For those of you not familiar with Threads, it was launched by Instagram in July 2023 and allows users to post text, photos and videos, and interact with other’s posts through likes, reposts, and replies. It’s basically a nicer version of Twitter (aka X). I’ve been over there since the beginning and enjoy reading other peoples Threads. Occasionally, I share thoughts. Or longer Thread stories… which are like free-form mini blog posts (I also curse over there, so… sorry). Anyways, I shared a story last week that kind of blew up.
And by blew up, I mean my account had over 295,000 views. I also had over 600 comments on my various posts, which I tried to keep up with over the few days that things were going crazy.
Anyways, one of those comments suggested that I write this all down somewhere, so I thought I’d add it over here on the blog too! I’ve been posting since before I was even pregnant with Jack, so for me it’s a fun little look back at many of the highs and lows over the past 14 years of my life.
So buckle up… here is the story of The Big Bopper.
We’ve always been a one dog house. After my sweet dog Potter passed away in 2013, we adopted Ollie (Introducing Ollie) a 9 pound yorkie-chihuahua mix. He was about 1 or 2 years old when he was dropped off at a kill shelter in West Virginia. Another shelter scooped him up, we adopted him, and we’ve spent the last 12 years spoiling the crap out of him.
Ollie is still doing great and is a happy and healthy 13(ish). And, for the past year or so, I’ve thought about maybe adding another dog to the mix.
Here’s my Why’s:
When Ollie goes to the pet sitter’s house, he enjoys being around other dogs.
There is research that says that dogs who have companion animals in the household live longer and are healthier.
Jack is 13 and having some responsibility for a new dog would be great for him.
My job is mostly remote, so I’m home most days.
We love dogs and having an extra furry body to snuggle seems like an awesome idea!
Every so often, I’d peruse some local shelter Facebook pages to see if any dogs fit my criteria of: something cute and fluffy, not a puppy/but still a young dog, likes other dogs, likes kids, and his housebroken.
Cooper’s profile popped up one day when I was scrolling on Facebook and I immediately thought he was adorable, but I was busy with other stuff and pushed it to the back of my mind. A couple days later, I saw the screenshot I had taken and looked into his profile a little further. He checked ALL my boxes, but I was about to go down to Ocean City for the weekend with Jack.
The next morning, I woke up, did a deep dive into Cooper’s online presence (as you do) and called my husband to see if he had any objections to me putting in an application. He said to go for it, so by 9am, the application was submitted. By noon, the rescue contacted my 2 references, checked in with my vet, and the foster mom texted me to schedule a phone call.
The phone call went great and we arranged for her to bring Cooper to our home for a meet-and-greet a few days later. We received final approval on our application, so if we liked him and he got along with Ollie, he was ours if we wanted him.
And we did!
Cooper joined our family on July 2. He is a Chihuahua-terrier mix who turns 2 in October. He has a fantastic full-body Mohawk that starts at the top of his head and goes all the way down his tail. He has no problem judging you regularly with his bombastic side eye. He’s a 26 pound Mr. Sassypants who lives for tummy rubs and chewing the ears off his toys.
The first night was ROUGH (or Ruff, you might say…). As with Ollie, I immediately went into an anxiety spiral of oh-my-god-what-did-I-do. He pooped in my office. He peed on the side of the couch in my den. I was having a never-ending hot flash. I got maybe 1-2 hours of sleep the whole night.
However, Day 2 was fine. And Night 2 we put Cooper in Jack’s room. I gave Jack a pair of earplugs in case Cooper whined, shut the door, and went to bed. And it was fine! And every day since then has been better and better, with Cooper fitting right into our family.
I call this one, The Judgmental Crossing Guard:
And now Cooper gets to sleep in bed with a 13-year-old boy who absolutely adores him. And spend all day laying in a dog bed at my side while I work. And spend the evenings alternating between cuddles, belly rubs and gnawing on bones. I even caught him and Ollie having a little playtime in the backyard a couple days after he joined our family. And now I get to live my dream of being in a puppy puddle of dog snuggles!
As I’m doing the ‘end of school year’ dance, I figured now was a perfect time to share a few of my End of School Year Tips that make my life a bunch easier. I call them my ‘thanks past Joules’ tips… because once September hits and the kiddo goes back to school, I’m sending my past self all the hugs and kisses.
Tip 1: Wash the Backpack and Lunchbox
Very, very, very important. Grab your kids backpack and the lunchbox that they’ve used all year, empty them out completely and then throw them in the laundry with a few towels. I don’t know why, but the backpack just picks up a funky, stinky school smell, so the sooner you get that cleaned the less time you spend with it fermenting in your house. As for the lunchbox, even if there is a plastic interior, if the outside is any sort of canvas you can throw it in the laundry.
Once they go through a normal washing load, just let them air dry and they’re ready to go for next year!
Tip 2: Wash the PE clothes
This could almost be a subsection of the first tip, but I’m sure I’m not the only parent who has found old, stinky PE clothes shoved into a bag at the bottom of the kids backpack. Even if they didn’t wear them ONCE during the year (so glad I paid for them…) they still get that school funk. Throw them in the wash ASAP and save yourself the retching of finding them after 2 more months.
Tip 3: Do a School Supplies Review/Purge
My kid brought home two backpacks full of school supplies and crap that was in his locker. Put it all in a pile on the table. Then, have your kid go through everything and separate it into trash and keep piles. Then, you go through it and re-separate it into trash and keep piles.
I’m typically able to reclaim at least a few binders that are in good shape, some folders, scissors, pencil sharpeners, and an assortment of pens, pencils and markers. Those go into the ‘use next year’ pile that gets put away in the closet until August. Then, the stuff that is okay but not trash, gets absorbed into the house stuff (like mostly used post it notes and notebooks that still have a little life left in them). Anything broken, empty or gross goes into the trashcan or recycle bin.
BONUS POINT OPTION: As you’re sorting through the school supplies, make a list of items that can’t be reused for school next year. Keep this list in your phone. Over the summer as you are out and about and see things on sale, buy the things on your list. Or, if you’re an Amazon shopper, stick each item on a ‘wish list’ and then check to see if any pricing dropped for the Amazon Prime Day sales — this year’s sales run from July 8 – 11th (here’s a post about how I use their sales to my advantage here).
