Einstein the Puggle

...or am I? Since I now work for myself, am I unemployed because I'm not working? Confused? Yeah, me too.

My last day at work was the 29th of January (last Thursday). It was a surreal experience, to say the least. It still is. I think the most strange part about that day was when I turned in my laptop. There were three full days to turn in laptops to one conference room. I think there were 1500 of us being laid off that day, and so the line was long. There I was in line with many other people holding our laptops waiting our turn to give them up. We all knew that everyone in line was losing their job that day and the looks on all the faces could only be described as blank. Nobody was talking, nobody was looking at each other.

I was kind of a jerk and left the office quietly without saying goodbye except for the four co-workers I went to lunch with. I knew that saying goodbye would just make me cry, so I avoided it.

The Hubs's still job hunting. Nobody's biting yet. We're going together to a job fair on Wednesday, so maybe that will help. I don't plan to get a real job- just want to consult, but still there might be some good opportunities for meeting potential clients there.

OOOhhhh that reminds me- I need to make a hair appointment. Yikes is all I'm going to say about that.

Brother 1, my brother, told me that I'm no longer allowed to talk about Einstein's potty habits on my blog. I'll stop after this- he's now trained to ring a bell hanging on the door when he wants to go outside. Half of the time it's because he wants to play outside, but he always 'goes' when he's out. OK, no more potty talk. Sorry, bro'.

I guess I'd better start putting together my new business site so I can say I'm employed, eh? Man, my new employer is awfully pushy. Can't a girl take a break?

His cuteness never ends, if you were to ask me. He'll be eight weeks old tomorrow and his potty training is going SO well, so we're just thrilled.

Sister and Sam came by to meet Einstein yesterday. He had a bit of 'stranger danger' until they gave him treats. All was good then. I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but Sister and Sam are having a baby! Squeeee! A little boy, that's going to be totally spoiled by his Auntee Lori. Sister looks so cute pregnant and is really popping out there. No denying that one is pregnant.

The Hubs spoils Einstein silly, and every time he leaves he comes home with a new toy for Einstein. Today he brought home a rubber frog. It's his first rubber toy and first toy that squeaks so easily, so he was giving it a 'what for'. Of course I had to take a video. Can you imagine if I had a kid? Sheesh. What a nightmare I am with the camera.

In this video, you'll also see that I've progressed with the ability to live with clutter. Our family room is puppy central and we've put up baby gates so he's easier to watch and it keeps him out of the living room. He's learned the joy of carpet in the family room and LOVES to run on it. Before the gates, he headed there every chance he got because it's way more fun than slipping and sliding on the hardwood floor. We let him run his little legs off in the living room three or four times a day. We're not taking him for walks yet because he needs to have at least two sets of shots before he can be in public. He gets his 'walkees' up and down the driveway to get the mail and that's it.

Here's your overload of cuteness for the day:

We've always thought of our home equity line of credit (HELOC) as something we could fall back on "if", so we've been paying it down like mad since we bought the house. Started off at 45,000.00 balance and now we're down to 10,000 plus change since we bought the place in Feb 2006. Not too shabby.

We found out yesterday that we're going to have to pay excise tax on something that we thought was taken care of last year. I think it's going to be somewhere between 10 and 20 thousand. Maybe more. I told The Hubs that, considering our circumstances, maybe we should use the HELOC to pay this tax, since the interest rate is so low and the payments would be low.

We called the company that owns the HELOC and they said that our available credit is ZERO. ZIP. NADA. They said that they've frozen most HELOCs due to the economy and the declining home value.

I decided that I needed more depressing news, so I went to zillow.com to see what our house value is. Here's the graph:


NICE! We've lost about 100k in value! Thankfully, we're not upside-down between the value and what we owe.

On the thankful front, between my bonus (of which I found out today is based on the top performance rating- go me!), my vacation pay out and my severance pay, I'll be getting just 300.00 shy of a year's salary on my birthday (the end of this month).

Even more thankful, I have a sweet little boy who doesn't mind his mama kissing and holding him all the time. Maybe I should have called him George. <- that there is a Daffy Duck cartoon reference.

He even puts up with me trying to change his sleeping schedule.



And most thankful that The Hubs and I have now spent 8 days together in the house 24/7 (except for errands) and we haven't tried to stab each other with a fork.

Yup, I still have a very thankful and hopeful attitude.

Einstein still hasn't quite acquired a taste for sleeping in the pen at night, but every night there is less and less crying. Poor baby, I feel so bad because he sounds so sad but I know that this will pass, especially if I don't give in. We are trying to keep the alone time to a minimum, so The Hubs goes to bed about 8:30 and up at 5am and I go to bed at midnight and up about 8. So, he's only alone for 5 hours at a stretch. I keep the TV on to the weather channel because it has music and some talking- plus a little light.

He's mastered fetch and sit. His treat of choice is cheese. What a coinkidink- so is mine! No worries- I'm not giving him much.

The thing that I find the most funny is that he asks to be on the couch, which is OK. We'll teach him to ask, not just assume. He loves to lay between the two of us and if he gets tired of being petted or annoyed that we're talking, he'll want down and will go get into his crate. He's all about boundaries and lets me know if I'm giving him a bit too much loving.

He's doing SO great with the potty training, which pleases me to no end. It doesn't mean he gets free reign of the house though and he's never out of my or The Hubs's sight. One day I'll trust him but he's only 7 weeks old.

Last night I started feeling guilty about having a puppy. I know without a doubt that The Hubs didn't really want a puppy; he got it because it's been a rough year and he knew how happy it would make me. I told him that I never want him to think that my happiness is more important than his. I can't believe the things I get feeling guilty about, ya know? He said that me feeling bad takes all the fun out of it for him and defeats the whole purpose. He's right. As usual.

Here's more puppy cuteness: