As school winds down, it is harder and harder to be here - you might as well stick a fork in my kids: They are done! We teachers are, too. I still have things to do for my Thursday night class (reading specialist, part 3), but I cannot stop procrastinating.

And eating. I am perfectly capable of coming up with a healthy, virtuous food plan - say - in the morning from my computer. I go to great sites like Our Lady of Weight Loss and have her Ten Commandments of Fat Removal, and have the cards placed in strategic places. They are just decoration right now! I have been to My Pyramid.gov, copied off posters and food organization lists, and I have even signed up for all of the great food tracking toys. After not watching Oprah for months, I finally happened upon a show with her new diet guru, Dr. Oz. What he said made a lot of sense.

But, as soon as I leave school, I think of nothing but food. Bad food, like brownies and ice cream and cookies. I also crave chips and guacamole - it's like I am craving FAT! I also am enjoying margaritas on my weekends off. All of this, plus my apparent inability to set foot in my gym or face my trainer, is adding up to weight gain. I hate it, but like Scarlett, I keep saying I will worry about it tomorrow.

Okay, enough of that. I am also searching for a dog. Five months ago, Connolly passed away (for newbies, that is her picture to the left). I am using the internet to look for a dog, searching the humane society and pet rescue sites. I have been to adoption fairs and Saturday adoption opportunities at Petco. I may be coming close to choosing a puppy. The difficult thing for me is that this time I am married. I have never had to consider another person's opinion when choosing a pet. Of course, I have not had a new pet for 14 years.

PetFinder.com has been a great resource. By surfing the net and having to fill out extensive adoption applications, I avoid my old weakness for going to the dog pound and adopting a dog right then and there. Also, my husband is pretty much letting me do the looking - he has just asked that I not just arrive home with a dog. Here are some of the dogs I am looking at right now:

I have already filled out an application for Cierra,and she is my top candidate at the moment. I heard from the organization offering Cleo, and they will be out of town until Tuesday. She is in Jefferson, which is near Athens, GA. No Name Aussie and her brother are in Athens, and are in demand. There are two in Chattanooga which are probably not necessary.Star is cute, but Joy looks a lot like Connolly - I don't want to have false expectations...

As you can see, I am partial to the spaniel/aussie/border collie mixes... A friend of mine is supposed to keep me informed about a litter of Miniature Pinscher/Shih Tzu mix. Sounds precious, but I have never had a small dog before. Still, we will see.