Doggie Despair, Little Liberation, and Homeward-bound Husband

Three Good Things for the day: 

1. I got in a miserable funk because the dog tracked dirt onto my white ceramic tile kitchen floor - AGAIN.  This led to another pass at organizing Samantha's closet, unpacking all of her music boxes and stuffed animals, hanging her alphabet finger puppets, hanging her height mirror (I'll have to post a picture of that), vacuuming and Fabreezing the area rugs, rearranging the furniture in the basement, oh, and yes, cleaning the kitchen floor - AGAIN.  The good part was not so much that I got all of that stuff done, but that I forced myself to stop moping about how much cleaning and unpacking still needs to be done, and just started taking action.  I know, I know, you're supposed to learn that when you're about 14, but I'm slow. 


2. Part of the reason I was able to get so much done today, besides the motivation through despair, was that I finally decided that Samantha knows how to handle the stairs.  I was partway there when I decided to let the dog out without bringing her with me, but I would normally still go up and down with her, just below her on the stairs in case she fell.  I've been doing that ever since she started climbing up and down stairs on her own, and I think I've only had to catch her twice, and not for a while.  Today I told her she could come up and down with me as she pleased, and she did.  Sometimes she would stay upstairs and follow me after a few minutes, or she might not follow at all.  As with every milestone, it feels like another huge weight lifted from my shoulders.  The freedom was intoxicating, I tell you!


3. Adam comes home in just a few hours.