Crazy

There is a cat that lives three houses down from me who in the dim night light looks exactly like my kitty who just passed away. He has lived there the whole time we have been in our house, which is just over 2.5 years now. He has never let me pet him before. He usually looks at me for a minute and then runs away. I am not sure if that is because he is afraid I will let my dogs loose on him because that is what my husband does every time he sees him in our yard.

Before I go on, I have to say my husband lets the dogs loose because he thinks the cat defecates near our front door and makes our house smell like a litter box in the hot summer heat.

Back to our story.

Every time I saw the kitty, I had to do a double take because I knew he wasn't my cat, but he sure did look like him. It was the epitome of surreal, especially in the low night light.

Last night I was making banana nut bread while my husband was giving our daughter a bath and getting her ready for bed. Half way into putting flour in the mixer, I realized I didn't have enough and would have to run to the grocery store. I walked out the front door and stopped short.

The kitty who looked like mine was laying near the front of my husband's truck.

I just sat there and stared at him, frozen, while my brain tried to remind me it was the neighbor's cat. He looked me in the eyes for a second, and then gingerly walked over to me and started rubbing on my legs.

I leaned down to pet him and said my cat's name. He started to purr.

He looked exactly like my cat. His fur was the same texture and fell in the same way my cat's did when I would pet him. It was orange and cream in all the same places. His purr sounded exactly like my cat's. When my kitty was really in Lovely mode, he would almost chirp, or hum while he purred. This kitty did that exact same thing.

I sat down on the driveway, legs crossed, as I appreciate this cat. I talked to him as if he were mine, and I told my kitty I loved him and missed him. I rubbed him the way my cat liked to be rubbed, and scratch his neck where my cat liked to be scratched. He liked it too.

After a while I stood up to go. I thanked him for letting me pet him and told him to come see me again soon.

Isn't it amazing how God has a way of delivering things into our lives the moment we need them?

Look!

Look what my husband and I saw in our front yard this morning as we were heading to work. Okay, he wasn't IN our front yard, but he was in the grassy, green open space next to our yard. DH tried to get some pictures of him, but he was far enough away they didn't turn out that great.


Can you tell what he is? No? Look at this one then.


Still no? Then here, look at this one!


Yeah, that's a coyote. IN MY FRONT YARD!!!!

I was so glad the dogs were inside for the day. I have heard that coyotes roam these parts, and a coworker has encountered them face-to-face when he was out walking his dog at night once, but this is the first time I have seen one not in a zoo setting, and it was right by my house!

He was cute and all, but he had better stay the deuce away from my baby, dogs, and yard. Otherwise he won't think I am so cute.

I kind of felt bad for him cause the guy obviously had some serious flea issues. I wished he was friendly so I could take care of him, but I know better.

Just stay away little dude. Let's admire each other from a distance, okay?

I have now come across a bobcat and a coyote near my house, and I don't live in the woods people!

Gah!

You know, I am kind of starting to miss my meaningful blog posts. The ones about life and my opinions on the matter. The funny thing is, when I was writing all of those, I was missing the ones about my life. The ones I felt made me interesting. I guess the bottom line is, I'm just not as interesting as I think I am.

With that little tangent out of the way, I can get into the meat of this post. If you hadn't already guessed, it is about my MIL.

Does it seem to anyone else like I tend to fixate on one person at a time? If so, toss that thought out. The only reason this one person keeps going is because I'm facing a dilemma.

If you read my last post you will know I don't like my MIL very much. She says she likes me, but I wonder how much of that is BS. I think about 99.99% just because her actions speak louder than her words.

My dilemma is that my daughter's first birthday is just around the corner and I would like to throw a big party for her. I talked to my mom tonight and agreed to use some of my sky miles and help fund the cost of a second ticket to fly my parents out for the big shin dig. I have already asked DH's aunts if they want to come. All of my friends will be there.

But I don't want to invite my MIL. I don't want her in my house (she's never been here). I don't want her tantrums and her moodiness ruining my daughter's special day (she stormed out at Christmas). My husband doesn't want her here either. No one does.

I asked DH how I could go about inviting his aunts, but not his mom. He told me he didn't care and didn't understand why I did. Well, because I'm not mean and I am certainly not confrontational. Not inviting her would result in a nasty gram. DH doesn't understand why I care if she sends one. I don't know why I do either. I haven't in the past.

I suggested we invite the aunts and ask them not to tell his mother they were invited, and if they come, that they were here. I know they will be on board with it. Even if they don't come, I KNOW I am going to get a nasty gram because my parents will be here. I wouldn't be surprised if I got a phone call even.

Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with a crazy MIL you don't want in your house? I am all ears!

What I Really Wanted to Write

So yesterday I didn't want to blog about my creepy BIL. I wanted to blog about something much more fun. I don't know about all of you, but the depressing posts are really bringing me down. I don't like being down, and I don't like writing things that are depressing. However, I really needed to get them off my chest so I could move on. Now that I have done that, we can move onto funner things!

