Happy birthday to her, she’s covered in fur

By Mir
August 18, 2010

The remainder of my birthday yesterday was very nice; in the true party spirit, I took some Nyquil and fell asleep on the couch before 9:00. Wooooo! Do I know how to live on the edge or WHAT? Too bad Otto felt the need to give me his cold as a pre-birthday gift. (But guilt is a handy thing, because to make it up to me he gave me a spa certificate for my actual birthday. As soon as I stop leaking snot everywhere, it’s massage time, baybee.)

You’d think that today everything would be back to normal, but NO, because today is Licorice’s birthday! Well, sort of. The truth is that no one knows when her birthday is, of course, because rescue dogs rarely get picked up with a little note pinned to their fur. (“Please take good care of my baby. Her name is Foofybottom and her birthday is on ________. She enjoys rodent entrails and long walks on the beach.”) But the rescue that nursed Licorice back to health assigned her birthday as August 18th, and their vet estimated her age at three, so although it may not ACTUALLY be her 4th birthday today, we’re acting like it is.

You know, for the kids. Stop looking at me like that.

There has been MUCH DISCUSSION over the last few weeks about what Licorice would like to do for her birthday. Licorice has strong opinions on the matter, as you might imagine, what with being a creature who enjoys licking her own butt.

[Digression: For months and months after we got Licorice, she was happy to lay around and sleep in the middle of the floor wherever I happened to be. She did this for a REALLY LONG TIME (just emphasizing that this was not a “new dog” thing but apparently a perfectly “regular thing” with her). But ever since her PTSD freakout at the sight of suitcases this summer before we left her and went on vacation, Licorice has become Cave Dog. If I am in the office? She is under my futon couch. If we are in the family room? She is wedged up against and halfway under the ottoman. In our bedroom? Under the bed. Our standard family joke now is that she is Emo Dog, and hiding in the dark under the bed or the futon is all the better for her to write her sad poetry. And then one day my husband had way too much time on his hands, so please remember that whenever you’re tempted to say that I’m the one who’s a little overinvested in this dog’s internal monologue.]

Anyway. I got up this morning and Licorice and I enjoyed a few minutes of solitude before it was time to get everyone else up.

Licorice’s 4th birthday from woulda on Vimeo.

I have to say, I love my kids at every age and stage, but 4 has always been one of my least favorite ages. (My children did not have Terrible Twos, they had F’ing Fours.) This is the kind of 4-year-old I can really adore… one who is always happy to see me and never tells me no.

Tonight there shall be laughter and merriment and possibly a candle stuck into a hamburger. I can neither confirm nor deny this rumor. Also, I have no idea where that stuffed chipmunk in my closet came from. Let’s just close that door and pretend you didn’t see anything. Now; who wants a belly rub?

28 Comments

  1. Leandra

    How awesome is it that the rescue group picked the day after YOUR birthday for Licorice’s birthday? If it wasn’t already obvious that she was fated to be with you, that should be a sign!

    Happy Birthday, Licorice! Hope you get to do whatever you want today, even if that means licking your own butt. To each her own!

  2. Chuck

    Happy birthday to your Furbaby! Hope she has a great day.

  3. Liz@thisfullhouse

    Sooooooo gosh-darned cute! We celebrate Doofus-Dawg’s birthday on November 28th (the day we adopted him) and, well, there is plenty of squirrel to go around, at our house, if you need :) Happy Birthday!!!

  4. sassymonkey

    Aw, happy birthday Licorice. (It’s the fake cat’s birthday on Friday.)

  5. Midj

    Happy Birthday, Licorice! Unfortunately, “there is no mobile version of this video available” so will have to wait until the baby gets up and I can get to the desktop to see the celebration… Get well, soon! Noses and throats started acting up here this week, also. Son called in sick for the very first time this AM. :-( Start of the semester in a college town I guess…

  6. Karen

    LOVE THAT DOG!!!! I do. What a beautiful coat, and I know it didn’t come easy :-)

  7. Rebecca

    She is such a cute puppy!! Happy birthday to her!

  8. Nelson's Mama

    Nelson sends his doggy best to Licorice on her BIRTHDAY!! He’s hoping that many tasty things are coming her way!

  9. elz

    Happy birthday to Licorice; hope she gets lots of pool swimming time. Oh wait, she hates that… Four has thus far (knock on wood) been pretty great for both my girls. My little one is four now and still baby enough to cuddle, snuggle, and kiss like crazy.

  10. Katie in MA

    Happy Birthday, Licorice! Maybe next year mama will hire some squirrels to jump out of your cake.

