Everything And Nothing

Uninspired

2009-07-22T10:12:00.002-05:00

Top 5 reasons I've used for not blogging in recent months:

1 - Too much on my mind, but none of it worth writing about
2 - Too much going on, but none of it worth writing about
3 - Not enough going on - definitely not worth writing about
4 - I want a new template, theme or a defined topic but don't know what those should be
5 - Hardly anyone stops by anymore anyway!

I think I should shut it down, at least until I get some inspiration. If you see the blog vanish in future weeks, just know that I'm DEFINITELY not leaving Facebook. Or if you have any brilliant ideas to inspire, lay 'em on me!

Bones, livers and organs = awesome

2009-07-10T18:59:00.006-05:00

The old line about a rose by any other name, smelling just as sweet, is a problem for me. Names matter. I've never been able to date men named Dick or Randy. I think those people breeding Shih Tzus with poodles and calling them Shit-a-poos are beyond moronic. And, I've always railed against the BARF diet for dogs, purely because of the name. I'm sorry but if you give something a stupid name, you're going to have a tough time winning me over.

Of course BARF makes me think of bulemia first. Then it makes me think of dogs wretching up raw meat all over the house. So, I never looked into it until Bear crossed my path. Bear turns out to be the MOST finicky dog ever. He won't touch dog food, dry or canned, or dog treats. The first week he was here, the only thing I managed to get him to eat was fried hamburger or fried beef liver. AND I had to feed it to him from my hand - he wouldn't eat from a bowl or the floor. He went days and DAYS without eating until I did things his way. So I was frying up burgers or liver twice a day for a while there.

Anyway, someone suggested I look into the BARF diet, and I decided to get over my name aversion, I did some reading, and decided to try it. Bear has now had raw hamburger, chicken quarters, beef necks, beef livers, pork necks, turkey necks, you name it. And he's eaten everything. Bones and all. As long as the bones are raw (NOT cooked) a dog's digestive system has no problem with the bones. And he now eats from his bowl. Or he'll clean all of the meat off a beef neck and then spend the evening happily gnawing on the bone. So it's food AND entertainment, all in one.

It's all a bit bloody and gristly and gross. And you have to shop for weird meat parts on a regular basis. But they say it's the ancestral diet of all canines. Could be. I'm still struggling with the idea of giving raw eggs, shells and all... so I'm not 100% with the program yet, but I'm getting close. Bear's gaining weight, his fur is growing and getting more glossy, and if I'm not mistaken, his eyes look clearer.

I'd just like to change the diet's name to something a bit more mellifluous. Maybe I'll call it the Bones And Meat diet... BAM!! Or the Bones, Livers, Organs, Other Meats diet... BLOOM. Or maybe just the Caveman diet. Anyway... seems some dog people get almost religious about feeding raw - all I can say so far is that I'm pleasantly surprised at how much Bear likes it, and seems to be thriving on it. 3 weeks ago I couldn't have even guessed at how much a packet of turkey necks costs. Now I'm turning into some kind of expert on where to buy the best gizzards. Weird.

Baby's First 5K

2009-07-04T12:39:00.010-05:00

Well today was the day. The day I signed up for a few weeks ago, thinking I had plenty of time to prepare. The Independence Day Races, around Lake Harriet. Here's a pic of Lake Harriet, for those of you who aren't from 'round here. The Start/Finish Line was just outside this pic, to the right. Anyway, here's what I learned from my first 5K:

1. Apparently, only dorks and newbies wear the shirt you're given for the race. Everyone wears their own sassy sexy running gear. I realized my mistake immediately upon arrival.

2. Groups that sprint past you, laughing and easily holding in-depth discussions of stock options or anti-virus software, while your lungs are about to explode and you can hear the fluttering of angels wings coming for you... suck. But you wish you were one of them. I know a thing or two about stock options.

3. People on the sidelines who cheer you on saying, "Woooooo!!!! You're almost there, keep going, keep going!" are lovely. Only they shouldn't say that if you aren't really almost there. A mile to go, in my book, isn't almost there.

4. Old people, people twice my size, and people pushing strollers full of multiple children passed me. For me, this was a lesson in humility, in not judging people's capabilities by their appearance, and in how much room for improvement I have. Oh boy.

This isn't exact, but here's approximately how I did:

Mile One - ran solidly and steadily, took about 8 minutes
Mile Two - a very ouchy stomach cramp appeared. I slowed down, walked, got my breath, and generally fell way behind the crowd. About 14 minutes.
Mile Three - couldn't shake the cramp but wanted to be done so badly I started walking faster and faster until I was running again. About 12 minutes.

The last tenth of a mile stretch toward the finish line, it took everything to just keep one foot moving in front of the other. I dragged my ass over the line and collapsed in the grass. The perky announcer fellow with the microphone said, "Well, hey. You finished!"

Hmm. This running stuff is hard. Really hard. But I love how I feel afterwards. I love wearing spandex clothes. And I like the idea of having goals, achievable goals to work toward. With running, you see improvements in a fairly satisfying timeframe, too. For instance, today I noticed that I must be stretching correctly (and enough) because I didn't have any shin or knee pain. Big improvement. If I hadn't had the pain in my side, I think it would have been a decent run. Apparently I need to research how/what to eat before a race better...I thought I was ok with just a banana beforehand, but obviously NOT. Hmm.

Anyway... running. I have a hella lotta work to do. Dang!

She was 96 in dog years

2009-06-24T09:49:00.007-05:00

Strange how these things work sometimes - just eight days after Bear's arrival, it was suddenly time for Turner to go. In the end it wasn't her physical ailments that were too much, it was what my vet called her Canine Cognitive Dysfunction... and what I called doggy dementia. She'd been having bouts of standing in corners or standing for long periods of time with her head in the closet, or of forgetting which way the front door opened and being unable to figure out how to come inside. Until last night, the dementia was manageable, though. Maybe being ill over the weekend made something snap, but last night she was just terribly anxious and confused - pacing, looking for places to hide, darting her head around wildly as if to say, "I don't know where I am or what's going on!" That was when I decided the old girl had had enough.

I only had Turner for eight months, and she slept for most of it. I guess that was all she needed - a soft place to sleep. I so wish I could have done more for her, or made her life more 'fun' ... but I couldn't make her young again, so I have to take comfort in knowing that she knew she was safe and cared for while she was with me. No matter how many times I've helped animals cross over, and no matter how right it's been to do so, it's still always sad.

At least I'm not dogless now. I'm so glad Bear is here -he is flopsy and funny and sweet. I have another big Collie-shaped hole in my heart now... but I've sworn off the Collie Rescue site at least until I can get Bear healthy and strong.

Gah - dogs! Not many things in life wreak such havoc with your heartstrings as a dog.

The Bear has landed

2009-06-17T17:44:00.007-05:00

My head is still in a whirl, so much happened this last weekend, and so quickly!

First of all, Bear needed a new home pronto, because his foster mom is having hip surgery soon. Secondly, the rescue group didn't have another foster home available and they knew that if they boarded him at a kennel, he wouldn't eat. In the weeks prior to getting a foster home, he plummeted to 38 pounds while at the dog pound. Thirdly, his foster mom wanted me to take him so badly, she offered to make the four hour drive up from Iowa with him. So I caved!

He's an exceptionally sweet boy. The cats love him. He's gentle and calm. His paws are gi-normous. He and Turner seem quite comfortable together, although there's very little exchange of affection between the two. Sort of like an old married couple. Here's a typical scene:

We've only had one little misunderstanding. Last night I had just sunk into a lovely hot bubble bath when he came plodding into the bathroom. He looked me sharply in the eye and said, 'WOOF.' I said, "Well hi!" and proceeded to close my eyes and enjoy my bath. He turned and plodded away. A few moments later I heard what sounded like my neighbors running their hose, watering plants just outside my dining room windows. Weird, I thought, since it's been raining all evening. Wow, it sure was gushing. A veritable endless flood that went on, and on, and on. It took me a few seconds to figure out what it was.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" I yelled, scrambling out of the tub, grabbing a towel, sloshing water everywhere, "No! No! No no no no nooooo!"

Too late. Apparently, 'WOOF.' means "You and your precious hardwood floors have ten seconds to let me outside. This is not a drill."

So I will have more respect for the single 'WOOF' from now on, BUT, if that doesn't fix the problem, we're getting a CRATE and starting doggy kindergarten training all over again. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but in my opinion, peeing outside is NOT a terribly tricky trick.

Wish me luck with this!

I'm jest a girl who cain't say no

2009-06-11T16:10:00.003-05:00

I saw this Petfinder post a few days ago... and just inquired. Just inquired. I was sure he'd already have a home, or one pending. Nope.

The rescue organization somehow persuaded me to fill out an application this morning - I don't know how that happened. I got approved. I told them again, I was only inquiring, but they're all excited now, thrilled at the prospect of me taking him. I did not say I was taking him!!!!

I guess... assuming I get an all-clear from the doctor next week... I guess.

And then somebody please put a parental control on my computer so I can't access Petfinder ever, ever again. Please?

Bullets

2009-06-09T10:11:00.008-05:00

I have a random assortment of things clattering around in my brain today, maybe it'll help to organize them a little...

A tip for the ladies - trust me on this: NEVER do your breast self-exam on a Friday night. If you should find anything out of the ordinary there won't be a darn thing you can do about it until Monday morning except worry and fret. After an anxious weekend, I finally got in to see my Dr. yesterday, where he confirmed multiple lumps and got me an appointment at the Breast Center for next week. But take it from me, if you make it your habit to always check yourself on a Monday morning, you'll spare yourself an entire weekend of annoying, pointless, helpless-feeling frustration. I still have a week of that ahead of me, but I could have skipped the whole last weekend of it if I'd known this tip.
Another thing you just have to trust me on: after receiving a diagnosis of numerous breast lumps, the idea that a hazelnut Thai Bubble Tea sounds delicious is really not a good one. Something about the gelatinous tapioca balls just seemed...wrong. Maybe just order a soda.
I'm also really confused and irritated by the fact that I weighed 8 pounds more on the clinic's scale than I do at home. Ok, subtract a pound for clothes but still, what the heck. Do they deliberately set those scales to mess with your mind? That's just cruel.
On another subject, I totally aced the College Boards or whatever they're called and got signed up for my first quarter of school, starting July 20th. In the interim, I'm going to attempt to "test out" of some college classes. I've never done this before, but I'll let you know how tough it is. I'm starting with the easiest one possible, a course called "Keyboarding I" - I figure if I fail that, there's no point in attempting any more test outs, let alone on something difficult like Accounting Principles II or Macroenonomics. I'm very curious to see how these go.
I got a magnificent "prancing" gait out of Turner this weekend, probably partly due to the new glucosamine she's taking, and partly due to our arriving at Petco as several other big dogs were coming in too. She LOVES meeting other dogs. I go back and forth on the subject of getting her a companion. I suspect that one of these days I'll cave... let me get clear of these lumps and few college classes first, and then it'll probably be time.

That's all I have today - that and wanting to complain about three solid days of 50-degree weather, but it's Minnesota and there's no point in complaining. Sigh!

Two out of three

2009-06-03T17:36:00.008-05:00

Last I night had a very specific, atmospheric, realistic dream about winning the Minnesota State Lottery. Today, that dream came true.

In my dream, I was sitting where I sit right now - at my computer. I pulled up the winning lottery numbers and compared them to my ticket. Every. single. one. matched. Including the Powerball.

I had just won 98 million dollars.

I was speechless. I didn't know who to call first, or what to do. I was in a state of shock.

Dumbfounded and clearly running on auto-pilot, I toggled over to the Victoria's Secret website that I'd apparently viewed last, and immediately ordered the pretty berry-pink bra that only moments earlier I'd decided against, thinking I didn't have $50 to throw away. Well... hell. I could afford it now.

Then I made myself a veggie burger with lots of sauteed portobello mushrooms, took it out on my patio, and just processed... processed how my life had just changed into a different life. I was a gazillionaire. Nothing was every going to be the same. Oh my god. WOOOOOOOOOO!

And then I woke up. I was not the holder of a winning ticket. Heck, I wasn't even the holder of a ticket. Darn... it was such a nice dream.

But just for kicks, this morning I went on the Victoria's Secret website, and seeing that the berry-pink bra is now on clearance for $15, I thought, "Hey! In my dream, this was the FIRST THING I bought. If I buy it, my dream came true." So I bought it.

And now, just a few minutes ago, I made a Gardenburger and loaded it with awesome sauteed portobellos, and enjoyed it out on the patio, to complete the dream. So who knows, maybe the money is on it's way. I am definitely buying a ticket tonight.

Who says dreams can't come true? I already made two-thirds of it happen myself, I don't see why the Universe can't meet me a third of the way here.

A few snaps from the yard

2009-06-01T09:03:00.005-05:00

At last, some things are growing in my yard. My amateur photo-taking, as always, does not do justice to anything, because for the life of me I can never get in focus. But I'm so pleased with how everything is shaping up in the yard, especially the Blue Scabiosa I added. I think I'll add a ton more of it next year.

So classic and simple, but I love geraniums:

View of the new fence from across the street. If you look closely, you can see Geronimo about to shimmy under, to come see what I'm doing across the street. The fence doesn't even remotely contain him, he's already found several spots where the ground dips a bit, and he simply squeezes under like Peter Rabbit.

I planted my first rose. It's eventually going to climb up the fence and take over, I hope - but look, it's already blooming like crazy! It really likes the coffee grounds I give it each morning.

What gardening successes are you having this year?

School Daze!

2009-05-29T14:32:00.008-05:00

Back in ancient times, err, I mean the 1980's... I went to college and studied English Literature. It was good for the soul to spend entire semesters analyzing the Aesthetic Movement, or the beauty of iambic pentameter, sure. I ate it up. But I didn't learn a dang thing toward making an income later. Only through sheer dumb luck did I land a job in banking, where I stayed, ne'er to call upon my vast knowledge of Keats ever, ever again.

So... I've decided to get a Business Administration degree. I know ~ snore!! Yep, I'm going back to school. I'm meeting with an admissions rep on Wednesday to evaluate how many credits I need, what classes, and what I can test out on (CLEP). I work for a company that offers tuition reimbursement and after 19 years of ignoring that great and generous benefit, I'm finally going to take advantage of it.

I don't think I'll go to cheerleading tryouts this time around, though.

Return Of The Voice In The Hall

2009-05-27T09:54:00.002-05:00

Some of you may recall this post from last July. My second set of tenants in several years had been telling me at length that my rental property was haunted, which I highly doubted, but then one evening while I was there alone, I heard a rather loud woman's voice in the hallway myself. To this day, I can't explain it, I only know that I heard it. I won't say beyond all doubt that there is no logical explanation - only that I couldn't find one, and I was definitely the only person in the house at the time.

Anyway. I decided not to mention it to the new tenants, two women in their 20's. Why spook them unnecessarily if there was a rational, scientific explanation? Why make them think their landlord is a loon? Why set them up to imagine things, right?

Well, guess what. Five months into their tenancy, and just as I was starting to think, "Whew! Maybe we all imagined it!" I got the call. They had been experiencing it, from day one, and just hadn't known how to tell me, because they seriously wondered if they were losing their marbles. Only because I bit on a clue dropped in conversation back in January, did they finally tell me. They then described in detail the footsteps, a woman's voice, shadows in the hall, doors and cupboards closing - exactly as two prior sets of tenants had described. Exactly. And none of these people knew each other. Gah.

Anyway, their lease is up at the end of July, and surprise surprise - they are moving out. In fact, one of them already moved last week, and the other has a friend's burly boyfriend staying with her until the lease ends. I feel like I'm a character in a very cheesy 70's horror movie, or an episode of Scooby Doo, because from now on, every time I rent the place out, I guess I have a responsibility to tell all prospective tenants, "Oh by the way... there's just one little thing that wasn't in the ad..."

How weird is this? And equally weird to me, the other side of the duplex is completely clear. I lived on the other side myself, for 16 years, with nary a bump in the night, and the current tenants of my old side actually think this is all complete rubbish. I probably would too, if so many tenants hadn't told such identical stories over the years...and if I hadn't heard that voice echoing down that hall myself last summer. Yikes!

Hey, so, does anyone want to rent a lovely two-bedroom duplex in the historic Tangletown area of Minneapolis this August? It has hardwood floors and a super nice landlady! Pets ok.

Only MOSTLY dead

2009-05-26T17:31:00.012-05:00

"It just so happens that this blog here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do."

I haven't abandoned my blog. I've been contemplatin' changes for it, reconfigurin' it, oh and unrelated to blogging, but since Spring came I've been outside gardenin'...lots of gardenin'. I've been pondering how to give my blogging more structure. Structure? Well, yeah... I'm that kind of person, I need structure. I can't tell you how many times I've wished I just always knew what to blog about on Mondays, had a funny story every Tuesday, a photo for Wednesdays, something along the lines of a Thursday Thirteen (only let's face it, that's like nine too many most of the time, which is why we all quit doing that), oh and I wish I had something wise or witty on Fridays or Saturdays, and then something about squirrels, but only on Sundays. That'd be great!

I've noticed that most of us are pretty "tapped out" on the blog topics lately. Not that any of our lives are boring, but we've hit ruts. After you've posted a million pics of the animals or kids, ranted about the annoying people in your life, raved about good things, bellyached about chores/weather/whatever, it's only natural that you'd eventually hit a point where you'd feel you have nothing new to say. But... you do. Remember when you started your blog? We all started because we enjoyed writing, and we liked finding the humor/angst/meaning in our daily minutia. We liked reading about other people's lives, whether they were similar or totally different, it was the posts about daily life we all enjoyed most, no? Quite a few of us have met in person as a result of our little blogs, which for me personally, has been nothing but positive!

So I'm thinking of using my own blogger block days to help get us rolling again. Us meaning me and you, if the shoe fits. I like reading what you all have to say, and maybe we need to nudge each other with topics. I'm going to start throwing random topic seeds out, and if you're in a rut that day - please, take it and grow something out of it. It may seem mundane, it may seem like something utterly unworthy of internet space, but do it anyway. It will probably be more interesting than you think. AND, if it's dull, you can blame me for having suggested you write about it. Bonus!

So tell me THIS: what blog subject(s) in your past received the MOST comments, and why do you think that was? For me, it was when Laddie passed away, bad dates, the ghost at my rental property, and some random bullet point lists I've posted. Looking back at that, well, that gets me thinkin'... I do have a Part 2 to that ghost story. Think I'll work on that for tomorrow. Now looking back at a much-loved post of YOURS, might there be a Part 2 that you could add for our reading pleasure?

A tip for movie night

2009-05-16T22:47:00.000-05:00

I read the ingredients of my Orville Redenbacher's popcorn tonight and noticed it's made with palm oil, which I just recently learned is one of the most unhealthy types of oil, because it is very high in saturated fat. Orville's ingredients also listed artificial flavors and preservatives, and I just thought, "Ugh. Popcorn should be so simple. Popcorn, butter, salt. End of story." At least since the Popcorn Workers Lung scare, they don't use Diacetyl anymore, but all the same, it occurred to me that I could probably make my own microwave popcorn, so I Googled it.

