Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Dec 8

Ahhh, Winter. I love the cold. Makes me feel alive.

Two more adoptions are in the works, number 13 and 14 for H4H. I remember how hard the first adoption was, logistically speaking, from every angle. Seems like a couple of years ago.

The veteran who is renting a room at our house is re-building her life. She has a boyfriend, volunteers and is working toward bettering herself. Kudos, young lady. My mom gave her a gift certificate with which she bought a coat, the first new coat she has had in a long time. This is what Christmas is all about.

Bean is getting old. Her old bones hurt when it's cold. It makes me sad. She is only eight but it seems she has aged quickly in her life. She was a total puppy for two years, then she has slowed down considerably ever since. She is even cuddling with a cat, a cat who licks her, for crying out loud.

Santa is going to Iraq to visit our troops and he is taking H4H tshirts with him. He plans to give one to the highest ranking General he meets. Pretty darn big deal. Santa leaves CLT for BGW Friday. He is a great man. Served four tours as a medic in Vietnam.

Is there every going to be a day in my life that I don't crave spicy buffalo chicken wings? I swear I could eat them every single day. It's the only food I will eat "on the bone". They are good boneless too, and the BEST on a salad at a place in the DFW airport with ranch dressing. Heaven.

Seriously, when will I stop wanting to run out at any hour to pay any price to buy some spicy buffalo wings? I hated spicy foods until...I'm really not sure. But I used to always get mild wings and then one day I ordered medium. Now I order hot and feel kind of bad ass about it. Am I going to be that older woman in the contest who eats the hottest wings on the planet one day?

I have the best partner in the whole world. His name is Jason. And no one knows his true awesomeness but me. I feel so privileged.

Now for a bath and some reading and sleep. This semi-balanced life is good stuff.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Dec 7

Wow!

A few of my accomplishments in the last 4 months:

Eight successful adoptions, from Charlotte to Wilmington.

A mention in TIME magazine. Yep, this is a big one.

Three awesome television news stories; one from FOX, one from WBTV and one ran statewide through WSOC.

An amazing six member board of directors in place.

A major article in the Fayetteville Observer.

Awarded "Link Leading Lady" by 107.9FM.

Lost contact with "friends". Yep, I actually consider this a positive, to have gotten people out of my life who are "takers" versus "givers".

Two articles on The Examiner web site.

I also feel like I have sort of found my groove over the last four months. I have spent some days working and pushing myself so hard, it felt like a marathon. But I did it. I have also learned to delegate and step back when others are willing to help. And I have learned that no matter what, I have a partner who will stand by me, encourage me and love me. I have discovered I am more powerful that I ever thought I would be, and that I can do anything I set my mind out to do. I have also learned to trust, but not blindly. Any uneasy feeling I get is now listened to and dealt with accordingly, whereas I used to sweep it under the rug.

Hooray for growth!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

aug 17

yesterday: woke at 3am. couldn't sleep. got to sleep around 6am. alarm off at 630. hit snooze. 7am phone rings. it's derek, who just adopted cain. cain got out the night before and hasn't come home. i pry myself out of bed. they haven't owned a dog before, so they have not idea what to do. animal control opens at 11am so we have to wait until then to call. he has a microchip but no one has called. meanwhile i have to get pixel the boston to the vet because she is scratching like crazy. her ears are badly infected. 1030 we are there. dr. mac from freedom animal hospital is good and cheap but not as gentle as i would like. good thing she is a sweet girl who doens't mind a little roughhouseing. we were told she was spayed but dr. mac says no. $130 later, she feels better. jason wants to keep her.

loretta deaton from the vet center has been begging me for this dog. she has referred two veterans to us, but not real great candidates. dewey had a stroke so now sissy is with us, and the 2nd vet wasn't ready for a dog: transient housing, no fence, etc.

then today (tues) she calls to tell me she is not so interested since the dog isn't spayed. apparently she has had two dogs that died after complications from spay surgery. i kind of understand, but come on.

