Monday, September 22, 2008

No Otis for us!

Just got word that Otis went to another home. Too bad for him because he would have been one lucky dog to live with us. But as wise men say....it was not meant to be.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

New Paint




Jim painted the kids bathroom this weekend. It is a plum color with a gold stripe. It looks better in person than it does in the pics...the pics look more lavender than plum. It is really pretty cool - very bold!

Soccer

Drew's comp soccer team is 4 games into their first season and unfortunately have 3 losses and a tie. But they are playing great - they get better everyweek and are playing their hearts out. Plus, they have a good time together. And that is what matters.




Letter of Recommendation



I am still waiting the hear about Otis and the wait is seeming endless.....so to keep my self busy, it was time to collect letters of recommendations from dogs we take care of. There are two - one from Lucy and one from Chad. I sent them to the French Bulldog Rescue folks and hope that it helps are chances. I thought you would all enjoy them! So, here goes....




Hello,

My name is Lucy. Chris' Family always takes care of me when my family has to go out of town and I LOVE it at their house (see the pic of me being loved)! But that is not the story I want to tell you.

I want to tell you the time that Chris and Jim saved my life!

One morning when I was a puppy, I got a little rambunctious in my crate and got myself hooked in the mouth by a bungee cord that was hooked to the top of my crate. I was stuck and bleeding and my family could not get me unhooked! It was scary.

So my mom called Chris at 6 am and said that they had an emergency and needed help. Chris and Jim came over to my house in a flash and had me unhooked and safe within 30 seconds of being in the house! My mom says Jim should wear a Superman cape (that’s Jim rubbing my belly)!

Ever since then I knew I could trust them to take care of me!

And you should trust them to take care of Otis Too! Plus, I want to meet Otis. I think he will want to play with Daisy and I.

Love,
Lucy

Letter of Recommendation II


Dear Bull Dog Rescue Group,

My name is Chad and I am a beagle. And although I don’t like to admit it, I have special needs. You see…I have terrible allergies. They are so bad that I sometimes take 6 different medicines at once. AND, I don’t like them!

Anyway, every year my family goes to Maine for 2 weeks in the summer. When they go there, I can’t go with them because I am afraid of airplanes. So instead of going with them, I go to the PML Summer Camp. This means Chris and Family take care of me and take me to their cabin in the mountains. When I am with them, they take extra special care of me, including taking me for walks everyday, taking me camping, taking me hiking, letting me watch deer, giving me all my medicine and letting me lay in front of the air conditioner when it is hot out. But more than anything they treat me like a family member and take extra care because of my special needs. At night when we camp, I get to sleep in a sleeping bag with someone or they help me put on my doggy Patagonia and then wrap me like a doggy burrito in a blanket. Daisy Mae is also always very kind to me and even let’s me sleep in her bed while I am visiting. I always bring my own bed….but I like Daisy’s better.

The first year that Chris took care of me, my kids (well…the kids I live with) were young and very sad that I was not able to go with them on vacation. Chris wanted to make sure the kids knew that I was taken care of so she put together a scrapbook called, “Chad’s Summer Vacation”. The picture showed here is me and Daisy Mae dressed as Sonny and Cher. The scrapbook is a favorite of my family’s and sits on our living room table so that it can be shared. I am always a little embarrassed by my celebrity status, but when you look this good in a wig, everyone treats you special!

So, I just wanted to put in a good word for Chris and Family as there is no other family that could take better care of a dog.


Sincerely,
Chad
(AKA Chad-o-Matic, Chadster, Chadwick, Chadman, Chadmeister, Beagle Sausage – these are all the nicknames the Chris' Family gave me!)

Heart Walk

The Heart Walk was today and was a big success. We raised $1335, which is $335 over our goal! Thanks to everyone who donated - it is a good cause.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Bagel Day - # 2 - Why I Love Where I Work!

This is in reference to Bagel Wednesday, which was instituted last week at work:

Are they gone?”

Cecil peered fearfully from a file cabinet at tattered bits of bagel boxes on which employee swarms had descended moments before. They had consumed the bagels, staples, and other loose objects in seconds. Even paint strips had been gouged from the walls.

“I think so,” Amit said, poking his head out from behind a copy machine. He paused, seeing a familiar form lying prone by the mailboxes. “Ron, are you all right?”

“My leg!” Ron groaned. “They gnawed off my leg!”

“I think we need a better plan for next week,” Amit said. “Like maybe John could deliver the bagels under lock and key and nobody gets near them until a time lock opens?”

