Our Crazy Life

Josh is officially old!

2011-09-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

Josh turned 30 this past Friday and yesterday we celebrated his birthday. We had intended to go down to Lipsky's for their Jamaican cookout and although we started out down there, the weather was awful - cold and rainy - so we headed back our house not longer after we got to Lipsky's. Which turned out to be much more fun - hanging in our warm garage with our family and friends! We saw several friends that we haven't seen in months or years and our usual crew that we see all the time. Had lots of fun, telling stories, drinking and just enjoying each other's company. It was the perfect way to celebrate Josh's birthday.

Long overdue update

2011-08-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

Time for a long overdue update! Can't believe I haven't blogged since Mother's Day. Yikes! Sometimes life just gets away from me!!

All is well here. Josh and I have been working insane hours for the last couple months. Plus I've just done a couple Tastefully Simple parties this month also. It's always a hectic pace around here.

Diesel is well. I ran him through Intro to Agility class again - just for something to keep him busy because he really enjoyed it. He did well and I'm hoping we'll get to do an advanced agility class soon. He's so very good at agility and you can really see how much he enjoys it when he's running the course! Hopefully we can talk Josh into making him some agility equipment for us to use at home.

Grace is still sassy old Grace. She doesn't do much beyond nap, wander through the yard eating grass and weeds and suck on her sucky! She's a happy old girl - we celebrated her 4th Gotcha Day earlier this month. It's absolutely amazing how far she's come in 4 years. She's still Grace - not fond of humans and I'm sure she'll always be that way, but she's come a VERY long way in 4 years and I'm grateful everyday that she's part of our family.

It's hard to believe that summer is nearly gone. We've been so enjoying the warm weather - there's far too little warm weather in Wisconsin. And before we know it, I'm sure it'll be snowing and we'll be complaining about winter!!

Next month, I'm headed to Kanab, Utah to meet up with a group of girlfriends to volunteer at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary for a few days. I've read and heard so much about Best Friends so I'm really excited to be able to volunteer there and see it first hand.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T14:51:00.001-07:00

I may not have given birth to them, but I'm no less a mother because I choose to have dogs instead of children. I have been puked on, peed on, pooped on. I have broken up fights between them. I have spent countless hours worrying about them. I have lost sleep when they've been sick. I've gotten up with them in the middle of the night to care for them.

I have also received more love from them than I ever thought I deserved. I have had countless hours of fun with them. I have enjoyed every second of cuddling with them.

And I wouldn't change a single second of it.

My loves and my life:

Diesel:

Grace:

And my beautiful angel, Makayla, who I miss every single day:

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers - of the human and fur kids.

Random Thoughts

2011-03-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

Nothing exciting to post, so just thought I'd throw out some random thoughts simply for the sake of posting.

It's March 22 and we're expecting anywhere from 4-10 inches of snow. Apparently, Mother Nature didn't get the memo that it's now spring - she can take her snowstorm and shove it as far as I'm concerned!!

Speaking of snow, it amazes me that we've had 4 or 5 months of snow already and yet people still end up in the ditch because they're driving too fast. Hello, morons, if the roads are snow covered, slow down. Going too fast and ending up in the ditch only means it will take you even longer to get where you were going and will cost you more!!! And tailgating me because you apparently feel I'm driving too slow isn't going to make me go faster. I'm not going to risk my safety because you think I should drive faster. In fact, most times, if you tailgate me, I'm going to go even slower for no reason other than to piss you off!

Waiting to see how much we'll get back for a tax refund this year and then we'll hopefully tackle our next home project - converting the spare bedroom into a mini workout room. Josh would like to get some type of home gym setup (like a Bowflex) and I'd like to get a treadmill. We have this fabulous notion that if we have exercise equipment at home, then we have no reason not to workout - we'll see how that goes!!! Of course, in order to do this, we have to take out the carpet and put in hardwood floor, add another receiver to DirecTV and buy a new TV to put in the workout room because I can't workout without a TV. Then we have to actually buy the exercise equipment. I'd imagine that by the time we're all said and done, we'll be too broke to do anything but workout. So, hmmm, maybe it will be successful after all!!!

Ok, was trying to think of other random thoughts when I just saw a huge lightning strike out the window, followed by two huge thunder booms. It's currently snowing, thundering and lightning all at the same time. Go figure. Oh, Sis must be having a fit in heaven - that girl hates thunderstorms!

