A Boy and His Dog

My son and our dog have always had a special bond. She was an almost all black, malnourished puppy when we got her. She came with a different name, but we didn't feel it suited her, so we gathered as a family to change her name.

We went through a list of names ranging from typical puppy names to names of Russian leaders. I wanted to name her Voodoo, but I got outvoted. We finally settled on Midnight. Well, I settled for Midnight. Everyone else liked that name.

As I said, she was a malnourished puppy. She was about 3 months old and weighed about 8 pounds. When we took her to our vet, we were told that it was a good thing we got here when we did because there was a really good chance she wouldn't have made it. Happily, she took to good food very well. Verrrrrry well.

She was a puppy. A Lab puppy. Lab puppies looooooooooove to chew. They love to chew with their sharp little puppy teeth. I bought her a wide variety of puppy kongs and chew toys. I froze some with treats inside, I didn't freeze some with treats inside, and some were empty. We had chew toys inside the house and outside in the yard. She had exotic taste though, and preferred other things.

What other things?

An MP3 player, assorted Polly Pocket dolls, clothes, and accessories, Barbie accessories, a Chelsea doll, the remote control for our television, any paper except money (thankfully), pencils, crayons, and one time I caught her chewing a rock. She didn't chew shoes, though, and I was happy about that.

Through the years, she's eaten many foods that have dropped to the floor. We've watched with amusement when something would fall to the floor, Midnight would come running, discover it was celery (or lettuce, or tomatoes, or most vegetables), and look up as if to say, “Really, it's not a steak”. We've been amazed at what she will eat (fish and cereal) and drink. She will lap up my husband's spilled coffee, but not mine. He takes sugar in his, but I don't.

She has quite the sweet tooth.

One time, at one of our Sundays at the pool, a friend had his drink sitting on the deck. It was a fruity drink, pineapple juice, I think, and when he picked it up to take a sip, half was gone. Midnight liked it. We learned to keep our sweet drinks on a table.

We also discovered she was a digger. I used to have plants around my pool, and one that I was very proud of was a hydrangea. I've always loved them, and they wouldn't grow for me. I had finally gotten one to stay alive and actually thrive! Midnight liked it a lot, too, or she really hated it. Either way, she dug up that hydrangea and by digging it up, she destroyed it. That was the summer we counted 22 holes in our yard.

I started off by telling you about the bond between Midnight and my son, though, and there's a reason. My son's bus drops him off in front of the house at about 3:00 each day. Around 2:55, she will start looking out the window.

When she finally hears the bus coming down the street, she goes crazy! I was finally able to capture some of it on film yesterday.

I'd love to see your crazy pet videos and photos!! 

Adjusting. Again.

Last year at this time we had just finished moving bedrooms around, and we were getting ready to paint the downstairs. This year, I have no lofty redecorating plans. I'd like to get the computer room painted, and perhaps make it a dual purpose room; craft room/computer room.

When we moved rooms around last year, I lost my downstairs craft room because our bedroom isn't big enough for dressers and a bed. My craft room got moved to upstairs, but it is not terribly easy or convenient for me. I'm taking my time deciding, though, because the room is really small. If I don't plan it just right, it won't work at all.

Speaking of crafts, even though I wasn't posting on my blog, that doesn't mean my creativity was languishing completely. A couple of friends and I started getting together (mostly) weekly to craft. No, we didn't make plastic spoon Christmas trees, but we did scour Pinterest for other ideas. I made a cute garland for the divider between my living room and dining room, a couple of ornament wreaths (one was a Festivus gift), a picture frame wreath, a snowman hat, a hurricane centerpiece, a Christmas valance for my kitchen window, and a garland for my kitchen window.

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed taking a collection of items and fashioning them into something original. Well, to be fair, original in the sense that I made it, but inspired by someone or something else.

I also bought and painted ornaments for my kids. Every year since my kids were born, I've bought them ornaments for Christmas. This way, when they are on their own, they will have a good start for their own trees. Some years, I only buy one, some years, multiples. I figure by the time my kids are really on their own, they should each have about 40 or 50 ornaments.

It's peculiar; our craft nights usually started around 7:00, and I found that if I was using a new technique, I had a really hard time making that craft. If it was a technique that I've done before, I could do it without a hitch. A good example was the ornament wreath. I basically glued plastic ornaments to a Styrofoam form. I finished it, but I didn't really like it. As fate would have it, the original fell to its death, so I ended up making a new one. I did it in the daytime, and my head was much clearer about my method. Compare that to the ease of making the picture frame wreath which was basically gluing floral sprays onto the wreath; something I'd done many times before.

It was even more obvious when we decided to make a St. Patrick's Day wreath. I'm not a fan of the deco mesh wreaths, or I wasn't. I liked this particular one, though. I took my wreath apart twice before finally just leaving it alone the third time. I finished it, but it's not exactly how I wanted it to look. My head and hands just couldn't seem to play nicely together. My head was telling my hands what to do, but my hands just did their own thing.

Still, I look ahead, and I'm looking forward to trying new things. We're starting to gather ideas for Easter decorations. I normally don't decorate for Easter, but I've got some ideas I want to try. Maybe I won't try new techniques at night, though.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

I was so excited to start tap class way back when! After a couple of classes, it was painfully obvious that I am no longer in control of my body. Sure, I could have continued, but all it did was remind me that...that what? That I have MS? That my legs weren't obeying my commands? That my balance is really kerflooey? Yes, all of that. All of that and more.

I know the instructor wouldn't have minded if I stayed in the class because it wasn't a performing class, but all the class did was make me feel bad. I felt bad about not being able to do most of the turns, I felt bad about needing the barre to do side shuffles, and I felt bad that I couldn't do an Irish. In short, I had to face the limitations MS has given me.

I didn't like it.

Most of the time, I can dismiss most of my symptoms. I have shortcuts and cheats galore. When it came to learning a new physical skill, my body wasn't having it. A shuffle is supposed to have 2 sounds when you do it properly. I could barely make my foot produce one sound.

So, moving on. Except I couldn't move on. I wasn't exactly in a depression, but some of Pollyanna hibernated for a while. I was filled with heaps of self-doubt that oozed into many parts of my life. That's one of the reasons I haven't been writing. I couldn't defeat the “Who Cares” dragon.

Well, who cares?

I do. I care.

I like writing, even if I'm the only reader I have.

So is Pollyanna back?

Mostly, she is.

Like Chicago said, feeling stronger every day. Quitting smoking did a LOT to make me feel empowered. I'm almost at a month now, and I really don't feel horrible cravings. Every once in a while, I think about smoking, but not in the context of wanting a cigarette. It's a great, yet curious feeling.