Idiocy cannot be leglislated out of people.  The phrase “That should be illegal” grates on my nerves just about as much as anything else.  Why are we placing all accountability and responsibility on the government again? 

 Almost everything we do affects someone else in a negative way.  Realize this and try to focus more on keeping your actions as harmless as possible rather than incessantly harping about the vices of others while completely ignoring your own.

  I often find the people who use the phrase “that should be illegal” are the same people who are so hypocritcal in bashing others.  For exmaple, many people who are so vehemently against the legalization of majrijuana are the same people who often enjoy a glass of wine or a rum&coke.  Because since alcohol consumption is legal (for right now, anyway), that makes it inherently different somehow?  All I see is mind-altering substance vs. mind-altering substance.  Both have the very same negative health and social aspects. I don’t get it.  If marijuana & other drugs were legal, I honestly believe organized crime would drop.  And, as much as I hate crack/cocaine as a drug, I feel the same way about it.  My city has basically been run straight down into the ground over the last decade because of all the gangs trying to control the crack market.  No, I’m not exaggerating. It’s a HUGE HUGE HUGE problem.  I don’t know about you all, but I don’t not smoke crack because it’s illegal. I don’t smoke crack because crack is whack. It’s not like I’m going to think “Hooray, crack is legal now — I’m going to start smoking it.”  And I suppose you could point out that’s because maybe I’m less ignorant than your average joe schmoe.  And maybe the avg. joe does assume that because something is legal means it’s safe.  Too bad for joe, if that’s the case. Anyway — you can’t legislate this world into some happy fairy tale land where everything is perfect. When you make something illegal, all you do is create a black market for whatever that illegal thing is.  This increases crime (and not just crime breaking that one new law).  It adds yet another way for criminals to make money (you don’t have to pay taxes when you sell dope for a living, folks — AND you get government assistance on top of your drug money because you have no taxable income on record).

  Now, I fully admit my values are extremely liberal when it comes to social/”moral” issues.  I also have a very liberal opinion on helping people who genuinely need help.  Although it sure would be nice to take home the gross amount of my paycheck, I could totally find a way to be okay with only bringing home about 60% of what I actually make if my money wasn’t going to assist the very same people who break into my house and steal from me while I’m at work paying the taxes needed to make up their government assistance. It’s a fun game, isn’t it?  I guess you can add “bitter” to the list of adjectives to describe today’s mental state.

 Candour is refreshing.

I’ve hated my weight and my body and myself for so long. Look what it snowballed into — over 270 pounds. In my late teens & early 20s (I’m 25), I suffered from major social anxiety and depression. I was so concerned about what other people thought of me because for my *entire* life, people picked on me about my weight. I honestly didn’t understand the right way to lose weight. I basically starved myself & exercised obsessively to lose about 40 pounds my junior year of college but I couldn’t keep it up. Within a year, I had gained back all the weight I had lost. And within 2 years I had added 30 more pounds to that. I was definitely an emotional eater and a stress eater and with anxiety & depression, there’s pretty much always some emotion or stress causing overeating which only made the anxiety worse, which made the eating worse, and on and on. All this was going on with me while I was majoring in psychology.

The upsetting part to me is that if someone could have just educated me on how to take care of my body, instead of making fun of me, my weight would have never been a big problem. I can be told to “eat right and exercise” again and again but that doesn’t mean that I understand. I never got it. That is to say, I never understood until about 3.5 weeks ago when I had the “aha!” moment. I’m pretty bummed I didn’t figure out how easy this is 15 years ago, but at least I finally get it now.

It’s such a shame to let other people’s ignorance ruin your life. I’ve felt horrible about myself my whole life because of others. Kids at school picked on me for my weight and because I excelled in school (um, shouldn’t that make a kid feel GOOD?). My father chose to continue being an alcoholic instead of continuing to be my father. My brother constantly insulted me. My mom was too busy taking care of 2 kids by herself. Waah waah waah, blah blah blah. I just don’t care what people think of me anymore. Other people’s actions and decisions and comments are not going to influence my self-worth anymore. How ridiculous. I’m going to be healthy for the first time in my life and if that means breathing hard while jogging in public, so be it. If that means sweating when other people can see me, okay. Whatever it takes, I’m doing it. If someone has a problem with how I look while I’m doing it, they can just look the other way because I’m not there for them. Don’t ruin your life for someone else because in the end, you’re all you’ve got.

What seem like small changes have had drastic results already in a very short amount of time.  I feel better. That does not mean I feel good, it just means I don’t feel quite as bad as I did before.  I recognize that.  It’s been about 4 years since I’ve focused on myself, really, and then it only lasted 4 months or so.  I’m so in it for the long haul this time. Some things are going to change.   Permanently.  I can breathe again.

I’m coming to realize all I thought I want may not be what I wanted afterall.    I’m not sure where to start unravelling it all.  I don’t think I can change it all dramatically the way I see it in my head. I do care about a lot in my life.  Piece by piece, but maybe more quickly than all that sounds.  I’ve made this resolution before several years ago, but it was in the opposite direction.  The grass really is always greener (on the other side).

