We have a new family member. This post is really for all of my relatives that know that I am not a dog person. Actually, not much of an animal person at all. I am okay with cats because they are independent and clean themselves. But I am also allergic to them, so that isn’t an option. So this little girl had a date to meet her maker on Saturday if a home couldn’t be found for her.

I am not a big fan of toy dogs. And I am especially not a big fan of the trend to take dogs of any size to the store, and I was shocked to hear over Thanksgiving that people are taking them on planes. Ugh! I am a fan of working dogs and despite her size she is still a terrier. She did inadvertently scare off a herd of deer when she went out to the bathroom last night. Yay! She was bought for breeding, but when she developed spine or back leg issues, that was no longer going to be a career for her. Unfortunately, the breeders decided they weren’t going to take care of her for the rest of her life either. Of course there are lots of things about this situation that I take issue with, but I won’t go into it here. She walks on four legs, but runs on three. And it doesn’t slow her down any. She is about a year old, so it is nice to not have puppy potty training issues. It is a little strange to have a dog that has been raised in a kennel with other dogs. She does not respond to any commands or a name. And she is so skinny. I think she must have been in the kennel with a dominant dog that didn’t let her eat much. We are working on getting her up to a healthy weight. So in many ways we are starting from scratch. The kids are thrilled to have a dog, I am thrilled that we don’t have the expense of feeding a large dog and it fits my requirement of “nothing with big poop!” I keep finding myself staring at her because she is so small. Smaller than a cat. And hey, I am not allergic to her.

It dawned on me that as we reach the three month mark after moving into this house that we can actually consider ourselves “settled.” There is still tons of work I want to do, but the truth is that it doesn’t all HAVE to be done. So I have finally decided to let it go, and get on with life. A fresh start. New (very old) house to decorate slowly and back to projects that are not house related. So anyway, here is a shot of the color in the kitchen and my new shelf.

It is the only room with color so far. I know that some people like soothing colors. I am one of those people that needs colors that will actually keep me awake. The white in the rest of the house isn’t working for me, but we will get to that… eventually!