September is the other January

Gretchen Rubin said this and it made me laugh. Yes, totally.

Give my son a science project, experiment, or anything to do with bugs/slime/reptiles and he is over the moon. Learning to read? Not so much. But today he came up to me and said, sounding out the letters "Mall. M-a-l. It starts with m-m-m." It was a hallelujah moment.

I no longer plan to adopt, but I still love adoption stories. A friend of mine with one son about Raccoon's age just added three more siblings to their family. The oldest is ten and he looks like the weight of the world has been on his shoulders. Now he gets to be a kid again, or for the first time. A blogger I follow is doing embryo adoption. What an amazing journey. I would totally do it, but my complicated little family is complete, for now.

Anything else on my mind? So Cesar's Way is totally working for us. I think it's mostly the increased exercise, his #1 recommendation. My dogs are definitely eating more! 20 pounds of dog food a week and counting. I had to buy an extra bag today. And our pack is more cohesive as a group. Life's not perfect, they still chase cars and sheep, but they do listen to me more. Teddybear has finally figured out that we're not going to hit him whenever he comes near us, and that we want him to eat. Poor thing, he had a rough start, like all our dogs. Jewel figured out how to climb an inclined rope ladder today at the school playground, and sloped wooden ladder. Smart thing. I haven't changed much to promote this doggy unity, but I do insist on going out the gate first, I make them sit at my feet if they try to jump up on me (only two of the small dogs do this), I sit with them while they eat to prevent fighting, and I don't let the big ones pick on our weakest pack member anymore. Also, when we walk, I puff out my chest and swagger while chanting, "Calm and Confident," but only if there are no neighbors around. A few local dogs want to join our pack now too, walking home with us whenever we go to the store. And a friend's German Shepherd tried to climb into our truck to go home with us after church. Must be animal magnetism working for me since I definitely don't have the same vibe going with my people leadership skills. :)

I am happy tonight, hence my random and silly tone, because I just finished another contest piece. I love the thrill of submitting something, even though I do not expect to win. But someone, somewhere, will read what I wrote. It's a start.

September is the other January because it's enough before the new year to still allow us to make significant changes. I just read a book on writing, and it's inspired me to find what works for me as a writer. And I love his book lists at the end. Saves me the time of copying his references throughout the book and looking them up.

I've been thinking of starting an online book club.

And so ends this post.