What a weekend!

We're in the midst of a heatwave - I will be so glad when the 90 degree weather is over. This weekend was a busy one. Rob came down for a visit and some quality catch up time. We also dropped some serious moola at Sears for a new stove and refrigerator, and best of all, my birthday - hanukkah - christmas - anniversary present came a bit early: a new sewing machine!! (thank you very much sweetie!)

I wound up getting the same one my friend Chrissie just got -- mainly on her recommendation and the report that it is super quiet. While I love my Brother and it has served me well, it was a bit noisy. I have yet to take the new girl for a test run - I'm only 1/2 way thru the instruction manual and managed to slice my thumb while making dinner so it might have to wait until I get feeling back, but I am super excited to try it out. Josh also managed to get me to go car shopping--well more like car looking. We really dig the Ford Escape hybrid, but the whole car buying process blows - we're checking out the Costco car buying program (thanks again Rob for the tip!!) and already the car priced out $10K less than the dealer. I'm holding fast for the premium package and ambient lighting - Josh knows me and LEDs, so aside from shaking his head I think he's pretty much resigned so long as he gets his audiophile option!

We also rescued a neighborhood doggie that wandered off. Josh was walking Melo and the pooch was wondering on Greely -- not a good road for a dog to be wandering around on. He and another neighbor saw her, so the neighbor held her while Josh came back for me and an extra leash. She (later learned her name was Billie) was such a sweetie - sort of a shorthaired and smaller shepard with beautiful ice blue eyes. Very sweet, friendly, obviously well cared for and not abandoned. We walked around the neighboorhood a bit (checking in with the 2 animal control trucks in the neighborhood for another lost pooch). We didn't want to hand her over because we weren't sure what they would do with her.

So then we loaded Billie in the car and resumed patrolling the neighborhood, asking anyone we saw if she looked familiar. No luck and we were getting prepared to drive to Dove Lewis to get her scanned for a chip. After about 30 or 45 minutes, we got a tip that cracked the case: a woman thought she had seen a sign put up earlier in the day or the day before about a lost dog near Fred Meyers. We worked our way towards Freddie's and spotted a lost dog sign: "Tricolor, female, blue eyes -- please call."

Turns out we found Billie's owners. Her mom was very very thankful over the phone; the dad seemed a bit perturbed, but relieved because it seems Billie is a bit of an escape artist and has done this before. She escaped from inside through a cat door this time. So with a last hug and kiss from Billie, we kept up our 100% success rate in reuniting lost doggies with their parents. With the exception of one parent, I have been really surprised how non-emotional the owners have been. They are polite and thankful, but I think there must be a bit of embarrassment. Me, if someone found my Melo, I could not say thank you enough and would think about naming my first kid after him/her!!

So, if you are reading this and have a pet, here's the plea to please, please, please chip him or her. I cannot even think about what I would do if Melo was lost and I couldn't find her--the one time she wondered off on me from the backyard still makes my chest contract in fear and she was next door. She's chipped, aka puppy lo-jacked, and thankfully pretty non-inquisitive, aka she's lazy. And still the cutest puppy princess in the world. I think I need to go give her a puppy snuggle right now.