There Once Was a Pup Named Bailey

This past weekend, we have babysat Bailey- an adorable Schnauzer that is just shy of two years old. Miss Bailey's hometown is in Wingate, North Carolina- near Monroe- and her parents are my parents- Thomas and Karen. She is a dark gray color and is close-shaved along her back and sides- her stomach and legs are shaggy and long. She has a small stub for a tail and these big amazing brown eyes. Her ears flop over and when she looks up at you, they can go straight out and look like Ewok ears. She has a beard and shaggy eyebrows like Charlie Chaplin.

She whines when she needs to go out or when her daddy left her today- she growls at unusual things- and she barks at the legless dogs, aka the snakes, that we have in the cage. She loves her some Branson, although I can't say if the feeling is mutual or not. She loves to shred toys and loves a fleece rope that I got Branson from Woofstock. She doesn't have the tug-of-war thing down pat yet.

She has some unusual behaviors- like last night when we were getting ready to go to bed, and she felt the need to shred her bed. She turned her bowl of food over on purpose. She refused to come up the stairs and had to be carried. She sat beside of Josh and started growling/talking for no reason. She refuses to be fed from her bowl and prefers to be hand-fed, if at all possible. She was playing with the rope and sat half of her body on me, the other half on the floor.

I got in the floor to play with her, and she proceeded to give me kisses and love and bit/nibbled on my nose. She still has the run of a puppy, that prissy trot that most dogs have. She gets the most interesting looks on her face, especially when she's trying to understand what you're saying. She is rarely ever still but is the most beautiful pup when she is sleeping. She understands sit and shake- doesn't understand Come here just yet.

One thing is for sure-- I LOVE this little girl... she is the greatest dog EVER!!!

I put on my I-Pod headphones on and headed outside for my daily walk as I always did, but this night was different. Something was different, I could feel it but couldn't see it.

The Carolina blue sky above me gave me a show of dark blue clouds outlined in pinks and yellows- it was absolutely gorgeous. The hot summer weather took my breath away as soon as I stepped outside, and I immediately thought how I couldn't wait until next month when the weather would start cooling down.

I took the three flights of steps downstairs and noticed how much more comfortable my feet felt since I had bought shoes specifically for running and some insoles that supposedly made my feet and back hurt less. But that wasn't it either...

What was it that was different?

I turned my I-Pod to song 37 and turned my volume up as loud as I could, before stretching my legs and taking off to run.

"Hung my cotton dress on rusted wire," blared LeAnn Rimes as she sang "Nothin Better To Do" loudly into my ears. I was in my running mode, paid attention to nothing and no one around me. I ran my five miles and headed back up the three flights of stairs to my apartment.

I took my end of the day shower and was getting ready to get into bed by eleven. As I stood beside of my bed, I looked down at my feet and thought how wonderful my feet still felt with my new shoes and insoles. I couldn't believe it.

I lifted one leg to get into bed when I felt it and knew what was different- excruciating pain in my ankle and something wet running all over my foot. I looked down to see a deep gash along my Achilles Tendon with dark red, thick blood pouring onto my foot. As soon as I set my other foot down, I saw it- a hand with a sharp surraded knife slashing a gash into my other ankle. The movement was so quick that all I saw was a swift motion, but I felt the pain and soon fell to my knees and collapsed onto my stomach.

I was starting to feel faint and cold and started losing consciousness. I was slowly starting to bleed to death... guess I wasn't going running tomorrow.

Copyright: Amanda Vittitow.

Idea #2

The last thing I wanted when I left Ohio was a relationship. I wanted a change… no, let me rephrase that…I needed a change. I had been stuck in the same Podunk town since I was a child and had gone to college to have the experience- thinking it would change something for me. But after the same parties, the same situations, the same thing day after day, I had finally had enough. I packed all of my stuff into my car and headed for home, but when my exit for home came up- I kept driving.

In front of me stood nothing but open interstate and the clear, blue horizon in front of me. I had no idea where I was going or what I was going to do when I got there, but I was going and that’s all that mattered to me.

As I drove to my destination unknown, I thought about my life… kinda boring, definitely uneventful. I had grown up in the rural area of Southeast Ohio, in the typical house with my parents and siblings- one older brother, who everyone thought the sun rose and set with, and one younger sister, who according to my parents was, “the cutest thing you’ve ever seen.” Gag me. Being the middle child did have its advantages because while my parents were tending to my siblings, I was getting away with things that I never would have gotten away with if I was the oldest, youngest, or even the only child. And as much I pushed the limit and wanted to get caught or punished to get my parents attention, it never happened. I was the forgotten child.

The forgotten child, I thought as I continued to drive. It had a nice ring to it. I mean what would truly happen if I never went home? My parents wouldn’t miss me, my siblings wouldn’t miss me, my roommates back at college definitely wouldn’t miss me. The girl that played her music too loud when her roommates were sweating exams the next day, the girl that came in way too late and clattered around because she wanted Ramen noodles at four in the morning… yeah they definitely wouldn’t miss me.

Copyright: AmandaVittitow.

And Thoughts..

Still writing articles and such.. trying to get back into grant writing. I'm going to meet a grant writer on Tuesday for her to teach me some things to see I like it and want to get into it.

