Puppy!

Yes, we finally have a puppy! We brought her home yesterday afternoon. Her "people Mommy" had a hard time letting her go. I can see why. She is a sweet, cuddly little girl. While we were talking, little Dharma fell sleep in Derek's lap. She slept in my lap on the way home in the car, once she decided she was safe and that the car was SUPPOSED to move like that.

Trusting little Dharma.

We had a hard time convincing her it was safe to go to the bathroom in the backyard. It was windy and there are two big, loud dogs on the other side of the fence. Dharma is a girl, and she is in heat. Yes, she is a little on the young side for that, but not too young. And one or two of the older females at her house were also in heat, so maybe she was influenced by that. So we have to keep her away from any male dogs.

Dharma, NOT going potty.

You saw the things we bought for her in the previous post. She was also sent home with a baby blanket, a ball, her favorite toy, some food, and lots of instructions. Aside from her actual food, she gets all kinds of healthy stuff: Fish oil, garlic, vitamins, chlorophyll. No wonder she has such a pretty coat, she eats better than we do! She also had a bath and a pedicure before she came home with us, so she looks extra shiny.

She is very curious and inquisitive. Everything must be sniffed thoroughly. She stops in her tracks to check out each bit of fuzz on the carpet. Maybe she aspires to be a customs agent? No contraband sausage would make it past her! She is a little jumpy if we move too quickly or make a strange noise (the cell phone is DEFINITELY a strange noise!) On the other hand, she is eager to run to us to play or cuddle. When it thundered today she wanted to be in Derek's arms, where she knew it was safe.

The experts say you should praise your doggie if she goes to the bathroom in an appropriate spot. She didn't go AT ALL yesterday, so when she finally did today we were more than happy to praise her like crazy. She hasn't had any accidents, either, partially because Derek was very attentive and rushed her outside. Good Derek! Good boy!

Derek, trying to determine if she is "going."

She didn't even whine at night. She is used to sleeping alone in her own little pen. She whined once or twice, but then she quieted down. As long as she could see us, she was okay. We were so happy when she went to sleep!

Yes, we are some of those crazy people who are going to let our dog get up on the couch. She liked Derek's flannel blanket.

A sleepy puppy!

We will try to teach her not to jump on people, but that is still a work in progress. You have been warned!

Dharma helps Emilie blog.

Puppy news

Today, Derek and I picked out our puppy. We didn't bring her home yet, partially because we didn't have all the stuff we needed and partially because her mommy (that is, her owner) wasn't ready to let her go quite yet. Her name is Dharma, as in the tv show "Dharma and Greg." It is an apt name, she is very mellow and meditative. She is a chocolate-colored mini dachshund. There are tons of cute doggie pictures on this page. You can find some puppies that look like her under "chocolate and tan." You might also like to look at the cream dachshunds. They look blond, and are quite rare. Of course, they are all cute.

Little Dharma weighs maybe 9 pounds right now. She is ten months old, so she will get only a little bit bigger. We don't have any pictures, because we were too busy playing with her and cuddling her to take any! She is very cuddly and affectionate. She isn't shy at all. I hope she grows up to be a bit like my parents' dog, Holly. Holly loves everyone, even the mail lady! This is Holly at Christmas time:

We paid half of the price as a down payment. We will pick up and bring Dharma home sometime next weekend. Yes, we better kiss our pretty carpet goodbye. We already bought the latest in doggie potty products: pee-pee pads. Yes, they are sort of like newspaper for you doggie to "go" on, but they are new and improved: they are scented to attract your dog-in-need-of-relief and they are super-absorbent. I am not clear why you need to buy these, but we'll see if they help. Dharma is already crate-trained. That means she knows not to go in her little "house." Assuming you let her out frequently enough, remember she is just a puppy. So she's not really house broken, we will have to work on that.

We bought lots of nice doggy things. The need almost as many acoutrements as a human baby!

Today we bought:

a plastic travel crate, which will also serve as her little "den"

a sort of play-pen for doggies, which will keep her from running all over the house when we're gone

two little dishes (dishwasher safe!)

a teddy bear with a buckwheat insert, which can be warmed in the microwave

a little soft furry bone (she had one of these when we visited, and she really liked it, she even brought it over to share with Derek)

a pink tennis ball

a little squeaky ball

a hot pink collar, a very small one. She's not used to wearing a collar, so we made sure to pick a very soft one

a matching leash

a frequent-buyer card for the pet store

We still need to get her food, treats, and vitamins. We want to give her the same thing she is used to. I think moving to a new home and being away from her mommy and siblings is more than enough change all at once! I also want to get her a chew toy, but we plan to look at the other huge pet store. We talked about getting her a sweater or a sweatshirt. The ones we saw at PetSmart cost as much as my sweaters. More, actually. I wonder if a teddy bear sweater would fit? There is a store here at the mall in Bloomington that lets you stuff your own teddy bears, and then they sell you very cute but expensive clothes for them. Like tiny IU tees. Too cute! It is called the Build a Bear Workshop.

