In between times

The last time I wrote, well over a year now, we were moving from our home in a house to a less than 700 square foot apartment in Williamsburg, VA.  Fast forward that year +, and we're back in a house.  Let's start with the apartment.

Long story made short, when you're signing a lease on an apartment and you find a mold clause, don't assume it's for something obvious like mold in the shower if you're not a big cleaner.  (What we assumed for the mold clause, and, if we're being honest, we usually had some light mold in our house we were moving out of in the shower.  We thought, no big deal.) However, what we learned is that the previous renter had been awful at cleaning and taking care of things that should have been taken care of that there was a scent that permeated the walls into the other surrounding apartments while she was living there.  ("How bad does it have to be to go through apartment walls?" I still wonder.)  Each month, I dealt with a new round of sinus infections until I went to an ENT who proposed operating on my sinuses with the possibility of damaging my eyes or my brain (you know, 'cause I never use those crazy things (note heavy sarcasm here)) I actually didn't burst out laughing at him when he suggested it, but took my friends advice that there was something in the apartment that was causing major issues with my sinuses.  The Hubbs and I took that as a sign that it was time to move out.

We were originally thinking of moving to a new apartment complex,  but the insane price of renting here (I understand high rent in major cities for premium space, but we're living in Williamsburg, VA for peets sake!)  is insane!  We were paying what our mortgage was for our house for half the square footage.  That's when we decided to look at buying here.

We looked at building new, (with tons of steps and two aging dogs (and heaven forbid type thoughts) we quickly came to our senses and went with a slightly older house) We found a great house at an affordable price, went through hell with a bad mortgage company, before having a wonderful experience with our 2nd mortgage company.  And are now in our 3rd month of living in a house again!

Magically, we live in a very quiet neighborhood with several other dog friendly people.  The house had fresh coats of paint (slightly off white) and new carpet as one of the added features when we moved in.  There's also a family of deer that like to wander through the back yard every morning.  We're back to having an office, a spare bedroom (aka, dog room) space for my sewing machine, a kitchen I can cook more than a sandwich in, and a screened in back porch.

We'll be showing you more pictures later, but, for right now, I leave you with a picture of Paul.  

Awake

     You know, when we moved to Williamsburg, the big thing we thought of was being closer to work.  My hour long drive disappeared, the hubbs still drives a half hour.  Foolishly I thought we'd be sleeping in a bit on week days.
     Somehow, we're still waking up at 5:30, making coffee, then heading out the door.  The pups are being walked at the park next to us, then coming home to nap the rest of the day away.  To be clear, we're the ones walking the pups before going to work, but I swear we're all half asleep.

Moving: With Dogs!

     In about a week, the Hubbs, Annie, Paul, and I will be moving!  We're only going about 50 miles, so it's not a huge move, however, it's still nuts!  Our square footage is being cut in half.  And, for the first time in years, we'll be living in an apartment.

Annie, nose on, ears off.  She'd be gone in 10 seconds.

     I've been reading back posts of Two Pitties in the City trying to "hack" how to live in a small place.  The dogs are loosing their dog room, and the Hubbs is loosing his "man cave."  We'll have about 700 square feet.

Paul may be nice and calm here, but all I need is a squirrel and we'd be in trouble.

     However, in all of this, I'm trying to figure out how to actually move with the dogs.  I realize the obvious: They will hop into the Prius and off we'll go!  However, with unloading the truck, the car, and moving everything in, I don't want to worry about one of them escaping and getting lost.
 
     Any one have any suggestions as to how to move Annie and Paul?

Paul

     I love lying in bed with Paul and Annie at my sides.  Especially in the summer with the windows open and a breeze blowing in.  Sometimes, it's the only way to handle Paul being close to us.  As he's gotten older (he's 9 now), Paul has developed a gas problem.

