Thursday, September 27, 2007

Proud New Parents

Meet Bailey, the newest addition to the Young-Caudell household:

Gearry and I met Bailey and his foster mom yesterday in Nashville. It was definitely love at first sight. He is super cute, and -- being a terrier and only a little over a year old -- super crazy. He never gets tired of playing, loves squeaky toys and bones, and loves rough-housing. He can jump like a frog (he jumped on the back of the chaise with one tiny leap) and he can also "dance" on his hind legs for a long time. He loves to dance for treats. And sit for treats. And do anything for treats. Luckily, he thinks a single piece of dry dog food qualifies as a treat, so training him is fun. He's a little rough around the edges, like most terriers and a lot of rescue dogs, but he is overall a very sweet and smart boy! He can sit and is housebroken, so the most important things are covered. If we can get him not to jump on people (yeah, right) then we'll be all set.

I'm so excited... it's hard to be here at work knowing he and Gearry are at home playing!

Last night at bedtime, Bailey gave me some "kisses" and then walked down to the end of the bed and plopped down and fell asleep in the bottom lefthand corner, the exact spot where Colby always slept. It made me a little sad, but also brought a little smile to my face. It was kind of like a little message "hello" from Colby, and I didn't mind it at all.

Many more pictures to come in the future, I'm sure.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Along Came the Rain

It's amazing... I look outside the windows here at the office (yes, yes, I am blogging on the job, but it is only because I need a little break from creativity before I get back to writing) and I see: rain! The weather is calling for rain and thunderstorms for the rest of today and tomorrow. After the driest summer I can remember, we definitely need the rain, and it is a nice change of pace. Rainy days -- as long as they don't happen too often -- always seem to be cozy and relaxing. I enjoy the occasional summer thunderstorm, so I was sad that this summer surmounted to maybe two piddly rain showers. Elsewhere it may have been flooding, but here a rain drop seemed like too much to ask for.

Rain does tend to make me a little lazy, however, so instead of thinking about going for a run when I get home, I find myself thinking about curling up in the chaise for a nice nap... which I do almost every night anyway. Dinner, nap, run, shower, laziness, bed. That's pretty much how my evenings seem to work anymore. Kind of a crazy order, but it works for me.

Tomorrow we are going to meet Bailey and Gearry is very, very excited. I am too, don't get me wrong, but Gearry is like little-kid excited. I have to admit, it will be nice to have little paws running around the house again. I hope that everything goes well when we meet him and that it feels like a good match. If so, we may be bringing him home with us tomorrow, so long as we pass the background inspection (which, duh, we will, because they pretty much just look to see if you have a history of cruelty to animals). Hopefully I will have good news and pictures tomorrow.

Gearry talked to his business advisor and let him know we'll be picking up Charlie in another week or so, so there may be many little paws tapping on the floors soon.

- Stacey

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Getting On With Life... Or At Least Trying...

I still can't believe all of the horrible/crazy/surprising/surreal events Gearry and I have had to deal with lately, but things are starting to get a little easier. A little. We appreciate all the well-wishes we've received, as well as the time we needed to ourselves to kind of figure some things out. Basically, it is to the point where we can talk about Colby again and have gotten a kick out of recounting all the funny memories we have of him. We've accepted the fact that he's gone, but we still find ourselves looking at the end of our bed for him in the morning... and we can't get over the feeling of emptiness in our otherwise wonderful house.

For those of you who love your dogs and cats (and horses and guinea pigs and whatever the heck else you consider your pets), give them a big hug after you read this. And don't take any time with them for granted. Even if they wake you up to go out to the bathroom in the freezing cold at four o'clock in the morning... just go with it. You'll be glad you did.

Knowing very well that Colby was special to us, and that he is irreplaceable, Gearry and I realized pretty quickly that we are dog people, and dog people should have dogs. We both feel very strongly about animal rescue efforts, and we knew within a few days of our sadness that we wanted to open our home and our hearts again to another rescue. And it appears it may be two... we have the room, both physically and emotionally, and we want to share what we have. Plus, we like the idea of two dogs because they always have each other, even when we can't be there. They have a little buddy to play with and fight with and cuddle with and get into trouble with.

Charlie is a Peekapom (half Pekingese, half Pomeranian) but doesn't look or act much like either of those breeds, which I would normally say are "prissy." Gearry has played with him and said he's really chill and friendly. He's cute, too. A family bought him for their kids and then just decided they didn't really want to take care of him anymore. He ended up with Gearry's business advisor, who has been keeping him until he can find him a good home. We had actually planned on getting him as a buddy for Colby. Since things have obviously changed, I was reluctant for the first few days, but am now happy about the idea of taking him in. We will probably get him in the next few weeks.

