Just a really Bad Idea

by Deborah


With all the fun events and amazing guest bloggers, you may not even have noticed that it's been pretty radio silent from Texas for the last month as I swam through piles of boxes and unpacked and unpacked and unpacked and accommodated workers and figured out where to put all these towels (why do I have so many towels?!!?!) and got a new driver's license and mailed change of address cards and found a day camp for the kids and ordered window treatments and restocked the pantry and had some family visit and washed all the box-dirty blankets and clothes and linens and did I mention the towels and bought a new refrigerator and tried to find a babysitter and had my car inspected and tackled to-do lists and reframed broken pictures and celebrated an anniversary and picked out ceiling fans and changed all my billing address information and attended a family wedding and a birthday party and tried to meet new people and figured out where to put the furniture and mirrors and pictures and took care of sick kids (thanks, day camp!) and went to the doctor and dealt with crippling exhaustion and nausea and grew a new baby.


tiny tip of the iceberg of one corner of my office



this is me trying to impress you with the neat version of a corner of my office

Putting together a new house while your husband starts a new job in a new town where you don't know anyone turns out to be a pretty big job.  And of course, here at Doodlebugheart, we like to share our stories, hoping that by doing so we can impart a little insight and wisdom.  So I would like to distill the exhausting, overwhelming, daunting past few weeks of my life into this little tidbit of wisdom for you:


Moving. is.  HAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRDDDDDD.


As in, like, really.  Actually and truly.  Very hard.


You're welcome.

At the month mark, we are finally to the point where we only have that "Where the #%&*@$ is.....????!" experience  three or four times a day as opposed to three or four times a minute.  We know where our dishes are, can find most of the clothes, albeit probably in a pile on the floor of our closet, have hooked up our computers and phones, have appeased the kids with enough opened boxes of toys, and have the beds made.  So we can function, and very very very very very very very gradually I am working out systems for everything else, assigning and organizing and putting away.  It's slow and painful and annoying, but I feel like I finally have my head just above water.

And this is where the bad idea comes in. 

I can give you 25 very valid reasons this is a bad idea and particularly bad right now.  I don't really have any justifications for doing it.  Normally I am a very practical person, weighing the pros and cons and choosing with my logic over impulse and emotion whenever possible.  Instead, this time, I did this:

Meet Bad Idea, also known as Sadie




We got a puppy.  Because there is nothing better to introduce into our lives right now than chaos and sleepless nights and sharp puppy teeth and potty training and vet visits and constant supervision of children with a 10 week old Doberman puppy.

This, my friends, is the definition of a Bad Idea.

As we were driving to pick her up, I listed all the reasons this was a Bad Idea to my husband.  He listened carefully, added a few of his own, and nodded in agreement.

Granted, we had been talking about getting a dog for years, particularly a Doberman.  We had gone so far as to look on 3 different occasions in the past few years.  We had just never connected with any of the dogs we had seen.  And yes, we had promised the girls a puppy once we moved to Texas.  Like many little girls, they are both obssessed with puppies.  But did I mention we JUST MOVED and I'M PREGNANT and I HAVE TWO CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 5 and PUPPIES and OMG THIS IS A BAD IDEA.

OMG Bad Idea but OMG she's so cute!

As we making the final decision about whether to bring Sadie home into our family or not, my husband and I went over all the reasons again this was a Bad Idea.  Then he looked at me and said, "So are we doing this?"

I nodded yes.  "This is a bad idea, but it makes me very happy."

And it does.  She does.

I spend a lot of time screaming at her and my children to leave each other alone and chasing her as she runs off with my shoe or my bra or the chair pillow and cleaning up pee and poop.  It's a lot of work.

But it makes me really really happy.  I needed a little extra happiness.  And she gives it to me.  Sometimes choosing with your heart instead of your head isn't a Bad Idea at all.

She's mischief and sweetness wrapped up in a big cuddly ball of sharp puppy teeth.

I hope this week you will really listen with your heart and make a "bad decision" that makes you happy, even if it complicates things.  The best things in life are always the most work.  Let yourself make a bad decision in your painting, create a crazy dish, combine stupid materials, send an ugly card.  Allow your heart to let you know what you need, and just do it.

Hope you find your Sadie this week.  And hope that it is better housetrained than mine.