Every day thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!

These are the pies I made for Thanksgiving. I'm going to spend Thanksgiving with people I love. I hope you are too.

I wanted to take a minute to write about what I'm thankful for. Well, it might take more than a minute, because I feel grateful for a lot of people in my life.

My daughter, born out of a wonderful love and an everyday reminder of how colorful life is with a child around. She makes me laugh daily and has a great eye for the things I've forgotten about. She leaves me speechless. I am thankful for this powerful love between a mother an a child.

My family, who has my back no matter what. Whenever I've needed them, they're there. No questions asked. My parents for countless hours of home help and childcare, my brother, sister-in-law and kids for helping me out with childcare and home items and landscaping and getting me out to have some fun. Extended family for visits and conversation and family time. While we may not say the words I know I am loved and cherished. Except sometimes for my brother, who said he'd get my Christmas lights up in January. Well, okay, he's good for a laugh. I'm thankful to have these generous, loving people standing beside me as I navigate through life.

My friends, who kick-ass. Without them I could not have accomplished everything I have in the last 7 years. From helping me paint, to letting out my dogs, to helping me raise my child, meeting me for lunch and a movie that is not a cartoon and letting me cook for them and sharing coffee and conversations. I am thankful for these folks keeping me sane.

My co-workers, who bless my days with insight and laughter as we navigate together the teenage mind. It's a scary place unless you go there as a team. I am thankful for a team I trust to help successfully get us through the school year.

If you didn't see yourself in the above paragraphs, well, you're there. Because I know that the people who make up the fabric of my life (sorry, cotton commercial) are what make me the person I am. I like that person. So I'm thankful for the people that make me laugh, think, cry, hurt, and wonder.

I'm thankful for you everyday.

Ecology of our Household.

So, yes, I have a lot of animals. Here's why: I love them, always have, always will. Just look at my employment history. Vet clinic, pet store, MN Zoo, Raptor Education Foundation, MN Zoo, Raptor Center, high school (hey, they're pretty animal like). I firmly believe as inhabitants of Earth part of our job here is to protect God's magnificent creatures. Now, putting a Bengal tiger in the living room is a bit impractical, but I have the time, energy and heart to provide a home for a few creatures in need. Let's meet them:

Molly

Molly cat was mine and Billy's first pet together. She's not a rescue. She's also crazy as hell. I actually picked her up on a whim. Billy was starting to get all his bad news from the Dr.s but he was on his way to healing. One evening I was at the Burnsville Mall and passing the pet store. Something just told me that I needed to get Billy a kitten. So I went in, bought her and brought her home (pre-cell phones, so no call first!). Billy was in the bathroom so I knocked on the door and said "Honey, you know they say people with pets heal quicker?" "Yeah". Open door, set in kitten and hear "Awwwwww". She's been a pain ever since.

Kiwi

Billy and I got Kiwi on our second wedding anniversary. I had been shopping on Petfinder.com for awhile. A pair of mixes had caught my eye. We went out to breakfast to celebrate our day before Billy had to head off to work. As we were paying I noticed a sign that advertised a petco pet adoption that day. I told Billy that I bet those puppies we were looking at were there. He said "let's go". So we went, we saw a lady leaving Petco with the sister puppy so we hurried inside to see what was left. We found ours! The girl with the foster family handed her to us and said "Doesn't she smell good! She had a bath with kiwi shampoo." Hence the name :) Billy always liked to tease her with "We could have had your sister!" But since she's a dog it didn't bother her. Her story is that she and her sister were found in a garbage bag next to a snowmobile trail in Hinkley. Who does that?

Zoe

So back to psycho Molly cat. It's because of her that we have Zoe. Molly used to sit on the floor, eyeball us, and then attack our faces. Not pleasant. Billy wanted to know what we should do. I felt that having another kitty to wrestle with would solve the problem. So I picked up Zoe from a student who rescued cats. Zoe started out feral and has maintained her wild kitty elusiveness ever since. Don't pick her up - but she does enjoy some good head-butting on a regular basis. Oh, and it totally solved the attack Molly problem.

Max

Here's my biggest rescue challenge yet. When I get angry at people who decide their pet is too much to handle and they drop their pet off at a shelter he is my reason why. Talk about 3 good years of a challenging animal. And he still drives me batty. His story angers me. I got a call in my classroom from a fellow teacher. Another teacher driving into work had seen a dog kennel in the U lands behind the DCTC. It's a large wooded area, pretty wild. So this teacher thought she could use a dog kennel and went back to retrieve it. Lo and behold, hiding under a nearby tree, was Max. It was October 11th, and as it was the anniversary of mine and Billy's first date (this was after he passed) I thought bringing home this dog and giving it a try would be a good distraction. And making that decision was very freeing - it was at that point I realized that I didn't have to run it by anyone. Wow! So, I went out to meet him, he growled at me. I took him home, he was okay but I wasn't convinced yet. Until I got a phone call. From my 2 year old wondering when I was going to bring her puppy home. So began our 5 year odyssey with a dog who had been beaten, was afraid of men, and so claustrophobic he broke out of 3 plastic dog kennels and 2 wire ones - the last straw was when he cut himself so badly breaking out of the last wire kennel. The spare bedroom is now the dog room. That seems to work for him. So here we are, 5 years later and he is the dog who knows when I'm sad and gently crawls into my bed, lays down beside me, and puts his head on my shoulder. People that knew him then and now can tell you the remarkable change he has gone through. He loves everyone! Dogs are such a good reminder of the power of unconditional love.

Toby

Ok, here might be a serious "what was she thinking?" situation. Well, it was a risk - but it worked. See, Kiwi girl was getting old, but Max wasn't. Max wanted to run and play, Kiwi didn't. I decided that in order for Max to leave Kiwi alone he was going to need a playmate. So petfinder found us Toby. He was discovered in a live animal trap in Mississippi. I'm going to assume he was in there long enough before he was found to starve. He eats everything he can get his mouth on. But my plan worked! He and Max run and chase each other around the back yard daily. Kiwi likes to watch from her perch on the hot tub and bark at them. Toby is pretty amusing. He "sings". When he get's up in the morning, when sirens sound, when you tell him no. He also takes his job as Ella's alarm clock very seriously. If she sleeps in on the weekends he'll cry outside her door.

So there you have it. I wanted 3 kids and a dog but since that wasn't part of my plan I got 3 dogs and a kid. It works.