Rant for the week.

Things that are annoying me right now.
New items, made to look like old items. I'm all about antiques and vintage things. But for gods sake. If it was make in Mexico last week. Don't try and make it look old. It just looks like crap.

My right ovary. I wish it would calm the eff down. Seems like righty is always the one to get cysts, and she's a real b about it.

"Winter storm watches." Seriously. The weather says less than an inch and people in Virginia want to flip the eff out. I wonder why? The news makes it sound like the Apocalypse is coming.

Rude people. I can't even. If you come to a public place of business, where the hell do you get off acting like the queen of England and making demands and yelling and screaming at people? Some days I just have to walk away, y'all.

People and their babies. That sounds terrible. I just need one in my life. An acquaintance recently posted a photo of his newborn and said "our little miracle." Hey, I get it. Babies, miracle of life, etc. but you got pregnant on your wedding night and bam! Baby. Try not being able to make/carry one for several years...THAT creates a miracle.
I'm terrible. Going to hell, y'all.

Ill wrap up this rant with a cute pic of my dog. Because...cute dog. Duh.

Sleepy Sven

This wittle boy. I can't even.
He is SO snuggly and sweet all the time. For a "stray," that supposedly lived on the streets of Chicago for some time...he sure knows how to snuggle, love, and sleep on furniture!!
Love our babes!

Dogs on drugs. Our journey with doggy anxiety.

 Part One.
I don't think it's any secret that I'm 100%, head over heels in love with my pups.
I'd do anything for them. They're more like children in our family than pets.
It's also not a big news flash that dachshunds as a whole are somewhat needy, have some anxiety issues, etc.

Let's start with this guy. I've had him since he was 11 weeks old. He weighed in at just under 2 pounds and was so stinkin' cute I couldn't stand it.
 He was literally attached to me for the first year of his life, aside from when I was working and he was at home in his crate. I took him with me shopping, not in huge stores like Walmart or anything...but once we had to go buy a new fridge and he came.
 He often went with me to get my hair cut...it was a very dog friendly place and the girls there just loved him. Just off the top of my head, I can think of at least 20 places in the Chicago suburbs that this dude has been into.
He was at my bridal shower, in my wedding, and everywhere in between.
We went through a lot. He did have another sister, Lyla, from age 8 months on. They loved each other and played well together. I did not want to leave her in Chicago, but in the end, it was the best decision for everyone, including Lyla.

Fast forward a few years, and I went through my divorce and health problems, left Chicago for good, moved back in with my parents (and their 5 dogs!) and he was with me every step of the way. I often wonder if I would have made it without him.
Anyway. He loves his momma, but he's never had an issue going into his crate when necessary. He kinda likes it in there and will go in for a snooze on his own during the day, especially if momma isn't available (if I'm cooking or working on a craft project where I'm standing and he can't snooze in my lap.) He really doesn't mind when I'm working either. He is his momma's boy...he loves sleeping.

Then came this little lady. Lucy. We adopted her in February 2014.

Our little Lucy did not have as great of a life before coming to live with us. She was part of a backyard breeding operation. She had never been inside a home when the rescue got hold of her. She had puppies ripped away from her at a young age. She had no idea how to act sometimes.
Luckily, she had a great series of foster homes, which helped her through some of her issues.
When she came here to live with us...she immediately attached herself to her daddy.
Even though I was the one home with her most of the day, she couldn't get enough of Chris.
Things were OK but then suddenly she started freaking out when she was put in her crate at night.
She was OK during the day, but night time was just insane.
We tried everything.
We put her in the crate with Oscar.
We put their crates next to each other.
We put on white noise machines.
We put on the radio.
We put her crate next to our bed.
We covered her in blankets.
We put Christopher's tee shirts in the crate with her.
Nothing.

