We had our last training session today. We are now official Volunteer "Green" dog walkers. (I can't remember if I previously explained the color code) but "green" dogs are the most docile, have no or very little issues and are easiest to walk. Today's walkers were Jani:
Jani is mostly Jack Russell Terrior and extremely hyper! It took a good 10 minutes to get her to stop jumping and start walking; but, once she started her walk she was just adorable! Very sweet - I'm sure someone loving family will scoop her up by the next time we go back.
And Jermaine:
Jermaine is some kind of mutt (can't remember). He is very sweet but has a slight neurological disorder. Any family who wants to adopt him will be put through a vigorous background check; but I'm sure he would be very happy to have a loving home. A great time was had by all!!
Oh yes, remember a couple of months ago, I spoke about Nalla (one of the retirees?) Well, here's my girl:
On May 25th, 1984 at about 10:00 in the evening, a nine month's pregnant me had a slight stomach ache. Must have been something I ate, thought I. The rest of the details are a bit sketchy in my mind, for instance, I can't remember what exactly made me decide that perhaps I should go to the hospital, because for the life of me I cannot remember having even one labor pain. The next thing I remember I was pushing out my second son. He was born 7 minutes after midnight, making his birthday the 26th. Happy birthday, Justin!! That was 25 years ago.
14 years ago, on Justin's 11th birthday, my dad passed away; making this day very bittersweet. A day does not go by that I don't think of him. The only difference now is that I'm finally able to do so without tears; instead it's a smile, because I know he would be proud.
Honorable mention to my favorite female singer, Stevie Nicks, whose birthday is also today. She's still got it! Listen for yourself:
It took several weeks to get back to Bide A Wee to continue our volunteer training. But oh, I must say it was so worth it. Today we got to meet Manee. She is 3 months old and has been at the shelter for 2 weeks. According to the experts, she won't last long because the younger dogs always get adopted very quickly. She is some kind of hound mix. We got to walk her for a long time and play with her in the pen. She was very full of love. Hubby said if we could have pets, he would have brought her home. I'm quite sure that each time we go, we will want to bring another one home. I'm almost grateful that we can't have pets here or I fear that we would have 50 of them!!! We were able to snap a few pictures but honestly, it isn't easy to walk them and play with them and hold the camera, so I don't think I will be doing that again. I had my first turn at getting her back in her pen. You have to get her in, without going in yourself and trust me, they do not want to go back in there. So, I must say, that part was a bit difficult and heart breaking. Still worth it though, to love them up:
Some Mother's Day stuff to make you laugh, or cry, or just say "aww..."
I'm on the phone with Justin, Friday night and he says something not so nice (in a joking way) and I tell him that he has to be nice to me because it's Mother's Day weekend. He innocently says "Mother's Day - when is it going to be kid's day?" I'm quite sure that every mom reading this can figure out my response, but nonetheless, I will write it anyhow: "EVERY DAY IS KID'S DAY!" He had no reply! (that's the stuff to make you laugh) Kudos, however, to him and Vanessa for sending me a picture (the same one that is posted here on 4/30) of the baby, but this one is much clearer and it says "Happy Mother's Day, Grandma" on it. (That's the stuff to make you cry.)
Mr. Boston himself (Joey, as he allows only my mom and me to refer to him) came to visit for Mother's Day. A hug from your child is the best gift a mom can receive. (that's the stuff to make you say "aww..."). I loved the visit, the card, the stuffed puppy cause he knows I want one and can't have one, the dinner, the three boxes of Entenmann's cakes (because he just discovered the outlet store) and most of all the conversation. Oh the conversation. Priceless.
So I sat around most of the winter with all this time on my hands. That's when I had the wonderful idea of volunteering at the animal shelter. Now that I've completed the orientation and had the first (of the necessary three) training, suddenly there is no time to schedule the next training. All of sudden it's like "my people must call the animal's people," and set up lunch or something - woe is me, I will have to wait until May 16th for the second session. I miss the dogs already. Even the cats had it made there - they have a huge room (definitely bigger than my living room) where they have lots of scratching posts and even a "balance beam" type thing that goes across the top of the room for them to play. I wish the dogs could have such a nice room, but alas, each one of them has to be in its own pen. However, I did learn during my first training session, that once fully trained, I will be able to take any dog (even the puppies, when they have them) and bring it to the recreation room and play as long as we want!!! Oh yes, there will be lots of pictures then!
