Really, it's there a better sight to come home to?

Hungry, hungry hippos, er, umm, something funnier. I just don't have it today.

Wolfey is about the most impatient animal you've ever met.  When he needs outside he follows me around and whines until I open the door.  When he decides it's time to come inside, he stands at the back door and barks (not constantly, just every couple of seconds like he's rushing you along) until someone lets him in.  When he's hungry he grumbles (he seriously sounds like a grumpy old man) the whole time I'm making his food.  Man frequently tells Wolfey what a jerk he is being when he does these things and while I don't like the name calling, it's pretty much true, so I let it go.  Since we started giving Brady wet food he's started doing the same thing, though he meows instead of grumbles (by the way, we found THE BEST cat food).  Brady's food just has to be dumped into a bowl, but since it's refrigerated we have to let it warm up a bit, so even though his is the first I get out at feeding times, he is the last to be fed and he does NOT like having to wait!

As I was preparing the animals' food they both started in.  Man told Wolfey what a jerk he was being and I told Brady what a pain he was being and all the while Lolly was sitting patiently and the following ensued:

Man: "Good thing at least one of them is patient!"

Me: "There's no need for her to get worked up, she knows she'll eventually get some food."

Man: "Who would have guessed that out of the three, Lolly would ever be the good one?"

Me: "I meant she knows if we don't feed her she'll just go counter surfing!"

You'd think 3 weeks would be enough time to recover from having the girls for 3 weeks.

It's not.

And in two short days we'll have them again.  I miss them like crazy and can't wait to have their smiling faces and laughing voices filling the house again, but I also can't believe how these last three weeks flew by so quickly.  I'm still not back to myself after the weeks of our little one waking me in the middle of the night to help her potty, fighting with our oldest over makeup, clothes (did I ever mention that she has the immodesty of a toddler.  10-year-old body hanging out all over the place is NOT okay with me!) and anything else she could challenge me on and Wolfey and our middle child breaking my heart but I'm getting there.  I have high hopes that I will be back to blogging daily here shortly, but in the mean time I'm taking my New You to help me sleep better and my greens for energy and just plugging away!

Wolfey just choose or middle child over me. And now my heart is broken.

Many animals + hot summer = lots of water

We tried switching over to the big water dispenser but after two days Wolfey is still scared of it so I finally put his water dish back down. Goofy dog gets all freaked out if I even put my hand in the dispenser water while he's taking a drink.

Damn cat

The dogs sleep gated in with us so Brady can have free reign of the house during the night, since the dogs rule during the day.  Every morning when he hears Man and I stirring, Brady comes to the gate at our bedroom door and starts meowing.  When I get up to let the dogs out, Brady usually stays put next to the door and the dogs go by without encounter but some mornings he stands crosswise in the hall so we cannot pass, meowing like he's distressed that the dogs are coming toward him.  It's like he can't figure out that the dogs couldn't care less if he's there or not, as long as they can get to the back door to go out to potty.  I can't decide if he thinks he's so special that he just can't wrap his head around the fact that the dogs don't care or if he is literally scared stiff!

Our little family

They're all grumpy so they don't want to hang out together but they're such a pack they just can't bear to be too far apart!

The butt of every joke

Man: "Your damn dog is licking himself again."

Me: "He's anxious!  That's how he expresses himself."

Man: "He's like an alcoholic, but with licking his crotch."

Me: "Is there such a thing as crotch lickers anonymous?"

I'm pretty sure the animals intentionally wait until we've run the vacuum to drop these nice hair balls.

Puppy risotto

Wolfey still has some icky tummy going on so its rice with just enough meat to get him to eat it for my poor pup tonight. I sure hope he feels better in the morning!

Damn dogs

And this morning Man woke me up around 5am to tell me one of the dogs had just thrown up. I put them outside (and if course couldn't put them on the tie out since Man mowed yesterday and forgot to hook it back up) and got to cleaning. Since I had to wait for the dogs to come back anyway I changed over the laundry. The dogs finally came back but I couldn't get back to sleep. Man says they're conspiring against me but I think they're just trying to help new use my time in a more productive way. It could be the lack of sleep talking.

Apparently it's all Man's fault.

