Friday, November 18, 2016

Celebrate The Small Things - Nov. 18

 

The past few weeks have been stressful, but things are starting to fall in a normal pattern. There have been a lot of home-invasion burglaries in our neighborhood while people are at home. I have been so paranoid about it. To make things worse, we had a prowler on the side of our house a couple of weeks ago while I was home in the late afternoon with the kids. I happened to bring the dog in earlier that day so she did not know he was there. Our security cameras picked him up and my husband called to ask who the man on the side of our house was. I called the police. The man was not from the gas or electric company. He was in slacks and a dress shirt with a logo on the arm, but I'm sure it was fake and made to look official. The man didn't go to anyone's house around me because he was not picked up on the neighbor's security cameras nor seen by neighbors who were taking their trash out at the time.

I mentioned it to an acquaintance who told me that his friend nearby had a prowler in his backyard around the same time a month prior. The man was staring at him through the sliding glass door. This guy's friend went to get a knife from the kitchen and called the police, but the  man jumped over the fence and got away.

There are things happening around here almost weekly. On Monday, I saw a guy stopped in the middle of the road taking pictures of my street. I think he was taking pictures of all the streets around here casing the houses to see when people are home or not home. There was an attempted burglary last week next door to my son's friend's house a few streets over from us.

I spent days looking for another dog for protection. It was so stressful! I went to the same shelter three times and went to two humane societies. There were problems with all of the dogs we wanted but we finally found one at the humane society near our house. After driving 20+ minutes each way  to the other places to look for dogs, we ended up with one from about 7 minutes from our house. My family loved the dog we chose when they first saw him, but I wasn't sure he'd be a good guard dog because he's smaller than what I was hoping for. We named him Bumi (pronounced Boomie) after King Bumi from the Avatar the Last Airbender animated series. He loves me so much that he follows me everywhere. I thought he was too friendly, but he bit my mom when she came over! I think he was trying to protect me, but against the wrong person! She seems to be okay, but sore. She has to see the doctor to make sure there's no infection and I offered to pay her medical bill. This new dog agitated my other dog, Korra, so they both were growling at my poor mom. I put them both in another room which I am told was not the right thing to do. I was so stressed out that I called my friend and cousin for dog advice since they know a lot about dogs. They told me what I need to do to train my dogs not to bite family and friends. I have taken both my dogs with me to pick up my kids from school, but now I can't do that for fear they will bite a child. Before we had any dogs, I didn't even want one, but now they love me the most in our house, lol!

So, I guess am celebrating our new loyal dog. He is very lovable and funny despite his aggressive behavior. He loves my husband and kids, too and they love him. I have learned so much about dogs in the past couple of weeks, so I'm celebrating that, too.

Our oldest son made the Principal's Honor Roll for the fourth time, so I'm also celebrating that. Our  youngest son got better grades than his last report card which we are happy about. He struggles, but he did well in math, reading, and writing. His penmanship is also improving. He loves creating comics in his sketchbook and is always looking for good ideas for his next comic book story. I know the feeling.

I don't have any drawings to post today because our internet is antiquated and won't be able to handle it, but we are going to get an upgrade in a couple of weeks. I should be able to post pictures then. Have a great weekend!

What are you celebrating?
Check out the blogs below for your reading pleasure and please visit our hosts' blogs:
Lexa Cain: http://lexacain.blogspot.com/
L.G. Keltner http://lgkeltner.blogspot.co.uk/
Tonja Drecker http://tonjadrecker.blogspot.com/
If you would like to join our blog hop, visit Lexa Cain's blog for info.

1.

Lexa Cain2.Fiction and Film
3.Writing Off the Edge4.Kidbits
5.TheCyborgMom6.Thoughts and Ideas from Deanie Humphrys-Dunne
7.My Inner Geek8.Intentional Insights with S. Kelley Harrell
9.Constantine10.My Miracle Life
11.Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams12.Lara Lacombe
13.TF Walsh14.Life, Yoga and Other Adventures
15.About myself, by myself16.Suzanne Furness
17.Elizabeth Seckman18.Avalon
19.My Baffling Brain20.Planet Kimberly
21.Shah Wharton22.Victorian Scribbles
23.Tanya Miranda24.Ann - A Friend of Jesus 2013
25.Special Teaching At Pempi's Palace26.Square Pegs
27.Patricia's Place28.Yvonne Van Dalen
29.Anne Higa30.My Antimatter Life
31.Bouquet of Books32.Lightravellerkate
33.Curious As A Cathy34.Julie Flanders
35.Crazy Old Lady36.In My Own Words
37.Allison Bruning38.Tamara Narayan, Author
39.My Creatively Random Life40.Yvonne Ventresca
41.Two Book Minimum