The Missaroo

The Missaroo
Ready to Take on the World

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Foot Patrol


Missy and I walk everywhere. We've walked to the vet, the car repair shop, fast food places, we've even walked all the way from the South Hill to Downtown, but if you ask me about it I'll deny it. Today I even walked to the grocery store and then walked back with my bag loaded down. It was pretty empowering actually. Most recently we've been high tailing it down Regal. It's a fairly busy street but I like it because it's a straight shot and there are very few dogs beside the Missaroo along the way.

On these and many other walks we've grown accustom to the various comments people like to throw out. In the Tri-Cities, we received your typical cat calls of "hey baby" and I even got a "how you doin'?" ((yep like Joey from Friends style)). I never did have the heart to tell those jerks that Missy is no cat and I don't meow. We usually just kept walking. Here in Spokane it's gotten even stranger. Once we hustled passed a truck and the driver yelled out "you don't have to run from me baby, I won't hurt you" to which I simply shouted back "yikes!" and kept going. All of which I take with a grain of salt. But last night a few punks really got on my nerves.

This is actually the second time they've done this to me. They threw those snap poppers at us while they drove by and honked as loud as they could. I yelled a lot of profanity at them and then checked on the Missaroo. I don't mind the comments but throwing something that could potentially hurt my dog is NOT OK. I mean she is pretty close to the ground after all. It makes me want to stop walking down that way. I like to switch up our routes so Missy doesn't get bored and that way I don't get as bored either and I hate the thought of those little s.o.bs ruining my route, but I'm just not sure if it's worth the risk.

If it were me by myself I wouldn't think twice, but what if they really hurt the Missaroo? Well if they really hurt the Missaroo I'll chase them down with lightening speed and beat the snot out of them. They are nothing more than some high school brats. Next time I'm going to yell "I got your license plates and I'm calling the cops." But I need to keep the Missaroo safe. It's part of being a dog mom, even if it means turning around and heading out another way next time.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Love is.....

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrong. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres" 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

I've fallen in love twice. Once with the perfect man, second with the perfect man for me. Neither time did it work out. Falling in love is a weird adventure. It just sort of happens. But when it only happens to one of the two people involved, it can be the hardest thing in the world. Trust me. Falling out of love might be even harder. It's not like you can wake up one morning and decide you don't love someone anymore. For me, falling out of love has taken about ten times longer than falling in love. What a strange concept. In fact, I'm not sure if you ever completely fall out of love, maybe the love just lessens? I look at my parents. They've been divorced for more than a decade. But I don't think my mom or dad would ever hesitate to help each other if they really were to need it. They don't wish ill upon each other. And I think they've both come to forgive each other for whatever it is that happened. BUT there is no way in heck they'd ever live together.

There are many things in this world I say I love. I throw the word around to loosely most of the time. I can list TV shows I love, things I love to do, and things I love to eat. It's great to have a lot of love in your life, but it should also be a sacred thing too. There are also people in my life I love. I have two best friends who I say "I love you" to. And by looking at the Bible verse above, I can confidentially says it's true. I also love my family.

Then there's the Missaroo. I was lying on the couch the other day watching TV and I thought, I love the Missaroo. More than that, the Missaroo reminds me what love is according to the Lord's will for us. She reminds me to be love, embody love. She teaches me patients BIG TIME. ((But I think the Lord still has a long way to go with me on that one. I feel like he's always testing my patients)) She teaches me to be slow to anger, to forgive quickly, to protect, to trust others, and always, always, always persevere. The Lord has a plan for all of us, there's no doubt about that. But the overall plan is to LOVE.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Growing Up John

I had an epiphany the other day. I was listening to my ipod when a song I had loved so much for years no longer seemed to be a fitting theme song for my life. In fact, I thought "that's not how I feel anymore, at all!" The song was John Mayer's "My Stupid Mouth." Now don't get me wrong I LOVE that song, but it's just not "ME" anymore.

I've been in love with John Mayer since high school. "No Such Thing" became more than a song it was an anthem to be played over and over again. That entire album defined my high school outlook. "Heavier Things" helped me sort out the first couple of years of college. And then "Continuum" seemed ahead of it's time. I remember thinking I wasn't going to like this album as much, but I LOVED that album more than the others. It then defined my very first real-love-of-my-life breakup. "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" made me cry for YEARS!

