First of all, as you know, my husband and I bought our first house. Becoming new homeowners has its own set of challenges and firsts. This change has allowed us to begin many of our sentences with "you know you're an adult when...". For example, "you know you're an adult when you spend Friday and Saturday night at Home Depot." "You know you're an adult when you look forward to the flyer delivery."
So, not only have we spent far too much time getting to know each aisle of Home Depot, but we have also learned many things, like what thermostats are for, how expensive oil heat is, how to patch drywall and we met our forever plumber named Barney. We have also learned that a house cannot be decorated in one, six or even 12 months. It is taking way longer than we thought to get our house pulled together! Thank goodness for Ikea and spray paint.
And if buying a house wasn't exciting enough, we adopted our little (currently 70 lbs and counting) furbaby Hugo. He is the light of our life, we adore him and our world revolves around him. "You know you're an adult when you spend Sunday afternoons at puppy school." "You know you're an adult when you have to clean up crap off your kitchen walls."
He has made us more active - we now look forward to walks in the torrential rain, because we know it will tire him out. We have actually met our neighbours and refer to them like so: Mimi's mom, Shaggy's dad. We have explored our neighbourhood in ways we had never done before. For once, we dread silence, it means he is eating something he shouldn't, like socks, or ant raid, or kleenex, or plastic bags, or any other paper or plastic product, or the bath mat, or my coupons, or my dayplanner.
He has made the holidays so much more exciting. He is thrilled with the wrapping paper, the bags, the glitter and the food. He is convinced every package is for him.
He got jealous when the people were hogging the cheeseball, so he stole it - briefly, but he did put it back. He did the same with the Munchie Mix - he had a small victory there. He got halfway on the table and licked the flour off of the prepared surface ready for the pie crust. He licked faster when he saw his Nana coming. He pooped out her plaid sock this weekend. She was looking everywhere for that sock.
But, most of all, Hugo has turned our house into a home. He makes us laugh all the time, even when we are trying to be mad. He is beyond easy going, even when the bathtub leaked onto his head below. He is a healthy eater and will eat everything from garlic to broccoli, from bananas to coconut oil, from carob to flour, everything except celery or mint. He loves his sleep and allows us to sleep in. He cuddles when he is exhausted, otherwise, he just wants to follow us and be in on the action. He loves children and adults, men and women and other dogs. He is convinced everyone is madly in love with him. We certainly are!
We are looking forward to 2014 as Hugo grows into what will likely be 130 lbs of goofy, lovable fun.
