The Missaroo

The Missaroo
Ready to Take on the World

Friday, October 29, 2010

We're Awesome!

The Missaroo and I are currently without cable. Well we're without TV of any kind actually. I got sick and tired of Comcast raising the bill on me every few months so I switched to Dish. Long story short they haven't stopped by to install it yet. ((Not so happy with them either right now))

So in the meantime, we've been watching TV shows on my computer instead. There are a lot of upsides to this.... like I can watch my shows anytime, I don't have to sit through as many commericals, and overall it's just more convenient. BUT there are a few downsides as well, the biggest being comfort. I don't have wireless Internet because I use my laptop like a desk top mostly. It stays plugged in at my desk in the kitchen. So I sit in my desk chair and watch TV. Missy hates this because there is simply no room for her on my lap this way. Not cool. Then I got an idea.....

I thought wouldn't it be cool if I could just drag my recliner over to the edge of the carpet and watch my computer from there!?! I looked over at Miss and said out loud to my dog, "mom doesn't live here, I can do whatever I want!" Sometimes I forget that I don't live with my mom. I think that's the sign of really good parenting. Her words of wisdom stick in my head even after 8 years of living apart. With that said, I put my genius motion in plan. I pulled up the recliner, grabbed a blanket, and hit the play button. It wasn't long before Miss was sleeping on my lap while I watched my shows. Life was good and we were awesome!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

All You Really Need to Get Through the Day....


What a sweet shmoo she is!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Love is Just Around the Corner

I actually thought of this title before I wrote "Hate is Just Around the Corner." I wanted to do them back to back like usual, but that would require a bit more sleep than I've been getting lately so I messed up and did them a little farther apart, oh well.

Time to delve right into. I think love is just around the corner. Now, before you get your hopes up, there is NO ONE in mind right now. I'm not even dating anyone or thinking about dating anyone, I'm just... hopeful. I've been having a rough go lately with a string of bad timings and bad luck, and yet everyday I've at least woken up happy. I find myself smiling for no reason while I walk the Missaroo, and overall just filled with more joy than usual. I can't really explain it. Usually when things start to fall apart around me I fall too. But this time I've finally listened to the Rockford Peach in my head, "Just keep smilin.'"

All of this smiling has me feeling pretty optimistic these days. I keep looking at Miss like, you might have to move over a bit girl, I'm making room in my life again. It's weird too because I've never really felt like that before. Its sort of happened, and I made room to let it occur, but never ahead of time. But hey, those last two times I fell in love it didn't really turn out the way I wanted to either now did it? So maybe this is a really, really great thing. Love might truly be just around the corner, you just never know!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Poop Bag Stash

A few days ago I wrote about how I always have a poop bag on hand when Miss and I are on our walks. You know, because I'm such a fabulous dog mom.

Well today we were walking in the rain and as I went to throw her poopy away I remembered why I hadn't been using bags from my stash. I hate wet bags! The bags at the doggie clean up stations get wet in the rain. They flop around in the wind and I don't want to stick that wet bag in my pocket and carry it around waiting for the Missaroo to go potty again. So on rainy days like these, I head to my bag stash in the kitchen; a collection of every grocery bag I have since the last time the crummy weather hit. Oh the life of a dog mom!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Hate is Just Around the Corner

The folks of Westboro Baptist Church descended on the city of Spokane yesterday. For those of you who don't know, they are the crazies who protest at military funerals because God is punishing us by killing our soldiers because of this country's tolerance of gay people. Uh, yeah, sure. The crazies and the counter protesters came out in full force, or so I'm told. One of the many sites they took over was the high school right down the street from me. Around 2:30 I heard a roar of a crowd and decided to walk to the end of the block to see if there was anything going on.

So Missy and I headed out the door like we normally would for her potty break anyway. At the corner, all I could see was the traffic backup that Westboro was causing. I decided I didn't want to go any closer, although I would have laughed hysterically if Missy would have barked at them. I just didn't need to see the hate right around the corner. And Missy doesn't need to experience hate in her life either. We turned around and went home.

Life is too short to hate. Now, I'm not going to debate about the right and wrong of being gay. And I'm not going to debate the right and wrong of protesting military funerals. The last point I'll let the Supreme Court decided, but as for the first point, well that's up to God. And no matter what I think might constitute a sin, at the end of the day I believe a simple truth found straight out of the Bible, "God is love." It's not my place to judge, even though I guess I am judging the Westboro peeps by calling them crazies. But it is my job to tolerate and love because God says so. He doesn't say love people like you, love people you think aren't sinners. In fact, it's quite the opposite, love sinner and saint alike, He commands. There's no room for hate in my Bible, God, or life. How about yours?

