as soon as I let them out, they came right up to me and gave me cuddles.  Same thing at night when they are winding down.

Babe
1988 - 2007

Having them in the house is definitely what I needed.  So many friends are shocked that we are fostering kittens, but they are the ones that have only known me for the last couple of years.  I have always loved cats and dogs.

Babe, my last cat, was in my life for 18 years and was through a bunch with me.  She was my one constant during losing my parents, moving to a new state, several jobs, and many, many roommates.

Fun stuff - I downloaded 2 apps for cats on my iPad.  Black kitten definitely gets playing it, B&W is slowly getting it.  B is much more active than B&W, so it makes sense.

I can't wait to post pictures of them.  Unfortunately,  part of fostering is no promoting them.  I haven't talked to the coordinator directly, so maybe next time I can.  I'll come back and post pictures after the fact.

In the meantime, I have been sending pictures to my friends and family directly on Snapchat and text.

Fostering Day 2

Today went pretty well - basically just hanging out with the kittens.

We did have one fail.  They have been getting into the (dog) toy box, which we thought was cute, until one thought that it was a litter box!

Yep - peed all over the toys as Dan was cleaning out the real litter box from the other kitten.  Then Dan brought the fresh litter over and he pooped in it (and a little out of it).  Poor kitty - meds do that too ya!

So, we had to pull all of Zed's toys out.  The plastic ones are getting washed in the dishwasher and then the rope toys are getting washed in the washer.  I had on my shopping list to get a big plastic container to put all the toys in, so that will just happen sooner rather than later.

The pee went right through to the bottom of the wooden crate and onto the carpet.  So had to clean the carpet and then just threw away the wooden crate.  They are cheap anyway at the craft stores.  I think Z had peed on it once.  At least it looks like there is a pee stain on the side of the crate.

So, lesson learn, once one has to go, the other one goes.  I had just said see if the other one has to go, but he couldn't wait for the new litter.

First Day as Foster Parents!

Dan and I have talked about possibly fostering.  Well, today it became a reality.

Yesterday the shelter posted that they were in immediate need for fosters for a couple of set of kittens.  I immediately called Dan and told him about them and asked if he wanted to try.

The kittens we requested only need a foster for 2 weeks since they are 6 weeks old.  However, they have an upper respiratory infection so they are getting meds.  Oh, and they are eating regular wet and dry food.

I figured this would be the best scenario for first time fostering.

So, this morning picked up the kittens.  I was nervous and excited.  It's been so long since I've taken care of a kitten - 1988 was the year to be exact!

Day 1 is in the books and they are doing well.  We have them set up in Esa's crate.  Plenty of room for them, their food, toys and litter box.

So far, so good for the foster parents too.  The kittens were good at taken their meds, have been using the litter box, and using the scratch pad.  Dan made a special trip to Petsmart on the way home without telling me to pick up some toys and a scratch pad.

The Housewife Tour - The Week in Review

OK - maybe I should say the catch-up entry....

I've kind of gotten into a rhythm and a funk at the same time.  I haven't really felt like doing anything out of the ordinary/special projects around the house.  No new cooking recipes.  Just the same stuff.

I have been shopping though - not good when you aren't working, but I guess I can say it is a project.  I have been trying to decorate.

We FINALLY painted our living room in June.  Esa had fun with Daddy-o running around with no furniture in the living room!

Part of the decorating was new curtains - all of which I got for free (saved $40) using Amazon gift cards that I got from Listia or trading in items to Amazon.



The fabric over the sofa table is new also - it's a pashmina from AC Moore that was $2.50.  I just wanted a little color.

We bought new end tables for the living room.  We lucked out and found 2 of these at HomeGoods for $100 each.  We got sucked in to applying for a credit card so that we could get an extra 10% off.

So, the living room is coming together.  I bought the pillows at Kohl's for $16 each (regularly $40 each).  I have ordered some (gray & black) throws too from Kohl's.

