I haven't posted in awhile or really had the desire to, so here is a random list of things you probably don't know about me. Enjoy and consider posting your list of 10 things people probably don't know about you!
1. I write... my deceased grandmother letters almost every week. I used to have a pile of them that I planned on putting on her grave, but recently I started throwing them out.
2. I am addicted to... Big Bang Theory and Full House reruns. That's about all I watch in the evenings.
3. I absolutely hate... the color of my car. When I picked out my car they only had black in the lot. So they shipped the blue one in from another dealer. However, in person, I actually hated the color and now I have to live with it for 10 more years.
4. I would classify myself as... a jelly bean addict.
5. I cannot stand... when someone is mumbling to themselves loud enough for me to hear it and mistake their private thoughts as public ones. I always ask "What did you say?" and when the response is "Oh nothing I was talking to myself" I want to pull my hair out.
6. When I'm bored... I Pinterest the words "ginkgo" "garden" "pitbull" and "tree"
7. I dream... that I have skipped weeks of French class and the day I decide to go back, there's a huge test and I'm freaking out about it during passing period. I have this dream about once a week.
8. I wish I could... avoid talking on the phone with just about everyone. I would much rather text all day than text. I hate awkward silences and the "goodbye" part.
9. I hope... some day that I will able to foster at risk pitbulls and help them find wonderful homes.
10. I enjoy... doing laundry since receiving a new washing machine as a birthday gift from my parents. It's so much fun now.
April 23, 2014
February 21, 2014
You only need the light when it's burning low
My heart is a special kind of broken today.
I have written and rewritten this post 3 times. I don't know what I want to say.
On Saturday, my parents and I went to visit my dad's dad in the rehab hospital he has been living in for 2 years. For some reason I had a desire to go and visit him, it had been awhile. I think actually the last time I saw him was Christmas. We went, had lunch with him and visited. He was looking very thin, and was even refusing to eat the ice cream that came with lunch. I gave him a hard time about it because he is known for loving sweets. It was a difficult visit, all he wanted to do was sleep and go home.
When he was finally put back into his bed, I went into his room to say goodbye before we left.
"Hi Grandpa, it's Amy. Your favorite granddaughter."
"*chuckles* How are you?"
"I just wanted to say goodbye, I am going to leave with everyone."
"Oh you have to leave?"
"Yeah, we are going to go get lunch."
"Ok"
"But I wanted to say goodbye. And be good!"
"I'm always good."
"Haha, well keep being good for Grandma. I will see you soon."
"Thanks for coming to see me. It was good to see you. You should come visit me again soon."
"I will, as long as you are good!" *kiss on the cheek* "Love you Grandpa."
Unfortunately, I won't be able to go back and visit him. On Wednesday, his blood pressure dropped and there was nothing we could do. He passed peacefully with my grandma next to him, holding his hand.
"You should come visit me again soon"
Grandpa, I wish I could. I wish I could.
If I thought I had made any progress with my last post about my grandma (mom's mom), it's all gone. All of the guilt is back, except this time it's because I didn't visit him enough. I wasn't there enough to cherish his last days. I wasn't a good enough granddaughter.
I have written and rewritten this post 3 times. I don't know what I want to say.
On Saturday, my parents and I went to visit my dad's dad in the rehab hospital he has been living in for 2 years. For some reason I had a desire to go and visit him, it had been awhile. I think actually the last time I saw him was Christmas. We went, had lunch with him and visited. He was looking very thin, and was even refusing to eat the ice cream that came with lunch. I gave him a hard time about it because he is known for loving sweets. It was a difficult visit, all he wanted to do was sleep and go home.
When he was finally put back into his bed, I went into his room to say goodbye before we left.
"Hi Grandpa, it's Amy. Your favorite granddaughter."
"*chuckles* How are you?"
"I just wanted to say goodbye, I am going to leave with everyone."
"Oh you have to leave?"
"Yeah, we are going to go get lunch."
"Ok"
"But I wanted to say goodbye. And be good!"
"I'm always good."
"Haha, well keep being good for Grandma. I will see you soon."
"Thanks for coming to see me. It was good to see you. You should come visit me again soon."