I got this technique from Alton Brown:

Do-it-yourself Microwave Popcorn
1/4 cup unpopped popping corn
1-2 teaspoons vegetable oil or melted butter
Paper lunch bag
Scotch tape
seasonings

Alton recommended stapling the bag shut, but that sounds a little dangerous to me. I found other sites suggesting tape. Toss the popcorn with melted butter or vegetable oil (EVOO is good) to coat and place in the paper bag. Fold the top of the bag over twice and seal with a strip of tape. Place the bag in the microwave, standing upright, rather than on it's side, and microwave on high until there are about 5 seconds between pops - roughly 2-3 minutes.

A one pound bag of unpopped corn costs approximately a dollar, and will make about 50 bags of microwave popcorn - 50 bags! Plus, when you make your own you can season it just the way you like, with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, parmesan cheese, turmeric, cinnamon & sugar, etc. Give it a try!

On the home front

2009-05-07T12:16:00.000-05:00

I decided against buying the foreclosed house. Upon closer examination of the Truth In Housing document, I just got nervous. That's all I can say, I chickened out. Lately I've been feeling a huge compulsion to do something entrepreneurial, or at least something creative...but that house won't be it. For starters, it had no furnace - only incorrectly installed electric baseboard heaters. No ductwork for a furnace either. I've never seen such a thing in Minnesota, that's just madness. So, common sense prevailed. I'll be sorry if the place ends up being bulldozed to the ground, but I have to walk away.

Closer to home, my new fenced front yard is supposed to go in on Saturday. No more getting fully dressed in the middle of the night to take Turner out on her leash for her 3 am calls of nature. I can just open the door and let her go. I cannot wait.

I have all of next week off from work - a stay-cation, yes! Nine straight days, at home. My week's project list is daunting, so let's hope I can stay to task. Gardening, Spring cleaning, and running/going to the gym will be top priorities. I may take Turner for her first dog park experience. I'm definitely taking her to the groomer for a spa day.

Anyone else taking a stay-cation this year? It's all the rage, apparently.

A typical morning around here

2009-05-05T18:34:00.005-05:00

Isn't this a nice face to wake up to?

It would be a nice face to get up and go for a walk with too....if she wasn't such a slug-a-bed. Turner is a typical teen-ager. She'd stay in bed 'til noon if you'd let her. COME ON, TURNER - let's go for a walk!!!!

Nudge, nudge, poke poke - hellllloooooooo?!

Guess not. Once she's got the bed to herself, there's no moving her. I guess we can all identify.

It's called a clutch because you're supposed to hold on to it

2009-05-02T15:38:00.015-05:00

So this morning I was up bright and early with a long list of things I wanted to accomplish. Amongst other things, I loaded up the car with donations for the thrift shop, and my shovel, to dig up some hostas at a co-worker's house. I set my little black Isaac Mizrahi clutch wallet on top of the car as I arranged things in the back seat, making a note to myself not to forget it before I got in the car. Oh, and I decided to put out my recycling. It's good to recycle.

When I got to my first stop, Home Depot, what did I realize? Well you guessed it, I had gone and left my wallet on top of the car. And of course, it was no longer there. I'd just driven on the freeway, after all. Ugh.

I flew back home, with bated breath, crossing my fingers that it was on the floor of the garage. Or in the alley. Please, please, please -- be there. My driver's license, my credit cards, some cash, my library and gym cards, everything was in that wallet. It wasn't there.

So, I drove back to Home Depot, retracing the route I'd taken earlier, carefully scanning the road. No sign. I wondered, would the bank even be able to close out my cards, since I had no identification? How long would it take to get a new debit card? Don't driver's licenses take a month? How was I going to buy beer tonight? Holy cow, this was TERRIBLE!

I returned home with a cunning plan. I'd place a book on my car, similar in size and weight to that wallet, make the trip again, and see where it slid off. Brilliant, right? Sure enough on the sharp slope at the end of my alley, the book slid right off - so my wallet must have fallen off there too - ugh, why wasn't it there?! Clearly my plans for the day were canceled. It occurred to me that I had an old expired driver's license that I could probably use at the bank, though. I'd go get that.

Well, to my great joy, when I got home there was a message on my answering machine. "Uh...yeah - Sandra, my husband found your wallet while he was walking the dog a little while ago. It was at the end of your alley. We live a block away - we'll be home if you want to come and get it!"

I am so flipping lucky! My faith in humanity and the good people of the Nokomis neighborhood went up a major notch. There are honest people out there. There are dorks who drive across town with their wallets on top of their cars...but thank goodness, there are honest people too.

Big decision!

2009-04-30T12:02:00.003-05:00

You know that feeling when you're completely and utterly torn as to what to do about something?

There's this house two blocks away from mine...for years now, every time I've walked by it I've wondered about it. It's different. It was clearly lived in by artists of some sort, there were sculptures and huge boulders in the yard, and it just a lot of unique flourishes here and there. When I recently noticed it had a "for sale" sign, I immediately went online, just out of curiosity, to see if there were photos of the inside.

To my SHOCK, it's a foreclosure, listed at $50K. This is a house two blocks from Lake Nokomis, in a safe, scenic neighborhood where nothing else is selling for under $200k. $50K???

I had a realtor take me through the place last night, and it's one CRAZY old house. Built in 1918, apparently it had a long-time owner who didn't believe in pulling permits, and just occasionally decided to add more rooms, add electrical breakers, or install gas appliances themselves. The floor plan is nuts. In it's favor: there's a loft over the living room, french doors, a sun room, a cedar-shake roof, a large roof-top patio area, another brick patio in the garden, beautiful landscaping, tall pine trees, and a TON of decorating potential. Going against it: the electrical, plumbing and additions need to be inspected and brought up to code. The kitchen and bath have been stripped. The place needs new floors, insulation, exterior siding work, maybe a new roof. Cosmetic work everywhere.

Still...the realtor thought I could probably get the place for $40K, then spend another $40K on renovations to get it up to code and quite liveable. That'd be an unbelievably cheap house. With tons of character. I could sell my house and move in once the rehab was done, and have one-third of the house payment I do today -- OR I could just sell the place for a healthy profit.

Then again it could be a money pit. With ghosts. Or worse, spiders. Maybe it should just be leveled and a new house built there. It's a gamble. Part of me sort of likes the idea of having a big project, though - I don't know why!

So today I'm debating whether I should even pay an inspector to look at it for me. I guess that is the only way to really know the facts. Deep down maybe I already know it won't be a good inspection. But then again....gah, I'm so torn!

The Great Chicken Debacle of Aught Nine

2009-04-24T14:09:00.010-05:00

On Thursday of this week, Popeye's Chicken ran a national ad campaign promoting a special one-day deal: EIGHT pieces of chicken for only $4.99, in honor of Earth Day. Since, as we all know, consuming fried chicken saves the planet. It stabilizes the polar ice caps and cuts down on carbon emissions. Huh?? Ok, maybe Popeye's ecological logic needs a little work, but the fact is that they ran tv ads on every channel, about their big Earth Day chicken special.

It was the best of times...then suddenly - it was the worst of times. Turns out that the Popeye's in Minneapolis (the ONLY Popeye's in Minnesota, by the way) chose not to participate in the national promotion. They hung handmade signs in the windows saying, "Sorry, we decided NOT to participate in the special you saw on tv. "

And they thought they'd get away with that??

Well, when the chicken lovers of Minnesota 'flocked' to Popeye's for that $4.99 special, only to learn that there wasn't one...all I can say is that ALL CHICKEN HELL broke loose!! The angry hungry hoards went clucking mad!! Police officers had to control an enraged crowd to prevent a full-blown riot in the streets! Check it out:

Good lord. There must be some mighty powerful addictive chemicals added to that chicken. I've never been to a Popeye's - can it really be better than crack, as these people would have me believe? Anyway, I must say, that for the first time since November, when winter's chill froze my heart and filled me with bitterness for this place, this story brought a warm glowing feeling about Minneapolis creeping over me. A little thaw took place.

I especially love the adorable guy in the Obama hat who, despite there being no $4.99 deal, bought a great big bag of chicken anyway. Nice to see people so passionate about doing their bit for Earth Day.

Randomness

2009-04-22T13:45:00.008-05:00

I've been attempting to get a pouffy ponytail recently, like these:

It shouldn't be complicated. But I can never get it to look like these. I just can't figure it out. Hmm.

Oh and I read recently about how blogs (and bloggers) often get stuck in a closed loop, constantly reading and linking to the same group of blogs. I'm very guilty of this, and in fact don't even make it to most of my old standard stops recently...partly because I've been so busy at work, partly because I'm FaceBooking more, and partly because I'm just in a rut. So in an effort to combat the blogging equivalent of inbreeding, here are links to three blogs I love but have never linked to before. They aren’t exactly ‘personal blogs’ - they’re more in the home decor/gardening vein - but are definitely link-worthy! I hope you like them, and I'm hoping you'll share a similar favorite back.

Absolutely Beautiful Things - this blog is pure eye candy, and inspires me to do some new stylish home projects. I loved her idea of a wall of framed vintage travel posters, I'm doing it!!

Posie Gets Cozy - this Portland blogger makes me want to get gardening so desperately, I can taste it. She also has two cute Corgi dogs.

Creature Comforts - another eye candy site to get lost in. Free downloadable art, cheap chic, DIY ideas and daily inspiration.

Nothing much else to report... still running most mornings (yeah!), still feeding Turner off of the floor (oh yeah!) and still waiting for REAL SPRING WEATHER to arrive. So far, Spring Aught Nine has been a total rip-off in my books. I'm wearing skirts and open-toed shoes, psyching myself into believing it's Spring, but it's rarely been much above 32 as I've left for work in the morning, and I'm still cold and miserable. Probably best not to get started on this topic. A co-worker in L.A. was just bitching to me yesterday about the heat and I literally wanted to reach over the phone lines and smack them. Argghhhh. So what's it like in your neck of the woods?

Mystery solved

2009-04-16T19:53:00.007-05:00

Ever since I adopted Turner six months ago, I've been pulling my hair out trying to get her to eat dry dog food. I've tried mixing canned food with it, adding chicken broth, cottage cheese, tomato sauce, and now recently, hamburger...but it's been a struggle to get her to eat dog food, nevertheless. Which puzzled me, because I knew she'd been fed cheap (probably stale) Old Roy back in her previous life. Why would she not eat the fancy organic duck & potato goodness I was offering in a nice clean ergonomically raised feeding station???

A couple of months ago, I came home with a bag of a new type of dog food I had high hopes for, and when I tore it open, a few kibbles spilled out onto the floor. She immediately ate every piece that had spilled out. Woo hoo, I thought! I've finally found a dog food she likes!

But my joy was short-lived. The next day she barely ate again. Back to enticing her by adding canned stuff and making hamburger. And watching her waste half of it. Grrrrrr.

Tonight I came home with a new bag of soon-to-be-wasted nutritious food, tore open the bag, and a couple of kibbles landed on the floor. She immediately moved in on them and crunched away.

That's when the light bulb came on.

I scooped out a full cup of the stuff and flung it all over the kitchen floor.

Yep. She ate every speck. The sound of her teeth heartily crunching on dry food was music to my ears! She even ate a half cup more. I just stood there in awe saying, "Girlfriend. For real?"

So it only took six months to figure it out: forget ergonomic-correctness, forget disguising the stuff with other stuff. She likes to eat her food off of the floor. The way she went at it, I figure she practically followed the five-second rule, so it's hygienic enough. Who cares, she's eating dog food. I called at least three friends to babble of my discovery, I was so excited.

Dogs don't need to make sense, I guess.

I call them my Magic Shoes

2009-04-10T13:16:00.007-05:00

At the recommendation of a co-worker of mine who is a pretty serious runner, I decided not to run another day without the right SHOES. Besides, I knew that if I invested a significant chunk o' change in a pair of high-end running shoes, I wouldn't be a chump, decide it was all a whim, and quit running after a few days. Now I'm invested. Physically, spiritually, and more binding than either of those ...financially. Now I'm committed.

Going to a pro running shop and getting my feet evaluated and into the right shoes was an interesting experience. I could have sworn I had high arches. Turns out I have low arches, pancake flat feet, and what they call "over-pronation" which means my feet roll inward when I run. The wrong shoes would not only NOT help me run, but they could cause me damage. If I hadn't taken the advice of experienced runners and gone to get evaluated, I would have bought the wrong shoes, definitely. So I'm really happy I learned about this early on, and am off on the proverbial right foot here!

Check out my magic shoes. I don't think I've ever paid $130 for a pair of shoes before. I surely never imagined that when I did pay that much for a pair, that they wouldn't have rokkin' sexy heels and some kind of leopard print. How we change, eh?

I've also been directed to an awesome beginning runner's program, called "The Couch to 5K in 2 Months". Seriously, if it works, supposedly I'll be able to run 5K, in just two short months. By the middle of June. It seems impossible right now, but I'm finding the challenge irresistible!

I got the impression from some comments on my last post that some of you run. Or at least have run in the past. So what do you think, is it true? If I follow the program, can I really make that kind of progress in just 8 weeks?

Feats of athleticism

2009-04-08T21:13:00.006-05:00

So this morning for some reason, I woke up at 5 a.m. I tried to go back to sleep, but by 6 it was clear that I was awake - and suddenly a madcap crazy notion came into my head. Out of nowhere, I thought, "I feel like going for a run."

Now, just to clarify, I've NEVER 'gone for a run.' I am not and have never been a runner. Oh, I've talked about how I'm gonna do it, and I can do two or three miles on an elliptical machine or a treadmill at the gym, but I've never actually put on my shoes and just hit the pavement. But today, I did.

It was only 31 degrees, so I wore my lined windpants, and a hoodie over a t-shirt. With a bouncy ponytail, I definitely looked the part. I stepped outside, did a few awkward "Uh...I think I've seen people that run stretch like this or something" moves, and started off. I looked at my watch - it was exactly 6:15. A neighbor just leaving for work waved to me. I gave him a quick, "Oh hi, why yes I am a runner, you've just never noticed it before" wave and turned the corner. God, that was cool. Then I got a nice steady pace going, and I was officially running.

It occurred to me that THIS is probably the perfect exercise for me, because unlike that light feeling you have on an elliptical machine, when you run, there's impact. You feel your weight hitting the ground. Every pound of you. You become keenly aware of exactly WHY you are doing this. Plus, at my age it's unlikely I'll damage my knees, I've gone so easy on them all these years. Also, running is FREE. And very Zen somehow.

I ran and ran and ran. It felt so natural! While my Nikes are serviceable, suddenly images of Brooks Adrenaline GTs or really awesome Saucony shoes popped into my head. Now that I'm a runner, I'll have to get some serious shoes, I thought. Embracing the fresh morning air and enjoying the quiet streets, I ran until I felt a little winded, walked at a good clip for a while, then picked up the pace and ran again. Wow this was truly invigorating. My lungs were really working! I started to understand why runners spit - you have to, junk comes up from your lungs - sorry, but it does. Anyway, deciding not to overdo it on my first day, I turned toward the direction of home, found my steady pace, and pushed myself to my finish line. It was amazing.

When I got home, the neighbor who had waved to me earlier was getting in his car again. Apparently he'd forgotten something in the house and gone back. It made me wonder exactly how long I'd been running. I looked at my watch.

It was now 6:21.

Six minutes?? Are you freaking kidding me, it felt like at least 20!! I was so wiped out. I ducked in the house quickly so the neighbor wouldn't see how hard I was breathing, or witness my collapse. It was embarrassing enough that he knew how brief my run had been. Thinking back, I realized I'd only covered six blocks. Six blocks in six minutes. So land-speed record-wise, a cheetah I am not. Damn. Running is HARD!!! How many blocks are in a 5K, do you suppose? Oh god, oh god. I'm not even ready to know that.

Well, anyway ... I'm going to do it again tomorrow. Tomorrow I may go seven, heck, even EIGHT blocks. And when I get my fancy shoes and can go at least half a mile without almost dying, we'll talk about how many blocks there are in a 'K'.

Out of the office

2009-03-29T08:57:00.009-05:00

Wow, it's been ages since I got to post some cool retro travel art on the old blog! I'll be in San Francisco this week. First time away from Turner, could I be stressing more??? She's just finished 3 weeks on Prednisone for her cough and congestion, and I'm not sure she's done with all the side effects yet - worst of which is extreme thirst followed by an inability to hold her bladder for very long! What can I do but leave my brave dog-sitters stocked up on puppy wee-wee pads, paper towels and lots of good luck wishes. At least she's not as congested now. Sigh!

While it is a work trip, I always enjoy San Francisco, and there's usually a bit of free time in the evenings. $3 silk purses in Chinatown, Chinese food at R&G Lounge (YUM), sourdough at Fisherman's Wharf, Peet's Coffee Shops everywhere...awesome! I recently saw the movie Milk, so I'd like to check out the Castro area this time. Oh, and I am positively KICKING myself for being in such a hurry to get back to Turner that I didn't leave enough time on the last day to drive out to San Jose. Every time I go out to SF I swear I'll take the time for this, and then I never do. Gah! I'm thinking of bumping my return flight by just 2-3 hours so that I can work it in.

Why San Jose, you ask? To visit the famous Winchester Mystery House, of course! I'm fascinated with the place. In case you aren't familiar, the story goes that back in 1884, batty old Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune, was convinced by a psychic that the only way to appease the angry spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles, was to have continuous building work going on in her house, 24/7, and never stop. So she did that - she had builders work day and night, for thirty-eight years. When she died she left behind a fairly schizophrenic Victorian masterpiece of craftsmanship, 160 rooms. But since the builders had to just keep building, with no blueprints, parts of the house make no sense: there's a window built into a floor, staircases leading to nowhere, chimneys that rise four floors, doors that open to blank walls, and upside-down banisters. There are also beautiful carvings, inlaid floors, Tiffany art glass windows, expansive gardens...I have to squeeze it in this time!

Have a great week all - Spring is finally coming!

Hindsight being 20/20

2009-03-26T10:45:00.016-05:00

A 'date' and I were driving to 112 Eatery last night, when I spotted something a little disturbing along Washington Avenue, and asked that we pull the car over. It turned out I'd seen exactly what I thought I'd seen: a young man lying on the ground, trying to crawl to his overturned wheelchair, which lay about 15 feet away from him. We parked and ran over to see what had happened.

His things were all over the sidewalk: cell phone, backpack, parts of his wheelchair that had broken off. I was sure he'd been mugged or something. He said no, he was all right. As my companion helped him back into the wheelchair, I asked if we could call anyone, what happened, was he ok. The answers weren't very clear. He didn't appear to be drunk or anything, just a little dazed. I still thought he'd been attacked.

We got him all sorted out, and when he mentioned hoping that the next bus to come along would let him ride for free since he had no money, my date gave him $5. The young man replied, "Who are you, people who just go around helping people?" We laughed, wished him well, and he thanked us. We turned to go.

And then his wheelchair flipped backwards, shot straight out from under him, and sent all of his things flying around the sidewalk again.

That's when we realized there was something seriously wrong with his wheelchair - every time he even slightly leaned back, it flipped him! We got him back in the chair again. It flipped him again. No wonder he hadn't really reacted to our initial "Oh my gosh, what happened?" questions - he was used to his wheelchair doing this to him. I'll bet that damn piece of crap wheelchair flips him over a hundred times a day! Anyway, we got him stabilized, and since he seemed to know which bus to take, we finally left him there at the bus stop, with numerous warnings about not leaning back in that chair.