I went to my first training session as a dog volunteer at Bide A Wee this morning. After about an hour of "lecturing," I was ready to meet my faithful pals. All the puppies that had been brought in the day after orientation were already adopted, so off we went into the "old folks home." Of course I already love them all, but wouldn't you know - there's always that "one." You know, the one that stares right into your eyes and says "mommy?" Her name is Nalla and she has some arthritis (we'll get along great!). Her across-the-aisle roommate is named Molly and she is the one that I accompanied on a walk with the trainer and another volunteer. Things I learned on the walk: female dogs also lift their leg to pee sometimes; older dogs definitely get tired quicker than younger dogs; Molly likes to roll on deer poop. Needless to say, I had a ball!! I found out today that I am allowed to take pictures so I will do that next time. Unfortunately, do to scheduling, that won't be for another two weeks...stay tuned.
This was my "speech" at my father in law's funeral last Wednesday:
I always thought I knew what rich meant until I met the Wilgis family. This family that is gathered here today taught me that it doesn’t take money to make you rich. All it takes is a hug and those three little words (that aren’t so little after all), "I love you."
My father in law, "The Old Man," as I so affectionately referred to him, told me he loved me like one of his own. For that I am a richer person. He never judged me, he just accepted me for who I am, despite the fact that I am a die hard Yankee fan! He even wore his Yankee tee shirt with pride, not because he became a fan, but because I gave it to him. (And the fact that the Orioles stomped all over the Yankees Monday night was just his way of getting the last word, but that's ok, he deserves it.) My phone will no longer ring when the Orioles hit a home run, but it will ring in my heart forever.
The Old Man taught me everything I know about football. While watching the Super bowl together this year, he taught me the difference between “off sides” and “false start” – something even my husband could never get me to understand. He tried and he tried to get me to become a Ravens fan and to that all I have to say is “Let’s go Jets!”
Goodbye old man. I am a better person because you let me know the real you. You let me into your heart. I was proud to be your “favorite daughter in law.” I will miss you.
Marveling over a baby's tiny fingers and toes is one of the joys of the first day of life. Those fingers and toes are just beginning to form this week, and the arms can even flex at the elbows and wrists. The eyes are becoming more obvious because they’ve begun to develop pigment (color) in the retina (back of the eye).
Also, the intestines are getting longer and there isn’t enough room for them in the baby’s abdomen, so they protrude into the umbilical cord until week 12.
By now, the beginnings of the buds that will develop into the baby's genitals have made their appearance, although they've not yet developed enough to reveal whether the baby is a boy or a girl.
I know I've been slacking with the posts and especially the pictures lately, but the truth is, except for the flood there really wasn't much going on that made me want to have my fingers fly across the keyboard. Until now.
The structural damage to the house has been fixed and my oh my, it does look beautiful!! Tough way to get new paint and carpet, but it sure does look pretty. Maybe (just maybe) over the weekend I might actually post the before and after pictures. The only thing left now is for the insurance company to finalize the claim and send us a check. Which brings me to my dream of a few nights ago. I dreamt that the adjuster called and told me he was sending a check for $11,000. In the dream I was ecstatic. (Especially since the claim was for under 8,000). I awoke the next morning really happy about the money until I remembered (about 2 minutes later) that it was just a dream. All that day I tried to figure out the significance of the number 11.
Cue the blog post from my son, Justin last night.(http://bellablueeeyz.blogspot.com/). Start calling me "G-Ma!" The baby is due on 11/11/09...am I psychic or what? No, not psychotic, psychic!!!!
Uugghhh!! I am so frustrated. I'm finally at the point where I know how to operate the digital camera, upload the photos to the computer, put them on the blog, or snapfish, or anything else one might want to do with pictures these days - all with my eyes closed. We have one PC in the house and one laptop. The PC has a nasty virus to the point where we can't even use it. The laptop has decided that it does not want to read the SD card any longer. I give up. I haven't even been able to get a good look at the photos from Florida and I know there are some really great shots in there.
Oh well, I guess we'll have to hire a geek squad member. Right now I'm missing the days of bringing your film to fotomat and getting back pictures that you can hardly make out!!
I must admit that on the way to the concert last night for just a quick moment, I thought to myself "the band members of Fleetwood Mac are definitely aging - just how good could they be?"
