So for the past several days my wonderful husband has been on vacation. Doesn't that sound terrific? Yeah, you'd think so! lol, Just Kidding! Sorta...
While I love my hubby to death, going from spending 2 or 3 hours a day together to spending 200+ straight hours with him = *driving me crazy* haha.
But really, we've had a pretty good time so far! We kicked it off Friday night by going to see Robin Hood while my mom watched Brooke.
Saturday morning we had a reception for our darling daughter because she won a photo contest for her age category! :) There are 16 winners who each get $50 savings bond, and they draw a name for one of them to win a $3000 savings bond. Brooke didn't win this year, but I'm sure that she'll win for her age group again in the future so maybe she can pay for her college before kindergarten! haha After that we stopped by the UPS softball tournament and saw Uncle Josh and some others from the Jax Hub, and then had lunch with Grandma, Paw Paw and Uncle Josh before coming back home and cooling down!
Sunday was our usual coupon-crazy day, with us picking up our papers before church, hitting a Walgreens and then sorting the coupon inserts. Sunday school and church, followed by lunch (which was very low key because it was just Mom, Mitch, Brooke and me). Then we once again left Brooke with my mom (a new Sunday tradition) while Mitch and I went to 2 CVSs and 2 Walgreens to stock up on our free stuff (or money makers which we had this week! CVS was giving us $8 back when we spent $4 on 2 things of body wash...cha ching! lol) Then I went back to church and worked in the nursery.
Monday was pretty low key, just trying to get the house cleaned up and organized so that we could try to start leaving Tama out in the house...update on that a little later...
Tuesday we headed out of the house around 2, leaving Tama out in the house, and ran errands for several hours. Including going to Walgreens and getting over $100 worth of stuff (including printer ink and 2 packs of diapers) for all of $6! Even though the cashier tried to tell us that some of our coupons were fake! lol. I seriously did NOT feel bad about calling her manager over and getting it fixed, because she was just hating! haha. Then we had dinner at Whitey's Fish Camp with our sweet friends Kris and Marie and Kris's Dad and his girlfriend. It was such a good time! We really like Kris's dad a lot, and love getting to see him when he's in town! And he even bought our dinner which was so not necessary, but such a sweet thing for him to do! We didn't get home until after 10 and Tama had done WONDERFULLY!! No accidents, nothing torn up and she seemed happy, so we were very happy about that!
I will update about the second half of his vaca when its done! :) Happy Friday everyone!
Showing posts with label Dog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dog. Show all posts
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Goodbye to a Best Friend
People always say that dogs are a man's best friend. Well in so many ways that was true for me and Toby.
We got Toby shortly after we got married, and immediately he made me feel better. Mitchell was working nights, leaving around 12 am and not returning until 3 or 4 pm each day. I was 20 years old, living in a new neighborhood, 35 miles from my closest friend or family member. Every noise or creak made me jump. I remember calling Mitch several times, just because I was to scared to sleep. That changed when we got Toby. I know it sounds dumb since he weighed all of like 5 lbs, but just knowing I wasn't alone was huge.
He was just the cutest thing that you had ever seen and as sweet as can be. (to me at least). He was 12 weeks old when we brought him home and he grew as our marriage did. He was a very high strung dog, but I loved him SOO much! Everyone always made fun of me for how much I love him and how I treated him like a baby and not a dog, but that was fine with me.
A year and a half ago we brought home Tama. Thinking we weren't going to have kids for another year or two, (haha!) we thought that she would be a good play mate for Toby. And boy did they play! We brought home a very calm dog and she turned into a very hyper one! And surprise of surprises, Toby became the calmer one!
From the time we brought him home, he had slept in between me and Mitch at night (originally so that he couldn't jump off the bed and use the bathroom without us knowing, but it stuck). All you have to do is climb into bed, and Toby is there at the top of the bed, you pull up the covers and he goes underneath them. He curls up in a ball and goes to sleep. About 15 to 30 minutes later, with out fail, he starts scooting up the bed until his head is on the pillow and he's laying straight with his back to one of us and his paws stretched out "stabbing" the other (as Mitch likes to put it). I'm going to miss that most of all. I know it sounds stupid, but its comforting to wake up to someone on the pillow next to you, even if it can't always be your husband. Anyway, we worried (or at least I did) that Tama would get jealous, and/or want to sleep there too and quite frankly we can't fit another 50 lb dog between us in our current bed without someone hitting the floor! But it worked out because Tama likes the foot of the bed. Originally on top of the covers, but she's slowly becoming an 'under the covers' dog!