matched a puppy from animal control today with a charlotte police officer. kirsten b called me about four monts ago wanting a pupy, and i told her since she was in the academy, she wasn't ready. so she graduated, now she's a cop, and she found a lab mix puppy at AC she likes. i picked up the dog today and it's a great match. kb will take great care of her.

thurs i go to fayetteveille to match a pit bull with a brain trauma victim named dean. 1st trip to fayetteville.

i have had a bad stomach ache all day, under my left ribs. hoping it's nothing big bc of no insurance.

maniacal woman from peanut's place was at animal care and control today. not colleen, but her side kick. she said something to me about how she heard we adopted out animals that weren't fized. i was like, uh no. the nerve! then she chided me for adopting a puppy, and she yelled at her son who was with her, in public. talked to him like he was a moron. ugh i do not like that woman. i just smiled and carried on. some rescue people are wacko.

the last 2 months have gone by so fast. i have a hard time remembering what day it is, much less the date. i have to look it up every day when i need it. hopefully things will be more in balance soon. took the blog private so it's private. one of my "friends" gave me a hard time about writing about a certain someone and then a certain someone demanded an apology. i deleted the post and apologized but wish i would have kept it, because it was 100% true.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Going private

Since I get the most from writing in my blog as a personal journal rather than a place to keep people up to date, I'm going private. Please don't be offended when the screen says the blog is for "invited guests only", because no one is invited. I simply need a place where I can write and vent.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

July 4th Weekend

Flew to Dallas this weekend to surprise my mom with a 60th birthday party. I felt like a jet setter, flying in then getting my nails done to pass the time. Then I realized I needed a shower before the party (in a big way) so I went into an LA Fitness and they gave me a day pass after I acted like I wanted to join. Stopping to shower at a gym and drying off with the pajamas you packed takes the jet setter feeling away pretty quickly.
Mom was shocked about the party and especially when I came out of the kitchen at the restaurant for the reveal. My grandma, three aunts and two uncles drove out from Kansas and Louisiana and when they showed up she about lost it. It was pretty cool. My uncle Steve, a total cowboy, from Kansas, cracked me up with his one liners and cowboy sensibility. One of my favorites: "Nobody likes to go to bed a loser." I wish I could have videotaped the whole night.

My sister still drives me crazy. We had not seen each other in ten years (!!!) because we do not see eye to eye. I am briquettes on the grill and she is gasoline. I managed to play it cool and not get too worked up. In a group setting it's not too bad but in the car with just her, my step dad and her husband? I thought I might die of being pissed off.

She took Drama in high school and never left class. Everything is either FANTASTIC! or HORRIBLE! and it makes me want to vomit. If I had a dollar for every time she said the word 'fantastic' this weekend it would have paid for my plane ticket. And to say she stretches the truth is an understatement. Here are some examples:

"I'm a child psychologist" What she means is that she has a masters in psych and works with kids. Different from someone with a doctorate. When called out by mom with the doctorate part she says, "Well, I don't have one yet".

"Joe Family Member (named changed) only played baseball in college because his dad did" In reality, Joe's dad never played baseball. Or went to college. But she honestly, seriously, believes her story is correct.

"My friend saw the picture of us on Facebook and asked if we were twins" OK now I'm pissed. Pictures of us when we were each five years old are similar. Thirty years later, she is 50 pounds heavier and...50 pounds heavier. I'm no supermodel but I sure as hell couldn't pass for the twin of a 240 pound woman.

I am hoping, OK praying, that she just texts me and doesn't start to call, now that she has my number. It feels so wrong to not want to hang out with my 'sister', but if she was just a person I knew, I would stay about a thousand miles away. Maybe that's why I live in NC and she's in Missouri. One of the reasons anyway. I used to feel pretty guilty about not trying harder to reach out to her, or about not extending the olive branch one more time. However the guilt I have felt about not having her in my life has been absolved. She is a complete wacko in my eyes and there are very good reasons why I have not seen her in 10 years. Maybe in another 10 things will mellow out?