The pictures were in storage.  We had bought them on a cruise in 2003, took me 5 years to frame them and another couple of years to hang them.  The dog plaque was on clearance at HomeGoods.

With the painting, came moving around furniture.  Dan painted the ceiling in the living room & dining room (they are open to each other), so to prepare, I moved the dining room table into our breakfast nook.  I had thought about this before, but wasn't sure if Dan would like it.  But he does!

We also bought the 4 drawer end table at HomeGoods.  This replaced a larger white cabinet we had here that held dog supplies & recipe books.

So right now, our dining room is empty except for a hope chest, plants and china cabinet.  Not sure what I want to do in there.  I'm almost thinking of extending the living room into it.

I have been working on some scrapbooking.  I completed the challenge in June and got 2 albums done.  If it wasn't for the challenge, I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten them done.

Our camera gave out in June and I got an early anniversary present out of it.  A FANCY Nikon D3100.  So many buttons, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'll be learning!  I found a website/youtube channel from Fro Knows Photo that seems pretty good.

The Housewife Tour will be ending soon, so I've been starting to look to see what is out there job-wise.  I really want to be able to work from home, but we'll see.  I really don't know what I want to do so I think I need to figure that out first!

Oh, I did start volunteering a little more.  I've added a couple of hours doing admin work at the shelter in addition to the mobile adoption unit.  I'm enjoying see what happens at the shelter "behind the scenes".  Everyone is wonderful there.

Wordless Wednesday




 

 

Kitten that was on the Mobile Adoption Unit of Loudoun County Animal Services on July 6, 2013.

The Housewife Tour 2013: The Week in Review

OK, so I haven't been too good about posting the last couple of weeks.  I've been busy doing odds & ends.  Nothing in particular - here's what I can remember.

• I have been spending Wednesdays as my scrapbooking day.  Since we were done with the digital classes, the meetups have been cropping time.  Instead of driving about 1 hour one way, I have been working at home.  Here are the 4 pages I worked on this week from our 10th anniversary in 2008.  These aren't quite finished, but are getting there.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I am participating in a summer scrapbooking challenge that started this week.  The goal is 90 pages by the end of the summer.  Four down, 86 to go.
• Packing for the beach - yep, going to the beach for the week!  We are going to the same place we went last year, Broadkill Beach, Delaware.
• Volunteering with the Loudoun County Animal Shelter.  Saturday is my volunteer day.  From 9 am to 11 am, I am with the Mobile Adoption Unit.  Usually, it's at Unleashed by Petco.  Last night the shelter had a foster orienation/presentation at the library around the corner from our house, so I told them I would come & help.  Good thing I did!  There were over 70 people who attended! One of the pictures I took was feature in the Facebook post.  Once we get back from vacation, I plan on helping out at the shelter some additional hours with probably administrative tasks.
• Washed the car inside & out.  Wow, what a task.  I wanted to get this done for awhile now and finally did it.  I kind of got sucked into some car wash/wax spray when I was at the gas station one day & spend $35.  See my post/review about the adventure.

On the horizon:

• When we return from vacation, we've got some redecorating scheduled.  I already picked up some paint for our living room!  We are both really excited about this. 
• I've already have a list of things to do when we get back home.  A lot of little things, but little things add up.  Look for those posts when I return from vacation.

Adventures: Shelter Meeting & Scrapbooking Crop

Saturday was a busy day for me. 

At 9 am, I had a volunteer meeting at the Animal Shelter.  The Mobile Adoption Unit is starting up again and although I know what to do, I wanted to at least go to the meeting and see what's new.  Good thing I went because a schedule was handed out with all the NEW places the Unit will be going!  I can't wait to start back up on this.  I really enjoy it.  I think I'm at a point where I want to start volunteering more.

