This totally happened today...

I'm way behind with my blogging. Both with this personal blog, and with my headache blog.
Let me start by saying...
Sorry I'm not sorry.
I've felt absolutely crappy the last few weeks, and not really headache crappy, just crappy in general. I've had a stomach thing, and just been completely wiped out, not to mention the god awful bajillion below freezing temps and weekly snow storms we had. Those are awesome for migraine sufferers. Said no one. Ever.

Anyway. Chris and I had been planning, and even had applied to adopt another dog since November. We got turned down for a pretty amazing dude from the humane society (more on him later...because he still hasn't been adopted, and I want to get his pic out there and help him find a home!) but it didn't work out, and we were kinda devastated for a little bit. We kinda understood the reasons they said no, but not really, they were not enough to keep that dude in the freezing cold kennel for the last 3 months, but oh well.

Anyway...I started looking through Dachshund Rescue of North America. I have some friends who are involved with them and I like what they are about. They have over 100 dogs all over the country up for adoption, and naturally, I'd take any one of them...but we needed to find one that was right for our family.

A lot of them had medical issues, which I don't mind...but some were too severe for a young couple who works. And some weren't good with children...absolute no go for us. Some required a fenced yard...nope (that's one of the things that the first rescue didn't like.) And some required that they be adopted out within a local area.

Then I saw this pretty girl.

She was rescued/seized during a puppy mill raid. She had some medical and emotional issues from being locked in a pen and only allowed to mate/have babies for her whole life. But she had been in foster care for almost a year and was doing really well. She was kind of everything I had in mind.
1. Female (Oscar likes to play Alpha male...ha ha, no I'm being very serious here. I think this was part of his beef with Rexy)
2. Around the same age as Osc, so hopefully the same energy level? Oscar goes to my mom's house and they snarl at him. Her youngest dog is around 9 and he is only 4 so they basically hate him.
3. Same-ish size. Good for playing, walking on the dual leash, and being super cute together :) He is between 10-11# depending on his last meal...her paperwork says 10.2# but she feels and looks just slightly bigger than him. Will see at the vet on Monday.

I showed her to Christopher and he really liked her and we agreed to move forward. It wasn't easy. I guess that's a good thing. DRNA is very thorough and calls all of your references, your vet, your landlord, and then sends someone over to visit with you and look over your home and yard...this is all after I had exchanged probably 15 emails or so with the area coordinator and then her foster mom.

So we checked out, and then we just had to arrange to get her. From South Point, Ohio. My friends were giving me a hard time for picking a "far away," dog. Honestly...she wasn't all that far...and like I just explained, I looked through ALL of the DRNA profiles before I found one that met our needs and just look at her! Shes perfect!! And her foster momma, Kathy, offered to meet us halfway, so it was only a 3 hour drive. Not so bad.

We met her this morning in a hotel parking lot in Covington, VA which is 3 hours south of here. Despite Chris getting a speeding ticket on the way (I warned him that I-81 was terrible for that, like 3 times, but who's counting?) everything went well and she is adjusting to Oscar and he is sharing his momma much better than I had anticipated!

We stopped at an old friend's house on the way back to visit and see their new home, and break up the drive a bit, and give the dogs some time to run...and Osc did have one moment of asshole-ness. To be expected. She came a little close to his rawhide. Probably my fault for even giving it to him on the first day. They are his weakness. She actually snarled back at him once we got home and he came too close to her "baby," (a pink bunny that Kathy sent with her,) so I think she will be JUST fine!!

Anyway...I'm exhausted. It's just about 5am and this girl has not slept for more than an hour at a time tonight. Unsure if shes scared, or not used to being in a crate, or angry?? But shes been barking and digging in her crate. It's in Christopher's office, but we still hear her...loud and clear. I just got up and gave her a benadryl. I hate to do that on her first night, but Chicky needs to sleep and so do momma and daddy.

