Yes. There are two skills I would love to learn. One is unrealistic for me currently. But the other is possible.
The first one is be able to build anything I can think of. Carpentry skills. I have so many ideas that I would love to be able to just make them. But currently I’m pregnant. And I have so many other jobs to do when taking care of a family and household. That when I do magically have free time I don’t want to do anything productive. And that magical free time is going to dwindle away as the next baby comes.
But I’m so happy I’m married to a man who has over fifteen years of carpentry experience that he can bring my ideas to life. (If he had the time) but he can at least make them a reality.
The second skill is small, but I wish I knew how to spin the pizza dough in my hands like professionals do. I still use a rolling pin. But I would love to learn that skill. But I don’t want to waste the dough by trying. So unless some true master of pizza came to our house I’ll just stick with my way of making pizza.
The master would at least be impressed that now I make my pizza sauce from scratch. So I might impress them with my skills of making things from scratch.
This skill would be useful because my family seems wants to eat pizza at least once a week.
And I will say, even though I can’t build things. My husband says I’m a great helper when he is building. I’m good at helping. Helping is easier when I have no idea what’s going on. I just hold things when they need to be held, or give things when things are needed. So I am helping to build my ideas. The construction plan is him, but I’m helping with the inspiration and execution.
In case anyone is looking for a great pizza sauce recipe.
Since I’m a stay at home mom I’m with my kids all the time. 24/7! Especially since I’m going to homeschool, it will be more so.
It’s why my husband works so hard; he wants me to be home. He wants to know what his children are learning. So he does the hard job, for me to stay home and do my hard job.
And it is. It is a hard job. A typical day:
Wake up at 7:00am. Because that’s when my son wants to be up. We snuggle on the couch for maybe 10min then we wake up sis sis. Then by 7:30 I’m making breakfast. Either pancakes, waffles, egg sandwich, etc. everything homemade. Also while I eat breakfast I clean up the kitchen. Hand wash dishes, load the dishwasher, clear counters. (Only if I didn’t do it the night before.)
Next: School time. I spend about 20min on a reading lesson, writing lesson, and comprehension. She only seems to have a short attention span. And even 20min is difficult.
Next: we go outside to water garden and flowers. It takes a good amount of time. A two year old makes everything take longer.
Now it’s 9am. So usually I spend time cleaning the house or doing laundry. Both my son and daughter “help”. I tell my daughter to do things and she procrastinates until I’m annoyed. My son likes to help mama, but sometimes it’s more work for me.
By now it’s 11am. I’m hungry. Being pregnant, I get hungry early. So I begin to prepare lunch. It’s usually leftovers from dinner. And if the food was tolerable to my daughter then lunch takes a while for her to eat. My son is already a vacuum cleaner. Haha! Everything is gone!
1pm: since I’m pregnant I take a nap at this time. And thankfully my son still takes naps and he takes one with me. My daughter just has her own quiet time. She does puzzles, drawing, reading, etc. Or I turn a movie on for her and she watches it over and over until we wake up. Kind of depends on how she is doing that day.
3pm: I try to do a fun activity with them. Either playing a board game to work on math, Art time, or cooking lesson. But depending on how she is behaving by this point; I tend to get her started on her chores. She has 3. Clean her room, rinse a load of dishes or put away dry dishes, and sweep kitchen/ dining room floor. And normally she procrastinates. I will usually start to prepare dinner and then continue dishes or laundry. Those two things never seem to be done.
4:30. Daddy gets home!! All the built up chaos erupts from the kiddos. I’m preparing dinner at this point and my husband has to just soak up time with his babies.
It usually takes me about 1-2 hours to get dinner done. Depends on what I’m making. But remember it’s 100% from scratch. Like tonight we are having steak burritos. Like something from chipotle. And I have to make the tortillas tonight.
But after dinner. It’s about 7pm. I have “cleaned” the kitchen. I’ve gotten to a point that my husband can make his breakfast in the morning without tripping up. Sometimes I get the kitchen clean; especially if the dinner was easy to make, but I tend to gravitate towards difficult recipes.
I finally get to sit down around 7:30pm. By then my feet are swollen. I’ve been on my feet for over the past 4 hours. A long time as a pregnant woman. But sitting is not long. Not long after my kiddos want some stories and I’m walking to my daughters room. Reading a handful of books.