After the meeting, I headed to an all-day fundraising crop for Leap Ahead. I spent the day organizing digital freebies from Creative Memories.  Seriously.  That's all I did.  I had downloaded so much stuff and never did anything with it.  Now that I really want to get going on the scrapbooking, I needed to get it done.  It was definitely time well spent.  I felt so much better at the end of the day and today (Monday), I finished importing and tagging all the other freebies (from Scrapbird, Miss Kate Cuttables, & Persnickety Prints) I have downloaded.

Adventures: Run, Walk, Wag

Esa's daycare was a sponsor of a charity walk named "Run, Walk, Wag" this last weekend (Saturday, October 27) for Northern Virginia Spay Neuter Clinic.

It was the first year ever for this event and they had a pretty good turnout - maybe about 35 people total.

We did the 1 mile walk and afterwards took part in some of the dog games and checked out the vendors.  Both of the dogs enjoyed the "hot dog game" where they had to figure out what dish the hot dog was under.  I was a little surprised that Zed did so well.  Esa, of course had no problem with it.

One of the vendors was a photographer who had a little display set up for pictures.  I'm just waiting for them to be uploaded so we can check them out.  Proceeds will be going to the clinic, so I'll probably purchase a few.  I think with the storm, they haven't been put online yet.

The Shelter was there handing out info on the CARE program.  It was a last minute thing or I would have volunteered for it!  I didn't see the table at first, but was wondering why there was a whole family with volunteer t-shirts on! 

The pups enjoyed it - as always.

UPDATE:  December 13, 2012

Finally got the pictures from the professional photographer.  She had the wrong address so it was returned.  Even with the correct address, it took almost a week and she is only 10 miles away.  It ended up in New Jersey for processing and then back down here (in VA).  Crazy.

Here they are....

Returning from the walk

Playing a game - "find the hot dog"

Adventures: Volunteering with the Shelter this Weekend

Friday night and Saturday morning, I volunteering with the Animal Shelter on the truck.  Friday night was a special adoption event at Zinga in Ashburn which was right down the road from our house.  It was a madhouse (which was great)!  Zinga is usually really busy on the weekends.  Anyway, one of the dogs that was there and available for adoption was Mocha (see below).

We got to spend some time together Friday night - I walked her around and she was wonderful.  She let everyone pet her and was not affected by the crowds at all.  She even gave me kisses.

Saturday, I got to spend more time with her at Unleashed in Sterling where the truck is every Saturday from 9 to 11 am (which I have been faithfully volunteering at this summer).

What a WONDERFUL dog.  She is pretty good on the leash.  She did pull a little, but not crazy.  I could see her jumping the fence, but you can tell that she is just very curious.  Probably nothing much walking could resolve.  She was fine getting brushed (ton of thick, soft fur on her) and loved it when I gave her a massage.  We walked around several times during the 2 hours and she eventually just laid down and hung out.

Her pet peeves - she didn't like the cages at all in the truck.  She was just shaking away. :( She is VERY house trained.  She would not go the bathroom in her run (that has an indoor & outdoor section) at the shelter.  They have to walk her.

Today (Monday) and I went to the website to grab her profile and it says she's adopted!  WOOHOO!  On Saturday, a guy was looking at her and said he was serious about her and was going to go check with his family.

The more time I spend with her, the more I wondered if she was a chow mix and even 9 years old.  She definitely didn't seem 9 years old.  I was wondering if she was a Shibu Inu mix.

Just a wonderful, wonderful dog.  I hope she has found her forever home.

Introducing the latest addition to the Wentz Family

"Official" annoucement that posted on Facebook & send out in E-mail

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Franklin Zednik Wentz (Zed for short)

Zed was adopted on Sunday, May 2 from the Loudoun County Animal Shelter. “Frank”, as he was known at the shelter, was estimated to be a 10 year old Chihuahua mix. Zed had been at the shelter since the end of February and won Ronalyn’s heart at the Thursday night mobile adoptions at Petco where she has been volunteering.

