OK, so #43

Honestly, this one wasn't my fault. It wasn't even the kid's fault. It was ....

MY HUSBAND'S FAULT!!!!

I still can't even believe it myself.

We had gone to Starbuck's after Rosie's soccer game last Sunday. Fred went over to p/u his lunch from his favorite Mexican restaurant. While waiting for his food, he popped on over to the pet store and saw a pen full of rescued puppies. One of them immediately grabbed Fred's heart in its little puppy teeth and ran off with it. Fred actually came over to Starbuck's to get me and told me I had to come see this pup.

This is so not like him, people.

And I came, and I saw, and I held.

And yes, she was adorable.

And yes, I had several other children also holding her and telling me the extreme degree of her adorable-ness.

But even so, I knew we had enough.

But at the same time, I am a huge wuss and would not be able to say no if Fred really wanted her.

So I put forth the lamest restrictions possible:

1) I would not pursue this puppy on my own. If he wanted her, he would fill out the application and anything else required.

2) He needed to make good on his six year promise to install a doggie door.

3) He would need to be an active participant in the housetraining of this little poo factory.

And so, a few short days later, the Rescue Lady came to our house with pup in arms to do a quick and dirty "home visit".
I've had to do home visits for approvals for adoptions, for post placement reports, for approvals for Fresh Air Fund kids and exchange students. Now for a puppy?

Anyway, I guess our house was passably clean that evening. She didn't get her foot caught in any bear traps nor did she witness any of the kids juggling knives or feeding the dogs large quantities of chocolate. So she left the puppy, along with stacks of paperwork and medical records and antibiotics to cure a bacterial infection, in our care. She hightailed it out of there, with our check in her hand, before we could change our minds.

Not that we would. She is (have I mentioned it yet?) adorable. Probably a Lab/Border Collie mix.

Sweet? Oh my gosh.

Fuzzy? So very.

Puppy breath? I'm lovin' it.

Now all we have to do is settle on a name. Fred likes Athena. Athena? A Greek name for an Irish dog? I'm thinking no, but this is his dog. We need a name that will knock him off his feet so he forgets he ever even heard the name Athena.

I like Maggie or Molly or Raven, but none of them is knocking him off his feet.

Also, she has a white star on her chest, so maybe something about a star? Like nova or stardust or twinkle, but you know, something GOOD. So please help me out by leaving an excellent (or even mediocre, just anything, please) name suggestion in the comments for me.

A friend of mine suggested the name Carolina b/c she and her littermates were rescued from North Carolina. From a shelter where they were doomed to be put down THE NEXT DAY! Yikes.

But Fred didn't like the name Carolina.

Since she numbers as our sixth dog, we should probably just name her Six.

Or 43.