8pm. Bedtime starts. Not always. Bedtime is not a set in stone time for me. If they are rambunctious still I let them get their wiggles out. So I should say usually I let them play another hour.
9pm bedtime. Showers and brushing teeth. Then we say goodnight to sis sis first. She tends to not go to sleep until much later. She is just not allowed to leave her room, unless for potty time. Next my son hangs out with my husband; they watch the show Expedition Unknown. (I don’t watch it…I should though; it would be a great way to fall asleep.) But after a while my son falls asleep and I lay with him in his bed until I know he is 100% asleep. Then I climb into my bed finally!! Usually around 10:30. And sometimes I fall asleep. But lately I’ve been so tired I can’t sleep; so I wait for my brain to turn off.
…
That’s a typical day. And I do that pretty much everyday. The only changes would be if I want to bake something. Like bread or cookies, brownies, honey buns, donuts, etc. I like to bake yummy things.
But I’m with my kids all the time. And yes I feel like I’m about to go insane sometimes but then I remember that I’m not having to do a job. Like a normal job. Like my husband. I didn’t mind working; I just love to be home more. It’s a fun exhausting job!!
I actually have a few things I have collected over the years.
The first: Glass figurines.
I don’t know why I actually started to collect them. I think it was because my grandma really enjoyed buying them and gifting them to me. I can remember the first one well. My grandparents took me to Disneyland for a birthday, and my grandma bought me a sleeping beauty figurine. That was the start. Then for every birthday she gave me a new figurine. I have so many, but with little kiddos they have been living in a box a few years. Once my daughter is bigger I’ll let her see them.
Number two: Physical Movies.
I know the world has become digital over the years but I love owning dvd or blu ray movies. My family has always done this. I’m always wanting to add to my collection; as I walk by the five dollar Walmart bin. I once dug through that bin and organized it. Tells you what a party person I was when I was a teenager. I found it quite fun to do, a late night at Walmart. Haha!
My husband’s and mine’s movies almost filled one of those sleeved cases. Two hundred total.
Third Collection: Awards
This one doesn’t seem like a collection, but I’ve kept all my ribbons, medals, trophies, and plaques, from my many years of swimming. That bin weighs a ton. But in the past I’ve enjoyed pulling them out and thinking back to those days. They were some of my favorite memories. From the age four all the way to nineteen. I don’t know what I’ll do with them later on in life… but I like them, so I will move the heavy bin around from home to home. (Or the husband will move the heavy bin. It really is heavy!)
I have other things I’ve collected. Decks of cards, dice, art supplies, books, stuffed animals, etc.
I have troubles with throwing things away. Or giving things away. Because you never know when you want to play cards, and I’ve slowly collected them over the years from different places.
When you are about to play a board game and it’s missing the dice….? I can help.
Art supplies. I never have to buy any. I just take the supplies that people are giving away.
Books. I’m planning on homeschooling my kids so depending on where we end up living I want to have almost a library of books. Also…then there is no fear of a weird inappropriate book coming into my home. Every book in our home I’ve read and approved.
Stuffed animals. I kept a large percentage of my childhood stuffed animals. Which worked great with our kiddos. They both love the various animals.
So even though I collect various things they all have a purpose. It works out; my husband also likes to collect things. But his collections seem to always need to spend more money. Haha! My collections are cheap, whereas I try to keep him on budget.
Enjoy your Thursday!! Hubby is home!! The house is a happy house once again.
Fluke Spring Snowstorm
Randomly started snowing today. The snow flakes looked almost the size of my sons hands.
This is tough. I guess it would all depend on what time in the year is it? Because it’s it supposed to be Spring and it still snowing; Nope I’m definitely Not a fan!
But if it Summer and you have been slowly melting. Like you feel like your face has melted down to your shoulders. And the only relief you feel is the cold shower before bed; then yes! I’m excited about the cold coming.
Just where we live I would only wish it would stay in its designated months.
Like one year. (I was dumb, and impatient.) I had planted a massive amount of seeds inside. Because I wanted a huge garden. And since it doesn’t start to warm up until mid May I had to keep everything inside since January.
But seriously enough was enough! It looked like a green house in my enclosed patio. That needed space was no longer accessible.