Almost a year ago, while on bedrest, my mom spent several days in a row up here at my house taking care of me. Obviously, the dogs couldn't spend the entire day in their cages, so she had to get used to them being out. Jokingly she asked "How could you love such a dumb and ugly dog?" (Because he had just done something very dumb). Normally I would just laugh off such a comment, but being pregnant and hormonal, I started crying. I said "I know you don't understand it but I really love him!" My mom came over and apologized and put into words what I never quite could. She said "I know you do honey, Toby was the only friend you had up here for a long time and I know he means a lot to you". And in that moment I got it. That was what it was. I had moved to a place where I didn't know anyone and my husband was gone 15 hours a day and sleeping 8, leaving all of one hour for me to interact with him. The rest of the time I was here alone. Toby was my friend. He let me hold him when I cried myself to sleep because Mitch was gone at work. He snuggled up with me on the couch so that I didn't feel alone while watching tv. He would walk around the kitchen (begging) while I cooked or did dishes and I talked to him like I would a person. While I have friends, I don't really have any talk to every day kind of friends because we've all gotten so busy. Toby was that for me.
Today I put him outside on the chain, like we do multiple times a day. He and Tama were playing and barking, digging and relaxing and I thought nothing of it. When I went to the door to bring them in, Toby had tangled himself up in the chain. He was gone. And while I know that he was 'just' a dog, to me he was much more than that. He was like my best friend, one who was always there for me and who loved me unconditionally. In my head I know it was an accident and it was probably going to happen regardless of my actions, but I still feel like he deserved better from me. Unlike parents, grandparents or (human) friends, I know I will never see Toby again. I know he'll never know my feelings for him because he had no soul, so even though he can't hear or know this, I will say it anyway...
I love you Toby, and I always will. You will never be forgotten and I am so sorry that this happened. I would do anything to change it. You were a wonderful dog and I will miss you dearly.
We got Toby shortly after we got married, and immediately he made me feel better. Mitchell was working nights, leaving around 12 am and not returning until 3 or 4 pm each day. I was 20 years old, living in a new neighborhood, 35 miles from my closest friend or family member. Every noise or creak made me jump. I remember calling Mitch several times, just because I was to scared to sleep. That changed when we got Toby. I know it sounds dumb since he weighed all of like 5 lbs, but just knowing I wasn't alone was huge.
He was just the cutest thing that you had ever seen and as sweet as can be. (to me at least). He was 12 weeks old when we brought him home and he grew as our marriage did. He was a very high strung dog, but I loved him SOO much! Everyone always made fun of me for how much I love him and how I treated him like a baby and not a dog, but that was fine with me.
A year and a half ago we brought home Tama. Thinking we weren't going to have kids for another year or two, (haha!) we thought that she would be a good play mate for Toby. And boy did they play! We brought home a very calm dog and she turned into a very hyper one! And surprise of surprises, Toby became the calmer one!
From the time we brought him home, he had slept in between me and Mitch at night (originally so that he couldn't jump off the bed and use the bathroom without us knowing, but it stuck). All you have to do is climb into bed, and Toby is there at the top of the bed, you pull up the covers and he goes underneath them. He curls up in a ball and goes to sleep. About 15 to 30 minutes later, with out fail, he starts scooting up the bed until his head is on the pillow and he's laying straight with his back to one of us and his paws stretched out "stabbing" the other (as Mitch likes to put it). I'm going to miss that most of all. I know it sounds stupid, but its comforting to wake up to someone on the pillow next to you, even if it can't always be your husband. Anyway, we worried (or at least I did) that Tama would get jealous, and/or want to sleep there too and quite frankly we can't fit another 50 lb dog between us in our current bed without someone hitting the floor! But it worked out because Tama likes the foot of the bed. Originally on top of the covers, but she's slowly becoming an 'under the covers' dog!
Almost a year ago, while on bedrest, my mom spent several days in a row up here at my house taking care of me. Obviously, the dogs couldn't spend the entire day in their cages, so she had to get used to them being out. Jokingly she asked "How could you love such a dumb and ugly dog?" (Because he had just done something very dumb). Normally I would just laugh off such a comment, but being pregnant and hormonal, I started crying. I said "I know you don't understand it but I really love him!" My mom came over and apologized and put into words what I never quite could. She said "I know you do honey, Toby was the only friend you had up here for a long time and I know he means a lot to you". And in that moment I got it. That was what it was. I had moved to a place where I didn't know anyone and my husband was gone 15 hours a day and sleeping 8, leaving all of one hour for me to interact with him. The rest of the time I was here alone. Toby was my friend. He let me hold him when I cried myself to sleep because Mitch was gone at work. He snuggled up with me on the couch so that I didn't feel alone while watching tv. He would walk around the kitchen (begging) while I cooked or did dishes and I talked to him like I would a person. While I have friends, I don't really have any talk to every day kind of friends because we've all gotten so busy. Toby was that for me.
