A Bit Late, But…

Tonight, after a long day of pounding on the computer at work, I came home and sat down at my laptop. I pulled up my planner so that I could see what I needed to accomplish before laying my head on my pillow tonight. And I saw it. Highlighted in yellow on Wednesday’s date. How could I have missed seeing this yesterday or the day before? But I did.

Guess what Wednesday was?

My Blogiversary.

My second one, actually. And as I recall, I think I forgot my blogiversary last year, too.

I thought about doing a giveaway. Some folks do that. But my budget’s a bit tight right now and I’ve already done one giveaway this week. (Yay Dusty!)

So instead, I thought I’d tell you a little lesson that happened in my house tonight. Consider it my gift to you for my blogiversary.

I’m a pretty loving dog-owner. With my little Sadie, I really don’t have very many rules.

1. All “business” must be attended to outside.

2. Don’t eat out of the trash cans.

3. Don’t sit in the people chairs or on the people beds.

It’s that #3 rule we seem to have the most problem with. Gone are the days when my pit-bull/boxer mix had legs too short to hop up onto the furniture. And she has decided (I can’t blame her) that the furniture in my house is far more comfortable than the floor.

So, we came up with a compromise.

Because I sit in the recliner, I really don’t have any use for the ottoman that belongs with the other chair in my living room. The chair belonged to my grandparents and has a lot of sentimental value, but it really only gets used when we have company. So, I took a small green quilt and put it on the ottoman and that’s where Sadie gets to perch in the evenings while we read, write, tweet, watch TV and otherwise live together in this little house.

Tonight, as I was sitting in my recliner, reading a book by Siri Mitchell with basketball muted in the background and playing Words With Friends between chapters (hey, I’m a multi-tasker!) I looked over and noticed that Sadie had pushed her ottoman up against the chair. I went back to my book/game/b-ball and didn’t think much of it until I looked over and noticed something else. Sadie had curled up on the ottoman, but was lying with her head resting in the chair– an infraction against rule number three! But I decided to wait it out for a few minutes just to see what she would do.

After a little while, I got up to get something from another room. She followed me, like always, and a few minutes after we settled back into our respective seats, I glanced over at her to see if she had her head resting on the chair again. And lo and behold, she was curled up in the seat of the chair, watching me to see what I was going to do!

“HEY! You get down from there! You know better than that!”

And she immediately moved back to the ottoman, where she’s currently curled up, ignoring the tap of my keys and lightly snoring.

I’m laughing, but there is a lesson here: my “child” is just like me!

I know the rules. I know what I can do and what I can’t do. What I should do and what I shouldn’t do. And sometimes, those things that look more comfortable than what I’m doing now look so enticing! I inch my way from where I’m supposed to be, closer and closer to where I’m not supposed to be until finally, I’m right in the middle of somewhere I’m totally not supposed to be.

*sigh*

You know, it’s not such a big deal when we’re talking about a dog on an ottoman… But what about when we’re talking about a person who tiptoes into a habit or addiction? I’ve done that before. Still do, occasionally. Or what about when I slowly slide into a destructive relationship? I’ve got lots of experience with that.

Dear Lord, please help me to be smarter than my dog! And thanks for using her to remind me that I’m not perfect either.

PS- As I proofread this, I just looked over and noticed that her head’s back in the seat of the chair. *sigh* Some children don’t learn very fast. Like I said… My “child” is just like me!