Friday, February 27, 2009

Dejunking

Ok, when you are going to have the flooring redone in your bedrooms, you have to take everything out. And when you live in a place that is only 950 sq ft. for 22 years, you have a lot of STUFF. Needless to say my house has been a wreck as I took everything out of the closet and off the floor and into the front of the house. Now that my floors are glorious, I have been forced to really look at all this stuff I have been storing and making decisions about keeping it or getting rid of it. The other good thing, is that now that I have a smoother surface on the floor, I can actually move the furniture around! So I have been reorganizing and dejunking and it had been so very nice. I have a lot of hobbies and each hobby has bunch of supplies, etc. But I have made several trips to Goodwill and Deseret Industries lately and I think it all good. It's amazing how you can store something for years and yet not miss it a bit when it's gone.
The only thing that makes me a little nervous is my holiday decorations. I have had a tub with decorations for each holiday, Halloween, Easter, etc. I really don't have the room to store all that, especially if I am doing food storage too. So I finally bit the bullet and decided that I could keep ONE tub for holidays and I had to pick what few things I wanted and put them in there and get rid of the rest. Hopefully it will all be good. I haven't tackled Christmas, but everything else is going to go tomorrow after my friend takes what she wants out of there. My front bedroom actually looks like a somewhat normal room for once! I haven't gotten my bike back in there yet, that will change things, but overall, it looks like a spare/office/laundry/hobby room instead of a wall to ceiling junk room.

Oprah and I

Ok, this is kind of funny. Some of you know that about 3 or so years ago, I ended up rescuing Dobbie, a minature pinscher from a puppy mill in North Carolina. The poor dog had lived in a cage for 6 years. He didn't know how to relate to humans. He was really skinny, only about 7 pounds. He was terrified of everything. He was used as a stud dog. He didn't make eye contact. He was afraid of his reflection in the metal garbage can. He didn't know what a toy was. He still doesn't really know how to play with toys, but he will snuggle with the stuffed toys in his bed.
Anyway, when they rescued the animals from the place where he was, there were over 500 dogs. They had to put down over 200 because they were in such bad shape. It was a small rural area and they couldn't accomodate all the rest of the animals. He was in a shelter there for awhile.
Minpin Haven, here in Phoenix, took some of them in to find them homes here. Part of the problem was that, until the case was settled, you could only be a foster parent. And while you were responsible for their medical care and all, you couldn't get them neutered or spay until after the court case was settled because they were evidence for the case. It took around 2 years. Meanwhile, this poor dog who had lived in a cage and was afraid of his shadow, was peeing all over my house. It was awful. And it was hard to discipline a dog with that many issues. Finally, I was able to get him neutered and it made a dramatic improvement. He still sometimes peed in my bedroom and of course that was the only place that I had carpet. It was awful.
I could never get it all the way out and it reeked. So. Just this week, I had the remaining carpet in my house ripped out and pergo put in like in the front of my house. It's wonderful. And he was terrified of the new floor and has been very good. While he has made a lot of progress, he will never be a "normal" dog. And he has gotten quite tubby. We are working on that.
So with all that going on, I got a call a couple of days ago from Pat Daigle who runs MinPin Haven. She asked how Dobbie was doing. I told her. Then she said that because the Woodley case was such a big and important animal rights case, there was a magazine that wanted to do a followup article about 3 of the families that adopted some of the dogs. She said they wanted to come and interview me and see Dobbie next Tuesday. I said I had to go to work. She asked if I could go in late to work. So we kind of worked through that. After we got that all figured out, she said, oh by the way, the magazine is Oprah! (O). How fun is that! I love that magazine and have a subscription.
So I am not quite sure what they will write about my fat dog that ruined my carpeting, but it should be in the June issue! I'll keep you posted.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Random posting

I haven't done very well keeping current postings up lately. Here is what I've been doing:
1. Reading! I like to read and I accepted the historical fiction reading challenge on Good Reads. I had to read 3 historical fiction books that take place prior to WWII by the end of March. I also need to read my book club selections. So I'm spending a little more time getting my reading done. I am enjoying it though. I've read 2 of my 3 books for the challenge. I have book club tomorrow and am just finishing the book club book tonight.
2. Church Work! As enrichment counselor in relief society, I've had a lot going on the last little while. We have a big service project going on and several classes and events related to that. It's keeping me pretty busy and will continue to do so for a while.
3. Working! I've started my new evening work schedule. I'm working 2pm to midnight. Because I'm working on the far west side, I have to get ready for work and leave significantly earlier than I used to. I seem to just have way less time on work days than I used to.
4. Canning! I seem to not be able to stop canning. I enjoy trying out the different recipes and seeing all the jars that I've filled add up. I've done meat, dill pickles, pickled beets, pickeled asparagus and pickeled green beans, lemon marmalade, blood orange marmalade, lemon honey jelly, etc. I can't eat most of it, but I do it anyway.
5. I'm getting my nasty carpet torn out of my bedrooms this week and am working trying to clear the rooms out so they can get in there. My place is so small, it's difficult to have anyplace to move things to. It will be so nice having the pergo throughout now. I can hardly wait.
6. Hiking- I don't get in as much as I would like, but I try as often as I can. I go with my friend, Cindy usually.
7. Dr's appt's- For a healthy person, I seem to have an awful lot of Dr.'s appt's. I go to the diet dr. every 2 weeks. I see my PCP monthly. I just went to the eye dr. and the GI to get the 50 year old colonoscopy done. Then there are dentists, endocrinologists, etc. But I"m actually in great shape! Almost at diet goal. I can hardly wait.
8. TV- I get a little tv watching fit in here and there. Two of my favorite shows just restarted, Survivor and the Amazing Race. I usually am crocheting while that is going on.
9. Social engagements- I have the occasional dinner, lunch or other engagement.

It's all good, but I don't seem to get to my blog very often. I will try to do better. I'm thinking I might have some interesting stories now that I am hanging out in emergency rooms so much!