September 17, 2011

Sophie


Growing up, my mom would not allow pets inside the house. I remember when I was about six or seven years old begging for a cute little part poodle puppy. Mom allowed us to bring her home, but Snowball always stayed outside.

I grew up. Life moved on and I never had a desire to have another dog.

In 1997, a co-worker was going out of town for the weekend and didn’t have a sitter for her Pomeranian. I reluctantly agreed to keep the dog.

This cute little ball of fur followed me where ever I went, cuddled with me on the sofa and slept in my dirty clothes basket when I left her at home alone. I did not want to give her back when her parents came home from their weekend get away.

I remember sharing my experience with another friend during a telephone conversation. She tried to convince me that I should get a dog. When the call ended, I was still not convinced.

Several months later, in February 1998, I visited the friend with whom I had the telephone conversation. We were out and about on Saturday afternoon and she stated that we were going to stop by another friend’s house. I was okay with stopping by, no big deal. However, the next words out of her mouth were, “We decided you were going to take a dog home today”. I remember thinking, “Don’t hold your breath”.

We arrived at the friend’s house and I learned that she and her mom raised Pomeranians. Her mom had brought about six dogs for me to see.

Keep in mind that these six dogs were not kept in the house. They were kept in a barn – in kennels. They had not been bathed or brushed. They smelled.

Ugh.

Because I didn’t want to be rude, I finally sat down in the floor to take a better look. I still had no intention of taking one of these dogs home with me.

I think most of the dogs weighed between six and eight pounds. They were hyper. They were running around everywhere.

There was one exception. She was red in color and the smallest of the bunch, weighing about four pounds. She was calm and she was the one that kept coming to me. She was about 3 ½ years old. The name on her registration certificate was Prissy Pepper. They called her Sassy Britches.

When it was apparent that I would not be walking out the door without choosing a dog, I choose Miss Prissy Pepper aka Miss Sassy Britches.

I knew that I could not call this dog Prissy Pepper and for sure I would not be calling her Sassy Britches. On the two hour drive home, I changed her name to Sophie.

Thus our journey began.



I decided to keep her in a crate. She was going to stay in the crate while I was at work and sleep in the crate. This lasted all of two minutes. Before I knew what was happening, she had the run of the house and slept in the middle of my bed.

In no time at all, I fell in love with Sophie. She was a five pound bundle of joy. She became my constant companion.

I had been told that she was paper trained. Everything I read about paper trained dogs stated they would go near the paper and think that was good enough. That is what she did. When I would shake my finger at her and tell that was not what she was supposed to do, she would turn her nose and look in the opposite direction. Eventually she learned to do her business outside.

In the beginning she loved to jump up on the sofa, the chairs and the bed; but she was scared to walk on kitchen floor.

She didn’t bark much at first. This suited me. I had read that Pomeranians could be quite yappy. My baby brother finished his time in the US Navy and when he came home, he spent time at my house. He could not stand it that Sophie did not bark. He would get in the floor and bark at her until she would bark at him. Later on, every time he would get his keys to leave, she would bark and bark and bark. It would drive him crazy. Ironically, she never barked when I would leave.

Sophie always seemed to know what I was talking about. She listened to my problems and more than once licked the tears from my cheeks. She greeted me at the door each time I came home. She loved to be held and to go for car rides. She loved to go to Sonic and get water, as much as, I loved to go to Sonic to get a Diet Coke. She would sleep in my arms and lay her head on my shoulder. She was my baby; my gift from God.

Sophie was spoiled rotten. My dad would often joke that she didn’t know she was a dog. She didn’t bark when other dogs were barking, she didn’t always want to be outside. She knew from the beginning that she was the Princess; the ruler of the house.

Sophie was a picky eater. She ate hard dog food until we had to have all her teeth pulled, then we switched to Cesar soft food. Sometimes she would get a bite of table food and she would go days without eating her dog food in hopes to get another taste from the table.



Sophie had her share of health issues. She had to have steroid injections more than once due to issues related with her back. The vet told me it was because she was jumping on the furniture.

We had to have all of her teeth pulled. This caused her tongue to hang out.

She was still as cute as ever.

In the last couple of years Sophie didn’t hear as well as she once did. Last year she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. In the last couple of months she could not see. She would get lost in the house. Sometimes she would just stand in one spot and then finally just lay down on the floor. This was not her nature. She had always found her blanket or a piece of my clothing to lay on.

My heart began to break. I could not stand to see her suffer.

With a heavy heart, I made one of the hardest decisions of my life.

I have cried and cried. I am so sad. I feel so lost.

I miss you Sophie.

Sophie
October 26, 1995 to September 6, 2011


September 6, 2011

Celebrations

Whew!  The past few weeks have been busy.

Dad celebrated his 80th birthday on August 27. 





We celebrated mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversay on September 3 with a casual dinner that included family and friends.

Their anniversay is not until September 15; but due to busy schedules, we chose to celebrate early. We served brisket, potato salad, coleslaw, pasta salad, rice, beans, rolls and sweet tea. I'm sad to say that I didn't take many pictures during the food preparation or the actual event. Once the meal was served, I hated to take pictures while everyone was eating. Then before I knew what was happening, some folks began to leave.

I did get a picture of the cake. We got it at the Cakery in Lubbock. It tasted as good as it looked.


  I hope your Labor Day weekend was filled with great memories!


May 29, 2011

The Kitten

I began the year with the intention of writing a blog post at least once a week.

I began to travel again for work.

It is already the end of May and I haven’t posted since January 1.

Such is life.

I drove to mom and dad’s to pick up Sophie yesterday. She stays with mom and dad when I travel. I joke that we share custody.

I will be home for a week and I wanted her here with me. She is not feeling well. I hate it when she's sick.

While I was at mom and dad’s, I met their new kitten.

I’m not a cat person; but this kitten is a cutie.

It seems her mama had her and two other kittens near mom and dad’s patio. The mama cat moved the other two kittens. My parents’ stated they have not seen the mama cat or the other two kittens in a couple of weeks. They have been feeding the kitten and watching her play.

I couldn’t help but snap a few pictures.







Blessings!

January 1, 2011

New Year's Eve

I think I was the only person who worked on New Year’s Eve. I did take vacation days before and after Christmas, so I can’t complain.

I had a couple of errands to do before I headed home. If I don’t make the stops before I get home, chances are slim to none that I will get back out. I stopped at Office Max for XL Black printer ink. I can buy the regular at Wal-Mart, but not the XL cartridge. While in Office Max, I found a cute 2011 calendar/planner for work. I had actually already purchased a similar planner for work; but this one was so dang cute. I have visions of using some of the elements from planner number one in the cute planner number two. What can I say?

Since Michael’s is in the same shopping center as Office Max, I decided to run in there and have a quick look around. Nothing really reached out and asked me to take it home and I left with only a couple of pieces of cardstock. You know, a girl can never have enough cardstock.

Then I stopped at the Wal-Mart for a few things.

Help. Me. Rhonda.

There were people everywhere. Kids running around, some were screaming, some trying to find their parents. Folks parked their basket or the electric cart they were driving in the middle of the isles.

It was a mad house. A mad house, I tell you.

At first I forgot that it was New Year’s Eve. I wondered what all these people were doing here on a Friday night. Is it payday? Is there a big sale? Then I remembered.

I set my sights on the things I needed; hoping to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible. I found most of the items on my list with no problem. However, I needed one red bell pepper and the only red bell pepper in the store was packaged with a yellow and an orange bell pepper. Well, I didn’t need the yellow and the orange peppers, so I did what my mama would do, I bought a green pepper.

Because it was New Year’s Eve, I also bought a bottle of
Llano Estacado wine. When the sweet lady at the checkout scanned the wine, the register asked if the purchaser was under 40? Apparently, the sweet checkout lady answered yes. I was then required to give my date of birth. Month, day and YEAR. In the Wal-Mart checkout line.

On my way out of the store, I had to smile, because at least one person thinks I look like I am under 40 years of age. If the truth be told, she probably hit the yes button by accident and didn’t know quite how to go back and change the answer. It made the whole Wal-mart on New Year’s Eve episode worth it.

I got home, fed my dog, put a frozen pizza in the oven, threw a log in the fireplace and poured myself glass of wine. I enjoyed a solitary evening, surfing the internet, catching up on some blog reading and listening to House Hunters (I love HGTV). I might have also tried to pay Donkey Kong returns on the Wii. I could never get past the frogs on the first level. How do seven year olds just pick up the remote and know what to do? I read the instructions and still didn't know what to do.

My evening was pure joy. That is, if I don’t think about my inability to play Donkey Kong, even when no one is watching or yelling instructions at me.

