Josh is officially old!

Josh turned 30 this past Friday and yesterday we celebrated his birthday. We had intended to go down to Lipsky's for their Jamaican cookout and although we started out down there, the weather was awful - cold and rainy - so we headed back our house not longer after we got to Lipsky's. Which turned out to be much more fun - hanging in our warm garage with our family and friends! We saw several friends that we haven't seen in months or years and our usual crew that we see all the time. Had lots of fun, telling stories, drinking and just enjoying each other's company. It was the perfect way to celebrate Josh's birthday.

Long overdue update

Time for a long overdue update! Can't believe I haven't blogged since Mother's Day. Yikes! Sometimes life just gets away from me!!

All is well here. Josh and I have been working insane hours for the last couple months. Plus I've just done a couple Tastefully Simple parties this month also. It's always a hectic pace around here.

Diesel is well. I ran him through Intro to Agility class again - just for something to keep him busy because he really enjoyed it. He did well and I'm hoping we'll get to do an advanced agility class soon. He's so very good at agility and you can really see how much he enjoys it when he's running the course! Hopefully we can talk Josh into making him some agility equipment for us to use at home.

Grace is still sassy old Grace. She doesn't do much beyond nap, wander through the yard eating grass and weeds and suck on her sucky! She's a happy old girl - we celebrated her 4th Gotcha Day earlier this month. It's absolutely amazing how far she's come in 4 years. She's still Grace - not fond of humans and I'm sure she'll always be that way, but she's come a VERY long way in 4 years and I'm grateful everyday that she's part of our family.

It's hard to believe that summer is nearly gone. We've been so enjoying the warm weather - there's far too little warm weather in Wisconsin. And before we know it, I'm sure it'll be snowing and we'll be complaining about winter!!

Next month, I'm headed to Kanab, Utah to meet up with a group of girlfriends to volunteer at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary for a few days. I've read and heard so much about Best Friends so I'm really excited to be able to volunteer there and see it first hand.

Happy Mother's Day!

I may not have given birth to them, but I'm no less a mother because I choose to have dogs instead of children. I have been puked on, peed on, pooped on. I have broken up fights between them. I have spent countless hours worrying about them. I have lost sleep when they've been sick. I've gotten up with them in the middle of the night to care for them.

I have also received more love from them than I ever thought I deserved. I have had countless hours of fun with them. I have enjoyed every second of cuddling with them.

And I wouldn't change a single second of it.

My loves and my life:

Diesel:

Grace:

And my beautiful angel, Makayla, who I miss every single day:

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers - of the human and fur kids.

Random Thoughts

Nothing exciting to post, so just thought I'd throw out some random thoughts simply for the sake of posting.

It's March 22 and we're expecting anywhere from 4-10 inches of snow. Apparently, Mother Nature didn't get the memo that it's now spring - she can take her snowstorm and shove it as far as I'm concerned!!

Speaking of snow, it amazes me that we've had 4 or 5 months of snow already and yet people still end up in the ditch because they're driving too fast. Hello, morons, if the roads are snow covered, slow down. Going too fast and ending up in the ditch only means it will take you even longer to get where you were going and will cost you more!!! And tailgating me because you apparently feel I'm driving too slow isn't going to make me go faster. I'm not going to risk my safety because you think I should drive faster. In fact, most times, if you tailgate me, I'm going to go even slower for no reason other than to piss you off!

Waiting to see how much we'll get back for a tax refund this year and then we'll hopefully tackle our next home project - converting the spare bedroom into a mini workout room. Josh would like to get some type of home gym setup (like a Bowflex) and I'd like to get a treadmill. We have this fabulous notion that if we have exercise equipment at home, then we have no reason not to workout - we'll see how that goes!!! Of course, in order to do this, we have to take out the carpet and put in hardwood floor, add another receiver to DirecTV and buy a new TV to put in the workout room because I can't workout without a TV. Then we have to actually buy the exercise equipment. I'd imagine that by the time we're all said and done, we'll be too broke to do anything but workout. So, hmmm, maybe it will be successful after all!!!

Ok, was trying to think of other random thoughts when I just saw a huge lightning strike out the window, followed by two huge thunder booms. It's currently snowing, thundering and lightning all at the same time. Go figure. Oh, Sis must be having a fit in heaven - that girl hates thunderstorms!

I miss Kayla

I miss my Sissy. It's amazing how she had become such a huge part of our daily lives since she got sick. I don't think we really realized how much we had adjusted our lives to revolve around her and caring for her until she was gone. I'm still a little lost without Kayla - caring for her had become my 2nd full time job. And although it's a relief to not have that burden constantly weighing on my mind, it's hard to readjust my life and figure out what normal life is like again.

And I miss the little things about Kayla and I think of her at the strangest times.

I miss how she'd cuddle with me in bed. She'd fit so perfectly curled up against my chest.

I miss having her greet me when I come home from work. She'd damn near throw a ticker tape parade anytime I walked in the door - no one was ever happier to see me than Sis.

I miss her kisses - she was the best kisser.

I miss hearing her tell us when she was irritated with her - she was a loud dog and she'd let out the loudest, longest sigh when she was irritated, it was too funny.

I miss hearing her snore at night - she'd drown out a freight train with her snoring, but I always found it so comforting to hear her snore.

I miss hearing her walking across the kitchen to find me - dragging her back feet. She'd come as fast as she could go and we'd hear her a mile away and say, "Here comes Legs."

I actually miss her having to be in the bathroom with me. She was convinced I couldn't possibly go potty without her licking my left leg!

I miss petting her - she had this extra skin on her neck that I called her neck fat and I always loved petting that and stroking her head and rubbing her smooth belly. I miss kissing her head and looking in her big brown eyes.

