Kendra Babbles

Blake and I have been slaving away on house projects again.  Not much progress in the bathroom however.  Blake did rip out the old tub and the drywall, but now comes putting in the shower pan and re-working the plumbing.  I don’t think he is looking forward to this part, so we have found other things to distract us for awhile.

The last 2 weekends we did some yard work.  We bought a bunch of monkey grass (also called mondo) and a bouganvilla plant.  I call it the booger plant because I cannot remember bouganvilla all the time.  We planted the monkey grass on the fence side of the flagstone walkway, which involved digging out a freaking ton of dirt and replacing it with peat soil replacer since our crappy builder dirt barely grows grass.  We also found a lot of glass, bricks, and wood while digging that up.  Not quite as exciting as the giant knife we found we digging holes for the flagstone, but that is another story.

Blake also decided to re-do our drainage system since it didn’t really drain anything.  He cut the pipe back and put some river rocks in a strategic pattern to the get the water to flow down a path toward the drain.  It worked well with a test of the hose, so hopefully it will hold up during the next big rain.

And the best part is that the puppies love monkey grass, so they are all over this new project of ours.

Our second project this weekend was painting the living room wall.  Or should I say repainting.  Blake first painted it back in January with a color that we picked out.  Unfortunately, I hated it.  I gave it a go for a couple of months trying to get used to it, but I couldn’t stand it.  The color actually made me cranky.  (Side note - it was the same blue as our wedding color, if anyone remembers that.  Just imagine a giant wall of that color.  Not good.)  So we picked a new color and repainted it.  Blake is not too excited with it, but we both agree it is staying because we are tired of painting that wall.  Thanks to Ned and Larry for helping us move the entertainment center and TV, again.

The last project is more of a “lets see if I can make something grow” project.  Last fall on our trip to Fredericksburg for Novie’s bachelorette weekend, I picked up a bag of Indian Blanket wildflower seeds.  The instructions are pretty simple and they should require very little attention.  I planted them in a pot in January, and here is what I have now…

So there is hope that we may have some flowers on our patio this spring.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

*David Bowie

So often I see things when I’m out and about that strike me as odd.  Yes, I know I don’t get out much, so a lot of normal things may seem odd to me.

Recently I’ve made it a habit to carry my camera with me when I’m out.  So on the occasion that I get photographic evidence of these odd things, I will post them here on Thursdays.

This week’s pic is not strikingly strange.  Unless you know enough about cars to know that this post-factory addition to the car is probably highly unnecessary.

I haven’t felt this good in a long time.  Sure, I’ve had fun with friends, spent time with my family, and done challenging new things at work.  But none of those add up to what I did today.

I volunteered.

Shortly before Christmas I started donating money to a dog and cat rescue and adoption organization.  It’s a non-profit, named Paws in the City.  They do lots of things, but mainly they rescue stray or abandoned dogs, or rescue dogs about to be euthanized from local shelters.  Many of the dogs they rescue have medical bills, or have to be boarded because they don’t have any available foster parents to keep the dogs.  So I donated some money knowing that a dog could have a round of heartworm treatment or just another day at a boarding facility.  But I kept going back to their website and reading the new stories.  So I donated a few more times since then.  Finally I realized I really wanted to help in person, since I was already giving the most I could financially.  Last week I signed up to be a dog transporter.  Basically I just transfer dogs from the boarding facilities to adoption events, then back after the event has ended.  They called me Friday night looking for someone to pick up two dogs and take them to an event today.

This morning I picked up Gracie and Roxy.  Gracie immediately ran up to me and gave me hugs and almost clung to me.  She was so excited to have some interaction with me.  She went right on her leash and loaded into the car with no trouble.  I found out later Gracie is a favorite among the volunteers - she is so sweet and calm, just a great dog in general.  Roxy was a handful!  She’s still pretty young, so she has a lot of puppy energy in her.  She was a stray, so she hasn’t had much time to be with a family who could train her to walk on a leash.  I thought she was ignoring me completely actually, as she was more interested in being outside.

