Sunday, November 30, 2008

It does get easier each time

As sucky as that sounds, it is the truth.

Wait, sorry had to move a shit head DOG from in front of my monitor. Yes, I'm on the desktop and he climbed up on the couch, onto the desk, and stood in front of the monitor.

Anyway, like I was saying, it does get easier, but what doesn't get easier is the time before he leaves. Today was like being stuck in limbo. On one hand, you feel the need to be aware of the situation, but on the other hand, what are you supposed to do? Cry at his feet while he packs his bag? Plus, knowing Tony, it really is just better if you act normal. It hurts him to see us upset, so he'd rather us just play Wii if it makes us feel better, and he'll play PSP and we'll all drive to the airport and weep there.

Moving dog AGAIN. I swear he thinks he's a cat. As you can see, I won't be BORED while he's gone.

Then again, crying and whining and stomping around huffing "IS IT TIME TO GO YET?!?" will hurt Tony's feelings. I made the mistake of the telling the kids we'd get McDonalds for dinner on the way home. So for about four hours, Jonny stomped around pissy because we weren't LEAVING already. At first Tony thought it was cute, but the time we left, I think his feelings were hurt.

We all held it goether until we dropped him off and yes I wept like a baby. I even tried to jokingly say I hated him for leaving, then sobbed "No! No I don't! I'm sorry!!" It was quite pathetic. It makes it hard for Tony to leave when I'm distraught.

So, onward we go.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Date night

Tony and I went on a date last night. It was.... kinda lame. Seriously, but that's ok. Life right now for Tony and I? Well, it's lame and I'm ok with that. So, don't think I'm complaining.

We hadn't been on a date in a good long while. I want to say that maybe possibly we went on one when we were in St. Louis in August, but I don't think so and if we did, it was so unspectacular that I chose to block it from my mind.

The lady down the street said she'd watch the kids. We didn't want to be rude, so we dropped teh kids off at 4:30 and headed to the movie theater. We watched Role Models, which was hilarious. The two ladies behind us added to the hilarity because they talked to the screen the whole time. During a scary movie or a drama or a romance movie this is annoying, during a comedy it is most welcome. During a comedy, I want everyone to talk and laugh and have a good time. There were only about ten people in there, I thought we should all sit clustered together, sharing our popcorn and twizzlers, talking to the screen and laughing together.

Anyway, there was nothing great about the movie, but it was really, really funny if you like dick jokes and a foul mouth little kid obsessed with boobies. Oh and Paul Rudd. Need I say more ladies? Mmm hmm didn't think so. I heart Paul Rudd. Even with a dumb name like Paul Rudd, I'd let him do me.

After the movie we had mexican food. I don't particularly care for mexican, but Tony wanted it because it was something we can't eat with the kids, and like my friend Teri said, sometimes that's reason enough to do something.

Speaking of kids, they were both torn over date night. They really wanted to play with Bethany down the street, but they were also upset we were going to the movies. I told them we were going to see Madagascar which sent both of them into a snit. We calmed them down, but they still wanted to know why they couldn't come. We explained that there are some movies that we want to see that they can't see. Movies filled with bad words and probably real naked boobies. They were happy with that answer and Aislinn announced "Ew who wants to see boobies?" Aislinn have you MET your father? Sheesh.

Louie feels better. He's back to his old self. I don't know if us caring for him while he was sick did something to his attitude, but I must say the dog is downright loving. He was stand offish with us for awhile, only showing excitement when we came home, or in the morning after we woke up. But now he is choosing to stay by us, and is becoming more playful as the days go on. I just love his intelligient face and bright brown eyes. I love when he barks at a toy and wags his tail at the same time. I love his stumpy short legs. His legs were made for digging and his paws are broad and strong. He's a small dog, but he's a little powerhouse. He was built for digging in piles of rock and killing rats and things. He has a strong hunting instinct and his nose is always to the ground. He once wanted to smell something on the bottom of Aislinn's shoe and scratched and dug at the floor around her shoe to get to it.


We have one week left until Tony leaves. It really sucks, but I'm trying not to obsess or think about it too much so I don't ruin the time we have left. Six months people. That's a long ass time.

