Dog Rescue Dilemna

    Dog rescue is a very rewarding experience. I am amazed and humbled by the resilient, forgiving nature of dogs who have been abused, tortured, starved, abandoned, turned in by families they thought were their own.   The feeling you get when you see a dog thrive in it’s new home, truly enjoying a good life because of your efforts is just priceless. 
  Dog rescue can also be very frustrating.  Example – We are a Connecticut group. We’d love to help Connecticut Dogs. There are plenty in our pounds, and while the “kill” rate isn’t as high as down south, it’s still a possibility in some of our shelters.  So we reach out to CT pounds and ask if they’d like to participate in our adoption events… at no cost to them.  They just have to show up with their dog!… no fee, they keep whatever their adoption fee is.  Our adoption rate at events is fantastic, so you’d think it’s a no-brainer, right?    
   And yet, very few are willing to come.  Reason?  There are several …. no one at the pound willing to spend their day volunteering to bring the dog to the event. Apparently the towns or state won’t pay employees to bring a dog to a Saturday event.   Hey.. we are ALL VOLUNTEER… is there really no one who is willing to help?   And.. after hearing this – we’ve offered to bring the dogs ourselves.  To which we hear.. oh, liability, so.. no.      OR.. they don’t like that we also help southern dogs find homes.  Personally, we don’t believe in borders.  A dog in need is a dog in need, and down south the situation is horrible. Many many dogs die daily.    Now if we could get more Connecticut pounds to participate?  We’d probably become an ALL Connecticut adoption event group.  Can’t have one without cooperation from the other. 
Sad deal.  
Anyway.. here are a few happy faces coming to our next mini adoption event to be held at Pet Valu in Guilford, CT –  If you have a Pet Valu near you, support them. What an awesome organization. They do not sell animals in their store.. they DO NOT SUPPORT PUPPY MILLS.  They DO support shelter dogs by letting us hold fundraisers in their stores,.. and letting us hold mini adoption events as well.  It’s a beautiful thing.   
THANK YOU PET VALU CORPORATION. You totally ROCK!

 We’ve got a mini adoption event this coming Saturday at Pet value, flyer below..
   And a fundraiser  in April too!… 
 If you’re local, come meet the pups.. or have your pets picture taken with the Easter Bunny – Just $5. and all proceeds go to Homeward Bound CT.    Visit our website for more information…
www.homewardboundadoptionevents.jimdo.com  or like us on FB – Homeward Bound CT

