Surprise Visitor

Usually the only occupants of our house during the day consist of me and our two dogs. Well today was different.
This morning was like any other morning in our house, my husband getting ready for work, me taking care of the dogs etc... The usual routine. Well, my morning changed from "usual routine" to "chaos" in a blink of an eye!
The second my husband stepped foot out the door, an unknown dog swiftly ran in! The dog not only ran into our house, he instantly ran down into our basement (the basement stairs are right next to our side door)! I took off down the basement stairs yelling "here doggie, here doggie". the dog ran through the door and down the stairs so fast that I didn't even get a good glimpse of him. All I knew was that the dog was dark colored and was definitely bigger than our two dogs put together!
The second I got into our basement, the dog ran past me and ran up the stairs and started barking at our two dogs who were going crazy and barking back. At least the sight of our dogs stopped our "surprise visitor" so I could get a hold of him and try to get some of kind of control of the situation.
I quickly trapped our "guest" in my kitchen and trapped our dogs in another room, at least until I could get a good look at this dog and get an idea of his demeanor. He had a collar on but no tag, and looked well taken care of, and when I approached he quickly layed on the floor and rolled onto his back for a tummy rub. After a few calming tummy strokes I left him in my kitchen with some kibble and went outside to see if anyone was looking for a dog. No one was.
One by one I introduced the dog to our dogs and after a few sniffs of each others "you know whats", all three started playing with each other, under my supervision of course.
Our newspaper had no posting for a lost dog that matched this dog's description. I called our neighborhood vet and let them know I found this dog and gave them his description , and also called our police dept and let them know the same.
Since the dog was obviously someone's pet and had a great demeanor about him, we decided we were going to keep him until we found his owner, and if we couldn't find his owner after a period of time, he would be a welcomed "new addition" to our family!

Our "surprise visitor, Bowzer"!

Around 4:30 p.m. I got a call from our police dept. The officer on the phone said a woman called in frantic about her missing dog who matched the description of dog I was watching sleep on my family room floor. He is a 11 month old black lab and hound mix, and his name is "Bowzer". Turns out "Bowzer" had gotten out through the back door of his house because it was not closed all the way when his owner left for work this morning. The officer gave me the woman's phone number so I could tell her where to pick him up.
I called Bowzer's owner right away, and I could tell by her voice that she'd been crying (I felt so sorry for her). She described Bowzer to me down to the color of his collar. I assured her he was okay, and gave her my address (turns out she lives a few blocks away). Within minutes of hanging up the phone a black SUV pulled into our driveway. A young woman came to our door, I greeted her, then quickly brought Bowzer to her. The second she saw Bowzer, she hugged him, and without saying anything to me she quickly put Bowzer in her car and drove off.
Now, Bowzer is a very sweet, lovable dog and I didn't mind taking care of him for a day (or much longer if needed). Also, thank God Bowzer got himself somewhere where he was safe and he didn't get hurt or worse when he was running around the streets here. I really didn't mind having him here, I was happy to help him!
What I'm a little upset about in this situation is that the woman that owns Bowzer didn't even say "thank you". She didn't say "thank you" over the phone and didn't say it when she picked him up! If that happened to me, I would be extremely grateful and appreciative!

More "Chocolate Chip Cookie Lov'in From My Oven"

  I don't know why, but I've been an absolute "Chocolate Chip cookie baking maniac" for the past 2 days!  good thing I don't really eat them, just a couple of them or I would have gain at least 10 lbs already!

  There are things I love about baking cookies though.  I love the way my house smells right now!  In some way they probably bring some kind of good sentimental feelings and memories with them also.  Who knows?  Well, and I love to see the smiles on friends' faces when I give them a "cookie gift", makes me feel good.  I've never seen anyone frown when they ate a cookie!  Have you?

