Abby's Doggy Dos and Don'ts children's book pledge page

We are continuing our campaign to raise funds to publish our book!


Abby's Doggy Dos and Don'ts children's book pledge page

This book will teach children, promote literacy, AND donate 20% of ALL royalties to animal rescue programs.

See our own rescue story here:

Human-only Excursions

Even if you aren't traveling very far, there is a specific sequence to what you must do to escape the house. Well, OUR house.

Behold, the escape crew:

Notice how they form a team, ensuring that every possible angle of the escape route is covered. 

Yes, every time we leave, both cats and the dog all expect to go with us.

As we are in the middle of a somewhat warm summer in the Las Vegas area (highs in the 100+ region), we can't just bring all the kids with us on shopping expeditions and leave them in the car. There are some things that us humans must do alone, which means that critters must stay in the nice, air-conditioned home.

This means that the launching sequence for human-only exits goes something like this:

1. Get everything needed near the door (purse, water bottles, returning library items, mail, potluck contributions, etc.)
2. Get cat(s) to stop nibbling on everything by the door
3. Get on shoes
4. Find keys
5. Head towards door
6. Tell dog to sit and stay (she always does)
7. Pick up cat closest to door and place gently on couch
8. Grab all the items by door
9. Open door with free hand
10. Use foot to block other cat from escaping
11. Pick up first cat that is now between your legs and toss back on couch
12. Pick up second cat and toss towards dog, commanding her to eat it (she never does)
13. Squeeze through tiny crack in door, close by leaning against
14. Lock door
15. Remember something inside
16.  Put everything down,  unlock door
17. Either obtain forgotten item or make sure lights, oven, or whatever else that was on is now off
18.  Repeat steps 5-17 as necessary

You are your own best enemy - incorporating self-effacing humor into your presentations

If you want to break the ice and get your audience on your side, try a little humor at your own expense - but be careful! Read more here...
You are your own best enemy

Vegas to Phoenix...even if you don't have to...

As we discussed yesterday, I was now going to Phoenix. I have nothing against this fair city, but I really, really did not want to go to Phoenix. Still, according to US Airlines (who, by the way, felt it best to remind me that they don't actually fly to Seattle from Vegas,  hence the Phoenix route - even thought they flew from here to there when I originally booked the flight), this was the only way I'd get there before my appointment at 4pm - 20 hours after my original flight time.

Figuring I'd make the best of my hours in the old PHX, I took my time browsing the gift shops until late morning, then headed to my gate. I still had an hour or so before boarding, so I rolled my carry-on over to the fairly nice Mexican restaurant directly across from the gate, where I could watch the monitor in case they cancelled my flight. Again.

Feeling like I deserved it, I ordered a mimosa and a breakfast burrito. Both were fabulous. I fired up my laptop and got some work done, all the while keeping one eye on the gate. There weren't many people milling about, and at the announcement of the first round of boarding, there wasn't much of a line. I packed everything up and got ready to pay the bill.

I could not find anyone, anywhere willing to take my money. It got to the point that I was wishing I had those electric Popsicles that the guys directing the planes had - no one would make eye contact!! Finally I had to tug on the shirt of a passing waitress (I'm now standing at the cash register watching the third and final wave of folks boarding my plane) and ask her to please swipe my card before I miss my plane.

I wasn't too worried - I mean, I was about 20 fee away, and obviously the plane wasn't crowded. But, still...

All paid up, I rolled my carry-on to the gate, flashed my boarding pass, and was promptly told that I'd have to check my bag.

This bag? My cute little pink polka dot bag that fits so nicely in the overhead that I purposely packed it and it only so I wouldn't HAVE to check my bags? The one that went with me with no problems on the flight from Vegas to here? Why?

"Because the plane is too full for your bag, ma'am," she said as she wrestled it out of my hands. When I almost burst into tears, she told me that she'd wave the $50 fee. This time.

Gee, thanks.

I had to abandon my cute little bag at the end of the hallway, and hope like crazy that I'd see it again.

I was the very last person on the plane. They hadn't started making announcements or anything yet, so at least I was spared the hairy eyeballs of waiting passengers. Folks were still getting settled, putting away their bags and such. The overhead bins were still open, and what did I see? I could have stored my bag and the bags of the traveling Seattle Seahawks in the spaces left. There was plenty of room for my bag!

My entire row was empty. I had no seatmates for the whole flight.

Neither did the guy behind me.

Or the lady across from me.

Full, huh? Or, full as in, "We want another $50 and there's nothing you can do about it."

Unbelievable.

The flight attendants were polite, and the rest of the flight uneventful. I was just amazed at what I had to go through to get that far.

The good news is that my cute little pink bag was, in fact, returned to me in one piece. The bad news is that the one piece is now stained with giant black streaks and smells of jet fuel and sweat.

Never again. This airline has UN-customered me for life.


Morals to the story:

1. Always make sure (both before and after booking a flight) that the airline actually flies to your destination. 
2. Have your burrito and mimosa, but pay for it right away.
3. If they force you to check your carry-on bag at the last moment, go through the motions, then make a break for it at the end of the hallway and take the bag on the plane anyway. There will be room.

Las Vegas to Seattle in only 14 hours

Las Vegas to Seattle is a little over 2 hours by plane – for normal people. For me, it is a 14 hour gauntlet of misdirection, sleep deprivation, and fairly decent burritos.

