A Harrowing Day!

We almost lost one of our doggies today. We have a 19-month old GSD/Husky mix, and an 8-month old GSD/Husky/Golden Retriever mix. Both girls are spayed, obviously, and their energy levels know NO bounds. They are constantly playing and wrestling, and play-fighting, complete with barking and Husky-howling. We generally keep an eye on them, and break them up if it gets too intense (ie, when one of them yips or screeches in pain).

Today, I was down in the basement hanging up laundry on the clothesline, my kids were in the basement playroom and my husband was upstairs in the family room watching TV. All of the windows were open since the weather is sunny and breezy and 70*.

I heard my husband yelling, "HEY! HEY! HEY!" in a panicked voice, and then I heard the sliding glass door to the backyard slam open, and my husband kept yelling. We all ran up out of the basement, and my husband screamed for me to come help him. Apparently, the girls were doing their usual Wild Husky Freakout wrestling match, and LittleGirl got her bottom jaw stuck in BigGirl's collar. She couldn't get unstuck, so she was choking BigGirl, and both girls panicked. Natural instinct kicked in, and they were fighting like wild wolves.

My husband and I got BigGirl's collar off, and got the girls into the house. I was crying. We cleaned the blood off their faces, inspected the wounds, and we all sat on the kitchen floor for about half an hour to calm down and regroup. It was another two hours before the girls stopped being scared of each other. I had to take them up to my bed and we all cuddled - BigGirl at the foot of the bed, LittleGirl on the pillows, and me in between.

The only good thing that came out of this was all the hugs. BigGirl does NOT like HuskyHugs, but LittleGirl is a cuddle-bug. While we were up resting on my bed, BigGirl got right up in my arms, and let me hug her the WHOLE time. After we got up, she barked play-barks at LittleGirl, and they slowly began to get re-acquainted. It was like the first day they met - they were very tentative, and LittleGirl kept bowing to BigGirl. I cried again.

Both dogs are well now, and are back to being best friends and playing like normal, but Mommy is STILL freaked out. I'm just SO thankful that my husband is between jobs right now (he's on terminal leave from the military, awaiting retirement in December), and was home to hear the fracas and save both girls' lives.

I will be out of town for work this weekend, but I am working on both girls' adoption stories, and hope to post them here soon. :)

My Entry for the Pedigree Dog Food's "Write a Post, Help a Dog" promotion!

I'm back, and what better way to return to the blogging scene, than with a post to help pets? :) I have been very involved in rescuing pets over the last year or so. I am a volunteer at two local Humane Societies, I work with three local dog rescues, and I run transports for these rescues to help get dogs to their furever homes. All this has led to me abandoning blogging for the time being. However, when I heard that Pedigree is donating a TWENTY POUND BAG of their new Healthy Longevity dog food to an animal shelter for every blogger who blogs about the Pedigree foundation's adoption programs, I knew I had to come back from my hiatus and blog about it!

All of my pets have been rescues, and I've had a lot of pets over my 33 years. Currently, I have two rescued German Shepherd/Husky mixes lounging at my feet chewing on Pedigree treats while I tell you about their friends that are still in need of homes. Estimates are that FOUR to EIGHT MILLION pets wind up in shelters every year, and over HALF of that number NEVER make it out to a loving furever home. Pedigree has set up a Foundation to try to solve this problem.

You may have seen Pedigree's commercials about shelter pets, with the tagline “Don't pity a shelter dog, adopt one.” Pedigree is heavily involved in spreading the word about animals in shelters who need forever homes. They are more than talk, though. They donate food and other resources to shelters and rescues, and they assist people with finding and adopting the perfect shelter pet!

The Pedigree Foundation has created a website with resources for adopting a shelter dog. Included in the website's information are links to area shelters, articles on responsible dog ownership, and information about how to get a free month of dog food for newly adopted shelter dogs. You can click here to see the site.

If you are on Facebook, you can also help Pedigree help pets. Just click "Like" on Pedigree's Fan Page, and they will donate one bowl of food to a shelter. So far, over 1 MILLION Facebook users have done this - that's over 1 MILLION bowls of good, nutritious Pedigree food going to homeless, hungry fur babies.