"Grandma-isms"

  It seems like ever since my grandma passed away last January, I find myself repeating some things she used to say to my brother and I when we were little. 
  When I cook and it seems like it takes "forever" for a pot of water to boil I find myself saying "a watched pot never boils", my grandma bestowed this wise observation on me when I was just learning to cook.  For the most part it definitely feels true.
  Our 2 pugs are "our children".  Our youngest pug Lilly (she's 3 years old), besided she wanted to play instead of go to bed at around 11pm last night.  My husband had to work this morning so he went ahead and went to bed.  With my husband and other pug in bed, that left me with Lilly.  Lilly decided to run circles around the first floor of our house while i chased her in hopes of tiring her out.  Yeah right!  Lilly then raced into the kitchen and quickly started to kick her bowl into the oven, making a loud "BANG" sound , meaning she had worked up an appetite now!  I gave her just a few kibble to satisfy her (this usually works, then she goes to sleep).  Well my plan didn't work this time.  It was now just after 12 a.m. and she was demanding to go outside, we don't have a fenced in yard, so this means of course that I have to walk her outside.   Lilly does her "business", I bring her in.  I picked her up and sat her on my lap for a little bit (which usually calms her down), no luck.  She jumped off my lap and started yet another race around the house complaete with and occasional toy tossing.  Now, we were looking at 2 a.m and thats when my grandma's wisdom again came into mind.  I looked into Lilly's face and told her "I love you, but I don't love your ways".
   "I love you but I don't love your ways" was always used by my grandma when my brother or I (usually my brother) got into some kind of mischief.
  It amazes me how much impact just one person can have on your life and how things can get repeated through the generatiions.

P.S  Lilly did finally calm down just after 2 a.m.

Fateful Day

11 years ago today I met my husband. It was a day we both will never forget.
My husband and I were both working for the same major airline. I was working at Oakland airport (Oakland CA) and he was working at Columbus airport (Columbus OH).
A friend of mine (who I met through working with the airline)was also working in Columbus OH (we met through an airline training session in Phoenix AZ). I had made arrangements for my friend to come out and go to an Oakland A's game with me. We were both baseball fans and I used to get free Oakland A's tickets through a co-worker who lived next door to an Oakland A's player (on an airline agent's salary free was all I could afford anyway).
We made plans to go to the 12p.m. game on April 19th 1999, the A's were playing the Cleveland Indians that day (weird thing is, from 2003 to 2007 I worked for the Cleveland Indians!).
About 3 days before the game, my friend calls and asks me if they could bring a friend from Columbus to the game with them. I told them yes, but their friend will have to buy their own ticket (I only had 2), he said that was fine, I told him I would pick them up at the airport and we'd head straight to game from there. Everything was set.
I was at the airport around 9:30 a.m. on April 19th 1999. A big crowd of passenegers were making their way to baggage claim.
In the crowd I saw a man wearing a Cleveland Indians cap, with a Cleveland Indians jersey and khaki shorts, with a great big smile on his face! The first thing I said to myself was "oh my God, that's got to be the friend, because no one else would wear that here".Has to be them!
I was attracted to my husband's smile and his big brown eyes immediately, even though I'm a die hard A's fan, I looked past the Indians garb!
I liked him so much I was nervous around him, even standing next to him made me tingle! I had never felt that way about anyone before!
The funny thing is he thought I didn't like him, because everytime he'd try to start a conversation with me I gave him the cold shoulder. I later told him I was too nervous to talk and was afraid I wouldn't make sense!
We went to the game and the Indians beat the A's on that day. Afterwards I drove my friend and my future husband back to the airport. We exchanged e-mail addresses with each other and said our goodbyes. The rest is history!
If someone would have told me on April 19th 1999 that I was looking at my future husband, I would have thought they were kidding!
My husband still remembers what I was wearing that day. He has told me that never in a million years did he think he was going to fly to California to see a baseball game for a few hours, and end up meeting his future wife!
He still makes me tingle!

