Scout Update

My last post was a repost of our adoption of Scout back in June. Thanks to Pedigree, my post helped feed dogs in shelters. Pedigree offered to donate a bag of dog food to a shelter for every blog that published a story about rescuing a dog. Not a bad deal at all :) Today I'm sharing some updated pictures of Scout. She's now just about 6 months old and living up to her name; if there's trouble to be found she'll Scout it out.



The first picture is from last month. It's one of my favorites because she looks like a bobble head puppy :) The second is what she looks like after rolling herself in mud, which she loves to do often. I don't know what I was thinking getting a white dog. I don't even like to wear white clothes, for fear of staining them. I'm just glad she has been pretty easy to clean, gentle cycle seems to be her favorite setting. (I'm joking, please don't wash your pets in the washing machine)


And the 3rd picture is just to prove that I don't actually have a bobble headed dog. She is a perfectly proportioned pup; her bark, ears, and heart are equally over sized for the tiny frame that carries them.

Thanks for stopping by. I'd love to hear about your pets too. If you have a rescue story to share make sure you check out Julie Klam's Blog. She's looking for your stories.

Kristin : )

Meet Scout

I recently found out that Pedigree was offering to donate a 20 pound bag of food for every post about rescuing a dog. I don't need much prodding to talk about Scout and this was such a great idea that I had to participate. The following post was originally published on June 1st, 2010, a few days after we adopted Scout from a local shelter. She is now 5 1/2 months old, still melting our hearts, and stealing an occasional sock ;) Thanks for reading. More information can be found about Pedigree's campaign here, Write a Blog, Help a Dog!


We have added a new member to our family. She is sweet and spunky. We named her Scout, as in Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, she also fits the name with her impressive bug hunting abilities. She has already shown the yard who's boss by dominating over the smaller bushes and uprooting chunks of grass that have no business growing in her path.

The picture above was made by my sister in law, who has satellite adopted her. She is so much better at taking pictures and then making them even cuter with her creativity, so I happily bring Scout over as often as possible. The picture below is Scout with her cousin Bailey (my in laws dog). She already thinks she one of the big dogs :)

Don't let these sweet pictures fool you though. She is a mini terror. There is not a toe or ankle safe in our home. She sucks you in with her blueish/green eyes and when you're close enough she pounces with a look I can only explain as Gremlin like. The more you react and run from her the more she loves it. Upon first meeting her no one believes she could ever do anything but blink her puppy dog eyes, struggle to master the 2 steps into the house, and lie around chewing landscaping. We know better, she has reduced grown men to yiping, hopping, running for cover cowards (trust me, it's quite a sight).

Scout has been with us a week and she is fully embedded into the family. Each of my kids takes turns playing, walking her, and of course running from her razor sharp baby gremlin teeth (we have yet to evenly dole out the pooper scooping duties though). They are also proud to tell everyone who asks that she is a pound rescue.

Scout was one of 18 new puppies born in a local pet rescue. We had been talking about getting a dog for a while. Our local news does a Lost & Pound series every weekend that highlights some of the pets available for adoption. Last weekend they spotlighted some of her siblings and we knew it was time to add a new family member. The adoption process was thorough, but quick. We had to fill out an application, answering all kinds of questions about our home and family. We even had to give 3 non family references, which were called to make sure we would make good parents. We sent in our application on Saturday and received the green light on Tuesday to come on down and pick out a puppy.

If you are contemplating adding a new family member I hope that you consider adopting from a local pound. If you don't have the time to spend training a brand new pup like Scout you can choose an older dog. A good pound like, Bandits Place will pair you and your family with the perfect pet depending on your needs, space, and even allergies.

There are many puppies, dogs, rabbits, chickens, birds, and more available. If you are in the Connecticut area take a look at Bandits Place or enter your town and state in Pet Finder and let them find the perfect match for you.

Before I go check on Scout I wanted to say a special thanks to Liz Bennet, who runs Bandits Place, and all of the generous people who give their homes and hearts to animals in need of good, loving homes.

Thanks to all of you for stopping by to meet Scout.

Kristin : )

TMI - Bathroom Humor

A recent conversation on Twitter reminded me of a funny story. For some unknown reason I've decided to share it with all of you. A little bathroom humor to start off the week.

A few years ago, well more than a few but that's not important, we were getting our basement sealed and a new sump pump installed to stop a small river that had decided our basement was a viable path. My mother stopped by to keep me and my younger kids company while the company went to work downstairs.

At one point they had to shut off the water main and asked us not to use the toilet until they piped in the new sump pump and reconnected the water main to the outgoing plumbing. Well, the time went by, the house was filled with sounds of jack hammers and drills, and coffee was guzzled. More coffee was guzzled, and when I got up to check on my napping daughter, my bladder reminded how sensitive it had become after the miracle of birth...4 times. I, forgetting all previous warnings, heeded the call of my coffee filled bladder.

The second I pressed that lever down, and the toilet kind of gurgled instead of wooshed, I remembered the warning. But It was too late. I could not take back what gravity and a simple metal handle had put into motion. By the time the shouts of surprise echoed up through the bathroom floor I was already back in the kitchen, red faced, whispering the horror of what I had just done. My mother, being the ever supporting matron that she is, fell over laughing, spitting her coffee across the table as she did.

