Well night one with the dynamic boxer duo was a trip.
This was our conversation when it was time to go to bed. To be honest, this was after Tom and I laid in bed hoping for the best for a half hour as they dive bombed into the bed over and over again.
Tom-It’s like two six year olds at their first sleepover. I am trying to tell them to go to bed, and then I find them with flashlights, giggling and playing connect the dots.
Me-Connect the dots, huh? Is that a big sleepover game?
Tom-I’m half asleep. Just tell people I said the game was Operation.
They did eventually settle down. Grace is a big instigator and just wants to play. Crosby is just like, “I will play but then give me some space lady.” Typical. Crosby finally laid asleep in the closet while we bear hugged Grace to sleep in the bed. Then Crosby kept us up because he is a HUGE snorter. He sounds like a pig, so every 5 minutes or so we would hear this loud grunting, and then we would start busting up laughing. REM cycle never happened…
They are having a blast with each other though, so day 2 is going well. We really lucked out with these two. They are just playing so well together, and they don’t fight over food or attention we give each of them. It’s like they were made for each other.
And good news…Grace is not scared of the yard anymore! Yesss!
Here are some shots from this afternoon.
Grace is so intrigued from Crosby’s eliminations. She just follows him around until he goes.
Neighborhood watch. They stood here for a while ignoring me running around the yard trying to get them to play.
Right now they are burrowing underneath the couch cushions together. I feel like I am an intruder on their alone time….Just supervising kiddos.
Here Grace was giving Crosby a hug; I just caught it too late. Adorable.
After watching shelter pages for months and several applications, tonight we brought home this guy!
We had some bumps in the road to our adoption, and honestly we didn’t even go to the shelter to meet this slobbery mess initially.
Much like Grace’s adoption, we went to a shelter to meet another little dude. After looking at the most adorable 9 week old boxer puppy, we decided we definitely did not want to potty train. Plus, there were 3 other families who were interested in getting the puppy so we decided he was not our new little brother for Grace.
I knew there were several other boxers at the shelter so we asked the past history of the other dogs to see if there was one that fit our true need for a rescue.
Then they brought us our little big man. He warmed our hearts as soon as he walked through the doors.
He had been brought in as a stray so they are not completely sure of his past. He had been adopted through the shelter once, but the previous adopters brought him back when their small dog got snippy with him. He wasn’t even there for two weeks.
So after being a stray and a surrender, and seeing the visible scars on his body, we knew we were going to take him home. He is a smaller boxer like Grace, and obviously they have the same brindle coats. They guesstimated that he is about 3 years old, but are not completely sure. Since Grace is almost 3, we figured we could make their birthdays the same day.
He crawled up in my lap within seconds and licked my face all over. Seriously in love with this guy!
We brought him home tonight, which was such a perfect ending to our wonderful Labor Day weekend. We have named him Crosby. We named Grace after the iconic Grace Kelly, so it seemed appropriate to name our new bundle of joy after someone in the same realm, so Bing Crosby it is.
Here are Grace and Crosby meeting for the first time!
Then this is the first time in the backyard together. And per usual, I catch a dump in action.
We have done research on how to integrate a new dog to the house, and we know that it is a process that goes beyond today’s activities. However, if anyone does have advice or recommendations, we would love to hear it!
They are doing a really good job right now. They play for a second, then lay down for a bit, then back at it. They are pretty evenly matched and seem to really like each other. So hopefully it continues to go well!
Here are some pictures from the afternoon.
Grace sniffing for approval.
Crosby loves to be out the window. It made me a little nervous!
Grace staring at Crosby in awe…
Crosby loves to lay down while he eats.
They both love the peanut butter.
I love how Grace looks like an alien.
Love these two!
“Are you two sure about this guy?”-Grace
They are too funny!
Thank you for all the encouraging words through this process. We are excited that our little family was able to expand this weekend. We are so greatful that we are in a position to offer a loving home to these two homeless pups.
We can’t wait to see where this adventure leads us with Grace and Crosby!
Tom and I have decided that we are going to adopt another dog soon. And the crowd goes wild! Wahhhh!
Ok. In all seriousness, this process got real last week when we put in an application. We were beyond excited to set up a meet and greet with this new dog who was seriously perfect.
Then we promptly got denied as parents.
