A Couple Memories I would like to jot down from M's graduation weekend:
- It was Chico's (school chaplain) last year
- Orchestra did a great arrangement of "Ashokan Farewell"
- On graduation day, Benjamin went down for a nap to an extremely loud rendition of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as played by the high school band
- They had a classmate who "beat boxed" for one of the singing arrangements
- The commencement speaker had four rules for life (1) Don't try to find yourself (2) Interesting is good, boring is bad (3) Even when its not OK, thats OK (4) We live through people
- It was hot but sunny and beautiful
- Everyone loved Benjamin's sun glasses
- My sister just looked really happy
In other less fun news, one of our cats is missing. The three cats have been living at my sister's garage (attached to the house, used more as a workshop than garage. A couple of nights ago my sister heard cat noises outside at night, and then she could not find little caeser. She tried to coax him to the door but there was no sign of him. They have not seen him since and they don't know how he would have gotten out. I feel really bad about it, like I should do something, but I don't think there is anything we can really do. There is a small chance he will turn up on his own, but I don't know. It makes me sad.
Showing posts with label pets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pets. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Busy Week!
I had a very busy week! I thought I would be home all week, and actually home alone for three days of it, but that is not what happened at all.
Monday - My mom, sisters, Benjamin and I went to UMD (University of Minnesota Duluth). My older sis plays basketball there at noon almost every day that she is in town (her job travels). While she was doing that, the other four of us went on a walk all over UMD. Its a great place for walking because you can go forever without going outside - all the buildings are connected. After that we went out and enjoyed a good lunch, then I went to my sisters in-laws house so that her husband's grandma could meet baby. My family has been very blessed with ILs so far (pay attention younger siblings and keep the trend going! LOL). My sister's ILs have the general belief that the marriage between their son and my sister not only added her to their family, but all of us, and all of our in laws, creating one big network of happiness. I love it. So basically they very much feel Benjamin is part of their family.
Tuesday - We ran a bunch of shopping errands I had on my list and went for lunch with a family friend.
Wednesday - My sister called me in the morning and invited us (Benjamin and I), to spend the day with her. We ran errands with her in the morning in town, then went to my Dad's office at UMD and sat and ate lunch with him while she played basketball, and then went back and hung out at her house all afternoon and had dinner there (DH and my little sister joined us). Nice change of pace to spend time with her!
Thursday - My lazy day. As previously mentioned, Benjamin was a bit fussy and I was exhausted, we stayed home all day, my little sister helped with Bry Guy enough for me to get a shower in. The evening it was just my mom, benji and I as everyone else went to a big high school basketball game. We gave Ben a bath and watched "Persuasion" (its a movie based on the Jane Austen book of the same name). It was quiet and relaxing.
Friday - This was a crazy day of driving. Our cat Nox turned up with a goopie eye, so I needed to take her to the vet - a trip that involved me driving all the way to my sisters house (13 miles), then all the way back past my parents house to the vet, then all the day back to my sisters house again! The cat is fine, just inflammation of a chronic eye thing she has. She is on meds now for 10 days. After that I went into town and picked my sister up, we had lunch, and then I came home. In the evening DH and I went to the UMD hockey game, it was a lot of fun! UMD won 4-3 in OT. UMD will be going into the playoffs ranked #4. My parents babysat and apparently Benjamin was quite riled up.
Saturday - We spent the day at home, did a lot of cleaning, DH went to the gym. In the afternoon my mom and I ran to a fabric store to meet my sister. In the evening DH and I (and baby) went out to dinner with my sister and her husband. Yummy mexican!
Sunday - It was snowing and blowing, so everyone stayed in. We listened to the Prairie Home Companion that was taped in Duluth on Saturday, watched "pus in boots" and watched the oscars. I also took a tramp around the woods with my lil sis and mom.
Monday - My mom, sisters, Benjamin and I went to UMD (University of Minnesota Duluth). My older sis plays basketball there at noon almost every day that she is in town (her job travels). While she was doing that, the other four of us went on a walk all over UMD. Its a great place for walking because you can go forever without going outside - all the buildings are connected. After that we went out and enjoyed a good lunch, then I went to my sisters in-laws house so that her husband's grandma could meet baby. My family has been very blessed with ILs so far (pay attention younger siblings and keep the trend going! LOL). My sister's ILs have the general belief that the marriage between their son and my sister not only added her to their family, but all of us, and all of our in laws, creating one big network of happiness. I love it. So basically they very much feel Benjamin is part of their family.
Tuesday - We ran a bunch of shopping errands I had on my list and went for lunch with a family friend.
Wednesday - My sister called me in the morning and invited us (Benjamin and I), to spend the day with her. We ran errands with her in the morning in town, then went to my Dad's office at UMD and sat and ate lunch with him while she played basketball, and then went back and hung out at her house all afternoon and had dinner there (DH and my little sister joined us). Nice change of pace to spend time with her!
Thursday - My lazy day. As previously mentioned, Benjamin was a bit fussy and I was exhausted, we stayed home all day, my little sister helped with Bry Guy enough for me to get a shower in. The evening it was just my mom, benji and I as everyone else went to a big high school basketball game. We gave Ben a bath and watched "Persuasion" (its a movie based on the Jane Austen book of the same name). It was quiet and relaxing.
