Weekend with (In)Sanity Gal

Emphasis on the (in). Things are not sane around here - mostly because I've been crazy this weekend and have not done nearly enough work. But more on that later.

I went to my first meetup group with a knitting/crocheting group in DC. Everyone there seemed to be way more advanced than me, but I had a nice time and really just enjoyed having made the space to do something creative. And here's the beginning of the lovely (hopefully!) bag that I'm making! I'm struggling a bit with the part where I join the different colors, but I figure I can do it this way on this bag and then try it another way the next time.

I headed to the local library and checked out almost every book they had on dog training. Of course, they've mostly been sitting on the table since then. We've scheduled an appointment with a trainer next week to help us with some of the more serious concerns (read separation anxiety and resource guarding). I'm glad to have the books but more excited to have a trainer coming - I'm a person who benefits from a little authority. I think I'll feel much better having someone come in tell us what to do.

And then at some point, I had the painful realization that I have two weeks to write three papers, totalling 45 pages. I have not a single page.

PS - As I was writing this post, the babe came up behind me and asked what I was doing - I pointed to the title of the post. She giggled and, waving her arms wildly in the air, squealed "I SPEND EVERY WEEKEND WITH (IN)SANITY GAL!" What a nut.

Misery LOVES company

A couple of days ago, I left a message for my friend C - who has a 2 year old and another on the way -, apologizing for not having called sooner and relating some of the basics of our first week of challenges with the dog, whining a little bit about how hard it was and about having to clean poop out of his crate.

The message she left back:

(Gleefully) HI! It's C - I was feeling so cranky until I got your message, but now I'm feeling so much better. You're a MOM now! You have to clean up poop, and you can't ever go out with your friends! And of course it's all worth it, but it kind of sucks at the same time! HA HA!

Nice to know I'm part of that club.

Even really dark clouds can still have silver linings

I graduate in 55 days, and I'm finished with finals two weeks before that. This law school adventure is almost over.*

This past Friday night was Barrister's Ball - law school prom, if you will. The babe and I have gone every year and always have a wonderful time. It's like going to a club all dressed up with all our friends. This year, a big group of us squished together to pose for a photo during pre-party festivities. As the little self-timer flash on the camera began to blink and we gleefully yelled at one friend to hurry into position, I thought about how incredibly grateful I am for the wonderful group of friends that I've made in law school. And all of my friends weren't even there.

I have done a lot of complaining while I've been on this journey. A. Lot. And I'm not saying now that all that complaining wasn't valid or that the feelings weren't real - they most definitely were. But as we get closer to graduation and to the start of a new journey which will carry many of my friends far away from me - to California and beyond, I find myself focusing more and more on this particular blessing of law school.

I've done a lot of work, and there have been some really crappy test-taking, paper-writing, forgot-how-much-reading-this-was days. But I've also gone to great dances, had wonderful potlucks, gone camping, played games, enjoyed dinner parties, laughed at lunch time, and spent weekends on vacation together with some of the most fun people I've ever known.

So, thank you, law school. (And enjoy it, because this might be the only time you'll ever hear it from me.)

* Don't speak to me of the bar.

And he looks just like Ellen Page

Meet Jammer.

I apologize if you just fell over and thought you had died from how cute he is. Please know that I feel your pain. It happens to me multiple times every day. He is painfully adorable. And his personality matches. He's just super.

Hold on, though. Before you run out and get one of your own, you should know that I've cried almost every day since we got him a week ago. Having a new dog is HARD.

Go on - all you dog owners out there can snicker away. Laugh at the poor girl who wanted a dog and didn't know how hard it would be. No, seriously. Laugh. I deserve it. I'm not sure what I was thinking, and the babe kept telling me - It's going to be hard. And I was all, we're not getting a new puppy. He'll be housetrained. It won't be that hard.

She's been so good about not saying I told you so.