So. It was around the 2nd week of May and it had been sunny and rainy for most of it. I had been told to wait until after Memorial Day, but I was impatient. So I spent almost 8 hrs transplanting all the plants. Tomatoes, Lettuce, Onions, carrots, cilantro, potatoes, green beans, sweet peas, cucumbers, etc. Everything you could think of I had started from seed. But importantly from heirloom seed.
But so I transplanted everything. And it was all fine. Everything was happy to have more sun and way more space!!
Only to have a night frost happen 2 days before Memorial Day and kill almost everything. I think 2 of the 13 tomato plants survived. All the green beans froze and shriveled. Everything above ground perished. I was so sad. Because we had been planning on having our vegetables covered for at least a few months.
But I was impatient and I suffered the consequences. Our harvest that year was so sad.
All this to say. I like cold, but not when it springs up from no where and ruins all your hard work. Because I had been told by several different local people that the frost was over; that it should be fine to plant outside. But that’s what I get for not listening to the year-round farmers in the area. They are the ones to listen to, because it’s their livelihood is at stake.
So to answer the question it would be yes. I like the cold after the hot hot Summer. But also no; if it has not departed in a timely manner.
I miss Spring. Anywhere else, Spring is my favorite season.
Enjoy your Monday. 🌸
I did not have a relaxing Sunday like I had hoped. Instead my kiddos decided to have meltdowns all day, since their daddy is away on a trip. We miss him dearly. I miss being sane.
So a shout out to all the good husbands out there! Your help is always wanted. You keep us, moms, at bay from insanity! Give your husband a hug today. Just randomly. I’ll give mine a virtual one. 😊
Photo By: emily2jane 5-19-24
My daughter picked me so many wildflowers!! We are going to plant some today.
That the government had to pay stay at home moms a salary. I know, I know. If you magically come up with something for the government to do it just makes taxes go higher…
Instead let’s say this…If you are a stay at home mom, your husband gets a tax break.
Because, us, stay at home moms do so much. And I wish I could help out my husband financially. I know I do in a sense. We don’t have to pay for daycare, cooking, cleaning, laundry, gym, school, etc. It was about 2 years ago, when I looked up to see how much money would a stay at home mom make; and it was about $160,000 a year. I just looked now, and it’s saying closer to $180,000.
Really. Tax break would be awesome!! Like you naturally get, say $20,000 tax refund plus your other additional tax return. I think that sounds amazing!!
Just something extra for all our hard work. An extra incentive for having the greatest and hardest job of all time!! Seriously!! My days seem to be like Tetris…how much can I fit into a day?!?
So I don’t know if this actually counts as a business idea. But it would be truly awesome!!
Just an idea…
.-.-.
We are tough,
We are strong.
We are enough.
Our days are very long.
We feed you.
Bathe you.
Teach you.
Even prepare you!
Payment you might ask?
No money for us.
It is said,
Give us your love instead.
.-.-.
To all the mamas out there!
Digital Art: By emily2jane “Just Pretty” 01-11-24
I felt inspired to do a pretty picture. Probably because it’s so cold outside. I miss all the colors.
Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?
Mr. Pinky!!
I got a big pink bear for my first Christmas. My mom says I fell into him and gave him snuggles instantly!!
I don’t know why my giant pink bear became a boy bear but that’s what’s his name was and still is.
Yep! I still have him. My kiddos play with him now. I also have pictures of my kiddos giving Mr. Pinky hugs and kisses.
He still looks good for being so old. He has dirt marks that I guess I couldn’t get clean. Lipstick marks because when I was little I would find a lipstick smear it all over my face and give Mr. Pinky extra big kisses. Haha!
But he also is slowly falling apart at some seams so I sacrificed a pair of my shorts and he now has shorts on. It was kind of disturbing to me that the shorts fit him perfectly… I’m the same size as my giant bear…not cool.
But we will have to see how long he is around. Maybe he will get snuggles and kisses from grand babies in the future. I don’t know what is the final plan for Mr. Pinky. But he will stay with me as long as possible. Or unless one of my grandkids in the future desperately needs him. We shall see.
Obviously, my husband would be an easy answer. He has great impacted my life for the better. But I think I want to use this time to say my older brother.
My older brother had a great influence in my life. He was always the role model of a strong man in my life. As you all know, my dad was not someone in my life and I had no desire for him to be present either. So to me my older brother filled that role. If I needed help, he was the one I went to.