Aging does have advantages

  ….And I’m not referring to all that crap the AARP has started sending my husband and I.  Do they keep a record somewhere  of just exactly when each citizen in the US is going to turn 50 so they can get you to jump on their bandwagon and take advantage of all that they have to SELL you ASAP?  Uncanny how all of a sudden, there it is, in your mailbox, exactly when they think you should start paying attention to their stuff. 
    What I’ve learned in my first 50 years  (hoping for a second 50  but we all know every day is a gift):
It’s true – LIFE IS SO VERY SHORT.  And you don’t really feel or understand that until you’ve lived it for a while. Time does indeed  speed up as we go along.  Remember how ENDLESS summers felt when you were 8 or 9 years old?  It stretched on forever.    Not anymore.. it’s a blip. If you blink three times, you might miss it. Looking at the history of the World, our life span is just a period at the end of a sentence in a long essay.  I have indeed learned to appreciate every.single.day.  
THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS.  Whatever it is that has you crazy at any particular time, you won’t always feel that way. It won’t always BE that way.   Here’s a biggie…some things you have power to change, some things you don’t.  Regardless, don’t waste too much energy in “the craze”… because it isn’t here forever and neither are you.  Let it go, accept, move forward.    (If my family is reading this right now there might be a snort or two.. .just hush – it’s a work in progress. )
TRULY, DEEPLY, AND ABSOLUTELY, LIKE YOURSELF.  I don’t say “love” here, because that doesn’t come easy to a lot of us, so lets be realistic and start with LIKE.   When I was young, oh I had my opinions and my ideas and desires on what I wanted my life to look like and who I wanted to be.  But I also didn’t have a lot of faith in myself – that old self-esteem issue – and caved to what others wanted me to be.  I didn’t often -follow my bliss-, nurture my creative side, pursue what I was capable of accomplishing, I didn’t believe in ME.   First on the agenda as I have matured has been to be true to myself, my beliefs, accept my shortcomings, admit and correct them where needed without beating myself up  –  and nourish creativity. I also don’t give a flying F if someone just doesn’t like me for whatever their reason.      Tell me – Why is it so important, especially for women, that we are -liked-.   It is, though, isn’t it. We want to nurture, protect and take care of… and we want to be liked.   It all starts from within, not outside sources.  Took a long time for me to figure that one out. 
 This is my 50th birthday month. I’m very OK with that, grateful ,absolutely.  I can say without a tinge of cringe.. that I love who I have become.   Perfect?  Heck no.  But good enough for me.  There aren’t a whole lot of pictures of me when I was a younger person… and those that were taken tell the story of someone who does not feel comfortable in her own skin.  Look for yourself…
Graduation celebration when the world was indeed my oyster, but I didn’t know it, afraid to open it! I rarely smiled big back then, because I didn’t trust to be that happy in the moment. 
Taken two days ago… 
I’m more than OK with 50.  I finally like me a lot, wouldn’t want to be someone else, am proud of what I’m accomplishing, accepting where I fall short,  and am trying where I can to leave this world a better place where I am able to touch it. While I’m not jumping for joy over the hearing loss, the wrinkles and dry skin and grey hairs that greet me in the morning, I do like what I see,… I know it’s a privilege. ….and I smile… big. 
 I saw this mug in a store last week and bought one for my daughter and one for myself.    Love the saying.. yes, this. 
  

As far back as I can remember

 …. we have not had this much snow and cold temps for such an extended period of time.  My poor guys have been plowing and shoveling and salting and sanding for what seems like eons.  There is no place to put the new snow that is currently blanketing our blanket of snow. Parking lots in this area look like snow fortresses, the banks are now so high.

 Do any of you remember Bob Ross?  The afro sporting happy God Bless fella who used to have a painting show on TV  – back in the day-?  I loved  him.. .. he could whip up glorious paintings in 20 minutes where if you had all the “stuff”, you could follow along and create something not too horribly awful…. and he was always always upbeat, happy, wishing you well.   
This picture has been circulating FB and it has me laughing…


So today as I sit here typing on my NEW COMPUTER THAT IS INDEED COMPATIBLE WITH ADOBE CLOUD and  finally I am all set and ready to go with no more bullsh*t chats with Adobe techs in India….. I am also looking out over snow covered everything, and it’s still coming down from the skies.

The dogs have been doing a lot of this… 

And I have been dragging out the spring decorations because ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. 

These beautiful owls were intended as Tree ornaments, but I love them so much I found them
a permanent home perched in the little trees on either side of my Marthas Vineyard Blue Moon.

Cadbury Eggs = CRACK,   in case you weren’t aware. 

 As always, thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a good day. 

Still looking for the silver lining….

  There is major suckitude in the Adobe world, let me tell you a little something. 
   So…. I have taken back an old position as editor of a local publication, right?  Let me be clear that I am thrilled to do so, grateful for the opportunity, thankful that others had faith in me to do it justice.  BUT.. I haven’t done this for the past 10 years.     * Things have changed. 

   For one thing, I can’t use Pagemaker, my long lost friend,  to put the publication together anymore.  Actually when you say that word to any tech store person, they laugh.  Apparently, it’s a dinosaur. Extinct.  Doesn’t matter, though!… Because I am no longer actually putting the publication together, so to speak, I’m just doing the editorial and -helping- to assemble!
 So I’m saying to my little self –  AWESOME NEWS!… 
 Except… there were still glitches.  Apparently, the whole world uses ADOBE products now for this sort of thing and a  host of other -things- that I might or might not have a use for.  Apparently I have been living under a rock.  Have you heard of Adobe Cloud?  It encompasses a whole lot of capability – Indesign,  Photoshop,  ILlustrator, lightroom, Acrobat Pro…   and there… right there… was were I came across THE RUB. 
 While in the process of learning the ropes with my new old job, I discovered I would need to get up to speed with those Adobe products in order to share work with my partner in our little publication.  So I downloaded Adobe Cloud, which I will pay $30. per month for, because you can no longer just go to Staples and buy the CD… Nooooo… it’s a monthly charge thing that you download from a site!  The Adobe site in this case.  Yep, they figured out how to make more money off us.  Anyway.  I download it, right?  And I start rummaging around in the Cloud on my computer. One of the key components in my job is the use of Acrobat Pro.  It is supposed to come with the Cloud package.  For some reason, it wasn’t there.   *sigh. 
How do you get in contact with Adobe for f*ck ups?  Well, you can take your chances in the forums or search 250,000 help articles which they ask you to do ten times before they will actually connect you to   a CHAT session with an Adobe tech.   
How do I make a long story short here. 
First tech:…two and a half hours of all kinds of diagnostics, not getting anywhere, only to have the internet connection cut off and chat session end.    (really?)…. 
Before the disconnect, however…after a lengthy aggravating diagnostic check… We finally figured out one small thing and I said.. 
well, at least we cleared that up, “D”.. Need a Cigarette? ….  
To which “D” replied..  We do not smoke here.   
I don’t either, D.   It was just a joke. 
“D” says… Oh, that is good humor. 
What country do you reside in, D?…. 
Bangalore, India.  
Ok D, I’ll quit the American Humor. 
*SIGH. 
five minutes later, we’re disconnected. 
Second tech:… two hours… all kinds of diagnostics, the same as tech one… still can’t figure out what the issue is.  I’m red in the face at the end of this chat… which ends AGAIN… by internet disconnect.  (Swearing profusely at this point).
Third tech a day later:…. I explain all that has come before this and he apologizes profusely for the inconvenience and he “understands my concern”.  ( I don’t really think so )    He explains there are often disconnects due to the internet connection being dicey. Coming all the way from F-ing India, I am not surprised.   But we go about the same damned dance one more time, and yet, at the end of another two hour struggle we have still gotten nowhere. 
Only.. THIS time.. this tech has the brains to say..
May I ask you.. what Operating System are you using?…
Vista.
OH!..  he exclaims with just a little too much of an underscore of HAPPINESS!…. We can’t help you! Acrobat Pro is not compatible with Vista! You’ll need to contact Microsoft. Is there anything else I can help you with today?

Can you pass a Marguerita through that screen and coat the rim with Xanax?  If not, there’s nothing more you can help me with today. 

                                                           Internet Disconnect. 
So where do I go from here?  Apparently I have to upgrade my operating system in order to get the tools I’ve already paid for and downloaded to my computer.  And apparently that would be costly and a royal pain in the a&&.  Especially because I have an older computer.  So.. this week I’m getting a new computer that has an OS that is compatible with the components I need to utilize in my new old position.  THEN, I will need to go back into the black hole that is ADOBE TECH SUPPORT and hope the first tech I talk to can figure out how to install Adobe Cloud onto my NEW COMPATIBLE COMPUTER SYSTEM so that I can get back to work.  And not charge me twice for it.  What are the odds of that happening without a DISCONNECT- 
 Do you know why Adobe sucks?  They have a monopoly on the design/publishing/photoshop/etc world.  There is no other option if you’re in this business. How is that legal?  Everyone and their brother and third cousin twice removed plus their dogs, parrot and pet skunk uses Adobe.  So, if you want to be compatible with everyone else?  You need the Cloud.

And you know what also sucks?  That they hire all that tech help overseas.  I know plenty of techies looking for a decent job right here in the states.  I have nothing against the good people of India… but we have good people right here that need the jobs to stay .. right here.   That’s the biggest suckitude in all of this. 

 I’ll keep you posted.. next time.. from my expensive new computer, hopefully equipped compatibly.  
   

