Sarah Lee

On Friday morning, we lost our beautiful dog, Sarah Lee. I wasn't sure I would write this post or what it would even say, but it felt wrong not to say a few words about the special little animal that was such a big part of our life. Sarah had been diagnosed with an inoperable bladder tumor a few months ago, and we knew eventually the tumor would get so big that she would no longer be able to function. But she had been trucking along just fine recently, and we had hoped that would last till Christmas.

But last week she started getting sick, bladder infection we thought. So we gave her medicine, it didn't help, and she just got worse and worse. By Thursday, she couldn't pee at all, and she literally spent all night outside trying to pee and throwing up. It was pitiful. And that night, I just knew it was over. I knew when I took her to the vet in the morning, she would be gone. The worst part of it all was Adam was out-of-town, so I had to be the one (although we talked about it, and he even said goodbye to her over the phone, she was so excited to hear her daddy's voice) to make the call. And I was the one in the room with her, holding her, when she drifted off.

During the whole process, I stayed upbeat with her because I didn't want her to pick up on my sadness and be upset. But after she was gone, I couldn't believe I could cry so much or so hard. I couldn't believe Adam could cry so much or so hard.

Although there aren't that many tears left that I can cry, there are few moments when her absence isn't noticed. There is no one to wake me up way too early in the morning because she wants to go on a walk (something that used to annoy me, but now I miss desperately), there is no one to feed, no one to give belly rubs to, no one to laugh at because of the way she scratches her back, or talk to in annoying baby voices. Sometimes Adam and my's mind will trick us for a split second, and we will look up to see what she is doing only to be faced with the reality that she is gone.

She was the sweetest, gentlest, kindest dog, and anyone who ever got the pleasure of meeting her couldn't help but fall head over heels in love with her.

So rest in peace our Sarah Lee. You were our baby, our precious goldie, and you will be forever missed.

Oh, For The Love of the ...

Lately, I've been walking our dog in the evenings more and more on my own. I don't exactly know how it happened, but over the years it has just become Adam's "job" to walk the dog. You know just like it became Adam's job to wash all the dishes because one time he overheard me telling someone dishes disgust me (and he is sweet like that). Also in his job description? Hanging pictures and killing any spider I see, even if I see it in the middle of the night and he is dead asleep (it is not like he is going to stay asleep through all that screeching anyway, let's be real).

I decided to start walking Sarah because I could use the exercise, and it is nice to give Adam the occasional break. However, I feel like for the entire 45 minutes or so I'm gone this is Adam's thought process:

(via)

I always take my tunes with me when I'm walking with Sarah because there is no interacting with her on the walk. Sarah considers her walks her time. Meaning she doesn't want to be talked to, she doesn't want to be petted, and she for sure doesn't want you to walk ahead of her. No, she just wants to sniff, to hunt for cats, and to search for abandoned chicken wings on the side of the road (by the way, how in the world are there so many chicken wings to be found?!?)

Now before I continue this story, I want to assure my mother who reads this blog (hi mom!), that I walk Sarah fairly early in the evenings, when there are tons of people around and it is perfectly safe. Because if I don't say this, I will have a million texts and one long phone lecture about how what I'm doing is not safe! And how I'm going to get killed! And how she heard of someone who got killed walking their dog! So mom this won't happen to me, I promise.

One night last week I was walking with Sarah, blasting my really deep, mind-opening music (e.g.-Taylor Swift and Kelly Clarkson).  I was stopped at a traffic light when I could tell this young man was trying to get my attention. I am not one to talk to strangers, heck I don't even like talking to my friends on the phone. Plus, most people in Long Beach only gesture at you like that when they are homeless and want money. Which is always bad news for me, because I am notoriously bad at giving away my money out of either guilt or the want to just stop talking.