Now that I am living miles and miles away from my old home; I am realizing how much time I spent with my older brother. During my early teenage years, I would spend time watching him play the piano; Sometimes I would chime in and sing if a song I knew came up. Strangely I felt comfortable enough to sing in front of my brother, but never for anyone else. I would sit and watch him play World of Warcraft; it was incredibly boring, except for the beautiful colors and the imaginative creativity that they had to design the game. We would play board games together. That became a normal thing; my brother had game nights with his buddies over the years, and I was cool enough to tag along.
I have to say it is pretty amazing that I was able to tag along, because when I was a child i tormented my brother. I am amazed that we had such a strong relationship as I grew up; because I know at one point, he probably wanted to strangle me.
But even when I went through the stupid dating experience too young; I remember my brother coming up to me saying, “If you need me to do anything I’m there for you.” I felt so protected in that moment. My older brother was always a shy introvert like me; so, to know he would step up and be my protector made me swell with pride for him.
I even had thought that I wanted my husband to ask my brother for permission to marry me, but it was my mom’s role. But my brother would have been the second person in line.
I also had thought about having my brother give me away at my wedding. Again, I had always seen my mom give me away, but again my brother would have been my next choice.
I can’t really label what in my life has been influenced by him, because to me without him I probably would have seen men different. If life had just been us leaving a verbally abusive dad without a strong male example for me; I’m scared to think who I would have become. I have to thank my brother so much!
I feel like I wasted a few hours binge watching a show. It was a current modern show. About a girl finding love young. 16. And she made so many mistakes. I don’t know if it’s because I’m older, or I was 16 once, but I couldn’t enjoy the show. That as I watched it I was hoping she would change. But she kept making mistakes.
And then when she was at the crossroads moment; she calls her mom for advice and her mom says, “I want you to have several loves before settling on the one”…wow. The mom could have done some good parenting and helped her daughter, but instead gave her the worst advice. My advice would have been, “don’t decide anything now. You are still young. Just leave it alone and just live life dating free, until you figure out who you are and what you want.”
Is that so difficult. Maybe I’m naive. I know I didn’t listen to my mom’s advice when I was 16. But as a mama now, I would tell my daughter the deep hard stuff. Even if all she wants is a pat on the back. Because to me that’s not good parenting.
When I started the show I had this thought. “Maybe I’ll use this show as an example to my daughter in the future.” Show her that you don’t need to date at 16. That it is better to wait. I wish I had. I wish my husband had been my first love. He was my first real true love.
But that thought is gone. As the show continued the girl kept going against my views on life. Now it just makes me worried about the future. But I have to trust that my husband and I will continue to do good parenting. That my daughter will know what is important in life.
Also for my son. The boys in the show were not the greatest. But they too didn’t have great parenting. I want to parent my son so that he knows how to treat women in his future.
I’m terrified of them growing up. Also them growing up in today’s world. The world is going crazy! But I will continue to educate my kiddos on morals and character.
But I have a piece of hope for them. My kiddos are strong-willed, stubborn, intelligent, but still warm with love. And I hope they continue to be that way. Because they will not be bullied into changing their points of views. I know that may come back to bite me, but I want them prepared for whatever their world will look like.
This is just a worried mama post. Haha! Enjoy your weekend. I’m going to be staying away from new shows. They always disappoint me. This was the first new thing I’ve watched since 2017. That was the last time I saw a movie in a theater. I’ll just stick to what I like and watch the same things over and over again.
Another random question to think about. I saw a short video on someone asking this question. “What was the last movie you saw in theaters that the entire audience applauded?”I can only remember 2 movies; they left a strong impression on me. Spoilers.
#1 Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The moment Luke Skywalker dusts off his shoulder. That moment was epic. The audience erupted!! It was a moment to remember. This was the last movie I saw at a theater.
#2 Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part 2. The audience erupted at the start. I went opening night. It was amazing!! But then also when He Who Must Not Be Named (trying to not spoil) died. The moment it happened everyone screamed or WHOO! at the screen. Again epic!
But that is the last time I remember it happened. As you read in a previous post I like a wide range of movies. But it’s been a while since I was wowed!!
I drove with my mom to go pick up Sammy from the pound. I was still buzzing with excitement.
We had the yard prepared. Her dog house was in the back back yard. Her “pooping area” was hopefully back there as well. It was actually a substantial sized yard for a dog.
