Tuesday, January 06, 2009

I Blame Facebook

FACEBOOK. Slogger got me started on Facebook a couple of months ago, and I have become pretty much addicted to it. Status updates, wall posts, photos, games, etc. I find myself spending most of my few moments of spare time hanging out on Facebook, seeing what my friends (i.e., people I know in real life, and one person I know through blogging) are up to. I play Scrabble (or Wordscraper) with Slogger, friends from grad school, and friends from across town. All of this has not only cut down on my blog posting, but it has also made me wonder why I should keep on blogging. Isn’t it better to be hanging out with friends than with the nameless, faceless blogging community? I don’t know. The fact that I’m blogging this should tell you that I have yet to make any firm decision.

TRIPLETS. For Christmas, Slogger and I drove to Big Western City, to spend Christmas day with his sister and her kids. That was really great, we spent the night, and then drove back to High Plains City the next day. On Saturday, my brother, his wife, and the triplets arrived in Big Western City and used loads of guilt and manipulation to get me to drive back there. Loads. Slogger, of course, was not to be manipulated in this way, so he stayed home. Brother, sister-in-law, the triplets and I hung out and shopped, had a nice lunch, and then headed for High Plains City.

And then the madness began. Imagine, if you will, four adults (two of whom are over six feet tall), and three five-year-old boys, all in a 1000-square foot home with one bathroom. Now, my brother and his wife did sleep in the basement bedroom, and I’m not including the square footage of the basement in my account of the house’s footprint. HOWEVER. The one bathroom thing was quite interesting, to say the least. Every time my sister-in-law or I saw a young man headed into the bathroom, we would point at them and sternly pronounce “You should lift up the seat when you pee.”

This didn’t exactly work the way we planned it to.

Howsomever, we had loads of fun with the boys and their parents. We went skiing, we went sledding, we went to the movies, we went out to eat. My favorite was the sledding, since it didn’t involve much more work than just plodding back up the hill with the sled after roaring down it. Have you ever tried to get skis on three five-year-old boys who have never skied before? That’s an interesting proposition, involving kneeling in the snow, grabbing a boy’s ski boot, the boy grabbing my head, and saying “point your toe, ok, point your toe, point your toe, good! Now press down with your heel really hard. Press down. Press down with your heel. Press down hard. Ok, great!” And then, when faced with a tiny incline, not even the bunny slope, two of them get all scared and clingy while one races down it backwards. Then you follow them down the hill, get them out of their skis, and trudge back up the hill carrying the skis. Start all over again. Whew. That was hard work. And all of this while their mom and dad were taking a ski lesson. Poor Slogger got so worn out that it took him a couple of days to recover. Sledding was much easier.

AND IN OTHER NEWS, HERE'S ROXY. I wrote most of this post sitting outside the animal shelter, waiting for it to open, so that we could adopt a puppy. That’s right. A Rottweiler mommy and her NINE puppies were dropped off at the shelter. They seem to be a mix of Rottweiler and black Labrador retriever. We adopted one of the runts – a little female that we’re going to name Roxy.


They came up for adoption today, and on the assumption that everyone else in High Plains City would be beating down the shelter door to get one of those puppies, and because we wanted ONE of the puppies, a particular one (Roxy), and because the shelter operates on a first-come, first-served basis, Slogger and I thought it would be a good idea for me to get to the shelter early. So, I sat in my car for the three hours. By the time the shelter had opened, there were about 10 people in line. But since I'd been there for three hours, I was first! OK, it is possible, perhaps, that we overreacted just a bit. But the good news is that Roxy will go to be spayed on Friday, and we'll pick her up Friday evening.

10 comments:

Hilaire said...

Yay for Roxy!!! She's adorable. I love that you camped out for her.

I just joined Facebook a little over a week ago. I don't think I can do both, either. I've been thinking of winding down the blog. Also torn.

life_of_a_fool said...

Oh my god - Roxy is so cute!! I think it's totally worth it that you camped out for her, even if technically not necessary.

And no: you can too blog and facebook! Maybe blog *less* but they're really different things, and both are good!

Anonymous said...

I'd like to think she is named after me...only a billion times cuter :) Glad your holidays were so fun!

Roxann

Brigindo said...

Roxie is too cute. Really a combo of two of my favorite breeds. I so would have camped out for 3 hours too.

I've been on facebook for about 6 months but just can't get into it that much. I think I'm a blogger at heart. I hope you don't give up the blog as I'll miss you.

Belle said...

Yay for Roxie, and Hooray for you! I'm so glad you adopted a pup. Too many people are afraid of Rottie pups (or mixes) and leave them to languish and die in overcrowded shelters. Yeah, I'm an animal person.

Be sure and get Roxie (and selves) into a training/obedience program. Find one that uses only positive reinforcement - not only will the training help you, it will socialize her so she's great around other dogs and that helps everybody.

Please, please, please don't stop blogging! Fb is good, sure (I have two accounts) but blogs offer new friends! Like us! If you'd given it up, we'd never know about Roxie! Or Slogger!

Erin said...

Roxy is so cute! What fun she will be in your family.

Definitely don't stop blogging! I've also got a Facebook addiction but I find that blogging is still a better outlet.

Anonymous said...

Hooray for dogs! Now you have to get Roxy her own page on Dogster.com and she and Klaus can be pup pals. http://www.dogster.com/dogs/891378
Does this mean I have to fb to find you?
Klaus's mom

Musey_Me said...

Yay for the new puppy! The dog I lived with while I did my diss was a rott-lab mix. One of my favorite dogs EVER!! I'm sure Roxy will be just as fabulous. Congreats!

Notes and letters to myself.... said...

ohmygosh! She's simply darling!!! Can't wait to hear about the tales or your new baby!! Do I hear obedience school in her future?

Dr. Bad Ass said...

Thanks everyone for your positive comments. I have decided to keep the blog, and will do my best to update on a regular basis. Roxann, Slogger tends to call the puppy "Roxann" and every time he does, I think of you! Hope you're doing ok.

Klaus's mom -- are you on facebook? I'm just going to search right now.

We're planning to see how well we can train her ourselves, and then thinking about obedience school or some other kind of training. Slogger and I have both had dogs before and have a good bit of experience training, between us. She's already doing quite well on learning "outside" -- and we're working on some other commands as well.