On Thursday, I was looking forward to leaving work on time after several very long days at the office. 

Right around 5 p.m., I got a text from a number I didn't recognize with a photo of a puppy. 

I could quite figure out where it was coming from. 

Mark and I got home at the same time, he'd been picking up Grover and Moxie from doggy day care and I'd been picking up pizza (it was that kind of night).

When I walked in, Mark asked "Can we get a puppy?"

Turns out, the text had some from our doggy day care lady who knew a guy who had puppies he was looking to unload. 

This puppy was an Australian Shepherd-Collie mix. Mark said he had always wanted an Aussie. 

The ridiculousness of this was not lost on him since for the last two years, I'd sent him photos of black lab puppies, or all emails related to adoption promotions at the shelter. 

I'd decided that we should get a younger dog since Moxie is about 8 now, and Grover is about 5, so that Grover would have time to make a new friend as Moxie gets older. Sounds a little terrible, but in my mind, this made perfect sense. 

Mark had always responded with some variation of "Absolutely not" and once even said that after Moxie and Grover, maybe we should not have a dog for awhile. It does make vacations and spending much time away from home challenging.

But then this little Aussie pup came along and Mark just had to have her. 

As much as I'd mentioned puppies for the last two years, I hadn't really gotten that attached to the idea of actually getting a puppy.

So I told Mark we could go meet the puppy first and then decide (which pretty much always ends in bringing home a puppy). We have two dogs already, but the puppy needs a harness, collar, leash, food bowl, puppy toys, shots, a bath and you know, puppy training.

On Friday, Mark called the guy with the puppy to find out more. Saturday we drove about 30 minutes out of town to meet her, but when we got there, she was off galavanting in the fields somewhere with her mom and another dog. So we went to lunch and drove home with plans to go back Sunday. As soon as we pulled in the garage, the guy called. The puppy had returned. 

We headed back out, with both of our dogs in the back seat again. This time, we met the puppy. 

I have to admit, she is adorable, so even me with all my thoughts of "Oh my gosh we have to do all the puppy things again" was smitten. 

We haven't named her yet, but she has one blue and one brown eye. She's a sweet little thing who hasn't figured out how to walk on a leash yet and has peed in the house a bajillion times already. 

Grover and Moxie aren't too sure what to make of her yet, but they seem to be getting the hang of it. 

At the moment, all three are passed out here in the living room and one or three of them are snoring a little bit. 

The guy's niece wanted the puppy, even though her mom had pretty much rejected that idea. The idea was for us to have taken the puppy by the time she got to his house, but as with the delay, she pulled up right as we were getting ready to leave. 

I had the squirmy and very muddy puppy (they lived on a farm) in my arms and the niece asked if she could have a minute. I said of course, but then wasn't sure we'd ever get the puppy back. It took probably another 20-30 minutes to get the pup back and the poor niece was definitely bummed. 

So far, little pup doesn't bark, other than at her chew toy when she's thrashing it around. She tries to chew on the big dog bones but her teeth are itty bitty, but still sharp when she gets you.

She likes to follow the big dogs around and looks at them like "I don't know what's going on, but I'm gonna do what you do!" 

I'll be honest, raising a puppy will be exhausting. She's about 11 weeks, which is about the same age Grover was when I got him. As cute as puppies are, you have to keep a constant eye on them. They pee in the house, they chew on the carpet, they eat dirt out of potted plants, nip your clothes and cry when you put them in their crate. 

Earlier this afternoon I was trying to read and every other sentence, she was in to something, so it was up and down and up and down. 

So our carpet is likely to be destroyed, but when Grover was medicated after his back surgery, he had an awful lot of accidents too, so guess it's a good thing I don't particularly love the blue carpet that came with the house anyway.

She's also likely to be a good farm dog since the breed is used for herding. Hopefully she won't be as interested in chasing chickens as Grover is and as we add animals to our minifarm, she'll be great for that. 

Just goes to show you that just as you're getting into a routine with the existing chaos in your life, the universe throws you a curve ball. In this case, she's a little ball of fur and energy.

Here goes nothing!

It's been just about two months since Grover had back surgery and I figured it was time for an update. 

