I’ve finished a bit more of Sadie’s Book.   Here’s part of Chapter 2.

Chapter 2 – Starting a new life

In March, I decided to move back to the South.  Sadie made the trip from Salt Lake to Georgia in a crate between the bucket seats in the front of the moving truck.   She really thought she should be in a lap the whole way.

I was staying with family while I searched for a job in Georgia.  Sadie went to the lake for the first time that summer.  Pugs are notorious for not being able to swim, so I got her a life jacket.  When I first put it on her, she was so top heavy, her feet started lifting off the ground.   I had to push her back end down until she shifted her weight.  I wish I had thought to take a picture.  It was so cute.  While she loved being with Mom, she was not a big fan of the boat.  We let her stay at the house during the rest of the boat rides.

Sadie stayed with a family friend while I spent 8 weeks traveling in training for my new job.   During this time, she went to family’s car lot during most days and hung out with their son on his nights off.   She developed her love of pizza during this time.   From then on, she would bark at you if you had pizza and didn’t give her some.   I would only let her have small pieces of crust and she always thought she should have more.

She decided pretty early on in life, that her spot was in a lap, preferably Mom’s lap, but definitely a lap.

If there was no lap available, her second choice was a pillow.   I don’t just mean a pillow on the floor.  If there was a pillow on the couch, then that’s where she’d be.  Not on the couch, but on the pillow on the couch.  If things were really bad, then the couch would do.

I was in my first Atlanta apartment when Sadie met her first and only boyfriend.   He was a beautiful Maltese.   When she saw him across the parking lot, she’d pull on her leash until she got to him.   He seemed just as fond of her.   We had some play dates for them.  It was really precious.  We lost touch of him when I moved to a new apartment.

When we went to visit my Dad and Dixie, she loved playing with their cat BJ.   She would chase BJ into their bedroom, and BJ would chase her back into the living room.

My first holiday season in Atlanta, we spent Christmas with my dad’s family in SC and then we flew to AR for New Year’s.  It was Sadie’s first time on a plane.  I had a soft side carrier for her.  She had so much fun playing in and around the kennel while it was in the living room, but the minute it was time to get in it for the plane ride, the fun was over.   She did not want to be in the carrier.   She thought that she should be riding on Mom’s lap, not under the seat at Mom’s feet.  I always had to take her out of the carrier at the gate until time to board because she would fuss the whole time we were at the gate.   Luckily, she was cute enough that the attendants never seemed to mind.

That’s all that I have done for now, but it has been helpful to work on this album.   I love knowing that the memories are documented and that I don’t have to worry about forgetting them.

We were visiting with my nephew yesterday on Christmas.  He’s 5 1/2 and sometimes says the most precious things.  Here’s what he said to me when I said his new Rudolph was good for snuggling.   “Like Sadie?   I wish she could come back to life.  She was my favorite pug.  I miss her.  She was special to me.”   Isn’t that just so sweet?    He’s been so good about letting his pug, Zoe, snuggle with me while we were here so I could have some pug love.

The best part of Christmas isn’t the gifts.  It’s the moments like these, together with family, letting each other know how much we care.

I decided to use My Digital Studio (MDS) to create a scrapbook of Sadie’s life.   I really want to document some of my favorite memories of her.   I’m thinking of splitting her life into 3 sections.   Chapter 1 is the beginning, when she was first born and came to live with me in Salt Lake City, UT.     Chapter 2 is that time period during my single days after we moved to GA.  So much of her personality developed during this time.   And, the third and final chapter of her life  is when Charlie entered both of our lives.   I’ve been working on some of the pages.   I’m going to include the text from the scrapbook pages here as it’s hard to read when you’re looking at a picture of the scrapbook page

Sadie Jean

December 10, 1999 – December 6, 2010

Ogden, Utah

Chapter 1 – The beginning.

It was February of 2000.   My divorce was final.  My ex had gotten custody of our Rottweiler, Brandi and visitation was too difficult.  I’d always had a thing for pugs even though I’d never met one.  Something in their smushed up faces just spoke to me.  Impulsively, I checked the paper without doing any research on the breed and without knowing anything about picking a reputable breeder.   I called one of the ads, drove up to Ogden, and met the soon to be Miss Sadie.   She was about 4 pounds, 10 weeks old, the runt of the litter, and the last one without a forever home.   I was instantly in love.  She was still deciding on me though.  She’d come up and check me out, let me hold her for a bit and then being the true pug that she was, she’d be off to check out something on the floor.    I took her home with me that day.   I guess it was about the time we got in the car that she decided, “okay, you’re mine.”  (If you haven’t been owned by a pug, you wouldn’t understand.  They definitely choose their humans and you can’t override their choice no matter how hard you try.)  All the way home, as my friend Deb drove, she kept crawling up my arm to snuggle between my neck and the headrest in the car.  It was so cute because she fit perfectly.

