Two things for today

1. We got our new mattress! Can I get a wha-whaat for Seely?! Aaaand I bought new pillows, down comforter, and Egyptian cotton sheets. One of my dreams fulfilled. It really is one of my dreams. And would you believe that John actually purchased doggy stairs? Now Sparky can get on the bed without our assistance. There are many levels at which I am uncomfortable with this, but I love John. And love makes everything right. Right.

2. Turns out we're too rich for New York. Which is funny because I always thought we were too poor for New York. It's a long story that will only bore. Just know that I want to buy the t-shirt that says "I'm too poor to enjoy New York" - because it has to exist.

Attention Monger

This is a general breakdown of how Spartacus, our dog, spends his day:

45% Sleeping

5% Strange activities done while we are asleep and random barking

50% Whining for the following:

- 1% A walk

- 44% What we are eating

- 5% To Play

- 50% No apparent reason,

which could amount to the following:

to lick our ears

to chew on dirty tissues (John is sick)

to lay on top of the coffee table

to have your attention

to be picked up

to have any packaging in your hand

I feel bad complaining about him. But I'm irritable. And he's been whining so much! Plus, John has the flu. And whining is not cute, no matter how you put it. His whining starts quiet, almost indiscernible and lasts to the point where you almost forget (like background noise), then it grows in volume and pitch until it gets to the point where it sounds like he's hyperventilating. He then squeaks out a bark or utters groans as close to talking as he can then starts all over again. I promise we do not ignore Sparky. I try to solve whatever issue is causing him to whine. And sometimes he makes demands that only a crazy or famous person would make. No joke, he woke me up at 3am this morning with his whining. He understands words like "walk", "play", and "chicken" (among other basic commands). He didn't respond to any of those words. I finally broke down four hours of inconsistent sleeping (yes it lasted that long). He just wanted one of us to be awake and pay attention to him at 3 in the morning! Not played with, not fed, not walked . . . just for me to talk, I don't know, stare at him and be awake . . . at 3 am. I can't be the only one who has a dog like this.

We still love him to death though. He has fur that looks like human hair, but feels softer and thicker. He's intuitive. A great guard dog. Has some really cute habits . . . aside from whining. And is generally obedient.

And overall today hasn't been that bad. My mood improved vastly over the hours. We were snowed in and enjoyed popcorn and smores while we caught up on some pretty horrible teen movies we hadn't seen (John Tucker Must Die and The Rocker). I made eggs and bacon for dinner, shoveled two feet of snow off of the long sidewalk that wraps around our apartment, and reorganized my closet. Fun stuff. How was your day?

Spartacus

Spartacus Gough you are great indeed, and super cute. Even if you require a lot of attention, and even if you walk all over our laptops erasing important information, we still love you.

You are great at communicating what you want. Like when you indicated that you needed to go out for a potty walk and we ignored you - we'll try our best to listen to you next time. And when you drag your food dish to the bedroom and throw it around to make the metal clang against the tile to let us know you are out of food - even if you aren't really interested in eating.

You have a great personality. I love how you take food pellets and treat them as toys to throw around and bark at. Oh, and how when you hear a noise you don't understand you ask with your voice by going from a B to a high C. And how if you don't trust the mystery noise you make a noise by going from a high C to a low B.

We are thankful for you and promise to take you to the dog park more often.

Here you will see a series of photos in which Sparky and I are making the same face. At least I like to imagine it that way. We are so in-tune with one another.

Even though my tongue isn't sticking we are making the same face. It's all in the eyes.

This time it's all in the mouth.

This is Sparky after his haircut.