~Written With No Offense Intended~

I don't like dogs (or cats). And I say this with no apologies. Plus, the Bear is allergic to dogs, well pet dander. He also almost had his ear bit off by a dog when he had a paper route. Mona Lisa is afraid of dogs. Ratchet is afraid of dogs; he was actually bitten on his face by one just a few weeks ago. Dogs just don't work for our family. And I don't feel it necessary to apologize for this.

So, why do SOME (not all) people who own dogs feel as if they need to force their pets on us? In the past few weeks:

Mona Lisa had a friend stop calling when she told her she was afraid of her dog (which wasn't a problem, she didn't really enjoy her company anyway).

While at the park, someone let their dog off their leash and didn't seem to care that it was pawing and licking us.

At a rest area a man tried to force Ratchet to pet his dog.

And this was really weird: we were on the Oregon Coast and parked at a store next to a woman who was sitting in the drivers seat of her car, window down, music blaring, and dancing with the dog in her lap. When I opened my door she asked if she had awakened our sleeping baby. Since we don't have a baby, I said no, and started to walk away. Then she told Ratchet to come over and pet her dog (What?). I told her no he was afraid of dogs and had just been bitten by one. And she told me (in a loud voice now since we were walking away) I needed to bring him over to pet her dog because her son had been bitten by a dog and "Lola" had helped him overcome that fear. I said no and continued to walk and she (yelling by this time) told me she would wait for me to change my mind and bring him back to overcome his fear. (Now I'm not wrong, that is really weird, right?)

While at Multnomah Falls last Saturday a man with a dog on a leash was pushing a double-wide jogging stroller across the rather narrow bridge and bumping into people, with no apologies by the way. As I manuevered my family as flat as possible against the side of the bridge so he could get by, I notice that he doesn't have a child (or children considering it was a double stroller) but a dog sitting on the floor of the stroller. I suppose I should just be happy the animals were being contained. Okay, so he wasn't forcing his dog on us, it was just annoying, yet, once again inconsiderate.

(Okay, so the last paragraph reminded me of the following Dear Abby. Just substitute dog for cat.

DEAR ABBY: I dress my Siamese cat, "Belle," in clothes and pajamas. (Yes, they make apparel for cats.) I also push her around in a stroller. My friends think I'm crazy, but I consider Belle to be my daughter.

One time, a teenager came up to me as I was pushing Belle in her stroller and asked, "Where's the baby?" I told her that Belle was like my baby.

Is it nuts to treat a cat like a child? -- MOM OF A FUR KID IN N.Y.

DEAR "MOM": Nuts? No. A bid for attention ... perhaps.)

Now, most of these I can deal with, but when they invade my personal space . . .

So, today I'm in the fabric store (which we all know is my personal space) and I see a woman holding her small dog and leaning over fabric, therefore rubbing him/her all over the fabric. Bugged, I went to an employee (actually there were two of them) and asked them to have the dog removed from the store. They acted as if it was the oddest request they'd ever heard. I explained that my children were afraid of dogs and that my family had allergies and I didn't think it was acceptable for me to be expected to buy fabric that had dog dander all over it and possibly give my husband an allergy attack. They proceeded to give one another the "roll your eyes this is ridiculous" look. So, I repeated my request and they asked me what they should do. I told them to go to the lady, tell her it was against store policy, and ask her to take the dog out of the store. That's when they decided to go get the manager. Over 10 minutes later (which is 10 minutes of dog dander being rubbed all over the calicos) the manager appears and I point the woman out to her. She tells me that what happens is that people have their dogs groomed next door and then bring them into shop on their way out to their car. I tell her that isn't my problem and repeat that there is fear and allergies involved and that I'm pretty sure it's store policy. So, she goes over to the woman, points me out (did I emphasize enough that she pointed me out?) and explains that another customer has asked for her to take her dog out of the store all the while apologizing profusely to her. There were no apologies to me. So tell me was I in the wrong, because I felt as if I should have felt bad. Which I didn't. But, since I felt as if the situation was handled inappropriately, I did what I do best. I called corporate and lodged a complaint. The woman at corporate apologized for my experience but did tell me she didn't know what store policy is.

So, maybe I'm making assumptions, but don't most stores (not including pet stores) have a no animals except service animals policy?

And doesn't everyone have the right to not have something they like, fear, or are allergic to forced on them? Maybe I'm being insensitive to dog owners, but I feel as if they (once again, not all) are being insensitive to others. I think allergies to pet dander are fairly common. Fear of a specific animal is quite common. And just disliking something is extremely common.