Zed came to the shelter as a stray (picked up by Animal Control) and was (and still is) in bad shape. He was skinny and missing fur on his ears, belly & tail. We are happy to say that he is on his way to getting his health back. He gained weight at the shelter and we have started to treat his VERY bad yeast infection. With the help of our vet and friend, we are estimating that Zed is about 6 years old and that he probably is more Jack Russell terrier and a Heinz 57 mix than a Chihuahua mix. We are excited to see what he REALLY looks like once the infection is under control – he might look like a totally different dog!

Sister Esa is ok with him. She wishes that he would play with her more than just hang out with her. Zed has already made himself at home and is learning the routine. We are VERY happy to figure out that he was already house broken and knows some commands (sit, stay, lay down, on your bed).

Oh – and yes, he’s named after a hockey player (and former Capitals player).

The weekend so far

Friday night, we were “required” to go to the Northern Virginia Urban League dinner. We had to go last year also. I was not looking forward to it. I definitely would rather just go home especially on a Friday night!
I check in and what table are we sitting at – Table 9.

It wasn’t as bad as expected. The Master of Ceremonies was Leon Harris from Channel 7. Funny guy! Definitely looks different in person than on TV.

The keynote speaker was Dr. Steve Perry. What a great motivational speaker for education. It felt like he was just preaching away at the podium. The other award recipient was Eric Aldolphe. What a story of accomplishment.

At the end, I hightailed it out of there and got home about 10 pm.

Since I didn’t really have a Friday night, Saturday morning was getting ready for my Creative Memories get-together. I cleaned some and ran to the store for snacks. Then it was time for lunch at Roy Rogers and then visit Frank at the shelter.

The visit went well. Dan fell for him. We did get to see his anxiety at the shelter – it seems to be set off by all of the other dogs barking. We took him outside and he was calm. Today we will bring Esa up to meet Frank. We know that it will all be up to Frank since Esa loves everyone.

The Creative Memories get-together went well! I was excited to have 7 people show and I got enough in sales to get the special price on the host package - which is what I wanted to scrapbooking until about 9:30 p.m.

Last night, I didn’t sleep too well. In the evening, it hit me – what are we thinking getting another dog! That’s what woke me up during the night too. I didn’t even sleep in this morning. I win at Wintergreen (the scrapbooking retreat I went to)! After the show, it was 3 of us was up at 6:30. I know I’m just anxious about it, but I know that if the meeting works out and Frank comes home with us, he will be a good dog. He’s smart and picks up the training fast. He’s just anxious at the shelter, but who wouldn’t be after being there for over 2 months?

The Capitals, Dogs named after Capitals, Books and Random Thoughts

Hockey

So the Capitals season didn’t ended like I wanted to, but I had a feeling by game 5 that it wasn’t going to end very well. Halak was on FIRE! There was no way of getting the puck passed him. MAYBE if we played all of the games like we did in the last 5 minutes of Game 7 we might have come. (Like how I say WE?). They are my boys and I am behind them no matter what (good or bad). They had a good season – We’ve never gotten the President’s Cup before. Ovie has been nominated for the Hart Trophy again – that makes 3 years in a row. Something that only the Great One (Wayne Gretzky) and Bobby Orr have done.

Esa Story

Esa has gotten so good on leash that we have been “testing” her off leash to finish up our walks. We usually let her off the leash about a house or 2 from ours and she’ll walk with us right to the house. Well – I did that the other day and the birds in the tree right by our house, come flying down towards Esa and then out (towards the road). Of course, Esa starts taking a few steps, but I made a LOUD aaah, aah, aah noise and she fell right back into line. WOOHOO! Now, if it was a bunny that would have been a different story.

Simple Abundance
On my birthday, I started the “Simple Abundance” Daily Devotional. I haven’t been consistent with it, but when I read the daily passage, I highlight the main thought of the day and try to write my 5 gratitude items in the book at the end of the day. I thought it might be kind of cool to add that my gratitude items or my feelings on the thought of the day to this blog.

