My BFFFE

Why do I love thee? Let me list the ways.

I love the blonde of your curls and the way they bounce when you laugh.

I love the blue of your eyes and the way they shoot summer sunshine whenever the light hits them just right.

I love how you blush when you talk about guys.

And how you can, mid-laugh, stop me from making that joke by the way the outside corners of your eyes tighten ever so slightly.

I love the way you twirl you hair around one finger when you’re sitting next to a guy you’ve got a slight crush on.

I love how you tuck your feet under you when you sit and want the person to know they have your full attention.

I love that he most sincere look I’ve ever seen in my life framed your face when you said you’d change my dad’s diapers.

I love how your right knee comes to your left and you duck your chin when you imitate acting girly.

I love how there’s a wave down your expression as you apply your counselor face when  a friend starts having emotional issues.

I love the twitch you get when you’re on call and certain clients call. I never know who they are, but I can tell some of their issues just from the way your lips tighten and a little line comes between your brows.

I love that you say “I’m sorry” at least 50 times a week.

I love that you laugh with your whole spirit.

I love that you have a porch that is almost covered with green, growing things.

I love that your stupid cat bites me every time I pet him and you defend him by telling me what a sweetheart he is to you.

I love your kid.

l love how you’ve overcome so much in your life and still manage to always look for the best in people.

I love how you bring out the best in me.

I love you, Tamara, and I wish I could tell you how much.

Night Three--Tonight's the Night

I kept thinking I was too good to be true. It was. Tonight was the night that Genevieve let it be known that she was comfortable in the house, not the crate. She also likes thegirl sleeping in teh floor next toher. I'm typing this with my eyes closed and myfingers going pretty much on their own because I'm sleep deprived this morning. I'm thinking that whenever she goes down for a nap today, I'm going to take her for a nice long walk.

She was sound asleep when we were ready for bed. I picked up her sleepy little body and put her in her crate at 9:30. She cried for 15 minutes. At 10:17, she howled. I put her outside and she peed. I put her back in the crate and she howled for 20 minutes. At 12:23, she howled. I put her outside and she immediately wanted back in with no peeing. I put her back in the crate and she howled for 30 minutes, at which point my daughter started crying and eventually got in the floor to sleep again. That did stop the howling. At 3:07, she howled. I put her outside and she dashed for what I am beginning to think of as her poop tree. She pooped. I put her back in her crate and she howled for 20 minutes. At 5:00, she howled. I put her outside and she wanted back in immediately. I waited a bit and then let her back in. She ran down the hall before I could catch her and I think she may have peed in the girl's room.

She broke for her food dish and ate like she hadn't ever eaten. Now she's up and playing with her toys and anything that she can find. She's on a popcorn quest at the moment, finding squashed pieces of popcorn everywhere and licking all the butter off. My house is only this popcorn free the day after the housecleaner comes.

What's the greatest irony in all of this? We have to go back to school today. On the night that she's the worst so far, I have to teach. Joy.

Day Two--Only a Little Sleep-Deprived

Genevieve is keeping my daddy's schedule, at least as far as the mornings go. After we went to bed, I didn't hear another peep out of that puppy until 5:30 this morning. Nice, huh? She went 8:30-5:30 without a peep, though judging from the puppy pad this morning, there was a little pee, which is okay. That's why we bought the pads.

I got up when I heard her whine this morning and learned a lesson. I let her out of her crate and then went to put on my boots and coat to take her walking. She sprinted to the door, but when I paused to don the cold weather gear, she ran under the table to let loose the pee. First puddle clean up.

I didn't what the articles told me to do and said no firmly, then put her outside. Then I finished dressing. Lesson learned. Toss her out, then suit up.

She was wide awake and raring to go. She danced around the yard, attacking the piles of fresh snow and snapping at it. She prance back over and run between my feet, then head off in another direction like a pint-sized snow plow. After a couple of minutes of snow play, she made a big steamy pile and then went right back to dancing.

Since the temp was in the teens, if that, I started walking a circle around the lighted part of the yard. Bors joined me in my paces, but he really doesn't like the puppy. I wonder if he'll warm up to her at all as time passes. Maybe when she calms down?

