No.. I’m not pregnant but my family did recently adopt a puppy! A little over two months ago, we adopted Kizzee (now Poppy), a one year old Border Collie Spaniel mix from Second City Kanine Rescue. She is the sweetest little pup who has taken my whole heart.
A little bit about this sweet baby; she is all black with some salt and pepper on her stomach and paws (the Border Collie) and has the fluffiest ears and tail in the world. She looks like a fox and she already has too many nicknames to mention. She’s got a bit of a barking problem but with some training and lots of cookies I’m sure that’ll be fixed in no time.
We adopted her from a rescue here in Illinois but she came up from Alabama, after spending over 6 months locked away in a kennel (wonder how that barking started), where she also contracted heartworm. For now, we have to restrict tiny dog’s activity (heartworm treatment) and we have a dog pharmacy on our counter(also heart worm treatment), but once she is heartworn negative this little dog will be bounding all over dog parks, beaches, and people.
Now, while Poppy and I sit here patiently waiting to get that dang blood test, please enjoy a plethora of pictures of this sweet, cute, and tiny pup.
Yesterday morning I disregarded my alarm clock and decided to sleep in. At around noon (didn’t want to sleep that late) I was awoken by a vibrating phone on my nightstand. Seeing my mom’s caller ID, I answered. The first words I heard yesterday morning were “Well, do you want to come with me and do it?” from my sobbing mother. With no context, I knew it was about my dog.
My first words yesterday morning were “No, you’re kidding me.” I immediately rose from my bed, not sure if I was coherent and the message I just heard was real or not, putting pants on and walking out of my room. I sat at the top of the stairs, where my dog should have been after her vet appointment that morning, and watched as my sister got ready to leave to go to a friend’s house.
What started as a day we had hoped would discover an abscess tooth living inside my dog’s mouth soon turned into a lump in her chest and sores coating her tongue and throat.
As I sat there listening to my mother repeat the message to me, igniting my sobs from leaving my body. I trembled and shook as I learned the fate of my beloved dog. After deciding I had to say goodbye, I tried to do something with my unkempt sleep hair and swollen eyes while waiting for my mom to pick me up to head to the vet.
As I walked into the private room at the veterinary office, a sudden gust of sadness engulfed the room. As I sat on the floor waiting for the receptionist to bring my dog into the room, I remembered why I had worn sunglasses on that gloomy day, so no one could see the red clouds that were my eyes.
This was it. The second I saw my dog, sad, scared, and desperate, I was done, tearing welling in my eyes, hoping to burst past the levies and ignite a flood of emotions I wasn’t prepared to unleash.
After seeing some familiar faces, she took a seat on my lap and all I could do was hug her. Hug her for being the best dog I could ever have, hug her for being sorry that she was in so much pain, and hug her for being so strong.
After we left I cried more. I have tears staining my cheeks, my coat, my pillow, everywhere. The house is quiet and empty and every time the doorbell has been rung I expect to see her getting up to see who is there, or whenever I eat food, I expect to see her wanting some and I keep closing the bathroom door behind me, even though there is no need. It has been a weird day and I know it will be a weird few weeks or months as I get out of the habits I took 9 years to build.
I won’t be able to eat popcorn or carrots the same way again and I will miss our couch cuddles you pushing me off the couch you weren’t even allowed on. I will miss my slippy slippy lovie girl. She was the greatest joy to come home to. Cancer sucks and I will miss and love you always.
“It is a fearful thing to love what death can touch.”
Nov. 23: What’s the weirdest/grossest thing your pet has ever done?
Hi everyone. I mentioned a couple posts back that my dog is rather fond of eating anything she can get her mouth on. So, naturally, the weirdest and grossest thing she has ever done is eaten something disgusting. She has eaten a wide array of things, from socks to sports tickets.
However, none of them compare to her personal favorite place, the bathroom garbage. Why she (and every other dog I know of) likes this forbidden wasteland is beyond me.
We try to keep the doors shut of our house to my keep up-to-know-good dog from getting into places she shouldn’t, but when it’s really cold/ hot out and we need better air circulation or someone has just gotten out of the shower, it can be difficult to keep them closed or have someone watching at all times.
The most disgusting, almost vomit inducing thing my dog has ever done happened in the bathroom. Someone (unbeknownst to me) had just gotten out of the shower, and naturally left the door open so the room could cool down and the condensation can dry up.
