When Did It Become Mid-June?

Whew. While I didn't really forget about this blog I kinda would only remember about it right when I was climbing into bed. And for a little while there our internet at The Shop had gone wonky.

Excuses, excuses.

But I remembered today! So much has been going on in the 15 days (!) since I've last posted. Biggest thing? We put in an offer on a house! The house is kinda ghetto and is in really rough shape but it's on a LOT of land. Enough land where we could build a nice home for ourselves, a big barn with maybe an in-law apartment or two, some greenhouses and an orchard. The Man descends from farmers. It's all about the land. I personally would love to be able to grow our own food. I would love to have fresh veggies all winter long. (Oh, and if we get the house I've already decided that I'm naming it The Burrow. Because I'm a total Harry Potter geek and I'm positive there will be a lot of people coming and going since we'll now have the room for them.)

Not so cool lately, Little Girl has been battling some kind of crazy allergies. She's been REALLY REALLY itchy and her fur started thinning. She even developed hives one day... =( She's on antibiotics and I've switched her food. Some dogs can be allergic to grains and since The Man insisted that the dawgs were vegetarians (much to my chagrin) their food had A LOT of grains. I've switched them over to the Natural Balance L.I.D. Sweet Potato & Fish formula (grain-free). They've been on it two weeks tomorrow. She seems less itchy and I think her fur may be growing back in (since I see her all day everyday it's hard to tell if I'm seeing a difference or not...).

Uhm, what else. I haven't lost any weight. That makes me sad. I've been kinda trying. But in the past I've been like, "I wanna lose weight. I'll cut out soda." And BAM. I'd be 10 pounds lighter in a week or two. That's not working now. And I still don't have any energy. I've read somewhere that even if your thyroid blood tests come back as "normal" (which mine are on the low side of normal) you might still need to have your meds upped. I think I'm going to need to break down an go to the doctor to talk to him face to face about it. =/

Anyway. I think that's it for now. OH. I did promise you guys pictures from the Boston Terrier play group! There were 5 Bostons there besides us. It was a blast. =)

Stinky is on the left and Little Girl is on the right.

Four of the other five cuties.

Good Thing They're Cute

Oh my wonderful balls of fluff...


I had to bring the pups to the vet this morning. Stinky needed a heartworm test so I can restart their meds. Since it's so freakin' cold here in the winter and all the bugs die, I don't keep them on the heartworm and flea and tick meds throughout the winter. That shit is EXPENSIVE. But every spring I get them tested before restarting just in case.

So anyway. He got his blood drawn and it all came back negative. Sweet. Then I asked if they had a quick minute to check Little Girl's butt. All dogs have anal glands that usually empty when they poo. Yet another way for them to be all like, "This land be MINE YO!". Anyway, some breeds have trouble getting their icky fluid out sometimes and Bostons are definitely known for it. Both Stinky and Little Girl have been squeezed since I've had them. I figured since we were already at the vet and she had been doing the oh so attractive butt-scoot that I'd get them to do a quick squeeze.

So of course, for some reason, Little Girl's glands are swollen and one was very difficult to express. The vet put her on prednisone to hopefully bring down the swelling. They also suggest she gets a bit more fiber in her diet. Giving her things such as broccoli, carrots and pumpkin can really sometimes help.

The vet also noticed how itchy the little beast is. She thinks she has allergies but we're not sure if they're environmental or food related. We're trying a medicated shampoo first. Which means that I now get to bathe Little Girl 2-3 times a week. Score! Like I have nothing better to do. Luckily she's a petite pup so the $20 (!) bottle of shampoo should last awhile. If that doesn't work I get to start the adventure of trying different dog foods. I'm sure she'll need the most expensive food out there...

Oh well. She's worth it.

WARNING: Excessive Hormones Ahead

I have become a raging bundle of Oh-My-Goodness-I'm-Getting-So-Old-I-Need-To-Have-Babies-Like-Totally-Right-Now...

Le sigh.

I'm only 26 and I feel the biological clock like NO BODY'S business. I'm the oldest in two generations that's gone without having a kid. My father was only 19 when I was born! I wasn't about to do the whole teenage pregnancy thing (I realized how not cool that was when my sister was born when I was 12 and my brother when I was 16) but I thought I'd have at least a two year old by the time I hit 26. Frick. It's been even worse now that I'm with a guy I actually LIKE.

