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.