Am I allowed to digress? I'm not even 100% sure what that means, but overall it was a good weekend. I got to almost make my mom pee in her pants with excitement and laugher (twice!) and was able to see relatives I hadn't seen in a long time. The travel stories at coffee time the day of departure were worth the flight. And spending time with Mark and Lori at the restaurant for a few hours before the party was really super great. Even sleeping on the sofa pull-out wasn't bad because Twig would cuddle with me.

Now I'm home and back to work. Made some headway today and hoping to have programs in place for the Fayetteville VA hospital in the next month or so. Sissy is staying with us while Dewey is in rehab; we placed Sis in Dewey's home then he had a stroke. I'm taking her to see him tomorrow and then he is supposed to go home next week. I'm not really hopeful and she may have to stay with us, which I (and Jason) are totally OK with. Three dogs again! Well she is small, so 2.5 dogs. Maybe the vet will charge us half for her annual visit. ha ha

Wow, that is the most I have written in a long time. Maybe I only like to write when something pisses me off? I was yearning for a laptop or a word processor or something to put my thoughts on paper with while on the plane. I might be on to something. So, wait, this means I haven't been really pissed off in a few months? Holy hell that is freaking amazing!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Great weekend

More bullets. Bullets=too lazy to write. I know because I'm too lazy to write right now. Totally OK with it.

Weekend bullets:
garage sale, made $27 after four hours in 92 degree with 80% humidity.
took a bunch of stuff to Goodwill that didn't sell. that'll teach you, you "will you take 50 cents for all of this?" cheapos. the tax donation is worth more: go away.
awesome lunch with Jason including wine with gorgonzola and onion pizza. i love him.
trip to the library. one new book, a CD and two movies to watch. free. awesome.
meeting with Hilary and Becca for newsletter. love their help, but starting to remember why I hate meetings.
great episodes of This American Life on Netflix streaming. we watched four in a row.
finished up painting the living room. looks so great. beautiful color.
researched a camping trip. 4pawskingdom.com looks like where we are going. cannot wait!
one fantastic night's sleep.
sleeping until 9am. glorious!
fighting (not literally) over the book Super Freakonomics with Jason. interesting read.
browsing laptop computers at Best Buy.
bought two used games for the PS3 and Wii.
bought an Izze soda from Starbucks and didn't get charged for a large cup of ice to pour it into... score! now i have an awesome Starbucks cup to reuse for drinks this week. it's the small things.
spent $21 at the farmer's market and got: 30 farm fresh eggs, 3 pounds of fresh peaches, two giant fresh tomatoes, four big onions, a homemade cherry pie, fingerling potatoes and a head of good garlic.
made some headway into the Mount Everest of laundry in our closet.
made a frittata and working on egg salad.
homemade gorgonzola and onion pizza tonight.



Sunday, June 6, 2010

Update

Things are starting to get a little less crazy, which I welcome. My partner Hil and I are developing a routine and we're starting to get into a groove with who takes care of what. Because I'm no longer working a 40 hour week for the Census and another 30 to 40 for the nonprofit, my life has come back into balance. Thank Gawd.

We have been taking Diesel to Dogtopia to help with his socialization, and this weekend we took him out to a Dog Sports Day at the US National Whitewater Center. He was so good and we are both very proud of him.

I borrowed a few exercise tapes from a friend, and one of my goals is to start working out at least a couple of times a week. I sit at this computer all day, if I'm not out meeting with someone, so I'm leading a pretty inactive life and have put on a few pounds since being out of school and not going to my part time job. One of my other goals is to go out with a girlfriend (or a group of friends) once every two weeks. This is difficult, because most of my friends are also very busy people. And many, like me, aren't very social. Once we are finished with work, we want to hang around the house or do something solo.

