No More "Highest Love"

Kuialoha is no more.  Well, no more in our home anyway.  On Saturday she bit Tank hard enough to draw blood and leave a nice bruise.  And that was it.  In an instant, she was no longer my dog, she was a traitor to the family.

Rob isn't heartless, like me, so he tried to get me to agree to keep her, work on more training with her.  I said, "That's fine if you want to keep her.  On Monday, when you come home from work, the dog will be gone, dropped off at the nearest Pound."  He got the point.  (Women are jerks, and I'm no exception.  There are just no two ways to see some issues.)  Happily, we found someone to take her so she didn't go to the Pound.

And I liked Kui!  Really, I did.  She was a fun little creature, and a nice lap dog who kept me warm on Winter days.  But she was randomly aggressive, attacked other dogs, and occasionally bit my kids.  That's just not cool.

Instantly, when the announcement was made, the kids started asking for new pets.  Can we have Cleo back?  NO.  Can we get a new dog?  No.  Can we get another cat?  No.  How about we put up our fish tank again?  And put it where, exactly?  That's a no.  Finally we worked our way to a betta fish.  They're pretty, nearly zero work, and they can live in 2 inches of water.

Except it turns out that they aren't really supposed to be kept in such little bowls.  To be humane (not to insult anyone who owns a betta and keeps it in a 1/2 gallon tank), you should keep it in at least a 5 gallon tank.  Well, we don't HAVE a 5 gallon tank.  I was just going to ignore the "that's torture" response I initially had, and put the betta into a large vase we have.  But I just couldn't do it.  We brought up the vase and it now has a plant coming out the top, but no cool betta. 

So what did we do?  We put this back up:

It's our 20-gallon tank.  We bought it in 2004 and took it down in 2008.  It's been sitting downstairs ever since, waiting for the right moment.  Right now there's no fish in it, if you're looking for fish.

This is in our living room, where our TV used to be (see?  No TV in the corner!).  We don't watch much TV any more, and so a year ago I tried to convince Rob to put the TV downstairs in the toy room.  He wasn't having it.  But then, a few days ago, when we were thinking about the fish tank, Rob said, "How about we put the TV downstairs?"  I just looked at him.  "You know I suggested that a year ago, right?"  He shrugged.  "I'm slow."

There you have it.  Traded a dog for some fish and a plant.

(P.S.  This is how sad the kids were about seeing Kui go.  Rob asked if fish was an ok trade for a dog.  Miciah responded, "Fish are better."  Clearly, no one was shedding tears around here.)

Shockingly Update-a-licious

All the news that isn't news.

Tank

After being ridiculously well-behaved while he was an only child, he returned to normal behavior pretty quickly.  Whiny and uncooperative and clingy.  It doesn't help that I've been short with the kids since they've been home.  Not their problem, really.  It's mine.

Yesterday, for instance, we went to the museum and Elijah and Miciah played.  Tank just ... sat at my feet.  Throwing a fit.  The whole time.  Yep.  That's my Tank.

Today he is happy because I'm letting him do whatever he wants.  What did he want to do?  Watch movies.  Today is a special day.  He can watch movies.

Elijah and Miciah

Today is the first day of school!!!  I'm SO excited.  Thankfully, the kids were excited, too.  Miciah and Elijah have been doing practice runs in the morning.  Miciah's been setting her alarm, and Elijah's been "making his lunch" (usually something wonderful, like a few crackers, a water bottle, and raisins).  It's great to see them happy to be getting back into the routine.

I think that, once we got back to Ohio, summer was Over for them.  We've had some fun times together, but we've also been a little stressed.  Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of patience right now, so I know that I'm the source of the stress.  I have not been handling kid stuff super well.  Elijah's hyperactivity, for instance, has been hard to handle.  ...  This is why it was time for school to start.

Here they are:

When did Miciah grow up, by the way?  I must have missed it.  (And can you guess what Elijah's favorite color is?  Nearly all his school supplies are green.  Scissors, folders, backpack, notebooks, dry erase markers, etc., etc.)