At ten laps, I couldn't feel my toes even through my boots, so we came back inside. Genevieve wanted to play. Play is not my thing and I couldn't figure out how to entertain her. We finally ended up playing tug-of-war with her pink plush toy in the floor. That seemed to make her happy, but when she bored of that game, I was clueless. I gave her an ice cube to chase and hoped for the best.

Eventually, she curled up on my feet for a little cat nap, but got up about the time I decided to try to sleep a little myself. I think she likes the noise of the TV because as soon as I turned it off, she popped up like a shot. I'm seeing another parallel to my daddy here. She whined a little, so I made another seven laps outside while she pooped and played some more. This time Percy came with us and the two labs are so similar in their delight in the snow. Genevieve made several overtures towards Percy and he seemed amiable but unsure. He loves to roll over on his back and wallow in the snow. Each time he would do it, she would run up and debate touching him. Once she barked and my old deaf dog heard her and leaped almost straight up. I haven't seen him move like that in a couple of years!

We came back inside and she was calmer. When I got up to go to the bathroom, she sprinted, toenails clacking, down the hall. As I returned to the living room, the boy came trudging in wrapped up in his bed spread.

"She woke me up by licking me," he said.

"How is that possible?" I asked, since his bed is higher than my waist. "Was your arm hanging off?"

Apparently he was sleeping with an arm and a leg off the side of the bed and Genevieve took perfect advantage. What made no sense to me was why she went for his one little arm when the girl was laying in the floor of the room completely open to attack.

At 7:00, I led her into the room to wake the girl up, which was adorable to watch. She first walked on the girl's butt, but the girl didn't even move. Eventually, she realized that only the face was exposed and went for it. An arm emerged and wrapped around the puppy for a hug before I even saw an eye crack open. The girl bounced out of floor and started talking about her wonderful puppy before she started moving.

When the puppy wanted to go outside, I had to take her because the girl couldn't get her britches on fast enough. I created a path all around the back field. It's been a long time since I saw anything as beautiful as those pine trees with their burden of fresh snow in the early morning sunrise. I may have been freezing and really sleepy, but the puppy is already worth more than just cuteness. Maybe I was thinking well when I decided to do this.

Night One--So Far, So Good

In the last fifteen minutes, I put Genevieve in the crate and the girl to bed in the floor beside it. We've had some whining, but the girl finally stopped. Seriously, she's putting her fingers through the bars and the puppy chilled as soon as the boy and I stopped moving around.

There's no way she's going to let me go to sleep tonight, is there?

Day One--She's Here

We picked her up and brought her home. She was good for the short car ride with only a little whining at the curves. When she came out of the car to her new home, she was not ecstatic. I'm not sure if that was the new environment, the car ride, or the snow. Bors, our pure mutt, came running up to her, upped his ruff and growled. She tucked tail and ran straight between the girl's legs.

Eventually, we brought her inside and she ran all around the house sniffing with the girl in tow. They made several laps and we set out her food and water. She quickly discovered the cat dish and cleaned up all the spilled cat food and many of the crumbs of who-knows-what under the edge of the couch.

The girl and I took her outside and she met my big lab, Percy. He sniffed her and seemed relatively indifferent to her presence. If anything, he liked her because he knew that we would be spending more time outside because of her. We wandered the back field for a while and Genevieve dug something out from under the snow. I'm not sure if it was the remnants of something dead or if it was old poop, but she pulled it out and nibbled a little. I'm sincerely hoping it was leaves. It could have been leaves.

Back inside after about half an hour, she stood up to be picked up into my lap where I was chilling with my laptop in the lazy boy. I picked her up, got a lick on the chin, and she snuggled in for a nap. I immediately had to pee.

After the nap, she walked up and down the girl's body as she laid in the floor watching TV. She also really likes annoying the boy while he's playing his video games. He decided to take her out for a walk wherein he fed her all the treats I had given him for if she came to her name or did her business. Why did he feed her the treats? Because she jumped up on him and because she was shivering. I've got a way to go with the boy and dog training.