Yesterday Man called to tell me he received confirmation that he'll be starting his new job on Monday; we decided to go out to our favorite local restaurant to celebrate.  We were both so excited that when I arrived home from work we both changed and immediately walked back out the door.  When we got home, we opened the front door to let the dogs out and took them for a walk without even going in the house.  On our walk, we stopped by the post office to get our mail and my It Works! kit was there, so we went straight home for me to dig in to my goodies.  Once again, I was so excited I didn't pay any attention to anything else, but spent a while going through things while Man fed the dogs their dinner, then we each showered and headed to bed.  Several times during the night Wolfey woke us up whining.  This is really out of character for him, but I was so exhausted I just yelled at him to go back to bed.  Finally, around 4am I woke up and took him outside and things settled down for a while, but he was back at it at 6:00.  When I finally got up around 7:30 (I overslept from having my sleep interrupted so many times), I found 2 poopy accidents in the bathroom.  Poor baby was trying to tell me he had icky tummy but I was too wrapped up in my own stuff to understand what he needed.  I woke Man to help me get ready for work and of course he was grumpy that Wolfey had pottied in the house, but I reminded him that Wolfey tried to let us know but he couldn't let himself out to go.  Thankfully Man got up and helped and he reports that Wolfey has been better all day, but I felt so horribly guilty.  It really makes you think twice when a seemingly uneventful decision puts into motion so many other events.  If Man hadn't called to tell me about his job I wouldn't have suggested we celebrate.  If we hadn't gone to celebrate, I would have unpacked my bag as soon as I got home from work.  If I had unpacked my bag, the dogs wouldn't have gotten my lunch leftovers (including a pretty good sized brownie). If the dogs hadn't gotten my brownie Wolfey wouldn't have ended up sick.  The secondary chain of events is if  we hadn't gone for the walk we wouldn't have gotten my It Works! stuff.  If we hadn't gotten that package I would have paid more attention when we got home and seen the brownie packaging in the living room.  If I'd seen the packaging I would have anticipated some icky tummies.  If I had known to be on the lookout I would have gotten up the first time Wolfey woke me and not only would everyone have gotten a better night's sleep, but I wouldn't have had such a mess to clean up this morning.  I guess the moral of the story is, never celebrate Man's accomplishments.  I'm so glad to have figured that out.  He's going to be so happy!  Maybe we should celebrate...

Reality check

I was really having one of those days this morning.  I overslept, which sent everything tumbling all wonky.  I took a shower and realized was out of my favorite conditioner so I used the other stuff and now my hair is all heavy and weighed down.  I tripped over Wolfey getting ready for work and he looked at me like I'd beaten him, which was just about enough to send me to tears (especially since I'm PMSing).  BBS called and as much as I wanted to talk to her I had to rush her off the phone since I was running late.  I packed my lunch for work and couldn't find anything I needed, so I made a huge mess of the kitchen I just cleaned last night.  Finally, when I realized I was 15 minutes late leaving for work and didn't even have my shoes on yet, I woke Man out of his hibernation (and boy, can he be a bear!) to clean up after me.  I sped as much as I could but was still more than 10 minutes late to work.  Thankfully I always build in a cushion so I can get the store ready without having to rush, so I wasn't late opening my store, but I was definitely running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  It was really looking like it was going to be one of those awful days where absolutely nothing goes right.

And then I got my first customer.  He was a tall, thin, elderly gentleman who needed some help finding something that was right in front of him.  I put on my usual "friendly neighborhood pool supply lady" smile and went about my job, helping him find everything he needed and requesting that he pull up to the curb so I could load the heavy items in his car and he headed out the door.  My next customer, a young woman with a little boy, came in and was very friendly but pretty self sufficient so I told her to let me know if she needed anything but that I was going to stay near the front of the store so that I could see when the elderly gentleman pulled up.  I waited.  And waited.  And waited a little longer.  Finally I started scanning the parking lot to look for him, hoping he hadn't left without his purchases; I saw him standing in the middle of the parking lot with a completely bewildered look on his face.  I told the woman who was in the store what was going on and she offered to go out and help the man, but I was worried that if he was completely confused, having a stranger approach him might scare him, so she then offered to stay in the store while I helped the man.  We finally found his car (it was on the complete opposite side of the parking lot from where he thought it was), got him all loaded up and on his way and I returned to my store to ring out the lady who was watching the store for me.  The first thing she said when I walked in the door was, "I hope he's okay.  If he's that confused, I wonder if he's safe to drive."  Talk about restoring your faith in humanity!

I overslept, but it was because I have a comfortable, safe place in which to lay my head.  I didn't have the conditioner I like, but I had a hot shower and enough resources to have alternative conditioner on hand.  I tripped over my dog, but it's because he wants to be near me.  I rushed BBS off the phone, but she loves me enough to call me even at a time when she knows she may be rushed.  I had troubles packing my lunch, but I have food to pack.  Man was a little grumpy with me about being woken up, but he loves me enough to do it anyway.  I was late to work, but I have a job and enough job security to know that being late one time isn't going to get me fired.  It was such an awesome realization when it occurred to me that this woman had put her errands on hold, volunteered to help a man she'd never spoken to and taken complete responsibility for a store about which she knew nothing and her only concern was for the health and safety for a man she would never meet, and it really put my entire day into perspective.  I am truly thankful that I not only have these wonderful things, but to have these awesome experiences that help me appreciate how lucky I really am.

I'm starting to think Lolly likes her bath.  Not in the sense that she is pleasant during bath time, but in the sense that she purposely does things that result in me having to give her a bath.  And when I say "does things"  I mean "rolls in poop".  Disgusting.  I hope this is just a phase because I'm getting really tired of smelling poo when I lean down to wipe her feet when she comes in and giving her baths every other day!

