meet badger

When we first moved into this house, I started feeling that once again I was wanting to hear the pitter-patter of little paws. It had been so long since I'd had a dog. In fact, Alec had never even had one. We'd sort of looked into it, but for the kind of dog I wanted, the prices were outrageous! This past Thursday, I was browsing around classifieds (you know which "list" I just don't want searches to end up here) and I came across someone that was giving away puppies. Yes! Giving them away! I couldn't believe it. I thought it might be some sort of scam. Like some sort of psycho who lures women into his home with the promise of a free puppy. I called the number on there and it was a lady. Sure enough, she explained her situation. She and her family had just moved into town. They're renting a house and can't have pets. They had one dog and were going to give her away when they found out the dog was pregnant. She ended up having seven puppies, so needless to say, this family had to get rid of them pronto before the home owner found out.
So anyway . . . . long story to tell you that we got a new puppy! Hold your "awwwww" until you see the picture and until you read what happened next. We got him Thursday evening. Friday, Alec was playing with the puppy all day long while Brianna was at school. By mid afternoon, I noticed that Alec had a bad rash all around his eyes and forehead. His eyes were also very, very red. ARGH! I thought for sure he was allergic and we'd have to give away the puppy. What we did was go and buy some doggie shampoo and some of that allergen reducer spray. I also had to make sure that Alec was washing his hands each time I told him to. So far, it's been working. After Friday, he hasn't gotten the rash at all.
Now we're in the middle of house training. I feel like I have another baby. We've been getting up anywhere from 4:00 - 5:00 in the morning to take him outside. I've heard that those puppy training pads are a horrible idea because they then get used to going on a cushy surface. We've been taking him outside about a million times a day and it seems to be working. Wish me luck. Oh, his name is Badger. Here he is. . .

scrabble dorks

A few months ago, Rodrigo and I were wondering what we could do to be bigger dorks and we came up with playing Scrabble. Ok, not really. The truth is that on Thanksgiving morning, we went out shopping the sales and one of the things on sale were board games. We bought a couple for the kids but decided to get a Scrabble for ourselves. Now, we're both really competitive, so there have been a few arguments. Heh, heh. I've always been the score keeper and when we first started playing, he was saying that I wasn't tracking his points. I have a whole system now. I have a Scrabble notebook where I write the date and time of each game. I keep a column for each of us, then track the number of points per word, the word and the total of the points. That way there is no way he could say I don't track or no way I could forget. Ever since we got it, we've played at least once almost every day. I thought I'd have a huge advantage because I think I know more words than him. What I've found out is that I know more "mostly used in England" and fashion words while he knows more science and technology words.
Anyway, I'm totally going to cheat and ask for help. The letters that always stump me are the "x" and words for the "q" without a "u". Any suggestions?

feeling: like a huge dork
listening to: nothing! My house is completely silent!

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

It seems that there's a lot of changes and a lot of time has passed since I last wrote. In reality, it hasn't been all that long. Since I've posted . . . .

- We've gone to spend time with family in Texas and have come back. A good time was had by all. We were freezing.

- Rodrigo went out to get the oil changed in my car and came back hours later in a new car. It's not the first time he does that and I really, really don't like it. I feel that I should have some say in the matter. I mean, I should at the very least get to choose the color (since that's basically what I care about). He traded in his Mazda and is now driving one of these in midnight blue. I call it his "dad car". His whole excuse, er, reason for buying it is so that I could drive it (I don't drive standard).

- Brianna turned 9 years old and the changed overnight. Gone are the days of her loving all the little Disney princess things. She's now really into music. She has a c.d. player in her room (along with the iPod we gave her) and so although she still plays with toys, now she does so while listening to music. We're also forced to listen to RadioDisney in the car. The kid artists she loves are soooooo popular now. Either that or I have to hear a lot about them around here. The cool rock music Rodrigo and I listen to is slowly being replaced by The Jonas Brothers and others.
She also begged me for "side bangs" and she looks very different now that she has them. I find it funny that she and all her little friends are really all into the same type of thing. They stand around in their new more grown-up hairstyles, with their new eletronics wearing lip gloss and talking about what Santa brought them. It's a very interesting "in-between" time.

- Last but not least, Rodrigo gave me the ring for Christmas. It's lovely and simple and perfect! My head is nearly exploding because I want to share more about this, but, uh . . . . well, I will. In time.

That's it for now. I want to go in and check on all the blogs I've been neglecting and catch up.


feeling: making lists in my head
listening to: The Juno soundtrack, I don't know the name of the song