First problem: the puppy. As a disclaimer to what I'm going to reveal next, I am not, never have been nor will I ever be a "dog person." I prefer cats, but since Kt and I are allergic, dogs it is. We have had one dog in the family, Calvin, since T and I got married. T had always wanted a dog, something big, but I couldn't so we settled on a Maltese. He seemed cute at first, but we knew nothing about dogs. Our agreement was that this dog would be solely T's responsibility because I don't do dogs!!
Calvin has been a source of great stress for me over the years. He has never grown up, has severely diminished my love of all kinds of dogs due to his constant chewing on everything, including people. He and I have an understanding - we coexist, occasionally love each other but try to stay out of eachother's way.
So, why, you ask, would I ever agree to another dog?? In a weak moment of possession by a clearly evil spirit, I actually thought a puppy might be a good idea. My manager at Curves had a litter of 3/4 Shit-zhu, 1/4 poodle puppies, Em and Calvin are best friends, Calvin, while refusing to grow up mentally is showing signs of getting old. He has seizures, a heart murmur, sleeps most of the day.... Anyway, I was more thinking of Em. After YEARS of swearing there would never be another animal in this house after Calvin, I actually thought a new puppy might work.
I did have some serious restrictions, however, including it must be a female, have a very calm, nurturing disposition and basically be a lap dog. We found this exact puppy in this litter, and I was very excited. We said nothing to the girls while we waited to see if they would give up this prized possession. I have to admit, I was excited. There was not another puppy in that litter I would have agreed to buy. This one was perfect, she was gentle, not spastic, very sweet, beautiful - the one with the most white, something else I really wanted. I didn't touch another puppy there, all of whom were jumpy, nippy and noisy. All except for her. I named her Sophie.
Weeks passed, T went off to Cameroon, I took the girls to CT and came home to a message. Our puppy was ready, a week earlier than we expected!! T was not even home yet, so I was scrambling. When I finally talked to the owner, she explained that our puppy was sick. Upper respiratory something. I immediately became concerned because of Calvin and decided I ought to check with our vet. He concurred that it was not a good idea to bring home a sick puppy, so I asked her if we could wait. She was not so happy about that idea.
Now comes the part I totally regret. What I wanted to do was pay for our puppy, ask this woman to keep her until she was well and then bring her home. T disagreed with me on this. The woman's son had fallen in love with our puppy so she was offering us the puppy they were supposed to keep, the runt of the litter. I did not like that idea, but T had taken Em over to check out our puppy and of course, she wanted the teeny tiny puppy. Never let a 5 year old decide for you.
We now own a yippee, nippy, spastic puppy and I'm really finding it hard to live with this. This was NOT my idea, even though T will try to pass it off like it was. Our pool manager bought a puppy from the same litter who is twice the size of our puppy - I'm losing any hope that this puppy will grow up, in size or mentality. Basically, I'm not happy and someone else has my beautiful (if I hear my pool manager one more time describe how perfect the puppy we were supposed to get was, I will be sick!), sweet, calm and cuddly little girl. In reality, I just feel duped! by everyone!!
Second problem: (yes, the first one is really a lot of small problems, but I lumped it into one just for you - aren't you happy!?) T is gone. He's away on a "leadership weekend" with church. One night, but I'm just really annoyed by that. First of all, he's got a puppy to take care of!! Second of all, he has no responsibilities on this weekend and every year when he comes home from this same weekend, he tells me he really didn't have to go because there is nothing for him to do!! He just told me about it after we got the puppy - "Oh, by the way I'm going away that weekend..." kind of thing. Huh? Take that puppy back, then!! I guess I feel like I'm not recovered from the past couple of weeks, things need to be done around the house that are not getting done:
mow lawn (the big mound of weeds outside our house!), landscaping (from the spring - nothing has been done in my yard!!!!!! T kept telling me he'd have kids who needed to raise support for their trips do the work - I guess no one needed help!), foundation of house needs to be painted (basically since we moved in and changed the siding), garage is a mess (beware of falling junk and bags of stuff everywhere!), bushed trimmed (I finally did it myself - I guess I'll have to start doing all the yard work too!), and more but I won't bother to go on!
Last problem: school. Kt's in a class this year with hardly any friends (none of her good friends), the same boys that I really don't want her with and a teacher that is clearly not the popular one, but I'm sure she'll be fine. The bigger problem - the reading issue we thought we had resolved at the end of last year must not be resolved because she is not with any of the high level readers. She is with the same level or lower, and they place students based on reading level. I'm so tired of her class....
Em has the brand-spanking new teacher, and I'm happy about that. She is with our neighbor's daughter, her best friend, and they are even sitting at the same table - they couldn't be happier. No stress there, until they call me up and say they want to move her. They will be having lunch at noon (seems like a long time to wait to eat!), not having any snack time at all for full day kindergarten. Hmmm.... sounds like the peanut allergy mom got to them again!! Yup, she has a daughter in Em's class. Surprising, because Kt has had afternoon snack in first AND second grade, so not having it in kindergarten seems totally ridiculous to me.
The worst policy at our school, hands down, is the "we reserve the right to move your child in the first two weeks of school and expect your 'full support' of our insensitivity" practice. I hope they know not to bother calling us, because we will flat out refuse!! It's just not something we'll agree to, and I honestly can't believe they are still doing that. If you have to move children around because of a reading level, then assess the children BEFORE school starts - it's as simple as that!
Anyway, negativity seems to have overshadowed my life at the moment. I need to come up for some air. Oh, look, on top of all this (as if this isn't enough) I just got an email from Jerry Falwell. Thank goodness for delete buttons!! If only there was a delete button, or better yet rewind, for life! Thanks for letting me vent!
In fairness to myself, my family, here are some positive things: the girls have been walking the dogs for me (YEAH - until they go off to school next week!), we bought an electric piano - so maybe lessons??, I have finished buying school supplies, we have had great pool weather and are enjoying our last weeks swimming, that is all I can think of for now!
2 comments:
My prayers are with you.
Well, you know even better than I do! My prayers are with you as well!!
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