"I will, as long as you are good!" *kiss on the cheek* "Love you Grandpa."
Unfortunately, I won't be able to go back and visit him. On Wednesday, his blood pressure dropped and there was nothing we could do. He passed peacefully with my grandma next to him, holding his hand.
"You should come visit me again soon"
Grandpa, I wish I could. I wish I could.
If I thought I had made any progress with my last post about my grandma (mom's mom), it's all gone. All of the guilt is back, except this time it's because I didn't visit him enough. I wasn't there enough to cherish his last days. I wasn't a good enough granddaughter.
Staring at the ceiling in the dark
Same old empty feeling in your heart
Rest in Eternal Peace, Grandpa Joe. I love and miss you already. Love, Amy
February 17, 2014
Let Her Go
5 months later, I am still struggling to accept losing my grandma in such a sudden heartbreaking, and devastating way, as well as witnessing it.
I actually decided to talk to a professional about the dreams/nightmares and inability to work past the sorrow and grief. So far, even after only 1 session, he has been extremely helpful. One thing he advises me to do is to avoid feeling guilty for my feelings. One way I could do that is by writing.
I wasn't sure what to write about that I haven't already written. Then a song came on the radio that brought me back to the hospital room. It's called "Let Her Go" by Passenger. It came out around the time that Grandma Dot passed away. The song is actually about a guy who realizes that the woman he let go was his true love. However, there are a few lines of the song that speak to me in relation to my grandma. Whenever I hear this song, it usually causes me to cry.
Here is the song on Youtube. Listen to it in the background and maybe you can understand how I am relating a love song to the loss of a very important person in my life. Here are the lyrics that speak to me and why.
I completely 100% took my grandma (and grandpa for that matter) for granted. I took for granted all of the cards she sent on holidays and birthdays. I took for granted the thoughtful gifts she sent. I took for granted the card games we played in the kitchen. I took her famous macaroni salad for granted. I took all the toys she saved for us in the basement. I took the fact that she used to iron our bedsheets when we visited for granted. I took her love for granted. I feel like this verse is saying you don't know what you have until it is gone.... and that is exactly how I feel at this time. I feel extreme guilt for taking all of that for granted, and realizing it too late.
I will never see her again in this life. I will never see her smile or twinkle in her eye when she got silly. I will never hear her laugh or the way she scolded Doug and me for being naughty. Now, I can only see her when I close my eyes. Unfortunately, I only see the bad moments; the hospital, the casket, the lack of smile and color on her face. Hopefully some day when I close my eyes, I will see all of the wonderful things about her instead.
As I eluded in the post I wrote about her (Silent Night), I have spent many nights unable to sleep. And when I did sleep, many nights were full of nightmares. Even now when I go to bed, I stare at the ceiling trying to imagine her up there with her parents and my grandpa's parents. Trying to imagine that all of her pain is gone and she is able to be with everyone she loves and missed. But the empty feeling still feels my heart and I feel selfish because she isn't here with me. I'll never get to touch her and feel her love in the physical sense. I found out too late how much I really love her.
I need to let her go. She would want it that way.
Thank you for reading. Or not reading. I guess this isn't actually for everyone else's reading pleasure, it's more for me. Regardless, I hope I haven't offended anyone, as this was purely therapy.
I actually decided to talk to a professional about the dreams/nightmares and inability to work past the sorrow and grief. So far, even after only 1 session, he has been extremely helpful. One thing he advises me to do is to avoid feeling guilty for my feelings. One way I could do that is by writing.
I wasn't sure what to write about that I haven't already written. Then a song came on the radio that brought me back to the hospital room. It's called "Let Her Go" by Passenger. It came out around the time that Grandma Dot passed away. The song is actually about a guy who realizes that the woman he let go was his true love. However, there are a few lines of the song that speak to me in relation to my grandma. Whenever I hear this song, it usually causes me to cry.
Here is the song on Youtube. Listen to it in the background and maybe you can understand how I am relating a love song to the loss of a very important person in my life. Here are the lyrics that speak to me and why.
