Somewhat Offbeat: How "Momma" Can Relate To Reilly's Anxiety About When Someone Has Something In the Oven, Though In A Different Way

Reilly is of course scared of the oven, and she is scared even though "Mom-Mom" just turned off the oven off ("She hid under the chair again." 🙁) Meanwhile and although "Momma" has a different matter (as well as other matters) on her mind, "Momma" can relate to, for example:

1. Waiting for what she wants in anxiety, frustration, etc.. In Reilly's case, of course, it's for the oven to be turned off.
2. Not knowing if she'll ever get what she wants and relief one or another way. For Reilly, she doesn't know when that oven will be turned off. It's also being afraid that, that oven will somehow hurt her—e.g., catch on fire like the time that "Momma" caught her hair and left cheek on fire when she was trying to light a candle (The candle was sitting on the ceramic stovetop, and that "Momma" didn't drop the match quickly enough as the flame was moving up the match is what caught her hair and left cheek on fire. Reilly has nonetheless since associated that incident with ovens because of the candle being on the stovetop. "Mom-Mom" thinks that Reilly might have cowered in dread to a guardian angel that she saw helping "Momma", meanwhile and by the way—that "Momma" doubts that Reilly would've dreaded an angel, since a malakh Yehovah would've affected her to have a sense of shalom. Besides, Ba'alam's donkey obeyed HaMalakh Yehovah and didn't seem to be scared of him—or "Him", as "Momma" and Reilly believe.
3. Hoping to get and being disappointed to get what she wants especially when she thinks that she might get it. For Reilly, it's hoping for the oven to be turned off ASAP and being more anxious, frustrated, etc.. in waiting for that oven to be turned off.

In the meantime, a dread-and-stress-exhausted Reilly is napping in her crate as "Momma" finishes typing; and "Momma" can only hope and pray about what's making her anxious (and exacerbating her OCD/Anxiety for that matter!).

Excerpt From "More Shit And Other Stuff That I Can't Make Up": At Least Fudge Was Alive. As For Our Hamsters...

Trust me that they each were dead: 

1. One inhaled refrigerator insulation (Dad's negligence)
2. The second had wet tail
3. The namesake fell into a squirrel-dug hole and fell 16 feet before meeting another six (Dad's negligence)
4. And the fourth died naturally 

With the namesake, by the way, Dad actually named the namesake one to make us think that the name-honored one had survived. At least I give that he used minhag Ashkenazi, even though that wasn't exactly his intent.

What I don't give—or get—is his intent to deceive—which could be called both lashon hara and perhaps shem hara, maybe even chillul shem (and since we're discussing deceit here, chillul HaShem). Even worsely is that we—that is, my sister and I—found out about it only long after both the name honoree and the namesake had been deceased, and even long after the final hamster had been deceased—and we found out when we were having lunch with my father and my grandmother.

To sum this up, then:

1. Dad allows Santa Little—whom, by the way, was named as a compromise for "Santa Claus" and "Stuart Little"—to dig a hole in the closet after escaping from his ball—and all of us agree that Dad should've gotten Santa out of the closet and back into the ball right away, as one cannot compromise wherein negligent rodenticide is involved.
2. Dad lets the second Frisky meet a similarly-ignominious end after not even telling us that the first Frisky died of Wet Tail—let alone that he searched around for a similar-looking hamster to make us think that the first Frisky had survived—and then the second Frisky ends up meeting the kind of ending that the first overall hamster met.
3. Dad lets Anastasia die naturally—because what better way to let a hamster die after her predecessors die is there, especially since she was named in honor of a princess whom was caught up in the middle of how her Anti-Semitic parents angered Lenin, Trotsky, and quite a few others? 

A "tail" of four hamsters that has fur-flying irony, paradoxes, and plenty of "Oy veys!" to accompany it—and with the reflection that a third-generation pogrom survivor uses minhag in a bad way while he at least has no mishaps with the namesake of a secondary victim of Anti Semitism.

As I said, more shit and other stuff that I can't make up!

