20 lbs of Pure Meanness

Sadie has been with us since Monday night, and boy has it ever been a ride already! She has had accidents in her cage repeatedly, she bites and chews on everything (more so than even normal puppies), and she has been the craziest bath recipient that I have ever seen. It is so hard to get mad at this face...

But it's not impossible by any means, especially when you are sleep deprived. The first night, I don't think any of us got a bit of sleep. She pretty much whined and barked all night long. She really should have been hoarse the next morning. I thought as much as she and Bailey played that she would get some sleep, but if she did it was very quick naps.

I don't know how many times this week I have taken her out and then put her in her cage to take Bailey out. When I return she has pooped in her cage! *sigh* She is just a confused puppy because she spent the first three months of her life outside and then spent two weeks or more in a cage at the vet's office. She just doesn't know where she's supposed to go, but we are working on it. I know this has been a crazy week, and it has taken every bit of patience I have to handle her.

Don't let this innocent face fool you though. She is pure meanness! At one point, Bailey thought that she could squish her against the couch to make her stay put and stop biting.

Yeah, that didn't work. Sadie just figured out that she shouldn't get next to the couch. She also figured out that Bailey's bed is the best place in the house that she's allowed to lay so she stole every toy and put it on the bed with her. This is Bailey debating whether she's going to take them back.

The face-off that happens about every 5 seconds now...

This look on Bailey's face pretty much says it all...

Sadie acts like a deer the way that she leaps, but she doesn't have control over her lanky legs yet. It's really funny to watch except when she jumps at something that I don't want her to. She is definitely a trip! This has been a stressful week so I really picked a bad time to get a puppy, but I couldn't let her go to the shelter. I'm hoping she'll calm down some soon and get into a routine.

Bath time last night was crazy! The girl at the vet's office told me she didn't like it, but I have never had a dog act like THAT! I ended up using way more water than I normally would because I was trying to calm her down while the water was just running away. I think it was just the noise, but I wanted her to get used to it. I kept talking to her and stroking her and slowly putting handfuls of water on her to show her it wasn't bad. She was awesome by the end of it, so we'll see how she acts next time. That is so different from Bailey who is such a huge water dog. I mean, Bailey doesn't care for baths, but I think that's just the bathtub that bothers her. She doesn't care about the water.

So some year I'll get sleep again... I hope. I think Sadie was taken from her siblings too young because she is a much more aggressive biter with Bailey than most puppies would be. Bailey has put her in her place a few times, which shocked me. But I think she's tired too, and she's had enough. I'm letting them work it out except when Bailey is huddled next to me and they start. Then I say something because I don't want to get bitten by Bailey accidentally.

Oh, well. I guess we'll see how things go. If nothing else, I'll find her a fabulous home. I know someone needs to slap me for wanting to put my household through a puppy though. I'm sure Bailey would like to have the honors.

Can I smack a person and then give them a hug?

This sweet-faced puppy was left at my vet's office last week. She had Parvo and the woman who dropped her off just decided not to come back. My vet is the best vet I have ever met, and he didn't want her to go to the shelter. I think most of you know I'm on the Board for the shelter, and we've been having some problems up there. I'll be able to tell you more about that soon, but I'm glad he called one of our Board members before even thinking of sending her up there. I got a picture of her Saturday so I went to meet her.

She stole my heart from the minute I laid eyes on her picture. The vet was going to let me take her, but he ended up saying that he better wait until Monday. He had called Animal Control who is also a deputy sheriff and asked him to go by the person's house to try to get his money, so he didn't want them to come pay and demand the dog without her being there. We had every feeling they weren't coming back, but just to be safe I waited.

Before leaving the vet's office, I had her on a leash in front of the other dog pens. She was pouncing and jumping at the other dogs like she was trying to play, and she never even barked! I think she's some kind of Feist mix, which is a hunting dog that the Rat Terrier is a form of. The descriptions and pictures I found online sure look like her. But the way she was acting, I'm thinking she'll be a great playmate for Bailey. If she doesn't fit, then I'll find a home for her. I have a feeling she's going to be great though! She's only about 4 months old.

