Over the River and Through the Woods...

The whole family (Me, Bryan and Bean) went to stay with Bryan's parents in Virgina over Mother's Day weekend. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about how it would go. Bean has only been to their house once, and that was when she was recovering from her surgery, and was therefore confined to a small pen. This time she would have the freedom to explore the whole house as she pleased. And it's a nice house. With nice things. I had visions of crystal vases, throw pillows, and floral arrangements scattered in shreds and pieces all over the nice wood floors.

Bryan had more faith in Bean's ability to "act right" when needed. In preparation for the visit, I took her to get a mani/pedi (nail trim) so that she would not leave claw marks on the wood floors. I bought half a dozen plush squeaky toys for emergency use, and we packed a Super Jumbo bag of rawhide chews. We were ready.

On the drive up, she was a perfect angel. She is very good on long car trips. She alternates between napping and checking for other dogs in the cars that pass by.

Clear...Clear...Clear...Cle-WAIT! Is that a CAT in that car??? Oh..It's just a Chihuahua...OK Clear... Clear...

Where'd Dad go? Oh, he's filling up the tank.

WHAT??? Gas costs HOW much??!!

Later on, after the sun set, she slept for the rest of the trip. When we slowed down to get on the exit ramp, I snapped this photo.

Huh? What? Are were there yet?

I'll have to split the rest of the trip into a different post. I really should at least pretend to study!
Stay tuned...

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming...

...because I am studying for the boards. I have 5 weeks left to study. It seems impossible!

Anyway, I may not be able to find much time for the blog. I will try to post photos at least. Bean is pissed. She is considering firing me and hiring a professional biographer to take over the site.

Wish me luck!

Mystery at the Friday Night Movie Fest

Last night we were watching the last few episodes of the final season of Gilmore Girls. (Fans of the show will understand how distracted and emotional we must have been...for those of you who don't like the show - where is your heart???)

After the last episode, when we were done crying about how inevitable it is that your children will grow up and stop needing you and break your heart (and how do you even begin to deal with that anyway?), Bryan got up to go pee. From the bathroom he yells, "Hey, did you shower today?"

Given that yesterday morning I took the last exam of my second year of medical school (Whoohooooo!) and have been very busy this week, this was a totally reasonable thing to ask. So reasonable, in fact, that it took a minute for me to recall when I had last showered. After a brief sniff of the pits (sorry, I'm gross), I responded "Yeah, why?"

Bryan: Um, ever hear of a towel?
Me: What are you talking about?
Bryan: The bathroom rug is still wet. Did you just stand here and drip-dry?

I get up to go see what he's talking about (yes, Bryan is still peeing during all of this. He is a World Champion peer.) and sure enough, there is a big wet spot smack dab in the middle of the rug.

Bryan looks up at the ceiling: Maybe there is a leak from upstairs.
Me: This is a single story house. How is that even possible?

Eventually, we pieced it all together. Somewhere during the episode where Luke takes Lorelei car-shopping, I noticed Bean sitting by the front door staring at me. Knowing that this means she wants to go out, and having no intention of getting up myself, I told Bryan to take her to pee. "Sure, just after this episode." Three episodes later, he found himself standing on a wet bathroom rug....

Yes that's right. Once she ascertained that we were not going to take her out to use her bathroom, she decided she'd just use ours.

I was actually impressed. She is clearly smart enough to have figured out that the bathroom is to us what the backyard is to her. That's pretty awesome. A lesser dog would have just peed by the front door. I'm not sure why she picked the rug. Maybe it reminded her somehow of grass? I can assure you she has never seen me take a leak on the rug (though, I can't speak for Bryan).

So, Bryan washed his feet in the tub and I hauled the rug off to the garage to wash it. Then we all snuggled in to watch The Heartbreak Kid. Looking over at Bean, who was wedged in between us snoring, I took Bryan's hand and said, "You know what? Bean will never grow up and leave us."

"Nope. I ain't going nowhere."

Bean is a Daddy's Girl

I took this photo on Saturday night, from my tiny corner of the bed. You can see my pink-pajama-covered knee in the picture. Why was I smooshed into a corner of my own bed? Because of this:





Aren't they precious? They were so cute I didn't have the heart to shove them over. Bean loves her daddy.