FOUND

She was located several blocks away this evening. She was missing her collar and tags, but seems otherwise unscathed!! Happy day!!

MISSING

Last night at around 9:30, Daisy went missing off of our front porch. She had been outside for less than 10 minutes on her lead to go potty. She should still have her green collar with her pink heart ID tag on that has her name and our contact information. I have placed a missing dog ad in the Herald Dispatch and with Little Victories. I was able to place a missing dog ad on Petfinders (our local animal shelter uses that service to show the pets they have available). I have a huge gripe about our local shelter. I called yesterday to report that our local deviants had returned to their rental house with the pit bulls that were removed from them on the 18th of the month. I called no less than a dozen times and there was NO ANSWER.... not even an answering machine. Later in the afternoon, it was necessary to call 911 to report the unmuzzled pooches were out of the crates and walking about again. When they paged animal control and I finally spoke with someone, I was told the "owners" had come in to claim three out of the four dogs that were removed. WTF?!! No one from animal control came by that I am aware of. Definitely not in the time frame needed to get those dogs back into reasonable custody. Now understand that I have nothing against the breed of dog, but these idiots were keeping them in crowded conditions and manufacturing drugs to boot... it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know they were not given the best life. I'd like someone to explain to me why I have to call 911 to get a response from animal control before 5 o'clock. Why is there no hotline, no answering machine, no anything? If those dogs had been attacking someone, or if there was a true animal control emergency, what then? I would have to call 911 and get a response by phone more than a half hour later??? And to beat the band, now that I am trying to report my own sweet puppy missing, there is still no answer.... NO ANSWER. I cannot even check to see if anyone brought her in to their office, because no one can be reached...

If you see Daisy, please let me know. We love her and miss her and would like to have her back before we go on vacation. Thank you.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

The plague has been making its way slowly round our neighborhood. I thought we had dodged the bullet of sickness for the winter, until Aurelia developed a 104 fever a while back. She rallied after a few days of reclining on the couch in fevered Victorian fashion, with her pale white skin and her fluttery movements to indicate her needs. The following weekend, I developed some sort of head cold thing that fortunately lasted just a little while. Aurelia then fell back into her sickbed. Daniel followed suit after dropping a padlock on Aurelia's head in our back playroom. Apparently he caught the attention of good ol' karma. I think everyone is on the mend, but both are still home with Ted today. It strikes me that each time the children get sick, Ted and I develop the stomach whirlies. Not sickness, but we are tensed and ready for getting our fair share of the pukes, which by default makes us a little queasy. It's raining today, and that makes it just a little harder to find that peaceful sunny spot in my soul that reminds me how fortunate we are and thankful we should be. But I am determined to find that spot, bask in my good life, and come away at the end of the day with a sunny disposition... rain and sickness, be damned!

Silly Rabbit

Each evening on my way to bed, I stop in to check on the little ones. I usually turn off Aurelia's fake fish tank, resituate her blankets, and brush the hair out of her face. Daniel usually reads at bedtime, so I turn off his lamp and move the stack of pillows from under his head. Last night, as I moved the pillows, he started talking. Most of it was unintelligible, but I caught "changing into the Earth/dirt." Not sure if he was awake, I said "Huh?"... He shifted in the bed... and then mumbled for 30 seconds about.........chipmunks. That was the only clear word I caught, but it was repeated over and over. I have never laughed so hard, so silently, for fear of waking him. When I told him about it this morning, on the way to school, I wished I could bottle up that laugh he has!!

The day has come

Anyone who has known me for very long will know that this is something I never thought I would say........ "Can you help find a cheerleading class/group?"

Now there is nothing wrong with cheerleading, but I have never been girly. NEVER....

My daughter, on the other hand, was born with a powder puff in one hand and pom pom in the other.....

Spaghetti Dinner and Book Fair

My son's school has an annual spaghetti dinner and book fair. I applaud the resourcefulness of raising money this way, but I personally despise spaghetti. If they had pizza, I would be in like Flynn, but spaghetti makes me gag a little just thinking about it. My son likes spaghetti at home, but at school he just eats the noodles plain... even grosser. And the book fair that accompanies this dinner gives me pause. The term "book fair" to me means that there should be books, not junk erasers, high dollar toys, light up pens, scented pencil sharpeners, etc... I have to tell my son every time they gear up to sell him these things that the money I have provided is to be used for books only. He pouts, I pout, we gnash teeth.. and generally I find some piece of dollar store junk stashed in his back pack anyway... OR a book about farts, a book with a toy on it, a book about the most annoying cartoon character currently in fad. WHY must we need to tell the children to only buy books? WHY can't the book fair JUST be books? I really think it isn't that much to ask...