I used to have approximately four readers of my blog. They were faithful readers. They came back week after week to read all about each foster pet I brought home. They were with me during Noelle's puppy days, when
Noelle was lazy instead of naughty. They were even with me when
I first started fostering cats. They faithfully read my posts for the first two years of blogging, and that kept me going, and kept me writing this blog.
Then a few months ago, another pet blogger discovered this blog. And suddenly I was meeting people all over the world, instead of just the few people I knew in this small corner of the Internet. And for the first time I discovered other blogs, and these fun blog games and awards. So today I'm going to share some recent awards and tags that I've received from some new blogging friends.
I received the Sunshine Award from
One Pibble's Wish. The Sunshine Award is given to a blogger who brings a little sunshine into someone's life. Thank you Pibble! Here are the rules for this award:
- Post the award within my post.
- Send the award to 12 bloggers who add a little sunshine to my life.
- Post links to the 12 blogs I've sent the award to.
- Leave a comment on their blog telling them they've gotten the award.
- Put these instructions in my post so they'll know what to do!
I've seen this award on several other blogs, so I'm just going to post twelve bloggers who add sunshine to my life, even if they've already received it. I hope you'll stop by and visit their blogs if you need a little bit of sunshine in your life.
I also received the Happy 101 Sweet Friends award, which comes with the following rules:
- Copy the image and paste it to my blog
- List 10 things that make me happy, and do one of them today.
Noelle asked if she could list the 10 things that made her happy, so I said she could. So here are Noelle's answers:
1. When mom or dad come home from work and greet me.
2. When we go for a walk somewhere with lots of interesting smells.
3. When Bernice or Angie C. come over and visit me.
4. When Remi or a foster dog plays bitey-face or tug-of-war with me.
5. Sleeping on my dad's lap while he plays his X-Box.
6. Sleeping on my mom's lap while she
plays Farmville does important work on her computer.
7. Getting treats just for doing things like sitting or lying down. It's so easy!
8. Chasing cats.
9. Chewing up frisbees.
10. Showing my mom and dad how much I love them.
And finally, we've been tagged by the
House of Cats and
Mayzie's Dog Blog for the photo tag game. Here are the rules: Go to your first photo folder, find the 10th picture, post that photo and explain the story behind it. Then, tag five blogs to do the same.
So since the House of Cats tagged me, I went to my cat pictures folder and found the tenth picture, which is from May 2009:
This is Anastasia, a previous foster kitten. I was trying to take her picture for the website, but she was not happy about it. I did not use this picture on her web page, because she looks a bit scary. But I liked the picture enough to keep it on my computer. Fortunately no one ever saw this picture, and Anastasia was successfully adopted.
And since Mayzie the dog tagged me too, I went to my dog pictures folder and found this one from May 2008:
It is one of my previous foster dogs, named Vala. She was the most energetic, happy dog I have ever fostered, and she just loved people. I wanted a picture of her with her ears up, like she normally looked. But when I had my husband hold her so I could get her picture (otherwise she'd go running and jump up on me), she would put her ears back. So Dave decided to be helpful and hold her ears up for her. Poor dog. My fosters have to put up with a lot from us sometimes.
Thanks Amy and Mayzie for the fun game! I decided to tag five other foster blogs, in case they want to play too. Of course they may be too busy
chasing after playing with their foster pets to participate.
krazycatlady's blog
Freckles' Foster Friends
One girl, too many animals...
buggaboone
kind hearts
Thank you to my four faithful readers (Hi Grandma!) who have put up with me for so long, and thank you to all my newer readers and new blogging friends for making me feel so welcome in your community.
The majority of the credit goes to one person - my husband. If Dave had his way, I would only foster one dog at a time, and no cats. When we first discussed fostering, he had no idea what he was signing up for. But he makes the best of it. He shares equally in the responsibility for the dogs (the cats' care is all up to me - he draws the line there!) We usually work different shifts, so he has the dogs most of the afternoon and early evening while I'm at work. He spends time with them, makes sure they get dinner, and even plays and wrestles with them. He's the one that helped Ziggy invent the Ziggy Dance! (Side note: The Ziggy Dance is catching on in Las Vegas now!) I would not feel good about fostering so many dogs if he wasn't around, since many nights after work I'm either running to the vet's office or doing a home visit for a foster pet or attending a fundraising meeting or bribing someone to cook for me. With Dave there, I don't have to worry about leaving the dogs alone all day while I'm gone. 
Speaking of cooking - I don't. Neither does my husband. We also don't go out to dinner at a restaurant very often (maybe once a month). You might be surprised how much time you can free up if you don't cook or go out to eat! Fortunately Dave and I work different shifts, and when his daughter Rachael isn't here, we pretty much fend for ourselves for dinner since we eat at different times. So last night for me that meant a Pepsi and two pieces of buttered bread for dinner. Hey, I heated them in the microwave first - yum! Oh, and I had a chocolate chip cookie for dessert. Maybe two cookies - I can't remember. Anyway, my eating habits aren't the best, but on the plus side it does leave me more time to take the dogs for walks or clean the cat litterboxes. Besides, no one ever said cereal for dinner was a bad thing. Did they?
So every evening I try to fit in some time for playing with the dogs, petting the cats, doling out medication to anyone who needs it, scooping litter boxes, cleaning the house, taking pictures, and playing Farmville. Sometimes I even take the dogs for walks if time allows. As long as it doesn't cut into my Farmville time. Hey, just being honest here. And in the spirit of honesty, I'll tell you about my blog posts. I cheat. Since the majority of my free time is on weekends, I write most of them on the weekend and schedule them to automatically post each day during the following week. I also don't bother actually planning what I'm going to say. I pretty much just look at the pictures I've taken during the previous week, type whatever I'm thinking about, and that's what you get to read. Most of the time no planning or editing or improving actually takes place (as you may have noticed). So I hope you'll forgive me for that. As you can tell from reading my posts, it's not so much about success around here as it is about survival - and hanging in there until each foster pet gets his or her own success story. 
I also received the Happy 101 Sweet Friends award, which comes with the following rules: 
Amanda - she lives in Minnesota, and she takes the best pictures ever. I love this picture she took of her son at Halloween with her dog and two foster dogs. She's also super-nice and gave me some photography hints and encouragement. She fosters pit bulls, and has an adorable son. You can visit her blog here.
Ellen - she is the founder of the St. Louis Senior Dog Project, and she finds homes for senior dogs like Sara. Sara lived most of her life chained up outdoors in North Dakota, but thanks to Ellen and many other volunteers, Sara is now in a wonderful home. Ellen takes in the senior dogs that many others give up on, and does an amazing job finding them homes. It's great to hear about others in the St. Louis area that I may have never known about if it weren't for the Internet and blogging. You can read more from Ellen's blog here. 