Nothing like a swift kick to the rear end…
Fortunately, it was nothing we as individuals did or our references said. It was all about a matter of a breed ban.
Grrrrr.
Because we live on base, we are restricted to owning certain approved dogs. And to be fair, this shelter was only looking out for the best interest of this dog when they denied us, and I cannot blame them. But, that doesn’t mean it hurt any less.
Also to be fair, Tom and I were not trying to cheat the system and knowingly get a dog that we can’t have. This particular dog was listed as a mixed breed initially to be later listed it as a “pit bull” mix once more information was discovered about the pup’s pasts.
So here I am standing loud and proud on my soap box.
I am vehemently against breed bans of any kind. I truly believe that any dog is a product of it’s environment. You can train a dog to be mean, and you can train a dog to be nice.
It all takes time and patience. And sometimes, more time and patience.
Many people believe that pit bulls will turn on you without provocation. This is a sorely mistaken myth. They are no different than any other dog. People forget that these are all animals and their instinct is to protect themselves. So more often than not they are put on the defensive off the bat because of how people react when they see them.
People think they are mean dogs and are popular fighting dogs. Well a lot of this has to do with the fact that this breed is very intelligent and easy to train. So they can take commands, even if they aren’t the best idea. Just because they are easy to train, doesn’t mean everyone who owns them is a good trainer or has good intentions. (It’s just like parenting human children…we don’t all end up the same.)
Grace is a boxer, but often gets mistaken as a pit bull. I don’t know how many times I have had to calm her down because some stranger started screaming in her face or tried to go after her too quickly. Seriously, people yell at my dog when she is on a leash by my side. And Grace doesn’t bark, yet these people go after her. (Don’t get me started at how drunk college students reacted to her on campus…) Dogs just rely on instinct and following cues that they have been taught. Because I have taught Grace well (at least I assume), I can get her to calm down in a matter of seconds, or she just looks at me and knows everything is ok.
It is so sad to hear that people will not give this breed [pit bulls] a chance. I hate that good people can’t take these sweet pups in because we happen to live in an area that believes in enacting these bans.
Pitties are extremely loyal dogs and generally love children. They do have a lot of energy and are playful, which can be destructive if not handled appropriately, which is the same for many high energy breeds. So you need to know your dog. Sounds like brain surgery huh?
I think people should do research about dogs before they decide to adopt. There are different temperaments that will fit different lifestyles. I know that Grace needs a lot of activity, which is why we plan to get her exercise every day whether that’s joining me on my runs or Tom taking her to the dog park. If we couldn’t do this in our life style, we shouldn’t have agreed to take on this responsibility. They need love and attention, and if done so dogs are wonderful additions to any person’s life.
I don’t know how I would have gotten through Tom’s deployment without Grace. I still cuddle with her more at night than I do with Tom…It just breaks my heart that there are so many pit bulls that remain in shelters (or worse) because of these restrictions and cannot become companions to many well-deserved families.
Here are some websites that do such a better job than I ever could making things understand-a-bull.
Someday when Tom and I have our dream farm, we know that we are going to do all we reasonably can to save or sponsor pit bulls and also senior dogs (another group of dogs neglected).
But for now we are limited, so our search for Grace’s new sister/brother continues.
And I leave you with a picture of my sometimes mis-understood girl.
We have walked by this park every day on our walks/runs and only recently did we find out that they were water sprinklers! What? Now we stop by to run though them and get a little drink every chance we can!
We adopted Grace from a shelter, and I will only get future dogs from shelters. There are just so many wonderful pets waiting for their furrever home, that I could never bring myself to go to a breeder. We each have our own pet stories, so I don’t judge those who do go the breeder route as long as you love your pets! There are upsides to both scenarios, you just pick your cup of tea. I think it takes a special person to genuinely decide to have a pet and love and care for another being no matter which way they come into your lives. As long as you love your pet after making sure it is the right fit for your lifestyle and do what’s necessary to keep them healthy and happy, I support any adoption!
So you don’t get off that easy, here are some more pictures of the best decision we have made to date!
If you look closely, you can see the typical Grace spit bubble. She is a slobbery girl…
Stay tuned for our adoption adventures. We hope there is more soon to tell!
It’s a Monday after a holiday weekend. So like most, I sit here reflecting on the amazing down time that I had and dream that it wasn’t over. My newsfeed this morning was littered with all the witty “I hate Mondays” commentary.
