X glad your starting to get better.... Baby steps girl baby steps.

well got to go, really tired, spent the entire weekend doing homework and not finished yet for tomorrow nights class but going to bed anyway!!! oh well....

night all!

 

Ladies, I'll need to do later rather than earlier, so I think Cab mentioned 3:30 ish... which would seem like the best time to do this from everyone's point of view. And we can move it from KoP if needed as the family I'm staying with is in Lafayette Hills. Hopefully I can do the main points of Independence National Park with my kids in a few hours...
Anyway, I really don't know the area in Chestnut Hill, Roxboro, Miquon, Conshohocken, KoP any more... I left in '77 and only seem to come back for funerals. But if there's a decent coffee shop we could meet at that's convenient to you both, then GahREAT (think Tony the Tiger!)- Y'all just let me know what works for you...

OK, off to finish coffee and start packing - groan! Cheerios and poptarts!

(giggle)

 

TNMiniMama greetings

Would like to hook up with you at Independence Hall if I can get the day off and follow you to King of Prussia if you don't mind my crashing (the get- together not the MINIs).

 

Poor Gem - confusing RG and RJ!!! But good edits.

 

It has been hard. Reilly was and still is, the best dog I have ever had. I still miss him every single day and I always will. When I was talking to Mugen's breeder, I explained that I wasn't sure I was ready for all of this because I'd just lost him and he was the love of my life, but when I met her dogs... I knew that he would want me to move on and do it all over again. He would want me to share my heart and my home with another wagador. The hardest part was that Reilly was so healthy when he passed that he had been doing the puppy bounce all day... we had no idea that it was coming. Absolutely none. We were so positive that we had years left with him that his death hit us like a freight train.

The one saving grace is that he passed when he was healthy and happy and he did not suffer for years on end in agony as some dogs do. He left this world the way he lived in it, fast and easy. I'm grateful for that. I don't know that I could have watched him suffer through arthritis pain.

 

I just read through your story about your beloved and like Gem... tears were streaming down my face. Each pet has its own special place in our hearts... individual personalities... unique moments that we will remember forever. I wish you'd come here to Freebie-land to talk to us about it... we would have been there for you.

With that being said... I read the next story about the new amazing monster! Although the original love will never be replaced... the new love does help heal. I believe that the ones that pass WOULD want us to have another friend. After all... the main "job" of these "friends" is to make sure that we are happy and loved. (OK... so they occasionally do things that are REALLY naughty... but that's just to keep us on our toes!)

Have fun with your new "teddy bear".

 

GEM- I WANT TO SEE A PICTURE OF CUJO POSTED HERE!

Put a piece of food on your desk... put a steak in your bag... do whatever you can to get him to follow you. And when the beast comes in to eat it start snapping! Or take your phone in the restroom... so when he has you pinned in there you can take a pic of that mean ol' growling mug through the crack of the door. THAT would be a nice one!

 

Thanks Ola. I know you guys would have supported me, I did use my face to face support network and found that most of my friends... loved Reilly just as much as I did, even the ones that I didn't think liked him at all called me up and expressed their sorrow. He really did worm his way into everyone's hearts. It was truly a wonderful thing to see how many people loved him.

Normally, I would wait a year or so between dogs to give my heart time to heal... but this time... I was ready. I said it in my post on my blog. I have more patience for Mugen than I have *ever* had with any dog. I think that it's because I remember how hard the work was to train Reilly to walk next to me off lead without darting after squirrels. I remember how hard teaching him "down" was when he came home from the shelter... and he never had the patience to "stay" if I walked too far away from him. I remember that, but I remember the rewards for that work too. I remember that everyone loved him, that he was a solid and upstanding member of the community and it was our work together that made that possible.

So maybe this is the way to do it, so that I get better at training and am a better person with each successive dog and I can appreciate the next one more because I don't "forget" the training I received from the one that came before him.

 

LOVE THIS ONE!!!

Other than my "Disco Ball Mini" that I'd love to make... the other one idea was a "Magic 8 Ball Mini". A Classic that's all black and a triangular roof graphic in the middle with a slightly blue overlay (so it looks like liquid in the 8 ball) and the triangle that says something. I'd like to have multiple triangles so that I could change them out depending on my mood.

"It is decidedly so"
"Most Likely"
"YES"
"Outlook Good"
"Very Doubtful"
"You may rely on it"
"As I see it YES"
"It is certain"
"Don't count in it"
"My sources say NO"
"Without a doubt"
"My reply is NO"
"Signs point to YES"
"Better not tell you now"
"Concentrate and ask again"
"Cannot predict now"
"Reply hazy try again"
"Ask again later"
"Yes definitely"
"Outlook not so good"

Ummm... yeah, I have a Magic 8 ball in my hands right now. I didn't realize there were so many options!

 

Maybe that's why grandparents always seem so much better as "grandparents" and not "parents". They have that experience and think about ways that they could have done things differently.

I have really learned so much watching Cesar Milan. The next dog I get will definitely have a better start.

My cat George helped me get over my grief of losing Abby. He was born in Alabama during the same week that Abby died. I tell myself that it took a few days for her spirit to travel to nowhere Alabama. He's got the spunk of Abby but is a crazy *****'! Something must have happened to the spirit on the way up there to nowhere Alabama!