So I was very skeptical and very, very trapped. I couldn't pretend not to hear/see him because I was stuck at a traffic light. But I sized him up, he was well-dressed, and there were tons of people milling around. So I slipped off one of my ear buds and he simply asked, "Could you love a man as much as you love your dog?"

I don't know what his motivation for asking me this was.  Was he flirting with me? I'm never good at recognizing flirtations unless they are REALLY direct. Basically, a guy has to actually tell me they are flirting with me for me to get it. Or had he been burned by an ex-girlfriend that chose her frilly-dressed, pocket-sized, miniature chihuahua over him and he was looking for answers? Or is he some kind of anonymous, secret, underground Sex in the City type blogger working on his next story? I guess I'll never know. I just answered, "Of course, I could love a man more than my dog." And then I added, "But I'm already married.." Just in case he was flirting and walked away.

I thought about the question on the rest of the walk. I could see why some people might find it easier to live with a dog rather than a spouse. I look at it this way. If it was only the dog and me, I would never have to worry about someone not putting their clothes away right after they wash them, which is my ultimate pet peeve, like some people do in this household. *Cough, Cough. Adam* And I'm sure Adam would say if he lived with only the dog, he could play video games all the time with no judgement.

But no as much as I love my dog, and believe me I love Sarah. In fact, I'm quite obsessed with her. I could never love her more than Adam. And I know Adam could never love her more than me!  Or at least I think I know that. But maybe I better ask him....

Song of The Day: I Am Not The Robot by Marina & The Diamonds

Miss. Sarah Lee

I've never talked a whole lot about our dog, Sarah Lee, on this blog. Which is surprising because Adam and I are practically obsessed with her. Sarah is a big & beautiful golden retriever (sometimes we call her Goldie for short). She enjoys sleeping 21 hours of the day, chasing cars, playing coy with the next door neighbors, taking out entire civilizations with her massive tail, and receiving tons of love from her mommy & daddy. Her dislikes include thunder, fireworks, and drinking water from anything but her designated bowl. And she is a loyal companion to anyone who will occasionally slip her a Mcdonald's French Fry.

Sarah has lived with us for three and a half years and is 11 years old. We adopted her from my older brother when he was losing his house and he could no longer keep her. I had just moved in with Adam at the time, when I found out Sarah needed a home, and I begged him to let her come live with us. There was a lot of tears on my part because he hates change and thought it was a bad idea, but because I'm me and he is him, she came to live with us (he has trouble saying no to me). Hehe. And we road-tripped to Phoenix to meet my brother and brought her home, and Adam fell in love with her within seconds (like I knew he would). And the rest is history!

Over the last few months, Sarah has been slowing down and not feeling the best. We just chocked it up to her getting older. But eventually we took her to the vet, and got some pretty bad news about her health and how long she will be with us. And we spent a lot of that week crying and feeling really sad. Then, we just had to pick ourselves up by our bootstraps and decide to make our time with Sarah that is left, the best time with Sarah. So we've been taking her to the beach for long walks every weekend and giving her tons of tummy rubs and treats (screw the diet!).

But the funny thing is Sarah has been acting more youthful than ever lately due to the medicines she is on. She is sooo playful and sooo active. When we took her to the beach this weekend, she was running, chasing squirrels, rolling around on the grass, and fighting us when we decided to turn back toward the car (she always wants to go farther and farther because she always forgets there is a return walk). 

Both Adam and I were beaming after that walk because seeing her like that was such a joy. It totally made our weekend. And it really hit home that no matter how much time we have left with her (and who really knows how much time that is) we are just blessed to have had her in our lives and are grateful for every single day.

Song of the Day: Trouble is a Friend by Lenka

Oliver

On Saturday, I was sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store, when I glanced down at my iphone and realized I had missed several calls from Adam.  I let out a groan because he always manages to call me after I've finished checking out, and then I have to go back inside to buy the item.  ANNOYING. So I called him back, expecting him to tell me that he needed some Mountain Dew, and it was dire emergency! However, he told me he needed me to come pick up Sarah because he had picked up a small stray on the walk, and he was having trouble juggling them both. He was going to continue to try and locate the owner, but if he couldn't, he wanted to know if he could just bring the dog home.