I have also had a lot of fiction ideas come into my head. Only thing is I don't know where to go and what the characters should or can do to make them stand out and be different from everyone else. I mean let's face it, writing a book is a great accomplishment but I'm not proud of it. I think if things were handled different with the publishing company, I would be more proud of it.

May be writing different ideas to put on my blogspot... just a tip: I own the rights- all of them. It's my original work, and I am proud of it- so it's MINE.

Idea...

I haven't blogged in a while but have had a lot of ideas running through my head. Finally had to write an idea down to see where it took me.. here's the result. Who knows where it will end up if anywhere.

I own all rights to this.

I woke up the morning after and looked around his bedroom. It looked a whole lot different in the morning sunlight than it did in the dark- where the only light coming through was the softness of the moon. Now the morning sun made everything look extra bright, almost translucent. I rolled over to see him sleeping soundly next to me with his arm draped over his eyes to block out the sun, or maybe he was he was doing the same thing I was- trying to avoid me, like I was with him. But oh my god it was fun—ten years of playing catch up wrapped into two hours of pure, animal, never-going-to-see-you-again sex.

I peeled myself out of his bed and tried to step lightly across the hardwood floors. One of the boards creaked underneath me, immediately causing me to stop and turn around to see if I had woke him up. I sighed under my breath to see that he was still peacefully sleeping and continued walking through his room picking up my clothes that seemed to be in order from his bed to his bedroom door. First was my black, lacy underwear, second was my matching bra, third was my simple, black cocktail dress, fourth and fifth were my shoes and my hair barrette that I tossed as soon as the door was closed.

As soon as I was dressed, I opened the door and was just about out of his room- thinking I had played it safe.

“Hey,” I heard behind me.

Damn it. I was busted.

Moshimoshi..

This is a plate thing we found at Anthropologie that I thought was a good hat. My friends are always hassling me that I'm from Hong Kong, Japan (yes I know that Hong Kong is in China) so I thought this was a good touch.

Saturday Shopping Trip

One Saturday out of the month, my mom and I get together in Huntersville (it's about equal distance for the both of us- I'm in Hickory, she's in Wingate near Monroe). At first when we were meeting at Birkdale which is interesting enough, but then on a navigating trip we discovered Northlakes Mall complete with a Macy's and Borders- two stores that Valley Hill Malls lacks.

I made the hour trip in the A/C (thanks honey) and listened to the CMA Country Fest (what used to be known as Fan Fair). They were doing a songwriter's session which was the best and only session I've heard. The songwriter that wrote Kelly Pickler's "Red High Heels," and "I Wonder" was on there- also the songwriter that wrote Luke Bryan's "Country Man," and one of the writers (who happened to be a guy) that wrote Carrie Underwood's "Last Name." Oh also heard one of the writer's that wrote Billy Currington's "Must Be Doin Something Right." It was an excellent session.. really really good.

Mom and I met for coffee in the two-story Borders store which is an awesome bookstore that has even better coffee-- better than Starbucks could ever think about being. I got a white chocolate mocha coffee complete with whip cream and white chocolate shavings- mom got her usual coffee. As far as our pastries- she got a raspberry pastry thing with peach cream cheese in the middle, and I got a lemon pound cake that was really yummy.

First store we went into was Belk (by the way it's Belk, not Belk's- mom used to work for them, she would know). I went looking for a darker shade of powder for summertime. Instead of just being shown what to buy for makeup, I was given 3 different powders. I found one that didn't make me look chalky, and after I chose, the Clinque-ician put the powder all over my face and dressed up my eyelids, cheeks, and lips. I don't wear a lot of makeup b/c I'm really prone to breakouts, but I really like what she did. I was almost tempted to buy it all, but I know me and I wouldn't wear it. I also found a pair of jean shorts that are a little longer and nicer than the jean shorts I have now. What's funny about this is these shorts were originally $36 but thought they were on sale for $17.99. When I got up to the register I paid $12.59.. isn't that awesome???

Let's see where did we go from there.. OH we went to Coldwater Creek- mom's favorite store. I helped her pick two shirts out for a skirt and spotted another shirt for her to wear with white capris. I told her I was going to stop working in eyes and be a personal assistant and shopper.

Next was my absolute favorite store- Anthropologie. I love, love, love that store. I could easily drop $1000 in the store on dishes, a bedspread, sheets, and clothes-- not to mention the soap and the candles. It's such a funky store!! Mom bought a lot of scented soaps and two candles that cost more than your average candle (I refuse to say the price, but it was quite up there).

Last shopping place was Border's.. of course all we got there were books, but I got two books- Eat This, Not This (supermarket survival guide) and the book My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. There's a movie getting ready to come about that, but books are already better than movies- so I bought the book.

Originally lunch was going to be at a rustic Italian restaurant that has the best drinks and food, but I changed my mind and opted for TGIFridays which still has good drinks and food. But I decided to stay sober on this shopping trip- lol- but let me talk about the burger I got. It was called the Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger (so very fattening but I didn't care).. what was good about this burger was the thick piece of FRIED PROVOLONE. Now serious who doesn't love fried cheese of any sort??? Other than that it was just a cheeseburger.

I made the long trip home and have been lazy ever since. I really do enjoy the trip I make down there every month. I enjoy what the day holds.