I ended up posting her picture on my personal Facebook page and asking what names people thought fit her. I had come up with Sadie, and without seeing what I thought my sister popped out with that name, too! So I think it's safe to say she was meant to be a Sadie.

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This morning I called to leave my number so he could let me know as soon as he found something out. He called back within 30 minutes to tell me that Animal Control went by the lady's house. She was just driving up and she took off when she saw him. What brain children we have in this world, right? Of course, he chased her down. Her mother called the vet and they settled for less money with the condition that she give up the dog and that the woman who left her is never allowed to come back to his office.

Thus the title of this post. I would love to smack her around for leaving the puppy but hug her at the same time for dropping Sadie in my lap. I am hoping she is just what Bailey and I need to complete our little family. She is so sweet, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about her since Saturday. Now I have to go home and puppy proof the house with a puppy running around. Ha! Guess I should have done that yesterday just in case, but would you really expect me to think ahead like that? I am the world's biggest procrastinator, just ask my professors. I also have to go buy a crate, food, a collar... Geez, this will be an expensive day. It's a good thing I have an "in" at the hardware store in town to get most of it.

I'll post more pictures of her after I take care of the house and introduce her to Bailey. Crossing my fingers that she works out! I'm sure you can tell that I'm excited because I couldn't wait to even bring her home before sharing her with you all. Her golden eyes would have made you a sucker, too.

Snapshots to learn by

Okay, so I've been slack and haven't gotten out to take some awesome pictures with the new camera like you all have been wanting to see. I snapped some the other day though that I figured I'd share. I was just playing around with some settings and seeing how fast it could click pictures of Bailey doing cute things. You can tell with the pictures of her that I got several before she ran off which normally would have been one crappy picture and she would have been gone. I really can't get over how much bolder the colors are and how much more detail you can see with these.

Her majesty in her favorite spot in the house...

Can you tell she was getting aggravated with me?

(Now don't look at the window. That's what pollen and rain do to the outside in the spring around South Carolina. I refuse to clean it, though I did clean the inside for these pictures.)

Just some things I went outside and clicked....

My Jeep.. which was officially all mine as of November... with the new tires.

We like the Steelers and Penguins just a tad. You aren't even seeing the inside. :)

Everything is starting to bloom.. slowly but surely.

Stupid vine keeps trying to choke out my bushes...

Anyway, like I said, I'm just figuring the camera out. I need to go down to the river or the park to get some better shots to see what it can do. I just wanted to take a few outside the other day to see how they would look. I'm loving this camera!

Hope you all are having a great week. I'll try to get a "real" post out tomorrow.

Friday foolishness and a new look!

For those who weren't around last night, I revealed in stages my new look. Go check it out here and enter the giveaway, and I might be giving you a shout-out if you play your cards right. Regardless of whether you enter, come see my site and tell me what you think.

Amy over at This House Gets Crazy at Three O'Clock did the awesome drawings on my header. She does such fabulous work that you should all go follow her blog and keep her in mind for your business needs, too! She is simply amazing! What started as a request for her to draw a picture of Bailey turned into an awesome idea to help us create my new blog.

Amber over at Amber LaShell Rants came up with the wonderful blog design and had the patience to sit through I don't know how many "ummm, I don't know what I want" conversations. This whole thing started because of her innocent Friday night Tweet asking if anyone wanted to be her guinea pig. (That statement always reminds me of the line from Dr. Doolittle where the guinea pig asks Eddie Murphy, "Why do they call me a guinea pig anyway? I'm not French and I'm not pork!" That cracks me up every time!) Anyway, I'm sure she regretted that I was the one who answered her, but I was the one with no life sitting at home Tweeting on a Friday night. Ha! I'm super grateful to her for all of her work, and rework, and she writes a couple of blogs I'm sure will catch your attention.

Now I didn't have too many bizarre things happen this week for my Friday foolishness. But I found this laying behind my desk yesterday.

It's no pot of gold, but it brought a smile to my face on St. Patrick's Day. I'm easy, I know.

The pollen is falling like crazy in our southern state. The hood of my Jeep looks like this every day when I go to leave work.