First of all, I want to say I think what R and my dad did really worked! My optimism on that front increases daily. I think I am truly free this time! Whenever a thought about her pops into my head (which is getting more and more rare) I think, "I don't give a sh*t," and move onto the next thought. No dwelling, no feelings, nothing. Ptht! Gone!

Secondly, today rocked! Seriously rocked! I got all kinds of Christmas presents in the mail from my family (all of which are perched under the tree waiting for Christmas), four Christmas cards to hang on my railing (which now makes a baker's dozen), and had three guests show up. Today felt like Christmas. On top of which, I am currently on a two week vacation from work so I can spend time with the best present of all, my baby. The two of us had a mostly fun-filled day. Not to mention the weather is gorgeous.

I also found my little sticky note that had the list of things I wanted to blog about. I mentioned this in the blog that got deleted yesterday. I don't know if you remember that one or not. When I found the sticky note today, I realized it really didn't have anything of great importance on it after all, which made me laugh because I thought all of the bullet points on it were huge when I wrote them down.

There was one thing on there that I am really excited about though. Last week two emails hit my work inbox that got my toes tingling. The first was a teaser asking if anyone in the office would be interested in joining Wei.ght Wat.chers if the company brought them in. We would still have to pay for the membership, but it would be something we could work on while at work. I clicked the "Hell Yes!" button right away. (Okay, so it didn't say "Hell Yes," but I wish it had.) I am 20 lbs heaver than when I got married. 10 of that is my infertility weight still hanging around. I would love to get rid of it and go back to being a hot skinny chick again.

The other one that got me all in a dither was asking if anyone was interested in taking yoga classes AT WORK for 6 weeks during January and February. Again, I clicked the "Hell Yes!" button. I took yoga for a while when I was undergoing infertility treatments and I remember it left me feeling incredible. I had to stop for a couple of months after my laparoscopy to let my body heal, then DH and I moved, and I never found another class afterward. I love yoga. Did I mention this is going to take place AT WORK?! My employer has been looking for ways to boost morale and get their employees healthy. I think they are off to a good start. I love my job!

Anyway, it is almost midnight and I have a fun-filled day ahead of me tomorrow. Not to mention my melatonin kicked in about an hour ago. So I am going to bid you all sweet dreams now. :)

Crazy Dog Lady Part 2

It is time for part 2 of our Crazy Dog Lady story. If you didn't catch part 1, scroll down a bit in the blog and read it for the back story.

The day after my first run in with CDL, I decided to take the dogs and baby out for a walk again. This time Mags was being a little bad, so I decided to leash her shortly into the walk. I have a leash splitter that turns one leash into two, which I was using this night. DH did not join me, but caught up to us shortly after we turned around to head home. A few minutes after we met on the trail, I looked up and saw CDL come around a bend on the trail. I KNEW she wouldn't be able to keep her yap shut. Sure enough, "Oh for pete's sake. Will you please put your dog on a leash?!" I was seriously irritated, and coldly replied, "She IS on a leash." All the while not making eye contact to keep from wanting to lunge at her. She repeated, "Will you PLEASE put your dog on a leash!" I looked up, made eye contact, and raised my voice, "She IS on a leash!!"

DH knew that I had been having a really rough week and interjected to keep me from pummeling CDL. This was the first week I had been to see the shrink, and was before I got my prescription for happy pills. I was totally at rock bottom on this day and had zero emotional capacity to deal with this woman. He politely explained the leash splitter and why Mags wasn't always on a leash. She then began to explain herself by saying her dog didn't like it when other dogs weren't on leashes and it tended to make him misbehave. I bit my tongue and kept walking to keep from telling her SHE was the moron, not her dog. Her dog had no idea how to discern if another dog was on a leash or not, especially if it kept to itself. If her dog was having issues, it was because she was passing her neuroses down the leash to him.

Shortly after getting home I took my dogs out to a green area near our house to play ball and run out some of their excess energy. A few minutes into the game CDL came around the corner and pronounced, "Oh for God's sake! WILL YOU PLEASE PUT YOUR DOGS ON A LEASH!"

DH was not around to save her this time, and I had absolutely had it.

I yelled back that I didn't have a leash, as I was playing ball with my dogs. 6-foot leads are NOT conducive to playing fetch. She then yelled at me and asked how she was supposed to get home. I dunno you moron, by walking down the alleyway 20 feet behind me? At this point I had boiled over. I turned and yelled at her, "If your dog can't behave well enough to go on walks even when he's on a leash, then you need to learn how to be a responsible dog owner and get him trained! The reason my dogs behave is because I have spent thousands of dollars in dog training!"

Of course, she wasn't going down without a fight, and screamed at me the entire time she was walking down the alleyway 20 feet behind me. She told me that I was really nice picking a fight with a neighbor, to which I replied, "Likewise! YOU started this, not me!" Her reply was that she had asked a simple request of me, to which I replied her request was ridiculous. She then threatened to call the pound on me. I told her to go right ahead, and that I would call them right back on her since her dog obviously could not behave and that I was not doing anything wrong.

