Of Poodles and Puppies....

The house was too quiet on Thursday...I'm so used to the background noises of our two dogs. The sound of their nails on the linoleum, the sound of their breathing as they lay by my feet as I worked, the sounds of them asking to be let outside. I knew I couldn't take much more of being in an empty house. Yes, we have 3 wonderful cats, who will climb on your lap at the slightest provocation to be pet.....but it's not the same. So we had a family conferance to decide what we wanted in our next dog. Matt didn't really have a preferance. Sara wanted a poodle (a black one..or if we couldn't find a black one she wanted a pink one)..I really hadn't put much thought into it, but the more I considered the idea, the more I could see myself enjoying a poodle. I knew I wanted a rescue dog, so I got on petfinder.com and looked to see what was out there. We were in luck (kind of)..there was a miniature poodle only 3.5 hours from us. So I rented a car and at 5:30 Friday morning I headed off to get our new dog. It's funny how fate works. Yes, the shelter had our poodle..however, he had some sort of liver problem, which meant he had to be on medication everyday for the rest of his life. That's just not something I felt I could deal with right now. Looking around, I found they also had a large selection of chihuahuas/pomeranians from a hoarder/breeder they had confisacted a few months ago. There was a lovely little longhaired chihuahua that I seriously considered...but looking at him just reminded me of Snort, and I couldn't handle that right now, either. Eventually, I settled on a lovely little girl named Ladybird.

http://www.petshealth.com/dr_library/antifreeze.html

Please read and remember the symptoms, it may save your dog's life. Unfortunately it is too late for us, as we lost both our dogs yesterday when they got out of the fenced yard and into someone's garbage. I am completely numb at this point, having spent the last 16 hours in hysterics. I think I may try to sleep.

Just a few random thoughts that I want to jot down before the washing machine goes off:

I recieved the heart beads from my Love is in the Air exchange on WetCanvass the other day...they are wonderful! I recieved this one heat pendant that I just HAVE to make into a necklace...the colors are amazing (this necklace I'll keep for myself :-) ).

It was SUCH a windy day today, I went out to get the garbage cans to bring them in (it's trash day) and they are gone! I walked up and down my street, but can't find them anywhere!

I saw this website in readers digest: http://upsidedowndogs.com/ perfect for someone who needs a good chuckle.

It was a long weekend, full of drama...however, everything seems to have calmed down AND we found a car. It's a mercury sable wagon, only 55k miles on it. It will be nice to have a wagon again, they are so conveniant for trips to NY, camping, and taking the dogs for trips!

I'm excited to watch the westminster dog show tonight..I used to tape it religiously when I was younger, and for the past few years I've just been too busy and missed it. Sara loves to watch the dogs on TV, too (though she gets VERY bored VERY fast at the actual shows, which is why I will be going alone to any shows this year, just so I can sit and enjoy myself).

This saturday is valentine's day. Matt and I have a nice little dinner planned. Sara is going to spend the evening at nannies. We've decided to stay home, instead of a dinner and movie out. Matt's going to cook dinner (something he does about twice a year lol). I'll be doing dessert (have to think of what to make). We're going to rent a movie, and just enjoy a quiet night, just the two of us.

It was a beautiful day yesterday, reached the upper 50's. the dogs loved the weather, and spent a good time outside (tracking mud EVERYWHERE I might add). eh, but that's the way it goes in spring I guess. A little mud from dags and kids isn't going to kill anything.

Well, I found out Friday that our poor ford focus needs more repair work than it's worth. So, we find ourselves in need of a new car. We went out car shopping on saturday, but didn't find anything but a salesman willing to sell us a 9 year old car for 3x it's kelly blue book value ><. We're going to do some more searching this week, but we only have Matt's aunt's car till Sunday, we pretty much need wheels by then.

Since I spent all weekend trying to find a car, I find myself here on monday afternoon with a houseful of laundry, dishes, and cleaning to do. Sigh, I worked last night so I didn;t get started on it all till about 2. Have to work tonight, too..but I have the reast of the week off, so I'll be able to buckle down and get some housework done.

I'm still tossing around ideas for the winter bead exchance I signed up for. Matt suggested snowmen, which I thought was a great idea, until I saw my stock of white glass...maybe pale blue snowmen? I could take the easy way out and just do an abstract bead of winter-y colors, but I do a lot of abstract beads (I just LOVE mixing some colors and watching the glass swirl and melt). But the whole point of signing up for these exchanges (at least for me) is to stretch my creativity and try new stuff. And I STILL have to get my new jewelry photographed and up on my etsy store. If only I had a few more hours in each day.