What Not To Wear After Age 50

I’m reposting this because it’s pretty awesome.  Except I like Holiday theme clothes sometimes. I’ll also be wearing jeans, t-shirts and keds till I’m no longer.  Just sayin. 
_________________________________________________________________________________What Not To Wear After Age 50  by Michelle Combs, Huff Post Blogger 

Google ‘what not to wear after age 50’ and you will have your pick of thousands of articles telling you what looks terrible on your old ass body.
I want to point out to the writer who wrote the ‘no-no’ article, you need to remember you are writing for over 50 women, not preschoolers. I don’t think I’ve said ‘no-no’ since my youngest was a toddler.
We could spend hours studying the clothes we shouldn’t wear and the slang we shouldn’t use and the makeup techniques we need to retire.
Here’s me, weighing in on this topic.
You are over 50 for fuck’s sake. Wear whatever you want. If you’ve made it to 50 and still need to consult articles on how to dress appropriately then you are so missing out on one of the best things about being over 50. One of the best things about getting older is realizing that we don’t have to spend our energy worrying what other people think and we get to be comfortable in our own skin with our own freak flags.
Still, there are a few things that women over 50 really shouldn’t wear:
1. The weight of the world. 
When you wear the weight of the world on your shoulders, you age. If you like the feel of the world’s weight and don’t want to give it up, then try scaling back a bit. Perhaps just wear the weight of a few of the smaller continents. For instance, I am only wearing the weight of Australia and a made up country called ‘Michelloponia’. I think it they have a slimming effect.
2. Shame and regret. 
So few people can carry this look off. Most of us just end up looking haunted or like we were forced to eat liver and onions. Shame and regret are especially hard to wear after fifty. Wearing shame and regret past fifty is one of those things that make your eyes all red and runny looking. The downward spiral just snowballs from there. Once the eyes get old lady looking, then you have to re-evaluate the wisdom of black eye liner. I say give up wearing shame and regret and fuck giving up on black eye liner.
3. Rose-colored glasses. 
Oh, sweetheart, you know who you are. Those glasses do nothing for you. Not only do they make you look like you’ve been smoking weed for days, they also keep you from examining life and your surroundings realistically. Yes, reality sucks, but by the time we hit fifty, we need to suck it up, take those glasses off and dick punch reality into submission. Or just get some really big dark sunglasses instead. They cover all manner of sins.
4. Stiff upper lip.
There is a time and a place for the stiff upper lip, but damn, it can’t be worn all the time. Too much stiff upper lip causes those funky vertical lines between your upper lip and your nose holes. We don’t always have to be stoic. I’m not suggesting that you wear your heart on your sleeve, but that is a much softer look than wearing a stiff upper lip.
5. Too many hats. 
Personally, I can’t pull off wearing one hat, much less many hats. I don’t have a hat head. My hair poofs out and my ears look like car doors when I wear a hat. Wearing too many hats just exacerbates these issues. When you wear too many hats, it’s easy to forget which hat you’re wearing. For instance, are you wearing the “no nonsense corporate” hat when you meant to wear your “quirky and kicked back” hat? We’re not getting any younger, you know. Sooner or later you’re going to accidentally wear your court jester hat to the gynecologist and then where will you be? I’ll tell you where you’ll be. You’ll be in an undignified position and wearing a stupid hat is where you’ll be.
6. Resting bitch face. 
Hahahahaha. Just kidding. Wear that one all you want. Although, it wouldn’t hurt if every once in a while, you had a welcoming and kind look on your face. At least that’s what I hear from other people.
There isn’t anything wrong with getting advice about updating your look or what to wear, but we are just inundated with that shit, aren’t we?
Who says what is appropriate? From where I sit, it seems ‘appropriate’ changes based on geography, social status, income and size. After a while, the advice becomes a confusing blur. I think I’ll just keep wearing my Keds and jeans and black tee shirts.
Oh, I do have one real tip. Stop wearing holiday theme clothes. Seriously.
_________________________________________________

Zero

Zip.  Zee-Row.  -0-
I’m about to head out into the arctic circle to chip away ice buckets and feed and clean stalls  and curse a few times for good measure.  I don’t remember a winter clutching tightly to such low temps and snow cover. It’s getting old.

