A Dog is never, just a Dog!

" He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader.  He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

        There are many different types of Dog lovers out there, were as every dog out there is a human lover. Even if they have had a life of not yet understanding love back from a human, that dog will always trust again and show that love and devotion to its human. It is all in how you raise your dog, just like how you raise your children. You will get from him what you put into him.

          I find it interesting how they are many types of dog owners out there. From someone who dines at the table with their little pooch to someone who relies on their great dog to stand guard of the farm. What ever you wish from your dog, your dog will deliver. It doesn't matter wither you are blessed with a dog from a pup or blessed with a second chance dog, no other animal will bring home the devotion better than a dog.

             This is why even if you raise and rely on your dog to bring different duties as part of your family, we all can agree on one thing, the bond that is there between that family and that dog. I have a big family and extended family, and almost everyone in my family has dogs. They all have different kinds and view those dogs in different ways. Some are very open with the bond they share with their dogs, others are very closed off at the bond that is there, don't get me wrong its still there, they just don't let anyone in on the secret that they could love and animal as much as they do.

           The point I am trying to get at is this, everyone who has taken the proper time and put it into there dog, has the same very special bond with their dog, this is because a dog always responds to you faithfully  lovingly, protectively  and with better devotion sometimes than even your spouse can give. Believe me I have many time were my dog has listened to me more than my husband has :)

           This is were are part comes in, we are called to be our dogs whole life, their love, their leader. Even if that means difficult times with your dog. I can remember the puppy stage, how many of us give up and say there is nothing I can do to train this dog, then give in and ship them out. I know I could of given up many time, but I know what its like to have people give up on you and its not a great feeling so I stuck it out. I truly believe that is the best decision I made. Out of that I gained not a dog, but a true member of our family, believe me, meet her and you will see how a dog truly can believe they are a child and not a dog.

             

              For anyone who know our Jazzy, they know this, she is hyper, she is in your face, and she loves to meet you at the door, wither it be to bite the glass and make you think you should not enter unless you want to die, or if you come in and find she really just wants at you to sniff, lick and meet you. But the funny thing is if you know my children you know they are hyper and in your face and love to run to the door and tell you all about their life before your boots even come off. That is just a sign how our dog thinks she is just like my kids. And lets not forget how she jumps in the car and sits in the car seat waiting for someone to buckle her in, or how she stares at the doors of the school wondering when its going to be her first day.

            

              This part of the story is for those of you who have yet to admit the impact your dog could have on your life. I know your type you see a dog as just your dog, there to do whatever it is you have trained them to do, while believing that dog have no real hold on your life. I pity you and challenge you to understand your dog to the next level. I do this because you never know what is going to happen, It could be your last week with that dog, and you truly will not understand the hold that dog had on you until he is gone. I would rather know that I gave and got from my dog everything in the time I got to share with them.

           Our Jazzy has taken a turn for the worse, and only at 5 years of age, were we sit today is not knowing if we will have to take special care of her for the remainder of her life, and lose her as part of our family by the end of the week. We have been told by her vet she is suffering from Kidney disease. It can go either way, she might be able to control it with special diet and medicine, or she might just keep going downhill until they it takes her from us. Even though it is usually found in older dogs, some dogs are just born with things like this and it takes them early on. This is why I say, enjoy your dog today, love them today, be there for them today, because they will be there for you in a heart beat.

          For our family we are not focusing on what way Jazzy's fate will take her, be it a week or a few more years we have with her. This time we share with her now is how we always have, we will still walk with her, we will still play with her, we will still snuggle with her, we will still give her treats for no reason at all, and still love her until her last beat. We as a family are comfortable knowing that we have given her a life of happiness, a life were she felt she had a family to love, to protect and be a part of, even if her time is short she spent her days knowing she belongs somewhere. I know people in life who still haven't discovered this yet. But I am confident my Jazzy has.

           I ask two things of my family and friends, One is to please remember to put our family in your prayers, we would give anything to have Jazzy come out of this for us to love for a few more years. Second, please take the time now with your dog, you never know when their last heart beat will beat, but you do know they will be with you till that happens, so take the time to be with them too.

