from dreamworld to reality

after a sleepy morning and a busy afternoon spent packing up all our 'worldly possessions', matt and i thought it would be lovely to unwind at starbucks. i imagined sipping something warm, flipping through decorating books from the library, and having dobby sweetly sleeping at my feet on the outside patio. 

we arrived at starbucks at 8.40 - forgetting that it's saturday night and a balmy 70+ degrees. every patio table was full. knowing we couldn't take dobby inside, i got the drinks while matt walked him around. finally, when still no one was moving, we squeezed in at a table that someone was using only for the chair. finally, the moment! i took one sip of my vanilla soy steamer and felt a little drop. then quite a few more. then the wind picked up and all the people on the patio ran inside...all except our crazy little trio! we threw everything in the bags and ran with a frantic dobby to the car. 

now i sit in an empty room that used to be our office, taking the last swigs of my steamer, and am noticing a strange smell from the carpet. we've actually renamed this room 'dobby's bathroom' since he seems to have an unnatural attachment to it. 

i'll post some pictures of the house soon, since we're hopefully closing on the 25th. lots to do before then, but we're taking care of the truly crucial thing, like picking out reflective numbers for the mailbox. 

dobby

dobby is our new shihranian puppy (half shih tzu/half pomeranian) we got him last friday, and since then, our lives have been taken over by this 3 pound ball of fur. we are having sleepless nights, worry about his bad habits (he has too many to mention) and can't even believe how happy we are he is in our lives. how could you not love this little face?!

a reason to drink coffee

normally i don't need a good reason to drink coffee. if it's brewed, or within a few miles distance...i'm there! however, tonight i had a really good reason to make a pot and drink 2 (or was it 3?) cups. we had a new mug! 

the mug came today as a christmas gift from one of our insurance partners. i was bracing myself for a paper weight or something engraved, so imagine my surprise when matt pulled out a robin egg's blue box. yes, it was a tiffany's box! once my pulse returned to it's normal level, i started to wonder what could possibly be in a tiffany's box that big. well, as it turns out, the box was home to a 'mug'. i know that's probably a misnomer for anything that comes from tiffany's, but i have to be honest and say that it is really quite hideous. i was hoping for a simple pattern, even solid white, but instead, the mug is covered in a muted map pattern! i probably wouldn't pay $3 for this mug at tj maxx, and now, i'm discovering i can't put it in the microwave (gold in the handle) and probably not in the dishwasher either!

however, i will put it on our shelf and use it every so often, and it will become part of the mug collection that every house has, because who can ever get rid of mugs? my other favorites - the 'it's a girl' mug that matt gave me as a 'prize' the first time we hung out together, a bright orange mug that matt picked out of a whole store when i made him spend the last bit of a gift card, and a recent mug from ella saying 'aunt-like mom...only cooler'. it's nice to know the tiffany's mug will have a home on the island of misfit mugs. 

st. francis would have been proud. for a moment.

while petsitting at tony and rachels, i let their dog pal out into the back yard. i noticed the neighbor boys playing with a chicken in the house behind theirs. it sounds sweet, but what they were really doing is carrying this chicken around by the tail. being the defender of animals that i am, i asked them if that was their chicken.

'yes, he's ours.' so i told them they should be nice to their chicken.
'oh yes, we're really nice. he likes when we pet him' i encouraged them to only pet the chicken from now on, rather than dragging it around by the tail.

i went back inside and those little kids started chasing the chicken, grabbing it by the tail when it was cornered, then throwing it against the tree. that was the last straw. i came running out of the house, so angry, and told them i never want to see them treat their chicken that way again. it made me very sad to see them, and do they think the chicken likes being treated that way? to all this they said (keep in mind they are about 3 and 5 years old) 'you mean you can really see us?'

i took advantage of this moment and told them i could see EVERYTHING and they should never be mean to their chicken again. then they ran into the house, leaving the chicken in peace for awhile. i was feeling very self righteous and stormed back into the house wondering how i had so quickly transformed into a scary-neighbor-lady i'm sure! i told matt the whole situation) we had just sat down to eat before all this. i picked up my fork, and realized i had just stabbed a huge piece of sesame chicken! for all my efforts to save that one little chicken from suffering, i sure had a lot of his relative on my plate!

i think there is a verse about this...pulling a speck out of someone else's eye?!