Green Beginnings

From the very first plant that was gifted to the OH & me by his advisor at the University, the OH has been the one caring and nurturing the plants in our home. Be it the very first peace lily of the very first palm, he would diligently water, fertilize and nurture them. Many a palm plants has he killed but that never stopped him from trying to keep the next one alive. He never gave up and I always admired his perseverance and trying to get at least one of them to survive. My role through this entire time has been that of someone who enjoys the foliage and adds my two cents to his selection of plants.

With the arrival of Z in our lives, plants took a backseat. Z, the puppy was hell bent on ripping up & uprooting every single house plant we had at that time. We would come home to the sight of mulch and soil scattered all over the living room and the remnants of a once thriving plant lying on the floor begging to be revived. At this point, the OH & I decided that we needed to give house plants a break and spare them the agony of being tortured by a four legged monster who had not grasped the concept of training and behaving.

Since moving into our current home, the dog is a bit older and a lot more mellow & both the OH & I have had the itch to bring back the indoor plants to add some natural decor into the house. We started buying a plant here and there in our attempt to not go overboard on the budget. It was right about this time that the company I work for was having this plant sale. They were selling some of the indoor plants that had served well along the cubicle walls to raise money for a local charity. Post missing a couple of meetings and beating the crowds, here is the loot I came home with. The home is back to being green again. The icing on the cake being the fact that I paid a fraction of the cost I would have paid for these plants at the local store, the money I paid went towards a good cause and the plants found a home they would be loved.

Call it aging coupled with the fact that the kids need less and less of us each day, I am at this stage in life where I just have a tad more time on my hands to pursue something that interest me. Some activities I have started back are ones I did a lot before the kids came into our lives and some activities are ones I seem to have developed a liking to thanks to the friends I have made in the world of blogging. Inspired by the MM and Itchingtowrite, I forayed into the world of indoor plants with items laying around the house. Thank you both of helping me discover the creative soul in me. Leaving you with a few pictures of my labor of love.

Terrarium inspired by the MM. The glass pot was a return gift at a wedding I attended and the ceramic snail is one that the OH made for Meg during one of his off site team building sessions at work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mug was a gift from a colleague at work. Something perfect for a keepsake since it is a tad too big for a cuppa tea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An aloe plant in a planter that Meg brought home as a mother’s day gift from school years ago

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now for the plants that I adopted from work that lend their beauty to our home…

 

 

 

Thoda Pain Thoda Masti

After living with it for as long as I can remember & after not so subtle hints and coercion from the experts for almost 2 years, the decision was made to rid myself of the remnants of wisdom that I had housed & nurtured with such care. It was my belief that you don’t fix something that ain’t broke. It was her belief that you get rid of the source before it turns into an issue and eventually an emergency. After humming and hawing and dragging my feet long enough, the decision was made to address the issue at the onset of the first long weekend of the year. Long weekend arrived and it was time to fulfill the promise. She thought it might be a good idea to take care of it in two sittings while I hesitated to extend the pain and agony into yet another weekend. The decision was made. I was no wimp. I would get rid of it all in one sitting. All my accrued wisdom will disappear in one measly hour. She joked to me that she was totally on board since it helped her meet her production goal of tooth extractions for the year much sooner

The appointment was fixed and the day arrived soon enough. An hour of gelling, injecting, elevating and rotating later, it was all done. All four of my wisdom teeth lay in a pool of blood on the tray waiting to be discarded.  The upper and lower jaw had way more space than they had ever experienced and the lower jaw felt like a outer layer of a stuffed toy. Speech was slurred and it felt like a giant piece of gauze was stuck right in the middle of the throat hindering any kind of swallowing. Thanks to the wonderful numbing medication, I felt no pain and was mighty pleased with my decision to go with all four extractions at one go. After strict instructions to keep shut not talk, I was sent home with a prescription for some hydrocodone to drown the pain that would surface once the anesthesia wore off.

After inflicting self to that kind of torture the next logical step was to head out to have a nice haircut and highlights done. Isn’t that the easiest answer to staying quiet and not straining the upper and lower jaw? It was after all Friday night and I realized I had very little to do at home as well. After letting myself be pampered for two hours, I returned home in beautifully done hair but in excruciating pain. The hair dresser had taken longer to cut and highlight hair than it took for the pain meds to wear off. By the time I got home I was ready to rip my hair in pain

After a forced detox diet for the weekend and many pain killers later, the pain is now bearable. I am told this pain should be completely gone in a few days. If not, I always have my dentist to beat up and she will turn right back around and tell me it is because I didn’t do the salt water rinse she asked me to do every few hours (yuck!!) I have also heard one too many tell me how stupid I was to decide to get rid of all four wisdom teeth at one shot. You live and learn is all I have to say.