I miss Kayla

2011-03-01T17:01:00.001-08:00

I miss my Sissy. It's amazing how she had become such a huge part of our daily lives since she got sick. I don't think we really realized how much we had adjusted our lives to revolve around her and caring for her until she was gone. I'm still a little lost without Kayla - caring for her had become my 2nd full time job. And although it's a relief to not have that burden constantly weighing on my mind, it's hard to readjust my life and figure out what normal life is like again.

And I miss the little things about Kayla and I think of her at the strangest times.

I miss how she'd cuddle with me in bed. She'd fit so perfectly curled up against my chest.

I miss having her greet me when I come home from work. She'd damn near throw a ticker tape parade anytime I walked in the door - no one was ever happier to see me than Sis.

I miss her kisses - she was the best kisser.

I miss hearing her tell us when she was irritated with her - she was a loud dog and she'd let out the loudest, longest sigh when she was irritated, it was too funny.

I miss hearing her snore at night - she'd drown out a freight train with her snoring, but I always found it so comforting to hear her snore.

I miss hearing her walking across the kitchen to find me - dragging her back feet. She'd come as fast as she could go and we'd hear her a mile away and say, "Here comes Legs."

I actually miss her having to be in the bathroom with me. She was convinced I couldn't possibly go potty without her licking my left leg!

I miss petting her - she had this extra skin on her neck that I called her neck fat and I always loved petting that and stroking her head and rubbing her smooth belly. I miss kissing her head and looking in her big brown eyes.

I thought of her the other day when we were watching a movie and an eagle screeched. Oh, she HATED that sound - I always had to be on top of my game so I could change the channel as soon as an Oneida commercial came on cuz they always have the eagle screech at the end of the commercial.

I thought of her tonight when I was watching Wheel of Fortune - she always barked at the dinging noise made when the letters appeared.

I'm thankful we have good, happy memories of Kayla. I'm thankful we had 5 1/2 years to be blessed with her. She was a special dog with an amazing spirit. No matter what she had endured for the first 3 years of her life, she eventually overcame all of that and learned to love life and people. She never hesitated to push Diesel out of the way so visitors would pet her instead of him!!!! I learned a lot from Makayla - a lot about life and overcoming obstacles and moving on from the past. She was an amazing creature and I'm absolutely blessed to have been loved by her.

Ahhhh, doggy daycare!

2011-02-21T17:24:00.000-08:00

We haven't taken the pugs to daycare much, if at all, since Kayla got sick in late 2009. Today, they had a half off deal for daycare so I figured it was a good excuse to take Diesel and Grace to daycare. And tonight I'm reminded why I so enjoy the days they go to daycare - they came home, ate dinner, went outside to do their business and promptly passed out sound asleep!!! I'm hoping we can get them back to a sort of regular schedule of attending daycare because it really is good for them and they really do enjoy it. And I really enjoy the evening of daycare day because they're so well behaved while they sleep!!

Saying Goodbye

2011-02-07T17:18:00.000-08:00

When we adopted Makayla 5 1/2 years ago, she had had a tough start in life and I promised her she would have nothing but the best life for however long she had left. And we've been utterly blessed to have her with us for 5 1/2 years. Over that time, we've laughed and cried and "grrrrrr'd" as she frustrated us. But no matter what, we've always loved her. And she's always loved us.

Her body is giving out - her spirit and spunk could last forever, but her body just isn't going to last. And she's not happy not being independent and able to do things for herself. She's tired - it takes all she has to make it through the days. And that's no way for our special girl to live.

So this weekend we will say goodbye to our Sister. How do we even begin to say goodbye? How do we begin to tell her just how much we love her? Just how much we've enjoyed having her in our lives? How much we're going to miss her? How we'll always remember her? We're going to spend the next several days doing nothing but loving her and cherishing her. And then we're going to do the hardest thing any pet owner can ever do - we're going to let her go and be at peace again. Even though our hearts will hurt, we're going to give her her health back so she can run and jump and climb again. Even though we're going to cry and grieve, it's the most loving thing we can do for her. And knowing she's healthy again will make it just a touch easier for us to live without her.

To our Sister - we love you more than you'll ever know.

