Monday Musings

Today my newest nephew will be born. My sister-in-law has been in labor for approximately forever and any minute now Baby Eklund will be making his debut into the world.

Today our dog officially moved out. Rhonda, our bookkeeper, came to pick her up and whisked her away to happiness. And psychological training (see previous post).

Today I have poison oak all over my face and it is slowly swelling my left eye shut. Incidentally, the oil on mango skin (which I am allergic to) is the same kind of oil on poison oak. Unfortunately my husband didn't know this before he came home covered in poison oak oil and contaminated our house.

Today I have treated myself to an afternoon latte with Trader Joe's Salted Caramel Sauce mixed in. Y.U.M.

Today it is January 24th and it is approximately 66 degrees and all of my windows are open, letting in fresh air. Aaaahhhhmazing.

Happy Monday!

On her way out....

Get this: a dog psychologist has offered to take Lucy on as a personal project, fix her, and then give her back or re-home her. Ummm, did I just say dog psychologist? Do you have to go to school for that or is it just a title you can give yourself if you feel like it? Anyway, needless to say, I have absolutely no faith that our dog can be fixed so, this "psychologist" can go ahead and do what she's gonna do and then re-home Lucy.

Emma is a bit upset about all of this. Afterall, she is the kid who once upon a time insisted that Lucy was her best friend. But we've been explaining that Lucy will be happier with a family that actually plays with her, and doesn't mind having her at their heels all. the. time., and doesn't have to tie her up when they leave for the day because she can't handle being alone.

And as much as I hate disappointing my kids, I'm pretty certain they'll get over it really quickly. I mean, since we've announced that Lucy will be leaving soon, they have made no effort to give her special attention or volunteered to feed her or spent any extra time with her. Nope, they've gone on as usual; locking her inside when they're out playing because she always ruins their games and knocks them over.

As for me, I'm gonna get over it quickly too. Yep, no more hair everywhere, and having to wash cat poop out of her fur, and having to restrain her from jumping excitedly on every single person who walks through our doors, and cleaning poop out of our carpet because there was a thunderstorm and she panicked, and trying to get her to stop whining and freaking out whenever anyone is elevated above the ground (ie, on a chair, on a ladder, on a slide). Nope, there are only are a few things I will definitely miss about her: she keeps cats out of the yard, and she mops the floor (and highchair) clean after every meal. I guess I'll have to learn how to use a pellet gun and teach the kids how to sweep ;)

Where have we been?

The hard drive on my laptop is full so I can't upload any photos until I go through the last 3 years worth of pics and cull the ones that we don't need. This process is tedious and depressing because when I'm forcing myself to go through the albums, there's no denying that my kids are growing up. Fast. And even though I may not actually print each picture, there are memories attached to them that I don't really want to delete. Sniff, sniff.

I hear that if my husband would only set up a network, I could store the photos on his hard drive and then share them on my computer. But alas, until then I'll have to post without pics. And who wants to just read a post with no pics? Boooooring.

But, just to make sure you'll come back again when I actually get around to posting, here's some glimpses into what we've been doing around here. Photos and stories coming soon. I hope.:

1. My husband won the dessert portion of my family's Christmas Eve cooking and baking competition.

2. Landon started walking. What is it about watching babies take their first steps that reminds me of MJ's "Thriller" video?!

3. Lucy (our dog) spent the week between Christmas and New Year with Dylan's employee Grant. The kids didn't miss her one bit. It took several days before they even asked where she was. Dylan and I saw this as confirmation that we can indeed get rid of her without scarring our children for life. Anyone want her?