You may remember my near meltdown when Grover's back legs just stopped working and then he just stopped moving. I realized this morning that the post never updated, so here's a link to a recap of what was a terrible weekend.

After his surgery, poor bud was loopy and mostly just slept for a few days. I stayed home from work for a day or two just to make sure he was okay and because I just couldn't tear myself away from him. 

It was a long week or two of shoving pills down his throat and handfuls of rice since he wouldn't eat for awhile. Grover is a master at eating around pills. If you put it in peanut butter, he'll lick all the butter and spit the pill back out. He's got skills. 

Grover was absolutely not allowed to play or run or climb stairs or jump on furniture for six weeks. It was next to impossible to keep this pup still. 

We put our mattress on the floor so he could still snuggle with us and sleep on the bed during the day the way he likes to without jumping. We kept the basement door closed so he couldn't go down the stairs. M's mom was here for December so we kept the guest room door closed so he wouldn't jump on that bed. He had to be on a leash to go outside for six weeks. In snow, rain, wind, subzero temps. 

Grover and Moxie would start to play and then get yelled at. They'd look at us like "what? We're just playing!" Moxie went to puppy day care more often so she could get her energy out without tempting Grover. 

Christmas week, I let Grover climb on the couch with me. Something was scaring him, I think M working on the kitchen counter, and he wanted to lay in my lap. That was just about the six week mark, so I figured he'd be fine. Slowly we started to let him off his leash out back and to start playing with Moxie again. We've had to train him to take the ramp side down the deck so he doesn't take flying leaps off the step side, which is likely a part of how he got into this situation in the first place. 

Today, I'm taking him to puppy day care with Moxie. It's been almost eight weeks so he should be pretty well healed but of course I'm still nervous about it. Grover will be ecstatic to play with his puppy friends again I'm sure. 

When we let him run and play out back, you can seriously see joy on his face that he can stretch his legs and explore. Grover loves to run and play and sniff everything. Keeping him from that was a special kind of torture, but there's no sense in fixing his back and not letting it heal properly. 

I want many years of fun and puppy snuggles and seeing that joy on his face from the simple act of running outside. He's the best pup and he's back to his normal self, maybe just a bit slower, but I love him all the same.

Thanks to all of you for the sweet thoughts and support the weekend he was having surgery. I was definitely a mess, but you all helped keep my spirits up and Grover sends his love!

For the last week and a half, I've been miserably sick. 

I thought it was a cold, maybe the flu, M said at one point that my cough sounded very bad and maybe I was getting pneumonia (I totally cried when he said that). So I finally went to the doctor because my ears were hurting. Turns out, I have dodged the flu another year but got my very first sinus infection. And it has been awful, but slowly getting better. 

For the last week and a half, I've downed at least a gallon of hot tea, probably several. 

This morning, I'm giving coffee a go. Boy have I missed coffee.

But, I didn't sit down to write this post to tell you about the icky sickness. 

I sat down to write about the things I'm going to do as soon as it passes, or some of the things now. 

It's a new year and though I don't really make resolutions (see this post), I do like this time of year as a reset. To take stock of how the previous year went and the lessons learned and to refocus for the coming year.

This might be a little more for me than for you, readers, just because if I put it out into cyberspace, I'm more likely to get it done. You readers help hold me accountable.

In the last week and a half, I've accomplished very little other than watching movies, tv, reading some magazines and sleeping. It's been driving me a little mad, not being able to do all the things I wanted to do over the holidays or my days out of the office, but the rest was probably exactly what I needed to recharge for the year. And I managed a few genius ideas while not being bombarded with distractions, tasks, interruptions and other nonsense from my typical daily grind.

All that said, here's my January goals. I'm linking up with Melyssa over at Nectar Collective again to help motivate me.

+ As soon as this sinus infection clears, get back to the gym. I'm shooting for running/working out at least 3 times a week. Hopefully, I'll get back into the habit of running/working out more often, but figured I'd start slow as I incorporate that back into my normal lifestyle. Although, I'm counting skating, so I should surpass this goal easily.

+ Finish Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl. I'll be honest, it's not my favorite read, but I'm about 3/4 finished and I'm tired of staring at it, knowing I'm not done. Then I can move on to the massive pile of "books to be read."