UPDATE:  I actually wrote this about a week ago but there was just too much going on and I didn't get around to posting it.  Today I was going to post about our zoo trip yesterday but I can't get the pictures to load, so I'm resorting to an old post.  Okay, all that was to say that we have started tieing Lolly in the back yard when she goes outside and she has now gone nearly a week without a bath.  It also keeps Wolfey from wondering as far since he doesn't like to get too far from Lolly.  This is working nicely and also forcing Man and I to walk daily so Lolly can get her exercise.  Win, win, win!

Sick puppies

Man and I have been crazy busy lately. We ran out of our premade dog food and have been scrounging for whatever we can give them. Admittedly, there have been a couple times lately when that has meant dry food or just a piece of chicken thrown out the back door so they can gnaw on it at their leisure. Unfortunately, this means they haven't been getting their supplements at every meal. I didn't really think about it until Man told me he arrived home to a big Lolly puddle today, but I wonder if that's why Wolfe has been acting out, too. Lolly's illness is kidney disease. Pretty straight forward. If she doesn't get her meds, her kidneys start to shut down, she doesn't process things right and she has accidents. Wolfey's illness, on the other hand, is much more complicated and tends to manifest as behavioral issues. This could explain why he's been licking himself more, why he's regressing in his behavior toward the cat and why he snapped at Man yesterday. It certainly doesn't justify that behavior, but it sure would explain a lot!

Man v. dog

Poor Man is just having problem after problem with the dogs.  First Lolly rolled in something so stinky it about made Man throw up (I was at work so I didn't have to deal with it), then Wolfey bit Man and broke the skin (long story and definitely needs its own post) and then this morning Man and Lolly were going around a corner toward each other and didn't see each other and ended up in a head on collision with Lolly's head hitting into Man's knee.  She hit so hard it brought Man to tears (I can only imagine the headache she must have today!).  He's convinced the dogs are conspiring to take him out and I just feel so bad about what he's going through.  I wish I was the one staying the dogs and kids instead of Man.  Poor guy!  I'm just lucky I love someone who loves my dogs, despite their rotten tendencies!

Voicemail from Man

Sorry I didn't answer but  my phone didn't ring.  Umm, I just got your message.  Did you call me Wolf?  I'm not Wolfey, you know.  Are you confused?  Anyway, call me back.

Either I mumbled, he can't hear or we're both crazy but I'm pretty sure I didn't call him Wolf.  The world may never know!

Taking a walk, updated

You see where their loyalty lies

Update: So obviously I posted this from my phone last night after I was done with my walk, but looking at it on a computer now, I realize it's not really clear from the pictures what's going on.  Long story short, Miss Thing asked me to run a 5K with her this summer and of course I agreed, because I never tell the monkeys no unless I absolutely have to.  Man agreed to go to the park with me and we took the dogs along so they could get their exercise, too.  I was using the Couch to 5K app on my phone and the first time it said to jog, Man and I both took off.  About half way through the jog Man slowed to a walk.  When the jog portion was done I turned around to go back to Man so we could do the walk portion together.  He said his head hurt too bad from not eating enough (this darn juice fast is affecting everything!) and would continue the walk but wouldn't jog.  I felt a little light headed after the second but by the time I walked back to Man I was pretty much okay.  The third jog, though, completely kicked my butt.  I cut the jog short and still felt like I was about to pass out.  Man walked me back to the car and I got a drink and sat down while Man did one more lap (we figured I'd walked quite a bit farther than he had since I kept turning around to meet back up with him).  Lolly hesitated for a minute, then took off to walk with Man but Wolfey plopped right down and kept me company until they came back.  I can't decide if he didn't want to leave me alone or was just to lazy to walk any more, but either was I was happy for the company.

She wasn't broken.

Roxie is getting "fixed" today.  I've never quite understood that terminology, but we'll go with it.  Anyway, the vet BBS uses happens to be really close to my work and since BBS is serving jury duty (which I think is awesome, by the way, but that's probably another post) and her hubby works in the opposite direction, I volunteered to drop Roxie off on my way to work.  Because I'm awesome like that.  I met her hubby in town before work to do the puppy exchange before we both hopped on the highway going opposite directions and I dropped Roxie and the crate off at the vet and went on my merry way.  BBS will pick Roxie up this evening and all will be right in the world.  Except one thing.  While I did remember to take Wolfey's crate with me for Roxie to ride in (she's outgrown her old crate and thankfully BBS lives really close to where her hubby and I met so he didn't have to drive very far with Roxie scrambling all over him because she's not used to being lose in the car) and I even remembered to leave the crate at the vet's office so BBS would have it when she picks Roxie up this evening, I forgot to leave Roxie's collar.  Because I'm smart like that.  So, BBS, you're welcome for saving hubby a trip in the wrong direction this morning, but good luck taking Roxie out to potty when you can't attach her leash!  Oops!