Dogs of our past

Like I said, I don't have a picture of Stanley - or the other dogs my friends own.  BUT I thought I would see what dogs we DO have pictures of. 

 

Here's Katie and Gracie - the puppy who lives at Grandma's house. Well, she's not exactly a puppy anymore. The do get bigger, I have learned.

 

Even then, Katie felt Gracie was big, I guess.

 

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This is me and our dog, Paco.  (Did I spell that right?)

I was told he was my best friend while I was still eating in a high chair.

 

This is Muskie our new puppy as we introduce him to the cat, Gizmo.

As you can see, Gizmo let it be known right away who had the upper hand.

 

Muskie slept with me every night....

 

....but he was really my Mom's baby.  He was her protector.  When we would go camping and go swimming, he cried and cried if she went out on an air mattress without him.  He would NOT go into the water to get wet.  So she would have to paddle back to shore so that he could ride with her. 

 

 

 

Trying this again....

Ok, I'm getting excited about a handful of new dogs again.  This time they are at a different shelter, which promises on their website to move quickly.  It says "adoption approval can take up to a week."  Well hell, we've been waiting 3 1/2 weeks with the other place and I havn't even been able to get our adoption counselor to call me back.  A week sounds damn good.

There are about 5-6 puppies that we would be happy to get I think......so I don't want to jinx it, but......

Katie checked out a MASSIVE book on dog breeds and training from school.  That's been very helpful!  And also made us realize that there are a lot of ugly dogs out there.  I'm sorry - but there are.  I'm sure they are wonderful companions when you get to know them. 

End of October

This year is just flying by - I know people say that all the time, but this one especially seems to be really moving along.  The note in the previous post was left by my sister.  If you haven't read it - I strongly encourage you to do so.....she really surprised me with that one.  Usually she's pretty mature and reserved....but occasionally she'll get a little wild. :)

Still no dog.  We are slowly moving forward with the shelter, BUT getting frustrated now that ALL the dogs we initially were crazy about are gone.  John has started looking in the eBay classifieds, so if we find something there we like, we'll do that.  There is a puppy at the county shelter that looks good - I may call on that too.  Since they are paid employees and not volunteers, it may move a bit faster. 

A friend of mine thought it was crazy because years ago her husband just walking into the pet store on a whim and came out with a dog.  Wham, bam.  Plus, it ended up being the absolute sweetest dog....ever.  (And part of the reason why I'm excited for the kids to have one.) His name is Stanley and they had family pictures with him a while back which prompted me to think - gee, I don't have any pictures of me with Stanley....I should have a picture of me and Stanley!  I still need to do that. :)

Halloween stuff this week.  We are going to the nature center tonight to do their "Walk When the Moon is Full" program with Katie's Girl Scout Troop.  Shouldn't be too cold.  Tomorrow evening is the annual trick or treat party at the grocery store, which is always fun.  You trick-or-treat around the inside of the store, but they don't give away candy.  It's cartons of milk, packages of crackers, fruit snacks, carrots, etc.  Wednesday the kids will wear their costumes to school for their parties.  I'm helping at Will's school running some sort of a bean bag game I believe. 

Have I even told you what they are going to be?  Katie is Supergirl, and Will (this should come as no surprise) is Batman.  Three years ago I bought a Batman costume off Craigslist for $8.  This will be the 3rd year he's worn it for Halloween (not to mention the hundreds of times inbetween).  Last year we added a mask to it....this year, we added cool Batman gloves.  It's getting a little small so I will be on the hunt after Halloween is over to find a marked down Batman costume in a larger size. 

Katie has been trying to get Will to wear his Superman costume at some point so they can match, but so far Will hasn't been up for that.

Keep trying!

I called Monday - the shelter was closed.

I called Tuesday and they assigned me to a new adoption agent because they were surprised I hadn't been contacted yet.  So we'll see....I'm going to bug them again on Friday if I haven't heard anything. 

Katie is flip flopping about wanted a dog.  She does, she doesn't.  Good thing we aren't getting it for her!  Will is excited to play fetch.  I'm excited to have a walking/running buddy.  I think John is excited to have someone jump for joy when he comes home.  (I try, but the effect is lost.)