Is it too much to expect others to respect this? Am I asking too much?

Hmm, I'm actually contemplating closing down the comments on this entry because I also fear the hate mail. But, I won't because this is my blog and I'm entitled to my opinion.

~More Clues~

I've been told my clues are too vague. So here are some more.

1. It's a cleaning job most of us avoid. I've only done it 3 times in the 7 years I've lived here.
2. None of the objects are thicker than 1/2 inch because nothing thicker could fit there.
3. All 65 of the objects fit in a gallon ziploc bag.

Let me know if you need more.

~I Spy a Giveaway~

Today I undertook a necessary project. While doing this project I uncovered a plethora of items. 65 to be exact. As you know, I make you work for my giveaways. So here's your job--figure out where I found these objects.

I'll give you some clues:

1. We all have this project to do.
2. Some do it more than others.
3. 33 of these objects had one thing in common.
4. And in true I Spy tradition, a poem:

I spy a thumbtack, a spoon, and the start of a flame,
A farm, it’s occupants, and a weathervane.
There’s 3 tops to bottles and 4 coins to reward,
Body parts for a starch and a very CRUEL word.
I found a woman with flowers and a wrapped mango treat,
A bunny of sorts and 9 clips to keep our food sweet.

Now, so you can't use each others answers, you need to send your answer via email to seamstressed at gmail dot com. This is my blog email address, so don't send it to my normal email box. And be sure to label it I Spy. Then I will do a drawing from the correct answers.

Here are the rules:

*The contest will end Monday, September 1st at midnight PST.
*You only get three guesses. If you guess more, only your first three will count.
*If I don't get any correct answers I will extend it and give more clues.

So, what is the prize?

A totebag/purse made by me. (So, Alisha you better think hard, I know you want one.)

~Mona Lisa and the Nutcracker~

As many of you know, Mona Lisa is a dancer. We found an amazing studio three years ago and she has improved by leaps and bounds. For the past two years she has been dancing in the Nutcracker. She was a Snowflake both years. But, this year she is going to be:

The Doll!!!

She is so excited. I am so nervous. The past few years the doll has been a Level 4 ballerina. This will be Mona Lisa's first year as a Level 3. I thought she had a few years and have been telling her that for the past two years. So, when she got the part she couldn't stop screaming. And I was shocked (in a good way). The doll is pretty much a solo. And did I mention that the doll from last year is Clara this year. Of course as a mom I think she's an amazing dancer, but wasn't sure how biased I was. Apparently I'm not, she is an amazing dancer.

~A Pink Christmas~

I found this blog a while ago and have been waiting to sign up. If any of you are interested in doing it with me sign up and let me know. We can have a project night to work on gifts.

~I Finished My Goal~

Remember this post. My goal was to clean my garage by June 15 which was the next Bishop's Youth Discussion. I lucked out that BYD was pushed back one week until today. How crazy was I thinking that I could clean my garage during costume/end-of-school year season. But, on Friday I did it. I paid my kids to help me clean my garage. See the new and improved version:

Shelves for the Bear, canning jars, painting supplies, and some of our camping supplies (rest is under stairs).

I finally put all the stuff I use outside in one place. Mona Lisa and Ratchet both commmented on how they don't have to "try and separate their bikes from everything." And I can actually get to the door to unlock it from the inside.

Another view of the outside stuff.

This is my shelf for items to give to relatives and friends and Goodwill stuff. The top shelves have a few house project items for easier access.

It feels really good to have an organized space. My house is in complete disarray and I was tempted to clean it first, but I realized the problem with the rest of my house is that I really need to purge and I needed a space to purge it to. Now I feel I can really start to declutter and rid myself of the unnecessary items that fill my life.

~My Little Girl Is All Grown Up~

Our neighbor Mrs. B. is a substitute teacher. Today she substituted in Mona Lisa's class. I asked her if she got any special privileges because she knows her. She said, "I don't think so but, she wants me to babysit for her."

Um, two things. Mrs. B. doesn't have any children at home. And my daughter is only nine.

But apparently Mrs. B. has a meeting every Thursday and one of the attendees has a five-year-old daughter. She wants to pay Mona Lisa to come over and entertain the little girl during the meeting so she isn't a distraction.

Mona Lisa says, "I think I want to try it. (and then she does her scientific, list-making, analysis thing) I could learn how to babysit. It's what I did when with the twins when we went to help out with the triplets. You could just walk me over or I could climb the fence. I don't really care about the money, I just want to learn to be a good babysitter."

Analysis wins. It looks as if my little girl is getting her first job at the ripe old age of nine. Even the Bear was impressed.