Smart Business Move or Just Mean?

I saw this a few weeks ago:

Yes, that is a Weight Watchers located right next door to a Lane Bryant.

I have to wonder which store came first, and what the board meeting looked like when the second company announced it's location.  I imagine the Weight Watchers crew laughing cruelly as they rub their hands together, thinking of all the business they'll gain.

Do you think one of them is loosing business to the other?  I have to imagine it mostly goes in favor of Weight Watchers.  But maybe not.  Maybe some woman is walking out of a Weight Watchers meeting thinking how very hard it is to loose weight, and then sees cute, fashionable clothes in the windows of Lane Bryant and says, "Screw it, I can dress cutely without losing weight!"

(Yes, NaBloPoMo is kicking my butt and it is only day 5.  I don't want to talk about it.)

Seriously, why is this so hard?

We have had our new puppy for about a week, and she still has no name.  We have gone through about half a dozen names, but none feel right.  Don't ask me why this is such a big deal, but it is.  Part of the problem is that Jason and I have a hard time agreeing on names for anything - naming our children was an epic, 4 month battle.  Harriette wasn't named until two hours after she was born!

The other problem is that we (and I mostly mean me) are perfectionists.  We (I) have all this criteria that the name should meet:

1.  It shouldn't be masculine, but also shouldn't be fluffy and cute.  Our last dog, Jager, was a girl dog, but with a very masculine name, and it was therefore always assumed that she was a boy dog.  I'm trying to avoid that this go around, but so many names we like are pretty masculine. 

2.  I'm not a huge fan of human names for dogs, with a few exceptions.

3.  The name should have some kind of significance - this could be related to the dog (breed, country of origin, color, personality) or to us (places, times, events).  

4.  For training purposes, it should be 1 or 2 syllables.  This is one that derailed our most recent attempt at naming. 

5.  It should just "feel right".  This is, of course, the hardest to qualify and to achieve, apparently. 

Here are the names we have tried on for size:

1. Durbin (as in the city in South Africa).  This is significant because 1) I did my study abroad program there while in college, and 2) the Rhodesian Ridgeback breed originates in Southern Africa.

2.  Indigo - Indie for short.  This name has no significance, we just thought it sounded cool

3.  Unami.  This was the name of a camp group at Trail Blazers, where I worked for several years, Jason worked for a few years, and where we got engaged.

4. Vesper.  Specifically, we got engaged in a part of camp called Vesper Glen.

5. Ditto.  Ok, this one is kind of dorky.  This dog reminds us so very much of Jager, it is as if she is a repeat, but not exactly the same, as Jager. 

Unami stuck the longest, but it is three syllables, and can't really be shortened in a way that makes sense.  Some of the others are leaning toward masculine.  

For the record, Cyrus would really like for us to name the dog King Benjamin.  That's probably not going to happen.

So.  Anyone have any thoughts?  Suggestions? Opinions?  We have started obedience training, so I really need to get this name thing solidified.  A few notes about the dog:

Rhodesian Ridgebacks originated in Southern Africa.  

They were bred to hunt lions. (I'm not kidding).

She has a lovely ridge down her back.

She will be about 80 lbs when full grown.

She will be an extremely powerful, fast animal (remember, she has to be able to stand up to lions).

And...Go!

Halloween 2012

Halloween has never been my favorite holiday.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Halloween, but I am not one of those people who chooses my costume months in advance, keeps it a secret, and spends hour toiling over it, waiting for the moment of big reveal.  I don't think I've dressed up for Halloween since Junior High School.  However, Halloween with kids is a whole different ball game, so to speak. And I think it's becoming one of my favorites.  We took Cyrus trick-or-treating last year, at just over 2 years old, and while he had a good time, he only made it about 10 house before pooping out, and I don't think he fully grasped what was happening.  This year, on the other hand, the kid had a blast!

Full disclosure  I am not a homemade Halloween costume kind of girl.  I kind of wish I was, because I love the idea of it, I just know that I have too many other things on my plate to make room for that.  Cyrus initially wanted to be a pirate for Halloween, but after a trip to the Fresno Bulldogs team store where he spotted a full kids football uniform, he quickly switched costume allegiance.  As a side note, the kid wore his football costume every day for a week straight!

Jason wanted to dress Harriette up as Cy's football, but the poor girl already gets mistaken for a boy at every turn, so I thought maybe something a little more girly was in store (not that she knows the difference, but still).  We had a few hand-me-down costumes to choose from, and finally settled on this cute little pink butterfly costume.  Actually, Cyrus chose it for her.  He has had a strange affinity for it every since we got it, and has tried to squeeze into several times.  Fortunately, he didn't feel too possessive over it, and instead wanted to see his little sister wear it.

