How Dogs Improve Our Health

 After I posted my Easter Dog blog with the epic photo of Bibs nose to nose with the Easter Bunny, I was inspired by a PuppySpot graphic to blog even MORE about not only Bibs, but other doggies we've owned and loved.

As you might surmise from this new photo of Bibs, one of her favorite games is ball. She will chase launched tennis balls (thrown or kicked) or old, deflated balls of any sports type.

(Inflated large balls are of little interest, since they are too round to bite onto and carry to whomever she hopes is a ball-launcher person.) Bibs is very willing to provide hours of fun, healthy exercise for her and her human playmate.

Check out this awesome graphic from the PuppySpot.com:

Having dogs has definitely benefitted our whole family. My husband once had a Springer Spaniel named Trixie that he swears could read his mind on their hunting trips, a hobby that provided him with plenty of outdoor exercise and good heart health. She was a one-man dog, but would interact with the rest of the family, especially if my husband wasn't there. When she had puppies, our young sons enjoyed making sure that they got lots of love and human interaction.

They also wanted to keep all four puppies.

(Yeah, that didn't happen... we shared the joy with other loving owners!)

You can check out PuppySpot if you’re considering adding a fancy furry friend to your family.

After Trixie, we found a puppy named Griz from a classified ad. He started out as big as a cat, then grew to the size of a Newfoundland.

Griz passed on at 11 years old, a week after we had a new baby. After moving to a different house, our younger boys wanted a dog, but my husband said he thought we should be done with dogs.

I said it wasn't the younger boys' faults that they were born after our earlier dog years, and they should be able to grow up with the benefits of having a dog like our older boys.

My husband finally asked if I would be ultimately responsible for a new dog. Jumping up and down, I said, "YES!" and Bibs came into our lives. At 13, she our longest lived puppy dog.

When our boys were sad or upset, they would often go outside, and I'd check on them through the window. More often than not, they had their arms wrapped around a dog, telling it their troubles. While we have been fortunate enough to have good health, not needing doggie alerts for seizures or anything, Griz protected me a couple of times from questionable characters. Lunging, he barked like a maniac. I managed to hold him back with his leash, but they certainly didn't try anything shady with Griz at my side.

While it seemed to take our sons longer to get puppies, as of last month, three of my sons have finally adopted them "for their children." Yet when I visit, I see my great big boys holding those dogs, talking to them, petting them and deriving comfort from those furry friends in much the same way as when they were little, proving that you're never too old to benefit from the unconditional love of a dog.

What kind of dog do you like best? 

Do you have a dog now?

Did you have one as a child?

What is/was it like?

Be Too Kind!

(This did not happen to me, but I saw this online today and I wanted to share this lengthy story...the message is one worth remembering. We all live in glass houses, so be kind to others - you never know what might happen because you shared a little kindness. Choose to consistently err on the side of kindness. Who knows? Maybe magic happens.)

"I work in a decent sized, local, indie bookstore. It’s a great job 99% of the time and a lot of our customers are pretty neat people. Any who, middle of the day this little old lady comes up. She’s lovably kooky. She effuses how much she loves the store and how she wishes she could spend more time in it but her husband is waiting in the car ‘OH! I BETTER BUY HIM SOME CHOCOLATE!’ She piles a bunch of art supplies on the counter and then stops and tells me how my bangs are beautiful and remind her of the ocean.

‘Wooooosh’ she says, making a wave gesture with her hand.

Ok. I think to myself. Awesomely happy, weird little old ladies are my favorite kind of customer. They’re thrilled about everything and they’re comfortably bananas. I can have a good time with this one. So we chat and it’s nice.

Then this kid, who’s been up my counter a few times to gather his school textbooks, comes up in line behind her (we’re connected to a major university in the city so we have a lot of harried students pass through). She turns around to him and, out of nowhere, demands that he put his textbooks on the counter. He’s confused but she explains that she’s going to buy his textbooks.

He goes sheetrock white. He refuses and adamantly insists that she can’t do that. It’s like, $400 worth of textbooks. She, this tiny old woman, boldly takes them out of his hands, throws them on the counter and turns to me with an intense stare and tells me to put them on her bill. The kid at this point is practically in tears. He’s confused and shocked and grateful. Then she turns to him and says ‘you need chocolate.’ She starts grabbing handfuls of chocolates and putting them in her pile.