The dogs yesterday.. helping me work in my office…

Did you catch Saturday Night Live’s 40th Anniversary Special last night?  Loved it. So many greats showed up to be a part of it…. and oh, how we’ve all AGED.  
Anyway… I spent a few minutes on Pinterest this morning to get my head out of the mope session I was having over this bitter cold dilemna we’ve got right outside the door.   Are you a Pinterest person?  I don’t visit often because it can be an awful time suck and I spend too much time on the computer as it is, but there are so many inspirational images, decorating, travel and recipes ideas.  Here are just a few i have on my board…
I love this house.. on a lake.. perfect. 

Oh, to be here right now….

 Can you IMAGINE?….. although I can see my dogs flying face first into those glass walls at the first sign of a squirrel.

Lovely bathroom… 

Whimsical dress…. 

Who wouldn’t be comfortable here…. 

 I’ve often thought I was a mermaid in another life. 

 It’s a new day, all.  Stay warm if you’re living in this snowglobe, enjoy the sunshine if you’re someplace we’re NOT….  and make it a good one.  

The one where she can’t come up with a post title….

 .. because I’ve taken back an old editorial job where I’m constantly trying to come up with better, easier, more creative ways to say something.   Not that I’m particularly good at it!  

   We’ve got more snow on the horizon… feels like we’re living in a perpetual snow globe.  There is a very small deck outside my kitchen sliders that has three steps down to the backyard and gardens.  Sometimes on a cold winter day if the sun is shining bright, I can lay out on that little deck comfortably in a t shirt and jeans and soak up the warmth and light.  The wood decking absorbs the heat from the sun and it feels glorious against my  sore back muscles.   


Currently…the snow is inches ABOVE the lip of the deck… that just ain’t right.  
 Despite the snow and cold temps, we’ve also had some glorious sunsets.  This came straight from my iPhone… the sky was that amazing. 
 We had some fun with good friends on Sunday.. took a ride to the far corners of the State to see a very old  house that needs restoration.   What a glorious place..  I can’t share pictures with you at this point but I will when it’s OK to do so.  You’ll fall in love, just as we have. 

  She was braver than I with her good camera in hand, climbing over a snow embankment to capture a snow covered garden yard.

 So.. more snow.  And because of that, I need some inspiration…… 

 A beautiful spring CUPCAKE!… because.. …snow. 





Dear Linda

A comment left by Linda – 
To bad you had to get political-have you ever heard obama
speak…mr…teleprompter -aren’t you supposed to be a decorating blog…will
not follow…another angry liberal
-Linda

and then another after I responded...

Like I said – you seem to be angry – not interested in hearing your pathetic commentary… so don’t worry I won’t be following.. have fun in your small world.
Dear Linda – I’ve never been a decorating blog. Nor am I an angry liberal.  My mother is a liberal and my husband is a conservative republican.  I believe that sound choices for our country lie somewhere in the middle, and so that’s where I stand – no affiliation.   Am I Angry?  At some things, you’re damn right. I hope you are too as far as the state of our government.  You assume and label pretty quickly… with your own anger. That’s small world living if you ask me.  
I don’t write my blog for followers. I write as a journal for myself and my family, and the blog friends I’ve made along the way… the ones who I have become friends with regardless of whether we see everything in the same light… they are the icing on the cake, the treasure unexpected when I started this blog.  It’s perfectly OK that you don’t want to be among them.    The beauty of a blog is it’s my space to create and express whatever I choose.  I also like to share things with anyone who WANTS to stop by and see whats posted.. like recipes, health tips, decorating ideas,  family triumphs and tribulations.   I like to support other bloggers who are going through a difficult time and I like what I’ve learned by seeing others points of view, even if they don’t match my own.    
 I would have been interested in knowing what you find redeeming about Sarah Palin and even what you find revolting about Obamas speeches or policy.  Instead you throw insults.   That’s what is so troubling about our political world.  We don’t really know how to communicate and accomplish anymore effectively.. instead it’s arrow slinging.
– Just sayin. 
  

Lets ramble through…

 Feel free to chime in on any of the below mentioned items…..

