Summer Construction Plans!

We are currently putting together plans to:

Re-do the entire back entrance and door. You might remember that this door was one of our first homeowner projects - we replaced one of the panes of glass in it on our first day here. The screen door blew off in a blizzard over the summer, and the door has been inconsistent from day one. Inconsistent in that sometimes it locks/closes/keeps out the weather, and sometimes...it doesn't. That and the doorjamb is completely crumbling, so it's got to go.

We're also planning to build a new deck! The existing one is falling apart and needs to go. This is more of an entrance deck - not something we're going to lounge about on - but I'm planning a container garden, etc on it. It should look way more awesome than it does now. Work on these will hopefully start soon...more updates to come!

Grooming Your Pomeranian

I get a lot of questions from people about Penny's general care. Seeing her can be a bit of a shock - especially in the fall/winter, she is a giant ball of red hair. This time of year is what we call The Big Shed, where she throws off her winter undercoat and keeps a light coat of hair on top of her normal undercoat. What this means is many a hair tumbleweed rolling about my house - the dustbuster is a must.

I do a few things to keep Penny looking spic and span:
- Brushings every Tues, Thurs and Sat. I start at her butt and work forward. On her, the mats seem to develop most behind her ears, so sometimes while we're on the couch I'll work on those during off-days grooming wise.
- A serious, professional grooming twice a year. One of these is a shaving appointment. In a couple of weeks, I'll call our buddy Joe and we'll have our annual fight over how much hair to leave on the dog. Our normal appointment is just a trim and bath, however.
- Baths every 6-8 weeks. We usually know when it's time because Chris and I will look at each other and say, "Geez, she's starting to smell like a hamster." I gave her a bath last night because I wanted her to look good (and be moderately sanitized) for the vet today.

Why are you doing this to me? THE HUMANITY!

Bathing a Pom is an activity in itself. Now I'm not saying that this is overly strenuous - my cashier at Trader Joe's was telling me about his two Newfoundlands and I instantly took back any whining that I have ever done about Penny's care. But it does take a LONG TIME to get her wet. Poms were originally bred to 30-40 pounds to act as sled dogs in the Alps (thank you, Animal Planet!) so they have the same kind of fur structure that Huskies, etc have. Layers and layers upon layers of hair. Just getting her to the point where she's wet enough to shampoo is a struggle. Luckily, Penny is so sweet and good-natured that she takes it all with just some heavy sighing. After all this, I do take about an hour to two hours and blow her dry. It makes such a big difference in the condition of her hair after the bath and keeps her looking as fluffy as she should! And that's how we groom our Pomeranian...just in case you wanted to know!

Penny's Big Day

We knew upon adoption that Penny had dental issues. She spent years having and feeding babies with little to no pre/postnatal care, so the need for calcium in her body stripped her teeth pretty fast. Before we adopted her, the humane society vet removed 13 of her teeth, leaving her with about 8 left in her mouth. (When you consider that normal dogs have about 40 adult teeth, this shows just how many teeth she lost on her own before she was even surrendered. Sigh.) Our vet had to remove all but 3 of the teeth left yesterday in a two-hour surgical procedure. Today, Penny is in much better shape than she was yesterday afternoon, just making more drooly, gum-smacking sounds. It's going to take a while for us to get used to this - no more carrots, dingoes, greenies, and many other favorite snacks. What's important, though, is that her mouth is no longer filled with infection and it should be much less painful than it was before. We love this little dog and hope to keep her around for awhile, with or without teeth!

World's Saddest Pomeranian

Return of the Blogster

Sigh. I'm back.

The past month has been one of extremes for me. Poor Chris. He's been holed up in his study, working on the second level of his CFA exam, since December. And without him around...I get a little loopy.

In the past month, I have decided that this is the time to:

- have a baby
- not have a baby
- not EVER have a baby EVER
- get a new dog that was a bit too old for Chris' liking (so we didn't)
- get a new dog whom Penny later attempted to destroy (so we didn't)
- get a new dog who is 8 years old and has heartworm (so we didn't)
- buy a new car
- blog every day
- revamp my wardrobe
- continue my 5k running
- become an advanced home baker

From all of this, I have only managed to:
- not have a baby
- run two 5k races

I'm not sure what it is about Chris being SO busy that makes me feel so incredibly lazy. This happens every time he studies like this - I go through a stage of feeling completely useless, so I try to do everything, and hence get nothing done. I'm aware of this, and I'm moving on - one thing at a time. Deep breaths. Only worry about what I can manage.

One thing off my list today is Penny's dental appointment. After being told by our previous Evil Vet that she had STAGE FOUR GINGIVITIS and needed $2500 worth of dental work, I took her to our new Wonderful Vet and was told that her teeth looked like old dog teeth (suprise!) and just needed a cleaning in about six months. Well, that was six months ago. This morning I dropped Penny off and could hear her crying all the way down the street on my way back to the car. Totally heartbroken, I've been putting my nose to the grindstone today, getting stuff done while I wait to hear from the vet.

Today I:
- Dropped Chris at work
- Dropped Penny at vet
- Ran a 5k at the gym
- Did a massive load of paperwork for a summer class I'm taking. Oh yes, TAKING. Not currently working on. Amazing how much work you have to do to be APPROVED to take a class.
- Scanned things on my new printer/scanner/copier!

I'm planning to:
- Make Deep Dish Quesadilla Pie for dinner
- Marinate chicken for tomorrow's stir fry
- Watch more of 'Downtown Abbey' (Thanks to my favorite soon-to-be-newlyweds!)

And this whole time, I'll be starting at my phone, daring it to ring and let me know that Penny is ready to come home...hopefully that will abate my anxiety for awhile!