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Common Sense Isn't Always So Common

WARNING ANOTHER GROSS BLOG HEADED YOUR WAY:

I like to think of myself as an expert when it comes to picking up dog poop. Three times a day, every day Missy has to go number two. As a responsible pet owner and overall fantastic dog mom, I always make sure to clean up after her. I'm never caught without a poop bag. In fact, the few times I do venture out without the Missaroo I usually get embarrassed by the fact there is a poop bag hanging out of my pocket or flapping around in my purse. But hey, at least I'm always prepare. The worst thing you can be is a dog mom with a pooper on your hands without a poop bag.

So that being said, I pretty much have the bag inside out, pull through routine down. I can do it with my eyes closed. So when my mom told me this story the other day I thought to myself, if you can't figure out how to pick up dog poop how on earth can you function? I mean it's not nearly as complicated as a diaper for instance. The story goes like this:

This lady and her daughter are walking along outside my mom's house with their new dog. My mom is sitting outside with her husband watching the whole thing go down. The responsible pet owner pulls out her plastic bag and the her GLOVE. She picked up the poop with a glove and then put it in the bag! My mom just about died. She almost stopped breathing re-telling me the story over the phone. She said she immediately thought of me. I asked is she had the heart to tell the woman to just turn the bag inside out, pick up the poop, and then pull the bag right-side out again. My mom said, no because she was laughing too hard.

I'm probably going to hell not only for laughing at this poor pet parent, but also for turning around and blogging about it her, but I just can't help it. I guess common sense isn't so common after all.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

How Did We Mess This Up?

So a while back I wrote about how amazing Missy's seat belt was. Key word being here is "was". Somehow I can't get it unclipped from the actual seat belt in the car. Which means I can't put it around the Missaroo. I have no idea how we managed to break the darn thing but it looks like we have. BUT I have still been clipping her to the seat belt in a weird, this is totally not right kinda way. I use her leash to clip onto her collar and the leash part of her seat belt. When I got back in the car yesterday, this is the sadness that I saw:


How in the world did we mess this up? Poor Shmoo! 

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Just the Way We Like It

Today is my Friday and it couldn't come soon enough. I'm very close to a nervous breakdown at this point with one week to go. BUT today was a semi-normal 8 hour shift, IF you count being at work at 4am normal. The biggest perk though? Being home by noon on a sunny day. Miss and I are happy, if not extremely tired, campers. So we spent the day in style, on our balcony, with our shades on. Just the way we like it.


So where's the Missaroo? Oh there she is:

Friday, October 15, 2010

The Little Things

Every 12 weeks or so I blog about how crazy busy my life is and how my messed up work schedule this month couldn't hit at a worse time. I blog about how tired I am and how much Miss is unhappy. All of this is true. And while there are many benefits to going to school and working hard at my job, there are also smaller more memorable moments that keep me going through all of this.

One of the times when I woke up from wrestling about in my bed last night, I discovered the Missaroo with her head on my back. She was curled up so tightly and so close to me, she actually felt like a person. It was then that I remembered what she's really mad about during these crazy weeks. It isn't so much how little she gets to play, it's how much she misses her mom. I miss her too. The funny thing is I stopped with the rolling around after that.

Another great moment came in class on Wednesday night. I mentioned to my grad school buddy Barry some of the things I have going on at work. He was amazed at what I throw on my plate but also said to me with 100% confidence in his voice and without hesitation. "You'll nail it. Go get 'em." Wow! It was really one of the nicest things someone has said to me in a really long time. I don't usually have someone supporting me like that, other than my mom of course but she's my mom.

These moments are few and far between but they mean the world to me and keep me going. There are people in my life I wish I heard or had these kinds of moments with more, but I can't force them and I can't expect people to think and feel something they just don't. I'm thankful for my life and my Missaroo.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

No Sleep for You!

If my life were a Seinfield episode, the Missaroo would be the soup Nazi. But it's not soup she won't let me have, it's sleep. Last night was a typical, "mommy is back in grad school" night for her. Homework all day, work all night; 2 walks, food, and then it's goodnight moon. Miss doesn't take to this very well because she wants to play, and it somehow messes up her schedule.

For instants, instead of having to go the bathroom ten minutes before the alarm goes off, now all of a sudden she has to go twice in the middle of the night. The first time she woke me up I had only been asleep for less than two hours. It took me a long time to even figure out what that noise was, where I was, and why she couldn't just go pee without me. The second time she woke up was 5am. Two and a half hours before the alarm went off and four hours after the first time she had to go. It's as if she's saying "No sleep for you." Or at least that's the irrational thought that went through my head each time I woke up in the middle of the night. She might as well have been torturing me while she was at it.