Now "Heartbreak Warfare" has hit the shelves and once again the timing in my life couldn't be more perfect. I've always felt like John was singing the theme songs of my life, I just never imagined those theme songs might change. I'm a lot less like "My Stupid Mouth" these days. The exact line when I had my great epiphany: "I'm never speaking up again, it only hurts me. I rather be a mystery than she desert me."

The epiphany was about much more than a song, it was about a state of being. I'm no longer afraid that what I say is going to drive someone away. If it does, who cares? At least I was me. It's also about being more of an adult and of course I have the Missaroo to thank for that. She's really made me more responsible, but in a different way than I've ever been responsible before. I'm no longer envious that I don't have somewhere to go after work, because it's too much of a pain in the butt. I have to take care of the Missaroo first anyway so I rather just stay home. It's also a responsibility that extends beyond myself. I'm responsible for her well being and life. That's more important nowadays than "a date over dinner yesterday." I'm becoming more of a woman everyday and I'm growing up John.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Dog Mom Arms

My mom is freakishly strong. She always has been and to this day I would be a liar if I said I wasn't afraid of her. The worst part is she knows that. At 25, I still fear a quick slap to the back of the head or a flick to the forehead when I get "sassy" to her. I think her strength comes from being a mom. Moms are always carrying their kids, picking them up, pushing strollers, and always on the go, go, go. Now my mom is a nanny to three little girls and still strong as ever.

Me? Not so much. I've been thin my whole life, and that's really an understatement. I've been underweight since the day that I was born. My mom is surprised how tall my brother and I are, she though for sure she'd have a couple of shortys on her hands. I don't work out, well it's more like I refuse to work out. I worked out everyday for four years in high school to prepare for volleyball. At one point, I even manged to get up to 117 pounds! The most I've ever weighed. I could also bench press 95 pounds, also impressive considering my weight, I'm a girl, and my overall lack of athleticism.

Now my strength comes from being a dog mom. Missy PULLS a lot while walking down the road. It's a great resistance training exercise for me. She weighs about 30 pounds, so picking her up and carrying her into a crate is also a weight lifting moment for me. Then there is all the throwing, tug of war playing, and overall walking and chasing that takes place inside and out. What little strength I have comes from being a dog mom. She is my workout. Every day, rain or shine, I'm at the gym of Missy. I might not be the strongest or the most fit person but trust me it's a workout and it beats sitting on the couch being lazy. My mom has kid-mom strength arms, I have dog-mom strength arms. And just like everything else, I'm hoping this is my pre-requisite to kid-mom strength. Gotta start somewhere right?

Saturday, June 26, 2010

WHACK... Again

Missy and I were talking our usual walk around the large block yesterday. As we were rounding the corner, she heard a dog barking but she couldn't figure out where it was coming from. We stopped for a second. The dog was inside a van parked on the side of the road ((don't worry, there were a couple of people in there with it so the doggie wasn't frying or anything)). Missy still couldn't figure it out but it was time to move on.

I tried to get her going and then she did it... again, this time in slow motion, and the worst part is this time I saw it coming but couldn't do anything about it. Missy didn't turn her head all the way around, took a half a step and WHACK! ran neck first into a pole. I BLAST LAUGHED and then covered my mouth as tears started to form behind my eyes. For half a second before it happened I went to yell HEY! but then I realized she wouldn't know why so I didn't say anything, I just braced myself for her impact by gasping. And unlike last time, this happened in the middle of the day and had a witness. Some guy was driving by, heard my laugh, and turned and looked. I don't know what was probably more funny to him, my dog smacking her face into the pole or her owner busting a gut at it. I couldn't even breathe, let alone walk. I almost just sat down from laughing so hard. It is probably one of THE funniest things I have ever seen in my life, mostly because this time I saw it coming. Don't worry the Missaroo wasn't hurt, maybe just a little embarrassed. She seemed pretty happy still, but she did jump on me and push me a bit with her paws, as if to say, "mom don't laugh at me, it isn't THAT funny." Oh but you're wrong Missaroo it was SUPER funny. Love you Shmooie!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Sometimes Missy Remembers She's a Dog

A few days ago, I wrote about Missy snuggling on the couch and having the blanket fall around her as if she were a person. That's pretty much the case 90% of the time. But sometimes Missy plays so hard at daycare, her little doggie self comes through. And sometimes she can't even make it to the couch....


And it's not the first time it's appeared as though she just dropped dead from playing too hard.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

The Great Escape

On the way home from daycare last night, Missaroo has a GIGANTIC freak out in the car. There was a motorcycle behind us, that then switched lanes and passed us on the road. Missy was in such a barking, panic mode that she somehow managed to un-clip her collar. How do I know she didn't just slip out of it? Because when I buckle her into the back seat, I un-clip her collar and slip her leash through it, essentially cutting the leash in half. Then I re-clip her collar and seat-buckle the leash. This makes sure Missy can't roam freely around the car. She was without a collar and the leash was at full length.

Well she not only managed to get out of it, but she did it on the warmest day of the year. So what? So the windows were down. She actually tried to climb out the window to get to the motorcycle. Lucky for me and lucky for her she tried to get out the passenger side window. I caught her by the tail just as she got her head out. I pulled her back in and then went into OH CRAP! panic dog mom mode.

I rolled all of the windows up, pulled into a nearby parking lot after sitting at a red light holding her by the tail, and manged to re-buckle her in. WOW! We need the Dog Whisperer and we need him now.

Attack of the Tongue

I know I've written about it before but Missy just can't keep that tongue of hers in her mouth. Last night she was on a licking terror. I tried to capture it on video while fighting her off. It turned into me laughing, her licking, and some jarring camera movements. Take a look for yourself:


Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Summer Time!

It's two days after the official start to summer and we're just now seeing temperatures reach the 80's here in Spokane. It was a LOOONG spring. The term "juneary" has even been thrown around, especially for Seattle. Temperatures were about 20 degrees below average and there were way too many rainy days.

BUT that's all over now and we're headed for sunny skies, and warm temps! Hooray! So I'm taking the start of summer as a fresh start for the Missaroo and me. Since I'm big on lists and plans I thought this would be a good time to start a summer list. Things I want to do this summer. High up on the priority list, but probably the least likely to happen, get Missy to swim.

Missy has never really been in the water. She doesn't seem to want to go in water too badly, but I think she might enjoy swimming. When we lived in the TC she did walk in a very shallow part of the Columbia River. The thing is, there were too many other distractions, and by distractions I mean dogs. She's also checked out the little fountain outside our apartment. She seemed to think it was pretty neat, but still no desire to jump in. It is something I would like for her to experience once in her lifetime though. I don't really know how I'm going to do this though. I'm not a swimmer AT ALL. In fact, I have an irrational fear of drowning! But equipped with a couple of life jackets and a pretty descent swimmer next to us I'd like to give it a shot.

Goal number two is to try and come up with another blog adventure. In May we did Best Buds Day. It was great! We both loved it and hopefully you loved reading about it. Now I want to try something else, but I don't have any ideas yet. ((let us know if you have one)).

The third goal is really get "The Missaroo" to take off. She has about 37 twitter followers, 100 likes on her page, and 109 Fans of the Missaroo members. I would love to see all of those numbers go way up in the next three months.

So that's what I would like to see happen this summer. Like always, I'll keep you posted on our progress. Maybe we'll finally get around to sniffing that motorcycle too. Enjoy the warmth! 

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Stranger Danger

Missy is a sucker for a treat, we all know that. But is it ok to let her have treats from people we don't know? The question never popped into my head until today.

We were on our walk through the neighborhood behind our apartment just strolling along. We ran into those people who chemically treat the lawns, you know who I'm talking about. One of the workers almost went right up to Missy to say hello. Of course Missy said hello back and licked her in the face. It took me off guard a little bit, mostly because I had my ipod in. I didn't really think too much of it. She told me what a beautiful dog I had and gave Miss a pet. I thanked her and tried to get Miss off of her. Then she asked Miss, "would you like a treat?" AND PULLED ONE FROM HER POCKET! Super random. Missy carried it for a little while but kept dropping it so I picked it up and carried it with me.

While we were walking home I thought, "I wouldn't let Missy have this treat if she were a kid." Now, this is probably another over the top panic dog mom moment but really, doesn't that seem a little odd to you? Should I really let Missy have this treat? It looked fine. Just an ordinary dog treat. But remember that someone was trying to poison dogs on the South Hill just a few months ago? I'm not taking any chances. I'm throwing the treat out.

