Hudson

My doggy needs to go to doggy jail. He is such a naughty little doggy. You see, he is a runaway at heart. Every chance he gets, he flees. The funny thing is 99.9999999% of the time he runs to my sister-in-law's house. They live just a few blocks and two crossings of busy roads away from us. He has a friend there. Her name is Meeka and she is black and she sheds a lot.

So yesterday as I was leaving to pick Eli up from school I noticed the gate to our backyard was open. Hudson was MIA yet again. The bummer about this time was that he was tagless. What kind of irresponsible dog owners do you take us for? Of course he has tags, they just weren't attached to his body.

So I do a drive by of Meeka's house. Not in the yard. I do another drive by after I get Eli. Still not in the yard but I open the gate so he can get in when he inevitably returns there. (You see, he NEVER, NOT ONCE in all of his running has returned to the house where he lives. He ALWAYS goes to Meeka's.

I drive around the neighborhood for about an hour. Eli naps in the car. No sign of the delinquent.

Greg drives around for the equivalent of about two hours later in the evening. Nothing. Nada. No sign of the little stinker. Of course now we are worried. I think he must be injured or someone has picked him up for him to not have returned to Meeka's at this point. Poor little stinky puppy out all night in the freezing weather.

So we prayed. We asked for a miracle. And we slept.

We got a call before eight this morning from Greg's sister. Meeka started barking at 3:00 in the morning. They got up to check and Hudson was on their deck. No worse for wear. All he had to show for being MIA for about 15 hours in freezing cold temperatures was some evidence of rolling in poop? Or something similar.

So now he is home. On a food and water strike. Leashed to the back door until I bathe the little monster. Oh yes, we are thankful that God answered our prayers. Really, we aren't the monsters here.

Roller coaster

I seem to be stuck on a roller coaster ride and I really don't like roller coasters. I usually keep my eyes closed the entire time I am on one. Too bad I can't keep my eyes closed for the next three months. You know, that might get in the way of feeding and diapering and driving. Things like that. Three months. That is how long we are set to have our house on the market.

Anyone who has ever sold a home knows what I am going through. Everyone goes through this. It's just that this is my first time. At first I thought it was great that we were going to get feedback from our realtor after our house was toured. Now I'm not so sure. Someone toured our house this morning. "It was nice" they said. "Done really nicely" they said. "It's just too small."

Darn.

I got that feedback way too quickly. I don't even get the day to daydream that they may want our house.

Double darn.

And we are only a week in.

Triple darn.

We've toured a few houses ourselves. Fell in love with one waaay too expensive for us. Walked through waaay too many that are too tiny for us. Saw some that need a lot of work and money. Saw one that (gasp) is a seventies (scream) four level (shudder) that hasn't been updated since (shiver) the seventies. Surprisingly, that is one even I am willing to consider if we were able to update some things immediately. Hey, don't judge. Any of you could be persuaded to live in Grandma's house if you had the promise of a new kitchen that you got to design.

So it is all still out there...our dream...until someone decides our little cottage is their dream.

Anyone? Anyone?

I spy with my little eye.....

Yes, yes, you are right. There is a really cute baby here but that is not what I'm talking about.

Try again.

Really? You need me to say that again?

Okay.

I spy with my little eye something.... blue.

Well, that was a good guess. It's not the cute baby's jeans. Those are more of a black wash.

I spy with my little eye something....small.

No, no, not the pumpkin. Yes, it is small but this is smaller.

That thing on the door?

Yes! You've got it!

What is it?

Why it's a lockbox.

You might be thinking "Is this chick schizophrenic? Doesn't she remember her last post?

Things have changed a bit around here and we are just going for it. We figure we will never get much more from our little cottage because it is just that. A little cottage.

We have had three really happy years here. We have welcomed two sweet babies into our family in this home. Our oldest has started school here. We got our first dog here. We have put love into this house. Hours upon hours of painting, sanding, rearranging, building, digging, planting, weeding. We have loved our little cottage but now (we hope) is the time to move on.

We are praying and trusting knowing God has only good things for us. Whether we stay or go we will try to be content through it all.

Realigned

That's me. Realigned. My schemes, my redecorating dreams. After a month of mentally moving out of my little cottage and into a four bedroom two bath bigger cottage I'm having to realign my thinking. Realign it to reality. Out little cottage is just not worth what we hoped.

Now onto new schemes, new designs, new cabinets maybe? One can hope. If I'm going to be in this little place a couple more years I have to have dreams, right?

At least I have cool shoes.