gracie update

gracie update no. 2

since i've been promising it for like a week, here's a small update on gracie.

no puppies.. yet. but we can SEE them moving. it's amazing. if you have never had a pregnant dog, it is really interesting and kind of fascinating. we take her for daily walks around the block, and she's panting awfully hard when we get back home. i think she's over the pregnancy awe, if dogs have that. she is getting pretty big.

we have started gating her into the kitchen at night so she won't be tempted to "start" on her bed by our bed. i don't think i could handle that! she seems to like her little spot though, and she goes in there to lay down whenever she gets bored or wants to be alone (she is a girl, after all). we've been taking her temperature (and by we i mean "i"... and it's a rectal thermometer) daily and it's consistently 99-100 (which is normal for dogs). one day it was a bit low, 97, but obviously, no puppies.

it's been a roller coaster!

these are the things we have noticed most prominently:

affection. she was already a cuddler, but it's out of control. she wants to lay with as much body contact as possible. whoever is on the computer, that's usually who she feels like cuddling with -- by getting between your hand and the keyboard. (she's demanding.) one of the websites said she may stare at her "human"... and i laughed because it sounded creepy. but she does.

sloth. haha, ok maybe that's not the right word. but in the last few days she has gotten too uncomfortable to move. she walks SLOWLY on the leash, like i'm dragging her. it takes forever to get around our small block. she won't even sit upright for long before she lays on her side, or like this:

she's so stinkin' cute.

even in the middle of our walk.

and when we're laying out...

restlessness. i'm not sure how this goes with sloth, but when she's not asleep, she's moving from couch to floor to kitchen (linoleum) back to couch to doghouse... it's a lot of movement for someone who doesn't want to play or walk.

so. there's the update. i'll keep you posted as things change, but for now, we wait!

thankful thursday

so, last week i started something called thankful thursdays. i may offer it as a link up, but for now, i'm just being thankful.

but i have to tell you.. this is a challenge, even on it's second week. after my post last week, my car wouldn't start. this is the same car that we just spent $600 on one month ago, $1200 just a few months back, and $900 at the end of last year. riley has now been towed once this week (would have been twice if she hadn't started randomly after waiting for a two truck for TWO hours in 85 degree weather), twice in a month, three times in 6 months and four times under a year. (and this is only half the story!)

it's getting old.

and my internet was on the fritz all morning. among a million other things.

but let me tell you what. i'm still blessed beyond measure.

so today, i'm grateful for my riley.

not my actual car. but she looks just like this. via

this car is special to me, because we purchased it with the inheritance my grandmother left me when she passed in 2006. the money was to be used to all costs related to schooling, and i needed a car to actually get to a from school from my apartment.

when my grandmother passed, i made a promise to her that i would finish school before i was 25 (i was 22 at the time, and had dropped out of college at 20). it was kind of a pushy goal, but i was determined. it's a long story how i ended up at the school i originally dropped out of, but when i got there i mapped out all of my courses in an elaborate map to be sure i finished in the fall semester of 2008, rather than in spring 09 (i would have turned 25 in march). i could not fail one class, i could not miss one enrollment, and i could not get below a C in any of my major courses.

and every time i hopped into riley for a midnight walmart run, or to do a pledge duty on a weeknight, or a campus drive around, i was reminded of my promise.

and i did it.

i finished school in the fall of 08. i took at least 18 hours every semester, even my last (which included a freshman course), 21 hours once and went through 2 rounds of summer school with 12 hours each. i graduated at the last fall graduation ceremony ouachita will see for a long time, if ever.

but i did it.

so my grandmother (and riley) were a big part of my finishing school before i hit menopause. i'm so sentimental about this vehicle (which has mostly been very reliable, by the way) and i will be really sad to see it go when the time comes.

i guess it's more about nanny than the car, but it's significant to me. which is why i insist on fixing everything that goes wrong with it, no matter the cost (or ... at least i haven't met a threshhold lol).

take some time to ponder...what are you thankful for today?