Meanwhile, at least Fudge (whose story I just read on the news and thus inspired me to recall the story of my own hamsters) is apparently living a sweet and warm life in contrast to the cold and bitter endings that my own hamsters met—though at least they all had decent levayot in my grandma's backyard! 

Thanksgiving 2017 Card From Reilly and Camille

PS Flash ended up being too much. However, "Mimi" liked this picture of Camille, and "Auntie Nicole" got the "eyes...aglow" idea from it. Also, Cam really did try to steal Ri's treats and had to go into her crate until Reilly's separate photo was taken, and she got an extra treat for getting into her crate as "Auntie Nicole" asked her to do while Reilly got an extra treat for finally cooperating with "Momma".

More of Reilly's New Eardoo, And Incidental Notes

By the way, isn't this picture reminiscent of two other pictures (among other pictures)?

Also by the way:

1. ¡Feliz Día de Cristobal Colón 525^o de ¨Mamᨠy Reily Rosalita á tí y tus familias y amigos!
2. "Momma" hates to think that she at least partly may have caused Reilly's otitis externa, and Reilly has to be as frustrated with "Momma" as "Momma" is with not getting clear answers about a certain subject.

Two Memorable Photoshoots With Reilly And Camille

Collage 1: Reilly was very relaxed after a belly rub. Camille, meanwhile, just wanted to nap.



Collage 2: "Auntie Michelle"/"Mimi" took these photos of "Momma"/"Auntie Nicole" with Reilly and Camille. 

The (Maybe-Not-So-Much) Anticipated(?) Part Of the Promised Post: How Reilly Resembles "Momma"

One time, "Momma" had been looking at pictures of a family member, and an infamous one at that. Still, "Momma" couldn't help but crack up when Reilly (at least as "Momma" saw after she'd just looked at the pictures) resembled the family member. To be fair, puppies do end up resembling their owners overtime, and the infamous family member bears (or, at least when he was younger, bore) resemblance to Reilly's "Pop-Pop" and "Great-Granddad" (and that's how "Momma", incidentally and as she's mentioned elsewhere, figured out that "Danilovich" was not just a patronymic in that relative's case).

In Reilly's case, then, whether resembling "Momma" physically's good is a subjective call. Meanwhile, here's at least some of how else Reilly resembles "Momma" (or at least "Momma" thinks, and barring factors such as "Momma"'s OCD/Anxiety):

1. She knows what she wants and why she wants it when she wants it.
2. She's loyal and jealous.
3. She's stubborn and Type A in many ways.
4. She can actually put up with quite a bit, although she's not always the most-patient type!
5. She's a foodie!
6. She has her breaking points and doesn't always react well when she reaches them!
7. She's empathetic (As for "Momma". she tries to be an empath!).
8. She can be defensive, whether rightly or wrongly!

However, she as an extrovert does balance out her introverted "Momma"; and she also balances out introverted Camille.

Last Quick-Break-In-The-Promised-Post Cycle, Part Two

Long story short (as far as "Momma" recalls, anyway, since a couple of days have passed since the incident): never cross Reilly in terms of beef-liver-jerky treats unless you want to risk being bitten, targeted for growling, etc.. Trying to steal Camille's chance at getting groomed with the electric toothbrush, Reilly jumped back up on "Mom-Mom"'s lap and would not take "No" for an answer. Finally, "Auntie Michelle" had to roll over Reilly, since even moving her away from Camille and "Mom-Mom" did not work.

"Where's the beef?" At that point, it was where Reilly couldn't get it—and her attempts at stealing Camille's treat ended up like Walter Mondale's campaign, which was a losing attempt, although Reilly certainly had no support of any human female equivalents. In that case, there would've been a special place in Hell for "Momma"/"Auntie Nicole", "Mom-Mom", and "Auntie Michelle"/"Mimi" had they not helped Camille (Granted that Madeline Albright wasn't speaking of canines like Reilly and Camille, though.).

Last Quick-Break-In-The-Promised-Post Cycle, Part One

On Wednesday, the last day of May 2017, the special anniversary that occurred was the third anniversary of a week since Reilly had been home:

On Saturday, meanwhile, the second anniversary of Camille's homecoming will occur.

