Home Sweet Home!

Well, I've been in the new condo for a week and a half now, and things are coming together nicely. I went to the store down the street tonight and got some flowers and a pumpkin for the front door to spruce it up for fall. I think it looks nice and inviting! The new dining room rug also came in, and I love it. I'm really ready for a new dining room table. Nothing against this one, but I got it from a friend's dad for free several years ago when he was moving, and I'm just ready to pick one out that is a little more my style. I'm only posting a few pictures of the condo tonight. I still have several thing I want to get in place before I show the rest of it! So for now, these will have to tide you (my three readers) over. Oh! Make that four readers! I just found out Whitney reads my blog. (Hi Whitney!!)

The last two pictures are of the guest room and the guest bathroom. I'm not quite finished deciding how I want to decorate those yet. I think ultimately the guest room will be a media room, so there will be a comfy couch in there instead of a bed, and then it'll have another wall mounted TV. So if you're gonna visit, do it while there's a place to sleep!

Alright, I'm cooking dinner for Logan tonight, so I'd better get busy. Hopefully its edible... Wish me luck!

All Moved In, And It Feels So Good!

Let me start by saying in advance that I realize there are a ridiculous number of pictures of my dog in the following blog. However in my defense, I've been without cable and internet for almost a week now, and I had to find some way to pass the time. Apparently that way was taking pictures of Lucy.

Anyway, I'm all moved in now! Logan was so sweet and when he got off work Friday he brought me some "Welcome Home" flowers. They're beautiful!

Ugh, I absolutely hate moving. It always feels like you'll never finish packing, and then when you do, you think you're all settled into the new place and can finally relax - but then you remember you still have to clean up the old place. Blah. I just finished that yesterday and turned in my keys. I always get all nostalgic when I leave an old apartment. I had a lot of good times at that apartment. A few bad ones too, but overall I think I grew a lot as a person while living there. Ultimately I rediscovered who I am, and what I'm looking for out of life. Ahh, and I'll miss living so close to Breadwinners, and Pastazios - even though I didn't eat there as often as I thought I would (which is a very good thing...). And I'll miss my bartender friends at Quarter Bar... but even though I don't live right behind it anymore, it can still be "my" bar.

So while packing up my old apartment, I never realized how much JUNK I had. I'm a very sentimental person (a.k.a. a pack rat), and poor Logan - God bless him - he was very patient with me while I carefully decided what "treasures" I needed to throw away and which I could keep. I think we ended up throwing away 8 GIANT garbage bags of just stuff. Not trash - but stuff! He kept saying he'd never seen anything like it. And I guess I have to agree. I still can't figure out where I put all that crap in a 679 sq ft apartment!!

I've also decided my new favorite thing is Craigslist. I sold so many things on there and made some serious cash for stuff I would have just thrown away. All together I've made about $600 so far, and there's still a few things that people are still interested in. So if you know any fellow packrats that need help getting rid of their treasures, just convince them to make money off it on Craigslist! I'm cured. Just trying to sell anything I can get my hands on!

As for Miss Lucy, she had her vet appointment on Monday. In addition to severe separation anxiety and hypothyroidism, she has now also been diagnosed with incontinence, which is pretty common in Giant Schnauzers. She wasn't having accidents all the time or anything, it was mostly when she was sleeping. She'd wake up and find she'd wet herself and she'd be so embarrassed, she'd get up and hide under the table. Its really sad because she knows she's not supposed to be doing that, but she just couldn't help it. I'm actually relieved its incontinence. The symptoms are very similar to those of diabetes, which is way more difficult and expensive to treat. For incontinence I just give her half a pill twice a day. I did have to take in a urine sample for the vet to analyze, and let's just say collecting that was quite interesting. I'm sure my new neighbors think I'm sick. So now for the pictures...

While the movers were here, I took Lucy to get groomed by none other than Deb Stover herself. If you'll refer to the pictures of Lucy from my last blog, you'll be able to see what a wooly mammoth she was! She was in desperate need of a haircut! So here she is, freshly shorn. Her ears always look twice as big when she's just gotten a haircut. :)

As I mentioned before, without cable, phone, or internet there isn't a lot to do. So I took several pictures of Lucy today. I thought these were funny.

The first one I tried to get an action shot of her begging for a goldfish. I guess she got tired of waiting, and she just went for the fish. No bueno.


This was the second attempt. Much better.

