Bethany- you're killing me!
I'm loving the "avoidance" closet!!! And it's so funny about your piles ----> baskets ---> boxes because right now I have a luandry basket full of all the crap that WAS on the table and now I have to figure out what to do with all of it. Toooo-mooorrrow...
But, the house is mostly clean. Of course, I totally scrubbed and I mean SCRUBBED the kitchen floor (like, I would have no issue with a 60 second rule), and then it rained and my big beast of a dog tracks in wet and mud and dirt.
V loves our cat, Daphne, but Daphne doesn't return the warm sentiments. Daphne doesn't really like anyone but my DH. I don't really have a big love fer her either- she's a mean cranky pants of a cat. So- V yells "Kee" (that's "kitty" in Vaylese), and tries to pet Daphne, but she's usually unsuccessful.
Our dog Jules is a whole other story. Jules is, our, um, "special" dog. Really, she is kind of nuts. She is this huge lab mix that is a complete and utter wuss and she's totally nervous and piddles when she gets excited/scared/in trouble/happy/nervous/etc. There's really no situation that she won't pee herself in.
So, from the start I have been very wary of letting Jules and Vaylie play together- for 1) the dog is a mini horse, and 2) I'm scared that Jules will bite Vaylie out of fear (she's not by ANY means a ferocious dog, but she's skittish and I know what that can mean). So, their play has been CLOSELY supervised, and if I can't have 3 eyes on them, they are baby gated apart.
It's getting better. Vaylie LOVES the dog ("Gog" in Vaylese), but Jules is still a little scared of Vaylie (she IS intimidating!
). So, we're taking things slow. But the funniest thing is that when Jules is gated into the kitchen, V will lay down at the gate and so will Jules, and they'll love on each other. V sticks her hands under the gate for Jules to lick, and Jules happily obliges. Sometimes, they'll lay like that for 10-15 minutes. It's so cute. I just wish I could trust Jules more, but I'd rather be safe than sorry, kwim?
Jules did growl at V once, because my DH (D = dingbat) put food in the dog bowl then walked off while V was in the kitchen and walked off somewhere.
I freaked! "You CAN"T DO THAT!!!!" I mean, even totally trustworthy dogs get weird when they have food. He didn't know, or really think about it (this is his first ever inside dog). So, from now on, if Jules has food in her bowl, V is to be nowhere near that bowl.
Here is Jules in "jail."
Here is Jules smelling Vaylie (V giggles like crazy when Jules sniffs her!).
And here is as close as V can get to the cat- and even then she had to use bait.
(wow. this is a freakin long post!).
I've been trying to get everything put back and organized, but it's going to take a while. Between taking care of Owen and myself, there's a lot less time for housework and even less for projects! Plus I've got this lovely new hammock that I LOVE, and it's always soooo tempting to say "I'll get back to this after a little snooze in the hammock..." I'm trying to be good and say that I can only lay in my hammock AFTER I've done my chores and gotten in some time on the closet clean up project. We'll see how long that lasts...
Let me tell you, there is nothing quite so awkward as having your MIL over and watching as the cat saunters through with one enormous dust bunny after another, dropping them in a pile in the middle of the room. When he finally decided he had enough of them, he jumped in the middle of the pile and scattered them, then chased them around the room. I would have laughed, but my DMIL, bless her, was slightly horrified at the size and quantity of the dust bunnies and jumped up to get a broom and dust pan to track down every last one of them. Poor Alton had his fun spoiled, and my poor MIL discovered enough dust bunnies to make another cat! 
I needed that....thank you. Having a hard day. 
When I'm feeling yucky, all it takes is one big dimply grin from Owen, or one of his squeals of excitement, or one sweet snuggle from my boy to make me feel so much better. 
Plus he needs to see something to know a) it exists and b) where it is, so he tends to spread out and leave a layer of stuff behind him whereever he goes. I'm a piler myself - I stack things up in piles in various locations, and when the piles get too big I move them into large baskets, and when the baskets get too full I empty them into boxes, and when there's too many boxes in the garage I get overwhelmed and then finally break down and have a huge sorting fit and get rid of 75% of it and then say "from now on I'm going to deal with everything right away and not let it pile up like this." 
So my worst fear has been realized...the stupid machine needs a new video card. Now this is my DH's gaming PC so the video card was about $800 and they have not come down in price 