I was, of course, totally fine with him bringing the pooch home. But I was pretty shocked by the situation because Adam has never been pro bringing another dog into the home. Heck, he wasn't even pro having one dog in the home. But I won the "Adopt Sarah" battle with my blood, sweat, and tears. OK maybe no blood or sweat, but there was a lot of TEARS. But  now he adores Miss. Sarah. Which just proves my point that I always know better.  I have to admit a small part of me was hoping Adam wouldn't find the owner, so we could bring that handsome little shih tzu home with us. Adam did ask around the neighborhood about him, but he had no luck and he brought him home. I started running through possible names we could call him, and originally I thought maybe Princely or Wills (because it was the royal wedding weekend after all). But those names just didn't suit him, so finally we decided on the name Oliver. Doesn't he look like an Oliver?

Sarah was fine with Oliver when Adam was walking with him, so I never imagined that she would care when we brought him into the house. But boy was I wrong. The minute she saw Adam bringing Oliver through the door, she went and grabbed her bone, and hid it on top of the couch. The bone she hasn't chewed in weeks. The bone we thought she had totally forgotten about. But apparently she hadn't forgotten about it, and she wanted him to know that bone was hers.

Even after the bone incident, I really assumed Sarah would be indifferent to Oliver at worst. I do I think she probably would have been unfazed by Oliver if he had greeted her differently. Oliver has yet to be neutered, and he behaved "amorously" toward Sarah several times, despite her incessant growling.  And God bless Oliver because Sarah must have looked like a lion to him, and yet he showed no fear. But for his safety and Sarah's nerves, we separated the two. We put Oliver in the kitchen, fenced in by a couch, a bunch of pillows, a fan, and Sarah's dog food. But he consistently tried to jump over it anyway, and Sarah kept hopping up on the couch to look at him,  and they spent a good deal of the evening just staring each other down as pictured above.

When it was time for bed, we decided I would sleep in the bedroom with baby Oliver, and Adam would stay with Sarah so she didn't feel jealous. It took him a while to settle down because he much preferred running around the bedroom and barking at dust balls underneath the bed to sleeping. But eventually he settled down, and slept as pictured above. Spread out like a human, with one paw flipped over, and a whole lot of snoring. How does such a little dog take up so much room in a bed and snore so loudly? I don't know the answer to that, but I can't tell you how adorable it was to cuddle with this little guy.

I believe that Sarah had forgotten all about Oliver by the next morning, because when I carried him into the living room she proceeded to hide her bone again. She would also not let us pet Oliver if we weren't petting her too. Major jealously. We really did fall in love with Oliver though, but for many reasons we knew we couldn't keep him. First, we just don't have the fiances for a second dog. Vet bills, Shots, Food, and Boarding, it all really adds up. Also, while I think Sarah would eventually adjust to Oliver, she is an older dog and would only be tortured by living with a hyperactive pup. She was just so unhappy about the whole situation, and I want her to enjoy a relaxing life in her "golden years."

We were both sad as we patrolled the neighborhood again, looking for the owner, and fearing that eventually we might have to take him to a shelter. We never found the owner, but I remembered our duplex neighbor had been looking for a new dog as a playmate for his labradoodle, Tequila. We thought we would take Oliver over there, and simply ask if he had seen the dog around the neighborhood, and see what happened. He asked if he could adopt him! We were so excited, he gets a new dog, and we will still get to see him occasionally. He even sort of kept the name we gave him, but he calls him Ollie. Although I have to admit, that little guy wormed his way into my heart, and I'm still a little sad that he couldn't be ours.

