Life Beyond the Puppies

Last Friday we were all eating lunch when I noticed some little red spots on the floor. The more I looked the more little spots I noticed. Sandi and Kadiy had been hanging out in the kitchen area for a while so I figured it must be one of them. Actually from how little the spots were I was convinved it was from Sandi. I thought maybe she was having problems nursing the puppies or something. So, we checked her over thoroughly and found no blood. A few minutes later Zeke was playing on the floor with Kadiy and noticed the blood on her foot. She had split a nail all the way to the quick exposing the vein in her nail the whole way. She did not actually damage the vein which is why there was so little blood. Thanks goodness. Anyway, we had to take her to the vet and have the nail removed the rest of the way. They wrapped up her foot in some gauze and stretch wrap and told me to keep it wrapped. Then they gave me this plastic bag and told me to tape it around her foot if she goes out and the ground is wet. HMMMM. It hasn't been dry around here in weeks. So, I looked at this plastic bag and at her. They are crazy if they think my Mastiff is going to keep a plastic bag on her foot while she goes outside to play and do her business. By the time we got home she had chewed off the bandaging. Well, we have made it through the week and it seems to be healing nicely with no bandages or plastic bags. We do clean it every night and put neosporine on it, and she has been on anti-biotics to prevent infection.

I love the snow, and the boys love the snow. They have had many chances to get out and use their new sleds/snowboards this winter. On that note, I am ready for it to stop being wet out. Unfortunately every time it snows it seems to be quickly followed by a warm spell that melts everything into a muddy yuc. I think I may have said this before, but I am just tired of the mud and wet. The boys told me today that they were tired of the mud too. I think the biggest problem is that the wet makes it hard to stay out and play long because once you get wet it just seems so much colder.

West Virginia. Vehicle Inspections. HMMM. I guess I really should have one done. LOL. I was supposed to have one done within ten days of registration(DEC 20). I registered 3 vehicles: my mustang (not currently here so I can't have it inspected), my motorcycle (Chris is gone and I really can't ride one of those right now), and the Lincoln. Ok so I should have stickers for the Lincoln already. Part of it is laziness, and part of it is rebellion. Right now most drivers have a red sticker, and since Chris base decal is red a quick glance makes it seem like I have an inspection sticker. Why exactly do I have to prove one day of the year that my horn and all my lights work? Oh yeah, and pay for it out of my pocket. I just recently received a book in the mail and after skimming through it I feel even more irritated about this vehicle inspection. The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine. One of his 17 Rights is: The Law Ought To Impose No Other Penalties But Such As Are ABSOLUTELY and EVIDENTLY NECESSARY. Is it really necessary for me to have my vehicle inspected every year?

Caden loves hats. He has three hats that he wears always. For the past 4 days he has worn the same hat every day all day. It is the hat he got from Great Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas. It is a dog hat with little floppy dog ears on it. He loves that hat. Unfortunately we had a little accident yesterday. One of the little dogs snagged the dog hat and used it as a chew toy. Caden was so upset when he found it he spoke passionate babble about it for several minutes. I finally convinced him to leave the hat in mommy's room and I would fix it. I am not quite sure yet exactly how I am going to fix it. So, today he went to his other favorite -- his train engineer hat that he got from Grandma. What can I say, butthe kid loves hats.

Since the puppies arrived I have really not accomplished anything new around the house. There is still a lot to do. Russell and I still have not even assembled the cradle. The biggest thing that bothers me is the office. It still has packed boxes in it. It is cluttered and not exactly a vision of cleanliness. It drives me nuts to be in the office because the whole time I am in there I am distracted by what needs to be done in there. I am really working hard at accepting the fact that everything does not need to be in its spot all the time. I think I am getting better at accepting different levels of tidy. Some of it is forced on me because it is just not physically possible for me to keep it the way I would like.

Something new every day. When Chris is gone that is exactly what happens around here. Something new has to be dealt with daily. Puppies are born, Dogs are injured, Caden's bed gets broken, The washing machine stops functioning properly, The heater is acting funny, The car needs an inspection, brake job etc. . .Yes all of this is going on. Sometimes I think it isn't that bad, because I really do learn to do a lot of things out of absolute necessity. Of course most of the time I wonder why all the annoying things can't just happen when Chris is around to take care of it. LOL