Peace an' Blessin's

Dearest, tiniest, infuriating Mor'du:

My sweet puppy, you nigh on gave me a heart attack this morning. But I know it's not your fault, we needed to keep a better eye on you and do a better job of puppy-proofing that opening under the side gate. You're a lot skinnier than we gave you credit for. It won't happen again ;)
     I'm so grateful for the sweet woman that just happened to be walking her kids to school right as you made your grand escape. It's too bad you couldn't wait the two days until you get your microchip in but I understand, the world is a big fun place you just gotta explore!
     As emotional and stressful as those five hours were, as I reflect on the morning I find my heart warmed by the handful of moments I experienced with the people of our neighborhood. One woman outside working in her garage was kind enough to spare a moment and tell me about her own love of dogs. She asked your name and how long we'd had you, and she alerted me to the punny condition of your name; "Mor'du" aka "More doo" cuz already you been plopping a nice smattering of "doo-doo's" in our yard. That made me smile at a time when I really just wanted to cry.
     There were some landscapers milling about the neighborhood and most all of them gave me encouraging smiles as they watched me taping up fliers and one even asked to see the picture of you we'd printed on it. He was very kind and promised they would all keep an eye out and we even found him wandering around the irrigation ditch looking and whistling for you.
     Another man who was trimming his bushes made sure to ask where you belonged if he happened upon you (this was before we'd made the fliers) and gave the hopeful suggestion that, you'd "probably come running once I bring my own dogs out for a walk." It felt nice to know that a complete stranger would care that much about you finding your way back home.
     I was so scared for you, Mor'du. You're so small and so young and it's so hot outside. There's so many places you could have gone. Immediately my mind was whirling and going all over the place. We passed the large storm drains and tears spilled from my eyes imagining what could've happened to you.
Heaven help me as a Mother.

After around three hours of searching and very few light poles left without a sign, I was desperate for another way of actively looking for you. I realized that Mark and I didn't have to be the only ones praying for your safe return. I posted a facebook status and kind comments quickly rolled in. We were searching the dirt field behind our house and just about to wearily head back home when my phone started ringing and my heart started thumping.
     It was the sweet woman who had picked you up that morning. She lived not even a block away from us and she had fed you, given you water, and had made up signs for you when she saw our own signs. We were walking back home when we happened to meet her on the way, holding you, and you wriggled right out of her arms when you saw us. According to you, it had been a fun, exciting morning and you made some new friends.
     She didn't even ask about the reward we put on the sign and was all smiles as we thanked her again and again.

You're a wee little rascal and my heart will be very much lightened when I can just stay home with you all day and keep a wary eye on you. So glad you're okay, buddy. You're not getting away that easy!

Very much love,
Mama and Papa

This may be overdramatic and superfluous and I can just imagine you readers snickering at how silly this 'letter' is but for Mark and me, our puppies are our children. We don't have any human offspring yet and we are very attached to our pets. Dogs will be dogs and we'll certainly look back on this and laugh (we already have) but in the moment it was very real and very emotional. It's a tough blow when you're thinking about starting a family (with real human children at that) and you can't even seem to keep track of a two month old puppy for more than 48 hours.
Again, thank you to all those who saw our message and sent good thoughts, well wishes, and prayers our way. I promise it made a difference.
Now pray that he learns to not pee on the carpet soon! Or that he'll figure out that we bought those toys so he would chew on them and not Mark's socks and shoes, or the carpet, or the couch. Or that we can somehow find a way to teach him that small, quick kisses are okay but slathering people's faces with his tongue and biting noses is nope-not-okay. Yeah, those prayers next plz.

Wee Douglass Babby

He's a furry baby.

This is Mor'du. Yes, like the evil villain bear from Brave, that's correct. But we brought him home last night and we have a small beany baby type bear toy that he just took to immediately. The name sprung to my mind and we looked up its meaning in google, which gave us "Big Black".
Well he's not so big right now, but he most likely will be soon.
He's an abandoned rescue pup so we're not too sure on lineage, but judging by looks he's probably got some rottweiler and some lab.

