And in other news ...

I know it seems as though this blog has been about nothing but dog lately. I apologize for that, but as previously mentioned, our life has been pretty narrowly focussed on dog so it's been hard to blog about anything else!!!

So in an effort to demonstrate that we do still have a life, here's a few non-dog thoughts...

1: Today is the first day of my second summer vacation. Two weeks plus one Monday off, yay!!! Work has been super-intensive for the last three weeks as I was replacing my boss. I've stepped in for vacationing DG's before, but with my previous boss it was expected to be maintenance mode (ie, just keep the shop running, no meetings with the deputy minister etc.) but this time around it was full-blast mode (many meetings with the deputy minister, which resulted in many new small, medium and large projects to tackle!!!). I'll be looking forward to having just MY job to do when I get back!

2: The girl and I are taking an overnight girls' trip to Montreal tomorrow. Really, really looking forward to staying in a fancy, classic hotel, shopping in the underground city as well as on Ste-Catherine, dinner...(somewhere - we haven't decided, so much to choose from!), visiting a university campus and perhaps walking around Old Montreal, too. We're taking the train, so even travel time there and back will be an adventure!

3: We've rented a cottage for a week, and I'm looking forward to relaxing (swimming, boating, fishing, eating, drinking, campfire-ing, sleeping, and doing it all over again the next day). The husband will likely need to do a bit of back-and-forth to home because of work, hopefully not too much. The kids will probably both bring friends for part of the trip, so the husband and I have decided to camp out in a tent and let the kids have the run of the cottage.

4: It's our 20th wedding anniversary (and my 42nd birthday) on August 27th. We'll be celebrating around the campfire, but later this fall we're hoping to go away for a couple of days, just the two of us. My nephew has agreed to come sleep at our place while we're gone, just so that there's an "adult" (can't believe I'm using that term to describe my 25 y.o. nephew!) in the house at night. As much as I like cottages and campfires, I think 20 years deserves something a little more special ... (actually, a cottage and a campfire without the kids would be special enough for me!)

5: According to the calendar in my scraproom, the last time I sat down to scrap was August 9th. There's half a hockey layout on my desk, I'm actually really happy with how it's turning out and am anxious to finish it! Next, I'm going to scrap some pictures of the dog...(what else, lol...). I have some great Love, Elsie paper and just the right pictures for it. I feel the creative bug nibbling at my soul, but alas, no time to scrap right now!

6: Can't believe school starts again in less than two weeks. The boy will be in Grade 7 (but isn't changing schools - his school goes to Gr. 8). The girl is going into Grade 12 - her last year. I just know there will be many agonized conversations about university applications, this program vs that program, in-town vs out-of-town, scholarships ... we've been having those conversations for over a year now, but nothing has yet been resolved, and we're getting down to the crunch.

Ok, I will leave you with a couple of pictures that prove that we take pictures of things other than dog...and I will also leave you with a picture of dog, because she's sooo cute (thank goodness for that):

Sister M, the girl and I in Westport earlier this summer:

The boy and a bear ... also in Westport earlier this summer (no worries, it's stuffed):
And the dog ... because truth be told ... in the end, it's all about the dog!!


Have a good week everyone ... I'll try and come back and tell you all about our Montreal adventure!

Wonky Scan ... Pressed for Time

I've only got a few minutes to myself, so I've only got time to scan this layout in once; turned out wonky (top right page cut off somewhat) but you get the gist of it!


Supplies include patterned paper from Making Memories and Basic Grey, Thickers alpha from American Crafts, other alpha from Making Memories, an old Making Memories rub-on, some Stickles, assorted flowers (MM, prima, etc.), and so on ...

Ok, back to doggie world ... have a great weekend, everyone!

More Dog

What can I tell ya. Life as we know it has changed forever it seems ... this truly reminds me of our new-baby days. Every waking moment is focussed on the dog. Every conversation is about - the dog. Daily chores and outings are planned around - the dog (and her nap schedule - sound familiar?). Those phone calls from dh checking in through the day? No longer about much other than - the dog. And the occasional home renovation question (that's a topic for another post, though). When we get away from the dog and have a nice dinner out together, what's the conversation about? The dog. And I won't even get into preparations for leaving the house with the dog ... it's the "just let me load up the diaper bag/playpen/stroller/cooler" thing all over again.

But, I can see that it is getting a bit easier day by day. Some of it is us getting used to our new reality; some of it is Lexi getting used to her new reality. She really is a very smart dog, and she is learning (and growing) by leaps and bounds. A week ago I was at wit's end trying to deal with her constant chewing and frequent nipping. I just realized today that she really hasn't tried chewing any of our furniture lately (our shoes - a whole 'nother story), and the nipping is less frequent, at least with me (the boy - a whole 'nother story).

So to date she has learned Sit, Down, Come, Stay (stated in order of how often she actually obeys these commands, from almost always to less than 50% of the time). She has learned that when I make coffee in the morning, my next move is to get her food ready (so she alternates between going completely nuts and sitting pretty every 10 seconds). She has learned to pee and poo on the grass (and not in her crate, or on the back deck; and has had very few accidents on the floor, the latest being several days ago). She has learned that the crate is a good thing, and has even been known to walk into it without coaxing on occasion. She has learned that actually WALKING when going for a walk is more fun than lying down in one spot. She's still working on learning that not tugging on the leash is more fun than choking herself by tugging on the leash ... but we're getting there.

We have learned things too. We have learned to be ever-vigilant and not let her out of our sight for a minute. We have learned that a puppy can run faster than a quarterback on Red Bull - especially if she's carrying a shoe in her mouth. We have learned that it is possible to spend stupid amounts of money in the toy aisle at PetSmart. We have learned that the only thing as interesting as the consistency of baby poo, is the consistency of puppy poo. We have learned that as we have increased in years, we have decreased in patience.

And finally, we have learned the reason why puppies are so darned cute: their continued presence in human homes depends on it!

So let's see, what else can I tell ya about life ...
-no scrapping in at least 4 weeks
-the Girl hasn't received her Gr. 11 report card yet; pretty late this year
-our plans for spending the last week in August in New Hampshire and Cape Cod have morphed into plans to stay close to home and rent a cottage instead (side-effect of dog ownership when said dog is too young for kennels)
-I have 8 working days left before vacation number 2
-I have serious sleep deprivation
-the Girl and I will be taking a girls' trip to Montreal soon
-I have come to the conclusion, having replaced my boss for all of 6 working days now, that I don't want to become Director General anytime soon, and maybe even nevah

Ciao everyone! See ya next time I come up for air!