Well you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go
Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go
And you let her go
Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go
And you let her go
I completely 100% took my grandma (and grandpa for that matter) for granted. I took for granted all of the cards she sent on holidays and birthdays. I took for granted the thoughtful gifts she sent. I took for granted the card games we played in the kitchen. I took her famous macaroni salad for granted. I took all the toys she saved for us in the basement. I took the fact that she used to iron our bedsheets when we visited for granted. I took her love for granted. I feel like this verse is saying you don't know what you have until it is gone.... and that is exactly how I feel at this time. I feel extreme guilt for taking all of that for granted, and realizing it too late.
You see her when you close your eyes
Maybe one day you'll understand why
Maybe one day you'll understand why
I will never see her again in this life. I will never see her smile or twinkle in her eye when she got silly. I will never hear her laugh or the way she scolded Doug and me for being naughty. Now, I can only see her when I close my eyes. Unfortunately, I only see the bad moments; the hospital, the casket, the lack of smile and color on her face. Hopefully some day when I close my eyes, I will see all of the wonderful things about her instead.
Staring at the ceiling in the dark
Same old empty feeling in your heart
'Cause love comes slow and it goes so fast
Well you see her when you fall asleep
But never to touch and never to keep
'Cause you loved her too much...
Same old empty feeling in your heart
'Cause love comes slow and it goes so fast
Well you see her when you fall asleep
But never to touch and never to keep
'Cause you loved her too much...
As I eluded in the post I wrote about her (Silent Night), I have spent many nights unable to sleep. And when I did sleep, many nights were full of nightmares. Even now when I go to bed, I stare at the ceiling trying to imagine her up there with her parents and my grandpa's parents. Trying to imagine that all of her pain is gone and she is able to be with everyone she loves and missed. But the empty feeling still feels my heart and I feel selfish because she isn't here with me. I'll never get to touch her and feel her love in the physical sense. I found out too late how much I really love her.
And you let her go
I need to let her go. She would want it that way.
Thank you for reading. Or not reading. I guess this isn't actually for everyone else's reading pleasure, it's more for me. Regardless, I hope I haven't offended anyone, as this was purely therapy.
January 29, 2014
Stepping into craftiness
So I am definitely not as creative as my mom or Stephanie, but this holiday season I wanted to try! I love getting a creative little gift or trinket or seeing how people turn every day items into cute little masterpieces. Here are a few things I created this Christmas!
1. Hot Cocoa Mugs
I have 20 fellow full time coworkers at my job. (I know, we are tiny!) Last year I got everyone a small, adorable poinsettia. I thought it was a cute gift from the horticulture person. Well, this year with paying for the house, Leia, and living on my own has left me a little more strapped for cash. My mom found a pattern on Pinterest for a cute, construction paper mug. She made them for a favor for a volunteer holiday party at her work. So I copied her idea and made them for my coworkers! I bought a pack of different flavored hot chocolate to put inside each mug.
2. Sparkly Santa Ornaments
I really like giving ornaments with Christmas gifts for some reason. But, again, money was a little tight this Christmas I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought I could give it a try! Here is the original pin I saw. My mom saw a picture in a catalog of making them into Santa bellies. Since I don't have any way to monogram, I thought this could be fun! I needed a pack of glass ornaments, Mop N Glow, red glitter, black ribbon, and gold paper.
- You fill the ornament with mop n glow, and swirl it around the ornament evenly
- Add a large amount of red glitter and swirl it around so it covers the entire ornament. Then pour out the access
- Let it dry upside for a few hours (I let it dry for a day before moving them around)
- Put the cap back on the ornament only AFTER the glitter is completely dried on to the ornament
- I cut a piece of black ribbon for the belt and glued on with two sided crafting tape
- I wrote the recipient's name with silver sharpie on the back of the black ribbon
- I borrowed a buckle punch and cut some belt buckles out of gold paper and glued on with two sided crafting tape
- Then I topped it off with a green ribbon to hang off the tree.
WARNING: I found if you wait too long between adding the Mop N Glo and glitter, the glitter doesn't set very well. Be quick between those two steps!
3. Christmas Cards
My wonderfully talented mom and aunt always make their own Christmas cards, and this year I wanted to send one from me and my house (and puppy). One thing I can't stand is tedious card making, so I spent a lot of time online looking for an inspriation for something that wouldn't take years and years for me to do. I found something similar to this and thought I could totally do it!