But I don’t know what I was expecting, when I finally got her. But as she waddled out of the pound she looked groggy. That was due to the shots and procedure. But the moment she recognized me she was waddling a little faster and licked my hand once beside me.
She remembered me. She was mine!
Instead of putting her in a crate I decided to have her in my lap. I thought crating her would be to traumatic for her. I sat down and then called for her to get in the car too. She was confused to say the least. So instead the backseat it was; which was a bench. Sammy didn’t fight me when I picked her up and placed her on the bench. I sat beside her; she crawled over enough to place her head on my lap. I scratched her ears the whole way home.
“Make sure you vacuum the car out afterwards,” mom said as we drove home.
“Of course, mom.”
Home. We were home. “Sammy, we are home.” Instead of having her walk I picked her up and carried her into the fence of the backyard. I placed her down and walked her around the yard. Letting her smell all the new smells. She wasn’t really interested in anything.
“Mom. I think she just needs a day. Or maybe a couple days to let the drugs wear off in her system. I’ll take her to her dog house, instead. I again scooped her up and carried her into the back back yard. I placed her in front of the dog house. It was a very spiffy dog house. I had gotten her a comfy pillow. It had been a little large but I made her a cocoon. She didn’t move. She just stood there frozen. So like any good owner I crawled into her dog house, circled a few times, and then laid down getting comfy. It was quite comfy. Getting back out was different story. How did my butt fit through the door in the first place. Haha! But I managed to get back out; and Sammy instantly copied what I had done. She laid down and then she was out. ‘Good girl.’
I had given her food around dinner time but she was still asleep. So I left it there and went to bed myself. But when I woke up I rushed outside to check on her. She was no where! She wasn’t in her dog house! Her food had not been touched! Oh no! I thought the worst. I thought she ran away.
“SAMMY!” I called!
And suddenly there were little pitter-pat feet coming towards me. Where had she been? But Sammy walked over to me and licked my fingers as a good morning. And she was smiling! Definitely smiling. It melted me heart.
“Let’s go eat some food, Sammy! Do you want to do that,” I walked back to her dog house. She followed and I showed her the bowl of food. She saw the food, and then it was gone! (I discovered I like the sound of dogs eating food; it was quite relaxing.) But again she was a smiling dog. She knew her spot. And it was to sit in front of me with her back pressed into my legs; waiting for her morning scratch. I gave it to her.
But then suddenly she perked up and she dashed off into the front back yard. ‘What?’ And I followed her. Someone was walking by the fence. And Sammy jumped up on the fence to say hello. She wasn’t barking, but instead she was smiling, waiting for scratches. ‘I picked a social dog.’ The woman walkingwas startled, but then saw me. She waved me over.
“Did you get a new dog?”
I didn’t know this woman. But, “Yes. I got her yesterday.”
She looked at Sammy who was still waiting for some love. “Can I?” Do you know?”
I didn’t know for sure, but I assumed. “I’m guessing she just wants some love, but I’m not completely sure. I assume she would be barking at you if she didn’t want you here, not here smiling at you.”
The woman decided to give Sammy some scratches behind the ear. Sammy leaned into her had and soaked up all the love she was getting. I think Sammy would have stayed in that position if the dog across the street didn’t start barking incessantly at the woman petting Sammy.
Sammy hopped down from the fence and just stood looking at the other dog. Not barking just looking.
“You picked a wonderful dog,” the woman said as she started to walk off.
“Thank you!” I beamed. I knew I had picked the right one. But for a stranger to say it, it just reaffirmed it for me. Sammy was the right one.
.-.-.-.
I learned several things as time went on. Sammy did not want to be in the back back yard. She wanted to be closer to the fence, where people walked. Because anyone who walked by got big smiles from Sammy. She never barked at anyone. I take that back. She did not like skateboarders. Not matter where she was in the yard, she would sprint to the fence and bark until the skateboard was gone. Haha!
But other than that she was perfect. I gave her a bath the second day of having her. She did not like or appreciate the water. It was a battle to bathe her. But as time went on she didn’t fight me as much. I also brushed her. So that she wouldn’t look mangy. She was a beautiful dog. But to me she was a lab, husky, smidge chow mix.