We took Odin down to the temp family's house for a "meet and greet" last night (thanks Jenn!), to make sure they could be compatible. Odin has had very little opportunity for socializing during his lifetime (he's around four or five years old, we've only had him since Fall of 2013) and he usually gets pretty stiff around other dogs. He's not mean or aggressive, just on edge.
When we arrived, Odin was immediately intrigued, even from outside the front door. So many smells!
He handled it very well, many genital sniffs were had, and there was only the faintest hint of a growl just once. The puppy in question was completely content to park himself underneath the table or chairs and just watch the fun. Very submissive and chill. Odin ambled around and hardly paid any attention to the little pups. Our worries were quickly quashed.

On our way to Mark's mom's house (we had missed a spur-of-the-moment get together earlier that evening but could still make it for cake!) all the fur blob wanted to do was snuggle up close to me and nuzzle my neck. So much cuddles! He wasn't content to just lay in my lap, he continually tried to climb up my front and perch on my shoulder. But we worked out a nice system where he got to bury his fuzzy face into my neck and my arms supported the rest of his body. Within minutes my heart was completely melted. His tiny dreaming twitches were like a hot skillet to butter.
At the party, he was a trooper. He got passed around like a hot potato but never whined or peed on anybody! He was particularly fond of wedging himself deep into the chiropractic table.

As of this point in the evening, the [yet nameless] pup was still a little wary of Odin. A hopeful family had taken him home the previous night but their other dog did not take so kindly to the little fella and there was biting. But we picked up some dinner, got home and took both dogs outside to sniff around and get used to the new surroundings. He piddled and pooped in his new yard and we praised him and he chewed on weeds and sticks. His personality quickly seeped through the shyness and soon he was bounding around, exploring and pouncing on crinkly leaves. I brought out the bear toy I mentioned earlier and he hauled it off under the grape vines, chillin' in the cool dirt and gnawing on his new friend.
Which is when we named him Mor'du.

We played until about 10:30, let him relieve himself one more time outside, and then it was into the makeshift kennel of the guest bathroom downstairs for the night. We made up a little bed for him and stuck in a nightlight so it wouldn't be pitch dark (do dogs even care about that? /shrug #firsttimepuppyparents)
As far as I can tell, he did really well for the first night. No signs of bathroom breaks and he was incredibly energetic and happy to see us in the morning. After taking him out for the morning bidness, I took him upstairs (carried him most of the way, stairs are gonna be a challenge for a while) and let the quivering, wiggling bundle of licks wake Mark up. It was quite precious to behold.
We spent a little time sitting on the floor playing with both doggies, giving Odin some extra vigorous rubs to let him know he's okay and we still love him. He's just gonna be a bit of a grump for a few weeks.

We're super excited about this big change to our lives. Thankfully I'll soon be home full time to really train the little dude and oversee him and Odin getting some good bonding time.
I'm also looking forward to a reason for getting me up out of bed in the morning to go on nice, invigorating walks before the sun chars the ground into lava.
Huzzah for puppies!!!

The Perils of Wearing Earbuds at Work

It's a known and begrudged fact that the post-lunch hours of desk work servitude are long and oft smothered in a repressive haze of exhaustion. 

Basically, we're all tired and our bellies are full and we want a nap. Because we're grown-up adulty human beings. And filing seemingly meaningless paperwork is just not harnessing the attentions like it should. So sometimes (read: most times, like every day times) I'll pull out my phone and listen to pandora. Like, a really upbeat station. Like Shakira or something to get my toes tappin' and the blood flowin'. 

And today, I was engaging in such activities BUT I'm a smart human and I know that I already have selective hearing problems so I only ever put one earbud in at a time so I can still hear if somebody screams says my name. But I tend to kind of, y'know, tune out the conversations, some of the time, occasionally.

And every great once in awhile, hilarity ensues.

