Embellishing & A Story

A black tee for my girl dressed with a few buttons becomes a fun candy corn shirt in just minutes. It will look cute with the black leggings I bought her with the pumpkin buttons at the hem.

Before sewing on the buttons, I ironed interfacing/stabilizer to the inside of the front to give the shirt a little stability. She says she loves it. But it's not pink. I have a hunch I know how this will go down ...

* * Story * *

I try to keep the peace. Really, I do. But when there is something dumb or ridiculous going on, I just can't help myself. I have to speak up. On Friday morning the boys (Carter, Jackson and Mason) were at the bus stop. The bus was just pulling down the street when I noticed a neighbor running down the street with her two children (while holding a toddler). Running with her were also two Pit Bulls. Not leashed. Not muzzled. Just running down the street. About 30 feet ahead of her.

Is it just me, or is it common sense, that you just don't allow two aggressive-by-nature animals running freely on a street when children are at a bus stop???? I thought it's common sense, but apparently, it's not.

One dog ran to the door of the bus as if it try to board it. (I couldn't see if the bus driver shut the door by that time because the door was on the opposite side of the street.) When the bus pulled away, the lady turned back around and the dogs followed her. Again 30 feet behind her. One dog wandered around neighbor's houses and one sat and stared me down through my glass door. The owner was oblivious.

I called our town office, who referred me to the local Humane Society. They sent me information to pass along to my neighbors, either anonymously or however I wished. The papers came in the mail on Monday and I prayed for an opportunity to give them a copy of the county ordinances.

Yesterday as I was leaving to take Spenser to preschool, I was getting the two littles in the car when I noticed both Pit Bulls running wildly on the street again, without the owner in sight. At all. I quickly shut the car door to protect the children and started to go inside the house to get my camera (as recommended by the Humane Society). I looked around to check the dogs' location and one was sitting across the street staring me down again. Not a good feeling when you're on the opposite side of a locked wooden door. When I got inside, the dogs ran home. Instead of grabbing my camera, I grabbed the information from the Humane Society. I bravely walked across the street (still slightly horrified that these dogs were loose somewhere) and rang their doorbell. I talked to the owner, who seemed quite annoyed that I was disturbing him. I tried to give him the literature, but he refused to take it. He kept saying "they're puppies, they're puppies." I told him one sat and stared me down. He told me to "yell at them." I explained that I was trying to work it out by coming straight to him, and not calling the police. He wasn't rude or abrupt, but he wasn't warm and fuzzy either. (And they might be puppies by age, but not by size.)

I made another call to the Humane Society. They said I could either make a complaint and they would come out to visit the neighbor and possibly fine them, or I could document the past two times and if it happens again, to call and make a complaint. Although in my head I was thinking "there might not be a second time where it ends peacefully," in my heart I thought I needed to give the owners a chance to exercise their brain cells.

While I really don't want any enemies over this, I certainly would rather have enemies than have an injured child. The whole thing just makes me ill.