Speaking of him. I had never thought that I'd actually want a wedding before I met him. I wanted to get married per sey, but I never wanted the actual wedding ceremony. I still don't want a traditional wedding but we would have one KICK ASS rockabilly shin-dig!

My wedding porn; Offbeat Bride. Don't go there if you don't want to ever get married. It will convince you that you can do whatever you want for your day. And it will be fabulous!

But yeah. Babies. Little snuggly, pukey, poopy, crying bundles of awesome.

Offbeat Brides sister site; Offbeat Mama.

The only thing that keeps me from stealing a child off the street...

Holy Crap! SUPER CRAZY BUSY TIME

I'm starting to finally recover over my **Cough*Cough*Hack*Wheeze** cold that I've been suffering for the past few days. It hasn't helped that I've been going to bed ENTIRELY too late lately. I figured out that I need to go to bed at about 9pm to get a full nights sleep... That is so unrealistic that I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The Man hasn't been getting home from work until at least 8:30 lately. And I'm all like, "HEY! You're home! I like you and I like that you're home! Lets snuggle and watch multiple hours of True Blood on HBO On Demand!" (We're watching the season 1 finale tonight then starting season 2. Good times!)

But yeah, he gets home late because spring time = SUPER CRAZY BUSY TIME in Newer Business. That extends into the summer which is when The Shop hits SUPER CRAZY BUSY TIME. You know, essentially 14 hour days for approximately 6-10 weeks. That doesn't seem like a long time when you think that there are 52 weeks in the year but yeah... 7 days a week for up to 10 WEEKS STRAIGHT I will need to be in or around The Shop for around 14 hours a day. It gets so crazy that you get numb and just want the tourists to stop trying to hand you money so you can just SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. (If I could only train the tourist to get what they want, write up receipts and take the correct change WHILE I sleep... Hmm...)

Right now is Get Ready Time. Stuff is starting to come out of storage, new displays are being set up (which we're having to find room for) and plans of attack are being written up (what to order and when because The Shop has verrrrrry little reserves left over from this past winter). This is when The Man is most needed at The Shop and of course, he can't really be available because Newer Business has exploded. And Newer Business is what REALLY makes the money. And Newer Business will hopefully be able to support us super comfortably within the next 5-10 years without having The Man even have to participate daily. But that means he has to work his buns off on that business now and I have to try to get The Shop up and running basically alone.

Did I ever mention that in all of the history of me that I'd never worked in retail before? Nope. I worked at a horse barn, a dog kennel, a sub shop, a convenience store and an operating room. Yep. I used to assist in cutting open folks. That was the job I had when I met The Man. I was making decent money but I was miserable. I did love the actual cases. There's some fascinating shite that those crazy Dr's can do but man oh man it's tough. Tough physically and sometimes mentally. Nothing like trying to put a suicide patient back together or having to treat a man who had been taken down by the police for hurting others. ANYway. That's how I found myself at The Shop. The Man wanted to take care of me. I wish that meant that I could just sit back and eat bon bons but alas... I'm now running a store (clueless), a home (have a clue but not a lot of drive) and kinda a family (built in kids/grandkids can be fuuuuuun).

Now that I think about it... I think this new life may be more stressful and demanding than the old one! If I hadn't hated it SO much I might think about going and getting a "real" job again. But then I wouldn't be able to spend the day with my mutts. And the house would be in even more of a mess. And The Man and I wouldn't be able to just pick up and take off for the day if we wanted to. We don't often, but dammit, we COULD if we wanted to. So I guess I'll try to lay off the bitchin' and I'll try not to moan about turning into a zombie for the summer. Hey at least there's a bar easy stumbling distance from the shop! And I get to hang out with these two...



There's mah babies! Stinky and Little Girl chillaxin' at The Shop.