 How about them Patriots?!!!…. Yes I’m a fan.. and boy did they come through in a clutch, once again.  I can’t stand the arrogance in the Seahawk camp and while it was very unfortunate that they made a really bad mistake at the very end of the game, they deserved it.  As for deflate gate, funny video here.  But.. they’re all lying… because I AM THE LOCKER ROOM GAL. 
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Sarah Palin… I know some of my readers are fans.  I have never understood the following, and the fact that she still has some support and is given any platform at all is just.. wow.  But.. I’m going to venture to guess that the brave souls who still stand in her camp are quietly backing away at this point because… the freedom speech.  And hey, if you’re going to defend her with  “Her Teleprompter broke!”…. then my answer is…. Yeah.. so you got the REAL DEAL right then and there. Boom.  
   I get that we are all weary and want change.  Change is needed, no doubt… but this -ain’t it – .  
Didn’t catch the speech?  Here’s just an excerpt.. one of the more coherent. 
“Things must change for our government. Look at it. It isn’t too big to fail. It’s too big to succeed! It’s too big to succeed, so we can afford no retreads or nothing will change with the same people and same policies that got us into the status quo. Another Latin word, status quo, and it stands for, ‘Man, the middle-class everyday Americans are really gettin’ taken for a ride.’ That’s status quo, and GOP leaders, by the way, y’know the man can only ride ya when your back is bent. So strengthen it. Then the man can’t ride ya, America won’t be taken for a ride, because so much is at stake and we can’t afford politicians playing games like nothing more is at stake than, oh, maybe just the next standing of theirs in the next election.”

Ouch. 
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
 It’s snowing, sleeting, raining again here in Connecticut.   I’ve just come in from shoveling paths to the dog run, the barn, the chicken coop and rabbit hutch.  These are the times when I ask myself the question… .”Why do I have all these animals again??”… but you know.. the consolation is.. I love to eat.  Without all this work, I’d probably weight 200 lbs.   And theres all the love.    All you need is LOVE… and a dog. (.. or four….. and a few horses, rabbits, chickens and fish… apparently). 
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
I’m going back to an official work status and the task of turning my office back into an actual office meant we had to toss Bens queen size mattress and buy him something smaller, a twin.  He’s still getting used to it.  Most of the time he has figured out how to fit his entire being on it quite nicely. 
Sometimes it’s just all wrong. 
 ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Apple Chicken Sausage recipe HERE
Delicious, healthy, easy to make and comforting on a cold winters night. 
Speaking of recipes.. I’m not much of a drinker.. but now and then 
a good one is just refreshing and the load becomes a little lighter
with just a little buzz. I was recently introduced to this drink and it’s a winner in my book.
Dark & Stormy
Ingredients:
Goslings Ginger Beer
Goslings Dark Bermuda Rum
Lime, Ice
Fill a tall glass with ice. Pour in about an inch of  rum. Fill the rest of the glass with Ginger Beer. Squeeze a large wedge of lime into the drink and drop the slice in.  Stir.. enjoy.   YUM!
It’s a new day, all!.. Let’s make it a good one. 

Blizzard 2015 and prayer for a special person

  Business as usual… weathermen all aflutter over what might be the Blizzard of 2015.  If you live in the northeast, have you stocked up on the essentials yet?  Toilet paper, bread and milk are the three things we apparently can’t live with out.  Speaking of milk… we’ve discovered a new product that we love beyond whats reasonable, I’m pretty sure.. it’s called FAIR LIFE – read more HERE.   I’m not being paid to herald it, we just really love the taste and the concept of cows living humanely and we consumers -consuming- a healthier product. 
  My thoughts keep returning to a blog friend. She is  struggling greatly and if you’re so inclined, please visit THIS post and  leave a kind word, send a little prayer.  I cannot fathom what she must consider daily now and her grace under such enormous weight is amazing, a lesson for us all.  It occurs to me as I type this that the  concept of prayer might seem like hypocrisy coming from someone who claims  she is not religious.  I don’t know what to say to that… only that in times when it seems appropriate and necessary, I pray to the powers that be that there will be healing, peace of mind, comfort for those who need it, including me.