Friday, November 21, 2008

This week has been a tense week for me. Louie has been sick. He got his kennel cough vax on Sunday and by Monday night was coughing and by last night had progressed to not eating, shivering with smelly yellow snot running from his nose. He slept in bed with me and Tony with me waking every thirty minutes to make sure he was still alive. I got him up this morning to potty where he promptly peed and pooped and came back in and barely ate his food, even though I had added some of the freeze dried medallions and wetting them like he likes. Usually he will eat this all down in one sitting and then walk around with his fat puppy belly hanging low.

I got Aislinn off to school and after that Louie decided to chase the case. He lasted five minutes before he started to hack and cough. He napped while I waited for the vets office to open to see if they had anything available today. Of course they didn't and I have to take him in tomorrow.

Yet, in true "kid" fashion, after I have worked myself up enough to actually decide to take him to the Dr. he's fine. He woke up from his all day long doze peppy. His eyes are clear, he played with me outside, he ran after Jonny and didn't cough once. He came in allowed me to play wrastle and even fetched his squeaky star for me once before walking off in search of the cat. He found the cat and decided to terrorize her for a bit. Now he's walking around looking for toilet paper to chew.

I've never been one to take my children, or myself for that matter, to the Dr. right away, and the Dr. is free. I like to take a wait and see approach. So, you can see how I waited so long for the dog. I heard that some dogs get kennel cough after getting the vax for it. I just didn't know kennel cough was so scary! It was like the dog flu or something. I wish I could have given him Nyquil or something. Of course, after not being able to take the uncertainty anymore, after second guessing my wait and see attitude, I break and call the vet adn now I either cancel or pay to have them look at my healthy-ish dog and say "Give him a few more days.. that will be 1 billion dollars".

I grew up in a family that had outside dogs. You got a dog, you put him in your backyard. You fed it, you watered it, you cleaned up its poo, but you never really played with it or did anything with it. It was mainly there to disuade people from breaking in. So, this is all new territory for me.

Monday, November 17, 2008

I'm feeling a little better. I made myself get up and clean the floors and wipe the table down, just to get some movement going in my muscles. I love how easy it is to sweep and mop my floors. I got a microfiber mop and it works great. I was trying to listen to my new Ipod but of course whenever I put my earphones in, someone has to ask me something. That's how I got so far behind in music. The kids never really want to listen to music, and it's hard to be a mom when you can't hear you know? Then, when I want to listen to music, I usually want to hear something I know and can sing along with. My friend C cent me a $20 internet GC to Itunes and I decided to buy the Twilight soundtrack. I saw that it had two Paramore songs on there, and I've seen them here and there, and decided to get it. It's good and best of all NEW. I was getting sick of usual mix of Beyonce, Elvis, and Motley Crue.

Louie is sitting next to me sleeping. He has been down today. He had to get shots yesterday which he did well with, but I also had his nails clipped and that was traumatic for him. Poor baby. Louie ha now officially learned to fetch. This is monumental because this means he trusts us to give him his toy back, and issue we were working on for awhile. He still doesn't trust Jonny, but that is a legitimate concern. Jonny is still too young to get it. Louie does listen to Aislinn much better now. She can tell him to drop something and he will. He's doing great on walking on the leash. He mostly walks right next to me, looking up at me with eyes that say "Look how good I'm doing" I probably sound like an idiot as I tell him what a great boy he is pretty much the whole walk. When he comes back from the dog park it takes him awhile to get back into it though.


Potty training is going better. He's hasn't had a poop accident in a while, and he's letting us know more and more he has to go outside by sitting in front of the door. Unfortunately, if we don't see him, he just wanders off and pees. What's funny is he will scratch and bark when he wants to come IN but not when he wants to go out. The problem we have now is that he wants to go in and out constantly. I'm not complaining right now because I want him to know that if he wants out, we'll gladly let him out. But, it's starting to get old already.

Some pictures of our new floors:
























New pics of Louie and Leah :








So, yesterday was my birthday, and it was nice. Tony always makes sure I have a nice day. I've been feeling very blah lately, and honestly it's because I've completely stopped eating the way I usually do. Junk food, fast food, sugar, bread. The whole nine yards. I've been sick and achy. That's not to say I wouldn't have caught a cold while eating the right way for me, but I don't think it would have stuck around this long. It's been almost two weeks.

