An Era

Picture it...it was mid-February of 2013, a Saturday. Brad and I had just moved into our first apartment together, we'd only been married for about 2 months at the time. We were enjoying having all 5 of us under the same roof, 2 humans and 3 fur babies. Storm was quick to begin perfecting the art of keeping her new pug brothers in line. Quite a transition for her, to go from no siblings to 2 pug siblings. The boys have always done well with change, easily adapting to whatever situation their mommie put them in. Through the years they had moved several times, dealt with numerous climate changes based on state-to-state moves, and coped with going from having a backyard to having none. My super versatile puggies! Now it was time to relax a bit into a new place with a new "family" dynamic.

Cody loved Brad from the start of our courtship. Cody likes trying to do his best to be impressive to newbies. As for Simon, he made Brad work a little harder to get to know him. Simon was super comfortable in his own fur and didn't feel the need to work hard for others attention. During our courtship Brad openly questioned at times whether or not Simon "really" liked him. I never fretted about it because I better understood Simon's personality. A cool, smooth little dude. No need to worry about what he likes and doesn't like, he's a super chilled out little man.

Back to my story it was a Saturday afternoon in February of 2013, Brad was playing football on his Xbox. We were going to have company over later that night. Of course, you all know by now, if company is coming I'm likely baking or cooking up something! I had brownies in the oven but I needed to walk the boys. I asked Brad to get the brownies out of the oven when the timer sounded. He quickly agreed and told me "no problem". He added the "no problem" part because I briefly questioned if he would ignore the timer sounding to continue playing football. LOL! Fast forward to about 20 minutes later when I return with the boys, I unleashed the boys right before opening our front door so they were free to go inside without their leash. Upon entering the place the smell of my brownies filled the room. I hear Brad's game still going in the background, I briefly scan the room noticing Brad sitting on the sofa. As Brad begins to speak to me my eyes spot the disaster! My entire pan of brownies is laying upside down on the kitchen floor. Wouldn't you know I spotted this disaster at the exact same moment Simon did. I reached down to grab him and restrain him from diving face first into an entire pan of brownies. I grabbed him in the nick of time. Not a half-second too early or too late. I think at that very moment though Simon had a new appreciation for his new daddy. If this "daddy-guy" was going to regularly drop things out of the oven then return to his video game before cleaning it up Simon was going to be fast friends with his daddy. When Simon's eyes noticed the large pan of brownies laying on the floor without a doubt Simon believed he had entered heaven.

Well this past Wednesday Simon entered heaven as he moved on from this earth. After a horrible bout of seizures and not being able to recover from his stomach issues he died in my arms on Wednesday morning. About 20 minutes before he passed I held him on my right side then brought Cody up to my left knee. I took Cody's paw and had him "pet" his little brother one last time. I did my best to help Cody say goodbye. Officially and very sadly to me the "Cody and Simon era" has ended. Cody is once again the only pug in the household.   

Simon's dementia, seizures, and stomach issues had taken a tremendous toll on him. Since the last week of December he's been failing quite rapidly. He had good days but too many bad days. Yet he was a trooper through it all. I know he is in a better place now. In my mind there is no doubt my dad that passed away so long ago was likely super anxious to meet his little grandson puggie. He likely greeted Simon at the gates of heaven with the largest jar of peanut butter available.

Simon was buried at my in-laws place. His little grave will always exist. Super thankful to have had so many years with my little man. I'm going to miss him terribly. He was the total package...curious, adventurous, sweet, cuddly, yet he had a tough guy demeanor too. Even though he was only a small pug, even smaller than his big brother, he thought he was just as big as a Rottweiler or German Shepherd. In his youth he commonly ran with the big dogs when I'd take him to the park. He could put on quite the show at the dog park, as people watched on with puzzled looks on their faces to see a pug outrunning a big athletic dog.

He might not be here physically but we'll never forget him. I was honored to be his human mommy. And Brad despite not knowing him from his puppy days has cried as many tears as I have. Since Brad and I got married him and "Simon the diamond" bonded majorly well. The interactions of the two of them always made me smile. Rest in peace now little man, rest in peace!