All I basically needed to do is find some green ribbon and some two sided tape! My mom, of course, had a hoard of green ribbon for me to choose from. I'm so bummed, I didn't get a picture of each type of ribbon! I used this organza, glitter, smooth, and ribbed for the trees, so there were 4 different trees you could have gotten! Then we found some sparkly silver, gold, and white stars. I found some wood-grain paper in my mom's craft room and cut stumps for the trees and finally added some Christmas gifts under the trees.
I was a little underwhelmed by the starkness of the card. If I could redo anything, it would be the color of the card. But live and learn!
What sort of crafty things did you do this winter?
1. Hot Cocoa Mugs
I have 20 fellow full time coworkers at my job. (I know, we are tiny!) Last year I got everyone a small, adorable poinsettia. I thought it was a cute gift from the horticulture person. Well, this year with paying for the house, Leia, and living on my own has left me a little more strapped for cash. My mom found a pattern on Pinterest for a cute, construction paper mug. She made them for a favor for a volunteer holiday party at her work. So I copied her idea and made them for my coworkers! I bought a pack of different flavored hot chocolate to put inside each mug.
2. Sparkly Santa Ornaments
I really like giving ornaments with Christmas gifts for some reason. But, again, money was a little tight this Christmas I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought I could give it a try! Here is the original pin I saw. My mom saw a picture in a catalog of making them into Santa bellies. Since I don't have any way to monogram, I thought this could be fun! I needed a pack of glass ornaments, Mop N Glow, red glitter, black ribbon, and gold paper.
- You fill the ornament with mop n glow, and swirl it around the ornament evenly
- Add a large amount of red glitter and swirl it around so it covers the entire ornament. Then pour out the access
- Let it dry upside for a few hours (I let it dry for a day before moving them around)
- Put the cap back on the ornament only AFTER the glitter is completely dried on to the ornament
- I cut a piece of black ribbon for the belt and glued on with two sided crafting tape
- I wrote the recipient's name with silver sharpie on the back of the black ribbon
- I borrowed a buckle punch and cut some belt buckles out of gold paper and glued on with two sided crafting tape
- Then I topped it off with a green ribbon to hang off the tree.
WARNING: I found if you wait too long between adding the Mop N Glo and glitter, the glitter doesn't set very well. Be quick between those two steps!
3. Christmas Cards
My wonderfully talented mom and aunt always make their own Christmas cards, and this year I wanted to send one from me and my house (and puppy). One thing I can't stand is tedious card making, so I spent a lot of time online looking for an inspriation for something that wouldn't take years and years for me to do. I found something similar to this and thought I could totally do it!
All I basically needed to do is find some green ribbon and some two sided tape! My mom, of course, had a hoard of green ribbon for me to choose from. I'm so bummed, I didn't get a picture of each type of ribbon! I used this organza, glitter, smooth, and ribbed for the trees, so there were 4 different trees you could have gotten! Then we found some sparkly silver, gold, and white stars. I found some wood-grain paper in my mom's craft room and cut stumps for the trees and finally added some Christmas gifts under the trees.
I was a little underwhelmed by the starkness of the card. If I could redo anything, it would be the color of the card. But live and learn!
What sort of crafty things did you do this winter?
January 26, 2014
Home for the Holidays
In MY home for the holidays!
As
I eluded in the post I wrote about my grandma, I was definitely weary
of the holiday season. While we normally celebrated Christmas during our
Thanksgiving visit and my grandma would still send a cute, thoughtful card and a stocking full
of silly gifts. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about none of that
happening this year.
I needed to distract myself from this sad reality.... And one
thing I love to do is decorate for the holidays, so I sort of went
crazy this year. It was the first Christmas in my new house! My first tree! My first traditions!
You don't even know how long it took me to decorate this tree. It is my grandma's old tree and it probably took me 2 days to fluff! Then I didn't buy enough garland, so it is sort of incomplete. Add how many millions of needles dropped off it, the branch that felt apart, and how you could see straight through it at some angles... Haha
I just LOVE seeing wrapped presents underneath the tree. My first tree!