So we got this little 21 pound guy from a rescue organization in rural Virgina. He's a schnauzer mix of some sort - we've heard various theories about the other part of him, but for now we're just willing to settle on adorable. He's about a year old, and over the last month, he's been with a family that gave him up for economic reasons, in a shelter, with a foster, and now with us. He came to us "crate trained and house trained" and with the name Jammer, which we love. This is what he looked like the night we got him

Still a cute guy, but he smelled like a room full of wet mangey dogs. That grooming was a lifesaver.

So, here are a few of the things I've learned in the last week about adopting a dog:

1. When you stop at petco on the way home, don't give the dog some random treats he's never had before. He'll throw up in the car.

2. When people say that an adopted dog will have a transition period, what they mean is that he WILL DEFINITELY have a transition period. That means YOUR dog, not just other dogs that other people adopt.

3. Transition period does not mean 2 or 3 days. Also, it might involve your dog crying/howling/barking/whining when you leave, which might involve you crying/holding your breath/feeling panicked when you leave.

4. When a rescue organization tells you that your dog is housetrained, plug up your ears and sing la la la la la la so that you can't hear them. If he is in fact housetrained, then you'll be delightfully surprised, but if he isn't, it'll just be what you expected.

5. Your dog being smart may or may not be a good thing. It might mean that he's going to learn to sit really quickly. It might also mean that he's going to learn to move the bottom out of his crate so he can poop on it and shift it out from under him while he's home alone.

6. Not getting a puppy doesn't mean that you're relieved of the need/duty/obligation/compulsion to run home at every possible moment to check on your dog and see whether he's still crying/has pooped in his crate/has peed in his crate/is still as cute as when you left.

7. When you get a new dog who's been in a shelter situation, he might have some issues - like maybe worms. Or an infection on his little man part.

8. You can fall entirely in love with a dog even when you've spent about an hour cleaning his ample poop out of the tiny crevices of a poorly designed crate.

Crotcheting is better than Corporations

This last semester of law school, I'm walking a delicate balance between pretending that I'm not in law school anymore and feeling bad about not doing more work. To be fair, I'm a sort of hard worker in general, so aside from the pass/fail class I'm taking, I do the reading, pay attention in class, and study for exams. I'm just less invested this semester. All of that to say that I'm diving in to some activities that I've really missed while I've been in school - one of which is crocheting. I pulled out my hooks and yarn and started playing with some patterns.

Completely inspired by Lucy over at Attic24, I bought $25 of lovely yarn.


And in the next week or so, I'm planning to get started on this delightful bag so that I have something to put all my yarn in!


PS - For those of you - ahem, Virgin - who have absolutely no interest in all this craftiness, please feel free to skip my crafty posts. But be forewarned, I think (and hope) that there's more to come!

I believe children are the future

Do you remember the episode of Who's the Boss where Tony sang that song in the classroom where he was taking night classes? It was one of the later episodes after most everyone stopped watching because Sam was all grown up, and Tony and Angela were together, so it wasn't fun to wonder whether they were going to get together. The show had jumped the shark. But then last year when I didn't have television, I found old episodes on you tube and watched them incessantly. I don't know. I have a thing for bad 80s/90s television. Anyway, that's not the point.

Here's a little pick me up for your day!

Because looking back is better than living in the present

Even though I was sick the entire time, Spring Break was pretty great. Particularly when you compare it to the first Monday back after Spring Break, when my nose is raw and cracked from blowing, and I seem to have forgotten what it means to be a student. So instead of focusing on that awfulness, I'm remembering a few of the delightful moments of last week:




Later that day, I would parallel ski all the way down a green run. And the next day, I would ski on 3 blue runs. Can you say "(In)Sanity Gal conquered the mountain?" That's right.




This is a sign of the moment while, sitting on the toilet in the hotel, I realized that I must make more of an effort to feed my crafting desires. I really liked the look of the fabric of the shower curtain, and I thought to myself I wonder if anyone would notice if I stole this shower curtain?*

When we came home (and discovered that I had most kindly gifted my horrific cold to the babe), I made a kick-ass pot of chicken soup with whole wheat matzo balls from the babe's mom's recipe, which we demolished in no time at all. We ate it twice a day for like four days. Yum.

* I didn't.