Giving up the Ghost...

I haven't posted for awhile...wedding madness set in after the Christmas holidays and then we were in Costa Rica, then Cabo San Lucas for our wedding on February 18th.

Now its April 10th, and I am sad to say I am giving up the ghost - during a recent bout with a nasty cold I passed out in the evening and did not give my man a massage of any kind...which he was happy to remind me about the next day. So I had to concede defeat. I know he imagined I would be disappointed and maybe even a little angry about the losing the bet and thus relinquishing my hope of getting another dachshund this year. But to be honest, I was a little relieved to be done with the whole thing. I enjoyed putting time aside each evening to reconnect over a neck or hand massage but I can still do that anytime I want!

As for the dachshund situation, now that its (hopefully) almost spring, I know we will have enough going on that I will gladly wait a little longer before welcoming another dog into the family.

Sticking with it through the good times and the sick times!

To avoid having to attend my company holiday party this year, my fiancé booked a weekend getaway to Lincoln City, on the Oregon Coast. We had never been and I was looking forward to this trip all week.

When I woke up Friday morning I immediately noticed I had a sore throat but I was determined to get through the work day (I need the money) and still feel good enough to enjoy this trip out of town with my family of three.

By 11:00 a.m. I was dragging my butt and I notified my other workplace that I would not be coming in to work for them in the afternoon. Pulling out of the parking lot at work I groaned, remembering that I had to run several errands, which I did and rewarded myself with a Starbucks Green Tea Frappucino, which seemed to help my throat a little. By the time I got home I was exhausted and after about an hour napping I awoke feeling dizzy. Drinking 8 beers in a row kind of dizzy.

Tyler happened to call as I was stumbling around our bedroom collecting clothes for the weekend and so I attempted enthusiasm and asked if he could pick me up some chicken noodle soup and some Tylenol and assuaged his concern with "Don't worry, I feel great".

As the night went on I started to feel a little better and was excited - I love to travel. By the time we got to the hotel and checked in however, I felt on the edge of collapsing. I crawled under the covers and was about to pass out for the night when I remembered the Challenge - I somehow convinced my antsy fiancé to postpone exploring the hotel for awhile so I could massage his hand. Even though I still felt sick it helped to be able to focus on something else for awhile and it even helped me relax enough to fall asleep soon afterwards.

Re-connecting even when I don't want to...

Its been two days since I threw down the gauntlet and challenged my fiancé that I could give him 365 days worth of massages in exchange for a second dachshund.

I had had what felt like a really long week at my stressful nursing-home job and was looking forward to an evening of relaxation and comfort from my two family members. After taking the Bob out for his evening bike ride (yes he runs beside my bike, and yes people point and laugh at us) I found my pre-husband already upstairs playing Starcraft 2. This he continued to do for the next five hours, stopping only to eat my leftover pizza and then disappear back upstairs.

As you can imagine I was not feeling particularly giving at this point in the evening, but with some positive self-talk about how glorious it will be to have another dog in our lives, I trudged upstairs to offer up a hand/back/neck massage. Unconsciously picking up on my tone of voice I think he was suspicious of my intentions at first, but quickly fell into a blissful computer gaming state of man-happiness.

As I massaged his neck and shoulders, I realized what was really bothering me was his lack of interest in doing anything with me on a Friday night while most of my coupled-up friends were with their partners, going out for dinners or staying in together and being happy, happy, happy.

I vowed to go out into the world and find some new girlfriends, ones who weren't all coupled up and happy to go out and explore the culture and nightlife of Portland.

When my hand and finger muscles started to ache I stopped massaging him, and he suggested we go get ice cream, which is one of my favorite Friday night rituals...only 363 more days to go!

The Challenge

I live in Portland, Oregon with my fiance and our short-haired dachshund Bob. When my fiance was working extremely long hours three years ago I spotted adorable three year old Bob on Craigslist. After a few weeks of searching on Petfinder.com and going to various Petsmarts to check out their adoptable dogs, we decided to visit Bob and his family out in Hillsboro. That Sunday evening, without meaning to... we came home with a new family member!

Its been three years since that day and I have noticed over the years that Bob only plays with other dachshunds and when we come home from our neighbours house (who owns another doxie) Bob seems glum. This was when I started working on my man to get another dog.

At first I played the "lonely dog" card, citing facts that dogs are better in packs...etc. This did not seem to affect my fiance on any kind of emotional level, so I kept quiet for a few weeks and thought about another route of engagement.

I finally realized that what he was looking for was a trade-off, because he already thought our little family of three was perfect. I kept racking my brain trying to think of how getting another dog could be construed as a win for Tyler. Last Wednesday, while we were watching Better off Ted, I finally came up with an idea.

I offered Tyler a trade...that if I gave him a massage a day for an entire year, that he would agree to get a second doxie. Tyler was torn, because he loves massages almost as much as he loves me! After a few minutes of deep thought, he agreed and we sat down to iron out the details and parameters of the next 365 days.