Only Child for a Day

Maggie and Pumpkin went to the spa today to get their summer hair cuts (my camera is charging so I don't have new pics of them yet--they are adorable as usual!)... which left Gamer alone with me all day. I would like to say she missed her sisters, but let's be honest, Gamer is and always will be an only child (in her mind at least)... I don't think she's really accepted the fact that the other two are here to stay ;).

So, before work, I took her to a huge dog park, where she got to run ALL by herself for almost 20 minutes! The other dogs were hanging out, playing as only well-socialized dogs can, in the small dog area separated by a fence (even though they were all huge dogs), which was just fine with me. But the people incorrectly assumed that I brought my dog to the dog park to socialize, so they all came walking over to join Gamer and me... apologizing for being in the "wrong" side of the park and leaving my dog all alone. I could hear Gamer's sigh of disappointment from the other end of the park...we didn't stay long after that. As nice as the people were to come and join us, 6 large dogs intruding on Gamer's intense squirrel hunting does not make her a happy camper.  Although, I have to say, she didn't embarrass me with her growling or snapping at all with the other dogs! I was so proud of her--only a couple sly teeth-baring moves that only I caught (not the other owners!).

This is Gamer's signature hunting move that started 6 years ago on Peabody campus (which is overrun by Vanderbilt's unnaturally brave--and gigantic-- squirrels)... She stalks the squirrel while standing completely still, then charges it as fast as she can. She inevitably misses the target...and then continues to jog past the spot where the squirrel was to save her pride and act like she was heading that way for a totally different reason.

So we came home, and to be fair, I gave her a bath...I just can't quite justify sending her to the dog spa when she is pretty much balding with light fuzzy fur here and there ;) Plus we have all kinds of special medicated shampoo to use with her. 

Here are her thoughts on bath time and her day full of quality time with Mom. 

While we're giving Gamer her day in the spotlight--here's one of my favorite videos of her with our foster dog, Olivia. Olivia wanted to be her friend SOOO badly, and Gamer is trying so hard not to growl at her here (but completely not understanding that in dog language, Olivia just wants to get past her)

Haha--that's our girl! :) 

And again, as a disclaimer, she really is the sweetest thing... and truly the love of our lives---I just don't think she knows she's a dog, and therefore sees no reason to act like one or associate with them ;)

My afternoon...

I have had three rescues at the doggie daycare across the street for the past couple of weeks, so they have all taken turns hanging out at Camp Childress to get away from the kennel for a little while during the day...

My precious Beagle rescue left this morning to go to her new home in CT, and I cried--she was so sweet...a little crazy with a very persistent howl--but I adored her. Taylor told me she'd be the hardest dog I have ever had to place (this was after he saw her climbing on the back of his recliner and knocking over/shattering a ceramic dish, all within about 2 minutes), but he doesn't know Beagles like I do! There are lots of Beagle people out there that find these little troublemakers endearing, and as predicted, she had no trouble finding a home :)

Here's Olivia...

Next, there is Millie...a 5-6 month old Black Labbie girl who is just as CUTE as she can be! She has lots of puppy energy and was given up by her family because she kept chewing things and trying to get into their pool while the kids were swimming (imagine a LAB wanting to chew and swim!!? haha). Anyway, she's a total doll, and will find a home in a second once I post her on Petfinder-she's just waiting for one more round of puppy shots.

And finally, I have Max. I found Max listed on a "Free to Good Home" ad (due to a divorce)--which is SO dangerous. People search "Free" ads all the time for scientific research, dog fighting bait, and even just to re-sell the dog for a profit. Max is a 6-7 year old Black Labbie boy who has been posted on Petfinder for over 2 weeks without one single inquiry--he has three strikes against him already, being an older large black dog. Black dogs are 4 times more likely to be euthanized because they are so often overlooked at shelters--and they are just as hard to place through rescue. On top of this, Max has been so traumatized by his family giving him up, that he is somewhat fear aggressive and wants to fight other dogs if they come too close (this makes his visits to our house lots of fun ;)). He's coming along, and I'm not giving up on him. He's a total sweetheart, but just very insecure right now. I had to bring him here the first few days just to get him to eat, but now he's eating fine and even wagging his tail at everyone he meets!