A few highlights of the weekend…

• Having your best friend as your dentist – can call anytime to yell at her. Pain medication is a lot easier to get hold of and she doesn’t mind all the choice four letter words you shower her with when in pain
• Explaining to the OH that the tears rolling down my cheeks was not because I was crying but because I was in unbearable pain.
• Feel no guilt after devouring a cone of vanilla ice cream.
• Pop a couple of painkillers every time the pain surfaced and doze off into a few blissful hours of sleep.
• Get away with the “I can’t drive because I took the painkillers” excuse!
• Attend a pool party at BFF’s house and have a blast with the folks pain notwithstanding!
• Hide self in the basement & catch up on a whole bunch of movies on DVD with the excuse that the doctor has asked me not to talk too much. Also got started on The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
• Catch a chick flick, 17 Again at the theater with the Meg and her buddy.
• Scare the living daylights out of the hairdresser by wincing every time she even came a couple of inches close to the jaw.

Life – pre and post kids

Having children, they say changes your life forever. I guess that is true as I reflect back and try to recollect my life before and after the kids. They have indeed changed every aspect of my life. We often like to think that human beings in general resist any change but when it comes to our kids, we seem to take it in our stride and even enjoy the various challenges & quirks that come our way. I came across this saying by Ralph Waldo Emerson – “For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” Here are a few things that came to my mind in no particular order as I read this line & watched television with the kids last night…

Food:

Pre – a simple meal cooked with whatever was available in the refrigerator or a quick trip to a restaurant

Post – a pre-planned event catered to individual likes, dislikes and specifications based on requests from kids. A quick & easy meal to accommodate the various kids activities.

Television:

Pre – Prime time shows like Mad About you and Friends, football and basketball, reruns of movies and an occasional talk show aka trash television.

Post – In sequential order directly proportionate to age – Barney, Blue’s Clues, Thomas the tank engine, Dora the explorer, Disney movies aka Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Pocahontas, Mulan to name a few, Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Power Rangers, Ninja Turtle, Pokemon, Bakugan, Drake and Josh, Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Hannah Montana, Cheetah Girls, That’s so Raven, Movies on ABC Family and now to American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.

Free time:

Pre – Any time post work and meal times were essentially free time to relax into a quiet read or doze to the sound of the idiot box. Free time also involved watching a movie at home of in the theatre with the OH.

Post – Time waiting outside the swim, dance, music, chess, soccer, tennis &/or volley ball lessons. Free time can also be any time spent not answering kid’s questions and catering to their needs.

Parties:

Pre – Anytime spent hanging out with friends, giggling, reminiscing, eating, drinking and just hanging out together without an agenda or plan.

Post – Birthday parties, surprise parties, balloons, streamers, cakes, clowns, kid’s movies, pool parties, junk food, kids activities, coloring, feeding kids, changing kids, and running behind them to ensure they are behaving appropriately.

 Dinner:

Pre – A quiet affair between the OH & I either in front of the television or on the dining table that usually lasts about 10-15 minutes.

Post – A meal that takes twice as long thanks to the various interruptions viz. refilling kids plates, cleaning butts (it’s always potty time when mom & dad are mid way through their meal), getting them a glass of water etc.

Reading:

Pre: Typically a day or two depending on workload to complete a 300+ page book.

Post: Anywhere from 1-3 weeks depending on kid related activities, work load, chores and level of exhaustion. Learn to be interrupted every few minutes by one or the other kid dealing with an emergency of sorts.

Potty Time:

Pre: A time of peace and quiet to finish the job and get out.

Post: A session that is interrupted precisely every 30 seconds due to the need to answer time critical questions like “Amma, are you done?”, “Amma, can you do my hair?”, “Amma, I can’t find my book!” and the list goes on…

Date Night:

Pre –A relaxing evening with the OH over a relaxing dinner and chatting about anything and everything that holds our fancy.

Post – A relaxing evening spent with the OH away from the kids but talking about the kids and the crazy/funny things they come up with.

