Just an Update

Things have been super crazy around here. The husband's thumb is finally better, after numerous doctor and hospital visits and a few different antibiotics. He's back at work and feeling much better! Thank you everyone for your concern and well wishes. The hardest part was that the rest of him was fine, and as such he was super antsy with orders to sit home and do nothing. I have to admit, the day I tried to do nothing with him, it was much harder to do than I thought it would be!

Today I am home alone and tackling many forgotten about projects. Hopefully you'll have more updates soon on those, but admittedly I tend to tackle more than I can handle and feel like quitting part way through. Hence why I have so many to finish in the first place.

I got a promotion at work! I'm super excited for the additional responsibility and new challenges I will face. I'm back to having a more variable schedule, which I'm actually really excited about. Sometimes you get stuck in a rut with the same routine all the time, so I like that some days I have time in the mornings, and some days I have time  in the evenings. It is definitely another "grass is greener" situation, as last time I switched positions I was really excited to have a set schedule and the ability to have more of a routine.

Things are going pretty well with the addition of Zoey. She still has a lot to learn, but at least she more often than not chews on dog toys versus eating my stuff. Fiona is still adjusting to being completely outnumbered by dogs, and then my rearranging the living room sure didn't help her. My dear feline hates change, and I'm sure she will be voicing her displeasure very soon. Already she seems to hate being separated from us at night and does not appreciate having the bedroom door shut. The funny thing is this is definitely not the first time we have shut her out at night as Bandit has a tendency to eat garbage, and Fiona has a tendency to try and eat my feet while I'm sleeping. I am sure everything will sort itself out soon enough, and we will all live happily ever after.

Meet Zoey!

I'm sure you'll call us crazy, and believe me, we are, but we got another dog!!

It started like this: I've always wanted a basset hound. We've talked about our next dog being a number of different not as big dogs, and also talked about getting another dog before these two pass on to ease the transition and feel like no one is being replaced. We also, however, talked about not having any dog for a while after these two, but when the local humane society had a basset up for adoption, I said, "Please??" And Mr. Fabulous said yes!

But he was adopted right before Mr. Fabulous got there, and he figured while he was there he would take a look around. And then he found Zoey. She's a collie mix, smaller than Brooklyn, but a few of the same mannerisms. She's super cute, a little rough around the edges, and has soooooo much energy.

She's a year old and still has a lot of puppy habits, including needing to get up to pee before my 9 hour sleep cycle is over. I swear she can tell time, because if I say "5 more minutes" or "20 more minutes" I swear she's barking at me just as time's up. And she's already eaten 2 pairs of shoes, a belt, a pair of jeans, and chewed a hole in my down comforter. Apparently the small fortune I spent on chew toys for her was not money well spent. Recently she discovered the cat's bed and decided she fits just right there! Just as Fiona was starting to get used to her presence here too.

Wedding Reminders

This weekend we had the pleasure of attending a wonderful wedding filled with love and friends, and it reminded me just what our marriage vows were all about. In the short time we've been married, we've been handed a lot of setbacks, and it is easy to get caught up in it all and just feel badly for ourselves. We still have a lot going for us, a roof over our heads, loving family, some hilarious fur-kids (and feathered kids) and we still eat 3+ meals every day.

My dear husband has an infected thumb. I know it doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but two hospital visits, three doctor appointments, and numerous antibiotics later, it's still infected and painful. He can't work on the boat with it, and this weekend when we thought it was getting better, it suddenly got worse again. Without going into too much detail, he took a band-aid off and a chunk of his thumb came with it. That was right after the ceremony at the wedding, so we rushed off to the drugstore to get some better dressings and went back to the reception.

When we arrived back to the reception, it was tough to find seats, so we just mingled about. When we had our food, we decided to just sit at the picnic tables outside. I went to get some drinks, and when I came back my dear husband had pulled a couple of chairs in front of the fire pit for us. It was wonderful. Just the two of us, sitting by the fire enjoying some delicious barbecue, a whole tent full of people behind us. We talked about how lovely the ceremony was, how funny some of the people were, and how tipsy most of the groomsmen seemed to be.

We had to leave early, and I'm sure we had to miss out on some great times, but health of the hubsy comes first. He has a follow up appointment today, and I hope we're finally told that everything is healing as it should. It's still swollen and painful, but less so than it was a few days ago.

I have had a lot of people tell me that the first year of marriage seems like the hardest, and I would say ours has been pretty difficult. It was fabulous to have such a glorious reminder of how it all started, and the commitments we made to each other to help and support each other to be the best person each of us can be, no matter what.

