Houseguest, Puppies, and Stuff

Some of you may remember from back in the fall–Novemberish–when my soft-hearted spouse brought home a puppy from band practice.  One of the band members’ wife owns a dog spa and that’s where they practice.  Anyway, someone had left this poor puppy at the spa in the middle of the night when it was in the 20s out.  John and Meg had him for a few days, but they couldn’t keep him because they already have five dogs.  So DH brings him home.  Now this was some time after Shadow had died and this puppy appeared to be a Husky mix with these gorgeous blue eyes and I knew why DH was bringing him home.  He was expecting me to cave exactly like I did when he brought home Angel (whom we obviously kept).  What he didn’t take into account was that he was working nights, which left me to be the only one to let puppy out, and also meant that he didn’t get to sleep during the day because puppy was so small he fit through the gap between the gate and the fence.  All was well that ended well on that front, as he wound up going to my father in law.  Well Teal’c is now about 7 or 8 months old and gorgeous.  Looks to be a husky/German shepherd mix.  And Dad let him come home with us for a sleepover last night.  He’s been a really well behaved house guest, and it’s been really good for DH.  Teal’c has a lot of the same mannerisms that Angel did (some so similar that it’s trippy), and that’s been comforting to us both.  We both feel a little like we’re coming out of a long (and not good) sleep.  There’s stuff to deal with that didn’t go away during all the horrible aftermath this week.  Work must be done.  House must be cleaned.  Bills must be paid.

There’s been no writing this week.  Not that this is a shock.  But I feel like my head is finally getting back into a place where I could write.  So this morning I’m having tea and looking over where I left off with Til Death.  We’re actually going down to Jackson today with the in-laws, but tomorrow I’ll have some time to get back to it (I hope).

On the puppy front, we’re going to be meeting the present owners in Memphis on the 24th to pick up our new daughter.  We’ve decided to name her Callie (my turn–DH named Daisy and Angel).  I’ve been making a list of expenses so that I can work them into the budget–the usual shots and worming, spaying, a Furminator (she’s going to have thick hair either way and shedding will be a problem–plus, we live in Mississippi where it’s really hot in the summer, so we HAVE to be able to thin out her coat–is it sad that I’m excited she’ll shed?  We have been mourning the lack of Angel hair this week.), a pair of retractable leashes (we used to have one, but I have no idea what happened to it–I’ve discovered it’s much easier to train them to walk on a retractable), and a large supply of Puppy Chow.  I’ve also been making a To Do List.  There are all sorts of things we’ve been putting off that we will have to get done before we pick her up.  There’s a big hole in the yard where an old stump rotted out forever ago.  It’s covered with a lawn chair because Daisy and Angel never messed with it, but we can’t trust a puppy not to.  So that has to be filled.  We need to finally get the dog house moved from Allen’s parents.  It’s custom built and friggin huge.  And best of all (for me anyway), DH finally has to deal with the disaster area that is his office.  He has to go through and pick up and clean out everything in his office because if it is in the floor, she’ll probably try to chew on it or play with it.  Which, given that most of what’s in his office is computer equipment or music equipment, is bad.

There are so many other projects to do: make and install the new mailbox post, build the flowerbed around said mailbox post, pour the concrete slab for our shed (yeah,  the one that’s been sitting in our garage since freaking SEPTEMBER)–and that’s just outside. At some point this year, we’re going to redo our bathroom, which will involve tearing out the current vanity, fitting in a new one (which will be this great refinished French Provincial dresser we got for $10! at a garage sale), putting up beadboard and chair rail, putting down new floors (found some great peel and stick vinyl tiles that look like Travertine), new baseboards, and painting everything.  And we wanted to put up new kitchen cabinet doors and crown moulding in the kitchen.  That last one may wind up waiting until next year’s budget.

Anyway, that’s the update.

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