And we take all these changes in our stride in return for one happy smile, a hug and a kiss each night and the joy they bring to our lives each day. Now if we could accept every change that comes our way with a similar positive attitude, I am sure life would indeed be a joyful ride

Mother’s day treat!

A&N posted this recipe on her blog and it immediately caught my fancy. Don’t ask why it captured the attention of one who doesn’t care much for Mexican food. Let’s just say it did. The OH took it a step further and decided to treat yours truly with a lovely dinner for Mother’s Day. Yeah yeah, I know am late posting this but as the saying goes better late than never.

A la true OH style, after minor modifications to the original recipe and after spending a rushed evening at the local Mexican market, this is what the OH whipped up. A totally drool worthy, lip smackingly dinner to die for. If anyone is interested in trying out this dish, just go here for the recipe and directions. Thanks N. The dessert recipe came right out of the Vegetarian Times magazine and hence will not be able to post the recipe (don’t want to be chased down for copyright infringement!!) Let’s just say it was melted chocolate poured into muffin cups with dry fruits toppings. Feel free to get as creative as you’d like with the toppings. A true chocolate lover’s delight.

The kids for their part came up with a beautiful presentation on Moviemaker. I still haven’t figured out how to add that to this page

Here are a couple of pictures of the yummy dinner…

Love is in the air!!

It was love at first sight for me…

But I had to wait my turn and be patient for 2 years before I could call you mine. I haven’t been excited much about anything lately. All that was till I glanced at you. You were the most beautiful thing and I just couldn’t peel my eyes away from you. In spite of the knowledge that seeing you was a bad idea, I made every attempt and took the time to come see you and spend time with you over the 2 years of our courtship. I knew it would only add to my yearning but I could not ignore you. There were sacrifices I had to make so I could be with you. I couldn’t spend as much time with my friends as I had gotten used to. My time with them would have to reduce significantly in order for me to enjoy having you around.

I was jealous every time I saw you interacting with someone else. I was so willing to rip you away from them and call you my very own. And now that I have you, I can’t have enough of you. I spend every few minutes touching you just to make sure you are indeed real and mine forever. You are so lovely and to respond to my touch with such eagerness. You steam up to my breath and let me write sweet nothing on you. You are my connection to the world I miss when I am away from home. You help me stay safe and are always there when I need you. You are always within my reach and I can’t stop myself from spending time with you even during the day. Now that you are with me, I still think you are absolutely amazing.

I went through anxiety pangs as I got ready to have you by my side. I had the last minute jitters till the very moment I signed the official papers. As the ink touched the paper one last time and after spending three long and beautiful hours by your side, I could finally walk away into the sunset with you in my hand. After having spent almost a week in your company I just love you even more. I flaunt you off to friends and family and can’t stop talking about how awesome you are. You make random strangers stop for a minute to have a conversation with me, smile at me and secretly wish they were in my shoes.

I look forward to many fun years in your company. I know that you have much to offer and I haven’t even scratched experienced the surface of what you have to share. I eagerly look forward to a fun filled future and know that time will do little to change my love for you!! I took the liberty of showing everyone who visits me, how gorgeous you really are

Matters of love, understanding & equality

Having read a lot on the concept of equality & feminism, I have often wondered how strongly I feel about it. This quote by Ani DiFranco that “My idea of feminism is self-determination, and it’s very open-ended: every woman has the right to become herself, and do whatever she needs to do” is one I totally agreed with. What got me thinking again. A random incident on a mundane evening really got my goat last night.

Before I talk about the incident itself, it would probably help to have a little background on the issue itself. The OH and I are very different personalities as is the case with most couples. He has his priorities and I have my own. But what works for us is talking through what’s important and indulging each other’s interests keeping in mind our financial commitments. Having seen the kind of penury that we have, any purchase we make is a joint decision and if it is an impulsive buy, it is something we are both comfortable with. We have both stood by each other in any decision we make and neither one has given the other reason to feel lesser in our relationship. We both take pride in our self confidence and constantly talk, listen to advice/feedback from each other in all areas, be it work or social. He is one of my best friends and there is little we don’t share with one another.

I, for one am fiercely independant and hate to consider myself a burden on anyone including the OH. So important is it to me, that even after I came to this country following my marriage to the OH, I wouldn’t let him pay for my college education. Like the MM, who ate her pride to sell a piece of jewelry to buy her husband a gift, and my own mom who despite being a SAHM, always found ways to earn money to take care of her personal needs, I promised myself that I would work my way through college and pay every last penny from my income. I have always had a career because I enjoyed being a working mom and felt I was a better parent when I had my time away from the kids doing something I enjoy. I also was fortunate enough to have a support system that allowed me to work through the years when my kids where infants and toddlers. I know also that in the absence of this support system, I would have been more than happy to be that support system for my babies in lieu of my career choices.