So to recap our 4th of July.
It was not full of BBQ, beer, red/white/blue ribbons, or personal fireworks.
It was full of rain…all weekend long.
Don’t feel sad; we managed to make the most of it. We had a great relaxing weekend being free of work and responsibilities. And seriously what is better than actually being able to sleep in and be lazy on wet and rainy days?
Fort Campbell had a 4 day long carnival event, which we did attend on the 4th in the brief parting of the clouds before they canceled the firework show. It was really cool to see all the families tredge through the mud to celebrate what our families have gone through to ensure freedom for our nation.
We did not ride any rides because after working at an amusement park for 6 years (this is where Tom and I met btw), I am pretty skeptical of any ride that can be packaged into a trailer as a traveling show. And don’t get me started on my nightmares of Ferris wheels. Plus it cost money, and we were being cheap.
I also worked games for 2 years, so I cannot wait until we have kids so we can win them useless toys. After working 8 hour shifts for 2 summers, you learn a few tricks of the trade. We just don’t have a need for the game stuff now.
We were not too cheap however for my ICEE obsession. I L.O.V.E ICEES.
We love that we are lucky to be together to celebrate our independence! I think about all those families who cannot say the same. (Special shout out to our buddy Andrew Martin and his lovely family! We can’t wait to celebrate with you when you get home! And also to the Landis family, you all are in my thoughts and prayers regularly!)
The night of the fourth we ended up watching from our backyard some of our neighbors shoot off their own fireworks.
Grace did not seem to mind her first firework display.
And yes we made an outside bed for Grace to be comfortable watching the show.
They had rescheduled the fireworks for Friday. But it rained all evening so we didn’t really want to pack up to go across the base. So we watched in the rain from a parking lot right by our house in our Jeep. Nothing more American than being barefoot in a mud covered Jeep watching fireworks I guess.
All in all it was a good holiday for us, and we cannot forget the sacrifices that are made to grant the freedoms we hold so dear.
Talking with my husband about how the fireworks sounded like war and his FB statuses for the day gave me a lot to reflect on, and I hope they do for you too.
“Today and every day, ask yourself two questions. Who sacrificed their life so that I could have mine? What am I doing to make myself worthy of that sacrifice?”
“Remember that rights aren’t something you are entitled to. Rights are something we have to fight for. Nothing in this world is free.”
Nothing like a national holiday to make you think about your priorities eh?
It’s ironic (don’t you think) that those who give up so much of their own freedoms are the ones that are making sure you and I have ours?
Now on to our home improvement project of the week.
We created these shelves so that we could have some flexibility on changing the deco in our house without the hassle of measuring and putting in new holes in the wall. Since we live in on-base housing, we are trying to leave as little damage as possible.
Shelves are pretty expensive if you want to buy more than one of these at the store, and you cannot get them in a very long size. I think the cheapest we were able to find was like $30ish bucks for one that was like a foot long. So Tom volunteered to make them for us. For 8 shelves, it was around $75 for us doing it this way. (If you are able to find ones cheaper than this, share with the world please!)
Basically you pick the size shelf you want from the wood selection. We chose a couple different sizes because of the what we had planned to put on the shelf, so we had 1X2s and 1X3s.
Then we picked out simple decorative molding to make the face of the shelf. You can make it relatively inexpensive depending on the molding you pick, or just not getting molding and just using the base wood only.
Tom did all the handiwork. It seems pretty simple from watching him. He made all 8 of them in an afternoon.
This is before he stained them all.
Then he added wall hangers/hooks on the back to make them more secure on the wall.
Then was the long process of measuring out the locations on the wall. This included a stud finder, tape measure, level, T-square, and Tom’s persistence for perfection.
Here they are empty.
And here is our new photo wall. I am working on getting some new photos, and it will be so easy to add. I can just move them around until I feel like I have the layout I like. Until the next day when I want to move them around again.
And then this is our photography wall. We are really into collecting old camera gear and wanted a way to display it!
They turned out fabulous. They really make the room complete now! Pardon my crocheting mess in the corner…
I hope you all enjoyed your Monday as much as one can after a freedom celebration weekend!
Nothing is going to bring you down when you are about to see your love after 6 months of the unknown.