44 more days til vacation

2011-01-19T17:15:00.000-08:00

This is my mantra - to get through each day, I remind myself of the vacation countdown. In less than 44 days, I will be lounging poolside at Secrets Silversands in Riveria Maya, Mexico!!!!!!!!! It's going to be a week of doing absolutely nothing, sleeping through the night, lounging poolside, maybe doing a little shopping, lots of eating and drinking and most importantly, relaxing and reconnecting with my husband. I. CANNOT. WAIT.

"Normal" dogs

2011-01-05T18:06:00.000-08:00

I wonder what people with "normal" dogs do.

You know, those people who don't have to herd the dog outside IMMEDIATELY upon walking in the door before she gets the instant urge to pee and potties on the floor. Those people who don't have to search the house high and low to see where the male dog(s) peed during the day, flipping on the lights in every room and making sure to check their "favorite" marking spots. Those people who don't have to boil chicken and cook rice for their dog's bland diet to resolve their diarrhea. Those people who don't have to have boxes of kleenex strategically placed throughout the house in order to have quick access to them for picking up poop that the girls constantly trail behind them when they walk. Those people who don't need to have a waterproof mattress pad on the bed for when their dog pees on their bed. Those people who don't have to set alarms to remind them of their dog's medication schedule.

You know, those people with "normal" dogs!!!

A Vacation of Volunteering

2011-01-02T18:48:00.000-08:00

A large network of pug friends and rescue volunteers/supporters are planning a trip to Best Friends Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. I'm crossing all fingers and paws that this happens for me. I need to save up the money to be able to go and hope that Kayla's health is still stable at the end of August so that I can leave her with Josh for a few days while I indulge myself in a vacation of volunteering at Best Friends. It's a once in a lifetime trip for me and I so hope it works out because I'm really excited thinking about it.

Be sure to check out their website and support their cause. www.bestfriends.org.

Welcome 2011

2011-01-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

Well, 2010 is over and 2011 has begun. Here's hoping that 2011 will be a better year in our household.

December was extremely hectic in our house. Josh was working out of town most of the month. I was working overtime every day. We basically were home to sleep and eat and take care of the dogs when we had time. Thankfully my dad is a huge help when we need him to come out during the day to let the dogs out and give them a break from being home alone all day.

It was a tough (and expensive) year in 2010. Kayla is still holding her own. We haven't been using her cart, but I really think we need to implement her cart into her daily life and hopefully that'll make a big difference for her. Grace is doing well - we've got her on a daily pain med regimen that seems to be helping her arthritis in her legs. She's sassy as usual -not sure that'll ever change!! And Diesel is the best ever. He had surgery in early December to remove the remnants of his dew claws since they had started bothering him (and apparently become infected, we learned when they removed them). He also started an intro to agility class in late November. We have our final class on Monday night and he has been so good at agility and had so much fun. He picks up on the equipment quickly, though he still tries to avoid doing the tunnel and tire swing every chance he gets!!! I'm really hoping to continue doing agility with him because he and I have both enjoyed it very much.

That's the year-end wrap up for 2010. We're looking forward to a quieter, healthy 2011. And hope everyone else has a healthy, happy and prosperous new year.

No, we're not having children

2010-11-15T18:25:00.001-08:00

Josh and I just had this conversation on Saturday night about all the assinine things people say to us when we tell them we're not having children. For whatever reason, people believe it's their business whether or not we're going to procreate and it's their place to make comments on our choice to not have kids. I've learned to just get over it - and remind myself that it's no one's business but ours.

But for fun, I thought I'd just make a list of all the different things we've heard over the years from people when we tell them we don't want kids (and these are in no particular order):

1. "You'll change your mind when you get older." We're 30 years old; we're pretty stable in our lives and pretty sure of what we want. Maybe it applied when we were 18, but come on, we're old enough to know what we do and do not want in life!

2. "Who will take care of you when you get old?" Really? Because people are having kids strictly so that they have someone to take care of them when they're old and frail? I thought parents don't want to be a burden to their children. Lord, when I get old and frail, I'm going to be put in a home to let the professionals take care of me - just like I'll do for my parents. I'm not a caretaker, I'm not going to change my parents' diapers and I wouldn't have children just so they could change my diapers.

