Hello everyone! Today I wanted to share some fun events in my life this month!

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Life was super fun this month, which was such a pleasant surprise! I fully expected the month to be boring and lowkey, but it was actually really busy. This is especially nice because the weather has been lovely as well. No snow accumulation yet! Thank goodness because I honestly hate snow! So here’s what I’ve been up to this month.

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Life

Camp Cuddles!

My sister and puppy niece came to visit for a few days early this month. Fox did not seem to understand Arya was a guest, so he just barked at her like a crazy dog and we had to keep them separated the whole visit, unfortunately! It was especially sad when Arya gave clear signs of wanting to play and showed so much excitement at meeting her cousin, only for him to bark at her non-stop. It was so nice to see my sweet puppy niece again though. We got some quality snuggles in before she went back home.

Drive to and from Chicago

I decided to drive my sister back to the city with her dog so they wouldn’t have to struggle with the train, and also because my sister hadn’t been able to bring stuff she had for me to use with Fox on the train. She ended up gifting me a crate for Fox, as well as another little gate for us to use. It was much easier to drive her back too and I got to see their new apartment as well!

Library Events

I already mentioned Tai Chi in the lively post, so I’ll skip that one here, but I did go to two/three other events. The first one was a virtual event, which was a Great British Baking Show themed presentation! The presenter lives in Illinois now but also spent time in England so her presentation shared some background information on CGGS, mostly about the hosts and judges over the years, at the start. The bulk of her presentation was her tips on reading/converting the recipes and explaining some of the more obscure recipes that American’s probably wouldn’t know. She also shared a bit about British tea culture as well! It was pretty fun actually.

The other two events were in person and happened at the same time! The first one was a Covid vaccine clinic. I had mentioned to my librarian friend that I needed to find a booster vaccine as I’d finally reached the six months mark after my two initial doses and the boosters were opened to all adults. The librarian mentioned they were planning a vaccine clinic so the community could come in and get the vaccine. When I signed up, they were only accepting people who had the Pfizer vaccine for the Pfizer booster, so I didn’t sign up my parents who had gotten Moderna.

When I arrived though, I overheard the organizers talking about how they had all vaccines and all boosters, so I asked if they were still accepting new registrations. They said they were so I went home and told my parents to get ready for their boosters. I had a grooming appointment for my dog so I told them that I’d drop off my dog, come back, and I’d take them to get their booster. My dad was surprisingly all for it, since he hates needles, and my mom attempted to drag her feet but I just put on my best “eldest daughter” voice and she got in the car real quick with her vaccine card. We arrived, they registered, and got their vaccine!

While they waited, I sat in the lobby and listened to some Christmas jazz! This event happened to be at the same time, so I was glad to catch some of it. One of the jazz players is a librarian there, so he got his group to perform, which was nice. The lobby is pretty big, but there were so many people it was a little hard to stay six feet apart from everyone. It was nice to see a crowd supporting the librarian though!

Fox’s Life Update

I figured Fox would get his own little section for this post! He had his first grooming appointment, as I mentioned above. I had meant to take him last month, but after he was quarantined after biting, I put it off. I did finally make him an appointment, and when I dropped him off I did warn the groomers that he had bitten before, but only when he was really annoyed/upset so he might need a break. I asked them to give him a bath, trim his nails, and hopefully brush his teeth, but if he was too difficult I would understand. I also asked them to give me as much info as they could about how he behaved, since I wanted to be able to accurately warn future groomers if he was difficult. The staff was lovely, listening to my (quick) concerns even though they were crazy busy (I’d had to fill out a questionnaire anyway when checking in and they had to ask me about it anyway). I also showed them the rabies vaccine records on my phone and they took Fox back to get groomed!

Initially they told me it’d be about three hours, so I had planned to do Christmas shopping while I waited. But plans changed and I went back home to take my parents for their booster vaccine instead! Now, at this point I was worried we’d all feel bad, since I’d heard stories from others who felt really ill after their boosters. I hoped at least one of us would feel well enough to drive back out to get my dog! After the vaccine, I felt good though, so I drove back out to the shops near the groomers to get gifts. They ended up calling me at the two hour mark, so I quickly wrapped up my shopping, waited in a super long line to check out, and then went to get my pup.

The feedback I got was that he was really good! What a relief! Fox did get “wiggly”, as the groomer put it, when it came to his nails. The groomer opted to use the nail grinder instead. He also mentioned Fox was a little scared of the dryer (lol), and that he’d had an accident in his crate, probably because he got nervous. Poor pup! And poor groomer! I tipped extra. I was worried Fox would think I’d ditched him there, especially after he’d recently been at the shelter. Fox did seem relieved that I’d arrived, although he was very concerned about leaving the groomers so he seemed to not really care after a bit. What a relief that he was a good boy though!

He also had his first therapy appointment! After the bite incident, I made an appointment with a behavioral vet through his regular vet’s office. I’ve started referring to the behavioral vet as his therapist. Basically the vet said his behavior overall isn’t great because he’s 1) bored and 2) still getting used to his new home. Fox has had multiple homes in his short life, so he wasn’t comfortable yet and needed more time to adjust and to believe that he was in his furever home! She also said he was likely super bored and therefore misbehaving. She advised me to focus on daily training sessions with Fox, broken out throughout the day for reinforcement. She also advised me to get him puzzle toys and focus more on enrichment. Fox has been better behaved after implementing these things, although he is quite lazy and will sometimes prefer not to go for the treats or just not eat his kibble because he can’t be bothered to figure out his puzzles. Oh Fox! We have his next therapy appointment next month, since the holidays got in the way of his next appointment.

Christmas

Christmas was quite lovely! I signed the gifts for my parents as if they are from both myself and my dog lol. We only do a few things, since we all agree we don’t really need gifts. I did get Fox a fancy new bed and blanket matching set though. He loved it immediately! I opened it for him (yes it was wrapped) and he immediately climbed into it! He has pretty much refused to leave it since, which is honestly so funny. It has become his living room bed, which is so nice because it is quite fancy, but it had been supposed to be his crate bed so now I need to get him a new crate bed.

Honestly, I would rather not get gifts! I always tell my parents not to get me anything, but I always make sure to get them something so I think they feel bad if they don’t. My reason for getting them something is that they grew up poor and didn’t always get gifts so I would feel bad if they didn’t have any gifts! In a way that is also their reason for getting me stuff, they don’t want me to have a Christmas without getting anything. As for Fox, I just want to spoil him!

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So that’s my December life! It’s been a lovely month and I’m happy to close out the year in such a great way. This is my last post for 2021 so thank you for joining me this year and I hope to see you in 2022!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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