Fambly Updates

A month or two ago a project of mine at work won an award. I don't want to go into too many details about it, but I will say it was out of the blue and will look nice on my resume. The only problem--which you might recognize if you work in the PR industry--is that the award is basically the equivalent of "Best Muzak Composition," in that it honors writing that is so vanilla and unobjectionable that it is suitable for use almost anywhere. So while I am proud that I did good work for a client, because that is my job, when I learned about this award I did have a brief little sit-down with myself where I thought, "Okay, self, apparently you really excel at this particular form of blandness and that is where you are as a writer right now." 

The way forward, I quickly determined, was to keep on keepin' on with that blandness--because it's a steady gig that pays the bills, and isn't always that bland at all--but also, to come back here and have a little more fun, just so I can say I write some things that aren't about industrial adhesives.

And, you know, Things Have Happened since my last post, err... seven months ago. Big Things! I will spread them out over a few updates, but let me begin by showing you some decorative accents that are new in the house:

Lovely gouges in the kitchen door and wall, apparently made by some fearsome creature hellbent on freedom. 

Behold, the savage beast. This is Dougie. We took him home from the Humane Society on Labor Day weekend, and while he initially struggled a leeeetle bit with separation anxiety (hence the door gouging), he has since somewhat improved and occasionally hasn't even destroyed something when we come home. "Why don't you just kennel him when you're out?" people ask. "Because he bloodies his nose trying to escape from the kennel," we tell them. "And he has defeated three different baby gates." 

I'm making him sound worse than he is. The truth is, he is 25 pounds of lovey funtimes. We've come to accept that there will be some associated wear and tear on the house, and that's okay. The plan is just to accumulate it all over the next 20 years or so, then shine things up again when everyone is old enough to behave. 

"Who's 'everyone'?" you might wonder. Which brings me to my second Family Update: We are expecting a wee fella in late May/early June. This could severely upset Doug's little apple cart for a time, but we are hoping that he can really dig deep and find it in his heart to not pee all over everything. Eric is currently in the midst of stripping wallpaper in the future nursery (the little bedroom from this post), so expect progress reports on that soon.

Did you hear that? "Soon!" Hold me to it, now.