Emo Bud

We've had a hectic couple weeks around here, and I had forgotten that when Bud feels neglected he seeks attention in rather destructive ways. Bud's not the dog who will eat your entire couch or your favorite pair of shoes. He is more subtle... a toilet paper tube here, and bottle of nail polish there. Above are his latest interesting (and dangerous) victims. Yes, folks, that is a AA battery in the picture. I don't know where or how he got it, but we found a chewed up AA battery in Bud's crate. He barfed and gagged a little the following morning, but seemed OK afterward. I gave him some activated charcoal from the doggy first aid kit, and he survived it. Jeff and Lui (our vet tech friend) were worried he'd be a goner, but Bud has always had a belly of iron. I don't think he even really needed the charcoal. So we're giving Bud some more attention the last few days, and keeping odd toxic materials out of the room.

Volunteering is FUN!

I HATE volunteering. In fact, I never volunteer for anything because I dislike it so much. I am the person who ducks my head, runs to the bathroom before the question gets asked, goes missing for a week... you name it. However, I think I have found my niche!

So last week I blogged about my volunteering nervousness. The big animal shelter in Houston holds adoption events in the mall each week around Christmas, and they were going to have to cancel their event because only one person had signed up to volunteer. I hear such bad things about the shelter that I felt horrible for the dogs not getting their chance to be adopted out of there, so I volunteered. Well, it ended up being great!

Saturday morning we got up at 7:30 and headed to the mall. Jeff had been out of town all week so he decided to take an allergy pill and come with me so we could spend some time together. We met up with the other girl who is their regular volunteer, and set up shop with tables, wire crates, 6 puppies and 2 kittens. The puppies were pretty gross and stinky- the shelter had not even bothered to clean them and they came to the mall reeking of pee, had matted hair, you name in. A couple even had poop on them! We cleaned them up as best we could and started the day.

It was non stop talking to people and passing puppies around. It was fun talking breeds and temperaments and helping people figure out if their potential pet would be right for them or not. It was also really cool to watch Jeff toting puppies around and cuddling them, and showing them off to people. He had a little black lab mixed girl I think he particularly liked, and he found her a home with a family that had a little girl, who was clearly a good match as we watched her sitting on the floor cuddling with her new puppy! I was so impressed to see him talking dogs (um, he even did it in Spanish a couple times)! I learn new things about him all the time, which I didn't think was possible after 4 years of dating. I could tell he was having a lot of fun talking to people and hanging with the puppies. He even got appropriately miffed (as miffed as any hard core dog person would be) when some thug asked if we had any "Rotts or Pits."

My pet project for the day was the Catahoula hound (or so they called her... I wasn't totally convinced on some of their breed interpretations). She was a lot bigger than the others, and pretty energetic, so people were passing her up for the more cuddly puppies even though I thought she had the sweetest and best temperament there (some of the others were shaking and timid, and she was such a normal puppy personality). I just always get scared for the bigger breeds because their chances of getting adopted aren't as good. She also looked a bit pit bull to people because of her brindle coloring (even though she didn't have the right body type and also had marbled eyes like Cosmo, people kept assuming she was pit and getting turned off). That worried me as well, because if some moron at the shelter decided she was a pit, she would probably get euthanized (they have such a stigma here with the fighting rings). I spent a lot of time keeping an eye on her, and trying to make sure she had a good chance. That meant taking the other puppy out of her shared crate because they were tumbling and scrapping, and people were getting turned off... and it meant having her out of her crate a lot because she did NOT want to be cooped up and was barking. It also meant watching her really closely because I found out she likes to jump on little kids (in a friendly way, but the kid started bawling and there went that adoption... which was fine). At the very end of the day, with 15 minutes to spare, a young engaged couple decided to take her home. It ended up being a good fit. Yes, I was full disclosure on her excitement and joy for jumping on toddlers (she did it a couple times to give them big old face kisses before I finally just decided to hang out next to her crate so little kids couldn't open the door and have her pop out and give them a big french kiss). The guy was very dog savvy and was amazing at handling the puppy even with her high energy. His fiancee had been wanting a dog for herself, and this little one curled right up in her lap and claimed her. The three of them just had a really great dynamic to watch, and it was obvious they were not going to be in over their heads with this dog.