          

          

                

                

             

           

All in a Name!

     Can picking a name for a boy really be this hard. You see I already have 2 beautiful girls, and when it came to picking their names is was really easy. I just knew the name was the one as soon as I heard it. By the time I was 3 months pregnant with my girls I knew what name they were going to get.
Not this time, I think I have heard every single boy name out there, and nothing, not one single name has caught my attention.

    One name has caught the attention of my husband, but I am not really a huge fan of this name. Not to sure how its going to work having us 2 decide on a name, we both have such different styles that we prefer.

     So if you are lucky enough to enjoy reading my blog, you are going to be lucky enough to help me out, I am going to list below some styles of names just so I can feel out what the trend of 2012 really is. Leave a comment below   to what you think would be trendy. Thanks for reading and sharing.

    Here is a little background as well all about us. My husband is Irish, so I like to pick Irish names. We already have 2 girls with rather old fashion name, Allison and Elizabeth, which we have shortened to Alli & Ella.Our last name starts with an R and trying to stay away from R first names.

The Family name, traditionally lots of families will name their sons after names that are in their family. here are ours.
1. William
2. George
3. Phillip
4. Reid
5. John
6. Gordon
7. Duncan

Even though I am staying away from R names here are some I like.
1. Rowan
2. Ryker
3. Ryder

Western names, or cowboy names I seem to be going towards.
1. Hunter
2. Wyatt
3. Colton
4. Austen
5. Mason

Of course can't go without some Irish names in there.
1. Declan
2. Connor
3. Brendan

Biblical names, like how I can short form these names.
1. Matthew-Matt
2. Lucas- Luke
3. Ezekiel- Zeke

Daddy's picks
1. Gregory 
2. William
3. George- Geo
4. Hunter
5. Connor

Girl's picks
1. Wyatt

Also feel free to add any names you think of that could fit into my styles. 
I still haven't found that name, so you never know I might end up in Love with one that is posted. Thanks for helping.

To be Thankful or not to be!

     With Thanksgiving all wrapped up, and the start of a new week you think it would be a refreshing start. A time to really reflect on what we are truly thankful for. We all sat around the table with friends and family, sharing stories and conversation, we all thought how thankful we are for those very people that sat around the table, but it really does end so very soon.

     We would like to think that a part of us takes a little bit of this attitude with us all through out the year, but do we really show it once the holiday is over. We all go back to our busy lives with such busy demands on us, and I believe that yes it is still deep in the back of minds but how are we ever to see it through our daily life stresses.

     I myself spent the last 5 min of getting my kids ready for school in a frenzy trying to find something that was put up for safe keeping and was then picked up and lost. We all think, oh no big deal you had to raise your voice and let a child take responsibility for that what she lost. We all go right back to having to raise our voices at our kids, raise our voices at our husbands and raise our voices at our own parents or siblings. But we just spent the weekend being thankful for these very people in our lives. 

     I think we need to flip it up a bit. Instead of focusing on what we should be thankful for, maybe looking at it in different light would have us maintain a better attitude when it comes down to those boiling points. bare with me here and I hope I haven't lost you.

     If we realized the things we are not thankful for, instead of that what we are then maybe we can start the week trying to change that around. I know I sat at the table and thought to myself how blessed I was to have such beautiful and healthy girls, to have a husband who loves us, and a baby boy on the way that has already brought so much joy to our lives. Yet already this morning, I lost that mantra and was more focused on the girls that lost what they needed, a husband who is gone all week and can't help me, and a baby who is still managing to make me sick in the morning and fills me full of crazy hormones. I might of only lost my way for 5 min, but we can never know how that 5 min would effect the others in our lives.

     Our children our a blessing, and if they need to learn responsibly then we need to teach then, and be thankful for the chance to do so, If our husbands need some reminders to help out more, then we need to be thankful for the chances to show them how, and if our parents are getting on our nerves we need to be thankful that we still have then with us, and a chance to let them know what we really need from them. There is more to it then to just be thankful for them. 