I’m alarmed how things have happened.  How what I thought I wanted  and worked hard to have isn’t what I wanted afterall. What an irritating joke of which to be the butt.  In the end, I want happiness and I’m on a quest to find that now. 

I’m still figuring out who I am and what I want and I don’t know if that will ever change.  But lately, I’ve felt more enlightened.  I’m tired of being right.  I’m tired of debating.  I’m tired of being completely consumed by something that doesn’t matter at all to me when I look at the big picture.  I want to get back in touch with some of the friends who’ve become strangers. I feel more free now than ever before.  This feeling may or may not be shortlived, but I want to capitalize on it either way.

I want to find the beauty in life, and in me.  It’s been gone for a long time, if it was ever there at all. I’ve just been so consumed.

Then I got an email that someone was interested in him.  But they wanted Carl to be all these things he may not be, like 100% absolutely cat safe, or ok with children when he decides to have some in a few years.  I didn’t feel good about it, but I answered that I thought Carl was probably cat trainable, but that he was cat curious.  I wanted to be sure there’s no way this guy was going to have children in the next 10 years of Carl’s life (he’s only 3!) and no one can really guarantee that unless, oh I don’t know, unless he didn’t have testicles or something!  The issue with babies is one of the reasons I knew I couldn’t keep Carl.  Although I know I go to way more extremes to accomodate my dogs and accept my responsibility/commitment to them than most people, I just don’t know how I could handle being forced to choose between my dog and my baby! It’d take some serious consideration… I mean, I’ve had the dog for years… And I just had the baby… so the dog has seniority privileges & everything.  In some sick way, I’m not even joking here folks.  Obviously, I’d choose my child if there was absolutely no way to work things out to keep the dog and the kid, but I think I would actually resent the kid for it.

Sounds crazy, right?  Well, to me it doesn’t really.  But that’s just how much I care about my dogs and that’s how seriously I take the promise I made to them when I made the decision to adopt.

Well, those thoughts meandered down a path I didn’t anticipate, but the point is thankfully I no longer have to make a decision about Carl.  We went to a meet & greet Sunday & some greyhound buddies of mine were quite taken with Carl.  That night, I took him to their house & he made himself right at home.  So, hopefully we have a match and they are able to adopt him because him being with them is almost as good as him staying with me!  I’ll get to see him at meet & greets & playdays, I know he’s there for good unless something extreme happens.  I know they’re not going to have any children, I know they don’t have cats. I know he’ll have 3 greyhound sisters.  And I know they’ll take awesome care of him.   It’s just so much better for him to be there than to be adopted by someone who doesn’t have greyhound experience.

Well, I wrote this long wonderful in depth explanation for you all and then hit “continue” and Craigslist lost it.
Suffice it to say Frontline and other flea/tick preventatives are NOT a good thing. They are bad for you, bad for your pets, and bad for your children (not to mention the environment and wildlife). Long term use of fipronil (the active ingredient in Frontline) has been proven to cause cancer. The long term chemical use (or short term high-dose use) has been shown to cause endocrine disorders, immuno-deficiency disorders, and neurological disorders. Fipronil is classified as a “possible human carcinogen” by the EPA. What this means is that research has proven fipronil causes cancer in lab rats, but since it would be illegal to perform similar research on humans in a lab and fipronil is a relatively new pesticide (developed between 1985-87 & placed on the market in 1993), it hasn’t YET been proven (although it’s been suggested repeatedly) the pesticide causes cancer in humans as well. If it’s not good for rats, and it’s not good for humans, guess what — it’s not good for your dog either! The other pesticide options (K9 Advantix, Advantage, over-the-counter sprays/treatments) are even WORSE than Frontline. Do your own research here, folks.

There is a great alternative to controlling fleas once you stop the infestation from spreading (by vacuuming/cleaning as the article suggested) — s a $5 flea comb. I comb my dogs every night. I even use it to comb my long haired kitten. Any fleas go down the drain and I rest easier knowing I didn’t willingly cover my dogs in chemicals that cause multiple health problems leading to death. Also, what a money saver! I have 6 dogs weighing 11, 12, 20, 48, 92, and 95 pounds and a cat so I save (and yes, I just calculated this), $112.64/month by choosing not to poison my pets with Fipronil/Frontline. Nice.

What it boils down to is that we, as consumers, are being scammed by an ignorant (or maybe even greedy?) pet-care industry. Afterall, INDUSTRY is intended to produce monetary profit, right? So, we can’t blame them, but we can blame ourselves for not being knowledgeable about the things we buy. And then we can make a decision to change and make well-researched and informed decisions. Kibble, rawhide, recreational bones, flea/tick treatment — it’s all very expensive and it’s all very bad for your dog. I can’t believe how much money I wasted on “premium” kibble only to research and realize I was essentially killing my dogs with it – hundreds of dollars a month — thousands of dollars a year! My vet thought it was the right thing to do and I should trust her, right? I didn’t know the vast majority of veterinarians only took 1 or 2 courses on nutrition, funded or taught by a pet food company/rep.