Learned more things. Like you have to put pavers under the dog house. Because when it rains, if it’s on the ground, the water washes in and soaks the dog pillow. Blah! Another. Sammy hated lightning and fireworks. I lived in the back room of the house, so on those types of nights I had Sammy sleeping next to my bed. And she was the perfect dog. She just laid down. She didn’t wander. She didn’t mess with anything. Also she knew how to tell me she needed to go out. I would be dead asleep, and she would come lick my hand. I would wake up staring into Sammy’s eyes and she would walk over to the door, which led outside. She would stand there until I let her out. She would go do her business, come back to the door, and wait for me to say come back in. She would scurry back inside and find her spot again. I didn’t teach her that. Her previous owners must have.
She protected me from bees. I’m allergic to bees and when being outside I would suddenly gasp or scream because a bee was diving for me. (I don’t know what it is but bees chase me.) But Sammy would eat them for me! She was my protector as well.
She was the perfect dog.
Through the years we moved houses and lived in various cities. But Sammy always came. And the new yards became her domains. But she had less and less social time with people walking. The houses we moved into had privacy fences.
But then my nephews came along, we discovered that Sammy loved being a mama. She allowed my nephews to do everything to her. And she never retaliated . They would pull ears, try to ride her, pull her tail, and she would just sit there allowing it.
We also got kittens at one point. My brother’s cats got pregnant and we had 9 kittens. The mom cats died when the kittens were on hard food. But Sammy took the role. She would lay down and snuggle the kittens, she would lick the kittens clean, she would sleep with them. My dog as a perfect mama.
I continued to learn through the years. She was gentle. She was mischievous. She was delightful. She was my best friend. But she wasn’t just my dog. She was my family’s dog. My mom loved Sammy. My sisters who were not big dog people loved her. I ruined my family for having the perfect dog, because she couldn’t be replaced.
But then I got married, and we were going to move away. I wanted to take Sammy. Desperately! But it would have been a huge change for her. Her life would have changed so much that I didn’t want to make her depressed. So left her with my mom.
It broke my heart. But I didn’t want to ruin her. We had, had her already 11 years. She was old. She had slowed down. But she had also become everyone’s dog. So she wouldn’t have been too depressed me leaving.
Thankfully I got to travel down and see her before her final year. She got to meet my daughter. She licked her fingers. Just like she had done to me.
Every trip down I spent time with Sammy. But she was getting older and older. She had lost her hearing. She had trouble walking. But she was still smiling.
Then I got the call. The call that Sammy was in so much pain that she needed help to be done. I FaceTimed with her for a short visit. She smiled at me. But then she was gone.
We had her for 16 years. She was 17 when she passed. She had the best life. She was loved by so many, and she loved everyone back.
I had the perfect dog. I’m so happy I stuck to guns and was stubborn to get her. Because she was the best. ❤️
Young SammyHer last day 💕
She was still a beautiful sweetheart on her last day. I’m just bummed that my kiddos didn’t get to play with her. But I’m lucky to have had her growing up. I was the lucky one.
#1 Easy. Dog. But for me is a very specific dog. My dog that sadly has passed away, Sammy.
Part 1
She was the best dog ever. And she is the dog I compare to.
I got her when I was thirteen from the pound. A funny-ish memory with my dad; that is a scarce thing. But my dad is the one who took me to the pound that day to pick out a dog. I had, had my eye on one; a golden retriever puppy. But sadly the puppy had to stay at the pound another 2 weeks before it could come home with me; that must have been too long because I moved on.
My dad had his own ideas about a dog he wanted a male German shepherd mix. A dog my mom specifically said not to get. That was my dad though. I of course, was not going to choose a dog against my mom, but I continued to walk through the pound in search of my dog. I knew I would know when I saw it.
I walked past each stall; getting more discouraged as I went. until I came up to one stall. The dog was black. A little fluffy. Mangy looking. The sign said lab chow mutt. I don’t know what it was, but I liked this dog. She was just sitting in the corner sleeping away. My dad tried to pull me away, but I stood rooted there. He continued on, and I still stood there looking at the dog.
I squatted down to be on her level when she woke up and almost fell over. The commotion must have woke her up, because suddenly there was a little dog head perked up looking at me. I saw sadness in her face. I was about to walk on, because I thought she was too skittish; but as if she knew, she stood up and slowly walked over to the fence and licked my fingers. It startled me. I had forgot I had my hand there. But she continued to lick my fingers.