     I am not thankful for the way life can go everyday, But I am thankful that I have a God that has his own way of letting me know that if your are un thankful for the way life treat you sometimes, then we can always be thankful for the chance to learn from that and change it into a thankfulness that can last all year long.

    So for the rest of week, when you feel your patients slipping or your attitude telling you negative thoughts and leading you to un thankful mind set, just remember there is always a way to use that un thankful attitude to bring back some thankfulness in your life, we are human and meant to learn from our mistakes and grow that much more, that is what to be thankful for.

The Disney Effect: Issue #2 selling your voice

Disney Effect: Issue #2 selling your voice.

If you are reading this article and haven’t read Issue #1 go back and read in order, or I am afraid you might get totally lost in my ramblings.

For those of you tuning in to hear more of my Disney Effect your in luck. Today I am going to write about the number 1 reason why couples end in break-up.

COMMUNICATION

Communication is said to be one of the top reasons why couples can’t make it to happy ever after. Its hard to make communication work in a relationship when both male and female see communicating in two totally different ways. The story I have chosen to show an example of this is “The Little Mermaid”.

It has a perfect example of what happens when we sell our voice only leaving us unable to communicate.

We as men and woman see communication in two very different ways, men talk on a literal level, where woman communicate on a more relational level.

You see when you break it down communication is made up of 7% of a message in words spoken, 38% is in the voice intonation and 55% is in body language. That makes it together that 93% of a message is in unspoken words. Woman know all about this, we are more able to communicate on a relational level, were most men think literal and pay attention to the 7% of spoken words. The problem here is when a woman tries to communicate and gets a man who answers her with his words but his voice is mono-toned and he body language is watching the T.V, then as woman we think he isn’t even listening to me. Truth is he heard the words you said so he got your message, he gave you an answer back with his words, so as far as your man knows he has received and sent the message back conversations is done. What happens then when you turn it around and have the man send a message? A man asks if it would be a good time to go out with his buddies, woman’s response in her words is “Of course, go have fun!” but that 38% of voice tone is screaming “why can’t you just stay home with me” and her body language is saying “No I don’t think you should”. Then we as woman get so upset when the man then goes out with this friends. Truth is too your man he heard your words say “Of course” he can’t read the rest of the 93% of communication you are sending him.

Now we all the story of poor Ariel, she only lost the 45% of communication and had a hard time trying to get the prince to understand.

This clip says it all, after losing the 7% of spoken words and 38% of her voice tone, she only had a remaining 55% of her communication left. That 55% is all in her body language, which judging by the look on Eric face above, he is struggling to understand her. This happens in our relationships more than we think it does. Yes Eric was able to grasp most of the important stuff that he needed to understand, but do you really think Ariel felt that he understood her in this moment, probably not, she probably was realising if only she had her voice to speak the words, and the tone to go with it, then maybe the prince would understand. In this moment she realised that she should never have gave her voice away. I truly believe that we as woman do in way give up our voice, we do this when we decide to not just tell our man what we want, when we CHOOSE to throw are thoughts and opinions at our men with our tones and our body language.
     I know a bit about this, like I said I only learned all about this stuff when I found my relationship slipping away. I did this a lot, I CHOOSE all the time to use my voice and body language to communicate with a man who was only listening to my words, I wasted so much energy trying to get him to just see and hear how I was feeling without ever telling him a word about how I was really feeling. I felt misunderstood and ignored, he felt hopeless and confused. None of our messages were being sent or received properly. This leaves your communication in a mess. It wasn't until understanding how each of us communicated that things began to turn around, I had to learn to use my words, just say what I needed. He had to learn to make an effort to engage with me through a conversation so his body language was communicating with me and not the T.V or shop manual.
   Once Ariel got her voice back, and Eric made the effort to communicate to her with her body language they finally understood each other too.

