Back, finally...

I have finally returned to the blogosphere after a long hiatus. The past couple of weeks have been both fun and frustrating. After a series of dentist visits, a trip to see the family (and meet new family), and $1200 in car repairs (meted out over, count them, three different instances), we have now returned to the relative calm of normal life, albeit with a puppy who refuses to sleep through the night. In fact, the pup impresses me because he can actually bark through the entire night without having any water in his crate. That has to be a notable feat. H can still sleep soundly through his noise, but his barking affects me physiologically (think of how fingernails on a chalkboard often affects people) and thus reduces my sleeping hours to a seemingly endless period of cringing tension. Cottonballs in the ears don't seem to help, so we're going for all out ear plugs so that I can get some sleep while also not giving in to the dog's demands for midnight attention. The humans in this household will prevail. Mark my words.