Hmmm, what else is new? I'm meeting with a potential mentor tomorrow and working on building our board of directors over the next few weeks. And working on creating a long-distance program for Fort Bragg, which is about three hours away. We have a local program in place, now it's time to branch out. Once we have the kinks out we can expand to other cities, which I am really looking forward to.

Jason and I bought some paint this weekend and have started to paint our new place. We hired an interior decorator as a consultant when we first moved in back in January to help us pick our colors, now we're getting around to painting. The kitchen is almost done. It's a very light brown suede color. The living and dining areas are a greenish gray, the hallway is another version of the light brown suede, then the master bedroom is a very light, warm gray and the bathroom is a much darker version. It's going to look awesome. Will post some before and after pics next week some time.


Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Nonprofit nutso

My last post was written just before deciding to start a nonprofit. I have thought about posting a few times over the last two weeks but literally haven't had a spare half an hour to sit down and write. I'm a little upset that I didn't make time, because the last two months have been an insane ride with lots of ups and downs. It would have been nice to have a journal account of it to remind myself of the craziness, joy and heartbreak.

Since I only have a few minutes and I'm not sure when I will have time to write again, I'm resorting to bullet points...again. Here's my last two months, or what I can remember of it, in no particular order:

received an email about a nonprofit in Washington DC about a group that provides companion animals for veterans
contacted group to see if they had a Charlotte chapter. they do not
emailed my friend Hilary: "We should do this here!"
started a nonprofit
filled out a 37 page IRS form for nonprofit status
got an EIN from the IRS and formed a NC corporation
started a very long to-do list
got a web site
got a logo
wrote stuff
called a bunch of people
begged a bunch of people for money and in-kind donations
had a lot of meetings
found a veteran who wants a dog
adopted a dog from animal control that spewed diarrhea all over Hil's house for a week
took dog back to animal control
got reamed out by a rescue group woman for returning the dog, in front of people, in the lobby of animal control
got another, healthy dog from another rescue group
took dog to veteran
got recruited to work for the census
worked my ass off
thought i had found two good volunteers but they're not reliable. damnit
attended the most fun wedding ever. jason looked so good in his suit. he's a handsome man and i'm very lucky.
battled insomnia
took care of a stray dog jason brought home. found her at Tryon and Clanton streets.
did i mention the stray dog was unsocialized, afraid of everyone but me and jason?
she lived with us for 10 days.
and did i mention she was in heat? do you know what that means? the carpet was disgusting.
named her Girl Dog. found a great home for her. now she is Gracie.
i miss her.
so does jason.
our dogs do not.
worked for two weeks for the census, was supposed to be paid, but wasn't.
had to call my other 6 team members to tell them we weren't being paid for another week.
finally got paid and it looks like they took out 28% tax. why?? i'm in the lowest bracket.
got 501c3 approval from the IRS. jumped for joy.
sat in a census training class for 40 hours. considered suicide daily.
stood up in front of a lot of people while Hilary gave a speech. i was so proud of her.
decided not to apply to vet tech school. 99% sure not going to apply to vet school.
created a traffic report for H4H. funny, because while working at the ad agency a few years back, i made fun of this seemingly archaic document. and the agency where i used to work was HMH. interesting.
heard we might be getting a grant. holding breath for mail. not counting chickens.

Although I'm working about 80 hours weeks, I'm loving it. Hopefully Census will be done this week so I can knock back to a leisurely 50 hours. Seriously, 50 hours is not bad when you're doing what you love.



Thursday, March 11, 2010

Dog drama

First, pictures:

If I had a PhD, I would be offended by this.
The squirrels at the campground are heavily imprinted, meaning, they look to humans for food. I can't condone it, but it makes for good photo opportunities.
Diesel loves to lay in the water, preferably in water that is only a couple of inches deep.
Hilary and I made a natural centerpiece for the table, in the spirit of Jen W. And Erin W.
Hilary's face is so funny in this picture. I love it!