I'm waiting for the urge to claw my face off to start any day now. I'm surprised it hasn't already. When the hell did this sinus problem start anyway? I never had problems growing up around here. Stupid wildlife!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I took Bailey to the river the other night with a friend of mine to introduce her to the water for the first time since the park near my house was packed with teenagers. She walked on the edges of it at first, then she stepped in a deep hole that took her all the way under. She came up with her eyes as big as saucers and it was ON! She was all over that river after that. I was splattered with mud of course, and with my work clothes on no less, but she had an absolute blast. I told Steph we should have brought my iPod to film it. We'll have to do that next time so you all can see her antics. It was hilarious. She's such a water dog that I knew she'd enjoy it. I can't wait to see her reaction to the ocean now. I'll have to do that this summer.

A friend of mine told me the next day to be careful of gators at the river if I go too close to sunset. What the...?? That crap never even crossed my mind! I would be freaking out if Bailey was innocently playing away and a gator snatched her happy ass.

Well, at least it's Friday, folks! This has been a hectic but productive week, for the most part. Have a great weekend, and go enter my giveaway now. I said GO.. What are you waiting for? You're still reading this, aren't you?

Your regularly scheduled program... is back!

Hello, everyone. Did ya miss me? I'm sorry to all of my regular followers for my absence, and especially to the new ones who came here expecting to be entertained. Last week was a crazy ass week! I felt kinda like this all week, both at work and at home.

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Our company has been bought by a much bigger one so we have been making sure we have all of our programs up to snuff for their coming audits. Last Monday was the first day under the new company so it was a crazy time around these parts. I'm optimistic about the new company since my boss tells me that getting my degree might help me advance more with the new owners, but we'll see. I'm glad I'll be finishing my degree in June since we have no idea how our education assistance and other benefits will be yet.

For those of you who saw my one pitiful post last week, I don't think the new dog is going to work out. I told the lady I got her from that I didn't want to inherit someone else's problem. Well, it appears that's exactly what they were trying to make me do, so she is going back to them after work today.

This dog is supposed to be a year and a half old. She had 3 accidents in the house just on Saturday. I've caught her chewing on things, mainly my Dooney & Bourke pocketbook! What the hell? She had toys and bones laying around for her to play with, but she decided my purse and my textbooks would be good chew toys. I'm sorry but I'm not having that. If I wanted to deal with that kind of thing, I would have gotten a puppy.

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I was simply trying to help out someone who wanted to find a home for a pet they didn't have time for anymore. I didn't even feel right trying to find a home for her since I couldn't honestly give the dog to someone else knowing she has issues. I feel bad for Bailey because she was enjoying playing with her, but with everything I have going on I don't have the time or patience for all of that kind of trouble. I swear I wanted to strangle the little thing Saturday night, and I don't normally feel that way about any dog. But she squatted right in front of me to relieve herself on my living room rug without ever going anywhere near the door! I wish I had gotten a picture of Bailey's face because she looked as stunned as I was.

So I guess it'll just be me and Bailey for now. I don't mind making time to play with my baby girl, and she knows how to entertain herself with a bone or other toys when I need time to do things. I need to start exercising again anyway, so it will be good for both of us.

As you can see, I just didn't have time last week to keep up with the blog or your posts. I'll be trying to catch up this week, but I definitely won't leave you all hanging without reading material like that again if I can help it. I am up to 80 followers now! I'm hoping 100 isn't too far down the road, and for that I can't be a slacker. I love having you all here as much as I enjoy reading your blogs.

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Unfortunately, that's how my intentions feel lately since you all are so great at writing in your blogs. I'll be back to entertaining you all on a regular basis once Bailey and I get our house back to normal... which should be tonight!

Let me introduce you...

I'm not sure if I told you all or not, but I was officially voted the Treasurer on the Board for our animal shelter here in town last week. Geez, was that only last week? I've been on the Board in an unofficial capacity since September, but we had the annual meeting to get us all elected last week. Anyway...