I didn't know what else to do. He shouldn't have been alone on a downtown street in a dangerous useless wheelchair, but I couldn't think of anyone to call. It wasn't a police matter. So I walked away, and now today I really regret not getting his name and number. I could so easily have spent a few minutes calling social service groups today, and found him a safe wheelchair. But I didn't think of it when it mattered, and now I'll probably never see him again.

The next time I encounter someone vulnerable like that I'll be more mindful. And I guess that's why I'm mentioning it - because if you think about it now, even for a moment, you may react more effectively if such a situation ever presents itself. I also mention it to share one of those "Be grateful for your life and appreciate things - you're more fortunate than you think" messages. We all need reminders sometimes.

Lastly, if any of you see this guy around Minneapolis please please get his name. Guys, we have GOT to get that kid's chair sorted out.

Is there a 12-step program

2009-03-22T14:51:00.015-05:00

For the 'As Seen On TV product' disease?

I clearly can't resist ANY mass-produced gimmickry. I go into Walgreen's for nail polish, and inevitably leave with some new 'ingenious invention' that if I were smart, I'd hold off on buying, because a few months later they'll be marked for a nickel on every table at every garage sale in the world. Ah well... behold my latest toy:

Brilliant! For $19.99, I figured if it even slightly reduced our trips to the groomer or vet for nail trims, it'd pay for itself in no time, right? I especially loved the illustration depicting how your kitty will cooperatively insert their willing fingers into the slot with the buzzing, grinding wheel of sandpaper. Cool!

I worked on Turner's paws first. Being deaf, she wouldn't even hear the buzzing. She did open her eyes when she felt her paw vibrating, but decided it wasn't worth more than a slight eyebrow movement. She didn't even lift her head. So cooperation wasn't a problem, but unfortunately her nails are so thick and strong, it's going to take a long time, and many more replacement sandpaper wheels, for this tool to really do a complete job on her. I had to hold her talons to the wheel for quite a while to get them ground down significantly at all. And the sound of nails grinding against the wheel was vaguely dentist's drill-esque -- which made me feel a bit faint.

Now cats...that's a whole different story. I'd say it's a two-man job to Pedi-Paw a cat: one to restrain, and one to perform the procedure. Both should wear protective gear. Emma squirmed as if I was killing her and didn't want her paws anywhere NEAR the weird buzzy contraption. The one nail I did manage to get into the slot, sanded down cleanly and smoothly in two seconds, which was quite impressive. Meanwhile, however, the 19 claws that weren't in the slot were slashing and flailing about most treacherously. She made pitiful gasping, "AAACK!!" sounds, to ensure that I felt like a monstrous abuser. When I let her go, she ran for her life, had a quick snack in the kitchen, and then fled downstairs to sulk about the appalling conditions in this gulag.

So the jury is still out on this one. Local friends and neighbors - borrow mine first and give it a test run before you buy one yourself.

Oh and I just noticed that it smells a bit of sanded dog toenails in here. You know, that sort of burnt popcorn scent? Hot sanded Collie toenail filings. Lovely.

Admit it

2009-03-14T20:01:00.008-05:00

Sometimes you find yourself thinking in "Facebook Status language."

You're in traffic and you think, "Sandra wonders how so many morons could have passed the driver's test."

You hear a new song on the radio and muse, hmmm... "Sandra has a P-p-p-pokerface."

You fantasize about using your FB status to passive-aggressively vent after you've encountered a surly waitress or rude sales clerk. "Sandra nearly sucker-punched/bitch-slapped/spoke tersely to a surly waitress/rude sales clerk."

And sometimes you're just bored, and you find yourself thinking, "Sandra is STILL waiting in line." "Sandra - yep still in line." "Sandra is growing old waiting in this line..." "Sandra wonders if the other people in this line are thinking about Facebook statuses too."

I don't think this is just me. Is it?

Food for lazy people

2009-03-13T17:33:00.006-05:00

The conversation at an after-work happy hour the other night turned to food. A visiting colleague from California admitted that he ate out most nights. A colleague from Minneapolis shared that she "wasn't a cook," and I immediately chimed in that I wasn't either.

"No, I"m really not a cook," she said, "I eat cold cereal for dinner. Every. Single. Night."

And I realized, that I'm more of a cook than I've given myself credit for. I've NEVER had cereal for dinner, in my life. I don't eat fast food, I order pizza about once a year, and I rarely eat out on my own. No, I always make something hot. Not saying it's gourmet nosh or that I'd want Gordon Ramsay to watch me at work, but at least I do cook something. Hmm. So I guess I'm not doing so bad!

I have, however, mastered cooking in a most lazy manner. Things that can be made in one pan, preferably. Big pots of things that can be eaten for 2-3 days are better yet. Crockpot - YES. Packaged or frozen things that can be "jazzed up" - definitely. Kits in boxes? I'll do 'em, if they're good. So I thought I'd share my favorite hideously lazy foods...and maybe you'd have some for me, too.

One of my favorites, comes from Super Target. Archer Farms Moroccan Inspired Couscous & Chicken. The box says it serves 4-6, but listen - we all know that serving sizes are one of the greatest lies in the universe. I won't lie to you, this box contains 3 decent-sized "I'm pretty hungry right now" meals. Which for $4.99, is still awesome. The whole thing takes two saucepans and about 5 minutes to prepare. All you add is water and cooking oil. You could possibly leave out the oil. I've experimented with adding chickpeas, sauteed onion and green peas - all were excellent add-ins, and did stretch the dish to 4 or even 6 servings.

Here's how Archer Farms describes this meal: the vibrant flavors of Morocco come to life in this delicious dish. Enjoy whole wheat couscous topped with an aromatic, spice-rich sauce, tangy dried apricots, and sweet Zante currants.

For me to buy couscous, currants, dried apricots, either chicken or chickpeas separately and make a spicy Moroccan sauce...well, it just wouldn't happen. And it certainly wouldn't happen for $4.99. So -- yet again Target is super. Let me know if you try this!

Toys for the photogs

2009-03-12T10:29:00.002-05:00

Just a couple of quick toys to share today-- dumpr.net has lots of free fun effects for your pics. For example, I can make Laddie the star of the art gallery. Fun, no?

Also over at Big Huge Labs, they have a "Warholizer" and a "Hockneyizer". Here Laddie and I have been Hockneyized:

Busy day, that's all I have at the moment. Hope you'll post any fun creations you come up with from these, though!

Honest Scrap

2009-03-09T15:34:00.013-05:00

Bella (hopefully you know her blog's secret whereabouts) nominated me for this "Honest Scrap" award!

Here are the rules provided:
-Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
-Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Scrap.” Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
-List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

MY TEN HONEST THINGS: (all confessions of sorts)

1. I've become a bit of an As Seen On TV product junkie. My latest discoveries: Strap Perfect and Hollywood Fashion Tape - GENIUS!

2. I download MP3s from Russia. I know, it's wrong.

3. Silly, but I read this British astrologer every day, and have found his predictions to be so consistently spookily accurate that I've stopped questioning, and just do whatever he tells me to now. Lame? Perhaps.

4. I recently started going to therapy and the most interesting thing I've learned so far is that while I'm an extremely self-confident person, I have low self worth. I never thought of the two as completely different things, but they are. Oh boy, they really are! Super independent women often have this thinking. Sure, we can take care of ourselves, and we do so, with great tenacity - not because we're such pillars of strength, but because we don't feel we deserve or can expect anyone else to ever lend a hand or provide something we need. That's why we never ask for help. Hmm. It took me 42 years to 'get' this, but I'm going to challenge myself to ask for what I want more often now.

5. I brush Turner's teeth with special doggy vanilla-mint toothpaste and spray Petzlife plaque and tartar eliminator on her pearlies before bedtime. Is that a little overboard? Anyway, I sprayed the Petzlife on my own teeth one night, just to see how it tasted... WHOA my teeth never felt cleaner or slicker, even after a trip to the dentist. I'm ridiculously hooked on the stuff now.

6. I'm a cheapskate on many many items, but have learned that life is good as long as you spring for the best artisan breads, the best imported cheeses, and the best cat litter. Everything else can be generic, as far as I'm concerned.

7. I've had that Britney song "Womanizer" stuck on a loop in my head for two weeks. Help me.

8. According to an online dream dictionary, recurring dreams about squirrels "signify that you are involved in a loveless or pointless relationship." Right...but also perhaps I just can't wait for Spring so I can feed behbeh skwerlz at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

9. I am happy with one dog. I am happy with one dog. I am happy with one dog. Why did I look at this.

10. Tonight I came out of Target with a gigantic 24 double-roll package of Cottonelle, popped my trunk open to put them in, and there...was the gigantic 24 double-roll package I bought and forgot about last week. So now I have 48 rolls of TP. If you need any, I can spare a square.

I don't know who to tag, I'll think on that - but please tag yourself if you choose!

Blogger block

2009-03-08T11:50:00.004-05:00

Is it just me, or are all of us blogging less and Facebooking more lately? Are we all just experiencing a winter lull, or are blogs perhaps going the way of legwarmers and Rubik's cubes? For me personally, I think it's a winter lull, but I'm not sure. Maybe blogs are just so 2008. Hmm.

It's just hard to know what's blogworthy anymore. My torch-carrying love for a man who doesn't even deserve me isn't, my job isn't, the weather isn't, my inability to move due to job and real estate issues isn't, going to the gym isn't. There are only so many cute dog and cat photos to post. So really guys - what's blogworthy? I'm in a bloggy rut.

I have been drooling over the gardening magazines lately, and decided that this is what I'm adding to my garden this year:

More hostas
Cinnamon Ferns
Old-fashioned Bleeding Heart
Blue Scabiosa
Foxglove (LOTS of Foxglove, I want it everywhere!)
Liatris
Lily of the Valley
Russian Sage

And for edibles, I'm focusing on Roma tomatoes, pole beans, and blueberries. I've never grown blueberries before, and I'm sort of excited to give it a try. I've chosen a variety called Ka-Bluey - which the catalog says will grow 4-6 feet tall. You know how a tiny tub of blueberries costs $3.99? Well, supposedly I'm going to get something like 20 gallons of the things, per bush - so that's what... like a million dollars worth of blueberries. I may look like Violet Beauregarde by the end of the summer, but YUM.

Oh and Turner's chest x-ray revealed: nothing. Her heart, lungs, and bloodwork were fine. Why does she cough and have a chronic runny nose? No idea, but according to the vet, she's not dying. She just has a rotten case of sniffles, possibly allergies. Imagine having a nose as long as a Collie's, all plugged up with snot?? Poor girl! I'm crossing my fingers that Spring comes within the next month so we can open some windows, and see if that clears her up.

Thursday Thirteen

2009-02-26T10:07:00.008-06:00

We're going to get blasted with 7 more inches of snow today. This place is not fit for human habitation, hence my inability to string thoughts together coherently anymore. Further hence, I thought I'd just randomly string 13 things going on in my life or brain together with no attempt whatsoever at cohesiveness.

1. Turner's having a chest x-ray tonight. I want to get to the bottom of this cough of hers, and the vet feels we should do this x-ray to rule out the "big, bad, untreatable things" like a tumor or heart failure. I'm nervous about this, but also hopeful that we can rule the big bad things out.

2. I filed my taxes on Friday, and on Monday my refund from the State was already direct deposited. This is impressive.

3. I have a date tomorrow night, which I inadvertently owe to fellow blogger Zom B. When I visited Boston in October, he and his wife took me to visit Harvard Yard, to rub the foot of the John Harvard statue, and for drinks at a nearby pub, also called John Harvard's ... and mere mention of these spots ended up being priceless icebreakers with a tall dark lawyer who studied there. Thanks, B.

4. I'm refinancing my house at 5% - looks like I'll save $250 a month. I'm pretty happy about this.

5. On the other hand, my old house has still not sold, nor will any bank refi it because it's not owner-occupied, nor does it cash flow. Bane of my existence. Oh and according to the new tenants, the third ones to tell me this now, it's still haunted by a lady who jabbers in the hallway.

6. I've tried to be gluten-free for 2 weeks now. I've never felt better and combined with all the exercise I've been doing, I think it contributed to the weight I've lost.

7. I voted for Nick Mitchell at least 30 times last night.

8. I'm thinking about painting my kitchen orange. Sort of a burnt orange.

9. It's almost baby squirrel season at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. I actually dreamed about feeding squirrels the other night. Good grief. Also, now that my rabies shots are complete, I may get to work with other creatures this year. If I'm lucky, baby foxes and otters.

10. I'm also thinking of going really, really brunette.

11. That Octu-mom has had her 15 minutes of fame.

12. I'm going to San Francisco for a few days next month. I can almost taste the Spring Rolls in Chinatown.

13. I think I'll start setting up my indoor grow-room this weekend. Get everything set up and decide what seedlings I'm going to grow. It's too early to plant the seeds, but I can start setting up. I'm thinking I'll focus on Hollyhocks and Heirloom tomatoes this year.

Happy Thursday everyone!

When in doubt

2009-02-23T18:39:00.008-06:00

...blog about the critters!

Nothing much to report lately. It got cold here again, and I went into another winter-induced coma, but these three have enjoyed hibernating with me:

Emma, Punkin and Geronimo...lounging on their favorite Ikea fleece.

And Turner? Turner is still usually doing what she does best - sleeping. She likes coming up on the bed and snuggling with me. See why I never want to get up?

Actually, I'm slightly exaggerating, I have been getting up. Just still napping WAYYYY too much. I have been going to the gym like a fiend lately, though. 45 minutes of cardio, 30 minutes of weights, and 100 crunches on the ab machine - every time, every chance I get. I can't say I look thinner, but the scale says I've lost 12 pounds since Christmas, so that's progress! Three more pounds until I weigh what I lied, I mean listed, on my driver's license. The secret to maintaining it will be to keep going, and not to reward my success with a wheel of brie, as I have in the past. Maintenance...that's the tricky part.

Turner also occasionally wakes up from her hibernation. This morning I got up and went into the kitchen to discover that sometime during the night, she had completely torn apart and rifled through a giant bag of trash I was planning to take out this morning. There wasn't an inch of the kitchen floor that wasn't strewn with garbage. She stood there for a moment looking at me, looking at the mess, and then strolled out of the room nonchalantly.

That's my girl!

Wanted

2009-02-18T11:01:00.001-06:00

February 2007, I broke the law. I hopped on the train without buying a ticket, because it was freezing cold, I was late for work, the train was leaving, and if I'd taken the time to buy a ticket I'd have missed it. That's not a valid excuse, I know. Really, I just did it without thinking. Did I mention it was cold. I didn't get away with it - I should have known I wouldn't. I got a $228 fine.

Anyway, I'd heard that if you go to the Government Center and ask for leniency, they'll usually reduce the fine by at least half. So I went in, and they explained that all I had to do was to make a court date, show up, promise not to do it again, yadda yadda, and then they'd reduce or even waive the fine.

Well, the court date came around and I was so swamped at work that day. So I decided "Bah, why waste city official's time on this, this was my fault...I'll just pay the full fine." Which I did.

Two years have passed since then. TWO YEARS. So imagine my surprise this week when I received a letter from the Hennepin County Sheriff's office informing me that there's a warrant out for my arrest, and has been all this time. Apparently, paying the full fine was not acceptable - I had failed to appear for a scheduled court date, and although no one had ever bothered to mention it to ME, when I missed that appointment, they issued a warrant. Even though I'd paid the full fine. I was wanted. A criminal. This is appalling to me! Yes, I hopped the train that day, but I'm generally, normally, exceptionally law-abiding, and I certainly didn't know I was walking around with a warrant on my head for two years. Good grief.

So I just went over to the courthouse to post my bail. Yep, my bail was a whopping $50. And I still have to go back for a court date. But at least for now, I can walk the streets again, legally. So don't any of you even think about turning me in for the bounty.

i can has Spring?

2009-02-09T16:32:00.006-06:00

Check out the temps here. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, yeah! It was really comfortable here yesterday. Above freezing almost all day. Turner and I lounged around outside, me with my jacket open, catching up with the neighbor from across the street, who we hadn't seen since November, and the sun felt so warm, it was just heavenly. We strolled up to the corner shop to get coffee, I could hardly believe how warm 32 could feel - but it felt balmy and wonderful to us. Which says a lot for the body's ability to acclimate, doesn't it? Anyway, if we actually get the predicted highs in the 30s all week, I'll be ecstatic. Breaking out the swimwear.

Besides being warm, yesterday was just a generally nice day. I washed my car for the first time in months, without fear of the doors freezing shut with me inside. Yesss. Then after running by the co-op to get greens to feed the swans, I went to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center's 10th Annual Open House, where I got to present slideshows about the mammal, avian, and waterfowl nurseries. Although I learned most of the info about 10 minutes before presenting it, nobody else knew that, and it was sooo fun to pretend to be an expert. Oooh, and I want to be an expert someday, I really do. Anyway I'd guess we had well over 200 people attend, it was excellent.

Oh and uh, I may have to issue a retraction about my last post. When I weighed in at the gym on Saturday, I'd lost 5 pounds in 6 days. Don't know how it happened, unless the 'cleanse' did things without my knowing. I didn't really eat differently all week, and I only went to the gym 3 times, which is hardly excessive. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Hmm, make of it what you will.

There's one born every minute

2009-02-05T10:38:00.008-06:00

Are you one of the 4.7 million people that have seen this Youtube of a hamster eating popcorn on a piano? Heh, well, now you are. Gosh, this actually made me want a hamster! Well, not too seriously...but for a minute there, I considered it. And I realize that's just another example of what a sucker I am when it comes to being influenced by media, pop culture and advertising in general.

You know the commercial for L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara, the one that claims to spin 'tubes' off of your lashes, making them 60% longer? The one that promises 'lashes that could reach for the stars'?? Yeah, I fell for it. Raced right out to get it, in fact. Well, it doesn't spin any magical tubes. My lashes are not 60% longer. Certainly not reaching for the stars. Actually it's really flakey, and now I keep brushing black speckles off of my face. So let me save you a few bucks - don't buy it.

I'm also slightly embarrassed to admit it, but I recently fell prey to that late-night infomercial about colon cleansing. I forked over $60 for Dual Action Cleanse, an internal cleansing system that claimed I'd lose POUNDS, yes POUNDS of excess internal...uh...crap, I believe is the actual appropriate word. The program even came with a measuring tape, so I could chart the rapid changes that were going to happen. Woot!! Massive weight loss without diet OR exercise? Sign me up!!!! Well... meh. I followed the program to the letter and nothing happened. Didn't lose a pound, an inch, didn't even notice anything 'going on' internally if you know what I mean. $60 was all that went down the toilet. So if you've been tempted to try it...save your money.

Please feel free to share any rip-off products you've learned about the hard way - maybe you can save ME some money. Also you'll make me feel a whole lot less stupid!

Happy Groundhog Day

2009-01-30T10:33:00.009-06:00

Lyni took this photo of one of her very own tulips. Thanks Lyni!

I've decided to get my front yard fenced as soon as the ground thaws. No Collie yet has been able to navigate the three little stairs from my kitchen down to the back door, so the fenced back yard has been sort of worthless. If I have to get all bundled up to take a dog out the front door and around to the back, which isn't even shoveled out, I might as well just take them for a quick sub-zero walk to the corner and back, along a cleared sidewalk. So my own fenced yard is virtually unused for nearly half the year, which is just silly.

