Here's how my days go now ...

Dog dog dog dog sleep dog dog sleep dog, go to work, work work work work eat work work work work, come home, dog dog dog dog eat dog dog dog dog sleep dog dog sleep dog, go to work and do it all over again!

I am currently not scrapping because, well, dog dog dog, also, the Girl is sleeping in my scraproom because she has found some carpet beetles in her room and we are currently working at exterminating them and she's not sure what bothers her more, Raid or bugs.

I do have a layout to share that I haven't scanned yet (which was scrapped pre-dog but about-dog), and probably won't scan in a while because well dog dog dog, and also it's somewhere in my scraproom which has been taken over by girl girl girl.

For those of you who have raised puppies ... give me some encouragement ... it does get easier, right? Right? Right????

It's the Dog Blog

Hello faithful readers. I want to thank Rufus for posting an entry earlier this week. That was very thoughtful of him, given that I've been a bit too busy to post myself.

At the risk of you all thinking this has turned into a dog blog (hey, it's a nice break for you from Sens Hockey, no?? Lol.), let me tell you about our little puppy. Lexi is not yet 9 weeks old and has been with our family for 5 days now. She has mastered "sit", she's doing not too bad at "come", last night she learned "down" (but performs it sporadically at best), and today, went into her crate and put herself to sleep without the usual whiny drama fest. On the downside, I'm totally sleep deprived, as she is getting up 3 to 4 times a night for potty ....

So, what a way to spend summer vacation. It's really like having a baby in the house all over again. The poop, the pee, the relief when she's finally asleep ... yikes. Thank goodness puppies grow up quicker than babies!

I've managed to catch a few relaxing moments despite being Dog People now. On Tuesday the girl and I went out for Dim Sum in "Chinatown" (we don't have much of one here - hence the quotation marks) and then did some shopping in the Glebe. Today I went out to A Fine Mess for some scrap shopping ... and found some of that core cardstock stuff, in 8.5x11 multi-colored packs! Heaven!!! You can't imagine how thrilled I was. I looooove 8.5x11 textured card stock. Oooh, and I love A Fine Mess. They display their scrapbook stock so artfully. It's a pleasure for the eyes. After some very satisfying shopping I sat on the Starbucks terrace sipping a latte and reading some Nora Roberts. Ah, finally - that vay-cay feeling!

Tomorrow the girl, sister M and I are taking a little road trip to a quaint village with lots of neat shops. Definitely looking forward to the doggie break. The boy will have to manage on his own! I think that he is finding the puppy thing harder than he anticipated. He wanted a dog so badly, but even when we talked about how much work it would be, I don't think he realized it would be like this. However, he's had a taste of what having a Real Dog will be like, over the last couple of days ... as Lexi has started to play fetch and run around the yard with him.

I really, really wish that vacation wasn't coming to an end. I've managed to really forget about the office for the last two weeks (I've barely looked at the blackberry, I swear ... scanned a few email titles, opened one or two that looked important, that's it!). The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that I'll be off the last two weeks of August too.

Now if I could only find some scrap time before the party's over .... this picture is just screaming to be scrapped:

I is Wufus; Here is Pooppy

Hied, inte-nets. I is Wufus, snuck onto da computa to tell you bout da pooppy in our house cause da Mommy is too busy wit da pooppy to logon. Da boy says the pooppy's name is Lexi, but I knowd her name is Pooppy cause she's a puppy and she poops. Also she smells, but Mom says not as bad as me (I thinks I need to go in da laundry).

So far, so good. Da pooppy went bathroom lots of times outside and only had da one puddle accident inside. My boy spent da night (not) sleeping (much) beside her crate last night but he let me sleep there too so I'm not as jealous as I coulda been.

I thinks this pooppy is going to be lotsa work but my boy and his peoples gots goofy looks on dere faces when dey looks at it so I tinks it's here ta stay. Oh well. I gots somethings dis pooppy hasn't gots. I gots 12 years of history with da boy, and I gots to be in his room and play with his stuffs whenever I wants. So we gonna be ok.

Ok inte-nets, I is Wufus, signing off. I gots things ta do. Like lie on the boy's bed and stuffs. Which da pooppy is not allowed to do. Ha.

Meet Lexi

Well faithful blog readers, there are big, big changes coming for my little family of four. This Sunday, we will become a little family of five. See that cute bundle of pup to the right? After years of discussion, months of serious consideration, weeks of agonizing, and days of lively debate, we have finally taken the plunge. We are going to be Dog People.

Last Sunday morning, we broke the news to the boy. Told him the decision was made, and we were going to start visiting breeders that very day in order to start our research and our hunt for the perfect purebred chocolate lab pup. Now what you might not know about the boy is that he has desperately wanted a dog since before he was born. "Dog" might very well have been his first word. He has asked for a dog for every birthday and Christmas in memory. He has begged, pleaded, and quietly wished for years. Just the day before, when I told him it was a beautiful day out, he said to me "No Mom, a beautiful day would be one where I got to pick out a puppy of my very own". That just may be what swayed me to finally give my ok for this huge step.

So off we went on a Sunday drive that spanned much of Eastern Ontario ... first we visited a breeder about an hour and a half west. Wonderful place, beautiful dogs and pups, but the pups were only about 3 weeks old (and can't be adopted until 8 weeks old). We were hoping for a puppy that would be available sooner, to give us more summer to train her. The breeder directed us to another breeder about an hour east of her, with 7 week old pups sired by the same father as her pups. And so it turns out that our research expedition was more fruitful than anticipated; we found our puppy.

We've named her Lexi (short for Alexia. What? If she's going to be part of our little Greek family she should have a Greek name, no?). She's getting her shots on Saturday and we'll be picking her up on Sunday morning. The boy and I have done some preliminary PetSmart shopping and will be back there today buying the rest of the essential supplies. Turns out dogs are more expensive than they initially look, lol. The price of the dog is just the start!

So I was all keen on naming her Lexy (with a "y") as I had visions of using up all those unused x's and y's in my scrapbook alpha stash ... but I got outvoted by the rest of the family, who insist the proper spelling is with an "i". Speaking of scrapbooking, I made a visit to the ScrapBox this week (remember, I'm on vay-cay) to pick up some more Stickles and walked out with the Love, Elsie doggie paper collection...**blush** (I swear, this dog is much more than a scrapbooking opportunity to me ... lol).

So wish us luck. Training tips and words of encouragement welcome!!! :o)

Bonne Fete!

A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister D who is not home to get my birthday call today because she is vacationing in New Brunswick. Je te souhaite une journee fantastique!! Je t'appellerai a ton retour ...

Bisous!