Little Sock Arms (2)
stargrace 
Progress on this sweater for my daughter is coming along! I started the sleeves, learned how to do sleeve caps (love them) and have just the rest of the sleeve plus the neckline to do. She may even get to wear it this fall!
stargrace
It’s a Small World After All
I couldn’t help it. When I saw these miniature sets for sale on Temu, I knew I had to buy them. They’re going to be the perfect size for my Calico Critter house remodel. I do plan on hacking these kits and re-painting them to get rid of the plastic look, and I probably won’t use every single kit in the house as there isn’t quite enough room, but I think it will give me a perfect little project. Kits ranged in price from $5 to $10 each, and are adorable! I can’t wait to get started on this project.
Puppy Blues
Anyone who has ever owned a puppy before will (hopefully) tell you just how much work they are. It is a lot like having a tiny human dependent on you which makes sense since they’re babies. My family has been looking for the perfect fit for a few years now, we’ve had two other dogs that didn’t work out due to my son’s special needs. That being said, we’re very much a dog family. The list for service dogs (we qualify on a few fronts) is long (years) so last week, we decided to go with a golden retriever puppy. Known for being great family dogs – with proper training, of course.
Bagel is 11 weeks and 4 days old. We’ve had him for 5 days now, and have gone 2 days without any accidents in the house (yay) but he is still a handful, and requires 24/7 care and attention. We’ve set aside our sunroom (no carpet in there) upstairs for him, which is quite large and spacious. My husband moved his computer desk to the room, and we shuffled an old couch in there too. We have a baby gate up so the cat can visit (and visit she does) and so the kids can still leave / enter the room without too much hassle. My kids are 5 and 7, and are well equipped to wear out a puppy’s energy.
All of that being said, again, puppies are hard. You can do all the planning in the world and nothing will quite prepare you for how hard it is. Sleepless nights, stress, anxiety, regret. Daily, if not sometimes hourly. I ended up finding a reddit that talks about ‘puppy blues’ – which is the overwhelming feelings you experience when you try to raise a puppy. The feelings that make you want to return them to the breeder 10 hours later, or the feelings that you’ve made a mistake, and that this is too overwhelming.
For most people, those feelings go away as the puppy ages. A routine comes into play, and guess what, you don’t have to be the perfect puppy parent. Time, patience, training, and more patience. For some people that feeling doesn’t ever go away, and that’s OK too. Our brains over time allow us to forget how difficult and stressful those first few months were, much like having a child (or two) will do. Reading similar experiences helped me keep myself grounded. Often times the rule of 3 is mentioned. 3 days. 3 weeks. 3 months. We’ve surpassed the 3 day mark, and I’m already seeing changes. Next is 3 weeks.
I will absolutely never raise another dog from puppy age again. It’s incredibly hard. BUT I see a lot of joy from it already, and my family (especially my daughter) are completely smitten. Me? I’m more of a cat person.
What Attention Span?
Lately, I can’t seem to settle on WHAT I want to do, so I sit and I end up doing nothing. I’m not sure if it’s just this week, my stress levels, or what. I want to game, I enjoy gaming, but nothing is really calling out to me, and so I bounce around from game to game, playing a handful of minutes here and there, and settling no where at all in the end. In fact the only games that ARE holding my attention these days (and let’s face it, one of those is pretty loosely) is Idle Champions, and Baldur’s Gate 3. Idle Champion’s isn’t really a hands on game (I suppose it can be) and BG3 I tend to play in a 4 person campaign or 2 person campaign. Both of those are usually specific days since they involve other people.
It’s probably a combination of things, but I do know I need to be a little more gentle with myself and be OK with doing nothing. Sometimes, it happens.
Waffle
This is Waffle. My husband and kids get to name most of the animals around here, so it only makes sense that once we had Waffle they would insist on the name Bagel for our puppy. Waffle is Queen of the house, and she knows it.