I went to visit Max today...

Could this be "MAX"?

The latest installment of the fourlegged saga.....

The guy who wanted the puppy has backed out. Now we get first dibs on the lone male again.... we will be seeing him tonight. And I HOPE it will be final one way or another!!!!!

Sheesh, this is one heck of a rollercoaster!

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PS..... we went and saw him.

It's Max alright!

The boys like him, T is on-board.

So now the games begin! Puppy preparations like finishing our fence, getting all the puppy gear, lining up shots, where will he sleep? Where will he poop? Where will we feed him? and all that good stuff.

Peer Pressure and a rant

Okee Dokey,

I have succumbed to peer pressure, I have joined Faceb--k.

To me it is even creepier than being able to Google yourself, but I did it anyways. It is a fascinating idea finding long lost contacts over the cyber-wires, but maybe the past is better left in the past?

Time will tell whether I regret this or not.

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Meanwhile life trudges on very normally.... My days are filled with the chores of running a household and being a parent....

... get up, shower, make the breakfasts, pack the lunches, chase down the school notices, check the kid's clothes, backpacks, etc., pack the kids off to school...

... then I either go back home and start the computers to get going on my endless to-do-list OR keep going past the school to do banking, grocery shopping (or for a treat head, to the gym!)...

... whether I am at home or out running the errands there is always laundry: either in mountains waiting to be washed, or mountains waiting to be put away (or both!)... 4 people generate an amazing amount of laundry, I can never catch up...

... dishwasher to load, or unload. Meals to plan and prepare, sweeping, toy round up, a bed or two to change...

...oh and the bathrooms, boys are terrible terrible disasters in the bathroom! There is the urine that is everywhere within a 2 foot radius of the bowl (that is a conservative estimate) and the toothpaste spatter that is sprayed at an alarming distance making our sink look like a pigeon roost.... twice a day the main bathroom needs a thorough wipedown... (I am lucky to get to it once a day. So if you come visit you need to accept it the way it is)...

... oh and there are the other maintenance chores that I never seem to have time for. De-cluttering, deep cleaning, wiping the cupboards down and organizing the dumping grounds that we call the laundryroom...

..... all to quickly then it is time to go get the boys from school (Cam is too young to walk home yet)... so I fight for a space amoung all the other nice parents and wait for them to gather their things, argue about whether they can have a playdate, load them up and back home we come...

... Steve always has homework and as you well know that is usually an ordeal, Cam is making too much noise for Steve to concentrate and we all end up upset to one degree or another...

... I always still have lots of work to do when the kids get home... so I get back on the computer or the phone (shushing the noisy blighters constantly)... and next thing I know it is time to start dinner!...

.... 9 times out of 10 the kitchen is still a mess from breakfast, and T comes home and tries to clean it while I am cooking...

... dinner happens, clean up happens, some wind down time happens and then the get-ready-for-bed time takes up a good hour. PJs, brush the teeth, read the stories, tuck them in and kisses, drink of water? warm magic bag? more kisses? the requests drag it out long enough for me to miss any show I felt like watching that evening.

... very shortly after that T goes to bed (he has to get up very early for work). And I usually go to bed too, I don't want to wake him by going to bed later... at least I usually get lots of sleep that way, even if it is broken up by the kids having nightmare/growing pains sometimes....

... it's a busy life, full of the same stuff over and over and over again...

It seems I never have time to actually PLAY or do activities with the boys. I do feel bad about that as they ask me everyday. T helps out TONNES with the housework and even cooks the occasional dinner even after working his 10 hour days (bless him for that!)

If I could focus soley on running the household, I may be able to catch up and keep on top of it all.... but alas, we need my work-at-home income. Ever month I check our bank statements, I see more going out than coming in. So I sit here working on my computers for a good portion of the day making some billable hours so I can invoice, so I can contribute to the bottom line every month.

HOW DO PEOPLE DO IT? I mean is it this hard for everyone? (I know for some it is even harder! One of me dearest friends from college struggles every day within pennies of a nervous breakdown, and another dear ex-co-worker friend has the most stressful husband and nerve wracking schedule that nearly kills her daily -- she feels as if she is losing her mind under all the mental clutter and commitments in her life). It could be worse, and this is the life I have made for myself. It is a content existence.