I have Abby's ashes spread in my gardens and also some in a little box beside my bed. That's where she always liked to be.

 

I think so too, my parents are the same way with my kids.

Hubby, this time around, wants us to add a second dog when Mugen is about 4 or 5 years old because he thinks it will make it easier on me in the future to deal with their passing. We'll see how I feel about it then, but certainly... our pets help us get through all manner of trials and trauma, the loss of a loved one not being the least of those concerns.

I get weird looks because I don't bury my pets. I just am not attached to their remains. Instead, my daughter and I went to a pottery store and painted a ceramic dog bowl. I wrote his name on the outside and she painted his picture on the inside. His ball and his collar will go in the bowl and it will have a place of honor in our house.

 

You honored the spirit of your baby... that's what counts. Every person deals with it in his/her own way. Abby was the first that I've ever had cremated. It was unexpected and I had a lot of guilt for not "seeing it". So I don't know... that's where my heart was at that time. The only other pet I've ever buried was my rabbit when I was 10. I cleared out a little area near an apple tree that I used to sit in. There was a little brook and I found a rounded stone to mark his place.

In regards to the husband's thinking... no matter what you do to try and plan... the pain probably wouldn't be lessened. And unfortunately it's not always the older pets that go first.

 

 

THAT IS F'ING HILARIOUS!!! Do you have any more? Just looking at them all lined up and shaking like that is almost too much. I wonder how I could make a whole line of them into a signature line. SO FUNNY!!! Thanks for the laugh!

 

I haven't seen any others, but I'll keep my eyes peeled.

 

This is aweomse girls!! Okay, I just typed a huge note, trying to go back 2 days and comment on several notes and lost the whole dam thing!!!
So, now you get the cliff notes...
Uhoh, sorry you were /are so sick,, I hear you were sick, but had no idea it was sooo bad!
WTH?? why are we getting these bugs in the summer for goodness sakes!!
RG-- I folloowed your trials on FB,,, but will say on here how happy I am that Mugen is now in your life.

Gemmy-- sweety-- I think you are burnt out with so much studying and playing Ole"! to Cujo.... I think Uhoh is coming in NOT during the weekend but on Mon, Tues and Wednes. Monday night works the best for me, but could try to be available after 6:30 on Wednes also???

Tn!!! Thursday @ 3:30-ish sounds great!! I suggest Chili's which is across from K of P Mall on South Gulph road? But if others have other ideas, that is cool too.

Red Dragoon!! Please come and visit!! Even if you don't meet up with Tnmm in the city, please meet us all at K of P????
Okay that is it,,, the first one was better but I need sleeeep.....

Hi everybody else!!!!!!!! Good night!!

 

Yeah you caught that - yeah my brain hurts! sorry for confusing everyone.

 

OK everyone, yes it looks like I'm all out of wack here! ughhhhhh - help me someone please..... Ok let's try again.... TN and Cab I can do chili's in K of P at 3:30 but again I will have to leave at 4:30 to get to school.

Cab thanks for clearing up some of my issues!! X if i'm looking at the same calendar correctly, I might be on break that week. I hope! so I will not speak again until you are sure on a date for the freebie meet and then i will chime in.... CHOCOLATE ANYONE????????

 

ok, so hi to the rest - RJ (yes I mean you this time) how was your weekend?
RG I'm now ready to read about that cute little guy you have home.
X how are you feeling today?
Cab, thanks for keeping me straight.
Ola, You are too funny with your decription of my current short life remaining with Cujo - My hubby said i should rub a steak all over me before going in to work so WE could own the business! FUNNY GUYS REALLY FUNNY

will check my cell, I took a photo really bad one of cujo when i started working there I don't know if i saved it to the card, because we recently got new phones. I will see what i can do, the owners get touchy about someone taking photos of hte dog.

Hi to everyone else!

 

Lemme know when you are ready for the flickr galleries. It is quite fortunate for me that I took a lot of photos of Reilly the week before he passed away. I will have lots of memories of my old man to carry with me and I'm grateful that I snapped so many photos now.. I ended up making him his own gallery on flickr.

 

Thanks for the invite cabwy and it would be way cool to hit King of Prussia after doing the historical in Philly. Asking my team leader for the day off. Will keep you posted.

UPDATE - I got Thursday off and will be doing Philly and KoP.

 

ALRIGHT! It's 17 hours and 39 minutes to get there... 1104.11 miles. Think I'll be able to make it too!

 

Hubby might be onto something there!

If it makes you feel any better Gem... I thought you might've been talking about RG but I was actually wondering where RJ had gone. She was a picture posting maniac and then *POOF* she was gone. I liked her paint and fireplace and stuff.

 

OMG - if you're not kidding (and for some reason I don't think yo are) that would be GREAT!!!
Thursday afternoon, Chili's at KoP. Way cool

am sitting in Mini of Peabody, Mass, right now as my cig lighter has died... Had a 1;:00 appt which I was 15 minutes late for as the roads are underconstruction and I missed where I was supposed to go and ended up in Beverly instead..
But I'm here now-
<yawn>

 

I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU!!!! sorry that was just fitting for the posts i have been making lately..... and for the topper post - stay tuned....