The sound of footsteps coming up the basement stairs froze us both, like deer in the headlights we both watched the door slowly open. One of the workers pops his head out and ever so politely asks for some paper towels for his boss, who was standing IN FRONT OF THE OPEN PIPE! Even he can't hold his laughter in any longer, and my mother now sounds like a hyenna, a choking hyenna. I'm mortified, unable to move from my seat by the door where the politely laughing man waits for paper towels for his boss.

My mother manages to stop her hysterics long enough to hand me the roll near her. I force myself to walk over to the door, and as I hand the roll to the man I say...

"I'm very sorry my mother forgot and used the toilet."

Now it was my turn to laugh. My mother's face at that moment was priceless. She was still catching her breath from laughing at me and could only manage a throaty sound of surprise. The man looked at her and said, "I thought it was funny, but you sure pissed off my boss."

We still laugh at that story, of course, I laugh a little harder now.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed the sprinkling of Monday morning bathroom humor. (hehe, pun intended) Feel free to share a funny story of your own. Don't leave me here airing my TMI all alone.

Kristin : )

Remember 9/11 With Love

Today is the 8th (now the 9th)Anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. So hard to believe it's been that long. It feels like it was just a few years ago. I still have those horrifying images ingrained into my mind and can still remember where I was and what I was doing when the first announcements started streaming out.

I was home, had just returned from dropping off my 3 year old son on his first day of preschool. There was a man finishing up the new siding on my house. My two older boys were well into their day at elementary school. To tell the truth, the events before the attacks are fuzzy. I'm sure I put my daughter (2 years old at the time) down for her morning nap and I know the radio was on. I'm also sure that I was worried about my son; if he liked his new class, if he had slipped out the door unnoticed and was trying to hitch hike home (You know normal mom worries).

The radio announcer interrupted and said a plane had hit the north tower of the World Trade Center. At first they speculated that it was a small tourist plane, and then it said that it was a United Airlines airplane. I quickly turned on the television and watched the gaping hole pour with smoke. The second plane struck the south tower. I can remember screaming, grabbing the phone and calling my husband. He was just as shocked and confused. I ran outside to tell the worker that the World Trade Center had just been hit by 2 airplanes. He followed me in to watch the news. We sat there, frozen, silently watching the videos of the second plane hitting the south tower over and over while news reporters started buzzing about it being part of a terrorist attack. That morning we were two people, complete strangers, going through their motions in their own lives and in one tragic moment we were united as Americans who were under attack. But even more than that, we were humans watching a horrific act of hate destroying the lives of other humans.

I know I don't have to detail the devastation that followed; the towers falling to the earth, the horrible images of people trying to save themselves by jumping, the chaos and panic that resulted in even more deaths. By the time the Pentagon was hit hit by the third plane, air traffic was stopped in the United States, and news started talking about a possible fourth hijacked airplane still in the air I was in full protective mom mode. I grabbed my daughter, picked my son up from preschool, and then drove straight to our elementary school to get my older two sons. We spent the rest of the day sitting close and talking on the phone with my husband and hoping there wouldn't be anymore attacks. More than anything hoping he would get home as soon as possible so I knew that, at the very least, my little world was safe.

This morning I was uploading some pictures to post with this. Pictures of the World Trade Center before the attack and some depicting memorials after. Then I started thinking about how many people lost their lives and how many more lives were devastated by losing loved ones. So many were in those towers, but there were also loved ones on each of the airplanes and in Washington DC. Countless lives were touched by this act of hate. So I chose the picture of a single red rose on the edge of water to represent the power each one of us has to do something positive, to make this anniversary a day of remembering love not reliving the hate.

I hope that everyone takes a minute to remember all of the people who died on 9/11 and those who lost loved ones and have found the strength to go on. Then take a moment to thank all of the men and women who voluntarily gave up their own time with family and friends to join the military and fight to keep our country safe; to perserve the freedoms we sometimes take for granted. After that tell the people in your life that you love them and your thankful for everyday you get to spend with them.

I'm not usually a preacher, or overly inspirational, but if there is a perfect day to say I love you it's today...then you can go back to your regularly planned chaos.

I do try to keep perspective on what's important on a regular basis, but even the best of intentions can be ground down by life's curve balls and endless cycles of cleaning, work, teenagers, blah, blah, blah...

Today I made sure I hugged my kids extra hard and gave my husband an extra kiss as they went off on their day. As for my oldest, who is just waking up, I will tell him I love him... and then kick his butt for coming home late. Hey, life goes on right ;)

Thanks for reading! Please share your thoughts on what today means to you or share where you were on September 11, 2001.

Kristin : )

This post was originally published last year. The only changes made to it are in red. I was inspired to publish it again after reading a Twitter friend's 911 post. Read it, it's great, and much more inspiring than mine :) Please take a moment to share your thoughts or memories of that tragic day 9 years ago today.

Lisa Adams 911