Another dog in the future?

So since January, I’ve been volunteering regularly with Loudoun County Animal Shelter on Thursdays when they bring the mobile adoption truck to Petco in Sterling. Since March, there has been a Chihuahua mix named Frank coming. Hate to say it, but I’ve fallen for him. He’s really smart – I taught him to sit and lay down within an hour the first day I meet him. Supposedly he’s about 10 years old, but I have a feeling he’s younger. When he first came to the shelter, he was a little skinny and was missing some fur on his tail and on his ears (totally bald) and itchy. He still scratches a lot, but he does not have mange. He’s gained his weight back and looks good and his fur is back on his tail. Not sure about his ears.

He actually had two families fill out applications for him. The first family was out of county and had to go through a home inspection, but was never home even with a set appointment. The second family never returned the shelter’s call when they said he was available. Which comes to me – whenever I see him I say, let me know if he doesn’t get adopted and he needs to go. Which Loudoun is VERY good at keeping animals a LONG time. As long as there is room and the animal’s personality has not changed, they stay.

So what happens yesterday when I show up? “We’ve been waiting for you!” I’m up in the air. I’ve been thinking about Frank ALL OF THE TIME - wondering if he’s been adopted by the one of the two families.

Dan’s going to go with me tomorrow to meet him and then we’ll think about it. Two dogs are a lot of work and it also means we wouldn’t be able to get a cat (two pets are enough). I’m sure Esa would be ok with it, however, I think she likes being the only dog. I could kind of tell when Cash was visiting.

Random Thoughts
Anyone else getting a lot of spam? I think it might have had something to do with the McAfee issue last week – it seemed to all happen after that.

Catching up from the weekend

Nov 19, 2008


catching up from the weekend

Current mood:blank

What a great weekend.

Friday was Furry Friday at the Sterling Community Center with the Loudoun County Animal Shelter. There brought 5 cats and 2 dogs. The dogs were really cute – Mitzi and Zoey. Mitzi is a year old terrier mix and has been returned to the shelter 3 times. She just went home to the wrong people. Zoey was at the shelter when she was a pup (now 10 months) and was returned for chasing the cat. Zoey is a german shepherd/Shar Pei mix. What a different looking dog! She has the larger body of a german shepherd, but has the Shar Pei fur (really short) and face – just not as many wrinkles. She thinks she's a lap dog. I was on the floor and she would come right up and sit on my lap.

Saturday was hanging out at home until time to go to Baltimore. Our neighbor, Dan, went with us. When we got up to Baltimore, Evick was already on. I was really surprised – there was about 50 people and that was it – it is a small club (Sonar). ZO2 put on a great show. Got to meet the guys afterwards. Dan took pictures with his phone – they came out really weird. It looks like I'm disappearing in the picture – like in Final Destination 3. It's actually the reflection on my shirt. It's weird though. I never saw something like that.

Anyway, I asked about more episodes and the answer is YES!

We had a little bit of excitement when we were driving home – we almost ran out of gas (or at least the gas light came on). We stopped and got gas and Dan (S) kept saying I'm hungry, so we were also trying to find a place to eat. Anyway we head back to Ashburn and when we were on Waxpool – sobriety checkpoint! Man, were we ever going to get home (or at least to a place to eat?). No biggie going through the checkpoint since I didn't drink. I wasn't expecting to be asked to see my driver's license – which I had just thrown in the bottom of my purse when we were at the club. Luckily, I found it fast. The policeman just asked have you been drinking, where we were and to see my license.

So back in Ashburn, 2 in the morning, the only thing that is opened is McDonald's (drive-thru). I have not had Mickey D's in FOREVER – probably 5 years if not longer. Anyway – it tasted so good! Maybe because at that time in the morning, everything is made to order.