Tony leaves soon, and I'm trying to not think about it, but I can't help it. It's coming in two short weeks.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

I'm trying really hard not being a control freak, but Tony is really pissing me off with the dog. He won't LISTEN to me (Tony) and then does everything wrong to get the dog to listen to him. He actually gave the dog FOOD when he was barking in his crate. I was like "Yeah good way to get him to learn barking brings him a treat" for the rest of the dinner the barking was ampled up like crazy. Usually, Louie will bark for a few minutes and if we ignore him, he'll stop. I don't know WHAT posessed Tony to feed the dog.

When I tell the dog to sit, I tell him ONCE then I make him sit with my hand if I have to. Tony just says "sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit" and eventually, Louie gets tired of waiting for the food, and you know takes a rest, and then Tony gives him food because "Look he sat!".

What aggravates me the most is that Tony gets the most upset with the dog when he acts spazzy and doesn't listen. It's the same thing with the kids. He gets so angry that they don't listen to him, but he doesn't do anything to make them listen. He's a pushover that way I guess.

The clutter of my house is driving me nuts. Between having four people home all the time (Aislinn has had a lot of time off school recently due to report cards and Veterans day) and the projects there is just STUFF everywhere. Jonny antagonizes the animals so it's just like so noisy at all times. I haven't been a very nice person to be around today I'm sure.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Being a homeowner is so much fun! Who knew going to Home Depot could be so exciting?

We have wanted to do laminate flooring in the living room and dining room ever since we moved in. Of course, when we moved in, this wasn't our house. We always thought though that it would be really nice. When we bought it we said "let's do it". We assumed that laminate wood flooring would be an economical way to get a wood look without doing hardwood floors. Plus, it's more durable, more kid and pet friendly. We have friends who did hardword flooring and although beautiful, it seems like a pain. For one, they can't have a dog, and people who have dogs can't bring them over. I guess I won't really be visiting with them in December. The dogs nails can scratch their floors, the kids have to be careful with their toys, and well it just doesn't make for a very fun house. (Not that it was very fun before then either, but I digress)

We priced flooring and to our shock, it was going to cost us almost a 1,000 dollars! We were amazed. We were thinking literally, half that. We just had more floor to cover than we realized. Even the Home Depot "cheap stuff" that was clearanced or a lesser known company was around $800.

We had heard of a few places we may be able to get it cheaper, but we were kind of disheartened by it all. I mean, if HD had it clearanced at $1.47 a SQF, how much cheaper could it get? Plus the clearanced stuf was kind of ugly. Real light and plain looking and it just wasn't what I envisioned for our home. We decided to at least do the dining room (I hate eating our food over a carpet with kids! It just stays stained all the time) and save for the living room for when he got back.

On Friday we got a flyer for a place called Ollie's Bargain Outlet . Now, if you saw this paper advert, you wouldn't take it seriously. I didn't for a YEAR while I lived here. Every few months we'd get some flyer with Ollie on it, a cartoony looking grandpa figure with a buck tooth grin and a hawaiin print shirt. It adverstised the usual bargain stuff... mix matched sheets, discontinued toys etc. I never went there. Yet, this time, something told me to try it. They had laminate for NINETY SEVEN CENTS! a SQF! Wow.

We went there on Saturday, walked around, and took a gander at all the stuff. We didn't make a beeline for the laminate. I think Tony had the same attitude as I had, we didn't want to get too excited only to be sorely disappointed over a) the ad being too good to be true or b) if the laminated was that cheap it would really, really ugly. We perused the toys, the kids found some Nintendo themed wall stickers for their rooms (Aislinn has Pokemon on her side, Jonny Nintendogs on his) and we found some super cheap beef jerky.

We wandered over to the home section and were immediatley struck by their HUGE rug selection. I don't know if I'd be able to FIND a rug there I liked, but I would have fun trying. We saw where the laminate was and we took our sweet time to get there. When we got there, we were honestly and TRULY surprised!

The laminate was NICE! It even had a little bit of texture to it, it wasn't just flat. The color wasn't exactly what we were looking for, but we could definitely be ok with it for that price and when we got it home we realized it matched everything we already had perfectly, so it worked out well. We got all we needed and the underlayment for a bit over five hundred dollars for both rooms!

