Thank You Jada

(Picture is of Jada and Lucas Sept. 2009- Sorry Lucas :-) You were too cute!)

I have a beautiful well-behaved, obedient (depending on who you ask), and protective boxer lab dog named Jada. I was searching for a dog with all of her qualities and found her in 2001 at the Monmouth pound when she was only four months old. Under pressure from my Grandfather and my fiance at the time, (Ted), I needed a dog to run with during my late night runs and while I lived alone in college. I needed a protective and energetic dog. I have a preference for labs and for boxers so the mix was certainly a perfect fit. The man at the pound called me after I left him a message to tell me that I had described the perfect sweet little feisty puppy he had. She was a little girl. She had a brother, but they had to split them up because they fought too much. He apparently beat her up bad enough that she was quite a flincher and coward at times. She has never gotten along well with other dogs since then. Also he informed me that they had found her and her brother along a road next to their mother who had been hit by a car when they were much smaller. When I went to meet her she ran like a wild nut wagging her whole butt, not her tail (because she didn't have one). Her tail had already been docked. She has always wagged her whole butt or lower half of her body when she gets excited. Her little nub wags. She hasn't changed since our first meeting. She was so excited, but as soon as she saw the cats in the cages in the front of the pound she started to shake and she dropped down almost completely to the floor. She is terrified of cats! I can't blame her, I just can't get too fond of cats myself. She almost climbed up my body to get away from them. I said, "I'll take her, I love her, she is hyper and shy- just like me, she is instantly devoted and instantly terrified of unreasonable things-just like me!" I remember laughing at her running and jumping all over place. To say that Jada was insane would be to say that I am insane....I AM INSANE! But, I have never met a dog more in tune with human emotions and more dedicated to her family.


She only has met two dogs that she hasn't tried to kill: Ozzie, my Grandmothers dog; and Aspen, his brother, who is my mothers dog. She grew up with them from when she was a puppy and with Ozzie being submissive they quickly became best friends. To this day, if you say "Ozzie" she flips out, whines and runs to the door hoping you mean that we will be going back to Grandma's to see Ozzie. When she was little Aspen and her kept their distance because they are both dominate dogs, but now they respect each other enough that they never hurt or fight with the other.


We don't let Grant go outside without Jada, and I usually sit on the deck while they play. Grant was sitting in the hammock swing below the deck when Jada took off and all I heard was Jada attack. I heard another dog barking and howling in pain. As I was taking off down the stairs, Grant passed me coming up, screaming and crying for his dog. I was less concerned for Jada than I was for this stupid other dog that walked right up to Grant in our yard. The dog was much larger than Jada, but she has something in her blood that would never let her stop defending her boy, (Grant or Jake), until the animal was dead. I had to do something or the boys were going to see their dog kill this other dog right in front of them. There wasn't anyone else to take the boys off the deck and inside so they would stop watching the attack. So I grabbed a giant tree branch, and stuck it right in between the two dogs. It gave the other dog a chance to run and as it ran I threw the branch and dived forward to grab Jada as she began to go toward the dog again. The strength Jada has is unbelievable. I saw blood and skin with fur attached to it on the cement but quickly realized it wasn't hers. She quickly ran up the stairs in a panic to find Grant. At first Grant was scared. He didn't understand why she wanted to be so close to him. I explained that she was worried and that the whole thing started because she was so worried about his safety. Grant told me he was just swinging in the chair when he felt a soft fur rub up against him and then the dog was right in front of him, but Jada attacked the dog really fast so he didn't see much of the dog before he started to run up the stairs.


Grant helped me wipe Jada down to make sure she wasn't bleeding. I checked her all over. The only thing was her toenails....they were gone! Since she was on cement when she attacked this dog, she was using her toenails for grip and leverage. I only found one spot with blood on her entire body and it was on one toenail where the toenail was bleeding. I filed them down to make them less jagged and so they wouldn't get caught in the carpet. She was so exhausted she just laid there while I did it. Normally she flips out if anyone tries to touch her toenails!


Grant wanted to know why Jada always tries to kill dogs she doesn't know when they get near him. I explained it like this,


If we were standing in the house and you were playing, and a man walked in and walked right over to you and I didn't know him....your Daddy and I would attack him. Jada sees the yard and the house and you the same way we do. But, to her, other dogs are like strangers are to us. No strangers better ever touch you, or they will feel just as bad as that dog did as it ran away crying...or maybe even worse!


This isn't the first time that Jada has attacked someone for walking into the yard or the house uninvited. I adopted her to do just that. Sorry if that seems harsh. You would have to understand my history to appreciate that concept. She has protected me and my family for years. She is a dog and they can be unpredictable. I don't allow the boys to corner her or lay on her or get in her face while she is eating. I read her body language well and can tell when she needs her space. Interesting, she seems just like the rest of us... Jake isn't old enough yet to be trusted to treat her nice enough, so I don't let him play with her or bother her.