As I was getting ready to hop in the shower, i heard a rustling noise that could only be my dog up to no good. I peeked my head out of my bedroom only to see my dog’s butt and the rest of her body hidden in the bathroom.
Yelling at her to get out of the bathroom, she obliged without looking at me, knowing she had done wrong. I closed the bathroom door in annoyance and continued on with getting ready. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a string hanging out of my dog’s mouth. Oh no, is all I could think.
After chasing my dog around the house and finally getting her to drop the mystery item, I saw it. My dog had stolen a USED TAMPON from the bathroom garbage and had planned on eating it.
Nov. 17: What is the hardest lesson you’ve learned from having pets?
If I have learned one thing from having pets, it’s to not sweat the small stuff.
My dog is notorious for getting into places she shouldn’t and eating things she shouldn’t. She gets into the bathroom garbage, my bedroom every bedroom and finds anything to eat and eats it. Obviously, this isn’t small to some of you. And I know if she came into contact with the wrong object, she could possibly die. However, she seems to be ‘smart’ to some extent and only really eats paper. For the past 9 years we have had Rosie (my 75 pound rott) she has eaten tissues, toilet paper, as I’m typing this she picked up a ticket to my sister’s play from last weekend, and an enormous amount of mystery items. We always get mad and yell at her. Every time something comes in front of her snout that shouldn’t. But at the end of the day, we probably didn’t need what she was munching on or we would have placed it in a safe location in the first place. She has never eaten money and she only ate hockey tickets once (my mom left them on our ottoman and she was only like 2 so it was totally our fault).
Rosie has always had a very weak stomach. When we decided to switch her dog food to a healthier brand, it took two weeks for us to do so so her stomach could adapt. Through all of her tampon and paper eating (also when my dad gives her pizza…..) she has thrown up a numerous amount of times. My dad is always the first to yell at her. It isn’t her fault she made a solar system shaped vomit line across our entire living room carpet. She was sick or ate something. When a human throws up, people comfort them, We should do the same with our other babies. Yeah, we have to spend the weekend deep cleaning our carpet but our dog is doing better and that’s all that matter honestly.
From every substance that has gone in and out of her mouth, to when she gets defensive about her food and growls, you need to stop sweating the small stuff, because in the end, none of it really matters.
Until tomorrow
Alicia
P.S. enjoy these photos of my dog because she turned 10 last week and I totally bought her a cake.
If you saw my post about the Cubs winning the World Series, then you can probably imagine that I am still ecstatic about the win. Friday morning was the parade celebrating the end of the 108-year drought here in Wrigleyville. I wasn’t in attendance because it was honestly an anxiety attack waiting to happen. There were anywhere from 5-6 million people in attendance and despite how much I wanted to go, I would rather not start hyperventilating in the middle of millions of people and I also had a concert that night and knew I would be up super late anyway (people starting leaving their homes at 5am for a parade that didn’t start until 11)
Anyway, I have seen so many people complaining that all of these people celebrating aren’t true Cubs fans. I have seen tweets and facebook posts, and received texts and so on and so on saying “Are you really a cubs fan if you don’t remember Starlin Castro, Ryan Dempster, and Sammy Sosa” “I remember the first time I ever saw the ivy, do you?” “so many people are bandwagoning the cubs and it’s not fair” etc, etc.
LET THEM CELEBRATE. Yes, I remember all of those players, I remember other players that weren’t as ‘good’ or ‘popular’ as Sosa and Castro. I don’t remember the first time I saw the Ivy because I wasn’t even a year old. People are bandwagoning because they are Chicago fans. If the Cubs hadn’t made it that far and the Sox had, you know damn well we’d all be rooting for the Sox. LET THEM CELEBRATE.
I have been a Cubs fan my entire life and the fact that basically the entire state of Illinois has banded together with the Cubs is so amazing. For so long the Cubs had been one of the worst teams in the MLB and it has taken us 108 years to get on top. Let people celebrate. Let die-hard Sox fans buy Cubs gear and cheer them on after they won. Let people who don’t know how many positions there are in baseball celebrate. The Cubs winning has created such a sense of community for this entire state and hating people who bandwagoned isn’t impacting anyone but yourself. The entire city of Chicago is colored Red, White, and Blue for this team and if the entire state of Illinois wants to celebrate, let them.