At the meeting, another board member told me that she had a friend who was trying to find a home for a little dog. She said she was "pretty much house trained" which didn't thrill me. Yesterday, I went to see the little bugger. For those of you who have been around for a while, you know what happened the last time I tried to bring in a new family member. If not, you can go here and read about how Bailey made the decision for me. Obviously, cats are not an option, but Bailey has always gotten along great with other dogs. So I thought this might be an option.

I told the lady that I was going to be honest with her. I didn't want to inherit someone else's problem. If she wasn't house trained, I needed to know that. She told me that the dog had only had an accident one time since she's had her, and that was when she let her have the run of the house for too long while she was gone. She assured me I could bring her back if things didn't work out.

So home I went with this little one in tow.

Meet Bristol, everyone. It was hard to get a good picture of her because she moves so freakin' fast! She is half Chihuahua and half Dachshund, which I'm told makes her a Chiweenie. My neighbor says that just makes her a Mexican hot dog. She looks to me like a mini-Dachshund with a Chihuahua face. She is about a year and a half old, and she's already been fixed which saves me that expense.

When I brought her in, I let her sniff the place a bit before introducing her to Bailey. Bailey was all kinds of excited! Bristol, not so much. The little snot kept snapping at Bailey. Bailey was a trooper though and kept at it.

Before too long, they were playing pretty well together, and they wore each other out. That was the whole reason I had considered getting another dog. I figured Bailey needed something else to entertain her. The only thing that worried was that Bristol kept biting at Bailey's face, and I was seriously worried she was going to get her in the eye. Sister #3 told me to just leave them alone and let them work it out. She said Bailey would let her know if she was really hurting her.

Anyway, I'm glad Bristol is kennel trained because I wouldn't dream of leaving the two of them to roam the house without me home. I'd be afraid Bailey would break her if Bristol got aggressive or did something stupid. She definitely plays and sleeps hard though.

I was worried that Bailey would have a problem with Bristol curling up in my lap, but she didn't seem to care. I made a point of petting Bailey and loving on her every time she came by though. She is and will always be my baby, whether this little one works out or not.

Toward the end of the night, this was the scene at my window. I wish the picture had turned out better, but I'll have to use my camera next time instead of my phone.

The best part was that Bailey hardly barked at anyone out of the window with Bristol there! Wooo hoooo! You have no idea how much Bailey goes crazy at anyone who walks by, rides by, and some who drive by the house. It was so refreshing not to have that last night and not to have to fuss at her about it.

When it was bedtime, Bristol went right in her cage, and I never heard a peep out of her all night. I think Bailey went to check on her a couple of times, but she had a good first night. We'll see how it goes, but we might just have ourselves a new family member.

Everyone is sick.. and my pocketbook hurts, too!

Last weekend, my nephew's wife called me sounding thoroughly pitiful. It appears someone showed up at the Super Bowl party sick so the majority of my family ended up sick, too. She asked me to come to town to keep the baby overnight in the hopes that he wouldn't get sick. I told her I would keep him at Mom and Dad's so I go home to grab Bailey and off we go. Now, I love this little tyke to pieces so even though the evening reminded me I'm too damn old to have a baby, I enjoyed cuddling with him and spending the time with him.

I must say I was super proud of him that he didn't decide to poop in the bathtub since that seems to be something he does on a regular basis, but of course, after I get him all cleaned up and dressed in his pajamas he throws up all the down the front of them. Thanks, Dimples! Aunt Krissy really appreciated that one.

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But he never pooped and I managed to change diapers without getting peed on, so I'll take it! He even slept through the night, which I was thrilled about since I was told he would probably be up around 6 or 7 a.m. I had made myself go to sleep on the couch shortly after I put him to bed since I figured I was getting up with the sun. However, even though he slept well, Bailey did not. She is apparently the canine version of the nervous nanny. I think she heard him at 5 a.m. so she went into the room and barked at him. Luckily, I was able to give him his pacifier back, turn on the glow worm, and he went right back to sleep.

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After that, she ended up waking me every 20 minutes as she bounded back into his room to check on him. I'm thinking that she's so used to seeing people hold him that she didn't like him being left in there alone. I personally wasn't thrilled with the whole waking me up just because she's nervous thing, but I understand her jitters.

