Working Dogs

Today our Sunday School was visited by a local Search & Rescue Team. While the lady and gentleman were doing the vocal portion of the presentation, the two dogs and handlers waited outside. In the misting rain. (Wet Dog. Ick.) The dogs seemed to enjoy greeting the parishioners as they arrived and most people stopped to pet them. We were cautioned that the Smart Working Dog had a low tolerance for children, whereas Stupid Love Pig liked nothing better than being petted all day.

I was amused to see that Stupid Love Pig turned out to be a Yellow Lab. Most Labradors I have known are either Smart-as-a-Whip or Dumb-as-a-Doorknob. SLP was as sweet as could be and circulated the room so everyone that wanted to could pet him. The lady with the team assured us he really was stupid and it wasn't a nickname.

Smart Working Dog had to be part Collie. As soon as she looked at me, I was reminded of Lady*, my childhood dog. SWD had a beautiful set of white markings on her nose, chin, and throat. She walked over to me a few times, perhaps because I was a calm adult in a room full of squirmy children. She didn't mind the children coming to her individually to pet her, but she finally had enough and barked once at my daughter, Middlest. The handlers interpreted that as "I've had enough, now take me outside!"

*(Lady was a ginger colored 75% Collie/25% Shepherd. My family got Lady when I was eight months old and we grew up together. That's a whole set of stories in and of itself.)

We bid farewell to the dogs. The children left for church. The room reeked of Wet Dog. The floor had somehow become covered in Yellow Lab fur. I ran for the Lysol and the Sunday School teacher went for the vacuum. I had Nursery duty (again), so when I finally got into the Nursery I set the heating system fan to ON.

The school teacher that we share the room with for Sunday School arrived. She had no clue that dogs had been in her classroom for almost an hour. "I don't smell a thing," she reported, "but I am wearing a strong perfume." I was so relieved. The last thing we needed was for her room to smell of Wet Dog... on Open House day.

Working for pennies

When you have small children, you can con, I mean, get them to work for mere pennies.

I've just taken a small break to pay Middlest 13 cents for folding wash cloths. I smiled at her as I counted out only 12. She plopped into the floor and said, "Let me count these..." I dropped another penny in her lap and she smiled up at me. "I have 13 pennies. Thanks, Mom."

Youngest was folding cloth napkins. I would hand him three napkins from the clean laundry basket. He raced into the other room, folded them, put them away, then returned to me with his Piggy Bank in hand. He was working really cheap: two cents for every three napkins. Then it got old and his attention wandered. I guess a dozen napkins folded is all I can expect from a Four Year Old in one morning.

Oldest is currently upstairs making her bed. We are doing a medium cleaning this Saturday. Pillows are being frozen in the chest freezer for about two hours. I was told by my D.O. that this should kill the dust mites, although she admitted she didn't remember the recommended time for freezing your pillows. Washing the pillows isn't so hard; it's the drying them later that is annoying. Last month I washed and dried my pillows. One I had dried for over two hours. I finally said, "It's dry enough." On went the pillow case and I dropped it on the bed. When I finally got to go to bed that night, the pillow underside was damp. Ick. I tossed it off the bed, admitted my defeat, and crawled under the covers.

Our allergies aren't too bad, but then no one really wants a drippy nose. Ever. I have a better handle on my Mystery Allergy since my consultations with the allergist. Acting on his suggestions should help the whole house to be more healthy. Here's hoping for an allergy free Spring. Of course, a good hard cold snap would do wonders for killing molds and cutting the pollen levels, but watch while I don't hold my breath.

I'm off to check the washer again.

I'm ready to start pulling hair out!

Oh, don't you just LOVE modern technology? See the sarcasim dripping off your monitor now?

I've just spent the better part of the last two hours attempting to get this blog set up. I have nasty words to say to techno-geeks right now. Had it not been for the lovely BrownHairedPookie talking to me via YIM, I would have given up. Pookie was a calming distraction. Thank you, Pookie.

This is just yet another example of how GOD puts us together. Pookie needed to vent. I needed to vent. We vented at each other about our respective issues, then she went off to draw and I to write.

A "start"

I'm trying to transition over to the newer version. The process wants me to carry a blog title that, well, I have fallen out of love with. How's that? Now there's something in the new blog and I can reject the old blog.

Nothing is EVER simple for me. "Always interesting" should be my motto.