Friday - This was a crazy day of driving. Our cat Nox turned up with a goopie eye, so I needed to take her to the vet - a trip that involved me driving all the way to my sisters house (13 miles), then all the way back past my parents house to the vet, then all the day back to my sisters house again! The cat is fine, just inflammation of a chronic eye thing she has. She is on meds now for 10 days. After that I went into town and picked my sister up, we had lunch, and then I came home. In the evening DH and I went to the UMD hockey game, it was a lot of fun! UMD won 4-3 in OT. UMD will be going into the playoffs ranked #4. My parents babysat and apparently Benjamin was quite riled up.
Saturday - We spent the day at home, did a lot of cleaning, DH went to the gym. In the afternoon my mom and I ran to a fabric store to meet my sister. In the evening DH and I (and baby) went out to dinner with my sister and her husband. Yummy mexican!
Sunday - It was snowing and blowing, so everyone stayed in. We listened to the Prairie Home Companion that was taped in Duluth on Saturday, watched "pus in boots" and watched the oscars. I also took a tramp around the woods with my lil sis and mom.
Monday, January 30, 2012
River Dog
River was our fifth pet, our second dog. Lets face it, she never was a great fit with our lifestyle. River was very energetic and she needed real obedience/discipline. DH and I are pretty sedentary and we have no "stick to it" so to speak so real discipline did not happen. She can be so incredibly cute and sweet at sometimes! She loves to lay as close to you as possible (or on top of you), and despite our fears she was good with baby, very concerned if baby was OK. However, she also would chew up anything, she had some resource guarding issues, she would get restless in the evenings and want to play fight with our other dog in the middle of our small family room. She has such short hair that she has no tolerance for cold. The short version of this story then is that when we decided to move to Minnesota, we had to seriously consider what to do about River. There was three main problems - our general lack of control of her, her being unwelcome at our interim home of my parents house due both to her temperament and my mom's allergies, and finally the problem with her cold tolerance. We ended up deciding we couldn't keep her and if at all possible it would be better for her to be left in Ohio where the weather is not so extreme. We found a rescue for her to go to, but at the last minute my aunt and cousin decided to take her in. We are simultaneously very relieved and happy to have her in a good home, and very guilty feeling because (1) we feel like we "dumped" her on my cousin, who has taken in many dogs that her friends/family have made poor decisions in adopting and (2) we failed to live up to our own standards of pet ownership.
And that is what this post is really about, the fact that I feel like a complete hypocrite. I think I have always been sort of a hypocrite when it comes to pet care, but this takes the cake. I have always believed that when you take on a pet they are not just a possession or a luxury, but a living creature you are responsible for and cannot just decide to get rid of because it would be convenient. I generally dislike the idea of getting rid of a pet for any reason besides their own best interest. This is why when I talk about our decision to re-home River I tend to emphasize the weather, but in all honesty the pure convenience had just as much to do with it. The fact is, I am a hypocrite and need to deal with that and probably will feel guilty for the next ten years about giving up River. That, and as nice as it is to not deal with her bad behavior, I really do miss her cuteness.
And that is what this post is really about, the fact that I feel like a complete hypocrite. I think I have always been sort of a hypocrite when it comes to pet care, but this takes the cake. I have always believed that when you take on a pet they are not just a possession or a luxury, but a living creature you are responsible for and cannot just decide to get rid of because it would be convenient. I generally dislike the idea of getting rid of a pet for any reason besides their own best interest. This is why when I talk about our decision to re-home River I tend to emphasize the weather, but in all honesty the pure convenience had just as much to do with it. The fact is, I am a hypocrite and need to deal with that and probably will feel guilty for the next ten years about giving up River. That, and as nice as it is to not deal with her bad behavior, I really do miss her cuteness.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
The Move
About 12 days left in Columbus and counting. There is a ton to do, and I have not been focused on it at all of course with a little man to take care of. Unsurprising. Now that I can use the stairs more than once a day (although I am still sore and limiting exertion), and people have started to come to help, it is time for me to pull this back onto a front burner. Some random info about the move, in case you are interested:
- My ILs are here this weekend. Their main purpose for the trip was to meet our little bry guy, however since they are here, and really all baby does is sleep, they are going to help us in the packing/cleaning department.
- My friend R who moved to CA last fall is in town for a visit, hoping we can tackle my closet tomorrow in an hour or two. It is hard to figure out what to keep and what to purge when I am not even sure what will fit me next week, let alone in 6 months.
- The brigades arrives on Jan 22nd - My older sister, BIL, brother, and FSIL. They will be here for about three days helping us pack, clean, and do some minor fixes around the house. They are even bringing the 28 ft trailer we will be packing into.
- Those four, plus DH, will be driving, with 4-5 pets, to Duluth. I will probably be flying with baby.
- When we get to Duluth, DH, baby and I will be living with my parents. They have cleared out two bedrooms for our use. The cats will be headed to my sisters heated garage/workshop, and the dog(s) will be with us at my parents house.
Wish us all a lot of luck - we need it!!
- My ILs are here this weekend. Their main purpose for the trip was to meet our little bry guy, however since they are here, and really all baby does is sleep, they are going to help us in the packing/cleaning department.
