Whatever Lola wants ...

... Lola gets.


We. Have. A. Lola ! ! !

It's not the greatest picture, but that's because she's awfully wiggly. Her nickname is now officially "Bumble-Butt", because, when she's excited, she tends to run into things. She's not exactly what one would call "graceful". She's a little stinky, a lot drool-y, but her winning personality more than makes up for any shortcomings. :)

So. Story-time.

Merry and her ex, about a year before they broke up, bought the cutest English Bulldog puppy on the planet. (In the universe. The galaxy even). Because Merry has a very loyal Jack Russel (Bella), the bulldog was going to be for the now-ex. When they broke up, the dogs parted ways as well.


This depressed Bella, who had always had another dog around. For several reasons, Merry and I have discussed getting another dog. I love Bella dearly. She's got the funniest personality, a very sweet and quirky disposition, but there's no denying that she's loyal to Merry. I'd like to have something to call my own, and Bella would benefit from having a pal. We've been looking at different breeds, have looked at one pet store so far, have done some research, but haven't found The One.

Well, the Ex contacted Merry recently and said she wants to get rid of her bulldog. Would we be interested?

Merry was so excited, but tempered it a little. She let me know very clearly that, though she really, really wants this dog, she wants me to make sure that if I agree, I do it for my own motivations - not because I think Merry wants me to.

We met with the Ex on Thursday night, Lola in towe, at Starbucks (our favourite haunt in case you couldn't tell). She is such a little lover! People kept dropping by to see the gorgeous Bully and she just ate up the attention. She wiggled her butt (she has no tail) and did her best to look her cutest.

(There was one guy in particular that dropped by twice, spending at least five minutes with Lola each time. When he approached us a little bashfully, he said, "I lost my Bulldog in the Divorce. Can I play with yours?)

My heart was stolen almost immediately. We almost took her home that night, but there was much cleaning to do in preparation. With their upturned noses, Bulldogs have notoriously bad allergies ... and we hadn't dusted (or swept) in probably 4 months. It was time, and what better reason?!

Come Saturday, after cleaning and cleaning and cleaning, Lola came home! Bella and she have had some growing pains, as I'm sure they will for quite some time. Though she's smaller by about 40 pounds, Bella is definitely Numero Uno, and has been putting Lola in her place. I've got to tell you, there's nothing funnier than seeing a 12 pound Jack Russel say, "Bitch, please" to a dog more than three times her weight ... and see the larger dog back off.

We're one big, unconventional, happy family. :D

Heeding the call

I got a summons in the mail a few weeks ago, asking me politely to please come for Jury Selection, iff'n I don't mind.

Ha.

After dreading my fate for weeks, the day of reckoning was finally upon me. This morning I awoke ridiculously early. You see, I was called to serve for the county in which I grew up - my permanent address is with my mother in my home-town. I now live 20 minutes away, at least. To make matters worse, the location of the courthouse was an additional 20 minutes from there.

I bemoaned my luck to a Starbucks barista over coffee this morning, and she gave me a nugget of wisdom: she too was called to an old county to serve on a panel. When she told them that she no longer lived there, she got off scott-free.

Hmmmm....

Running low on time, I rushed home to grab a bit of mail, a bank statement per'aps, to lend credibility to my case.

When I arrived, I was asked to please dispose of my Starbucks coffee in the proper trash receptacle. I was heartbroken. (I was only half-way through!) I was one of only three other potential Jurors there so far.

I approached the official-est looking person there, summons and bank statement in hand, and told my story. After looking at both (to my amusement, they looked two or three times), I was told that I could go, sorry for any inconvenience.

I could feel the daggers coming from the other victims' eyes. If looks could kill ...

So. What to do?

Going into the Suburbs to the Courthouse from Dallas was a breeze. Hardly any traffic, no accidents ... just a nice drive all around (even if it was a little long). That time of morning however, I rather dreaded going back ...

As I sat at an especially long traffic light, a thought struck me.

"Self," I said, "your sister-in-law lives but a few miles further up the highway. Why not give her a call, wait out the traffic, chat for a little while?"

So I did.

:D

Here I sit all lonely hearted ...

Tried to write, but only farted.

On that profound note...

My brother returns from his mission for the Mormon church tomorrow. I can hardly believe it. He's been in Brazil for two years. I haven't seen my brother in two years, and I can't wait! Unfortunately I won't be able to meet him at the airport because of work, but I will be dropping by my mom's place after work. Hopefully he won't be asleep after his long day. :D

It'll be weird being a whole family again ... or as whole as we're ever gonna get, anyway. I have many fond memories of growing up - we used to hang out in his room until wayyy past "bedtime", talking about nothing and everything. We'd laugh so hard and goof off all the time. You know, they're not so much memories as remembered feelings. Does that make sense? If I were to press my memory, I might be able to come up with some of the conversations. What I remember is the laughter, not the joke. I think out of all of my siblings, I was closest to him for a long time. It hasn't been until recently that I've been cultivating deeper relationships with t'others, something that I've been finding most rewarding.

Honestly, it feels like upon the death of my father, we all grew closer - which isn't a bad thing. I relish the growing bonds between each of my siblings and look forward to seeing it continue to grow.