Newsletter

Feather boa sweaters, tiny dogs in overalls, and a cocker spaniel who is blazed out of his mind.

It’s been a minute!

The last few months have been a total whirlwind at our house. With Spencer interviewing and starting a new job, our world has been thrown into chaos.

Many people ask us how we manage to take care of our four dogs, foster dogs, and both work full time jobs - lately, we’ve barely been keeping our heads above water (hence my long hiatus from Substack).

Both of our jobs have been historically incredibly flexible. I work for myself, from home, and Spencer worked a hybrid job. Even when he was in office, he worked nearby, and was almost always able to bat cleanup for me if something came up.

Spencer had been looking for a new job off and on for several months. He loved his job, but was ready for a new challenge! Many of the jobs he interviewed for required a huge amount of preparation, and so he’s essentially been working two full time jobs for a good chunk of time.

He ended up with a fantastic new job, and although it won’t be quite as flexible as his old job, we think it’ll be a great fit.

To accommodate these changes, we’ve been putting most of our energy into taking care of ourselves and our core four dogs, and we’ve said no to most incoming fosters. Now that things are feeling a bit more manageable, we’re hopeful to have some cute fosters to show off soon!

Even with all the chaos of so much change, we’ve still made time to do some really fun things. Here are some highlights from the last couple of months:

In early September, we cohosted a dog adoption event at Latta Wines in Sodo with Doggone Seattle and Hot Cakes. It was incredibly fun! One of my highlights was posing Penny next to Bailey, my friend’s beautiful dog.

The event was incredibly successful, but my favorite part was watching Gus bounce from lap to lap :)

We had a quite mild fall, and the dogs (especially the chihuahuas) soaked up every last minute of sun on the deck! Gus and Penny will move around the deck, finding the last remaining spots of sun. It’s hilarious to watch them bicker over who gets the best spot.

The patio is closed for the winter, and they are PISSED. Now all the dogs are burying themselves under as many covers/pillows as possible.

Millie’s got the right idea!!

In mid September, Spencer’s family came into town for his first preseason game with the Kraken! For anyone reading this who doesn’t know, Spencer has two part time “fun” jobs - one is pouring wine at Latta in Sodo, and the other is shoveling ice for the Seattle Kraken and Seattle Torrent.

Spencer’s family are always up for an adventure, so we did a ghost tour of Pike Place Market. It was super spooky and incredibly fun.

In early October, we picked up our first foster in a while, and he was the SWEETEST little bug.

Every senior shih tzu I’ve cared for has had some kind of hair loss, and this little man was no exception - he sure was stinky, but after a few medicated baths, he was feeling (and smelling) a lot better.

In mid October, we had plans to travel to Salt Spring Island with some friends, for a little cozy autumn getaway. Traveling across the border with dogs is pretty easy, in our experience - we just always make sure to have their vaccine boosters up to date prior to traveling.

Penny and I took a fun little last-minute trip to the vet to get *vaccinated*

Is it just me, or does she look so regal?

We had the BEST time in Canada.

Pretty much as soon as we got back, Spencer started interviewing for the job he has now. If you know anything about the Amazon loop interview… yeah. Suffice it to say, he was busy for about a month.

Every year for his birthday (November 1) we throw a Murder Mystery/Halloween birthday party. This year, Teddy decided to ruin his back right before the party, so I had to run him to to the vet and ended up being late to our own party :)

But, our dogs will always, always, ALWAYS come first.

Plus, Ted had a hilarious expression for the whole party. He got some fun drugs.

We found out that Spencer got the job he was interviewing for in mid November, which was a very exciting late birthday present for him!

In every spare moment I’ve had, I’ve been working outside. Getting things in the ground, divided, and set for winter. Penny is my little helper :)

Spencer and I hosted Thanksgiving this year, and it was truly the best evening ever. Teddy ate a bread roll with herbed butter, and then threw it up an hour later. Honestly, it could have been worse. I’ll call it a win.

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been focused on going for lots of walks together, and being outside as much as we can. The Big Dark is here, as we call November-March in the PNW, and I think the trick is to go outside regardless.

I don’t think the dogs are complaining!

Hoping everyone has a fantastic holiday. Hugs :)