Friday afternoon, Jason returned early from work so we could leave for the campground in time to set up before dark. I had lined up a dog sitter to come by to walk the dogs three times a day, at 8am, noon and 6pm. He was surprisingly inexpensive, but came with great references, and Diesel even warmed up to him after only a ten minute visit. So we left, footloose and fancy free, around 4 o'clock Friday. Unfortunately I neglected to check the campground lock up time (6pm) so when we arrived at 7, we couldn't get in. So we drove another hour to find (thank God) a hotel.

We slept like babies in the super comfy bed with a down comforter, until my cell rang at 8am the next day. On the other end of the line, the man I had trusted with our dogs was out of breath and freaking out. He was scared to tell me what was going on a three hour drive away. Finally he told me that Diesel had gotten out of the house, without his leash, and was running at a high rate of speed away from him. Diesel was on the lam.

I knew we had to go home. I looked at Jason and he could tell from my face that we had to go home. We threw off the covers, threw on our shoes, shoved our stuff in our bags, and bugged out, to home. I frantically called the sitter on the phone every few minutes, hoping he had gotten Diesel back into the house. But I knew it wouldn't happen, since Diesel is male-wary and the sitter (male) probably spooked him somehow, which is what made him run in the first place. I felt helpless. Jason was quiet.

I wished and prayed for a helicopter to meet us at the next highway. There was no helicopter, and no way to shorten the three hour trip. I racked (wracked?) my brain for alternatives. What to do...who to call...what to do...damn it who can help?

HILARY! Diesel likes Hilary! She could maybe go over and get him to go inside! I would do it for her dogs and she would do it for mine! HILLLLLLLARRRRY!!! I frantically dialed her number, then remembered speaking to her the night before, a little late, after she had just discovered a new Apple Cider drink. Hmmm, she might still be sleeping. But wouldn't you know it, she called me right back, and she said she would be at our house in ten minutes. Have I mentioned that I love HIlary?

It took nearly two hours, but Diesel was finally back in the house.

We decided that, in order to continue our vacation, that the dogs would need to come with us. This put a bit of a damper on the "romantic" aspect of the weekend, but we still had a lot of fun at the lake. Hilary even came out for a night of shenanigans and we all fell asleep before ten, after roasting weiners on the fire and watching a movie. At what point did we get old?

Monday was the best day, waking around eight, making breakfast burritos and coffee, then spending the entire day lounging on a grassy knoll overlooking the lake. The weather couldn't have been more perfect: sunny and about 73 degrees. We all now wear badges of sun on our cheeks, noses and arms. It was glorious.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Camping!

Heading out to the lake for our first trip of 2010. We're going for 6 days, sans dogs. My good friend Hilary is coming out to stay with us for one night. Bon voyage!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Vultures




I love them. They're social. And they're funny despite looking a little gross, according to many people. I think they're beautiful. And I love that they are the perfect candidates for funny names, like Igor or Gargamel. I swung a U-turn and parked on the side of the highway this morning because I saw this crew and happened to have my camera with me. I'm calling them the Highway 160 Cleaning Crew.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Job Description

My dream job description:


Responsibility: help animals directly, in some way. For example: caring for them, finding homes for them, rehabilitating them, training them, teaching them, babysitting them or something else positive and good.
Salary: $70,000 (remember, I'm dreaming. will accept $30,000)
Hours: up to a 70 hour week
Dress code: casual, with occasional instances where I would need to get dressed up real purdy with heels and everything
Get dirty on a daily basis. Meaning, work with the animals directly, and get one of the following: muddy paw prints on pants, dirt on shirt from..somewhere, blood, wet dog food or other yucky stuff from preparing food for said animals, smelling stinky like fish from preparing food, crap on shoes from the ground or crap on self from being in an area where animals crap.
Coworkers: other people who love and respect animals (and people too!)
Duties: anything from administrative stuff and paperwork to cleaning up pee on the floor and taking out stinky garbage. Also, marketing, writing, researching ways to gain funding or other sources of income, talking to the public, educating the public and teaching children, feeding and caring for the animals, training volunteers, managing projects, brainstorming, proofreading, creating and maintaining a web site and sticking to a budget.

