Husband's Best Friend

My mom told me before we brought a puppy into our home that dogs tend to favor the man. I thought this was ridiculous. Our puppy wouldn't favor one person. It would love us both equally, well, maybe she would love me a little more. I would feed her, groom her and treat her like a princess. I would play with her and she would reciprocate all of the love I poured on to her.

I was wrong. Holly loves Kevin more, a lot more. I would say the duties are split evenly between the two of us. Kevin wakes up and takes her out first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening. But then he gets ready for work and I take her downstairs to prepare breakfasts and lunches and feed her. I spend the morning with her and come home at lunch. I'm with her when I come home from work and we play and cuddle.

But then at night when Kevin comes home, the love just shines out of her little feet. She follows him everywhere and is completely bereft if he goes outside to do anything. She waits at the door for him to come back and makes this mournful little barks and howls. She is indeed Daddy's Little Princess.

Puppy School Graduate

Holly has officially graduated from "Puppy Training." I don't know how much this really means. As usual she was the worst dog in the class. She wanted to sniff, eat, bark at and create general havoc. She had to do one lousy trick to graduate and would you believe she went into the center of the ring and wouldn't even look at me? Too many sights, sounds, people, dogs and treat crumbs for her to take in.

Did I mention that Kevin, who hasn't missed a class, had to work last night? That left me on my own with the little misfit. I spent 5 minutes in center ring trying to get her to do her very uneventful "Up!" This is simply her standing on her hindlegs to get to the treat. Some trick. She'll jump if you hold anything over her head, she's so curious.

To top off the evening, about halfway through class she decides she is so "over cheese" as a treat. Since I had absolutely no other treats the rest of class became a test of wills with me either gently coaxing her or whispering fiercely in her ear.

Maybe having a house full of females with one workaholic man wasn't my best idea ever...

We're Back

Yes, I've been horrendous at keeping this blog up-to-date. Would you believe that it's been over 6 months since my last posting? Well, we're back, I just hope I can keep at this again.

I'm currently 22 weeks pregnant and still tired. Everyone tells me it's the vegetarian diet. I'm not getting enough Calcium or Iron or Potassium or you could basically pick any vitamin and someone has told me that I am surely lacking in that. I find this a little hard to believe since I eat some vitamin filled supplement with every meal. I probably have more vitamins in me than any any omnivore you know!

Our puppy is keeping us on our toes and I probably could have filled a whole blog with her antics of the last two months alone. We've been fairly hooked on "The Dog Whisperer" up until we brought her home. We took to heart his advice that the way to look at your dog is as follows: Animal first, Dog second, Westie third and Holly fourth. That worked for the first month or so and now it's Holly first, Westie second, Dog third and Animal fourth. How can I not look into her big brown eyes and think, "Holly loves me!" She's just not an animal. Yes, the Dog Whisperer would have a field day with me!

We're Back

Sorry for the lack of postings again. We were off to Napa Valley/San Francisco for my old roommate-from-college's wedding. After the wedding we crammed in way too much sightseeing for a little 3 day stint. This included Napa Valley, the World's LARGEST Artichoke, the Garlic Shoppe, Monterey, the Monterey Wax Museum, Golden Gate Bridge, the PEZ Museum, the world's LARGEST PEZ dispenser, Pier 39, the Sea Lions, Fisherman's Wharf, the Musee Mechanique and Ghiradelli Square to name a few. Here's one of my favorite photos to tide you over until I have more stories. Isn't she a beauty? (Photos of the wedding to come later.)

Alpha Dog

Ever since Kevin and I met we've been trying desperately to win the title of "Alpha Dog" in this relationship. I know marriage is a partnership and I'm all about that. But I am just so darned competitive. (As if you haven't guessed this based from the entry entitled "Block This!")

This weekend's outing brought this all to the forefront. I really think I was a hunting dog in a past life, but I digress. I convinced Kevin to go to the local corn maze on Saturday, because we both finally had off on the same day and I've been wanting to go to a corn maze for years.

After being fleeced of our $9 a piece, (Yes, $9 to walk around in a field of corn...) the boys running the stand gave Kevin a stick to raise in case we got lost. I wanted to say, "Excuse me. Me? Get lost? Do you know who I am? I'm a Roadchick! We do not get lost, we just sometimes take detours on the road to adventure!" But instead I meekly let Kevin take the stick. Then I tramped over through the grass to the corn maze.

What followed was Kevin traipsing after me as I plowed through the corn maze following my carefully laid out plan of always following the wall to my right (it works, you'll really get out!) At one point Kevin pointed out that I was leading the whole time and taking control, so I let him lead for about 10 steps and then I jumped in front again.

What followed was the quickest $9 I have ever spent as I sped through the corn maze and exited. What can I say? I want to be the Alpha Dog!

A Bun and Thick Glasses

I haven't written much about my new job at the Library other than to say that between the library and my freelancing, I'm fried at the end of the day. But, I wanted to say that I really enjoy this new job so much that I didn't want to jinx it by saying, "Wow, I really like my job, can this last?"

When I told people I was going to work at the Library I mostly heard, "Oh well if you pull your hair back in a bun and put on glasses, then you're all set!" I'm happy to report that while a few people wear glasses, I haven't seen any buns (if you exclude the delicious Sticky Buns that Pat makes) at the library.

I'm also happy to report the library is a happening place. We circulated over 100,000 items in July at the branch where I'm currently working. If I'm not helping patrons, then I'm entering new magazines in to the system (it's like having your own personal subscription to 125 different magazines) or shelving (and seeing the entire collection.)

I'll be moving onto to the new branch that I was originally hired for by the end of the Fall. I'm a little apprehensive about the switch since I made such good friends at the main branch, but the change will probably just add another layer of interesting jobs to learn.

I wish I could tell some funny patron stories on here, but I really don't want to get "dooced" even though dooce.com is my favorite web site.

Between Projects

I'm currently between projects right now and I have absolutely no motivation to get started on another lengthy project. I consider a "project" anything from getting a freelancing client moving on their web site to cleaning up the various areas of my office, which has letters to go through from over 15 years ago, a wedding album to put together for our wedding that was over 2 years ago and various scrapbooks from events over the past 5 years and backward.

There are also house "projects" like finishing up the basement and actually doing something with that space. Installing the last of our lights in the basement or finishing the Master Bathroom, which desperately needs a new toilet and light fixtures.

Alas, I'm floating along on the Lazy River, occasionally having a twinge that I should do something, but doing absolutely nothing about it.