One of the things I sold on Craigslist was Lucy's old dog crate. This was the picture I posted for the online ad. Back when we were actually using the crate (years ago) she wanted nothing to do with it. She'd even bang her body against the crate door until it opened because she couldn't stand being in it. Well when I got it out to take a picture of it, I couldn't get her out of it! Weird. (And look at that shaggy dog! She looks much better post-groom.)


Yesterday I took Lucy to Petsmart, and her favorite part is going down the toy aisle to pick out which one she wants. Usually as she passes each toy bin, she takes a toy from each bin, squeaks it a couple of times, then throws it down and moves on to the next. Well yesterday she wouldn't play with anything except this ugly stuffed soccer ball with a knot chew coming out of it. I tried and tried to give her the cuter, more girly toys to play with. Even the ones that were twice as expensive! But she wouldn't put down this soccer ball toy. Since we brought it home, she carries it everywhere with her. If she goes into a different room, she brings it with her. Well, while I was getting ready today this is how I found her.

I woke her up taking the picture, so then she thought I wanted to play...

When she realized this wasn't the case and that I had woken her up merely to take pictures of her, she gave me the "attitude" face.

By the way, tomorrow is Lucy's 6th Birthday!!!

My Big 'Ole Lucy Dog

I know I say it all the time, but Lucy really is one of a kind. Anyone that knows her can attest to the fact that she may have the biggest (and most unique) personality of any dog - ever. Even though she continues to put me through new challenges just about every day, I love this dog with all my heart.

Anyway, the point of this blog is to post a couple of new pictures of her. I've spent all week packing up my apartment and I've sold several things on Craigslist. People have been coming by to pick up the things they've bought, and Lucy definitely knows something is up, which makes her very nervous. She always acts like a big old baby whenever she senses change is coming, so while I've been packing she's been hiding under the kitchen table. When the people came to pick up my washer and dryer she was very concerned, which led to more time under the table. So just now as I took a packing break, Lucy apparently decided she needed some up close and personal face time with me, as you can see in the picture. I mean, over the last two years she's become more and more of a cuddler, but never in our "relationship" has she ever actually sat in my lap. Maybe laid her head on it, or a paw here and there - but this was over the top. And she didn't want to get off either! She was so comfy, I had Logan take a picture because it was so absurd. I know, I know, she's a wooly mammoth right now, but she's getting groomed Friday while the movers are here. Actually, Deb Stover (the woman who runs the Giant Schnauzer Rescue Network, and the one responsible for helping me adopt Lucy) is going to be grooming her. Deb spent years and years showing Giants and doing professional grooming, and now she runs a grooming school where Lucy will be the model dog for Deb to teach Giant Schnauzer grooming. Ah, I'm so proud.

For fun, here's the link to the original posting on Deb's Giant Rescue website where I discovered and fell in love with Miss Lucy. She goes by "Lola" on the site. She was just 5 months old

http://www.giantschnauzerrescue.net/DentonThree/Denton3.htm

The other pictures are from Lucy's last trip to the vet. She was so funny. She'd prance all around the room until it sounded like the vet was about to come in. Then she'd run and hide under the bench I was sitting on. I have no idea why she does this because she really likes the vet. My guess is that she's scared they'll take her to the back room like they did when they had to amputate her tail. (See? We have been through a lot together.) Anyway, Lucy actually has another vet appointment for Monday. I think she's either developed incontinence, has a bladder infection, or diabetes. Incontinence is common in Giants, and in the past she's had a few very very small accidents when she was sleeping, but nothing huge. But now, she's peed in her bed twice, in the kitchen twice, and on my big bed twice, all pretty much in the last couple of weeks. From what I've been reading, its really embarrassing for a dog that is housebroken because they do it in their sleep and don't even realize they've had an accident until they wake up. This is definitely true for Lucy. When she wakes up and realizes she's done it, she lowers her head and goes back under the kitchen table. With diabetes, two of the classic symptoms are increased thirst and increased urination. Lucy has always liked drinking a lot of water, but it does seem like she's wanted even more lately which obviously means she has to pee more often. So basically there's something going on, but I won't find out until Monday what it is.

Like I said, even though she's always stirring up trouble, its still ridiculous how much I love this dog. I know she'd give her life to protect me, and apparently I have agreed to go into debt to finance her 'spensive medical needs. ;) Good thing I signed up for the doggie insurance. Its finally going to be worth it this year!