So this brings me to my afternoon.... after a somewhat busy morning with work and a nice lunch out with Taylor, I decided to pick Max up and bring him over to my house for the afternoon. He has been wonderful today--not ONE growl at my dogs--even when Gamer gave him her signature snarl and snap. As I was marveling at how well the afternoon was going and settling in at my computer to do some work, I noticed Max wandering on the other side of my desk...and then in slow motion, I saw him turn around and realize the modem cable was wrapped around his foot. He then went into a complete panic and took off running backwards, taking the modem/laptop/docking station/stack of post-its/pen holder with him (while I was in the process of typing a work email, of course). This catastrophe caused a massive crashing sound that scared the poor guy even more, so he took off out of the office, and my three socially awkward girls took off in terror after him--and a train of four dogs proceeded to bolt into my bedroom and hide! Now, it may have made sense to be angry at this point, but I just laughed ...and got my camera. If dog rescue weren't chaotic, then everyone would be doing it, right? I can't complain--I bring this on myself..haha. AND I'm now typing this post, so there was clearly no permanent computer damage (although I did have to shove the wire back into the modem harder than usual, and I heard a slight cracking noise...:)).

And now I'm off to take Max back to his hotel and rush back to shower and put myself together for one of Taylor's work dinners...

Taylor and the Chi...

You may have noticed Taylor has been growing out his hair this spring...and as it turns out, it is really curly and wavy! He, of course, came to the expert in managing curly hair ;), and asked what he's supposed to do with it (he has been fighting the fluffiness with this humidity too..hehe). We were laughing and I was joking that he just needed to Chi it (to those of you who are blessed with straight hair, a Chi is an awesome hair straightener that can handle hair like mine!).

Long story short, he let me play with his hair last night! I used my product on it, and blew it dry..and then used the Chi on it (although Taylor was CONVINCED I was going to burn his head--and I was secretly a little nervous too on such short hair!--so we really just dealt with the ends. (Note: When I walked in with all the appliances and hair product, he asked for a beer, just to feel somewhat manly--haha... so he sat on a chair with a beer while I played with his hair;)). I told him he would be the best dad to little girls ever--such a good sport! :)

We thought this was the funniest thing... look at his hair!? No worries, he went into work with the natural curls today. The Chi in our house is back to being for girls only... (I still think he's pretty adorable-feathered 80's bangs, and all ;))

And just a couple pics of Gamer and Taylor...I love these two together... they are SO cute... she's definitely his girl :)

April and May!

So we lost our boy at the very end of March...and life is moving forward. We have come to the realization that we'll miss him forever--and it's kind of comorting knowing he will not be forgotten. I'm missing him tonight (it comes and goes still :( )...but I'm not going to go into another SAD post! That's never been my personality (nor was it Tubbie's!)--so I hate that all my posts have been so sad since we lost him! To be honest, we've been really busy and smiling and laughing a lot over the past couple of months. Life is good-- and we were so blessed to have had that big happy yellow lab in our lives for as long as we did! :)

Here are some pics from what we've been up to....

Loving on Gamer....

Courtney: Taylor! Take a picture quick! She's actually snuggling with me! (Notice Gamer's eyes ...)

Me, looking sooo happy to be with my girl-- she jumped off of me a minute later. Haha...

Babysitting Scooter for a week:

Maggie is such a good sport :) -- This is on the pillow under my desk-- not much leg room for me ;)Maggie and Scooter-- they both moved the pillows like this on their own :)

This pretty much sums up how the 4 dogs interact-- notice who chooses to be the outcast... ;)

This is the turtle that my neighbor and I rescued-- after I almost ran the poor thing over! We ended up using a net and a box to get him back into the lake.... who knew turtles could be so aggressive?? He hissed and tried to bite us a couple of times--and we both jumped back like 5 feet each time-haha- he looks so harmless here!

Finally enjoying the screened in porch with our new patio furniture... see how sweet Gamer is when she thinks no one's watching!? We sat like this for a really long time while I drank my coffee one morning- such a sweet girl :)

Typical Sunday at our house:

(Ok, maybe not TYPICAL...but sooo awesome I had to take a picture!) We had center-cut bacon, fruit, warm maple syrup, Mimosas, and of course, Poppy's blueberry pancakes! We then moved ourselves over to the couch and watched LOST DVD's until we felt like we could move again ;)

Local Rescue Dogs:

JEWEL-

This is Jewel, a rescue dog that a friend of mine had been fostering here in Daytona since October...I got her from a local shelter when they called and said they couldn't place her up for adoption with her severe skin issues. NO ONE wanted this girl, even though she is by far THE sweetest dog I have ever rescued! I took her to a Daytona State baseball game one Saturday, as a last resort, before having to beg my parents or Taylor to let her move in ;).... AND we ended up sitting next to a wonderful family who had just lost their lab! Long story short, they adopted her, and she is being treated as an absolute princess--she even gets to fly on her very own private jet ;) Lucky girl!

