The newest addition!

So, one week ago my husband and I brought home our newest addition, Bella T. Hicks! :)

When we first brought her into the house, the "other man" of the house, aka Garfield, was not sure about the newest addition. He maintained a viewing position higher than Bella and just watched. Whenever she would get close, he would warn her off with a hiss and growls.

The hubs and his little girl...

Momma and her little girl (sans makeup, my bad!)

When it came time for sleep, we brought the designated Bella-blanket into the bedroom, and placed it next to the hubs side of the bed. He insisted that she sleep next to him, because the kitties always love to sleep on me! I finally gave in and we went to sleep, praying for nothing to go wrong in the middle of the night...

During a bout of insomnia that night, about 3:30 am, I hear Garfield hissing and growling. Little did I know he was right in sleeping Bella's face. His hiss woke Bella up in a panic! She barked and started to chase Garfield, but at this moment, dad woke up and in his scary man-voice said, "NO!!" Poor little Bella came back shaking like a scared chihuahua. Can you imagine waking up to a hostile feline in your face? Poor little girl... Needless to say, I slept with one ear/eye open for the next two nights, praying for peace and calm. Thankfully I was rewarded.

Her chest is so soft!

The very next day we took her on her first walk! Once she saw that we had a leash in our hands, she ran to the door with enthusiastic tail-wagging and sat! It took everything she had to keep her butt on the ground. We were so happy to find that she has had some training! Our first walk went very well! Dad was sure to make sure that she followed beside/behind and not in front. He's reading "Be the Pack Leader" by Cesar Milan. :) She followed direction really well and didn't freak out at the sign of other dogs! She was a little tired after the walk, but seemed to truly enjoy it.

Gearing up for one of our walks! It was very chilly
that day... it was slightly too small, so we took
the straps off of her back side. Much more
comfortable. :)

She loved her sweater. I can't believe the
hubs actually agreed to it! Hahaha!

We absolutely love to take her on walks around the block, in the park, etc. and she rides in the car very well. She gets a little excited when a window rolls down, but she calms down with some direction. I had to run a few errands after one of our walks, and she stayed in the car, not a yip out of her mouth! :)

She absolutely loves our yard. She loves to roll in the grass, chase the leaves and her stuffed animal! :)

You cant tell where the lawn ends and the walkway to the
backyard house begins! She loves it! 

She loves scratching her back on the lawn!

More scratchin' and rollin'!

Just like heaven... (the hubs likes to tease her about her
rather, ahem, large nipples!!)

Her quacker stuffed animal that lasted 2 days!

She loved to play catch with it!

You get that duck, Bella!

She doesn't bark, I didn't know that was possible! I thought the foster keeper was just blowing smoke up my ass when she said that. She's barked once at a motorcycle and once when someone came to the door and the knock woke her up. She grunts when we love on her and she loves to give kisses!

My parents came into town last week for a few days and bought her a bed, she just loves it!

We put her right by the couch, she's as happy as can be!

She loves to nap... and chew on rawhides! 

Our original plans were no bed, no couch. ONE week into her being home and have a look at this!

That didn't last long.

Giving a happy daddy kisses!

So, now we've officially switched to only letting her on the couch when we invite her. When we get off the couch, so does she, and she only sits on a blanket. I do NOT want my couch to smell like dog. I love you Bells, but sorry. Blanket is my final requirement.

Shall we make bets on how long it will take before dad lets her sleep on the bed? I'm giving it one month. We shall see.....

Garfield, Oreo and Bella are getting along much better. Garfield rarely hisses anymore, but occasionally growls. Sometimes Bella gets too excited and wants to play with Garfield, but he will have none of that. Oreo is still passive and using avoidance as her coping mechanism.

Oreo, on my bed, doing what she does best...sleeping.

