Bringing in the New Year with a New Furbaby

You may not know this, but I have wanted an Australian Shepherd for some time now.  However, I was perfectly content with Jack.  I love Jack, but I had expressed to DH that I wanted another furbaby.  I wanted one to be a playmate for Jack and, just as I cannot have only one child, I could not just have one furbaby.

So that brings us to today.  Or rather, a few days ago.  My mom, Kyle (her husband), and I went to Petsmart to buy dog food.  We saw this man with a few puppies on the grass a ways off from the store.  My mom said that it looked like he was selling them and I disagreed saying that it was perfectly normal for people to put their puppies on the grass to let them out. Anyway, we walked over there and the gentleman told us this heartbreaking story.

Apparently his Aunt was an Australian Shepherd breeder and her female was shot while herding cattle by a  drunk man when the puppies were only a week old.  Now, this may sound like a ridiculous story, but my mom lives way out in the country.  This story is by no means ridiculous for this area.  Anyway, they had to hand feed them from 1 week on.  The aunt is in her 70s and reasonably heartbroken over her loss so she has discontinued breeding and is simply trying to give her puppies away.  Australian Shepherd puppies (with AKC registration) typically are $1,000+ and she was selling them for $200.

I have had many opportunities to get a puppy, but have easily dismissed them because I wanted DH to be here when we got another furbaby.  However, these puppies would NOT leave my mind.  I asked DH what he thought about the situation and he agreed that I would probably never find this quality of puppy for this price again so I should just get one since I was planning on getting another dog anyway.  Well, not needing anymore encouragement, I contacted the breeder and met her and the puppies.  Now, I had worked myself into such a nervous frenzy that I was prepared to tell the breeder I was no longer interested.

And that brings us to today…  I went and met the puppies.  Most of them were running (if you can call it running with their cute, stubby little legs) around and whatnot.  However, there was one that was as calm and sweet as can be.  He came and sat in front of me and just looked at me, so I picked him up.  When I put him back down he cried until I pet him again.  Obviously this was the one for me.

So yea, what can I say?  My logic melted in the eyes of this precious puppy.  It was obviously meant to be.  And they were born on the last day of R&R.  This is our version of an R&R baby LOL

Don't fear, I'll post pictures soon.  I pick him up this coming Monday =)

A Little Bit of Everything

I do miss being at my house with all of my things and my friends and routine, but I have enjoyed being at my mom's house.  I like being able to go outside and see Bella and let Jack run around outside.  I enjoy playing games with my brothers and having company while I watch a movie or tv.  It's nice hanging out with my brothers.  It's like they're friends that were born into my life.  I didn't choose them, but they're there.  I may not be super close with them, but I love them and I never feel awkward when I see them no matter how long it's been.

It's weird though.. I thought that the time would go by fast when I came to Arkansas, but it really hasn't.  It's gone pretty slow actually.  Oh well, time IS moving whether it seems like it or not.

I also got some good news from a fellow Army wife =) .  Supposedly her DH is coming home X months earlier than scheduled and DH could possibly be coming home X months early too.  It's not super early, but I'll take what I can get =) .  I do hope he comes home early, but I'm prepared to wait however long it takes.

On another note, DH has been doing OPSEC for the past few days so I haven't been able to talk to him. I don't think I'll be able to talk to him for another couple of days either.  Oh well, I have my family to keep me company.

Oh yea, 3 days 'till 2011!!!

Picture Time!

Here are the pictures I said I'd post and a few others.

                        Jack and Bella

                   Bella at 3 months old - December 27, 2010

                    Highnoon

          Christmas flowers from DH

I'm Home!

Or at least my other home =P .  We made it to AR after about a 6 hour drive.  We had to leave later because I waited on my flowers to arrive.  They are so pretty!  Red and white tulips in a red vase with a silver bow on it <3.  They wilted a little on the way here, but I think they'll recover quickly.

Anyway, I went to visit Bella (my mom's calf) once I got here and she has gotten SO big!  It's probably hard to picture, but when I left her she was about 3 weeks old and the size of Jack.  Now she's about the size of, well… a small cow lol.  I also went to visit Highnoon.  He's my favorite horse (out of 6). He's a Morgan horse (for those of you who know anything about horses or who care to google lol) and he's so sweet!  They're all really sweet, but I especially like him because he used to be so shy and he always comes up to me to let me pet him.  I trust him the most and I just love him to bits!

Not much else going on.  I gave my brothers their Christmas gifts early.  I gave my oldest brother, Justin, Bioshock 2 for xbox 360 and my youngest brother, Chris, another xbox controller so he could play with Justin lol.

I also got to talk to DH!  I didn't think I'd get to talk to him until Monday, but he was relieved from duty early =) .  Hopefully I'll continue to be able to talk to him all the way until Christmas.

Anyway, I'm super tired since I went to bed late and woke up early to talk to DH.  Below is a picture of Bella when she was only a couple weeks old.  I'll post a picture later of her current state.

Picture taken:  September 23, 2010