What I Am Reading: Goings and Comings

Going

dogsLR2This week’s round up is inspired by my dear friend, Jenniemarie, from Another Housewife, who decided this week to hang up her blogging keyboard, at least for now, in order to be more present in her life. While I will miss her voice, I completely understand. Go read her lovely post on Saying Goodbye to Another Housewife and let her know she’ll be missed.  (But this is also a “coming” as our friend Jana will be taking over and adding Another Housewife to the growing Daily Money Shot empire.)

In another kind of going, Kari and the entire Dog is God in Reverse recently moved (back) to Alaska. Having finally recovered from the experience of having to fly 4 dogs on two different airlines (including two Pits through Denver *shudder*), Kari is gives us something positive in her review of a pet carrier from the Sherpa Pet Group.

One of the saddest parts in life is saying goodbye to those we love. Life by Pets was started because I was having a hard time letting go of Moree, and sadly, Smokey passed only a few months after I started it. I say this by way of saying I understand why Just Ramblin’ has been on a bit of a hiatus. He’s doing his best to focus on Miss Sadie Lou, who is fighting her last fight. Lean on Me, he says to her. Lean on us, say we in the pet blogging community. We can’t be there, but we will be here.

As hard as it is to prepare for a beloved pet’s passing, it’s even harder for most of us to prepare for our own declining days and eventual death. Do we want to live in comfort every day of our lives, or is it more important to leave a legacy for our kids? How do we plan to protect ourselves and our family? Average Joe writes this week about his recently passed father in law and lessons in Long Term Care Planning.

 

 Comings

 

This bear will never live upstairs, My dogs would destroy it.

This bear will never live upstairs, My dogs would destroy it.

On to happier things, and we’ll start with the happiest. If you’ve ever been to the Complete Blogroll page here on Dog Ate My Wallet, you might have noticed a section of blogs labeled “On Hiatus”. These are blogs I follow that have stopped updating for one reason or another. I go back and check on them occasionally to see if they are back in action. This week, I noticed one was back (more on that later) and that another posted an update, an update I had been hoping for. Money for College Project announced his new project and his new baby! He and his wife adopted a baby girl about 6 months ago, hence the reason for his long absence. I hope to see the blog come out of my “hiatus” status soon. But in the meantime, go congratulate the new father.

The blog that officially came out of hiatus is Budget or Fudget. After a really awful, no good, rotten 2012 she’s back in the game and figuring out her future. And that includes sometimes having to look a gift horse in the mouth.

On the pet blog side of things, Pittieful Love had been on a bit of a break, too. But now they are back and with the great news that they’ve been able to foster (at least short term) again. If the pictures from A Weekend with Gremlin can be believed, Chocko is going to be a great foster brother.

Speaking of fostering, Oh, Corbin had both some goings and comings recently. Foster dog Sophie went to a different home while Corbin’s “aunts” Bethany and Avery, two adorable Lab mixes, visited, but now Sophie has returned, and Corbin is getting in some extra snuggles.

 

Bonus Comings

I know I only usually do 4 each of the blogs I regularly read, but this week’s theme applied to  a couple more posts that I really wanted to highlight.

American Debt Project recently welcomed its first staff writer! Head on over to read Curtis’s second post on the siren call of payday loans and to add your support to a man who is seriously working on turning his life around.

Curtis will tell you he is a former convict. But he’s working hard on turning his life around. I am a strong believer in giving people the opportunity to change. Did you ever watch the Animal Planet show Prison Dogs? It was about animal programs in prisons that gave both problem dogs and prisoners a chance at a new and better life. Now, Something Wagging This Way Comes introduces to a new web series about a specific prison dog program- Jail Dogs in 1C. There is no better way to care about animals than by caring about people. And I honestly believe there is no better way to help people than to have them experience unconditional love- something every dog excels at.

 

New to Me

Heart Like a Dog is one of my favorite dog blogs. So when I noticed that 2 Brown Dawgs Blog was co-hosting Follow-up Friday for a second time, I knew I had to click over to this “new to me” blog. The two brown dogs appear to actually be three Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. And I actually love Follow-up Friday as a great way to introduce me to a blog because I get to read a little bit about a number of posts from the previous week all at once.

And finally, the latest edition to the Yakezie Challenge is Cheap Students. I’ll be honest, the first thing I thought when reading it was “why can’t I live in Canada” and specifically “why can’t I be from Ontario”. Why? Because apparently, residents of Ontario get 30% off their tuition. I know I’m not in school right now, but C is, and 30% off of our tuition bill sure would be nice.