My thoughts on the "attempt" to ban tattoos with police departments, namely NOPD.

I truly do not get this wanting to ban tattoos with NOPD (or any police department for that matter). I mean, I do not care if the policeman/woman is tatted up or not. They are there to do their job and do it well. If I need one for any reason, I'm not going to say "Oh, no, wait, can you get me a police officer that doesn't have ink all over them, puhlease?" Makes. No. Sense. 

Hate the judgment of some people when it comes to those who wear their journey of life on the outside with beautiful artwork proudly.

End rant. :)

No truer words have been spoken.

This is what I don't agree with and why I can't understand why some people do...everyone wants to blame something on Facebook...makeups, breakups, cheating, stalking, creating a double life for yourself (that in no way, shape or form actually resembles anything about you or your life, and then standing on your imaginary pedestal whilst throwing rocks), hoe activities, a sudden loss of any type of morals or codes of conduct, quite honestly having the courage to say things that you would never in your life have the valour to say in person, and generalized FUCKERY...at the end of the day, blaming a social media site for your problems is like blaming food for making you fat...the food DID NOT make you fat, your choice to eat it did...take responsibility for your own words, your own actions, your own problems and have enough respect for yourself to find solutions to those problems instead of taking the fool's route of blaming everyone else and everything else in the world, most of which is irrelevant for YOUR ISSUES...It is sad that so many people, in attempting to portray grandeur accomplish anything but...think for one second what is says of your own misery the need to constantly insult and demean everyone around you.

Taken from a very good friend, Rachel Padilla.  Could not have said it any better.  

Parental Alienation Syndrome (a/k/a PAS)

 

Top actions of an alienating parent

•Doesn’t inform you of upcoming school activities (especially unexpected ones).

•Expresses no enthusiasm for fun events you’re doing with the child (vacations, amusement parks, etc).

•Limits child’s cellphone usage, so you’ll rarely get a call or text.

•Limits child’s email usage.

•Refers to you by your first name in their home (Dad becomes “David;” Mom becomes “Julie”).

•Accomplishes a post-visitation shakedown, extracting as much info as possible to find negatives.

•Hands the phone directly to the child when you call, avoiding even civil conversation with you.

•Pops anti-depressant pills (as many have a history of depression).

•Able to hold resentment towards young, innocent children (ie. your children from another marriage).

•Never calls you when the child is sick or taken out of school for a day or more.

•Teaches the child adult things to tell you, such as “I don’t feel comfortable about the duration of our summer visitation, Dad”.

•Teaches the child how to despise or hate another human being (that being you, of course).

•Labels themselves the “good” parent; label you the “bad” parent.

•Tells the child false stories about their childhood.

•Tells the child how he or she was victimized by you and your actions (while taking no blame at all for the divorce).

•Teaches the child how to lie to you (coating their little hearts with false malice and scorn).

•Diminishes your extended family’s worth.

•Says to you words like, “I always encourage her to see you;” “I’ve never told him you’re a jerk” while actually doing the precise opposite.

•Neglects to have the child call you for your birthday, on New Year’s Eve, or other important dates.

•Uses a cellphone as a leash while the child is with you.

•Never gets the child excited about seeing you.

•Reminds the child of all that he or she will be missing while with you and away from them.

•Inflicts his or her unhappiness onto the child (as alienators are deeply unhappy people).

•Attempts via a lawyer to reduce visitation to that even below family court minimum standards.

•Takes the child out of state without a peep, while demands precise details whenever you travel with them.

•Monopolizes the child’s time for hours on the phone (if you let them).

•Views any event in the child’s life– a distant Aunt’s birthday, a friend’s birthday, etc– as more important than time with you.

•Teaches the children from their current marriage to despise you.

•Is jealous of anything fun and memorable you do with the child (as they view the good times as a “threat”).

•Gripes about things you’re doing as a parent to the child, but says nothing to you about it.

•Has outbursts around the child (extremely emotional and dramatic ones).

•Lacks a filter; spilling any adult topic into the child’s head.

Reason to NOT dump your pet at the shelter.

The shelter manager's letter:
"I am posting this (and it is long) because I think our society needs a huge wake-up call.
As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all - a view from the inside, if you will.  Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know - that puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore.

How would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at - purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays" that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.

No shortage of excuses.
The most common excuses I hear are:

We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat).
Really? Where are you moving to that doesn't allow pets?

The dog got bigger than we thought it would.
How big did you think a German Shepherd would get?

We don't have time for her.
Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs!

She's tearing up our yard.
How about bringing her inside, making her a part of your family?

They always tell me:
We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her. We know she'll get adopted - she's a good dog. Odds are your pet won't get adopted, and how stressful do you think being in a shelter is?