So the parents come to get Dimples because Daddy was feeling better, and we all threatened the mommy to not touch the baby! Of course, he ended up getting sick later in the weekend. *sigh* Well, I tried! And Lord knows, Bailey tried to make sure he was okay.

Before heading home I decided I needed some things while I was in the "big city" as Mom likes to call it. (For those who don't remember, I don't even have a Walmart in my town.) On the way to pick up some things, I decide to just pop into a furniture store to see what they have. Of course, this led to a long afternoon of shopping and calling my parents for advice on my findings, but I ended up buying myself a new reclining sofa and love seat. This led to having to go buy new matching pillows, which reminded me I needed new towels, which caused me to buy a new shower curtain. I think you are getting the picture. Fifteen hundred dollars later, I manage to be on my way back out of town with Bailey, the exhausted nanny. That was a pretty expensive baby sitting trip if you ask me.

It cost me something else since this week I ended up sick, of course. Tuesday I had to leave work because I was basically green and Wednesday I didn't make it in to work either. However, something good came out of this week. My appliances came Tuesday!

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These are not mine because I forgot to take a photo for you fine people, but it's the same model I think. And I ended up stacking mine. But they were right. I literally dried a load of towels in less time than it took the next load of clothes to wash. How awesome is that?! Loving these steam units, and pretty much everything in my house will probably have been washed and dried by the weekend.

Then yesterday, my new furniture came!

And though I was going to keep Bailey off of the new furniture, I decided I couldn't rob her of her favorite spot looking out of the window. So I bought her one of those dog blankets to put on the love seat, and she was thrilled as you can tell.

As you can tell, her tail is blurry because it was wagging like crazy the whole time. That was pretty much her view all night, as I was kicked back on the reclining sofa. I'll probably have to sleep there either Friday or Saturday night just to break it in properly.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Bailey has a Playdate!

Bruce and Tucker over at JADIP have been nice enough to let Bailey go over there for a playdate this evening! I think Bailey was getting a bit jealous that Tucker always got to have so much fun with Bruce's followers so she was excited about getting a chance to participate. Head over and check it out!

Isn't Tucker's new button cool?!

You might want to stick around if you don't already follow Bruce. He's got several blogs so he has something for many different tastes, and Tuck posts every Tuesday. I think this is the first playdate they've had in "puppydise", so I was thrilled that Bailey got to be a part of it. Thanks so much, Bruce and Tuck!

Blonde Moments

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Happy, guys? Boobage just for you!

A friend and I were discussing things you do that make you want to slap yourself in the forehead the second after to say, "What the hell were you thinking? That was about a dumbass thing to do!" The other night I was getting Bailey some water, of course in her Steelers bowl. I had the remote in my other hand when I picked up her bowl. Instead of setting the remote on the counter, which would have been the smart thing to do, I put it in the crook of the arm I was holding the bowl in. I turned on the water and filled the bowl. Just as I turned off the water, the remote started to slip. What did my brilliant mind decide to do? I snatched that arm close to me to catch it and threw about half of the bowl of water right down the front of my shirt. Brilliant! Bailey even jumped back away from me and gave me a look that said, "Are you epileptic or what?"

So of course, this friend had to share something she had done the night before that was equally as stupid. Her boyfriend had stayed the night the night before and she was in the hurry to get to work that morning. She asked him to let the dog out for her, but he had decided to sleep in. When she got home, she took her shoes off and went walking across the kitchen only to step on a throw rug that had been pissed on.

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Why is it that stepping in piss with a sock on is so much more gross than even stepping in it with a bare foot? Is that just me? My friend whole-heartedly agreed with me on that one.

Anyway, the blonde moment came after that. She took the rug outside to clean it. Did she lay it down and put something on it to scrub it clean? No, that would have been the logical move. Instead she proceeded to shake it out. I'm sorry but that beats my water thing. Of course, she ended up with pee all over her and had to go shower after she finished cleaning the rug. I laughed so hard when she told me, and she'd probably be mortified that I wrote about it here. Good thing she doesn't know about this blog. 