3. "You don't know what you're missing." Which goes hand in hand with "You'll wake up one day and regret not having kids." Yes, I don't know what being a parent to a human child is like. No, I will not regret it. I've thought long and hard about this - it's not a decision we made on a whim. And I thought when our friends started having babies, it would hit us that we were missing out and it would make us think more about having kids. But really, it's just the opposite. Sitting with friends last night watching a movie, I remembered how great it is to not have kids - at home, we watch a movie with no kids talking or toys making noise. Last night, we had to struggle to hear above Ethan asking questions about the movie and Kendra's toy making all kinds of ruckus. And when we go out, and our friends can't because they can't find a sitter? Again, reminds me of how easy our life is without kids - we can come and go as we please (well, almost, it's a little more restricted with Kayla being sick, but for the most part we have tons of freedom).

4. "That's selfish of you." Wow? Really? Isn't it selfless of me to realize I don't want kids, rather than just having kids because that's what's expected of me, even though I don't want them. I'm not going to have a kid just cuz that's what everyone does if I don't really want the kid to begin with. Nothing like screwing the kid up right from birth!!

5. The most creative one I've heard - "That's a waste of a good uterus." That one cracked me up!!

6. And the one that I had to force myself to continue walking away so I didn't drop kick the person who said it - "Where's your motherly instinct?" Have you not seen me with my dogs? I have more motherly instinct than most mothers of human children. Just because I don't want kids doesn't mean I don't have motherly instinct.

Don't worry, I'm not bitter. I've come to realize over the years that people love poking their noses in other people's business. And thankfully, I do believe our parents and close family have all realized we are serious about not having kids, so they don't pressure us to do it. They know we're more than happy with our three pugs and that's the way it's going to be!!

Time to be Thankful

2010-11-13T18:58:00.000-08:00

It's a little early since Thanksgiving isn't for another week and a half, but I'm being reflective tonight and thought I'd do a post about all the good things in my life that I'm thankful for.

1. My husband. I'm thankful to have a husband who loves me and works hard to support us. Yes, most days I'd like to smother him in his sleep and collect the life insurance money, but, alas, I refrain from doing this and he lives to see another day!!! Just kidding - I do love him and he does take care of me. Besides, I'd hate to have to hire someone to clean the house and do the laundry if I killed him!!

2. Diesel. This boy makes me laugh day in and day out. My heart literally melts when I lay eyes on him. As I type this, he's gotten up off the bed and went to lay by himself in his dog bed because I'm apparently irritating him by making noise or moving or both. That personality of his cracks me up!! And in addition, he's my only healthy baby, so we're always thankful for that!

3. Makayla. I'm thankful that she's still here with us. Last year at this time we didn't know if she'd be here in a year. And yet here she is - still fighting. She's a trooper and I admire her more and more every day. She doesn't let her disability slow her down - she just gets up and goes on with her life. She's taught me more than I ever thought I could learn from her, and yet I feel there's even more to learn as our journey continues. She's still as stubborn, bossy and bitchy as ever - gotta admire that!!

4. Gracie Lou Freebush. Mrs. Freebush - she's a character and I'm thankful she found her way into our life. I don't know that anyone else would tolerate Grace and her antics the way we do. She's taught me immense amounts of patience - and to not take life so seriously all the time!! When I want to yell and scream because she's sassy, she gives me her "Elvis" look and cracks me up!

5. My job. At times when so many people have lost their job, I'm thankful to still have a job. And a pretty decent boss too. Even when it's stressful and I'm tired of dealing with people, it's still good to have an income and a little job security!

6. My family. We may be one of the more dysfunctional families in the world, but I still am happy to say we are a rather close family. I'm thankful to know that they'd be here for me at the drop of a hat no matter what.

7. Our health. Although we struggle with the pugs' health issues, for the most part we are healthy and so are our loved ones. That's a big thing to be thankful for.

I hope everyone who reads this blog is as blessed as we are. And I hope you all take a moment this holiday season to county those blessings and give thanks for them.

Ahhh, peace and quiet!

2010-11-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday!!! I'm enjoying a couple hours of peace and quiet this morning. Josh is doing a side job and the three stooges are at the groomers for their spa morning. And how do I celebrate my morning alone?! I'm about to begin doing some work from home - yep, I get a couple hours of peace and quiet and I use it to do overtime work. That's how busy life is lately!!

