Sunday Evening

Yeah, Todd, winner of Survivor! I liked him, Denise, and I loved James. I'm glad Todd won.

I haven't had a lot to blog about lately. We've been plugging away at school. Thomas has continued his study of Africa with gusto. We've been getting our "core
5" done on a daily basis. For us, this has just been the year of the dog.

Friday night Jerry had a very bad night. He lost the shine in his eyes, his breathing was extremely labored and we thought he was in pain. We had a family talk and decided to call the vet on Monday morning. Gulp. Well, he has rebounded. Saturday was better and today he was his normal self. Shine was back in his eyes, tail wagging, and he bounded up and down the stairs several times.

The time is nearing, though. I feel it. Bob feels it. Thomas is in denial. Hard for a 12 year old kid -- hard for anyone, but harder for a kid.

I don't want Jer to suffer, and Friday night I felt that he was. So we'll keep a very close watch.

Apollo is doing wonderful! He is such a joy and brings us so much hope and happiness. He learned to roll over in a matter of minutes. He is just as smart as a whip.

I'm excited for Tesla to come, but with Christmas, it takes my focus away from that time waiting. I ordered a bunch of little stuff online Saturday and hope it comes in time. I went to Wal-mart all by myself, too. Wal-mart is this bored housewife's favorite place to go on a Saturday night.

Tomorrow we're going to drop down to two subjects daily: Math and whatever Thomas chooses. He's working the Key To Fractions book right now and I have requested three pages a day. He begged for two with another subject thrown in. I'm mean, I said no. He hates math worse than I hate paying bills.

Our breeder hooked Thomas up with a young man from Italy who is also getting a border collie. They've been emailing back and forth. His English is very good. He's older, 16, but very friendly. It's a small world, and very exciting to have a new e-penpal. This boy's mom is on an agility world team, and they have four dogs. So perhaps he'll give Thomas some doggie tips.

I have been busy preparing for Tesla. Getting two puppies at the same time is never advisable. Ever. lol We had a long talk with the breeder, I asked lots of questions, as did she, and we determined we could make it work and work well.

The trick is to keep the pups separated. They won't eat together, they won't sleep together, walk together, train together and they won't be together. Well, for about 90% of the time. Thus, we'll probably have puppy playtime for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening. This will go on until they're about five months old. They then can be together more frequently.

The reason to do this is so that they bond with their humans, not each other. There will be plenty of time for them to bond together. They need to know that humans are the best thing on the planet.

We have purchased two ex-pens. I call them puppy playpens. One is in our living room, and the other, when it gets here, will be in our basement. Our pups are also crate trained. We have a wonderful breeder who actually trains them before they leave her home. So they've been used to being in a crate since 6 weeks old working up to four hours in the evenings by 9 weeks. Apollo is wonderful in his crate and always has been.

This will be a lot of work, time consuming, and hard, but lots of fun, too. I am so excited for Tesla to come because I have really held myself back from Apollo so his bond would be strong with Thomas. It is.

This week we will start our holiday baking. Snickerdoodles, chocolate dipped peanut butter balls (taste like Reeses), fudge, and chocolate chip bar cookies. Lots of 'em. I'll need to start my diet ASAP, I fear.

We're also going to try a real gingerbread house. I saved candy all year for that.

And that's my life in a nutshell on a Sunday night.