life before kids

Sometimes I like to revisit my old blog (www.xanga.com/borkerts) to be reminded of what my life in KC was like before kids. After scrolling through seven blog pages of Flora pics and videos, there are actually some amusing little gems. Here is a story that made me laugh:

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August 30, 2006

WOW, I took BOTH dogs in to Petsmart tonight by myself to get their nails clipped and ears cleaned. It was quite a trip. I was laughing the whole time b/c I knew how ridiculous I looked. At one point I was . . . um . . detained in front of a van full of people as I tried to regain control of my dogs. The people all just stared open-mouthed as the leash was wound around my legs and I was twirled in a circle right in front of them, arms flailing, of course. I just smiled and shrugged . . . what else can you do?

Well, train them would be one alternative, which is what the Petsmart cashier politely asked me about. "Are they in training?" "Yes, we're training them to systematically destroy everything they come into contact with. It's going quite well."

I was definitely NOT in control--a fact which a police officer was kind enough to point out as he drove past me in the parking lot. "Thank you, Officer, I'm glad to know I'm such a spectacle that you felt the need to point out to me just how inadequate my doghandling skills are." Was he under the impression that I THOUGHT I was in control? I'd like to see him try to handle these two monsters.

But then on the way home Toby stood next to my seat (I was driving the van!) and laid his head in my lap the whole way home while Sadie smiled at people out the back window.

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Unfortunately for her, Sadie did not make the baby cut. She was given to a nice family soon after Flora was born. Toby doesn't know it, but his days with us are numbered. *evil laugh* Anyone interested in a lovable, adorable, highly intelligent German Shorthair Pointer???

The funny thing about this story is that I have been in strikingly similar situations in just the past few months. Substitute two kids for the two dogs and subtract the leashes and it sounds a lot like some of our recent outings. Of course, I wasn't taking the kids to get their ears cleaned and nails trimmed . . . although now that I think about it, it WOULD be nice to pay someone else to do those jobs for me!!