AUGH!!! My resident fiber gourmand

Did I ever mention that we're a Foster Family for the American Brittany Rescue organization? No? Neglectful of me perhaps, but generally not something one would post on a spinning blog. Not that my spinning and knitting buddies all of a sudden actually need to know that about me, it's just that...being a Foster Mum has suddenly begun cramping my 'style' (read: my personal spinning and knitting time) in a HUGE way lately, which is probably why I haven't been posting much. It's been an uphill battle for 5 weeks now. See...this dog we're fostering...well, he LOVES my yarns. And my rovings. And my fleeces. And batts. Not to mention my bumps. Anything soft and fuzzy, apparently, along with paper and books. He has destroyed (so far):

• 1 expensive knitting book (waaah!)
• 5 balls of SOCK yarn
• 5 rovings (or is it 6, now?)
• 3 batts. No...make that 4 (30 minutes ago)
• several knitting magazines ::sob::
• 1 luscious 'bump' of silk, alpaca and merino (that I know of)
• My Mother's sock (one of a pair that I was repairing!)

Um...what else? I'm sure there are other items, but my mind is just numb... It doesn't help that I generally get no more than 2 to 4 hours of sleep a night. Ugh. I HATE getting old!

He is the sweetest dog on earth - really, truly! - but total hell on this fiber-lover, for sure. His name is Sam (or "No, No! Bad Dog!"), and it seems that all he ever really bothers is MY stuff. Not my hubby's stuff. Not the kids' stuff. No. Just MINE. I feel like cussing a blue streak (out of sheer frustration), but that wouldn't be nice or helpful, so I won't do it on my blog.

SO...because of this dog's strange ingurgitatory habits, I have hardly been able to get anything done in the way of spinning! No sooner do I pull off a hard-won batt from my carder (it takes longer to make a really GOOD batt than one might think!), than the phone rings (or the door bell, or the kids need me, or hubby demands my instant attention, or, or...), so the batt gets laid down somewhere "safe". I come back 30 seconds later and it's literally shredded (and globbed with LOTS of dog-spit...yuck!) to itty-bitty bits of fluff on the carpet. :::sigh::: I'm past being mad about it. I give up. I don't know what to do about it, short of keeping the poor sap in his crate 24/7. Which I wouldn't do to even the worst dog, let alone this sweetheart!

So, I am sitting in my little corner and whimpering a bit. I am feeling so very sorry for myself at the moment. Another beautiful batt (alpaca, OF course) gone to hell. To make it worse, it was the final batt needed to finish off the 4th bobbin for a lovely (I hope!) 4-ply gift to Someone Really Special. I am struggling VERY HARD to be kind to Sam right now. And, of course, feeling guilty because I'm all upset with him :-(

Thanks for list'nin'. I am so bummed. Maybe someone will adopt this hoo-haw by next week?