Things have been great lately. We've put Grace on pain meds, which seem to be helping with her back legs. We'll touch base with the vet next week, but I'd imagine we'll work out some sort of long term pain med regimen for Grace. Kayla's holding her own as always. We started her on Vallium to help her be less restless through the night. And it's working well - she's still up several times during the night, but when we go back to bed, she settles in and is able to go back to sleep (and so are we!!). Makayla's on several different meds right now, but she's still a happy go lucky girl. She wakes up smiling every day and still loves life. And that's all that matters for us anymore.

Have a great weekend - and remember to always live for the moment!!

Really it has been a crazy life lately

2010-10-22T17:03:00.000-07:00

Time has flown by recently. Every part of life has been hectic.

October has been a busy month for my Tastefully Simple business. It's been great - I'm glad to have be busy with Tastefully Simple - it's fun seeing my business grow and I find that I enjoy parties more and more with each one that I do. Plus, the few extra bucks I make certainly do help!!

Our law firm has been crazy busy lately, which is great - always good to have job security. Most of the staff has been working 50+ hours lately, which is unusual for so many of us to be so busy. My weekends lately have been spent at the office on Saturday and then working from home on Sunday. Right now, we have a temporary reprieve, but in about 3-4 weeks, the workload is going to pick back up again and we'll all be working mass overtime all over again. Oh well - it's a good time of the year to be earning extra money from OT!!

Makayla has been doing well - as well as can be expected. The steroids have had her feeling a little better. However, her appetite has become insane. She is constantly hungry. In fact, she gets a meal around 2 a.m. so that she can make it through the night. And she's been drinking more and more water, which means more and more potty trips. Needless to say, I'm exhausted because I only sleep about 2 hours at a time at night since Makayla is up so much. But, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm just thankful that Kayla's still here with us and feeling as well as she is.

We had our family photo shoot last week and it went so much better than I expected. We should be getting the proofs any day now and I'm cannot wait to see how great the pictures turned out.

And last but not least, Grace is headed to the vet tomorrow. She's having some trouble with her back legs and we need to find out what's going on with her. We always knew she'd be the next one to give us major health issues, but were so hoping to have a little reprieve between handicapped pugs. As of right now, that's not looking like it's going to happen. Cross fingers and paws that we can figure out what's going on with Grace.

Because I'm a glutton for punishment!!

2010-09-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

We've scheduled a photo shoot with Lori Skalitzky Photography in a couple weeks. I really want to get a photo shoot with Makayla while she's still up and mobile and feeling good. So Lori will be coming out to our house for an outdoor photo session in our backyard. And for fun, I decided we should try to get a family photo out of it - we'll see if Grace cooperates and gets close enough to be in the same photo as Josh!!! If we do manage to get a nice family shot, I'd love to have a gorgeous 16x20 portrait to put in the living room with the pugs' portraits. And hopefully we'll also end up with more beautiful pictures of the stooges.

Or, I'll have a lot more gray hair by the time the shoot is over!!

Reality Check

2010-09-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a trip to the vet for a little reality check. We took Makayla in for a checkup tonight because her leg spasms are still continuing and she's not sleeping more than 2 hours at a time through the night. We're going to try out Prednisone and see if that helps with the spasms, and if it does help, we will probably keep her on it long term. Here's the reality check - I asked Dr. Pat if we should be concerned about long term Prednisone usage. That's when he said we don't need to worry so much about long term side effects because, in essence, we're at the stage where we are more concerned with quality of life rather than quantity. Who knows how long we have left with Sissy - but we're going to make it the best we possibly can for her. So here's hoping the Prednisone works and we can get the spasms under control.

Chicago, here we come!

2010-08-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

Have I said how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE Chicago??? It's such a fun, fast paced, neat city. Friday morning I am dropping the three stooges off for a weekend at Auntie Mary's house (thank God for Auntie Mary, since no one else in their right mind is willing to take care of these three crazy dogs for a weekend!) and we are hitting the road. We being me, Josh and Josh's dad, Jeff. We're taking a few days to escape life, do some sightseeing, a little shopping and just relax and enjoy the Windy City. And although I know Josh isn't looking forward to the 3 hour drive, I know he's stoked to be driving in downtown Chicago once again - that city is made for a crazy ass driver like Josh, so he feels right at home there!! We'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post when we get back.

Another reason pugs are better than kids!