Next Phase

Did you sleep okay last night? If you were in the Dallas area chances are you were unable to drift into a deep sleep until the storm outside calmed a bit. Our building was struck by lightening. When the lightening struck, I jumped and so did Brad. I don't think I've ever seen my husband jump so high. I could have swore that lightening was going to come right through our French window that is up near the ceiling. The fire alarm quickly sounded in our building too. Oh how Cody and Piper love the fire alarm. When it happened I had just finished putting all the fur babies in their beds. Cody and Piper shared the usual sleeping quarters and I built Simon a protective "fort".  

In other Simon related news, it appears we are at the next phase of his issues. Every time he has had these reoccurring "episodes" they have been followed by stomach issues. Stomach issues are a part of the aftermath. I noticed around midnight he was demonstrating some of his warning signs he gives when his stomach isn't feeling right. Sure enough my day started early as he needed lots of my attention. As 7 AM approached the other two furries were not being very understanding. Clueless that there's only 1 human mommie and 3 of them. Even when Brad is awake, we are still outnumbered. I did my best to promptly help out Simon, then turned my attention to the other 2. One was much more impatient than the other. Can you guess which one? 

Dogs with the syndrome Simon has, deal with dizzy spells. The dizzy spells cause the stomach issues. It's kind of similar to how us humans feel when we ride a ride at an amusement park that spins us and twirls us. Sometimes we didn't feel sick until we went on the crazy spinning tea cups! Dogs with this syndrome walk in circles and spin themselves around, albeit not at a rapid pace. But dizziness and pacing in circles are all part of it. Poor Simmie! He makes my heart hurt! I will spend the day today getting him through this new issue. I think I recognized the symptoms pretty quick this time around, maybe he'll get through it faster. Fingers-crossed! In the previous 2 times he's had his series of episodes the dizzy spells/stomach issues have lasted around 16-20 hours. Going to be a long day for him and I.

Oh yeah, by the way, Happy President's day. Brad is home too. So I'll have a helper today, once he gets up at least. ;)  I saw on the news already this morning plenty of people using their day off today to protest. Geesh, people...don't you have something better to do on a lovely day off? We have become a nation filled with people that have little to no respect for authority. To show their disrespect now they look for opportunities like a positive holiday to do their demonstrations. Sigh! All I have to say besides what I already stated...if you are out protesting the current president in my opinion you are still showing disrespect to all the other presidents before him. And where would our nation be without our presidents? Maybe they all haven't done a great job but it's not exactly an easy job in the first place to hold. And our nation has stood this long and part of that reason is because of our presidential system. By the way the president they are protesting today hasn't even been given a chance. One month in office...isn't a chance! The way the media twists and turns everything having to with Trump nearly makes me suffer the same type of dizzy spell Simmie is currently suffering.

Quick Snap Sunday

Good Morning Simon!



Well I'm happy to report Simon made it through the night!!! It was a DIFFICULT day yesterday for him. A day filled with episodes and their aftermath. The evening hours were awful...agonizing! Numerous tears from his human parents hit the floor too.

However, by the time 4 AM came around we felt somewhat comfortable enough to both head to bed. Leaving Simon in the safest environment we created for him, a room filled with plenty of pillows blocking all edges. As of this moment, Simon is doing okay. Not great by any means. But alright. Brad continues to sleep. He needs to sleep as long as possible because I'm going to need a nap at some point today. Even though we both went to bed at 4 AM, I still got up at 6 AM then again at 8 AM to check on Simon the Diamond. Once 8 AM arrived I felt "lazy", plus I knew I needed to get the other two furries taken care of.

I'm not sure at this point where we go from here. I'm simply happy he made it through the night. We'll see how he does as the day progresses. In the pics above is clearly our little Simmie, taken this morning and one of his little sister peaking in at him. She's not shy in this instance. She peaks then comes right on in to see how big brother is doing. As you can tell in the pic, Simon is very alert. Even if he's unsure what he's looking at because his vision is not back completely. His eyes are clear and bright today, I think he can see better this morning than he could yesterday morning. I hope that's fact and not just wishful thinking on my part.

