He said:

I feel guilty and need to admit something. Those are the words he said. If you know my husband the way I do, those words evoke a certain amount of dread. Also, strangely, curiosity. What in the world could he come up with next. His tendencies lean towards the extreme and outlandish when it comes to surprises. Last summer, a few missed hints from him by me, were followed by a very large, very expensive motorcycle, taking up residence in our garage. Without my knowledge or approval, of course. His buyers remorse kicked in only a few months later when said vehicle was not driven as often as originally planned. That, luckily, is the worst of them, but over the years, on our very limited budget, there have been numerous, and I mean NUMEROUS occasions for the dread I spoke of before. So, back to his admission of guilt. Over the last few months, he has been dropping hints, infrequently at first, but now daily, sometimes more, about wanting a dog. I should have realized this was going to lead to another 'surprise.' He even took the ‘convince the kids’ approach, and then tried to get them to ask for one. My littles are much too smart for that. They know how Mom feels about dogs. It’s not that I don’t like dogs, I really do. Just not in my own home. I already have four children under the age of 7 to clean up after, and a husband who might as well be a child as far as cleaning is concerned. He tries, I’ll give him that, but, well, you know how hubbies can be. In the eight years we’ve been married, we have had two dogs in our home, one of which, I might add, was a birthday gift for me. Imagine my delight. Both were sweet dogs, and I have to admit, were cute to see with the kids and hubby at first. But they quickly lost their novelty when the realities of pet/owner responsibility set in. To this day, he claims that the dogs got walked regularly and that he cleaned up their excrement daily. I sweetly refrain from reminding him that I had to NAG him to do either, and don’t even get me started on the shedding. Oh, the shedding. Both ownerships ended with farming them out to loving *other* homes. It seems to me that if you are a lover of animals, you wouldn’t want to subject one to MY lack of affection for them. A good dog belongs in a loving, caring environment, right? So you might be able to understand how when my husband told me today that he had arranged for a French Brittany Spaniel to be brought to our home, this week, from Saint George, for $150.00, this week, to MY home, that I was speechless. What do you say to that? I had nothing. Just utter disbelief. And now, it’s nearly 2 in the am, I’ve been in a cleaning *silent* rage for two hours, since he leaned over to kiss me goodnight, and thanked me for not screaming at him when he told me.**********
Forgive the rant. I needed to vent. I love my husband. But let me just say, It’s going to be a rocky week.