Char's New Experience

On Easter, Jay and I went to a picnic help by the Filipino Community at a park. We brought Charlotte with us, and there learned form one of the other party goers that the fenced area just behind where we were was a dog park. It was an amazing day outside and I had been wanting to find a good dog park for Char, so Jay and I ate and promptly walked her over.

Charlotte does not normally like dogs about her size or bigger. She's okay if they are smaller but normally freezes up a little and gets defensive with anything bigger. We were half way to the park entrance when Char was greeted with the loud, excited barking of a 10 month old Swiss Mountain Dog named Regan.

She was huge and still growing. A very friendly "little" girl. She trotted right up to Char and they smelled one another. Char did SO good with her, no growling or fur raising at all! She interacted with Regan for about five minuets and then her master went on the way she was going and we continued to the dog park. They wound up turning around and entering behind us a few minuets later.

As we approached the gate to enter a few families were leaving, with several bigger dogs. One fine, massive Mastiff of a gentleman saw Charlotte and made a bee line for her. He was even bigger than Regan, both in height and in width. If Regan was twice Char's size, this beast was 4 times. But he was well behaved, sniffed her nose and quickly went away as his dad gently tugged on his string of a leash. He was a little bigger than the dog in the picture below but he was the same coloring. His head came up to my CHEST! He was that huge. Charlotte did really good with him too. No aggression at all, no fear. She stood plastered to my leg, but bravely stretched out her neck to meet noses with him. I almost wish I could have gotten to pet him. A real gentle giant that one!

As we made it through the second gate we realize it is an off leash park, and making their way towards us? Two old, but happy St. Bernards! Once again both Charlotte and Jay are faced with quite big dogs. We were only 20 feet into the place and already been met by four different dogs all of which were twice Char's size or bigger! There were labs and a few mixed breed dogs running around, just stupid with joy.

Char behaved well the entire time, not far behind us Regan entered with her mother and another guy with a little lab/pit mix puppy named Nala. She was light tan with pale green eyes and just the cutest sweetest little thing. Jay wound up swallowed in a herd of massive dogs, It was really funny, he was just surrounded, between the big dogs and the medium dog smelling and playing around him, it was a little over whelming for him but he got over it quickly, kept his calm and moved out of the pack to me and Char. I'm so proud of him. It was a learning experience for hm as well as her and they both got A+'s that day! <3

As we walked to the far back of this field along the lake, Char got to meet a lot of other dogs, and when we rounded the corner, we saw that there were even more dogs at the back, just running and playing and being goofballs. It was overwhelming for her and she was very hesitant at first but with some love and coaxing she moved closer and closer to the group till we were on the outer edge. It was a good comfort zone for her as dogs kept approaching but she wasn't in the center. Soon her new friends Regan and Nala joined us. Regan jumped right into the center of the play, while Nala being the tiny little squirt that she is, hugged the edges just playing with the other dogs in the area. She liked Char and stuck close to her.

Charlotte did SO great with socializing, i was tempted to let her off her leash but as she was still unpredictable in such a setting I wasn't comfortable with it. Still she played and had a lot of fun. She got to meet two pure bread show line German Shepherds. This was awesome for me as they were BOTH twice her size and just beautiful! One was carrying around a small log (note it was NOT a stick) that he'd been playing fetch with. The first was black and light beige..he's the one that had the log..looked kinda like this..

Nut the other was my favorite he was almost solid black and even bigger than the first.

There was also a doberman which I about lost my mind with excitement over because he came right over and I got to pet him. I love dobermans such pretty dogs!

Next to Charlotte there was only ONE dog there that was as great as her though. After we'd been there for about 20 minuets I glanced around and coming around the corner was a big brute of a dog. One I teared up at seeing because I'd wanted one for YEARS and have never gotten to see one up close. He was a Massive Irish Setter.

After speaking to his owner I learned his name is Bryan, and he was 6 or 7. She'd rescued him, he was a former dog dog and stud, and his owner/breeder wanted to focus on English Setters and so gave him up. He was so big his back came up to my navel. He embodied every account of an Irish Setter's personality I've ever read about. Intelligent but big and brutish and playful. I watched him go into the water up to his chest and walk back out. I asked his owner if he ever swam and she said no. I think it must be asetter thing because Belle would only wade as well. Hmmm.... I got to pet him and he was crazy soft and the sweetest thing. :)

Soon after we left. We were there for about an hour but had to get back. It was an amazing daya nd we all had a lot of fun.

Today we took Char back there. Not nearly as many dogs. Instead of 30+ there were only 6 or 7 including Char. She played well and walked well on her leash so by the time we got to the far back area again I was comfortable with letting her free. I unhooked her and she took off to play with a handsome Brittney Spaniel, while his baby sitter's 10 week golden retriever puppy tried to keep up. Let me tell you one of the funniest things in the world is watching a little ball of fluff like that keep up with a dog that runs like a border collie! LMFAO It was amazing! Char ran and ran and ran. She came when she was called, she swam..well..she splashed...we let her run for a good hour, and when we told her to "come on" and started heading back to the entrance, she came with, going at her own pace, sometimes in front, sometimes behind. She made 2 beagle friends and about half way back, she met two of the biggest Lab's I have ever seen. She played well with them too.

We reached the entrance and she played with a pit bull that just arrived. I let her roam for a bit then out of no where a half lab/ half Newfoundland came up behind us and startled her. It was funny and i have no clue where they came from except for possibly the other side of the pack because they definitely weren't there earlier. It was clear she was pooped though as she wasn't playing as much or as hard, so we leashed her, said good bye to her new freinds and came home before the afternoon got too hot.

Charlotte is coming out of her shell more and more and Jay and I are loving every single minuet of it. We're going to go back on Thursday, and then again on Sunday hopefully. She socializes better with each new friend she meets, and this place really brought her out of her shell a lot already. I can't wait to see how she and her personality develops and possibly changes on with our next visit!

"Which way do you want to go?" "Yes, which way?" "Up or Down?"

Up or down.. that was the goal for the title of this one, but I don't know how many of you will actually get the movie reference that is the title. If you do, leave a comment I'd like to see who knows it...aside from Will and my sister lol.

Ups and downs is what I've been through these last couple of days. On Saturday night I caught Jay's cold..it hit all of the sudden at around 11 pm. My head just stopped doing whatever it was that it should have been, and I got so sleepy and so dizzy all at once I thought I was going to be physically sick. I promptly went to bed.

Sunday morning at about 4 am, and I'm up, with only a few ours of bad sleep, and crying because my throat was so fucking raw I couldn't stand it. My sinuses had drained so much and so fast in the span of the night that by 4 am my throat was so raw it hurt to even yawn. I took some meds and went back to bed till 1 pm. All day I was down, it sucked. I'm really happy that Jay was better at this point and able to take care of me. I'm pretty sure it was only through sheer force of will that I started to feel better that evening. I had to start my new job on Monday morning and I wasn't about to be sick as all hell my first day, fuck that.

Since Monday, with the pain in my throat mostly gone, I've avoided any nasal/sinus issues, and coughing. Now however I have lost my voice. It was pretty bad most of Tuesday, and wasn't until yesterday evening that it started to improve. This would have been a good thing if I hadn't woken up Wednesday morning with a splitting headache that started with pain in the upper part of my nose, and once more draining sinuses. Spent most of Wednesday resting until I had to go to work, by then I was feeling a little better, especially after Jay brought me some DayQuil Sinex. Finished out the day, came home spent a little time with Jay and went right to bed.

In two weeks the only decent sleep I'd gotten took place while I was sick Sunday night-Tuesday night. I was hoping last night would have been no different but my cold had other plans. I've developed a cough. Nothing too bad, but it's that sort of deep sudden uncontrollable cough that comes from all the mucus buildup in one's chest after a nasty cold... BACK to the cough syrup I go then.

I don't know what to do next, but it seems like every times one part of this wretched cold improves, I get another problem. It's starting to piss me off. I'm now working two jobs, and this is not the best way to start such a heavy schedule. I really don't know WHEN I'll be able to catch up on my rest after this. I don't get enough time during the day before I go into work. I have this weekend off, three days as a matter of fact, but I have to get through two more days of 8 hour shifts each before then. I just hope things don't get worse before Saturday when I can fully rest.

Labyrinth

So since my last update I have not really improved on the insomnia front. I continue to be unable to sleep till around 3 am or so, and even then I can't do it with out my fail safe playing in the DVD player, Labyrinth.

I love this movie so much. I've been watching it since before I can remember and I have my big sister to thank for that. After twenty-three years of having this movie played regularly in my life, I know the entire script by heart, all the songs, and it was my first comfort movie, the one that puts me to sleep when I am sick every time. Even when not attempting to pass out, when I put this movie in, I just can't help but be happy. Its like seeing my old friends all over again. Fills me with warm fuzzies every time, and I want to share it with you all!

Many people have heard of or seen it, but many more don't. I find as I grow older, the number of people I meet who know anything of Labyrinth (or even The Dark Crystal) increase, but still remain the minority. In this post I am going to acquaint you with a cover of the story, and some details about just a few of the really great, really fun characters. All filled in with some of my own thoughts and feelings on various points. So lets get started!

Warning!: There may be some spoilers here, for those who haven't see it. Also this is a nice LONG blog, but there are some YouTube clips about half way through, and a link to a site where you can watch the movie safely and for free online at the end of the blog....

Labyrinth is the story of Sarah, a young girl with her head lost in the clouds and acting. It starts off with her dressed in costume, in a park reciting lines from a small leather bound play book titled "The Labyrinth" as her dog, the English sheep dog Merlin sits on a bench as her audience. She returns home an hour late one evening to the anger of her step mother who asked her to be home by six so she could watch her baby brother while her parents get out. There is a small argument, where Sarah acts like a spoiled teenager. The scene ends with her father entering the room with the baby and seeing that she is home, warmly says, "Oh Sarah, we were worried about you." His daughter runs half way up the stairs and shouts "I can't do anything right, can I?!"

Eventually the parents leave and Sarah is along with little Toby. She tells a crying Toby a story about a goblin king falling in love with a young girl (who's life is similar yet far more over dramatized than her own) and all she need do is say the word and he'll take the baby away. At the end of the story, she turns the light off and says "I wish the goblins really would come and take you away, right now." As she moves back across the hall the crying form the child stops suddenly. She returns to the bedroom to find the child missing, the room filled with sneaking goblins running in the darkness scaring her, and finally her fist confrontation with Jareth, the Goblin King.

After refusing several times to please bring her brother back, Jareth tells her that if she can make it to his castle, at the center of his labyrinth, where her brother is located, he will return the child. At this point his magic has taken them from the bedroom to a hill outside the Labyrinth, overlooking it. A clock then appears numbered 1-13 where he tells her "You have thirteen hours in which to solve the Labyrinth before your bay brother becomes one of us forever." Then he fades away, his laughter hanging in the air only a moment longer than him.

Determined Sarah starts her journey through the labyrinth, She meets several friends, and makes a few enemies along the way, all the while having Jareth watch her from his crystal ball, and working against her, to slow her down, or stop her altogether. Eventually she reaches the Goblin city (which surrounds the castle) with her small group of all the usual motley crew characters. They enter the city where Jareth has ordered them stopped. After a battle where the Goblins are laid to waste by a most unlikely ally, they reach the castle. Sarah moves in for the final confrontation alone, telling her friends she will call for help should she need it.

Enter the infamous stair room. Sarah races up the steps that lead out of Jareth's throne room into a massive chamber that can only have been inspired by M.C. Escher.

M.C. Escher

Labyrinth

You can see what I mean :)

Sarah must try to get Toby, as he crawls and walks his way around the room, unaware of gravity, the child is able to crawl upside down, just as jareth walks on the underside of the stairs and platforms. This is an advantage over Sarah who cannot move past basic logic and is forced to utilize only the top side of everything, eventually leading to the final confrontation between Sarah and Jareth, where the best scene of the movie take place.

Jareth proceeds to try and talk Sarah into staying with him, and loving him. he tells her he has been generous up until now, but that he can be cruel. She is astonished at this and asks him what he's done that's so generous. He replies, "Everything! Everything that you wanted I have done! You asked that the child be taken, I took him. You coward before me, I was frightening. I have reordered time! I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you! I am exhausted of living up to your expectations of me. Isn't that generous?"

With no hesitation, Sarah begins to recite the lines we heard her speak in the opening scene, "Through dangers untold, and hard ships unnumbered. I have fought my way here to the castle, beyond the Goblin city. For my will is as strong as your's, and my.."

Jareth stops her here, asking she wait and shows her one of his crystal balls, telling her to look at it, at what he's is offering her, her dreams. Unmoved Sarah continues.

"And my kingdom as great" She pauses, once more she cannot remember the final line. jareth uses this time to his advantage as he appears to be in a bit of a panic. He says, "I ask for so little. Just let me rule you, and you can have everything you want. Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave!" (This sounds like an equal partnership to me..just on..unorthodox terms lol.) it's pretty obvious that Sarah hasn't heard a word he's said as she's so focused on remember her next line. Then it comes to her, she looks up at him, her confidence growing as she comes to a simple realization...

"You have no power over me."

This ends it, Jareth is defeated as his hold on Sarah was based on her allowing all he's done so far. He transforms into the form of a white barn owl, and Sarah finds herself in the front entrance of her home. She races upstairs to find Toby tucked away in bed, and she return to her own room as we think it has all been her play acting with imagined characters. Even when her friends appear in the mirror of her room and speak to her, and even when it turns out they really are behind her, we think it is still her imagination, as even the bad guys from the movie are there to party with her. Then we see an own take flight from the tree outside and we're left to second guess out theories.

