Puppuccino?

Yup ... that's what I said. I think it's the coolest thing ever to be traveling with my small dog. First - she's the best dog in the world. Sorry guys ... it's my blog and I get to say that. But, she travels really well. And I'm so thankful for that. She and Max are curled up on the bed again while I'm typing. Do you sense a pattern? I make him drive to exhaustion - then he sleeps.

So, after we left the kids in downtown Denver, we came back to the hotel for some rest and to allow my addiction to the internet to be satiated. However, I needed a little bit of relief on my other addiction, caffeine, so we stopped at the closest Starbucks for my Iced Chai. And, as we pulled up the girl asked if I would like a puppuccino? Ok ... what's that? Well, it's just a little cup of froth with some sprinkles on it. You know what? Let's do it. She brought it back for Leica - who cleaned the cup to the bottom. What a wonderful thing! No wonder Starbucks is the leader in the coffee industry.

Leica gets a lot of attention. She's quite social and will allow nearly everyone near her. She's not fabulous around small children that poke and pinch and jump at her, but then, neither am I and though I don't bite, sometimes I wish I could (bad Diane). But, with older kids and adults - she's fabulous.

I'm trying not to worry about taking her into the mountains tomorrow. Oh, heck, I'm trying not to worry about GOING into the mountains tomorrow. I remember those mountain roads, and I've been warned and warned about burning up my brakes. And warned about dehydration. Oh for heaven's sake!

The last time I brought a dog into the Denver area - my dachshund, Bert - we had a miserable experience. Poor Max. As we were leaving, all of a sudden, Bert had, well, blood in his bowels. He obviously wasn't feeling very good. Instead of taking I-76 from Denver up to I-80, we had decided to go up through Wyoming. We'd never been that way before and thought it would be fun to check out new territory. And then, Bert got sick. And Diane got stressed. Poor Max was stuck with a sick dog, a stressed wife and the LONG way back to Omaha. I called the vet when we got home, he told me to feed the dog hamburger and rice, and we were fine. The stupid dog had altitude sickness and was dehydrated.

Living with me can't be easy. I'm totally nuts. I didn't sleep well last night. Duh, I never sleep well in hotels unless I'm totally exhausted. Everything on my body ached when I woke up this morning and there wasn't a single Advil tablet in the room. Frustration! I took a shower, looked in the mirror and my face had broken out. I haven't scared myself that much in a long time! Neither Max and I were feeling very human when we left the hotel. We drove straight for Walgreen's. A few quick purchases: makeup to recover the face, a rubbermaid container for water for Leica, Advil (panicked me bought a bottle of tablets and another bottle of liquigels for immediate relief), and a Diet Mt. Dew! By the time we reached the church, the Advil was kicking in, the makeup was covering the splotchies and the Diet Mt. Dew was surging through my veins. The morning was going to be fine. It just took a little while to get me there!

In my last post, Jacque mentioned that she had loved and hated SS tours. Jacque did this as a leader/sponsor/director/mom for a lot of years. She knows what she is talking about! But, she organized some pretty amazing tours for the kids. The one we are on this year is a repeat of one of her last years with Soul Seekers. But, I know her comment is a truism. I'm thankful that I could bring Max with me and escape most of the scheduled insanity. I'm not much for all of that stuff - I'm a bit too independent. So, I avoid as much of it as possible.

Hanging out with kids is a huge blessing! They are absolutely wonderful. At the same time, they are an incredible amount of work. They want to be independent and for the most part they make good decisions, but there is a full-blown guarantee that they will make a very poor decision and it will happen regularly. Especially when they are in large groups.

It occurs to me that I am about to go out on a tangent - sorry 'bout that!

Large groups are insanity! I am not a fan of Women of Faith conferences, or Beth Moore conferences. Anywhere there are 4-10,000 women in one space, complete insanity breaks out. Women ... in large groups ... are stupid! Individuals will stop in doorways to speak to each other, just at the time the entire group is on a mass exodus from the hall. They carry huge purses that take up an entire other person's space and will gladly smack you with the purse and they are surging through a crowd. There's not much worse than a huge number of women in one space. Unless it's a huge number of men! Then, all sensibility leaves them. They can't function without specific direction.

And kids? The noise level never dies down enough for them to ever take instruction!

I wonder if that's what frustrated God at the Tower of Babel. All of those idiots, crowded into one space. Smacking each other around with their purses, having no idea what to do next and babbling with each other all over the place. I can see God just shaking his head and raining down languages on them to make them just split up and go their separate ways!

Ok ... enough for now. I have an hour to join my husband on the bed before we have to take off for the Salvation Army.