My mantle. Sadly, I didn't have any obnoxious lights on my mantle this holiday, but both Leia and I had stockings and I also displayed my grandma's nativity.
Got Leia some gifts to fill her stocking on Christmas Day. The stocking says, "Dear Santa, I've been a very good doggie."
Decided to carry on the tradition my mom does at her house by putting up Christmas cards we receive on a door. For my first year, I thought I received a decent amount!
One of my end tables had a small Christmas trees with a few ornaments my grandma used to put on her tree, her old tree topper, her old "Noel" figurines, and one of the angles she collected. It was a way for me to celebrate with her
There you have it! The first Christmas in my very own house. It was very much wonderful!
November 17, 2013
Mortgages and escrows and short sales
.... Oh my!
I can't believe it has almost been a year since I bought my first house! Well, I'll be clear, it's not like I threw down a couple G's and bought the house outright, I put down my down payment and signed the papers on November 28, 2012. Let me tell you, sitting in a room with my real estate lawyer and real estate agents was a big "grown up" moment for me. I didn't even ask my parents to come along!
Like I mentioned in my update post, I probably dragged my parents to about 25 properties over the span of a month. I pretty much required their presence at every house. I needed to have both of their opinions, no matter what!
I actually felt in love with a different house. I was head over heals for the open layout and fire place and location. After a day of thinking about it, I contacted my agent to get the process started of making an offer. Just as I went to gaze at the pictures one last time, I noticed that there was already an offer on the table. I would be lying if I say I didn't cry about losing that house. I actually sent my agent an email with a bunch of sad faces. Real grown up, Amy!
Luckily, he understood my disappointment and urged me to keep looking. There were plenty of properties in the area with my requirements. Which by the way, was a garage... and a garage. I didn't really have many more amenities that I NEEDED to have. Outside of the price, I was pretty darn flexible.
The next time the four of us trekked out, I ended up stumbling across a house that was similar to the one that I lost. And the situation was very unique. The house was in a short sale and the seller had an offer for the house, but a few days prior, they found out the buyer was planning on renting the unit instead of living in it. Unforutnately for him, the Association doesn't allow renters so the buyer dropped his offer. The seller was days away from being foreclosed and the previous buyer's offer would be valid with the bank for another 30 days.
From there, time was on fast forward. I found a broker who helped me find a mortgage company, my credit was checked, and an offer was placed. Then a home inspector, a radon test, and furniture was purchased. The entire process went very smoothly, there were no problems and in literally 30 days I had my first house!!!
Well, to be clear, I'm not in a stand alone house, I live in a quad, classified as a townhome. But it's perfect for me and Leia. It's 2 levels with 2 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. And it has a fireplace, which turns out to be my absolute favorite part of the house. It also has a fenced in porch and balcony... perfect for enjoying the weather when you don't have your own lawn! There's laundry in my house and an attached single garage. Perfect little bachelorette pad!
Even thought it's almost been year, I just hung curtains with the help of my parents, just a few weeks ago. Did you know how expensive those things are?? I am still missing a lot of things I'd like to have in the house, but every day Leia and I keep making it more and more a home.
It's currently dark and close to bed time, so I think a future post will have some before and after pictures. Oh, and brace yourselves for the holidays... the place will be DRIPPING in Christmas. I am so excited! :D
I can't believe it has almost been a year since I bought my first house! Well, I'll be clear, it's not like I threw down a couple G's and bought the house outright, I put down my down payment and signed the papers on November 28, 2012. Let me tell you, sitting in a room with my real estate lawyer and real estate agents was a big "grown up" moment for me. I didn't even ask my parents to come along!
Like I mentioned in my update post, I probably dragged my parents to about 25 properties over the span of a month. I pretty much required their presence at every house. I needed to have both of their opinions, no matter what!
I actually felt in love with a different house. I was head over heals for the open layout and fire place and location. After a day of thinking about it, I contacted my agent to get the process started of making an offer. Just as I went to gaze at the pictures one last time, I noticed that there was already an offer on the table. I would be lying if I say I didn't cry about losing that house. I actually sent my agent an email with a bunch of sad faces. Real grown up, Amy!
