Come On Get Happy

OK, my last two posts have had a kind of depressing tone what with all the talk about dead people and such. So, today let's get our happy on. Time to cheer up, stop and smell the roses, count our blessings, etc. You get the idea.

So, I am going to list some things that have made me happy recently. It's not been the best couple weeks or so, but little things (and not so little things) have happened here and there that have put a smile on my face.

*Figuring out how to play fetch with my new doggie pet sitting client, Montana. Now, this is no small feat. This dog does not really fetch. He runs for the ball, comes running back with it, and then either runs past you or stops several feet in front of you and waits for you to chase him (something my semi-arthritic knees will not usually let me do, at least not at a very fast pace). So, he and I came up with the two-ball fetch game. I throw one ball, he runs to get it. When he gets back to me with it, I show him the other ball and throw it. He drops the one in his mouth and goes running off after the second one, and we repeat the process. Pretty fun actually. (His sister Dixie just sits and watches us like we're crazy.)

*Opening my mailbox and finding a check from a client. I have a PO box I use for my pet sitting, so I make a few trips to the post office every week, trying to keep it from filling up with junk mail for the most part. But when I open up that box and find a payment from one of my clients, it always puts a smile on my face. I love what I do, and I do it so I can spend time with animals and help pet owners out when they want/need to go out of town and just do not want to put their pets in a kennel or some such. But let's face it, if I wasn't getting paid for it, I wouldn't be doing it. Heck, I COULDN'T do it.

*Winning something. Last year, I won a gift basket for my kitties from Hartz worth around $500. (Have to thank my Facebook friends for that one as they voted on a picture of my cat Eddie that I entered for the "Stinky Pee" contest. Yeah, she won a stinky pee contest. Weird I know.) I also won an Oreck air purifier worth about $300 on my friend Angie's blog. (If you haven't gone there yet, check out Catladyland. She's a hoot.) A few weeks ago, I won a Hepper Pod cat bed worth about $100 through the My Himalayan Cat Goma blog. And just this week I won a gift basket for my kitties worth close to $90 from the Pet News and Views blog. This basket includes a Drink Well pet fountain. I have wanted to get one of those for years. My guys will love it I'm sure. (Now, if only my luck would carry over to the lottery, I'd be especially happy.)

*New med for the hubs seems to be working. And most important of all, my hubs (who has been ill and suffering from constant pain for 2+ years now) has been put on a new med that seems like it might be helping a bit. He has constant joint and overall muscle pain, and nothing gets rid of it completely. We recently went to a pain specialist who prescribed a med that has been around for years and is not used very often any longer. He told us to stop the Celebrex the hubby has been taking and start this one. So, after contacting all his other doctors to make sure it wouldn't interfere with other meds he's on and such, we started it almost 2 weeks ago. After several days, it dawned on me that he hadn't complained about his hands hurting him. The joints in his hands seem to have had the worst of it for a while now. I asked him about it and he said he didn't even realize, but they weren't hurting. How cool is that? Add that to the fact that with his insurance, the Celebrex is a $64 med but the new med is only about $6, and it's a double WOOT!. (Keeping fingers crossed that this is a situation that continues to improve.) All I know is, he has been able to hug me and hold my hand more in the past several days than he has in the past year. That's the very absolute best part.   :-)

So, those are my happy things for the day. Whenever something happens that makes me feel bad, angry or sad, I try to look for happy things to hold on to. Big things or little, there's almost always something there to grab hold of and squeeze for dear life.

Have a great day and keep happy thoughts.

Things to Do

Ah, Tuesday. The week isn't even half over, but at least it's not Monday. Woke up two-and-a-half hours before the alarm was set to go off, and couldn't go back to sleep. Oh well. The morning/early afternoon is filled with a med appointment for the hubs and pet sitting for Jack the Parkway cat, a wonderfully delightful client I must say, then it's back home for.....a nap. Yes, I see a nap in my near future.

Google here has the right idea. But then, he is a cat after all.

Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month

June is National Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month, and you all know how I feel about cats. They are wonderful animals full of love and mischief. They make great companions, friends, bed-warmers. They are nothing if not honest and will let you know exactly how they feel about you, your friends and your family. They are full of personality.

So, if you are looking for a great companion, someone who will accept you as you are, then make you into just what they want you to be (just kidding - sort of), then head down to your local shelter and adopt a cat. (For those in my area, I am offering pet sitting discounts if you adopt.)

Now, that's not to say shelter dogs don't still need good homes, and please go to the local shelters if you are looking for a dog as well. (And remember, October is National-Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month.)

Adventures In Pet Sitting

Remember Emma and Gracie, my first official pet sitting clients?

They are just the cutest things, aren't they?

