Author: Alyxander James

Short Week, Long Week

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Hello, dear readers, and welcome to Thursday! I’ve been all discombobulated about what day it is this week – we had Monday off for Juneteenth, and I think not a single day so far this week has felt like what it actually is.

Despite it being a four day work week, it’s been a long one so far. Work has been fairly hectic, and I had to do a presentation for my class on Tuesday night (which went well, despite Mouse insisting on making an appearance in the middle of it). It’s also going to be a somewhat busier-than-usual weekend – Twin Cities Pride is this weekend, and I’m going to be volunteering at my seminary’s booth for a couple hours on Saturday (after I take Nova to the groomer for a much-needed brushing out).

Mouse got another adoption application yesterday; they sound like a good potential fit, so we’re waiting to hear back from the rescue about scheduling a meet and greet. The person showed interest in a few different dogs, so definitely no guarantees, but fingers crossed. As much as I don’t want to say goodbye to Mouse, it’s breaking my heart to see how panicked she gets every time we go outside, no matter what we do. Once she does find her forever home, we’ve decided we’re going to pause on looking for a second dog at least until I’m done with school. This has been a wonderful experience in a lot of ways, but it’s also been a lot of added stress, and I think I need to be more realistic about my capacity right now.

I think that’s where I’ll end it this week. As always, I’ll leave you with some doggo content:

Up and Down

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Hello, dear readers, and welcome to Thursday! It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster of a week.

Saturday the first adoption application for Mouse came in. My immediate reaction was excitement for her…and then I pretty quickly dissolved into a teary mess. I know we’re doing the right thing by finding a different forever home for her, but I also love her a lot and it’s hard to think about saying goodbye. A day or two ago we heard back from the rescue that the family who applied has decided to put their plans to adopt a dog on hold for now, so we’re back to square one.

I’m also dealing with some pretty significant back pain this week, which has made focusing on work and school and the rest of life a little extra challenging.

All of that said, I’m also feeling very grateful this week. On Sunday night I got go see one of our Song School instructors, Ellis Delaney, in concert with Katie Dahl (who I don’t know personally but we have approximately a zillion folk music friends in common). A dear college friend agreed to join me for the show, and it was just a lovely time, even if it meant I didn’t get quite enough sleep Sunday night. In a fun twist, I ended up also getting to meet one of my seminary classmates at the show in person for the first time, after being in class together via zoom for the past two semesters! I was also able to get my big work project done and turned in a whole day early, which felt really good.

I think I’ll leave it there for this week; as always, here’s the doggo content:

So Sleepy

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Hello, dear readers, and welcome to Thursday! I’m having one of those weeks where I keep thinking it’s Friday, and it’s…not, yet. I’m also having a very tired week. Not sure if it’s because it’s been pretty hot and humid, or because the air quality has been less-than-stellar (though it’s not nearly as bad here as it is in NY right now), or if it’s just that there’s a lot going on and I haven’t had a lot of time to recharge. Probably a combination of all of the above.

Mouse is currently snoring in her bed on the floor next to my desk. The deep snores that come out of this little dog never fail to amuse me. If you know anyone in Minnesota who’s looking for a sweet, silly dog, her adoption page is here. She’s a very good dog.

I don’t have a whole lot else to talk about this week, but before I get to the all-important doggo pictures, here are a few things I’m grateful for right now:

  • I had a really lovely birthday over the weekend. It was low-key and involved getting to spend time with loved ones, which was just what I wanted.
  • I picked up a new “cozy fantasy” book as a birthday present to myself. I think I mentioned Legends & Lattes on here back when I read that; Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea is a very similar vibe. Queer and cozy and fluffy but still very engaging. I read about half of it over the weekend before I had to turn my attention back to homework, but I’m looking forward to finishing it!
  • I’ve got some tentative social plans this weekend that I’m really looking forward to.

And now, as always, I leave you with doggos:

Emotional Rollercoasters

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Hello, dear readers, and welcome to Thursday! It has been…a week.

