IN PREPARATION OF BUDDY'S ONE YEAR WITH ME!!

IN PREPARATION OF BUDDY’S ONE YEARY BIRTHDAY WITH ME

As I mentioned previously, Buddy is my newest pup and my biggest nightmare. I am so excited to celebrate 1 year with my Bud on September 2nd. Now, I have no idea how old Buddy-boy is. My best guess is about 2 years. That being said, we have entered the puppy terrible twos.

I. AM. MORTIFIED. In preparation of his anniversary with me, my dear Bud decided to jump the fence (again) this morning and harass the neighbor’s dogs (again). I’m pretty sure my neighbor has had enough of this behavior- mostly because she called me and said so. There’s nothing quite like waking up at 7am to a screaming neighbor.

Naturally, I am mortified. I certainly understand why it would be annoying that Buddy runs up to her fence and harasses her dogs. What she doesn’t understand is that he really just wants to say ‘hey.’ Buddy says hi by bearing his teeth, ruffling up his hair, and wagging his tail. The minute I call him off, he turns around, pees on a bush, and jumps the fences back to our yard.

What she also may not understand is that I am not responsible for his bad attitude. I didn’t beat the tar out of him when he was a puppy. I didn’t kick him or slap him in the face. What I can do is love him now and try to make him realize that humans are cool and not always cruel. What I have done is spent literally thousands of dollars on training, fencing, day care, fancy dog food, vet bills (from recently impaling himself on a fence he was trying to jump), and now agility classes. I have also spent countless hours running him (and mostly me) ragged. All the internet research I’ve done says that Red Heelers (Australian Cattle Dogs) need lots of exercise. Unfortunately, we do not live on a farm or own cows and pigs for him to heard. Instead, he heards me and the birds in our yard and our neighbors'. To make this kid tired, takes a solid 5-6 miles. Anyone know how long it takes me to walk/run 5-6 miles…. A long time. Anyone know how many hours I work… A lot. We get out several nights a week and get a good 3-4 miles in though. Don't get me wrong. We should both be rid of our love handles soon. :)

Bottom line, I’m doing the best I can. I love Buddy and really want his unhappiness to end with me. Do I give him the best possible life? Probably not. Do I give him something far better than he’s ever had? I like to think so. Should be people give “bad” dogs a chance? Absolutely. It’s not his fault someone beat him. It’s not his fault he’s afraid of humans.

What my neighbor doesn’t see is Buddy laid out in the floor chewing ever so gingerly on his green squeaky dog. Not tearing it up, just nuzzling it and licking it like it's a kitten. She doesn’t see him dig holes in the yard, just to put his nose in them. Seriously… I don’t know why he does it, but they are deep, much like booby traps used in the Congo. She doesn’t see him roll over on his back and beg for a belly rub. She doesn’t see him obediently “go to his crate” whenever I ask. Even if it’s for no reason at all. What she doesn’t see is him sitting on the floor outside of the office why my 12 pound Chihuahua keeps him at bay while he eats. Bud isn’t even the alpha. He succumbs to a 12 pound overweight Chihuahua named Huey.

In preparation of Buddy’s anniversary with me, I’d like everyone to give “bad” dogs a chance to be a “good” dog. I promise to give Buddy extra hugs this week as we celebrate all the progress he has made in the last year. Maybe you can make a donation to one of these awesome groups where dogs are given second chances…

End Dog Fighting with the Human Society
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/dogfighting/

Atlanta Pet Rescue
I just love them. I don’t have any of their rescues, but my mom does. You can pick a dog to sponsor until the find a loving home.
http://www.atlantapetrescue.org/www_ver2/donations.htm

Duncan
I LOVE this dog. And if it was humanly possible for me to have 4 dogs, I totally would adopt him. He’s a miniature heeler mix. He’s a blue heeler and probably looks a lot like Buddy would have as a puppy. No one has abused Duncan yet, but he needs LOVE. Someone should totally adopt him. He’d be an amazing dog!!!
http://www.atlantapetrescue.org/www_ver2/pet_pages/small/small.htm
Scroll down a little ways to see him.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't point out Atlanta's Dog Whisperer Angie Woods and the folks at US Caninie when I talk about Buddy. Without her, Buddy would be somewhere else right now and probably euthanized. She saved our lives with her innate understanding of dogs and how they work. Now if only she could just move-in and control Buddy all the time! :)
http://www.uscanine.com/

There are countless organizations to donate to. Pick your favorite and do it in the name of Buddy!!!!