Song of the Day: Hummingbird Heartbeat by Katy Perry

Beach Walk

I've been feeling a little sorry for Sarah lately because of the last few weeks she has had. For her, they have been full of bladder infections, vet trips, tons of medication, and a trip to the kennel.  She is doing so much better now. Earlier in the week, I had decided I would take her for a walk at the beach on Sunday. I woke up on Sunday really, really tired, but I keep my promises, even if they are only to Golden Retrievers.

So I hauled my butt out of bed, strapped Sarah into her harness, and headed down to the beach. Well, at least the park by the beach. They do not allow dogs on the beach (I call shenanigans! or at least discrimination).  The park is a really pretty with beautiful homes, palm trees, beach views, and statues (the lone solider memorial statue is pictured above). And I decided to stop and take pictures because my oldie goldie needed to take a few rest breaks. Heck, it was over a mile. When we got home, Sarah was exhausted but so happy. It was a great end to a relaxing weekend.

Song of the Day: Home by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros

Second Anniversary & Hotel Roosevelt

When we were deciding how we should celebrate our 2nd anniversary, I told Adam all I wanted to do was stay in a nice hotel room and have a nice dinner. I didn't need to go anywhere or do anything, I just wanted to be pampered a little bit. I have always loved hotels, the thrill of walking into a pristine room, and how everyday you are there you can step out for a bit and come back to a totally clean room. Is it any wonder why as a child I dreamed of being Eloise? We choose to stay in The Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood because it is beautiful and it is historical (and maybe haunted). The hotel hosted the first ever Oscar ceremony and our room was right next to the room where Marilyn Monroe stayed, and she supposedly haunts the place!

On Monday (our anniversary) we got up early and dropped Sarah off at the kennel (where she ran off to play with her friends, without even so much as a glance back), and then we hopped on the metro to make it down to Hollywood. The hotel and our room were so beautiful, and within ten minutes after our arrival we were in the gigantic pool. And guys I'm pleased to announce that Adam actually knows how to swim. You see, in the near five years we have been dating/engaged/married, and in the 10 odd years I've known him I could never get him to go swimming. So I would often tease him that he didn't know how to swim. So I was beyond please to get him in the pool.  We swam for over two hours acting just like kids, turning somersaults, racing, doing underwater hand stands, and flipping each other off of the rafts.

After swimming, we put on our pretty clothes and went downstairs to have dinner. Yep, that's right we didn't even leave the hotel. I didn't feel the need too, I've done the Hollywood thing. Twice. And you know what else? We had a burger and fries, and I drank a spiked banana foster shake.  On our anniversary night. I'm kind of a foodie, and I love fancy food and I love trying new things. But I really love me a burger too.  So even if it is our anniversary night and we should go fancy, if we want a burger we are going to have a burger. We're pretty no frills, no fuss people, and we gotta be us. So we got our burgers at 25 degrees and they were amazing. So amazing in fact that we went back there the next morning for breakfast, and I wish I could have their banana and walnut waffles every morning for the rest of my life.

After dinner, we hung out by the beautifully lit pool, Tropicana bar, and fire pits. Later, up in the room we ordered the best New York Cheesecake with Oreo Crust from room service. Room service totally helps me fulfill my fantasy of living the Eloise life style.

We were sad to leave the next morning, but excited to pick up our Goldie. Who was so excited to see us, but so tired. She doesn't get to nap 22 plus hours a day at the kennel, and she fell asleep in the car on the way home. I'm pretty sure Sarah spends all her time at the kennel bossing around the other doggies because she has always behaved like the alpha dog at the dog park. Breaking up dog fights, and keeping the other dogs in line. I'm not even kidding.  

We went to Hollywood on Monday as Newlyweds and came home Oldyweds. Time is flying. It was such a lovely anniversary celebration though, and a great mini-vacation. But now it's back to real life and work and papers. Le sigh.