Will be posting 5 million pics soon. Poor Osc, this is his blog and I have not been updating lately...but a new baby comes along and BOOM...
Oh, and No...she does not have a name yet. Still playing with a few ideas. Her name in foster care was "Eevee." But I don't like it. Actually, I didn't mind it until Christopher told me that she was named after a Pokemon. No. Not going to happen. We do Legos by the thousand. Transformers. Imaginext. Ninja turtles. Model trains, planes, tanks and robots...my house is a nerd haven...but I am not going to have a Pokemon dog. No thank you.

I'm open to suggestions if anyone has them...please feel free to post! I'll do another post about names and post the ones we are considering :) Would like one that "goes," with Oscar. Like another 'O' name or something like that.

Anyway. Goodnight, er, Good morning
And Here is the first official picture of what my friend Beth called "The Mouse House expansion Project"

Mr. Grouch

Oscar's ornament for this year.
I thought it was fitting for Mr. Grouchy pants.

His favorite game...

Thoughts on babies...and wittle dog

My cousin Kimmie, who is 6 years younger than I am had a baby last night.
Please don't expect a picture of a squishy faced newborn here to ooh and aah over because I don't have one. Probably never will. His name is Donovan and he is pretty OK as far as being cute. He will get cuter, they always do. Newborns just aren't cute.
I know she's my cousin but they have never lived near by or anything, but honestly, I was way more excited when my best friends had babies. When Jax, Avery and Kimber were born I was all insane and shit. I'll probably never meet this baby.

Anyway. The reason I'm writing this is because of my mother. This is her first great-nephew (grand-nephew?) and I'm turning 30 this year and I'm all divorce-pants and she has no grand kids and she knows I want babies and blah blah blah.
She told my sister that she didn't tell me about ol' Donovan because she didn't want me to be sad or upset. Say whaaaaaaat??
First of all. It's 2013. I knew a long time ago, because they did a super cute Facebook announcement photo

Secondly...I don't want a baby right now. I can barely take care of myself! I have a wittle dog. And he's OK. But I'm pretty excited that sometimes...he can go in a crate!

And lastly, any time I want...and I mean ANY time...I can have a baby, like BOOM! Jax can appear for an hour or two, or a week! Gioia and Matt are always glad to share his loud, smack you in the back of the head with a toy car, kiss you with food in his mouth, say bleshyouuu when you sneeze self!! We love our little monkey, and love that he can go home at the end of the weekend too!!

So...by all means. If you are having a baby, I am SO excited for you! Like, dance around the kitchen floor, swinging my crazy dog behind me, excited...but give me a few years. I'll make my own someday...and it will be epic!

Feelin' cheesy

I was trying to tell my neighbor how big the block of cheese I got at BJs was, so I needed something for size comparison.
He was not amused.

Following up on a hoarder...

...yup, still hoarding. Even without having to worry about his brother stealing his things. I love my strangely neurotic little dog.

Insta-wha?

Chris got me a phone that is actually from this century and one of the FIRST apps that I put on it was, of course, Instagram!
You can now follow Oscar, Christopher, myself, and everything in our crazy mouse house at:
                                                          blogaboutmydog

Sunday morning rain is falling...

...steal some covers, share some skin.
My dog is a big Maroon 5 fan apparently.
He HATES rainy mornings!

Boyfriend pumpkin...

How to get Christopher interested in doing a "pumpkin project," with me...

Pumpkins do not play video games.
Pumpkins do not transform into robots.
Pumpkins do not travel at extreme speeds.


This was not an easy task!

Thank you, Target for having this Darth Vader kit which allowed for about ten minutes of boyfriend pumpkin crafting time.

Basically you open this kit, shove the arms and head into the pumpkin a la Mr Potato head and you are done. We did it on a fake, foamy pumpkin...so he had to use a knife to stab it first...so that was the exciting part.

Also is kinda freaks out the dog, and it was funny for about 30 seconds.

Fall down..

...get back up!

I had amazing fall/Halloween decorations when I lived in Chicago. Most were homemade. I'm not usually bitter about what I left behind when I came home, because it was the best decision I've ever made...but I really want my schtuff back! Some of it Aron and Jason made! Ugh.
Here are some little pics of the past.
Not to dwell on it...just to look at it so that I can rebuild!