SPEAKING OF ME BEING CRAZY BUSY AND INSANE. So I adopted Stinky and Little Girl from a Boston Terrier rescue. When I was looking for Little Girl I was doing a lot of petfinder searching. There was one 8 year old boy who caught my attention. He has cushings disease and no one wants him. =( Of course that means that now I do. I've been working on The Man. "What's the difference between two dogs and three? It's just a bit more food and a bit more poo!" I've been in contact with the new one's foster mom. He's a couple states away but I still want to try to meet him. If I can get a picture of Stinky, Little Girl and the new boy all playing and enjoying themselves together The Man CAN'T say no. (He's kinda a sucker like that).

Are there any meds to get the adoption bug to stop frikkin' itchin'?

I just read back over my post and holy cow, ADD much? I'm gonna knock this off before it gets worse. Or someone get's hurt.

Thankful Thursday - My Dawgs

With the post I did earlier, I hope that I can help Lebron, however I am VERY thankful that within the past two years I have been able to rescue and give good homes to three different dogs.

Stinky was the first dog I rescued. I already knew that I was getting First Girl in June. I was getting a tattoo in February (it was our first Valentines day together and The Man got me the tattoo <3). My tattoo lasted for 3 hours. We talked about this and that and the other thing. I mentioned how I was going to be getting First Girl in June and wouldn't mind finding her a playmate. I knew she had never been a single dog, I thought that she'd do a bit better. Well surprise of surprises, my tattooist is also a doggie-foster-mommy!

She had Stinky. He was 9 years old. He had been saved from a shelter in Arkansas and brought up to Maine. She had had him for 3 or 4 months and he had been adopted. Apparently he's very, uhm, strong willed. The woman that adopted him didn't know how to be a leader and got snapped at. She returned him. My tattooist then had him for almost 6 months before I showed up! Poor beast. No one wanted him... My heart bled. I WANT HIM! My tattooist ended up just going on a tattoo tour in Europe and it was a couple of months before we were able to meet up again. In April of 2008, Stinky came home to stay. He is definitely a handful. I was a little insane to think that it'd be cool for my first dog ever to be a dominant alpha but after a couple of rocky months we've got each other figured out. =)

So in June, First Girl came to us. She had been living with family of The Man's. Unfortunatly, First Girl had pretty bad separation anxiety. It was impossible to leave her unattended without her destroying, defecating and urinating all over the place. When the family was at work and school, First Girl was tied up in the back yard. It took awhile, but we convinced the remaining 'kid' that when she went to college, First Girl would do better at our home rather than tied up all the time. She was a wonderful dog. Very obedient and snuggily. I just could never leave her at home. I'd leave her in her crate but she'd always urinate if left for more than 3 hours and would paw and chew at the metal bars, injuring the crate and herself. She was wonderful at the shop. I wouldn't even have to tie her up. She just wanted to be near me.

I first started noticing something odd with her in behavior/health when we moved in July. She was a little shaky but thought that it was nerves from the move. The first vet visit was on a Friday in August. I noticed that there was some green goop coming from her eyes. The vet gave me drops, thinking that she had an eye infection. By the next afternoon however she was shaking violently at the shop. She wasn't interested in food (VERY odd) and grunted any time I picked her up. I was upset because I was going to have to wait until Monday to bring her back to the vets. (The emergency vet is MAD CRAZY expensive.) To my amazement (and relief) my vet happened into The Shop on Sunday afternoon! She took a look at First Girl and told me to bring her in first thing the next morning. She'd make room for her. That's how bad First Girl was looking. I couldn't get her to stand up. I had to carry her home from The Shop that night (1.5 miles).

That Monday morning we did blood work and a urinalysis which all came back normal. We started her on antibiotics anyway to see if it would help. I suggested that maybe her shaking was from pain of some sort? We started her on pain meds. With the pain meds we saw a bit of an improvement but it didn't last long. Her legs started swelling so we thought maybe kidney problems? During the next couple of weeks we did more blood work (fine, no kidney problems), tried different meds and taking x-rays. The vet thought that there might be something on the x-ray of First Girls abdomin. We were referred to internal med specialists for an ultrasound. By this point The Man was starting to get a bit irritated at the sheer amount of vet bills that were coming his way but I wanted hardcore to know what was wrong. The ultrasound ended up being clear. DAMMIT! The internal med vet then decided to take an x-ray of First Girl's legs to see if the swelling was soft tissue or joint. WHOA. Something the doctor had not seen since vet school. First Girl had a condition called Hypertrophic Osteopathy. Essentially her bones were growing out from where they should be. This is usually a secondary condition caused by a lung tumor. We already knew from x-rays that her lungs were clear. We were left to guess that her tumor was in her brain. Huh. That would explain the random seizures she used to have in her old home (she never had one with me).

