No work on Friday (NWOF). Puppy love. Love from fellow bloggers. It's a love fest.

Friday, a time for co-workers to gossip, laugh, and get away with extra chat time. Since telecommuters don't have the proverbial water cooler, thought we could take a break together over a cup of green tea.



Instead of working I'm...



Calculating the real cost of my newly adopted puppy. That's him above, chewing on something, as always.

I adopted Reggie, a pure mix of unknown breeds, from the local animal shelter two weeks ago. Life with puppy has definitely changed my pocketbook and telecommuting routine. Thought some of you might be able to relate.

Don't let my rant fool you, we're already buddies, and he really is priceless. By the way, October is national Adopt a Dog Month, if you're thinking of adopting, do so now!

The cost of my new puppy:
$20, adoption fee.
$30, first trip to the store for new toys, flea medicine, and supplies.
$30, puppy chow.
$70, trip to the vet for the extremely sick newest a addition.
$150, to clean the carpets, won't go into details, let's just say he was very sick.
$50, lamp broken by puppy.
$10, first ethernet cord chewed by puppy.
$40 to Linksys, when he chewed the cord, he messed up the router settings.
$200 lost wages from running puppy around and dealing with no internet connection.
$10, first enthernet cord chewed by puppy.
$50, replacing other belongings lost to puppy chewing.
$20, investing in more toys and bones to control puppy chewing.
$10, dinner I was cooking snatched from counter by puppy
$690, the real cost of my new puppy. I added this up for the first time while writing tonight and was shocked. I'm not among the super wealthy, and don't even know how I stretched this out of my budget. But, I love thim, and am glad I rescued the little monster.

Needless to say, the love I've received this week from some fellow bloggers was especially appreciated.I won my first blog award, the "I love your blog," award from Kim at Kimmi's Krazy World, Lisa at Lisa's Command Post, Lori at Confessions of a Baltimore House Wife and condescendingly, Kim at Ms. Frugal McDougal. I follow all of these blogs and only wish I could reciprocate the award. I do hope you'll surf over and check them out.

Now I get to chose seven blogs to award, and I've picked:
ToughGirl 101
Trapped in the Office
Everday New Money Making Tips
Man- I feel like a Woman
Angie's Blog of Silly Stuff
The Geek's Girl
Mama and Hustler

For the winners, there are some guidelines to follow: The winner can put the logo on his/her blog. Link the person you received your award from. Nominate at least 7 other blogs. Put links of those blogs on yours. Leave a message on the blogs of the persons you've nominated.

I was also "tagged" by Jen at The Geek's Girl, Lisa at Lisa's Command Post, and Piera from Jolly Mom. Three more blogs I regularly follow and love from three awesome telecommuters.

I have to tell eight interesting/unknown facts about me and thought this would be a good opportunity to share more about me with my readers. I then have to tag eight other blogs. I cheated a bit, I'm going to tag my award winners, just to show them a little bit more love. You can read the full rules here.

So, before I get back to work and bring our break to an end. I...

1. Have a soft spot for the reality TV show, America's Next Top Model, very unlike my normal TV habits.
2. Am addicted to Diet Coke, only in a can, can't stand it in a bottle or fountain.
3. Developed a Web site mentioned by the Washington Post at 13 years old (if only I still had that drive!)
4. Love to cook, and go through phases of fav ingredients, right now it's cilantro, and homemade salad vinaigrettes.
5. Live in a town with less than 9,000 people now, but also lived in the worst neighborhood in Indianapolis for awhile.
6. Went two years without having cable in a town that didn't get antenna channels and loved it!
7. Just started blogging two weeks ago.
   
8. Hate winter. I'm already dreading the cold days.