Update on What kind of Dog is She?

After some extensive research (I spent 10 minutes on Google), I realized that corgis aren't all blonde.  In fact, the Cardigan Corgi can come in tri-color like Millie.  They also come in fluffy like Millie.  No Australian Shepherd at all.
If you are interested, here is the Wikipedia page on the Cardigan Corgi.  Pretty cool heritage, little lady.

BIANACP Part 3: What kind of dog is she?

This particular litter of puppies was sent up to Seattle from Stockton, CA-- a high kill area.  The papers that accompanied them proclaimed their lineage to be "Terrier/Mix".
None of the puppies looked alike.  The mix was vast.
So.  Millie is a mix.
Short of a DNA test (not gonna happen) this is what we have figured out.

 Terrier

+

Australian Shepherd

+

Corgi

=

(Super bad quality taken with my Kindle, in the dark)
A sweet little Millie dog that is smarter than a whip with a tendency to dig and to herd.
I'll brag on her later.

BIANACP Part 2: The Birth Story

Just kidding.  I didn't blog back when I was having babies.
It should be entitled How to Get a Puppy from the Humane Society.
It is hard to get a puppy from the Humane Society.  Here is the trick I learned after making several calls on dogs from the website that I thought I wanted only to be told that particular one was gone:  You have to like their Facebook page and then track it like you would your cheating ex-boyfriend's latest drama.  I mean it.  Otherwise all you are left with are big dogs (mostly pitbulls) and chihuahuas.
Last Monday night we got home from Alison's choir concert.  While the kids and Dan ate their celebratory ice cream, I got online for one more fruitless dog search.  Dun, dun, dun...... There were puppies.  Five of them!  A litter of terriers.  Dan could go with me at noon, but I knew that would be too late.  I texted (I do that now) my neighbor and begged her to come with me.  The next morning, after getting the last girls on the bus, we were off like a shot.  She had all the things we would need that I hadn't even thought of, a kennel, a leash, a towel.
We got there way early.  So early that no one else was there.  With the knowledge that we were safe on time, we headed over to Petco to get some necessities, like toys and food dishes.  Then we went back to stand in line for 45 minutes.  Second in line.  That is important.  I also already had the paperwork on file.  If you don't do that, it takes extra time since they want to go over your paperwork with you.
A pleasant young woman came out and visited our line and asked if we were waiting for the puppies.  Indeed.  She asked for our names so she could pull the paperwork.  Awesome!  Only 15 more minutes until 11.
We went in and waited a few minutes while they took all of the puppies that they had out to the showing area.  Then it was time!
Five roly poly terrier puppies that looked nothing at all like each other, though they came from the same litter.  3 were short hair, 2 were furry.  I was there for cute factor and my friend was there to cover disposition.  We came to our perfect consensus over the sweet little tri color dog.  One floppy ear.  Cutest little face.  And her disposition was perfect.  While the other puppies jostled and nipped at everything, she sat there like a princess.  When she did get up, her curly little tail with its snow white tip waved like a flag in the wind.  I wanted her.  So did #5.  Thankfully #1 wanted the one that looked like a chihuahua.  #5 let me know that he wanted her.  I took her anyway.  I stood in line in the cold for 45 minutes entertaining my friend's toddler.  He showed up at 11.  I didn't feel bad.
As we checked out, a couple who came in wanted to look at her and pet her.  When the SHS worker asked the woman if she was there to see the puppies, she announced that she was there to get this one-- the one I had just paid for.  I didn't feel bad about that either.
And that's how you get a puppy from the Humane Society.  You have to stalk, you have to get up early, and you have to be heartless.

Because I am Now a Crazy Person: Part 1-- What led to the insanity

I started writing this post a week or so ago.  Back when I had the luxury of sleep.

