Today, I forgot to wear shoes

I don't wear shoes much. It was one of the things I liked the most about working from home, actually. In the summer I go barefoot, and in the winter I wear fuzzy boots, and in my book that makes life just about perfect. Since its July and I am hanging out at home with the tiny human most of the time, I don't wear shoes, except when we go out on errands or to play at Target because we're bored and it has pretty things. 

Today was an errand day. We had an appointment for the dog to get groomed at 8:00, which wouldn't be so bad except that the place we go is 45 minutes away (I know, you don't have to tell me. I do this to myself. What the heck kind of person drives 45 minutes to get their dog groomed? The kind with a neurotic shih tzu who has people issues.) I got us up, and dressed and fed and dressed again after a diaper blow out, and got the dog's crate in the car, and her leash and the baby carrier and the diaper bag and the bottle I was going to feed the baby after she woke up from (hopefully) napping in the car on the drive there. I even took out the trash, rinsed the can since the bag had leaked, and managed to grab a gatorade for the drive. I was killing it as a mama this morning. 

The drive itself was good. The baby didn't sleep, but she didn't cry, so that's always a win. The country station played good music and no commercials, and the dog didn't run in place in her crate like she does sometimes when she is bored in the car. We got to the groomer at 7:55, giving us just enough time to walk the dog a bit to help her go to the bathroom before we dropped her off. I turned the car off and fumbled around on the floorboards for my shoes, since I sometimes drive barefoot in the summer. 

But I hadn't brought any shoes. 

After gathering everything so meticulously... I had forgotten shoes. SHOES. Are you kidding me? I hadn't felt tired or compromised up until that moment... but maybe I'm a little more exhausted than I think I am. Shoes. I forgot my own shoes. 

Fortunately, my groomer is amazing and happened to come out just as we got there, and upon learning of my footwear predicament said she would take the puppy on her potty break before taking her in. I believe her exact words, once she was done laughing, were 'well, you're officially a mom now.' 

So there you have it. Proof of my motherhood. I have a puppy with a cute hair cut, an adorable kid, a lack of mental fortitude, and slightly sore feet. I'll take it. 

Adventures in Wildlife (puppies, alpacas and turtles, oh my!)

In addition to being full of boxes and aching muscles, the last couple of weeks have been full of other interesting adjustments. For example, I have an empty drawer in my kitchen. And I am completely unpacked. An empty DRAWER. Isn't that fantastically exciting?

There has been one other notable difference in our lives in the last couple of weeks; a steep increase in critters. I have encountered more wildlife in the last 2 weeks than in the previous 7 years of my time in Oklahoma. Since moving 10 days ago, I have seen:

3 Rabbits (2 of them larger than the cousin puppy)
6 Frogs (if you know me, you know that I am petrified of frogs. So this one is hard for me. I screamed the other day and the smartest can dashing outside thinking I had, as I frequently do, fallen over for no apparent reason. But I had actually been startled by a frog.)
25 Alpacas (that's right- our new neighbors are alpacas)
3 horses
15 cows
2 woodpeckers
1 inexplicably deceased bird
1 bird determined to enter my office via a very closed window
2 neighbor cats
9 spiders (all outdoors)
2 turtles
2 adorable puppies
1 tick (someone remind me to buy some rubbing alcohol for when I meet said tick's extended family)

The puppies are actually responsible for one of the turtle sightings. They decided that they wanted to be friends with something in the yard yesterday morning, which led me to traipse across the yard in my pajamas to see what they were up to:

Turns out, they were having a close encounter of the turtle kind.

As you can imagine, the looks of betrayal when I rescued their new friend were quite adorably priceless.

The turtle, on the other hand, seemed pretty jazzed when I relocated him beyond the fence.

Or maybe not. Its sort of hard to tell with turtles.

Speaking of friends that the puppies have been making, other than each other, they also made friends with the alpacas during our last walk. The younger alpacas love to sprint to the fence, then walk with us as we continue down the road. A couple of them even raced us to the end of the fence line.

After a day of wilderness exploration... the puppies are tired. And I am tired. From all of the shrieking at the frogs, and turtle liberation schemes. They have, however, stayed awake enough to help me make some sense out of the office (that's right- the Papasan chair is BACK!).

Surprise! New House!

You guys know how I said that there was a good reason for my sudden onset of absolutely-zero-blogginess?

There is. We... moved.

We've been pondering moving for awhile now, and had been casually looking at occasional houses for about 6 months or so. We had quite the list of criteria- so much of a list that we actually didn't really think we could find everything we were looking for. A couple of things we really really wanted were:

- A shop or outbuilding for the smartest (preferably with a concrete floor, to decrease likelihood of fire when he... lights things on fire)
- An office and 3 bedrooms. Since we one day may decide to have little humans... one day. In the far. Far. FAR future. And we want family to come and love those little humans. In the far. Far. FAR future.
- Trees
- Space
- A partially fenced yard
- More kitchen space
- A porch

The smartest and I started looking in different towns that are within striking distance of the town we went to college in, and started to toy with the idea of moving somewhere a bit more rural. As it turns out- the culture  differences that I struggle with so much in Oklahoma aren't necessarily Oklahoma related- they are more related to rural vs suburbs. Who knew? Once we opened our search to some additional locations...

... We found the perfect house.

It was bizarre and incredibly fast (but while it was happening... it felt incredibly slow). We still can't believe it. We moved a week ago today (with the help of fabulous friends- thanks guys you are amazing!) and are love love LOVING it here so far. I promise to share many photos- we've already tackled painting 2 rooms so I will give you a little peek of those soon. In the meantime- I will be unpacking with the help of these little imps:

This is What it Looks Like When...