Today I put him outside on the chain, like we do multiple times a day. He and Tama were playing and barking, digging and relaxing and I thought nothing of it. When I went to the door to bring them in, Toby had tangled himself up in the chain. He was gone. And while I know that he was 'just' a dog, to me he was much more than that. He was like my best friend, one who was always there for me and who loved me unconditionally. In my head I know it was an accident and it was probably going to happen regardless of my actions, but I still feel like he deserved better from me. Unlike parents, grandparents or (human) friends, I know I will never see Toby again. I know he'll never know my feelings for him because he had no soul, so even though he can't hear or know this, I will say it anyway...
I love you Toby, and I always will. You will never be forgotten and I am so sorry that this happened. I would do anything to change it. You were a wonderful dog and I will miss you dearly.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
What a weekend....
So today is Tuesday, February 17th. Mine and Mitchell's second wedding anniversary. :) We both worked today and won't celebrate until this coming weekend but its exciting none the less.
This past weekend, we were supposed to start doing our baby shopping (ie doing some comparing of prices and narrowing down our preferences) but we found out on Thursday that my family was giving my uncle a birthday party in Lakeland, so we stayed home all morning, drove down there at noon, and got to the party around 5. My cousins had been cooking all day and the food was GREAT! We spent a few hours eating and visiting with my family that I don't get to see that often. It was really nice. Every family member seemed to come up to me and say the same thing "So I heard you're going to be a mom! Congratulations, we're so happy for you!" lol. It was really nice. We didn't get home until midnight and we were soo tired. When we tried to go to bed, Casey (the dog we're dog-sitting) decided she didn't want to sleep and stayed up barking most of the night. She and Mitch were in the other room so he got almost no sleep and therefore didn't go to church with me on Sunday. :(
I had lunch with my family after church. When I went home Mitch was just getting up. We watched tv together for a couple of hours. Nicole, Mitch's coworker, called and said that she wanted to have dinner with us, so we met her at the Japanese Steakhouse and ate with her and her kids. (Her husband was on duty all day.... I think she was craving some adult interaction! lol).
Yesterday, my sister in law came up to my work to see me. She brought the girls (my nieces) up also, and they were sooo cute! :) It was great to see them. Now I have some cleaning to do and I really don't want to! haha! We have Casey until tomorrow afternoon. Hope it goes well! :)
This past weekend, we were supposed to start doing our baby shopping (ie doing some comparing of prices and narrowing down our preferences) but we found out on Thursday that my family was giving my uncle a birthday party in Lakeland, so we stayed home all morning, drove down there at noon, and got to the party around 5. My cousins had been cooking all day and the food was GREAT! We spent a few hours eating and visiting with my family that I don't get to see that often. It was really nice. Every family member seemed to come up to me and say the same thing "So I heard you're going to be a mom! Congratulations, we're so happy for you!" lol. It was really nice. We didn't get home until midnight and we were soo tired. When we tried to go to bed, Casey (the dog we're dog-sitting) decided she didn't want to sleep and stayed up barking most of the night. She and Mitch were in the other room so he got almost no sleep and therefore didn't go to church with me on Sunday. :(
I had lunch with my family after church. When I went home Mitch was just getting up. We watched tv together for a couple of hours. Nicole, Mitch's coworker, called and said that she wanted to have dinner with us, so we met her at the Japanese Steakhouse and ate with her and her kids. (Her husband was on duty all day.... I think she was craving some adult interaction! lol).
Yesterday, my sister in law came up to my work to see me. She brought the girls (my nieces) up also, and they were sooo cute! :) It was great to see them. Now I have some cleaning to do and I really don't want to! haha! We have Casey until tomorrow afternoon. Hope it goes well! :)
Friday, February 13, 2009
One of those days....
So yesterday seemed to go by so slowly that I couldn't wait to get out of work. I went to the gym after work and spent 20 minutes doing cardio before my yoga/pilaties class started. By the time I left the gym I was nice and energized (or tired, those mean the same right?). I came home and cleaned because this afternoon through Wednesday, we are dog sitting. I had dinner with my parents and then Mitch came home and we went to bed.
The dogs were being good but then we remembered that I hadn't made Mitch's lunch yet, so we got up to do that, and when we went back to bed, the dogs didn't want to lay down. But after a few minutes, Toby got with the program and laid down between Mitch and me. Tama however didn't seem to want to cooperate. So I put her in her cage. About an hour later (11:00 PM) She started barking. Like a lot. This woke Toby and he got out of the bed. I tried to leave the bedroom while leaving Toby in the bedroom, but he ran between my legs and straight to the kitchen (where the cages are). I let Tama out of her cage and she went to the sliding glass doors as if she needed to go outside. I put their leashes on them and opened the door. Toby ran so hard that he pulled his leash out of my hand, resulting in me (in my underware) having to run like 5 steps out my back door to pick it up. I looked around and didn't see any reason for him to act that way. I tried pulling them both inside, and Tama wouldn't come. She was just standing on the back porch, when this little dockson came walking up.