We set off for trick-or-treating at around 6pm, just as it was starting to get dark.  We were the first trick-or-treaters at several homes before the crowds increased.  Before the first house, we thought Cy should have a little re-fresher on the process.  The conversation went like this:

Jason: Ok Cy, when you know on the door, and the person answers, what do you say?
Cyrus: How do you do?
Jason: Uh, yes, that would be nice, but this is Halloween so you say "Trick or Treat".  Here, let's practice.  Knock on this garbage can.
(Cyrus knocks on the garbage can, and Jason pretends to open a door, at which point Cy turns away from Jason and looks around obliviously)
Jason: Ok Cy, I'm opening the door, what do you say?
Cyrus: What door?  There's no door here dad!

So, apparently we need to work on the pretend play a bit...

Fortunately, once he got started he had no problem saying "Trick-or-Treat", "Happy Halloween" and of course "Thank you".

Since Hattie isn't walking yet, she was just along for the ride and didn't have her own bucket.  However, about half of the houses we went to insisted on giving Cyrus a second handful of candy for his sister.  He owes her big time!

We were actually out for over an hour, and check out the haul this kid made!

 My favorite part of the evening was when Cy got a dum dum at the one of the houses and his face lit up like Christmas morning.  As we left the house, he grabbed the sucker, turned to me, and said "Look mom, this is the thing that I love the most!"  People could save a lot of money on Cyrus as a trick-or-treater!

And, since I never got around to posting pictures from last year, here is a cute one of Cookie Monster with his chocolate chip cookie.

Our Newest Addition

When we had to have our dog Jager put to sleep a month ago, Jason and I initially agreed that while we would probably get another dog, it would probably not be for quite a while.  We also agreed that a smaller dog (Jager was around 80 pounds) would be more practical - not a little yipper, mind you, but a good solid, medium sized dog.  

Within a week, we were talking about what an amazing dog Jager was, and how good Rhodesian Ridgebacks are with kids, and how everything we loved about her personality was characteristic of the Ridgeback, and, well, maybe an 80 pound dog wouldn't be so bad.  But we were still waiting until after Christmas.

A week after that, Jason started saying that he really wanted another dog.  He really missed Jager, and maybe we should just see what was out there.  

So I caved, and we started looking for a dog.  

Once we realized that we wanted a Rhodesian Ridgeback, we figured we had two options: a Ridgeback rescue, or a breeder.  Almost all of the dogs at the rescues either had severe medical issues, or were well on their way to the end of their lives, neither of which was really what we wanted at this point in our lives.  We also decided that with two small children, our best bet was to get a young puppy and raise her with our kids so that she would have no issues being around small children.  Jager was a rescue dog, but we got pretty lucky with her, and with kids, I just wasn't willing to gamble.

That left breeders.  I always vowed I would never get a dog from a breeder, because for one, I am cheap! Spending that kind of money on anything, let alone a dog, was beyond my understanding.  However, I realized that what I was paying for in getting a dog from a reputable breeder was the closest thing to a guarantee as is possible with a living creature that we would get the kind of dog we wanted.  After several hours on the internet I had found a handful of breeders in the state of California, though none closer than a three hour drive. I emailed a few of them about their upcoming litters and inquired about price and process.  One of the breeders wrote back that she had a friend with puppies ready to go home right then who lived in my area.  

Two days later we were making the very reasonable 30 minute drive to check out the puppies, and two weeks after that ("which was just this past Sunday) we made the drive again to bring home our newest family member.

She is 12 weeks old and already weighs 26 pounds!  In case you are wondering, that is more than Harriette and only slightly less than Cyrus.   She is still in the sleeping several hours a day phase, which is good, because when she isn't sleeping she is a bundle of boundless energy!  Her favorite activities are chasing Cyrus around the couch, biting anything she can get her teeth on (including my pants leg, the kid's toys, wooden stools, etc), and chasing Cyrus on his bike outside.  (The energy of a three year old does wonders for wearing out a new puppy!)

What she doesn't have, though, is an official name.  We've been tossing several around for the past five days, and one has been used consistently for the last two days, but not all family members are in full agreement.  So for now, she is simply our new puppy, and we love her!

 

I'm going to NaBloPoMo in an attempt to revive this sad excuse for a blog

It has been almost one year exactly since my last post.  At that posting rate, why even bother having a blog? I'll confess, I have thought about trashing it several times, but I'm super low tech, and I use my blog to click to my friend's blogs.  I haven't figure out that new-fangled google reader thing yet.