Reconnecting

  Each Friday night for the past few weeks, my husband has been taking me out for nice cozy dinners, just the two of us.  In my head I've been calling our Friday nights "date nights", I never told him I had a title for these nights (I didn't think he'd understand the idea of the "date night" title).
  I've been busy with the new tasks my brother has given me to help him with his business, and my husband works full time.  There's not a lot of time together during the week, so our Friday nights out have felt like reconnecting time (which is very welcomed).
  I know that sometimes our lives away from each other (our work lives) have a way of spilling over into our personal lives.  If my husband is stressed at work he tends to "bring it home" with him, he doesn't mean to but he sometimes has a hard time leaving work at work.  I am assisting my brother with his business from home so of course my work is at home, so my work life is home with my personal life.  I think we'd been letting work stresses get between us a bit too much.  I've thought this for a while but I didn't say anything to my husband, because I didn't want him to think he had a nagging wife on top of his stresses at work, no one needs that!
  But for the past few weeks we've had our nice dinners and been having deep, meaningful conversations with each other, holding hands while watching T.V, sleeping in together on weekends, eating breakfast in bed on the weekends, things we used to do when we were first married.  I feel we've been kind of reconnecting, and he's the one that started it!  Which makes it even more exciting and special.
  This weekend we didn't have any plans, so I thought it was going to be a really boring weekend.  We didn't do anything exciting.  Saturday we slept in really late, we went to a nice hotel for brunch (my husband's idea!), we picked out some new furniture together (instead of me going alone and picking it out, which is what usually happens), we ordered in pizza for dinner and rented a movie for the night.
  The funny thing is, after we ate our pizza for dinner, my husband said "let's spend "date night" upstairs and watch the movie in bed".  We snuggled up in bed and watched the movie together. 
  I know it sounds stupid, but I was completely stunned that he's been calling our nights "date nights" also, and this morning he asked "now wasn't that fun having "date night" upstairs in bed last night?"  Gotta love him!

Things I Love/ Favorite Things continued!

                                                                                                                                                                       I know my husband is not a "thing".  But this is my absolute favorite picture of him!!  I just love it!
  This picture was taken last summer in New York City.
  I can't explain exactly why this is my favorite picture of my "hubby"(he rolls his eyes when I say it's my favorite and he reminds me that I'm "weird")
  I think maybe I love it because it's a completely candid, unexpected shot, no posing or fake smile etc...The background is cool because it's New York City and he's just totally being himself.  Well, and the fact that after 
8 1/2 years of marriage, we;re more in love with each other than we were on our wedding day.
  Yeah, that's the reason!
 

Strange things are happening!

  Strange things are happening around our house lately!  My grandma passed away this past January 23rd in California.  I was extremely close to my grandma, I called her and my grandpa at least once a week without fail, and saw them at least once a week before I moved to the Midwest.  I spent most of the last 2 weeks of her life by her bedside, I returned home 4 days before she died (she did not want a funeral), the last day I saw her was the last day she was awake, and she knew who I was (she suffered from Dementia), I feel like in way she was waiting for me.  The last thing I said to her was "I love you Grandma" and gave her a big hug and kiss on her cheek.  I looked at my Grandma's face, and she had tears rolling down her cheeks.  My Grandma looked at me and said "I love you too".  "I love you too" were the last words I heard from my Grandma!  I couldn't have asked for more!
  The strange things that are happening, started after her death.  It was very early in the morning one day when I heard her voice.  I woke up so startled that I woke my husband!  I could swear I heard my Grandma say my name into my ear so clearly, like she was standing right next to me!  It was a weird feeling that both startled and soothed me at the same time. 
  A few days later, I was looking through a desk drawer and found a photo of my Grandma and me and realized it was the last photo we ever took together!  Later that same day I found some Christmas cards that my husband had just "stuffed somewhere" instead of throwing them away last Christmas, and one of them was signed by my Grandma and Grandpa (that's definitely a keeper!)
  Another thing is that it seems everytime I turn around I see things dated with her birthday like, documents, used checks, old receipts etc...These all feel strange o me.
  The strangest thing is, my Grandma's favorite flower was "Forget me nots".  We've lived in our house for almost 7 years and have never had flowers in our backyard, just grass and a tall bush.  This past weekend I was in the backyard, and saw something that made my jaw drop and brought tears to my eyes!  We have a whole bunch of "Forget me nots" growing all along the bottom of the back wall of our house!!
  I told you strange things are happening! 

  What do you think?




Forget Me Not
Forget me not, for I am there
In the beat of your heart,
On the wing of your prayer.

Forgive me my parting and leaving you thus,
A joyous reunion is waiting for us!

Continue to strive toward your goal and be brave.
Know that my love didn't stop at the grave.