Well - I will tell you how good. They were superb, awesome, fantastic, fabulous, cosmic, amazing, extraordinary, astonishing, astounding, brilliant, divine, dynamite, enjoyable, excellent, incredible, magnificent, marvelous, miraculous, outstanding, phenomenal, sensational, something else, staggering, startling, stupendous, super, superb, terrific, tremendous, absolutely unf---king believable!!!!!!
Stevie was esoteric, John was exemplary, Mickey was to drums what Derek Jeter is to baseball. But the absolute show stopper was Lindsay Buckingham. His solo guitar performances brought the house down. My vocal chords are paying the price for my teenage actions. Special thanks to my hubby for another wonderfult night. Apologies to Sonia and Bill for screaming in their ears!!
I was expecting them to open with "The Chain" because they usually do, but instead they went right into "Monday Morning" and really got the party started. The played for over two hours, coming out for two encores. The very last song was my all time favorite - "Silver Spring." Who woulda thunk - the Nassau Collesium was an escape to paradise, right here on good ole Long Island.
Tonight they are playing at Mohegun Sun and I so wish I could go!!
P.S. - update on the flood damage - all the structural repairs are complete and the new carpet is down. We have spent the last two days moving furniture back, reconnecting tv's and computers, and putting stuff back on the shelves (so glad I took pictures to remember where it all goes!!) Anyhow, I have had no time at all to look at vacation pictures. I hope to be able to do that and post some tomorrow - we shall see.
I sure wish the curve ball to which I was referring was the fact that the Baltimore Orioles have shown a slight interest in acquiring Pedro Martinez; but alas, that is not it at all.
Home from Florida early this morning. On the drive home from the airport, we were both concerned that the heavy snow storm we narrowly escaped had left its remnants in our driveway and perhaps still had my car buried alive. Nope. We turned the corner and were quite pleased to see that the driveway was clear, as was the car.
Insert key in door. Open door. Did we take a wrong turn on the expressway and perhaps make an unscheduled stop at Niagra Falls? There sure was enough water pouring out of the ceiling to think so, but the scenery - not so much. Turns out the hot water pipe burst, the ceiling caved, and there was a good 3 inches of water in the hallway and downstairs bedroom. Welcome home. Glad you're back. yea, right - I kept telling my husband I wanted to stay in Florida. Too bad he never listens to me.
The good news is we will finally have the new carpet we've been wanting. The bad news is, even an insurance check cannot replace the lost photographs, baseball cards, newspaper articles, sports memorabilia, not to mention at least 20 pairs of shoes, 5 of which were my suede boots. Yea, I've been craving wearing sandals instead of boots, but still...
After hours and hours of moving things, and ripping up carpet, (and doing load after load of laundry from the trip) I have decided that I am done. Maybe tomorrow I will feel like uploading all the pictures from the trip (and there are a lot), but I certainly don't feel like it now.
P.S. We had a great time despite the very cold temperatures for the first half of the week. More on that tomorrow, perhaps.
You probably thought the title of this entry refers to the winter (I mean, I know it's all I've written about for a long time), but not this time. This time, I mean the wait is almost over! In 5 more days the hubby and I will be soaring through the sky headed for West Palm Beach. While there we will catch a spring training game in Fort Lauderdale (Baltimore vs Boston)and we will then scoop mom and drive up to Port Richey to visit Jay and Vee. I sure am looking forward to seeing every one. I wish Joe and Amber could have made it as well (I'll miss you guys.)
Normally, I don't ever want to return from Florida, but this time, just 5 days after the arrival to the cold northeast, it will be Fleetwood Mac in concert at the Nassau Colessium!!!! Definitely with returning for!
It may still be winter up here according to the calendar, but alas, the pitchers and catchers have reported to sunny, warm F-L-A. If you're like me, and sick and oh so tired, of hearing about the PED's (performance enhancing drugs), and just want to hear the good ole fashioned sounds of the season, take a look at this Charles Schulz classic. It may be long, but it sure does bring a much welcomed smile as we remember how baseball used to be and should be, again:
Doesn't take much to make me happy. Honesty, loyalty, sunshine and warm sand between my toes, a good hug, my Pradapuppy's tongue on my face, and most recently, hearing my granddaughter laugh for the first time!