2010-08-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

Yet another reason pugs are better than kids - because they like to sleep as much as I do!!!! We slept in super late today, got up and ate some breakfast and decided to lay back in bed and watch TV for a little while. And where are the pugs? Happily laying in bed and on the floor, snoring like freight trains! And Diesel is even under the covers as he feels it's simply too bright to sleep on top of the covers - he just can't get a good enough sleep!! See, kids don't do this stuff - they need to be up and moving around - too busy for me!!!

Random Saturday Thoughts

2010-08-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

First, I have to thank my favorite cousin, Sara, for the picture she sent me last week - I have yet to get it framed and hung on my art wall, but I promise to do that soon and I will post a pic of it once I do.

It was a fun day of scrapping - working on two pages to submit for the Milwaukee Pugfest scrapbook contest to benefit pug rescue. Wow - it's hard to be given a theme and requirements to scrap. I've never done it before and it really makes you stop and think about what you're doing. I do believe, however, that I have finally gotten off to a good start and will get them finished yet this week. Which is good because they're due by Labor Day. And thank you to Mary for helping inspire me!!

Ah, yes, the reasons I don't have kids - Karaleigh (Mary's granddaughter) is one sweet little girl, but man that kid can wear a person out!! Just watching her run back and forth through the living room in her cowboy boots made me tired!! Oh, and she's very picky about the quality of stickers she uses - I tried giving her some of my stickers to play with and she never hesitated to give me back the ones she didn't like!!

And cannot forget my usual fireworks rant. Here's the deal, people. Fireworks are for the 4th of July. It's currently August 21 - long past the 4th of July, so if all the idiots can stop shooting off fireworks, I'd be forever grateful!!

Trip to Chicago next weekend with Josh and my FIL. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Chicago so am really looking forward to a fun weekend. Maybe we can manage a stop at the outlet mall in Kenosha on our way there or back - not that I have any money to spend, but hey that's what keeps Discover, Mastercard and Visa in business, isn't it?! Well, that and my vet expenses!

Have a great weekend, lord knows the warm summer weekends will be over before we know it.

Grace, the squirrel hunter

2010-08-05T18:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I fed the kids and put them out after breakfast for potties. The twins did their business and came in, but Grace was nowhere to be seen. I called her a couple times but no Grace. I figured she was out in my flower bed happily eating flowers. So I put on my shoes and grabbed a flashlight (it's dark, you know, since they eat breakfast at 4:30 a.m. - thank you, Sis!) and headed outside. As I walked around the corner of the garage, Grace came running from where the fence meets the front corner of the garage. I went to investigate what she was doing over there.

And I discovered that Grace was happily gnawing on the remains of the ground squirrel that had been caught in the trap just outside the fence. She happily dragged the back part of the squirrel through the fence and chewed away!! Icky little girl!!!!!!!!

So, now I am happy to see her eat poop again instead of rodents!!

"That poor dog" - Warning: Rant ahead

2010-07-26T16:57:00.001-07:00

Makayla is a happy dog, who wakes up everyday with a wagging tail and a smile on her face and lots of kisses for us. She loves to play with her brother - and even manages to wrestle with him sometimes if she's in an extra silly mood. She can still bully Grace and boss her around. She's still the same old Makayla, she just walks a little funny. It's been a long 9 months since we began this journey with Makayla's failing health. And Josh and I have been very honest and up front with each other since the beginning. We will not let her suffer, we will not keep her around for our sake if she doesn't have a good quality of life. We will do what we can to make her happy and keep her comfortable and we both realize that one day we will have to make a tough decision and say goodbye to her, but until that day comes, we will do what's best for her.

I know most people don't understand how much I love my dogs - to most people, they're dogs. To me, they're my babies. And so when people make comments about Makayla, I can't help but take it personally. I can't help but begin to question myself and what I'm doing for her. And although I'm a pretty tough person, nothing gets to me or upsets me more than hearing "that poor dog" from people when they see Makayla. Josh reminds me that people don't see her everyday like we do and don't understand she's ok. Yeah, I know, but to have people pity her and question why we haven't put her to sleep just pisses me off.