CHANCE-

(No, we're not Jewish, but this dredel toy has been with us for over 2 years now, and it is ALWAYS the favorite of every dog that comes to visit! It's the only toy that has ever lasted that long in our house...haha)Pumpkin, looking so thrilled to have ANOTHER dog around....she is still learning to adjust to new situations ;)

Kathy and Charlie let us borrow Scooter when we need a "normal" dog to come play with our new rescues...since our 3 girls go hide in another room when any new dog comes to visit. Maggie is getting better...but we're still working with Gamer and Pumpkin.

So...Chance's story...I found an ad for a Yellow Lab on Craigslist one day, and I offered to help the person find a good home that would be screened carefully (instead of her just sending him to the highest bidder!)...she said she didn't care who I was as long as I took him off her hands that day. SO, I met her (not at her home--at a very safe, public spot, Mom, Dad, and Taylor!) and took him on the spot. He was a 3 yr old rescue from a Maryland shelter that she couldn't keep any longer due to finances and an illness in her family. He was PERFECT in every way-- loved other dogs, loved kids, loved all strangers, was housetrained, knew how to sit, shake and lie down on command...he was amazing. I wasn't prepared to be so close to another yellow lab so soon after losing Tubbs and fell in LOVE with him! I told Taylor that if no one wanted him, we had to keep him--but Taylor reminded me that we were really a home for the socially awkward and the virtually un-adoptable ;) (And I have to admit, I found myself hoping that Chance would fail some temperment or health test so we could keep him :(-- I'm not proud of that).... BUT, every person that met him wanted him. And when the perfect family asked to adopt him, I couldn't say no. So, he is now "Cooper," :) and they adore him!

I was quickly reminded that God knows what he's doing-- and that Chance wasn't meant to be ours. And that this family needed some labbie love more than we did--Tubbs gave us enough of that to last a lifetime! ;)

Friends Visiting:

Chris and Erik came to visit and we had SO much fun with them! They loved the dogs (which is always a plus ;)), helped Taylor drink his Scotch, and even watched Twilight one night! ;)

They spent the whole weekend hanging out around the house... I was in and out running errands and rescuing dogs (they all met Chance, aka Cooper, ;)), and every time I walked in the door, they were just sitting around and laughing. They even chose to cook dinner at home too. It was so much fun!

Weekend in Nashville:

My parents were traveling when I went to Nashville a couple week's ago, so my week went something like this...

Wednesday- Arrived in Nashville, spent the day at the office, had dinner and spent the night with Grandma Mary and Aunt Megan.

Thursday- Spent the day at the office, met up with Jessica, Hi V, and 6 week old Madelyn at Margaret's house, went to the best dinner at PM with Margaret (I had pot stickers and pad thai...mmm), spent the rest of the warm Nashville evening on Margaret's porch (I sat on the porch swing :)) with her Black Lab, Camden, and a bottle of red wine.

Friday- Tried to run in the rain (got to 4 miles before realizing Nashville is MUCH more hilly than Florida and that slipping on the wet pavement was bound to be a disaster), spent the morning at Kinko's doing work b/c the office had a massive power outage that took out the server, had an early lunch with Ann and COOPER :) at CPK, spent the rest of the day at the office, met up with Becca and a bunch of college friends to get pedicures, had dinner (one of Bec's awesome casseroles) with Becca and the girls, out to Tayste for sparkling red wine (it was so good!), and then spent the night at Bec's condo.

Saturday- Brunch at the Germantown Cafe with pitchers of mimosas, shopping at the new, trendy Hill Center in Nashville (which felt SO unlike Nashville, in a really good way!), met up with Ann to go to dinner at J. Alexander's...We then drove to our 10 year high school reunion party, where we realized about 10 minutes into our drive that we had NO idea what the address of our destination was...haha... only me and Ann ;), we did eventually find the party and had lots of fun :)...I finally met up with Becca and the girls at The Stage, and then had a sleepover at Bec's condo with Sarah and Emily -- I got to be an honorary Goodyear with all 3 Goodyear sisters :)

Sunday- Church and brunch with Grandma Mary, ran a couple errands, and finally spent the rest of the day with Grandma, and shared some pizza and wine with her before heading back to the airport for my flight! Taylor had been in Mt. Pleasant with Naynie for the weekend, so we met up in the Orlando airport at around 11 pm, and I talked his ear off the whole 1 hour drive home ;) haha....

And then I kept wondering why I was SO exhausted all last week....haha-- I love Nashville!

