& that's the way life goes » dogs

happy birthday to the youngest furbaby

ria — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:07:28 +0000

Though we’ve only had Stella since May, today is her first birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAN!

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

puppy, puppy love

ria — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:04:14 +0000

So many things I could post about, so many things that are really uninteresting. I finally got my new phone, a Droid X 2. I was going through my photos are found my cute, little puppy Stella.

Stella is now 9 months old looks like this…

She’s smart and a terror. She only cuddles when it suits her. She drives her brothers bonkers and we couldn’t be happier that she is a part of our family.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

2 weeks time

ria — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:20:55 +0000

In the past 2 weeks I’ve…

Interviewed for a position
Finalized the adoption of my 4 month old furbaby
Had a second interview
Accepted the position
Opened the cottage
Took Stella to Lake Huron for the first time
Finally became thoroughly attached to the furbaby. C attaches to animals as soon as they enter our house, I take a bit longer. It is not that I don’t like them or want to take care of them but it takes a little while for me to form a bond. I can pinpoint the exact moment I’d do anything for this puppy. We were sitting by the fire up north and she was inside sleeping on the couch, when C opened the door she barreled out and jumped straight into my lap to cuddle and fall asleep. She is not a needy dog and she loves everyone but in that moment she wanted me.

In the next two weeks I will…

Put in my 2 weeks notice (today)
Celebrate my 4th wedding anniversary
Get my hair did
Resume work on the cottage
Shop for new clothes, for the first time in my life I have to dress in business/business casual attire. I may be freaking out. I own NO dress clothes people. Hold me? Help me?
Buy a new bag – I don’t think my backpack will cut it in a corporate environment. Suggestions?
Attend my sister-in-laws wedding at Greenfield Village
Celebrate my 29th birthday – last year of my 20′s and I’m ok with that (for now). Funny story? Last year I kept thinking I was 28 before I turned 28. This year I feel like I’m turning 28, my brain is broken.
I’m 90% sure I’m getting the Canon T3 for my birthday!!!!!!!!!

There has been a ton going and I’m excited and terrified at the same time. New puppy, new job, new wardrobe. Change, change and change some more. Change is good and I’ve noticed in my life that most of the time all the changes happen at once. Like I said, exciting and terrifying.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

R & R weekends with sunshine

ria — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:54:18 +0000

via postsecret.com

Whenever holidays come around I feel torn about feeling obligated to go to a family gathering or spending quality time with my own little family. I’ll be honest that 8 out of 10 times I choose the quality family time ignoring the disdain of extended family at skipping dinner.

Easter isn’t a holiday that registers with me. I was raised Catholic but I don’t practice and haven’t for some years now. I don’t have kids to take to egg hunts or color eggs with so aside for the Easter candy I don’t have much involvement with it. Instead, C and I ran our errands and picked up a soccer ball. We took the dogs to a near by community college and kicked the ball around for part of the afternoon.

Scooby was too exhausted to even sit up during the ride home

I wish I would have gotten video of Liko with the soccer ball. He would chase it down, running at top speed, and when he tried to stop as he got to it he ended up rolling over the ball. It was entertaining, trust me.

I spent an absurd amount of time watching hockey this weekend too. Every game that was on to be exact, with the exception of Nashville/Anaheim because it wasn’t broadcast on national television.

How was your weekend?

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

about ireland and life right now

ria — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:07:25 +0000

…and I’m back from Ireland. It was really a great experience and made me appreciate where I live. Not because of anything bad happened but leaving your country just makes you appreciate what you left behind. Our next travel adventure will probably be a little more planned with less travel, we were on a train or bus almost every day. 9 days of that can take it’s toll.

The things I’ll miss most about Ireland are the people (seriously, nicest people on earth), the pubs, the beer (All of it: Guinness, Murphy’s, Kilkenny’s, Harp, Carlsberg, Beamish, Smithwicks), the history and the green landscape dotted with sheep and cows.

The "character bar" in Dingle

I’m not the girl that is all “I love beer” I’m more like “meh, it’s ok, I’ll drink it” but seriously REAL beer like the ones I listed above do not give you the bloated, gassy feeling you would get drinking draft Miller Lite and it has taste. I’m just sayin’. I’m in total love with Irish beer and I will be drinking REAL beer as often as possible. But I’m broke must of the time so I guess I’ll have to suck it up and drink crap American beer (Ghettoblaster, not included in the crap American beer comment)

Update: As Dream In Gray pointed out in the comments - Miller is a lager, which accounts for the bloating/gasiness. I guess I’ll just need to stick to stouts, which I feel (and could totally be wrong about) aren’t as popular in bars as Miller and Bud Light.