He keeps asking her ‘why are you doing this?’ She responds ‘Do you like Harry Potter?’ and throws a copy of the new Cursed Child on the pile too.

Finally she’s done and I ring her up for a crazy amount of money. She pays and asks me to please give the kid a few bags for his stuff. While I’m bagging up her merchandise the kid hugs her. We’re both telling her how amazing she is and what an awesome thing she’s done. She turns to both of us and says probably one of the most profound, unscripted things I’ve ever had someone say:

‘It’s important to be kind. You can’t know all the times that you’ve hurt people in tiny, significant ways. It’s easy to be cruel without meaning to be. There’s nothing you can do about that. But you can choose to be kind. Be kind.’

The kid thanks her again and leaves. I tell her again how awesome she is. She’s staring out the door after him and says to me: “My son is a homeless meth addict. I don’t know what I just did. I see that boy and I see the man my son could have been if someone had chosen to be kind to him at just the right time.”

I’ve bagged up all her stuff and at this point am super awkward and feel like I should say something but I don’t know what. Then she turns to me and says: “I wish I could have bangs like that but my darn hair is just too curly.” And leaves.

And that is the story of the best customer I’ve ever had. Be kind to somebody today."

Happy Truck!

You have to look closely, but on the back window of this truck, right behind the driver, are three little words. They read:

Happy, Happy, Happy!

Three times is better than one!

What are you happy about today?

Simple way to Diminish Obesity and Beat Depression!

I suspected it when I got on my bike in a grumpy mood and got off feeling happy. (It's not just riding a bike, though.)

This video lets you in on the secret of the most fun way to DIMINISH OBESITY and BEAT DEPRESSION...it only takes about three minutes to find out how! Just watch this entertaining video! 

  Are you READY? Then GET SET, and GO! (Click here!) 

A good day for smiling

Here's my sassy sister Rebecca with a cool fashion tip for you: when you wear glamorous scarf like she does (she pulls it off so well, don't you think?) then PIN the scarf to your shirt so it doesn't flop around like an octopus tentacle when you're trying to get some work done. Look how classy! (Rebecca is a classy lady.)

It's fun to smile when your sister Loraine (in the green) makes you laugh. Of course she would do it on a day when I (in red) was without my waterproof mascara on! (Now that's funny!)

But the best reason of all to smile today is because it's my son Zack's birthday. I don't care how big he gets, he'll always be my boy. 

What is it that makes you smile today? If you haven't smiled yet, go out and do a smiley thing, then come back and tell us what you did. Happy people want to know, and sad people need to know!

Smile for Real!

"Life, the Universe and Everything" (LTUE) this past weekend at UVU delivered a writing jolt to my system that will never wear off! It was worth packing, driving, finding a parking space, staying up late and getting up early. Now watch me write! (You may want to go next year if you're a writer.)
While you're contemplating your writing conference attendance, contemplate fake smiles people give. They're smiling, aren't they, or is that a grimace?
When you smile, make sure it reaches your eyes. You can even smile with your mouth perfectly straight, as long as it reaches your eyes.
Have a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
Do you smile with your eyes?

A Bag Lady and the Lady in Red

Yes, this is me with my classy friend, Tami. I am carrying luggage, she is cool and collected in her suave red dress. She is the original Lady in Red, I am a the Bag Lady. How fun to have variety in life!
I decided today that I need to make "Don't Worry Be Happy," my theme song. If I knew how to put songs on blogs, I would put that one on here. Since I don't know how, you can click this link and sing along. Don't Worry Be Happy by Bob Marley
Be happy, mon.

Michael's Happy Shirts

I love hand-me-downs, hand-me-overs, or hand-me-ups. I don't care if clothes are new before I wear them. In fact, I passed some "new" jeans in the store a couple of weeks ago with so much wear on the front of the thighs that I'm sure my underwear would show if I tried to pull on a pair.
But this isn't about me. It's about 10-year-old Michael who was given some shirts from a shirttail-cousin-by-marriage. ;0)
When Michael discovered the bright colored golf shirts with horizontal stripes, he said, "I LOVE these!" For the next couple of days, he wore different bright golf shirts. "You know Mom," he announced, "these shirts make me happy. I can't help it. When I wear them, I'm always in a good mood."
If that's the case, then those shirts aren't going anywhere! They'll be "wear-me-outs!"