Putting The Puppy Down For A Minute

So much to be thankful for this week. Spring means many things, like asparagus is in season!

from toptenz.net

My goddaughter's birthday and Easter, which means Easter CANDY. Err, I mean family and whatnot.

Protip: Those malted milk robin's eggs make awesome candy lip stick. 

I'm sure everyone else is covering the weather, but it's worth a mention.

Snowman Burning Day.
Yes, that's a thing.
Click the link to read more.

NO MORE FREAKING SNOW. 

Probably.

You never do know for sure.
But for a few months, anyway.

That's huge right now.

Thank you, Universe.

Last weekend I performed my first wedding and it was an awe-filled, really amazing but not like all the kids say EVERYTHING is amazing, I was amazed to be a part of it. I wrote more about it here so click that if you're curious, but it went off pretty smoothly with no injuries or super embarrassing moments. Phew!

This past week was Spring Break for kids from school, and by some miracle of all the gods old and new I also had a week off of work! HUZZAH! 

You might be thinking, 'what's the big deal? Don't you work from home?' and if so let me just try to demonstrate the difference between a normal week and a week off.

Imagine carrying a 40-pound puppy with you everywhere you go. 

from barkpost.com

Okay, maybe you don't have to carry it every minute but you do have to keep it with you every minute of every day because otherwise this puppy will chew stuff it's not supposed to, climb the walls, literally where there are shelves, take toys from your kids and/or randomly poke through things in your house that's it's not supposed to. 

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So you keep the puppy with you, and yeah, you're still in your house and all, but you have this puppy you didn't want and it's always jumping on you, licking you, demanding your attention, and just TRY to do normal household tasks, or gods forbid pay any attention to your children ohnoyouDIDN'T with a needy puppy around.

dogbeds-info.com

And it's a PUPPY, a puppy whose mom allows it to eat a giant bowl of Sugar-Frosted Crack Cocaine-O's for breakfast every day, and apparently doesn't get enough attention at home, so it's really hyper, running, jumping all over the place, trying to lick your face and be in your face constantly. LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK WHAT I DID NOW LOOK I CHANGED ONE THING LOOK AT ME LOOK YOU'RE NOT LOOKING ENOUGH! LOOOOOK! LOOK AT MEEEEE!

ceasarsway.com

You don't want to leave the room, make a phone call, go to the bathroom, or take your potty training 3 yr old to the bathroom, 517 times a day, because you don't know what you'll come back to find. 

And then, for one blessed week someone comes along and takes the puppy away. 

And you can breathe again, and hear your own thoughts. Well, sometimes. 

You still have your own 2 little ones, but now you can hear THEM and see them and HUH, PLAY WITH THEM! You keep looking around for that annoying puppy out of habit, but then you remember IT'S GONE FOR THIS ONE BLESSED WEEK! 

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You get the idea. So for this one week, I don't have to cook anything extra for one picky eater, or have additional activities for puppies who hate everything that isn't video games. Nor do I have to round up ALL the puppies into their various car seats, drive across town to the puppy's sister's school, unbuckle everyone, march them across the parking lot and into the school, only to have the after-school daycare lady tell me,
"She's not even here today."

Her mom didn't tell me that.

And then not get paid for that.

I don't have to hear how terrible my food is, 
or how they "do like chili, just not this chili" 
or hear how horrible our selection of television channels is, or how boring my house is, or work around THREE turns at everything, just my two. Yaaaaaay!

We were finally able to do Lola's 5 yr checkup, during which she asked the doctor if she was going to check her "Knee-flexes" which she did. All good. She got FOUR shots, because I'm not interested in bringing back any olde timey diseases and killing innocent children just because some misinformed celebrity doesn't want to be bothered with vaccinating their children. 

The process of getting 4 shots was momentarily devastating to my little sensitive drama queen, but she can finally walk again. 

She always could, but she she really drew out a limp for awhile. She was able to RUN today, to out-run her sister to push the elevator button at the library, so it would seem she's fine. Plus bonus, she won't die a horrible painful death from measles. Phew. 

We went to the zoo, colored Easter eggs, had play dates with Lola's school chums and basically did WHATEVER WE WANTED. Which wasn't much, but we had a great week together and for that I'm eternally thankful. If you ever want to be truly thankful for each precious moment with your kids, watch someone else's for awhile and I guarantee, every moment alone with your own is a total, precious gift. I am thankful for the opportunity to work at home with my own, and experience what that is like. Daycare is expensive because it's worth it :) it's hard work if you want the kids happy and healthy. Which I do.

These rambling babbles were part of a great community of thankful, The Ten Things of Thankful.