Today, I am thankful for...

My Family

And My Family

And My Friends

And My Noble Home

Remember this?

Well look at me now!

Personal Rate of Return from 01/01/2008 to 11/07/2008 is -50.7%

Investing is FUN!!

I love road trips! Love, Murphy.

Wah-Wah Moment # 124, 150, and 151.

I have a busy mid-week evening that involves running errands, cleaning the kitchen, and playing with the puppy. I barely have time to sit down and waste away my night on the computer or watching t.v.  This is a good thing, because that's usually how I spend my nights. Sad but true story. After my version of "running around like crazy" (which includes only the three things mentioned in the first sentance) I call it a night. 

 

At work the next morning, I get excited to hop onto gmail really quickly before starting my day. "Oh, I didn't get to my computer last night at ALL, I can't wait to see what's there for me today!"  I log in, and there isn't one new message.  Not even a WorldPerks Mileage Summary, not even a Sephora Free Shipping with Your Next $50 Purchase!, not even a note about Crate & Barrel's new ways to dress up your Thanksgiving Day table.   Woe is me.

 

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I sign up Mr. Murphy for Puppy Kindergarten, first off to get him a bit more behaved, secondly to allow him to socialize with other dogs, and thirdly as a quest to find my new best (local) friend. I was certain I would find my local friend soul-mate, and that we'd go get dinner afterwards and leave the dogs in the car while we chat about girl stuff, or some equally stupid friend fantasy.

 

Instead, I go to class and focus my attention on not choking my dog as he's the most maniacial one in the class, and then I have to leave class because he has to shit, and then he shits, and I go to find the shovel to pick it up, and then I can't find the shit anymore, and Murphy is running around me in circles and I'm tied up by a leash and it's getting tighter and tighter and I'm holding a shovel looking for shit in the 30-degree weather and dammit why doesn't anyone want to be my friend? And I feel kind of like a loser for thinking about it in the first place because it's like the # 1 Rule that when you want something and are actively looking for it, you won't find it until you stop looking for it, or some other stupid cliche, and why am I even still talking about this, God I need a life.

 

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I arrive home from Puppy Kindergarten, kind of over my whole episode about wanting to find a friend and feeling like I failed miserably, and I hop on the computer (lest I miss any important emails that come my way at nighttime) where I promptly waste two hours surfing blogs and what not. I ignore the puppy, further ingraining in him bad habits (took him only two minutes to chew his new leash in half while I ignored him) and ignore my husband who's upstairs watching the Pistons on his dismal non-HDTV.  Now it's late(ish) and it's dark in here and my eyes hurt from the darkness/brightness contrast of my computer in the un-lit room, and my head hurts because of caffeine withdrawl, and I'm bummed that I just wasted time on the internet instead of finishing my wedding thank-you's or reading a book or cleaning the kitchen.

 

 

OUCH!

From my 401k account…

 

Personal Rate of Return from 01/01/2008 to 11/07/2008 is -40.6%

 

Big Mistake

Big Mistake #7 - Feeding Your Puppy Hotdogs During Puppy Kindergarten.

Our Puppy Kindergarten teacher emailed me before the class started to tell us what to bring with us: a hungry puppy, a plethora of small treats to act as the reward for his "lessons", and two overly eager parents. Check, check, and check.

So we arrive with six hot dogs cut up into raisin-sized pieces, a hungry Murphy, and, well, two overly eager parents. Fast forward a day and a half later, and Murphy drops a deuce in our bathroom this morning. First time he's ever done that! We're astonished, and just chalk it up to a fluke.

Fast forward 8 hours, I arrive home after a long day at work, and there's.... evidence.... of another dropped deuce.

Fast forward... twenty minutes... and wow, that dog can clear a room with the smells coming out of his furry booty.

Nick arrives home from work, and gives me the stink eye. "Honey, what have you done??"

"It was him!" I point at the dog, and "It was her!" the dog points back at me. Nick's not sure who to believe, but in the end, Murphy rips one right in front of Nick and I win.

After some careful thought, we realize it must be from the hotdogs. And thus concludes our first Big Mistake as a married couple.

Indigo

Maybe it's the seasons changing {S.A.D.} or just the course of life's journey {omg sounds so cheesy} but I get sad when I think about friendships changing. It's inevitable, but as life progresses and people do different things, it changes your friendships. Not necessarily for the bad, of course, but still. One person gets married/buys a house/gets a puppy {me}, and settled into this new life, the things that she {err... I} thinks about and talks about and worries about and gets excited about are different from my former self. My former self who had these certain, specific friendships.  Every time you change one component of yourself, it alters the friendship accordingly.

 

In case my rhetoric isn't coming across corrently, it's time for a Stupid Metaphor!   Let's say I am Royal Blue, and my friend is Apple Red. Our friendship, together, is your Crayola Crayon Purple.  Now, I change a bit {see above paragraph} and am now Navy Blue.  My friend is still Apple Red, or even perhaps Maroon {if she herself has changed a bit} and now our friendship is a darker shade of purple. Indigo? Whatever. Doesn't matter, but I was just trying to show my point.  Purple and Indigo, while still very similar and not distinguishable by a three-year-old, are different things.

 

I don't mean to say that the second I got a ring on my finger or keys to a house, I became a different person. But over the course of this whole huge process, over the last year, I've definitely become Navy. No doubt about it. Still blue, but a different shade.

 

So, I mourn for my former Crayola Crayon Purple friendships, despite being extremely excited for this Navy Journey.  Can you be excited to move forward while still being sad about letting go of the past? I still have these wonderful friends, but I'm just learning how to get used to the new Indigos of my future.

All snuggled up on the couch with papa... Be still my heart.