I thought about good ol' utilitarian chain link fence, but in the end knew that a little old grandmotherly cottage like mine will really only look right with one thing: white picket. I think it'll add an even more grandmotherly cottagey-ness to my curb appeal actually, like this:

I know - too cutesy, too precious, but I actually think my place can pull off this look and I can't wait! Besides finally being able to let the dog in and out without always going outside myself, and keeping the scary neighbor girl out, the most exciting benefit of a white picket fence will be the gardening options it'll add. A border for more flowers, shrubs, and of course, frog statues. And, I can grow things up and around and over the fence- Morning Glories, Trumpet Vine, climbing roses. A city gardener's dream!

So I heard Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning. Stupid groundhog. He's usually right, though - so six more weeks of winter. I'm counting down, Phil, it'd better not be longer than six, ya lousy rodent. It's like 20 below windchill today, and people have basically given up the will to live around here. I always hesitate to ask, but how is it where you all are?

Women are like buildings...

2009-01-27T13:45:00.018-06:00

I emailed a few friends last night about my latest eHarmony match, to have a laugh about it, and a few of them said, "Oh you have to blog about this!" Now, I try not to blog about dating too often, mainly because I suspect it's boring for other people to read about, and also because most of the guys I go out with are basically pretty nice. Maybe they're too damaged from their divorces, or there's no chemistry, or they work nights, and it doesn't work out - but most of them are nice, and if they're nice, I don't write about them. However, when I get a real asshat, a real gem of an asshat -- I reserve the right to turn them into a blog post. This seems karmicly fair to me.

My best eHarmony match in months - a very handsome, successful business exec who seemed to be very well-traveled, well-read, and well-spoken, emailed last night. We'd just finished the various levels of communication ordained by Dr. Neil Clark Warren, and up to this point, he had seemed especially nice. He had photos of himself taken in London and the South of France, and he spoke of living with compassion for others, philanthropy, yadda yadda...all the things I like. And then, out of the blue (bear in mind we haven't even met yet) he sent this:

'Classic' good looks attract me, a great smile, a fit, firm, body. Generally blondes, but I can just as easily fall head over heels for brunettes and redheads if the total package is there. Longer hair is more appealing to me, nice eyes, kissable lips, (some are actually more kissable than others, but you have to try them to find out). Oh, and big boobs! (Did I mention big boobs?) In short, I need to feel physically attracted to my parter, (you don't say?), which is incredibly trite to state, but if I like the building, I'm always curious to open the door to find out what's inside...

Classy, huh? I love how he got so twitterpated talking about boobs that he then stumbled forward misspelling "partner" and wildly punctuating the mother of all run-on sentences. Oh, and I really love being compared to a building that isn't worth peeking into unless the exterior architecture rocks. Niiiiiice.

I responded with this:

Well, thanks for the laugh, that was very entertaining. I have gorgeous knockers, but unfortunately they come with a brain attached, and your 12 year-old slobbering about boobs suggests that it may be another 47 years before you grow up. Good luck getting into lots of "nice buildings" without bothering to find out what's inside them first. Thanks for playing!

And then I closed the match.

Sigh. When I meet Mr. Right, he'd better have a damn good explanation for where he's been all this time. He is VERY LATE.

Tulips and Trumpeters

2009-01-24T14:33:00.012-06:00

Many thanks for the tulips pics - please send more, we still have what, 3 months of winter to go? I'm partial to the purple ones, by the way. Ooh and ones that show the sun shining. This one came courtesy of Nikki, who would be on my blogroll if Blogrolling would ever fix their coding...how long has it been down now? I'll probably have to just build one from scratch one of these days, but I did like the feature that told me when people had updated. Boo.

My new Sunday morning ritual is to get up and go to the Seward Co-op, get a cup of Peace Coffee, and then pull around to the loading door, where the Produce staff load up my car with the lettuces and other greens that expired in the last 3 days. Then I drive to the Wildlife Rehab Center, haul the boxes of lettuce to one of the kitchens, visit with people and peek in on the patients. Today I got to visit with the Trumpeter Swans that are convalescing there at the moment. Speaking of them, check out this piece of mail the Center received recently. As one of the staff said, those Swans have taken over the joint. They're even having their mail sent there now.

This morning the weatherman said to "prepare for a warm up" and I got all excited. Until I realized that by "warm up" he meant we going to shoot all the way up to...six degrees. Pardon me if I don't break out the champagne.

Naw, I'm not dead

2009-01-21T13:07:00.013-06:00

OK, I'm ready to get blogging again, I just needed a wee break. And I've decided that I'm going to post a tulip pic every post until I see some real damn tulips, growing out of the ground. Seriously. So please send me any really awesome ones you find. Must. Have. Tulips.

I'm feeling better, actually. All my medical tests revealed nothing that should be making me sleep 24/7, so that convinced me that I just have a case of Seasonal Blahs, the worst I've ever had, but nonetheless...I'm not gonna die. And I realized I've been pretty self-indulgent. So I need to be better about taking vitamins, maybe get a SAD light, yes...but more than anything, I have to GET BUSY. Quit sulking about the sub-zero and do something constructive, fer crissakes.

So in the last week, I pretty much lit a fire under my ass and got busy. I asked the Wildlife Rehab Center for some challenging projects, and thank goodness, they gave me a bunch! In the last few days I arranged for some local co-ops to give WRC their unsold produce every week, got another group to donate 450 3-ring binders to be used for training manuals, found them a pro bono web guru, and I set up a Facebook page for WRC. Getting busy working for a cause I care about, and distracting myself from how much I hate the cold, has been a tonic. I highly recommend it. So, I think things are looking up.

Kind of funny, someone mentioned this week that I'm a little like Red, the character in Shawshank Redemption who was "good at getting things." I guess I am good at getting stuff! And what was Red's famous motto??? "Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'." Which I need to remember. So, ok...I freaking hate living here, but I've got to make the best of things. And appreciate what's good. And Spring will come. And in the meantime, you all are going to SEND ME SOME TULIP PICS.

Tuesday ramblings

2009-01-13T09:26:00.007-06:00

This is the current temp. The windchill is 33 below. Ugh.

It was too cold for Turner this morning - the minute she stepped outside she pitifully held up one paw quite gingerly, as if it say, "Oh mom, can't I pee in the house today, pleeeeeease?" Cruel doggy mom that I am, I made her walk around with me until she peed. As for the other thing, I'm sure she will do that in the house while I'm gone today, and quite frankly, that's fine. I can't blame her.

I haven't mentioned something because I'm sometimes weird about "jinxing" situations, but I found a new breast lump about a week ago. The ultrasound was inconclusive this time, so I had to have what they call a fine needle biopsy. It really didn't hurt, the needle was so small. I can already tell that in just a few days there'll be no scar, nothing. And it confirmed no cancer, too. All I can say from my repeat experiences with this issue is LADIES: Check yourselves. Just check, and make sure you know the correct way to check. For years, I was checking the wrong way. If you aren't sure if you're doing it right, I'd say you probably aren't - so please, look it up, ask someone, whatever...just start doing it, do it right, and do it often. Ok. Pink Ribbon speech over!

If only all health problems were as easy to get diagnosed. Still no callback regarding my bloodwork - do I have SAD, anemia, or just an old-fashioned case of LAZY ASS. But I'm still sleeping 12 hours a night, and I could easy double that, if I didn't have to work for a living. Geez, I hope they call today, and with some actual information. Meanwhile, I've been popping Vitamin B like Dr. House pops Vicodin, and I'd say that without that, I'd be comatose. It does really seem to help. Vitamin B and coffee are the only things propping me upright these days! With Spring still 3 months away, I sure hope they have something to get me through: a special light, a pharmaceutical, I don't even care - Springtime pills, that's what I need. Something that makes me feel like this:

For those of you who know me

2009-01-12T16:38:00.002-06:00

Do you think I could handle two dogs?

What's the big difference between one and two, anyway? Heh.

Weather and pancakes, of course

2009-01-09T20:38:00.014-06:00

I had quite a few little tubes of blood drawn yesterday, to get to the bottom of my sudden sleeping sickness. They'll call me on Monday. Lots of fairly common things it could be, but deep down, I really think it's Seasonal Affective Disorder. Dunno why I think that...maybe because I want it to be that. Another justification for moving, I suppose. Another argument to present to my manager: "Hey, I need to relocate - for MEDICINAL reasons!!"

I've been thinking, that if I'm truly serious about leaving Minnesota, I can't choose where I go on a whim, or based on where I had an enjoyable vacation. Moving cross-country on one's own is a big deal. It occurred to me that if a person wants to pick their perfect place to live climate-wise, the Gardening Zones map would probably be a good place to start. The Gardening Zones map not only indicates an area's lowest temps, but the length of it's warm season. Minnesota is in Zone 4 - where there are actually NINE months of the year with potential for frost. Yeah, NINE.

Zone 4Average dates the last frost - 1 May to 30 May Average dates the first frost - 1 September to 30 September
So, I'm thinking that Zone 6 is about perfect for me. Not too hot - we don't want me to move only to start bitching about the heat. But a place where the coldest it ever gets is around zero - I can do. In Zone 6, the last frost is a month earlier than Zone 4, and the first frost is a month later. That's two more whole months of above-freezing weather.

Zone 6Average dates the last frost - 1 April to 30 April Average dates the first frost - 1 October to 30 October

Ok, so my other criteria: I want to live near the ocean. So, again by consulting the Gardening Zone map, we can see which Zone 6 areas are on the ocean. There aren't actually very many - only along the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and northern New Jersey. That's it. Interesting. And as it turns out, the bank I work for just bought a bank which has a ton of job openings in that exact area. So... there's further homework to be done, obviously, but this all makes sense to me so far. It does, right?

And now a total change of topic, TOTAL: have you tried these? Spray pancakes???? It's only my new favorite thing in the world. You aim your tube of Batter Blasters at a hot pan and WHOA - pancakes!!! And they're organic. Organic aerosol pancakes, yessss. We truly do live in the world of the future, beyond the Jetson's wildest dreams, even. Where are the flying cars?

For you parents, imagine the possibilities: because the batter comes out of a nozzle, it's easy to spell things. And draw things like hearts, Mickey Mouse shapes, even Sponge Bob shapes. Grown-ups might enjoy making martini shapes, dollar signs, or Chinese Symbols. You could propose with a pancake. Or say Happy Birthday. Naughty people could write naughty words, and make naughty shapes. The possibilities are pretty much endless. Me, I usually make round ones and add blueberries.

The can says it makes 28 4-inch round pancakes, and I believe I paid $3.99 for the can, so that works out to just 14 cents per delicious (and potentially hilarious) pancake. Not bad.

Time to wake up

2009-01-06T10:22:00.016-06:00

Wow, the gaps between my posts have just been getting longer and longer - pretty soon none of you will stop by anymore if I don't get it together! I am going to get it together though. Last night it sort of smacked me in the face that something's going on here, and that I've been rather in denial about something for the last several weeks. In denial, and hiding my little problem from everyone to boot - but the first step is admitting you have a problem, right?

For the last few weeks I've been sleeping A LOT. I mean really a lot. At first I thought I was just 'winter hibernating', enjoying more naps, having 'early nights', and frankly, just being a lazy bones. But it's gone beyond naps now, to sleeping from the minute I get off work on a Friday, until the minute I have to work again Monday morning. Coming home, going to bed, not getting up until I absolutely HAVE to, and even then, still somehow being an hour late for work. Literally, other than getting up to let Turner out...I've been non-stop sleeping. And I'm still tired. Exhausted, actually! This weekend, I only left the house twice: I had lunch with a friend Saturday, and went to the dog show for a couple of hours on Sunday - after both I was completely trashed, you'd think I'd just run a marathon, I was so dead tired. Last night I finally realized this crosses the line. No one should sleep for 16 hours a day, and for 72 hours straight over the weekend and still be exhausted. So I made a doctor's appointment for this Friday. Fingers crossed they won't just diagnose me as a chronic slacker.

I figure it's either anemia, a vitamin deficiency, peri-menopause, or my prime suspect - Seasonal Affective Disorder. Which I never thought of as completely 'real', but maybe it is. This did seem to start about the time we switched off of Daylight Savings Time. About the time the sun started setting at 4 pm or whatever ridiculous time it does in winter. About the time we couldn't do a damn thing outdoors anymore. And we did plunge into hardcore sub-zero temps fairly early this year. So maybe all will be well if they prescribe me a big shiny LIGHT and some vitamin K. Seriously, if this is SADS, I can't describe how debilitating it is, it's FOR REAL. Ugh. Anyway, I hope to get to the bottom of this shortly. This is beyond beauty sleep!!

Hmm, now what?

2008-12-29T17:29:00.011-06:00

The makers of Christmas ornament strands ought to know that putting a little knot between each bead would prevent a million colorful glass pieces from raining down bouncing and breaking when you accidentally get caught on the string. But I snapped this pic thinking it pretty accurately captures what we're all feeling: Christmas is over.

Now we just have to get through three more months of winter. At least the days are getting longer now. I'm working on a "Things To Keep Me Sane Until Spring" list. I have a few...people, please add to it, I'm gonna need a lot of help.

Cook/Bake more
Big Love season 3 comes out January 18th
Take another yoga class, I haven't gone in months
Play board games (requires 2 or more players)
Snog by the fire (also requires 2 or more players)
Plan what I want to plant in the Spring and order plants online
Redecorate a room
Find the few David Sedaris books I haven't read yet and read them
Create stellar playlists for all occasions in iTunes
Go to the gym more often - slow-cook in the sauna and hot tub
Rotate the crops on my Facebook Farm
Check the Community Ed class catalog
Teach Turner to lip-read
Go tanning and soak up some lovely harmful UV rays
Learn to speak French, or at least work on my Cockney accent
Experiment with different liqueurs you can add to cocoa or hot cider

This'll get me through about ...a week. And then - ugh, it'll only just be the first week of January. It's already been the coldest, longest winter EVER. This is not looking good!

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T13:08:00.004-06:00

We awoke this morning to find this glittering green stocking hanging on our front door - I don't know if you can read the little tag attached but it reads, "For the Kings and Queens of the Castle - From Santa Paws". It's full of cat and dog toys, beef chews, and a basted bone. I'm not supposed to know who Santa Paws is, but I do. It's a lady who lives at least 10 houses away. Every year, every house on the block with either dogs or cats gets a visit from Santa Paws, on Christmas Eve. I can never say enough about the people in my neighborhood!

A little later today, Turner and I are going to a friend's house for a small dinner and to open presents. We're having a bigger gathering tomorrow. Since Turner is meeting a few people for the first time tonight, I gave her a little extra brushing last night while we watched White Christmas. She looks quite lovely.

Our friend Mike shared a cool link with me yesterday - over at Amazon you can download free Christmas songs - there's one for every day of the month. There's still time today for you to go grab some of these and add them to your festivities. So far I like the Aimee Mann one best.

I wish everyone a peaceful, happy Christmas Eve, whatever your plans are.

Pre-holiday ramblings

2008-12-21T09:38:00.015-06:00

You've heard of Sunday drivers - it seems like I'm becoming a Sunday blogger. I miss visiting you guys more often, but on top of how busy work has been, they installed a new security patch on our PCs, and danged if I can navigate around the new security. It lets me on Facebook, but bumps me out of all Blogspot blogs. On the rare occasion it lets me read your blogs, then it won't let me comment. Waaahhh! What's a girl supposed to do - WORK all day? But I think of you all the time, my dears, and hope everyone is having a very happy Christmas season.

A friend is hosting Christmas at her house, and I got off easy, I'm only in charge of bringing a potato dish. I found this recipe for Roast Potatoes, Parsnips and Carrots on Jamie Oliver's website. It's very simple but looks YUMMY! Thought I'd share, in case anyone's looking for another side dish.

I also made homemade Kahlua this week, to give as gifts to work colleagues, neighbors, and friends. It was a total success, and one of the easiest things I've ever made. Here's the recipe:

HOMEMADE KAHLUA

12 tsp. instant coffee
3 c. sugar
1 qt. water

Bring these to a rolling boil, then simmer for 30 minutes stirring often. Turn off and let cool. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and a fifth of vodka. Makes 1/2 gallon.

I bottled it up and tied red curling ribbon on the bottles - a very easy little homemade gift! It tastes delicious right away, but the recipe said it improves if you let it age for 4 weeks or more. I suggest adding it to hot cocoa with a pinch of cinnamon or a few glugs of chocolate syrup!

I'm wrapping presents today. Although it's very beautiful, I'm having some regret about the highly glitterific wrapping paper I got this year. You just touch it and it sheds a billion sparkles on your hands, your clothes, the carpet. Emma, my rather bowling ball-shaped cat just waddled by and I see she's completely covered in purple glitter. I'll be cleaning up the particles for weeks.

Turner is doing really well. After weeks of finicky eating, which I'd attributed to old age, but was more likely due to her sussing out what a pushover I am, she is now getting canned food mixed with her dry, and now eats like a hungry wolf, every meal. I found an organic turkey & sweet potato food that she loves, so she is now an official member of the Clean Plate Club. In addition to that, I just found out what her favorite treat is. We went to the pet store yesterday, and I let her roam the treat aisle, hoping she'd show me what she wanted, and she did. Although there were open bins of rawhides, lamb hocks, knuckle bones, and pig's ears, she insisted that whatever was in those bright red packages was what she wanted. She pulled one off the shelf, and carried it around the store. When we got in the car, she tore it open and feasted. So now I know: while Laddie was a Beggin' Strips boy, Turner is decidedly a Pup-peroni girl. She's crazy about the things. For those of you who are familiar with Pup-peronis, is it just me, or do they look and smell exactly like a Slim Jim? You don't suppose.....?? No.

Randomness

2008-12-14T09:23:00.002-06:00

Between email, the phone, and Facebook, I feel like I've been in touch with most you this last week anyway, so sort of procrastinated blogging. It looks like I'll have some free time tomorrow to visit all of your blogs and catch up though, hope nothing major occurred that I missed.

Nothing too much going on here. I treated Turner for her 'problem' and I think she's much better now. Even her cough is clearing up, so maybe it was connected. Work has been busy. My holiday shopping is done. THAT'S a good feeling.

I did get asked out at the salad bar at Whole Foods last night. I'd just come from the gym, was a complete mess after exercising and melting in the sauna for a while, and yet this rather distinguished-looking gentleman approached me, started a conversation, and ended up asking if I wanted to have tea with him sometime. I said no, because it felt a little strange, and I suspected he was at least 20 years older than me, anyway. He told me his name, twice, and told me to remember it in case I changed my mind. Funnily enough, in a moment of boredom, waiting for the coffee to brew this morning, I Googled that name, because I had a funny feeling he actually was "someone." Heh. Yep, he ran for Senate not long ago. I should have recognized him. Oh well. Turns out he is more than twenty years older. Total liberal democrat though - at least I'm attracting the right type.

On a serious note, I've just been really riled after reading about the Minnesota nursing home abuses. I feel like I need to do something, say something, help fix this broken, broken system we have. Not surprisingly, it's those with no voice, like children and animals, that the sickest people in society prey upon. What I found somewhat surprising in this case however, was that the predators didn't to my mind look like predators. Not that I thought all predators had an easy-to-spot predator "look", but I was just surprised when I saw the photos of these pretty smiling teen-aged girls. They're adorable! Who would have suspected them of hitting and sexually molesting elderly residents suffering from Alzheimer's disease and dementia? I just don't understand. Please, if you know anyone who is living in an elder care facility, please learn about the signs to watch for, and know what to do.