  11. Zuska

    Awwww….HB to Licorice!! FYI, Caramel is ONE rescue dog whose b-day is known, because when his epilepsy came on hard and strong the rescue group was able to get his records from his prior owner. And his b-day happens to be 8/15 – same as CurlyGirl’s! She was thrilled.

    But enough about my fur baby – Give Licorice some extra banana strands from us!!!

  12. Pats

    My daughter made a Facebook page for our dog. She makes him leaves remarks on my Facebook wall.

  13. Brandy

    Happy 4th Birthday Licorice! *G* I assign birthdays to all my kitties, though we usually assign them on a Holiday so we can remember!

  14. s

    Happy Bday to Licorice! I feel a bit guilty I haven’t celebrated our dog’s birthdays??? Sheesh, thanks for that one!

    And I am so laughing at your f’ing fours. My youngest is in the midst of having a tantrum at ANYTHING – need to go potty? NO… ready for bath? NO… yogurt or cereal for bfast? NO… screamed LOUDLY with foot stomping. He starts pre k soon – I’m going to be mortified at pick up when I hear he screamed at the teacher. Its just a stage…right???

  15. StephLove

    My normally easy-going son was a terror at 4, but only at home, so whenever we mentioned it people would give us funny looks.

    So I was dreading re-living 4, but my daughter is now pushing 4.5 and while more high-maintenance in general, she has thus far been less altered in her personality.

  16. Colleen

    OMG, the Emodog Twitter updates were comedy gold. It almost makes me want to sign up just to follow her. Not quite. But almost.

    Poor tortured soul.

  17. Heather

    Heh happy birthday, Licorice!

  18. Suzie

    I tell everyone that my cat shares my birthday. When we got him, we were told that he needed to be neutered on March 4th, because that’s when he was three months old. Which means he was born on December 4th, which is my birthday. My husband likes to say it was an “approximate” “3 months old.” I think my husband is just being mean.

  19. Annette

    After reading your title and knowing that it was YOUR birthday yesterday, I had NO IDEA where this was going…facial hair approaching the 40’s? you got a mink coat for that cool Geargia weather? Next time I will read the subtitle:) And hate to say it, but the dog’s birthday gets overlooked due to the 6 (soon to be 7) kids birthdays. Really, one can celebrate only so much:)

  20. Tracy

    So, I’m so glad you posted this because now I feel normal. We celebrate our babies birthdays, too! We ususally go to Pet Smart and let them try all the treats until last year when they got sick on the way home. We still take them..but no treats (we bring our own). Happy Birthday, Licorice!!!! You lucky dog, you!

  21. beachgal

    Happy Birthday Licorice! Happy to share my birthday with you!!!

  22. the celt (jessica)

    I can’t believe it! Did you tell Licorice that Woot! knew it was her birthday and is celebrating her special day with a Woot-off? If not, you definitely should: I’ll be it’ll make her feel even more special. ;~)

  23. Lady M

    Happy Birthday to the two of you!

  24. Aimee

    Aw! Happy birthday, candy-girl. I’d say that I hope you catch a squirrel, but I like your mom and I know *she* wouldn’t like that…. so I hope you ALMOST catch a squirrel. Then you can spend the next year writing emo poetry about the one that got away.

  25. Susan

    So if I go to court and tell them she is COVERED IN PET FUR, they’ll give me custody?

  26. Angela

    LOL at Susan! I just randomly found your blog today and I love it! I have a little white poodle named Ginger who loves a doggy cupcake for her birthday, so happy birthday to Licorice! Unrelated subject….I live in Texas and will be quite happy to punch Gina in the face if I ever see her around….I think I could recognize the hunchback carrying the giant chip!

  27. mamaspeak

    OMG Susan! I LOVE YOU!!! So funny!
    Happy B-day to Licorice.
    We figured out our rescue dog’s b-day as 6 months from when we got her. We were told she was 6 months old, so 6 months later, Sept. 19 is her b-day. :-)
    You are not alone. We are the same kind of KRAZEE.

  28. Lara

    Love the f’ing four term. My first did not have terrible twos but trying threes and just turned five so fingers crossed the f’ing fours don’t become f’ing fives ;) Sorry so late on this – still trying to catch up on postings after two week “holiday” … Happy belated birthday to you and Licorice (love the coupons BTW). Licorice and I share a birthday :) Hopefully hers wasn’t ruined by a demonstration of how bad the f’ing fours can get … Oddly enough, every other day of our holiday was great! Been following for two months now so want to just say – Love your blog Mir … You crack me up!

Things I Might Once Have Said

Categories

Quick Retail Therapy

Pin It on Pinterest