But there must be different rules when it comes to kids and dogs? But is that ok? That woman would have never approached my kid the way she approached Missy. She didn't ask if  she could give her the treat or even if she could pet her. I think maybe people should be more cautious around dogs the way they would be around kids. ASK me if you can pet her. Then I'm prepared and the answer is more than likely yes. ASK me if it's ok she has the treat. You can still be friendly to my dog without over stepping your bounds. Even dog moms fear stranger danger.

Monday, June 21, 2010

The Big Green Monster



I'll pretty much do anything to entertain the Missaroo, even if it is only for a few seconds. She gets easily bored with her toys unless part of the playing involves running around the apartment. For me, that really does only last a few seconds. The other night I was sitting in my recliner covered in my brand new, Muppet green blanket. ((Yes the same one she was wrapped in the day before.)) Missy wanted to play and I didn't want to get up. So I used the blanket to play with her. I just started growling at her and moving my covered feet around, sometimes touching her head. It wasn't long before the Missaroo tried to find those feet. She started growling back, running from side to side, and biting the blanket. Improvised play at it's finest.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Playing Catch Up

Ok, so the dog blog has been on a bit of a hiatus recently so it's time to catch you up on what we've been doing lately.

First, I turned 25. Yes, the scary number I have been dreading for weeks finally happened. Luckily, my mom was here with me so it was actually pretty darn great. I went shopping, got a massage, got my nails done, had a great night with great friends from work, went to Lake Coeur d'Alene, visited the FAM in the TC, went to WSU and basically got caught up on life and enjoyed the Northwest. It's the least stressed I've been in YEARS!

But most of those adventures didn't really include the Missaroo so I'll spare you the details, but not the pictures.










Second, I got real about my life. I took a good, hard look at where I'm actually at and where I want to be. Despite some of the blogs, the result is glass half full. I'm on track with grad school and work. The Missaroo's Internet stardom was off to a quick start and has now tapered off, so that's a bummer, ((any suggestions on how to jump start it I'll take!)) Now I'm working on trying to find an internship at a non-profit, finish school, move up at work, and still explore every chance I get. In fact, I'm already thinking Vegas for birthday number 26. I've never been, so why not?

I've also been working harder on relaxing. I know it sounds like an oxymoron but for me it's not. I really have to take a step back and go, "Whoa! You are not having fun, you are STRESSED!" And so far it's starting with my walks with Missy. I'm working on not speed walking down the road. I'm trying to walk slower and with less of a purpose. She's enjoying it more too. So it's all about starting back at one, with baby steps. I'll get there, now I just have to figure out where it is I'm going.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Wannabe Cougs!

Missy and I had our latest adventure in Pullman, Washington home of Washington State University. Since I moved to Washington, I've always found myself rooting for the Cougs. Slowly, but surely, I fell in love. Someone once told me the Cougs are the best team ever invented, I'm not sure I'd go that far yet, but I do love them. So it was time to finally go to campus and check it out for myself.


Missaroo and I packed up and made the 90 minute trip on a cool, rainy afternoon. We walked EVERYWHERE! We saw the stadium, the communications buildings, the student union. Who knew I could be so excited to be back on a college campus, but I was! Missy was a hit too! One of the parents there on a tour actually asked the tour guide what was with the dog in the backpack! To which he replied I don't know, as they all watched us walk by.


One of the places everyone told us to go was the ice cream shop. They make their own cheese and ice cream. We bought some Cougar Gold Cheese and a few scoops of ice cream before heading back to Spokane. By the time we got back, Miss and I were both ready for a nap. We ended up passing out for about an hour. I blame all the steps.

My mom asked me, so was it everything you hope for? You bet! Then some and more. I even bought my own Coug sweatshirt. ((the shirt and sweatshirt I already have were gifts)) I love the Missroo and I love the Cougs. Even on a cloudy day, it was pretty much perfect.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Sometimes Missy Forgets She's a Dog

The Missaroo is pretty much treated like a person. She is my little buddy who goes everywhere with me. She's been through every drive thru I've ever been in, she lays on the couch with me, and sleeps in the bed. The only thing she doesn't get to enjoy is people food. That's my big rule. No people food. I don't want her to turn into one of those annoying dogs who begs. She has enough things about her that make her annoying.