Luckily, he understood my disappointment and urged me to keep looking. There were plenty of properties in the area with my requirements. Which by the way, was a garage... and a garage. I didn't really have many more amenities that I NEEDED to have. Outside of the price, I was pretty darn flexible.
The next time the four of us trekked out, I ended up stumbling across a house that was similar to the one that I lost. And the situation was very unique. The house was in a short sale and the seller had an offer for the house, but a few days prior, they found out the buyer was planning on renting the unit instead of living in it. Unforutnately for him, the Association doesn't allow renters so the buyer dropped his offer. The seller was days away from being foreclosed and the previous buyer's offer would be valid with the bank for another 30 days.
From there, time was on fast forward. I found a broker who helped me find a mortgage company, my credit was checked, and an offer was placed. Then a home inspector, a radon test, and furniture was purchased. The entire process went very smoothly, there were no problems and in literally 30 days I had my first house!!!
Well, to be clear, I'm not in a stand alone house, I live in a quad, classified as a townhome. But it's perfect for me and Leia. It's 2 levels with 2 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. And it has a fireplace, which turns out to be my absolute favorite part of the house. It also has a fenced in porch and balcony... perfect for enjoying the weather when you don't have your own lawn! There's laundry in my house and an attached single garage. Perfect little bachelorette pad!
Even thought it's almost been year, I just hung curtains with the help of my parents, just a few weeks ago. Did you know how expensive those things are?? I am still missing a lot of things I'd like to have in the house, but every day Leia and I keep making it more and more a home.
It's currently dark and close to bed time, so I think a future post will have some before and after pictures. Oh, and brace yourselves for the holidays... the place will be DRIPPING in Christmas. I am so excited! :D
November 3, 2013
Puppy Love
Besides moving out and buying my first house, one of my biggest desires was to adopt a puppy. Well, this desire has been strong since I was about 10 years old. I remember Doug and I begging our parents for a dog throughout our entire childhood. Both my parents answered with a resounding "no." I think some of it had to do with how terrible Doug and I took care of our hamsters.....
But anyway. To settle us down, my dad promised that as soon as we owned or lived in our own place, he would buy us our first dog. So you can imagine my excitement when I closed on my house. I could barely contain myself as I prepared the house for moving in.
I think it was about 4 weeks after living in my house when I decided I couldn't wait any longer and dragged my family to 3 adoption shows one Saturday. I remember it was really cold and snowy but I was determined to start my search for a furry friend. It was actually at the first show we stopped at where I met my purrrrfect little puppy! Her foster name was Maroma and I couldn't stop thinking about her all day! I was so excited and her foster mom was super nice. She gave me her number and helped with the entire process.
After filling out an application, doing a home check, and buying all the supplies, Leia came to live with me. I was SO EXCITED! Except... it was definitely not a joyous first month. In fact, a few times I thought maybe I couldn't handle being a dog owner! Leia was about 8 months old and VERY rambunctious. I didn't have any experience with young dogs and had no clue what to do. She was very mouthy and wanted to play with her teeth. She also had this little game where she would lunge at my feet and bark. Non stop barking. I spent a few nights crying because I felt like such a failure. Thankfully, my friend Gina asked one of her friends for some suggestions on raising a young pitbull.
They worked! I needed to establish who the boss was and I really never thought of that. She was rescued from an abandoned building downtown and brought to a kill shelter in Chicago. Then from there, she was brought to a foster where she stayed for a few months. And then was moved to my house. I didn't really think about all she had been through in her first 8 months of life. After we established that I was indeed the boss of the house, things started to go wonderfully! The barking stopped, too!! :)
Outside of all the accidents in the house for the first few months (and all the paper towels I went through), she has been a wonderfully little lady. We went to 2 training courses through Petsmart and she can sit, down, short stay, heel, come, return, off (still need some work on that one), and shake. We have a lot of work to do.... we need to work on a long stay, a better off, and a better drop it. She is a horrible puller on walks and that has been a struggle. But I am using walking aids to help with that.