I have been feeling guilty lately. I sometimes feel I let her down. I look into her eyes and she looks so sad. She doesn't get walks, she sleeps almost all day, she seems so bored, maybe even depressed. I think I should thank her for all that she has done for me in the last nine years. Through running, living alone, moving various times, depression, her being my only companion so many nights when Ted was at the academy and I was sick and pregnant, the times it felt as if she was hugging me after we lost the baby, the constant presence in my life who is ALWAYS happy to see me....I love Jada like a guardian angel. I don't want to look back someday and think, I wish I would have given her more walks, hugs, treats, Frisbee tosses, swims at the lake, runs through the timber.... I think I will try harder. After all she never thinks twice about doing anything for us, it comes to her naturally, it always has.

Karma

My mother is convinced that Grant will name his daughter Karma. As he grows older and he hears my voice saying the various annoying phrases I repeated over and over during his youth, the one he will hear more than any other will probably be "that's Karma my dear, what DID you expect?" Yet, I have made a recent attempt to turn that word into a positive way of saying "you get back the positivity you put into the world." I found a necklace that says "Karma" to remind myself of this concept. I have always struggled with optimism. I have worn it since I bought it. I often reach up and rub it. I bought it while I was with one of the most optimistic and positive friends I've had in my life. Many of us often think of Karma as a negative result or consequence that we endure for doing something wrong/shameful/dishonest, etc. Yet, how often do we see it as a reminder that if we give good we will get good? I had never thought of it that way until I saw the description on the necklace when I bought it.
I was trying to think of the happiest time in my life the other day and I realized to my surprise that it was right after I had to have my uterus, cervix, ovaries, lymph nodes and other tissue removed in the spring of 2009. The scar and the recovery were painful. The fear of cancer was terrifying, yet, as time moved by I quickly made the decision to either change my attitude or let it consume me. For months I was probably the healthiest, in the best shape, the happiest and the most in love with life I had ever been. Of course, like all good things, we lose our appreciation and take it all for granted. Yet, for that time in my life Karma and I interacted like a cause and affect supported by the laws of energy, (energy can be created, but cannot be destroyed...it can only be transfered). Somewhere and somehow my energy was transfered: not destroyed, but transfered. I think I have finally figured out the connection to Karma. It isn't the bad that I do that comes back to bite me...it is the good I do, the happy I feel, the smile I give, the love I feel, the positivity I give away....
Karma just may not be an association with that annoying phrase that Grant hears in his head anymore. Maybe it can be altered to, "See that good you did Grant- it will come back to you- It's Karma you know!" Then maybe Mom will be right and he just may name his daughter "Karma".

Fresh Groomed and Psychotic

Today Grant, Jake and I all finally got our hair cut. I decided to take Jake to get his hair cut at the barber while Ted cut Grant's hair at home. Jake has my hair and Grant has Ted's hair so we have to go about the grooming very differently. Jake sat in the barbers chair, eating sundrops (M&M's without food dyes), and saying, "I wike it, uh-huh, I wike it, yep, I wike it, Mommy- you wike it, huh? You wike it too?" Afterwards I went down the street to see when they could get me in to turn my man unibrow into a couple of female eyebrows and to get a haircut so I could see if any of it was worth saving and not shaving all off! I was almost certain when I got home that Ted would have had Grants head shaved down to a 1 by then. I walked Jake down the back deck steps so he could show off his hair, I then saw a grouchy Grant and even more grouchy Daddy. His Mohawk was gone but it looked terrible. So, I took teary-eyed mc-chocolate face and tried to deal with him myself. Grant whined the whole time about losing his Mohawk and it hurt because it "tickled." I decided that I didn't want to have to do this again anytime soon so I took it down even shorter and trimmed around the ears, sideburns, back of his neck, and the top of his back-(hairy monkey like his Daddy). I finally got his mood to improve by re-routing his thoughts, which I consider myself to be an expert at doing. I started to talk about how he is turning into a ware wolf-something he is almost certain of- seriously- just roll with it b/c he is five. He starts talking about his two sharp teeth (that we all have), how hairy he is (just like his father), how he sees really well in the dark, how fast he is, etc, etc. Then we were done and I was thanking God it was all over.

It was my turn to turn my unidentifiable gendered hair and eyebrows into a hopefully attractive change. I was so happy with the gal who cuts my hair and shapes my eyebrows, I told her I could kiss her. I can't remember the last time I looked into the mirror and felt like I liked what I saw and she made it happen in 20 minutes! She washed, cut, dried, and styled and changed how I felt about myself in such a quick amount of time. WOW! Living in a home full of boys who will grow into men leaves very little room for me to be a girl/woman/female... I would love to know how to do it all in a matter of five minutes a day. I'm sure it will get better when they get older and I am not still taking care of their very basic needs as well as trying to fit mine in also. I always toss mine out due to the sake of time.



So this Coast-to-Coast Biathlon I had spoken of previously requires that Ted and I both do our own amounts of 100 miles running and 200 miles biking before August 9th. It's tough. The boys could easily end up going to the YMCA nursery 2x a day/5 days a week if we are going to get our classes and all of the coast to coast done. Yeah, what was I thinking? I think I was hoping I could find an awesome friend who wanted to watch the boys for us during those times that we felt great about having them as influences on our children while we chose to be so selfish in our endeavours. Yet, oddly enough, all of my friends live 40-60 minutes away. I recently did find a very cool Yoga instructor with children my children's age and her husband loves to run. She wants to get together for diner some night to let the kids play and hang out since we have so much in common. I'm always so sure that people will meet us and then either get bored by us or overwhelmed by us...oh, well...their loss. "We are a lot of fun !" Right Grant! -That is what I told Grant to tell kids as school who said they didn't want to play with him. He had to smile and walk away like he had a great idea for a fun plan in his head though to make the diss work!