Today, I forgot that I had uncovered a hidden green apple laffy taffy that had fallen under my desk and had been saving it for after lunch. So when I finally remembered I excitedly pulled it out of my purse (by the way, it's a big deal because there are only like, four icky cherry laffy taffy's left in the whole office so like, SCORE, amiright?) and proceeded to check the jokes in hopes that one would perchance incite a rueful chuckle. 

One was completely dumb and not worth the time to type it out. The other said this:

     "Why did the little mouse run away from home?"

[pause for effect]

     "Because his father was a rat."

Now, I don't know about you but I'm not too sure about like, domestic abuse insinuations as jokes on candy wrappers so my jaw dropped and I laughed nervously and turned to share the joke with my coworkers. We all had a community "wtf" moment and the day should've continued as normal but one coworker commented,

"I'm a Rat."

I, totally missing his meaning, just turned around with a chuckle and left it alone.

Moments later, I realized my other coworker was asking me something.

I turned back around, "what?"

"Are you a Dragon?"

I assumed I misheard, "sorry, what?"

"Are you a Dragon??"

I literally had no idea how to respond. I just said no and hoped that I was in the realm of appropriate responses to whatever was happening. But a multitude of eyes were staring at me as if this was a normal conversation and my panic quickly escalated. And so I addressed the situation myself,

"I have no clue what's happening right now, why...what?"

And I finally pulled my headphone out.

"I feel like I ate that laffy taffy and it was laced with acid or something, what is even going on? What are we talking about?? I found it hiding under my desk so who even knows what happened to it..."

In the interim between when I recited the punchline of the joke and after my coworker initially revealed that he was, in fact, "a Rat" the others went on to reveal their CHINESE ANIMAL YEAR DESIGNATIONS and my coworker was actually just asking if I was a Dragon, or in other words, born in a preset sequence of years.

That is all. Thankfully I'm still clean and my laffy taffy was not tainted. Whew!

And for the record, I'm a frickin' Horse and it's awesome. 

Max! Fetch Me My Dictionary!

I think the worst thing about getting together with people lately is the initial small-talk and inevitable, "so how's it going? What are you up to?" because literally people. My life doesn't change. It's so routine lately it's abysmal. And like, I'm not even being evasive or obtuse when I say, "oh just working," because that's all I do.

Which would be admirable if I was "working" in a career that I'd been striving for and working hard to get into, and doing, I dunno, important things but all I'm doing is answering the phone, getting the mail, and counting down the days.

And I don't even have an ice cream(ish?) treat to console me.

So posting traffic on the blog has significantly dwindled. And if you noticed and are miffed, I apologize. Forcing myself to come up with content just produces stuff like that abomination I posted last about the childhood crushes. I would take it down but now I'm quite attached to going back and looking at it m'self.

And honestly this tidbit isn't going to be much better. I'm just reading Jane Eyre again because recently I watched the 2011 film version and was left wanting. I knew there was much more substance to the tale than the film offered and felt the need to refresh my memory. Plus it's one of my all-time favorites.
My point! Is here now I give you a diminutive sampling of the vocabulary words I've begun listing in a composition notebook and looking up the definitions because #omg

• interlocutrice: one who takes part of a conversation. (Specifically female. The male counterpart of the word is interlocutore.)
• worsted: fine, smooth spun yarn from combed long-staple wool.
• salubrious: healthgiving; pleasant, not run-down
• ribald(ry): referring to sexual matters in an amusing or irreverant manner (so basically like victorian "that's what she said")
• welkin: sky or heaven
• anathematised: curse or condemn

and I may just adopt this into my cache of insults because it's pure poetry

• prating prig: a self-righteously moralistic person who acts superior to those around them that talks foolishly or tediously.

Language is a beautiful thing, is it not? And yes, I am indeed journaling the big words I don't know or aren't sure on the exact meaning (as well as recording and translating the french because the copy I have gives no aid whatsoever in understanding the foreign bits) just for fun because...it's really fun.

Also, she legitimately uses "lugubrious" and I haven't stopped giggling basically.

"Coming your most lugubriousness!"