So, with all of the changes in the last week, everybody is adapting very well. Bella is the sweetest dog ever, and exactly everything we hoped she would be. We are so happy to have her and will be forever thankful to you ladies of Twitardia for your sacrifice and generosity. She is safe now, and in a home that will never give up on her or give her away. I think she can feel that, because she is so happy and in such good spirits. I think she knows that she has finally found her forever home.  

Garfield is learning to approve. 

It's nesting time!

So, today (thanks to you lovely ladies!!) the hubs and I signed the addendum to the lease and wrote out the check to our landlord.

There it is! It's going out tomorrow!!

And here is how I feel about the FIVE HUNDRED dollar deposit:

Suck on this. 

We talked to the lady who has Bella, and we set up an appointment to pick her up! Tuesday at 5 PM is THE time! We are so happy! So as soon as I found this out, the motherly/nesting instinct started to kick in! I don't have kids, but I assume it's something like the pregnancy nesting. ;) I just HAD to go get her a tag with our info, a collar, a leash, and all the other lovely things a doggie needs in her new home! Thanks to everybody's donations, we were able to get her some really cool stuff!

When we got home, I laid everything out because I wanted to show all of you h00rs just what we were able to get. But SOMEONE, by the name of Garfield, was not pleased.

This is the butt treatment. "I'm not paying attention, I'm NOT
paying attention to you!"

So I put him on top of all the doggie things to let him explore all the new things...

OOOOOH! What are these??

Caught red-handed chewing on the dog food bag!

I have to keep all of his food behind lock and key because he just loves to chew through the bags! I must always have boxes on hand for him at all times to chew on, too.

Ashamed because he was caught.

First things first! Her new tag and owner's info!! And of course a tasty treat...

And of course, an adorable collar! Fit for a girl, but not so girlie the hubby vetoed it.

Next was a harness for walks and other exercise requiring a leash....

And of course a leash! The hubs picked this one out...

Cesar Milan approved, natch.

As always, thanks for the advice!

Some treats!!

And a sweet-ass duck with a quacker!

And of course some yummy food.

Holistic, huh? I'm a sucker for words like that. Even for my pets.

 

Chew proof and slide proof?? WHAAAAAAT?!

We are so excited to pick her up and are still floored by all the love and help that we've received from the wonderful Twitarded community! I have said it before and I'll say it again, THANK you all so much! I will make sure to post pictures of our journey and times together!

P.S. We got this new picture of her, it's freakin cuuuuuute as all hell!

 She is smiling, just for us. :)

Garfield approves.

I'm speechless...

I'm sitting here with a million thoughts running through my head, not quite sure just how to say what I want to say. The more I think about it, the more I realize that perhaps I just don't have the words. A simple "thank you" seems so insufficient.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story, I should rewind a bit. For the last week and a half, my husband and I have had our hearts set on a little dog named Bella. She's a 25 lb, one year old terrier mix that lives 1.8 hours away from us. She lives in foster care because her owner died of a heart attack. Since then, she has been up for adoption. She was described as:

"Spayed 25 pound terrier mix, around 1 year old. House trained, crate trained. Sleeps on her blanket in the bedroom at night. Stays in the house during the day, or hanging around outside with you! Loves children, very patient with them! Great with people. Great with indoor cats. Likes to chase birds. Likes to play in water. Travels great! Generally calm but is in everyone's business! She has great self-esteem and doesn't hold grudges! Thinks she's a lap dog and loves to sleep in boxes! Her nickname is Bella Luna! or Loon!  She grunts when you give her love! We call her The Camper because she makes a tent with blankets...loves to burrow in blankets. Likes to chew on bones and rawhides. She has a special ability to be sympathetic when you are sick, my friend says she eases his pain (he has bone cancer), knows just where to lay against him...don't know about that, but you never know!  She ignores my cats, like they don't exist. Stays inside all day while I'm at work."

Between this description, her adorable face and the fact that her name is Bella, I felt it was destined to be! That's when our landlord told us that we need to sign an addendum to the lease and pay a $500 deposit before we can pick her up. With the holidays coming around, this was heartbreaking news! We have four God-children and lots of people to buy for! There is no way we could fork out that kind of money this time of year. I was heart broken. I'd been having dreams of this dog all week, planning on all the places we were going to take her, the toys we were going to get her....I was in tears. 