I got the chance to pet sit for these two again over Memorial Day weekend, making me one of the happiest people in NC that weekend. I love these girls. They are adorable, lovable...frustrating. :)

OK, the frustrating part: Emma gave me my first job-related injury on Sunday morning. It was a great morning really. Emma ran around outside more than anything, while Gracie sat with me in the living room. We rough-housed a bit (she loves to growl back and forth with you). The weather wasn't too bad, so I left the back door open so Emma could come and go as she liked. She mostly stayed out.

Time to leave and I got Gracie in her crate with no problem. No sign of Emma. I walked around the house to find her in the yard "playing" with a chipmunk. (Little critter was beyond playing by that time.) I tried to get it away from her, and she was having none of it. She managed to drop it, and I got my hand under her collar to pull her away. She was barking and yelping, I was fussing...I'm sure the neighbors thought I was killing the poor girl. She wanted that chipmunk bad.

At one point during all this, she twisted and went under my arm trying to make her way to where the chipmunk lay in the grass. When she twisted around, my fingers got caught up in her collar and got yanked good and hard. I managed to keep myself from saying the words that came immediately to mind as I extracted my finger from the collar. Wow...that hurt like heck.

My mind finally kicked in and I went back into the house and got Emma's leash. She saw that in my hand and came running, chipmunk firmly in mouth. I hooked her up, managed to get her to drop the chipmunk and led her to her crate. All this time, my finger was throbbing like crazy.

I guess the finger was just bruised pretty good. Got one of those little finger braces and have been wearing it. I could barely bend the finger for a bit, but now I can make a fist without much pain in that finger. I still wear the brace at night since it seems I manage to bang it around in my sleep.

Funny thing is, it was my middle finger. Perfect.

I still love these dogs.

Pet Sitting Blog

I'm writing this under Muffin's watchful eyes. Well, figuratively speaking I guess.

I own the URL for my pet sitting business, but haven't been able to get a website built yet. Everyone I've contacted about doing it seems to be too busy, or just too busy to even get back to me at all. So, for now, I have started up a blog for it (http://www.tccrittersitters.blogspot.com/). It's not much yet, but it will grow. I have posted my services/rates list there as well, so that will help a bit. Once the site is up, I can just include a link to the blog and keep it going with stories about my pet sitting "adventures."

So, let's see, that brings my blog count up to four. I think I'll hold there for a while. :-)

Business Logo

When I decided to start my pet sitting business, I searched around for some sort of artwork to use as a logo. My search on the net brought me across the picture above. It was posted with a statement that anyone who wanted to use it was welcome to. Well, it was pretty close to what I was looking for, but not quite. For one, it shows only dogs, and my business isn't limited to just canines. So, I put out a call to people I knew who were artists, and my friend Gera Girard answered that call. I told her my ideas about adding in a bird cage and fish bowl on either end of the couch, as well as changing the hair to look a bit more like me...and of course adding in cats. She took those ideas and ran with them.







This is what Gera came up with and I am happy as can be. I especially love the look on the fish's face. Best part of all, when I first saw this picture, it made me laugh. That's important to me. I want people to know that their pets will be safe and happy while they're gone, and I want them to know how happy taking care of animals makes me.

It's a happy little picture, don't you think? :-)

More Cuteness

I will be pet sitting Gacie and Emma again for the next few days, and I am really looking forward to it. Mind you, getting up early during the weekend is not one of my favorite things, but when I get to their house, they are just so adorable I can't help but feel happy to be there.

Here are a few more photos of the cuties...

I love that little "look" Gracie gives you. She really knows how to use her cuteness.

This was on the first night of sitting with them. Looks like Emma is wondering where Mom and Dad are.



Emma and her "shoe."

Emma has the prettiest eyes. This picture just doesn't quite do them justice.

"OK, we're tired of pictures now. We're leaving."

My Business is Off the Ground

OK, first of all, a dad update. He went to see the oncologist and they are now talking months to years instead of just weeks. He starts treatment this week, and I plan on going up to Minnesota to see him after the holidays. (Maybe I can find some good deals and stay a bit longer that way.)



So...on to the new business...





This is Emma and Gracie. (Sorry the photo is so dark.) They are the very first clients for Tri-County Critter Sitters, and how adorable they are. Emma is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and Gracie is a Beagle. They are the fur babies of Stephanie and Scott Poling. (Met Steph when she joined our writers group a while back.) As soon as I brought out my camera, these two came running up and sat right down like they were posing or something. They are obviously no strangers to having their photo taken.


Emma has a couple favorite chew toys. Here she is with one that looks like a woman's high heel shoe. She carries it around, plays fetch....and takes it outside where she uses it as an excuse not to come back in. (She seems to forget where she puts it and has to run around the yard looking until she finds it.)


And Gracie is just a little bundle of cuteness. Look at those ears. What a doll. Although she does have a sneaky side. She kept trying to jump up on the couch and snuggle up with me. I have since found out they aren't allowed on the upstairs furniture. Yep, sneaky little thing.