I believe that its not how much or when we do our communicating that messes us up, but its how we are doing are communicating. If both partners in a relationship CHOOSE to try and communicate in a way their partner understands then they both will find themselves enjoying the time they get to communicate with each other, and watch the spark re ignite.

Stayed tuned for more Disney Effect Tomorrow.......

The Disney Effect: Issue #1 Twitterpated

     All of us grew up with a Disney movie or two, we know most of the stories by heart. We know every struggle of every girl and every happily ever after, from every boy that saved the day. But have we ever stopped to think about how this is shaping our thoughts about love and marriage.
     Every movie has a different theme, but all the same lessons, some pretty girl needs some pretty boy to come save the day and fight the fight before they can finally get married and live happily ever after........Well they got it right just in the wrong place. We usually experience the happily ever after before we tie the knot, then after life can give us some ups and some downs, during these times is when some couples have a hard time living the happily ever after.
     Divorce rates are on the rise and with more people choosing to walk instead of fight, we are not sitting over the half way marker, that's right more than half of us will walk away.
     Well when my children were young I experienced this, life was supposed to be happily ever after,(like the Disney movies promised) and it was instead a sadly forever disaster. I decided to stay and fight inst ed of walk away. I choose to fight the fight.
     Just on St. Patrick's day we celebrated 9 years together, we have been married 7 this July, and spring always reminds me of the fight we have gone through to be together, and the fight we will still meet later on in life. It reminds me how lucky I am that we took the steps to try and work together better. Spring always is a time of Love, and for me it is even more because its were are story began. I have decided to do a blog special for spring all about My Disney Effect.
   You see years ago when we were first married and felt that we were not making scenes, we stated to read marriage books, and alot of them, well at the same time I was watching alot of Disney movies with my little girls remembering about all the promises Disney gave me. I started to see a pattern in these movies. They all had to go through their battle to gain their happy ever after, but I started to notice that all these movies were great examples of how a couple can go through many different problems in their relationship, but it also showed that there is a way through that battle. I spent several hours at my computer typing my new Disney theory. You see Disney promised a fight then happy ever after, it was just backwards to seem to find that happiness then have some problems.
     In honour of spring I am going to spend some time explaining my Disney Effect in hopes that wither your married, single, dating or complicated  maybe you will see your problems in a whole new light. Also I haven't done a blog special yet, so here's my chance to ;)

     Well my Disney Effect starts were most relationships start. When we all fall in love. When we experience becoming Twitterpated, Now I will turn it over to my friend Owl.

     Twitterpated, that's whats happens to us. This is how it starts, we fall head over heels for someone and begin the process of walking on air. My story started very much like Bambi.
    Once upon a time on the night before St. Patrick's Day, I ran into a boy I had met before when I was younger, and it hit us, we became twitterpated just in time for spring. From their we were living in a dream world every thing was new and exciting and I never wanted it to end. That's what we do we spend are whole life looking for someone who can make us happy and we can spend the rest of our lives happy with that person. This is how we felt, every day discovering something new about each other. We caught the twitterpated bug so bad that then on Easter we packed our car, only together for 3 weeks and drove all the way out West to start our Happily Ever After. We were so in love and focused on each other and our new dream we decided to just run and not tell anyone. We actually told our roommates we were going to do laundry.
     This is how it starts, we find ourselves crazily ever after. We find ourselves doing things we would never do, feeling things we have never felt and before we know it we are long gone down the Twitterpated road. I don't see this as a bad thing, these are the feeling we need to remember and hold onto in our times of struggle. Remembering that Love brought you together, and Life will always try and split you up, life happens, without are love we have nothing. This is one of the special bonds each couples holds. Their is always a beginning to a love story and its always begins with two people becoming Twitterpated. 

Tune in Tomorrow for.......... More Disney Effect, we start to look at some of the top 5 relationship problems.

Ladies night In

"Ok Ladies I am going to take my turn and host a party, This one is gonna be a Fun & Fashionable one"  "A what"   "A party were you can buy purses, wallets, winter ware, jewellery, and hair accessories."