She was wailing and barking for hours and hours and hours on end. Nothing calmed her except being let out and having her sleep with us, or staying up with her and sitting in the recliner. Ugh. I don't think I slept for weeks.
I took her to the vet a few times. They tried medications. Xanax and benadryl.
Dr York also talked to us about behavior modification.
This went on once a week for over a month.
Ugh.
Nothing worked.

Thoughts for February

February 15th. I'm not even sure how we got this far into the year without me noticing, but here we are.
A few things are going on.
One, work is a little nuts. We started doing some different things this past week that are time consuming. I know that eventually they will all be second nature. But whatever. For now, it's just annoying.
Two. It's cold. Really cold. I'm talking 6 degrees. But no snow. Annoying. I'd much rather have some snow if it is going to be this cold.
Three. Three dogs. Yup. Crazy.
Four. Baby Mouse 2015? Not yet. That is a whole other post that I'm not ready to write. I'll leave it at this...It's not as easy as it looks or sounds. Awesome if it's been easy for you to make babies. But keep in mind that it's not all rainbows and sunshine for the rest of us.
Five. I'm taking my Christmas trees down today. Yup. No shame.

2014 review...

I have done this in the past...and since its February 1st...I guess it's about time.
When I first set out to write about 2014, I was kinda at a loss. I honestly don't remember the first part of the year very well.
As most of you already know, my migraines were at a peak of terrible, awful, hell from about October of 2013 to May/June of 2014. I was hospitalized 4 times at 2 different hospitals. One being a week long at the University of Virginia. I was in the emergency room countless times, and rode on an ambulance as a patient for the first time in my life. Ugh ugh ugh.
The plus side of that is that I seem to have them under control right now. I still have headaches/neck pain/nausea, etc a lot. And I honestly can't tell if they are 'better' or if I am jut coping better now. I work full time, I'm driving a car again, I'm getting things done in my life that had been on hold for quite a while (ahem, divorce is final y'all.)
So that is one of my highlights of 2014. Owned these headaches, like a boss.

January 2014. I don't remember anything that great happening. It snowed a lot. We lived in Manassas still, and our neighbors were obnoxious. Headaches were pretty bad and I saw my neurologist in the headache specialty clinic at UVA. We played with Jax a lot. My middle sister, Erin, turned 28. Wow. Where did the time go?

February 2014. More snow. And lot of it. Poor Chris was still commuting into Arlington most days. We spent valentines day with our best friends at the Melting Pot in Fredericksburg. Dinosaur expo with Aron and Jason. We adopted our Lucy girl, and went on a mini road trip to go get her. She was stubborn at first and I wasn't so sure about her, but now I couldn't imagine our lives without her. She just fits right in.

March 2014. More snow. Seriously. I don't ever remember getting as much snow in late February/early March in Virginia. I wasn't working, so it didn't bother me too much. Poor Christopher. We found out that Lucy LOVES snow, Oscar still hates it. We spent Easter with the boys, doing an Easter egg hunt at their house, and then going out to the farm to spend the holiday with the Briner fam. I was admitted to Fauquier hospital for 5 days for migraines along with some heart issues. We started talking about moving. The Komar boys got a trampoline!

April 2014. Tons of time with boys since it started to be nice outside. Jason turned 8 with a celebration at Stop N Play. Christopher turned 28 and we celebrated at the Melting Pot with Komar and Gioia. We took Jax to see the circus at the Patriot center. German and Mary's baby shower to welcome their sweet Bodo. I started doing freezer meals, what a fantastic idea! Hannah and Joshua got ENGAGED!

May 2014. I turned the big 3-0. We planned a party and it was a disaster. I got diagnosed with a tick-borne illness from a Lone star tick I got somehow in April. I was hospitalized for a few days due to migraines and complications of the tick. Oh...but...We bought a house! We looked at only 4 houses and knew right away that this was the one we wanted to live in for a long time. It's perfect for our little fam right now, and has some room to grow. Also Jax turned 2 with a Sesame Street party at his house! Our good friends the Kuhl's welcomed baby Bodo into the world the day after Jackson's birthday.