Thus ends my rundown of the story. The movie is filled with a wonderful score of music which I will not touch on too much, other than to say that David Bowie (Jareth) sings several of the songs, including the ever amazing "Dance Magic, Dance." Tied with this, the Firey song is my favorite, though I love all the music. You can see both songs in the following videos.

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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kiUt5HuW3xc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Alright, I want to share a little bit about all of the great characters in the movie..

 Jareth is the Goblin King (Played by David Bowie) Pretty much nothing is known about him, or the extent to which his power may go. What we do know is that he, for whatever reason, loves Sarah and wants her for his own. The fact that he can reorder time, and much else besides, leads me to think that if he REALLY wanted to stop Sarah, he could have done it without employing all the tricks he uses in the movie. he wanted her to reach the castle, I'm pretty sure.

 Sarah, the main character is the shining example of the typical drama queen teen girl. Fighting with her step-mother (who really doesn't seem so bad to me) about stupid things, and then taking that anger out on her father and brother (who have done nothing wrong) makes her the poster child for "Stereotypical Teen Girls". Sara is very young at heart yet, obviously not having grown up, as her room is filled with stuffed animals and books (many of which become characters later in the movie). At the end of the movie there is little to tell us if she has learned any sort of lesson. We see her starting to put away a few things, but no real proof of any significant change in her.

 

Hoggle is a dwarf who works for Jareth. He is first seen hitting fairies with bug spray outside the entrance to the labyrinth, and starts off working as an obstacle to Sarah, first giving her a run around on where the door is, and then confusing her further more, once she's inside by asking if she will go left or right, and then when Sarah says she doesn't know and asks him he simple replies "I wouldn't go either way." We find out a few minuets later what he means by this. As the story progresses, Sarah gets to know Hoggle better and they become freinds We also learn that nobody can ever get this poor guy's name right, one gag that takes place is Jareth, surprising Hoggle and Sarah and after a few words Jareth calls him Hedgewart, Sarah corrects him, calling him, Hogwart, and a frustrated Hoggle grumbles his name for them both. This gag continues throughout the movie, mostly with Jareth, but Sarah does it a few times as well.

The Worm, is a cute little blue guy that we only meet for a few minuets before fading off into obscurity for the rest of the movie. He's one of the more notable characters though, as everyone remembers him. His first two lines consist of him being silly by first saying " 'Ello." to Sarah, and then when she asks if he just said hello he replies with "No, I said 'ello' but that's close enough." Worm tries to tell a frustrated Sarah that there are lots of turns and corners but she hasn't seen them. He teaches her to find the hidden entrances/gaps in the walls, which is was Hoggle was talking about previously. Before he teaches her this he continues to invite Sarah to come into his home (the entrance being a small hole between some bricks) and meet his wife and have a cup of tea. It's a silly thing and you wanna think he's a nut job until you learn about the wall trick, and realize he means for Sarah to get into his home the same way.

Next Sarah meets the Door Guards, also known as Ralph, Alph, Jim, and Time. These boys guard two doors, which are the only way out of a dead end Sarah is trapped in. One door leads to the castle, the other to "certian death BuBuBuBUUUM! OOohhhhhHHhh." There are rules to their guard duty as well.Only the two on the top knows which, and also "You can't as US, you can only ask one of us!" "Its in the rules" "And I should warn you, one of us always tells the truth, and one of us always lies." "That's a rule too! HE always lies." The two bicker on who is the liar and who isn't, and they make it clear they don't really understand much of it either way. They're nice enough, and great comedic relief. Sarah's logic in questioning the one, to discover the liar and the door she needs, is perfect sound but her over confidence gets her into trouble once more in the end of the scene.

Sarah next meets Ludo. A loveable giant who is caught up in a rope and being tortured by goblins guards. She saves him, and frees him from the rope only to have him try to hug her all the while crying out, "SARAH FRIEND!" After they introduce themselves. Ludo plays a pivital role in being the muscle in Sarah's little group. He finghts Sir Didymus before he joins their cause, and his sheer size really intimidates the goblins that attack in the city battle. He also open the large heavy doors in the city and castle that none of them could open without him. His attachment to Sarah is strong and steadfast from the start and we learn that he has no friends other than the rocks and herself. He can call on the rocks whenever need be, by howling (we figure out that how Sarah got the rocks to save him in the first place) and he uses this call several times throughout the movie. 

The Fireys are a group of bird like humanoids that can dismember and reattach any part of themselves at will, And they do it for fun. Their song is one of the best and most fun of the movie, and they're really just a blast to watch. I would LOVE to hang with these guys, to be honest! They take it a little far when they try to remove Sarah's head like they do their own, but I also think that Sarah could have reacted better to these boys. She takes their heads off one by one and throws them so she can get away. They proceed to get their heads back and chase her through the forest calling out various sports fouls on her and saying, "It's against the rules to throw other people's heads!" Followed by another one shouting that you're only allowed to throw your own head. One of the funniest lines, in my opinion, takes place at the end of a scene where Hoggle rescues her with a rope and she's climbing up a wall. As she climbs the Fireys are using their ears as wings to make their heads fly up, tyring to get her to play some more with them, telling her to take off smaller body parts instead of her head, and one of them says, "Your ear! Take off your ear!" followed by the line from another "You don't need TWO ears!" I crack up every time I hear that line. Mostly because of the delivery of it, but the whole thing, in general, is hilarious.

Sir Didymus is a fox, a knight, and a gentlemen, though not in that order. He is the guardian to a bridge that crosses over the Bog of Eternal Stench. Non may pass without his permission. He puts a stop to the progress of Sarah, Ludo and Hoggle, and there is a small fight scene between him and Ludo, where Hoggle takes the advantage of shoving his way across the bridge. Didymus ends the fight by telling Ludo he is gallant and wants to call a tie, and hence forth "we shall be brothers, and fight for the right as one!" He call Sarah My Lady, and is stumped when Sarah actually asks for his permission to cross the bridge, which clearly no one has ever actually done. He permits it, and she begins to cross leading to more mishaps. He ends up joining her little group, and he rides upon an English sheep dog named Ambrosious This is "supposed" to be the very same dog that belongs to Sarah named Merlin. Note: For those who don't know, in the stories of King Arthur, Merlin was known as Merlin Ambrosious. His "noble steed" wears a small saddle, and is clearly a coward as we see at various times in the movie. Sir Didymus, however is completely loyal to those on the side if right and himself is no coward, stating he will fight "Anyone! Anywhere! Anyplace! Anytime!" 