Well, let me tell you. Dead pet walking!

Your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off, sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy.
If it sniffles, it dies.

Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it.

If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose.

If your dog is big, black or any of the "bully" breeds (pit bull, rottweiler, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted.

If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed.

If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed, it may get a stay of execution, though not for long. Most pets get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment.
 

If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles, chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don't have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.

The grim reaper:
Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down".  First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk - happy, wagging their tails. That is, until they get to "The Room".

Every one of them freaks out and puts on the breaks when we get to the door. It must smell like death, or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there. It's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs (depending on their size and how freaked out they are). A euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk it's leg. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood, and been deafened by the yelps and screams.

They all don't just "go to sleep" - sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.  When it all ends, your pet's corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back, with all of the other animals that were killed, waiting to be picked up like garbage.

What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You'll never know, and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal, and you can always buy another one, right?

Liberty, freedom and justice for all.
I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head. I do everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists and I hate that it will always be there unless people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.

Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.

My point to all of this is DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!

Hate me if you want to - the truth hurts and reality is what it is.

I just hope I maybe changed one person's mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say "I saw this thing on craigslist and it made me want to adopt".
That would make it all worth it."

Author unknown

Puppies, puppies, puppies!!!

OY VEY!!!  I totally forgot how much goes into having a puppy.  Hubby wanted one and so we got one.  So far, we've had her since Tuesday.  Today is Thursday.  Not sure what I will be going home to and hoping that it is nothing like it was last night!  She's living in a kennel at night (when we sleep) and when we are at work.  

Her name is "Nola" but I have nicknamed her "Devil Puppy."  Holy cow does she have some razor sharp puppy teeth and claws.  Everything is a game to her.  I try to get dressed, she is attacking my pants.  I try to walk and there she goes...between my legs, damn near tripping me.  I gave her a bath, you'd thought that I was drowning her with the way she was whining/screaming.  She just recently saw her reflection in the mirror and was trying to look behind it to see the dog that was in front of her.  She's been terrorizing my husband's cat.  Eats her food AND drinks, more like spills, her water all over the kitchen floor.  Do not get me started on how Roux, my 13 year old black lab/catahoula mix, feels about her.  Roux has a date at the doggie day spa tomorrow to get away.  Nola wants to play with Roux and Roux wants Nola to disappear.  The cat, Kasie, has been quite entertaining.  She hisses at Nola and Nola barks at her. Nola has no clue what is up with her new fursiblings yet.  I tell them both to thank their daddy for this little bundle of crackhead! 

At the end of the day, we are going on two days of having her.  She'll do fine and the unbalance of things at the house will balance back out soon, hopefully.  Just got to get her kennel trained and the rest is smooth sailing!

What 2012 has taught me.

Life is definitely interesting to say the least.  I've learned A LOT over the 2012 year.   

Do not take your grandparents for granted.  One day, they will no longer be around to share stories of the past.   

Always listen to your gut when it comes to people.  It does not matter if they are allegedly your good friends or acquaintances.  I wasted too much time allowing someone to take advantage of me as well as take me for granted and never again. 

Marry your best friend.  Honestly, my husband and I could not be any happier in our life together.  We've been together for 9 years and almost married for 6 years.  We never left the newlywed stage.  

Kids grow up fast.  They learn a lot from their parents and their relationships with family/friends/spouses.  Try to teach them what a healthy marriage/relationship is.  It is not what is on the outside that matters, it is what is on the inside.  Be the example. 

My dog is not just a dog.  She is my furbaby.  She has gotten me through so much in my life and has taught me a lot as well.  

Love what you do and it will not be considered work.  I love my job.  I love what I do.  I always strive to be the best that I can be at whatever it is that I am doing.  

Everyone gets burned in life, it is how you pick up the pieces that matter.  It defines your character and who you are.  

Do not take people for granted.  You never know when its their time to exit from this world.  R.I.P. LT. Christopher Nicholas Cambiotti (EOW: 10/20/2012).  There has to be a good reason as to why God took you from our family so soon.  R.I.P. Jennifer Livadais.  Why you took your life so soon, I do not know. 

Never be afraid to try new things.  Life is about living in the moment.  Expand your horizons.   

If people are hating and/or jealous, then you must be doing something right.  Keep on, keepin' on. Pray for you enemies.  Lord knows that they need all of the prayers and help that they can get.  It's not easy being me, but I must make it look as if it is.  

At the end of the day, life is too short.  People come and go.  When one chapter ends, another one is beginning.  Things happen for a reason.  You MAY find out why, you may not.  In the meantime, live, laugh and love with everything and all that you are.