Peace… Rainey

Lemon Crack Y'all

I love lemons… seriously. I love them. I put lemon juice on everything. Fish, veggies, chicken, pasta, hummus (seriously delicious, try it), you name it. When I heard of a recipie for Lemon Buttermilk Popsicles I died. Because as much as I love lemons, I’m also a huge fan of buttermilk… pancakes, red velvet cake, chocolate cake… all of these things are made better with buttermilk.
Let me just tell you that these popsicles do not disappoint! The combination of sour lemons and tangy buttermilk is quite possibly the most refreshing summer snack around. Please don’t limit yourself to just popsicles… you can also throw this mixture in an ice cream maker and basically die upon first bite… AMAZING.

Without further ado…

LEMON BUTTERMILK ICE CREAM (or popsicles, or milkshakes, or whatever)
Aka LEMON CRACK

Here’s what you’ll need

1 ½ cups sugar
10 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (use as much, or as little, as you like)
4 tablespoons grated lemon peel
Pinch of salt
2 1/3 cups buttermilk

STEP ONE:
Get yourself a container you can seal and shake. You can whisk this, naturally, but shaking is way more fun.

STEP TWO:
Zest your lemons directly in to the container.

STEP THREE:
Squeeze your lemon juice directly into the container. Fun tip… I take my zester and lay it over the top of the dish and squeeze my lemons over it. It catches all the seeds! Geez, I’m so smart.

STEP FOUR:
Add your sugar and buttermilk to the container. ( I forgot to take a picture of the buttermilk in there… use your imagination.)

STEP FOUR:
Shake it up! Again, no picture of that either. It’s pretty hard to shake something and take a picture with the other hand. Just imagine dancing around your kitchen shaking some Tupperware.

STEP FIVE:
EITHER… pour it into a popsicle mold
OR… run in through your ice cream maker
THEN… freeze it. Let it freeze good. You want your first taste to be perfect.

STEPS SIX AND SEVEN:
Eat! And then go slap yo’ momma… cause that’s how good this is!!

Couple of standard disclaimers…
I respectfully borrowed this recipie from http://www.epicurious.com/. I doubled it though, because the original version only makes about 3 cups of ice cream.
Also, please don’t judge me by my bad pictures. I hope to locate my real digital camera any day now…. Have you seen it?

The Final Countdown

There are some of you out there that know me and others that do not. For those that don't, I've got big news! About 4 1/2 years ago my sister (you know, the one who gave me "that dog") started the adoption process. You heard that right... 4.5 years ago!! Anywho, for what seems like an eternity, she has been waiting in line to bring home a beautiful baby girl from China.

quick disclaimer... I'm sure that everyone has a different opinion on adoption. domestic vs. international, how a person makes their family, etc. Sadly, this is not the place for those conversations. Just be happy. Babies rock! No matter where they come from. :)

We had no idea when she began this process that it would take this long. But she has stayed true to her maternal gut feelings and hung in there. We have decorated a nursery, bought countless amounts of precious baby girl clothes, studied up on attachment issues, and prepared ourselves as best as possible for all that adopting a baby entails.

Folks, the time is getting nearer. We expect to finally travel to China before the end of the year to bring home Nola Avonlea Richards. I'm thrilled and honored that my sister has asked "Cool Aunt Rainey" (i plan to be reffered to only as this) to be a part of this journey. Mostly, I'll be schelping bags and attempting to document every second of this historic moment.

Here's a quick rundown of the process:
1. First you complete a crap ton of paperwork basically saying that you're not a psycho. Even I wrote a letter saying that my sister was not a psycho.

2. Then China writes back and says your Log In Date is... Broooke's is 5/19/2006. That's when she officially got in line.














3. you wait
4. you shop
5. you cry cause you've waited so long
6. you wait some more
7. you eat a lot of ice cream, or brownies, or hot dogs
8. you hope and wish that time would go by faster

Each month China sends out referrals through a certain log in date. This month they referred through May 10th, 2006. My head is spinning, we are only 9 log in days away from seeing this sweet baby's face for the first time. I've got my sharpie ready, I cannot wait to mark the rest of the days off of this calendar!!!














