What's on YOUR Desk?

A friend sent me the question:  List ten things on your desk.  Now, I know you didn't lose sleep because you didn't know what's on my desk, and I know that knowing this doesn't matter one whit in the grand scheme of things, but answering this was kinda fun!

Okay.  I am a coffeeholic.  I have cups of coffee, some still hot and some that have cooled completely, all over my house.  Well....maybe not all over....  Nevertheless, the first noteworthy thing on my desk is my cup of coffee.

I don't have a lot of "open space."  I've always been like this.  When I was employed outside the home, I had "disorganized organization."  That's a nice way of saying that my desk looked like a bomb exploded on it.  Perpetually!  

So this corner of my desk has a phone (yes, I still use a landline!), business cards are clothes-pinned together, a Netflix DVD that I need to return, and a menu for Chinese food!  In the background is an organizer (which, in itself, for MY space, is really ironic!) with bills and greeting cards and statements and CDs, then there is a Facing Your Giants calender.  Apropos!

 

On the other side of my desk is my Greyhound mug filled with pens and pencils, stuffed Panda bears, and behind the bears is a wall calender hanging from the back wall of the hutch.  Then I have pix of some of my sponsored kids, HP printer, a stuffed chickadee (?) is on the printer (this was a Christmas present--when I squeeze it, it cheeps!), the paper behind its head is a list of 2012 suspense dates for a newsletter that I do for an organization, and a fold-out greeting card is taped to the back wall of the hutch.  Oh!  To the right of that is a pic of a friend and the book for a Bible study--"When Life is Hard."  In front on the desktop is my mouse, a wooden star which reads BELIEVE (another Christmas present!) and the remote control for my radio.

Well.  I have not been in the work force for over ten years, but little has changed regarding my desktop.  And I guess I still have trouble counting to TEN!

Now, I'm going to fire another question back to my friend.  Before taking pix, did you "tidy up a bit" first???  HA!

The Greyhound with Attitude

Mia Pasha a.k.a. Miss Mia, the Greyhound with Attitude!  The story begins when I started to foster her around springtime last year.  (The idea behind fostering is that the Grey stays with you until a family wants to adopt them.)  It was a complete surprise when I decided to adopt her.  Didn’t want to.  Wasn’t going to.  In fact, she and I had a rather rocky foster period!  But…well…she kinda grew on me.

Probably, the most difficult thing was stepping back to let Mia BE Mia.  What happened was that my favorite girl, Callie, crossed Rainbow Bridge about five months later.  Callie was an exceptional Greyhound.  Callie was also a red fawn and black brindle.  And she was MY girl.  But Mia is more independent.  Plus, she had learned some unacceptable behavior before she came to live with me.  Nevertheless, no matter WHAT she did, I compared her to Callie.

But I made myself stop comparing.  “Mia is NOT Callie,” I told myself.  “It’s unfair to expect her to be Callie!  Their personalities are polar opposite.  And that’s not a bad thing.  Just different.”  I had some hurtful disappointments, but it finally sank in.  Mia Pasha is NOT Callie. 

And you know what?  Since I gave permission, both to me and to Mia, to let Mia be herself, she is growing into her own personality.  She likes to play and pounces on everything!  She is VOCAL!  Her tail is very expressive from whipping about like a snapped cable to the three inches at the tip wagging side-to-side when she is on the floor.

I think mutual love is growing here.  Who would have thought?

Meet my 4-legged "kidz!"

I hope to cover a variety of topics on this blog:  Greyhounds, recipes, Multiple Sclerosis, volunteering, the Answer to life, amateur digital photography, books, humor…and YOUR ideas about where you would like to go on this journey.

I think I’ll begin with my four-legged family.  I am a Greyhound Mom, and adopted my first retired racing Greyhound in 2002.  I will talk about ALL of my “kidz” later on, to be sure.  But I have only two right now—the oldest is my fawn-colored boy Max who will be 13 this May.  The second is a seven year old red fawn and black brindle girl, Mia Pasha, and each of her names is from my two closest friends.

My favorite story is about, Max.  A few years ago, I was fostering another Greyhound in addition to mine.  She found the basket of stuffie toys that I have for my Greys, she found a toy she liked, and promptly trotted out the dog door with the toy in her mouth!

I was outside on the patio and thought that I’d just retrieve the toy when she dropped it.  But I didn’t have to!  Max then came out the dog door, looked at me as if to say in disgust, “Doesn’t that new dog know any better?!  We don’t take our toys outside!”  He went up to her and took the toy from her, turned around and took the toy into the house!  I never taught him to do that!

But he is a very smart boy…well, he’s an old man at 13.  Ah, he’ll always be Mommy’s Boy!

I’ll think of a story to tell about Mia Pasha tomorrow.