There's nothing "poor dog" about Makayla. She's not sad, she's not feeling sorry for herself. She's handicapped and she's simply learning to live with her limitations, not let them stop her from being the same old Makayla she's always been. I've never learned as much from a person as I have learned from Makayla - she's taught me more than I could ever learn in my entire life - how to face life's challenges, how to overcome obstacles, how to not feel sorry for myself because of a difficulty in life. I'm so thankful each and every day that I have Makayla and that she's allowed me to go on this journey with her because it's been such a wonderful experience, no matter how hard it has been.

It's a small miracle I'm not an alcoholic!

2010-07-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday I realized it's a small miracle that I haven't become an alcoholic! My life is too insane to be sober 24/7, yet I am!! This is a rambling post of the recent incidents that have made me realize it's amazing I'm sober!!

Sunday I went down to Sheboygan for a home visit for rescue. Took Diesel with me - since they had another dog and kids, he was the best one suited for this visit. I get there and knock on the door; Diesel begins barking his fool head off to announce his presence as well! We walk in the house, I put his belly band on and let him off the leash and he proceeds to show how very ill-mannered he is. Wanders through the entire house, upstairs, downstairs, kitchen, bathrooms - checking everything out. Comes back in the living room, jumps on the couches, jumps on the window sill and walks through the vertical blinds on the windows, sits on the top of the couch. You'd think he owns the joint. Pees on the wall (well, tries to, at least, since thankfully I remembered to bring his belly band). Basically, made me realize the boy has no manners whatsoever!!!

I had two ice cream buckets of plants sitting behind the garage to be planted when we re-do the planter in the yard. Well, with all the rain, there's now water in the buckets. The girls believe this is their new water dish. So they come out with a face full of mud (because there's dirt in there with the water!) and stinking like manure - there must have been fertilizer in Denise's dirt when she pulled out the plants! And of course, Grace tries to eat the plants, as well. That's it - in the dumpster they go - I don't have time to get them planted and I don't need two sick girls because they're drinking the water!!

And for fun, we've had thunderstorms basically every night for the last month or two. Which means Diesel and Kayla spent most evenings running through the house barking like maniacs. Last night, the power went out, so I couldn't even turn the TV up all the way to try to drown out the thunder. Poor Grace was scared out of her mind because it was pitch black and the two idiots are barking fools!!! In an effort to make the most out of it and to keep my sanity, I broke out the glow stick necklaces, put them on the kids so I could see them in the dark and sat down with my battery operated book light and a book.

So, tell me again why I'm still sober every day?!

Are we really planning Pugfest already?!

2010-07-11T18:34:00.003-07:00

We had a board meeting today for Milwaukee Pugfest - to wrap up from the 2010 event and begin talking about ideas for the 2011 event. Geez, are we really planning for May 15, 2011 already?! As usual, before we know it, May will sneak up on us and we'll still have a million thing left to do at the last minute before the event!

It was a great brainstorming session today - lots of fun ideas for next year's event, both Saturday and Sunday. I'm already doing some online browsing and shopping stocking up on things to be used in the fun and games! Although it's a TON of work to plan, organize and carryout a large fundraiser of this scale, it's so much fun to see all of the money we help raise that weekend and see it benefit the pug rescues that participate. Hopefully, we will be able to have even more rescues participate in 2011.

I will leave you with one hint for Pugfest 2011 - we're channeling Bob Barker.

And in the meantime, please visit www.milwaukeepugfest.com to view details for the Pugfest Scrapbook Contest. This year's theme is "Spirit of the Pug" and the top three winners will receive donations to the pug rescues of their choice. How fun - scrapbook our favorite breed and win money for rescue!

Happy Fourth of July!

2010-07-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

So, it's the 4th of July and for the last five years that has meant the annual 4th of July hat pictures of the pugs!!

As usual, Makayla did just what Mommy wanted her to do and was such a good girl (she asks that you please ignore her saggy boobies - she says if you're older, you know how hard it is when things start sagging!).

I do believe this was the first year I tortured Grace with the hat. She was bored with it:

But I managed to get a halfway decent picture of her in the hat. Needless to say, she's not impressed with the 4th of July hat!

And then there's Diesel, who apparently has decided he's had enough of this hat crap. This year he took matters into his own hands . . . errr, mouth, and decided he simply was not posing in the hat.

Ugh - the 4th of July!