My spirit is with you through good times and bad.
I share all the joys and the sorrows you've had.

Feel my presence within your next breath
And realize there's no distance in death.

Ask for my help and I'll answer your call.
Reach for my hand when you stumble and fall.

Run the last mile with a smile on your face.
My arms will be waiting when you finish the race.

Always remember, my love is right there
In the beat of your heart,
On the wing of your prayer.


~© Linda Shelburn Reagan~

Things I Love/ Favorite Things

  This morning I woke up with a very UNFAVORITE thing called "the flu", with fever , chills, aches, nausea...the whole thing!
  Even though I'm here in bed, I'm posting another one of my "favorite things".  Yesterday was Easter, so kind of in the spirit of yesterday I'm listing one of my favorite candies!  Here it is!

    That's right!  It's Jelly Bellies!   Much to the disgust of my husband (he really hates them!), which makes it more fun for me to eat them right in front of him to "gross him out".  The faces my husband makes when I'm, in his words "being disgusting" are well worth it and make me laugh so hard I cry!
  Jelly Bellies will put a smile on my face every time!  Love the flavors, love the colors, love them all!

Things i love/ Favorite Things: Flying/Airplanes

For as long as I can remember, I've always been fascinated with airplanes and flying! My grandfather was a navy pilot during WWII(he retired as a Naval Officer in the 1950's), so I guess it's in my genes. I always loved watching planes takeoff and land. Boarding a plane and flying somewhere always excites me!
When I worked for a major airline, I felt like I was in my element. I took advantage of my free flight perks often! I used to sit outside on my breaks and watch flights land and taxi to their gates. When I worked at the boarding gate counter, I would often walk down the "jetway" after the passengers got off the airplane, sit in the empty airplane while talking with the flight crew.
Flying interested me so much that I took flying lessons for a period of time until I could no longer afford it!
I get "goosebumps" whenever my husband and I go to an airshow! The last time we went to one he surprised me, by buying me a ride on one of the planes on display! It was awesome!
I always tell my husband that if we ever win the lottery, we're buying our own private jet and I'm getting my pilots license! That's when he tells me "don't hold your breathe!" 
  I've always had this burning desire to fly and I know I will fly again.

Things I Love/Favorite Things

  As I am typing this, I am experiencing 2 of my favorite things at once!  I have both of my pugs lying at my feet fast asleep, that's the first thing.  The second thing is the thunderstorm thats raging outside!Rain & Thunder
  I love hearing the rain pounding against the windows and the roof.  I love the "booming" sound of thunder and watching the "lightning show" lighting up the night sky!  Lightning is of course dangerous, but it is beautiful to watch, and I'm definitely enjoying it!  Beats any show on T.V!

Things I Love/ Favorite Things: Day 3 (My Blanket)

  My "magical" blanket was bought by me at a arts and wine festival 15 years ago.  It's a wonderful hand woven, richly colored, sun and moon reversible (blue on one side and gold on the other) blanket.  I remember I bought it directly from the weaver that made it, which in my mind makes it even more special.  I had a sun and moon decor in my bedroom then, from the sun and moon wallpaper border to the little, blue star shaped candles on my desk.

  The blanket was proudly featured on my bed each day.  I spent many nights snuggled underneath my blanket dreaming, sleeping, watching T.V, studying, talking on the phone, crying my way through heartbreak every now and then.  My blanket has always been there to provide warmth and comfort.
  My "magical" blanket (I call it magical because it's always "magically" had a way to soothe me).  The first time I woke up in Jason's (my husband) arms, we were snuggled underneath this wonderful blanket, and realized I was I falling in love with him!
  The first time I heard Jason say the words "I love you", I was sitting by a fire wrapped in this blanket.  When I moved in with Jason, my blanket was the first thing I moved to his place, and laid it on the bed.
  In our house, the blanket is always lovingly draped on our living room sofa.  I still snuggle under it quite often.  It's my favorite companion when I'm reading, quietly listening to music, or watching snow fall outside during the winter months.  Jason likes to cover himself with it while he lies on the sofa listening to his favorite CD's, and eventually falls asleep (never fails, he always fall asleep under it!) lol!
  My blanket will never lose it's "magic"