Hi everyone, being the ‘basic’ white girl that I am, I believe fall is an amazing season. I just wish that fall didn’t involve getting sick (I type after downing any cold relief medicine I can find and surrounded by tissues). Nonetheless, there are some quintessential fall activities that I love doing and feel are truly necessary to do in order for my autumn to be complete.
Last year, living in San Diego, there was no fall. I went to a pumpkin patch with my sorority (tbt lol) and that pumpkin patch was in the parking lot of a mall. They had scattered bales of straw and loose straw all over to make it seem more realistic, but I KNEW. Everyone in my sorority had no idea that there were legit pumpkin patches and not just lame excuses for pumpkin patches like the one we were currently in.
This year, I was able to go to a pumpkin patch ( a real one mind you) with my sister and some of our friends. It was really nice being able to go out in the crisp fall air and search for the best pumpkin.
As fun as searching for the biggest and best-shaped pumpkin is, I always seem to forget that pumpkins are heavy… and expensive. So, after looking through every pumpkin we could, all of us opted for a ‘pie’ pumpkin rather than a traditional carving pumpkin because I’m balling on a budget and we didn’t want to carry around these huge pumpkins all day.
picked our pumpkins!
After picking our pumpkins, we managed to see a children’s zoo. Curious as to what it was, we each paid the $13.50 (I can only pay $3.29 for a pumpkin but I’ll cut off my own leg to see some animals) entrance fee and headed in.
Preface: Not sure how many of you know, but I have an absolute love of goats. I don’t know why but I do.
As we took in our surroundings, we saw many animals. There were ducks, rabbits, chickens, roosters, pigs, cows, and GOATS. We checked out the duck pond (my sister used to think she was a duck when she was little and her Instagram handle has the word duck in it) and then crossed a cute covered bridge to make it to one of the many goat pens.
After all the tears
I immediately broke into tears as I saw my first goat. I then proceeded to tear my purse apart to find any quarter in my bag to buy feed to feed the goats with. My friend Casey finally found 2 and I was able to feed the goats and cry more.
feeding the goats
Random note: I guess I freaked out so much when I saw the goats I touched my mouth with my hand and then my face to get some hairs out of the way so for about 100 photos and 30 minutes I have lipstick all over my face. Good job Alicia… you idiot.
Note the lipstick above my lip and by my eyebrow
After we saw all of our animals, we did a cute corn maze. As we first walked in I said something along the lines of “wow I wish there were more dead ends instead of going straight through.” Right after I said that there were so many dead ends we got lost an insane amount of times. You get what you wish for I guess.
This was in front of the corn maze. There were only 4 of us so this little boy (whose mother took the picture) stepped in for us. Also my sister didn’t stick her head in far enough but she’s there
When we finally were able to escape the corn maze, we headed back to the main part of the patch. We bought apple cider donuts, chocolate covered pretzels, apple cider, hot chocolate… you know the works, and finally took a ton of cute photos.
apple cider donutsmy sister moved so the pano was sort of ruined
Once we purchased our pumpkins and had fulfilled our visit, we drove around and got lost (not really lost because I knew what city we were in and recognized most of the streets) while listening to good music. Good music, good friends, good weather, what more could you ask for? I love my pumpkin pals. My heart is happy and it was such a good day.
Until next time
Alicia
PS. This was my 99th post so my next is 100 (yay for counting) and my blog turns 1 on the 29th so the next post from me will be on the 29th. I feel like 100 posts and my blogiversary are both big things so why not combine them? Anyway, adios.
P.P.S. Enjoy some more cute photos from Saturday
Petting another goat who tried to eat Casey’s pumpkin
Over the past month or two I have blogged a bit about getting a new babysitting job, hating that babysitting job, wanting to quit, and finally telling the family that enough was enough.
Something that always lacked for this family was communication. Yesterday the dad was the only one home when I left and he said that I had Saturday off however would continue coming part time until they found a replacement nanny. I was totally fine with that and despite still being present on laundry days, I wouldn’t have to deal with the parents nearly as much.
After picking the girls up and sitting down for a snack, Aadya asked me “Miss Alicia, is today your last day?” Confused I told her no and that I would still be coming for the next few weeks, and tomorrow as well.
As I was getting the girls showered and ready for bed, the dad got home. A few minutes later, I heard the garage door open again, signaling the mom’s return home as well.
