Hey, remember when I painted my office? Like, a million years ago? And I was all excited about it but then we decided to order new flooring and we've been living life with my entire professional life (contents of my office; whatever) strewn all over the dining room and kitchen? The new floor is going in RIGHT NOW as I type. Finally. Of course, I'm leaving town tomorrow. So, uh, either I'll reassemble my office tonight before I go or my family can enjoy having my desk in the middle of the kitchen for a few more days. No biggie, right? Right. Normally I would've been terribly impatient about...
Summer is firmly upon us, and I am enjoying all of my unexpected down time. HAAAA. You know, in-between the driving lessons, ferrying children to and fro, working on a few different projects for the school (damn my need to be "helpful" and "participatory"), gardening, sort of working, various visits and engagements, and trying to keep everyone alive (which turns out to be harder than I think it's going to be, all the time). We had houseguests who brought their two dogs, and do it was DOGAPALOOZA here for a couple of days, and after they left, Duncan seemed REALLY tired, which, fine, I guess...
Theoretically I could just say, "Oh hey I have a new post over at Alpha Mom you should go read" and link to it, but I have a couple of dog-related things to share (which, granted, have nothing to do with the Alpha Mom post) so I am just going to put everything here and call it a post. Because... reasons. Dog Matter #1: Licorice has developed a super-annoying habit of licking the kitchen floor. I don't mean occasionally, or just that she scoops up food I drop (that's why you have a dog, after all, so that you don't have to vacuum as often), but that she will park herself in one of two...
It comes as no surprise to anyone who's known me for any length of time that my favorite topic of conversation is dogs. Specifically, my dogs. Because they are smushy wuvvy fluffy balls of ridiculousness. "Help, my teeth don't all fit in my mouth." When the bible talks about pure love and devotion, I believe it's referring to something nigh unto impossible to achieve among fellow humans, but something that naturally occurs with pets. Just looking at them lowers my blood pressure by at least ten points. They're the BEST. Even when they're, y'know, not. I got one of those reminder postcards in...
It snowed this morning, which was Terribly Exciting. School was not canceled, however---SAD FACE---which was Terribly Disappointing. My poor, poor children, reared in snowy New England for the first half of their lives, complained that they would surely DIE on the school bus because of the tragic winter weather. There was an actual dusting of snow on the ground! THE HORROR!! Because we are suckers, Otto drove them to school. Tempting though it is to declare the kids the wussiest wusses of Wussville in the face of this Major Weather Event, that title actually goes to the four-footed family...
I guess I can offer up a small bit of further explanation as to why I hate everything and everyone right now, though this is just the tip of the iceberg, or---as we prefer to say in my family---the tiniest sliver of the crap cake. "Hi there! My name is Duncan. I enjoy wearing jaunty neckwear, scaring the crap out of my family, and costing a billion dollars while I do it. Also, I have a toe fetish. Please walk over here barefoot so I can lick you." So hey, FUNNY STORY: Remember when Duncan got all sick and weird and possibly tumor-y and had to have surgery? And I was worried he was going to...
I actually had this whole funny little post planned about The Day Of The Mystery Puddle---it appeared in the middle of the kitchen and we started playing Dog, Garbage Bag Leak, or Oblivious Child Spill---but before I had a chance to write it, Duncan commenced peeing all over the place and generally behaving unwell. At that point the puddle seemed less amusing and more like something I should've been more alarmed by in the first place, y'know? Anyway. Duncan is also kind of lumpy and bumpy ("Age!" said the vet, the first time I pointed it out. "Or maybe something else! Who knows!") and...
I keep trying to figure out how to tell you all of the cool stuff about our trip in some sort of logical way (i.e., in an order that makes sense, and also in such a way as to not sound like a privileged asshole, because HEY fun family vacation my dad paid for, that's some serious good fortune right there), and I still haven't figured it out. To at least begin, I figured it might be best to start to start at the end. Actually, first let's go to BEFORE we left, then we'll talk about what happened when we got back. Back when we decided to adopt Duncan, part of the impetus came from this...
If only our dogs could be... I dunno... a little less squishable. "Oh, hello. I'm just here being lovable and stuff." That would make life a whole lot easier, is all I'm saying. Today I'm over at Alpha Mom talking about how love is always a risk, and so sometimes you really do just sign up for having your heart broken, and maybe that's the way it's supposed to be. Because, seriously, look at that face. LOOK AT IT. It's not like I had a choice.