Also, I learned to make sure to write down all medications and a list of questions to ask before going to the Emergency Room. Otherwise, you have some late night phone calls to make, and some favors to cash in on as you bribe someone to go to your house and find the answers for you :)

Meet Alfonse

After the death of her good friend, Babs, Gert seemed quite forlorn. We set about finding a new friend for her, but the lady I got them from only had boys to give away, and since it's fall, the nearest hens (of any breed) were at least two hours away, and more money than I wanted to spend. So, it was a little trepidation, that we accepted the rooster and prayed he would be good company for darling Gertrude. I chose the tamest of the three I had to choose from, and the most pretty. Here he is riding in my car on the way home:

He was pretty good in the car, other than this moment when we first got in, he stayed in his tub and did some minimal chatting on the way home. I felt like we bonded.

Upon arriving home, I carried him to the yard, and set him down. He started doing a little squawking, the kind of "locator cry" I've come to expect from them, and Gert came running over. They grazed a bit side by side, and I thought it was love at first sight. But then Gertrude turned to face him, puffed up her feathers, and attacked the poor, unsuspecting rooster.

... and then he ran away.

It was a pretty rough first day for Alfonse. Gertie was not too sure she wanted a boy in her midst, the dogs barked at him and he ran into the woods. But he kept coming back, and made himself at home on our porch and attempted to roost on our grill. Given evidence of the giant owl in our neighborhood, we opted to keep him safe and put him in his coop.

Soon enough, they will be fast friends, and we'll have to work on getting a couple more hens to keep Gertie company!

Oh Dear Barbara!

It's been a less than fabulous week here at the Moore homestead. Monday night one of our chickens was taken, we think by a fox. I was awakened by this screeching noise, at first I thought it was the cat, then I realized it was one of the chickens. There was just a pile of feathers, and a trail leading into the woods. It was our darling Babs, the leader of the two. Now poor sad Gertrude is all alone, and we need to find her some chicken friends. The lady I got them from only has boys to give away, and I'm not certain we need a rooster around here. But polish roosters are hilarious looking, and that could be reason enough to get one. And they try to protect their ladies, so I think we'll get one rooster. Even still, I think she's going to need a couple of girlfriends. And I need to pick out the best rooster name ever.

Then the next day, our betta fish, Oscar, passed away. We've had Oscar for about a year, and he'd been acting like the end was near, so it was not entirely a surprise. It was, however, still a big bummer to have two of our pets die within 24 hours of each other.

The good news is the dogs, the cat, and the other fish all seem to be doing very well!

Here's a pic of Barbara the Polish Chicken, to remember her by:

I've been avoiding posting for a few weeks because, well, my dad died. And I thought I had to write something profound and heartfelt to show how wonderful he was and how much I loved him. But I was heartbroken and couldn't find the words.

Then I had too many words. They all came jumbled inside, and I had to get all of them out, but it made no sense and because the world's longest run on sentence.

So here's what you need to know: I love my dad. Though he was sick for a long time, and I truly recognize that he's in a better place and not suffering anymore, I still wasn't ready to not have a dad anymore. Most days I get through the day just fine, and then it will hit me that he's not here anymore.

There doesn't have to be just one post about my dad, there can be many. I have thirty years of memories of him, I can't get them all out at once. I think that's how it should be. Someday, I will tell you all about his last days, because they were actually quite wonderful. Right now it's all a little raw, but now it's out there, and I can move on ever so slightly, a little bit at a time.

Fiona Came Home!

Our darling little girl cat, Fiona, disappeared for a full 24 hours yesterday. Well, I think. We last saw her right before we went to bed, and the next morning she was nowhere to be found. She's a self-imposed indoor cat, has never really wanted anything to do with going outside, but we leave the door to our attached garage open so she can go in there and catch mice. Something she does almost too well. The other night she woke me up during a thunderstorm in the middle of the night to show me her TWO kills, and she was soaking wet! So obviously she had gone out the not quite closed garage door to the outside. I guess she discovered a world out there that she missed from her days as a stray. Or maybe she got shut in the neighbor's basement. We'll probably never know.

We made a point of leaving the garage doors open, but Hubs hadn't seen her all afternoon. On my way home late last night, I drove past our house to see if she had  been hit by a car, or met some other terrible fate on the road. But no kitty. I walked in the house, and she was standing at the top of the stairs as though nothing had happened. The dogs came out of their room and sniffed her all over (too bad no one can tell me where she was!), and then she discovered there was food in her dish, and chowed down.

Today she is all snuggles, enjoying the warmth of her home and her person's lap. She doesn't seem affected in any way, really. So I guess nothing terrible happened to her, she was just out having a good ole' time.