dax and darbi love

I love my girls so much!

Darbi says, cheese!

Darbi sticking her tongue out at me.

Bang Dax! (That's as dead as she gets.)

Hold it, hold it, and then she flips it up and catches it. My little Daxer is quite impressive.

a case of the runs

Today I ran in the Ninth Annual Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. It was my fourth half marathon. My good pal Sarah and I began training in February for this race. Shortly thereafter, life happened, our schedules conflicted, she got engaged and I could come up with more excuses if necessary and our training suffered. In fact, my last long run was 7 miles about two months ago.

I was torn by the decision to run or not to run. One part of me thought, "You quitter!" The other part of me thought, I completed almost half of the training, I'm in decent shape and it's a great cause. I should just do it. Sarah always encouraged me to do it. She knew I could. Probably more than myself.

The week before the race I started really debating whether or not I would run. I remembered what it felt like running the streets hearing all the positive encouragement from complete strangers and most importantly, how amazing it felt to cross the finish line so I decided I would run.

By the time I decided to run, the relay was sold out and there were only a limited amount of spots available for the half marathon. Suddenly, I got really sad that I might not be able to run. What a complete mental change from where I was just days prior. Luckily, Ryan was able to go up to the Expo and get me a voucher for one of the final spots. I was as ready.

Here are some photos from the race. Sarah took them on her iPhone.

Rachel, Mary, Sarah and me at the starting line at 6:25 a.m.

Mary, Rachel and me about mile 7.5 if I remember correctly. Sarah had extra energy. She would run up ahead and turn around and take the photo. I was doing good just to keep moving.

I just have to say that my running partner, Sarah, rocks. If it wasn't for her I would not have had as good of a time as I did. I finished my fourth half marathon in 2:27 - much better than I was expecting. The first 4 miles took forever, the middle 6 flew by and the final 3.1 were pretty hard. My right knee was acting up. I remember seeing the finish line and thinking, don't stop now. I wanted to finish strong and I really had to push myself. When I crossed the finish line, I was so relieved. In fact, I almost got emotional. I was so glad it was over!

After the race we all went to Classen Grill and had breakfast. It was the best omelet I've ever eaten.

Way back "When"sday

Who dresses their daughter like this?

My parents.

My parents were so mean, they used to hang my clothes on my bike and make be drive up and down the street to dry them. Don't you love my pink Cons?

Sentimental Sundays

Each spring and fall I change out my wardrobe. I have a large wardrobe box that houses my cold-weather clothes in the summer and my warm-weather clothes in the winter. This is when I purge all my clothes I haven't worn in a while and donate them. It's a nice little tradition I have for myself.

In the bottom of the box are several shirts and other clothes that hold sentimental value. I usually leave them in their place at the bottom and just make the switch. Well today, I thought I would look through my old memories and this is what I found.

My very first soccer jersey. My team name was Goal Fever and I was #3. I can vividly remember being so proud as I brought this home. Dax thought it smelled funny.

This was my first basketball jersey. As you can see I was #23 for the Stealers. I made many good friends on the Stealers that I still have today.
This was my first "school-issued" jersey. This was the first time I ever represented Yukon Public Schools. Boy was I proud. This was actually just our practice jersey.

My maiden name was cool.

This was my jersey for powderpuff football. This actually brings up bittersweet memories. Each year we played the stupid underclassmen beat us. However I do remember making one killer block that shook the crowd. On the other hand, I also remember tripping running out to the field after they announced my name at the beginning of the game. Ah, sweet memories.

Spaceballs vs. Star Wars

My all-time favorite movie is Spaceballs. Always was and always will be. I could watch it everyday and find something new to laugh it. I also contend that Spaceballs has the funniest one-liners. Some of my favorites include:

• I'm a mog. Half man half dog. I'm my own best friend.
  
• 1 2 3 4 5? That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage!
• Man, we ain't found shit! (combing the desert)
  
• I'm the Bearded Lady. Who are you, one of the freaks?
• Please, please, don't make a fuss. I'm just plain Yogurt.
• The satellite's been jammed.
  
• Hey that was pretty good for RAMBO! -Dot
• You idiots! These are not them! You've captured their stunt doubles!
• You have the ring, and I see your Schwartz is as big as mine. Let's see how well you handle it.

According to my friend and co-worker's husband, Ryan, you cannot be a true Spaceballs fan without also watching Star Wars. I admitted that I had never seen a single episode of Star Wars. I was just never interested in it. I think I had a negative stigma attached to the "type" of person who watches Star Wars. I was close-minded. So I told Ryan I would watch Star Wars in hopes of further appreciating the comedic genius of Mel Brooks and Spaceballs.


Ryan noticed that Spike was having a Star Wars marathon so we Tivo'd the first three episodes. Ryan had already seen them and also thought it was crazy that I had not seen them. After a long day working in the flowerbed, I settled in with a pack of Twizzlers and began watching Star Wars episode IV. I was first dumbfounded that it started with episode IV. But Ryan said, don't worry about it, you will understand with time.

I stayed up until after midnight watching the movie. Overall it was really good! I struggled keeping all the weird names straight but eventually caught on. When I think about how this movie was made in 1977, I can't help but think how advanced for its time it was. I was also relieved that it had quite a bit of humor in it. I was not expecting that at all. What I found most intriguing out of the first episode (technically episode IV) was the love triangle unfolding between Princess Leia, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.

