Maybe adding to our menagerie tomorrow!

A couple weeks ago, Chris & I started talking about adopting another dog. Ellie seems a little lost and lonely and we thought that she needed a new sister/friend. Of course, the plan was to rescue/adopt again, but the challenge was to find a dog that would fit into our household at this point...somewhat cat friendly, child friendly, and blind dog friendly...that's a tall order for a dachshund to fill! :)

Dachshund Rescue of North America (www.drna.org) is a wonderful organization where Abby & Ellie were both rescued from and we decided to work with them again. We've completed our application and have had our home visit...yes, a little over the top, but these volunteers put a lot of time and money into rescuing these dogs and they want to make sure that they go to good homes. So...anyway...

The local rep, Chris, suggested that we take a look at a dog named Dora. She is an 11 year old (same as Ellie) chocolate tweenie dachshund. She was surrendered after her owners moved and decided that they didn't want to take her with them. Unfortunately, even at nearly 11 years old, they had been letting her have puppies! She has now of course been spayed and has lost 6 pounds so far! She is living in a foster home in Wisconsin with four other dachshunds, one of whom is blind! She also has a minor medical issue - she had a difficult dental extraction - which resulted in a canal between her mouth and nasal cavity. Nothing that can't be dealt with fairly easily. Besides that living with a blind dog that made me think that this is just meant to be, is that June is "Senior Month" at DRNA - they waive the adoption fee on all seniors. (Yes, money is tight right now, but we've trimmed our budget and still have a couple hundred dollars a month as a "surplus", so while we can't afford a lot of luxuries, we can still afford to give this doggie a safe, happy home and a full (well, not too full, she still needs to lose a little weight!) food bowl. But it sure is nice to not have to pay for her. Granted, as soon as Chris gets a job we will be making a donation to DRNA to help them continue the work that they do.)

Here is her petfinder page http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=13223035

Chris, Brendan & I are driving up to a suburb of Chicago (Hi Chrissi!) to meet her tomorrow afternoon and possibly bring her home with us if all goes well. Wish us luck!

Good news & Bad news

Chris got offered a job!

In Bloomington...and they want him to relocate there for it. They don't want him commuting...something about a work/family balance.

We have thought a lot about this and there's just no way that we can feel good about this opportunity. There are so many good things here in Indy/Fishers and the only good thing about moving to Bloomington would be this awesome job opportunity for him. I would like have to leave my job (1 1/2 hour commute just doesn't seem realistic for me, esp. if we have no family support in Bloomington to help out with Brendan), we'd have to sell our house in a difficult market, we'd have to quickly buy a new house in Bloomington, we'd have to find a new daycare for Brendan if I was to find a job in Bloomington, which after a quick search, I found zilch!

So after re-examining our budget and trimming a little bit more, we've decided that we can last several months without Chris working (for a paycheck...he's going to have a nice honey do list to work on! ;) ) rather than make a drastic move to beautiful southern Indiana. Oh, don't get me wrong, I love Bloomington and a few years ago, might have considered living there, but now is just not the time for us to uproot our family and make drastic changes.

16 Months Old - Picture added!

Our little man is 16 months old today! So hard to believe!

Just being cute...

Running away from home...

Bisia & Grampy's visit & Biking Riding

Chris' parents (Pat & Tom), who Brendan calls or will call Bisia & Grampy came to visit for a long weekend and to help Mimi & Papaw celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
Bisia, as always, made us lots of yummy, yummy food, esp. her famous apple pie and a wonderful beef roast (don't have the name with me and too tired to get off the couch to find the recipe card that she left me). Grampy kept himself busy by helping Chris out around the house...mowing the grass, pulling weeds, transplanting a small maple tree, running some wire in the basement. He also got the bike trailer put together that I had gotten Chris for his birthday. So both Grampy & Daddy took Brendan for a spin behind the bike. He really seemed to enjoy it, especially once he got moving. Bisia & Grampy also were nice enough to get Brendan his very own helmet to wear on bike rides...keep your fingers crossed that Brendan will let us put it on his head!

Just Playing Outside

Brendan really loves pushing his lion toy on the driveway and down the sidewalk...has some trouble getting stuck in the grass though! He knows exactly where we keep it in the garage and goes to get it out every chance he gets.

Carrying around one of his beloved blankies...