I now understood why Tama had been barking and why Toby had run so hard out the door, but that didn't help any. I knew who this dog was because it is the third time that he's shown up on my back porch in the middle of the night. The other two times were on nights that were colder than 45 degrees. His house is about a mile from mine on the other side of the neighborhood. So when Tama came inside, so did Bailey. I was so mad because, obviously, my two dogs were not going to calm down anytime soon, especially while Bailey was anywhere close. By this time its almost midnight. I grabbed my robe, and got in the car with all three dogs, and with out my glasses and drove to Bailey's house. I stood on thier front porch for 15 minutes ringing thier doorbell and knocking, but no one came. I came home and had to put both Tama and Toby in thier cages, and Bailey in the front bathroom. I then attempted to go back to sleep, which didn't happen for almost 2 hours because the dogs were wining, barking and otherwise making noise.
I again tried to return Bailey this morning, to no avail. So I sit here now, with three dogs and have to leave for work soon. As soon as I get off work, the Allens are droping off Casey (an 80 pound Golden Retreiver) which will bring my grand total to four. I might actually go crazy before today is over. The earliest that I can attempt to return Bailey again is 6, when I get back from driving the Allens to the airport. Lets just say that I have a few choice words for Bailey's owners, because they don't have a fenced in yard, but they have one of those invisible fences, but they don't keep the collar on Bailey except when they take him outside. What happens is that they open the door to go out, he slips outside (without the collar) and takes off running. Instead of going after him, they let him go and wait for him to come back. If it happens right before bed, they just go to bed and leave him out all night. My problem is that they do this on nights that are colder than 45 degrees, so little Bailey walks the mile to my house and stands outside wining until my dogs hear him, wake up, wake me up and we let him in, and then I'm the one up in the middle of the night while they are sleeping tight. GRRRRR....I don't need this stress while I'm pregnant!
The dogs were being good but then we remembered that I hadn't made Mitch's lunch yet, so we got up to do that, and when we went back to bed, the dogs didn't want to lay down. But after a few minutes, Toby got with the program and laid down between Mitch and me. Tama however didn't seem to want to cooperate. So I put her in her cage. About an hour later (11:00 PM) She started barking. Like a lot. This woke Toby and he got out of the bed. I tried to leave the bedroom while leaving Toby in the bedroom, but he ran between my legs and straight to the kitchen (where the cages are). I let Tama out of her cage and she went to the sliding glass doors as if she needed to go outside. I put their leashes on them and opened the door. Toby ran so hard that he pulled his leash out of my hand, resulting in me (in my underware) having to run like 5 steps out my back door to pick it up. I looked around and didn't see any reason for him to act that way. I tried pulling them both inside, and Tama wouldn't come. She was just standing on the back porch, when this little dockson came walking up.
I now understood why Tama had been barking and why Toby had run so hard out the door, but that didn't help any. I knew who this dog was because it is the third time that he's shown up on my back porch in the middle of the night. The other two times were on nights that were colder than 45 degrees. His house is about a mile from mine on the other side of the neighborhood. So when Tama came inside, so did Bailey. I was so mad because, obviously, my two dogs were not going to calm down anytime soon, especially while Bailey was anywhere close. By this time its almost midnight. I grabbed my robe, and got in the car with all three dogs, and with out my glasses and drove to Bailey's house. I stood on thier front porch for 15 minutes ringing thier doorbell and knocking, but no one came. I came home and had to put both Tama and Toby in thier cages, and Bailey in the front bathroom. I then attempted to go back to sleep, which didn't happen for almost 2 hours because the dogs were wining, barking and otherwise making noise.
I again tried to return Bailey this morning, to no avail. So I sit here now, with three dogs and have to leave for work soon. As soon as I get off work, the Allens are droping off Casey (an 80 pound Golden Retreiver) which will bring my grand total to four. I might actually go crazy before today is over. The earliest that I can attempt to return Bailey again is 6, when I get back from driving the Allens to the airport. Lets just say that I have a few choice words for Bailey's owners, because they don't have a fenced in yard, but they have one of those invisible fences, but they don't keep the collar on Bailey except when they take him outside. What happens is that they open the door to go out, he slips outside (without the collar) and takes off running. Instead of going after him, they let him go and wait for him to come back. If it happens right before bed, they just go to bed and leave him out all night. My problem is that they do this on nights that are colder than 45 degrees, so little Bailey walks the mile to my house and stands outside wining until my dogs hear him, wake up, wake me up and we let him in, and then I'm the one up in the middle of the night while they are sleeping tight. GRRRRR....I don't need this stress while I'm pregnant!
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