Sometimes I throw away paperclips for no good reason.

How can you not love this face?

I couldn't think of a title...so, that's what you get. I just did it and realized I was doing it, and I thought it was a bit odd, but also quite telling of my personality. I use a lot of paper clips at work, so when there is a straggler on my desk not being used and not in its proper storage spot in my drawer, I throw it away. Weird, huh?

Olive has been doing great. Sure, she is not 8 weeks old and sitting on command, like some other pug puppies who have blogs out there are, but she is making progress and generally being a good puppy. She doesn't know her name yet, she can't control her back leg muscles, and she thinks her poop smells/tastes good, so I don't think sitting on command is not even in the realm of possibility right now. She is just not quite there.

She does very funny things all the time and loves to curl up in the most odd places. Pugs are lap dogs so she wants to be on a lap at all times. Mine preferably. Chewing at the same time. This is her perfect world. Well, it would be even more perfect for her if we let her chew the meat stick, our pants, and the upholstery, on our lap on the couch, but she seems happy on the lap on the floor, meat stick in mouth. meat stick.

Seriously, the lady who sold us Olive threw them in because she claimed her pugs loved them, and I am so grateful for giving us the great gift of the cheaply processed and highly alarming meat stick. Olive is clearly teething, her back teeth are coming in and all she wants to do is CHEW. She has already marked up one spot on the coffee table and one wooden leg on the couch. I have succumbed to the fact that the couch is probably going to look a little more "worn" than it used to. It's part of having a dog/puppy. She has figured out how to get under the couch and wiggle her way to the back of it to get into our bedroom and the rest of the apartment that is currently blocked off to her. We have to master the poop problem before she is allowed in there. Also, her size makes it difficult to do anything but chew in there, which is the exact reason that she wants in there. It is not allowed and so that is why she wants to do it!

I am figuring things out as I go along. This is really truly the closest thing I might come to parenting. Ever. I'm dead serious. I think she is cuter than any baby ever could be. Sorry to offend, but I haven't seen my-soon-to-be niece or nephew so I can't really count on this as a definitive statement. But, as of now, she is cuter than any baby I've seen!

I like the feeling that something really and truly NEEDS me. Being depended on to care for another is this great feeling that I love. I love that she follows me around sometimes. I love that she has to curl around my feet or legs while I'm sitting. She just likes to be touching me at all times, which I think is especially sweet.

I am focusing all of my energy, money, and extra time to her. I even have gone home the last two days during my lunch break (45 min on the subway each way) to let her out of her crate and eat a little lunch. The vet said 2-3 meals, but I'm not sure she is always hungry enough for a whole third one. The vet also told us that her original breeder in Missouri gave her shots too early, and too close together before she was shipped off to the Puppy whorehouse that we bought her from. It wasn't that cruel or dirty, and they claimed it wasn't a pet store, but something was not quite right in that whole process so I am glad we got her out of there and into our home. When I am feeling guilty about leaving her in her crate for so long during the workday, I think about how we kind of "saved" her, and that makes me feel a little better. I have been having a really hard time not feeling guilty about this, but I know lots of people do it so it can't be that bad and is keeping her trained (somewhat).

Focusing my "everything" on Olive is not exactly what I am doing, though since there is another lovely lady in my life already. I think we make a good parenting team/unit. Olive already likes to kiss Pickle more than me, so the attention is not as one-sided as I make it out to be.

I have begun deleting all of my junk emails from shopping websites before reading them or looking at the pictures. Before, I used to "just look" at the pictures and see what free shipping deal they had, but now I am not even letting myself do that. I'm not checking any fashion or purse blogs to keep all temptation away. My money has to go that baby, especially when she is going into the vet every 3 weeks for shots. I actually registered for pet insurance through my company and after I file some forms, I should be getting a chunk of money back. I signed up for a regular package, with an additional sort of puppy program that will make spaying her only $65! Whoo wee! I'm excited about that one, but we have a long way to go.

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In other news, I thought I'd share a cool website. This is from my St!ch 'n B!tch daily tear-away calendar from Feb. 28:

Nine free knitting patterns from the American Red Cross Museum from both World Wars. They are available in pdf form and are quite simple. They range from a "Navy Watch Cap" to a "Man's Coat Sweater," but judging from the measurements given, I bet one could alter it a tad to fit a woman. That might be too advanced for me, but the "Watch Cap" sounds cool.

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Also, please look at my beautiful new(ish) trash cans from the Conta!ner St*re that fit perfectly under our tiny little island/prep table. Aren't they perfect and beautiful and work great to keep wandering, ahem, snouts, out of there.Please also note that the contents of the counter-top are extremely telling of our current state at Casa de Besita. (we have started calling Olive "Besita" as in a little female kiss in Spanish. This word does not actually exist, but we like it and made it up.) The Cl*rox Everywhere spray is a must because they say it is gentle enough for pets and children to eat, but disenfects. Plus, it smells lovely and you don't actually have to wipe it, just spray. The wine opener, obviously. The Nutri-Cal vitamins for puppies, and her dinner bowl which we have started taking away after "mealtime" so she is learning not to graze all day. Also, the frozen pizza box because that's the extent of the energy for cooking we have lately. And by "we," I mean Pickle, but it is still usually a joint decision because I don't want to do the dishes and clean the kitchen after any cooking projects.

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Also, my current reading project: The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster. I am 5 pages in and I like it already.