Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Here we are again. Another new year. Between now and my last post my husband and I have been busy bees getting our house cleaned and ready for Christmas time and both of our families visiting. You may think that it wouldn't be that difficult to keep your house clean when there is no furniture to let things pile up on, but we found quite the opposite to be true. No furniture means nowhere to actually put any belongs(such as the boxes on boxes of clothes we had). Eventually everything was contained enough that when our family, arrived baring gifts of couches and chairs and tables found on good ol' Craig's list, we were good to go!

We were so ready to finally have our house filled with cushioned things to rest our weary bones, and maybe those of the friends we are making, but we didn't anticipate something else that would unexpectedly be filling our home and hearts as well as drawing in our new friends.

December 21st.

Our families pack a huge penske truck with all our earthly belongings and make last minute prep for the journey ahead. G and I drove up the coast to our "local" theater to see the long awaited Star Wars VII! (we loved it by the way) The drive home was full of sighing and arm waving and theorizing. For those of you who don't know, I am married to a geek. SciFi is his jam, and he has read a helluva lot of the star wars expanded universe (or is it extended universe? sorry babe) and knows all the planets and their galaxies, and who lives there, and who came from where, and don't get him started on family trees. So his mind was blown from this one because this was a brand new story, with the exception of just a couple details that were kept and changed ever so slightly, this was a plot he hadn't read or seen yet.

December 22nd.

We finish up our day of more cleaning, talk more star wars, and settle onto the porch that evening with some drinks. A phone call was made and long conversations were had with a friend back home who shared G's knowledge and enthusiasm of the SW Ext. Universe. While the boys are gabbing away picking apart conspiracies, I scroll on Facebook, adding my two cents here and there.

BOOM

There it is.

PUPPIES!

I happened upon a picture posted by the local SPCA where we had gotten our kitties. 5 puppies looking absolutely adorable up for adoption!

"GREGORY!!!" I screech, bringing his conversation to a halt as I shove the picture in his face. His eyes got wide and a little grin appeared on his face.

From there the discussion expanded from solely star wars, to star wars and puppy adoption. Knowing that they would go fast we decided to drive up the next morning and be there as soon as the adoption center was open.

We've wanted a dog, but figured with our kitty cats that a puppy was the way to go so that they grew up with each other.

December 23rd.

Our family leaves in the early morning to make the rest of their journey here. The two of us make our way to the shelter. We saw the litter that was shown on FB, as well as another in the kennel right next to them, they were guessing them to be a border collie/saint Bernard mix, and the other looked like hounds. These puppies were going to get big, huge, possibly GINORMOUS! (which would be fine, we love big dogs) For some reason I really wanted to hold out for a girl puppy, though. I have a husband and two male cats and really wanted another girl in the house. All but one of these little babies were boys, and that one girl didn't click. The employee we were talking to informed us that there was another litter besides the two in front of us that was being cleaned up inside. I left G holding one of the "big" puppies, just in case someone wanted him, and ducked inside to see this other litter. A "lab" mix, she said, which really is to say that they really aren't too sure what these puppies might be, but lab is common so...

And that was it.

I fell in love...

Three girls, two boys, and one of them was coming home with us.

Meet Penelope "Penny-Pig-Red5" Logan (there was quite the discussion on names)

Here are just some of the ideas of what might be going on here breed-wise.

Copper husky puppy

Older copper husky

Husky/Lab Mix Puppy

I could see Lab in her siblings. They were all gold and whitish-blue. Faint markings of similar color on their heads. Penelope was the only one who had these pretty copper and browns on her, too. Initially my mind went to Shepherd/Lab mix, but the more we showed her to people the more we got Husky as a response. We're still not 100% sure, but with a little research we have found her to have a few husky traits. Curled tail, the markings on her face, similar coloring, ears with white on the inside that seem like they are starting to stand up, and she doesn't bark...she HOWLS.

So, now we had a new puppy, our family (unknowing of our new addition) was to arrive in about 3hrs, and we were preparing ourselves for the chaos to come.
All in all everyone did wonderfully. My sister's dog wasn't sure what to do with our house, our cats, or the puppy. The cats hid most of the time, unsure what to do with all the extra people in the house, the new furniture, and TWO dogs! Penny had a ball following everyone around and occasionally picking up Sebastian's leash in her mouth and pulling him around.

Things have calmed down since everyone left for home. The cats and puppy are figuring themselves out under our watchful and wary eyes, but they all seem to be OK. Just curious.