I thought of her the other day when we were watching a movie and an eagle screeched. Oh, she HATED that sound - I always had to be on top of my game so I could change the channel as soon as an Oneida commercial came on cuz they always have the eagle screech at the end of the commercial.

I thought of her tonight when I was watching Wheel of Fortune - she always barked at the dinging noise made when the letters appeared.

I'm thankful we have good, happy memories of Kayla. I'm thankful we had 5 1/2 years to be blessed with her. She was a special dog with an amazing spirit. No matter what she had endured for the first 3 years of her life, she eventually overcame all of that and learned to love life and people. She never hesitated to push Diesel out of the way so visitors would pet her instead of him!!!! I learned a lot from Makayla - a lot about life and overcoming obstacles and moving on from the past. She was an amazing creature and I'm absolutely blessed to have been loved by her.

Ahhhh, doggy daycare!

We haven't taken the pugs to daycare much, if at all, since Kayla got sick in late 2009. Today, they had a half off deal for daycare so I figured it was a good excuse to take Diesel and Grace to daycare. And tonight I'm reminded why I so enjoy the days they go to daycare - they came home, ate dinner, went outside to do their business and promptly passed out sound asleep!!! I'm hoping we can get them back to a sort of regular schedule of attending daycare because it really is good for them and they really do enjoy it. And I really enjoy the evening of daycare day because they're so well behaved while they sleep!!

Saying Goodbye

When we adopted Makayla 5 1/2 years ago, she had had a tough start in life and I promised her she would have nothing but the best life for however long she had left. And we've been utterly blessed to have her with us for 5 1/2 years. Over that time, we've laughed and cried and "grrrrrr'd" as she frustrated us. But no matter what, we've always loved her. And she's always loved us.

Her body is giving out - her spirit and spunk could last forever, but her body just isn't going to last. And she's not happy not being independent and able to do things for herself. She's tired - it takes all she has to make it through the days. And that's no way for our special girl to live.

So this weekend we will say goodbye to our Sister. How do we even begin to say goodbye? How do we begin to tell her just how much we love her? Just how much we've enjoyed having her in our lives? How much we're going to miss her? How we'll always remember her? We're going to spend the next several days doing nothing but loving her and cherishing her. And then we're going to do the hardest thing any pet owner can ever do - we're going to let her go and be at peace again. Even though our hearts will hurt, we're going to give her her health back so she can run and jump and climb again. Even though we're going to cry and grieve, it's the most loving thing we can do for her. And knowing she's healthy again will make it just a touch easier for us to live without her.

To our Sister - we love you more than you'll ever know.

44 more days til vacation

This is my mantra - to get through each day, I remind myself of the vacation countdown. In less than 44 days, I will be lounging poolside at Secrets Silversands in Riveria Maya, Mexico!!!!!!!!! It's going to be a week of doing absolutely nothing, sleeping through the night, lounging poolside, maybe doing a little shopping, lots of eating and drinking and most importantly, relaxing and reconnecting with my husband. I. CANNOT. WAIT.

"Normal" dogs

I wonder what people with "normal" dogs do.

You know, those people who don't have to herd the dog outside IMMEDIATELY upon walking in the door before she gets the instant urge to pee and potties on the floor. Those people who don't have to search the house high and low to see where the male dog(s) peed during the day, flipping on the lights in every room and making sure to check their "favorite" marking spots. Those people who don't have to boil chicken and cook rice for their dog's bland diet to resolve their diarrhea. Those people who don't have to have boxes of kleenex strategically placed throughout the house in order to have quick access to them for picking up poop that the girls constantly trail behind them when they walk. Those people who don't need to have a waterproof mattress pad on the bed for when their dog pees on their bed. Those people who don't have to set alarms to remind them of their dog's medication schedule.

You know, those people with "normal" dogs!!!

A Vacation of Volunteering

A large network of pug friends and rescue volunteers/supporters are planning a trip to Best Friends Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. I'm crossing all fingers and paws that this happens for me. I need to save up the money to be able to go and hope that Kayla's health is still stable at the end of August so that I can leave her with Josh for a few days while I indulge myself in a vacation of volunteering at Best Friends. It's a once in a lifetime trip for me and I so hope it works out because I'm really excited thinking about it.

Be sure to check out their website and support their cause. www.bestfriends.org.

Welcome 2011

Well, 2010 is over and 2011 has begun. Here's hoping that 2011 will be a better year in our household.

December was extremely hectic in our house. Josh was working out of town most of the month. I was working overtime every day. We basically were home to sleep and eat and take care of the dogs when we had time. Thankfully my dad is a huge help when we need him to come out during the day to let the dogs out and give them a break from being home alone all day.

It was a tough (and expensive) year in 2010. Kayla is still holding her own. We haven't been using her cart, but I really think we need to implement her cart into her daily life and hopefully that'll make a big difference for her. Grace is doing well - we've got her on a daily pain med regimen that seems to be helping her arthritis in her legs. She's sassy as usual -not sure that'll ever change!! And Diesel is the best ever. He had surgery in early December to remove the remnants of his dew claws since they had started bothering him (and apparently become infected, we learned when they removed them). He also started an intro to agility class in late November. We have our final class on Monday night and he has been so good at agility and had so much fun. He picks up on the equipment quickly, though he still tries to avoid doing the tunnel and tire swing every chance he gets!!! I'm really hoping to continue doing agility with him because he and I have both enjoyed it very much.

That's the year-end wrap up for 2010. We're looking forward to a quieter, healthy 2011. And hope everyone else has a healthy, happy and prosperous new year.