The last of the list. We are not in a huge hurry to work on the dog yard. Our current fencing is 5 feet and will hold the pup while it’s small, so we figure we can work on this over the course of the next 8 months.

The only thing that really needs to get done in the next two weeks is the crate door that will be for under our bed.

We are ready!

We are finally at the point where we can do actual puppy preparation! We had decided from the beginning that the best place to set up the long term puppy confinement space would be under the TV in the living room. But before we could we needed to move some outlets. Also, because of the outlet location, we had all of our media center wires exposed and those needed to be stowed away so the pup isn’t inspired to electrocute itself.

So this weekend, brian took all of Sunday to do the electrical work. He dismantled the media center and turned off the power. It required working under the house and drilling thru our floor on the other side of the wall, but finally he was able to mount the outlets inside the cabinetry itself.

Once outlets were installed, it was just a matter of slowly putting everything back together in a way that was organized and could fit inside the cabinet.

He had made a door for the cabinet awhile back but had never put it on. He did that, and then got our old baby gate fencing we use to have around the wood stove when the kids were babies. Voila! The perfect Puppy Pen!

The kids thought it was fun too. Today its a fort. Hopefully in 3 weeks, it will be a new home.

We are getting down to the wire with the List. Brian liked how this worked so much, he decided to make a permanent chalkboard so we can write notes and make other lists for things that need to be done around the house.

The biggest item on our original List by far… was cleaning out the Guest Room. Over the past year, it has been the dumping ground for everything under the sun and if people wanted to stay there, they’d have to sleep next to crates upon crated, stacked chairs and tubs of all sorts of CRAP.

It’s been a huge monkey on Brian’s back and something he’s been wanting to address for a long time. So we are finally doing it!

Look at all this stuff. This was just what was piled in the closet and the overflow into the room.

And that’s not all! Here’s most of what was piled onto the futon and near the bed. This is all stuff we plan on giving away or selling. Most of it is going to Freecycle or craigslist.. but there are boxes and boxes of old kid’s clothes that we are going to try to turn in to our local second hand store.

Thinning down feels great! As you can tell from Brian’s face here:

It will feel awesome to have our guest room back, and not feel embarrassed when friends want to come and stay. Most importantly, it’s one more thing that allows us more time to devote to our new addition and not feel like we have other responsibilities hanging over our head. We are so close now… we can TASTE it.

This was the 2nd weekend we worked on the Loft. Brian is quite crafty and he was able to get all of the construction and most of the painting done in record time.

So why did we need to build a loft in the first place? Well, when the both kids were old enough, Brian and I moved into the smaller second bedroom and gave the larger room to them. It really isn’t a full sized room; more like an alcove. With the bed on the floor, we were only able to fit it and one dresser drawer. We had moved Brian’s drawers out into the laundry room and it was getting pretty tiresome for him to have to walk to the other side of the house every time he wanted a change of clothes. But with the new loft, we can fit the drawers back in the room!

Gavin wants to show you the BEST part!!! We also have a perfect space underneath for a dog crate. Brian made sure the space was the right specifications that we can put a Great Dane size wire dog crate underneath, so our Swissy can sleep in our room. The opening is narrow.. so we are going to have to build a custom door for the pup.

But look! It’s a perfect den. It’s also a perfect play space for the kids but they are on full alert that they can only play there until we actually get a dog. Then, its for dogs only…

One of the bigger projects on the list is the loft. While we have a perfect property for a dog, our actual house is only 1000 square feet. When the kids were old enough, we moved them in the one “true” bedroom, and Brian and I moved into the alcove. It is really only big enough to fit a queen bed and that’s it. We were worried about where to put the dog’s crate. We wanted it out of the way, but we still wanted it with us and part of the family.

The solution? Put our bed up on a loft, and put the crate underneath!

This is one of the bigger projects that will take a few weekends to complete. But that’s ok. Everyone is helping.

This weekend it was stacking the washer and dryer and building shelves.

But first the plumbing and electrical needed to be moved, which required going into the wall.

So now we have a proper laundry area with more shelving. We can even store *gasp* DOG FOOD here!

At this rate, we might actually get it all done on time…

We are officially at the half way mark. GO TEAM!!!

I should add… if you ever wondered what is in the bottom left hand corner? That’s the kids’ list. They made their own and are checking it off accordingly..

In the last week I’ve met some new swissy friends. I joined the lovely ladies of Love of the Dog. Its a small message board filled with all sorts of dog topics and it is administered by Melissa of Swiss Lick Swissies. She lost one of her dogs to cancer so I thought I would give a litttle shout out to her Swiss Lick Canine Cancer Fund.

It’s a really nice little forum and everyone there has been really helpful. I got some good advice with breeders and also thinking about future expenses.

That all said, not much ACTUAL progress this week in terms of getting anything on the List accomplished. But is IS only Tuesday. 😀

You be the judge.

I’m going to take a break on storytelling and history and talk a little bit about the family and what it’s going to take to make this happen.  How does brian feel about adding a dog into the family? To understand his view point, you have to understand our family dynamic. I am a working mom and Brian stays home with the kids. Even though this is my dream to own a dog, the reality is that Brian will be home during the day and especially in the beginning… the responsibility of puppy training is going to fall heavily on his shoulders.  What’s his take? Does he even WANT a dog? Well, if you look at what he’s putting me thru in order to get one you might question it. When we this idea started to really solidify into a possibility, Mr. Young sat me down and had a “heart to heart.”  His days are packed filled with kids and driving and free time is something he wishes for but always doesn’t get.

He is happy to get a dog, but in order to get a dog we have to clear projects off our plate. It’s that simple. A dog will be like a new baby and one has to have a clear head and a clear schedule to focus on a new baby.

But have you seen the list?

The list when it first went on the wall.

I swear he’s trying to kill me.

But I respect that this is what has to be done. And since this dog will be a family member and the responsibility of the whole family, its up to the whole family to work at preparing. But there have been weeks where we haven’t checked mark a single box. At this rate, I’m hoping that maybe by late spring I can start getting serious with breeders. A serious breeder only breeds once or twice a year, and sometimes there are waiting lists for puppies. It could be a whole year before I see a puppy.

Sometimes I think he’s just trying to torture me. But then there are the days like today where we check box two or three columns and I think “see? we’re getting things done. Just need to be patient…”

The sooner that list gets done.. the sooner we get a dog.