My parents were surprised and my choice of a mid sized pitbull. They both assumed that I was going to go for a small cuddly dog. But I told everyone during the entire process that I was just looking for the perfect fit. Anyway, it didn't take long for Leia to fall in love with my mom. SERIOUS love with my mom. When she sees her, she is ridiculously excited. Most of the time she cant contain it, it's really cute. My dad, on the other hand... she has always played very rough with him. Well, it turns out it wasn't just my dad, she plays rough with all men. Not sure what that's about... but she has gotten much better and now they even sit nicely together!!!
One thing I do is take a TON of pictures of her. I'm pretty sure that's all my instagram is... haha. Here are a few of my favorites from my phone.
Leia's picture on the adoption agency's website Leia's first night with me chewing a bone
Her goofy smile is basically my favoritest thing Her first experience in snow!
Her silly personality slowly started to snow I mean, come on. This cracks me up
In winter we went to a tennis court to play She loves squeaky toys more than anything
This is how she sits when I eat dinner ha So comfy in my bed
Aww lookit that smile! Playing outside is our favorite thing to do!
My little pumpkin Cuddling up on Halloween
She is basically the best roommate.... except she never makes dinner, cleans up, or scoops up her poops. I can easily overlook all that just so have her happy smile around all the time! I need to start planning our anniversary! :)
But anyway. To settle us down, my dad promised that as soon as we owned or lived in our own place, he would buy us our first dog. So you can imagine my excitement when I closed on my house. I could barely contain myself as I prepared the house for moving in.
I think it was about 4 weeks after living in my house when I decided I couldn't wait any longer and dragged my family to 3 adoption shows one Saturday. I remember it was really cold and snowy but I was determined to start my search for a furry friend. It was actually at the first show we stopped at where I met my purrrrfect little puppy! Her foster name was Maroma and I couldn't stop thinking about her all day! I was so excited and her foster mom was super nice. She gave me her number and helped with the entire process.
After filling out an application, doing a home check, and buying all the supplies, Leia came to live with me. I was SO EXCITED! Except... it was definitely not a joyous first month. In fact, a few times I thought maybe I couldn't handle being a dog owner! Leia was about 8 months old and VERY rambunctious. I didn't have any experience with young dogs and had no clue what to do. She was very mouthy and wanted to play with her teeth. She also had this little game where she would lunge at my feet and bark. Non stop barking. I spent a few nights crying because I felt like such a failure. Thankfully, my friend Gina asked one of her friends for some suggestions on raising a young pitbull.
They worked! I needed to establish who the boss was and I really never thought of that. She was rescued from an abandoned building downtown and brought to a kill shelter in Chicago. Then from there, she was brought to a foster where she stayed for a few months. And then was moved to my house. I didn't really think about all she had been through in her first 8 months of life. After we established that I was indeed the boss of the house, things started to go wonderfully! The barking stopped, too!! :)
Outside of all the accidents in the house for the first few months (and all the paper towels I went through), she has been a wonderfully little lady. We went to 2 training courses through Petsmart and she can sit, down, short stay, heel, come, return, off (still need some work on that one), and shake. We have a lot of work to do.... we need to work on a long stay, a better off, and a better drop it. She is a horrible puller on walks and that has been a struggle. But I am using walking aids to help with that.
My parents were surprised and my choice of a mid sized pitbull. They both assumed that I was going to go for a small cuddly dog. But I told everyone during the entire process that I was just looking for the perfect fit. Anyway, it didn't take long for Leia to fall in love with my mom. SERIOUS love with my mom. When she sees her, she is ridiculously excited. Most of the time she cant contain it, it's really cute. My dad, on the other hand... she has always played very rough with him. Well, it turns out it wasn't just my dad, she plays rough with all men. Not sure what that's about... but she has gotten much better and now they even sit nicely together!!!
This is a pretty rare moment, where the two of them sit nicely together! :P
One thing I do is take a TON of pictures of her. I'm pretty sure that's all my instagram is... haha. Here are a few of my favorites from my phone.
Haha I love her face so much She really does sleep like this!
Another squeaky toy!!! "Hy mom, this couch is so comfy"
She loves a good car ride! And hanging out at my parent's house
She is basically the best roommate.... except she never makes dinner, cleans up, or scoops up her poops. I can easily overlook all that just so have her happy smile around all the time! I need to start planning our anniversary! :)
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