- My friend R who moved to CA last fall is in town for a visit, hoping we can tackle my closet tomorrow in an hour or two. It is hard to figure out what to keep and what to purge when I am not even sure what will fit me next week, let alone in 6 months.
- The brigades arrives on Jan 22nd - My older sister, BIL, brother, and FSIL. They will be here for about three days helping us pack, clean, and do some minor fixes around the house. They are even bringing the 28 ft trailer we will be packing into.
- Those four, plus DH, will be driving, with 4-5 pets, to Duluth. I will probably be flying with baby.
- When we get to Duluth, DH, baby and I will be living with my parents. They have cleared out two bedrooms for our use. The cats will be headed to my sisters heated garage/workshop, and the dog(s) will be with us at my parents house.
Wish us all a lot of luck - we need it!!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Good, Bad, Ugly
The Good: Its Friday. Baby is the length of a spaghetti squash. I am feeling more and more movement. Football is on.
The Bad: Baby's movements add to my nausea. The comp time thing I explained a couple of days ago is not going to work, I will return to work after maternity leave with NO LEAVE. I need to get ant traps.
The Ugly: Our younger dog River is sick. Don't know if she ate something and its clogging things up or if she has a bug. Loads of diarrhea and vomit = fun stuff. She is still eating and defecating though, so hopefully things work out. (yes we have contacted a vet).
The Bad: Baby's movements add to my nausea. The comp time thing I explained a couple of days ago is not going to work, I will return to work after maternity leave with NO LEAVE. I need to get ant traps.
The Ugly: Our younger dog River is sick. Don't know if she ate something and its clogging things up or if she has a bug. Loads of diarrhea and vomit = fun stuff. She is still eating and defecating though, so hopefully things work out. (yes we have contacted a vet).
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday (ish)
Another week gone.
No big surprises this week at work. Uneventful. I will take it!!
It got really warm and summerlike here for about 7 days, and now its around freezing again. I am totally OK with that. The warmth was not horrible, but I just wasn't ready for it really to be coming.
I hosted book club last night and therefore my downstairs is very clean. Its nice. It took me 2.5 hrs to totally clean out - declutter, vacuum, dishes, etc. I also made buffalo chicken dip (also known as crack dip, because its addictive). Small turnout - only two people came! But it was still fun. The book was crazy depressing, about what could theoretically happen if someone set off an EMP over the U.S. It made me want to be in Duluth. Everything these days makes me want to be in Duluth. Come on job gods, give DH a job.
Thats it. Animals are all good. No big plans this weekend, just chillaxed. Motivation still low but not bottomed out like it was. Life is good.
No big surprises this week at work. Uneventful. I will take it!!
It got really warm and summerlike here for about 7 days, and now its around freezing again. I am totally OK with that. The warmth was not horrible, but I just wasn't ready for it really to be coming.
I hosted book club last night and therefore my downstairs is very clean. Its nice. It took me 2.5 hrs to totally clean out - declutter, vacuum, dishes, etc. I also made buffalo chicken dip (also known as crack dip, because its addictive). Small turnout - only two people came! But it was still fun. The book was crazy depressing, about what could theoretically happen if someone set off an EMP over the U.S. It made me want to be in Duluth. Everything these days makes me want to be in Duluth. Come on job gods, give DH a job.
Thats it. Animals are all good. No big plans this weekend, just chillaxed. Motivation still low but not bottomed out like it was. Life is good.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
My Saturday
Woke up to a dog licking my face at 7:30am. Got up. Took the dogs on their normal walk. Got home. Put the dogs in the car and took them to Alum Creek and took them walking on the dam. Stopped at Starbucks. Came home. Took a hot shower. Sat and drank my Latte, watching the first part of "The Shining". Got dressed. Drove downtown with DH to pick up his car. Chatted with my little sister on the phone. Ate lunch. Watched "Law&Order: SVU". Played Rock Band. Went shopping with DH for work clothes (bought new brown close-toed shoes for the new dress code"). Came home. Walked with DH while he walked the dogs. Ordered Pizza. Watched "Angel". Watched "River Monsters". Went grocery shopping. Came home. Had a campfire with DH. At S'mores, star gazed. Took a hot shower. Read. Now watching "Angel" with DH again.
Nice day off.
Nice day off.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Go Play Fetch
They have cut off access to blogspot at work, along with several shopping sites and other things. It won't be long before they get around to blocking my last remaining favorite link, my nestie message board. I feel like everytime I go onto it I am increasing its profile in our security system and likening the chances of it being blocked. I really would like an internet phone, but at the same time cannot justify the $400/yr price tag. Especially when there are so many possible changes in the future.
DH has started applying for jobs in Minnesota. We have not heard back about any yet. If he finds one, we may be moving within weeks. If he does not find one we may be here for ages. I may need a new car. Other costs may arise. We have been saving like crazy for the last three monthes and our bank accounts are starting to show the effort. It does not hurt those numbers that the stock market has been turning back around.
I have had so many thoughts for blog posts to write over the past week, but none of them have panned out because I don't really spend much time on the computer at home. Right now I intended to write a nice long post with lots of details and maybe even pictures, but I have a headache and really don't want to. So I resort to something I have been using all to commonly, the laundry list of thoughts and topics:
- I ran with River the last three days (Thurs/Fri/Sat). Very short, but I did it.
- Had Girls Day with some friends, went to a craft fair and then sat around and gossiped. Candied Cranberries are amazing.
- Made a chore chart this evening. More of a visual cue as to what we have done and need to do rather than directions for what specifically to do each day
- December marked the start of a new reading challenge. I once again was not lucky enough to get to create a task, but its always fun seeing what other people come up with.
- I am about on pace with my reading new years resolution
- I am starting to develop my new years resolutions for next year
- River ate another library book (goodbye $40). Why does she have a taste for those instead of my books which would be like $2 to replace?
- She also re-removed the pom off my hat that my Mom reattached while I was in MN. I don't know why she likes removing the pom and I don't know how she got access.
- My head hurts
- I have started to shower at night instead of in the morning. This is related to my running (in the evening), but also to goals for future changes to routine
- I really need to eat healthier
- I got more pictures printed for my office
- I am caught up at work
- Everytime I hear about people's health issues I analyze them from the Disability perspective
- I love half priced books
- Eclipse came out DVD this weekend, I went ahead and bought the BluRay/DVD pack w/all the extra trimmings.
- I have some Xmas decorations up but we have not yet got a tree. Apparently a lot of the tree farms are having issues and were not open long this year (as in, they already closed for the season??). So we are going to get one precut. Hopefully tomorrow night.
- I want to bake something fun.
- I have secret santa's to buy for.
- I am getting near done with Christmas shopping, just a few more people to go.
- We made our plans for Xmas and are taking a couple extra days compared to usual to see if that makes the travelling less troublesome. We will be out of town for 6 days.
I have to go. Gandalf wants to play fetch. I know this because he just brought me a pair of socks balled up from the bedroom, dropped them at my feet and started "meowing".
DH has started applying for jobs in Minnesota. We have not heard back about any yet. If he finds one, we may be moving within weeks. If he does not find one we may be here for ages. I may need a new car. Other costs may arise. We have been saving like crazy for the last three monthes and our bank accounts are starting to show the effort. It does not hurt those numbers that the stock market has been turning back around.
I have had so many thoughts for blog posts to write over the past week, but none of them have panned out because I don't really spend much time on the computer at home. Right now I intended to write a nice long post with lots of details and maybe even pictures, but I have a headache and really don't want to. So I resort to something I have been using all to commonly, the laundry list of thoughts and topics:
- I ran with River the last three days (Thurs/Fri/Sat). Very short, but I did it.
- Had Girls Day with some friends, went to a craft fair and then sat around and gossiped. Candied Cranberries are amazing.
- Made a chore chart this evening. More of a visual cue as to what we have done and need to do rather than directions for what specifically to do each day
- December marked the start of a new reading challenge. I once again was not lucky enough to get to create a task, but its always fun seeing what other people come up with.
- I am about on pace with my reading new years resolution
- I am starting to develop my new years resolutions for next year
- River ate another library book (goodbye $40). Why does she have a taste for those instead of my books which would be like $2 to replace?
- She also re-removed the pom off my hat that my Mom reattached while I was in MN. I don't know why she likes removing the pom and I don't know how she got access.
- My head hurts
- I have started to shower at night instead of in the morning. This is related to my running (in the evening), but also to goals for future changes to routine
- I really need to eat healthier
- I got more pictures printed for my office
- I am caught up at work
- Everytime I hear about people's health issues I analyze them from the Disability perspective
- I love half priced books
- Eclipse came out DVD this weekend, I went ahead and bought the BluRay/DVD pack w/all the extra trimmings.
- I have some Xmas decorations up but we have not yet got a tree. Apparently a lot of the tree farms are having issues and were not open long this year (as in, they already closed for the season??). So we are going to get one precut. Hopefully tomorrow night.
- I want to bake something fun.
- I have secret santa's to buy for.
- I am getting near done with Christmas shopping, just a few more people to go.
- We made our plans for Xmas and are taking a couple extra days compared to usual to see if that makes the travelling less troublesome. We will be out of town for 6 days.
I have to go. Gandalf wants to play fetch. I know this because he just brought me a pair of socks balled up from the bedroom, dropped them at my feet and started "meowing".
Monday, November 29, 2010
Arriving Home
Coming from home, arriving home, always very confusing.
I don't like flying. Its so convenient though, and I am a rational person, so I set aside the underlying conviction that all my planes are going to crash ans concentrate on the fact it is a statistical improbability. This rationality unfortunately can't help what the changes in altitude and cabin pressure combined with cramped quarters and less than fresh air do to my head and stomach. Luckily these unhappy effects usually wear off after an hour or two on the ground.
Arriving back in Columbus today was surprisingly relaxing and nice. We came home to a much cleaner house than I have grown accustom to thanks to DH's efforts before he left. The pets were all happy to see us and River was surprisingly sedate/controlable. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and thus have a freshly stocked fridge with lunches and snacks for the week. I have so far retained some energy and motivation and got my bags all unpacked and some cleaning done before relaxing for the evening.
