I've been kinda busy.

Yes, so I haven't blogged in for-EH-ver. I also haven't done much of anything to blog about.

Oh, unless you count being acting principal at school about once a week.

And, well, I guess you could count chairing the Math committee at school.

Hm...you could probably also include having a student teacher. And mentoring a colleague. And coordinating a school-wide assessment. Oh, and that other committee that I've been on for three years now.

All while juggling two kids, one of whom takes Taekwondo lessons 3 times a week and starts basketball next month. The other of whom...ok, well, she's pretty much perfect and aside from one hell of a stubborn streak, is an angel. So I guess I can't use HER as an excuse.

Anyway, I've been busy. And the USB port on this computer is still broken and Scott is hogging the laptop so I can't even post pictures of me 77 pounds lighter.
(Edited - here's one, at least.)

We did a "Biggest Loser" competition at school and I came in second place - I lost 11 pounds in a month and a half. The winner lost 26. I asked if we could count what I had lost prior to starting the competition. They said no. Can't say I didn't try. :-)

Scott has been really busy too. He even got yelled at for working all the overtime he has had to work to complete the two projects he's working on. He finally took vacation time - he has 11 days off. It worked out really well since Emma got swine flu this week and he was able to stay home with her the last two days. I'm not sure if it was really swine, because while she did have all the symptoms, she didn't cough much and she got over it really fast. Must have been a really mild case - or I just make kids with amazing immune systems (we haven't had to take Alex to the doc for an illness in two years, either). I got sick this week too, but I think it's more a sinus thing than swine flu. I wasn't sick enough to miss work, that's for sure. Or, wait, let me rephrase that - I didn't LOOK sick enough that people at work would tell me I needed to go home. I felt like crap the last two days, but apparently didn't look bad enough for germophobes to harrass. :-)

Did I mention I'm not a germophobe? I only mention it now because it's a fun segue into my next story.

Emma is anal-retentive. And detail-oriented. And focused. It's like all of the genes that make me a balance of "whatever" and "perfectionist" were divided evenly between my two children. Alex couldn't care less if his room was clean and when it comes to trying to get him to clean it, we have to sit in there and direct every. single. move. he makes. The focus is not there.

Then there's Emma. Who walked around the restaurant this evening after we were done with dinner and proceeded to pick up every single piece of trash off the floor. And every single piece of spaghetti that dropped on her booster seat. And every single piece of food that might have fallen on her shirt (but I swear, not many did, she's a very prissy eater. Who would rather eat with a fork than her hands.). And no, I did not discourage it. It was so cute to watch her toddle around the table, back and forth, offering my dad a piece of spaghetti here, a straw wrapper there, saying, "ga" when she handed them over (because they belong in the garbage, obviously).

In other news, our cats are much happier. They finally have free rein of the house again. Max didn't work out. Which is really sad, because he was a good dog, but it wasn't fair to him to leave him in the kennel for ten hours a day when he did NOT like it, and we couldn't leave him in the house because he destroyed things. Like our bedroom door. Which he tore a foot-wide hole in. I ended up taking him back to the shelter, where they promptly featured him as the pet of the week (and mentioned his separation anxiety) and he found a good home. It will be a long time before we get another dog, and it will be a smaller, FEMALE dog - they're easier to train, for one thing. I was working with Max every single day on obedience and trying to get rid of his problem behaviors, and it wasn't working. I'm thinking someday we'll get something Border Collie-sized, and maybe a puppy. But again, it will be a long time, because we don't have the time for training right now. For now, the cats are loving this, especially since they had to spend all day out in the garage so Max didn't try to eat them.

Anyway, as soon as Scott stops hogging the laptop I'll probably post some pics of me and the kids. Maybe. I make no promises. I'm busy. :-)

School starts Wednesday!

And I cannot WAIT to go back. This has been a reeeeaaally long summer for me. Partially because I've been an exclusive SAHM all summer, partially because I've been dying to get back into my routine to help along my weight loss, and partially because I'm dying for more adult interaction and stimulation.

Alex has finally cracked through the ceiling on his letters. He now knows 7 letters and their sounds - A, B, F, M, O, S, and X. He has a pocket chart in his bedroom that I put an alphabet border into, and we review the letters he knows before story time, and introduce and review one new one every couple of days. Once he knows the whole alphabet we'll start on numbers. He still gets numbers and letters mixed up (he'll say, while pointing to a group of letters, "those are numbers," and vice versa). I'm definitely happy about this - he should know the names and sounds of all of the letters and be able to count to 100 by the end of Kindergarten, and suddenly, at this rate he might be able to do both before he STARTS Kindergarten, so we're in a good place. I'm still waiting to see, but I guess he just hit a developmental milestone and it suddenly clicked. Was my worrying for naught? We'll see.