Grams doesn't understand. She repeatedly tells Miss to get off the bed, off the couch, off of her. OFF, OFF, OFF is usually what I hear from the other room. Missy just looks at her with that adorable face as if to say "but Grams I love you, why don't you love me?"

Last night was no exception. I was lying on the couch with my new green blanket and the Missaroo just had to lay there too. When I got up to go to bed I threw the blanket off and just scooted up and around Miss. She was still in the same spot, but now she was covered in the blanket. She looked, well, like a kid....

Monday, June 14, 2010

Finally, Some Real Quality Time

We're doing it again, the whole blog slacking thing. My mom is still in town and we've been busy bees! I'll do a wrap up blog about all of our adventures at the end, but most of them don't really include the Missaroo.

BUT the best part about having all this time off is that I'm not stressed and neither is the Missaroo. It's amazing how much better she walks. Usually we are hauling buns down the road to try and knock out the walks so she can get her exercise and I can eat. It's especially bad on the weekends. But now I'm foot loose and fancy free just like the Missaroo. She is much calmer because I'm much calmer. I would love to say I'll have to remember this and keep it up even after I go back to work but that's just not going to happen. But I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

It's also nice to just spend some time with the Missaroo. We've been walking her and leaving her a lot. She can't go with us everywhere, but she's still in the crate a lot less. And when I do come home I'm in a really good mood. So she gets a positive greeting, a happy mom, and another walk! Another thing we've been doing more of is watching TV. I spend most of my free time either taking care of her or updating all of her pages. With Grams here, I've been spending a lot less time on the Internet and more time just being in the same room as Miss.

Our happy-go-lucky ways will be coming to an end on Saturday. Until then Grams, Missaroo, and I will enjoy some real quality time.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Mommy to the Rescue

A couple of nights ago, Missy accidentally knocked one of her "buried" bones behind the bed. It was underneath the pillow but she hit it somehow in the middle of the night and off the bed it went. It was just a few minutes before 1 am when I heard, what sounded like her trying to crawl underneath the bed. Yep. That's exactly what she was trying to do. Then the sound of pain started. It was worse than her normal wine. So I got up. I turned the light on. I moved the bed away from the wall. She still couldn't get it, so it was mommy to the rescue. I crawled in there and got it for her. She didn't even chew on it, turns out she was just unhappy with the placement of it. Great! I'm really glad she woke me up for that, but oh well. At least I saved the day....

The next day I picked up my mom at the airport. I miss my mom A LOT. As much as I'm pretty darn content to never move back to Illinois, I probably will one day because of my mom. She's my best  friend. We get into a fight every 2.5 seconds, we laugh constantly, and love always. I've been having a pretty hard time here as we all know, mostly due to the sheer loneliness that comes with the territory. I had had about all I could take of doing things by myself, or not at all because I couldn't take the dog. Just when I thought I couldn't take one more day, it was mommy to the rescue.

Now it's the start of day four of Grams and the Missaroo adventures. She loves that dog, even if she pretends not to.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Missaroo and the Muzzle

30 Seconds after the muzzle was up and around her nose... Missy proved to be smarter than Grams gave her credit for. Well, at least we tried.....



Saturday, June 5, 2010

Come On, You Know You Want a Cat

June is adopt a cat month! All the more reason Missaroo and I should expand our family right? Well for those of you who can, seriously consider looking into adopting a cat. Cats stay in shelters and kennels much longer than dogs do. They are harder to adopt out and many more are killed because no one wanted them. When I looked up cats to add to Missy's facebook page, there were nearly 2,000 cats in Washington State on Petfinder alone! Also, if you will consider adopting a cat, and by adopting I mean saving a life, look at the older adult cats first. Those kittens will find homes just because they have cute faces, but the adult cats are closer to death row. As much as I shouldn't be, Missaroo and I are looking into taking a cat who's owner can't take care of him anymore. The thought of that cat dying because I didn't do anything breaks my heart. Just take a look, do it for the Missaroo and me. Please.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Well the Good News Is No More Pooping Problems

Yep you guessed it, Another GROSS blog headed your way. Just be glad there are no pictures.