Correction (June 10, 2017): Camille came home on June 6^th—oh well; she still came home on a Saturday (Excuse "Auntie Nicole" for having an ADD-, etc.-addled brain and two years in between Cam's homecoming to remember!).

Wait Until Hanukkah & Christmas, and What Reilly & "Momma" Want For Christmas

Even though Reilly was overwhelmed on Thanksgiving, the jury is out on Hanukkah and Christmas. For the past two Hanukkot and Christmases, she did well (😢—"Momma"'s baby's growing. She'll be three human years—and 32.3 dog years—exactly three months after Christmas, and she'll always be "Momma"'s puppy—and a puppy's always a puppy, whether a baby puppy or an adult puppy. 😢—"Momma"'s tearing up again.).

"Momma"'s not exactly sure if Reilly was okay with the nerot shel Hanukkah, though she did well overall. However, she merely tolerated the Hanukkah and Christmas cards for the first ones.

"Momma" made the card using Powerpoint.

"Mom-Mom" took this photo.

Reilly was grinchy about regular pictures on Christmas Eve, too.

As far as Christmas, Reilly liked the treats and toys—and she was heartbreakingly heartbroken and sad when "Momma" had to throw her donut-shaped toy—which was one of her favorite toys—away ("Donut has to go bye-bye". Poor Reilly was whimpering and whining in a gentle and "Please don't throw 'Donut' away" way. Incidentally, "Donut" was replaced with a squeaky-wheel toy named "Speedy".).

Reilly will then want the same kind of gifts for this Hanukkah and Christmas—e.g., treats, toys, family presence. As for "Momma", she wants a God-given gift for herself and Reilly—and Reilly would certainly be a gift in turn, though whether "Momma" would be may be questionable.


PS As "Auntie Nicole" was typing this, she gasped and dropped her mouse because she thought that she saw a bug crawling on her phone—and Camille looked at "Auntie Nicole" with a "What's going on?" and an "Are you okay"? expression.

With The Overwhelmed Reilly Calming Down...

Thanksgiving went much more smoothly—and since she had to be put in her crate during her human family's Thanksgiving dinner, anyway, she (as "Mom-Mom" and "Auntie Michelle" reported) calmed down in her crate (her little space).

Overall, Thanksgiving wasn't too shabby; and it even included Reilly's and Camille's reactions to "A Christmas Story".

Overwhelmed On Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was going peacefully until the oven gave off a tiny smell of smoke from being cleaned. The sequence:

1. "Mom-Mom" thought that Reilly saw and sniffed something outside.
2. "Momma" then thought that Reilly wanted to play with "Mom-Mom".
3. Then "Momma" figured out that Reilly was afraid of the smokey smell—"Mom-Mom" agreed with "Momma".
4. "Auntie Michelle" had to take Reilly upstairs—and off of "Momma"'s lap—for a few moments—though not before Camille gave Reilly a kiss and comforted her.
5. "Auntie Nicole" held Camille on her lap until "Mimi" came back.
6. "Mom-Mom" gave Reilly a calming treat and tried to comfort her.
7. Nothing but massages from "Auntie Michelle" have worked for Reilly—even being on "Momma"'s lap and anti-anxiety music haven't worked.
8. Camille is wondering what's happening.
9. "Auntie Michelle" now is rocking Reilly like one would rock a human baby—and actually holding Reilly over one arm is working best, and "as Auntie Michelle" is taking Reilly upstairs to fully calm her.
10. Camille is looking to the hallway and turning to look at "Mom-Mom" to try to figure out what's up with Reilly, and "Mom-Mom" is reassuring Camille that "[Reilly's] okay."

Thanksgiving So Far

Thanksgiving Eve was something for Reilly and Camille. Today will be something as well, although it's been quiet so far—so far:

Camille is not exactly keen on pictures, since she has learned from Reilly.

Window watchers

"Mom-Mom" had to get Reilly to look at the camera.

Playful Can nibbles "Mom-Mom"'s hand.