Upon finishing upstairs, the girls and I emerged from their room and made our way downstairs. I don’t really remember the whole of the conversation because I was so confused and my face probably resembled the Mr. Krabs meme, but nonetheless, I was told that today was my final day.
Apparently the mother had contacted their old babysitter and asked if she would commute an extra 15 minutes until they had found a permanent sitter. Which completely makes sense so that there doesn’t have to be a key and car seat exchange every other day.
It just really sucks that for the whole day I didn’t know it was my last day. The mom said that over breaks and things if their other sitter can’t watch or if there were other days that I was free that I could give her a call and she would set up a day that I could watch them.
I know this whole time I had complained about being annoyed with their every move but I did love the children a lot, and despite their annoying habits (what kids doesn’t have them) and their over-protective and demanding parents, they were very sweet girls and I love being a part of their lives.
Both parents told me that they have never seen the girls connect to someone as well as they did as quickly as they did. Their point was made because as I was about to leave with my final check and Steak and Shake gift card (I don’t eat either steak or shakes but my dad will enjoy it) I was grabbed by both girls trying to drag me up the stairs to their room so that we could have a sleepover and so that I could stay forever. This is one of those “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone” sort of moments. Like yes, I will enjoy getting a job that is higher paying and I am not being treated like a slave, however, I never really realized how great the kids were until I walked out the door.
So, tonight was very bittersweet. What I had wanted for the past month had finally happened, however, I could definitely go for another game of “Auntie Moma,” “Cops and Robbers,” or “Mister Tortellini.”
Hi everyone, sorry this is so late but I wanted to write something and between working and trying to watch the Cubs game I forgot all about it.
As many of you know, October is breast cancer awareness month. This post is about cancer, not breast cancer, though.
6 years ago today (October 19th, 2010) my grandma passed away from Stage 4 lung cancer. I was only in 8th grade at the time and I am so devastated that I missed out on living so much of my life without the amazing woman she was. I have changed so much since eighth grade and I know she would be proud all that I’ve accomplished since then.
I first remember my dad coming into my bedroom earlier that year (March), telling me that she was sick. We sat and cried on my bed until there were no more tears to cry.
Next, I remember going to visit her every weekend that we could until she died, watching her slowly deteriorate before all of our eyes, everyone knowing but keeping quiet about it and only talking about how amazing she was doing.
The worst part about it was, I remember not cherishing the short amount of time I had left with her. I always thought she would get better and everything would go back being like old times. I remember ( and still hate myself for this to this day) her forgetting I had said goodbye to her already so my dad made me get out of the car to say goodbye again. I sulked into the house, quickly hugged her, mumbled goodbye and blew past everyone visiting back into my car. Looking back on it I would give anything to say goodbye to her again.
Upon getting home from a school trip to Washington D.C, my dad wasn’t home (with my grandma) and my mom broke the news to me that she wouldn’t make it much longer and we were going the next morning to see her and say goodbye. She didn’t wake up the next morning. When my dad got home and told us, we cried together for the second time.
Despite all of these sad moments, they aren’t the things I remember most about her. I remember her introducing me to the movie ‘Miss Congeniality” and watching it every time I would spend the night at her house. How that movie also became my favorite overtime. I remember that I stayed at her house for 2 weeks one summer and I got to watch old movies, garden, make woven potholders (a lot cooler than it sounds), make jewelry, and eat cake for breakfast with her.
What I’m trying to say is that cancer is a horrible disease and takes so many people away each day. Please remember, today and every day, tell your loved ones you love them because you never know when it could be the last time you tell them. I love and miss you Grampatty
Happy Birthday Noah Webster, aka Father of the American Dictionary. Dictionaries are crazy things, there are so many words in that huge book that I can’t pronounce, can’t define, or can’t even tell if it’s English or not. However, as a writer, something I should always be doing is expanding my vocabulary. It’s only fitting that I do this on National Dictionary Day.
Here are 10 words I didn’t know the meaning to but now do. I also chose words I can most likely remember to use here and add to my everyday vernacular. Let’s do this.
Lavation– (lay-VAY-shun) | noun *October 16th Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day*
Definition: the act or an instance of washing or cleansing
Examples: “In Maycomb County, it was easy to tell when someone bathed regularly, as opposed to yearly lavations….”