While this wasn't the answer that I really wanted, I was relived that we at least had an answer. We knew what was wrong and while we couldn't do anything to cure her, we could sure as hell load her up with outrageous amounts of pain meds. She was a brave little girl but it eventually got to the point where she couldn't stand, she couldn't walk, she couldn't even go to the bathroom on her own. At the end of September we made the decision to put her down. It was horrible. We only had her living with us for 15 months but in those few months she almost never left my side. I was in a rough spot.

The hardest thing after losing First Girl was going to The Shop without her. After she joined us, I had never once been at The Shop without her. I tried bringing Stinky but he is just not good there. He whines and barks and is not easily calmed. I started what I wanted to be a very slow process of looking for a new pup. I perused petfinder and craigslist. I didn't want to jump into a dog that wouldn't be right for either myself or for Stinky. I let my tattooist know that I had started looking. Almost instantly she found us Little Girl. Within a few days we had Stinky and Little Girl meet and it was love at first sight! They were even more perfectly matched than Stinky and First Girl had. Since Little Girl hadn't actually made it into the rescue she wasn't fixed but I was able to convince The Man to bring her on because we weren't paying a rescue fee for her. Yeah, that didn't work out quite the way I was planning; her $350 fixing turned into a $600 fixing and hernia repair.

So there's my painfully long Thankful Thursday. Whew.

Tired ramblings and the first Thankful Thursday

I'm back. I'm sure you were all angsty that I wouldn't be. =(

I now "Whatever" myself.

The past week has been mad crazy busy. I've been working on instituting an online store for The Shop (confusing). The Man was trying to catch up on work from the last trip before his next trip (left this morning). My birthday happened (not really much of anything happened that day however)... Oi.

One awesome awesome thing? The Man revealed that my birthday present is a new tattoo! I'm going to start a sleeve. SAWEET. Of course he announced this two nights before my birthday, wanting me to get it ON my birthday. Uhm, yeah. Doesn't work like that. My artist is freakin' phenomenal. She travels the world and tattoo's with the best of the best. She of course was already booked up for my birthday but I went in and talked to her about what I'm looking to get on the day however. We have the 24th set up. I have her all day! We're going to just go for it until I can't take anymore pain. =)

Okay, I'm too tired for anything more. Dropping The Man off at the airport at 4am totally threw off the rest of the day. Night!



Oh snap! Almost forgot. I want to try to do Thankful Thursday every week. I need to start taking more time looking at what's awesome in my life and stop being so damn negative all the time.

Thankful Thursday: Little Girl's Health

I'm very thankful for the fact that Little Girl is almost 100% back to normal. She's all over Stinky again. Jumping all over the place and crazy demanding. =) Love it.

Here I Am, Rock You Like A Hurricane

Alas, no "date night" last night. The Man ended up working on his laptop while I watched Mooseport (funny!). It was basically like every other night. Except we drank PBR. We only drink on the weekends and when we go out. Since we almost went out, beer!

However last night was crazy in the fact that we got hit with a wicked storm. We've been in this weird warm weather pattern lately. I can't quite remember the last time I had to put on my winter jacket when I went out during the day. And this is NEW ENGLAND in FEBRUARY. The storm last night was still just rain but we also got almost-hurricane-force winds. I was quite nervous.

It's odd. Before the dogs I could have cared less about nasty weather. Thunder, lightening, crazy winds? Whatever. Since I've adopted them however, I seem to have developed some weird energy bond with them. Stinky gets really really nervous during thunder storms. Now I do as well. He hates fireworks. Hey, I do too now! Scary wind? Creep me right the heck out. I had a really hard time falling asleep last night which wasn't helped by Stinky standing outside the bedroom door and whining for, approximately, ever. (The Man refuses to let Stinky in the bedroom because he will whine if kept in a crate, won't stay on a dog bed and tries to push The Man off the bed to share it strictly with me. Booger.)