Update On Our Move

Where are we moving? Are we still moving? Yes, we have to move. As I previously mentioned our current apartment has been leased out already. Which is fine with me. It pained me greatly to even go to the office at this complex and ask if our apartment was still available. I did not want to stay here. I understand Brad wanting me to check to see if it was an option. Yet, I'll be glad to close the book on this chapter, so to speak. Time to move on from this current apartment. I will miss things about the area but I don't think I'll miss anything about living in this building or this apartment. 

Where are we going?  Brad snagged one of the last apartments available at the complex he works at. When he switched over to this newly acquired property of the new company he now works for they were in a "lease up". A term used to describe the need to lease up the complex, too many units are sitting vacant. In 6 weeks their occupancy has increased dramatically. To the point that only 1 apartment was still open and big enough to accommodate us. Whew!

I wasn't too worried. Our "plan B" when we first started looking for a new residence was moving to Brad's work complex if we couldn't find a house we were happy with for one reason or another. This move, in our minds is only temporary. Temporary as in about 5-6 months is what we are currently thinking.

Our complete new plan is to move obviously. Then once we've moved we can begin checking out areas around his work. The one thing that was really bothering me about our previous home search was that I didn't have enough time to check out a few other areas before deciding on the area we looked in. Now we'll be able to discover all that's around his new work before starting up the home search again. Another issue that was bothering me, is Brad's level of comfort with his new job. Last thing I want is for us to get settled into a house then he comes home to tell me he hates his work and immediately wants to switch to a new complex. Low and behold that new complex he goes to is in Grapevine or South Lake or downtown Dallas. Suddenly we're in a long term deal with a house and he's commuting 45 or 50 minutes to work. Yuck, not ideal.

Needless to say I feel much more relaxed about this plan of action. We have our keys to our new apartment! We'll begin moving stuff over slowly through this coming week.

Before officially taking this apartment at Brad's work complex he asked me if I wanted to drop by his work to tour it. Um, no, not necessary. At this point the positives of living there far out way anything else. It doesn't matter to me what the floorplan is like. We'll adjust and it's only intended on being temporary. I do know this complex has no balconies. Brad has said that's going to be the biggest negative. Sorry Cody! He's our balcony boy! The no balcony design is kind of odd for an apartment complex not in a downtown area. No balconies or "plant shelf balconies" are super common in downtown areas but not in areas like we are moving to usually.   

Moving to Brad's work complex still means we are in a unique area of Fort Worth yet not as far out as we originally planned. It's still an area that makes you scratch your head as you question where are the "REAL" stores? Where's a movie theatre? Petsmart? Target? What do people in the area do for entertainment? So perhaps an adjustment still, yet not as big of an adjustment as the houses we were thinking about would have meant for us. 

The Struggles of Simmie

Whew, did we make it through Friday and into Saturday? Simon is struggling again. His episodes have come about with ugliness. He had a tough Friday suffering about 3 to 4 episodes. Three I firmly know he had and one questionable episode. We seem to be in the midst of another round of reoccurring episodes. This round started late Thursday night and continued through Friday as well as into the wee hours of Saturday morning. 

Perhaps of all the episodes he's dealt with in the last 36 hour time span I think the worst came at 3:30 AM on the dot. Brad was trying to take care of Simon on his own as he was still up enjoying a late night gamer night. Oh how my husband loves games and loves staying up super late. Anyway, after observing some of what Simon was doing immediately following the episode Brad came in to get me up. In a somewhat fortunate way, I had seen Simon demonstrate these actions before so I was able to relieve most of Brad's stress. But unfortunately I knew what these actions really meant.  

The episode Simon suffered at 3:30 this morning took his eyesight. He was freaked out understandably. He then started trying to verbalize his displeasure, which is what freaked Brad out. Sadly Simon has suffered other episodes previously that have taken almost all of his eyesight. When it first happens, immediately following his episode he is beside himself with fear. However, he does adjust somewhat quickly if the blindness lasts a significant amount of time. All of these episodes supposedly cause some sort of vision issue for a short amount of time. But there are the episodes he suffers that attack his vision more severely resulting in almost complete blindness. The good news is it should be temporary. But how long is temporary?...that's the bad news!