Tony has most of it done. He just needs to do the step (our living room is sunken by a foot) and the trim. We also plan on painting too. This is driving me nuts. The pictures I have all have a teal accent to to them. On the color wheel the "warm" complimentary color would be peach, and the cool a yellow. I was thinking of doing a gold, not yellow, but more orangy/brown/gold/honey. Actually honey is a good way to describe what I mean. Or doing a very dark brownish pink. I'll take pictures as soon as I find the camera somewhere in this mess!

You know I couldn't end this without talking about my Louie. He's doing good. He's letting us know more and more when he has to go to the bathroom by standing in front of the door. Whenever he stands by it, I let him out, even if he doesn't have to go just so he can know that if he stands by it, he'll get a response. It sucks though because if we don't notice him, he will just wander off and pee. In the morning I'm the only one who can take him out. If Tony takes him out, he won't go poop. Tony can sit out with him for twenty minutes and he'll hold it and then run upstairs to poop. I also think he hates having to go in his crate when he doesn't go. My thinking was... if he goes outside and doesn't pee or poop (when I think he should be pooping like after eating) then he goes in his crate. Tony and the kids think this is mean. But, I can't have him wandering around pooping in the house just because they think he should be free. I recently got a dog training book that said to do this very thing! It was good to see my instincts were right. When he poops or pees then he is free to run around. When it's time to go again, if he doesn't go then back in his crate he goes. He doesn't like it, but he doesn't fuss much anymore, only when we eat. He just now lays down and goes to sleep and is now sleeping in his crate at night. Another thing the book said was that when you get a new puppy home, one option is to sleep with him at night with him in your bed. This would be a good way to transition him. We did this too! When we made the transition from our bed to crate it was easy. The first night was whining for about five minutes and that was it. We noticed he wasn't interested in sleeping with us. He used to sleep between us or in my arms, and then moved to the bottom of the bed, then one night he jumped down and slept on the floor. That's when we put him in his "den" at night.

He's also learning to wait before going in and out of a door and drop it. I really love drop it since he runs off with just about everything he can get his puppy mouth on. There are some things he gets pissy about and a bit snappy over. It's hard having kids to deal with as they chase him around and try to yank things out of his mouth and don't give him anything in return or praise him for giving it up. He gets possesive of his things and can get aggressive. I'm working on him with this, and everytime he drops it, even if he growls at me and I have to pry it out, as soon as I have it in my hand I give him good boys and give him one of HIS toys or a treat. Today he ran off with Aisy's granola bar that fell out of her backpack. She immediately chased him making him run, and I just said in my stern voice "Drop it" and he did.

Also, today when I went out front I made him sit and wait, and when I came back from teh van he was STILL sitting there waiting for me! Having a dog feeds my controlling side I swear.

Leah, well she's a cat and even though she's sweet and snorgely she just does what a cat does, sleep and eat and poop. I swear this cat does NOT shed. Today, me and Tony ran our fingers through her roughly to see if we could pull out any hair, and none came out! It's awesome!

Friday, November 7, 2008

On Tuesday night I quit my playgroup. I'm sure everyone there thinks it's because of the election. What they don't realize is that the election and the political disagreements on the board for the group was just the icing on my departure cake. It was something I had toyed with for a very long time.

I tried to ignore things that were said that went against my core principles. At first I excused my staying with "I'm trying to be accepting of all people" or "That isn't how I feel, and they are allowed to say what they want". Yet I was leaving each meetup increasingly more uncomfortable when things were said like soy makes men gay, or that depression isn't "real", or the time the hostess was telling us a story about getting into a shouting match with a teenaged boy at the gas station and repeatedly called him the N word and laughed through the whole thing, and then finished the story with "I would NEVER use that word normally" Hmm just when a CHILD pisses you off. Gotcha. Or most recently calling an austic woman a retard when she made a ball call at a childs football game.

Ultimately though my loneliness won over my head. I LIKED being a part of a group. Mostly it was a good time. When the conversations stayed light and banal, I was able to push my uneasy feelings to the side. Near the end, there always seem to be those people that got soap box preachy when something would come up in normal conversation. It would be all finger waving and neck rolling about something they believed in, making the rest of the room feel uncomfortable and squirmy while they preached. Not even politcal stuff, just STUFF. I constantly felt like someone was trying to convince me to "switch sides" almost. I realized in my state of trying to be accepting of their ideals, they weren't being accepting of mine at all.

I knew I had to leave when Aislinn overheard me talking to Tony about what happened at a playgroup, where someone went all soap boxy. She said "Wow, that person seems all nice on the outside, but she seems not so nice on the inside. Why are you her friend?" I realized that she was right. How many times have I told Aislinn I would rather be lonely than be in a miserable friendship when she has come to me heartbroken over a tiff she's had with her friend? Yet, here I was taking crap from people just to get out of the house?

So, I left. I left right when Obama won the presidency.

Yes we can. Yes! I did!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Bad idea for today...

Using the FurMinator on your dog in the house.

Since Louie doesn't shed (and he really doesn't) you have to get rid of the "dead" hairs. His coat has been looking a little raggedy. I knew you weren't supposed to cut a Cairn's coat, but then what the hell do you do?

Thanks to Google I found out that a cairn should be stripped, the preferred method is by hand. This is where you pull your dogs hair out. I am NOT KIDDING. I gave it a little try while Louie was sleeping and he didn't seem hurt, but he did get up and move to the other end of the couch.

I figured the FurMinator would work and boy does it. I got SO much hair off the dog, and his coat looks smooth and clean. He liked it too.

I want to try it on Leah, but that will have to wait until it stops raining. Already I feel like I have little spiders on me from Louies hair.

Pets are awesome!

When Tony and I first moved in together, we had so many cats. Cats out the ass! They were our lives. We adored them. Then we got kids. Kids take up a lot of your time. You don't have time to train a dog or clean a litter box.

Now that my kids are older, I have time for pets again, and I can't express enough how much joy both Louie and Leah has brought into my life in such a short period of time. I get a little choked up thinking about it.

Animals aren't complex and that's what makes them so wonderful. When they love, they love fully. You know when they're mad. You always know where you stand with your pets. After having kids, I realized pets are like toddlers which is my favorite kid stage. They usually feel one emotion at a time and they show it with their whole soul. Nothing beats coming home from being gone and Louie going nuts to get to me and when I pick him up, he licks and can hardly contain his happiness, when I walk around and he has to be right by my side, or when Leah lays in my arms and sleeps.

I've been really blessed to find the two I found. For a terrier, Louie is calm, but he IS a terrier so he's spazzy. He and Jonny get into shenanigans constantly. Leah is just the most amazing cat. I've never heard her meow, growl, or hiss. Only purr. She lets Jonny carry her around all day. For a full grown cat, she is very passive and accepting, she loves snuggles. She and Louie hang out together, and she just goes and hides if he gets to be too much.

One day I swear I'll make an entry about something other than animals!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The one day adults like stickers!

I hope everyone exercised their right to vote yesterday, even if your party didn't win and you got your free coffee, doughnut, chick fil-a sandwhich and sex toy! Also, if you voted I hope you didn't have to wait a long time. Like an HOUR behind a man that smelled strongly of pee. Just sayin'.

Last night was exciting for Tony and I. I held it together pretty ok until I smelled Tony's cigar. He had one, and said he needed to figure out when to smoke it. I said "How about when Obama wins tonight?" and when he was announced he lit it up. For some reason that made me cry a bit. Also, Obama is proof that when a child says they want to be President, it CAN happen. Also, when Obama said the girls earned a puppy? Ugh tears!

In between the election results and chatting with my friends and leaving a playgroup that wasn't a good fit for me Tony and I spent a lot of time watching the cat and dog interact. Finally, Leah came out last night and is comfortable with being with the family. We also realized that Louie is pretty dumb. He won't go down the steps, but he'll climb th back of the couch, stand precariously on the banister that seperates the living room and dining room and then JUMP from it to get Leah. Idiot. But it made for a good laugh. He also eat crayons so when he poops he literally poops rainbows. It's a miracle!

Aislinn made honor role, which has me even MORE confused about the ADD thing. I still haven't gone forward with that.

Tony leaves soon and he's getting a little bit here and there done around the house.