A Dog Named Lady

Well after all the drama we went through to find new homes for our poodles in Australia we have come full circle and have now taken on a friends dog as they are leaving the country on Saturday to return to New Zealand.  We had planned to avoid getting a pet while we were going to be living in Thailand knowing how hard it will be to say goodbye to it when it comes time to return home, but Judd talked endlessly about our old dogs that is was making me feel homesick for them as well.  So her name is Lady and she is a golden colour 'something' with a curly tail and strange golden eyes.  She is smallish for a medium size dog and has a great temperament and lovely nature.  She is a real 'lady'.  Judd has taken to her straight away, he isn't so sure about all the licking she gives him but he loves talking to her, taking her for walks and playing outside with her.  Which at the end of the day it is all about the kids and making this house we have here feel more like a 'home'.  I am hoping Judd will stop talking about our Melbourne home and our old dogs and begin to feel like he really lives here.  He always asks about when we are getting on the plane to go back home and it is hard when I have to answer the same question everyday.  It took him 4 months to realise that we were in another country and to stop asking "mumma when are we going to Thailand?" when we were already here.  Hard to explain to a 3 year old about the size of the earth and distance travelled and different countries and cultures but what I can do is make this house feel homey with comforting toys, pictures, home cooked food and now a dog. 

I rather like having a pet to care for as well, it gives me something else to do.  I did end up letting the driver/maid go, she was a terrible driver always complaining about being dizzy and having blurry vision and the other reason was I wanted to have my house back is that I wanted my 'job' back.  I quit working to stay at home and be a 'stay at home mum' with all the duties that entails but then we moved to Thailand and we got a driver and a maid and a gardener and all of a sudden I am living like a queen with my feet up doing absolutely nothing.  But in my experience doing nothing promotes doing more nothing and I was losing touch with the kids, Lillie was preferring the company of the nanny over me and I was more than anything really really bored. 
So now I have paid her off and found a new driver who will be employed only as a driver, nothing else.  He will drive Marcus to work then come back and take Judd to school and then take me and Lillie where ever it is we need to go for the day then pick Judd up and go pick Marcus up and then if we need to go out in the evenings he will drive us as well and if we decide to drink and stay late we have a designated driver.  He will also work Saturdays which the previous driver didn't.  It turns out we were paying our old driver more than double what the other drivers get from other expat companies, our new driver jumped at the chance to drive for us as his family who are my friends leaving for New Zealand on Saturday weren't going to be able to employ him anymore so it worked out well for us and for him. 
I have been a passenger with him driving before and he seems very capable and I trust him, he also knows Pattaya very well.  He knows where alot of stores and back streets are and if I need him he can translate for me if we go places where English is a problem. 
But I also wont be having him hanging around the house either, he can wait up at the club house until I need him or he can go on standby if I know I wont be needing him for a few hours which then he can wander off to do his own thing just as long as he is back on time.

I have been enjoying doing my own house cleaning and laundry.  It fills my days up.  Plus I do it my way and I know that it is getting cleaned properly.  I will still have a maid come to the house on Saturdays to do a big once over and clean the windows and bathrooms etc.  But the day to day jobs I am happy to do, I feel more productive.  I know that in 6 weeks I will complain again like I used to, but for now I feel like I am earning my keep again and I think Marcus can sense I am more happy and calmer than I have been.  It is like a big nagging stress has been lifted off my shoulders and I now can do whatever I want around my own house without having to avoid someone else or have them watching me or have them interrupt me while I am trying to eat my lunch and watch some decent TV. 

Now I know that our previous maid/driver was only being helpful and caring and kind but I am a private person and I have been doing things on my own, my own way for a long time now and I am just not the type or person who can share my little world with someone else.  It is a bit disappointing as I now no longer have a babysitter and I cant go to the gym during the day, but I will just have to work something else out.  Lillie prefers to come out with me anyway, I didn't like leaving her home but I used to think it was easier and alot faster if I just ducked out by myself, but then I would ask myself  "why have you had children if you are just going to pay someone else to take care of them for you?" 

So now I have plenty to do with my time and my friend who is leaving on Saturday was my shopping buddy, massage buddy and drinking buddy so I wont be hitting the town as much now that she is going.  I will miss her and her family alot they have been a wonderful help to us to help us with settling in and they were so good to the kids but the only plus out of them leaving I can think of is that we got their lovely dog Lady and I might save some money as I wont be going shopping as much. But I will miss their friendship very much.