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Mosey’s World

I love my dog. This I’m sure you know well. With a face like that, how could you not?

However, I don’t want my house to scream “A DOG LIVES HERE!” I feel that his presence pushes the point home more than enough, and I don’t need “dog stuff” strewn all over the house to further prove that my house is a dog house. So, I tuck “Mosey” stuff mostly out of the way. I suppose I would be a terrible parent. Corralling all the kid’s toys into one room or closet and saying “don’t let that stuff come out here and spoil my living room!”

Anyway, in celebration of the fact that as of today, April 16, we have been Mosey’s parents for a whole year, here are some snapshots of Mosey’s World.

Here’s his food and water, which is in the living room between the fireplace and walkway to the dining room. “They” say not to feed the dog in the kitchen/dining room to discourage begging… but Mosey begs anyway… The placemat is one Doug used growing up :)

We tuck the container of dog food on the kitchen cart (under the waffle maker) next to the oven. He gets a natural/organic blend with no fillers. It has banana chips, peas, carrots, and craisins in additon to the chicken flavored kibble. Sound fancy? It is. He eats better than we do. But since he eats so little, it’s not a huge burden to spring for the better dog food. His food dish is a one-cup portion, it’s easy to just scoop it out with that… no other portioning tools needed. He gets one to two cups a day, depending on how active he’s been lately. He eats more in the summer and less in the winter.

His treats are in this cookie jar, and he definitely knows the “clang” of the metal on the glass means he’s about to get something yummy! (Note: I can not verify the yumminess of the snacks. I have not tried them, but he sure seems to like them.)

Here is his crate “house.” I hate the word crate, sounds so mean, so I call it his house or his kennel. The blanket over the top helped keep the warm air in during the winter… it’s still kind of chilly inside during the day so I’ll leave it on until the weather becomes HOT. The floral pillow inside was a DIY floor cushion that failed, that turned into a dog bed. The red crate on top holds his travel bag (with a few toys, plastic bags, etc for when we take him to Doug’s parents or to the dog park) in addition to two coats (he gets cold in the winter) and old (chewed up) leashes, among other things. The certificate commemorating his graduation from obedience school is on the wall, haha!

It has been a great year with our sweet pup!

Questions? I’ll be happy to answer in the comments! 

Sick Day

I suppose you ought to call it a sick afternoon. I have always felt less guilty putting in a partial day’s work and getting important things taken care of before going home to drink tea and curl up under the covers. If I had someone to cover for me I probably would have called in all day, I’m so achy and shivery.
I hope all of your days are going much better than mine!

Slavery Footprint

Today at work I had a meeting with our contact person for the Mid-Feb through Mid-March emphasis on Modern Day Slavery that we are going to focus on here at church.

Did you know that today there are more slaves on earth than there have been at any other point of history? Slavery did not end in the 1800s, friends. There are somewhere between 10 million and 30 million slaves living in our world–the numbers are broad because the underworld does not make its statistics public like a normal business would (duh).

Slavery in its most horrific and most talked-about form is sex trafficking and forced prostitution but there are many other forms–indentured servitude (on a farm, for example), forced child labor, sweatshop workers who toil to “pay off” a debt that spirals higher day by day. It almost always takes the form of what appeared at first to be a generous loan, but one that can never be paid off due to “interest” or “fees” associated with “letting the debt slide.”

The above video is about a website called slaveryfootprint.org where you can input facts about your belongings, home, and habits. The program uses tons of aggregated data to estimate your “slavery footprint” in the way other sites use info to estimate your “carbon footprint.” I was shocked to find out that based on my lifestyle I have 30+ slaves “working” for me inderectly–more specifically in mines for minerals used in make-up and cell phones, on farms, in sweatshops, etc.

I have a friend who has really taken the cause to heart. When shopping, even for simple things like soap and shampoo, she purchases fair trade as frequently as possible. Yes! There is such a thing as fair trade shampoo! Growing your own garden is a great way to take some of the burden off of day laborers. Purchasing gently-used clothing from thrift stores eliminates the “need” for GAP to manufacture one more shirt. Cell phones use precious minerals like coltan–ever heard of it? Didn’t think so–but there are people forced to mine for it in dangerous conditions. I’m not saying get rid of your cell phone, but I am saying that you probably don’t need to upgrade every two years if you take care of it.

Some people claim that they can’t buy fair trade (products from farmers or workers for a fair price in regards to their labor) because it is too expensive. Stop and ponder that for a moment. Ever wonder why “unfairly traded” products are so cheap? Most of the people I know who strictly stick to fair trade products do not make more money than my family does. In fact, who knows, they might make less. Sometimes it is important to focus on where your dollar is going, instead of stretching that dollar as far as it can go.

For new followers of this blog, I studied International Studies in college which emphasized current global problems like I’m talking about here. It is a passion of mine, which explains the empassioned posts like this that pop up on the blog every now and again. 

Learn more:

Related: Slavery Still Exists.