Emma is just darling. She has turned into this adorable, charming, wide-eyed little princess and she is so sweet and lovable. At her core. On the outside at the moment she's getting on EVERYONE'S nerves. She is constantly whining, screaming about something or another, and we're all getting tired of it. She started daycare last Tuesday and they said she was crying during transition times, which is not surprising, since she cries anytime I walk away from her or try to change what she is doing. Her mommy connection has gotten really annoying at times when Scott just wants to hold her for a second and all she wants to do is put her arms out for me while saying, "Mom! Mom! Mom!" I love that she wants me and that I'm so important to her, but I want her to be just as connected to Daddy too, and that bugs me. So, whining and clinging. It's just a phase...it's just a phase...it's just a phase...



Max has turned out to be a wonderful dog. He's so good, and aside from some random barking that he doesn't do when I'm around, and the occasional chewing of Alex's toys that were left outside (Alex says, "I know it's my fault, I left them out.") he has been great. I just trimmed his toenails tonight all by myself, and anyone who has ever had a big dog knows that's not easy unless your dog is very easy-tempered. He's very gentle with the kids, they love him, and he's a great security system. He had a lot of fun at MarDon this summer, playing with the other dogs in the lake.



That's about it for now. I'm still down 60 pounds, hopefully that will change once school starts and I hit my stride again. Now I get to go see if my dressier work pants still fit me or if I need to make another shopping trip. :-)

How have I gone so long without a dog?

Max has already established himself as a member of our family. We've gone on several walks the last 2 days and he visited Lucky and Lucy for a playdate all day today. He was so good - I could go on and on about the virtues of this guy. He has really bonded with me already - anytime he's a little unsure of something he comes over to me and snuggles up or leans against me (which he's doing right now, under the desk, because there is some banging going on outside). He's the perfect mixture of timid and protective - if he's not sure about something, he comes to me to hear that it'll be okay, but he alerts us when something is amiss, too. The cats are tolerant of him, I guess because he shows interest in them but not aggressive interest. They are both sitting on the bed beside me while he is under the desk, which hasn't happened anytime a dog has been in our house - they usually hide out. Ash does, at least; Lilli is more tolerant of dogs in general (she and Lacey were buds and would routinely snuggle on the bed). See below:


This is Lacey hangin' out with Lilli on my bed in Pullman, waaaay back before I even met Scott. Wasn't she pretty?

Anyway, as I was saying, the cats are tolerant of Max, he's tolerant and calm with them, and really, I just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. He just seems too good to be true, too perfect for our family and our situation, and I'm not quite ready to accept that it's all going to work out with him. I really WANT to believe it...but I don't want to jinx it either. :-) He just seems like a wonderful mix of the two dogs I've lost - Lolli, the perfect dog, easily trained, never made messes, protective in perfect measure and snuggly and loveable (picture below) and Lacey, the beautiful skinny princess who piddled when nervous but made up for it with her loyalty and devotion. And Max looks like Lacey and acts like Lolli.


I am SO a dog person. I always have been - I was just waiting for the right one to show up. I really hope Max is it.

Rest in Peace, Lolli and Lacey. We miss you both.

Max is home!

I picked him up at 10:30 this morning, when he voluntarily hopped into the kennel in the back of the Pilot and didn't make a peep the whole way home. Since he's been home he has played gently with the rope toy with Alex, stood protectively by Emma, softly woofed and pointed at something that alerted him, and waited patiently by the back door to be invited into the kitchen. He has also had a meet-and-greet with Lucky and Lucy, my parents' two dogs, and all went very well. He also walks really well on-leash.

This dog is amazing, folks. I'm so excited! Pictures soon...

WE'RE GETTING A DOG!

It's been more than three years since we've had a dog, which has been tough for me. When I lost Lacey to cancer two days before Christmas when Alex was really little, I had a hard time with it. And I knew, especially with kids, that it would be awhile before I got another dog.

