Why today has been great

1) Man, time flies! We've had Lucy for an entire month. I am starting to understand a little what new moms mean when they say they have good days and bad days with their newborns. Some days, like yesterday, poor Lucy couldn't do anything right. Today has been much better!

2) I made an extremely impulsive decision to cut my hair (literally, as I was sitting in the salon) and I really like it. It's above the shoulders, which it hasn't been in years, and I was ready for a change.

3) We're actually making dinner at home for the first time in ages. The past week has been nothing but leftovers and eating out. Hooray for real food!

A little snack

Chad and I went to dinner tonight and decided to let Lucy have free reign of the dining room as well as the kitchen. We have the dog door installed now and figured we'd only be gone for an hour. It would be a good test to see if she got herself into anything.

She didn't touch the furniture. Nor did she touch my shoes. She didn't even play with her new Kong toy, which I had filled with treats. Instead, she managed to inhale the remainder of a bag of Wheat Thins. She hasn't gotten sick yet, but the night is still young...

Soul food

When I was poor and friendless in St. Louis after college, I did quite a bit to keep myself entertained. Evenings consisted of a walk to the gym and a few miles on the treadmill, perhaps an email to an old friend or an episode of Law & Order. Several times, I remember thinking, "Hmm...I've worked out and it's only 6:45. What am I going to do for the next three hours?!?"

Sometimes on Friday nights I would drive up and down Olive Boulevard looking for a cheap Chinese take-out place to get dinner. (Gas was much cheaper then--if it was $3.69/gallon I would have forfeited the journey.) My favorite meal to make was spaghetti with a side of corn, sometimes with a piece of Texas Toast if I was feeling really rich. It's an odd combination but it always hit the spot.

Even though it sounds like my life was quite depressing, I was happy. I had a job that I liked and a place I could call my own. I made absolutely no money but I was doing alright (probably because I didn't know anyone to do anything with!). It was a bit nerve-wracking, but also slightly exhilarating, to know that no one else in the world knew where I was at any given point. I look back at that year with fondness. Except for that day I got lost on a walk where all the streets had the word "fern" in them.

Chad is at the Cubs game tonight and Lucy is exhausted from her three-mile run earlier today (thank you, Janice and Nick...) so I whipped up my old dinner standby and am savoring the memories. Life has changed quite a lot in those last eight years, but what comforts me hasn't changed a bit. Except tonight I added a glass of red wine, just for fun.

Chew on This

I thought we were done with the chewing phase, but perhaps not. Lucy is enamored with anything that she can pull apart. Fortunately, this does not pertain to furniture...and hopefully it won't.

Today's project

Today while we were at work, Lucy pulled herself up to the kitchen desk and went to town. Here are the leftovers.

The first thing Chad said? "I never really liked those shoes anyway."

Starve a...what?

Chad is sick with a nasty cold. I had to plead with him to stay home today. He was going to go in anyway but once I suggested that he might get his whole office sick, he reconsidered. It's only the second sick day he's taken since I've known him.

For the life of me, I can never remember if it's "feed a fever, starve a cold" or vice versa. So right now he's just doped up on cold medicine. (Fortunately, the experts say that adage is just a bunch of hooey anyway.)

I'm sure that he and Lucy are having quite a fine day together. She's probably driving him nuts. But he has to get well soon because he gets his wisdom teeth taken out on Friday and I'm not sure if I have the patience to handle a sniffling, coughing, achy husband who can only eat milkshakes and Jello on top of a hyperactive puppy all weekend.

...You have some 'splaining to do...

Our friend April was certain that we needed to keep the name Lucy when we adopted our dog, solely for the fact that we, much like Ricky Ricardo, could often say, "Luucyyy, you have some explaining to dooo..."

So when I got home from work and Lucy had escaped from the kitchen and I saw this:

it was the first thing that came to my mind. Proof that she is a great dog, Lucy didn't get into anything she wasn't supposed to (even our wedding album--eeks!). But she absolutely obliterated her little baseball man, including chewing to shreds the little plastic squeaker from its inside.

Not my imagination

A study out today in the Economic Journal proves something that we eldest have known all along: parents are stricter with first-born kids. I'll take "tell me something I didn't know" for $1000, Alex.

My favorite paragraph of the article:

According to the authors' theory, parents have an incentive to punish their first-born child if that child engages in risky behaviors in order to discourage such behavior by younger siblings. This usually works with first-born children, who recognize that their parents are likely to be tougher on their transgressions and, as a result, are deterred in their rebellions. However, this deterrence motive for parents seems to wane as their younger children reach adolescence and parents lose the energy and motivation to follow through with their threatened punishments.

Well, I'll be. This also explains why my three (younger) siblings are all perfect--they were scared to death of what mom and dad would do if they screwed up!

Case of the Mondays

I started off my Monday by falling down our stairs at work. In front of three people, including one from HR. (Tripped on a pant leg while carrying three bags and a cup of coffee.) I'm perfectly fine save for a few bruised toes and did manage somehow not to get any coffee on myself. Still, that's just not a good way to start the week.

Great day to be alive

One of my favorite songs is Travis Tritt's "Great Day to be Alive." It's all about appreciating the small moments. My favorite line is, "Why can't every day be just this good?" That's how I feel today.