The first few days she was with me, I snuck her into the lab where I worked and let her spend the day in a box below my desk.  She was so small I could fit her inside my jacket and no one could tell she was there.  After a couple of days, I had to start leaving her at home while I worked.  Neither one of us was happy about that.  I got her a crate that was intended for a much larger dog so she’d have room to move around and I came home at lunch to check on her every day.

The first time it snowed, she was so funny.   The snow was up to her chest (which wasn’t deep for SLC standards). She couldn’t walk through it, so she just stood there at first staring at me, like “what is all this stuff and where did my yard go?”  Finally, she started hopping through the snow till she found the absolute perfect spot for her morning business.  And it always had to be the perfect spot.   We had to sniff and find a spot, then do a figure 8 (a circle in later years), then decide that’s not the right spot and start over.  After about the third time, she’d have found the perfect spot and could finally go.

While we were in Salt Lake, Sadie met her first birds.   My friend Deb, who was staying with me for a few weeks, had a couple of parrots.  Sadie sniffed at them, but never barked.   It was so cute watching her trying to figure out what these feathered things were.  Even then, she never met a stranger.   I can’t remember her ever meeting a creature she didn’t like- not a person, not any animal, even cats.

I’ve got a pic of Sadie with the birds, but I have to find it and scan it in.  Then I might add it to this page.   Most of the other pages won’t be this text heavy, but I really wanted to be able to tell a little bit of her story.

I’ve started scrapping chapter 2, so I’ll post some of those pictures later.

Today would have been Sadie’s 11th birthday.   We lost her on Monday afternoon after a brief but hard fought battle with pneumonia.  Never in my life have I been so touched by an animal.   She was my baby, my princess, my shadow, my lap warmer, my companion, my bed warmer, my friend.

Resting on daddy, a week before she passed.

She was born in Ogden, Utah, December 10, 1999.   She traveled across the country with me, sometimes by plane, sometimes by car.  She went camping in the fall when it wasn’t hot.  She went to Pugfest a few times.  There were many trips to the park when she was young.  She even went to the dogwood festival.  She was happiest in my lap with a chew toy.

Sadie at 10 weeks old

She was quiet for a pug, but the sounds of her life created a soundtrack that filled the house.   I can remember friends being surprised at how loud she was to them.  She could snore with her eyes open.  I was so used to it, that I didn’t even notice it, until this week when it was gone.  Now the house is so quiet.

We spent hours together over the years, with Sadie sitting either in my lap or next to me so that she could still touch me.   At night when I would turn off the TV, she would jump up and run around the house barking and herding everyone to bed.   Heaven forbid that I turn off the TV when it wasn’t bedtime!  She’d be so confused.

She would always choose a pillow over the floor  or even the couch.  A pillow on anything was better than just the object alone.    She was truly a princess.

Princess on a pillow

I can remember being so embarrassed when I would take her to PetSmart.  They always wanted to give her a treat.  She’d politely take it, lay it down on the floor and walk off.  Apparently,  those treats were not good enough for the princess.   I did finally stop letting them try,  she did need to watch her weight you know.

She had such a personality.  She’d  actually listen while you were talking to her.   And she never hesitated to make her wishes known.

Sadie listening to Momma

My life is better for her having been a part of it and emptier now without her.  She helped me through some rough patches in the road and loved me always, no matter what.    I already miss her something  awful.   Rest in peace, Sadie, knowing that you were truly loved.

(There will be more chronicles of Sadie in the near future as I continue to document my favorite memories.  Check back here for updates if you’d like to hear more of her story.)

I’m a little late getting to my Christmas cards this year.  All my good intentions have run away!    So I’ve decided to design my cards this year in My Digital Studio and print them rather than hand making them.

Here’s a few of the ideas I came up with.   The first one features my lovely pug Sadie.  She’s such a good sport.  Ahem, I mean model.

Front

Inside

I think she kept the Santa hat on for about 45 seconds.   She’s really not much of a hat lady.

Here’s a couple of more ideas. . . .

Front

Inside

Front

Inside

Front

The last one is a variation on a suggestion my mom made.   My hubby likes the first 2, but not the third one, and he hasn’t seen the last one.

What do you think?  Is he right?  Hmmm, time to make  a decision . . . .