A Quick Catch-Up and a Hard Goodbye

Oh, hey there.

I promise that I didn't forget about my blog. Things have just been so crazy. Work is crazy, Harper is crazy (so are her emotions), it's Miss Utah season, Harper's dance recital is this week, my parents are coming to town (an event that always required an anxiety-ridden cleaning marathon for me), and I've been trying to get The Sandy Closet up and running.

Speaking of my new instagram shop... I love it. It is seriously fun. Whitney and I joined forces and have had a good time trying to make something of our little shop. We have already sold a handful of things (shirts and dresses and leggings and purses, oh my!) and we are so excited to go thrifting tonight and find some more cute inventory. Have you checked us out yet? If not, find us on instagram under TheSandyCloset. We just reached 500 followers (there is a giveaway to celebrate!) and have been listing a few items each day.

Life is seriously so busy. I love it. But I hate it, too. After next week, things should (knock on wood) slow down a bit. They need to, because Harper and I have some 2013 Bucket List stuff that we would like to do. I just bought our tickets to the Thanksgiving Point Princess Festival, which is happening this month. It's going to be great! Visiting Thanksgiving Point is on our Bucket List this year and I can't think of a more perfect event to get us there than The Princess Festival. I've been waiting for it to happen again ever since we missed it last June.

Colt has been busy, too. It's softball season, which means he's gone every Wednesday. I keep meaning to go to his games but always have something going. He is also playing on a golf league at work and preparing for hunting season. His 2012 hunting story is featured on a prominent hunting website and he's pretty excited about it. I told him that I'd share it on here, despite the fact that he let one of his friends edit it and not me. Duh. That's like me going to someone else for batting lessons and expecting him to be like, "Oh cool. They are probably know more about baseball than me, even though I played professionally and all..." Anyway, if you'd like to know how he got his buck last fall, go here. 

Now, about the goodbye that I mentioned in the title to this post...

We had to euthanize Zowie (Colt's family dog- the other adorable little shih tzu in my life) over the weekend and it was really, really hard. We lived with Colt's parents for a while and I fell totally in love with Zowie. She slept with us every night and spent a lot of time with us when we were around (she never acted much like it but I think she really loved Hazelnut).

Zowie turned 15 this year. She had a long and good life but recently, her health was declining quite rapidly. She lost her hearing and most of her sight and got to be pretty wobbly on her little legs. Then last week, she developed some pressure sores (like bed sores). Since she was sleeping so much each day, there was no hope of ever healing them so my mother-in-law called and made the appointment. We have known that it was coming for a while now but I still cried when Colt told me. Calli, Kenzie, and I took Zowie to the vet (Colt was really upset and just couldn't go- he's got a really big soft spot for dogs and Zowie was his special favorite). I went back on forth about going but finally decided to because I felt like Zowie needed as much love and support with her as possible during her last hour of life. Hazelnut is my first pet and so I'd never been through anything like this before. It was hard. They told us to flip a switch when we were ready for the vet to come in and administer the medicine. I don't think a person is ever ready for that. I certainly wasn't ready to say goodbye but tried to be strong because I knew that it was the best choice.

In the end, I was glad that I went. I'd cried most of the day before and all that morning getting ready and was nervous for the appointment because I just didn't know what to expect. The staff was really kind to us and after everything was said and done, I felt really good about everything. The process was really peaceful and I felt happy that Zowie didn't have to be in pain anymore.

Zowie was one of the first things Colt and I ever talked about. We bonded over the fact that we both loved a shih tzu. She was the first thing that Harper ever giggled at. She was my favorite part of visiting my in-laws (sorry, Kenz). I remember meeting her for the first time. She was totally uninterested in me and my high-pitched doggy voice. The second time around was different, however, because I went to Colt's house with a bag of treats in my purse. Little Zowie and I were pals from that night on. I loved her like she was my own and I'll never forget her.

I never realized how hard it is to say goodbye to an animal that you love. It makes me scared for the day when I have to go through it with Hazelnut, who I love so much that it feels like she's a part of me. I'm just glad that she is only 6 and that we have a lot of good years ahead of us.