Dharma will sleep in our room, but she will have her own little bed. She won't sleep with us for several reasons: 1. Derek says no. 2. I worry we might roll over on her, she is so tiny. 3. Letting a dog sleep in your bed can make them think they are the boss or "top dog," not you. Dachshunds especially have trouble understanding that you are the master, they are the pet, not the other way around. 4. Our bed is so high off the floor, she might get hurt if she tried to jump out. I bet you can guess which reason is the REAL reason. As a compromise, we plan to let her up on the couch, so we can cuddle her.

Just in case we haven't already spent enough money, we need to get a fence put in our back yard. There is a fence on one side and we plan to "share" a fence with our neighbor on the other side. Hopefully that will save money. At the moment, the ground is covered in about two inches of ice. When it melts, it will be a swamp. I wonder how fast they could put a fence in, if we pay extra for mud removal?

I am really looking forward to walking our little dog around the neighborhood, so she can meet our neighbors and their dogs. It is very important for a puppy to get used to all kinds of people and places when she is little, so she isn't too nervous in new situations. We hope to have a meet-the-puppy party after she has been with us for a month or so. That way she can meet lots of people and get used to having company. Yeah, puppy party!

The money pit

Actually, I think that a house is more of a money vacuum, really.  Things just fall into a pit, but they get sucked up by a vacuum.  I am very much a list-making type of person, and here are a few lists to illustrate my point.  

First, a list of things we have bought to appease the Lares of our new house:

a welcome mat

special picture-hanging devices

a big mirror for the entryway ("foyer" is far too grand for this little space)

frames to match the mirror

a big bookcase

two smaller bookcases

a plant stand

a sage green tablecloth for an end table

a breakfast table and four chairs

a china cabinet (okay, my mom and grandmother paid for it, but it was definitely a sacrifice to the new house gods)

tablecloths to fit the new table

tablecloths to match the dishes to go in the china cabinet

a big new bed

sheets for the bigger bed

bedskirt for the bigger bed (from my mother-in-law)

curtains for the master bedroom (of course, none of the curtains we already had would fit)

curtains for the master bath

pink rug for the master bath

hand-crochet rug for the master bath

pink dishes and jars for the master bath

blue bowls and boxes for the guest bath

blue towels for the guest bath

blue soap dispenser for the guest bath

pillows for the guest bed

decorative but useless pillows to go on top of the real pillows for the guest bed

magazine basket

wood for the new fireplace

fake logs for the new fireplace

extra fire extinguisher to put right beside the new fireplace

carbon monoxide detector, so we don't kill ourselves when we try to use the fireplace

outdoor broom

snow shovel

hose (which we have never actually gotten to use)

water-gun type attachment for watering plants with hose

extra fire extinguisher for new garage

flowers and vases for the new house (I think the spirits of the house especially like offerings of flowers)

mulch for dead tree out front

topsoil for dead tree out front

stakes for dead tree out front (I think dead trees look much nicer standing up than falling over, don't you?)

cover for grill (which we have also never used at our new house.)

flower and herb seeds for spring, if it ever gets here

tulip bulbs (which didn't get planted before the group froze)

spade for planting bulbs

wreath for front door

grab bars for both showers

Things we still need to get:  (or just want)

curtains for living room (we need these before summer, since the living room has big south-facing windows)

curtains for ugly sliding-glass doors in breakfast room (I hate sliding-glass doors.  I wish I had sprung for the cute little French doors.  Even if the swing of the doors would take have taken up half of the room.)

little stick for opening and closing curtains 

boot-scraper for front door (preferably before the spring rains hit)

flame-resistant hearth rug (I think it is much better to burn tiny holes in your hearth rug than to burn tiny holes in your living room carpet, don't you?)

area rug to go under dining room table, preferably before someone spills red wine on the carpet

grab bars for very deep tub (I just know someday I will find myself saying "oops...yikes...splash!)

window covering for guest room (I bet if anyone stays here, they will expect a curtain on the bedroom window, won't they?)  It might be easier to find this if I could decide how to decorate the guest room.  Maybe peach and black with Japanese accents.  That seems to be the theme of the objects that have already migrated there.  

bamboo rolled blinds for the office.  The office faces the street and I feel like people can see me goofing off when I should be working in there.  (Derek would say the obvious solution isn't curtains, but rather to stop goofing off!)

recycling bins.  I feel a bit overwhelmed by this prospect.  All we've been recycling so far is paper and cardboard.  And I take ink cartridges to work.  But the other stuff is much more complicated.  I think I need 6 containers for all of it.  And the necessary categories vary depending on where I decide to take it.  Should newspaper be segregated from white paper?  Can post-it notes be recycled?  Does it really save the planet to use gallons of water to get glue off of a tiny jam jar?

tiny bench for entryway--it must be big enough to sit on to remove boots, but small enough that people can still go in and out.  There may not be such a bench in the known universe.

cheap but not too ugly and also washable rug for the entryway.  Again, this object may be imaginary.

a new light fixture for the breakfast room.  This one is certainly a want, not a need, but the light fixture is seriously ugly.  It looks like it should be in a 1980's fern bar.  That is not a compliment.  It might be at home over a pool table.  It needs to go.  I have tried to talk myself into covering it with a fabric shade, but I fear that solution would present a fire hazard.  Did I mention it is also a very inefficient light source?  And ugly.  Did I mention it isn't very attractive?

A life.  Yep, need to pick up one of those at CVS right away.