Do Dogs Sleepwalk?

We are quite used to things that go bump in the night. After all, we have 2 Huskies, 3 cats, and 2 toddlers in the house. If the kids aren't fussing, then our outdoor-sleeping husky (her choice) is howling at the moon or barking at a fox or bear, or the cats are coming and sleeping on us, or one cat will jump on another causing a big hissing/jumping/running fest that wakes our indoor-sleeping husky up so he chases the cats down the stairs, or some other "bump".

Here is Juneau, our indoor-sleeping, puppy-like, incredibly loyal, sweet Daddy's boy of a husky


Now, think back to the last scenario I gave. The cats hissing and running and dog chasing one.

At 2 am this morning, Zarik and I were suddenly awaken by what we believed was the above scenario. After a minute though, we realized Juneau was going crazy! I flipped on a light and we watched him as he flung himself around the room like a fish out of water flopping about. Zarik tried gently to stop him until he almost flung himself down the stairs and then Zarik jumped over and grabbed him. Juneau yelped as his paws went over the edge of the stairs and Zarik realized at that point that Juneau was sleepwalking! He was being so violent Zarik picked him up and shook him awake, which took a minute or so. After that Juneau just lay next to the bed for a few minutes, ears back, tail between his legs, looking SO scared. We checked to make sure he wasn't hurt anywhere and then brought him up on our bed to pet and snuggle him for a few minutes while he calmed down.

He's always done the whole "running in his sleep" thing, but this was brand new. Maybe we've been watching Eight Below too much and a Leapard Seal was chasing him. Poor boy.

Our New (To Us) Dave Ramsey Car

Well, with baby #3 on the way, we had to start looking for a new (to us) car. (We will NEVER buy a NEW car. It's really not a good investment) Zarik, in true Zarik fashion, had to go out and start looking at cars, putting ours on craigslist, and just generally sniffing around. That boy gets obsessed when it comes to buying/selling cars. I didn't even realize he'd listed our cars until I started getting offers for them in our email! Well, we talked and decided that since I was only like 6 weeks pregnant, maybe we should slow this train down a little bit. We have time to look, pray, and find the right car for us and buyer for whatever car we wanted to sell.

Yeah right.

About 5 days before we were to leave for California for Christmas, Zarik gets a call from someone who wants to drive about 2 hours to come look at our WRX. And here I though we were selling the Outback Sport! We both LOVE the WRX! I didn't want it to go anymore than Zarik did! But Zarik said he'd been feeling since the car we were leaning towards would be almost $10,000, that the WRX was the only way to get it "The Dave Ramsey Way" IE: CASH. Cold, hard, CASH. No car loans, no borrowing from parents. CASH. Now Zarik HAD agreed to wait until January to actually sell the car. And he told this girl that. But she wanted to come look anyways. But she'd wait to actually buy until January.

Yeah right.

About 30 minutes after they got here, Zarik comes sheepishly up the stairs. "Honey, we need to talk. They want it now. And I think this is the right person for the car." So we prayed right there. And we sold them the car. Now we only have one car. And 2 different places to be the next day. So the kids and I got up at 4am to drive him to the airport. That was fun.

Zarik starts feverishly looking at cars online. We decide by the time we get out to California that we are looking for something VERY specific: a 2004 AWD Toyota Sienna with under 100,000 miles for under $10K. Ok God. There you go. Zarik is literally looking all over the country for one. There's a couple possibilities in New Jersey and New York. And then, BINGO: An hour away from our parents gated community, the perfect car. So Zarik and I go to see it. I think it's PERFECT. But I defer to my husband. There were a few things he wasn't happy about: it was salvaged, the ac wasn't charged, some clips were missing, etc. And he wanted it for $8,500 and the guy wouldn't go below $9.

So we went back to our parents houses. Zarik left on his trip. And we prayed. The more we talked, the more we realized it was the right car, and Zarik agreed to the $9. So we called the guy back. Well, he didn't have the title yet. That would be the final deal breaker. So we said call us the SECOND you get it. Zarik had a very small window to come and get us and the car to drive back to Colorado. Then Skywest calls. They added a day to Zarik's schedule. Not good. Now the window was down to nothing. So he threw the day on the swap boards and we prayed. And prayed. And prayed. And as Zarik was sitting at home about to call off coming back to California to get us, Skywest called again. To say the trip had been picked up. Then the car guy called. He had the title. So it was a GO!!! At the 11th hour!

So Zarik flies out. We go buy the car. I drive it back to my parent's house. We start loading up all our presents and stuff. Dad gives us a BBQ. We fit that in. Mom gives us stuff for Shanna's wedding in January. We fit that in. We sleep. We wake up. We say goodbye to everyone. We leave. ROAD TRIP!! It was actually pretty fun. I only drove about 3 hours a day, and Zarik did the rest. We did it in 2 days. Stopped in Salt Lake City to sleep for 8 hours, then hit the road again. The kids did FABULOUS. And now, I am the proud driver of a minivan.

I'm still kinda in shock.