What a weekend!

What a crazy weekend. The kid has really run us ragged this week. Poor Jen is exhausted with a baby in her belly and Oz is giving no quarter and showing no signs of slowing down. We try to wear him out but he just keeps going and going. The only way to get him to stop is to put him down for a nap and that is a chore as well.

We tried to get a little Christmas and gift shopping done this weekend, and it brought back the many reasons why I hate shopping this time of year. The crowds, the rudeness of people, the mess in the stores. I'm sorry, but a sale is no reason to completely destroy a stack of sweaters. I don't care if they are 75% off, show a little courtesy to the people who work there and don't completely destroy a stack looking for a 3t. When you do that you make it an even more difficult search for the next person, and so on, until the end result is a massive pile of shirts and sweaters and probably a nice home for field mice. Maybe it is just that people aren't considerate of others anymore. Everything in the world is so me me me and very rarely do people take time to consider others. Which, I believe is one of the main tenants of the season. You are out buying gifts for someone else, take a second and be considerate of the person in front of you. Pick up the shirt you knocked off the table or help someone grab the right size of a sweater. By the way, someone did do that for me today and thank you. I know not everyone is horrible this season and I like to think the vast majority are not, but man, those few who are a$$%@les, really ruin it for the rest of us.

Didn't I start this off talking about the kid? He really has been horrible these days. Don't get me wrong, I love the kid to death and I am in wonder every day I see him but when he goes nuclear because one little thing doesn't go his way, I start to really wonder what we are doing wrong. So sweet one second and then devil child the next. If he could spit pea soup I would not be surprised.

We love him though. We need to record some of these blow ups for blackmail later on in his life. Oh, you think you deserve a new car...well here, look at this. You screamed for three hours here because you batman pajamas you had been wearoing for three days straight were dirty. So sorry we did not want you catching leprosy. So, no new car, here, you can have dads 16 year old elantra with 500,000 miles on it. Your mom and I are going to get a rocket car.

Mongo, my buddy.

Mongo and Me

I first met Mongo in the early fall of 2001.  I had just moved in to my first house near Garfield Park and I was living by myself, for the first time.  I did not think coming home to an empty house would be that bad but it was pretty quiet.  Never fear, my mom had found another dog that needed a home and she brought him by.  Actually, Mongo was found on the side of the road by one of her friends.  She had picked him up and brought him to my mom. She thought that a dog would be a great addition to my house.  She was right of course and as soon as I saw the bug eyed little monster, I knew that he would never leave my side.  It only took a few minutes of playing with him to figure out that his name had to be Mongo.  For those of you who don't know, Mongo is the name of Alex Karras' character in the classic movie, Blazing Saddles.  I think it was a perfect match, and if you ever met Mongo and saw that movie, you would agree.

Bug eyed and tongue out, the only way to live

Mongo's eyes were a bit more bugged out than the standard pug, his face was a bit more mushed and his tongue was always out.  It was probably the longest tongue I have seen on any animal outside of a giraffe.  Mongo was a great little sidekick.  He loved to go on walks, but as he was a pug, he wasn't exactly an athlete.  So you always had to have a plan on where and when you would be making breaks.  I remember taking him downtown to the 500 parade one year and I think the random kids enjoyed Mongo more than the parade.  "Is his tongue always out like that?"  "Does he always make that noise?"  We barely made it halfway back to the car before he just stopped and said, 'that is enough dad, I need a break'.  He would become an unmovable stone at that point and you either had to find him some water or carry him the rest of the way.  On that day, we stopped and ate at the Red Eye Cafe.  The server was kind enough to bring out a little bowl of water for Mongo and he sat under the table as everyone passed by on their way back to their cars.  Mongo just laid there, underneath the table, snoring.
Walking was interesting with Mongo, at least at first, pre-surgery.  Mongo had a good set on him, to put it bluntly.  When he walked, he had a swagger, so much so that he would kind of zig zag down the sidewalk like he was trying to avoid sniper fire.  It was hard to walk with those things.  Post surgery, he still walked with a swagger, but in a straight line.  Walks were always fun with him, he would always draw attention and since he wasn't exactly menacing, people liked to come up and pet him, kids thought he was funny and he loved the attention.
Mongo did sleep in my room for quite a while, usually on my bed, when he could get up.  He was not the most agile dog.  When he did get up, he took up most of the queen size bed.  I don't know how he did it but he managed to cover a large area.  He did snore, loud!  It got to a point where we did have to move him out of the room. He could rattle windows.

Ozzy, the wild one

Shortly after getting Mongo, my brother moved in with me.  Shortly after that, he brought Ozzy in to the house.  Ozzy was a Blue Heeler, probably deaf.  Beautiful dog that was a blast to have in the house.  Ozzy was crazy.  Drive by licking, tearing up of boxes, insanely obsessed with playing ball. We used to take empty beer and coke boxes, toss them in the air and Ozzy would leap up and destroy them!  Down to scraps.  In fact, he tore a full size stand up of Lorenzo Lamas to pieces one time.  Why did we have a stand up of Lorenzo Lamas?  Story for another time maybe.

That video doesn't really do it justice, but you can see the tattered remains of the box.  We really didn't live like slobs, we just enjoyed the company of our dogs and the weird talents they possessed.  Ozzy and Mongo were pals.  They got along great together and it was good.

Buddies

Even later, probably around 2004, Thanksgiving, we were gifted with yet another dog.  This one was born on my brothers bed.  We had taken in a stray, and we were getting ready to take her to a friend of Scott's who ran a no kill shelter on Saturday.  On Friday, Scott bangs on my door and tells me there is something wrong with Asha.  After a quick call to the vet, who never even hinted that she might be pregnant when we visited with her, and several minutes later, little puppies started to pop out.  Right on Scott's comforter.  So we had five new puppies and a mommy to take care of for a few months.  All of the pups and mommy were adopted, but we kept one, Big Jake.

Big Jake, Mongo and Ozzy, hogging the couch

Big Jake was a blast, a playful friend to Ozzy and oversized lap dog.  He grew to be a beast who was probably one of the sweetest dogs I know.  When I got Jen the two little dogs we currently have, Coco and Cosmo, they used to climb all over Jake and play in his mouth.  He just took it all and played ever so gently with them.  With Mongo, he was a big little brother and with Ozzy, a play mate.

I mention Ozzy and Big Jake because this has been a very sad year for Sahm family dogs.  I know my sister and her husband lost one as well, and I am sorry I don't have any pictures to share.  But Mongo, Ozzy and finally, Jake, were the little crew that made up our family in that old house for quite a few years.  We lost all three this year and I didn't realize how much that would suck.

We lost Jake first, to an accident.  He was still very young and always a big sweet heart.  We just lost Ozzy a couple weeks ago.  He was pretty old, not doing too well and in a lot of pain.  Today, I had to take Mongo to the vet as well.  He fell asleep with Jen and I petting him.  I will really miss that big, black lump. 

Look at my hair! Glorious!