Friday 27 July 2012

A Substitute for Something Else or Girls Best Friend?

Just so you know, this won't be a blog about shoes. Although there will be a mention or two of Manolo!

Last night whilst watching a tv show, a lady made a comment that her dog was her other child. This comment was met with strange looks from one guy as he felt that anybody who thought of a dog as a child, needed to seek help from a doctor.

Clearly this man has never had a pet.

Quite a few years ago, I found out I probably couldn't have children. Now whilst I hadn't considered whether I wanted kids or not, I was a pit pissed that the choice had been taken from me. Even though friends and family had started having kids around me, I still didn't really consider whether it was something for me.

Over the years I had got used to the fact that it wouldn't happen so I never gave it a thought. That was until about 2 years ago, when I kept having the feeling that something was missing.I began to think, was it the old "biological clock ticking'? But I knew it wasn't.

 A co-worker dropped into work one morning and she had brought her puppy with her. I'd always loved dogs, but hadn't thought about having one myself. As soon as I petted this gorgeous little one, I knew what I wanted. And so the hunt began......

In Cairns (and surrounding suburbs) there are 2 pets stores!! 1 was great if you needed supplies or a fish and the other was where all of FNQ frequented every single week to see what new arrivals they had in store. So I took to the saturday paper, I would get it at 6am and would have a list to call. I would always wait until 9am before calling, unfortunately nobody else was that considerate as the dogs would all be sold by the time I rang. This went on for just over 2months, I would drive down from Port Douglas every Saturday and hope that I would be coming home with a new addition.

Finally one, particularly hot Saturday, I went into the store, I went straight out where they kept the puppies and had a look. Nothing took my fancy so I walked back inside, as I was walking thru the store I accidently dropped my handbag. There next to my bag was a big cage with a tiny gorgeous puppy in it, I had missed him earlier. I asked to have a look at him and as soon as I picked him up and he licked my chin, I knew it was love!! I named him Manolo.

That was nearly 2 years ago. He is now fully grown (thank goodness!) and is still a ball of excitement. Overall though, he was exactly what I needed. To come home to him, so excited to see you is better than almost anything. Yes I had the whole toilet training, no sleep, teething, sickness, worrying in general but I wouldn't do it any other way. In Feb 2011 we were unlucky enough to have Cyclone Yasi go thru. We spent the night in the shower, in the dark and stinking hot. Manolo slept thru the wind and most noises, he was loving the cool tiles. There was the option of staying in an evacuation centre, but dogs weren't allowed. I knew there was no way I was leaving him behind, so we spent it bunkered down in the house.

To anybody that has ever had a loyal loving pet, you will know that you would move heaven and earth for them. Yes, I treat him like the child I never had but hey why not? He is still a living creature who deserves to be treated well, and if this makes me somebody in need of a doctor, then I better up my health insurance!!

To Manolo.........Happy 2nd Birthday!!!




12 weeks old



Manolo at 2 years old.









Wednesday 18 July 2012

To blog or not to blog......

I went to high school in the mid to late 80's (don't do the math, I'm in my early 30's *cough*) When I was there, there were computer classes. These classes consisted of green screen computers with those keyboards that always looked dirty yellow. I can't remember what was taught in those classes but I do know that you must ALWAYS turn your screen off if you are leaving the computer on, otherwise you will burn the image/writing into the screen. We also used to finish the class by putting a plastic cover over the computer. Yep, clearly I took notice in these classes. The truth was, I wasn't interested as I always said I'd never have an office job and so I would have no use for computer knowledge.  Jump ahead 20 something years and the first thing I do is turn on the computer followed by the kettle. 

Which brings me (in a round about way) to my first blog. I am not sure why exactly I want to blog, but I feel inspired to. To be honest I'm not a big blog reader myself, but over the few years I've been on twitter I have come across some amazing bloggers.  @Bern_Morley who writes  So Now What speaks to you in a way that is totally relatable. @annaspargoryan's blog http://blog.annaspargoryan.com/ is so brilliantly written, I'm still deciding whether I should post my first blog at all.

Now don't get me wrong, this isn't a paid presentation on bloggers you should read, it's just my way of explaining how I am inspired to put finger to keyboard. I can't promise you Nobel prize winning writing, nor can I promise you tales of foreign travels and living the high life. What I can promise though, is a blog about nothing in particular but always written from the heart. I am the person who says and also asks the questions others may not want to. Ironically I am a private person who keeps her cards close to her chest, so this should make for an interesting ride. I will no doubt refer to my fur child Manolo (as in Blahnik), I can promise a reference or 2 to George Clooney and shoes will feature once in a while. I can also promise spelling mistakes, although I am a great speller I am however an average typist.
And it would seem blogger.com's spell check seems to think the word blog is spelled incorrectly! How does that work?? I must also apologise in advance, I do love me a swear word. Although, can you get in trouble swearing on here? Clearly I have a lot to learn about blogging, to be honest I'm still trying to work out how to make it look prettier!

Ok so I'm about to press publish, this is the most nervous thing I've done since standing next to P!nk in a bar in Port Douglas and trying to look cool, wish me luck!!