BUT, I see families taking their little ones to hockey and soccer and swimming in their new cars by the stay-home moms. And I think, "HOW?" How do they have the time? How do they have the money? How can they organize these things in when there are all the other things too? These people have the same bills (or even more with a car payment). These people have the same number of hours in the day!

That reminds me, there is wet laundry in the washer, and I need to thaw something for dinner... there are client's emails that need responding too today and I promised Steve he could have a friend over after school.

I guess I should stop typing here and get to it!!!!

late halloween update

I need to post the pictures of the boys' costumes!

Spooky doorway...... and only a handful of kids saw it!

Cammy is El Diablo! Steve is a Dementor! (or ghoul if you don't read Harry Potter)

And then there was the witch that was handing out the candy......

No puppy for us.

We got the call, on the eve of when we were supposed to go see him again.
They gave the puppy to someone else... the owner of the daddy dog.
I guess they said he could have his choice of the litter (stud fee) and so we got bumped off the list.

Ah well, easy come easy go.

(I confess I am sad)

Am I a dog person?

Well, am I?

I love dogs, their floppy, happy personalities... The steadfast loyalty and energetic desire to please.

However, my heart was broken by Dingo and Odie was a terrible mistake. Odie in particular put a terrible strain on home life. The hair, noise and inconvenience of having a jerk dog was very very stressful. But even that sweet beasty named Dingo caused some strife with the endless hair, doggie doo and running off to raid everyone's food dishes that he would do.

So why am I considering going through it all again? And with a puppy no less?!

Stevie's friend has the SWEEEEEEETEST dog I have ever met. A gentler personality doesn't exist. I always assumed she was fixed, so I was surprised to find out she had had 5 pups! I called to congratulate the owners, and the lady said that she had a long list of families that were wanting Kita's pups I said that was wonderful and we had bad luck with dogs in the past and would love to find the RIGHT dog for our family.

She called me back a few hours later and said, "do you want a male puppy"?

I was dumbfounded.

Steve has been trying full-time to convince us that he is ready for the responsibility of a dog ever since. He is even not pushing too hard.... AND he said he would be willing to give up all his Christams presents this year in exchange for Kita's pup. He must REALLY want him.

He desperately misses Dingo, and I know he is ready. But I am not sure I am! Oh the agony of puppyhood! Our nice furniture, our new hardwood floors! Puddles on the floor, chew toys all over the house. Hair, footprints, doggie doo bags, leashes, training, shots, baths, nail trimming, mucky muddy mayhem (even more than what the boys do on their own!).............

Surprisingly T seems to be accepting the idea, so long as I am.

I was determined NOT to be the one to make the decision. So what if I am home with it all day, so what if the general condition of the house, come 5pm, is my responsibility, so what if I am the one that has to walk it in the morning, and train it and let it out at noon, buy the food, make the vet appointments etc..... Sure I will have the brunt of the work but all that doesn't worry me nearly so much as whether or not T will resent the furry animal for being a natural mess maker! It stressed him out so badly last time!

If it was up to just me, I wouldn't want to risk that bad situation again. I would be a coward and say "NO" to our sons simply because it's way easier to not take the chance. It's like when I was pregnant with Cam and terrified of post-partum depression again. I was so scared! But then it never happened..............

However, I loved having a dog as a kid. It's a best friend you can count on! A warm companion when your parents are being unfair, and excuse to hug when you aren't supposed to want to hug anymore. Someone to talk to that will never judge you, someone that will ALWAYS need you. And they are fun and cute too. Sharing the home with another species is a learning thing. Responsibility, patience, sympathy are all learned through pets .... but our cat fits that bill... and she does that acceptionally well as a lapwarmer too. So it's the companionship that will happen more than anything that only a dog does.

Am I insane to even think it just for Stevie's sake?

He can always grow up without a dog, and get one as a grown up! Kimber and Tai have done that! Is it the same?

Ah well, I have a couple more days to work it out, then I have to let the owners no one way or the other.