Hammered

I also call it Sunday sickness.  You might know the drill... we push, push, push ourselves through the week, don't get a break on Saturday, we hit the wall right about halfway through Primary and come home to crash.  Some weeks are worse than others, but today was rough.  This week I took care of a brand new puppy, went back to school for the first time in 14 years, maintained a pretty rigorous workout schedule and spoke in sacrament meeting.  Saturday was jammed packed with the baptism of a dear friend's 8 year old son, 2 football games, and a million other things that filled the day.  I probably could have managed it all if we hadn't thrown the puppy into the mix.  In some respects, it's worse than  having a new baby.  You can't let them out of your sight for a minute because they will chew up your favorite socks or piddle in the corner.  But in other respects it's better than having a baby.  You can lock them in their crate and go to the gym or the grocery store without CPS getting called on you.

I started working on my talk last Sunday, but then never had time to revisit it all week until last night at about 9 p.m.  Thank goodness for my sweet visiting teacher (and friend), Karen.  She came over and shared a story with me about the YW general President this week and it inspired me to do some research on her, which I was able to use in my talk.  Everyone said it was good, and I was quite frankly too tired to argue, I'm just glad that monkey is off my back!

I really like both of my classes that I'm taking this semester.  The teachers are great and I got lucky enough to sit by cool ladies for both classes, so I've already made friends.  There's a lot of mom's in my classes, which I didn't expect in the middle of the day.  It was a pleasant surprise.  I don't think the homework load will be heavy for either class, so I think once I get another week or two under my belt, my life will go much smoother.  The teachers are wonderful and I've already learned some new tricks I didn't know before.  You'd think being in a Photography class, I'd already have a shooting assignment, but I didn't, and when I just looked through the pictures on my camera that I've taken since last weekend, they ALL have the dog in them.  I'd upload some more puppy eye candy for you to include in this post, but I'm tired and too lazy to do it right now.

Speaking of the puppy... it's a good thing he's adorable.  He has quite the spunky personality.  He likes to explore everything with his mouth, which is the politically correct way of saying that he's a biter.  He also likes to pee on my floor.  Thank heavens I don't have carpet in the downstairs!  If he is in his crate he can hold it for hours (7 hours at night, even), but if he's loose in the house, it's not uncommon for him to pee every 30 minutes.  It's quite maddening, to say the least.  Those are really the only 2 negative things we've discovered about him.  And "according to Cesar"... as my mom would say... both of those issues can be corrected with good training.  I hope I am up to the task.  Some days I feel like I am, some days I don't!

In other news, Taylor went on his very first "unchaperoned" camping trip this weekend, with his friends, Kevin and Geoffrey.  It was a success.  I was nervous to let him go, but he's never given me a reason NOT to trust him.  He's so responsible for his age, and Kevin and Geoffrey are both college Freshman.  They were safe, and they did have fun.  I hope he gets to go with them again before Geoffrey leaves on his mission.

Ian and Brayden both had football games this week and they both lost.  Last season, they were on winning teams, but this year has been harder.  The age grouping changed, and Brayden's team is a group of mostly 2nd graders (and some 1st) playing against huge 3rd graders.  Ian's team is playing against some 7th graders who look like Jolly Green Giants.  Saturday Ian quarterbacked and he didn't like it.  Too much pressure.  He started crying on the way home because he blamed himself for his team's loss.  It wasn't his fault.  It took a long hot shower, some madden on the xbox and McD's to cheer him up.

The football dreariness was only compounded tonight when the Niners lost their play-off game in OT.  It was heartbreaking.  I feel bad because the boys were really excited to plan a big Super Bowl party.  Not that I would have let them host a huge party, but they liked to fantasize about it.  I think we'll keep it low key now... but who to cheer for?  Not in love with the Pats or the Giants.  We can be excited for the commercials, I guess!

Alpha Dog

As I sit here, I'm listening to a book on my iPod and trying to drown out the puppy wailing coming from the laundry room.  We are in the throws of crate training and potty training.  But look at how cute he is:

His name is Max.  He is a Cockapoo.  Mommy was a Cocker Spaniel, Daddy was a Toy Poodle.  Now I am Mommy, which sometimes he likes and sometimes he doesn't.  He is smaller than he looks... his hair is growing straight out in an afro-like manner.  He will grow to be somewhere between 15-20 pounds when he is full grown.  He is cute, playful and often a bit too aggressive.  Which is why he and I are in a constant state of battle for Alpha Dog status.  Sometimes he is meek and cuddly, other times, he's a fiery ball of you-know-what.

**(If I tend to write my sentences in this post with an old fashioned British style of speaking, it's because of the book I am currently listening to, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  I LOVE listening to books read by British people.  LOVE their accents!)**

Ah, sweet silence coming from the laundry room.... maybe he fell asleep!

Max came from a breeder in Missouri, and the pick up from the airport, was actually pretty easy and went smoothly.  I am glad I called ahead, because I assumed I would pick him up in the baggage claim area.  When I got online a couple hours before his flight was due to land, the airline's website didn't say which terminal the plane would land at.  I did some Googling and found the number for the office that would be able to answer my question.  Turns out that live animals are delivered to a cargo office off-site from the terminals at the airport.  Bad news... it was hard to find... Good news... I could park for free right outside the front door!

When she brought him out from the back, he was bouncing around inside his crate happily and excitedly.  I expected him to be cowering, whimpering, and maybe even vomiting!  So that definitely was a pleasant surprise.  I tried so hard to get some cute pictures of him running around in my back yard, but he wouldn't let me get more than 2 feet away from him.  This is probably the best photo I was able to get of him.  He is adorable to be sure, but we definitely have our work cut out for us in training him.  I'm excited for my parent's dog, Charlie, to come and play the "big brother mentor" for a couple weeks.  Hopefully Max will develop some better manners while Charlie is here!