Today this little lady is on my mind. She is my most recent foster dog and was adopted four weeks ago already. I've missed her everyday. Days like this I wish I would have adopted her myself. She was only with us 10 weeks and she is definitely not the type of foster I'm attracted to. I prefer the challenging dogs; the scared and unsocialized, the special needs and seniors. Basically, I'm attracted to the dogs that are hard to place because they need special attention. This little lady was the complete opposite. First of all she was a puppy (6.5 months) and had been rescued at a puppy mill auction while still young enough to have avoided a lot of the mental and emotional damage. She was calm, well-mannered, and friendly--perfectly adoptable. That was my rational for letting her go-why keep such a "normal" girl when there are so many "special" ones still needing a foster home. So she left and I cried for 2 days and "A" made me hold ice-packs on my swollen eyes. Four weeks and I still miss her...the house is too quiet.

Fostering dogs is not an easy or glorious job. Many of these critters come to you scared, unsocialized and definitely not housetrained. You may spend hours cleaning up after messes and lying on the floor trying to gain the trust of an animal who has never felt one human kindness in their entire life. They chew on things they aren't supposed to, pee on your carpet, keep you up at night and test your patience and problem-solving skills but I wouldn't change anything. Then of course there's always the chance of "foster-failures" where they come to your home and never leave. Our last adoption was a 7.5 year old retired puppy mill mama. After 6 months in our home and no one had inquired about her we decided to make her a permanent addition to our pack of misfits.

My Honey loves the fostering and rescue too but she can sometimes be less patient. I thought her head was going to explode when our latest foster decided to play tug-o-war with the perennials in her flower beds, ripped up the peony bushes (as documented in the photo above) and ate pine cones and vomited then on the couch. I respond by taking a deep breath, wrapping my arms around her and reminding her that these are only possessions; the plants will grow back, the couch can be cleaned and then remind her children would cause much more damage. That always makes her smile.

Perfect Lazy Sunday

It was a beautiful day: 75 degress and sunny.

Perfect day for a bike ride on the trail with your love...

...watching this cicadia bust out...

...and I still found time to do the most important thing---roll in the cool grass and relax.

It was a beautiful wedding...and I'm pissed!

That basically sums up my experience at a wedding "A" and I attended yesterday. It was the wedding of a long-time friend of A's; they went to nursing school together and have been through many relationship up/downs together too. I have also come to know this person fairly well over the last 10 years. It's the one wedding I attended this summer that I was truly looking forward to-we were going to have a great time...so I thought.

Now don't get me wrong, the wedding was beautiful, the groom handsome, and the bride was beautiful...on the outside anyway. We did meet a few friendly people and actually an invitation to a BBQ

A and I arrive at the reception and wait for the bride and groom to arrive. So far we are having a great time, just the two of us, sitting in a back corner flirting with each other and people-watching. We had a little fun putting on a show for a co-worker of the bride and her idiot boyfriend. When we were at the church, she said "hello" in passing and then quickly whispered to idiot BF about (hush) "the lesbians". He then proceeded to practically dislocate his neck trying to check us out. F***in' IDIOT! He then leered at us the rest of the evening.

When the bride and groom arrived we made several attempts to approach them to offer our congratulations but were basically snubbed and treated rudely. Of course A is oblivious to this after 4 Kinnegans, but I kept watching. I don't believe I saw a sincere smile from the bride the entire evening. As the evening progressed several others made comments about how "stiff" and "rude" they were and "impossible to talk to". Even family members commented on how happy they were to have the wedding over-too much stress!

Anyway, I woke up this morning really pissed, not about their behavior toward us but the way they took their wedding for granted. They have the option to marry whoever they want but A and I can't. I would love to be able to marry the beautiful, wonderful woman who is the other half of my soul but I don't have that option. I guarantee if I ever get to have my marriage I will celebrate it with more joy than I witnessed yesterday.

One bonus though...I got to wear my really hot heels that A loves ;)

First Entry: A Little About Me

So I sit here in front of my computer with great trepidation as I prepare to make this first blog entry. Why? I have no clue since I know no one is reading this and maybe no one will ever show interest in my words. I've spent all this time setting up my blog site, making it look nice only to stare at it blankly wondering what the hell should I write?!

I could start with an introduction but I guess that would be too predictable. I could share some profound insight-too bad my brain in numb at the moment. I guess it's boring introduction after all.
I'm a 33 year old woman living in Minnesota with my great love "A". We are quickly approaching our 10th anniversary. WOW, I can't believe that! The years have flown by so fast and we have be insanely happy (I know- too mushy). We just had this conversation a couple nights ago about our relationship and we agree that the key for us is the fact we have had at least one great laugh together everyday-even laughing through tears. We have our children: 2 cats and 4 dogs. We are involved in animal rescue and foster and rehabilitate puppy mill dogs. I get called on to transport dogs through Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Iowa. Some are moving to foster homes but my favorite transports are the ones where I get to bring a dog to their new family. I've been trying for several years to get into rescue and this year I really got in big time...it's been keeping me super busy but it's the most rewarding and fulfilling experience of my life.
I'm a small town girl who couldn't wait to get out of the pigeon-hole I was born into; a sarcastic smart-ass, cautious and distrustful of new people, and I've been referred to as a "hard-ass" too.