 

 

Oh...my sweet boys! Jason was 6 months old, Aron was 3. I can replace and remake everything else in these pictures! I think their dad could replace this pic for me...I'm hoping anyway.

So far in our crazy mouse house...this is what I've got...

Picture of me and my sisters in costume from Haunted Hollow last year, foot bones model that was being thrown out at work (how cool is that? I actually have two right feet!) little owl, Shrek, and a pumpkin.
I'm working on a few pumpkin projects that I will post when we return from New Hampshire next week...and I just finished our outdoor wreath, so we are getting there!!
With every chapter in your life, things change, and I'm not always good at that...but I'm learning.
Chris is amazing at change. He just rolls with it. I love him for that. 
And Oscar...as long as he has a leggy ball and some apple cookies, well he is good to go and change as well!

Oh...and there are these...they help with change too. nom nom nom.

Reunited...

...and it feels SO good!
This dog is insane, about his apple treats that is. I used to buy these at a little pet shop in Chicago for him when he was a baby and I haven't found them anywhere in Virginia yet.
I thought he hadn't really noticed when we switched to mainly the mini milk bones, because he eats those up in a single chomp too...but I was wrong. The boy missed his apple bones!!

First of all, let me start by telling you that what Oscar and I think about these Nutro Apple crunchy treats are 100% OUR OWN OPINIONS. No one has paid us to say anything, and we don't care what you might have to say about them either, Kay?

When Chris and I were in Gloucester a few weeks ago, we walked into a little pet shop that he used to buy his Guinea Pig supplies from when he was a kiddo called Animal Krackers. It reminded me a lot of the places I liked so much in Chicago. I love little pet shops. I hate big box pet stores, just for the record...but that's what we have here and that's where we go when we need something that we cant wait for Amazon to get to us!

The girl at Animal Krackers tried to warn me that these Apple snacks were not for picky eaters, I laughed, I have the most NON-picky eater on the planet! He would eat a rock if his Momma handed it to him!

When I opened these things, you would have thought I was giving him a steak! He ran around the house and did sweet jumps and kicks, and acted like a mad man! I haven't seen him that excited in a long time! He DID miss his apple cookies! Who knew? Its probably been 18 months or so since he had one, but he REMEMBERS!!

I couldn't even get a good picture of him, he was so insane!! This is the best photo I could get you of the Oscar Mayer apple treat happy dance! I love this little dog...he lifts my soul and makes me smile!

Here he is sneaking around my things, looking for where I might have hidden the rest of the apple cookies.

Incidentally, we also found another Oscar Mayer favorite at Animal Krackers. His beloved "Squeaky Face!" This was one of the original three toys that we brought with us when we left Chicago to come home to Virginia. It used to have a tail and a rubber ring, but then it was just the face, which is of coarse how it got its name. He carries the carcass of the original "Squeaky Face" around with him to this day. He made short work of "New Squeaky Face," and now has two carcasses.

We will be in Gloucester this weekend and you better believe that I will be stocking up on
1.) Apple treats and
2.) A few squeaky faces for the future, and probably little man's stocking, etc!!

Back that ass up...

 

Chris took this a while ago. Obviously...because our sweet Rexy is in the picture :(

Osc was sick and had a sore butt from all of the nasty potty runs, but he looks like a little froggy in this pic, so I thought I'd share :)

How to make an Oskie Burrito...

Step 1. Insert crazy dog into his crate with all his favorite blankies on a chilly night.

Step 2. Give Oskie a cookie for going into said crate when asked like a good boy, close crate door, and watch him push, pull, bite and move all of the blankies to good position (he also grunts, snorts and lets out the occasional doggie fart while doing this...its very hard work!)

Step 3. Enjoy your Oskie burrito, its the only way to sleep comfortably on cool nights. Sometimes he sleeps a little TOO well in his burrito nest and has to be drug out of the crate in the morning to go outside so that we can get to work!

Where it all began...

Let's talk about where it all started with "blog about my dog."
I'm talking about a serious case of puppy love. More specifically, dachshund puppy love.
Nope, that's not Oscar...or one of his siblings, or any doxie he has ever met.
Here we go.