So the rain has been getting us down, BIG TIME. I hate staying inside all day and even when I don't really want to walk the Missaroo it does make me feel better. Yesterday, I was having a depression hurts the Missaroo kinda day and we really didn't walk too much although she did enjoy the balcony. Today the rain is back.

I decided the rain wasn't going to get the best of again though. We would beat the rain by taking a walk inside Petco instead. We made sure to poop before we left and then headed off in the car for the store. We walked up and down each aisle, saying hello to the other creatures, and sniffing around as much as we could. We were making our final rounds when Missy squatted on the floor and Peed. Whoops! I forgot she hadn't peed before we went inside. So I'm standing there, looking for a doggie clean up station or an employee. I find the most disgruntled looking one around of course and chased after her yelling "Excuse me" to which I get the reply of "Yeah?" "My dog just had an accident, do you have a clean up station?" She points behind her and I grab the entire roll of paper towels and the spray cleaner. Missy is pretty embarrassed at this point and it's hard to get her back to her spot. I reassure her it's ok and that she's a good girl.

It seems like it takes forever and most of the roll to clean it up. And of course the spray bottle is pretty much empty. Then we trek over to the garbage can and I use way too much hand sanitizer. We finish our walk and then head back out. As we're walking to the car I realize, OH NO she has to poop. And she has to poop now. No grass anywhere. We RUN across the parking lot to try and find anything close to resembling grass and make it there just in time. This is really starting to defeat the purpose of walking inside the store. Like any good dog mom I pulled out a poopy bag from my pocket to clean up after her. We're both soaked by the time I clip her into the backseat.

The good news is she pooped twice in less than an hour, so my fears from last night are gone and covered with dog mom embarrassment moments. Also, if things went as planned, what on earth would be blog about? I mean this is about our miss-adventures for a reason.

A Missaroo Freak Out

Missaroo FREAKS OUT sometimes. Gee I wonder where she gets that from. This is a pint sized Missaroo freak out, but a freak out nonetheless. So I thought I'd share a little bit of what the neighbors and I go through every couple of minutes. Enjoy!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Worry Wort

Ok, It's 10:00 pm and I've just spent the last hour FREAKING OUT about the Missaroo's health.

WARNING: If you don't have a pet or a kid you might find this blog beyond gross.

When we went for our potty walk tonight, Missaroo had trouble pooping. She's never really had trouble before, she's pretty darn regular, although she is picky about where to go. Tonight she squatted way longer than normal. I was a tad concerned and took an extra close look at her droppings. Seemed ok, but something I was definitely going to keep my eye on. Then we came home and she did something she's NEVER done before. She scooted her bottom across the floor! OH NO YOU DIDN'T JUST DO THAT! Uh, oh! I thought the Missaroo might be sick. And then I kept thinking about how I've been twittering a lot lately that's she's been peeing more often. It wasn't long before I was in "concerned" dog mom mode.

"Her nose is wet, she must be fine" I kept telling myself. But just in case I wrote "call vet" on my to do list for tomorrow. Never hurts to ask right. But I was curious and worried so I did what any good 21st century mom would do, I went searching for answers on the Internet. I literally typed in "Webmd for dogs" and by golly Webmd's page on dogs popped up! I started to look up what little symptoms she had. It wasn't long before I was in "sheer panic, I don't know anything about raising a dog" dog mom mode.

Missy hacks a lot so I looked up gaging. Turns out she could get a foreign object stuck in her throat. There were instructions on what to do if she can't breathe and collapses! What!?! I never thought about that. There were also lists of symptoms I didn't even know how to check for. OMG I thought! She could have a painful abdomen or an irregular heart beat and I'd never know it. I almost cried at how unprepared I felt. But first things first, lets figure out what the pooping thing is all about.

Basically it told me, wait a day and see if it continues. Oh yeah right, after reading all of the things she could have that I don't know about. No Thanks. Step number two was check out her butt. Gross I know, but I convinced myself this was life or death. Must look at her butt. I can do this. She is my kid after all and real kid moms sometimes stick thermometers up their kids' butts, I could at least look at Missy's right. So I tried.