St Colman's - Cobh

Isn't this gorgeous? I took it myself, I'm impressed lol

Oh! And also the cheese curry fries! (Thanks for the tip Erin!)

I look exhausted because I was - Dinner that night was Curry Cheese Fries from Lennox mmmmmmm

I’m not even sure our dogs missed us. They had so much fun with their Auntie L, she even took them on walks almost every day!

It felt awesome to sleep in my own bed with both the dogs cuddled with us. Scooby usually sleeps on the floor but he’s such a cuddle bug that sometimes we feel sorry he has no one to lay with now. Our house seems a little bit empty without Nani. It’s not because she was energetic or needed a lot of attention, there is just a space. We lived a long time as a three dog house. Before I left for Ireland I told C that I wasn’t sure if I ever wanted to get another dog but being home now something feels like it’s missing. Of course I could never replace Nani, but in time I think we have enough room to give another dog a forever home. Possibly a puppy, even though I swore I wouldn’t ever do it again. Funny how you change your mind.

In other news, can you believe that we bought our cottage almost a year ago? It blows my mind how time flies by. We were going to open it this weekend but Michigan decided that winter isn’t over yet so we are still up in the air if we want to go up there and freeze, it has hardly any insulation and the windows are old and drafty.

I’ve been fully aware lately how truly blessed I am and I hope I never lose that feeling. It’s so easy to take things for granted.

So tell me, what new and exciting things have been going in your lives this past week?

© ria for & that's the way life goes, 2011. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beer, cobh, dingle, ireland

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

scooby dooby doo needs a scooby snack or 10

ria — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 19:39:15 +0000

I’ve always known that Scooby was special and not an “aw he’s so cute, smart special”, I mean dumb. Like a rock. I mentioned that he had stopped eating and I do think that in the beginning he was sad but now I’m starting to wonder if it’s because he is seriously mentally handicapped.

For real.

Nani was the first to get up in the morning. As soon as she heard an alarm go off or C stirring in bed she knew that there was going to be food in her bowl. She’d bang her tail against the wall for some extra noise and prance around while her nails clicked on the floor. This signaled Scooby to get up. He would follow her outside and by the time that he decided to come in she was already chowing away.

Now that Nani is gone, in the morning he just lays on the couch. He doesn’t even move when C gets up and starts turning on lights and opening shades, he just stares, waiting for something. C has learned he has to coax him off the couch and outside. The first couple mornings after Nani was gone he actually almost forgot to feed them. Liko doesn’t help either because he’s always done his own thing, he’s sort of like a cat. He has his own morning routine where he snuggles with me until I get up and then he follows me around my morning routine and he eats whenever he feels like it.

This leaves Scooby to fend for himself. If Scooby is hungry, which he should be in the morning, C has to pick some food up and feed Scooby by hand so he will eat the whole bowl. I’m wondering how long it’s going to take before Scooby sets up his own routine and starts eating on a regular basis.

Mourning sucks for dogs just as much as it sucks for us.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

thank you & a request for advice on traveling abroad

ria — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 01:37:36 +0000

{via weheartit}

Thank you so much for all your kind words while C and I go through this difficult time. I can’t tell you how much it means to me. Scooby, my sensitive boy, hasn’t been eating much lately and he looks for Nani when it’s time to eat. It’s like he can’t eat until she does, which is why his eating habits had altered her last few days with us. We are taking both dogs on daily walks and will return to our normal routines next week. We are hopeful that by the time we leave for Ireland they have settled into a life without Nani.

If you have any advice on how to help pets cope with a loss of a companion I’d love to hear it.

I also would like some advice on traveling abroad. C and I have never left North America so we are kind of clueless on what we should bring with us beside out passports. We have no idea what to expect from customs or how we should carry spending money.

Thank you!
♥ xoxox ♥

*image location*

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

always in my heart

ria — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:51:46 +0000

July 2010

Today was a day that ever pet owner dreads and refuses to think about. Today came out of almost nowhere. Yes I have been worried about my oldest doggie and I subconsciously knew this day was coming but I didn’t think it would be like this.

Yesterday C took Nani to the vet to check on her stitches from her oral surgery last Thursday and to discuss the antibiotic that we thought was robbing her of her appetite and making her nauseous. We realized Monday night that Nani was acting strangely and not able to play with the ball she wanted thrown but we didn’t think much of it. When he took her to the vet she was running into doors and chairs. Let me clarify this, Saturday she was picking up her bones and playing catch in the house.