Both of them are signed up for soccer again.  Their first games are this Saturday.  Rob is assisting for Elijah's team, and actually he'll be filling in as head coach this Saturday, cause the real coach won't be there.  Rob said, "Baptism by fire."  He'll do great.

Rob

Rob finished up his crazy summer class at the start of August.  By the time we got home from CA, he was done with it, and we got to spend evenings together.  Every evening.  It was amazing.

Today school starts for Rob again, too.  He's teaching Tuesdays and Thursdays until the first week in December.  BUT, he's so much less stressed now, that this seems SO do-able.  His new job seems like a cake walk.  We're very, very, very happy with the current job situation.

For instance, the week that I broke my arm, Rob basically took the whole week off.  There were things to arrange for me, a surgery to go to, and then I couldn't take care of Tank for a while.  Rob was supposed to do a training that week, and a long experiment on Friday (my surgery was Wednesday).  His boss told him to scrap the experiment ("It's not a big deal, Rob.  Just skip it.  We'll re-schedule."), and SHE ATTENDED THE TRAINING FOR HIM so that, if Rob needed help the next week, she could help him.  Seriously?  The woman is a goddess to my people.

We had a Movin' On party for Rob on Saturday.  It was a chance to acknowledge that the horror is over.  One of Rob's previous co-workers was there, and they talked about the combat zone that is the Jordan Lab.  It was just fascinating, and horrific, to hear them talk.  Like 2 victims talking about some abuse they've both endured.  ...  But it's over now for Rob.  We're movin' on.

Tamra

My arm is feeling much better.  Every day I can move it more and with less pain and stiffness.  The swelling is basically gone now:  I even was able to put my wedding ring on yesterday, and my physical therapist said that sometimes can take up to 6 months!  I am WAY ahead of the curve.  :)

There are lots of small victories to celebrate.  I can now type 2-handed (and just as fast as normal, too!), turn on the vacuum, hold my car keys, and drink from a glass.  These probably don't sound like a lot, but I'm trying to keep it in perspective.  2 weeks ago I could do none of those things.

Also, physical therapy is AWESOME.  People keep saying, "Physical therapy is so painful."  But so far, it has been anything but painful.  It's like a deep stretch, or an involved massage.  It's great.  And my physical therapist is an angel.  Julie, I heart you.

My energy levels are returning to normal, and I can do all my daily chores (laundry, dishes, etc.), but I'm still hesitant to be really active.  Running doesn't sound fun.  Soccer DEFINITELY doesn't sound fun.  ...  Reading a books sounds fun.  That's about it.

My triumph for the day:  Surviving until the start of school.  Last week I lost it.  I "abandoned" Elijah to Rob for half a day on Thursday.  And on Friday I read a book for 6 hours.  Maybe longer.  I didn't even get out of bed until noon.  ...  But it's the dawn of a new era!  There is hope!

Kuialoha

There she is.  Our dog.  (Yes, her name is Kuialoha.  Yes, that's a real name, and no, I didn't make it up.  It means highest love.  If Tank had been a girl, her name would have been Kuialoha.  I'll admit it, it's a better name for a dog.)  We're calling her Kui (pronounced coo-ee) for short.  I cut her facial hair today, so if it looks funny, it's cause I don't know what I'm doing.  But you can see her eyes now!

Our friends the Simpsons had this dog (they called her Annie), but now they're having a baby.  The dog is super gentle, but she's been known to nip at babies, so they needed to find a new home for the dog.  We are in no danger of having a baby, so we said we'd try out this dog.  We've had her for 2 days, and there's no way we're giving her back.  She's really well behaved.  She's house broken and kennel trained.  She comes when you call her, she stops when you say no.  She doesn't run off or tear up household items.  Seriously, the best dog ever.

The kids love the dog.  Cleo, our cat, isn't happy, however.  (Within minutes of telling our kids about this dog we were going to get, Elijah said, "We could get rid of our cat."  He hadn't even MET the dog yet!)  Cleo gives the dog looks that say, "I want to kill you," but mostly she stays downstairs and out of Kui's way (Kui, for her part, wants to be friends).  Kui isn't allowed downstairs.  So right now we have an upstairs pet and a downstairs pet.

And that's life here.