Sunday, it was up with Esa at 6:30, while Dan slept in to about 10 a.m. Then it was my turn to go back to sleep. I finally got up about 1 or so. Then Dan said Dan S. had texted him to see if we wanted to have dinner with them. We did a little running around – Petsmart and then DQ (for "lunch"). I didn't want to eat too much since we were going to Stephanie & Dan's for dinner, PLUS we had "lunch" at 2:30 in the morning – a blizzard to hold us over would be ok. He bought it. LOL.

Petsmart was with Esa. When we got there, Lost Dog (where we got Esa) was there. Dan walked Esa around while I browsed. Then next thing I see him talking to someone. He mentioned to me later that he noticed that the girl kept staring at him and Esa and following him around, then finally came up to him to ask him about Esa (what type and where we got her). Come to find out, she fostered Esa's mom! We got to find out that Esa's mom "talks" just like Esa and brings toys to you to tell you she wants to play (like Esa). I gave her my e-mail address and Monday, I had pictures of "Bambi" (pictures in Esa's family photo album). Man, I was surprised that Esa doesn't look a thing like her mom! I remember someone mentioning that her mom was a black shepherd, but I didn't expect no tan coloring at all!

Dinner was great – Lasagna, pasta, breadsticks, apple pie, brownies, cookies! YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY! Then the football game came on – Neither Stephanie or I were interested in watching it – so I hung out with Stephanie while she made holiday gifts for co-workers and then headed home around 9 p.m.

This (work) week has been on the so-so side – I haven't felt that great the last two days. Today it's my neck – which will be fixed when I go to the chiropractor's after work! Dan's off today, so it'll be good to spend some time with him tonight.

PUPPIES!

Sep 27, 2008
PUPPIES!

Current mood:happy

So tonight was Furry Friday with the Loudoun County Animal Shelter at the Sterling Community Center. They have this event once every month.

Last time I was there, there were a bunch of kittens. This time it was 2 puppies! Check out the pictures on my 2008 blog folder. So tempting! They were so cute. BUT I remember too well the puppy problems. Not ready for that again! They both ended up sleeping on my lap.

weekend coming to an end (again?)

Jun 8, 2008
weekend coming to an end (again?)

Oh to be on vacation again.....One month and a day to go.

It has been so hot this weekend - the thermometer said 100 degrees on the porch. I've been walking Esa early in the morning (like 7 am) and we both are panting by the time we get home!

Friday night, I left work at 4 p.m. and volunteered at Furry Friday for the Loudoun Animal Shelter. One Friday a month they are going to be at the Sterling Community Center. It's so much easier than going to the shelter out in Waterford. I was surprised that they actually had a dog with them. Her name is Zoe and she is a Italian Greyhound (8 years old). What a sweet dog – she loved all of the attention. Supposedly the owners couldn't take care of her anymore. She's really low maintenance. There were about 9 kittens – oh – what a temptation! Anyway, it was great to be able to volunteer again and see the employees that I know.

Saturday was grocery shopping, Esa's class and finishing up/cleaning the guest room (going through things for the yard sale next weekend). Esa did GREAT in her class. Dan taught her to weave between his legs. She did great with the distractions this week – kids running by, loud noises, weird objects. We finished up going through all of the boxes in the guest room closet and found 3 scrapbooks that I did – 2 for Dan when we were dating and then one for our wedding (shower, rehearsal, gifts). I forgot I did them. After Esa's class, Dan's mom and hubby brought more boxes for Dan to go through. There is a lot of stuff at Dan's mom's house – games and toys mostly. It's nice that at least she lets the family choose to look at the stuff before just getting rid of it. Then it was off to CHIPOTLE! FINALLY after 3 weeks! I was dying for it! Then shopping, shopping, shopping. We went to Walgreens and found a bunch of stuff on clearance (dog bone, notepads, and camera batteries). Harris Teeter had a couple of good sales.

Today just been hanging around home trying to stay out of the heat.