Well, we're getting some wicked weather in tonight. The temp is plummeting from 34 to minus 7 -- a 40-degree drop. That's just wrong! I'm staying in with good food, some Kahlua hot chocolate with a pinch of cinnamon, my woolly Collie and last week's episode of House, that I was saving for a night just like this. Hope everyone is staying warm.

BUSY

2008-12-11T11:00:00.002-06:00

Ugh, so busy at work, no time to blog...

Looks like they found Caylee's remains this morning.

Also totally disgusted and outraged about nursing home abuses. What can be done to prevent these things from happening? I mean, we're all going to be old some day, something has to be done.

On a brighter note, I just finished all my Christmas shopping. Where you all at with yours?

Virtual Cookie Swap anyone?

2008-12-07T11:05:00.012-06:00

I baked cookies today and thought I'd share my recipes. Anyone want to swap me back a good cookie recipe?

First, I made Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Munchies, from the Pillsbury Fall Baking magazine. It has a cheat in it, you use prepared cookie dough as part of the recipe. But you add so much other good stuff, it ends up not being a total cheat. The only change I made was that I used Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal, because it's what I had...it didn't hurt anything.

Ingredients

* 2/3 cup peanut butter
* 1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 egg
* 1 refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough, Pillsbury Create 'n Bake
* 1/4 cup miniature M&M baking bits
* 1/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries
* 1/4 cup salted peanuts, chopped

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, stir together peanut butter, oats, oil and egg. Break up cookie dough; add to peanut butter mixture. Add remaining ingredients; stir until well mixed.

On ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart. Press with fingers to flatten slightly.

Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown and edges are just set (tops will not look done). Do not overbake. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Done! These turned out perfect!
~~~~~~~~~~

Secondly, I made these Chocolate Surprise cookies - I found this recipe on Recipezaar. The "surprise" is that within each cookie is a Dove chocolate-covered caramel. Schwing!!!!

* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus
* 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 cup chopped pecans, divided
* 1 (9-12 ounce) package Dove chocolate-covered caramels

Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda in medium bowl; set aside.

Beat butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy; beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture and 1/2 cup pecans; beat well. Cover dough; refrigerate 15 minutes or until firm enough to roll into balls.

Place remaining 1/2 cup pecans and 1 tablespoons sugar in shallow dish. Roll tablespoonful of dough around 1 caramel candy, covering completely; press one side into nut mixture.

Place nut side up, on ungreased cookie sheet, about 3 inches apart.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set and slightly cracked. Let stand on cookie sheet 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire rack; cool completely. The original recipe called for white chocolate chips that you'd melt and drizzle over the top, but that just seemed like overkill to me, and besides I don't really believe in white chocolate anyway, so I skipped that step.

Final results, ready to go over to the neighbors, as a small token of thanks for all the winter shoveling and snowblowing they always provide me:

Have fun with your holiday baking this year, let me know if you try either of these!

Total holiday advertising victim

2008-12-03T20:26:00.005-06:00

So have you seen this annoying tv commercial where all sorts of adorable people are going bat-shit crazy hysterical because they're wearing bright colors from Old Navy? Gah, too many Old Navy commercials will make your eyes bleed, be careful this time of year. However... amidst the frenzy of sexy people who need Ritalin, I spotted one thing in this commercial and instantly wanted it. Really wanted it - and now I'm even more annoyed with Old Navy, because I can't find it.

It's the cutest raspberry pink coat, and it flashes by at least 3 times in the commercial. It's so cute that I might skip down the street, playing peek-a-boo and giving piggy-back rides too, if I could just get me that coat. But it's not on the website, and it's not at the stores. I've thoroughly looked. How can they have something in their 2008 Christmas commercial that they aren't selling? They have one coat that might actually be the style, but it only comes in Siberian Blue, Green Envy, or Beet Sugar. The Beet Sugar one is purple, definitely dark magenta - that's not it. I want the pretty raspberry snow-cone pink one. So, I never shop at Old Navy - do they just sell out of colors sometimes? If anyone knows how they work, I'd sure like to know.

Free piggy-back ride to whoever can find me this coat.

Yuck

2008-12-03T11:07:00.007-06:00

I keep saying I'll find another blog topic besides pets. I'm working on it. But in the meantime, something turned up on Turner's walk this morning. Something disgusting, vile and revolting, but something which explains every single problem and concern I've been having with her since I got her.

Tapeworms!! Ewwwwwww!

At least, they're easily treated. It turns out that the symptoms of a belly full of tapeworms are:

Dull coat
Weight loss
Low appetite alternating with ravenous appetite
Sleep disruption
Coughing
Low energy level
Diarrhea
Vomiting

All our problems. Poor girl! So, I will tote a little bag of evidence in to the vet and let's hope a simple treatment will sort her out. Eww. Eww. Worms are disgusting.

Pre-Christmas clean-up

2008-12-01T15:12:00.005-06:00

I need one of these signs. Errr, no, actually I need about 10. What is it with cats and their constant vomityness??? The main floor of my house is all hardwood floors, easy to clean. The lower level is all white carpet. Well, guess where the cats run every, and I do mean every single time they need to cough up a hairball? The white carpet, of course! I can't tell you how many times I've been curled up on the sofa or in bed with a peaceful cat, when suddenly they've stood up and BOLTED for downstairs. Because apparently it just feels better to throw up on something white. Cats.

I haven't had the downstairs carpets steam cleaned in 2 years or so, and the hairball spots are just out of control now. I can't hide them all with diplomatically placed furniture or plants anymore. So I went on Service Magic today, and submitted a request for a carpet cleaner. Holy cow, within 10 seconds of hitting "submit" my phone started ringing off the hook. Every carpet cleaner in town wanted to clean up my hairballs. The first guy I spoke to gave me a really fair quote, so I just booked him. I commented that my call waiting was going nuts, and how I couldn't believe how quickly so many carpet cleaners were responding, and he filled me in as to why that was: it turns out that each business on Service Magic pays $15 for every referral they get, whether or not they get the job. They know they have to really hustle to be the first call to get through. So if you ever want a bid on a project really fast, I guess this is good to know.

Also on the topic of cleaning, I had the day off and my new housecleaner started this morning. In three hours she basically had all of the chores I've let slide for ages, DONE. She's fast, and efficient, and she uses all "green" products too, no chemicals. Awesome. My neighbor uses her too, so we're hoping to combine our days in the future, and possibly work a little discount for saving her a trip. Regardless, I've decided that whatever else I have to give up to be able to afford her, I will - I forgot how happy it makes me to know the whole house is clean. Not just tidy - but scrubbed, and disinfected, and honestly CLEAN. I'd almost make a great little housewife, wouldn't I? If I didn't have somebody else doing the work for me? Heh.

Thursday Thirteen #10

2008-11-27T09:40:00.004-06:00

Thirteen things about 2008 that I'm thankful for.

1. I learned quite a bit more about gardening this year.
2. My broken heart - it made me realize how big it really is, and how careful I need to be with it.
3. The new friends I met.
4. The old friends that put up with me.
5. Mammograms - and that the lumps were not cancer.
6. Laddie had a good last few months.
7. Baby squirrels literally landed at my feet one day. I'm really glad that happened.
8. Obama. Nothing more to say, just Obama.
9. The boats bobbing in Salem Harbor on a warm day.
10. McCain's concession speech. That was well done.
11. I became a much better cook in 2008, just by trial and error!
12. Finding Turner.
13. I probably won't say more about it than this, but on Tuesday night, someone apologized, incredibly sincerely. I hadn't expected that they would ever do this, and it meant the world to me.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! My only tip for you is that pumpkin pie has less calories than apple, and if you leave the crust on the end you cut 100 calories more. But who's counting? Eat up!~

Manic Monday

2008-11-22T19:37:00.016-06:00

I have the tune from the Twilight Zone in my head.

A few years ago when I took a fairly substantial pay cut to have the job and hours I wanted (with NO regret!) I let my bi-weekly housecleaner go. I decided I could clean my own house, for cryin' out loud, this was an unnecessary luxury. That's been fine, as I'm pretty good about picking up after myself, but recently I've noticed that the really deep cleaning (mopping floors, scrubbing the stove, taking care of the hardwood floors) was lapsing, so I decided to again hire a cleaner. I found one advertised online who looked really good, and exchanged several emails with her this week to line up our schedule. We decided on every other Monday, and today was to have been her first day. This morning, she emailed to say that her sixth sense was warning her not to drive over here today. She said that the first time she Mapquested my address, nothing came up - and that seemed like an omen, so... she couldn't come. Whaaa? This is her business - can any of us call in to work saying our "sixth sense" is telling us not to travel today? And since when is Mapquest the all-seeing all-knowing Oracle? {Cuckoo-cuckoo-cuckoo!}

Back on planet Earth, I got my new stereo. Contrary to my usual M.O. of looking for second-hand equipment on Craigslist or eBay that I can recycle and feel all environmentally superior about, I actually caved to the gods of materialism this time and went to Best Buy. I got a SWEET Yamaha receiver, hooked up my environmentally superior CD player, my environmentally superior iPod, and my environmentally superior Bose speakers, and Woo hooo!!!!! I am in heaven, I tell you, heaven! Well, as close as electronics can take you to heaven. Amy Winehouse has never sounded more crisp, wounded and dysfunctional. The Spice Girls have never had more Girl Power. Dare I say it, Justin Timberlake sounds...even HOTTER. Oh, he Cried Me A River more than once this weekend. And seeing as how Turner's deaf, I had no guilt about CRANKING UP some favorite old Daft Punk to see what this baby can really do. I think my neighbors can vouch (although I hope they won't) that the new stereo kicks asssssss. Ah, Christmas came early.

To complete (and celebrate) a bigger-than-usual day's spending, I scampered off to iTunes to get the new Adele album. For those of you wondering if you should buy it - some songs seem a bit slow and minimalist, but it might be one of those albums that grows on me. Some of the singles are excellent, though. I love her voice - overall I'd recommend.

Speaking of Christmas, I hung icicle lights in the front windows already. Anyone else done that yet? No idea why I did it so early this year, but there's something very sweet, almost comforting, about having Christmas lights up. Ok, now I have to go find a sane housecleaner.

Randomness

2008-11-22T10:34:00.011-06:00

Question for you: if you're a guy trolling the internet for one night stands, which of the following websites would you use?

A) Craigslist
B) eHarmony
C) Adult Friend Finder
D) GetItOn.com

This shouldn't be a trick question - my point is that there are numerous booty call websites, and that eHarmony, by virtue of it's reputation, and also due to it's long drawn-out communication process, should stand out as making the least amount of sense for a player looking for hook-ups. Why spend days or even weeks filling out questionnaires and exchanging thoughtfully chosen multiple choice and open-ended questions, when you can go to another site and get your rocks off immediately with minimal chit chat? And yet, quite a few guys troll eHarmony, of all places, pretending to want relationships, just long enough to get some play. I don't get it. Why can't the people looking for relationships have a place to meet, and the people looking for hook-ups have a place to meet, and never the twain need meet? Is this asking so much? I know, I know, this should be a rhetorical question, but I honestly don't know the answer.

On a more interesting topic, I took Turner to the groomer yesterday, for her first spa day. We're lucky that the best Collie groomer in Minnesota is nearby. Chris is the one to get a show Collie ready for the ring, as well as having saved the coat of many a neglected MWCR Collie. Collies are her thing - she has two herself. She always kept Laddie beautiful, and she took very good care of Turner, too! Turner got a 45-minute brush out, and her nails and paw fur trimmed. And because she's a rescue, we were only charged $22 for the entire beautification. Aww! Anyway, despite having enough fur removed to build another dog, Turner looks even fluffier now. Chris is amazing! The pics don't really show the difference, but her coat is really much softer and shiner now:

We got a big new bone yesterday, too. You can see her little pink tongue in this one:

Oh and welcome me to the 21st century. My stereo died the other day, and while shopping online for a new one, I discovered that new stereos these here new-fangled days, now come with an iPod dock. Holy cow, this is my electronics dream come true. Apparently this is just standard issue now. Where have I been and what else have I missed out on, I wonder? Yes, I know Obama won. Anyway I'm glad my stereo died now, and I'm going to get with the times at last. Woot!

Have a good Saturday all! We got snowed on this morning. Ugh.

Thursday Thirteen #9 - a 1 month anniversary post

2008-11-20T00:00:00.007-06:00

Thirteen Things I've Learned About My New Thirteen Year-old Dog

1. Turner sleeps about 90% of the time.
2. She loved her first pig's ear.
3. She's afraid of stairs.
4. She has a very hoarse, quiet bark. At first I thought she'd been debarked.
5. She enjoys meeting new people.
6. She likes it when I lift her onto the bed so she can sleep next to the cats and me.
7. She enjoys being brushed and never snaps at me if I hit a snag.
8. She still wakes me up at 4 am needing to go outside. That must be when she woke up back on the farm. Sigh!
9. She "runs" in her sleep a lot. You should see the paws move.
10. She occasionally barks like mad at invisible things - I cannot figure it out.
11. She hardly sheds at all for a Collie.
12. She's the only dog I've ever met who knows that Beggin' Strips aren't bacon.
13. She always smells like a dryer sheet -like a soft, fluffy towel fresh out of the dryer.

I can't imagine how someone gave her up after having and knowing her for thirteen years! We've only been together for one month now, but NOTHING and NO ONE could persuade me to part with her. There was a story on the local Channel 9 news tonight about how so many animal shelters and rescue groups are getting inundated with senior dogs right now, because people are losing their homes or finding themselves unable to afford vet care. The news story did a good job of highlighting the benefits of adopting an older dog. If you ever know anyone seeking a new dog, and you think they'd even consider adopting an older one, please send them to me. I'll talk them into it.

Weekend snaps

2008-11-17T09:50:00.006-06:00

Don't let the sunshine in these pics fool you, it was wicked cold here this weekend. I think they said that with the windchill factor, the "feels like" temp is 14 this morning. Anyway, I spent a good part of Saturday afternoon raking the back yard with Turner supervising. I caught a few good shots of her.

As I was busy winterizing, putting away clay pots, etc. I dragged the grill cover out of the shed, and was about to put it over the grill, when Geronimo shot inside the scrunched up grill cover, clearly aware of something in there that I wasn't. See his tail? I won't show you what he pulled out of there. But it was long, long dead. Ewwwww. I'm just glad he found it first, so it didn't come tumbling out on me as I covered the grill.

What did everyone do this weekend?

Cousins explained - sort of

2008-11-13T10:10:00.032-06:00

I hope you've had your coffee this morning, because this post may get a little confusing.

As some of you know, I don't have any immediate family living anymore, at least not here in Minneapolis - but I've always been fascinated with genealogy (the history nerd in me) and have been working on my family tree for years, documenting and researching, simply for my own enjoyment. Thanks to the internet, I've recently made a few breakthroughs, and located some relatives who are as into genealogy as I am, and we've had some great conversations, shared interesting stories, exchanged old family photos, etc.

One of the people I've been speaking with is a teacher at Boston University - how cool is that? We share the same Jewish great-grandfather. Her brother is a fairly well-known political organizer in Washington, D.C. - both seem to be fascinating people, and of course I was thrilled to find a tie to Boston.

Another of my new-found relatives is a woman named Bridgett, who lives in Michigan. We share the same Norwegian great-great-grandfather. The Norwegian ancestors, I'll just say it, were bat-shit crazy. We descend from a few tragic Darwin Award winners. Frankly, Bridgett and I are just lucky to exist.**

Anyway, I started wondering what my official relationship is to my new-found family members, and found myself getting hopelessly mired in the world of cousinry. It's really tricky.

Here's what I think I've determined:

First cousins are the children of your aunts and uncles. You share a set of grandparents. OK, easy.

Second cousins, I believe, share the same great-grandparents. Right? So the teacher at Boston U and her brother in D.C. - we're second cousins.

Third cousins share the same great-great-grandparents, fourth cousins share the same great-great-great-grandparents, and so on. Again, can anyone correct me on this, am I over-simplifying? So Bridgett in Michigan is my third cousin.

Removed - ok, here is where I lose the plot. According to Google, when the word "removed" is used, it means that the two people are from different generations. You and your first cousins are in the same generation (two generations younger than your grandparents), so you are not "removed". However, if your first cousin is one generation younger than your parents, they are a first cousin once removed. So the mother of my new second cousins out East would be my first cousin once removed. Twice removed means that there is a two-generation difference. You are two generations younger than a first cousin of your grandmother, so you and your grandmother's first cousin are first cousins twice removed.

Dizzy yet? Me too. The chart above helps a little, so I thought I'd share with you. If anyone knows of a way to simplify, or a website that makes this more clear, please share with me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**Edited to add just two examples, in case it inspires you to dig up your own ancestral 'real men of genius':

My Norwegian great-great-grandfather drowned in the Des Moines River - no one knows how his boat capsized on a peaceful day or why he (a married man) was out boating with a girl 30 years younger than him. Talk about BUSTED.

HIS father was killed when the fancy gold ring he was always showing off got CAUGHT ON A WINDMILL.

I'm delighted to be part Norwegian: the fact that we bucked the whole "survival of the fittest" thing and survived our own stupidity is astonishing.

A Shameless Plug

2008-11-10T20:18:00.007-06:00

I shudder to use these words, but... Christmas is coming.

I wanted to share the work of a lovely local lady name Annik, who owns Lemonade Bags. She handcrafts the most beautiful, unique, reasonably priced bags I've ever seen! She uses antique French ribbons, and all the fabrics are organic. I'm getting this one:

I needed another bag like a hole in the head but seriously - ees cute, no? I could not resist! $38 for this owl-icious wonder.

Sidewalk Talk

2008-11-08T18:31:00.015-06:00

I'm sort of riled with the City of Minneapolis. A few weeks ago I received a notice that it was time for the scheduled 10-year review of sidewalks in my area, and that if they found any cracked or broken pavement, I'd be assessed the cost of replacement - estimated at $475-775 per concrete slab, plus 'administrative fees'. I immediately went out and looked at my sidewalk, saw that each and every slab was in pristine, level, uncracked condition, and decided I had nothing to worry about. So I tossed the notice, assuming this wouldn't apply to me. Then one day last week I came home to discover that one large sidewalk slab in front of my house had been excavated. Needlessly. I'm telling you, it wasn't broken. Looking down the street, you can see that basically each house on the street also had one slab, and only one slab, removed. While all of the remaining slabs clearly are perfect. Coincidence? I think not!

The contractor doing the work placed flyers in each of our doors, informing us that if we needed any additional concrete services, they were available. I noticed that they aren't even local - they're from Le Center, a small town over an hour south of the Twin Cities. Which raises a question: how did they score this contract to replace all of this concrete in Minneapolis? Do you suppose the owner of said concrete company has a brother-in-law or a buddy in city government? What exactly is the bidding process for large contracts like this?

Of course I didn't take photos of each concrete slab that was in front of my house, I'm not that big of a dork - which is what I think they were banking on. So I probably don't have a very strong argument now that the so-called 'defective' slab is gone. I'm sure every homeowner in the area is kicking themselves now, wishing they'd just been dorks and taken photos. Is it just me, or is this all a little shady? The way it was done, the quickness with which they came and removed so many slabs, and the fact that the contractor isn't local? Don't we have much more urgent uses for taxpayer dollars in our current economy, than giving a concrete guy a sweet contract? I've walked on sidewalks and cobblestones in Europe or even on the East Coast, that were hundreds of years old...and I survived. This just wasn't necessary.

I feel the urge to rabble-rouse with the city about this, and find out more about the contractor. It's just too interesting that he basically found one slab per homeowner that "needed replacing". Convenient, eh?

Anyone ever disputed a thing like this and won, though?

2008-11-05T09:40:00.000-06:00

One more day

2008-11-03T10:05:00.007-06:00

Hey... we've been so busy comparing her to Tina Fey, has anyone else noticed THIS?

And on a more serious note: I hope tomorrow is the beginning of our country's healing and change, and I hope that we'll all recognize the role that we as individuals must play in that change. Having a great man leading us is only part of the equation. We each have to be more accountable for the energy we use, the way we spend and borrow, and the way we get involved in local issues... Obama has said from the beginning of his campaign, "I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington...I'm asking you to believe in yours." If we can't put the sick joke that was played on us for the last eight years behind us, and unite to repair the damage, we'll only have ourselves to blame.

Enjoy exercising the great privilege of voting tomorrow, everyone!

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T15:42:00.011-05:00

Nothing to do with Halloween, but it cracks me up that whatever the dog does, the cat does with her. Including eating dog food. These two are seriously BFFs. Or, since they're so furry, maybe I should say BFFFs. Groan! Sorry!

I found this vintage Halloween card. Check out the Victorian superstition and tell me this isn't scary as hell? So...should I look in the mirror at midnight tonight? Dare me? Well, if you're single, I dare YOU. Jess? Marianna? Bella? C'mon, I double dog dare you.

Anyway, Happy Halloween!

Countdown Meme

2008-10-28T18:04:00.011-05:00

Shamelessly ripped off from Jessica:

Ten Things I Wish I Could Say to Ten Different People Right Now

1. Barack is not a communist, and the word communist has two "m's" in it. Stop sending me your insane emails.
2. I miss you.
3. Hey annoying coworker - you don't need to call people every time you send them an email, to tell them that you just sent them an email, and read it to them.
4. If you would just ask me to, I could probably forgive you.
5. I miss you, Laddie
6. I'm your landlord, not your mommy. You figure out which lightbulbs to buy.
7. I just won the lottery, I won't be in tomorrow.
8. I knew that your boyfriend was cheating on you and never said, because mine told me in confidence. I'm sorry. We girls should have protected each other better.
9. This is not the farm anymore. We sleep until 7:30 around here. The 4 a.m. barking nonsense has got to stop!
10. Thank you for being such an awesome friend.

Nine Things About Myself

1. I don't think I've ever tasted anything that I considered "too spicy".
2. I've been thinking about hiring a housecleaner for just a day because there's a spider in the basement.
3. I don't iron. I haven't ironed anything in years.
4. I've always been incredibly resilient, but in the last year I'm concerned that I've lost some of my "bounce-back-ityness".
5. I want to become more knowledgeable and involved in local politics.
6. My boss pointed out that next year will be my 20 year anniversary with the company. She kindly buffered this by asking if I started when I was 10.
7. I'm bored with Facebook. I loved it for a while and then suddenly one day...meh.
8. My chemistry has changed or something. The Burberry London perfume I used to love is just awful on me now. I need a new signature perfume.
9. I've purged so much stuff out of my house recently, there is virtually no clutter left. I've never felt so good Feng Shui-wise.

Eight Ways to Win My Heart

1. Be a little smarter than me
2. Talk to my dog/cats
3. Be sincere
4. Live with compassion for others
5. Know how to fix things
6. See through my tough exterior
7. Make me laugh
8. Hold my hand in public

Seven Things That Cross My Mind a Lot

1. Chocolate
2. The yardwork I haven't done
3. What would Jon Stewart say about this or that
4. Changing my haircolor
5. How I can make a million dollars without doing anything illegal. Or working.
6. I hope he gets his heart really REALLY broken someday
7. Where will I be in one year. I know something is about to change, I just don't quite know how/what.

Six Things I Do Before I Fall Asleep

1. Brush my teeth
2. Apply lots and lots of moisturizer and anti-wrinkle cream
3. Tidy the kitchen
4. See what my TiVo has captured for me that day
5. Or, read a book
6. Hug my Collie

Five People Who Mean a Lot (in no particular order!)

1. My Jewish grandfather was the kindest man I ever knew. He lost his whole family in the holocaust and yet I never saw him without a smile on his face. He loved life.
2. Danny
3. Danika
4. Monika
5. Kate

Four Things I'm Wearing Right Now

1. A crisp silk shirt from Ann Taylor that I scored for $8
2. A black skirt
3. Black textured tights
4. Black patent-leather shoes

Three Songs I Listen to a Lot

1. Pineapple Head - Crowded House
2. Everything In It's Right Place - Radiohead
3. Destiny - Zero 7

Two Things I Want to Do Before I Die

1. Fall in love
2. Visit New Zealand

One Confession

1. Ok, I may take some grief for this but I've been researching, and rather than Botox, I think I'm going to get Juvederm. I'm nearly ready to make an appointment.

Feel free to steal this!

Random Catch-all Post

2008-10-24T10:48:00.011-05:00

I had sort of a rough first week with Turner. Poor girl, she got really sick from the Clavamox I was giving her for her cough, and she was up vomiting and pacing all night long Wednesday night, and didn't eat a bite yesterday. So sad! This morning she seemed better though. She ate a little, although worried mama that I am, I wish she'd eat more. I'm not giving her any more Clavamox unless she eats a full meal first, so I hope she does that soon, because she really needs that Clavamox. We've done some serious girl bonding this week though, and her many sweet personality traits are starting to come out. She sometimes comes to me when I'm working at my desk, and just rests her chin on my knee, and she's starting to follow me around the house more. I figured out that if I rest my head on her and talk, she 'hears' me, or at least feels the vibration - she loves that. Gah, I just need to get her healthy!

On a topic almost as important as dogs - COFFEE - I need to tell you, Brueggers Bagels are doing their Bottomless Cup thing again. For $140 you get all the coffee, tea, and soda you want, for a year. They have pretty decent coffee, too. I don't go for the ridiculous flavors like Mountain Blueberry or Pumpkin Pie, but their French Roast and their House Blend are very civilized. Since I bought my Bottomless Cup thing here in October, I'll actually get over 14 months of coffee, since it goes through the end of '09. $10 a month for unlimited coffee?!! The little keychain card they give you can be flashed at any Brueggers in the US too, so you can travel, or move, or just be totally broke...and a hot cup of caffeine will always be there. Awesome.

I just have one thing to say about Sarah Palin. Who knew that looking like a Joe six-pack hockey mom was so gosh-darned expensive? $150,000 just in the month of September. Right here in Minneapolis the RNC spent $75,062 at Neiman Marcus, $49,425 at Saks Fifth Avenue, and $4,902 at Atelier. Yeah, nothing says Main Street like a $2,500 Valentino jacket. She received more valuable clothes in one month than the average American household spends on clothes in 80 years. Equally ludicrous, her makeup stylist cost $22,800 for just the first two weeks of October, making her stylist McCain's highest-paid staffer. By my calculations, if she becomes VP, it will cost $2,271,200 to keep her face made up for four years. For real.

Settling in

2008-10-20T18:53:00.007-05:00

How do I keep up, you're wondering? Heh.