Leah (Houdini) update

I started to refer to Leah as Houdini after she escaped from our laundry room. After that act, the Humane Society shared her symptoms with the vet and was subsequently diagnosed with separation anxiety. She was prescribed medication and Ryan and I were given a DVD to watch on how to do "therapy" with her to help cure her separation anxiety.

At this point, we were willing to go through the therapy and give her the medication as long as we could take her to the Adoption Center during the day because we wouldn't leave her alone at home out of fear for what she would do. They provided her with a permanent room.

All week I drove her to the Adoption Center in the morning and picked her up after work. They said a few people were interested in her but quickly changed their mind when they realized she would require someone to be home with her practically all day.

We tried to stick it out as long as we could, but it became too much to have someone constantly at home with Houdini. I told the Humane Society it would be best to find another foster. Unfortunately, they could not find one. We were her last hope in this program. We were her third foster home.

Houdini was turned back over to the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter into their Adoption Program until she is adopted. Not all dogs will work in our program and unfortunately Houdini was one of them. We simply don't have a place to keep her 24-7.

So of course when they share this with me I get pretty emotional. I feel like I let her down but I know we provided her with a great home and lots of love for two weeks. They will let me know how she is doing and when she gets adopted. I'll be sure to update you all as well.

Full Disclosure

I've received many e-mails, comments, smoke signals, etc. telling me how great it is that we are fostering. While I appreciate all the sentiments, it's not why we do it. We genuinely care about these animals and feel we are doing what small part we can to improve their lives. That being said, I feel it's only fair to share the full story of fostering with you all. It's not all cute, cuddly and kibbles 'n bits.

I first realized we might have a "problem" with Leah when Ryan called me Monday during his lunch break to tell me it appeared Leah had been chewing on our crate. I thought, what does that mean? Our sweet, 33lb love bug couldn't possibly do that. After all, this was a pretty durable crate.

Ryan bent back the metal (with his brute strength) and put her back in there before he had to go back to work. Four hours later he came home to find this.

You may not think this is a big deal, but it is. Your average 14-year-old can't operate this crate. I'm serious, it takes skill. But somehow out little 33lb dog managed to tear the front wall off, pull a bar back (seen in the middle) and separate the bars. When I saw this I couldn't help but laugh. I mean, how could I be that mad? I was impressed! Thank goodness she didn't tear anything up in the house.

Some more shots:

You can see where she pulled the bar away into the middle of the crate.
I'm pretty sure this is what caused a scratch on her little face.

Here you can see how much damage she did to the bars. I couldn't bend them back. I tried.

So the damage is done. In the grand scheme of things this isn't that big of a deal. We don't have to use the crate anymore for our dogs, just for foster dogs. And we hope my brother can weld it back to normal (or just usable.) The sad part is, when I was cleaning up I found blood on the carpet and a tooth. Yes, a tooth. She was so determined to get out, she lost a tooth. Poor baby.

Now, where are we going to put her? Answer: the laundry room. I clean it up, remove (almost) anything she can eat. I left an old rug so she'd at least have something to sleep on knowing that it would most likely be a casualty. My biggest worry was that she would eat our washing machine, but I never expected this.


As I was pulling into my driveway I noticed my neighbor two doors down had a dog that looked just like Leah tied to their tree. I thought to myself, "Surely not?!?"

Yes! Leah managed to use her nose to lift up the doggie door cover just enough to get out before she jumped the fence. I guess eating the blinds was just to express her frustration. I am so thankful she ran right to our neighbor and she tied her to the tree.

OK, so we've got a problem. Leah cannot stay home alone. I immediately contacted the Humane Society's volunteer coordinator, Amy, and she sympathizes and we figure out what we're going to do with Leah.

Amy thinks Leah has "doggie anxiety". She even mentioned we might need to get her on "doggie prozac". I'm thinking I need some "Lindsay prozac". Honestly, when I think of everything this little girl has gone through, it's no wonder she has issues. She is the PERFECT dog when we are home. We think she just doesn't like to be locked up and seperated from other dogs. If she is out with our dogs she is great.

There is still hope for Leah. She will be the perfect dog for someone. We think she needs to be kept inside with or without other dogs. I just hope someone will give her a chance.

This is Leah.

This is the first photo I saw of Leah.

This is the first photo I took of Leah just after I picked her up.

This is Leah's sweet face.

This is Leah making herself at home on our bed.

This is Leah being funny after I gave her a bath.

This is Leah being rubber dog.

Ryan and I were ready for our next foster dog when I got the e-mail about Leah. The e-mail included a picture. I'm a sucker for pictures - as if that wasn't obvious. I call Ryan and we agree that we need Leah and more importantly, she needs us. You see, Leah had been rescued from the OKC Shelter, adopted out through the Humane Society, escaped, returned to the OKC Shelter (thanks to her microchip) only to find out the original adopters didn't want her so she's now "back in the system". What breaks my heart is that she didn't ask for this. She is just an innocent dog. She just wants someone to love and for them to love her back. This is a perfect dog.

I think Leah is 1/2 Jack Russell Terrier 1/2 dalmatian, but the Humane Society said she's a pointer mix. She's cute either way. Leah is ready for adoption. Let me know if you're interested in giving her a forever home.