Happy Mother's Day to Me!

She almost cost us our marriage. Really. I saw her, and I had to have her.

The cutest little thing on 4 legs, with perky ears that are almost as tall as the rest of her, and a slight mohawk. Probably no more than 10 inches tall at the tips of her ears, and not much of a tail to speak of. (I'd say she's more guinea pig than dog.) Still, I had to have her.

We've talked about getting a dog for a while, but decided that the breeds we were looking at were too much (We're so cheap that we didn't even want to spend the $75-$100 for a "pound puppy!") I looked online, checked the papers, and even searched Craig's List for "free" puppies. Not a chance! (How ridiculous is it, anyway, that "mixed breed" dogs are so expensive? Remember when they were called "mutts" and were free?) At any rate, we had decided to postpone, indefinitely, the search for a dog. No need to deal with the hassle of cleaning up after them, anyway. So much easier without one.

Enter Jersey.

We were visiting my sister-in-law for her birthday, and Jersey was next door. Having no fences between their yards, she was tethered to the back fence, to keep her out of the other neighbor's yard (we all have some other neighbors, wink wink!) Anyway, I had seen her before and tried to find out what she was, because we were thinking about a smaller-to-medium-size-dog previously, and I thought she was just so cute! So, we were standing there, and S-I-L mentions that "they think they finally found a home for her...." What?! They're getting rid of her? She explains that the family is never home, and the parents feel bad that she gets so little attention. I can't help myself: I blurt out "But, I want her!"

That was it: my 2 sweet BratGirls and my eldest nephew marched over to the neighbors and asked if we could have her. Lo and behold, they said YES!

Now the hard part.

I asked BratDad if we could have her. "No." Please? They already said yes? "NO." My version of puppy dog eyes.... "NO!" I begged, pleaded, and promised to do things I hadn't done in a very long time (my bathrooms are extremely dirty!) "NO!!! We don't need a dog!"

Hmmmmm.....

BratGirl1 went in to talk to him, and promised to pick up poop every day.

BratGirl2 went in to talk to him, and promised to feed her.

I waited.

I went in and knelt at his side. BIG puppy-dog-eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel like a bad guy. You're not. It's my fault for getting the girls' hopes up."

I waited.

"Do you really want a dog?"

"Yes."

I waited.

Puppy-dog-eyes.

"Fine. Happy Mother's Day."

She moved in the next day, and we're all so very glad she did.