I've never seen a dog sleep so much. I think we turned a corner this morning though - Turner woke me up wanting some hugs, and even gave me some very soft Collie kisses, it was sooooo sweet. We took a little walk, and she even trotted at one point when she saw a squirrel. After a good breakfast, she was exhausted and went back to bed. I worked from home today, so I know she never got up once. At least I won't have to worry about her being lonely when I work downtown tomorrow. She'll sleep. I wonder if she's catching up after spending the last month at a foster home with other rowdy dogs that disturbed her, or if she's not feeling well, or if she's just old and enjoys napping...it's hard to tell, but I'm just letting her sleep.

Unfortunately she seems to have developed a pretty nasty cough, and coughed most of the night last night. I was concerned so I took her to the vet this evening, and he didn't hear anything scary in her heart or lungs, so we *hope* it's just the dog equivalent of a cold. Fingers crossed that Clavamox will knock it out. The only bad news he gave me was that she has cataracts in both eyes, so she probably doesn't see very well, on top of being deaf. Poor Turner. For now, I know she definitely does see, though - so we'll just cross that bridge when we get to it. Of course after the trip to the vet she was totally worn out. Again. Aww.

Funny thing, Geronimo took her under his wing the minute she walked in the door. He eats dog food out of her dish, with her. He sleeps with her. He goes on walks with her. The neighbors used to crack up at me walking by with Laddie AND a cat - but they were doubly amused to see Geronimo leading the way on Sunday morning, on Turner's very first walk. That cat was in heaven, strutting ahead of us with his tail straight up in the air, declaring, "Look everyone, I got a new dog!" Hilarious.

Sleepy as she is, Turner's absolutely adorable though, and I wouldn't trade her for any other dog in the world. Her personality is starting to come out a bit more each day. She just wants love and kindness, and the occasional hot dog. She doesn't ask for much. If we could all be so easily pleased.

She's Home

2008-10-18T21:18:00.004-05:00

It was a long drive, almost 7 hours round trip, but Turner slept the whole way. She's a very good traveler.

When we got home, she inspected everything cautiously, touched the cat's noses, and collapsed on the floor, all worn out from her 350 mile trip.

A little later, I found her here. So far all I've seen her do is sleep, but we just got home a couple of hours ago. She's the sweetest, gentlest old girl. I think she's just beautiful.

Another Boston/Salem trip

2008-10-16T09:42:00.027-05:00

I'm back. I got hit with work upon my return or I'd have visited you all sooner - I'll try to stop by each of you tonight, though! I had an excellent stay in Massachusetts. The weather was warm and sunny, almost unbelievably good, every single day. The Fall colors were at their absolute peak, too.

Since all the hotels and B&Bs were full in Salem for Halloween events, I found a place to stay on Craigslist, which was somewhat risky, but fate must have been smiling on me. I found Valerie, a woman the same age as me, with a sunny, cheerful guest room in her condo. We had a lot of fun together! She actually let me take her car whenever I wanted, so I sort of got to live like a local, rather than a tourist - that was great. We even went garage sale-ing together one morning, how awesome is that? We share the same love of bargains and finding abandoned treasures - when we spotted a gorgeous healthy potted ficus tree left in someone's trash, she hit the brakes and we gleefully hauled it to her car. Score!! Val named the tree Meghan, since the other contents of the trash at that curb made it obvious that someone had just broken up with a girl named Meghan. Anyway, Meghan The Ficus now looks beautiful in Val's living room. If I ever really move to Salem, Valerie's the first person I'm having over for dinner. And if she's reading this...good luck this weekend, girlfriend. {wink wink}

Another highlight was finally meeting WENDY!! I just wish I could have visited with her for longer than one day. She was exactly, and I mean exactly, as I expected. I have yet to meet a blogger I've been reading for any length of time, and been disappointed. That's interesting, isn't it? Wendy and her family are delightful, her home is so beautiful and inviting, her critters are ridiculously cute, and the area she lives in is as close to stepping into a Norman Rockwell painting as I will ever know. I hope we get to hang out again, and soon. Always forgetting to take pictures when I travel, I did at least get these snaps of Simon, and Jane the hamster - observe zee tiny hammie toes peeping out.

Oh and I was lucky to meet up with Zom B and his lovely bride again, I just love-love-love these guys! They took me to Harvard, where I got to rub the foot of John Harvard's statue for luck - see how shiny his shoe is, from years of students rubbing it for good luck on exams? Then we had drinks at John Harvard's Brew House - I couldn't figure out who all of the figures in these stained glass windows were, but I definitely made out Nixon and Bill Clinton. I wish I could have spent more time with these two...sigh! There's just never enough time.

And did I mention that as part of the annual Haunted Happenings, there was a dog Halloween costume contest on Salem Common? It just doesn't get much better than a park filled with hundreds of dogs dressed like this:

I'm off again

2008-10-08T18:57:00.013-05:00

Delinquent blogger that I am even when I'm at home, I'll be even more delinquent for the next few days. This time tomorrow I'll be having dinner in dear old Salem, Mass. While watching the Red Sox, probably. Part of my trip is slightly secret and I can only share if you ask me off-blog, but the rest is simply about visiting my wonderful friends in the Boston area, eating good food, seeing the New England Fall colors, and having one last get-away before winter. Notice I capitalize Fall but not winter. That's an intentional snub, yes.

Oh and apropos of nothing, I've discovered that with my hair up and my glasses on, I look rather uncannily, nay spookily, like I'm running for VP. Especially when I say, "I can see Russia from my house!" I may post a picture, but arghh, it's disturbing. {{shudder}}

Anyway I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! I will be back to catch up with everyone on Tuesday.

A Fun-size Blog Post

2008-10-05T21:27:00.004-05:00

I've been so busy this week, I'm afraid I owe all of you a blog visit, I'm running behind! I did end up with some unexpected spare time this evening though. I went to the Wildlife Rehab Center for my Sunday night shift, and to my amazement, there wasn't one squirrel to hand-feed formula to. Just like that, they're all big enough to feed themselves, and many of them were already released this week. Squirrels today - they grow up so fast! There were only a few left, so we just gave them seeds and apple pieces, and were done in no time. I need a new volunteer job now. How on earth am I going to top feeding orphaned wildlife, though?

I made one very dreaded Fall mistake this week. I KNOW BETTER than to buy Halloween candy early! If you buy late, there's less to choose from and you may not find the awesome deal of a giant bag of 100 Snickers for $5, and you may end up with Laffy Taffy, which I wouldn't eat if you paid me, but at least if you buy late, you don't nibble as much. I've been having WAY too much 'fun' with 'fun-sized' chocolate this week. I should never have allowed myself to open the bag before Halloween. Every time I walk through the kitchen, invisible forces pull me to the giant bowl of Butterfingers and Nestle Crunch. I'll just have one, I say. They're so small, right? I'm actually considering asking my neighbors to take the bowl away and not give it back until the sun sets on the 31st. I have no will power.

And how can this even be happening. I can't believe it's October - where did Summer go? Suddenly it's dark at 7, I'm raking great piles of leaves, and I even made an apple crisp last night. It was wonderful, and I do love it when the house smells all cinnamony - but Summer was just too, too short this year. Sigh. How do you get yourself to embrace Fall - any tips? I need tips. And, if anyone has any really excellent "Autumnal" recipes, especially involving using the slow cooker, please share. If you want, I'll send you my Apple Crisp recipe.

About Turner

2008-09-29T18:38:00.008-05:00

Geronimo's been really clingy since the visiting dog left. Yes...I am doing something about it. Here's the deal:

I realized recently that I still have 16 vacation days left to use in 2008, and it's almost October. Gulp. We have a use 'em or lose 'em policy where I work, so I really have to use them. I also have enough frequent flier miles left for another free trip somewhere. So I thought I'd better take one more trip before I adopt a dog. Right? Now I know no one will believe me but I really did think about where I should go. Uh huh! I did too!!! But heh, somehow Boston won out, I never did see Wendy last time, I've never seen Salem in October, and yadda yadda ...so I'm going back week after next. Miss Predictable, ok, whatever. And then ~ joy of all joys ~ then my dog can come.

Yes, Turner is official. She'll stay at her foster home until I get back on October 14, and since she's coming from the East side of Wisconsin, we just have to line up when her foster mom and I are going to drive to LaCrosse, WI to meet. But the adoption papers have been drawn up - she's my dog.

The story of Turner's life, is that until a few weeks ago, she was a farm dog. 13 years watching livestock, horses, goats, even peacocks. She was never abused, but she was also never spoiled. She was a respected farm-hand, a working dog. She was never bathed, given shots, spayed, or allowed in the house. She slept in the barn, no matter the weather. But the farmer was kind to her, and she pretty much RAN the place. Sadly, the farm was put up for sale last month. Realtors and prospective buyers started coming and going from the property, and Turner, being hard of hearing and not used to so many cars, nearly got herself run over a few times. She didn't look where she was going, and wandered aimlessly right in front of them. So the farmer decided it would be best to send her to Collie Rescue.

Now you'd think she'd be heartbroken to leave the only life she ever knew, the freedom and familiarity of the farm, the kindly farmer, the cats in the barn that kept her warm on winter nights, but... apparently NOT. From the day she entered her foster home, she seemed to 'get' that she had just hit the jackpot. She immediately surmised that this thing called a "couch" might be very comfy if you jumped up on it. Ooh, and it was. She enjoyed her first-ever 'spa day' immensely - I haven't seen the new photos yet but apparently the groomer made her look gorgeous. She's just totally in heaven with this new life of soft beds, treats, affection, and best of all - no more work. I like her attitude. "Don't ask me, I'm retired!" Turner says.

I've read about and seen so many beautiful dogs in the last few weeks, and they were all wonderful, and all in need. That magic 'spark' is unexplainable. Chemistry is a very mysterious thing, eh? I just knew immediately that Turner was my dog. I had this same feeling the first time I ever saw a photo of Laddie. It's like lightning striking. October 14th - I can barely wait!

Hands Full

2008-09-27T09:34:00.017-05:00

Woo, have I got my hands full today! I got lonely for Laddie this week, and kept trying to force myself to finally clean his noseprints off the windows, but kept finding I just couldn't do it yet, 'cuz you know, once they're gone, they're gone forever. So silly. Anyway, I recently posted on Craigslist that I was available for dog-sitting. I thought just having a dog around, even for a day, might do me good. This is my first customer. His name is Mitchell. He's eight months old and FULL of energy. Geronimo isn't sure about all his prancing, panting and play bowing, yet he hasn't been more than a few feet from him since he arrived. Right now Mitchell is sleeping at my feet and Geronimo is on my desk directly above him. This cat sure loves dogs - I took this photo within fifteen minutes of their meeting.

It's funny after having a plodding old gentleman dog like Laddie to have such a high-energy, rambunctious puppy around. Mitchell walked ME around the block this morning, and completely bypassed all of Laddie's favorite sniffing spots, in hot pursuit of squirrels. Laddie was never even aware of squirrels. So different. But it was wonderful to have Mitchell's company while I raked leaves and puttered in the yard all morning. He disrupted my leaf pile more than once, tearing around full-throttle with no idea where his crazy legs were taking him. Luckily, when he comes inside he quiets down quickly and is a very good house dog. His mom and dad had never left him anywhere before, and were such worried parents - they were adorable. I bet they'll call twice today to check on him, and they're picking him up at 7! It felt odd taking money for watching him - seemed like I should be the one paying. Rent-A-Dog. Although I don't think I'm suited long-term for such a young, bouncy pup as this, having him visit totally reaffirmed that I'm a girl who's happiest with a dog at her side. Gah, I miss Laddie so much!

Stuff and Nonsense

2008-09-22T13:38:00.021-05:00

Apparently, I live in a black hole. Or the Tardis. I've been in extreme house purging mode, in my efforts to make myself more 'portable', but to my amazement, the more crap I get rid of, the deeper I go, and the more I find. I had twenty years worth of tax returns. There's just no reason for that. Then the other day I went through all of my purses, and amongst all sorts of nonsense lurking, I found sixteen, yes SIXTEEN different pairs of sunglasses!! For some reason, that bothered me. It struck me that there are people all over the world without enough to eat, and I have sixteen pairs of sunglasses I forgot I had.

It's also sobering to realize what slaves we become to our meaningless stuff. For me - no more. Oscar Wilde said, "Have nothing in your home that is neither beautiful nor useful." One pair of sunglasses is useful. A fondue set, let's face it - not useful. A framed photo of Laddie - beautiful. I've only found a few items that I couldn't quite categorize. For example the Magic Eight Ball that sits on my desk: not exactly beautiful, however I do quite often use it to decide if I should do laundry or not, or have another beer or not. For now I'm calling it "semi-useful".

But seriously, how awesome is Craigslist? Connecting people who want to get rid of things with the people who want those very things - it's recycling at it's finest. I mean, where else can you post "Leather chair totally demolished by my cats" and have over 40 people email immediately saying, "Ooh, ooh, I want it! I want it!" That shredded eyesore was out of my house within the hour - good riddance! Same with my post, "Battleship Game - some boats missing. Speed Version." Some guy scurried clear from the other side of town to get it. What a world.

One man's trash truly is another man's treasure. I guess that's good. So how long do you think it'll take for these to go?

Yearbook Yourself

2008-09-18T20:02:00.026-05:00

Memories From Yearbooks Of Days Gone By

1950: Lois got straight A's in Home Economics and even made her own green chiffon and taffeta dress for the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance. She married her high school sweetheart, Hank, and spent the next 30 years on Valium.

1960: Betty became a stenographer and rumor has it, a highly-paid dominatrix.

1968: She became your mother.

1975: After the divorce, Ann opened a radical feminist bookstore, fair trade cafe, and activist center in Colorado Springs. At age 50 she married her yoga instructor, Raoul, who is 23.

1987: Lisa saw Tiffany in concert at the mall sixteen times. After graduation, she managed a Glamour Shots store, and settled down with her boyfriend Rick, from Sbarro. Today they and their daughter Tiffany run a chain of Cinnabons.

If you're brave enough, go to Yearbookyourself.com and upload a photo of yourself - I dare you to post the results!

What's-on-my-mind Wednesday

2008-09-17T11:43:00.025-05:00

1. All my life I've ordered the darkest roast coffee in the coffee shop, or bought the darkest roast beans for home, thinking dark= more caffeine. I just learned this morning, and Wiki'd it to confirm: dark-roast coffee has less caffeine than light. The roasting process actually reduces the bean's caffeine content. They don't teach you this in college, but they should.

2. Some people simply cannot grasp the concept of "my left" vs. "your left".

3. Anyone know any good websites with frugal living tips? Not ridiculous ones, telling me to separate two-ply toilet paper or put soap slivers into an old sock. Reasonable tips, for being environmentally conscious and finding clever ways to conserve energy and be a responsible consumer. I do like a blog called "Get Rich Slowly" - got any others to share?

4. The only really concrete thing I can do right now toward my goal of moving, is to start ruthlessly preparing my house to be 'market ready'. It's very satisfying, regardless of when the move will actually occur. Although I don't have a cluttered house, it's amazing how much more stuff I've found to get rid of, under this new critical eye for what's worth moving 1,400 miles. I've been tossing, posting things on eBay and Craigslist, and HEY LOCALS: if you need furniture, housewares, linens, board games, garden supplies, camping supplies, knick knacks, books... seriously, check with me before you buy anything.

5. John Lennon said, "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." Well, while I'm busy making plans to start a new life in another state - I'm considering opening my current home to this little lady below. Heh, I know, she's not so little! She's 13 years old, and deaf. Guaranteed to break my heart in a matter of months, and never live to see Massachusetts with me - but she needs a kind and gentle retirement home. And I need some 'life' in my life while I'm busy making other plans. And she snuggles with cats. What do you think.

My idea for world peace

2008-09-14T21:17:00.007-05:00

This is part of the squirrel nursery at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Each one of these bins holds anywhere from one to five baby squirrels. Each bin has a piece of polar fleece to snuggle in, another piece strung through the holes in the bins to create a hammock, and each bin sits atop a heating pad.

Each squirrel gets checked for hydration, is fed a precise amount of warm formula based on their weight, gets their face and/or bum cleaned, and gets a piece of apple, a bowl of moist cereal-like stuff called Zupreem, a piece of monkey chow (yeah really) and some sunflower seeds.

A couple pics of me feeding one -

My blood pressure goes down about 8,000 points after an evening of this. Gah, I think I need the doctor to write me a prescription: Sandra needs at least 20 squirrels a week for health reasons. All's well in the world when they grasp you with their little hands, look deep into your eyes as they drink their formula, and then slurp any drops they missed off your fingers with their little pink tongues.

I've figured out how to save the world: All politicians should be required to hand feed at least 50 baby orphaned animals a week ~ to keep them calm, level-headed, honest, tender-hearted and attuned to others. I swear it would work.

Moving thoughts

2008-09-11T12:30:00.015-05:00

Well, I spoke to my manager, and she's currently looking into the actual (vs. theoretical) possibility of my having an office out of Boston. If the answer comes back YES, then I think it's time to start a new chapter in my life. Really. And I'll wait on getting a new dog while this is pending. Now, if the answer comes back NO, well, that will obviously complicate things mightily. I like my job. So I thought I'd better start with investigating that angle first, as the relevance of any other steps I take sort of hinges on being employed. Even if upper management and HR approve, we'd still need to coordinate with corporate properties people in Boston, etc. I'm sure it's complicated, so I won't expect a firm answer right away. I'm optimistic, though.

Just for fun, and to indulge my fantasies, I have Googled a bit about cross-country moves, and depending on who you want to believe, people say it's either the most daunting and stressful thing they've ever done, or it's been the best, most fulfilling thing they've ever done. To be honest, the only part of the whole operation I find daunting and stressful is moving with cats. Unlike dogs, who love nothing more than sticking their head out a car window and pretending they're flying, cats don't travel well in cars! They make a big dramatic uproar out of a ten-minute ride to the vet, and it's a 22 hour drive without stopping, from Minneapolis to Boston. I'm not convinced that flying them there would be any less hellish. I sort of hyperventilate just thinking about transporting 3 cats 1,400 miles. I think the heavy use of sedatives would be called for. And a few for the cats, as well.

That part of the fantasy is not so delightful. So back to reality, where I'm still in Minnesota, here's one good local thing going on: tomorrow night I'm attending a party where Garrison Keillor will be one of the guests. Actually, how much more Minnesotan can it get? It should be good fun, though. Maybe he'll have some news from Lake Wobegon. I'll try for a photo op!

Salem weekend

2008-09-08T15:04:00.009-05:00

Long weekends are so... short.

I'm back from Salem already. We had such a perfect weekend though, and despite all sorts of threats of bad weather, nothing really happened, other than a brief gale while we were at The House of Seven Gables on Saturday. We were actually inside the house when the wind picked up and we had an amazing view of the waves crashing, as we peered from a window up in one of the gables. Unfortunately the weather kept us from seeing Wendy, and that was disappointing. We thought the weather was going to be worse, and so canceled traveling to each other, but as things turned out, we could have done it. Darn. But as she said, I'll be back.

We met such stellar people, saw historical sights, walked all over, shopped, ate good food... and of course, same as last time, now I'm wondering again why I haven't yet packed up and left Minnesota when I love it there so much. Sure, I have a house to sell, and yes the small matter of my old house still not having sold, but those things simply can't be insurmountable. I think I need to put myself on a timeline- say a one year plan, and just start organizing. I mean, considering that I could probably keep my current job, it wouldn't even be that wild or daring of a move. People do it all the time. One more winter here sounds about right. Well no, one more winter here sounds like one too many, but... I think I could tolerate one more if I knew it would be the last.

Meeting Jessica was amazing, I feel like I've known her for years. And, I think she liked Salem as much as I do - which was brilliant. I truly loved meeting this wonderful woman, and hope I get to see her again before too long. Jess, you made everything so fun!

I think the good pics, especially the ones with us in them, are on her camera, but I did get a few. Here's one of The House of Seven Gables just before the storm blew in:

A typical Salem shop window. Happy Halloween! I'm sure this window looks exactly the same in February.

The oldest houses have white plaques that tell who built the house, when, and what the person did for a living. I only saw one with a woman's name, and her profession was listed as "widow". It seemed like many of the builders were boatwrights. I would love a little house like this, with a 1796 boatwright's name on it.

A deliberately gloomy shot of The Old Burying Point - good, eh?

More pics forthcoming but I have an awful lot of catching up here at home to attend to first. Hope everyone had a good weekend?

Hopping on my broomstick

2008-09-04T21:33:00.005-05:00

By 11 am I'll be in Boston, and by 1 or so, Salem. I may pick up a copy of The Lace Reader for the plane.

Fingers crossed that Hurricane Hanna shows mercy on us - I'm so looking forward to a girl's weekend with the lovely Jess, and a trip to Boston to see Wendy!

Have a great weekend and I'll try to get some pics up by Monday night.

Totally unrelated bullet points

2008-09-02T19:30:00.024-05:00

Sunday night at the Wildlife Rehab Center we fed 92 baby squirrels! I fed my first Red Squirrel- they're incredibly wriggly, and my first Flying Squirrel. By the way, behbeh squirrels don't just hold the syringe with their tiny hands and make slurp slurp slurp sounds...they also make a little eh, eh, eh sound at the same time. I'm telling you, there's nothing like it.

The ex reached out again last week, again claiming to want friendship. He seemed genuinely sad about Laddie, and invited me for a continuation of my birthday celebrations. You're all shaking your heads, but idiot me, always wanting to make something good out of something bad, went to his house for dinner last night. FOR THE LAST TIME. Among many offensive comments, he mentioned heading for L.A. tomorrow to see his girlfriend and referred to it as a "maintenance trip." I asked if she was nice. He said yee-es. I said then don't talk about her that way. We had words, which quickly escalated to more words. It was our first argument ever, actually, which was perhaps overdue, but I didn't like it at all. But suddenly in the midst of it...a veil lifted. I looked at him, and I could no longer see ANY resemblance to Antonio Banderas, whatsoever. I'm partly kidding about that, but what I mean is that my illusions disappeared. I saw a short, wild-haired, sloppily dressed 48 year-old man who thinks that being a classical musician gives him CLASS...but newsflash, Maestro! It doesn't! When the inevitable 'booty call' topic reared it's ugly head again, I snapped that I would not help him cheat on his girlfriend and he was never to ask me that again. To which he snapped, "Well then why are you here??" Ah. My cue to exit. It's truly done. I mean, it's been done for 7 months, but it took him being a complete and utter jackass for it to not only be done in my heart, but done causing confusion, done being idealized, and done even for friendship, sadly. I honestly hope I never see him again.

Now. Dear City Of Boston: why can't you make it easier to get from Logan to North Station? It shouldn't take two hours to get to Salem, c'mon - it's 15 miles. I actually Googled this question today, and must say that I enjoyed finding that the official answer is, "Suck it up." I love that town.

Omigod, Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat Ale. Trust me on this.

I'm going to a fundraiser house party next week, and Garrison Keillor will be there. I think it'll be cool to meet him.

I rarely get excited about upcoming movies, but there are TWO now that I'm dying to see: Burn After Reading and Religulous. Who wants to go?

Weekend Misc.

2008-08-30T08:30:00.013-05:00

Yesterday Geronimo came to me while I was working at my desk, and in a very garbled tone hollered, "Raarrrooogghaowwww" with such urgency that I had to look down. There I saw he had a mouthful of... DEAD MOUSE. Only dey tiny feets, whiskers and tail hung out the sides of his big silly stupid grin. He then placed his kill at my feet, and swished around, 'purrrrrupping' away, quite proudly. "I has hunting skillz!" he proclaimed. Ewwww. I went to get a plastic bag to collect the cadaver in.

When I returned, it was too late. The mouse was now back in his mouth, and before I could do anything, in one mighty GULP - it was gone. Swallowed whole. I was cringing all evening in anticipation of his vomiting that whole mouse right back up, probably in my bed - but we made it through the night.

I've kept myself busy this week, interviewing potential dogs (well, their foster parents) and I'm getting more confused by the minute. They all need homes. The pretty ones, the mutts, young, old, Laddie look-alikes, total Laddie opposites. Two rescue groups heard through the grapevine that I'm currently dogless, and approached me with dogs that desperately need foster homes. Gah, I don't know anymore. I'm going on my little East Coast vacation next week, and when I get back I'll make a decision.

I treated myself to having my hair deep-conditioned at the salon this morning. Summer humidity had turned it to straw, arghh! It's much smoother now. Later today I may go get my batter ingredients for Fried Green Tomatoes. I'm thinking FGTs and cold beer might be a match made in heaven. And tomorrow is Squirrel-feeding day again - hooray!!!!

Hope everyone has a great long weekend.

Randomness

2008-08-26T16:03:00.008-05:00

I know, I don't talk about anything but animals lately. Some people drink when life isn't going their way. Some have a mid-life crisis. Some read self-help books. Me, I feed a few baby squirrels, and suddenly, all's right with the world. The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center is incredible. I saw everything from injured turtles with cracks in their shells being fixed, to orphaned ducklings, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, and of course squirrels. We fed 60 baby squirrels on Sunday night. Six-Oh. That's a lot of skwerls. I can't wait to go back and do it again next week - there is nothing sweeter than a baby squirrel slurping formula off your fingers! I think I'm going to get rabies shots next year so I can work with the larger critters, too. You don't need the shots to work in the nurseries. I'll take photos of the place next week, they said I could.