+ Work on chicken plan. We're planning to get more chickens this spring, but we need to work out how many, whether we want chicks or pullets, and if we want to start breeding our own (we do, but we're trying to avoid taking on more than we can chew too soon). 

+ Make progress on renovations. Any project will do. Any project counts. We're going to be renovating forever and I think it might always drive me a little bit nuts.

+ Make better use of my time. Instead of thinking/worrying/stressing about how much I have to do, JUST DO IT. A lot of projects are snowballing at the same time and it's good, so I'm going to have to force myself to be productive and efficient.

+ Get rink materials in order. I've got radio ads lined up, several special campaigns going, about to host a nonprofit day, and am recruiting more helpers, but I absolutely, positively need to make our new informational brochures, donor packets, etc. It's been on my list for awhile now, but it needs to get done this month. No more delay.

There are other bigger and smaller goals, but these are aimed at helping me knock them all out. And if I've learned anything from 2014, it's to stop making to-do lists so massive that they are unachievable and then beating myself up when they aren't finished. 

So, here goes the first full work week of 2015, when I can breathe again. Here goes nothing! 

Do you have January goals?

For the last few years, I've declared a Year of Jenn.

Crazy enough, it's been working out better than making resolutions. 

I'm still not a big believer in resolutions, but I am a fan of pausing at least once a year to consider what's been accomplished and how I want to keep growing, improving. 

In rereading my thoughts for the start of 2014, I still very much the same way.

Thinking back about 2014, it was a tough year. There was loss, lots of stress and emergency back surgery for Grover. 

But it was also a year of progress, accomplishment and opportunity.

I won't be making resolutions again this year. 

I will instead focus on continuing to build a life with M. Continue learning and building our minifarm. Continue learning what works for me in terms of staying in shape. Continue building my confidence and rebuilding my skating skills. Continue my mission to turn the rink into a fantastic place. Continue figuring out how I work best, in terms of work, side projects, blogging and everything else I take on. Continuing our move toward healthier eating and cooking. Continuing our shift toward a simpler life. Continue clearing the clutter. 

But there are some things I specifically want to focus on. 

I want to worry less. Especially about things I have no power to change. On the things I can chance, I want to focus more on action.

I want to fear less. I don't know when it happened that the thoughts of "I can't do that," or "That's going to hurt," or "What if this all falls apart," or other voices of fear crept into my mind, but they did. Granted, fear is totally normal when it comes to doing life changing things, or throwing yourself into the air while skating on ice, but some of that fear has been holding me back from doing some of those big things I've been wanting to do. Some failure has serious implications. I have to get paid to help make mortgage payments, but more often than not, the sky won't fall if I fail. 

I want to spend less time plugged in. I love connecting through social media and for work, it's become a skill my job depends on, but, I want to overcome that feeling that I'm missing something if I'm not scrolling through my Twitter feed multiple times a day. 

This video struck a cord with me, even though I truly believe social media can be a powerful tool, I wonder if we aren't losing our ability to genuinely connect with people in real life. 

I want to be more efficient with my time, but also allow myself downtime. There's a lot I want to do, and not for the sake of being busy, but because the work matters. But I really need to stop beating myself up if I haven't moved an entire mountain in a day and to allow myself to rest before I run myself down to the point of exhaustion, sickness or just misery. 

I want to be a maker. When I was younger, I made tons of things. I sewed, I knit, I baked, I crafted, I wrote, I danced, I sang, I created. Those things do take time and sometimes more time than I have, but I want to recondition my mind to focus more on what I can do for myself, by myself, and then to relearn how to do it all. 

I want to be a thinker. My job requires it, my hobbies require it, but sometimes I find myself so overwhelmed with the tasks that I don't have time to genuinely think. And really, I find that the more I think about things, the more the ideas flow. Ideas that make all my to-do lists of tasks turn into amazing realities that really do move mountains. 

All that said, 2015 is going to be a big year. But it's going to be a year of my making. Some big things are coming this year for us, and some of them will be stressful, but so many good things are coming too. 

How did 2014 go for you? What did you learn? How will you continue your progress in 2015?


And a small favor. If you have a few minutes, would you kindly take this Play Positive pledge to support my rink? If we make it to the top 5, we win $2,500 that will help us make repairs and grow all the programs I've been working on!