Hello Blog.. Remember Me!

Writer's block.. that's my story and I'm stickin to it!

Just havent been motivated to write lately, feeling like my life is a bit dull and who wants to read about dull. Well I just got a bummer text.. :( Shannon (Oakley's trainer) is having some personal issues in her life and unable to continue with Oakley so he's coming home by this weekend. I am not upset with her at all, she did a GREAT job with him, I will do my best to get him sold and on to a great new home.

We manage to find ways to keep busy though. We went out bowling a couple weeks ago and had a great time, we are really looking forward to getting on a league at some point this year. Derek is going to let go of his softball past by selling his bat to buy a new bowling ball, never thought I would see that day.

We had Ellie spayed a couple weeks ago, even though she would have super cute puppies it is just one more thing to not have to worry about. I was busy for a week straight of developing our new horse club web site. That was an interesting adventure. Learned some new things in the techy world when it comes to domain names etc.. well maybe I didnt learn much but figured out enough to get our site up and going. Wendy and I spent about 9 hours on it one Saturday, didnt quit til 2 in the morning! Now dont be thinkin that I'm all smart about websites, we did not create this from scratch, it is an established website that we are utilizing and tweeking with all our club information, pictures and layout etc. I'm really proud to have it up and running, and hope to gain some new members and friends from the website.

Riding... well I did get in one other ride in January at Bridle Trails in Kirkland. The weather today is perfect for riding, but instead I am here typing away. Man, I am just feeling blah about this Oakley situation. I am somewhat excited to see him and have him home, bummed that I dont have the facility to sell him and will have to haul him to do so, thankful that Shannon did her best with the situation and feeling guilty that maybe he was extra burden on her. So lots of emotions rolled into me today.

Cooper, he's just as obnoxious as ever. He goes through phases, some days he's a little angel and most other days you can just see the devilish look in his eyes which is not scary, its actually rather adorable and makes us laugh when he rolls his eyes back and looks at ya. Derek is starting basic obedience now with him, I am the teacher. I saved all my paperwork from my classes so every week I will teach Derek the new lesson. I am hopeful that this will settle Cooper down a bit and get him to grow up some, he is so crazy that you cant even pet him without him licking you all over and being a darn puppy. Which I guess he still is considering he's only 4 months old!

I am VERY thankful that he is pretty much potty trained now, that was a very tough couple of months to deal with. He has been house potty free (KNOCK ON WOOD, cuz I know now that I am bragging about him, he's gonna piss on my floor) but he hasnt had an accident in a few weeks and although he still likes to sit at the back slider door to go out, if we dont open it, he will march his little hiney out the front doggy door!

Unfortunately we have taught him the pleasures of being a lap dog, but are trying to curb that a bit and teach him that he cannot come up on the couch or chair if people are on them. We also have to keep the spare bathroom closed because he LOVES the bathtub! Which is a great sign because the only thing we do in the bathtub is bathe him, we are confident he loves the water! On a couple occassions when we've left that door open, he will go in there, in the almost pitch black, get his nose under the 2 shower curtains and jump in, just hangin out in the tub, probably waiting for the water to magically turn on! He is quite the character. Although I am looking forward to him learning a few manners with the obedience and college he will be headed off to in a couple months, I hope he does not loose his personality with his maturity. In the mornings as I'm headed off to work, he bolts out the doggy door and sits on the bench waiting for me to open the front door, come outside and pet him goodbye!

I know there was a point about 6 months ago when I wondered how on earth I was going to deal with having 3 dogs, now I cant imagine NOT having 3 dogs! When you have 2 dogs, it feels like thats all you can handle. Now with 3, it feels like adding a 4th is piece of cake.. this must be how it happens with other people cuz once we crossed the line with 3 dogs, what's the big deal with adding another dog or two.. lol No we dont have any plans for dog #4 or 5.

Oh and in my quest for beauty, last week I decided to have my eyebrows waxed by my hairdresser... It hurt a bit, didnt feel great I must admit but I was very suprised the next morning to find I was just as red and swollen around my brows as the day before when they had been done! I tried to cover it up with makeup, but that didnt help a whole lot and I went to work for the next 2 days with red puffy eyebrows! The redness didnt really go away until 5 days later, they are a tiny bit scabby, some little bumps still exist and now a week later, I still do not look 100% normal in that area! I dont know if I reacted to the wax or the ripping out of hair, I think it was the ripping that I reacted to, Derek says wax. Who knows, but what I do know is that I will never attempt that beauty trick again, it will be plucking or bushy brows from now on! :)

Happy New Year

Well we made it to midnight this year... barely! We headed off to bed at 11:50, watched the space needle celebration for a few minutes after the stroke of New Years and then promptly went to sleep.. yep thats the exciting Fecht's for ya! :)

I did manage to get in a ride over the weekend though, it took MUCH self-convincing to get out and go. Not that I didnt want to, but its tough to get motivated when its just plain cold! Wendy, Kathy, Molly & I headed out to Mann Rd and had a really nice afternoon ride in about 28 degree weather. I had not ridden since Red was such a jackass at the Winery Ride, and he of course was back to normal and we enjoyed our leasurely jaunt in the woods. I was a bit suprised with the frozen ground that he did not slip and fall, we rode to the river and had to get through some thick broken ice puddles, interesting...

On New Years Eve Derek and I headed down to Cabelas for the day, we had a couple exchanges to make from Christmas gifts and Derek had a gift certificate to spend. It took a couple hours, but we finally managed to spend every penny we needed and walked out with 3 bags of goodies. On the way home we stopped at Beth Western and spent more than anticipated on a new pair of boots for me. No I was not able to find any cute girl boots that fit, I again had to go with mens, but I like them just fine and am happy to be back to slip on's instead of lace ups. They were very comfy from the second I stood up in them.

Not much news with our puppy children. Cooper finally had his 3rd round of shots, so he is ready to get out in the world. He is doing a lot better about his poddy business still, he had one mistake this past weekend. We still watch him like a hawk, he's not 100% ready to be trusted and he doesnt always go to the front door so we are still up/down a lot with him and bootin him outside when we think he might have to go. I'd say though we are finally past the frustration puppy phase. Russell still doesnt love Cooper, he will not play with him yet at all, someday I hope that changes.