This will continue for the next several weeks as I spin closer and closer toward a nervous breakdown. I'll get to the edge and then magically find myself on winter break wondering when classes start up again. Apparently I suffer from short term memory loss. I guess not sleeping will do that to you.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Life Right Now

The Missaroo is not a happy camper and won't be until December, if then. Because this is my life after work every night right now:


I guess I'm not the happest camper right now either. More like the most tired camper.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Spread the Love

For those of you who haven't checked out The Missaroo Facebook page, it's all about spreading the love. I'm not really sure where I came across this phrase "spread the love" but it was one I couldn't get out of my head. I'm pretty sure I stole it from somewhere, I just can't remember from what or whom. Anyway, The Missaroo spread the love campaign is really all about staying positive when life gets you down. Something you know I've struggled with. But it's been the Missaroo that has gotten me through, one lick of the face at a time. So I decided to pay it forward via Facebook.

Missaroo and I are ready to spread the love in other ways now too. We are ready to love. Since the start of this blog, the last thing I've wanted to do is date someone new. I didn't even want to think about dating or putting the Missaroo and myself out there again. Truthfully, 99% of the men I've dated haven't come close to even meeting the Missaroo. I will definitely try to keep it that way. We all remember how she wouldn't come to bed and sat by the balcony door for two weeks straight whining. We aren't going down that road again.

But I feel like I'm maybe ready to open up my life again. I think school has really helped me with this. It forces me to talk to all sorts of people and tell them a little bit about myself. That has been my jumping off point.

Now, I'm unlikely to run out on a date tomorrow. But just the fact that I'm open to the idea means I've come a long way since February. And the face that I'm open means an opportunity is more likely to come my way. It's time to give people the benefit of the doubt again, thanks to the Missaroo and her spread the love campaign.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Do It Yourselfers

I don't get to play the girl card too often. It's mostly because of this life I've chosen. I live thousands of miles from family. No roommate, no boyfriend, and not too many friends here in general. So when a HUGE bug crosses my path, I don't really have the luxury of freaking out. Case in point: I was cleaning yesterday when I came across a gigantic bug. I have no idea what it was but it was gross and had those antenna things sticking out of it's head. I couldn't scream or run into the other room. Instead I kept one eye on it while I reached around for a paper towel and smushed it to death. Done. When a light goes out, I fix it. When my TV doesn't work I mess with the cords, and when Christmas comes I'll be out cutting down my own Charlie Brown Tree.

But there is one area in which I still play the girl card. Yesterday morning I went to start my car and the battery was dead. Crap. It was totally my fault and actually the third time I've done this since I moved here. My old car doors are heavy and you have to slam them shut, which is a little hard when you only way a buck something and you're parked in a garage. Needless to say the light inside had been on for almost two whole days.

I immediately called my friend Kristen knowing full well she'd talk her boyfriend into saving the day. Doug has also been my go-to guy for much of the year. I tell ya he must really love that woman to be putting up with my crap too. Doug and Kristen saved the day while Miss and I just looked on, pretty helpless. Although she did have command of the balcony, barking at us the whole time. When it comes to cars, I still play the girl card.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Many Faces of the Missaroo

Missy makes me laugh A LOT! Usually all it takes is just one look. Today we were riding in the car on our way back from the bank and I turned around and she was standing in the weirdest possible position. I blast laughed and asked her why she was standing like that. I tried to snap a quick pick at the stop light but it just turned out to be a blurry mess. But this is just one of a thousand stories I could share with you, so instead of stories I'm going through the phone files to share with you pics of some of my favorite funny Missaroo faces. Enjoy! :)



Like Dog Mom, Like Missaroo

Missy heads to the Petsmart Groomers every eight weeks like clock work. They make her next appointment before we leave the previous one and the same gal groomers her every time. Her name is Cynthia and she seems to genuinely love the Missaroo. ((Well how can you not, right?)) When we walk in, Cynthia is there to greet Missy at the door. I'm pretty sure she has no idea what my name is, but that's OK. She's not cutting my hair. But during Monday's trip she did tell me a little story about just how smart she thinks the Missaroo is.

In the back of the groomers there are kennels. Apparently the Missaroo is pretty fussy and will only go into two of them. So when she goes back there she actually picks the one she wants and sit in fronts of it and waits until they let her in. Wow! What a good Missaroo! Then she was telling me how Missy licks her faces the whole time and what a sweet girl she is who gives her no trouble at all. Yep, that's my Miss I thought as she told me how great my dog was.

So then Miss and I headed out. We were buckled in the car and on our way home. Missy barked for 20 minutes straight, uncontrollably. I thought my ears were going to bleed. I thought, I bet if I were to tell her groomer this is how she acted, well she just wouldn't believe me. Not that angel of a dog Missy! And then it occurred to me that's the same way my brother and I were as kids.

