I love the passing of time

One of them (the black one with the brown paws) was ill for the first few days. On the first day, we thought she was just carsick. On the second day, we figured it was just her still settling down. Then, on the third day, when Shari came to give them their shots, we told her about the vomitting after meals & she decided to isolate her. She took her home, gave her something to settle her stomach & says she’s doing much better on her own.

Now, we’re down to seven. And, they are still as cute as can be. Healthy, furry, warm. Just adorable when they sleep all cuddled up in their puppy pile. And, so fun to watch them frolicking with Charlie out in the snow, as he herds them & plays with his little friends, who seem to look up to him like a hero.

But, they also all like to play ‘the ear biting game’, where they wrestle each other down & the first to bite the other’s ear in a yelping-painful way, is the winner. It’s not fun to watch. I know that puppies have to play these kind of games, to find their place in the pack, to learn how to be dogs, but I still don’t like it.

And, this morning, it got more aggressive, with one of them biting the other’s scruff & not letting go - while another started pulling on the leg of the puppy that was down. Jim & I couldn’t figure out how to separate them, how to stop the fight. The one that was down, was crying in pain. We pushed them outside & Charlie, barking, went with. And, Charlie broke it up.

We put the aggressor in time-out, down in the puppy pen. He’s just settled down, now - after crying for 15-30 minutes. We cleaned up & cuddled the one that got attacked. And, now, I’m sitting here, working from home today & being overly cautious, jumping up & going to the kitchen to break up any puppy fights that sound like they’re getting out of hand.

I’ll have to get the big guy out of time-out, soon. I’m pretty sure that isolating him isn’t going to teach him to be nice. I think, instead, it’s going to take some intensive cuddling & touch to turn him around. No time this morning, though - I’ve got work to do. But, maybe this afternoon.

More thoughts on my ride *home* from work yesterday…

It’s almost like I’m trying to balance out all of the good things before karma can get in & give me a whammy that’s out of my control. So, I’m surrounded by all of this awesome, beautiful wonderfulness & thinking “Whoa, all of this good is way more than I deserve, karmically - something bad’s got to be coming, to balance it all out, to make me ‘pay back’ into the balance of things”. So, by choosing the ‘hard things’ that we have in our lives, I kind of get to avoid some kind of karmic ‘balloon payment’ showing up when I least expect it

And, I don’t think I’m doing any of this consciously. Well, at least, not until now, when I noticed it, anyway.

We’re doing a lot for other people (and animals) these days. And, we really do enjoy it. It makes us feel good, useful. It’s fun working past the challenges together. And, we really wouldn’t want to do things any other way. We take it all on joyously, with a sense of humor & love, and no real expectation of anything in return.

We’re fostering puppies, loaning money, keeping kids while mom is in hospital, taking care of their dog, babysitting every day & not expecting to be paid, PTO & scout volunteering, driving people where needed, etc.

But, with Shelby struggling a bit in school, we’ve been daydreaming about putting him in a Montessori school (which, right now, we can’t afford). And, part of me says, “Hey, we’ve been doing so much - isn’t it about time that karma kicked in & we won a lottery or something?”

But, on the drive in to work this morning, which is optimum thinking time for me (second only to when I’m taking a shower), it hit me. Karma already has kicked in. In fact, it’s almost like all of this ‘doing’ is paying back for some big karmic wins that I’ve already taken advantage of.

I have the most wonderful, thoughtful, intelligent, clever, happy, healthy children in the world. I have an awesome man that I look forward to spending the rest of my life with. I have a roof over my head & food in my kitchen, that, with a little bit of creative thinking, we will continue to have. I have a bunch of goofy pets, nice friends, a big family filled with love.

And, we have enough to share our time, energy, money & space with others in need.

Still… I wouldn’t turn down a lottery win, if it came my way

The original litter of 8 plus mom that we were supposed to get today were delayed by an ice storm in their area.

So, we ended up with a different litter of 8 (but no mom) who were able to get through last night.

As usual - they are adorable & the kids are having a great time with them!

They’re getting their 2nd shots on Monday (or so) & then we’ll have them for about a week afterwards before Mrs Casey comes by to bring them to her house, so that she can bring them to adoption fairs & have them ready to go for potential adopters.

Here are a couple pics - more are here http://public.fotki.com/gazoogle/2008-february/2008-02-22/page4.html
(the first set of puppy pics in that album, the black & white ones, are from the first litter we had - last I’d heard, two had found homes & the other two, the smooth black & white spotted ones, were still waiting)

Well, they called & are going to comp the repair, although I did have to listen to a condescending lecture from their customer service rep, telling me that I needed to take better care of my things.

It was nice that they are paying for the repair, though. And, I have certainly learned from the lecture & the experience that the very expensive Wii is not sturdy enough to handle even the smallest amount of normal wear & tear.

After months of looking for a Wii in a store, we finally got one today at noon. We brought it home, waited for the kids to come home from school & then let them play. They played Wii Sports for a long time. Then, they decided to try their copy of Zelda for the GameCube. Once we figured out how to connect the game controller, they started playing. But, in their excitement, they pulled on the controller cord, dropping the Wii about 3 feet from the top of the TV to the carpeted floor. The game had turned off during the fall, but I turned it back on & the game worked just fine. They played that for a while, then took the disc out & put Wii Sports back in.

That’s when we got the ‘unable to read disc’ error.

We tried cleaning it. Same problem.

We tried putting a different GameCube game in. Same problem.

So, I went to the website, followed troubleshooting instructions there & ended up calling the 800 number for support.

After explaining the problem to the man on the other end, he told me that, since we dropped it, it was not covered under warranty & would cost us $67 to get repaired.

We had just paid $267 for it less than 5 hours earlier. After waiting months to find one in a store.

He took pity on me & lowered the price to $50, as my 6yo, who had been the one who pulled the controller, was crying in the background, feeling so guilty about breaking such an expensive thing (yes, to us & to many people, $267 is expensive - not to mention $317 when you add in the repair).

What I’m not happy with is the fact that, had I lied & said that it was broken when we got it out of the box a few hours earlier, the repair would have been free.

And, I’m also not happy that this expensive item isn’t able to withstand normal jostling. Really, it wasn’t much of a fall. And, I’ve seen people carrying their Wii’s around, moving them from house to house, popping them down & not having any problem at all.

Are they just getting lucky? Or, is our brand new, barely used Wii touchier than it should be.

And, yes, I’m disappointed in the whole experience.