Alynne "Red 5" Schripsema

“When you lose someone you love, they never really leave you. They just move into a special place in your heart. He’ll always be there, Victor.” - Frankenweenie (2012) August 10, 2014 - March 9, 2024 I don’t even know where to begin with this. It was a post I never wanted to make, despite knowing that eventually, she would have to leave. Nothing could ever really convey how much she means to me. If you haven’t had that “soulmate” bond with an animal before, it is indescribable. She made me whole. She was the missing piece of my heart who kept me going through some of the worst times in my life. I could never thank her enough for that. For nine and a half years, she was my constant. Without her, I feel truly lost. From the first time I saw her picture, I knew she was my girl. And the first time I saw her in person, it was game over. I wasn’t supposed to get a dog that day. I claimed I just “wanted to meet her” and I would decide after. But as soon as she sat in my lap, she was coming home with me. It meant I had to take her with me to Petco right away to get supplies because I didn’t have any. But everyone immediately fell in love with her, and so did I. It’s something special to be a cattle dog’s person. She liked some folks, loved some others. But if I was in the room she wanted nobody else. She was my Velcro dog, and for the rest of my life I will miss her getting up to follow my every move. I will miss her tongue flopping out of her mouth because she broke her canines and nothing really held it in. I will miss her shoving her favorite toys in my face until I finally played with one. I will miss that of all the toys, she was somehow the most gentle with Bunny (the hollowed out husk of a stuffed animal). I will miss the sharp turn of her head, catching her too long tongue between her teeth, whenever I asked “Do you want a…?” - the gears in her head turning to decide what it was I was going to ask. But more than anything, I’m going to miss her. My baby girl. My Frankenweenie Jean. My best friend.

I truly don’t know what to do without this beautiful girl. Waking up in the morning without her is so hard. I miss her so much. Thank you everyone who has reached out, and extra special thank you to those that have sent gifts, too. It means so much to have so much support and love surrounding me right now. I wasn’t expecting such an outpouring of it, but I am grateful beyond words. If I don’t get back to you directly, just know I have read every single message and I’m still just overwhelmed by trying to adjust to this new normal.

Today is @captainjackheartless birthday! Where do I start with this guy. I am so immensely grateful to have him in my life, in big and small ways he is the best cheerleader I have ever had; and knowing he’s in my corner has been huge the last year. He decided to stick it out with me even though I had to leave CA and we had to do things long distance for an indeterminate amount of time (thank goodness that’s almost done). I never thought anyone would do anything like that for me. Or even bigger, relocate his life to be with me while I follow my passions. I didn’t know I could love or be loved like this and I am so, so grateful to be part of his life. And beyond grateful that he would come to AZ for his birthday at the last minute so that I don’t have to be far from Frankie right now. I love you, @captainjackheartless . I can’t wait to spend so many more birthdays with you.

Here is my April recap! Overall a very good month, but by far the stand out was Dead of Summer by @theryanlasala - I cannot say enough times how much fun this book was. The audiobook was amazing, and before I was even done I bought a print copy and an audio version (originally I was listening via Libby). I can’t wait for the next one!!

I should probably prioritize making these graphics work in both stories and posts at some point. But I’m not redoing these ones! So uh. Here are some awkwardly cropped ratings for a bunch of books I read recently. I like this format since it’s simple and low effort for a quick story. But I do put more into my reviews on Storygraph which is linked in my bio.

Finally got around to putting this together! Here were all of my books in March! Had some real hits, and a couple big misses. But I am realizing I might be pretty generous with my ratings? 😅 Oh well! All reviews are available on my Storygraph and Goodreads!

I used to be a voracious reader, and so this year, I’m dedicated to embracing that part of myself again. This doesn’t even encompass all of the books I read in January, since a handful of them were audiobooks. But my goal this year is to read more, but specifically to read more physical books, read more fiction & read more diverse authors. I feel like I’ve made decent headway, and have set myself up to make more progress pretty well. I have so many books I’m excited to read this year (enough to need another bookshelf, oops). Picking a favorite for January is nearly impossible for me. So I’m gonna cheat. My favorite non-fiction was HANDS DOWN “What My Bones Know” by @foofoofoo . Moving, powerful and remarkably vulnerable. Highly recommend if you like a memoir about survival. As for fiction, I think it’s gonna go to “When the Wolf Comes Home” by @catnassidy . Couldn’t put it down and without question one of the most existentially horrifying moments I’ve read in awhile. The world sucks and reading is both an escape and a way to continue to expand my perspectives and knowledge. And I think the world could use more readers. So yeah. You can follow along with me on Storygraph at red5iam (what else).

Commissioned this piece of all our pets from my good friend @giveafluff , and it came out so precious. I can’t wait to print it and have it on the wall! The attention to detail of markings, the little wings and the head tilt on Toni are just so perfect. Thank you my friend! (There is a second slide with everyone, minus Frankie, so that Jack can have one of just the pets we have together.)

In July, we had excellent experience of taking photos at Salt River with @pupandmephoto and I *finally* got my last payment made and am so excited to share some of these photos with you! Some of these are the wrong orientation because Instagram but they will all be shared individually eventually. I just couldn’t wait to share them all. These photos were definitely a splurge for myself but *so* worth it. If you are in the Phoenix area and want some fabulous photos of your family and your pup, Monica and Evan are wonderful and made the entire experience fun and easy. 10/10 would recommend a hundred times.

The #Halloween2025 costume for our dog Frodo turned out great! My partner @red5iam is a huge @americannightmarecody fan (as am I), and as such, we transformed our boy into the American Nightmare FRODY RHODES. Red built the whole costume from scratch(!) and it was a big hit. He is truly the Undisputed Champion of dogs! 😂 Good luck tonight Cody, all 3 of us will be cheering you on at #SNME from home. #HappyHalloween #CodyRhodes #AmericanNightmare #Frodo #instadog #FrodyRhodes #ᴅᴏɢsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ

It’s apparently National Cat Day, and I would be the worst if I didn’t post these two. Being a dog person for so much of my life, I have to say, these two have assured that I will always have a cat (or two) in my life. They’re funny, sweet, and so deeply special. I never expected to have *two* cats who desperately want to be in physical contact with me all of the time, but here we are. My absolute favorite goblins - Miss Toni Marie Purrkins and Sir Elton Purrcules John. 🖤

Thanks @shopoatybear for hosting such a great event on #Maythe4th! Can’t wait for the next one! And thank you @banakinmedia for the excellent photos of our boy!