Alabaster Mom

I didn't write about Easter because I was too busy cleaning up puppy poop. It seems like it should be scientifically impossible for a small creature to have significantly more output than input, but that does seem to be the case. Direct quote from my husband: "All I do is clean up poop and pee now."  Also: "I can't believe we paid money to go through this." Puppies do have a way of turning one's life upside down.  It's been 18 years since we had a puppy of our own. We have fostered puppies over the years, of course.  They sure wore out their welcome, cute though they were. Most weren't quite as young as Grover is, though. Plus, it's different when it's your own, I think. We are trying to get into a routine.  When I get up in the morning, my first job is to let the little hellion outside. I take him out into the backyard (which is fenced) and carry him to the far end of the yard. He races back to the door as fast as his little legs wil...

We picked up our new Boxer puppy yesterday. I named him Grover, mostly after the Muppet. We drove a couple hours to get him and had to get up fairly early. We needed to get back to town in time for the kid to attend a friend's birthday party. I drove there and my husband drove back. My daughter and I sat in the backseat with the new addition. We'd brought along some towels and whatnot, plus some cleaning supplies in case anyone pooped in the car on the way home. The kid was so excited. She didn't look at her iPad for the rest of the day, which is probably some kind of record for her. She also slept on the floor with him last night and even let him outside in the middle of the night. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon, but I like sleep and if she wants to get up with him, I am happy to let her. When we got him home yesterday, I gave him a bath in the kitchen sink. Later, he walked through his own poop but hey, he was clean for a minute or two there. Our other Boxe...

I woke up with a lump in my throat this morning.  You know how sometimes you feel like you have the same dream for hours even though you know it probably only lasted a few seconds? I felt like I dreamed about Giddy all night. In the dream, he came back to see me. However, it seemed like no one else could see him but me.  My mom was the only other person who could see him. Everyone else just looked at me like they felt sorry for me. In the dream, he stood in my living room and I hugged him. I held his grey face in my hands. I could feel his ribs under my fingers (he was always a skinny dog).  And then I woke up. I miss that dog so much. He's been gone for 2 1/2 months but the pain is still so sharp. I will always miss him, just like I will always miss my other furry companions who have crossed over. My current foster dog, a German Shepherd, reminds me of my Karl Lee in so many ways. Agent is currently "blowing his coat."  What does this mean?  Well, he's ejecti...

My daughter and I volunteered at a pet expo yesterday. We had signed up to help out at the German Shepherd rescue's booth. The plan was to stay until the end of the expo and then help load up all the gear. That morning, before church, my daughter saw that I was wearing a logo shirt for the rescue and asked if she could get one, too. I tried to put her off and said, "Yeah, eventually" or something along those lines. But, she was insistent. So, I contacted one of the other volunteers and she said I could pick one up at her home and then just pay for it later. She was already at the expo but her husband was at home. After church, my daughter and I drove over to pick it up. The drive was out of my way, but she had her red shirt. Mission accomplished.  Now, I need to back up for a moment. My kid loves all animals, but she particularly adores reptiles. We have a local reptile club that sets up education tents at many events in our area. My daughter has been hanging around the...

I attended my first 5th grade band concert last night. My enthusiasm was a bit low because my daughter had practiced for a grand total of zero minutes in preparation for the concert. Back in September, she was totally gung-ho about the clarinet.  She could not wait for me to pick it up from the music shop. She could not wait to play the thing. That lasted all of five minutes. Since then, it's all she can do to remember to take it to school on Fridays, when the band teacher comes to her school to work with the kids. All I know is that the music shop is yanking 30-something dollars out of my bank account every month. My husband did not want our daughter to take band because she's already in a local choir, which is a pretty significant time/money investment as it is. I overrode his concerns because I felt like it would be good for the kid to learn to read music.  I still think that was a good plan. She has learned to read music, at least to some extent. Yesterday morning,...

I had a bad, bad week last week. It was one of those weeks that changes your definition of "bad week."  I was over-scheduled at work, had an angry client on my hands, and couldn't seem to get anything done. I briefly contemplated the merits of having a good cry in my cubicle, but I think that sort of thing is frowned upon. I don't have a vacation until June, so I don't even have a "look forward to" sort of thing on the horizon. The only good news of late is that the weather has warmed up a bit. I've been walking the dogs more, although of course extra walking leaves me in agony with the &%$@ing Plantar Fasciitis. I'm thinking of looking into a double foot transplant. Oh, another bit of legitimately good news was that I found this at the grocery store: Vegan ice cream!  Thank you, Ben & Jerry!  It's not something I plan to buy very often, because I can't really be trusted with chocolate in the house, but I can vouch for the goo...

I attended my first circus protest on Friday evening. The protest happens annually but in past years, I was always out of town or there was some other event getting in the way. This year, my kid was out of town, but I had nothing on my schedule and was free to head over to the arena and join like-minded people in protest of the Shrine Circus. It was a peaceful protest, meaning that we didn't yell at the circus attendees or anything like that. We just held up our signs as they passed. We had a large enough group that we could split into two, making sure that we could catch people coming from two different directions. There was a specific area where we were allowed to stand. Naturally, it started to snow pretty heavily just as I was leaving to head over to the arena. I wore my snow boots and dug out a hat from our "winter junk" bin. I already knew three of the protesters, so that made me feel more comfortable. I brought along a sign I'd made two days before. Because I...