June 2014: Moved into said house. Was a lot harder than it seemed. Thank goodness for awesome friends and family. Oscar Mayer turned 5! He has been my sidekick since he was 11 weeks old. We went on Vacation...to DISNEY WORLD! We rented an RV with our 4 best friends and their kiddos and had an amazing week! Hannah and Joshua were awesome enough to stay at our house with Oscar and Lucy.

July 2014: It was hot. Really freakin' hot. Southern Summer at it's best. We spent the 4th at Tina and Wes' house with all of our close friends and the 3 boys. We had a lot of thunder storms, which seemed to be worse out here at the new house. Possibly because we are surrounded by woods, which is pretty scary with all that wind. We went to Gloucester for a week to visit Chris' parents and friends. I ate Lobster mac n cheese until I thought I'd explode. Oscar and Lucy got to come along this time! Jax became increasingly obsessed with "Frozen." Hannah and Josh turned 25. We celebrated Gioia's 30th at the Japanese Steak house.

August 2014: On the second of August was the two year anniversary of my Grandma's death. We miss her every day and hope that she is in no pain, and looking down on us. I started a new job on August 4th, and again on August 25th. The first one was not really what I am trained to do and I was offered my current position and couldn't be happier. We said goodbye to my sister's dog, Sophie, at the ripe old age of 16. She was the best. Aron turned 11. We celebrated by taking a Limo to the Melting Pot with the whole family and 2 of his friends from school. He and I have been best buds since he was 2!

September: I was settling into my new job. It took a lot out of me since I had not been working in nearly a year. I hosted my baby sister, Hannah's bridal shower here at our house. Jax started school. We were finally making some progress on getting the house unpacked. We hung some curtains, with the help of my momma. We found a dead mouse in the attic, which made us relocate into the guest room for a few days because of the smell. Ahh, home ownership!

October: Wowza what a month. I broke my left foot doing something dumb. We worked at Haunted Hollow again every Friday and Saturday night. We visited Cows N Corn with the kids. We took Jax to see "Frozen on Ice," at the Patriot center. We had "Spirit week" and BROA (Crazy sock day, team spirit day, crazy hair day, and then Halloween.) I won a pumpkin carving contest. Lucy began sleeping upstairs with us, and then eventually Oscar too, since Lucy's anxiety was so bad. Wedding planning was in full swing and Hannah and Joshua had their rehearsal dinner on Halloween.

November 2014: Hannah and Joshua got MARRIED on the first!It was cold, but beautiful and I didn't cry...much. Her photos are to die for and we are so so happy for them. Christopher and I clean up pretty good for the wedding. I pulled into the driveway after work one evening and caught some asshole breaking into our crawl space. I called the cops, they came, with dogs, and everything. It was scary. But, it prompted us to install new door locks, flood lights, etc. Thanksgiving was a disaster that I don't feel like talking about. Gioia held a painting party that was super fun. We started talking about a new dog. We learned just a few weeks before that I was pregnant and I lost the baby on November 7th. It's been hard, but we are OK. Things always happen for a reason and one of these days, we will be kick ass parents to a kick ass baby ;)

 December 2014: I did some research and found photos of Lucy's parents from the puppy mill. We got just a touch of snow. I went to the firehouse Christmas party with the boys. We decorated the house and put up THREE Christmas trees. We adopted this sweet little nugget and named him Sven. I got to visit with my BFF in Chicago and see the physicians and co workers from Chicago Cardiology that I miss so much. Did I mention that we have THREE dogs now!? Hard work, but worth it! Chris and I celebrated 2 years together. We had Christmas Eve at my parents house with traditional Chinese food and then took jax to see the Bull Run Festival of Lights. Gioia had major surgery, and we kept Jax for them. Christopher's parents came down from Massachusetts, and I didn't see them at all because on 12/31 I got the worst flu of my entire life, and Chris got it the next day. We were down and out for a week. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

All in all, this year wasn't too bad. But there is always room for improvement.
Happy 2015!