Tuesday

I will be eternally jealous of people who are not affected by what others think of them. Are there even such a people? People who aren't bothered by what their mother, friends, co-workers think of them. Does such a person exist? If they do exist, I know that I will never be one of those people. You can say whatever you'd like to try to convince me otherwise, but I know that it will just never be.

***

The days are long and exhausting when you are constantly wondering if that thing you said was said to the wrong person, and will then be repeated to another wrong person, resulting in everyone thinking you are a not a good person.

The days are long and exhausting when you are upset about thing A, which then makes you upset about thing B. And then thing C becomes you getting frustrated and yelling at kids for which it is certainly not their fault. Then that of course turns into thing D, E and F.

But then I get in my car for the 30 minute trek home and Dave Mathews tells me "Sometimes its easy to be myself. Sometimes, I find it better to be somebody else." And I think he's the smartest man alive, and I start to feel better. Then Sheryl Crow say "I wanna soak up the sun. I wanna tell everyone to lighten up." Yea, Sheryl, yea.

And then I get home. And at the top of the steps, my big, black, furry baby smiles and wags his tail at me. And my curly tailed little girl wimpers and jumps at my knees. And I feel a little bit better.

Oh, and my crocuses are blooming.

Thankful Thursday #3

*I bought two super cute shirts at Target on Friday. I went to put on one of the shirts Monday and it didn't fit. Not happy. I had already taken the tags off! I tossed the receipt! I tried my luck and went to exchange them today, with no high hopes. Ta-da! They did the exchange, no problem! I now have two super cute shirts that fit. I am thankful for Target.

*I love the Olympics, I really do. But I am so glad that my shows came back this week. Thursday night on NBC just wasn't the same when it was skiing.

*Our Dog Whisperer is coming to the house in less than a week. I am so thankful that we will be getting into a routine with him.

*I am thankful for my health and for my husband's. Health and happiness.

*I am thankful for doctors named Pasquale. More than that, I love that I am seeing a doctor named Pasquale and my husband thought he was Israeli.

My Little Penny Lane

So we're trying to figure out our little Penny Lane.

She's cuddly and cute as all get out. Rex loves her. Let me rephrase~ Despite having to share his toys, his couch and his people, and despite her hyper tush waking him up at all hours of the night, Rex loves her. And she loves Rex. And we love her. She's going to be a great dog.

She's afraid of everything. Let me rephrase~ She's. Afraid. Of. Everything. People, dogs, birds, garbage cans, shadows, cars, storm drains. We were told that she was in a "foster home". How lovely does that sound? We thought so too. When we found worms in her poo we were surprised, but the "foster mom" wouldn't email me back. Coincidence? I think not. And now the more people we talk to~ vets, trainers, others who have adopted like this~ she probably lived in a crate for the first 7 months of her life. Hence the fact that she's afraid. Of. Everything. We found a trainer thanks to my great friend B from band. If Cesar Milan is the Dog Whisperer (and he is), than this guy is surely his side kick. He first amazed us by getting Rex to walk, by his side, without a harness in mere seconds, a feat we haven't accomplished in almost three years. He then assessed the Penny Lane situation, and deemed her scared (duh). But instead of being scared and submissive, she is scared and dominant, bordering on aggressive. (Did I tell you about how I brought her to get her nails trimmed at PetSmart and she almost took the groomer's hand off?) She's never been aggressive with us, and she stopped growling a Rex over bones and toys weeks ago (because he put her in her place). But she freaks when people come into the house and anytime she's in a new situation. I don't want a dog who's scared and I certainly don't want a dog who's potentially dangerous. The Dog Whisperer said we have a lot of work to do, but Penny is trainable. He said she definitely doesn't want to bite, doesn't want to fight, but if she's in a situation where she feels threatened enough, she'll do what she needs to do. (ie, the groomer situation) She can relearn and with The Dog Whisperer's help, we can teach her that the world isn't the awful scary place she thinks it is. (Going forward our trainer will be known as The Dog Whisperer, and Cesar will be known as Cesar.)

Right now these two, Dogasaurus Rex and Penny Lane, are literally, our furry babies. They are our family. And we are committed and determined to do whatever we need to do to make our family healthy and happy.