The people that live in this house with me caught me at a particularly vulnerable point a couple of weekends ago.  I'd been thinking about what we don't do because I can't handle the stress (real or imagined) of doing certain activities-- like sports, water parks, or pets.
Morgan did T-ball when he was 5.  That is the extent of our foray into organized running around.  I was pregnant, had an ornery toddler, a boy with a lot of energy, and a husband who traveled a lot.  It boiled down to the old adage, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."  Mama was not happy.  Now none of my children will be the next great who-ever.  Game over in 2004.
It's not so much that I don't like water parks per se, it's that it combines two of my trigger points-- water and chaos.  One makes me afraid and the other makes me stark raving mad.  Not the calmest or most fun way to spend family time.
As for pets.... I grew up on a farm where animals lived outside.  They weren't pets.  Besides, we ate them and they were delicious.  The wailing and gnashing of teeth over the death of the guinea pig earlier this year almost did me in.
I began to feel guilt.  My poor, unfortunate children, missing out on life.
So, we got a cat.  She and I tolerate each other.  She spends time with me only when no one else is around or when she wants something to eat at 6 in the morning.  Heidi is covered in scratches because she cannot handle not handling the cat.  Still.  Heidi is the cat's first choice in companions.  
And now comes the real sign of my insanity.  I am looking for a dog.  Do I like dogs?  Oh, no.  I do not.  So it has to be the perfect dog.  Not too big/small.  Very cute.  Obedient.  Gets along with handsy 8 year olds.  Reasonable rehoming fee.  The big question is how does one manage to find the perfect dog?  I pour over Petfinder, Adopt a Dog, and the Humane Society pages.  They taunt me with their wares, which I either don't want or can't get because I won't subject our family to an "in home" visit to make sure we are the perfect pet parents.  I'm willing to take a dog, aren't I?  Believe me.  It should suffice.

..

Answered

Last Monday, it was a bad day for Dan.  Nothing was progressing in the world of job searching.  As we held each other that night and prayed, I felt inspired to ask that Dan get a job by Thanksgiving.  I don't think I've ever been inspired on what to pray for in the middle of a prayer.  I know it was inspiration because the part of my soul that is good at begging had died a little a couple of months ago.  I let go of all expectations and just tried to trust that it would happen when the Lord was ready-- or rather, when we were ready.  So I asked for that.  Then I knew that we needed to fast and pray as a family that Dan would have a job by Thanksgiving.
When I told the girls about it, Alison piped up in a quavery little voice, "But, what if it doesn't work?  What will we do then?"  It was my concern as well.  We came up with a little mantra-- We are exercising our faith.  We prayed all week last week and when Sunday came around, we fasted and dedicated the fast to that.  Every prayer uttered for 2 weeks asked Heavenly Father to provide a job for Dan by Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, Dan kept applying, talking to people-- doing what he's done for the last 7 1/2 months.
Yesterday morning he had a phone interview with a company in Bellevue.  By yesterday afternoon, he had been offered a job.
I know some of the reasons for the wait. I know what has happened in our family because of it, the good and the bad.  I hope we are a more compassionate and empathetic family now.  I hope we will continue our new found thrifty ways, though we all have been building a list of "needs" that we each want.
While we are on Cloud 9 over here, we are so grateful.  This is a blessing.  One of the best things to come out of this was to watch my children have faith and be willing to exercise it in one solid push.  We were all afraid, because we've been hopeful before.  There was nothing to be hopeful about, but we were obedient to a feeling that I had and it has made all of the difference.

p.s. I'm not exactly sure what it is he will be doing.  He tells me the words, but I still have no clue.  He knows, so that's good.

Ups and Downs

If you don't know already, you may have guessed that our family's lives are in flux right now.  Dan still doesn't have a job yet and we (I) have begun questioning if we are even praying for the right thing.  Our needs are rather specific.  I won't go in to all of them, but just one is me.  Strangely, and sadly, enough, it is better for us to be on unemployment and state insurance for now.  The state covers all of my medical needs, albeit begrudgingly and like pulling out perfectly fine grown up teeth.  Whatever job Dan gets, it has to either provide really good insurance or pay enough that we can afford to get really good insurance.  By myself, without insurance, I cost $4000 a month.  McDonald's, Walmart, or ditch digging simply don't cover that.
Sometimes the heavens are a lot more silent than I would like.  The blessings which buoy us up are easy to find.  It's the answers that are needed and that are in short supply.
So, we've decided to prepare ourselves and house for a move.  That doesn't mean we will leave our home of 10 years, but we want to be ready if/when the time comes.
At first it seemed like this decision was a way to take back some control of our lives and situation.  We were making a determination. We spent a week and a half working on the yard.  We raked up loads of moss, pulled out all of the rocks that had been dumped in various places, trimmed bushes, and had mortal combat with spiders.  We tried to level things out as best as possible.  We got rid of our water barrels, the canoe, and our garden boxes-- all things that broke us a little more inside, but that we can't move with us.  We put down 5 yards of bark and planted new grass seed.  The weather held long enough for us to get everything done we needed to accomplish and then it graciously started to rain.
Up.
Then the sparrows, the junkos, the chickadees, and the robins descended.  Yay!  Grass seed smorgasbord.
Then we had a windstorm that knocked all of the dead cedar fronds out of the trees, coating all of the grass seed and the fresh bark.
Down.
Today I looked out at the back yard and there is a sheen of spring green over what was previously empty space.
Up.
Meanwhile, I moved on to painting my kitchen cabinets.  About 4 years ago, I made Dan help me put bead board on the cabinet faces and we painted everything white with a Rustoleum kit. I put on blue glass knobs that made my heart happy.  Over the ensuing years, the paint wore away around the handles.  Where ever heat radiated on to the surfaces (a kitchen remember), the "protective" coating that came with the kit turned yellow.
Since we had supplies left over from the first time, I just used their base paint again. The cabinets covered nicely and were so pretty again.
Up.
 Then we decided to get a nice quality polyethylene coat.   We got it and I applied it to the faces of the cabinets. They turned yellow.  Completely streaked and yellow.  Now I have to strip them and repaint everything.
Down.
General Conference helped.
Up.
Until they kept talking about it taking years for our trials to be resolved and the endurance that takes.
Down.
I know that it will all work out.  I know that it will.  I know that it probably won't look anything like what I think will make us the happiest.  That is really very hard.
I know it will work out.
Up.

