As much as I love dogsitting, man it can be stressful. This is my 3rd house to dogsit at in 3 weeks. I think that when I get home on Saturday I’m going to hug my floors, as much as one can hug hardwood. The actual dogsitting isn’t stressful, but not being at home takes a toll. I’ve probably blogged about that a kabillion times before, but it surprises me every time.

How hard can it be to sit in someone else’s house and eat their food and watch their cable tv and walk their dogs? That part? Not hard. Planning what you want to wear 2 weeks in advance? Hard. Getting ready to look cute and realizing you don’t have your brown shoes or blue eyeliner or skinny black belt. (Not all together, of course.) Finally sitting down with all your bills and realizing you don’t have your checkbook for that one bill that you can’t pay online. Or stamps.

I’ve been craving Jen time but I only crave that when I haven’t been meditating enough. (Check.) And work gets stressful around the holidays and I’ve been snapping at people (bad) and very easily annoyed with the doggies. I totally want to call the Dog Whisperer for Luke. Luke’s sweet, but absolutely uncontrollable on walks when another dog passes by. It’s embarrassing. Last night a couple with a collie walked by and tried to be friendly but when they saw the 80lb equivalent of Pop Rocks and Coke that is Luke, they sped up. And I’ve walked him with his owner and he’s not any better. It’s just Luke.

Only once have I managed to control him and it took a tight leash, mind control, strong metta, calm breathing and a very calm voice that said over and over and over, “No Luke Stay here Luke NO You’re not going to jump around Luke No Luke You’re doing good Luke NO That dog is going to walk by and you’re going to stay calm Luke.” It took every ounce of everything I had for that entire minute but I was successful. It hasn’t worked since.

Anyway, I’ve posted pictures of the Indian wedding I went to. If you want the link, e-mail me. Here’s a picture Dave took. He’s so funny. The kid’s about to be 25 but is just about the least commitment-phobic person I’ve dated. When I interact with babies, his eyes totally turn into paint chips and baby naming books.

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And then stares at me with a dreamy expression as if I wasn’t a Jen who just held a baby but something more amazing, like a Shakira after a bellydance.

(By the way, 2 of my favorites? Shakira and Beyoncé? Combined? Surprisingly I think they’re hotter separate. I’d have commented on that earlier but it was never mentioned on All Things Considered. How was I to know they’d done a song together?)