I cried when I got home, that my baby had lost her sight and I pushed the dread of what could be causing it away. How could I not? She perked her ears up as I came in the door and banged her tail against the couch as if to say, “it’s ok Mama”. Our vet referred us to an optometrist. We took her in this morning and went through a short exam with the optometrist. He suggested a couple of tests that would take an hour and if those came back normal he said a CT scan might be in order. Since we lived a mile down the road went home. They called to inform us that the first tests didn’t show anything abnormal and quoted us a price for the CT scan, $2000. C and I were in agreement that we needed to know what was wrong and we “found” the money. What happened next was an absolute nightmare. They told us that she had a massive brain tumor and that waking her up out of anethesia could be risky.

No one told us there would be a risk and we might not be ble to properly hug her and say goodbye! This is the hardest thing for me.

I couldn’t fathom waking her up just to guide her over the rainbow bridge so we said our goodbyes while she was under anesthesia and held her while they gave her final shots. This is hands down the hardest thing I have ever had to do but I can’t imagine not being in that room when took her last breath.

Nani was…

…stubborn

….my pillow to cry on when my Mom died, even though she hated being cuddled

….always wagging her tail – even today when she was meeting with the doctors

….a sweet girl who loved meeting new people

…blessed with velvety soft ears

…C’s big girl

…Biggie, Biggie, Biggie

…always up to play catch with her tennis ball

…the boss

…a drama queen

…my sweet, sweet puppy who I named and begged my mom to let me have – and her name meant beautiful in Hawaiian

Now she is with my Mom. Thank you for all your kind words on twitter and facebook. It ‘s meant so much to me. They said that Nani’s symptoms did not point to what they found on the CT. They thought she might have a tumor but nothing of the size they found. The tumor destroyed the bones in her face. It was only a matter of time before she started having seizures, falling over and losing coordination. They were so surprised that the resident is doing a case study on Nani’s situation. Maybe it will help someone in the future. I know that not everyone believes in euthanasia but I honestly believe that we made the best decision for her. That doesn’t help the hurt in my heart and how much I will miss her.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

nani first, ireland excitement second

ria — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:51:54 +0000

original can be found by maddy mash on flickr - click image

After this weekend I am hopeful that C and I will be able to get excited for Ireland, which is good because we leave in a little over 3 weeks! Nani almost completely stopped eating on Monday. The only thing she would eat was lunch meat and cheese that I would break into teeny tiny pieces and peanut butter out of her kong. I finally googled inner ear infection and I was starting to believe that when we took her to the vet last night they were going to refer her for a CT scan and schedule surgery to have her ear drained.

Last night marked the third trip to the vet in a month but this time we saw a different doctor who immediately decided to look in Nani’s mouth after listening to the symptoms. Finally, a real diagnosis where she showed us the problem!! Nani has to have two molars extracted. One has completely lost all it’s enamel that caused an infection in the inside of her cheek, causing swelling. Not her ears! She also has a cracked molar on the other side. The doctor assured us that this is something that happens in older dogs. We are so relieved to finally know the cause of Nani’s pain! C watered down some canned dog food into a soupy consistency and she devoured it. Poor baby was starving! She is now on pain meds until tomorrow. Please send lots of hugs to Nani who will go in morning to get her teeth removed.

I’m confident she will have the luck of the Irish with her. I am 1/8 Irish ya know, a Burton no less

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

somethings gotta give, right?

ria — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:43:54 +0000

This day has been excruciatingly long. I’m exhausted because Nani woke me up at 3:30 excessively panting. She still isn’t feeling right, I don’t know what we are going to do if these antibiotics don’t work. Like many other bloggers I try not to write posts about things that drag me down but Nani is 9 years old, what if this infection doesn’t go away? We are leaving in less than 5 weeks…

Right now she's less shiny and more sad looking

I’m having a shooting pain near my shoulder blade from the stress I’ve been carrying around. And then the pain from my pulled hamstring I’m pretty miserable. wah, wah, wah.

But today is Friday. I’ve started getting my family blog up and running again and after 4 years of blogging here and there I think I’ve finally found my voice for it. It’s exciting. I spent the morning creating a slideshow for the sidebar. I’m happy it’s all done.

In other website type news, I updated a theme for my dad’s website and inadvertently screwed up the css. It’s not too big of a deal but I don’t have the brain power to figure it out right now. It’s not breaking the page so shhhh don’t tell anyone.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh