PUPPIES!!!

Dear Folks,

An exceedingly wonderful thing has happened in the Millah household. My darling Maddy has given birth to pups, and the most beautiful pups you ever did see. There were never cuter puppies in the world. I mean, just look at them! Are they not the epitome of perfection? (They are, and if you think otherwise, I'm sorry, but you are wrong.) 

They are mini golden doodles. Golden doodles are wonderful, because they are hypoallergenic, because of their poodle half, but they have the calmer temperament of a Golden Retriever. I do not much care for poodles myself, they are too energetic and even a little sneaky, and they are not my Style, but I cannot help melting when I'm around a golden doodle. They really are the sweetest things, and they aren't as excitable as poodles, for sure! 

This little guy here is Blondie. He is, as you can see, the only gold in the litter. He's an extremely vocal pup. If you hear outraged Squawks coming from the puppy crate you can bet your buttons it's Blondie, annoyed that one of his brothers is sitting on his tail, or that his mother shifted position and interrupted his dinner. 

He loves to be held. He is the one puppy that just adores being petted. The others tolerate our attention, but Blondie basks in it. He will complain loudly and vigorously for minutes at a time until someone comes and picks him up, where upon he snuggles up in your arms and falls silent. 

This here is Blackbird. He looks remarkably similar to his brother, Starling, but is distinguishable by the white strip on his chest. He is a precocious youngster, and was the first puppy to learn to walk. On the first day he mastered the art, he waddled out of the crate and carried on the time honored tradition of soiling my bedroom rugs, like his mother and father before him. 

This lovely little lady is Magpie. My dad is earnestly petitioning my Mum to let him keep Magpie. "You have a dog, and Lissy has two dogs. It's my turn to have a dog." He says. Magpie is the smallest pup in the litter, and we were a little worried for her at first, but now she is as lively as the rest of them. 

She is very wigglesome, and if I forget to secure the puppy crate she gets out and crawls underneath it. I have had to rescue her twice already, because once she squirms under, she cant figure out how to turn herself around and get back out. 

This little guy--or maybe I should just say "guy" because he is not little--is Starling, but his bulk prompts us to call him by his nickname "Lardo" most of the time. He is a fat little feller, always the first at his mother's side.  He likes belly rubs, and we've found his "kicky" spot. He likes to cuddle up under your neck and fall asleep. 

Isn't he adorable? Just look at his little face!

Maddy is an excellent mum. My friend, May, compares her to Jesus, because if you pick up one of her babies and carry it off, she forsakes the three that are safe in the crate and seeks after the lost one. She follows you very closely and calls out advice. "Hold him carefully! Don't drop him! Maybe I should take him, he looks a bit insecure. Be careful with my puppy human! Give him back!" It is ever so touching. I love it. 

To All the Blogs I Have Ever Loved

Just so you know in advance, this is NOT a farewell post!

I love the blogging community. Of all the social media communities, the blogspot (and wordpress etc.)  community is the nicest. It's friendly and personal and warm and welcoming, that's why I wanted to start my own blog so badly. (Unfortunately, when I started this blog I didn't fully comprehend how bad I was at keeping a writing schedule. I sincerely apologize to people who follow this blog, I ought not to be so remiss.)

This week, however, I am rather melancholy. Another of my favorite blogs has been ended, and so I am awash with sad nostalgia.

One of the main reasons I don't do much blogging is because the blogsphere has been changing. I started blogging just as my favorite blogs were closing down, going on hiatus and joining the other lovely, dusty blogs that haven't been updated in years and whose last posts were "I Promise I'll Blog More From Now On."

I love the community I'm in currently. Some of my favorite blogs are still up and running and I follow them with great relish. But there is a difference, and I can feel it. All the teen bloggers whose blogs I loved so much when I was younger have grown and are getting married. Their blogs are changing.

This is a fact of life. People change. Blogs end. It still makes me sad. The worst thing is when the blogger deletes her blog, because then you are left hanging, and a little piece of yourself seems to be gone. I hate that.

The olde blogs of yesteryear that are now on permanent hiatus that can still be viewed are my solace. I look them up every now and again. I read the old posts and relive old memories. It hurts a little bit, because those blogs were often a big part of my life. I remember the things I was doing on the days certain posts were published, I checked my email constantly waiting for notifications that the blogs I loved the most were updating. I commented under assumed names, and literary-inspired aliases. It hurts, but it is a happy ache. I still have the posts to remind me of what these blogs were in the golden days in my teenage years.

I miss the old blogging world. The new bloggers that keep coming will fill in the gaps left by the old ones, but the demographics are changing. I watch as the blogs shift, little by little. It's not a bad thing, but it still makes me a tiny bit sad. This is a melodramatic comparison, but I feel a bit like one of Tolkien's elves, watching the old age become the new age, and seeing the old things disappear, bit by bit.

This is not a post of complaint. It is simply something that has been weighing on me. I love the new blogs, and the new bloggers. They aren't the same as the old, but they have a special place in my heart. Not the same place, but a special one none-the-less.

To everyone who blogs, whether your blog is ten years old, or only a few months, thank you. Bloggers don't know what impact they have on other people's lives. The blogs I read had a profound impact on me. I went through a very difficult move a few years ago, and one of the things that sustained me through that period when I was acclimating myself to a new environment was a blog that posted several times a week and was always warm and sweet and upbeat. It made a huge difference to have that familiar presence in my life when every other thing was different and strange and new.

I love you guys. Thank you. Thank you for just being there.

Berlyne

I have a new puppy.

This was her when we got her. Look at how tiny she is!

Her name is Berlyne, (after one of the characters from this webcomic) and Dad and I went to get her on the eve of Christmas Eve. She cried almost the whole way home, until she fell asleep, drooling onto my leather jacket. But once we arrived, she settled right in.

The trip made her a bit sleepy, so she settled down into her comfy new bed to rest.

It's been four weeks since we brought her home, and I take pictures every Saturday to document her growth. Since I have my newly made resolution to keep, I thought writing a post about my pup would be a good way to start it off. 

(Also, I apologize in advance for the poor quality of these pics, she's very wigglesome, and the lighting at our house in the winter is just atrocious.)

Berlyne is a very smart pup. She already knows the really important commands, like "come" and "sit" and "Leave it!" She's also semi-potty trained. I'm trying to get her to ring a bell when she needs to go out, and she does that about 37% of the time. The other 63% of the time we find her accidents under our beds. I should probably be very thankful for this experience, because I am learning patience. By the time this is over I'll have oodles of it. It'll be practically coming out of my ears. 

Berlyne loves music. She is particularly fond of Gregorian chants. If I happen to be listening to something where there is a soprano singing high notes, she'll cock her head one way, than another when the notes change. It's very entertaining. 

My family is learning the hymn "I Then Shall Live" to sing at church, and we practice it every evening, and every evening, Berlyne nods off to our singing. 

Berlyne loves my other dog, Maddy, who is a full grown. Unfortunately, Maddy does not love her back. She is of a slightly jealous temperament, and isn't overly enthusiastic about sharing her humans with this new black imp. 

Berlyne does not love Mum's little poodle dog Cassie though. The feeling is mutual. The two of them are always at each other's throats (metaphorically of course). They are extremely petty. If Cassie has a chew toy, Berlyne steal it. If Berlyne has her stick, Cassie will take it. 

At meal times, Berlyne will ignore her own food to go get at his food bowl, and Cassie returns the favor. They think they're getting away with something special, but in reality, they are both just eating the same kind and the same amount of food. 

Berlyne just adores my dad. She will get super excited when he comes home, and will dance around at his feet, impatiently waiting for him to get out of his coat and boots so he can pet her. Dad has had his head turned, and keeps threatening to steal her from me. 

She loves the snow. She'd stay outside all day if I let her. But I get cold somewhere between five and ten minutes, and have to cut her fun short. 

At night she sleeps on my bed, but she's a bit finicky. She'll decide she wants to sleep on my right side, then she decides the blanket looks softer on my left side. Then she decides she doesn't want to sleep next to me at all and goes off to lie in the far corner of the bed...but no, she does want to sleep next to me after all. But just being next to me isn't enough, no, she must sleep right on top of me. 

NEVER MIND! The foot stool looks comfortable. Or not. Maybe the floor then. Oh look, there's Maddy, let's sleep next to her. Well, she growled when Berlyne tried to snuggle up, so back onto the bed she goes. Except she isn't quite big enough to make it, and needs her human to help her. Okay, now she wants to sleep on my right side. But wait, the blanket looks softer on my left side...

 These are pictures of when we'd just got her. She was tired and hungry

but couldn't decide whether she wanted to eat more, or to sleep more, so she 

just stayed in bed and ate out of her bowl at the same time. 

As you can imagine, I have not been sleeping super well since she's been around, but it's worth it. I love her too much to complain. Or at least, I don't complain that much. 

So that's your introduction to Berlyne, aka Baby. Isn't she sweet? 

New(ish) Resolutions

I broke my New Year’s resolution already.

To most of you, this will come as no surprise. I’m sure that most of you who have made resolutions can probably sympathize. It happens every year. We promise ourselves we’ll eat better, we’ll get more sleep, we’ll do twenty pushups every day, we’ll learn how to cook, we’ll never forget to water the spider plant ever again…etc. etc.

But you see, I was clever. I was determined that this year would be the year. The year that I would finally keep my New Year’s resolutions. I grinned to myself when I saw other people talking about how they wouldn’t be able to keep theirs. Because I was a genius. I came up with a failsafe plan to make a resolution that I would never break!

My brilliant resolution was that I would not make any New Year’s Resolutions. Easy right? Only if you are not a raging idealist.

So I finally broke down today and made a resolution. (If only I’d waited until February. You see, any resolution one makes in January is a New Year’s resolution. It just is.) My resolution is that I will personally write something meaningful/productive every day. Every. Single. Day.

There are three possibilities. Four, if you count failure.

1. I will write a lot on this blog to avoid having to write my novel
2. I will write a lot on my novel to avoid having to write on this blog
3. I will write a lot of letters, to avoid doing both

So yes. That is my resolution. If you guys want to help, you can occasionally leave me ominous warnings and vague prophesies of the future in the comment section, just to keep me on my toes.  

Here’s to the semi-New Year. Cheers! 

P.S. Do you think my next New Year's resolution should be to figure out just exactly how paragraphs work?