Failures

We are foster dog failures.  This weekend Shawn took Sparky to a local adopt a thon held at one of the local doggy daycares.  Several animal rescues were there with dogs and cats in need of a furever home.  I decided to stay home with Jinx since it was the entire day.  

Needless to say Sparky attracted a lot of attention.  She's such a pretty dog and has such a sweet demeanor, it wasn't long before there were several applications to adopt her.  Well, as soon as I heard that it was like someone threw cold water on me.  I realized how much I don't want her to go anywhere.

When Shawn got home he told me how difficult it was to see other people want to take her home.  Then I started crying because I couldn't imgaine how we could give her away.  In a few short weeks she has  become part of our family. So we have decided...to keep her, hence we are foster dog failures.

So now I would like to introduce you to Poppy, the dog formally known as Sparky.  We had to choose a  name that is similar to Sparky since she responds to that name fairly quickly.

Our little family is starting to grow again.

Our Guest

Last Monday Shawn and I welcomed a guest into our home.  She's one of the prettiest blondes I've ever seen.  She's about six months old and quite the handful!  She has been giving Jinx a run for her money that's for sure.  Her name is Sparky and she's a golden retriever/lab cross. I also think she's part rabbit because she hops and jumps when she gets excited.

Sparky is our foster dog from Misty Creek Dog Rescue.  She was rescued from a high kill shelter in Idaho. While I think she was given a horrible name, she really is a cutie. I thought Jinx was high energy, until I met Sparky.  Now here is a dog that is high energy.  She's always on the go and ready to catch a ball. Needless to say Jinx is being left in the dust.  The best part, she's a cuddler and snuggler.  She loves to have her neck and chest scratched and will cuddle up right beside you to give you easy access.

She's already potty trained and does fairly well in her kennel.  We are working on her obedience.  She only knows sit but we will work with her so she learns her commands.

The only issue we've seen so far is that she's a bit food aggressive with Jinx, not with us.  It actually makes me sad that she is.  It makes me wonder what she went through before coming to us that she feels she has to scrap it out with other dogs for food.  We are working with her to help her overcome this issue.

Jinx has been adjusting fairly well to having Sparky around considering she's been an only dog for two years.  There is some jealousy but she does enjoy playing with Sparky.  She is a bit of a stinker though.  Jinx will take a toy, literally rub it in Sparky's face and then run away when Sparky reaches for it.  The two of them run circles around the ottoman.  It's actually quite entertaining watching these two.

I will see if I can get some video of these two interacting with each other.  Like I said, they're rather entertaining to watch.

Putting out the Fire

One of the things that sucks about getting older is that you find yourself with the same maladies that your parents generation had.  One of those things for me has been bad, bad heartburn.  If I eat something spicy it  comes back and haunt me at night.  If I drink too much caffeine same thing.  The worst, if I eat too much chocolate, the heartburn keeps me up at night.

Earlier this week I had a really, really bad bout of heartburn. Really bad.  It kept me up for a couple of hours at night which is bad when you have to go to work the next day.  As I was walking the hallway trying to find some relief from the fire in my chest, I decided that everything mentioned above is going to  be cut out because I value my sleep more than I value any of those things.

Cutting out spicy food isn't a problem for me but soft drinks and chocolate, that hurts.  But I haven't had heartburn since Monday, the day I stopped everything.  So I guess it's working.  Sleep has been better too since I don't feel like I'm on fire any more.  It just amazes me that I now get what my mom's generation was talking about because I am that generation now. How time flies.

New look

So what do you think? Does the gray against the blue work okay? It's not too hard on the eyes?

Be honest, I can take it.

***Okay, I made some changes. What about now? Easier on the eyes?

Time for a new look

I've had this template for this blog for a long time. I think it's time for an change. My problem is that I'm not the most technical person in the world when it comes to HTML code. So I need suggestions from the experts out there.

Is there a site that has some templates that I could use? Or a site that will explain what I have to do to change the look? And some inspiration too. I guess I'm not asking for too much, am I?

Post Op

Jinx has had her surgery and she's home resting now. Poor thing. She just goes from one bed to another. I feel horrible for wishing she was calmer. I would like for her to be calmer but not like this. The vet also put a chip in her so if she ever gets lost she will be returned to us. We have painkillers for her, I just hope we're on the ball and are able to figure she needs them so she won't be in too much pain.

Did I mention I feel horrible? Who knew the guilt could be so powerful.

Here are some pictures of my girl we took this afternoon.

Big News Revealed!

Back on New Year's Eve, I alluded to some big news. I can now reveal it.

After much thought and consideration, Shawn and I have made a big decision. No it's not a referral, no we're not getting divorced, no we're not dropping out of China. Shawn has been offered a position in Evil Alberta and we've decided that he should take it. In other words, we're moving to Evil Alberta.

I handed in my notice today. Ahhh that was sweet. Shawn starts the first week in March but I need time to pack our stuff and decide what we need and don't need. I don't have employment but I don't think I should have too much trouble finding something out there.

We found a house when we were there last and we purchased it. We are not selling our house, we will rent it out instead and keep it as an investment property. It's a cute little place that has three bedrooms, lots of room for visitors (hint, hint).

We're very excited and anxious at the same time. I've never made such a big move. But at least we're going to be close to my sister (we're only 15 minutes away).

I'm not going to start about how I'm going to miss everyone because I'll start to cry. But I want everyone who's local to us and who we've had the great pleasure of meeting in the past year how much we're going to miss you guys. You mean so much to both Shawn and I. I wish I had the words to express this but I don't because there are no words. I will miss you all fiercely. Okay, so much for not saying how much I'm going to miss everyone. I expect visits from each and everyone of you. And we will be back.

So that is our big news.

Going to the Dark Side

Last weekend Shawn and I went to his Christmas party. Before the party, I went to get my hair done because the really "blond" hairs were starting to show (I'm trying to convince myself their blond instead of the other colour). After a couple of hours, I came out with this:

It's a bit hard to see in this picture but all my highlights are GONE! I'm now a chocolate brown kinda gal. It's a lot darker than what I've gotten use to and I'm not too sure how I feel about it. At least the "blond" hairs are gone.

As for the party, well, this picture says it all.