Wait has she been around for THAT long?

Every now and then I hear a song on the radio that brings back a memory from my childhood. Most recently, I heard this "oldie" from Janet Jackson that I used to sing in Junior High.



See, I always loved to sing, basically ever since I could speak. When I was no more than 4-5 I remember I used to take my mom's cassette recorder into her room and just sing a whole bunch of crap into it. I actually think that tape might be in my house somewhere if the sands of time have not decomposed it by now. I guess you could say that was the beginning of my musical journey (unless you're counting me singing the chorus to "Elvira" as a baby.. haha). I was always recording myself singing for as long as I can remember. The singing wasn't good, mind you, but it didn't matter, I just loved doing it.

Fast forward to junior high. This is going to really show my age but I remember I begged for a cassette walkman for Christmas and, much to my delight, got one. For some reason, I also had a Janet Jackson tape. I'm pretty sure my parents didn't buy me this (haha), but I'm thinking I had made a copy of one of my cousin's tapes. I freakin loved that tape and I was always singing along to it. Wait, I meant to say that I was always singing along to it in the confines of my room, with the door shut, or off in the orchard somewhere where I could be certain that not another soul could hear me! I even remember that one day, I got this bright idea that I could bring a cassette recorder into the storage room down in the basement of our house and record myself singing "Miss You Much", because, you know, a 3x8 room (or whatever it was) full of glass jars and canned goods makes a super awesome recording studio! Why, I was gonna kick butt at that Janet Jackson song! So there I was sitting in that tiny storage room listening to "Miss You Much" on the walkman, singing into a tape recorder. Folks, let me tell you, that recording turned out SO BAD... lol. It wasn't even necessarily because of the tools I used to make the recording, but the fact that I was gasping for breath and the singing was a barely audible whisper. I was terrified to even let myself be heard on my own personal recording! I wonder what ever happened to that tape. My guess is that I probably recorded myself singing over it, doing 2 part harmony with myself, because that's the way I roll.

But see, thats the thing about those old songs that makes them so awesome. I think back when I hear that song and I remember how thrilled I was, as a kid, be the superstar of the storage room. The best part is singing along to the song now and smiling at how far I've come. :*)

The deal with dogs

As many of you have noticed, I have been on the subject of dogs lately. I place the blame on Dan for this, as he has stated on more than one occasion that it would be cool to have a dog. Sometimes he says things like this just to see if he can get a reaction out of me, so it is quite possible that this is what he was doing, but nonetheless it got me to thinking about what it might be like to have a dog.

See, the thing is, I'm allergic to dogs. I've had the skin test and my arm got a nice little itchy rash right where they put the dog dander into it. Of course that allergy doc struck some major fear into me because he said, "You are allergic to a household pet. Can you guess what that might be?" I was super freaked out for those 5 or so seconds of silence, as I am a major cat person and couldn't bear the thought of not being able to have cats. I think I said something like, "I dunno...." out of fear that he might tell me I'm allergic to cats. That was when he informed me that I was allergic to dogs and everything started to make sense. I remember when I was just a kid I would decide to camp out in my backyard with our dog, Penny, only to wake up in the middle of the night feeling sick and have to go back into the house to sleep. Then there were the late teen/early 20's years when I was pretty much sick for 2 years straight with various sinus issues.... this was what led up to the allergy testing. I remember Dan and I would visit his friend Jay and they had a beagle. I remember always getting a headache going over there, and every time I went there with Dan, I just had to go play with the dog! It was at that point that I started to wonder if I had a problem with dogs. Like I said earlier, we had a dog when I was growing up, but she was outside all the time so I never really had any issues, other than when I slept next to her in the tent.

Now, I know I quite possibly come across like a dog hater at times, but those who really know me know that I'm CRAZY about animals. I just have a problem with listening to my neighbor's dog bark incessantly at odd times during the day/night. Cats are my #1 favorite, but I freakin love just about anything with fur. A lot of my problem with getting sick at dog owners' houses is that for some reason I think that I need to go buckwild playing with the dog, petting, hugging, etc. Even my friends who have had "mean" or "skittish" dogs say that their dogs seem to like me. So, I suppose this is a recipe for disaster. I'm drawn to dogs, but my sinuses disagree with dogs.

So, this brings me to the issue of adopting a dog. I honestly just never even thought about getting one after finding out I was allergic to them. My doctor told me to get a Poodle or a Shitzu, because they have hair and not fur... something about that makes them have less dander. Shitzus are completely out of the question... too little. Trying to make a shitzu jog with me for 3 miles would kill it... lol. Not to mention they are smaller than my cats. So hmmm.. I start doing a little research on poodles and I like what I see. I search out breeders. $1000?!!! OMG OUT OF THE QUESTION!!!! I don't need a champion bloodline, I just want a plain old family dog. Heck if I wasn't allergic, I would just go to the pound and get any old dog. However, I have to be picky about what kind of hair they have, and the dog has to be smart. We don't like dumb animals around here. I like dogs that can do stuff. I tought our dog Penny how to do all sorts of tricks. Now that was a cool dog. She was Samoyed/rat terrier I think. That's what she looked like anyway. Awesome mutt dog, but she was a furry little thing and I would have for sure been sick all the time if she was in the house. Honestly, I would LOVE a Husky or two, but that could only be if we lived in the country and they could stay outside the vast majority of the time. I hear they dig too... not so good in the city! So yah, getting a dog is an interesting challenge for us and we couldn't just get any old dog from the pound. Oh... forgot to mention Ava is also allergic and also has mild asthma which turns to not-so-mild asthma when she visits people with dogs.

So maybe you are reading this and saying that it would just be better to not bother with dogs and avoid them. I don't know about that though. I don't seem to have too many issues with little dogs, so I'm thinking a dog with minimal dander wouldn't be a big deal. I've never seen Ava have too much of a reaction with little dogs either. It's the great big ones with a ton of hair that seem to be the problem. Well, that and beagles. Don't know what it is about beagles but yah. I pet them and I can feel the oil from their fur on my hand... its gross... lol. Cute little buggers, but they can stay with the hunters out in the country.

This should explain to you why I've had so many dog statuses lately. We are not actively seeking a dog, but merely keeping our eyes open, just in case a low priced poodle or terrier should come along. It just needs to be able to keep up with me on my jogs. A dog might actually help in forcing to stay home and quit travelling thousands of miles because god knows I'd be the one potty training it... lol.

I'm thinking its time to get a different house on some land..... then I could have the Huskys!!! Dan even agreed to Huskys. He doesn't seem to think a poodle is a "real" dog. Neither do I, really. It's kind of a frufru dog, but they are smart, and we have allergies in this house so we have to take what we can get.

Right now I'm just counting my blessings that no one is allergic to cats!!!!!