I often have these blonde moments, but I'm allowed. I am a natural blonde, so I have an excuse. Plus, it's an easy excuse for doing something that is just really damn stupid. Have a blonde moment story you want to share with my followers? Let me know!

A day in the life... of Bailey

Bailey had such a hard day yesterday that you just wouldn't even imagine. First, I took her outside when I got home from work and apparently she thought it was way too quiet. So she barked down toward one end of the street..

And then barked to the other end of the street to get a stereo effect going...

She is so fierce! Of course, everyone in the neighborhood was very impressed by the time we went inside, especially the other dogs who were singing her praises long after we were gone. 

I went into my room to change clothes, where of course, she decided it was wrestling time! Granted, this is kind of a daily routine with us, but she was in rare form last night.

This is her "you should be very scared" face. I couldn't quite get one with her cutting her eyes at me. 

She's really getting mad at me at this point. Can ya tell? 

My neighbor ended up coming over to ask if we wanted to go to the park. There's a park not too far away where they have recently made it so we can close all of the gates. Bailey and I hadn't been yet, but I knew she would love being able to run free so we went. I left those pictures at home on the camera so you'll just have to imagine her running her legs off so hard that her tongue was pretty much hanging on the ground by the time she was done. She had the best time, and the park is going to be seen a lot in our future.

When we got home, she drank a whole bowl of water (and yes, I made a mental note to take water to the park next time, so don't nag me about it!). This was her the rest of the night. 

And when she needed a change, she looked like this at my feet.

I think I can see now what I need to do on nights when I have homework to do, and I don't want her to be barking at me all night. That park is now officially a dog park for us! Suffer, neighbors. Bailey is here to stay. Wasn't that a rough day? It sure wore her out. She packed a lot of stuff into her evening.

Now, Jumble Mash is having a really cool giveaway over there, so go check her out and get yourself entered! You'll enjoy being over there anyway, because she is one cool chica. So cop a squat and stay awhile. You have to to enter anyway. 

And don't forget about my giveaway. It's not as cool as hers, but you can enter on the post I put up yesterday. 

What ever happened to...?

Everyone seemed to like my post about some of the 80's rockers and what they look like now so it gave me an idea. Considering how much I enjoy doing research and looking stuff like that up, I thought I'd let you give me a focus. Tell me who you would like to know about and I'll see what I can find out. Did you ever wonder where a certain character on your favorite show ended up? What about a favorite singer or group that just seemed to disappear and you never had the time to find out what happened?

It doesn't even have to be someone who is famous, although historical figures could be considered famous, too. Is there a court case/true crime event you never heard the outcome for? Ever heard a phrase that you always wondered about or a tradition and wanted to know where it came from? I am one of those crazy people who just looks it up!

So let me know here in the comments what you'd like me to get information on, and I'll do my best "Sherlock Holmes of the Internet" impression to find out.

Of course, I'll try to make the posts humorous unless they met some untimely end that I just can't spice up. Don't feel shy about suggestions either. Sometimes I have no clue what has happened to people when it seems everyone else on the planet already knows. If you want to, you can always email me at talktaurus@gmail.com. You know if you all don't give me some direction, I'll just have to bore you with people who interest me. I came up with this after looking up Allison DuBois who I posted briefly about yesterday and who is apparently a huge fraud (or so I got the impression). If you'd like to know more, let me know and I'll share what I found.

On a similar note, I seriously think I'm going to try to look for a research and/or editing job. I keep saying that's what I enjoy doing, so why not, right? Surely there's an author out there somewhere who could use cheap labor, until I get some experience anyway.

For now though, I thought I needed to give you all some laughs so here are some cute things I stumbled on that should be good for a chuckle or two.

Since you all love my Bailey stories (and if you don't, just sit there and take it!.. Yeah, I said it! No, wait. DON'T LEAVE ME!)... This morning she decided I wanted to get up an hour early because she heard something outside that got her barking. She actually grabbed my Nike from the floor, jumped on the bed, and threw it at me! I couldn't believe it. For those who don't know me very well yet, I cherish my sleep time in the mornings. I was not amused when I went outside and there was nothing there that interested her.