Being the gadget freak that I am, I have wanted to get myself a certain phone for a long time now. Most times, though I like gadgets and widgets, I am not the person to chase after them when I can’t really justify the need for said item.  The OH & I talked a few months back about getting me this new phone since my current phone was having battery issues. In addition this new phone would let me access my personal email, a necessity I have recently lost with my current job. The OH & I thought about it and decided we could probably wait a few more months before buying this new phone. I agreed with him, and fortunately for me the phone I had suddenly stopped having the battery issues. Fast forward to a few months later and the phone started the battery issues yet again. After considerable research, I realized that it didn’t make much of a difference to our monthly payments by making the switch to the new phone. By this time, I was fairly tired of the old phone and decided to gift myself the new phone as a birthday/mother’s day gift to self. The OH concurred and soon after the purchase was made and all was well.

Now finally comes the incident that annoyed me no end…

A friend of ours called last night to say he’d like to join us for dinner. This guy is a relatively young colleague of the OH and is yet to be married. In prior conversations, we had talked about the new phone and the friend was aware of the fact that we had decided to wait a while to buy it. Last night as we were chatting Meg made a comment asking said friend if he had seen my new phone. In response he made the following comment “am sure you bugged the OH no end to buy it now versus a few months down the road as he had promised…” Boy, was I mad! I told him as politely as I could that first off the decision to put off the purchase for a few months was a decision both of us had made and that if I really wanted to get myself something, I didn’t need permission from anyone to make the said purchase. I was fairly independant and could afford to buy myself anything I wished for.” I also challenged him to try making similar comment to his girlfriend and see how far that took him with the relationship. He was nice enough to accept he was six feet under and promised to make it up to me with a nice lunch someplace nice after apologizing appropriately

Soon the moment passed and we moved on to other topics and I couldn’t help but wonder why I got as agitated as I did with his comment. Why did the random comment of an aquaintance bother me as much as it did? Was it the fact that living in this day and age he made a comment so archaic? I wondered if I should have responded the way I did or just ignored his comment altogether. I guess in my mind I don’t have the right answer. I still feel I did what I felt right at that moment. I did want to write about it to get it off my chest and have it as a reminder forever. I have no idea how I will react the next time around to a similar incident. I welcome any thoughts/ideas/words of wisdom that you folks have to offer.

A daughter’s guilt

It’s about 9 p.m. sunday night and am sitting with my girlfriends, having a cheerful banter, giggling and talking about everything insignificant like we typically do when we get together. We are reminiscing over how long it has been since we’ve sat together for a relaxing evening of girlie talk when the phone rings. As I pick up the phone, I hear my mom’s cheerful voice at the other end wishing me a happy Mother’s Day. I can promise you folks that at that moment, I wished the earth would just open up and swallow me in from the guilt that assailed me. Here was my mom, who has done nothing but care and worry about us all her life calling me to wish me for something I should have done about 24 hours back for her. What made the guilt a thousand times worse was that when I apologized to her for not calling her earlier, she pushed it aside in true mom style and recollected her memories of spending the last Mother’s day with me. She probably has long forgotten the conversation and moved on to more important chores aka watching and playing with my little sister’s two brats but I have not been able to forget and move on.

Some questions I have asked myself over and over again that I still have no answers to…

• When did I get so self centered that Mother’s day in my life was more about my kids and me than taking the time to bring a smile to my mom’s face by calling her to tell her I was thinking of her & she was special to me.
• When did I turn into a mother and put that ahead of my responsibility of being a daughter first?
• Why did it not occur to me to call her even when my kids rushed in early in the morning to wish me and shower me with their collective hugs and surprise gifts?
• How did I get so wrapped up in my daily chores that the thought of calling her completely skipped my mind?