Thankful Thursday #2

~I am thankful for 4C no calorie ice tea packets to put in my water.

~I am thankful for cooking a meal from scratch, for the first time, having it turn out awesome, and having my husband tell me how good it was.

~I am thankful for nights and weekends with nothing to do but curl up on the couch.

~I am thankful for potential snow days.

~I am thankful for Facebook's ability to reunite me with people I knew 25 years ago. Literally.

~I am thankful for hope. All kinds of hope.

Thankful Thursday #1

One of the other blogs I read, "Oh, Mishka", the writer does a thing called "Thankful Thursday". Things she is thankful for that day, or week, or just in life in general. What an excellent idea. So I am going to try my best to follow suit and do a Thankful Thursday of my own. Here goes.

*I am thankful that we got out of school early today on account of open house at school tonight. The weather was so beautiful. I took the dogs for a huge walk. I actually could feel the warmth of the sun on my skin.

*I am thankful that tonight at open house I am not in a position where I need to talk to very many parents. That might sound bad, but its true.

*I am thankful that every week Penny makes amazing improvements at puppy class. Girl's got potential.

*I am thankful for my big Rex. Lordy I love that mutt.

*I am thankful for a great Valentine's day and an even greater Valentine.

Four years

In 2006, I watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Torino Winter Olympics with my friend E at her apartment in Queens with her husband. There was a snowstorm and we were homebound. We watched Olympic events and talked and reminisced and ate good food. I played with her dog Harry and we bought official Olympic attire at the NBC store in Manhattan. Before I left to come back to Connecticut, she took a picture of me with her beagle Harry, wearing my USA shirt. A few weeks later I put that picture up as one of my profile pictures on JDate.

Four years later, E is vacationing in Spain and I'm sure she didn't watch the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics (but I'm sure she DVRed them). And here I am. I watched the Opening Ceremonies with my husband, who I met just two months after that weekend I spent in Queens. I watched the Opening Ceremonies with my furry babies, furry babies that I longed for so much when I spent that weekend in Queens. I had a Valentine's Day I could have only dreamed of four years ago. My husband made me breakfast. Waffles on the waffle maker my brother bought us for our wedding. And pancakes. And yes, those are M&Ms in them. He made me hash browns and little sausage links. We spent the day together and then he made me dinner. We shared the bottle of wine he got from his first computer fix-it call. We celebrated his promotion at work. We talked about our furry babies. We watched a zombie movie.

Last night I had dinner with two wonderful friends. Wonderful food, wonderful wine, wonderful, wonderful company. (That's a lot of wonderful!!) Four years ago I had very few girlfriends. Aside from my dear E, girlfriends were few and far between. I am so grateful for these wonderful, inspiring women that I now have in my life. I would be lost without these amazing ladies.

Sometimes it takes me a long time between blogs. Here's why. For one, I like to have interesting things to say. For two, I like for these interesting things to be well said. So I have to play it all out in my brain before I publish it to the blog.

Monday

Gordo and I went to an adult dinner party over the weekend, with actual ADULTS. Holy crap did we have to be on our best behavior! I made these yummy chocolate covered pretzels. They are so easy to make and yet they are so pretty that it seems to give the impression that they were slaved over for hours. They were a hit, but little did I know one of our hosts isn't eating sugar for health reasons. So we had to take them home with us. Boo hoo. So yummy.

And here's your doggie update, because I know you were dying to know about the ins and outs of Dogasaurus Rex and Penny Lane. Rex successfully had his nails clipped tonight by his favorite Petco groomer. He was a complete baby about it. Partly I feel bad because I get him all excited about riding in the car (which he loves) only to screw him with the nail clipping (which he loathes). Penny is continuing to snuggle into my neck as I sleep which, *sigh*, I love. She's getting the hang of 'sit', not that I think she'll actually do it in class Wednesday, but who cares. She also has an affinity for trying to bury things. Rawhides, biscuits, toys, socks, etc. She likes to bury them behind couch cushions and under pillows. More than once now I have laid down in bed and had a rawhide under my pillow. If you've never experienced this, and I can't imagine that you wouldn't have, it is an interesting experience.

A second dog means buying a little more food, cleaning a few more hair balls, dealing with a few more quirks. It also means a lot more love and cuddle in our home. I love it.