It all started with a 7pm flight that wasn’t. I dutifully arrived at 5:30 pm, sailed through TSA (they are very efficient in Las Vegas), and was at the gate by 6pm. The screen said that the flight was delayed 45 minutes. “No problem,” thought I, “I’ll just sip on a $12 glass of wine poured from a $3 bottle and wait for a bit.”

By 10pm, I was getting antsy. By midnight, I realized that I actually lived in this town and had a nice warm bed with a spouse and cat (or two), any of which would be much more comfortable than the airport seats. I waited in line to attempt to get another flight or to rebook. I didn’t have to be in Seattle until 4pm the next day, so, in my little brain, there was still time.

After skootching ever so slowly through the line, while lugging my luggage (oh! Now I understand the origin of that word…), I finally got to the little desk. When I asked why all the flights were delayed, the very frustrated, tight-lipped man simply said, “Weather.” What weather? Where? It’s July!! Sunny here in Vegas, sunny there in Seattle (OK, maybe that anomaly alone was enough to ground planes…but I digress…) what do you mean, weather? What were we supposed to do in the mean time? Were there upgrades, other flights, something, ANYTHING that would help us get to where we were supposed to have already been hours ago?

The nice man then went into a tirade about how the airlines cannot control the weather, and how we wouldn’t sue a car dealer for potholes in the road.

Huh?

My travel agent was traveling herself, so she couldn’t help. She did text me back and suggested that I try a supervisor to see if I could get a morning flight. I practically had to tackle one as she went whizzing by, and all she gave me was a phone number. “We can’t control the weather,” she called over her shoulder as she disappeared back behind the “employees only” zone from where she had come.

I asked the nice, not busy, lady from another airline what the weather problems were, and she looked at me quizzically. “We haven’t heard anything,” she said.

Sigh.

Working as best as I could through the language barrier and cheesy hold music that went on and off, I explained my flight plight to the gentleman on the customer service line.  I had my laptop fired up, so we went online together to get me on another flight. He said that the best he could do is to put me on a 5:45 am flight to Phoenix, then a 10 am flight to Seattle. “You see,” he informed me, “this airline doesn’t actually fly to Seattle.”

Huh?

I watched in horror as my flight to Seattle disappeared, then a flight to Salt Lake City appeared. “There, he said, that should do it.” 

“Seattle isn’t in Utah,” I gently reminded him.

“Oh, yeah…” he said, and then put me on hold again. I hope he meant, “Oh, yeah, I forgot you were going to Seattle because we’ve been so slammed by all these reroutes due to weather” and not “Oh, yeah, that’s right, Seattle is in New Guinea.”

I watched the flights change again on the screen. Now I was going to Arizona and back again, and my flights were all lined up. All six hours of them. Six hours of flying to get two hours away. Plus, a three hour layover in Phoenix. Whee.

I called my dear spouse to come get me. I could at least get two or three hours of sleep before I had to be back at the airport again. Maybe have a fried egg and cup of coffee. My tummy was complaining. It was 1:00 am.

I won’t go into how he managed to get lost trying to swing around the airport (this was his first time there) after the cops waived him off the first pass. About 30 minutes of sitting on the curb later, we were merrily following the GPS back home. He was taking no chances of getting lost again.

It seems that everyone wanted to route me through Arizona. The GPS took us all the way to Henderson, around the back of the airport, then up again to Tropicana – the street that the airport is just off of. The street that is also only one block off of OUR street. The airport is 10 minutes from our place. Apparently, it’s 45 minutes to get back. Vegas is a weird and wonderful place.

The saga (including burritos) continues tomorrow.

Ready. Fire. AIM!

Have you ever taken a leap of faith only to realize that you were jumping into an empty pool?

Learning is all about what comes after the SPLAT.

Sometimes, what you want and what the Universe wants for you line up so perfectly that it seems almost too easy. Other times, you pray and get an answer - but it's not the one you want. Do you give up? Do you change your desires? Do you persist?

For those of us with a strong stubborn streak (aka: red hair), we may keep trying and trying even when the answer was a clear "No." Even though we've learned the whole closed-door-open-window thing, we still try to pry the closed door open, swipe our expired credit cards in the latch, jimmy the handle - I've been known to use the equivalent of C4 - all while the cool winds of opportunity flutter the curtains of the nearby open window.

Never give up, but do look around for the options. The Universe always wants what you want, but it tends to know how to better deliver it.

Read about the decision, the packing, and the drive down to our new home in Las Vegas at the Hope Explodes blog.

What are you packing?

Your little shampoos exploded all over your favorite shoes. Don't even think about what happened to your toothpaste. Some things just don't travel well. Maybe it's better to forget about packing them altogether. It's not like they're rare or irreplaceable. Why pack things that might ruin a perfectly good trip?


There are many things that you pack for traveling that you may not have meant to. They may not take up any space in your suitcase, but they can really ruin a great trip. Fear. Worry. Other people's expectations.

If you find yourself hyperventilating on the tarmac or worrying that you might not get to all the things on your itinerary, you've packed the wrong things. Why pack fear, when there is so much of it in the world? Why carry on worry, when you can replace it anywhere, any time. Why hold on to everyone else's expectations when you could have all that extra leg room?

Silly! Use the space for better things - like hope, joy, and peace.

Hope travels very well. Just remember to always hope for the best possible outcome, and you'll always enjoy your trip.