At Tayste with Bec and the girls :)

The Stage on Saturday night

MUDDY BUDDY:

As if visiting Nashville wasn't tiring enough, I had promised Brooke that I would be her partner in the Muddy Buddy race this year... We got a hotel room at a really nice hotel/spa in DisneyWorld, and went out to a nice dinner Friday night before going to bed super early in the world's most comfortable beds...ONLY to wake up at 5:45 for the Muddy Buddy race! It was a 6.2 mile bike/run where we switched off between biking and running--and had to complete an obstacle at every transition. It was unlike anything I have ever done, and I had so much fun! I thought I was going to die while I was doing it, especially on the balance beam (I know that's pathetic, but I've never had good balance!!!)....but it was totally worth it :)

Unloading the car....

We were the "Girls in Training" but there wasn't room to write that on our shirts :)

Brooke made the shirts
Meeting up with our neighbors--Charlie, Kathy, and Stu!

I love this picture of us coming out of the mud pit! Brooke just hops on out...and I am fumbling to get over that last "hill"... haha....I'm in the blue on the left if you couldn't recognize me!
We did it! I was the dirtiest one of our whole group-- not sure how that happened! I took the LONGEST shower I have ever taken right after this!!! And then came home to relax for the rest of the weekend. Taylor and I saw the new Star Trek movie on Saturday, which was really good (much to my surprise!), and spent Sunday at the beach. :)

And FINALLY, here are our three girls! We are back to being a family of 4, which somehow feels so small...but the girls are getting lots of extra love. :) They are so precious!

God Whispered...

Two of my close friends lost their dogs this past week-- and both girls passed away at only 6-7 yrs old.
My friends are heartbroken :( It is so hard to watch people I love go through something so painful. We will miss you, Riley and Zuzu.

Riley Paneri

Zuzu Raines

I found this poem and wanted to post it in honor of Tubbs, Riley, and Zuzu ...

God Whispered

God saw that you were
getting tired
and a cure was not to be...
So He put His arms around you
and whispered, "Come with Me."

With aching hearts,
we watched you suffer
and saw you fade away.
Although we loved you dearly,
we could not help you stay.

A Loving Heart stopped beating,
A special friend put to rest.
God broke our hearts to prove to us
He only takes the best.

- Author Unknown

Our Week...

Our week has been pretty exciting....from dogs to day trips to dog-sitting to Scotch! :) Here are some pics from our busy week...


Last week ended with our first trip as a family of 5 to the baseball field! Pumpkin used to stay home with Tubbie while we took Maggie and Gamer to go run on the field... so this was Pumpkin's first time there. We were kind of worried since she was rescued from this area (the cemetary directly across from the field!)...but she did great! We kept her on the leash to be safe (even though it's 100% fenced) but eventually let go of the leash, letting it drag behind her--and she had so much fun :)




Then the next day (Saturday), we woke up really early to catch the first flight from Orlando to Nashville on Saturday morning! We landed in Nashville, where my parents picked us up and drove us to get my FAVORITE lunch in the world (California Pizza Kitchen :)), and then we met Anne and Bobby and their new puppy, GUS (a rescue peke-a-chon from St. Louis). We then transferred ownership of Anne's old car that we bought from her (4Runner) and headed back to Daytona.... And 10 hours later, at a little passed midnight, we returned to Daytona Beach! We LOVE the new car! Not only do we save the car payment on the Seqouia each month, but we also get an awesome car that doesn't mind getting a little dirty driving on the beach, fishing with Taylor, and driving all kinds of rescue dogs with me! It's perfect :)
Then we spent Easter Sunday relaxing...and went out that night so Taylor could have his first beer in 40 days! He gave up beer, and I gave up sweets for Lent..... My breakfast consisted of ice cream, Oreos, and a bunch of other sweet things I won't list, so I don't sound crazy...but he waited until dinner to have buffalo wings and beer at one of our favorite restaurants (Daytona Ale House).

Then on Tuesday, I received my very own lemon tree in honor of Tubbs from American Lab Rescue :) It was SUCH a sweet gesture---and my neighbors- Pam, Stu, Kathy, and Charlie- came over to help me plant it (after I texted them frantically--not knowing WHAT to do with my adorable new baby lemon tree :)) How cute is it!?!

Then... I got the CUTEST pics of Catie in the mail from my mom... and here's my favorite... how adorable is my niece!?!

Taylor's been working really long hours this week, so I found an easy way to make my hubby smile after his super long week :)

Ok-- so the hair is getting super long...so, I asked him to get it as wild as he could... and then he started posing for "mug shots" (turning from side to side)! Since I always have my camera at arms length, I had to get a few pictures. Look how long and curly it is!!

And finally-- for the next week, we are babysitting this little munchkin :) SCOOTER! He is so sweet--and such a trouble-maker. I love it :) I accidentally called him "Tubbs" like 5 times today--all 5 times, he was getting into trouble...so that kept me laughing all day ;) Our girls never do anything to get into trouble--but the boy dogs are always up to something--so it's been fun having a boy around again :)