Some other updates:
- River: Turns out the reason she is more sedate/controllable than usual is because she got into a tussle with my cousin's dog (our Dog Sitter) while we were gone. While I am not happy that she started another fight, or that it resulted in some injury to both her, the other dog, and my cousin (all minor, don't worry), I am very glad that it seems to have knocked some sense into her. She seems to realize now that she is not the biggest dog on the block and maybe she should not start something all of the time. This was evidenced by he behavior when we fed them tonight. Grim was eating out of both dishes and instead of being assertive or pushy or aggressive, River sort of stood near the bowl that Grim was eating out of at the moment and cowered for a minute or two until I got up to sent Grim back to he own bowl.
- Reading: I did not do much reading while I was in Duluth, but it would appear I got enough ahead before leaving and did just enough reading to stay relatively on pace. I mostly read a Soup Cookbook while I was there (400 Soups). I have read cookbooks before, but now I have learned the lesson that when you choose a cookbook to just read through it should not be one that repeats the same type of recipe over and over and over and over... the point is, with one month and one day left, I have 4542 pgs left to read, or approximately 141pgs per day. Time to get (keep) cracking!!
I don't like flying. Its so convenient though, and I am a rational person, so I set aside the underlying conviction that all my planes are going to crash ans concentrate on the fact it is a statistical improbability. This rationality unfortunately can't help what the changes in altitude and cabin pressure combined with cramped quarters and less than fresh air do to my head and stomach. Luckily these unhappy effects usually wear off after an hour or two on the ground.
Arriving back in Columbus today was surprisingly relaxing and nice. We came home to a much cleaner house than I have grown accustom to thanks to DH's efforts before he left. The pets were all happy to see us and River was surprisingly sedate/controlable. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and thus have a freshly stocked fridge with lunches and snacks for the week. I have so far retained some energy and motivation and got my bags all unpacked and some cleaning done before relaxing for the evening.
Some other updates:
- River: Turns out the reason she is more sedate/controllable than usual is because she got into a tussle with my cousin's dog (our Dog Sitter) while we were gone. While I am not happy that she started another fight, or that it resulted in some injury to both her, the other dog, and my cousin (all minor, don't worry), I am very glad that it seems to have knocked some sense into her. She seems to realize now that she is not the biggest dog on the block and maybe she should not start something all of the time. This was evidenced by he behavior when we fed them tonight. Grim was eating out of both dishes and instead of being assertive or pushy or aggressive, River sort of stood near the bowl that Grim was eating out of at the moment and cowered for a minute or two until I got up to sent Grim back to he own bowl.
- Reading: I did not do much reading while I was in Duluth, but it would appear I got enough ahead before leaving and did just enough reading to stay relatively on pace. I mostly read a Soup Cookbook while I was there (400 Soups). I have read cookbooks before, but now I have learned the lesson that when you choose a cookbook to just read through it should not be one that repeats the same type of recipe over and over and over and over... the point is, with one month and one day left, I have 4542 pgs left to read, or approximately 141pgs per day. Time to get (keep) cracking!!
- Motivation: As mentioned, still going strong. Upcoming plans for this month include starting to run with river (for real). I hate running. I absolutely hate running. BUT, there is not other solution to the equation that has remained a hassle in my life for some time. That equation is that I have limited ammount of time (t) outside of work. In this time (t) I needs to meet all of my personal and household needs, including socializing/recreation (s), household duties (h) and pet duties (p), and health activities such as cooking healthy meals and exercising (e). This would suggest a simple equation
t = s + h + p+ e
But, as anyone that cannot afford to either stay at home full time or hire a made knows, this is pretty much the hardest equation in life. Increase h a little at the cost of s and end up depressed due to social isolation. Don't put quite enough time into p and end up with a dog that keeps you up all night or chews your shoes. Most of all, of course, the goal is to get the numbers right and maximize your utility (that is, your happiness). For a very long time I have been saying I was going to somehow increase p and e in this equation, and for sometime it has not been happening. Increasing two categories at once is not easy. In fact, for me it has been impossible. The solution? Running. Running would allow me to kill two birds with one stone by simultaneously spending time on p and e. This would effectively increase the ammount of t by changing the equation
t = s + h + (p+e)/2
Of course, this is not entirely accurate as there are parts of personal health (e) and pet duties (p) that are not combined, but to keep this simple I will pretend that exercising the dog is the only component of p and exercising myself it the only component of e.
Enough vague nerdery for you? Ok. I will stop.
Now, if only I could find a way to combine cleaning my house with socializing... want to visit LEKT??
Thursday, November 18, 2010
DULUTH!!!
I made it safely to Duluth.
I meant to post a couple of days ago about the adventures of packing, but I was too busy at work to do it. I was trying to clear my desk off before I left (figuratively, or clear my electronic desk as the case may be), and that kept me very busy. I did not quite succeed in that, but I did get it in pretty good shape and manage to leave the nasty ugly task that I was dreading undone, which is mean of me, but now my supervisor will probably do it while I am gone, and because my desk is in such good shape other than that she won't be mad or even think it unusual.
Anyways, packing. I am bad at it. Speaking of organizational issues... and I feel like packing for a long trip home is the worst. I never know what I may need. I need lots of warm bulky clothes as it is Northern Minnesota, but I also need lighter clothes for indoors. I need nice clothes to wear out when I visit old friends and for the Holidays, but I also need farm clothes that I can wear out with the horses or to play in the snow, but I also need clothes that is warm and comfortable to where under winter clothes when I am going around town. I need to pack winter boots and a coat, and also a warmer coat/parka. I need warm lounging clothes and pajamas. Do you see how this multiplies? So, instead of thinking through it logically I just start throwing everything in a bag, and therefore end up over packing. When I was done unpacking last night, I realized I probably brought something like 50-75% of my normally-used wardrobe, which by the way is just way too much. Oh well.