My brother and I were BRATS with a capital B. I still am and Jeffrey is just Jeffrey. But there is one thing that was instilled in us at a very early age, you act proper in public and you respect adults. And you bet that we did. My mom was never afraid to put us in our places in public so we knew better than to give her the chance. Nothing more embarrassing than getting a smack to the back of the head in front of your friends or the lady that cuts your hair, or insert anything where you have to see those people again. I guess that's kind of like the Missaroo too. She's an angel in public and then lets our her brattiness in the car. Althought she'd bark like that even if her groomer was in the car with us. Oh that Missaroo!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Missy and the Fly

I'm not sure if things like this make me feel good or bad about the Missaroo. She doesn't kill living things, but she tortures them and then leaves them like that. I'm talking about bugs of course. Not sure what I mean? Just watch:

Monday, October 4, 2010

My Turn, Karma is a You Know What

So I've been running my big mouth about how Missaroo is clumsy. She runs into poles and parked cars, ha ha! Well I finally got what I deserved and I only wish I could blame it on the Missaroo.

We went back to Tubbs Hill in Coeur d'Alene on Saturday. I had a random shorter day at work thanks to CBS airing sports during the 5pm and 6pm hours. Thank you CBS! So I was off at 3 and by 4 we were enjoying the last 80 degree, sunny day of the year from on top of a beautiful hill overlooking Lake CdA. I was a bit too adventurous, however. I decided we'd go up pretty darn high. There was this little path to no where I decided we would take. Bad idea. First of all I thought my heart was going to beat right out of my chest. ((Have I mentioned I'm not athletic?? Like at all)) Second, when we were trying to come down the steep hilly part guess who fell on her butt and then proceeded to slide her way down? Oh not the Missaroo, nope it was this girl. I had to drop her leash and everything. Luckily she's smart enough to realize I never drop her leash so the moment that happened she immediately stopped and turned around as if to say, what's going on mom? Oh my Missaroo, she's such a smarty.

Miss really came out the winner that day. She got a good doggie laugh at my expense finally and a pretty cool hike. She came home and passed out on the balcony in the sun, soaking up what was left of the day. I took a shower and cleaned myself up. I wasn't really hurt except for my pride and thank goodness for that. It occurred to me as smart as the Missaroo is, she's no Lassie. What if I had fallen and broken my arm or something ((don't worry no wells on Tubbs Hill)) But seriously, what would the Missaroo have done then. Probably just sat there with me trying to lick my face. Also lucky for both of us, Tubbs is a pretty happening place. So it would have only been a matter of seconds until someone walked by.

But just in case, maybe I should start watching old Lassie reruns with Miss. I could train her to do that, right?

Saturday, October 2, 2010

A Love Story

I wish I could explain to you in words how much I love my dog. I try each and every day with this blog, but there aren't enough posts in the world. I love the Missaroo and that's really where all my craziness about her comes from. I won't dress her in clothes and I certainly won't stuff her when she's dead ((which I announced to the newsroom yesterday. Don't ask how that convo got started)) But I will have her either cremated or buried when she dies. And yes, that will be the worst day of my life.

There are lines drawn between being an actual person and a dog, but we sometimes blur them. In the end though, it really comes down to love. When you love someone or something, you do anything for them. I haven't been in love many times in my life ((thought I was in love once, actually in love once)) and I'd actually like to keep it that way. And I'm not in love with the Missaroo either, but I do love her like I would love my kid and she loves me as her protector, bud, and dog mom. It's a love story really.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Don't Talk to Miss that Way

The other day I was reading for class when Miss went out on the balcony to bark. She was not happy with our neighbors, I'm not really sure why but she was letting them have it. I probably should have gone out there and gotten her, but I really didn't notice it that much. I didn't notice until I heard my neighbor tell the Missaroo to shut up. Or at least that's what I thought I heard. I mean I KNOW I heard "shut up" but I don't know that it was directed at the Missaroo. Either way it got my attention.

Here's the thing about this: Whether you agree with my insanity or not, the Missaroo is my kid. I would NEVER go up to someone else's screaming kid and tell them to shut up. I might think it in my head, or maybe say something to the parent, but not the kid. ((Um and can I remind you all about the 4 year old who single handedly managed to cancel the flight of 250 people? I was glad I had a dog that day.)) And here's another thing, the Missaroo might be my kid but she's still a dog. And a guard dog to top it off. She barks, that's kinda what they do. And if you knowingly move into doggie hell, well then you have to put up with the barking. She's not the only barker on the block, or even the loudest. She sometimes carries on the longest and throws the biggest fits, sure, but she's a dog.

So here's my point: as crazy as I might be, I think people should respect my craziness and not talk to my dog in a way they don't want me to talk to their child. AND Missy is allowed to bark, it kinda comes with the territory. AND if you have a problem with her barking, hey feel free to knock on my door. But don't, I mean DO NOT tell the Missaroo to shut up.

I've been keeping a closer ear on the balcony situation and if the neighbor tells her to shut up one more time, you bet she's going to get a piece of my mind. Tell me what you think. Agree with me? The neighbor? Both? Neither? We'd love to hear from you!