Bad Scare

Well, Sasha just got loose for about 20 minutes. Emily was holding the Flexi-Leash when the garbage truck came through. It spooked the puppy, who took off into the woods. Em lost her grip, and Sasha was gone. It was pretty scary, actually. We lost all sight of her for long enough to think we'd lost her altogether. She just came back out of the woods a few minutes ago, filthy muddy and without her collar or the leash. I told the kids that this was our one warning. And that we'd have to be more careful from now on. Em was pretty freaked out that "it was all [her] fault."

After breakfast, we're going to PetSmart for a new tag, and possibly another leash.

*whew*

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Interesting Meme-ish Thing

Saw this on Jim's and Mark's blogs, so I thought I'd give it a try.



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Baby Togs

I may totally have to get one of these for my soon-to-be new neice or nephew.

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Broken Record

I hate to keep coming back to the same puppy topic, but frankly she's by far the main focus of my life right now. I'm honestly finding this more mentally exhausting than having a newborn baby. An infant, after all, sleeps several times a day and wears diapers. A puppy ... well, she dozes lightly a couple of times a day (until I move and then she's completely tuned into each and every move I make, barking at me if I leave the room for too long without her), and ... certainly there are no diapers involved.

Even if I sit near her to read a book or work on the computer, I have to look up every paragraph or so to remain aware of what she's chewing on, sniffing, etc. Does she need to go out, or is she merely bored?

I'm glad to have her. She's really a pretty delightful puppy. But, I'm exhausted. Up until 11pm, again briefly at 2am, and awake for the day at 5:30am just isn't enough sleep. And each time she's returned to her crate/bed, she spends at least 15 minutes barking to be let back out before she settles down.

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Happy Birthday to Me!

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Other Side of the Coin

OK, so today was a Perfect Puppy day. Sasha walked calmly on her leash, right at my side. She did her business when and where she was supposed to (even on the leash...hopefully our leash phobia has vanished). She had a great vet visit. We all took a wonderful evening walk together. All in all ... just a Perfect Puppy day.

I'm thinking barking half the night last night wore her out, too.

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Tired (but worth it?)

Well, the first days of puppy ownership have been interesting. And exhausting. She's not cooperating so well with the whole housebreaking thing (rather, she was doing fine until we started taking her outside only on a leash).

Additionally, we haven't been good about keeping her eating, playing, napping, eliminating on any sort of schedule. Which means she doesn't know when she's going to be crated, so she barks for 15 minutes when we put her in there. And, we don't know when she's going to have to go outside, so she wakes us up twice a night to go out. (and we don't know if she means it, which half the time she doesn't, but we can't take the chance) And, with not going to bed until 10:30, and waking up at 5:30 ... I'm wiped out. Exhausted. Irritable. Frustrated. Depressed.

And it's only Wednesday.

Joe will be out of town this weekend (and next!). So I won't be able to catch up on lost sleep then, either.

I "know" it will be all worth it eventually. And I am working on a set schedule for Sasha starting today. In the meantime, I'm just praying things settle into a predictable routine very soon.

It's been several years since we've had a baby in the house. I'd forgotten what real sleep deprivation feels like.

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She's Here!

Well, we picked up our adorable little Sasha on Saturday. The long drive home was mostly uneventful, which was good.

When we got home we realized she was basically just afraid of everything. Joe and I were really dismayed that we may have wound up with a big mushy wimp for a dog. But, we're learning (it's only been a couple of days, after all!) that she really basically just hadn't been exposed to ANYTHING before coming home with us. She'd only even been outside on the grass maybe once before. So ... absolutely everything was new to her. We had to teach her to go through the doorway to go out, how to go down the step from the patio to the lawn, etc.

And, I have to say the Nor'Easter of the Century (or whatever they're calling it) didn't make things any easier. Sasha didn't really mind a bit. Her fur is so thick and wooly that after we toweled her off, she was basically dry. We, on the other hand, spent all day yesterday cold and wet. And cold. And wet.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures I took yesterday. After we brought Sasha home, she hid under Joe's legs everytime he sat down. Not panicky, but definitely looking for someone big to look after her.












Splashing in the puddles with Emily (you have to know we got a ton of rain for our sandy soil to have giant 5-inch deep puddles like this!).

And, finally ... an awfully cute one of Sasha resting by an oak in our backyard.

