It's Raining Cats and Dogs in Here

"Pinko Pig" ~ This was the endearing term my mom called me growing up. She said that I always had an unusual love for nature and the care of animals. While we were a nature conserving family (using reusable cloth napkins everyday), my mom felt like I had an over the top love for the environment. She might have gotten this idea when she caught me attempting to give cat food and a blanket to a dying squirrel in our back yard. Or maybe it was when I started collecting and keeping snails as a pet in my room, because I was disgusted by the fact that my parents would purposely step on them outside. What ever the reason, I was considered the Pinko Pig of the family.

Now I have two more reasons to be called a Pinko Pig; Duke and Daisy. After our first dog Lucy passed away so suddenly, Kevin and I knew that we wanted to get another dog. As we searched through the shelters, my "bleeding heart" started to show. Oh there were plenty of normal average loving dogs that would have been perfect in any home, but my heart always goes out to the odd ones. The pitt bulls that everyone thinks are vicious but really just misunderstood, the deaf dogs that people don't want to worry about training, and the brother and sisters that end up being separated because it's easier to adopt one dog not two.

Duke and Daisy, the two great pyranees mixes, looked like a bleeding heart case if I ever saw one. They had many strikes against them. A) They were a brother and sister that would likely be separated. B) They were so large and awkward. C) They would easily go through 20 lbs. a dog food a week if kept together ($$$). D) They were wild dogs, meaning they had no idea what a leash was or why a dog would chose to hang around a human (unless it was feeding it of course).

How could a labeled Pinko Pig turn down two dogs like that! So our peaceful little family of Mom and Dad and Cat got turned upside down with the new dogs. Some things have been great. They don't try to eat the cat, and the cat doesn't try to kill them. Some things have been sad. Our yard that was once magnificent now looks like people have been digging for treasure. All in all, our new larger family is very happy.

Now I think my pinko-ness is spreading to Kevin, because he is talking about finding another cat for Mae to be with! Ah, someone stop us! We just don't know when to stop, but maybe that's a good thing in the end. Wish us luck as our family continues to expand over the years. I hope to still have my sanity when I'm in my forties!

p.s. I soon found out after being labeled a pinko that it is actually a derogatory term for people who are communist sympathizers. Oh well... Not in my family!

Bit by the Baby Bug

*As a female of a certain age and marital status. I can't help but get all goo-goo-eyed when I see either an expecting mother or a baby. It's like my insides get all mushy, and my hormones start to sway. I swear they should make a pill to keep women from wanting to "talk baby" to every infant they see.

*Now I was born with a strong maternal side. I knew as early as elementary school that my calling in life was to be a full time Mom. The whole have a job, make a career, and climb the ladder sounded about as appealing as gnawing my own leg off. Even my family could see that I was never going to make it in the job market. They would tell me that I need to marry a rich man, so I wouldn't have to work. If that didn't work, they thought I would be a great secretary (thank you, family, for always helping me to reach beyond the stars...) Their support and confidence in my abilities left me blushing (or is that offended). Anyway, they we're right about my place in life not being a bread winner.

*Have you ever seen that out of fashion Mom lugging about at least 4 kids and looking like she might snap if one of her little darlings dared to swab another booger on her jeans. I'm a bit like Jekyll and Hyde as I sit back and think "That poor crazy woman... I can't wait to be like her!" I can see how hard and isolating it will be to stay at home with kids. On the other hand, I feel like it is the only thing I will truly be happy doing. That's the thing with callings in life. They aren't always to easiest ways to go, but it is the only way you will truly feel fulfilled.

*Now I don't plan on being pregnant for a very long time, but you better believe I will be showing of my water melon belly and making other womens hormones sway when I am!

Life as a celebrity

- - - Recently I was lucky enough to get a taste of the life celebrities live. okay so it was a tiny tiny taste, maybe even just a lick. It was a situation where my life was posted for everyone to read. well, now that I think about it, probably only a hand full of people saw it. The point is: I felt the sensation of seeing something very personal put into a story, twisted, and then regurgitated for the world to see.

- - - Now you are asking me, Mary did someone write about your fabulous weekend spent in San Antonio? no, but it was a weekend to remember. Mary did someone write about the amazing plastic bag holder that you bought at Wal-mart? wrong again, but it is my best purchase this week.

- - - Instead of all those good topics, someone decided instead to write about my dog.... to be blunt, my dead dog... my dead dog that I had to watch slowly die... My dog died of distemper less than two weeks from when we adopted her from a local shelter, a shelter that has gotten a lot of publicity (not the good kind) lately for possible inhumane issues. A shelter that many people are trying to discredit in an effort to get new management.

- - - Let's take a walk though the day... At this point, it has been a week since Lucy passed away, and I've finally stopped crying about it. Imagine my surprise when a close friend calls me apologizing profusely for an article written about me without permission. to be honest, I didn't see the big deal at first. I went to the website and read my very personal and private e-mail that I had sent to my good friend detailing the ailments and sufferings of my dog before she died.

- - - It was my e-mail, but slightly re-worded and added on. The blog author, wanting to discredit the shelter more, added words like "supposedly". I've never meet this woman in my entire life, I never gave her permission to use my story for her own purposes, and my friend that told her the story made sure she knew that I chose not to go public with it. but still, those personal, painful, and plagiarized words were glowing on my computer screen.

- - - Not only was my life plastered for the world to see like some entertaining news story, she had apparently been trying to contact my vet for more information. this broke the straw on the camels back. Let me just say our vet is amazing. She let me call 5 times a day to ask her the stupidest questions about Lucy and she was supportive every time. If this stupid blogger woman was going to cause me to loose my vet due to the trouble we were causing her... well ... I'm a Christian woman, but there was going to have to be blood shed...

- - - Of course I got the name and number of the author and called her to remove the story immediately, and of course she conveniently did not answer her cell phone or home phone. Praise God, later that day the blog post had be reduced to a few sentences, and she wrote that she would stop trying to contact our vet.

So I wasn't really a celebrity (the woman didn't even use my name in the post) but I did feel how personally it can hit you when the media tries to manipulate something you say or do. Next time that I'm blowing off time in the Wal-mart check out line, I will not pick up the latest tabloid, but instead reach for the Martha Stewart cooking magazine. I might also buy that huge box of matches that are always in the impulse buy section. who really buys matches that way! Okay, I'll save that rant for the next post..........bye!