Unexpected Bundle

Apparently, there is some kind of balance in the universe. Since I have three daughters, the universe decided to give me three nephews. Just to make this clear, no I'm not pregnant (almost impossible), but my older brother and his wife are adding to the population. Congratulations to them! This is my third nephew and first grand-boy-child on my side. 

Oh, Little Baby Boy what I will have to share with you. First things first, stay in there as along as possible. The heavy expectations that come with your last name will only come too soon. Enjoy the solitude.

Results: It Only Took Two Hits

Challenge
Out-of-control puppy has turned several corners in a matter of two hits. Treating, yelling, smacking, or training the puppy hasn't really worked with her constant need to bolt across the road (she likes to socialize with the neighbor dog) if she happens to slip out of a small hand or get off her leash (she is one fast runner). Her luck is going to run out soon or later. As I've informed all the children that belong to me, I will not be replacing any dead puppies. The chances of not getting hit by a car get smaller by the day.

Solution
So my solution to increase puppy years and warn off several brokenhearted children...drum roll...the 
PetSafe Wireless Fence.


 
Results
What an amazing little contraption. After setting the transmitter circle, flagging the boundaries and attaching the receiver to the puppy, we tested out the experiment. Per instructions, you are supposed to train your dog with the transmitter turned off what the flagged boundary means. Well Freckles wasn't quite understanding what we were doing. Like a dog is supposed to understand what a flag means. Really? 

We went to plan B. Let's turn it on and see what happens. It doesn't take a scientist to figure out what happened. Of course, as soon as she knew we didn't have a hold on her, yep you guessed it, straight for the road. This time the transmitter was on and the receiver collar was secured. I've never seen the behavior of a dog getting shocked before. Maybe a little traumatic for the children, but I would have to say ultimately traumatic for the puppy (borderline torturous).

Needless to say she whined, cried all the way back to the front door. She didn't want to come out, but we had to encourage her outside with treats (there was no way I was going to have a dog too scared to go potty outside). So we continued to walk the flagged boundary. As soon as we reached the backyard, she thought she outsmarted us. Freckles ran for the border to our next door neighbors yard.

In a matter of two hits, we have a completely different dog-mellow, obedient, walks next to you kind of dog. At least this is after one day. She was so wiped out she slept the rest of the evening away most of the time on or near Child #1. Only time will tell how clever she becomes in her prison break techniques. Until then, we are enjoying the calm.

Have a great weekend!

Single Parent Experience

There is no wife in this blog this week because I'm a single parent. Handyman is out of town, again.

Schedule:

5:15 am
Wake up (because dog is whining to go out), feed the dog, walk the dog, put away dishes, do another load of laundry.

6:15 am
Eat breakfast.

6:30 am
Wake girls up to get ready for day camp, take shower, iron work clothes, get dressed for work, pack my lunch, remind the girls to eat breakfast 20 times, remind girls to get dressed 25 times, help the girls pack their lunch, let the dog out one more time before leaving,

7:30 am
Herd kids into car, herd dog into the house (hoping she doesn't run away delaying my on-time departure), check everyone has everything they need for the day.

7:45 am
Drop off Child #1 at her day camp location, walk her to drop off spot and sign her in, get back into car, drive Child #2 and #3 to their day camp location (a different location about 3 minutes apart drive time), walk them to the drop off spot and sign them in, get back into car.

8:10 am
Late for work because all this dropping off and signing in is making me crazy and it's only the 2nd day of the summer day camp program.

12:00 pm
Work through lunch so I can leave on time to let the dog out and pick up the kids on time.

4:30 pm
Leave work, get home, let the dog out, walk the dog, put dog into car, drive to day camp location to pick up Child #1, walk to the pick up point, sign her out, get back into car, drive to second location to pick up Child #2 and #3, get out of car, walk to the pick them up (I swear it's like a quarter mile to each of these sign in points), sign them in, get them into the car.

5:15 pm
Get home, change out of work clothes, start dinner, do another load of laundry, finish dinner, sit down to eat dinner, clean up after dinner, do dishes.

6:30 pm
Go to Target because kids need squirt guns for their water day at day camp tomorrow, pack kids in car again, drive to Target, pick up a few other items needed from Target, pack car with items, drive home.

7:15 pm
Let dog outside again, convince kids to take showers (because they never want to take showers), go jogging (because I need a moment to myself).

8:00 pm
Shower, brush my teeth, bring clothes up from laundry room, fold clothes, put away clothes, remind kids to brush their teeth only 5 times.

8:30 pm
Explain, negotiate, compromise with kids on why they have to go to bed. Of course, there is always at least one of them that still needs to get up and get a cup of water.

9:00 pm
Finally, I get to lay down, read my book, but fall asleep and lose the page I was on.

Then I get to get up in the morning and do it all over again. Being a parent is hard, but doing it alone is even harder. Not sure how long my endurance will last with this. Then again, I don't really have a choice, but I know I didn't sign up for this.

Life isn't always fair, but at least I can share the pain.

Enjoy your busy life!

Attempt to fix my foot

So my right foot has been bothering ever since I ran that godforsaken marathon last month. I'm pretty sure it has to do with running with the wrong shoes. My beloved Asics have failed me. They are not making them like they used too. Because I can't stop running, I have to find an alternative. This road has led me down a different path to a brand I've never tried before. I've done the research and read the reviews. With all that, I went to a specialty store.

After this point, we have to keep this information all top secret. I actually spent one hundred and fifty dollars on a pair of Brooks-Glycerin running shoes. Now I've never even spent that much on a suit or purse (don't own a Coach purse and never will) before. This is definitely new territory for me. Shhhh, don't tell the Handyman either. We'll claim this as my birthday present.

I took my new expensive shoes for a run yesterday. It turned out to be delightful. I won't say that my foot is cured, but I felt like I could run longer than five miles. The pain wasn't as bad and I didn't even get blisters from the new shoes. Bonus!

Happy running!

Hopeful Consistency

So two days ago (Yeah, I know I could've wrote about this earlier, but our lives are consumed by soccer and horse back riding lessons these days. Don't forget I'm working again too. Doesn't leave much time for writing anymore.) I come home from work to a surprise. At this point, you're probably thinking "what happened now?" This is actually a good surprise, maybe just shy of a week past my birthday surprise, but none the less. I come home to an extremely clean house.

Since the Handyman was out of town, I didn't expect the house to be so clean (he usually herds them into cleaning up). Then again he could've called them and encourage them to pick up before I came home, but the three Amigos (I could've referred to them as the three Angels, but that would be completely inaccurate) insisted it was their idea (which it was, Handyman confirmed). They had washed the dishes, dried, and put them away, vacuumed the living room, swept the kitchen floor, organized all the shoes by the front door, cleaned up the bathrooms, wiped the counters down and even straightened up my piles of papers on the counters. I can't even get them to do this much on the weekend. I guess a little independence has led to some responsibility. It's a good thing, but there needs to be some consistency. 

Since this was so unexpected, I actually gave back their riding lessons today. They had lost the privilege to ride this past weekend due to some bad behavior.

Here is where the irony rears its ugly head. After only two days, my house is a complete disaster again. At least they'll be able to clean their own house when they get out into the real world. It's this kind of hope that comforts me into believing I haven't completely failed as a parent.

Enjoy your frigid Wisconsin Weekend!