Bailey is a terrier mix that pretty much looks like a black version of Colby. Some have asked me if it will be hard having a dog that reminds us of Colby so much... but we love terriers. I wouldn't be surprised if we have a terrier from here until the end. We love the look, the attitude, the little cuddle-bug tendencies. We found Bailey online (looking at all the dogs on petfinder.org actually helped us cope quite a bit) at a dog & cat rescue based out of Columbus. He is an absolute cutie. He is staying with a foster family, and Gearry talked to his foster mom for awhile yesterday. She sounds super friendly and said we sound like a great match for Bailey. She said he is very friendly and pretty active, and that when he is not playing he loves to snuggle with his human. Gearry and I are meeting her in Nashville on Wednesday evening to meet him for the first time and see if we all "hit it off." Haha... somehow, I don't see that being a problem.

So... big changes in our family. Bad changes, good changes, ones I'm still not sure about but ready to test. Life is so weird. I'm trying to stop attempting to understand it, because that is apparently kind of pointless.

Outside of the sadness we've had to deal with, things are going well. I love my new role at AuthorHouse... even though I am still learning to deal with being inside for eight hours a day, I love writing and I love applying all the creativity tumbling around inside my head to paper. Gearry's business deal is getting closer and closer to being finished (thank goodness!) and we are estimating that he is about three weeks from closing. Fortunately, for now, he has started helping his friend Matt, who owns several restaurants in the Bloomington area. This is great because he is: 1) Making money! (More than me, actually... on a temporary job... how is that fair??) ; 2) Not going crazy being a househusband stuck at home all day... especially since it is different without Colbs around; 3) Getting to work on some neat stuff... he's doing some cooking, but he's also helping do some menu-planning and other details for the opening of Matt's new restaurant.

So... yay! We can once again pay bills and *gasp* go out for dinner on occasion. And, in a few weeks when the business closing is official, we'll have plenty of play money and it is going to be so gooooooooood.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Goodbye to a Dear Friend

Colby


On Friday we found out that Colby was very sick. In lieu of an emergency blood transfusion, possible surgery, and a lot of potential suffering, Gearry and I had to make the choice to put him to sleep. It has been a horrible, horrible weekend and we're not ready to talk about it, but we just wanted to let everyone know.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Beginning of the End

Labor Day never feels like the end of summer to me. There are tons of boats on the lake, everyone is grilling and playing golf and enjoying the outdoors. It's just like any other summer day. Today, though... well, today felt like the end of summer. Gearry and I slept in, made breakfast and then headed down to the water. Although it was still warm enough to swim for a little while, I spent the rest of the rest of the time wrapped up in a towel, laying in the hammock and just noticing the changes. It was overcast, and the water had that dark, choppy look that it starts to take on in the fall. The leaves are changing, too, and instead of the usual Saturday boating crowd there was only a handful of boats and jet skis.

Summer is by far my favorite season, but fall isn't so bad. It's just... different. There are definitely some things to look forward to, though: the first fire in our fireplace, the beautiful colors, football games and tailgates, hot coffee and cool evening runs. Yeah, when you put it in writing, I guess the end of summer doesn't sound so bad. But I know I will miss swimming almost everyday. So that I can hopefully stay on track for next year's triathlon season, I'm hoping to get a wetsuit and be able to swim starting around March or April. But, nevertheless, training in a wetsuit and chilling in the water in your bikini are two totally different worlds.

Gearry and I had a great day Thursday as I he picked me up early from work and we headed up to Indianapolis for the absolute Colts craziness as the Colts took on the Saints in the opening game of the NFL season. We somehow managed to land great seats at the Ram Brewery right in front of the theater-sized screen and had a great night cheering like crazy along with everyone else in the packed bar (well, except for the like 5 Saints fans). Of course, we won!! 41-10 is a great way to start the season. Go Colts!!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Long Weekend

On Friday after work I hopped in the taxi and headed to Columbus, Ohio, for Hillary's wedding shower! It was a great start to a great weekend, minus the horrible holiday traffic. The wedding shower was held at Hillary's parents' house on Saturday afternoon. I think I was more nervous than I was at my own wedding shower! Being Maid of Honor is scarier than being the bride for me because I want to do everything I can to help. Hillary was an amazing Maid of Honor and I just want to be as good to her as she was to me. Nevertheless, the shower was beautiful and a good time.

I got back to Bloomington on Sunday afternoon and Gearry and I proceeded to spend the rest of Sunday and all day Monday being as lazy as possible. Other than watching television and movies and playing in the lake, we pretty much did nothing. It was fabulous.

Today I started my new position at AuthorHouse. It is such a wonderful feeling to be putting my degree to use and to be writing again! Plus in this position I have flex hours, so I pretty much set my own work schedule. Needless to say, I am a happy girl.

- Stacey