I trusted her instantly. I shoved my fingers through the hole in the fence and began to scratch her ear. She almost my instantly collapsed into the fence and soaked up scratches. She pressed her side to the fence and I continued the petting session. I probably squatted there, petting her for almost 15min. I knew. This was my dog. My dad was still off somewhere looking At probably only German shepherds. But I continued to be squatted there scratching my dog. My dog Sammy. I previously had a different name picked out, but I still to this day have no idea what it was. But when I was petting her, I just said, “Good girl, Sammy.” And that was that. This was my dog Sammy.
Finally he came back. “Pop, I want this one.”
My dad looked at the dog , “I don’t think so, I found a really cute dog down the hallway. It’s ready to go home today and everything. Let’s go take a look,” he started to walk away.
I didn’t move; instead I struggled to stand up and pointed at Sammy, “No, I want this one.”
“No. This one looks mangy; probably she will attack you or run away the moment she comes to our home. Instead there is a good looking German shepherd puppy down the hallway. I’m sure you will like it,” he tried to get me to come with him.
“Nope. I’m good. I want this one.” I can be quite stubborn. Haha!
“But, I think you should keep your options open. This one might not be available today. Let’s continue to look. I’m not committed to any dog just yet. Not until you look at the other one.”
I knew that he was not going to be open to my dog until I looked at his…but I was not moving. Thankfully a worker came up to us and asked the question I was hoping for.
“Did you find a dog you liked?”
“No, we are….” My dad tried.
“Yes. This one.” And I pointed at Sammy.
The worker looked at me, then at Sammy, then at my dad, “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m positive. I want this dog for my birthday.” Yeah I forgot that part. I was getting a dog for my birthday. My parents agreed I was old enough for a dog. So my dad brought me to find a dog. And I found her! “Can we start the process?”
“Oh. It’s for your birthday. Then of course you should get the dog you picked. Right, dad? If your daughter choose this one, and is adamant, you should trust her choice, right?”
Thank you worker. But oh! my dad is going to be pissed on the drive home. At the time I was terrified for the drive home, but not scared enough to give up on Sammy. My dad just nodded, but I knew he was not happy.
The worker grabbed the small sign and walked us to the office. I looked back and Sammy must have felt abandoned and walked slowly back to to her corner. ‘I’m coming back for you.’
We got to the office and the person in charge handed me a slip to fill out. The normal stuff, but I also got to put Sammy’s name on the line for name!! It was an exciting moment. But then came the time for paying. Thankfully my mom had planned ahead and gave me a $20 bill, because my mom knew that if my dad didn’t get his way he was not going to pay.
The worker said, “Okay, that will be $15. Who will be paying?”
As I expected my dad didn’t react; so I pulled out the $20 bill and said, “Of course me. It’s my dog after all.” It was done. She was mine. I fought for her!! They also let me sign on the dotted line since I payed.
Sammy would be ready in two days. They had to give her, her shots and spay her. But she was mine. It was done.
I thanked the workers and walked out of the office with my receipt. I was so proud, that I forgot all about my dad. I turned and he had not followed me out of the office.
I sung open the door and my dad just said, “maybe have that German shepherd puppy ready to go in two days too and maybe she will change her mind.”
I rolled me eyes. The workers looked uncomfortable. I yelled in the door. “No need. Sammy is all I want. Come on Pop, let’s go home and prepare the yard for Sammy.”
That ended the topic. Sammy was my dog. I would fight for her!!
.-.-.-.-.
I know this post was meant for multiple animals, but Sammy is…well now, was my favorite. I think I’ll continue the story tomorrow. The story of Sammy is a fun one.
But now you got a glimpse into what my dad was like. I think this result only happened because I was his favorite child. Which sickens me. The only reason for that, was because he had control over my swimming. Also (not to brag) but I won races a lot. I gave him so much pride. He gave me too much pressure, but he didn’t care. Which is why I think he allowed my behavior that day. Because he needed me to continue to fuel his vain side in the future.
But I’m happy for that. For once in my life I was happy I was his favorite; because I did get the best dog that day!! My family would agree.
(Also I’m not against German Shepherds. I just for one didn’t want a male dog. I wanted a female. And German shepherds have lots of energy. I wanted a more mellow dog. I wanted a dog that would be content in our small backyard. Nothing against German shepherds.)
emily2jane 