About an hour before bedtime, I told the girl to come into her bedroom with me and to shut the puppy up with us. I had read that she should get used to where she's going to be sleeping before she's actually shut up in the crate. Genevieve was having none of it. She knew that we spend most of our time in the living room and wanted back out.

I, being the all-knowing dog trainer from the three internet articles I read yesterday, ignored her. I made the girl play with some silly toy while I graded papers on the bed and the dog tried to get into the toy box and rip all the stuffing out of Big Bunny. She did play at least thirty seconds with the stuffed toy we got specifically for her. Then she started whining, something she hadn't done up until now. When she started sniffing the corners of the room, I yelled, "Take her outside!" and the barefooted girl hefted the puppy and sprinted for the door. When she got to the outside door, she had to set the dog down to unlock and open the door, and watching her dance to keep the dog penned in by her feet cracked me up. She opened the door eventually and nabbed the pup, who did not want to go out into the frigid air that wafted in at all of us.

I gently pushed her out with my foot and went to put my boots on. In my nightgown, coat, and fuzzy-topped boots, I ran around the yard waiting for her to unload. She pooped within a couple of minutes. I gave her the treat and the praise, as the articles dictated. Then we came inside.

I haven't been this excited about poop since my husband had intestinal surgery.

Day One--Shopping and Setup

We weren't supposed to get the puppy until next week. I was waiting until the kids' social security check came in so I would have the money to pay for our new chocolate lab puppy and so I would be finished with the yearbook deadline and would have the time to devote to the ten-week old pup that she needs.

Instead it snowed on Saturday. And school was called off on Monday (today). They're calling for another three to five inches tonight followed by ice. In my mountain home, this means that we'll more than likely be out of school for the rest of the week. Which means that my yearbook deadline working late after school every day will be moved to the week that I was supposed to pick up the puppy.

So after we slept in this snow day morning, I piled the kids in the car and took the money I borrowed from my dad to the bank to deposit it. Then we went shopping for puppy supplies.

Our first stop was Walgreens because some woman in the PetSmart last week told me that Walgreens had puppy pads at almost unbelievable prices. She was right; they were only $10 for 100 pads. Unfortunately, other puppy owners must know about this since they were completely sold out. So we headed to PetSmart.

I spent a while on Saturday pricing all the puppy materials that we would need since money is so tight right now, and knew that Tractor Supply didn't have any puppy pads and that the ones they did have were almost $1 a pad. Too pricey for my wallet. The kids were beside themselves with excitement and picked out toys for her.

I've never owned a dog that actually played with the toys bought for it, but maybe this one will be the first. I can hope, right?

Then we headed over to Tractor Supply for the crate and the rest of the supplies because everything there was significantly cheaper. I spent a while looking for just the right brand of treats for rewards in training her; I wanted something cheap, but with not too much filler because I do not want to clean up extra poop. We settled on a brand and then bought shampoo (I'm going to own a dog that I have to wash? Why?) and a brush for her. We already have a brush for Percy, but since I usually use it to brush out the matts of fur that are usually mixed with cow manure, the indoor dog needed a new one.

We then got her a crate with the help of a nice employee (I really like all the employees at the Tractor Supply in Christiansburg; I recommend shopping there for everything you can) and made our way to the check out.

My boy helped me load the car and we were off, with a quick stop at Due South BBQ for lunch. (YUM!)

The snow was really coming down by this point, so I was worried that we wouldn't be able to get the puppy from the breeder in time. I remembered that we had to go home and get more checks since I wrote the last one yesterday.

The girl busted her chops getting her room cleaned and I was pleasantly surprised at how easily the crate set up. We put down the puppy pad, loaded up the chew toy with the appropriate nibbles, and screwed on the water bowl.

The girl loaded the pillow bed and a towel into the car and the boy jumped in. We were ready to roll as soon as I called the breeder and made sure she was ready for us. Her cell rang over 20 times with no answering system. I called the kids in out of the car and looked up her home number on my laptop. No answer. So the boy fired up his XBox and the girl disappeared to the computer in the basement for a little Wizard101.

All puppy ready and no puppy pretty much sucks.