The Mother of All Emergencies

Not exactly the tag line I wanted to read when I started my Google search this morning. But there it was *SMACK* in my face. Although I already knew the situation was bad...very bad...reading that made it much worse. It gave me the kick I needed to forgo the 20 minute shower I had planned and instead head to the emergency clinic immediately.

My precious Bandit Boy was sick, my mind knew what was going on but my heart refused to accept it.

When we got to the office my worst thoughts were confirmed. He had bloat, a life threatening condition where the stomach twists upon itself and and human guardians are left with two options only:

Surgery or Euthanization

The mother of all emergencies in the canine world. Time was of the essence, he could die in a matter of hours or even minutes.

We opted for surgery and tonight we are praying for his recovery. Would you join us please? He made it through the surgery but the next 24 hours are crucial for him. Our house seems empty. Our family is missing one of its members. Bailey is looking for her best friend, Ilya is looking for his protector, and I am just plain missing my Buddy Boy....

Before he left for surgery I told him he wasn't allowed to not come home. I pray he listened to me...

Further evidence that I've lost it

If you were a can of gross/foul smelling/moist cat food, where would you hide...in the pantry to the left of the refrigerator, or in the small desk to the right of the fridge?

I kid you not, this evening I stood in front of that small desk for a good 3-4 minutes, with its miniscule drawer wide open, wondering why I couldn't find the cat food. Finally in a desparate attempt to get fed, Ivan (the Terrible) smacked me with his dagger claws and woke me from my trance, while screaming at the top of his little kitty lungs "Focus woman!"

After their tummies were full and the cattitude gone, Ivan & Pogo decided to allow the paparazzi to snap a couple quick photos. Ivan is all black and Pogo has a bit of white on his chest. They're both 13 and we've had them since kittenhood. Oh, and apparently neither is impressed with the fact that I'm engrossed with the adoption/Baby C and not their food!

Another Day – Another Fingerprint Update

I work in my county’s Prosecutor’s Office. My co-worker’s are awesome and we all work so well as a team. I love knowing that, thanks to the amazing job each person in my office does day in and day out, my child is going to grow up in one of the safest counties in Virginia.

We prosecute defendants for their crime(s), they are sentenced to an appropriate amount of jail time, and we hope that during their sentence they turn their lives around. Some do...some do not. We have a nickname for Defendant’s who just don’t seem to “get it.” Our office and our Sheriff’s Office (“SO”) have come to know them as our “repeat customers.”

Despite the fact that Judy claims she has never received a parking or speeding ticket, has never been arrested, and as far as I know has never seen a jail cell FROM THE INSIDE, she is starting to feel like a “repeat customer” at our SO. (By the way Denise & Joan - - if Judy happened to “forget” to tell us anything from her past, feel free to chime in!!)

Anyway, as promised I drug Judy to the SO today for another round of fingerprints. Since I work so closely with these Deputies, it was actually a fun trip. They assured us that the condition of the fingerprints was very good and that there shouldn’t be any reason for them to be returned as “poor quality” or anything like that. I immediately took them to our SW and they should have gone out in the mail today. I made sure “expedite” was noted on them as well. Now we just need to pray that they don’t get lost in transit!!

On a different note, I’ve found a new hobby / means of therapy. Those of you who know me should sit down if you’re not already. I don’t want anyone falling over & getting injured when they read this. Ready? Here goes…

Yesterday evening & this evening I COOKED!! Okay, I actually baked but I was still in the kitchen doing more than washing dishes! Shocker, huh? My blogger friends don’t know what a disaster I am when I try to cook. They also don’t know that, until yesterday, Norm & Judy had banned me from doing anything more in the kitchen than walking through it or loading the dishwasher.

So what brought out my Betty Crocker side? Pet treats!

I found recipes for Merry Mutt Loaves, Papago Peanut Butter Treats and Tasty Tuna Tarts and decided to make them for my co-worker’s pets. My dogs are pawsitively drooling right now since my kitchen counters are littered (no pun intended) with treats for 26 dogs and 7 cats. Santa Paws will be making a special delivery tomorrow!

DISCLAIMER: No humans or pets were harmed in this experiment…Honestly!

Tails of Destruction

It is Friday, is it not? Because I’ve been walking around all day thinking it was. In fact, I even made the executive decision to close our office early and let our paralegals and attorneys get a jump start on what I thought was going to be their weekend. It’d be a real shame if we all have to go in tomorrow considering we’re under the impression that tomorrow is Saturday. Hmmm…

Oh wait, maybe Friday isn’t considered the end of the week anymore. Is that it? No? Hmmm…

Well, the only other thing I can surmise is that FPL (fingerprint lady) has a different calendar than the rest of us. You see, she never called our SW about Judy’s fingerprints. It seems her voicemail doesn’t actually record messages because she didn’t return any calls either. If by now you have guessed that Judy’s fingerprints remain MIA, sadly you are correct.

Our dogs overheard us talking about all of this tonight and they’re pretty upset about it as well, which is quite evident in the Tails of Destruction below:

"Oh well," Bailey says, "maybe Monday??"

Despite this continued setback and my post from a few days ago, I am content!

I am content because I have an amazing husband who loves me unconditionally. Who understands I have my "freak out" moments from time to time, and who knows exactly how to make me laugh and forget all about the freaking out stuff.

I am content because I know the finances will, somehow, someway, workout.

I am content because through God's grace I was adopted into His family, even though more often than not I don't deserve that honor.

I am content because I know that God's hand is holding my own and is guiding us through our adoption - even when our timelines don't come close to matching!

Yes, I am content...

Doggie Hague Requirements

Per Federal regulations and the Hague Standard (pronounced heyg), Norm and I are required to complete a minimum of 10 hours of education courses regarding IA issues. We actually finished our courses a few weeks ago and they were all very informative.

I love my dogs. Love them. I admit, I am a nutty dog person. And I'm proud of that. Is my husband proud of my nuttiness? Not so much! :-) I constantly embarrass him in public by asking complete strangers if I can pet their dog, and then go on and on about my own. My dogs are the reason I became involved in animal rescue, and why I do my best to educate prospective pet families about the relationship their children will have with a pet they try to adopt from me or one of my rescue affiliates.

My own dogs have grown accustomed to receiving constant attention and why not? They're fabulous dogs! However, they do need to get used to the thought of a little one running around soon. So, I've created my own version of Doggie Hague Requirements!

Meet their surrogate baby brother/sister. (Yes people, it's a doll!)




We have been using this doll to help Bailey & Bandit learn proper baby manners. Unfortunately, this is NOT what we had in mind:


(Hence the "Dingo's got my baby!" reference earlier this week).

Obviously the first introduction didn't go as we had planned, but keep in mind that the picture looks way worse than it actually was. Bandit (a.k.a. Buddy) was yawning and was too close to the doll, so it looks like he's biting its leg.

Bay & Buddy are also getting a primer in baby noises, thanks to the "Preparing Fido" CD I found online last weekend:




We have an intercom system throughout the house and there is no escape for the pups when we pop the CD in. (Which translates into no escape for us either! Hmmm..whose ideas was this?) When the CD is playing we place the doll by the speaker so that they can start to associate the noises with it. It's hilarious to watch them twist their heads at the high pitched cries. At first they were very interested and curious about what all the ruckus was but now they're getting used to all of it.

I'm also going to speak to a few trainer friends of mine to see if they can give us any additional advice as to how to make this transition as smooth for all of us as possible. For now, though, my pups are progressing along very nicely with their Hague training! But then again, they are brilliant!