I went on Twitter to vent, like I do allll the time, and Ms. Double_Dippin insisted that a sort of "Bring Bella Home" coalition be started. Very quickly amandakmelby and Jaymes805 jumped in. By the time I came back to the computer, the money had been raised! I was speechless!

I know we have all said it a million times, but what Miss JennyJerkface and Ms. SnarkierThanYou have started is such an amazing circle of women. I'm so thankful to be a part of it and I am proud to call myself a Twitard! FOOOORKS 2011 will be just as epic. I cannot wait! 

You ladies are ah-mazing. 

I want to sincerely thank every single person from the bottom of my heart. My husband was floored by the response and the love and support that was shown. The words to express how I feel at the moment quite truly fail me, but I want you all to know how appreciative I am. You all have made us the happiest family on earth! Bella will be coming home with us hopefully within the week, I will keep everybody posted!

Her name shall be Bella Twitarded Hicks! :D

I cannot wait to meet this face in person! 

A special thanks to Double_Dippin, amandakmelby and Jaymes805... I love you h00rs more than I can express!

Our (non-Twilight) nerdy night.

Wow, so it's been too long since I posted! I apologize for my slackerish ways.

My husband and I have sort of always had an understanding... I can nerd out about Twilight and Harry Potter and he can nerd out about his games. We both have no room to make fun of, taunt, tease or roll our eyes at each other because we both have hardcore hobbies/obsessions.

Just a little.

So today, November 9th was the release of Call of Duty Black Ops. 

Big fucking deal, for reallies.

Now, let me preface this by saying in October, the new Medal of Honor came out. He was excited, he had been waiting for a couple of years for the new one to come out. We went to the midnight release at Game Stop, he played it, he liked it, that was the end of it. Now, when I asked if we were going to the midnight release of Call of Duty Black Ops (COD), he looked at me like I was crazy. He all of the sudden got very serious and said, "babe, this is my Twilight." That statement packs quite a punch. At first I doubted his resolve. I gave him a look that said "You've got to be fucking kidding me," but apparently that was slightly offensive. He said, "I have been waiting for this game for a very long time, it's my favorite game, I've never missed one game, etc. etc. etc."...So I decided okay, he's right. I'll give it to him. I mean don't you go comparing Twilight to just anything, them's fighting words.

So we head to Game Stop at 10:30 PM last night and there is a big ass US Army truck with a TV in the back where people are playing the game on split screen, pretty cool!

This, my friends, is his Forks/Hogwarts

OMFG It's THE game before it's released!! OMGWTFBBQ!

The ironic thing? We were on an Air Force Base.

Talk about a sausage fest! There were nearly 100 guys all waiting around watching four other dudes play on a split screen in the back of a hummer. By the time midnight rolled around they formed us into two lines and efficiently started handing out the game!

OMG OMG OMG we are in line. ;)

I was the only wife there/taking pictures. Hope I
wasn't too embarrassing? 

Then the moment of truth comes.....

I know if this were Twilight related, I would
have had a squee face on!

At around 12:15 we get home and he played for a few hours, slept in, played for a few hours, ran into work, and is playing as we speak. :)

I made him pizza, got him a beer.... pretty sweet life, huh?

I'm happy that my husband and I have things that we, ahem, are passionate about. It makes us a lot more tolerant of each other's hobbies and interests. This is the man that went to the Breaking Dawn midnight release party with me back when it was first out, even though he had a minor outpatient surgery that day! He puts up with my Edward obsession and goes with me to all my movie midnight releases just because he knows how happy it makes me.....

Oh yeah, and even wore this shirt that I bought him for his birthday 2 years ago!!

Babe, you truly are my Edward...AND my Fifty.... ;)

So here's to being able to let your nerd flag fly! I fly it high and proud!