...we have a snowy yard

...a planet (Venus, I think?) sneaks into my sunrise photos

...the puppy and I go walking in the snow

...I attempt to do crafts whilst sitting on the couch

...the puppy thinks a "nose bop" is in order

...someone gives us basketball tickets

...I attempt to use paint for the first time in 5 years

Happy Halloween!

We interrupt your regularly schedule recaps to bring you a very special Halloween message. Over the weekend, the smartest and Cousin K took Mrs. Cousin K and I out to a masquerade ball. That's right. We're living the dream a little bit. It was gloriously fun. Anyone recognize this dress, by the way? It was almost 3 years to the day from when the smartest and I went to dinner at the same place, and he asked me to marry him, so it was fun to walk around the grounds and reminisce. While wearing capes... because who doesn't have a hankering to wear a cape every now and then.

Also over the weekend, the puppy turned 1! We bought her a puppy cookie. And she proceeded to chew on my underpants. I'm pretty sure she thought it was the world's most perfect day.

This is what it looks like when...

Georgie rides in the car with me while the smartest drives

I'm gearing up for creating this season's holiday cards

I've gone to the store and need to use my veggies before they rot

I start marking things off my bucket list

Its shark week and the smartest has to study

There is waking up in the morning followed by curling of the hair

Georgie helps make the bed

Answers to life's great questions: Where do the socks go?

You know how it goes. You put your laundry in the washer. You have 16 socks, an 8 even pairs, and you go on your merry way, content to assume that your socks will be eagerly anticipating removal from the washer, all present and ready to be dried. You gently remove said socks (and probably a bunch of other clothes too, because who just washes 8 socks) and place them in the dryer, content that your socks will soon be toasty warm... and yes, all accounted for.

It isn't until you fold your laundry that you realize something is severely amiss. You fold the 7th pair of socks, only to discover that you have one remaining. One sock. Not one pair. One sock. Just one.

I have long wondered where these socks disappear to. Today, I caught the culprit red handed:

Ta-dah. This little munchkin is probably sneaking into your house and stealing your socks. Maybe no. She isn't very good at sneaking. Something about a lack of thumbs.

Pup-Date: Graduated!

It's been awhile since I nauseated everyone with a gushing review of the puppy's life, hasn't it? If you aren't really in the mood for puppy-gushing... I would recommend you go and read Young House Love's travel tips instead of reading any further. If you ARE in the mood to know what the puppy is up to- the wait is over!

We graduated from puppy class on Monday night. We had to demonstrate "watch me", "sit", "down", "leave it" "stay" and "shake". We also threw in "wave" and "high five", just for fun. She did SO good- usually stay is pretty hard for her, but she completely nailed it. After we finished our little course, we received a certificate and took photos with the tiniest graduation hat I have ever seen.

The puppy loves to be in the kitchen with me (possibly because I feed her vegetables whenever I am cutting them up for dinner). Usually the scene looks something like this:

I bought her a bunny that is roughly her size in the after easter sale. She loves to wrestle with it and drag it from room to room.

She still occasionally wants to sleep on my lap while I work. Mostly she is fine to sleep on the floor- but some days she really wants lap time. Which is one sure way to make sure I get nothing done, because all I want to do is pet her.

She also gets to go with us more places now that she has some leash etiquette- and she is quite the little conversation starter. Everyone wants to say hello to her, basically always.

We visit the groomer once every month or so. The groomer usually puts a bow in her hair, which I have divided feelings about, depending on the day. Almost always I take it out within the first 3 hours of her being home- because she is un-threatening enough without sporting a bow on top of her head.

She lost her first tooth on Monday. It was appropriately alarming. I pretended it was perfectly normal. Also- she says "hi".

3 things

1). We have been going to puppy school on Monday nights for the last couple weeks. We are officially "those people"- the ones with the puppy that tries to play with but actually annoys all of the other dogs. Also- she has started sitting on the arm of our big chair... like a cat. So essentially we have a very cute, fluffy, overly outgoing cat-dog living in our house. And we love it.

2). I made oatmeal with blackberries, strawberries and bananas last night to go with our loaded scrambled eggs. It was surprisingly tasty. I did, however, have to google "how do you cook oatmeal", because I have never made anything other than the pre-packaged instant.

3). I put some baby vows in the shop last week. I think there is something really sweet about making promises to your kids the way you make promises to your spouse.

As the Puppy Grows

I was shooting for a really hokey soap opera title for this post, but I just couldn't choose between the horridness that is "as the puppy grows" and "the days of our puppy". I suppose the fact they are both tortured puns that don't make much sense should have indicated to me that neither was a good option, and I should have called it something else. Alas- we live and we learn.

Speaking of living and learning- did you know that the puppy is nearly 5 months old? She was laying in my lap while I was working on my failed fox illustration yesterday, and she was SO long. So long, actually, that I had to turn my legs sideways so I didn't smush her face into my drawers. The lack of smushing and leg turning let me to sort through all of our old puppy photos, to see exactly how much she has grown in the last couple months. Here's a little timeline for you:

In other news... the puppy can jump off the couch by herself, jump on the couch 1/3 times... and is pretty well potty trained. Yay. So much yay.

Meanwhile, at our house

Recently, most evenings look like this:

My couch is home to the smartest, studying, and the puppy, distracting. During the days, however, I have the organization bug and am doing things like organizing the office, and cleaning out all of my closets:

Before:

After: