Rule Breakers

We had a rule.  A simple rule.  No More Heartbeats. 

And of course, no one in this house can follow the rules.

So now, I'm sitting here in the dark, its 1:30 in the morning, I'm afraid to move a muscle, or make any noises, or even breathe for fear of waking the beast.

We've gotten a new puppy.  His name is Felon.  He is so cute it's a crime.  And he doesn't like his kennel.  And I'm not really good at letting him cry it out.  I'm  breaking the rules.  And probably wrecking our puppy.  In my defense, I couldn't do it with my human baby either, and she turned out ok. 

I'm almost feeling like a new Mom.  And I think that now I understand what it feels like to bring home the second baby.  You already have a good routine down, sleeping times, feeding times, potty times, etc.  And we have a big brother for our baby.  Simba is a WONDERFUL dog, an even better (tolerant) big brother.   And I'm very grateful for him.  Especially now.  I think this is how people get into the conundrum of feeling like they love 1 child more.  Simba has NEVER had an accident in our house.  Simba does not chew on anything.  Simba does not follow you around biting your feet and ankles.  He's a wonderful Fur Baby, and I am so thankful for him.  And at this point (it's now after 7am), I'm sitting here and almost questioning our decision to "have another baby". 

Please don't get me wrong.  I love this little boy.  Love, love, love him.  Love him like I would love a human baby.  And then it makes me think about Why.  Me?  The long-term self-proclaimed "Dog Hater"?  Love a dog?  Yes.  I do love my dogs.  And it's all because of another rule I broke, this guy.

The bestest ever dog that ever was.  He taught me all about a dogs love.  And why it's one of the best kinds of love there is.  Unconditional.  When we love a dog, we are rewarded with pure, unaltered, no holds barred love.  Brewtus was and always will be a very large piece of my heart.  He showed me it's ok to love fur.   And dammit, I do.

As I type this, my little villain, this Felon, has passed out cold from all the activity this morning.  And I can't even imagine my life without him.  All the "No Bite"s forgotten.  And my heart is swelling. 

We might not be having any more human babies, but that certainly doesn't mean we can't share our love with Fur Babies.  So see Sarah - we finally have that little boy you've been requesting :)  And isn't he just perfect!

Stop Overwhelming Me!

I get overwhelmed when I think of all the "other" things I want to do in my daily life. Scrapbook more, garden more, clean up the leaves outside, exercise, count points plus values, volunteer, sell more things online, clean out my poor forsaken garage, organize my buffet, get a handle on all of the things I want to do and then do them, etc.

I had a mental discussion with myself earlier this month and decided that I would carry a full size notebook with me to track all of the things that I wanted to track.  Track my eating, track my moods while I was eating, track my exercise, track my water intake, track my spending, track my irrational urge to spend money I don't have, track my communication (yes, I wanted to track that I touched base with at least 1 person who does not live in my house every day).  Really, there were so many things - I read too much online about how to track to make your life more efficient.  And then I thought to myself - WHAT!?  Are you really planning on introducing so many things into your life that you need a full sized notebook?  And really, how am I becoming more efficient if I am nailed down to this notebook?  And also, the notebook is big, I would have to switch purses, and I am just not at a point in my life where switching purses is going to end well.

So, what we've (me, myself, & I) decided is that we will focus on 1 thing every day.  This does not mean that all other matter of life will cease to exist. No, this just means, I will need to focus on just 1 thing.  Taking the overwhelming out of the equation.  If I want to obsess about my diet and exercise on the same day - sorry, 1 of these items will need to take a hike.  I can mentally only focus on 1 extra thing in a day.  There are too many other things that take up space in this pretty little head of mine.  And they all require attention - I am ensuring that overload does not occur. 

I plan on trying new recipes and a way to deal with my overabundance of apples, scrapbooking for the girls so they are caught up rather than being stuck in 4th and 9th grades, craft projects involving my ever growing stash of wine bottles, decorating our new home with all kinds of new fangled equipment, training a puppy without throwing it across a room, losing approximately 11 pounds, being able to do abdominal exercises without looking like a beached whale and many other new and exciting adventures. This could get very interesting.

So today, I am going to focus on "shipping items sold online".  Really, I should have done this weeks ago (literally, I forgot they were listed on ebay and got an email 3 days after it sold, that was last week)  I am a bit frightened of the feedback I will receive on this transaction.  I've contacted the buyer and hopefully mended the situation.  But here - on top of all the other things that will take up my day - the only thing that I NEED to get done today is "shipping items sold online".  Should more good come of my day, so be it. 

Memories

Many, many moons ago, Addie and I brought home my Dad's old computer.  Gramma Debbie had gotten a new one and Addie wanted to use this one for school.  We've been working on retrieving the photos from this computer forever.  Apparently I am not as technically inclined as I would like to think, so I had to use my back up plan - Kevin.  Whenever I need photos retrieved, Kevin is my go to guy.  He's super smart, and I very much appreciate him! 

So, I have had this CD for a while and been putting off looking through the pics - for obvious reasons - and when we did last night, we had such a fun time!  I just thought I would share some of these with all of my friends and family - Enjoy!

Teaching the kids to make funny faces - always a favorite pastime!

Heisman Pose - made famous not by the trophy, but by The Father

Isn't this how everyone plays Barbies with their Granddaughter?

Cuddles are always welcome

 

Check out her shirt :)  Traditions and Family are so important!!  We miss Lana Banana!!

 

 

There were so many more, but just too many to keep posting (cause you know there are stories for each and every photo that we looked)  Such wonderful memories, these are what fill the empty places in our hearts.