We really love Mouse. And we made the hard decision on Monday that we’re going to continue to foster her rather than adopt, because we feel like she deserves a forever home that’s not in a place that makes her panic the moment she sets foot out the door. It wasn’t easy to admit that we’re not the perfect fit for her. I’m pretty sad about it, but there’s also a sense of relief in knowing we’ve made a decision. I knit her a sweater over the weekend that she’ll get to bring with her to her forever home. She’ll stay with us until she finds her forever, or until August when we leave for Song School.

Work continues to be kind of bananas, and my allergies have been pretty bad this week. Neither of those things have helped my mood at all, but it is what it is.

On the happier side of things, it’s my birthday on Saturday, which is wild. I don’t know how it’s already June, but here we are. I am generally pretty ambivalent toward my birthday (grateful to have made it to another one, but not terribly concerned about the numbers), but I’m hoping for a reasonably chill weekend of celebrations with loved ones.

Anyway, I think that’s enough for today. I’ll leave you, as always, with doggo content:

Exciting Developments

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Hello, dear readers, and welcome to Thursday! It has been another bananas week at work, and at home, there have been some exciting and routine-shifting developments.

A bit after I posted last week’s blog, we heard back from the rescue with their suggestions for dogs that might fit well with Nova from the list we had sent them. One of them was arriving on a transport from an Oklahoma shelter on Saturday. They don’t allow adoptions straight off of transport, but they offered to set us up as a foster-to-adopt. We said yes:

The rescue called her Lady Luck; the shelter in Oklahoma had her down as ZeeZee. She responds to neither of those names, so we’ve taken to calling her Mouse, because she is just a wee country mouse who’s landed herself in the city.

It has been, and will continue to be, an adjustment for everyone. Nova’s not quite sure how she feels about the situation yet. There’s been some grumbling and barking on her part. We’ve kept them mostly separated in the apartment so far, since Mouse is still decompressing from her shelter journey. Mouse is also terrified of the city noises – we got her a Thundershirt, which helps, but when we take her outside, our only hope of getting her to relax enough to do her business is if Nova’s with us, too, as Nova’s presence outside seems to make her quite a bit braver (though she still trembles quite a bit). So far she’s only eaten if we hand feed her, although we’re hoping as she gets more comfortable and her appetite increases that will be less of a need.

We requested an extension on the initial 5-day foster period before finalizing adoption, because we want to make absolutely sure she’s the right fit, so we now have until Tuesday to decide if we want to make this permanent or if we’re just going to keep fostering until she finds a different forever family. We really love her, though – she’s very sweet, and her little nub of a docked tail wags her whole body when she’s excited.

Work is calling, so without further ado, here are some doggo photos from this week:

Patience and Balance

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Hello, dear readers, and welcome to Thursday! I don’t know about you all, but I’ve felt for the past couple of days that this week should be farther along than it is…it’s been a long one. Work has been kind of bananas, and summer term at school started this week.

First things first: we’re still a single-dog household. The dog we met on Saturday was not a good personality fit with Nova. Thankfully, someone with the rescue who’s a certified dog trainer was able to sit with us and the two dogs and help us better interpret what was happening. Turns out Nova is not the kind of dog with the maternal instinct for teaching another dog how to be a dog. She needs a companion who will let her be top dog but will still engage and not be overly submissive. So, we’ve learned things about Nova and the rescue is willing to work with us to find a better personality fit. We’ve sent them a list of other dogs we’re interested in meeting, and they’ll set something up with us based on what they know of those dogs and Nova. We’re doing our best to be patient and to trust the timing will work out the way it’s meant to.

As I was looking over the syllabi for my two summer classes over the weekend and setting up my homework plan for myself, I realized that I had probably bitten off more than I could chew. We’re traveling the last week of the term, so that means I’d have to get final projects in a week early, and the one class I was planning to take asynchronously had a LOT of work due each week in addition to the big final paper. I talked it over with my husband and thought it through, and decided to drop the asynchronous class and just take one class this summer. I’m feeling much more settled about my summer schedule now, and much more confident that I can succeed without burning myself out. It wasn’t easy to let go of the idea that I’m supposed to be able to keep up with that level of work consistently, but I’m doing my best to give myself grace and remember that I can take my time.