This brings an end to the characters I felt worthy of mentioning here. I can name several more I actually cut from this list as the blog is long enough already! I wish I could add them all lol

As it is, this is a movie I really love, and I just really wanted to share it with you all. If you would like to see it yourself..be it because you have never seen it, or because you just feel like watching it again, you can find it here...

http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/movies/1980's/labyrinth_(1986).html

Just click one of the two links with the movie title in blue, and on the video page click "close ad and watch as free viewer." This is a trustworthy site I use it all the time myself. I hope you enjoyed the blog and i hope you enjoy the movie! If you've never seen it before and watch it, let me know what you think of it. If you are familiar with it, lets have a discussion about it!

Thank you all for reading this one, Love you all!

~Alex~

Insomnia

I don't really know what is wrong at this point. Last night I only got about 4-4 1/2 hours of sleep, and that wasn't until around 5 am. What sleep I did get was light and not restful at all. When I got to work at 11, I stood in front of the lockers and just stared at them, zoning out, forgetting what I was actually doing there for about a minuet before I remembered to pick one and open it, and go about my day. That was just the start of a long long long day.

Tonight, tired, exhausted and just wanting to sleep, Jay and I both went to bed. Both being exhausted we didn't even lay together and talk like we usually do, we were in one another's arms for only a minuet or two before breaking apart and snuggling in for sleep...which for me at least, has yet to arrive. After going to bed at 11:30 I lay there for an hour and a half. Wanting sleep, trying all my usual tricks to try and fall asleep when I normally can't and nothing works.

Despite being so sleepy and tired, no matter what I try or do, I just can't seem to keep my eyes closed. So, I got up, and over the last hour watched some T.V. and did a little bit of late night cleaning, and now I've gotten a start on this entry. I'm wondering if I should just pull an all nighter, stay up all day tomorrow and crash at like 9 or 10 tomorrow night.

Actually I probably wouldn't even last that long, but my eyes aren't heavy, they don't want to close, so don't really know what else to do.

On another note, Charlotte is learning. She fights it a little still, but she now knows what "Bed Time" means and once I can get her up after resisting, she quickly trots down the hall to the bedroom and goes right t HER bed instead of ours. She knows that at night she's not allowed on our bed with us. After Jay lets her out in the morning and leaves, she gets to sleep with me. And if we're snuggling during the day, she knows she's more than welcome to jump up there and join us, and if she chooses she can sleep on the bed during the day though she prefers to be with one of us so that doesn't really matter. I'm happy she's learned when she's supposed to be on her bed as compared to ours. :)

She's eating so much better and is getting really playful now too, especially when we come home after leaving her alone for a bit. She likes to jump up on us, and we're working on breaking her of that. We don't mind if she runs around like the psycho she is when we come home but she just throws herself on us, so she's getting a crash course in "DOWN". She is going to have to learn there is a time for "Up" and that is only when she is called up.

still haven't gotten the thing Mom sent me, back on the 21st. She sent it priority, but didn't get delivery confirmation, which means no tracking number. Normal mail only takes about 3 days to get from Minnesota to Missouri. It should have been here no later than this past Monday. Since there is no tracking number we have no clue where it is. There was a book from mom and 2 DVD's in the manila envelope. The DVD's were supposed to be a gift form my sister for Jay and I for Christmas. But the most important thing was there Belle's "no tug" walking harness was in there. I asked her for it, so that Charlotte didn't choke herself.

I know it probably sounds stupid to you, but I do have a lot of sentimental attachment to that harness. Its something we've had for Belle since she was about a year old or so. She wore it for every walk and while hunting. When I think of Belle that is one of the first things I think of, and I'm really upset to have lost it.

It's just after 3 now, and Jay has come out looking for me, he's not feeling well, my poor love. I just took care of his need and I'm going back to bed with him in hopes of sleep. Good night all.

Charlotte

Don't nag me about posting, I've had nothing to talk about. Until now.

As of this past Monday, the 13th of February, Jay and I have had a wonderful new addition to our little family. A beautiful little girl of 2 years and four months. Charlotte is our new dog. We rescued her at the humane society. Jay agreed that as my valentine's gift we could use my tax return for the $300 dollar down payment our apartment building requires for pets. We went to the human society several times and after the first visit we had a few dogs in mind, one in particular named Lilly.

Each time we went back to visit and make sure Lilly was still available (they don't hold dogs after all) we would visit and play with a few of the others. We wanted to have at least one backup in case we couldn't get Lilly when the money came in. Each time I was always drawn back to Charlotte.

On Monday, when the money arrived, Jay and I went right there, as soon as they opened. Lilly was away for her spaying but the woman put our names on her stuff so that we could take her when she came back. She then asked us if we'd like to go look at other dogs while we were there. Having nothing to do, we said yes. Once more we walked the two long rows of kennels, looking at all the beautiful creatures people willing gave up. Once more I was pulled back to Charlotte's kennel. She recognized us, got up from her bed and excitedly ran to the door.

Right then and there I started to cry. Openly weeping. I had had doubt about Lilly for a few weeks. I loved her a lot I wanted her but my heart wanted Charlotte more. Every since the first time we got to play and visit with her I wanted Charlotte. Jay pulled me close and asked me what was wrong. I told him. He said we could get Charlotte if I wanted, but I said he'd really wanted Lilly. Jay insisted that he liked Charlotte too and that the dog was supposed to be my gift, and I could have whatever dog I wanted, the one that would make me the happiest. I said I wanted Charlotte and that I needed her, and felt she needed me.

The entire time we'd been looking and waiting, over the weeks I kept bringing up the belief that when you see the dog for you, you just know. And I did know. Charlotte was it. We went back up front and told the lady we changed our mind. She was very happy to hear this because one of the vet students that spay and neuter the dogs for free had said she wanted Lilly too so now both dogs would get a home.

We'd already been told about Charlotte's past before Monday. She had been returned to the Humane Society twice, the poor baby girl! They didn't have info for the reason the first time, but the last time she was brought back, she was only there for 3 days, and they said she was aggressive towards women. Apparently whenever she was alone with the guy's wife she would just growl at her... woman either lied for Charlotte just knew she was a fucking bitch because this dog has NO aggression in her at all. She actually prefers my company over Jay's despite being very attached to him already too. On top of that, she doesn't make any noise. An occasional groan in her sleep or a growl at our friend's puppy when the thing climbs on her. She doesn't bark and she doesn't growl not even when we're playing.

Since she was brought back twice Charlotte was apart of their Lonely Hearts club. her adoption fee was reduced $25, in hopes someone would take her and love her. Poor girl's heart had been broken a few times already, it was time for her to have a good home where she is safe and I knew Jay and I could give that to her.

Since she'd already been spayed and had a microchip, we were allowed to bring our girl home right then. Thinking about how we got her brings a tear to my eye. She's the sweetest dog I've ever met aside from my aunt's border collie, Maggie. Charlotte lets you do anything you want to her, she just puts up with it. She is a German Shepard mix... we think her other half may be border collie but we have no proof either way. She's black and brown with floppy ears that are like velvet. She knows how to entertain herself and play with her own toys. Little by little she's relaxing and settling in with us and coming our of her shell. She's very shy at first but as long as she is with Jay or I she's willing to go up to other people and be social and try to ask for love from them as well as give it in return.

She's so smart, and learns quickly. She knows her manners but needs a little structure to be sure she'll obey. She's not a beggar at all doesn't care about human food, and walks wonderfully on a leash. She is great with children and other dogs, as long as puppies don't climb all over her. And she loves car rides...she's not a fan of an open window but she hops right in and lays down and just watches the world as we drive by, shes so good. She doesn't even get her nose into food or the trash <3 Charlotte has a great deal of love to give and a great deal of heartbreak that needs to be mended. Jay and I are good at both, and Charlotte has been a wonderful change in our lives. A huge change for both of us but wonderful none the less. She saved us as much as we saved her, and I love her all the more for it. I've only had her in my life for 6 days and already I don't know what I'd do with out her.

There's Always One

And there it is. In a manner of about 60 seconds I went from feeling moderately secure in my new home and apartment building to being more than just a little paranoid now.

Everybody has at least one. That odd neighbor who's just a little too friendly, and says odd things at first meeting that makes them seem instantly sketchy. Mine, I met a few minuets ago.

On our side of the apartment building, there are only 6 apartments, two on each of the three floors. On the lowest one the laundry room entrance sits between the two apartment doors. Up until now there have only been 3 residents on our side, both apartments on our floor, and the people above us. Now someone has moved into one of the units on the first floor.

I'm sure he's a very nice guy, and I am probably going to hell for making an assumption about somebody I know absolutely nothing about, and I'm not really assuming anything, but I have instantly been put on my guard. He fits that stereotypical creeper. A larger, balding man in his 40's, glasses and an accent that sounds like it's mixed and he could be from the Russian area of the world and from Europe all at once. He was chatty and pleasant but said things and asked questions that's seemed to be just a little too nosy for a simple passing in the laundry greeting chat. And it was those questions, as well as how he presented himself that put me immediately on my guard.

The stereotype description I could care less about, as I know very very well, nobody can judge a book y it's cover. But when he asked if I lived alone (he saw me with a only an hour before), or if I had children, when we weren't even getting that chatty int he first place it just made me uncomfortable. I instantly went from feeling perfectly ok with leaving my apt door unlocked when I'm home alone (like I can do back home in Minnesota) to locking it as soon as I got back into the apartment where Jay was waiting for me. And you can ask him, I would rather leave it unlocked out of habits from growing up, yanno? It takes a lot to make me THAT uncomfortable.

I really really hope he was just trying to get to know his neighbors, and that I really have nothing to worry about but for an overly friendly down stair's neighbor. I am going to keep an open mind here, without ignoring my own safety. I will still stay on my guard more than normal for a while... even if I wanted to, I couldn't stop myself from doing that I don't think.

I know that's not a byproduct of my upbringing in a bad location. When I was little I lived in a very safe place where my dad could call for me out the back door and from a block and a half away he could hear me call back that I was coming, very Leave it to Beaver esque. We only locked our doors at night back then...except for Christmas Eve. We left the back door unlocked for Santa. There aren't very many places like that now days. When I eventually have kids, I really do want to be able to move to a place much like the location I grew up in. It's a far hope with how our society is but I can still, in fact, hope.

I'm getting off topic here though. The being on my guard, I think, is still part of my upbringing. My daddy, and my momma, my grandfather's and grandmothers taught me, and all of us in my family... the boys as much as the women...we can't be too careful. We are to never think or say "Oh it can't happen to me." Because the chances are it can and will. It's something that lies dormant in me, waiting to spring to the forefront to help protect me. It's always there in my subconscious, I'm always looking around myself when I'm alone in public. In my purse I keep a knife that once belonged to my grandfather, still as sharp now as the day my Daddy passed it on to me. When I leave work alone at night, my keys remain firmly between my fingers as makeshift self defense weapons, as told to me by my father.

I don't want to assume anybody is a creeper or worse, but at the same time, you really can't be too safe. There are so many untrustworthy people in this world, and its really a shame that I have to feel as though I need that knife in my purse or that one extra glance around the parking lot. I should be able to feel safe in my own apartment building when we have a locked and key code controlled front and back door in the general access. *sighs*

Those days are gone I suppose, but I hope that's only for now. I hope that one day, things will get better, even if it's just better to the degree it was when I was a kid. I guess there isn't much more to say on this subject. I'm going to continue watching my back and locking my door, until I can get to know our new neighbor better. I sincerely hope my first impression was just off due to an over eagerness to get to know a new neighbor. :)

Silly Things

I am bored, so here are some cute, funny, and generally amusing images I stole from my sister and other random places on the net :) Apologies for bad sizing it wouldn't let me re-size it all properly, but bah, whatever. I hope these still make you smile.

Can't Sleep

A lots been going on lately. I haven't had a moments rest between the move, going back home for my birthday, and work. I've been going non-stop. This past Friday was my literal first day off from doing anything at all, and I spent it and Saturday just trying to relax as well as work some more of our moving boxes and get our new home unpacked. Friday I slept so amazingly well, but last night and tonight, I can't sleep well at all. I'm tired and exhausted, and I just want to sleep! I only want rest, why on Earth is that so difficult? I'm in tears over this, I'm so so so tired, so sleepy why can't I just have this one small thing?

At least Jay is sleeping well. People seem to think that he doesn't do anything because he's out of work right now but really, he does a lot. For example, we're at only one vehicle, right now, mine. And I'm nice enough to share it with him and his mother. Poor Jay. In any one day he could make up to 8 back and forth trips just bringing me and his mom to work, and she works 3 jobs, rarely does she not work 2 in one day. If Jay get really lucky it's only 5 back and forth trips in a day and that's only if she and I both start or end or respective jobs at the mall at the same time.

On top of all of that running around, he still makes trips to the grocery store for us, he's putting in applications for jobs, and he's also car hunting as well! Many people don't realize it, but job hunting is in fact a full time job in and of itself. Especially in this economy. I know, I've been there, I was out of work for over a year and believe me, it sucks. It took months and months of constant applications to get even a single interview let alone an actual job. And the longer you're out of work, the harder it is to FIND work. Add to that the constant rejection, or "well call you back and let you know either way" bullshit when you never get a call back, etc. It all adds up and it just makes you want to give up. It all takes a huge and massive toll on you mentally and emotionally. It really hits your self confidence hard, which in turn can make it even harder to get up and get out job hunting.

I'm really proud of Jay though! He's not letting all this get to him. Sometimes it does, but that's how it is with everyone. Jay's hitting the apps really hard. He WANTS to work and he'll take about any job he can find! He's trying so hard and doing so much in between. I'm so proud of him! I'm really glad at least he's asleep right now and sleeping well. He needs it too. So at least one of us is well rested.