     The Hubbs calls them "silent assassins" because somehow, when he lets one loose, we don't hear them until it's too late.
     Typically, it goes something like this: we're lying in bed watching TV, and I suddenly smell "it."  I turn and look at the Hubbs, "Did you just let one loose?"
     "No.  Why?"
     "Give it a minute."
     Five seconds later, "Oh!  Woah!  Dude!"
     I start to chuckle at this point, because I'm no longer the only one who is dealing with this joy.  And then we both burst out laughing.  Paul usually pops his head up at this moment and smiles at us as if to say, "Hey, what's so funny?" I lean over out of bed and start petting him until he settles back down to his bed next to my side of the bed

Real Life: It's Not As Easy As We Make It Look

     The first month we had Paul, he ate through the car's seatbelt on the way to the dog park.  We got the $300 estimate, and decided not to repair the seat belt.  I told The Hubbs after he watched a winning football game and was drunk.

     Annie, for the first 2 years we had her, peed everywhere in the house and it smelled like dog urine year round.  I finally got to the point I just tour up all of the carpet in the house.  Luckily, we had 30 year old hardwood underneath.  Unluckily, she had already soaked it and it had warped in her 2 favorite pee places.
     I hate walking A&P at the same time on my own.  When I do, I've been bitten, dragged down with a concussion, and stopped by the police for raising "vicious dogs"
     Just tonight, I discovered Annie has been snacking on my leftovers that I left on the counter top.  I found the container in her room, empty.
     At different points in the past 7 years of dog ownership, we've contemplated getting rid of either Annie, Paul, or both.
     Why am I saying all of this?  What's the point in "airing my dirty laundry in public"?  For the same reason Marly and Me by John Grogan is one of my favorite books.  Marly is far from perfect.  At times, he's a holy terror.  But time and time again, the family can't help but love him.
     I can't help but love Annie and Paul, for all their good times and bad.  They are still my puppies, and now 7 years with them, I can't imagine my life without them.  To anyone reading this blog who has just adopted a new pet and is going through an adjustment period with them, remember this.  There are good times and bad, it won't always be easy, but good times will come.  You just have to hang on for them.

The Hubbs and the Pups

     With the Hubbs being a grad student for one more semester, this is the time of year he loves sitting still and hanging out.  Grad school is still easier than what he used to do (power plant worker with 12 hours on and 12 hours off switching between days and nights), but you get the idea.  Annie and Paul love the fact that they have 3 walks a day right now and free time all day with Dad to nap and lounge around the house as they please.

     Today, I had to laugh though.  I'm sitting on the couch in the living room listen to the Hubbs talk to Annie.  "You've bugged me all day to pet you.  Come up here (onto the bed) to be petted.  Annie nudges his arm again.  "No, up here!"  Annie nudges arm.  Hubbs gets up and picks up Annie and puts her onto the bed, and stretches back out.  "I"ll pet you up here."  I hear Annie jump down off of the bed.  She walks around and must have nudged his arm again.  "No, up here.  I"ll pet you on the bed."  
     Something tells me this will be tonights entertainment.

Obviously, this draft is a few months old, but it's things like this that I still enjoy reading.....

Woopps! We disappeared!

     Wow, yea, we disappeared there.  The last post on the blog is March 17th.  Where the heck have we been?  On a long strange trip, that's defiantly not as cool as the Grateful Dead would have you believe.

The day after out last post we were both running late this morning.  In an attempt to get a short walk in, the Hubbs took Annie and Paul out on retractible leashes for a quick romp in the yard.  Overnight, we thought it had rained. The Hubbs goes out the door, the door shuts, and I hear a strange noise.  I walked to the door to find the Hubbs lying on his back with blood coming from his mouth.  We thought it had rained, but it had iced.  The Hubbs hit the steps, his legs went out from under him, and he smacked his face on the steps.  I came out at the weird noise and slipped myself with a beautiful bruise on my backside.  We both missed a day of classes dealing with bruises, cuts, and the front steps winning a round.

     The rest of March dealing with the after effects of this: soar back, bruised ribs, stitch removal, and dealing with an idiot neurologist.  The steps defiantly won that round.  Luckily, the Hubbs glasses were ok.  

April, May, and June were spent with the Hubbs graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Masters in Financial Economics (So ridiculously proud of him for this) and job interviews.
 
  In July, we got the official job offer and we're excited to announce that we're moving!  Grant it, it's not far, but we now have to pack up the house and move into an apartment half the size.   I keep wishing I lived closer to 2 Pitties in the City just so we could hand off some of our furniture to A & E who just moved from an apartment to a house!

   So ready or not, here comes another ride on the roller coaster, hold on tight.