Odious (o-dee-us) | adjective
Definition: arousing or deserving hatred or repugnance : hateful
Example: Volunteers gathered on Saturday morning to scrub away the odious graffiti spray-painted on the school.
Guerdon (gur-dun) | noun
Definition: reward, recompense
Example: “The big hurdle … was early promotion to captain. … This early promotion, this small dry irrevocable statistic in the record, was his guerdon for a quarter of a century of getting things done.
Macadam (muh-KAD-um) | noun *only chose this word because my backyard has a macadam*
Definition: a roadway or pavement of small closely packed broken stone
Example:The sloping, curved street saw light traffic and had a smooth macadam surface that made it popular with skateboarders.
Impavid (im-pavdid) | adjective
Definition: Fearless
Example: Giant by thine own nature, Thou art beautiful, thou art strong, an impavid colossus,And thy future mirrors that greatness.
Belgard (bell-guard) | noun
Definition: A loving look
Example: She left me a belgard from across the room.
Druthers (druhth-erz) | noun
Definition: one’s own way
Example: If I had my druthers, I’d sleep all day.
Invective (in-VEK-tiv) | noun
Definition: abusive language
Example: … the explosive role that social media has assumed in this campaign have made for a nasty brew of invective, slurs and accusations….
Haimish (hey-mish) | adjective
Definition: (slang) cozy and unpretentious
Example: … you would like the candle-lit dining room (below), formerly a watchmaker’s shop, where there are perhaps a dozen tables, a fish tank, and murky paintings–all of which contribute to an ambiance best described as Transylvanian haimish.
Bon Mot (bon moh) | noun
Definition: a witty remark or comment; clever saying
Example: He was an extrovert and a character, again like his mother, with a knack for tossing off the perfect bon mot. Once at a dinner party, he told his seat mate, “We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glow-worm.”
I hope you all learned something from these, because I definitely did. Keep an eye out and see if you see me use these in a post in the future 😉
It is Sweetest Day and the closest thing I have to a ‘sweetest’ is my dog. My dog who growled at me this morning because I was far too close to her food (at least 10 feet away).
Despite this, I have decided to talk about some other sweet (sweet as in awesome not dessert-like) things
Time Off Work- I don’t have to babysit until Tuesday (I also had Thursday, Friday, and this morning off) because the little girl is sick… and got me sick lol but at least I get to mope around and do nothing
Saint Motel– I AM SEEING THEM TONIGHT/RIGHT NOW depending on when I post this. May or may not make a post discussing this amazing night.
Oreos– I am curled up in bed eating them right out of the package as I type
Thrift stores- My sister and I went to two of our local thrift stores the other day. I got 2 books, a super cute mug that says “tough *picture of a cookie*” on one side and on the other side it says“smart *picture of cookie*” It was adorable and only $.25 so I had to. I also got a Polaroid camera from 1963 for only $18 dollars!!!!!!!!!! It is so cool and makes a great display next to my two other film cameras on my dresser
Ramen (without the flavor packet because.. you know meat flavor)- As a kid, ramen was always a staple if you were sick. Since I am sick again, I went to look to see if the noodles themselves were vegan (I wAS IN LUCK) and ended up adding some chives, garlic, salt, onion powder, and celery salt for the same smell and even better taste than the original.
Dogs- We are dog sitting for the weekend and instead of my daily dose of one dog… I GET TWO DOGS
Sweaters– that’s all but I have been living in sweaters because it’s cold and it looks like I tried even though I didn’t.
Grid paper journals– I gave into the trend of the graph paper journal, I ended up getting a pack of 3 for half the original price of one so obviously I had to jump on that. Not sure what they will contain, but I have 360 pages of neatness to write in.
Pumpkins- I was at Trader Joe’s the other day and bought myself a $.69 pumpkin. It is adorable. Not only that, but I am trying to coordinate a pumpkin patch visit with some of my close friends. If that does happen, expect a very cute, very orange post about it.
New Appliances- My washing machine like broke but still works but broke. It leaks water from the bottom whenever you use it so when you forget about that and step in it, shrieked can be heard from outside (or so I am told). Our new washer and dryer will be arriving sometime today and I am SO excited to use them!
Just a few super sweet things about my life right now
Happy Sweetest Day to those with a sweetie and those with merely (merely? animals are 100000x better than any significant other you could every imagine) an animal.
Living off Leesh 