I woke up to Simon howling this morning. Nope, his vision has not returned. I had to be his eyes on the morning walk.

Up until Friday he's been doing pretty well. He's had a single episode here and there, nothing too severe. He's also managed to string together days, even a couple weeks without any episode. Here we are again though, appears we are in the middle of a terrible reoccurring mini-series of episodes.

Fingers-crossed he can come through this once again and get back to what has become the new normal for him. Oh man, it's hard! So hard watching this. Nothing we can really do but be here for him.    

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

 

Cody posing with his Valentine's day toy.

Simon appearing as a "luv pug" instead of a "luv bug"!

Sweet Piper "holding" or "stomping" on a Valentine's day heart! Depends on your mood towards V-tine's day! You know kind of like the glass is half full or half empty.

 

Happy Valentine's Day from this fur-baby trio!

Wait A Minute

Hold on a second! Are we moving? Where are we moving? Two great questions as this evening has arrived.

Well the day today started extra early. Brad had to be to work extremely early today. Luckily those extremely early morning start times for him won't come around too often but likely once a month. Anyway since my day started so early I decided to dedicate a little time to researching the companies that own the homes we have high on our list. We had been encouraged to do some checking around by our realtor. But she didn't need to mention it I was already planning on checking things out before anything gets signed! There I am researching, to my surprise the same company owns all 3 homes in our top 3!!! Oh great! My next shock came a few minutes later when I discovered the company has been in business for 4 years and are you ready for it?....has 810 complaints levied against them. No your eyes do not deceive you. It really does say 810!!! Can you believe it? 810!!!

Only 4 years in business with 810 complaints...how? That's a rhetorical question, obviously. So let's break it down, 810 complaints is about 200 a year and about 17 per month. Meaning every other day they have a complaint levied against them. Gee-wiz, seems like a lot to me! Too many! After discovering all this you can guess how fast I grabbed my phone to text this info to my husband. We have spent time today texting back and forth to each other concerning our next "move".

Brad suggested I check to see if our current residence has been rented again or could we stay here longer until we decide on another home. Nope, that's out. Our apartment has been rented. No surprise, I was pretty sure before I went to talk to our leasing office our apartment was rented out already. Do they have anything else available that would accommodate us?....Nope, not until April. That's when the conversation with our current complex got really good. They suggested we rent an extra garage unit here on the property and stuff all our things in the garage unit then go live in a hotel for 5 weeks until they can get us into an apartment in April. I'm not going to deny, I have a mouth on me. I can be nice for sure but I'm not the type to keep quiet for too long. If someone makes a ridiculous suggestion to me...look out...because my facial expression could hurt a person plus my words are going to sting. That being said you can imagine how I answered such a ludicrous suggestion of living in a hotel for 5 weeks until they can get us into another apartment. This place isn't that AMAZING. This place isn't the TAJ MAHAL. Apartments come a dime a dozen. There's complexes on nearly every corner. If we have to move out we have to move out. And we'll be moving somewhere else where we can get immediate occupancy....DUH!   

So here's where things are at this moment. Brad and I will talk more tonight, hopefully come to a solid decision by tomorrow if not later tonight. Here are the choices in front of us.  Pretend my research doesn't matter and choose one of the 3 homes in our top 3. Or bump one of the other homes that we viewed but wasn't totally into way up to the top spot and take it. Or our final option is, move to another apartment. Like I already stated, apartments can generally accommodate immediate move-ins just got to do some looking.  

I was a little irritated earlier today. I felt quite dejected about everything. As the day progressed though I've gotten over it for the most part. Just need to make a smart decision then proceed.  

Quick Snap Sunday

 

Only In Texas

 

 

 

Me: "So Cody how do you feel about sharing a yard with some bulls? You like longhorns right?"

 

Cody: "Say what? Longhorns? Bulls? What are you talking about?"

 

Me: "We looked at some homes yesterday and bulls roamed somewhat freely. We could wake up to a bull in the front yard."

