It's not what you think.
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Happy Halloween! Is It Over Yet?
If you only know me online and have seen that I’m an optimistic, (usually) happy-go-lucky kind of person, it might surprise you to know that I’m not a fan of holidays. In fact, complaining about holidays is one of my talents. Here’s why: holidays and all of their pomp and circumstance get in my way. They disrupt my routine, my clean(ish) house, everything. I don’t usually mind the actual day of any given holiday; what bothers me most is the period of time in advance of each holiday, time that is spent preparing and decorating and spending money for one “special” day. I have always found much more happiness and…
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Grief Is a Jerk.
It’s been nine weeks, and depending on when you ask me I’ll tell you either it feels like forever ago or it feels like it was yesterday. Regardless of how it feels, it wasn’t yesterday. Yesterday I was dreading what I had to do today, spending an hour dicing apples into tiny pieces for the charoset I am taking with me to a Passover seder this afternoon. I wasn’t dreading the task itself; I was dreading completing it without the presence of my kitchen companion. I think if dogs could claim to have favorite holidays, Passover would have been high on Roxie’s list because of all the apples. Anytime she…
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Day Four.
Roxie has been gone since Friday morning. It’s been so difficult, but bits and pieces of my days are getting easier. On Friday I cried and cried and cried. On Saturday I cried and cried and slept, mostly unable to get off of the couch. Yesterday I didn’t cry at all, only becoming a little teary-eyed when taking my first walk without her. Today, Day Four, I was fine until the vet called to let me know that her paw print was ready, and when I drove over I felt my chest tighten and all of a sudden when I parked the car I was hardly breathing, trying to push…
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Quality of Life
Advance apologies: this might be difficult for you to read, but I had to get it out, for myself. This dog. Twelve days ago I was walking her down the street, both of us happy as could be. Today, we said goodbye to her. She was happiest when she was outside, running down the sidewalk. Actually, she was happiest when she was eating any kind of food: hers or ours. (Beagles, man.) But getting out on the leash was a close second. She was only eleven, one month short of twelve. Our beloved vet, Dr. Withers–who has seen Roxie ever since she was getting puppy shots–has been telling me for…
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It Was Because of Snoopy.
Tonight, Jim and I were lucky enough to catch the annual network broadcast of “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” in its entirety. (Often we tune in near the end or miss it altogether because we had no idea it’d be on.) The Peanuts cartoons–the ORIGINALS, mind you, not the newer, inferior television specials–have always been among our favorites because they remind us of our childhood. I’m sure we’re not alone in that sentiment. Snoopy was always my favorite character. He was smart, sneaky, and even though his actions made it seem otherwise, he really cared about others deep down at his core. It was because of Snoopy that I always wanted…
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Dogs and Baseball Go Together
It seems like I’ve officially become one of “those” pet owners. You know, the ones who dress their dogs in clothing? Well, I have. And I haven’t. I mean, TECHNICALLY I just bought a shirt for my dog. This is the same dog who has a winter coat but to be honest, I’ve only put it on her less than ten times in four years. It’s not even like that counts as clothing. So this shirt. It’s not what you think. Earlier this week, Roxie had surgery to remove some lumps, common in older beagles. She’s fine, thank goodness. Her incisions are on her back and shoulder, two places that…
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Thoughts From This Morning’s Walk
I hope I don’t get rained on. Why does Roxie have to bark at EVERYTHING? I need someone to walk a block ahead of me, warning everyone that she’s a loud barker but harmless. I love that I can listen to music on my iPhone while walking. So grateful for Steve Jobs as well as those who invented the Sony Walkman before him. Walking with a boom box would’ve been way harder than this. I really need to make time to file the 1500 read emails that are sitting in my inbox. I’ll feel better after I do that. Maybe tomorrow. It just occurred to me that I take really…
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Making Seventy-Seven Look Good
It’s Roxie’s eleventh birthday today and we’re celebrating! Err, I’m celebrating. (Jim doesn’t celebrate dog birthdays.) Where does the time go??? Roxie has accomplished so much in her eleven years (seventy-seven dog years, whew!). In addition to electrocuting herself as a puppy, actually eating a kid’s homework once, getting skunked, eating entire loaves of bread, bags of chocolate*, and part of a container of baking cocoa and living to tell about it, she has also run away for an afternoon (twice), ripped up paper money that totaled approximately $73 for all incidents, rolled in rabbit poo multiple times every summer, destroyed many stuffed animals, scared an infinite number of people…
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Netflix #StreamTeam Celebrates Pets, Sigh.
I am a member of the Netflix Stream Team and will be happily sharing monthly tips and stories about how my family uses Netflix on a regular basis. (Okay, that’s an understatement. I should say CONSTANTLY. We use Netflix CONSTANTLY.) This post is sponsored by Netflix, of course! I’m getting in just under the wire with my January Netflix Stream Team post, shew! I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to lead into the “Pets” theme this month. There are so many angles I could take, as a beagle owner. “Luckily”, Roxie did me a favor and got into one of the two bags full of Valentine’s Day treats…