Once we made it to the adoption location and unloaded the dogs, I quickly learned a few names and helped out setting up.  One of the other volunteers gave us a quick orientation on how to take the dogs out of the cages and where to take them on walks.  I had intended to just head out after about an hour, but I ended up staying for 3!  You could tell which of the dogs were the favorites, so I tried to be sure all of the other dogs got out for a walk and some cuddle time.

By the time I left, Gracie had found a possible new family.  The couple had visited with Gracie before, but were in the middle of a move and the timing wasn’t right.  When they came back today, they spent a couple of hours with her again and decided she was the one!  Paws in the City requires a home visit before approving the adoption, but I have a good feeling that Gracie will be in her new home in a couple of weeks.

Roxy on the other hand wasn’t so lucky.  She is very shy and was next to a more outgoing dog, so I think she was overlooked a lot.  And I quickly learned she wasn’t ignoring me at all - she just didn’t know if she could trust me.  Each time I left her cage to go help out, she cried and shook until I came back for a visit.  After an hour she calmed down and I took her for a walk.  I noticed one of the other volunteers took her out for a bit too.  I stopped by before I left and gave her a quick treat and a little love.  I think Roxy needs some basic training and a little more time with familiar people, then she will be a great dog.

I learned a lot from Roxy and Gracie today.  It breaks my heart to think there are so many dogs out there who don’t have a home and spend months or years in foster homes or boarding places just waiting for their chance to love a family.  Dogs love unconditionally, and it amazes me how some of these dogs could spend their lives as strays or have been abandoned or abused, and are still ready to meet you with a wagging tail and a friendly kiss.

It felt good to be able to help out a few furry friends.  They gave me lots of thanks in return for the chance to be out of their crates for a few hours.  But now I’m sitting here realizing that there will never be a day where there are no dogs that need homes.  There will always be another stray, or another surrendered dog that needs help.  It’s a big job to tackle and it will never end, but I’m going to keep going back because its amazing to be a part of it, no matter how small.

*Foo Fighters - actual song title is Come Back

I bought a fiction novel.  Why do I do this?  Yes, I enjoy them.  A little too much.  Often I start them and really never stop reading until I finish it.  I try to go with more non-fiction or other books so that I don’t read them as fast.  That didn’t really happen this time.

Saturday I drove up to suburbia to visit the parents and let the dogs play.  While out running errands in the suburbs, I went to Wally World to pick up some doggie supplies.  On my way to the back, I passed by the book section.  This is when I realized that some Wal-Marts have actual books in their book section.  Not like in the ghetto where it is all magazines and Harlequin romance novels.  I haven’t bought a book of any kind in a long time, and decided I needed some new reading material.  I decided on a fiction novel by Jodi Picoult.  I read her book “My Sister’s Keeper” last year and enjoyed that one. 

So on Monday night I started reading “Plain Truth”.  It’s 405 pages long.  I finished it Wednesday around 5:30.  Good story, lots of twists and psychology and lawyer talk and stuff about the Amish people I never knew.  However, now I am out of reading material again.  And it hasn’t even been a week.

*Britney Spears

Not being in the house was my theme this weekend.  I guess all of the days of working from home caught up with me and I was a bit stir crazy!  Friday night Blake and I went out to eat at the yummy Italian place downtown.  After that we went over to the neighbors house to hang out for a few hours. 

Saturday morning I got up early, loaded up the dogs and headed to Granny’s house so they could romp and play and annoy someone else for a few hours.  I think they were just as tired of being at home as I was!  I spent the next few hours running errands and hanging out with my parents.  When we got home, Blake had started laying the flagstone for our pathway in the backyard.  It looks good - but I’ll wait until the grass is green before I take some pics. 

Sunday morning we unloaded the laundry room again, then Blake put the enhancer on the tile.  By last night we were able to load the washer and dryer back in - so now I have our official before and after pics!

Soon we will start the bathroom remodel.  That will be a much longer project, but at least now we have some practice!

*Maroon 5