 

Cody: "Excuse me? Come again? My ears are failing? Did you just say bulls roam freely? Are you human parents of mine nuts? I did not last on this earth this long to have to share a yard with bulls. It's bad enough I have to share anything with my two siblings. I've had to share with that one dude practically my whole life. Then a darn cat came along and I had to share with her too. NO! NO WAY! NO BULLS!"

 

Me: "You seem to feel very strongly about this no bull situation."

 

Cody: "Mommie I'm trying to be nice but this is testing my patience. I see in my future you and daddy dragging me unwillingly to this new area we are supposedly moving to. No, no, I won't go!"

 

Me: "There's no other option. But I thought about 10 days ago your daddy was going to have to drag both of us kicking and screaming to this section of Fort Worth. I felt like our new address was going to be 001 In The Sticks. But I've since embraced this idea. We'll figure it out. As soon as I find a Petsmart in the area we'll be good."

 

Cody: "Wait, once again my ears are failing me, what did you just say? Petsmart? No Petsmart is known of in the area. What are you humans of mine doing to me? Man, don't let Simon know there's no Petsmart nearby, news like that will for sure cause him a severe bout of depression." 

 

Me:  "Don't worry Cody-man if mommie believes she can make this adjustment then so can you. We'll figure it out!"

 

Cody: "I can admire your optimism but I'm feeling doomed!"(exits the room to go pout)

Which Way Is Civilization?

Well today is quite a big day and hopefully a fun day for us, the house hunting continues. Today will be the first time Brad and I will both go out looking together. "Looking" as in, being shown houses by a realtor. I have been the only one that has actually toured some homes previously. Brad has driven by some places with me but hasn't "looked" at anything until today. 

I'm not sure if it's a guy thing or a Brad thing, he is so reluctant to go searching for a new residence. He has had more willingness with this house search than he was with our previous apartment search. Perhaps because it's involving moving to a completely new area, plus houses are different to look at than apartments. 

The area we are concentrating our search on I was originally super reluctant to look in. After driving out to this particular area 2 days in a row to look around I couldn't help but feel like I was in the sticks. I questioned which direction to turn to head back to civilization? Brad has yet to actually see the area we have concentrated the search on. Fingers-crossed he's okay living out that far because if he isn't our search goes back to square one. However, I think me embracing living out away from things is much more a wild card than it is for him. He's a born and raised Texan, he grew up going outside the city limits to visit his granny's farm. I never would have focused so much of my attention on this area if I wasn't quite confident he would embrace being out away from the city a bit. Besides this area is going to grow over time. Why are we focused on living out a little ways? It appears we can get more for our money. Not only are the homes newer but the prices are better.

Indeed I wondered if I could survive without a Target nearby. I guess I'm going to have to try. I have yet to find a Petsmart too(hope the fur babies didn't read that line). Just this past Thursday on another round of looking at houses I was able to uncover a relatively new shopping center featuring some decent options. No Target and no grocery store but the shopping center was still exciting to me. Lack of a grocery store nearby is going to be hard to deal with, however one is coming. A Kroger is being built in the area. Woo-hoo! When one grocery store pops up you know another will likely pop up too. There's lots and lots of open land.

This is going to be a bit of a change. My wonderful husband happened to mention last night how many wild animals are likely in the area still too. Oh great! The decision has already been made by Brad that there will be no doggie door in our new place. We don't want to chance anything. Small dogs are not as intimidating to wild animals. Picture me keeping a careful eye on the boys every time they go outside.

So to recap we are moving to the sticks. LOL! There's a serious lack of stop lights where we are going. Lots of wide open space and stop signs. There is no Target, my usual home away from home. But the boys will get a backyard...woo-hoo...just comes with controlled access to it.    

Not In Phoenix Anymore

I hated the movie...wait...I HATED the movie The Wizard of Oz. I know! I know! It's shocking! How can a girl not like The Wizard of Oz? Oh my gosh, where should I begin? Yes, numerous people I know are utterly appalled at my distaste for The Wizard of Oz. Anyway, I must quote the movie. I'm slightly traumatized using any quote from the movie(not really)..."Toto I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore!". Except mine reads..."Cody and Simon I have a feeling we're not in Phoenix anymore."  Houses are different here y'all! Now I've known this obviously for quite some time. I've clued into a few key qualities Texas homes feature.

