At Least the Men in My Life Understand Me

I wanted to be upbeat. Really, I did. But it's hard when your son tells you during breakfast, "Hugo is peeing on your shoes." That's right. The little bastard let rip on two pairs of shoes. One pair went directly into the trash. The other can be washed.

I haven't mentioned yet on the blog that Hugo, our ten year old beagle, has been diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer. The doctor thinks he has two to six months left to live. The boys responded in typical child fashion. "When Hugo dies can we get another dog?!" We're trying to be extra nice to him. The medication he's one makes him very thirsty and have to pee constantly. Sometimes it's hard to be kind and loving to someone who pees all over the floor. But my older son keeps reminding me, "We need to be nice to Hugo."

Then he usually asks again if we can get another dog as soon as Hugo dies.

Today I let the children talk me into going to the mall. I don't really care if it's crowded. I don't need to buy anything so the long lines and empty shelves don't get to me. We went to the Lego store for our first stop. I reached into my cute little bag that I put my Traveler Stocking in before we left. I pulled out the sock. My heart sank when I saw that I had brought the second sock, ready to have a heel flap knit, but I didn't bring the yarn for the heel flap. Stuck at the mall with the kids with no knitting. So very sad. I did briefly consider running a few blocks over to Hilltop East and buying yarn and needles for a new project. But that seemed really extravagant. I sent Wes a text message to complain and even he suggested I go over to Hilltop. Plus I've seen other mothers — non-knitters ——* go to the mall with their children and not die of boredom.

As we sat at lunch my older son asked if we could go to the bookstore. I told him no, I didn't have my knitting. He looked kind of shocked and said, "Yeah, that wouldn't be a good idea."

*Wes and I just spent five minutes debating via IM whether to put spaces or not around these em dashes.