But truthfully, I'm a dog person. Cats, not so much. Yes, I have two cats, but only because they act more like dogs than cats. Dogs are my thing. I spent several years working in vet clinics and pet stores, I did 4H dog obedience showing, I'm fascinated by pack behavior and I'm a pretty good judge of dog character. All 4 dogs that our family has had over the past 20 years have been picked by me, and all 4 of them have been amazing, loving, friendly, smart companions. Each had their own quirks, of course (Lacey's submissive piddling was the worst) but when it came to dogs, we had the best.

And now we have Max. (We don't actually HAVE him yet - he's getting neutered as we speak, and we pick him up tomorrow.)

So the story on Max: I've been visiting the pound off and on at least since January, but I think it goes further back. In all honesty, I was searching for Lacey. She and I had a connection - she was my baby girl before I actually had a baby girl. She was sweet, loving, devoted, calm, never barked, never jumped, never chewed...and she was beautiful. She looked like a long-haired whippet, gorgeous white-blonde fur that sparkled in the sunlight. I can still feel her silky coat and her poky ribs and her soft ears when I think about her. She didn't run - she leaped like a gazelle, all grace and elegance, with her ears perked and a smile on her face. My favorite memory of her was watching her bounding through the hip-high grass in the fields behind our Pullman duplex. It was like watching freedom personified in grace.

(Can you tell I loved this dog?)

Losing her, and losing her so suddenly, really hurt. I still get tears in my eyes when I think about her. Our friend told me the other day that he says hello to her anytime he walks past the Spot of Shade, and I immediately started welling up. The Spot of Shade is a pet memorial on the Chambers Creek trail which has a plaque with her name, Lolli's name, and our family's names on it. It's a nice reminder of the effect she and Lolli (the dog I picked up as a stray when I was 11) had on our family.

Anyway, I kind of have high standards when it comes to dogs. And I knew I wasn't ready for a dog, unless it was the RIGHT dog. So I've been to the pound several times, never finding what I wanted. Too many of their charts had "Not good with kids" or their temperament was too active, or they barked too much, or if I did actually visit with a particular dog, I always got the wrong vibe - like it wasn't the right dog. And I've learned to trust my instincts on that, especially where my kids are involved. Then last week Scott actually said, "All right, you can go get your dog - as long as it eats cats." (He never liked Asher much.) I pretended to ignore the eating cats part and decided I was going to start looking a little harder, but that if we didn't find a dog before the end of June, we would wait another year (since I wanted the summer for training and such). And then I actually said those words aloud.

To my friend Heidi, at school: "If I don't find a dog before the end of June, we'll wait until next year." This was on Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon we saw Max.

The thing that gets me is he's blonde. The kind of blonde you don't see a lot in dogs - the kind of blonde Lacey was. White, golden blonde, with a white stripe from the bridge of his nose to the back of his head. He has these big, wide, golden-colored eyes and soft floppy ears. He's a 2 and a half year old lab mix, slim but strong, about 60 pounds. He's also very calm, laid back, sweet, doesn't lick (which Scott LOVES, but I'm a little sad about - Lacey gave nose kisses, just a little teeny slurp on the tip of your nose that kept you from getting all slobbery but still showed affection). Max is a little timid at the moment - he seems a little kennel shy, but he's amazing at walking on-leash and despite his strength he's very gentle and cuddly. I did my usual test to see if we could poke and prod him without complaint, and he let me pull his tail, poke between his toes, examine his teeth, clap my hands loudly behind his head, and give him a full-body hug with no complaint.

I've heard him bark three times, all three when he thought I was going to grab the leash and take him out of his kennel at the pound today, and when he realized that wasn't going to happen, he calmed down and shut up.

I can't wait to bring him home. And even though he's 2 years old, we're going to do this right, with kennel training, obedience classes, daily walks (I'm excited about that one!) and lots of playtime with his new master (Alex has been calling himself Max's master since my mom told him that he was the other day). And Max is definitely going to be Alex's dog. Not that I'm deluded enough to think that Alex will be taking care of him (because duh, he's 4), but he will be helping by feeding him every morning, walking him with me (yup - Alex can actually walk Max, he's THAT good on a leash), and poop-scooping. Oh trust me, the kids WILL be picking up poop. Plus, my mom has volunteered to take walks over to our house on days we're gone over 8 hours to let him out, and he's got two playmates over at my mom's house that we'll be having regular playdates with. I've even already checked out a doggie daycare that we might send him to every once in awhile.

I can't bring Lacey back, but I'm hoping that Max will prove to be just as wonderful a family dog as she was. I've got a good feeling about him. I'll update when he comes home!