     I had never been so excited to host something. I knew a good group of ladies to invite to my partee, and I knew a great lady (sister in law) who had just started a new business venture called Fun & Fashionable. It was the perfect order girls night, and we didn't even have to go out. We got to stay in, we had wine, snacks, money and nothing but time to shop. We got to browse through all of what Fun & Fashionable had to offer, we got to sip on our wine and snack on our snacks and enjoy plenty of conversation with all our closest and best ladies. We had an amazing night, not only because the product to was to die for, but the prices were really really right, and you know what happens when you mix good product and right prices, well you get alot of worried husbands....lol...But its ok, we did good. We all found some wonderful treasures to take home. My girls also came over and got to pick out one thing. They were amazed at all the wonderful things and of course tried to purchase more than 1, I had to let them down, because it was my turn to get more than 1 :) . I would just like to thank all my ladies for coming on out and I want to thank My sister for spending the time to set up and unset up all your wonderful product. Last but not least Thank you to my wonderful husband for looking the other way when I came home with, a purse, headband, necklace, winter hat, cell phone gloves, 2 set of winter hats and scarfs for the girls,  a special pick necklace for Ella, and a special pick scarf for Allison. I will try to look the other way when you bring home another something with a motor!!!

     

Alli with her scarf

           This is the Brat, sleeping on my new purse and hat. what a Cat!

Bell Phone for a Day

 "I'm sorry, but there is just nothing we can do for you!"

     I have never been so excited about a phone, I have only owed 3 phones in my whole life. A Rogers Roots phone back in 2003, a Solo Mobile samsung 10-4 phone in 2007 and a Solo Mobile Samsung Entro in 2010. I decided to go with the Bell TV phone. I had a lot of people say to me, OMG do not go with Bell your crazy. I thought to myself no its OK. I ordered that Bell phone and waited 6 days for them to ship it to me. When It arrived here, the corner of the box was squished up, the lady said,
"Oh its fine, they bubble wrap the crap out of those things".....I should never had taken the package, and I soon learned why.  It was not wrapped in bubble wrap but a brown tissue paper that looked like it came from the washroom.I was so excited I opened up my new phone and get ready to turn it on. Once I did I noticed a black line running though the middle of my screen, Right away I called Bell. I was transfered over to like 5 different people all at the end to find out that I had to send the phone back were I got it from(in the mail) and then wait till February 3 before I get my phone back. I could hardly handle a week without it, I can't go that long. They offered me a different choice, I could send it back and tell them to cancel out the account, and then once its cancelled I can go to a Bell store and make a new order, then I don't have to wait and I don't have to rely on Canada post to send me yet another damaged phone. I spend all day on the phone trying to find all my options, one said I can't cancel the 4 others said yes I can I haven't use the phone yet. One said you can get a loner phone 3 said no I can't, 2 said I could get a new phone ordered today, the supervise said No Way (spending cap)!!! 6 told me I could not get any kind of credit for the hassle they caused me, I got transfered to 5 wrong departments and I think in total all day long I gave my Name Number and Email address like 37 times. I even swore at one guy and he called me out on it and made me feel really dumb. But In the end the only option I have is to then send this phone back and cancel my services.
     With all this bull crap, I decided to call KOODO, WOW what service they said they could get me the right phone, right contract and I can come down and pick it up and they will have me ready and working by 8pm.  They even can take my original number from solo that I have had for 6 years, Bell was going to give me a new number.Now my day has been pretty stressed so far you think I could not handle one more thing. Well its was 7pm and we have 45 min to drive there, and we still need enough time to call the activation centre before 8. Well I still don't have a cell phone, The keys were missing and it took us 45 min to find them, I of course put them in a place I never do so we missed our chance to get me a phone. I was really hoping that tonight we could go down to pick it up but with this white stuff falling in from the sky it might not be a good night for travelling the roads.
    Like I always say, This stuff always happens to me, and I am always happy to share it...I really think someone out there doesn't want me to have a cell phone........please think long and hard before switching to Bell!!