I have yet to see a Texas home that features all the bedrooms clustered together. All homes I've seen feature the master bedroom off from the kitchen/dining area and the rest of the bedrooms are located down a hallway on the opposite side of the house. Or if the home has an upstairs than the master is downstairs near the kitchen area and the rest of the rooms are clustered upstairs. This is a bit odd to this former Zonie! That's not how it generally is in AZ. Or at least in the homes that were being built back when I lived there. Maybe things are changing in the brand new construction. But my point is it doesn't matter if it's newer or older here in TX the master seems to always be off on it's own away from the rest of the bedrooms. How is that a good plan for a family with an infant or toddler? It's a bit odd to me but whatever. The only exception to this I believe is if you have a home built, like Brad's granny did.

Everything has brick covering the wood used to build the house. They may have used a different color brick than the house next door but they all feature brick. Unlike the stucco I grew up looking at. A pleasant change. Let's see what else is different...LAWN!!! Oh thank heavens, no such thing as a "desert lawn". Sorry folks but one of the reasons I left Phoenix was all the brown desertness. I know "desertness" isn't a word but for the purpose of this blog post it is! Yep the only time I need to see a desert lawn with those a Mexican bird of paradise is when I'm in Phoenix.

Yes, boys we aren't in Phoenix anymore. But that's a good thing! Sorry, but it is! No disrespect meant towards my hometown or home state, I like this better. Hopefully, the boys do as well. Then again they have lived here longer than in Phoenix. Can you believe that? We've lived here for nearly 8 years and the boys are 15(Simon is 5 weeks from 15). In total of the time I wasn't moving the boys all over the place they actually only logged 4 and a half years in Phoenix. Crazy! They likely have nearly zero recollection of Phoenix. I remember the day we moved to TX, they were super excited. They knew something big was going on. They had no clue exactly what it was but they were all in no matter what. They wouldn't stop jumping up and down, they were ready to go long before everything was fully packed. So funny how pets sense new and exciting things and are all in! Why can't it be like that when I announce to them they have to go to the vet? LOL!  

The Search

Well the search for a new place to live is in full swing. It better be, we have to be out of our current place by the end of the month. Am I feeling the crunch?  Just slightly! Okay, maybe more than slightly. If we can't find a place to meet everyone's needs, there is a plan B.

I think I would definitely consider myself to be organized. I love making lists. And I can't make a big decision without a pros & cons list. Therefore I of course made a short list of needs, focusing some on the needs of the fur babies. True story...While living in Seattle I actually rented an apartment completely sight unseen simply because it had a couple features I knew would be perfect for the boys. Usually I'm not into sight unseen but sometimes it's necessary. Luckily that particular apartment worked out for the boys and myself.

As for the new list of wants/needs for us and the furries:
Brad: 2 car garage, at least 3 bedrooms, and carpet
Cody: open floor plan, he's going blind
Simon: carpet and a grassy backyard because he won't avoid mud like his big brother will
Piper: a low window to bird watch

It's plain to see Piper has likely the easiest need to meet. Almost all homes have at least one low window unless someone has taken out the low windows, the case with my mom's home in Phx. As for carpet, it's rather surprising how many homes are not with carpet nowadays. I would say about half of the ones available are tile or wood flooring as opposed to carpet. I suppose most people think it's easier to keep clean. I can see that. I can see good and bad about tile/wood flooring. But it's not what Brad wants and it's not what would be best for Simon or even Cody as he's even older than Simon. The last thing either pug needs is a broken hip or leg after falling on the hard flooring.

I had to convince Brad we are open to 1 or 2 levels. He was worried about the pugs dealing with stairs. But the main living space would be on the bottom floor and we don't allow the pets in the bedrooms, therefore it's a non issue in my opinion. We don't want them upstairs in the bedrooms anyway.

I looked at one home last week that caused me to immediately pick up my phone to text Brad this response: "NO WAY, NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!" Yes the home I looked at was that bad! Or at least for us it was. After telling Brad my 2 big issues with the place he was quick to agree it wouldn't work for us. Whew! In agreement on that one!