Another object lesson in love: Owning a dog with hair rather than fur means that she must be groomed on a regular basis, which is both expensive and---for my particular dog---traumatic. But a little black dog in the south needs to be clipped if she's going to avoid heat stroke. Generally speaking, Licorice is just relieved to get sprung at the end of her beautifying, and my lavish affection about what a pretty girl she is and how delightful-smelling she's become is its own reward. Or something. For some reason, however, after yesterday's grooming appointment, we came home, as usual, and I...
The children have been out of school for a day and a half, and already the dog has gone completely insane. To be fair, there's a crew here working on the new fence, and when you are a 12-pound vicious guard dog that requires a lot of running back and forth from one end of the house to the other, barking and whining, just in case the pounding and trucks in the yard hadn't yet alerted you to the fact that INTRUDERS are AFOOT. The fact that said intruders are hard at work erecting a dog run for your spoiled furry ass is apparently not a deterrent to this behavior, by the way. But even...
1) Today is National Licorice Day. Licorice requests that you please remit liquid chicken post haste. (My dad gave her an egg white yesterday and she clearly wanted to know why we hadn't brought the liquid-chicken-gifting people over soon.) 2) We have our first middle school IEP planning meeting this afternoon, so I am busy making cinnamon rolls to bribe anyone who will help bring with me to let everyone know that yes, my kid is going to be extra work, but he is worth it because I always bake something yummy. Then this morning I noted that my inability to eat wheat probably leaves folks in...
I think one of the things I love so much about having a dog is that I always know where I stand with her. Human relationships are complicated, messy things. Good intentions can get lost, overshadowed, and misinterpreted. Apologies can be hard to come by and sometimes even harder to really hear. And a bad day can sabotage years of carefully laid groundwork if you're not lucky. Humans are HARD. Dogs, on the other hand, are easy. Dogs have long but extremely forgiving memories. Dogs are all about your intentions RIGHT THIS SECOND and not so much about that unpleasant thing that happened before....
I would say that first and foremost, I am the queen of unintentionally sticking my foot into my giant mouth. I am forever saying things I should not, and I really don't even have the excuse of being stupid. I'm not stupid. My mouth just happens to work faster than my brain. And in a somewhat related vein, despite being something of a planner---some might even say a neurotic, perfectionist one, at that---I am often queen of choosing a course of action without fully understanding ALL of the ramifications. The saddest part is that it's invariably something where I feel so PLEASED with whatever...
By the time Chickadee got home from school yesterday, she was all sweetness and light again. She wanted hugs and kisses and to cuddle and was full of stories from the day and things she'd been meaning to tell me and pretty much just brimming over with "I am sorry except I can't actually SAY that." Just like that, the events of the morning are set to rights. In her perception, anyway. I try to go with it, to suck up the goodness when it happens. Like the little girl with the little curl, when she is good she is so very, very good. So I roll with it. I take a quiet moment to remind her that I...
This is our first weekend in a long time without a million places to rush off to at top speed. We've all been enjoying a rather glorious slugdom! (Sadly, I do think showers and laundry and groceries are in order for today. Alas.) Licorice is the destroyer of all toys, but her glee while shredding them is so adorable that I cannot resist buying them for her even though I know they're only good for under an hour of (closely supervised) playtime. Last night she got a giant wrench, and lo, it was Very Good: Yep. That's an awesome weekend, alright.
Haaaaaaaaappy Valentine's Day! I hope that today brings you whatever form of either commercially-sanctioned or rail-against-the-MAN celebration you desire. I know that some women tell their significant others, "No, really, I don't need to celebrate, we don't need to do anything, honey," and then they would go sulk when their words were heeded and the day was, indeed, nothing special. Me, we're closing in on four years of marriage, and it is still 100% true that I am grateful for Otto every single day. I mean, sure, I guess I could demand/expect flowers or chocolate on this particular day,...