Anyways, I am in Duluth now. Life is good. DH will join me next Tuesday. Until then, he is stuck with our Bandersnatch (otherwise known as River). I meanwhile have been introduced to my parents two new dogs (one of which is actually my sister's on reserve). Ellie is an ancient Golden Retriever who seems very quiet and is very cute. Maya is the biggest Newfoundland I have ever seen. Massive. I thought our past Newfoundlands were big, apparently not.
I meant to post a couple of days ago about the adventures of packing, but I was too busy at work to do it. I was trying to clear my desk off before I left (figuratively, or clear my electronic desk as the case may be), and that kept me very busy. I did not quite succeed in that, but I did get it in pretty good shape and manage to leave the nasty ugly task that I was dreading undone, which is mean of me, but now my supervisor will probably do it while I am gone, and because my desk is in such good shape other than that she won't be mad or even think it unusual.
Anyways, packing. I am bad at it. Speaking of organizational issues... and I feel like packing for a long trip home is the worst. I never know what I may need. I need lots of warm bulky clothes as it is Northern Minnesota, but I also need lighter clothes for indoors. I need nice clothes to wear out when I visit old friends and for the Holidays, but I also need farm clothes that I can wear out with the horses or to play in the snow, but I also need clothes that is warm and comfortable to where under winter clothes when I am going around town. I need to pack winter boots and a coat, and also a warmer coat/parka. I need warm lounging clothes and pajamas. Do you see how this multiplies? So, instead of thinking through it logically I just start throwing everything in a bag, and therefore end up over packing. When I was done unpacking last night, I realized I probably brought something like 50-75% of my normally-used wardrobe, which by the way is just way too much. Oh well.
Anyways, I am in Duluth now. Life is good. DH will join me next Tuesday. Until then, he is stuck with our Bandersnatch (otherwise known as River). I meanwhile have been introduced to my parents two new dogs (one of which is actually my sister's on reserve). Ellie is an ancient Golden Retriever who seems very quiet and is very cute. Maya is the biggest Newfoundland I have ever seen. Massive. I thought our past Newfoundlands were big, apparently not.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Blah
In high school we used to make list of "happy thoughts". These were lists of little things (or big things) that made us smile. They were chalked full of inside jokes, crushes, and other typical high school nonsense. I think though that the idea is a good one - a list of reminders of things that are good in life instead of just complaints. But, in order for a happy thoughts list to be effective at the moment I think I need to vent a few other things.
I have just sort of been in a funk. No really telling exactly why, though I have my suspicions. A cloud was cast over the weekend because on Thursday night River bit me. Now, River has bit me before, but this time was different. As usual, it involved resource guarding. We were in the bedroom and Grim had a nice rawhide. River had her own rawhide, but that hardly matters it seems. Anyways, River attacked Grim, I pulled her off. All of this is fairly standard at our house unfortunately. In the past when I have been bitten I have literally stuck my leg inbetween the dogs or some such thing in order to break up the fight. This time I had already pulled river off Grim and had her five feet away, off the bed, when she spun in her collar and bit my arm. Don't worry, its not serious. A nasty bruise, a cut that looks like it is nothing but bled a bit more than expected. Now all healing. We already have had issues with River, clearly, but this indecent throws into serious question whether we will be able to keep her in the long run. Aaron and I are not scared of River and feel no immediate threat. She still has not shown direct human aggression. We can still literally take food or rawhide out of her mouth if we want without being bitten. BUT, when happens if she is not so respectful of other people? If she does not see them as dominant/in charge as she does us? Especially with regards to kids. So... who knows that we will do. We are controlling the resources more. We are not giving her an inch in terms of rawhide or food. She now eats separately and chews rawhide separately from Grim. We of course will probably be doing more obedience. But ultimately I don't think any of these things actually solve the problem. She is resource aggressive towards other dogs, and when she gets wound up over this she snaps at anything that gets near her. Controlling the resources or teaching her to sit on command is not going to change this. I guess its just an issue we will deal with when we get there however.
I bet some of you are wondering why you did not hear about this sooner, thinking "I SPOKE with her on the phone, why did she not mention it?". I didn't mention it because I don't like retelling it over and over. I don't like the look of the people (or silence on the phone?) as they wait for me to account for what we are going to do about it. Lets just say it involves a lot of issues that are close to the heart.
Ok, so besides River, there has been some negativity at work. There was a contest for unit decoration my unit feels was unfairly judged, a meeting with the administration that turned into a complaint fest, and other various little things. Nothing major, just little bits here and there. Also, I have been having some difficulty concentrating at work. I used to always be ahead or at least caught up, but I have not been working as hard and therefore have not been as caught up, and I am not sure why, or how to fix it. (Note, I am still way ahead of the average, just not up to my own standards and abilities). This may be as much a symptom as a cause, who knows.
I have not hosted or had people over in FOREVER. I feel like the carpet in the front room has to be replaced or removed before I am comfortable having people over. It is in bad shape thanks to the combine efforts of the animals, to the point it is embarrassing. I am already up to $900 for its replacement (I am saving up my overtime), so we are getting there, but it would just make me really happy to have it taken care of.