The entire time we were fighting do you know what my dogs were doing? Laying in the grass next to me, their eyes GLUED to the ball in my hand. They didn't give two figs about her or her stupid dog. Why? BECAUSE MY DOGS ARE WELL TRAINED!

Once she had walked past and shut her yap, I pulled my phone out of the stroller compartment and called DH. I was so angry I was shaking. CDL turned around and glared at me while I called him. She watched me the entire time she was walking down the alley and flipped me the bird just as she went around a corner. I put my hands up in a gesture that implied, "What do you want from me? Grow up."

DH came out right away and was just as pissed off as I was about the whole thing. He said, "I bet Mags and Sades didn't even notice her or her dog, did they?" Nope.

A few days later I was out in the same area playing ball with my dogs. I had turned to talk to my daughter while she was in her stroller and when I looked up CDL was walking down the alleyway right across from us. I quickly looked away and ignored her, but smiled to myself because she had to walk up that alleyway while watching my dogs take turns getting the ball. How many people do you know that have two dogs that take turns playing fetch? While one runs, the other lays down at my feet and waits. I thought to myself, "Ha! Stick that in your back pocket you old bag! Now you've seen my dogs behaving."

We have run into each other a couple times since the incident, but we just ignore each other. I really have no desire to get into another match with her. I didn't want the first one, but I just could not handle a complete stranger feeling like she was entitled to push me around over some neurotic need she had in her head to control everything in her environment.

CDL, if you ever come across this blog, please do the world a favor and get in to see a shrink shortly after enrolling your cocker in dog school. I can attest to the fact that happy pills really do work. You should consider getting on some.

Thus ends my Crazy Dog Lady story. I hope it brought you as much laughter as it has all of my friends, family, and coworkers. I hope that you do not think ill of me for this incident. I really am a kind and generous person. I just have no patience for rude people.

Crazy Dog Lady Part 1

Last week DH and I were out walking our baby in her stroller along with our two Precocious Pooches. One of my dogs is a bit older (3 years) and more mature. She is a very well behaved dog, and I never hear anything to the contrary. In fact, I am constantly getting compliments about how well behaved she is. Everyone who has ever been in contact with her instantly loves her. I actually used to take her to work with me at my previous job because my coworkers loved and adored her. When we go on walks, I often don't put her on a leash because she generally stays right next to the stroller. She doesn't wander off or get into any kind of mischief. She stays right where she knows she is supposed to be.

Our other pup, on the other hand, is just that. A pup. She just barely turned one this year. The breed is known for being hyperactive for the first 2-3 years, and then they hit a turning point and calm down into very gentle, cuddly dogs. As she is a hyperactive pup, however, we cannot trust her to be off leash on walks. Ever. She would run all over helter skelter and get up in other dogs' faces. She even has a tendency to rile up other dogs while she is on leash just by perking up her ears and acting bulky. Usually DH walks her because she tends to pull, while I push the stroller and keep an eye on our other dog.

That being said, both of my dogs are generally well behaved and well trained. I have trained 8 dogs in my short 30-year life so far. I am no greenie to the arena. I have spent thousands of dollars in dog training and socialization classes for my pups. The thing that brings the most pleasure from strangers is that my dogs actually take turns getting the ball when we play fetch. It is not uncommon for passerby to stop and watch my dogs play fetch.

Now back to the story. We were walking along a windy trail that opens up into a grassy area. At the other end of the grassy area, it closes back down to go through some woods and over a bridge. After which point, the path turns a 90 degree angle off into some more woods. DH and I had just entered the clearing, when up ahead just before the bridge there was a woman with an ill-behaved cocker spaniel. She was at least 100 yards ahead of us. Far enough that I could not see her face. We heard the woman call out, "Are both of your dogs on a leash?"

Perplexed, I didn't know why it would matter. Our older dog was minding her business and walking right next to the stroller. I replied that one of them was. She then asked if I would please put my other dog on a leash. Instantly my hackles were up. My dog wasn't misbehaving in any way, shape or form. Obviously this woman had some kind of neurotic need to control absolutely everything in her environment.

As I am not a confrontational person, I begrudgingly obliged. Once my pup was on a leash, the woman crossed the bridge and disappeared around the corner, with her ill-behaved cocker in tow. I irritatedly asked DH why the hell I had to put my pup on a leash, pointing out that the woman's dog did not behave any differently when my dog was on a leash as opposed to when she wasn't, and that the woman could no longer even see us. He was clearly as irritated as I was and told me to take her off her leash. I did.

We then proceeded to walk across the bridge ourselves and around the corner, across another bridge, and into another clearing that opens up to a duck pond. As soon as we entered the clearing, the woman was standing off to the side of the trail waiting for us. I glared at her, then ignored her, and we continued on our way. We did not see her again that night.

DH and I have lived in this area for over a year now and I have never seen this woman before that night. I have asked a few neighbors if they knew her, but no one does. One of them suggested she might be new to the neighborhood. Another offered to go to battle with me if needed.

Thus ends part 1 of our saga. Stay tuned for part 2 that promises a cat fight in front of neighborhood children....