KIRA goes on the road

Tomorrow Morgan and I take Kira to LA to stay with her second family the Newells. Patricia (Kira's Breeder) has welcomed Kira back to her home for the year while we're gone. This leaves me with an array of emotions.

I'm glad she'll be with Patricia. I know she'll be safe, she'll have fun with the other dogs, and she'll be well cared for. I'm worried she'll be sad and miss me and my family. I'm nervous she might get hurt.

But most of all, I'm sad. I'm sad that I won't have my Kira girl following me around the house. I won't have my Kira girl to walk with around our neigborhood. I won't have Kira girl to accompanly Myles and me to the park. I won't have Kira girl constantly begging to get up on the couch. I won't smell Kira girl's AWFUL gas. I won't be able to look into those beautiful eyes. And I won't have Kira girl to cuddle with.

We chose this path for the next year, so I have to keep my head up and know that she'll be okay, and I'll be okay. But I will be very sad for the next few days.

MOVING

Happy Father's Day Morgan.

I should have got you a better gift...
Like maybe movers to move us.

I hate moving!

But we're in.. and will eventually get settled in our little one bedroom apartment. And I'm making a GREAT effort to not stress about the little things. I've chosen this life, and have to remember things won't be perfect. It's okay the laundry is on the couch, the toys are on the floor and the bed is not made. It will get done, and if it doesn't... that's fine too.

IT ALL WORKS OUT THE WAY IT SHOULD

After a few pretty (REALLY) stressful days we have found a place to live. I won't bore you with all the details, but I add this story to our trip blog because it demonstrates, and will remind me that every thing will work out.

Morgan spent hours and hours searching for a short-term home for our family. He came up with two options. One was less than ideal for many reasons, and the other seemed perfect. When I went to check out the perfect house the owner politely told me it was no longer for rent. WHAT?!?!

That left us in a bind. We really didn't want to live at the other place for many reasons but thought it just might be our only local Portland option.

But I'm stubborn and felt like I needed to give it one last shot. So I literally called the first listing on Craigslist to inqure if we could get a short-term lease with the parameters I stated in the last post.

Long story short... The building just refinanced their loan. They needed 90% occupancy on the 15th of June. They had 89% at 2:30pm when I called to inquire about the ad. The manager would pretty much do anything to get us to sign a lease today! And she did... free parking, free storage, cheap deposit, free pet rent, no pet deposit, exception to their 20lb dog limit(the first they've ever made) and cheaper rent than stated in the craigslist ad!

Win, win! It works out for them, and it works out perfect for us. We'll be less than 2 miles for our house so we can still hang with the neighbors we love, play at our favorite park, and be close to all the familiar things in Portland we love.

So I write this post to keep you (the reader) in the loop in our lives, but also to remind myself everything WILL workout!

OMG!

After the inspection and some extra negotiations, it looks like this sale will really go through! Yay... but OMG where are we going to live?!?! Renting back is not an option. We want to stay in Portland for the summer, or at least part of the summer. So where can we go?

Our parameters aren't exactly easy:

1 bedroom w/ huge walk-in closet (for Myles to sleep)
Month lease
Not furnished
Accepts cats and dogs
Accepts BIG dogs
Doesn't cost $3000 a month...

Breathe Melissa. It will all work out.

SOLD???

32 Days on the market and we accepted a contract on the house. But does this mean we are really going to sell our house? I don't know. There are many steps along the way where things could fall through, so we'll just take one step at a time.

I'm just soooo relieved to have it off the market and I don't have to worry about it being "show-ready" 24/7! I think it's pretty challenging for anyone to have their house perfect all the time, but add a baby and sometimes 2 babies in the mix, and it makes it pretty darn impossible.

I hope it all works out and the sale goes through, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Please send positive vibes our way!

OMAR

.
We have found a perfect Foster Home for Omar.

Our best friends Jessica and Lisimba have agreed to take him for the year.

Why is this perfect you ask?

1) They are our best friends
2) They love animals so much they have their own pet sitting/dog walking business
http://www.mydogchild.com/
3) They have a dog that loves cats, so Omar won't miss Kira too much

Did I mention they are PERFECT for the job?

You can now relax. The animals have homes.

KIRA

What to do with the animals? We’ve decided we want to find Foster Homes for them for a year. When we get back from Costa Rica we’d like to restart our lives with them. So comes the task of finding good homes, where they can trive, feel special, cuddle, and be themselves without stressing out the Foster Caregivers. It’s no secret that Kira is a high-needs dog. She has a lot of energy that needs to be released daily and she likes to be close to you. So who has the time to exercise her, cuddle with her, and deal with all the other ins and outs of Kira.

The perfect solution: Our breeder Patricia. And for many reasons.

Frist, Many of you know Kira is a show dog. She will show until she champions, at which point she may be bread. I don’t feel comfortable in the ring, and so Patricia has to be the one to show her. The glitch is Patricia lives in Southern California. So this will give Patricia and Kira a year together to get all the ribbons and points needed to be a Rhodesian Ridgeback Champion.

The second reason Patricia makes a great Foster home is she lives on a farm with lots of land for Kira to run. As high energy as Kira is, she needs a space where she can explore and get out all of her energy. It sounds like Patricia’s property is perfect for Kira.

Another bonus is Kira will be with her biological mom, and a few other ridgebacks. So she'll get to play in her ridgeback-way. (This may only make sense to other ridgeback owners.)

The fourth, and most important reason is Patricia is the perfect Foster Mother. Her care and love of animals is very clear to me. So I feel really good about this situation for Kira. While it’s hard from me to imagine a year without her, I know she’ll be in great hands.

Now to find Omar a home...

Kira (left) with best friend Sully.