As far as Halloween, I have just not been as into it as normal. I did not have any desire to host my usual pumpkin carving party (and didn't). I did not even carve my own pumpkin. I did not get a costume yet, though we have a working idea. I am at least excited for the halloween party. I uncharacteristically have the urge to pull out all my Christmas stuff 2 months early and start decorating for that. I have NO IDEA why. I mean, normally I am all about Halloween, and then Thanksgiving, and only want to decorate for Christmas when the time comes. But right now I seriously think some green and red would make things look nicer.
I am not excited about things I am reading. I have just completed two books (How Proust Can Change Your Life and Blood Diamonds) that are one star reads. My next two books are book club books. One is a re-read, which is a very good book but I am not in the mood for re-reads. The other is a new read but its by an author I have read before and found to be just OK.
I originally was going to start this post with complaints and end it with a list of happy thoughts, but it appears that I am just not in the mood for the good part (big surprise). The two main things that were going to be on the happy thoughts list though:
- Tomorrow is Rockbandholiday (Rockband 3 comes out)
- I get to go home to Duluth in 3.5 weeks
I have just sort of been in a funk. No really telling exactly why, though I have my suspicions. A cloud was cast over the weekend because on Thursday night River bit me. Now, River has bit me before, but this time was different. As usual, it involved resource guarding. We were in the bedroom and Grim had a nice rawhide. River had her own rawhide, but that hardly matters it seems. Anyways, River attacked Grim, I pulled her off. All of this is fairly standard at our house unfortunately. In the past when I have been bitten I have literally stuck my leg inbetween the dogs or some such thing in order to break up the fight. This time I had already pulled river off Grim and had her five feet away, off the bed, when she spun in her collar and bit my arm. Don't worry, its not serious. A nasty bruise, a cut that looks like it is nothing but bled a bit more than expected. Now all healing. We already have had issues with River, clearly, but this indecent throws into serious question whether we will be able to keep her in the long run. Aaron and I are not scared of River and feel no immediate threat. She still has not shown direct human aggression. We can still literally take food or rawhide out of her mouth if we want without being bitten. BUT, when happens if she is not so respectful of other people? If she does not see them as dominant/in charge as she does us? Especially with regards to kids. So... who knows that we will do. We are controlling the resources more. We are not giving her an inch in terms of rawhide or food. She now eats separately and chews rawhide separately from Grim. We of course will probably be doing more obedience. But ultimately I don't think any of these things actually solve the problem. She is resource aggressive towards other dogs, and when she gets wound up over this she snaps at anything that gets near her. Controlling the resources or teaching her to sit on command is not going to change this. I guess its just an issue we will deal with when we get there however.
I bet some of you are wondering why you did not hear about this sooner, thinking "I SPOKE with her on the phone, why did she not mention it?". I didn't mention it because I don't like retelling it over and over. I don't like the look of the people (or silence on the phone?) as they wait for me to account for what we are going to do about it. Lets just say it involves a lot of issues that are close to the heart.
Ok, so besides River, there has been some negativity at work. There was a contest for unit decoration my unit feels was unfairly judged, a meeting with the administration that turned into a complaint fest, and other various little things. Nothing major, just little bits here and there. Also, I have been having some difficulty concentrating at work. I used to always be ahead or at least caught up, but I have not been working as hard and therefore have not been as caught up, and I am not sure why, or how to fix it. (Note, I am still way ahead of the average, just not up to my own standards and abilities). This may be as much a symptom as a cause, who knows.
I have not hosted or had people over in FOREVER. I feel like the carpet in the front room has to be replaced or removed before I am comfortable having people over. It is in bad shape thanks to the combine efforts of the animals, to the point it is embarrassing. I am already up to $900 for its replacement (I am saving up my overtime), so we are getting there, but it would just make me really happy to have it taken care of.
As far as Halloween, I have just not been as into it as normal. I did not have any desire to host my usual pumpkin carving party (and didn't). I did not even carve my own pumpkin. I did not get a costume yet, though we have a working idea. I am at least excited for the halloween party. I uncharacteristically have the urge to pull out all my Christmas stuff 2 months early and start decorating for that. I have NO IDEA why. I mean, normally I am all about Halloween, and then Thanksgiving, and only want to decorate for Christmas when the time comes. But right now I seriously think some green and red would make things look nicer.
I am not excited about things I am reading. I have just completed two books (How Proust Can Change Your Life and Blood Diamonds) that are one star reads. My next two books are book club books. One is a re-read, which is a very good book but I am not in the mood for re-reads. The other is a new read but its by an author I have read before and found to be just OK.
I originally was going to start this post with complaints and end it with a list of happy thoughts, but it appears that I am just not in the mood for the good part (big surprise). The two main things that were going to be on the happy thoughts list though:
- Tomorrow is Rockbandholiday (Rockband 3 comes out)
- I get to go home to Duluth in 3.5 weeks
Monday, September 27, 2010
Mmm. Rain.
