Satisfying Solutions

My dog has been to the Groomers and is now looking like a new born lamb, milky white and soft and relieved to be done with the experience. He actually handled it quite well. This was a new groomer I took him to. I felt he deserved a kinder, gentler place- and that's what he got.

At this grooming section of a large pet store franchise, they keep the howling and barking dogs who have been bathed, back in the room away from the clipping station. This way the dogs who are up on the tables, with a suicidal-looking noose around their neck to hold them place, are able to get sheared and clipped within a relatively non stressful environment. The last place I took Harry to was chaotic and loud. I would bring him home from that former grooming salon, and he would flop on the couch and not move for days at a time. He was devastated from the experience. A wreck.

So on Friday I took him to this new place and he came home with a jaunty little handkerchief around his neck, took a long afternoon nap, and rebounded quickly- enough so that he chowed down his evening meal and then looked for the customary popcorn we should have been having with the movie. But there was no popcorn last night. Still, he was happy. I think we'll keep going to this new grooming salon.

The Movie we watched last night- Bill, Abby, Harry and me- was delicious. I mean delightful. It's called No Reservations, and it's about two culinary geniuses in a New York City restaurant. There's romance, there's drama, there's delicious looking food (except for the plates of fish. Who can eat when something is staring at you?!). The movie ended and we went to bed happy and feeling like we had eaten a second round of dinner.

We're expecting a bad storm today. The sky is gray and moody. My kids are still sleeping, and I get a quiet house to work in. Bill is off trying to buy a valve or something like that for one of the toilets that broke. Thank God he can fix literally anything that breaks down in this house. I never fuss when the toilet overflows or the smoking oven sets off the fire alarm or the garage door opener goes wacky and the garage door keeps going up and down. I just call, "Bill!" and Mr. Fix-It comes to my rescue.

Not everything gets fixed that quickly in our lives, I know. But when we do get to experience a quick resolution to something that disturbs us, oh how good it is. Little miracles. Little solutions- such as switching to a new groomer or getting your toilet fixed by someone who knows what they're doing- are like butter on toast. I love to crunch into my peasant bread toasted to perfection, but when the butter drizzles down the side of my mouth, that's when I think, "Oh, this is sooo good."


"When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you." Ps.128:2