Song of the Day: Something in the Water by Brooke Fraser

Things That Were Not Awful This Weekend

(pic via Bellawish)

This week has been hard. Sarah had a complete regression after she finished her anti-boditics. Except this time it was worse, much worse. This meant an emergency vet visit, five new medications (for a dog!), spending a lot of money we didn't have, two sleepless nights,  and much stress. So things have been kind of sucktastic. But I find that in really bad moments, when you just want to cry (or maybe you do), I can really appreciate the little things that make me happy.

Things that were not awful this weekend:

• Adam waking me up from a nap by surprising me with a Reese's peanut butter cup mcflurry, after I had been trapped in the house all day long because he has been working weekends.
• The movie The Social Network. Watched it Saturday night. So good.
• Making plans for our 2nd anniversary next month. Thinking of taking a night away and staying in a really fab Hollywood hotel suite. I love me a night in a hotel.
• The fact that we've been married almost two years? CRAZINESS!
• Laughing at our dog who was very high on Valium. Droopy face, staring off into space, and tripping over her feet. But hey she wasn't in pain!
• Goofing off in the supermarket with Adam. That is until I accidentally plowed into one of the aisles....embarrassing.  But hilarious!
• Overhearing the Latino version of Billy Ray Cyrus's Achy Breaky Heart, when our neighbors were having a party next door. Redneck fiesta!

Mama Said There'd Be Weekends Like This

(Proof My Dog is on More Medication Than An Old Man)

The last few days have been pretty calm here at Marten manor, which is good considering last week was super stressful. Wednesday night it became fairly obvious that our dog Sarah was very ill. So Thursday we took her to the vet, and we discovered in the last few months she had lost an insane amount of weight. Now Sarah was very pudgy before but we hadn't put her on any kind of a diet. And we hadn't necessarily noticed the weight loss because she has so much fur! The doctor terrified us because she told us she believed it could be something serious like cancer. You don't necessarily realize how much your dog means to your family until you think about losing them. We were nervous wrecks! They did a full work up on Sarah, including x-rays and blood work. Ultimately, they determined she had a bladder infection, ear infection, and hypothyroidism (meaning that her thyroid is not producing enough hormone). It is a common disease for golden retrievers, and it is responsible for a lot of her symptoms & is very treatable. But the appointments and medicines ended up costing us about $600 dollars. Luckily, we had the money from Adam's promotion, but it was our whole vacation fund.  Le sigh.  But we're just grateful we had the money at all.

Sarah is finally doing better today, but her bladder infection gave her so much grief over the weekend. No matter how many times we took her outside, she always felt like she had to go to the bathroom, even though she couldn't actually go. So she would spend hours pacing through the house in a panic and it was so hard to see her so upset. And then the antibiotics were upsetting her stomach, so she was vomiting after every meal. So basically I spent all weekend pacing the floors right along with her, and trying to keep her medicine down.

Then, Sunday night I got into the car to run an errand, only to find out our battery was dead! And not because I had left anything on, but because my old battery had finally given out. So we had to replace that on top of the money we had already spent on Sarah! It was not a good week for our pocket book...

But we are trying not to concentrate on our ruined vacation plans or empty pocketbook. So we've been chilling at the house and catching up on some of our favorite shows on the DVR: Community, The Soup, Office, Modern Family, and Justified. Plus, we are just so grateful to see our goldie feeling better, and acting like her happy go lucky self again. She makes us laugh.

Christmas with the Martens

Adam and I have had a long standing argument about whether you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Growing up he opened presents on Christmas Eve after he got back from church. I believe that is wrong because you are essentially putting Santa on a schedule. Santa could only come in the hour he was at church! How rude is rushing Santa like that? My family gave Santa all night! He could come anytime his big old butt sauntered through our front door (I didn't have a fire place). Basically, we struck a compromise that we would open up the gifts from each other on Christmas Eve, and gifts our families had sent us on Christmas Day.