When it was time to take the unadopted animals back to the truck we only had one left. Jeff and I took off- I didn't want to see the one lonely puppy get taken back to the animal catcher truck. However, I got an email later from the other volunteer saying the puppy got adopted at the last second while they were cleaning up. So in the end, every single animal at the event was placed in a home! It was really cool to watch the whole process, too. I'd get such a sinking feeling when someone who I thought was going to take one of the animals changed their mind at the last minute and walked away. The cool thing, though, was that even though the people who walked away would have been good owners, the people who did adopt the pets ended up being such a better fit. I guess we got to see a little bit of fate at work, and it was really awesome.

SO, even though we were only going to do this as a one time good deed, we ended up getting asked to come back this weekend. They were really impressed that all the animals got adopted out, so they are sending 10-12 this time. Eek! It will be fun, though, and hopefully we'll be up for the challenge now that we have the hang of it. I hope they all get adopted again- I am trying to mentally prepare for the fact that it just might not happen. Even getting one of them adopted is a big win for the day, though, because hopefully it means a better life for that animal!

Updates on Life

Blog slacker signing in for this week's updates:

I am currently on the prowl for a job. I know, I know. I have extreme faith in my ability to sell myself once I get in the door, regardless of this giant Buddha belly I am sporting. I deserve a job just as much as the next person. Fortunately there are a lot of listings cropping up right now, and I have been submitting resumes for a variety of positions. There are lots of entry level HR positions I seem to be a decent fit for, because I did a lot of basic HR work while managing for a few years. I met with an employment agency and got some suggestions on paring down my resume for those types of positions, so I have 2 resumes now... the entry level one and the beefier one. I am also applying for things in the payment processing industry, just not sales related. Telecheck and Pulse network both have headquarters here, which means some very cool jobs come up from time to time. I have about 5 apps in between the two companies. I actually talked to the lady who interviewed me at Telecheck back in the fall, for the position that I was really excited about. The good news is I am still totally in the running (like one of the top candidates from the sounds of it), but the bad news is she has no word on when they'll be able to fill the spot. So frustrating. Hey, maybe timing will work out great and they'll need someone to start in April when I am post baby.

I hate to say my business sucked it up... but my business sucked it up. It's definitely doable, I just forgot what it was like to work straight commission without a base of any sort. It's a lot harder to brush off getting stood up for a meeting (which happens frequently in this business) after driving an hour to get there, and realizing you can't even shrug your shoulders and enjoy your extra time by taking yourself out for lunch, because you're now in the negative for the day by even driving out there. I can't help it, that's how I think... gas and time=money, and not closing the deal=deficit for the day. I can't even imagine when the baby is born, hiring a sitter so I can go on an appointment and then getting stood up. That's a bigger deficit than I can stomach! Anyway, no need to complain or justify. It's just not the best time to be doing this right now, and that's OK because everyone knows I sort of hate sales anyway.

This weekend I decided to volunteer for an animal adoption at the Galleria, which is the fancy pants mall here in Houston. Animal adoption events and I are a really bad combo, but I can control myself. I got an email blast from the Houston Dog Owners group this morning, and this shelter that all the dog people hate (because they are very unorganized and have a high kill rate from what I hear... sometimes even killing a dog that someone has expressed interest in adopting, or a rescue organization has offered to pick up, because they can't get their paperwork in order) needed a volunteer otherwise they would have to cancel their adoption event. Apparently every animal that has gone to the event in the past 3 months (with the exception of 2) have been adopted... and if the animals can either be adopted or euthanized, the show must go on. I'm just crossing my fingers that the animals are well cared for (I've heard some REALLY bad stories), and that the reason I had such a strong urge to go isn't because some sad soul there is going to get left behind and tug at my heart strings! Hopefully it will just be a good deed done, and seeing some pets go off to new homes with nice Galleria people who can afford to buy fancy pet sweaters and spoil some animal rotten. And if not, then I just have to be TOUGH because we have no space for another pet!

