We got a dog! Our first dog ever. I feel like such a grown up with my house and my dog and my husband and 3 kids. Wow. I would have felt all restless and rebellious if it hadn't been so hard to get this far. I am naming her Alice Marcella after 2 of Pa's sisters. I already named Eleanor after the third (sister.) She looks like an Alice. White with red spots English Pointer. Pictures to come. 4 months or so. Rescue dog - awesome shelter. Can finally hang up obsessive petfinder addiction.

Funeral and wake were very nice. I've enjoyed the time with family and didn't shed a tear. I love Pa and I'll miss him, but his life was so great and his passing was so ideal that I really feel more celebratory than sad about 92 good years. My cousins and I were pall-bearers again. I thought we all looked so nice and grown up in our black suits. It was a beautiful, sunny day.

I went back to the house tonight to introduce "Alice" and participate in the "who gets what furniture" game. There is a blue butterfly plate from Brazil - at least 60 years old, that I had always wanted and asked Pa for, and apparently it was a hot item that several people wanted. When I got there, they tricked me that it was going to a mean aunt we don't really talk to. They got me. Said my veins were popping out of my neck. I was trying to play it cool - but it wasn't really about the object - it was about these distant, pushy relatives and wanting everybody to stand up to them. As soon as I got home, I set about hanging it in a safe, very high place on the wall. Chris took over and accidentally removed a chunk of plaster instead, so its in a closet for now. They will kill me if it breaks.

It's 2 in the morning and our puppy hasn't cried once in the crate. In fact, in the 12 hours we've had her, I haven't heard a peep from her. We had looked at her sister first - very rambunctious but livable, then looked at Alice just for the heck of it, and she walked right to me and curled up in my lap and I felt her long velvety ears and it was all over. She and I went for a little jog after the kids went to bed. This was in lieu of sitting down to eat cookies. I also keep picking up the house because I don't want her to chew anything. She's already a serene little personal trainer and flylady all in one.