My parents have had dogs and cats since I was a baby. Sure, I liked them alright...but I didn't looooove them the way that my sisters did. I cried when we put our old beagle, Ringer, to sleep at the ripe old age of 14, but really I'd just pet them "hello," when I came home and go about my business. Erin and Hannah had these dogs in their beds, next to them on the couch, in their faces 24/7.

I lived at the firehouse for a bit. We have a member who lived alone, and he lived kinda far away. So when he came for weekend duty, he would have to bring his dog. She was small, and came when he called her, and didn't make a mess or bark...so everyone kinda grew to like Augustina. She was a silver dapple mini Dachshund. Because I lived there, I got to see her and hang out with her more than most, and she was pretty amazing. Not at all like a typical small dog.

 Auggi had puppies that summer, and that was it...I was hooked. She was so tiny and had this huge round belly and maintained her cute little walk up and down the fire house hallways. One night the engine went out and I was lucky enough to be able to stay in bed and she sneaked into the women's bunk room and jumped right up onto my bed!

After those pups came, I wanted one so bad. Auggi's owner and I talked about it about a million times. Unfortunaltey I was still living in the firehouse, and try as I might, that wasn't going to change anytime soon. All of her pups went to different homes, except the black and white one...she still lives with her momma to this day! I saw their owner at a wedding in June and he showed me pictures!

So thats how all of this started. I was just a kid, working full time and going to nursing school, volunteering at night to earn my room and board at the volunteer firehouse...where I met a pup named Auggi and fell in love.
Loving Auggi lead me to finding and loving Oskie Roo, 3 years later, and being the crazy dog momma that I am who blogs about her dog.

Fail

Dear guy walking down 234,
You shouldn't slouch your jeans down a foot to show your boxers wile walking down a Main Street.
Especially when wearing skinny jeans.
Never ever ever when wearing skinny jeans.
Pull your pants up,
Buy a belt,
Get a bigger size,
I don't even know...
But just stop.
Thanks,
Me, Oscar and Jax trying to go to Michael's on a Wednesday morning.

Rumble!

My boys LOVE to "rumble" with their "Uncle Josh." 

Josh is my sister Hannah's boyfriend. They have been together forever and he is pretty much a permanent part of our family at this point. He is tough on the outside...tattoos, a mui thai fighter, etc. But on the inside, we all know that who he REALLY likes to fight...is 12 pound dogs ;)

(Christopher and I are SOOO grateful for Hannah and Josh for staying in our home, with our boys, while we were on vacation!! We could not have had fun or been more relaxed than we were with you two in charge!)

On the mend.

As some of you may remember, our Oskie was pretty sick a few weeks back. He had a NASTY stomach virus, and was barely able to keep any food/water in him for about a week. At only 11.4 pounds, this can be pretty dangerous, as he really doesn't have too much to loose. This pic is at the vet, when he was at his absolute worst. I'm not sure who looks more pitiful, Osc or Momma?

I was a hot mess, I'm not going to lie. I don't know how I'll ever deal with a sick human baby!

We are happy to report that he is doing well, is back up to around 11.7 pounds, trying to steal any and all food/snacks that he can, and wagging that tail of his all day long!

I've asked him to please start looking for a job to start covering some of his expenses! Preferably one with health insurance benefits! I love our vet, but good Lord, they aren't cheap!!

I only have eyes for Momma...

...especially when she has cookies!

Six

Wow! What a difference six months makes! This was in late February of this year. Jackson was just 9.5 months old, and this was their first meeting.
These days, Osc has little to no interest in Jax, unless its meal time...and then he camps out under his seat. He's no dummy.
Jax at the time that this pic was taken wanted to pet Oscar and see what this dog was all about. These days, Oscar moves a little fast for him, and kinda freaks him out...at least for the first few hours that he is here, and then he pretty much ignores him.

WTF?

 

Have you ever seen those snakes that can unhinge their jaws to eat a ginormous animal??

Doesn't my dog look like that?!? Gross