A part of me thinks that as long as I care, love and reach out to her every day of the year, then this commercial day bears little significance. The more important factor is that she means more to me than life itself. Nothing I do or say can come even close to what she has done for me. Every mom goes great lengths to birth, raise and watch her fledglings grow and leave the nest but a special few guard them much the same way after they have flown the nest. She has been a rock any time I have needed her in my life and has wished & prayed for everything and more that the forces above can bestow upon us. As a mother, I know there are times when parenting gets tiring and I yearn for a few hours of me time. Never in my entire life have I seen her wish anything for herself. All her prayers and activities are centered around her babies and their babies. Be it listening patiently to our stories at school, or learning a whole new language with us while never letting us realize that she was a newbie at it as well, or learning technology to enable her to stay in touch with us each day, in this world that separates us by distance. She has been a pillar we could lean on any time we needed support.

Amma, let me tell you what Meg tells me every single day “You are the best mom in the whole wide world.” I know it mattered little to you that I didn’t call to wish you but I still feel horrible about not being the first to call you. There is absolutely no excuse for my not calling you first thing in the morning but I promise to you that whether it is Mother’s Day or an other day of the year, you are special to me and will always be. Happy Mother’s Day amma. I know am a day late but as the old saying goes, better late than never

Twilight Series – Book review

** Spoiler alert **

An avid reader, I have always enjoyed a good book and won’t stop till I have read through it cover to cover. On the flip side, I am so addicted to them that neither can I put down a bad book unread. This book unfortunately falls under the second category. This series caught my daughter’s attention probably late last year. Since I was quite concerned about the content and age appropriateness of this series, I thought it a good idea to read ahead and then chose to let her read/not read. Given that every one of the 25 or so copies that the library owned were out in circulation and in addition had holds by a 50 or more readers ahead of us didn’t give us much opportunity to lay our hands on these books earlier. Finally it was a day or so back that I finished reading the 4 book series.

Here is the series in a nutshell…

Twilight (Book 1) – Girl moves to new city; girl falls in love with boy at school; girl realizes boy is a vampire; girl is still unable to run to save her life; boy is a good vampire who does not harm humans; boy at every opportunity saves accident prone girl from trouble; boy exposes girl to not so good vampire; the bad vampire chases girl to kill her; boy saves girl and all is good after girl spends innumerable days in the hospital recuperating. In the midst of all this, girl’s mom and dad remain clueless.

New Moon (Book 2) – Boy leaves girl fearing her safety in his company. Girl whines, complains and goes into a trance missing boy; girl meets Boy 2 who helps her get out of her pain and agony; girl befriends Boy 2 and decides to let him care for her in the absence of the boy; girl comes to know Boy 2 is a werewolf; girl still deeply cares for Boy 2 as a BFF; girl continues to be suicidal waiting for her boy; boy accidently thinks girl is dying; boy goes to plead with the vampire legal system to destroy him; girl realizes boy is in trouble; girl travels to save boy and makes im realize the amount of pain he put her through. All is well as boy and girl return home to continue their courtship.

Eclipse (Book 3) – Girl and boy continue to fawn over each other; Boy 2 extremely jealous of boy and can’t shuns girl from his life; girl pines for Boy 2 for the most part; boy continues to be patient and understanding; girl keeps reaching out to Boy 2; girl lets boy know of her wish to be turned into a vampire; girl realizes she is desperate to make out with the boy; boy has a clause that they need to marry in order for them sleep with each other despite the fact that she spends every night with her; the girlfriend of the bay boy from Book 1 comes back to revenge her boyfriend’s death. Werewolf and vampire agree to co-exist to save girl from the threat of the new bad vampire; bad vampire is killed all ends well.

Breaking Dawn (Book 4) – Girl and boy get married; girl and boy go on their honeymoon; girl gets pregnant with a half human half vampire baby; to deliver baby and not die, girl has an emergency vampire transformation at the birthing table; Baby loves a vampire diet but breathes and sleeps like a human; werewolf falls in love with the baby and takes her forever to be his; Vampire law extremely upset at this half human half vampire child and arrive on scene to kill the baby; girl turns out to be hero of the day saving all the good vampires from being wiped out from the face of the earth and they live happily ever after.

Book 1 is closest to keeping the readers fairly engrossed. Everything after quickly goes downhill. The other series that made a huge impact on kids was the Harry Potter series. After reading this series, I was ready to sign my blood to J.K. Rowling for her amazing creativity and incredible penmanship. Not only was she able to keep us ingrossed in the books with amazing detail, but every page was a world in its own and at the end of just about 4000+ pages, she was able to tie it all together. Thiswas a sad apology of a series and I can’t help but wonder what it did to deserve all this popularity. I guess some things just cannot be explained. Grammatical errors, spelling errors, you name it and the series had it.