Not too much else to report. 3.6 months until the baby is born, and if I could fast forward time I would. She's taken to hanging out in really weird spots, doing things like making my legs go numb and ruining my sleep. Last night I swear she had her whole body jammed into my side, and was absolutely wailing on me to boot. Who would have guessed a little 2 pound fetus could have me doubled over in pain?

Well, until next time...

Corgi Cute

Couldn't resist.

It's SNOWING in Houston!

Going Ons

Jeff says it's been too long since I've updated my blog. Who knew husbands cared about blogs? I guess I haven't had much to say lately!

I did notice when I logged on today that the baby countdown is officially under the 4 month mark! Woohoo! Though I'm not super excited about popping large things out of small places, the prospect of having a miserable few hours is looking better and better when compared to sleeping in awkward and uncomfortable positions all night, waddling, tripping over my own feet, not being able to wear my clothes, and the inability to take Nyquil when sick. I actually might miss having her kick me so hard in the crotch that my knees almost buckle (it's like our little form of communication) but seeing her in person should make up for that.

Thanksgiving was fun this year. We went to Jeff's parents' house the Sunday before real Thanksgiving to do our dinner with them (they were going out of town). I will have to get some pictures from Diane to post on the blog, because I didn't take any. We took over the deep fryer (my only culinary contribution to the marriage other than lots of dishes) and fried a turkey. His parents had never had fried turkey before, and we think it's the only way to go, so we had to share. We figured if they didn't like it, they were having a more traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday anyway, so it wasn't the end of the world! After some frustration getting the deep fryer to start, we got our turkey frying and it was a hit! Then when real Thanksgiving rolled around a few days later, we decided to fry some more! We originally had 2 whole chickens to fry, figuring we would be sick of turkey. Then while I was at Kroger I ran into the spend $20 get a turkey for 28 cents per pound deal. Not being able to pass up a $3 turkey, I bought one, and we did A LOT of frying that night. Needless to say, our freezer has a lot of meat in it now.

I got sick over the weekend. I should have expected it- Jeff and Quinn have both been sick in the past couple weeks. Jeff had bronchitis and Quinn had a sinus infection. So apparently it was my turn, and I spent the weekend on the couch. I did manage to finish off the baby registry (the shower isn't for a couple months, but family has been bugging me to get this done with Christmas coming up) AND watch some good movies! OK, one of the movies (Penelope- produced by Reese Witherspoon where the girl is cursed to have a pig nose until someone can love her in spite of it) was REALLY good. The other one I watched (Baby on Board) was kind of weird and was so crude in parts that I ended up constantly playing with the volume so Jeff and Quinn wouldn't hear it and think I was a freak for watching it... it was *just* good enough that I wanted to see how it ended, and it had Heather Graham in it... so it was like really cute chick flick merged with American Pie style humor throughout. The final verdict= not very good! Then Quinn wanted to watch one of those cheerleader movies called Fired Up, where the football players ditch football camp and join the cheerleading squad so they can go to cheer camp with all the girls. Of course. So we watched that. It was nice to sit around and be lazy for a weekend, in spite of being sick, and one of the highlights was Jeff making me some really spicy turkey noodle soup from scratch (hey... lots of leftover $3 turkey!) to clear out my sinuses!

Other than that, not much going on. Still sick, but not as bad as I was over the weekend. I imagine I'll take a nap around noon because I'm already starting to feel wiped out and it's only 8am.

And now... of to do Monday. Ugh.

Matilda Gail Moline

It's official, we decided on a name! Can't wait to meet Matilda Gail Moline.

Matilda means "might," "strength," and "battle" and is a very popular name in Europe (though not so much here). Gail is for my Aunty Gail, and is also my middle name (though mine is spelled Gayle). Jeff really did get to contribute. He likes Matilda Gail, and Moline was set in stone, obviously :) Ewen got dropped entirely (one of the rules was no 4 name babies), so maybe I'll hyphenate my name when she's born so everyone knows I'm her mom.

Matilda is also the name of one of my favorite songs that I learned as a kid! Now that I'm reading over it I can't remember exactly why it was one of my favorite songs, but it was, so here are the lyrics.

Waltzing Matilda

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers, one, two, three,
"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?"
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?",
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong,
"You'll never catch me alive", said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me."
"Oh, You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me."