For more years than I can count, I have been unhappy and sad on New Year’s Eve. I have always told myself that everyone in the whole world is out with friends, having the time of their lives; everyone, that is, but me. I have finally learned that this is not true. The world is full of hurting, lonely, sad individuals. This year, I made the choice not to be one of those people. I ate my frozen pizza; I had a glass of wine and I thanked God for my life and all the blessings he has given me.

Happy New Year!

Blessings!

December 30, 2010

Peaceful Holiday

I enjoyed the Christmas holidays this year. I feel so blessed to be able to share the holidays with my family.

Here are a couple of my favorite photos. Even though the camera settings were not right and the cup is huge, I still love the moments captured.

Shawyn and Uncle Robert - getting the Wii remote ready.


After we ate lunch, there might have been some story telling.
And some laughter.


Blessings!

October 26, 2010

Ten on Tuesday

1. I love Sonic happy hour. There is nothing more refreshing than a Diet Coke with Sonic ice. I actually buy Sonic ice to use at home. Yum!


2. I generally do not watch a lot of television. I have a couple of shows that I like enough to set the DVR; but I can go days without turning on the television. However, I have been a little under the weather which required me to spend the last two weeks at home. Out of desperation I turned on the television. Marie Osmond and Nutri System are on more channels than I can count. The lottery has changed lives. The number one rock song of all time is Guns and Roses, Welcome to the Jungle. Seriously, Welcome to the Jungle. Sweet Child of Mine, maybe; but not Welcome to the Jungle. Who votes for these countdowns?


3. My back yard needs to be mowed. I hope to mow it for the last time this season. Winter is approaching.


4. It was still dark when I left for work yesterday morning. While I enjoy daylight savings time, I am ready to fall back.


5. Little by little I am trying to update the light fixtures throughout my house. I ordered five fixtures from Home Depot. Light fixtures are not cheap.


6. The inside of my house needs to be repainted. I can paint the living room, halls and bedroom. The bathrooms and kitchen scare me. What is a good neutral color? How do you paint behind the toilet?


7. I had a nice lunch with a friend yesterday. It was nice to catch up. She travels as much as I do so it is sometimes hard to make time to visit.


8. I received a sweet card via snail mail. It was quite unexpected. It made my day. It reminded me to be more thoughtful. I enjoy e-mail, it is a way of life these days; however there is still something to be said for snail mail.


9. I like to think I’m creative. I have a room full of craft supplies. I haven’t done anything creative in quiet some time. Hopefully the creativity will return sometime soon.


10. I discovered that it is okay to take a break from Facebook. Don’t get me wrong; I love to log on and see everyone’s status, but it doesn’t have to be a daily ritual for me.

Blessings!

October 19, 2010

Ten on Tuesday


1. I bought a Wii last May. I have not taken it out of the box. Seriously.


2. A couple of months ago, my dog, Sophie was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. The vet prescribed two daily medications. The only way she will take the pills is if I hide them in a bite of her favorite chewy granola bar. She appears to be feeling much better. She is as yappy and rotten as ever.


3. I’ve also had several doctor appointments in the last couple of weeks. Like Sophie, I went from taking no medication to taking two prescriptions a day. I have always disliked taking medicine. Even in pill form. Eck. I guess taking daily medication comes with getting older. I’m not sure when or how I reached middle age. My mind still thinks I’m 28. My body not so much.


4. My laundry hamper is on the verge of being empty. Woo Hoo!!


5. I love to read. Finishing a good book and placing it on the book shelf afterwards has always given me a sense of satisfaction. While I love technology, I wasn’t so sure about reading digital books. I have to say, e-books ROCK.


6. I read the new book by Nicholas Sparks – Safe Haven. I love his books; his style of writing. Safe Haven was an okay read; but it wasn’t his best work. Yes, I read the digital version.


7. Sunday afternoon, I watched a movie on the Hallmark Channel. I had forgotten how much I enjoy Hallmark Channel movies. They always take me back to simpler times.


8. Speaking of television, my new favorite show this season is Hawaii 5-0. Action. Adventure. Water. Humor. Cute actors. Book ‘em Danno.


9. I haven’t listened to much country music in the last few years. However, I did purchase a couple of the Zac Brown Band songs on itunes.


10. October is baseball season. I know. Baseball season begins in the spring. But let's face it. There are way to many baseball games to keep up with during the regular season. But October. October. Crisp night air. Playoffs. World Series. It also helps when there is a Texas team in the running. GO RANGERS.



Blessings!