This was the first time I was truly disappointed at my inability to toss a bad book half read. I am sure Stephanie Meyers will continue to rake in the moolah for a shoddily written book that is nothing more than a romance novel woven with vampires and werewolves.

How much is too much information?

Three different scenarios, same concerns, same underlying issues, no right answer. Is this what raising a soon to be teenager is all about?

Scenario 1

I wrote a while back about my dilemma letting Meg read the latest Twilight series that was popular among pre-teens here. After much thought & deliberation, I decided to let her read Book 1 of the series. As expected she asked me if she could read Book 2 shortly thereafter and after talking to friends who had already read the series I decided to be my own judge and started reading the series. As I got into it, I realized that the books were really not appropriate for pre-teens in my opinion. I resigned myself to the fact that not much could be done since she has already finished Book 1. I then let her read Book 2 since I didn’t feel it was any more inappropriate than Book 1. Book 3 & Book 4 were a whole another story. I was just not comfortable with the content and explained as much to Meg. Her response was that most of her friends had already read the entire series and shared all the highlights with her. I was surprised but didn’t worry too much. I felt that my intent is not to keep her in the dark but at the same time she didn’t need too much graphic detail into things that have little impact in her life today. The fact that the lead characters got married and went on their honeymoon for their special night is fine but the fact that she woke up in the morning to find her body bruised is a little too much information. Thankfully, Meg being the sensible child accepted my refusing her Book 3 & 4 well. This whole incident got me thinking about what is appropriate for the various age groups. I realize that it is left to the perspective of the parents and can’t help but wonder if I am being a little too conservative in raising her.

Scenario 2

Recently, Meg has been educated about D.A.R.E at school and I talked about it here. I understand that schools feel the need to educate these kids about the dangers of drugs and drug addictions prior to them being exposed to it through other not so safe sources. What I wonder is how far do we need to take this education? In the past few months, we have had weekly sessions, followed by each child having to write their D.A.R.E resolution. In addition to these lessons, they have seen the D.A.R.E video, the D.A.R.E song on youtube and are scheduled to have their D.A.R.E graduation in a couple of weeks. Is it just me who thinks this is way too much information? Wouldn’t it be sufficient to introduce and educate them briefly and leave it at that? I can’t help but wonder if all this information helps them or tempts some of them in a in your face way to try it out at a whim? I know for a fact that Meg thinks about it way more than she needs to and fears that she will see other kids in middle school who do drugs. It has taken much effort for me to explain to her that there is nothing she can do about other trying it as long as she remembers that it is harmful and can hurt her in many ways.

Scenario 3

Meg starts middle school this coming academic year and she is super excited about moving up to a different school with all her friends. She is looking forward to all the new experiences and shared with me yesterday that before she finishes this year, all students will have a coed session of adolescence, puberty, making babies and the whole nine yards. Last year when the school played the period video, she came home with a goodie bag containing items she would need when she reached that stage. What will it be this time around, I wonder when she has the lesson on making babies. I understand that kids need to be informed and educated on such things thanks to what happens today in reality. It is sometimes a scary world out there and kids need to be aware and similar to the other occassions I can’t help but wonder how much is too much information. I still am not sure what will be imparted to them in this coed session. What happened to the good old days when we grew up oblivious to any of this till we were much much older?

Can I please have those happy days back for my babies and shelter them from the big bad world forever and forever??

 

Top 10 Reasons…

I’d trade places with our lab, Z any day…

• Meals are served on time and all she has to do is gently remind the folks at home that it’s time for food.
• Find the most comfortable spot & sleep at any moment and snore away with not a worry in the world.
• Demand make a puppy dog look to get any food the family is ingesting at any given moment.
• All she has to do all day is bark at strangers with bandanas and chase that birds that have the courage to come near the swimming pool.
• Get away with anything short of bl**dy murder ‘coz anything that’s ruined by her is our fault for not keeping it away from her.
• Hugs and kisses come her way just for being cute and taking the time to run to each family member as they come home from school/work.
• Play with the kids stuffed toys likes she owns them all and not be chided for completely ruining it.
• Demand to be taken for a walk each day by grandpa to meet other friends around the neighborhood.
• Ignore our requests when she is doesn’t feel like indulging us, just stay where she is and look at us like we are the freaks.
• While the whole household is running around in the morning trying to get places, she gets to watch the chaos and confusion and wonder what these crazy humans are upto.