“Or maybe we could randomly generate bagel lottery numbers on my Mac,” Ron said, hopping on one foot. “It shouldn’t take more than a few weeks to set that up.”

“Or maybe we could just get more bagels,” Cecil said. “It seems like that would be easier.”

And so it would.

Tomorrow morning we will have more bagels, and we will be putting them out by the mailboxes at 9 a.m. so they aren’t all gone before most legal employees fight their way here through traffic. It’s a bold plan, a crazy plan, but it just might work.

Turn up tomorrow and find out!

******

I know it seems petty and unimportant....but bagel Wednesdays are one of the highlights of my week! Free bagels and the comedy that comes with them! Ilove my job!

RESULTS

The final results are in:

60% - Obama
40% - McCain

I need to ponder about this for awhile.

Monday, September 15, 2008

New Injury

My whole goal for having my shoulder surgery was to be able to stop taking my anti-inflamatory and pain medication. Which I finally did about 7 months after the surgery. That was about 6 weeks ago. Since then I have had random aches and pains all over my body - first my tooth, then my hip, now the bottom of my feet! Clearly the anti-inflamatory was not just helping my shoulder, it was helping my whole body!

This morning I worked out and then sat at my desk with my feet sitting on a bag of ice! It was total torture!!!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Don't Forget to Vote

Poll link is below. This is important. Results posted next week.

And more polls to come....I have some good ideas!

Got the Gear!


We got all Gracie's hockey gear - here she is watching tv while wearing it!
What a score this was. We got all the gear for $75, including goalie skates, helmet, leg pads and gloves. There were also pants but they are pretty beat up. We are thrilled!

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

and the winner is....

It is not time yet to report the winner, but I will give you a tidbit....one canidate has 65% of the vote!

Bagel Days!

Yet another reason I love where I work - I got this email this afternoon:

Your Ops team was sitting around doing what it does best (sitting around), when a few of us reflected longingly on the Good Old Days of Yore—days when the company used to provide bagels for us in the morning.

“Back then, a man could be fat as well as lethargic,” Ron lamented.

“We used to hoard bagels. I once built a whole cube made out of bagels,” Cecil recalled.

“I hear we once had an office made out of bagels,” Karen said, “but it didn’t last the winter.”

“Hey guys, I know where Jamie, the finance lady, keeps the key to her rubber stamp drawer,” Amit said.

Thus were Bagel Wednesdays restored to Legal Kingdom. Starting tomorrow, and every Wednesday morning thereafter until Jamie calls a locksmith, we’ll provide fresh bagels in the main central mailbox area. Stop by and grab some.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Presidential Survey

Time for a very unscientific survey. Please click on the link below and vote:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=H9x1bsaNz5csgEwGET_2byjg_3d_3d

I will report the results next week.

There are no controls on the survey that prevent multiple votes from the same person....so "don't come early and come often"! One vote per person!

Friday, September 05, 2008

new gear

Its hard to see in this pic but here is Gracie's new goalie gear. It's used but new to us! We won the bid on ebay and got a heck of a deal on it all. Now we just need a stick, a cup (yep - there are girls cups for hockey) and a neck guard.

Otis Too

I know many of you are going to think I am crazy for this but this is Otis Too and I have applied to adopt him! He is a french bulldog who is currently being fostered in Arizona. His mama had to give him up because she had to go back to work full time and could not give him the care he needed.

I have been looking to add a french bulldog into our family for a couple years now.... I have consistently looked at the rescue organizations, but never found a frenchie who seemed like a perfect fit for our family:

* had to be ok with being in a two dog family,
* had to be ok with a big yellow hound,
* had to be ok with kids,
* had to be active and playful.

Well - Otis seems to fit the bill! He is living with a big mastiff and playing his heart out!

We should hear something in the next couple weeks - the problem is....with a handsome guy like this, there are multiple suitors!

Wish me luck!

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Soccer starts this weekend!



This is the quarter jar for Gracie's team. Every time the team scores, all the fans have to put a quarter in the jar. Then we use the money for an end of the season party. The last couple years her team kicked butt so we have loads of cash at the end of the season.
Gracie's team has a bunch of girls on it that she has played with before and they are all good, so she should have a pretty good team. Her coach wants her to play forward and goalie.
Drew's team is a brand new competitive team. A bunch of them played together last year in a recreation league and they were great. This year they are playing comp, which will be harder. They have been working their butts off in practice, so it will be interesting to see how they do. At the very least, they all look so handsome in their new uniforms!

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Soccer Mom


Here is the poster mom for soccer moms everywhere. A big dork.....but a dear friend!