Pix, quite the roller coaster day. Wow. Interview~ma for Monday, you will be AWESOME! And shoo-tax-man~ma for the bad papers that came in the mail.

I think I'm doing better.

Good luck with new Buffista puppies! May you be happy as much as Lou and I were, and more.

~ma to Kristin and Drew.

And now: Dear people of Quaker Oats: your logo is very disturbing, and makes me question taking your cereals. I don't like to be stared by anyone, not to mention religious strange folks, before breakfast.

Shir, good to hear you are doing better. Can you flip the box around so Mr. Quaker dude isn't staring at you?

Meara has inspired me, I have packed 3 more boxes of books, I am about 1/3 of the way through the book cases. All my pictures are wrapped and in picture boxes. The dining room is all packed up, and cleared out, and is now the staging area for packed boxes. I even vacuumed the rug before putting packed boxes in there. Now am pooped. Watching "Leatherheads" before climbing into bed.

I read about the importance of consistency and gave Mr Peabody three dog biscuits and said "I'll be back" every time I left. Now all I have to do is open the dog biscuit jar and he hops on the bed to wait for his cookies. I shut him in the bedroom side of the house, so I don't have to wrestle with an escape attempt.

Perfect.

Bartleby had dangerous separation anxiety until I implemented this plan. I give him the same treat, on the same spot, say "You be GOOD!" and close the bedroom door. He's up on the big bed in a nano second, happily scootching his snoot under my pillow.

Liese, is your dog of a herding breed? Moving stuff would make a lot of sense if that were the case.

Putting in an offer on the house today. We're considering offering the full asking price, we want it so badly. Nerves! House!

Moving~ma to omnis and meara!

Yay new puppies! Hope it's going well, smonster.

Talking of puppies, I'm vaguely thinking about looking into Canine Partners. I'm not the world's biggest dog fan. But my dad's life has so been changed by having a Hearing Dog that I'm starting to consider it. (The Girl would particularly love it. I'm more of a cat person. I don't think you can persuade cats to unload your laundry, though.)

I'm actually doing pretty good. It's like most of the pressure and the anxiety are gone, and I can again think of and focusing what the good sides of having Lou in my life were. In some way... I don't know if it's crazy, but it's like he's still with me, in my heart - just not in a physical form - and not only when I expect to see him in some places in the house.

In 36 hours, I went from "my dog died" to "I had a dog. He was awesome". Too fast?

In 36 hours, I went from "my dog died" to "I had a dog. He was awesome". Too fast?

There is no such thing as too fast or too slow. It's too individual. But do not be disappointed in your progress if you find yourself slipping back to the other side at times.

House is beautiful, Seska. It doesn't even have the curse of the patterned carpet. Is there some garden in the back?

Canine Partners looks wonderful. I wonder if I could teach Mr Peabody to pick up after me?

In 36 hours, I went from "my dog died" to "I had a dog. He was awesome". Too fast?

Right now, you're in the relief period of not having to worry about whether he's in pain and what you should do. The grief will hit you off and on. It's been 15 years since my dogs I had for 13 and 15 years died and I could still feel the pain when you talked about Lou.

Too fast?

Nah. There's no right or wrong time for these things. (And he was awesome -- I'm glad you're in a period of enjoying the happy memories. You've already done a lot of mourning and processing while he was ill.)

Seska, that is a great house. I hope you get it, and not just because it looks like it has room for visitors.