On another note, my big sister is having a baby. She's due in December. I'm really excited, I can't wait to go home for the birth. We were talking tonight, about how the both of us really think that the baby will be born early. It's a girl by the way. I am not the god mother, one of my best friends, April, is. And I'm really excited about it. So is Ape. She's really excited to be an Aunt/Godmother. And I know she's going to take as good care of this little girl and spoil her as rotten as I spoil Aurorah and Leo. April is going to be a really great god mother!

I'm really honored that Riss wants me to be there to cut the cord. She's not with the dad.. he's a douche, I won't get into too much details but lets leave it at they were really good friends from high school. They had a one nighter just for fun, he lied about the condom, and then jackassed his way into the dickwad hall of fame. Lets just say he ate a bowl of stupid every morning for breakfast.

As it is, my mom has been the one that's been there for Riss the entire time, been going to all the appointments, all the birthing classes, everything. I would have thought that would be reason enough to ask our mom to do it. But when I...in complete awe by the way...why me, she simply replied with "Who else would I ask to do it?"

Honored, that's all I can say about that. I am going to do every possible thing in my power to be there for my sister and that baby girl.

So yeah, I guess that's about it. I feel hungry all of the sudden. I'm just sitting here, doing nothing, watching the same Family Guy epps on Adult Swim that I watched earlier tonight, and wishing I could sleep. Not even my Valerian is working tonight...damn it.

Well good night everyone. I love you all, see you on the flip side!

New Apartment

Jay and I are so exhausted. We're sleeping out of our skulls. I personally was on the go nonstop from for 10 hours with no rest till about half an hour ago. That's when I promptly collapsed and let my sleepiness overtake me. One of the things we did today was move a bunch of stuff into the apartment. I also took video of it for you all to get a great walk-through for it! That's really the only reason for this post, so here is the video, enjoy it and I'll write later!

Ugh,

I want to write but I don't really know what to write about. I'm so bored, I really should go through my cloths to start packing..I should fold out two full baskets of laundry too but I'll do that a little later. I hate doing laundry. Okay I take that back, i'm weird, I don't mind doing laundry or even folding it, but for some reason I loath putting it away. I don't know why either haha, but I just hate putting the laundry away. Oh well I guess.

In my post yesterday I mentioned a few stories from work. So I got one for ya now. At my store almost everyone is a member of the management team. We have two girls who are regular associates. One is a new seasonal girl. She's really sweet, and nice I like her. She's only 16. The other is a girl who is 19 and has been with the company on and off for two years. I'll call her Maria. She's a really nice girl, and we chat about a lot of things. But she likes to try and see what she can get away with with the girls in management. She doesn't try to pull shit with our store manager, but there is another third key who will order her around so she doesn't do much with her. The thing with Maria is that you need to just be polite. If you ask nicely or say "for me" make it sound like a favor she'll jump right one it.

So yesterday, our boss was on her break. I was manager on duty. I was busy with some paperwork behind the counter. The other 3rd key that was there was busy ringing up customers. Maria was standing near her, doing nothing. See her greet a customer in a tie dye shirt that had just come in and come near us, but it was a half assed greeting. A few moments later I look up and the store is suddenly PACKED and Maria is still doing nothing. No one had been greeted, or anything and i was still busy. I looked over to her and nicely said, "Maria, why don't you go and pass out baskets and greet customers."

The girl blatantly ignored me. She stood there, looked right at me, then slowly and casually moved only her head, looking around the store. She then grabbed a single basket, and slowly walked tot he front of the store and then back again, not speaking to anyone or even offering a basket. She came back to where we'd been standing and I glance up and see the woman in the tie dye shirt with her hands full now. I was pretty annoyed with her at this point because Maria KNOWS better than to half ass it like that. So I told her to go give that lady a basket. And she goes "I already talked to her." That is a BULLSHIT excuse. This pissed me off to no end, so I pulled rank on her, which I've never had to do before. And I was like "Re-approach her! Her hands are now full, give. Her. A. Basket."

She just made me so angry. Re-approaching our customers is pushed really hard in our training and we JUST finished the yearly customer service training. She Knows Better! It pissed me off so bad and made me just so, ARGH! The store was suddenly flooded with customers. I was busy with something I'd been asked to get done, the other manager was busy, Maria knows so much better than that!

All of this took place in about two minuets, at most. She walked over to the lady handed her a basket and walked back just as I finished my paperwork. I told her one more time to go hand out baskets, firmly this time. Then I picked up a handful of baskets, passed EVERY SINGLE ONE OUT and greeted all of my customers before going back for more baskets. It took me all of a minuet to get every customer a basket and greet them properly and see if I could help them with anything.

There is a reason this girl was only hired as an associate and not a manager. Its the first time she's ever ignored me, or anything like that. And I know that she knows procedure better than that too. It made me so mad. y the time the crowd thinned out again my boss returned. I know others have had problems with this girl so I pulled my boss aside and told her what I happened. She was not happy. She punished Maria by putting her in the back room to start on the markdowns.

I enjoy her company at work, she's a nice girl but if she thinks that I won't pull rank on her when I will. She is known to have no motivation of her own unless given a specific task. I've never had a problem with her till now and this was a case of something she specifically knows, and shouldn't have to be asked to do in the first place. Meh.

Anyway that's my venting. I'm off not, ttyl.

eh, meh

I am so exhausted and tired and sleepy. I don't really have a lot to talk about as of late. We have FINALLY found a new place to move into and we also found a car for Jay. We're both so happy and super excited.

On top of moving and the new car, I get to go home soon for my birthday. I miss everyone SO SO much! I can't wait to see my family again! We'll be home the 28th-1st. I get to party with everyone out on the 29th, earlier that say is my sister's baby shower. On the 30th its just gonna be a chill day, possibly we'll so see a movie. Well we ARE going, to see Puss in Booths that day. I am SO excited to see it! MUWHAHAHAHA! On Halloween, (my birthday) we're going up to the cemetery to visit my grandfather. I was born on his birthday, I miss him so much. My Gamma and Jay and April are going with. I hope my mom and my sister still want to go up there with us too. It would eb nice to have everyone there. We'll have a family dinner that night and run around like lunatics in costumes too.

Jay and I have to come back on November first. It'll be way too short a time to be home. I'm going to be miserable on the way back to Missouri. It won't be long enough to be home. I have no guarantee that Nick and Cass and the kids will for sure be able to come down for thanks giving..and if they can't...I just... I honestly don't know what I'll do. I care more about Halloween and Thanksgiving than any other holiday. I can't go home, and if I can't be with at least a small part of my family I think I'll actually be one of those people who falls into the holiday depression, which sucks, because I'm usually so chipper I love the holiday season. Decorations and the cheer, ect it's so great! I really hope my family can come down for it. Even if we have to celebrate a week early or a week late.

