RyRySays

This is 2 minutes. This lasted about 20 minutes. And it happens about once a week. And I have thin walls. Thin enough that I heard my upstairs neighbors doing it (only once though). And yes, that's me in the background, encouraging her. Why? Because it's kind of fun.

I don't if I've ever told the story of how Layla came into my life, but basically she followed my cousin home one day and she's been with me for 4 or so years now.

She likes to run away.

A lot.

Obviously it's not just me, as she ran from whoever owned her first, but she's got it pretty good here so I don't get it. I think she just likes the freedom to run wherever she wants to. She used to run in Lillington and I wasn't as worried because she couldn't get into too much trouble as there was nothing there. She always came home in a few hours if I couldn't find her immediately.

Here, it makes me more nervous. There is much more traffic, people and trouble in general. It's not like I let her run by any means. I'm actually pretty careful based on her track record. However, she has pulled a leash out of my hands, eaten through a harness, broken a pincher collar, dug under multiple metal pens, doesn't really respond to an electric collar, squeezed through multiple fences and slipped out of collars. You can't leave her for more than 15 minutes or she's probably gone (as seen here).

Last Tuesday (the 21st) I put her outside at 10:30 pm. Not even a commercial break later I went to check on her. She had managed to get her collar stuck on my exhaust pipe. While I was on my way to pull her off, she slipped out of the collar, turned to look at me, and took off. I ran inside, grabbed my phone, keys and wallet and drove after her. I looked all around, in a wider radius then usual for 2 hours with no luck. I waited for about an hour and drive around again. Still nothing. This is when I started to freak out. She's not chipped and had no collar or tags. I "went to bed" and had all my windows open in case she came back and barked. I slept no more than an hour at a time for 4 hours, got up and drove around again. Called the police, vets, humane society and animal control. Nothing. Called the paper and put in an ad. Put up fliers.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

I got on call yesterday (Saturday - the 25th) at about 5 pm. Someone saw a flyer while at Springfest (our town's spring event). She was 2 blocks from my house!! I raced over and called her name. She was like, "hey, guess I've got to go home now" and jumped in my car. Then laid around on the floor all night like nothing had happened.

I am so thankful she's back! I didn't sleep well for the 4 nights she was gone. That also partly explains the lack of posts. I didn't want to write about it for fear that I'd break down.

Now, if anyone has any ideas about how to keep a slippery dog whose is determined to get out, in, please let me know. I've got an appointment to chip her. Idea one is multiple collars with tags so if she slips one, she's got another. Crazy mutt. But seriously, how can you not love this face:

Sorry this post is so far from the last one, but I've been going through some stuff, which I will talk about in the next post.

A month or so ago, my family and I decided to get together for Easter. It started out with just my cousins, but then my mom added in because she didn't want to be alone for Easter while the rest of us were together, because, "You guys have left me out the last few Easters". Techincally that's true, but it wasn't intentional.

So I drove up on Thursday afternoon (thanks for taking the last trial PKD!) and on Friday I hung out with my cousin and got stuff together for Saturday, had lunch at Friendly's (peanut butter sauce!!!), took mock-ups at the playground for her wedding, picked up my mom at the airport, and headed to Philly. My cousin works for the 76ers organization and was able to get us tickets to the game that night against the Caveliers.

Here's a picture of Lebron James' butt as he made a free throw.













Here is my cousin doing her job.













Here is Ann & me at the game. Note how my face is almost injury free. Now it just looks like I have a zit on my nose.

It also happened to be my Aunt Beth's 50th birthday that Thursday (I think) so we added some more family and did a surprise b-day party too. Her oldest daughter came up with a French theme because her mom likes French food, wine etc. **Note, party stores do not have much in the way of French themes.

Of course my family goes all out with the theme.































It was a fun weekend and I love my crazy family. The thing that sucks about living so far away is this:

This was my drive home. It sucked. I had no traffic until after DC. Between where 95 connects right after DC through 295 at Richmond there were 6 fender-benders. It made the regular 7 hour drive 3 hours longer - yay! At least my IPod was working and it wasn't raining.

My cousins' grandfather passed away over the weekend. I didn't really know him, but it brought me to thinking about my 2 remaining grandparents and how it will be weird when they're gone.

It also got me thinking about how difficult it is to console someone who loses a family member or friend. I am super close with these cousins and I don't even know what their grandfather really looks like. I don't know what to say to make them feel better. I will be here (5 1/2 hours away) for them. They can call when ever they need to, even if it's just to cry and for me to be silent. They know this. It's still hard to be on the phone and not be able to help, to ease that pain.

You try to help by saying that the person is no longer in pain, that they had a long, good life, but even as the words come out of your mouth, they sound cheesy. You know they know that, but what they need is something else. You just don't know what the something is and they can't tell you either. Your heart just bursts for them and you can't fix it. Rest in Peace UBD.

Yesterday I woke up earlier than I do during the week to meet a co-worker. Why? So that I could buy discount flea medicine. Damn dog.

We also went to 4 or 5 thrift stores. I enjoy thrift stores and would go more often. The main problem I have with thrift stores, yard sales and antiquing is the morning factor. All these stores are generally only open in the mornings. Some are also only open on Saturdays, which compounds the issue.

See, I love sleep. It is my friend. I would marry it if I could. The whole "waking up early" thing does not go well for me. I wanted to go to bed at 9 pm yesterday. I texted my sister to see if it was acceptable. She said yes, which means she was very tired too, because it is not acceptable unless you are a baby or sick. I made it until 11 because I was watching Madagascar and pounding diet Coke.

I was fun sifting through mounds of crap to find a few treasures. I found a cool thing for a Christmas present for Roll (so did my co-worker, but for her boyfriend). I got a nice paperweight for the office, as well as a fruit basket and a clock. No furniture, which is what I was looking for, though. There were some nice pieces, but I am cheap. Yes, cheaper than a thrift store.

All in all it was a fun day. I don't think I will be doing this every weekend, in fact I know I won't because next weekend I will be in DE and the weekend after that in Raleigh, but I could see once a month or so. If only they would open at 10 instead of 8.