What happened to February? Let’s call it, fur baby February.

January was a pretty productive month, while February was a completely different matter.  Okay, wait, back up. Now that I look at my calendar, where I track my WIP, I feel more accomplished than I thought I was entitled to feel. I was able to publish Cross My Heart, both in paperback and as an eBook, I took part in an online summit for work-at-home entrepreneurs, I worked on some marketing material for an upcoming book event, took part in a writing workshop, and was able to work on my young adult novel and also another book in progress.

So, maybe February wasn’t as unproductive as I first believed.

The month has flown by, admittedly, not only because it’s a short month, but because I had much more to focus on than just writing…a very small thing requiring a lot of attention.

What would require so much attention?

Jozee at 7 weeks

A puppy.

Yes, a puppy. I’m not sure what the heck I was thinking, except that I have missed Piper terribly and her sister, Mandy, has been lonely these past six months, so we finally decided to get a puppy.

It’s been three weeks since we brought little Jozee home, and I don’t think Mandy has quite forgiven me yet for upsetting her days so drastically. She’s an old lady who isn’t too fond of this little feisty fur ball, but my hope is that soon they’ll be best friends. After all, she finally tolerates the kittens and has forgiven me for radically changing her world with the introduction of new cats. J

It has been a long time since I’ve had a puppy. Mandy and Piper were born not quite ten years ago, and at that time I had their mom and was raising the whole litter (ten puppies!). It was crazy, but I had my private investigator business and was working out of the home so was able to find the time needed to care for them. Still, a decade can dull the memory, and I had forgotten what having a puppy was like. It’s like having a baby again! 

What it looks like to feed 10 puppies

Eventually we’ll get past the puppy stage, I know this, so I’m “going with the flow,” realizing it’s temporary, and getting work done as I’m able in between keeping an eye on her and what she might be in to (right now she’s napping).  

In the meantime, the benefits of bringing Jozee home far outweigh any doggy deeds for which I am constantly on alert. She has brought laughter and joy to our household, and she and the kittens (who are just over six months old), are becoming great playmates. She’s constant, unless she’s napping, and she keeps me hopping (I’m getting more than my fair share of steps in each day) but she also provides a gift I remember receiving from Mandy and Piper and also our boys when they were little. It’s the gift of taking in the moment, enjoying the little things, cuddling just because, feeling pleasure and wonder in something you might otherwise overlook because you are experiencing the moment from their first-time perspective.

Those reasons alone make February productive in its own way.

Well, my time is up – Jozee is awake and I’m on puppy patrol.

Have a great week!