Mini Vacations

They haven't been stay-cations unless you figure we haven't left the state of Washington this summer.  We have gone on two mini vacations this summer.  The first was to the Yakima Nation RV park where we slept  stayed in a teepee.  Everyone else slept.  I heard the crowd making a movie that involved girls screaming and running down the path in front of our teepee at midnight.  The train that roared by, the fireworks that were set off, the two emergency vehicles, and the traffic that finally stopped around 3 am. Curse perimenopause and my growing sleepless nights.
The next day we toured the museum.  Our girls were offended by the many taxidermied animals and it started Alison on a two day vegetarian lifestyle change. (We really need to get them back to their roots a little bit more) Sophie does this funny little sideways look/not look at things that bug her.  She couldn't look at the animals, but I also caught her sidling past the Native American mannequins.  I teased her and asked her if she thought they were stuffed people.  No.  The men were not dressed adequately enough.  It really bothered her.
We went back to our roots and packed all of our food for the adventure.  Chili dogs cooked over a jet boil stove, oatmeal packets, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  I found this great trail mix with cashews, almonds, and cranberries.  Not content with that, I added crispy and regular M&Ms.  It has become a big hit in our house.

Last weekend, my brother and his family came to visit us.  They took Malynn back with them and she had a week of adventuring and helping out at their house.  She called us every night at 8 and had to talk to all of us.  For such a little person, she leaves a gaping hole in our home  We all missed her mightily (whether we all admit it or not)
We decided that since we hadn't taken a trip to the coast this summer, we would go down and get her Sunday afternoon and come back via the ocean today (Monday). The sky was full of smoke from all of the forest fires.  I don't think there was a break in it at all.  Half of our people are croupy from it.  
Our trip down was uneventful.  Our trip today was long and adventurous.  We were going to stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  It is our favorite cheese, after all.  Homage to the fromage should be paid.  Then we saw the parking lot filled with 500 cars and the line of people at the restaurant.  We committed then and there to take the kids to Safeway to look at the blocks of cheese in their dairy fridge.  It's the same, right?
I wanted to go to Cannon Beach-- everyone has to go their at least once, especially to get pictures of the haystacks.  Afraid it would be crowded, we stopped at Arcadia Beach, which was (we found out) 2 miles short of Cannon Beach, and sparsely attended.  The winds made it breezy and chilly, but we all jumped in the ocean just the same.  Heidi stripped down to her swimming suit.  There were jelly fish body parts all over the beach-- a clear gelatinous witness to the carnage of the sea.  Morgan found a whole one and chased a shrieking Malynn around (he missed her most of all).  Heidi and I collected broken sand dollars.  Sophie sneakily filled up one of her shoes with sand so she could do a "project" when she got home with it.  (It dumped all over the back seat of the SUV and that particular chapter did not end well) Alison loved the barnacles and mussels.
We left too soon because people were freezing and complaining.
It still took us forever to get home because we stopped off at the Nisqually campground that our ward is camping at this weekend.  We went on a little tour and scoped it all out.  Malynn fell in the river.  All of our kids were thrilled with the first clean, flushing bathrooms of the day since we left Evan's house nearly 10 hours before.
Then we came home.