2010-07-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

I hate the 4th of July. Why? One word - fireworks. I never use to hate the fireworks on the 4th, but ever since we got dogs, I've learned to just hate the holiday! Kayla hears every boom and bang. And now that we live out in the country, they have huge fireworks out here and they're not just on the 4th. They're the week before and several weeks after. Our remedy for dealing with the fireworks? We close the doors and windows and crank up all tvs as loud as we can. I may be deaf by the end of the night because the tv is so loud, but it's the only way we can avoid Kayla hearing the fireworks and barking like a maniac all night!!

Hope everyone has a happy and safe fourth!

Makayla's Great Day

2010-06-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

Kayla had a Bicom Therapy session today at her holistic vet. Since I'm gone from work for about 3 hours for one of her vet appointments, I decided to take Kayla to work with me this morning earlier than I'd usually go in and get in an hour of work before being gone all morning. I thought we were safe when she didn't poop before getting in the car at home and she was rather quiet and calm during the ride. Didn't that all change when we got to work?! She was all excited and as soon as we got in the elevator at work, she had to poop!! We picked up the poop with a poop bag but before I could get the febreeze and get back in there to de-stink it, Robyn had the pleasure of riding in the poop smelling elevator!!! I'm sure that's how she wanted to start her morning!! Thankfully, we were able to get the smell out of the elevator with a little febreeze and we got some work done - and Sis got a little socializing in too, looking for treats from everyone.

Her holistic vet said she looks great - she said her eyes even looked a little brighter and more alert today. She's been having a great couple of weeks and we're just enjoying it. She is down another pound in weight, down to 18.8 but we're ok with that because her strength in her back end has seemed to have plateaued right now. Otherwise, she had a wonderful visit - just a quick tuneup with her Bicom therapy and we're done for another three weeks.

New addition to the family

2010-06-27T07:38:00.000-07:00

Well, we did it - we went and added another pug to the family. A beautiful little fawn girl that I've had my eye on for quite a while. She came with the name Gertrude and I think we will keep it. The only decision to make is whether we will call her Gertie or Trudy for short. Any suggestions?

Without further ado, here's Miss Gertrude:

If you've never seen these before, it's made out of beads - tiny little beads!! They're AWESOME and I've wanted one for a while but have been too cheap to splurge and buy it.

Come on, you didn't really think I'd brought home a living pug and lived to tell about it, did you?! Josh has firmly stated we're done at three!

Fun in the sun

2010-06-22T17:43:00.000-07:00

I love that it's always a good 5-10 degrees cooler at home than it is in town. The car thermometer said it was 90 degrees in town this evening. But when I got home, there was a nice gentle breeze and it was pretty comfortable outside. So the kids and I ate dinner and spent some time outside in the yard.

Diesel waited patiently for his daddy to come back from Marty's:

And Grace enjoyed rolling around in the grass:

And Kayla found a really fun spot for rolling:

Welcome to our blog

2010-06-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

Our life is always busy and fun - living with three pugs is never ending laughter (and, ok, I admit, frustration)!! So what better way to remember our fun times than to blog about them and share with our family and friends.

A quick rundown of our gang:

Diesel is our "first born." He's a fun, happy boy, who believes people roam this earth to lavish love and attention on him. He's never met a person he doesn't love! He's a talker, always willing to share his thoughts with you through growls and barks. He's just a fun guy to be around.

Makayla is our first rescue girl. She's having some health problems right now, which take up a lot of our time in caring for her and taking her to vet appointments and adjusting to her disabilities and constant changes in her needs. She opened my heart to pug rescue and I don't know where I'd be in my life if we'd never adopted Makayla. She's also a crotchety old bag - and being handicapped hasn't changed her one bit - she's as crabby as ever some days!!

And then there's Gracie Lou Freebush - who is all personality. She's our rescue girl who came from an awful puppymill. So while she doesn't care too much for people, when she's home and in her comfort zone, her real personality comes out. And look out!! She's the founding member of Pugs Addicted to Fabric Anonymous - and it's a one day at a time battle for her to fight her addiction. She keeps me on my toes every single day. And like a toddler, if she's out of our sight and quiet, she's usually up to no good! Though she drives Josh absolutely insane some days (ok, most days!), I wouldn't trade her for the world.

We hope you enjoy reading about our silly adventures - some days, it's life as usual (well, usual for us at least) and some days, life here is a little more chaotic than usual, but somehow we manage to get through every day with a good dose of laughter.