Norm Coleman's tv attack ad on Al Franken has me totally riled. Exploiting an 8 year-old girl, and having her LIE for him, saying Franken doesn't pay taxes? Isn't there a law against saying crap like that? And whassup with having the little squirt say Franken is "like 100" years old? Franken is 57. Coleman is 59! Gah! Whatever!! I'm gonna need like three baby squirrels to come down from this outrage.

Does anyone know the "correct" way to make Fried Green Tomatoes? I have a bumper crop of tomatoes going on and I need to find more ways of eating them than just throwing slices on a sandwich. I found a few recipes on the web, but I want the correct Southern way, like the ones Miss Idgie Threadgoode used to make. And do the tomatoes really have to be green, or can they also be red?

Codie

2008-08-24T13:39:00.014-05:00

I met this guy yesterday. I felt totally conflicted afterwards, mainly because the mortgage crisis is wreaking havoc right now, my personal life is ...oh let's not even go there, and of course I'm missing Laddie terribly, so I kept wondering if it was the right time to be dog shopping at all. I feared I was dog "rebounding" - and it wouldn't be fair to get a new dog unless I truly wanted THAT dog. But I dreamt about Codie all night, and I can't get him out of my head. So finances be damned, I think he is the one. I've never seen a dog so good with cats, so calm, and so NOT barky. He has a few issues, but nothing unmanageable. I'm just going to mull it over for a while.

I also met Sam the Great Pyrenees on Friday. He was amazing, too. Probably a little too much dog for me, though. Later that day I found this test that asks you various questions about your lifestyle, and what you like/dislike in a dog, and to my amazement, the #1 dog they recommended for me was...a Collie. Great Pyrenees came in at #8. I tried tweaking my answers to be more flexible on certain things, and still, Collie came up #1 every time. I know it was just a fun web test, but it was interesting that of all the hundreds of breeds they had programmed in, I kept drawing Collies. So, we'll see.

Not the new pets I had in mind!

2008-08-21T22:01:00.011-05:00

Three little baby squirrels fell from their nest and landed in my back yard today. One didn't make it, but these two are alive and kicking. I followed all of the instructions on the internet, and tried to reunite them with their birth mother all evening, but she didn't take them back. Once it started getting dark, the articles all said not to expect her back until morning. I did drive them to the Humane Society but when I got there I didn't have the heart to leave them in one of those after-hours drop boxes. Just couldn't do it. So that was a wasted trip - we came home. I've been feeding them Pedialyte from a syringe, to at least keep them hydrated. They are sleeping on their hot water bottle and seem pretty content.

Oh and they have fleas. LOTS of fleas. I'll be flea bombing my bathroom tomorrow and throwing away every towel they touched. Oh well. Wish us luck that when I set them out at 6 am, the Mama squirrel takes them home. If not, I'll take them to Wildlife Rehab. I wish I could rehab them, they're so close to opening their eyes...but I just don't know enough.

They sure are sweet though.

UPDATE: One baby was taken back by their mama, but four hours later she had not returned for baby #2, who I named Gollum. So Gollum went to the Wildlife Rehab Center, where I can tell he's in good hands. Also, I signed up to volunteer there, in the mammal nursery - I'll be hand-feeding baby critters every Sunday evening from now until mid-October, so maybe I'll get to see him on Sunday when I go in for my training. Awesome.

Thursday Misc.

2008-08-20T11:16:00.010-05:00

Yesterday morning I was doing a little tidying and moved Laddie's collar and tags from the table to a hook on the front door where his leash still hangs. Geronimo heard it's familiar jingle jingle, and came RUNNING from the kitchen, fairly trotting with his tail straight up in the air, looking up at me with the brightest happiest eyes, as if to say, "The dog's back, hooray, let's go for a walk!!" When he got to the front door and realized there was no dog, only me, he milled around for a while, clearly disconcerted by what he'd heard. So I felt like I had to show him the collar and tags, and console him that he wasn't going crazy. I probably looked pretty silly explaining the jingling and demonstrating, "See? It was just this. {jingle jingle} See? This is what you heard. It's ok." As he turned away, yawning, to go sleep in the laundry basket, I realized that cats probably don't actually question their very sanity upon hearing a sound from the past. Maybe only we humans traumatize ourselves that way.

I'm meeting Sam the Pyrenees tomorrow. And I'm driving up to Duluth on Saturday to meet Codie the Collie. Both foster moms are awesome and would gladly keep them for me until after my East Coast trip. Both dogs have some issues. But so did Laddie (crippling fear of stairs, fireworks and thunder, separation anxiety, stubborness, barkyness, etc.) Both of these dogs have many wonderful traits too. I do feel like there's at least one more dog I'm supposed to hear about ... so I'm staying open, and not locking in to just these two.

I watched "Best In Show" the other night - if you've never seen it, I think it's Christopher Guest's BEST. The saga of the lost "Busy Bee" - ha!

This beats online dating

2008-08-19T13:55:00.004-05:00

It reminds me of it, though - shopping online for someone to love, that I've never met.

Please click here and tell me what you think of Sir Reginald (Reggie) or Codie? They're lovely, and not too much like Laddie. Just the age I have arbitrarily set in mind - 6 years old. I only don't love their names. I wonder if they're too old to have their names changed.

I've also been looking at a Sheltie with three legs: Click here and scroll down to look at Logan. He's younger than I was planning to adopt, but his wee disability makes my heart go out to him.

I'm even considering a complete change: check out this Great Pyrenees...I sort of love the idea of that big lug sleeping on my couch. He's had such a rough past, I sort of want to hug him forever, you know?

Do you like any of these guys? Do they seem like a "fit"?

My friend

2008-08-17T11:35:00.021-05:00

Sorry for not posting sooner. I lost Laddie so unexpectedly, that some of what happened is a bit of a blur for me. I knew he was an old man of course, 12 is quite old for a Collie, but I thought we had so much more time.

I came home from work early on Thursday, and the two of us sat in the back yard for a while enjoying the beautiful weather. He seemed perfectly fine. We went inside and watched a little evening tv. It was later in the evening when I suggested that we go outside again, that something was suddenly wrong. He just couldn't get up. He struggled and struggled to get up, but it was as if his legs weren't getting the signal from his brain. I tried to help him, my neighbor James came over and lifted him up, but his legs just didn't want to 'work'.

We spent the evening at the emergency vet, where they loaded him up on Demerol, thinking it was just an arthritis flare-up and sent us home. He slept well, and in the morning, he did actually stand up on his own, briefly. But within minutes he went down again, and stayed down. So I took him to our regular vet. She didn't think it was a case of simple arthritis. She found signs that something neurological was going on, possibly a brain tumor - which also fit with the strange little 'seizures' he'd been having in recent months. We don't know. But he couldn't stand or walk, which confused and frustrated him, and despite all the Demerol, he seemed to be in pain. So it wasn't a difficult decision. I laid beside him hugging him as he passed, it was peaceful.

I can't describe how empty the house is without him. I know that for many people, it would be ages before they could consider getting another dog, after losing one so special. Me, I can't stand this! Home isn't home without a dog - it's just this quiet, empty place that I don't even enjoy being. I can't imagine gardening all alone in the yard with no dog beside me. Taking a walk alone? Are you serious? No. I knew Laddie was a senior dog when I got him, I knew this day would come - and I feel he'd want me to open my home and heart to another dog who needs me, especially because it turns out I need them too, just as much. So...in the next few weeks I'll probably be showing you guys my 'contenders' and asking for your feedback. It will be bittersweet - I know there's no 'replacing' him. I do worry that I won't love the new dog quite as much. But I'm pretty sure that in time, I will - perhaps in a different way, but I will.

Laddie will still be my dog, forever and ever. If you go to the Minnesota Wisconsin Collie Rescue's Rainbow Bridge page, you'll see they've already added him at the bottom. If you click on his pic, you'll see the original ad that led me to adopt him. It's a nice memory. He certainly left me with LOTS of those.

Saddest day

2008-08-15T12:53:00.002-05:00

Laddie just passed away. I'll say more about it later. Right now I just miss my dog.

Thursday Thankfulness

2008-08-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

Today I am thankful for:

1. My new Canon SD750 - skillfully scored on eBay, arrived today and is charging up for action.
2. My old Minolta Crapola X1 is selling on eBay and the bids are almost up to what I paid for my Canon. Sweet! I feel slightly guilty about this but hey, people should read the reviews.
3. I booked a trip to Salem Mass - I'm off in 3 weeks.
4. Jessica is going to meet me there!
5. I get to meet Wendy and Simon the Corgi!
6. I get to see Zombie and Squinty again! (Fingers crossed, anyway.)
7. My birthday is tomorrow and I took the afternoon off.
8. I'm having dinner with a friend tomorrow night.
9. I'm having drinks with another friend later tomorrow night.
10. I'm having another birthday dinner with another friend on Sunday.

It's all good.

7 Things Meme

2008-08-13T12:44:00.012-05:00

I've been tagged by Her Royal Highness, The Peanut Queen!

7 things I plan to do before I die:

Write a book
Bring happiness to others
Fall in love
Pet a lion
Visit New Zealand
Get botox
Become a truly good gardener

7 things I can do:

Clean my house in one hour (I have a system)
Travel solo and enjoy it
Make a killer Greek Salad
Find treasures buried in thrift shops
Convince anyone I'm fine when I'm not
Turns out I'm darn good at growing tomatoes
Befriend animals that don't know me

7 things I cannot do:

Play the violin
The splits
Drive an automatic
Suffer fools
Remember a joke
Extreme sports
Cook without a recipe

7 things that attract me to the opposite sex:

Sparkling eyes
Having interests they're passionate about
Sincerity
A wry sense of humor
A good reputation
A really big heart
Excellent grammar and spelling

7 celebrity crushes:

George Clooney
Hugh Grant
Hugh Laurie

Johnny Depp
Antonio Banderas
Gordon Ramsay
Ok locals, laugh at me: Tim Sherno, a local news reporter.

7 people who need to do this:

Caroline
Aliecat
Shephard
Wendy
Arwen
Jessica
The Mutt Princess

Sum-sum-summertime

2008-08-10T17:08:00.029-05:00

What a gorgeous day we had yesterday! Warm but not humid, sunny with blue skies...perfect for a little day trip! Ms. Alie and I traveled to scenic Stillwater, MN, to peruse it's many antique shops and be total girls: ooh-ing and ah-ing over Victorian sofas and Art Deco butter dishes, lingering unhurriedly in a kitchen gadgetry shop, ~~making snide comments about stupid people~~ people watching, and lunching on the outdoor patio of the old Freight House restaurant, overlooking the beautiful St. Croix River.

After lunch we took a little break from antiquing. In the 40 minutes or so that we just sat along the river watching boats and sipping iced coffee, this fella was rokking out. He only played two songs: the extended versions of "Satisfaction" (he really couldn't get him no) and "Magic Bus" (turns out there IS such a thing as TOO MUCH Magic Bus.)

Big boats would honk their horns and the lift bridge would go up to let them through. There on the other side of the river, is Wisconsin.

We also took a tour of some underground caves that once housed a pre-Prohibition brewery. No beer was provided, as we'd hoped, but it was educational. It's always good to learn more about how beer is made, and the history of beer. A girl can't really know too much about beer.

It was a lovely day to spend so much time outdoors, we spent very little money, and it felt like a mini vacation. We talked about important things like resolving to drink more iced tea and less soda. I marveled at the number of men I observed happily antiquing with their girlfriends, and wondered where so many women had found these willing-to-antique men. Alie reckoned we were simply witnessing the result of years of ~~systematic abuse~~ careful training.

It was a peaceful day. What did you do this weekend?

Prospecting

2008-08-06T17:59:00.009-05:00

I had a delightful chat with Shephard last night, awwww, what an awesome human being! We discussed my recent errr...challenges, and off the top of his head he gave me an analogy that I just love. It can really apply to anyone, in almost any situation, so I'd like to share.

When we truly desire something in our life, whether it's love, money, success, or {insert your desire here} - that desire requires that we go Panning For Gold. Because let's face it, gold isn't going to fall out of the sky and land in our laps. Ok, that does seem to happen to some people but let's face it, we hate those people. The rest of us have to go panning.

Now as it happens, I tried my hand at a little actual gold panning once, on a vacation in Deadwood, South Dakota. An old fella demonstrated his technique and taught us the wrist action needed to swish gravel and other junk out of our pans. I remember he said that there were "Three P's" in gold panning: Patience, Practice, and Persistence.

So let's go to my allegorical stream. A stream where many other people have found gold, in fact it seems like almost everyone except me has found something there, and it's highly unlikely that someone's snagged the last piece. First I need to find a comfortable spot to work in, one that's right for me. Then it may take me a while to master my wrist action. But after that, watch out - I'm panning. Of course, I'll mainly find worthless old rocks and grit, which I'll swish right out of my pan. I may find a petrified dog poop...eww. One day I may find a shiny piece of Fool's Gold and waste my time celebrating, adoring it, imagining how much joy it's going to bring me, only to learn... it's worthless. I may even get a piece of pure gold in my pan, but miss it because I was distracted, or still belly-aching about that stupid piece of Fool's Gold - and I may swish a beautiful gold nugget right down the stream, for someone else to find.

If I throw my pan in the river in disgust and stomp home saying, "There IS no gold, it's all rocks, I give up!!" Well, breaks are necessary, but I sure as heck won't find my gold sitting home crying and eating whole wheels of brie. Eventually, I'll have to go back to the stream, find another good spot, remember what Fool's Gold looks like, and keep panning. Patience, Practice and Persistence.

Analogy complete. Now git out there and work on your wrist action.

2008-08-04T11:30:00.011-05:00

I'm much better today. Hearing what you all had to say, spending the evening with good friends, and even getting a phone call from Jessica - it all really helped! I don't feel like expending any energy being angry, and that's probably a good sign, no?

Crash

2008-08-03T07:38:00.022-05:00

I know I haven't said very much about the true state of my personal life since my breakup, months ago. At the time I even deleted most of the posts that mentioned him, because I wanted to be respectful, and as I didn't have his permission to write about him, I took no liberties. My attitude this morning has adjusted quite a bit.

Last night, after 6 months apart, and making very painstaking steps recently toward healing and reuniting, I sat under the stars with my heart's desire and the barriers between us seemed to just crumble down. He was sweet, and affectionate and full of questions about my day, my week, my last few months, my feelings, my plans. Finally at one point I looked at him and said, "I miss you so much." He looked like he was going to cry, and immediately reached out, and we embraced, and gushed, and kissed, and talked. Little kisses turned to real kisses turned to passionate kisses, and I thought: YES! He's worked out all his issues! He DOES still want to be with me. My patience is being rewarded! My wishes have come true!

And just when it couldn't have been more beautiful, and more joyous - he asked if we could have occasional sex since he's in a long-distance relationship now, that began before we split, and he isn't getting enough sex, what with her living in L.A.

He has just tossed my broken heart into a VitaMix and pushed the "Puree" button.

After all of my sincere concern for him over these last 6 months, the constant pain of missing him, and how hollow all of my attempts at dating have been, because my heart was truly his ... after all this, he asks for booty calls to tide him over between trips to see a girl in Los Angeles.

I'm gutted. I didn't see this coming at all. To devalue me like that after the beautiful relationship we had, to devalue himself as well, not to mention this poor woman in L.A. who thinks she has a true heart that cares for her in Minneapolis. I don't even know who he is anymore.

I pretty much cried all night. Partly because of what was said, partly because his eyelashes are so thick and beautiful, and partly because I ached to take him up on his proposition, I'm ashamed to say. But of course I can't, and of course I won't.

I'm just sick about this, and there's no fixing it. No more 'waiting for him to snap out of it', no more imagining how we can fix things someday. I just want to crawl into a cave for a little while now.

A Voice In The Hall

2008-07-30T22:01:00.019-05:00

Make of this what you will.

I've mentioned before that the couple renting half of my duplex have repeatedly said the place is haunted. I was skeptical, as I lived there for 16 years (on the other side of duplex) and never had an experience. Well, I had one in the back yard about 10 years ago, but I never associated it with the house itself. I saw a boy in knee-length pants and a cap run down the alley, and only after he'd passed did I realize his feet hadn't made a sound on the gravel. The duplex is on land that was an orphanage from the 1880's - 1920's.

The tenants kept telling of a woman's voice in the bedroom hallway, chattering away at night, and laughing. They frequently heard closets open and close. The tv would turn off, curiously only when they had guests. Once they both saw a shadow at the end of the hall go into one of the bedrooms. Sometimes in the middle of the night, their usually sound asleep dogs would rough-house in the living room, as if someone was playing with them. But mostly they heard this jabbering voice in the hallway. They could never make out what it was saying, and if they got out of bed, it would stop.

Well, these tenants just bought their own home and moved out today. New renters are moving in tomorrow. I went over around 8 tonight to make sure everything had been left clean (it was spotless) and to see if anything needed fixing. I was putzing in the kitchen, when loud and unmistakable, I heard a woman's voice came from the bedroom hall. "Wa wa WA wa wa wa." Sort of like the teacher on Charlie Brown. Not scary, not angry, not sad - I didn't catch a clear word, but it definitely came from RIGHT THERE in the hall. There's no question in my mind.

I stopped cold for a moment. This was what they'd been telling me about, all year. I just couldn't believe how LOUD it was! You couldn't NOT hear it. I collected myself and fake-casually walked to the end to the hall, and called, "Hello?"

Nothing.

I don't know what to say, but I heard what I heard. I always thought they were hearing the voice of the lady on the other side of the duplex, but within minutes of this happening, that lady came up the front steps with bags of KFC in her arms... she hadn't been home.

Nothing else happened the rest of the time I was there. I'll admit I never got the nerve up to inspect the basement. I'm sure it's clean.

As soon as I got home I called my now-former tenants and gushed about what had just happened. They were pretty relieved that I finally knew they weren't crazy! They told me some awesome stories, too. Apparently the activity was always worse on days that they were doing home repairs. In fact, just today as they were cleaning, the cupboard doors kept getting closed, even though they weren't done cleaning them out! Over the last year they had learned to keep the ghost lady in line, too. Before guests would come over, they'd say, "Now look - my sister is coming over so no turning the tv off, that freaks her out." And nothing would happen that night. In the middle of the night when she was blabbing in the hall, they'd tell her to BE QUIET. And she would be.

So now ~ do I tell my new tenants about this? They're two single women. It might be creepier for them than for a couple, you know? The old tenants swear it was never threatening, in fact they often heard cheerful laughter. We actually think it's a friendly ghost. Should I bite my tongue and wait until the new tenants say something?

Terrible Before/After Pics

2008-07-29T09:59:00.028-05:00

I'm so crabby about my camera!! I took photos of my dining room painting night before and after - not ONE came out clear. I actually found several reviews of my current camera on Amazon today, which prove that my constant blurry photos are not due to user error ~ it's just not a good camera. It manages outdoor shots, or subjects within 6 feet of the flash, but indoor shots are always dark and blurry.

So, here are my blurry pics. BEFORE, the walls were pale yellow stripes. I'd painted an old church pew olive green and had big throw pillows on it there on the back wall. It never worked but I lived with it for a while.

AFTER, these are terrible pics, but it's now a really happy blue called Peacock Tail. I like it where you can see blue, red, and green from other rooms. In the bottom photo if you look carefully you can see framed on the wall is a brass rubbing I did on a medieval grave in Cambridge, England. It's a griffin. Gold seems to look really good against the new blue, too.

Many thanks to Danika for painstakingly painting all of the edges so I could just slop around with the roller! I'm going to wait a little while before continuing with the original plan of adding antiquing glaze and copper stencils. We'll see. Sometimes you have to know when to stop.

Fed up with the endless camera woes, I did some shopping today. I think I'm going to get a Canon SD850 unless anyone has a suggestion?

Not-So-Extreme Home Makeovers

2008-07-27T16:57:00.015-05:00

I'm exhausted!

I painted my dining room this week, for two solid evenings - it took four coats! It actually could stand a fifth coat, but I'm done. Maybe some winter's eve when I'm bored, I'll decide to add that last coat, but for now, uh uh. Note to self: use primer next time. I'll post pics tomorrow.

I also found these two almost 100 year-old chairs at a thrift shop, for $5. Yes, five bucks, a measly fin, for the pair. I couldn't resist them, I thought they had excellent 'bones':

I took the seat cushions off, polished the wood up with Pledge Refinishing Oil (they were just thirsty!) and then recovered the cushions with new fabric...and voila! Below you can see my little oak kitchen table that I found on the side of the road a few years ago, with the new (old) chairs. I love saving things and giving them a second life! Ha, technically the white dog in this photo was 'recycled' too.

For some reason the new fabric didn't photograph very well at all, it looks like boring plaid here but it's actually a thick tapestry, much prettier and richer in real life:

Eat your heart out, Design On A Dime - anybody can spruce up a room for $500, but try doing it for one one-hundredth of that. Ty Pennington, if you are reading this ~ yes I am available to work on Extreme Home Makeover with you. Or, for drinks in the jacuzzi.

Money cannot buy happiness

2008-07-23T13:45:00.018-05:00

Is that a confirmed fact? I mean, have scientists validated it?

Because, I really do feel that I would be quite happy if I could buy this wallpaper called "Blackbird" for my dining room. At $155 a roll, and the wallpaper company's estimate that I need 18 rolls, that only comes to... HA! Way outta my range. However if I could afford it, it seems to me that I would smile, a lot. But I guess I'll settle for a $40 bucket of paint, so I can be happier. Yeah.

I've also been drooling over a local faux painter's portfolio, and dreaming of having them do something like this in my entryway. Truly, I think I'd beam with joy every time I looked at it. It sure seems like it would be true joy, not faux joy?

So obviously these wouldn't make me happy at all, either. Hmm. Okey dokey.

Gah, I want things I cannot have right now. Many many things, everywhere I look. I either need to be happy with less or...I have to make more money. I have some thinking to do.

Up North

2008-07-20T10:08:00.025-05:00

I don't get out of the city very often, and when I do it's usually to visit an even larger city - so for me, trips to small town America are always pretty fascinating. Like being on Mars, only with good cheap beer. The four of us above (Josh, Jenni, myself and Danika) drove up to Superior, Wisconsin on Friday, for the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony of a friend's new retail shop up there. If you've never been to Superior, it's just over the Bong Bridge (I couldn't make that name up) from Duluth, MN. Superior isn't as hip or trendy as Duluth though, it's just a small, old, industrial town. It seems stuck in another era...but it's cute.

One thing Superior's got a lot of is bars. Old tymey bars, gay bars, juke joints, dives. Nothing upscale - if you want fancy, go to Duluth. Anyway we stopped in one of Superior's local watering holes...High Fives - Where Pleasure Is Just A Glass Away. Their motto is true...a round of drinks for all four of us totaled $9 - and we did indeed find that pleasurable. Actually we city folk were blown away by that! I loved the sign above the door: From Burgers to Steaks, Something for Everyone! Well, something for anyone who wants a big slab o' beef. Which in Superior, they assume is everyone.

I was also blown away by the 'regulars' at High Fives. Some women wore what looked like their old prom dresses from 1984. With black nylons. Hot!!!! I took this pic as the whole bar was roaring out, Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone!!!!!! These girls actually had me believing it's SO FRICKIN AWESOME when the thrill of living is gone:

They had karaoke - so Jenni and Danika sang "I Touch Myself" and as you can see, this fella went up front, and ummmm, touched himself.

Anyway, we had a great time, helped get the new store launched, had an outrageously big lunch at Hell's Kitchen in Duluth on Saturday, and did a little shopping in Canal Park. I fell in love with an interior design boutique there called Peasantworks that had little rooms painted in different styles, with different techniques. One room painted in a beautiful peacock blue color, with metallic copper stencils, just stopped me in my tracks, and now I'm totally obsessed with doing this to my dining room. I took a quick photo of it but this just doesn't capture how beautiful it was. I've been looking at paint company websites today trying to find this color...so far it looks like Benjamin Moore has a fairly close match called Tuscan Teal.

Must. Have. This. I'm on a mission. I hope to start work on the deep peacock teal and copper dining room transformation within the week. I already have a number of decorative things I can transfer from other rooms to get this look. All I should need to buy is paint, an Art Nouveau stencil, maybe a few peacock feathers. Before and After pics forthcoming soon, hopefully!

Almost too cute to eat

2008-07-16T22:12:00.010-05:00

The March Family Circle has instructions for making DOG CUPCAKES. Look at these things, I mean really LOOK!

My friend Teresa made these tonight, for her son's birthday party tomorrow - and I am floored at how much they look like the ones in the magazine. I think a certain nine year-old is going to have an awesome birthday party! Are these the cutest cupcakes you've ever seen in your life???????

Crafty artistic people amaze me. Anyway, if you want to make these, she said the directions are all in the March Family Circle. Let me know if you try it!!

Oh and,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASPER!!!!