This may be the closest I get to having my own puppy this year, even though it's the one thing I want out of this year. Having to admit that, just over a week into the new year really sucks. Reality, however, is not lost of me and not much has changed in my life that I'd be able to adequately care for a dog. Even though I would be an awesome pet owner, never dressing the poor thing up like a reindeer at Christmas or throwing a tutu on her for spontaneous self-shot Facebook pictures.

As it happens, though, I work 2 jobs. I'm doing the whole lose weight, write a book, try to remember to call my friends-thing. A dog wouldn't jive so much with how my life works. My desire for a cute little bundle of unconditional puppy love will have to wait until I change something significant.

Insert heavy sigh here.

I'm attempting to get over it and look at things objectively. I live in a 500 square foot apartment. It's perfectly big enough for me but I firmly believe that an apartment isn't the best place for an active dog to live. They need space to run. An apartment with a 10 foot strip of grass outside that happens to run along a major state road is not ideal. I'll need a house with a yard and possibly a fence.

I'd also need to be home more than I am. I leave by about 8:15 in the morning. At least 2 nights a week I work until nearly 10, and for large portions of the weekend I'm out and about being awesome. Bringing a puppy into this kind of schedule would be like asking to give up my security deposit, not to mention really unkind to the puppy.

So where does this leave me?

Without a puppy.

But, that said, I'm pretty determined to change things so that I can work only 1 job, buy a house, and pay for a pet nanny to come in and walk her when I'm not home. To me that means: 1. Finish my book. 2. Sell my book. 3. Do everything in my earthly power to promote my book so that it sells to the general public. 4. In the event that doesn't work, take really drastic measures, like say, goat sacrifice (although I've got nothing against goats, per say). Something has to work, hopefully before innocent barn animals go missing.