I thought, maybe if I give her a treat, while she eats it I'll look. GREAT in theory. HORRIBLE in reality. Missy was basically like, "Hey, get away from my butt, mom." About 8 treats later, lots of circling each other, some crawling on the floor, and finally Missy bolting for underneath the bed, I still have no idea what her butt looks like. Dog mom fail. :/

I'm pretty sure she's fine. She's sleeping in her doggie bed at the moment, and by golly her nose is wet! I'll still call the vet first thing in the morning and just ask their opinion on the situation. I probably wouldn't be so freaked out if it weren't for Webmd and the fact that Missy had Kennel Cough. That was SUPER scary and that time I did cry. As always I'll keep you posted and try to calm my dog mom worry wort fears.

Grams is Coming to Town


My mom is flying into Spokane next week, just in time for my birthday! Missaroo is going to be pretty darn happy, but she's also going to have to learn to behave. Like any good grandma, my mom 1) doesn't want to be called grandma, so we'll go with grams. and 2) gives Missy things I don't approve of.

Last time my mom came, she fed Missy pretzels and Fritos. I was FURIOUS. She almost got away with it too, but unfortunately for Grams we all know what a hoarder Missy is and it use to be much worse. Missy would stash the "treats" in her crate and then eat them later, like when I was around to catch her. Oh Grams!

Another reason Missy loves Grams is because they both love to walk. Missaroo won't be spending a lot of time in her crate either. She'll be loose and fancy free with Grams while I'm at work. Plus, I'm taking vacation to spend time with both of them.

But Grams also promises to muzzle the Missaroo. Missy barks NON-STOP in the car, and well Grams just isn't going to put up with that. It might be a good thing, since I can't seem to get the Missaroo to behave, maybe Grams will be better about laying down the law. Either way, we're both looking forward to her visit even though Missy doesn't yet realize Grams is coming to town.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

In Over Our Heads

Some days I think Missaroo and I are in over our heads. We have a blog, two twitter accounts, a facebook page, and a facebook group; all of which we maintain pretty much everyday. And of course be we I mean me. Now don't get me wrong, Missy is the star of the show and my world. But she's just living out the adventures by being her. I'm the one who decided we needed to document them all.

I almost feel a little like Kate Gosslin, you know from "Jon and Kate Plus 8" on TLC? Ok, I feel like Kate minus 8 kids, a mid-life crisis having ex-husband, and a boat load of money. So how am I feeling like Kate? Because I'm creating adventures for Missaroo in order to blog about them, which I think is great for her actually. So what they took their kids to certain places because it made for good TV? The point is two loving parents took their kids somewhere fun and spent time with them, who cares why. Now, I'm not going to even touch the part about whether the kids should be on TV at such a young age without really having a say or the debacle of the show once the parents started a tabloid feud. I'm talking about why they took their kids places on the show, not the rationale behind the show. So before you start writing me hate mail let me compare it to Missy.

If it weren't for the blog, page, group, and twitter account we probably would not of had any Best Buds Days. I thought of it to give us something to share, pictures to take, stories to write. I kind of forced the adventure. But it was fun! For both of us. It really made me accountable too. There were moments on Best Buds Days when I would find myself getting upset, or wanting to yell at Miss, but then I thought NO! It's Best Buds Day, we're having fun, WE ARE DOING THIS NO MATTER WHAT! And I stuck to it, because the blog held me accountable.

And that is ultimately what keeps me going, the Missaroo. Sometimes I think, is this too much? Is this taking time away from her? Is this endeavour something anybody but us cares about? Are we really making an impact in any way? But then I think about our little forced adventures and I realize none of those questions really matter at the end of the day. If there is a yes in there, GREAT! but totally a bonus. The point is, I'm spending time with Missaroo, I'm healing my broken heart, and I'm finding a new way to occupy my time. Yes, we are getting pretty deep and I'm not sure if I could allow myself to turn around. But as long as I remember, our blog statement, "this is all about the most adorable dog in the world, Missaroo" I guess it's ok that we are in over our heads.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Go, Missy, Go!

Another great feature of our Spokane apartment, is more space. Missy can actually kick up her heels a tiny bit and run around. She doesn't have that much space, but what she has she uses.
Missy will sometimes feel the need to run for it and she tares through the apartment. Of course, like any good dog mom I encourage her with my "go, Missy, go" chant. Now what you're about to watch usually goes on for a bit longer, but like most of my picture/video capturing experiences with her, she became a bit camera shy.