I was considering starting a new blog so that I could emotionally move on without having to see my bleak  meager archives, but then I realized that my nine faithful followers may not be able to find me, and wouldn't that be sad. (That is of course provided that you haven't given up on me all together). 

When I saw on Bridget's blog (which you should totally read, by the way, because it an amazing example of what a blog should be) that NaBloPoMo was upon us (that is, National Blog Posting Month, wherein you post each day for the month of November) I thought maybe I should take the opportunity to get back in the swing of blogging. 

So here we are.  In the year since I last posted, we have had several significant changes in our family.  In fact, if I wanted to cheat, I could probably fill the whole month with posts about those events.  While a few of them definitely deserve their own posts, and will probably get them, I figured I would start the month out with a brief synopsis to get everyone up to speed.  Otherwise, my posts from here on out won't make a lot of sense.  So here we go:

I last posted on November 6th, 2011, a month after Hattie was born.  In December, Jason and I went on a once in a lifetime (though I hope that isn't literal) trip to the Bahamas, courtesy of his company.  We left the kids, yes both of them, in the capable hands of my mother-in-law for 5 glorious days of sunshine, luxury, water parks, dolphins, and general relaxation.  It was incredible!

Jason and I with a dolphin in the Bahamas

In February, Jason got a new position within his company that suddenly required him to travel 2-4 weeks out of every month.  It was a little rough there for a while, especially since he traveled every week in the month of March.  

A lot of his travel required him to drive long distances, and our 2002 Saturn just wasn't up to the job, so we "traded it in" for a brand new, 2012 Kia Optima Hybrid.  It is awesome!

I was called as the Girl's Camp Director for my ward, so in July I left the kids yet again with my mother-in-law (she's basically my hero) and got to relive camp for a few days.  

In August, Jason was offered yet another new position that required us to move to Fresno, California.  It was  a whirlwind move, with less than three weeks from the time he was offered the position to the time we were in our new home in Fresno.  It has been a bit of an adjustment for the whole family, but the move allowed us to rent a home with plenty of space for our family, including a garage and a backyard.

The view of our living room from the top of the stairs.

Two weeks after we moved, we had to put our beloved Jager down.  Our sweet dog of almost 9 years got cancer in her shoulder and the pain became so severe that, on her last day, she just lay and whimpered. It was heartbreaking, and her death left a hole in our family. 

Jager

OK, that about does it!  We are now brought current enough that I can write things without having to give a complete back story!  Wish me luck on my endeavor!

Harriette Grace Wells

No, I didn't set a world record as the first woman to go 6 weeks past her due date...I'm just crappy at updating my blog, and having two kids is kicking my butt!  However, our beautiful little girl did finally make her appearance on October 4th, 2011, at 4:37am, weighing in at 8lbs, 7 oz, 20.5 inches long.  She was a mere 6 days overdue.

The short version of the birth story is that I was induced with Pitocin, had my water broken, experienced my body's own labor when my body took over from the Pitocin, dilated to completion, pushed for an hour, and then had a C-section.  The long version of the birth story is a good one, and I wouldn't dream of depriving all those birth junkies of a good birth story (yes, even one that ends in a C-section can be a good one!), so look for that some time in the coming weeks (or maybe months? We'll try for weeks...).

Anyway, here are some more pictures of our cute little girl, who is now a month old!

Meeting Mom for the first time.

With Dad and Big Brother Cyrus (who could not possibly be more in love with his little sister)

With cousin Jackson, who was born almost exactly 4 weeks earlier.

At about two weeks old.

Phoenix and I are having a falling out

I hadn't gotten around to posting this yet, but I have actually quite enjoyed living here in the Valley of the Sun, far more than I ever thought possible.  The weather from December to May was so lovely that we could go outside every single day.  And the sunshine!  Oh, the sunshine!  Growing up in Portland, OR, I never thought that I was impacted by the seasons, but my one winter there as a stay-at-home mom was probably one of the more depressing times in my life.  So the contrast of the sun shining every day was very welcome.  I was beginning to think that I could live in Phoenix forever.

Now, I'm not so naive that I wasn't expecting the summer to be extremely hot, perhaps even unbearable at times.  But I had prepared myself for days exceeding 110 degrees, and I was pretty sure I could handle that for a few months, in exchange, of course, for the other 9 months of the year being lovely.  I had been warned of these high temperatures, but everyone always qualified it with "but it's a dry heat, so it's more tolerable".  Having experienced some ridiculous levels of humidity in New York, New Jersey and South Africa, I figured I could handle an extra 20-25 degrees of heat if that humidity stayed away.