The storm was just downright narsty. Our neighbor knocked on our door when he was leaving for work (at almost 6am...) to inform us that our fence blew down overnight. While I wasn't too thrilled that I was awoken so early I was actually grateful; four sections of our fence blew down. All of which I can't see from our back door. I don't tend to step outside to go around the corner and scan the perimiter before letting the dogs out, so I would have totally missed the massive gaping holes and Stinky at least, would have been looooooong gone before I noticed anything amiss.

I wonder if/when The Man will be able to fix the fence. It's not the biggest deal ever, but having to bring the dogs out on leashes every time they have to whiz is not something I'm looking forward to long term.

OH. Little Girl update.

We had an appointment to bring her in this morning for a follow up visit. The vet's office had lost it's power because of the storm. Luckily they were able to remove her drain by flashlight regardless. =) They're so good to us there.

Okay, well I think that's it for now. I wonder if I'll get a Date Night tonight?

Good Thoughts Needed to Get Through Today

Of course as soon as I start a blog I get a wicked head cold and had no energy to post for days. I did nothing but lay on the couch with the dogs, watching movies. I should have bought stock in decongestants and tissues.

Feeling a bit better today, which is good. I have too much other things to worry about than the fact that I can't breathe.

Little Girl is under the knife as I type. I'm not nervous of her surgery going bad but I am worried about what her lump is going to end up being. When the vet first looked at her she thought it could be a hernia or a fatty tumor. In the two months since then it's almost doubled in size. I'm terrified that it's a breast tumor.

In September I lost a dog. I had adopted her and knew that she was already 10 years old but I figured that since she was small that she'd be around for at least a couple more years. I was aiming for 14 or so. Just over a year later she started getting sick. It took us two (very expensive) months to find out that she had a brain tumor and there was nothing we could do. We kept her drugged up and comfortable but it got to the point where she couldn't walk or go to the bathroom on her own, so we made the decision to put her to sleep. Two months after that was when Little Girl joined us.

I'm hoping beyond hope that her lump is something benign and/or easily fixable. I don't know that The Man is the kind of guy to go for chemo for a dog. Especially since the last girl cost us so much just a few months ago. He's a champ just for letting me get these unwanted fluff balls in the first place. He keeps saying "Nothing else until we buy a home." and then, "Aw, look Honey! Look how adorable! He/She neeeeeeds a home and a faaaaaamily!"

And heaven forbid if I evoke the name of the grandbaby. "Junior would LOVE him/her!" I'm bad. >=)

Speaking of The Man. His flight arrives at 2pm. I feel guilty. Because of my sickness the house is TRASHED. I'm working on getting up my energy to clean a bit, I'm doing laundry at least. I know how much it sucks to come home to a nasty house but I have a legitimate excuse! In fact, I would call him to leave sniffily, coughy, gravely messages whining that I had no one to make me tea.

Serves him right for going away on business.

Okay, well... Talking about The Man coming home to a nastay house has actually motivated me a bit. Off to do the dishes and... Hmmm... Maybe vacuum? I think I can handle that.

** 5:30pm Update **

Little Girl just arrived home after her "adventure". What's the verdict? The lump was just a massive inguinal hernia! This is the best possibly outcome that could have happened today! That NEVER happens to me. She's obviously way out of it. Between the spaying and the hernia repair she was under anesthesia for 3 hours! That's a lot for a 17 pound critter. The hernia repair left such a large subcutaneous wound that she had to end up with a drain, which we weren't expecting. That should be fun. She'll be getting it out on Friday but until then I get to try to keep her off anything stain-able... OH, and I also had asked them to take a quick look at her teeth because her breath was RANK. Surprise of surprises they found a fractured and rotting tooth in the back of her mouth. They said they probably wouldn't have found it unless she had been asleep. It would have caused some problems later on so it was awesome that we found it today.

So anyways. Good news all around. She's on pain med and antibiotics. Another vet visit on Friday. Need to keep her from moving around much, which won't be easy when all these meds wear off!