Friday, February 12, 2010

CRC


A cold, damp day spent outside at CRC is better than any day stuck inside a cubicle with no windows in sight. Even when, at the end of that cold, damp day, your hands smell like fish guts because you prepared a bunch of food for the eagles. No amount of lemon nor soap has helped.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Long time no see

I haven't posted in about six weeks, mostly because I don't have anything exciting to write about. Not that anything exciting hasn't happened, it's just that I haven't felt like writing.

Since my last post December 27th, the following has happened:

Went to a fun New Year's Eve party at my friend Sarah's

Tried in vain to register for a BIO or CHEM class at school. Classes were booked up in a matter of minutes despite logging in at 2am to try to get a seat. Have I mentioned I'm not a night person? Central Piedmont has ticked me off. You have to be a Sophomore to get into a good class, but you can't be a Sophomore until you have 24 credits towards your degree. If you can't get into classes towards your degree, how do you get 24 credits???? It's infuriating.

Settled for a Computer class that was cancelled, a Construction class that is bogus and an Office Technology class that's being taught by someone a decade younger than me, with about ten years less experience than me, who is a total hardass about coming to the hour long class every day. And then she doesn't even teach in the class: she posts an assignment online, such as: make a Powerpoint presentation. Then if you have questions you raise your hand. Stupid. Waste. Of. Time.

Got laid off. Then was asked to resign. Had to see an attorney. He gave good advice.

Turned 35. Had to cancel my party because roads were too icy for people to drive safely to get to our house.

Thought about attending the Wildlife Rehabilitators National Symposium in Seattle but I can't afford it.

Starting volunteering at The Raptor Center again, on Fridays. I love that place. Last Friday it was pouring rain and had been raining for about 48 hours. People were joking about building arcs. I prepared the food for about 30 birds, then donned a yellow rain poncho and walked the 1.5 mile trail to feed the birds in my running shoes. My feet were soaking wet and freezing for about four hours but it was still better than working in a windowless office at Merrill Lynch. Rubber boots are on my wish list.

Filled out my FAFSA for 2010-2011. I'm praying for aid. And unemployment.

Did my taxes, and Jason's. Not getting back as much as I had estimated.

Looked at engagement rings, on a few occasions, with Jason. I love all of them.

A bunch of people from work gave me going away cards. I was a little surprised by this. I would think that people who usually treat you like crap wouldn't care enough to send a Hallmark. Maybe I'm wrong?

Moved into a new townhome. We both love it. It's smaller, just the right size, easier to clean, close to the interstate and we can afford it. Our old house was nice but too big and too expensive; we were going into debt each month just to keep up with the payments.

Found a dog on a busy road and found a good home for him. This was by far the highlight of the last six months of my life. By a lot. Jason found him, took him to a vet, I picked him up, got him groomed and Rabies vaccinated, then networked like crazy to find a home for him. He's living the good life in an extremely nice house in Dilworth. It's the best! AND the people gave me money to cover his expenses without me even having to ask. Wow, wow, wow.

Gained about 5 pounds. Haven't been working out. Just been eating and not caring. And sleeping a lot, but I went to the gym today to walk. The weather has been so cold it's impossible to walk outside. I'm ready for Spring.

I'm looking forward to camping. Researching a trip to Washington DC to see some of the Smithsonian museums, The National Zoo and some monuments. Thinking about going during Spring Break, the first or second week of March.




Applied to Gaston College for the Vet Tech program, which starts in the Fall. Only 40 students are accepted.