K-Enough tonight. I need to get ready for the frog jumping contest tomorrow. Watch out SIDNEY and SABRINA DAVIS!! GRANT and JAKE ANDERSON are coming to....to....make that frog....um... jump....fast....oh and by not even stepping on theirs this year!

Much to say-little motivation

I'm feeling as if the followers may be quite behind on all the day to day going on's in the Anderson House of Fun and Entertainment with hourly shows, possible trips to the ER or at least the EMT bag. I signed us all up for too many things this summer and am now wishing I had someone here to talk me down from that ledge. I did it out of a desperation to get us all out of the house daily and moving. Now we barely make it to Grant and my Yoga class, My Step Class and Wt. Lifting Class, Ted's Wt. Lifting Class, A Coast to Coast Biathlon Ted and I are completing, Summer Reading Program, all my races... although I backed out of a few because they aren't as fun to do alone and they cost so stinking much! Day to Day Demands- (Cooking, Cleaning, Laundry, Kids, and so much more), mowing this huge lawn, house design, family get-togethers, friend get-togethers, A weekly all-day cleaning job I now have for a friend, ....I was going to write more, but honestly, my eyes won't stay open, so it will have to be another time. Cheers!

So maybe ya'all didn't know how cool my ma can be :
"Your Dad and I both had less then optimal days. I didn't go to my Y class...just wasn't in the mood. Instead I came home and trimmed, pulled a few weeds, and picked some green beans.

(note: Mom and Dad were babysitting my dog "Jada" while I was on a trip and she gets very homesick when we are gone.)

Jada refused to play outside, she just stayed on the step and waited to go back inside. After supper, I decided we would ALL go for a walk. While we couldn't get her to go out to play with us, just say "want to walk" and she whined until we had her on the leash. All 5 of us walked almost all the way to Joe's. (Mom, Dad, their two dogs and Jada) Your Dad and I shared our worst and best moments of the day. Later after we were inside, I was catching up on the old newspapers when I found an article about a really unlucky farmer. He was hit by lightening in 2006 and hasn't slept well since. He was outside on his farm in the middle of the night recently when he heard a noise and turned around to be knocked over and run over by a bear. His wrists were cut pretty bad. There was a stat included about how one was more likely to be mauled by a bear then hit by lightening. I cut the article out and posted it my fridge....your Dad and I decided our day wasn't so bad after all. Hope you can feel that way too. No blood was lost, we suffered no physical bruises, and I think we can all proclaim....."I'm not dead yet." (Monty Python reference) I might suggest... in your life, that when you feel "challenged" by keeping your frustrations under check with relatives that you refer to my favorite movie. Imagine that necklace of fruit loops, (a secret movie reference I cannot reveal or it would ruin our secret joke Reference) Or how about when the daughter reminds her mom to "just float" and remember that peaceful moment they shared on that special vacation, (Hope Floats reference). Take your pick. As the main character told her sister....we don't have to like each other...we are family. Love always....and remember to just float. Mom"
Sorry Mom, you write too well to hide it. For that reason and my lack of energy these days, your writing is my post tonight. If you keep them coming- I'll post them :-) Well, unless you begin to threaten me or worse...tell me you are disappointed in me! ;-P
Love you Mom thanks for listening the other day and for the unique way you have supported me along the way.

Found The Best Summer Treat!

Four out of Four Anderson's agree Fruitfull 100% Natural Strawberry Juice Frozen Fruit Bars ROCK!

I have one of those in my stomach!

Jake was playing with some toys and I found a stress ball shaped like a human brain. Jake picked it, shot up onto his feet and yelled, (while only inches from my face), "Mommy, I haves one of this in my stomach!"

Well, there we have it, I knew there was something off about that boy! If his brain is in his stomach then is his stomach in his brain? Maybe that is why he has had a fever lately.

I was trying to figure out if I should be taking him to the doctor if it is simply a virus, so I asked him a few questions. I asked if his belly hurt. He said, "no, your belly hurts!" I asked if it hurt in the back of his mouth and he said, "no it hurts in your mouse!" I asked if his head hurt and he said, "no your head hurts!" I asked if his ears hurt and he laughed and said, "no your ears hurt!" I asked if his sassy sarcastic and ornery button was hurting, he stopped and looked at me and said, "you're sassy and your butt hurts!"

I know what is wrong with him: he is a cross between Dan, Jim and Ted...and his brain isn't in the right place. He even said so. Oh, well Grant turned out awesome and there were days like this with him too. Let's hope for Jake's sake everyone...

I'm just teasing y'all. That little boy is hilarious and no matter who he becomes I will love him from the top of my stomach to the bottom of my brain!