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Thank You, Doonsbury

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.
~Mark Twain

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Email (er ... blog) Scattergories

EMAIL SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks! Rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They must be real places, names, things...nothing made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same first initial. You can't use your own name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Heidi

Famous Musical Artist: Herb Alpert
Four-Letter Word: Help
Street Name: Holly Street
Color: Hunter green
Transportation: Helicopter
Things in a Souvenir Shop: Hats
Boy Name: Hector
Girl Name: Helen
Movie Title: Halloween
Alcoholic Drink: Harvey Wallbanger
Occupation: Head Honcho
Flowers: Heliotrope
Celebrities: Hal Holbrook
Magazine: Hello!
U.S. City: Honolulu
Pro Sports Teams: Hartford Whalers
Something Found in a Kitchen: Hand mixer
Reason for Being Late: Had a flat
Something You Throw Away: Hard-boiled eggs
Things You Shout: Holy Smoke!
Cartoon Character: Hagar the Horrible

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Thriftshop Bonanza!

Went looking for an Easter dress today at the local thrift stores. (Found nothing I liked. I'm very happily fitting into some significantly smaller sizes, but am still afflicted with short, dumpy legs. And I'm sort of between sizes. Nothing looked the way I wanted it to.)

But ... I made out like a bandit for the kids! I bought 10 pieces for them from pricey brand-names (Gap Kids, Limited Too, Gymboree) for a mere $18, total. Yeah!

--End--

ps. Spent time on four different reputable clothing sites this evening, and I'm not really a solid size anything consistently between them.

Retro Flashback

Anyone ever see these cool aluminum tumblers before? I thought about them the other day. I asked Joe to get me a glass of cold water. He pulled out a plastic cup and then self-corrected and got out a glass.

"Why do you always want your water in a glass?" he asked me.

Then I realized that I do prefer water (any beverage, really, but especially water and milk) in a glass. "Actually, metal is even better, I told him."

I remember my Grandpa Christoph stating it, "Always drink a cold drink in glass or metal."

He was absolutely right. And, thanks to retro-ism, these aluminum tumblers (and pitchers and dessert bowls) are available again, even on Amazon.com. I may just have to put them on my birthday list.

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Loved It!

OK, I know I'm a total geeknerd for saying this, but I'm SO glad Doctor Who is back. Of course, it's not actually back here in the U.S., but the first episode of the new season was broadcast on the BBC yesterday. Joe and I just watched it tonight.

After a season of Doctor Nine and then he left, I was a bit shaken up wondering if I'd like Doctor Ten. No worries there. Love him. He's adorable, quirky, bouncy, enthusiastic, flirty, verbose. Yay! So then he and Rose Tyler hit it off, got along famously, and maybe even fell in love (naturally the time transference communicating between universes thingy he had going fizzled just before he actually said it, but still ...). So, then Rose left. Big hole there.

But, I have to say I really rather like Martha Jones. She's smart, for one. She's not going to just limply go along with whatever the Doctor says, not going to just provide (as Eddie Izzard describes NSFW, language) a chance for the Doctor to rescue someone who'd been captured. She seems as though she'll be more of a partner in things. She didn't freak out, but showed appropriate doubt and skepticism. Then when presented with aliens, etc., rather went along with it.

Sketchy science in bits (I mean, normal gravity on the moon?), but then what scifi is truly sctrict about its science? At least they did have the air run out.

I'm aware no one knows what I'm talking about. The show's good. The whole new Doctor Who is good. Really good. Witty, thought-provoking, pretty to watch. Catch it on SciFi soemtime.

In a related but separate note -- the spin-off Torchwood is also wonderful.

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Tired of My Links, Yet?

File this under the category .... WAAAAY too much time on someone's hands (but it's SO cool anyway). Yes ... it's an ASCIImation Star Wars.

                                     /~\
                                    |oo )
                                    _\=/_
                    ___            /  _  \
                   /() \          //|/.\|\\
                 _|_____|_        \\ \_/  ||
                | | === | |        \|\ /| ||
                |_|  O  |_|        # _ _/ #
                 ||  O  ||          | | |
                 ||__*__||          | | |
                |~ \___/ ~|         []|[]
                /=\ /=\ /=\         | | |
________________[_]_[_]_[_]________/_]_[_\_________________________

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