(Pay no attention to the Wrestlemania program! They're a client, and I happen to think the idea that I get to work on a Wrastlin' event is HILARIOUS. I've already scoped out potential mullet hairdos for the event week.)

Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to brining Nola home. We'll be documenting the whole process on another blog so you can go to China too!!!

You Look Just Like Your Mother

I get this a lot. Mostly because it’s true. I do, in fact, look just like my mother. We’re the same height which I’m truly thankful for. There were a few years there where I was the same height as her elbow and I remember getting jabbed in the forehead on many occasions. Evidently I was a little bit of a Velcro kid and my mother made lots of sudden stops. Anywho… we’re the same height, dye our hair basically the same color, laugh the same, and act the same.

Like any child, when people first started telling me I look like my mother, I was annoyed. But as I’ve grown, I realize there is no need to fight the inevitable. Thanks to her, I know exactly what my rear will look like in 30 years and it is fine by me.

The only time this “looking like your mother” thing rears its ugly head is when I start dressing like her. See these feet?

These are my feet in shoes of my choosing. I love flip flops, especially these metallic ones right now. If I had my choice, I’d where these shoes everyday. They’re comfortable and they make me happy.

See these feet?

These are my mothers. Notice that these feet didn’t become hers until I put on these shoes. These are shoes that my sister and I would immediately look at in a store and go “those look like momma.” Then, two days later, we’d go to her house and she’d say “look at my new shoes” and there they’d be. I needed some non-flip-flop sandals for work because it’s summer in Atlanta and my feet are just not feeling dress shoes at this time. According to my boss sandals cannot go between my toes and must have something over the heel. I thought these were soooo cute, until I went to work one day and realized I had on my mother’s feet. I guess copious amounts of Capri pants are in my future now too.

The great thing is… I love my momma and have come to accept taking her feet to work every now and then.

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Sidebar... i'd be remiss if I did not point out that the amazingly adorable pictures of my dogs were taken by Atlanta photographer, Lessia Teh. She's phenomenal. Check out her blog and business at http://www.leesiateh.com/blog/

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Sidebar #2... HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!! I'm so proud to live in America and happy to think today of all the brave things our founding fathers and thier families did to declare thier independence so long ago. Now go out and celebrate by grilling meat and drinking beer! (weird country right?)

And we're off...

Welcome! I've been meaning to start a blog for a long, long time and this random Saturday seemed like the right time. I hope y'all enjoy this little snippet into my life.

Friends and loved ones are well aware that those three furry faces at the top of my page are my heathen children. I have not had the pleasure of actual human children yet and heretofore have adopted these cretins into my home and heart. From right to left are Lady, Buddy, and Huey.

A study in dog personalities...

Lady: the velcro child
Not only does her hair stick to things like velcro, but she's enamoured with me. She follows me around, sits on my head, has seizures when I'm gone to long, and generally is concerned for my well being and hers at all times. She's also a noodle... you know the flamigo croquet things in Alice in Wonderland? They melt everytime the Queen of Hearts trys to hit the hedgehog-ball? She's just like them. Try to pick her up and she melts like a noodle and becomes impossible to pick up. It's awesome.

Buddy: there are no words...
Buddy is a rescue (thanks to my sister, Brooke). His life started out real, real poopy best we can tell. Someone, somewhere used to beat the tar out of him. Thanks to them, he's a complete teddy bear who can turn into a junkyard dog in about 4 seconds. He keeps me on my toes though. I equate him to a toddler. He has more energy than I could ever muster, can jump 5ft fences in a single bound, and thinks jumping at your face with his mouth wide open is the best way to play (it's not by the way, nor is burying every toy I give him regardless of how much money I've spent on it).

Huey: my cranky old man
So he's not really old, only 7. He was a college graduation gift from my BFF Chris. I still can't believe I graduated from college 7 years ago. Huey could care less if I ever came home again. He spends all his life curled up under a blanket. He only comes out to eat, pee, and snap at Buddy (just to keep him in line of course). Huey is also fat, he doesn't mean to be, he's just bigged boned. :)

My babes, my heart, my trouble...


Thanks for checking me out... stay tuned for more musings, introductions, and food!