At the early start of Dec. I should (not 100% sure yet but SHOULD) be able to go home for the birth of my new niece! I'm so excited for that! Rory is my little love, but Rissa's baby shall be my Sanggol! That's Filipino for baby, I like the word and how it sounds and it will be my term of endearment for Rissa's baby.

My tired mind if just rambling now. My hours have gone up at work for gossipy reasons that I won't repeat here, but I'm happy about that. More hours means more money, and maybe I won't have to find a second job.

Anyway I have nothing more today A few work stories but I don't feel good, and and so sleepy so those will be posted some other time. Night all, love you all, ttyl!

My Niece Bought My Boyfriend From My Mom!

So I am only telling this story because I laughed my ass off when I thought of the title.

When Jay and I had gone home to visit we were all sitting in the living room. My two year old niece Rory found some change on one of the table or the floor or something. A couple of quarters, and what not. All evening my mom had been trying to get it from her "You want your cuppy? Okay but you gotta pay Gramma for that." or "you gotta give me your monies if you want down." Things like that. Each time she'd shake her head and walk away or say "no" and walk off. She would not give up her monies.

So a little later Jay was in the dining room, and she just loves Jay. She went up behind him and hugged the back of his legs "My Jay." and my mom held out her hand again and once more told Rory "You have to pay for him."

Immediately Rory held out her hand walked over to my mom and put the money in her hand before going back over to Jay and grabbing his leg again.

I laughed so hard I had tears. It is one of my favorite stories.

That's it for today's Elixir!

Love you all!!!

Over A Month

Been a while since I've posted. Since my visit to the ER last month, Jay and I have gone back home to Minnesota. We helped my parents move into their new house and set up plans to move home in October. But that is not going to happen now, as a few complications down here in Missouri have surfaced. So we are putting off the move till things down here are taken care of.

We found out that my sister is having a baby girl. I'm very excited for this. I've already bought the diaper bag, and I was to fill it with some fun things clothes and a few other things she requested on her registry. The baby shower takes place on October 29th. I have already requested time off so we can go back home for my birthday which is the 31st, so I'll be home for the baby shower hopefully. The downside is that the time I asked off is the start of a black out period at work, and there is no guarantee that I will get it. Especially since two others also asked for that weekend off, even though I did put in my request first.

In other news, we are currently looking for a new apartment. We received a letter from the landlord a few days ago. He's giving everyone in his rentals until Dec. 1st to find a new place because he's tearing down all the buildings, to pave over and expand out his car lot next door. WHY he is trying to do this int he middle of winter is beyond me, he should at least wait till spring when the ground softens.

We found a place, it would be 480 a month for 2 bedrooms, spacious, all we have to pay are gas and electric and renters insurance which we can get for 20 a month. This really is do able, but Jay's mom doesn't think she can afford it, I don't think she realizes that I'll be sharing in the responsibility of bills. Also even though this is an incredibly nice apartment complex, she has reservations about the place because "a lot of black people live there."

Still I'm setting up a walk through for Friday. The sooner we can find a place the better.

Other than that, things are going well for us. This was just a quick catch up post, I'll post again soon!

The Dangers of Rubbing Alcohol

Oh what a night Jay and I had last night. But before I can get to that, I need to start this story from earlier in the day.

I woke up just fine yesterday nothing wrong with me. At around 11 - 11:30 I was getting ready for work. My left shoulder started to hurt. Felt a little bit like a pinched nerve. I favored it a little bit, and continued getting ready. As my day went on, with no heavy lifting or anything strenuous, my arm proceeded to get worse. I went home at 4, took one of Jay's Vicodin, he'd been given some 2 weeks ago to deal with the bad infection from his cavity, and rested till 5:30. Then I had to go back to work for a store meeting at 6. I told Jay if my arm got worse we'd have to go in and have it looked it. I won't get into the long details of my pain, but lets just say up until that hour, I was able to hold my arms in at least one comfortable position, with no pain at all. But by the time we were done at 7, I was close to tears, and in a great deal of pain no matter what I did. I was shivering from the pain it was so bad. Jay had picked me up, he'd drove since I'd taken a pain killer, and as soon as I got into the car I told him I needed to go into the ER. He took me straight there. On our way in I called mom and let her know what was going on, and then Cassie.

After we got there and I registered, we didn't have to wait long before I was called in. The triage *sp* nurse was a bitch because I didn't happen to know the fucking name of my birth control pills *eyeroll*. Then she was gonna take us to room 5 but as we were just entering one of the guys back there said he had an emergency rolling into that room from the ambulance, so we were just shifted over into the room next to that, just when the guy was being brought in.

As we sat and waited to be seen, we could hear the guy in the next room talking. Clearly drunk, very harsh coarse voice, he was a bit of an older guy, probably in his 60's. He was arguing with the nurses and stuff, he didn't want something or other. Then a little later the nurse came back into his room. I guess he'd been complain that he couldn't breath. She argued with him, and it turned out he "couldn't breathe" because of the reason he was in there. She said if he REALLY couldn't breathe, that she'd sedate him and give him a breathing apparatus. He said that he could breath but it FELT like he couldn't and she told him "Then do not claim you can't breathe. we take that very seriously here." So at some point the guy's daughter showed up, and she is on the side with the Dr.'s and nurses and stuff, arguing with him as well. Then another guy finally came in and started asking questions. We kept hearing the old guy say "I! DIDN'T! MEAN! TO!"

It turns out he was so fucking drunk, he wasn't paying attention to what he was drinking and wound up drinking part of a bottle of rubbing alcohol! He was talking about his throat hurting and he couldn't breath and the nurses kept telling him they can't give him something to drink right now but if he stopped talking his saliva would formulate and go down his throat and help to open his airways, but of course, being drunk he wouldn't shut up for anything.

All of this took place over roughly 4 hours while Jay and I were waiting between visits to our room. So in the meanwhile, I was visited, asked questions, and had the RN or whoever move my arm around, in a few painful locations. Then the nurse came in and he put an IV into my forearm, and gave me morphine. My stomach was empty so that made me feel even more hungry. Right as he was finishing up the two people came to take me and get x-rays. That was okayish, no pain except for one way I had to move my arm that brought tears to my eyes.

An HOUR after my x rays, the Dr. himself finally came in and saw me. He said my X-rays said I was just fine, and from how I'd reacted when my arm had been examined, what I had is something called Nerve Entrapment.

According to Right Health . com... "Nerve entrapment syndromes pertain to medical conditions wherein the nerves become entrapped or restricted in certain areas of the extremities. To decompress the nerves, surgery can be performed on the affected area. Neurosurgeons, orthopedic doctors and plastic surgeons are the medical professional that performs such surgeries. The syndromes manifests with pain of the nerves or with loss of function in the nerves. Nerve Entrapment Syndromes occur when nerves sustain chronic injury usually from stressful or repeated trauma."