Not even pulling an all-nighter. For those who know me, they are well aware that I am not a happy camper without my sleep. I become a much angrier version of myself. I have nightmares of what my last all-nighter looked like my freshmen year of college with Amy as we studied for our American Government final-wretched.
Tom was scheduled to come in at 7pm originally, which with that I figured we would have an all-nighter anyway with not having seen each other in 6 months. But that was on my terms. The first lesson you learn in the military is that plans always change at the last minute. Days before his trip, they pushed back the flight arrival to 1:30am. Oh goodness.
And of course you have to be there several hours before they actually land, so I drove up to the parade field at 10:30pm and boarded what looked like a prison bus with several other wide-eyed families so they can take you to the hanger outside of the airfield.
Then you just sit on these hard cold bleachers in a hanger for a couple hours as a soldier counts down every 10 minutes. I played several rounds of bejeweled and tried to read a book, but my nerves were on high alert and I ended up looking at the time every few seconds. You would think the last 2 hours would be easy compared to going through 6 months of waiting.
Wrong, they were the worst 2 hours of the whole deployment.
And of course it is probably the one time of the year that it decided to be snowing and gross in KY. So when they had us file outside to wait for the plane for a half hour, I am pretty sure I lost feeling of my toes and nose as we were waiting for the plane to land.
So here I was at 1 o’clock in the morning, wet, cold, anxious and cranky. Surrounded by other wet, cold, anxious, and cranky people. We were a sight.
But then we heard that humming noise. All of a sudden, there is a plane in front of our face.
It was pretty cool to see a plane land right in front of you, and even more special considering the cargo it held.
Then we waited for what seemed forever for them to actually get off the plane and watch them file past us. Ugh they all looked the same in the uniforms and through the snow and tears of joy. Where was my hubby?!?
And then I saw him!
There is my guy.
All the worry, all the anxiety, all the everything just melted away. I didn’t feel cold; I wasn’t tired; I was on top of the world. I have him back!
I was half tempted to jump the barricade and go tackle him right there, but my better judgement won over there.
Then we waited for a 5 minute ceremony to commence before we were able to actually talk with our soldiers for 20 minutes.
We had our wonderful legs-wrapped-around-the-waist-hug airport moment. Nothing can compare to this moment.
You are just in shock that you are touching each other and seeing each other in real life. It is a goosebump moment.
Then after these wonderful few minutes, they have an exhilarating process of turning in sensitive items. This took about 4 hours….
You are not able to see your soldier during this time until the whole unit is done turning in the necessary gear. So you sit in a room with all the family members waiting for them to be released. Every time the door open, the whole room turned in anticipation and then slumped back down as we realize it was not them.
My cranky pants came back on at this point. I had hit the wall.
They were finally released around 6 am. We were heading back to the house as the rest of the base was coming into work.
It is hard to explain the nerves and joy that washed over me during this whole process. You look over, and it is a like a surprise all over again that he is actually back. We both kept saying that this felt like a dream.
As the song says, “I don’t think it’s ever felt so good, or felt so right. You here with me tonight.”
It’s in those moments that everything you just went through is worth it. You are on top of the world. This song was my anthem that weekend. Every word of this song expresses how I feel to have him back stateside.
And you are just really proud of what he accomplished. He just went and did something that very few in our country will do. But at the same time, you are pretty grateful that it is over for the time being.
Some other fun stories from that night: There was a proposal, a separate proposal that led to their marriage in a parking lot that night, and a father seeing his few month old baby girl for the first time.
I don’t think I will ever take these moments and grand experiences for granted. Going through this makes you realize what is important and how precious moments can be. Just soak it in.
It makes moments like this priceless.
I loved seeing how Grace loves her dad! They have been inseparable since.
We are still doing the long distance for now until I move this summer, but it is unbelievable good to know that the worst of it is over. I can call him anytime I want, and see him every couple of weeks.
You have to live in the moment, and be on top of the world as much as you can. It is even better when you have someone to share it with.
This craft is another map project to commemorate our moves.
I had the place, the map, and the years we lived there.
It was something I made in Publisher and then printed off.
I like how clean it looks. And it really matches my last map project.
And it will be easy to replicate when we move again.
Thanks for hearing our story. It was a great night and I am ecstatic to have him back safe and sound.
findingmyyellow.com 