Shadow's Big 10

January 24, 2008 was Shadow's 10th birthday. She's been with me all her life. It did take me 3 months to convince my parents to let me bring her home, but my brother and I knew that they would cave so he let her stay at his house until my parents agreed. I taught her to sit and fetch before she even came home with me. And she got her name because, while still a pup, she was afraid of the woods and would literally stay in your shadow whenever you'd get close to them. And she'd whine until you came back. Now, however, it's quite difficult to even get her to come OUT of the woods. She's a natural hunter...we just never taught her how to hunt human style :)

Anyway, so on her birthday, we bought her a biscuit bone that said Happy Birthday on it, written in some kind of yogurt icing. She was very happy. Onyx had to have something too, so he got some cheesy empanada type things. Here is a picture of them enjoying their goodies.


You'll notice there are no other doggie friends around. That's because Shadow is anti-social with other animals. It's amazing that she even took to Onyx, but I guess that just means it was meant to be. So, Shadow only socializes with other animals under CLOSE supervision or through fences. But I think she likes Onyx's company.

Dooks & Dances

Worn out and tired

You'll notice that I'm making a couple of different posts today. I have run out of free time to do things like this so have to cram it all into the same day.

On top of trying to post to my blog and update the 3 webpages I keep up, I also am having to clean house, wash tons of laundry and worry about not getting enough sleep. I feel like a new mom with no time to myself. (No comments please about me not having skin kids as I don't see them in my future and I don't need or want to hear it anymore.)

I had been working 3 days a week, 9 am to 6:30 pm. This week I worked 6 days and hit some good overtime. We had to fire one of the guys at work because he wasn't reliable and that means that now I have to pick up some major slack. This really is fine because Adrian and I plan to have our credit cards paid off this year and the extra money will be extremely helpful. So I'm really not complaining. So, I now cram 4 days of work and play into 2 days.

Also, our cars are getting pretty old and are not handling long drives very well anymore. My car needs a new transmission ($2000) and front struts, brakes and other things that go along with that ($1400). Fortunately, a friend of ours is going to get the brake parts handled for about $200 less than the mechanics wanted to charge us. Thank God for small miracles and wonderful friends. This still means our monthly trips to Atlanta are cancelled until further notice. So I will not get to see my friends as much and will have to stick to communicating via phone and email.

Adrian's car is still working okay. We've had 3 flat tires in less than 6 months, one of them was the spare. So we have 2 tires that are less than 3 years old, 2 tires less than 6 months old, and no spare at the moment. His car also burns oil and constantly is thirsty. Most of the dash lights and gauges are out, so we have to be very careful.

We could use a few more miracles this year as our house seems to also need new windows. Fortunately, we have lots of blankets and the kids have lots of fur to keep warm. And when it warms up, hopefully our air conditioner will still work.

Lupi is an old man of 8 years. For a ferret, that's awesome. He's having some issues, but seems to be handling them okay. He gets his daily meds and twice daily gravy. He also has to get frequent baths as he tends to poop everywhere.

Shadow is getting old too. She just had her 10th birthday yesterday. Shadow is our female dog for anyone who doesn't know. She's been with me all her life. We had to work yesterday, so we stopped at Fetch Dog Treats and got her a birthday biscuit bone. Onyx got some treats too, but we only really fussed over Shadow. Don't worry, we did the same for Onyx on his birthday :) Onyx didn't seem to mind though because he got some cheddar biscuits. Onyx turned 11 back in October.

I am hoping to get a job working part time at a dog kennel. I actually applied on December 31st. I knew no one would be hiring as it is the slow time for kennels, but it's a good idea to get the application in before anyone else. Also, they all seemed very excited to find out info about me such as my experience in a kennel previously as well as all the animals I currently live with. One place even gave me a tour of the kennel and introduced me to everyone. They said they'd call me in February, but I plan to call them by the end of the first week in February if I haven't heard back. I would be taking care of the animals (dogs and cats mainly, but they board anything that anyone brings to them including snakes and other critters). I would be giving baths and cleaning cages and runs. That may not sound like much fun to anyone, but I really enjoyed it. I do it everyday at home anyway, why not get paid for it? I'm a glorified pooper scooper LOL Plus, I get to play with all the different dogs. It's a perfect job for me.

I will still work part time at ComputerOne as there are a few things that only I know how to do and no one sticks around long enough to learn them (except Adrian). So I'll stick around there for a little while.

Dooks & Dances

Marley & Me

I'm sure by now, most everyone has at least heard of 'Marley & Me'. I read the book first then watched the movie. I cried during both.

The book was better. The movie left out some very important parts from the book that really gave background to the entire story. So, as good as the movie was, the book is way better...read the book.

4 things the movie left out that they should not have left out:
1. John's childhood dog, the dog he compared every future dog to because his first dog was the world's best dog. This also includes how he chose his first dog, and how they made sure Marley was the right dog.
2. How Marley got his name. John and Jenny named him at the same time while arguing and listening to Bob Marley music. Big thing in my book.
3. John and Marley's toboggan ride...very important!
4. Marley's illness and death, including the monument that John built for him.

There were lots of other little things, and even a few more big ones, but these really upset me that they were left out. These were very important in the life and death of Marley, and the relationship he had with John and his family.

I'm just going to say one more thing...

READ THE BOOK!

Dooks & Dances

Ugly Cars

Not sure why, but I wanted to share my idea of ugly cars. This is only my opinion and may not be shared by others...but this is my blog and I'll post what I want. If you don't like it, please read someone else's blog.

Adrian and I went on a bike ride up to the corner and while he was buying a newspaper, I was waiting outside. I literally felt this car roll closer and closer. I mean, the crappy music they were playing was thumping so loud that I could literally feel it vibrating through the ground. This picture was actually taken from 3 lanes and a parking lot away (I had to zoom in as best I could, I only had my phone).



Now, I hate it when I pull up to a red light and someone pulls up anywhere next to me and their music is so loud that my windows rattle. That is just ridiculous, rude and inappropriate. It's especially annoying when they have small children in the car...no wonder no one can hear anymore.

And it's amazing what people think is cool when it comes to cars. This car, in my opinion, is not cool, not pretty, and should be scrapped for parts!

A