Some cheerier changes

I thought the old blog design was a bit too heavy, so I made the look at bit lighter. I am SO digging the bird template.

Speaking of digging.....

I felt inspired to find something that looked more natural because I've been spending a lot of time outside lately working out in my garden and enjoying the sunshine. I am so proud that I've actually got vegetables growing! We've got cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and cabbage growing right outside our back door. It has been such a joy to work the soil, plant the seeds, and watch the tiny seeds grow into plants that will hopefully provide food for us.

I'm a proud mamma of some healthy tomato plants!

Bullet point blog post

• I'm getting a lot more efficient and confident with my job - yay!
• A custom made wedding dress is in the works right now-for cheap!
• Wearing my mom's veil for my wedding, and I can't wait
• Got our security deposit back from the office we used to rent, and it was about 1/2 of what we expected because of "referrals" and "commissions." Oh yes, someone's going to feel my irritation.
• My cute little dog has a pair of doggles for sticking her head out the window, and she loves them.
• Going to Kentucky this weekend to hang out with the hillbilly side of my family, and I couldn't be happier!
• So far in the last couple months, I've gotten the following for free (either from various curbsides, from freecycle/craigslist: a coffee table for my back porch, a glider chair (for the porch), lots of red landscaping bricks, 2 maple trees, a dehumidifier, and an air compressor that needed a little tlc. Free is a good price : )
  
• I've started on my wedding quilt. It's going to be used in the unity portion of the ceremony. I'm gathering scraps of fabric from family members, and combining them all into the quilt. Can't really do a unity candle outside, and I am not a fan of the sand-doesn't it look like the sand art you did as a kid?
• I bought an old-timey looking bike that I don't have to hunch over to ride. It's a light yellow, and it's so fun to ride! No matter how dorky it is!
• Aaron and I have been recently volunteering for Indy Feral, which is a local non-profit that helps stray and feral cats. We usually volunteer 6-7 hours each time, but it is so rewarding.

My choice not to have children

It's no secret that I'm a huge animal lover. In discussions with people, I refer to all the animals that live with me "my children." Some of the people on the other side of the dialogue really seem to get it, and they even smile, knowing how important my animals are to me. Others have told me, "they're not really your children," which I find to be a little frustrating because I do everything for my animals that a mother would do for their human children.

I feed them, buy them clothes (collars, leashes, sweaters, etc.), comfort them, take them to the "doctor," show them affection, bathe them, buy them toys, participate in activities with them, and of course, love them. I am also planning on enrolling Angel into school to become a therapy dog. While I may not use the English language to speak to my kids, we still communicate.

My animals depend on me to care for them, provide them shelter, and love them unconditionally. I believe that they view me as their mother.

I know that I'm also not the only person who views their animals as their children. Recently, a couple at my parents' church requested prayer for their daughter whose dog had recently died. She unable to have children herself, and she'd decided to adopt a dog instead. That dog became so important to her, that the loss of the dog was devastating.

I've been asked when Aaron and I will have children, and I think that most people assume that young couples will have children, and of course, I don't fault anyone for assuming. Some seem confused as to why Aaron and I have chosen not to have kids. While there are many reasons, the answer is pretty simple: we don't feel like we have to have our own children in order to nurture children, and having our own kids doesn't fit into our plans for life.

We hope to be able to nurture kids in the church that we go to, our sibling's kids (if they decide to have them), and our friends' children. I can't wait to be the fun aunt!

We also plan to continue to spend a lot of our time volunteering to help animals and pursuing our goals of traveling.

If we ever change our minds and want to have children, we will adopt a child. But whatever our choice, we are determined to avoid being persuaded by others' thoughts and expectations of what we should do.

House pics

Here are some pictures as promised. These were taken when we were first looking at the house, so everything's pretty bare. It is certainly a fixer-upper, and so while it doesn't look exactly like we want right now, we'll have the chance to add some value hopefully.

Mimzy's palace

One of the bathrooms-Yikes!
We're eventually making this into a master bedroom-love the fireplace!

Very, very brown. Hopefully this will change in the very near future!
Petite yard-doesn't take long to mow and now features a fire pit : )
Yes folks, that is a working hot tub!

I love you too-Angel's room
Future office

Updates on the Hendricks County Animal Control Facility

So far, we've made baby steps toward improving Animal Control in Hendricks County.

The commissioners have agreed to vote on having an animal control advisory board that would act as a liaison between citizens with suggestions/complaints/praises and the commissioners. We hope that it will act as a checks and balances system for the animal control officers and prevent abuses from happening.

Also, a volunteer program is sort of in the works. It has not all been ironed out yet, but one of the board's responsibilities will be to design the volunteer program. That's also a step in the right direction, but things are moving so slowly.

These are both really positive changes, but I also cannot help but worry about the animals currently in the shelter at this moment. Maybe we can help animals in the future, but what about the ones in there right now? And I also am skeptical about the staying power of the future changes. Will these improvements be abolished once the commissioners think we've been appeased?

How are you supposed to eat an elephant? One bite at a time (not that I would eat an elephant ; 0)

Glad to be back!

Since moving into the new house, I haven't had internet until recently : ( so I've been on a blog hiatus since then, but now I'm back!


In this time span, we've moved in, gotten mostly settled, sub-leased our company's office, and adopted 3 fur children. I'll post pictures really soon!

My job is going really well-I've started quoting real cases, and it feels great. After two months of training, I'm finally producing something for the company, and the deadlines that I'm required to meet make my day go by much more quickly.

In other news, Aaron and I started seeking out some new volunteering opportunities. We attended a building event at the Indianapolis Animal Care and Control facility in which dog houses and feral cat structures were built. We had a great time! I found out, however, that I just wasn't meant to hold a hammer in my hands. My attempt to sink a nail in straight was very sad, but it was all for a good cause. I'll post pics of that soon too. Habitat for dogmanity put on the event (http://www.habitatfordogmanity.org/), and the doghouses went to FIDO (Friends of Indianapolis Dogs Outside-http://www.fidoindy.org/), and the feral cat structures went to Indy Feral (http://www.indyferal.org/). They're all great organizations, and we were happy to help.

I HAVE A NEW HOUSE!!!!!

Woohoo! I'm a homeowner! And I'm adopting a pit bull terrier this week! And a friend for my cat Chipper!