It's a gorgeous morning, in the low 80s and the sun is shining. (In fact, it's almost warm. I might need to rethink my outfit for Chad's football game this afternoon.) The lifelong bachelor who lives next door is getting married today to a wonderful woman. Our friend Nick passed his physical test this morning to be a firefighter. We slept with the fan in the window last night and didn't set an alarm this morning. The funeral home across the street is having a "kids helping kids day" with clowns, cotton candy, and lots of games in the parking lot. Lucy has a bit of spunk back from getting spayed yesterday.

Sometimes it seems like all of the planets align and things just couldn't be better. I wish I could bottle up today and take it out on those rare days when nothing seems to be going right. There's certainly plenty of goodness today to spread it around.

Just shoot me

About five minutes after we decided to adopt Lucy, Chad joked that he thought she was part Newfoundland. I was not pleased with his wisecrack. I agreed to steer clear of a tiny dog but I did not agree to a massive one.

Tonight, Chad took Lucy to softball practice, where a girl on the team suggested that Lucy is definitely part Lab, but also part Newfoundland. So, we looked into this a bit more.

Let me tell you about some of the most fabulous findings about Newfoundlands. I have underlined in this description what fits Lucy to a tee.

The Newfoundland is a stately, strong, and massive dog with a broad heavy head. Elegant, harmonious, agile and hardy. The wide muzzle is rather short and squared-off. The small triangular ears are pendant. The small eyes are dark brown; the conjunctiva should not show as it does in the St. Bernard. The nose is generally black except on bronze-colored dogs, which have brown noses. The feet are webbed for better swimming. Dewclaws should be removed on the hind legs. The tail hangs down. The water-repellent long outer coat is flat, oily and slightly wavy with a thick oily undercoat. The coat most often comes in black, (sometimes with a little white on the feet, end of the tail, or chest). These dogs have a sweet temperament. They are often referred to as the "gentle giant." They have deep barks, are easy to train and are known as guardians, watchdogs and good with children.

Oh, and female Newfoundlands range between 100-120 pounds (compared to 55-70 pounds for a lab). They are so strong that one Newfoundland was given a bronze star for saving a boatful of people in the early 1900s by pulling it to shore.

If we ever capsize, at least we'll be taken care of.

Mr. Photogenic

On a jam-packed Metro last night, a man got on wearing a polo shirt, khakis and boat shoes. Typical government worker. I noticed he still had his ID hanging around his neck, which was odd, though some wear them like a badge of honor. My first thought about this mid-50s gentleman was that he takes a terrible picture. (I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a photo like that around my neck!)

Then I checked out where he worked: the FAA. With all of the problems they've been having, I imagine he's got more to worry about than whether or not he smiles pretty for the camera.

A surprising introduction

Janice and Nick took Lucy to the Mall on Friday night for a run. Who did they run into while they were walking by Janice's office but the Secretary of Agriculture, Janice's boss. She did very well, just sat there and wagged her tail, hoping to be petted.

But when I found this out, I panicked, because when Lucy meets new people, she pees. (This is supposed to go away with time.) Fortunately, she didn't dribble when she met him. And it's a good thing because she was sitting on his foot.

Dirt in the desert

I'm in Phoenix this week for work and the weather has been warmer than usual. It's probably in the low 80s during the day and cooler (but by no means cold!) at night.

Today I was walking to the sessions, winding through the resort (probably lost again) while the landscapers were out watering the petunias. Being a farm girl at heart, I realized today how much I really love the smell of dirt. Literally, I had to stop and inhale. There is something inherently "springy" about taking something that has been caked over all winter and digging it up and giving it some water and some seeds, hoping that it grows stuff.

I also remembered how much I love the feel of warm sunshine on my pasty white legs, which haven't seen a UV ray for about nine months.

A love/hate relationship

I am in New York on a media tour, so Chad is all by himself with Lucy. I asked him how she was doing this morning and he said, "Well, she either loves me or hates me." Thinking that was a rather curious statement, I asked why.

We were out of dog food, he told me, and he didn't realize that until he went to feed her this morning. So he gave her two hot dogs.

Yes, hot dogs. He said it was the only meat he could find that was already thawed.

As he said: "When I put the dog food in the bowl by itself she just looked up at me like, "are you serious"?"

For anyone who is wondering, this is why we do not have children. Perhaps a dog is a good transition into kids...

Tick...tock...tick...

I woke up three times in the middle of the night last night thinking it was time to get up for the day. On the one hand, it was great to know that I could go back to sleep. On the other hand, I was just ready for the night to be over! Come ON already. And of course, when it was time to get up, I wanted nothing to do with it.

Reminds me of a story of my Uncle Dave, who used to set his alarm clock for 2 a.m. so that he could wake up and be excited that he still had five more hours to sleep.

Lucy finds a home

Here's just a smidge of what my once quiet house has turned in to. But, regardless, Lucy is keeping everything interesting around here!

We decided to move forward with the adoption tonight. It's a big commitment, but we think we're up for the challenge!

#10 with a Diet Coke

When I get stressed, I eat. To give you a sense of how worked up I am over this dog decision, I just got a Filet O' Fish meal from McDonald's.

Lucy's foster mom emailed and said that if we are 100% sure that we want to keep her, we don't need to bring her back tonight. It's great that she won't have to be shuffled around, but I was waiting until we took her back to make my decision!