Many people turn a blind eye to the plight of shelter animals. The stories and statistics are very painful, and with the current economy, many people don't have time or funds to help animals in shelters. But with a few clicks and a little effort, EVERYONE can help shelter animals from the comfort of their home. So click on over to Pedigree's website or their Facebook page, and do a little bit to help a homeless dog! And make sure to say a huge "thank you!" to Pedigree for all that they do to help rescue homeless dogs!

And don't forget to check out ALL of the entries in this promotion at "I Love Rescue Animals!"

Don't Breed or Buy, While Shelter Pets Die!

National Blog Posting Month

National Blog Posting Month is the epicenter of daily blogging! People who want to set the habit of blogging by doing it every day for a month, including weekends, can come here for moral support, inspiration, and the camaraderie that only marathon blogging can provide.

Click here to participate:

http://nablopomo.ning.com/

Articles for Military Servicemembers and Spouses

I thought I'd do a post that showcases the articles that I have done that are geared toward the military. Enjoy!

This article is a memoir of my deployment overseas:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/375590/we_are_winning_the_war_in_iraq_my_participation.html

Along the same lines, another article about how my family and I coped with my deployment overseas:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/666327/my_familys_deployment_and_thoughts.html

Powers of Attorney Basics for American Servicemembers - this article is a great resource for military members and dependents, and those individuals who help out during deployments and TDYs:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/363810/powers_of_attorney_basics_for_american.html

What is Memorial Day and Why Should You Observe It (the title speaks for itself):
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/256559/what_is_memorial_day_and_why_should.html

This article is about Worldwide EchoTaps, and how military members are involved in such a wonderful endeavor to honor military veterans:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/252878/echotaps_worldwide_honors_veterans.html

This is a series of book reviews that I did for military spouses and girlfriends. In addition to AC, this series was picked up by the Fort Lewis Ranger (the official print newspaper of the Fort Lewis Army post in Washington State).

Information for new military spouses, and those who are soon to marry a military member:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/245863/helpful_books_for_the_military_wife.html

General Information about the military and being married to a military member:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/249617/more_helpful_books_for_the_military.html

Books about how to cope with deployments and issues that surround them:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/249633/more_helpful_books_for_the_military.html

Memorial Day - It's Meaning and Observation (another piece I did on Memorial Day - so many Americans are clueless about this holiday, and you can never talk about it too much):
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/722143/memorial_day_its_meaning_and_observation.html

Prom Articles Need Some Google Love

A couple of my most recent prom articles did not get indexed by Google, so I am posting the new ones (and the old ones, even though the PV average on the old prom articles is about 2,000) here to remedy that:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1533487/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_thousand.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1533131/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_cleveland.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1559415/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_detroit.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1533489/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_philadelphia.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1533113/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_washington.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1533015/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_omaha.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1498206/shopping_for_affordable_prom_dresses.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/555391/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_evansville.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/555379/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_terre.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/550807/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_manhattan.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/550641/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_wichita.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/550245/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_jacksonville.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/550137/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_indianapolis.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/549891/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_queens.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/549615/where_to_buy_cheap_prom_dresses.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/549433/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_oklahoma.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/549355/shopping_for_a_prom_dress_in_memphis.html

Wednesday.

I haven't felt well mentally since my cousin passed away. That, combined with a lot of other craptastic happenings have killed my motivation. I don't want to write, don't want to go to class, don't want to study. Going to the gym is about the only thing I am motivated to do right now. I managed to get three more articles in today for the cutoff. Payday is Friday. I plan to get a couple articles written for another site this evening after I go to the gym, so they will pay Friday as well. This weekend, I have drill, so it will be a wash. Tomorrow I have a doctor appointment in the morning, but should be able to write all day after that, until I pick up the kids to go workout. And I'll have some time Friday afternoon after I get back from the gym.

I just hate this down, depressed time. I want to do so much, but can't get myself to do it.

No Examiner for me. :(

Well, I was very excited to begin working as an Examiner at Examiner.com. So much so that I was running around the house singing for an hour after I got the "Welcome to the team email." As much as I hated to, I had to turn down their offer, due to a couple personal reasons. I was so excited about it, and very grateful to them for selecting me and giving me a chance to work with them. There are just a couple reasons that I can't do it. I'm kind of sad about it, but I guess everything happens for a reason. Just have to press on in other areas.