Are Spot-On Flea Killers Safe? http://www.apnm.org/publications/resources/fleachemfin.pdf
National Pesticide Info. Center info. on Fipronil http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/fiptech.pdf
Fipronil fact sheet http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/fipronil.pdf
You don’t need kibble afterall! http://www.rawfed.com/myths
Kibble isn’t good for you dog, and it’s more expensive than species-appropriate rawfeeding http://www.rawlearning.com

Just stop and think. When you apply frontline to your dog, what do you do immediately afterwards, per instructions on the box? Wash your hands thoroughly with warm soapy water? While the pesticide is absorbed through your dog’s skin and into his bloodstream, no doubt. Why is that again? Oh yeah, because it’s a dangerous pesticide and has been proven to cause lots of awful short-term side effects and long-term health problems.

I really think when people know better they do better. Now you know.

Lastly, here’s a list of all the pesticides the EPA has banned or severely restricted over the years. Remember at one time, they were all thought to be “safe,” too. http://www.scorecard.org/chemical-groups/one-list.tcl?short_list_name=brpest

Over 6 months ago I fell in love with a foster (a foster I had for 1 night mind you) by the name of Cranky Carl. I knew I couldn’t add another to my pack then (or now) but I not-so-secretly coveted him.  I think about him all the time, even months after he was adopted by a wonderful family!  Unfortunately for Carl, he’s not adjusting well to the small children in his family. To my knowledge he hasn’t done anything wrong and the main reason he’s being returned is the family feels as though keeping him would be unfair to him since he’s so uncomfortable.  I’ll know more when I go to pick him up this evening.  Yep, Cranky Carl will now be fostered by ME!   He was pegged as not cat safe so I’ll be testing his train-ability tonight with Peebie.  Fingers crossed he’s trainable.

We’re really not in the right place for a foster, but when his family notified me & asked me to foster I couldn’t not volunteer.  I love that dog.  He’s my avatar for crying out loud!

He’s not staying, of course, but I’ll sure be glad to have him around while he’s here. <3

Kid also loved the people.  This was his first meet and greet and he was the belle of the ball (for lack of a better metaphor).  He greeted everyone with a grin and a wagging tail.  He leaned as hard as he could on anyone who would let him.  Then, he proceeded to attempt to go home with every single person who stopped to pet him.  An animal communicator once told me he wasn’t loyal to me and that he’d happily go home with just about anyone (from just looking at his picture and “tuning” into him).  And yesterday Kid proved her 100% correct!   It’s okay, though, because each time I called him back to me & gave him a good scratch on the ears he decided he wanted to go back home with me again afterall.  Mo is excellent at meet and greets (as long as there are no insanely excited dogs trying to run up in his face) but Kid is my new meeting and greeting master. He’s definitely found his calling.  I think he’d also be an excellent therapy dog so I’m going to look into that as well.

I enjoy volunteering to do meet & greets. I love educating folks and providing information about greyhounds.  I take pride when I hear terms like “majestic,” “heavenly,” “magnificent,” “beautiful,” and  ”amazing”  are used to describe my dogs by perfect strangers.

My name is Julie.  I’m 25 years old.  I love animals. I live with 6 dogs, 1 cat, and 2 budgies.  That’s all you need to know for now.

My dogs in order of adoption.

Emma – Tri-color collie x grey of somewhat unknown age and origin. I adopted her in May of 2004 from Pets, Inc. in West Columbia, SC. She was thought to be between 4 years old and 7 years old at the time she arrived at Pets, Inc in October 2003 which makes her currently 9-13 years old. She is my heart dog.

Giles – Blue Italian Greyhound.  Birthdate May 10, 2007.  Adopted August 2007. Affectionately known as my “biggy iggy” because he’s nearly whippet sized at 20 lbs 18″.

Mo – Red retired racing greyhound. Birthdate October 16, 2004. Adopted March 30, 2008 from Greyhound Crossroads. He’s the tallest greyhound most people have ever seen. He’s the wannabe-alpha (over my dead body) of the pack and he & I are very closely bonded.

Kid – Fawn Brindle retired racing greyhound. Mo’s litter mate. Birth date October 16, 2004. Adopted May 31, 2008 from Greyhound Crossroads.  Goofy needy boy. Never ending entertainment – my jester for sure.

Bibel – Red Italian Greyhound. Rescued from an idiotic backyard breeder August 1, 2008. We picked her up August 2nd, 2008. Unknown age — assumed birth year is 2004. She’s continuing to come out of her shell every day & is actually becoming quite an extrovert in most situations! Amazing to witness after what she’s been through.

Spike – Red & White Italian Greyhound. Birthdate January 27, 2008. Came home August 2008. Wild man!!  Broke a leg in March 2009.  He’s an amazingly sweet boy, but he is the biggest spaz of a dog I have ever known.