I would have to see the Orthopedic doctor, we had the choice of waiting that night to see him or I could call today and make an appointment. We would have waited, but there were a couple of case a head of me, including someone with a dislocated hip or slipped hip or SOMETHING like that. And there was something else a head of us too so they had no clue how much longer we'd be waiting. We'd been there just over 3 hours already. So we decided to go with the sling and just call the ortho today. He was going to prescribe me Vicodin, a sling and 3 days from work.


It took just over an hour to get all of that. During that time we heard a man being wheeled in down the hall several rooms away. He was just screaming at the top of his lungs.Screaming stuff like, "AAAHHHHH OH DEAR GOD HELP ME!" he was in A LOT of pain. He was screaming so loud and so hard he sounded like the background screams of horror that you hear in the movies at one of those asylums that torture the "patients" sort of thing. It was REALLY bad, really cringe worthy. I felt bad for the guy. They either put him on a pain killer, or they full of sedated him cuz he just randomly stopped screaming. The nurse came in just after eleven, he took the IV opening out of my arm (I wasn't on a drip or anything just the hardware was still in me from getting the morphine) and put the sling on me, telling me how it should look and feel when wearing it.


We left and I was SO hungry and SO tired, that we went right to McDonald's. I had a number 9 crispy chicken meal AND an additional McChicken sandwich. I had both sandwiches almost fully finished before Jay'd even eaten all his fries. I was that damn hungry lol. Halfway through my second sandwich, Jay tells me that whenever he was on morphine and he tried to eat he always got sick. I was so hungry it took about half a second for me to think about it, shrug, and tell him it was worth it before going back to eating haha.


I'm doing better right now, but the pain is coming back again little by little. I haven't had a Vicodin in about 6 hours, I do not want to rely on it, that would be bad. But at the rate the pain is returning I will probably take one before bed so that I can actually sleep.


Jay didn't leave my side once last night. He was so worried about me, and he was very comforting he did a wonderful job to make me feel better, and help me forget about being in the ER, etc. He's so wonderful, he really took great care of me yesterday. He'd yell at me for even moving my fingers let alone my entire arm. I love him so much. He's been taking good care of me today too, making sure I'm okay and eating well, and what not. I'm very lucky to have him. And I appreciate him so much, and I'm so glad that I have him. <3


Anyway I am off for now. I'll keep you all updated on how I'm doing!


<3

PUPPIES!

HAHA N o not really the kind that Jerry "The King" Lawler likes to scream about on Monday Night RAW, actual puppies.

Last weekend Jay agreed to look after two dogs, one belonging to his aunt and one to his cousin. His Aunt's dog is a pit bull and dalmatian mix. Her name is Camie and she's five years old. The other dog is named Elsie, and she is Camie's pup. She's 3 and so she is a dalmatian/pitbull/lab mix. But she looks nothing like her mom she looks more like a lab than a pit and the dalmatian is really hard to see in both of them.

Camie

Camie is so pretty, and she's just the BIGGEST baby is the world! They keep her locked up in their really "nice" finished off basement. It would be nice I mean, if there wasn't a ton of dog poo all over the place old and some very very moldy even. Its disgusting. It reeks down there and that poor dog! From what I understand at least, they don't play with her or love on her. It's like the lab pup Bear all over again...I miss Bear so much *sad* But this is worse. These people are grown adults. They should be taking care of her better and they should be training her properly and cleaning up that basement, ew. While we were there she didn't leave my side unless she was eating. I sat there and loved on her as much as I possibly could, I felt TERRIBLE about leaving her. She actually belongs to Jay's cousin Brian, who lives in back home in Minnesota, and was unable to bring her with. So his mom kept her but they still don't care for this poor girl. I wish that when we move back home we could bring her with and give her a proper life, but Daddy doesn't like anything that's even remotely related to a Pit, and with the Dalmatian in her, I don't know how she would be with children *sad* I really got attached to this big ol' sweetheart really fast and I only got to visit her twice!

Elsie

Elsie has it a lot better. She actually belongs to the son in law of Jay's Aunt, Adam. She is a very nervous dog, incredibly shy. She only listens to Adam, and no one else....*sly grin* ... or so they thought. Elsie listened to me very well. She responded so sweetly to me, and especially when I sat on the floor with them, she was happy and so very content to let me just sit and love on her and Camie as well.

BAWHAHAHA I love that picture!

Camie actually acts younger than Elsie, it's really funny, but Camie has so much pent up energy that it's no wonder she runs around like she's puppy stupid! LMFAO!!!

I really did fall in love with both of these girls. They're so sweet, and just want pets and snuggles. Elsie wouldn't go anywhere near Jay's mom. She's not much of a dog person, and even though she was trying to get Elsie to her, and be kind to her but she just would not go anywhere near her. But if I called, Elsie would come to me, and sit for me and all that good stuff. I missed my dog Hurc before this, but being with these girls, I miss him so much more now *sad* But he's my boy and I'll get to see him soon. I just really wish I could take Camie. It upsets me SO much that someone who doesn't deserve a dog or really care treats it this way, when here I am unable to even have a cat let alone a wonderful dog like her! RAWR

Anyway more pics of these pretty puppies!

I will say it again........

PUPPIES!!!!

Can I Get Subtitles Please?

Alright, so lets see....

I live with my boyfriend and his mother. They are Filipino. English is a second language easily spoken by both of them. But his mother prefers to speak in Filipino. Especially when she's on the phone with her siblings. When she's on the phone it's one thing, but when she's talking to Jay in the car in front of me, or about me when i occasionally hear my name said, I would appreciate her speaking in English. Personally I feel it is rude to contribute to a conversation, in a language where one participant doesn't speak it or know what you're saying. Equally so, when you're speaking that person hear's their name. Its a bit rude to talk about someone in front of them in another language. Even if it's not something bad, even if you're just referring to them. I don't know that. All I know is that I hear my name sometimes more than once. I just feel like it's rude. Alternately I'm constantly asking Jay what they said. I feel left out, more like I don't belong. I understand it may be easier for her to use Filipino, but at the same time, its still rude. I'm trying to learn the language myself but its really difficult, especially without any consistent learning just me asking Jay what some words means.

I made a joke a few nights ago that was the reason for the title of this blog. His mom was on the phone with her sister working some plans out for us to watch their dogs. (That post will come tomorrow pictures and all.) And I heard my name once or twice and she was just babbling away. Jay was in a bad mood and so was I. I was trying to cheer us both up and I was thinking about his mom going off in Filipino and suddenly I had this thought and started giggling. I lean over to Jay while he's driving and I go. "Can I get subtitles please?" and we both just lost our minds. The whole drive I was making jokes about my subtitles being broken, first they were in French, then in German, then in Spanish. It was just hilarious. I had a big kick with it and Jay cheered up some too. *love*

But that's what people in love do for each other. They put one another at ease. They cheer each other up. I have so much love for Jay, and that's why I am going to keep trying to either lean Filipino, or learn those damn German subtitles. *love*