Dog adoption

John and I went through a list of animals on the Midwest Animal Rescue Center's website.  We picked a handful of choices and submitted our application over the weekend.  It said that someone would be in touch within 24 hours because they are eager to get animals placed and get the process started. 

After not hearing from anyone for 4 days I got frustrated and called them myself.  Seems there's only one person working in the office and she couldn't find my application.  Finally, she was able to dig it up and said that she'd have someone call me back.  I'm a bit eager to get the process started because it takes a looong time to go through.  We have to pass a phone interview, a home inspection, our references need to check out and then we need to schedule meetings with the animals. 

In the days it took to just get a call back, one of our top picks seems to have been adopted.  Good for him, but sad for us.  So, sorry guys, no Tanner. :(

It's Friday...

The weeks are sure going by fast now that school is in full swing.  We have such a scheduled fall, things run in half hour time slots it seems.  Katie is getting better with the homework load.  It seems she is getting more done in school, and instead of an hour or "down time" after school, I'm only giving 30 minutes.  That seems to help too.  Although yesterday I let her and Will watch James and the Giant Peach after school.  We had finished the book a while ago and the movie was a special treat.  Seriously - if you haven't read that book (by Roald Dahl) pick it up. It was one of the funniest children's books I have read in a long time.  I think I mentioned the swearing it contained in an earlier post. 

Speaking of Roald Dahl, the church musical this year is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  Auditions are in November.  Katie obviously wants to audition and I'm hoping for a small part.  She'll probably be an Oompa Loompa, right?  I'm trying to decide if I want to audition again.  Even though the week of the dress rehearsals and performances were really exhausting last year, it was so much fun.  Katie and I both made friends and connections that we wouldn't have made otherwise, and it's such a fun group of people. 

We have a birthday party this weekend that should be fun - friends celebrating their daughter's 1st birthday.  It's their first child too....so it'll probably be a big blowout. :)  There were a lot of babies born this time last year....

Ok - I'm off to wash the kitchen floor.  I can't run today because the 3 year old doesn't have preschool today.  I may be able to work in a workout while I'm cleaning. :)  It's also Homecoming this week so we have a parade to go to this afternoon.  Katie will be walking in it and handing out pencils. 

Where have I been?

I've been "post-less" for a while now because I had major computer issues last week.  It was working fine Monday night, but when I went to turn it on Tuesday morning I only got a black screen.  I could hear it running, fan blowing, etc.  I did some messing around with it - hooked it up to an external computer monitor and the HD tv - still nothing to display.  From searching on the Internet (thank goodness for other gadgets to go online with!) I deduced that it was probably the video card.  Unfortunately, in a lap top the video card is part of the motherboard itself and you'd have to replace the whole thing. 

As I was trying to get something to display on the external monitors, it seemed the fan had quit working as well.  I wasn't really making any sounds, but there was a slight "hum" to it.  In speaking to 2-3 computer savvy people they all agreed that it was shot.  It had overheated a couple times this summer and spontaneously shut off.  They said that if it continued to overheat, the motherboard and who knows what else, could be severely damaged.  That's why (I'm now told) that it's important to get your laptop cleaned every 2 years or so to avoid this.  A desktop computer has lots of air and circulation space in the tower so that isn't as necessary, but a laptop has very little space to move air around.

It really made a week from hell even worse.  In the end, I did get a new computer on Wednesday afternoon.  That night when I was trying to install software on it, it kept crashing.  My printer software, my anti-virus software, even Microsoft Office.  I called the computer center where I bought it, and they agreed - I had gotten a lemon.  I brought it back on Thursday and they gave me a new one to try again.  This one has worked wonderfully. 

I have an external hard drive that I would use to back-up my previous laptop.  My last back-up was done this summer, after a spontaneous shut down (due to an overheating issue!)  So I THINK I have most of my information saved.  I have yet to hook up the hard drive and see what I can get off it.  Worst case scenario, I've had two guys offer to transfer files for me from the old hard drive to the new one, but hopefully it won't be necessary.  As long as I can get the pictures and videos of the kids and my music - I'll be fine and manage.