And I think that’s where I’m going to leave things this week. But first, some Nova photos:

Anticipation

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Hello, dear readers, and welcome to Thursday! It has been a wild week. Work has just been busy, and I’m wrapping up my last spring semester class tonight, and my summer classes start next week.

If that all wasn’t enough, we’ve decided it may be time for us to become a two-dog household! On Saturday we’re meeting a potential sister for Nova. We’re very excited and also a little bit nervous, but I think it will ultimately be good – I don’t think Nova’s ever met another dog she didn’t want to be friends with. When we boarded her last summer, the feedback on her report card from group playtime was that she was “the life of the party,” and that she even won over the grumpy dog who didn’t initially want to play. I’m sure there will be some challenges, but overall we’re optimistic that this will go well, that Nova will learn to share the spotlight, and that she’ll ultimately enjoy having another dog to play with, so she’s not totally dependent on her humans for entertainment.

I think I’m going to leave it there for this week – I need to get my ducks in a row at work here before I start a morning full of meetings. I’ll leave you, as always, with some Nova photos:

Continued Recovery

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Hello, dear readers, and welcome to Thursday! It was a short week at work for me, because today and tomorrow are the Spiritual Directors International annual conference, which I’m attending virtually. Very excited to dig into more aspects of this field I’m pursuing with my degree.

This morning, I had my 6-week post-op visit with my surgeon. She was really pleased with how everything looks, and I’m happy with how I’m feeling, so I was in and out in about 15 minutes, which was great.

My husband has been out of town since Tuesday, so I’ve been getting back into the swing of taking Nova out on my own (now that it’s been more than 6 weeks and I’m less worried about getting pulled around by my 50 lb dog). It’s been interesting, I’m a little stiff now that I’ve suddenly increased my activity level, but it’s been lovely weather than past couple of days, so I’ve been enjoying our walks. Poor Nova has been especially clingy the last couple of days with her other parent gone; they’ll be back tonight, so I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.

That’s all for this week, but I’ll leave you, as always, with some Nova content from the week:

Back at It

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Hello, dear readers, and welcome to Thursday! I hope you’re all hanging in there.

I finally started back at work last Friday, which was actually kind of a nice day to start – it meant that I got a relatively chill day to catch up on the mountain of unread emails in my inbox and unread Slack messages from when I was out, and then I was able to really dive back into work starting on Monday. It’s been a pretty good first full week back so far – busy, but not unreasonably chaotic. I think I’m mostly remembering how to do my job.

Of course, I also realized this week that I need to cut back on my coffee consumption. I usually only drink 2 cups a day anyway, but I started developing a fairly persistent eye twitch while I was out on medical leave that has only gotten more pronounced since starting back at work, and my stomach has been kind of unhappy with me. So I’m cutting back to a single cup for now, and contemplating making the switch to decaf. I’m pretty bummed about it.

Going to have to end it here because work is picking up. I’ll leave you with some Nova photos from the past week:

Limbo

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Hello, dear readers, and welcome to Thursday! I was supposed to go back to work on Monday, but thanks to some paperwork-related nonsense around potential accommodations, I still have not been cleared to return. So this week has felt like a lot of hurry-up-and-wait.

I’ve been trying to keep myself occupied while I wait. This week I’ve helped a friend brainstorm about a game they’re designing for a class, gone to lunch with my mom, worked on my spiritual direction website, read, listened to podcasts, listened to music…and spent a fair amount of time compulsively checking my email, waiting for news about the work situation. I don’t mind the extra time off, but the waiting isn’t my favorite.

I don’t have a whole lot else to report on this week, but I’ll leave you, as always, with some Nova content: