All Things Puppy

Yes, I know - puppy this, puppy that - but as of late, my entire life has revolved around this pup. Eating, crating, sleeping, chewing, peeing, pooping, licking, playing, kissing - it's been all about the pup.

Approximately 6 years ago, when I was still living with a roommate and not allowed to have a pet of my own, my sister bought me a lawn ornament cat. I used to keep it in a corner on the landing of my old apartment, and I always considered her my very first kitty. When we moved to the new house, I put her in the living room by the fireplace. We discovered Simon sleeping next to her on more than one occasion, so we decided to transfer her into his crate. We haven't figured it out if he thinks of her as his girlfriend, or his baby:



What we have figured out is that he loves her. And that she helps him sleep through the night.



Thank God for inanimate lawn ornaments!

Who Is Your Daddy?

I'm loving being a new mother.

My heart melts every time Simon looks up at me with his little brown eyes and his baby bear face.

"Why did the kitty smack me?" He asks

Be nice to the kitty, I reply. Simon is very smart. In just a few days he has learned that nipping at the kitty's tail and legs probably isn't the best approach. Instead, he now treads slowly and gives a big LAP, which practically knocks kitty over.

We did purchase Simon from a breeder which has shocked everyone that knows me. I am a huge advocate for animal adoption, and have volunteered at an animal shelter for 3 years. I do feel extremely guilty for purchasing an animal considering so many are in need of good homes, but knowing how wonderful Simon's mother is, and how amazing this breed is, I couldn't pass him up. I came across his mother because she is a certified therapy dog, and "works" at one of my accounts. Every time I would visit this account, I would be greeted by Ella:



I usually pop into this account once a month. "How is it going? Do you need any order forms? How is service? Ummmm....where is Ella?"

Last fall Ella's mom told me that she had bred Ella and a litter of puppies were on the way for December. My heart immediately pulled. I had been discussing Ella with Brian since I met her, and he would say, "you're crazy - those dogs are huge." Despite her size, Ella had such a light, non-invasive presence. When I learned about the puppies, I begged Brian - "let's just meet them."

So we did. And fell in love with these little bundles of snuggle love. And that's how we came to get Simon. I mean really - would you have been able to pass up this face:



I didn't think so. He has already reached about 20lbs and he is only 2 months old. Eventually, he'll grow to about 150-160lbs and will resemble his Daddy - Mark:



Yup, Simon is a Newfoundland, and we are so in love!

Puppy Madness

Boy was everyone right - puppies are a ton of work.

We are in the process of house/crate training, and although it's taking it's toll on us, Simon is doing very well. He is already sleeping through the night, and not having accidents in his crate. He is however still having accidents in the kitchen. Thank God for hardwood flooring!!!

We're learning his personality and his habits: eat, potty, play, pass out. For some strange reason he likes to pass out in his water bowl. It's very strange.

Poor Brian has been sleeping on the floor outside the crate, and I've been cuddling with the kitties in the bed to make sure they don't feel neglected by the new addition.

My female kitty - not a happy camper.

Off to make coffee. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post this week due to lack of sleep......

Oh, and Simon is the first puppy on the left in the pic I posted last week. Any guesses on the breed????

New Addition

Meet Simon, and his siblings.....



Simon comes home with us on Saturday afternoon.

Hot Mess

I'm finally coming to terms with the stress that is my wardrobe.

One third of my wardrobe consists of clothes that will fit if I lose a range of 5-10 lbs. Clothes that were expensive. Clothes that were tailored. Clothes that are beautiful and haven't graced my body in about a year. I miss them terribly....

One third consists of clothes that I don't like, that I would never wear, that I haven't worn either in a long time or EVER because...well, because I just don't like them.

The last third consists of everything else that I am wearing. I hate this third because I wear the same articles of clothing over and over again and they're becoming faded, or worn looking and I'm in serious need of some new threads.

I've been shuffling through the last few pair of pants that actually fit. 4. Pants. That's it. And out of the 4, none are solid black. I do not own one solid pair of black pants.

I should be banished to wardrobe hell.

To make things even worse, I have a huge (and I mean HUGE) sales meeting tomorrow where I may or may not win an award for 2009. I had a great outfit planned - black pinstriped pants, with a red shirt and black & white suit coat. Simple, understated, professional. This just happens to be the one simple, understated, professional outfit I have left that I have been wearing to ALL of my meetings. Thank heavens these meetings consist of different groups of people or my colleagues would know that I indeed wear the same thing over and over again.

Disaster struck this evening at about 8 pm when I discovered that the hem had completely unraveled, and since it's a cuff hem, I can't even begin to fix them. I do have other pants, but they don't go with the suit coat, and my other suit coats don't go either. Now I'm down to 3 pair of pants. One pair of black with pink pinstripes, a pair of brown, and a pair of blue. A white collared shirt would suffice with any of these choices, HOWEVER, I'm going to be so nervous about the damn award tomorrow that I will most likely sweat right through it. Hence why the suit coat comes in handy; I know I'm sweating like a priest in a whore house but you don't.

So instead of attempting to put together another outfit, I decided to watch Idol, and then blog. I'll deal with my outfit dilemma at 5 am tomorrow morning. Let's just pray I come up with something that matches, and something I won't sweat through.

And yes, I do wear deodorant. I just get real sweaty when I'm nervous.

What?