So on Christmas Eve we went over to a couple friend's new condo for a little get together, they cooked a lovely dinner for us and possibly the best brownies I have ever tasted, and yes I consider myself a brownie connoisseur.

(Ignore the manginess of Sarah's legs, she was wet from her walk).

When we got home, we both took Sarah for a long walk. Afterwards, we decided to open our gifts from each other and for Sarah. We put four milk bones in Sarah's stocking and put it on the floor. We wanted to see if she could figure out how to get to them on her own. But instead of turning the stocking upside down or searching inside the stocking, she decided to CHEW THROUGH THE STOCKING. Getting drool all over it and forcing us to get her bones out for her, which I'm starting to think was her master plan after all.

After settling Sarah down, we exchanged our gifts starting with our stockings. We always stuff each other's stockings with candy and little practical items we need. I stuffed Adam's stocking with reese's, mini-hand sanitizers for work, a Mario kart pez dispenser, and candies that are shaped like lumps of coal (since I bought them I've been telling Adam all he was getting was a lump of coal in his stocking, I'm easily amused). Adam stuffed mine with a bunch of candy and hair ties (since I'm always losing them and running out of them).

We then exchanged gifts. It was kind of ironic because we both got each other slippers and games! Adam got me Freudian slippers. A play on a "Freudian Slip" because I'm a totally geeky psych nerd and he knows me. And I Love Them! I gave him Green Bay Packers Slippers for reasons that are probably obvious. I also gave him Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii and I got Sims 3 Ambitions.

On Christmas Morning, we opened the other gifts. We got tons of much wanted DVDS and gift cards from Adam's family. And we both got kindles from my mother (love them, I've read two books already!), and she also got me a kitchen aid artisan mixer. I have long lusted in my heart for this mixer. Now it is here all buttercupy and beautiful, and I have no money these week to buy anything to bake with it, so it is sitting on my counter taunting me while I look up recipes online.

 

For Christmas dinner, Adam cooked what his family calls BBQ and the rest of the world knows as sloppy joes. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't a big deal, but Adam never ever cooks so its so nice to have him cook for the two of us, while I sit back and gorge on Christmas candy and watch Christmas movies on TV.  It was a lovely Christmas.

Weekend Recap

This weekend was a pretty low key weekend, but really relaxing. On Friday Night, I cooked us a spaghetti dinner complete with garlic bread. And it was pretty good, cause let's face it, I am the best cook in America (that incident where I nearly burned down the campus kitchen was surely just a fluke). On Saturday, we did the old married couple thing, and ran a whole bunch of errands. We went grocery shopping, and because she is freaking spoiled, we bought Sarah a bone.  We also went to Game Play, and Adam bought a few Nintendo DES games. I also convinced him to buy me that little Mario mushroom because HELLO it is super cute and makes me happy. Last, we went to target to buy new shoes and pillows (we are really living the high life now).

Sunday we did a repeat of last weekend, and went to Hooter's to watch the Packer game.  From where we were siting, Adam could watch 5 games he was interested in at once. He looked like a bobble head watching all the screens. Thankfully the Packer's won, so Adam didn't spend the whole day pouting and kicking the dog.

Opening Game Day & Packer Pride

Yesterday was the first official season Green Bay Packers' football game. So Adam broke out his jersey and patented Cheesehead. So I took the opportunity to do a little cheesehead photo shoot. The first shot is the serious football pose you always see players do. But my fave is the picture with Sarah.

After Adam put on the jersey, we went to Hooters so we could watch the Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions game with our friend Luther, who is from Chicago. (Chicago won, but barely!) It was my first time ever at Hooters, and I was excited to see they had fried pickles on the menu. I had recently heard about fried pickles on a show on the food network and wanted to try them. They were really good! But eating all that fried food, when I've been trying to stay away from fried food, made me feel a little queasy.

Luckily the Packers won (!!!), which made it a great day in the Marten household. Now I just have to get me my very own Packer's jersey and cheesehead.