There is nothing quite like having a wet dog jump into your bed with you two minutes before your alarm goes off. Luckily it was River, and not Grim. River's version of wet is hardly damp. Her hair is SO short that it holds no water. Grim on the other hand remains soaked for hours. Anyways, that was my wake up call this morning. When she jumped up on the bed I figured she must be cold and through the blanket half way over her. She did not think this was enough so she burrowed under my legs. Two minutes later I turned the light on to find her absoultely adorably wrapped up in the bottom of the blankets.
Its cold and rainy here. I love it. I was glad to look at weather.com yesterday and see its not supposed to get hot here again, at least not in the next 10 days. By then it will be October and I will be quite annoyed if the temperature spikes again. I am excited for October. DH has a great idea for Halloween costumes, but it could be hard to pull off. We will have to be very creative. I get to put up our Halloween decorations on Friday!
This past weekend was fun. Friday night I met my cousins and a friend at the dollar theater to watch Eclipse again. I can't help liking those movies, as bad as they might be. Saturday morning DH and I headed out to the mall and did some shopping. (I know if will be hard for his Mom to believe, but DH does actually initiate shopping trips now!). In the afternoon we headed out to the OSU football game versus Eastern Michigan. We parked down by our friend T's house, which is a 45-60 minute walk south of campus, we walked up, went to the blow out of a game with T and a few other friends, and then walked all the way back downtown to O'Shaughnessey's for dinner and drinks. We ended up staying out later than intended because the company was so good.
On Sunday I got to sleep in. I don't know when the last time was that I slept in that late or even wanted to, but I certainly wanted to yesterday, and DH was kind enough to get up and walk the dogs and all of that. When I finally did role out of bed I ran some errands, then spend the rest of the day watching football. It was a pleasant day, if somewhat unproductive.
Now I am back at a week of work. There is no overtime this week, so I feel like I have all this extra time. I will get off work at 4:30pm Monday - Thursday, and then at 11am on Friday! I am sure I won't know what to do with myself!!
Its cold and rainy here. I love it. I was glad to look at weather.com yesterday and see its not supposed to get hot here again, at least not in the next 10 days. By then it will be October and I will be quite annoyed if the temperature spikes again. I am excited for October. DH has a great idea for Halloween costumes, but it could be hard to pull off. We will have to be very creative. I get to put up our Halloween decorations on Friday!
This past weekend was fun. Friday night I met my cousins and a friend at the dollar theater to watch Eclipse again. I can't help liking those movies, as bad as they might be. Saturday morning DH and I headed out to the mall and did some shopping. (I know if will be hard for his Mom to believe, but DH does actually initiate shopping trips now!). In the afternoon we headed out to the OSU football game versus Eastern Michigan. We parked down by our friend T's house, which is a 45-60 minute walk south of campus, we walked up, went to the blow out of a game with T and a few other friends, and then walked all the way back downtown to O'Shaughnessey's for dinner and drinks. We ended up staying out later than intended because the company was so good.
On Sunday I got to sleep in. I don't know when the last time was that I slept in that late or even wanted to, but I certainly wanted to yesterday, and DH was kind enough to get up and walk the dogs and all of that. When I finally did role out of bed I ran some errands, then spend the rest of the day watching football. It was a pleasant day, if somewhat unproductive.
Now I am back at a week of work. There is no overtime this week, so I feel like I have all this extra time. I will get off work at 4:30pm Monday - Thursday, and then at 11am on Friday! I am sure I won't know what to do with myself!!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Yesterday Sucked, like a Dyson
I am my parents child.
My parents have massively different sleep habits and requirements. While my mom requires lots of sleep and tends to have a relatively early bedtime, my father has had various arguments with insomnia throughout his life and frequently gets up ridiculously early, yet still remains fully functional.
I say I am my parents child because like my Dad, I don't require THAT much sleep. 7 hrs is ideal. 6 hrs is OK. But, like my mom, I do NEED it. If I don't get a full night of sleep, lets say 6 hrs, I become ridiculously nonfunctional.
Wednesday night we went to trivia. We got home around 10:15pm and took River out of the crate. As expected, even after a late night walk she was not quite ready to settle down for the night, even though Aaron and I were. The result was that I was up half the night - stepped on by the puppy, keeping puppy from playing with the cat door, keeping puppy from chewing thing she shouldn't, trying to get puppy to lie down. I am a bit ridiculously patient with her, I really should just crate her on such evenings, but I feel bad doing that when its our fault that she has extra energy. Anyways, I did not get much sleep, and not much continuous sleep.
When I woke up in the morning I did not feel that grumpy or that tired, but within a few hours my minor sleep deprevation would raise its ugly head. By 11:00am at work I wanted desperately to go home sick, to just walk out, because of some minor things going wrong that would normally not phase me. I took lunch early and struggled through the rest of the day, arriving home ready to collapse in a heap and not deal with anything else. My poor judgement continued after work. I proceeded to take the dogs to the park, as planned. When there, River had one of her incedents (resource guarding), and in another show of poor judgement I did not immediately remove her. The result was a dog fight. Both dogs actually in the fight were fine once we got them seperated, but someone, a third dog that I did not even notice near the fight got bit in the ear? I don't know if this third dog stuck her head into the middle of it when I did not notice or what. I of course left the dog park at this point, even more distressed, and of course River cannot go back to the dog park, at least not that dog park where she has clearly shown the resources are an issue. I may still take her to the swimming dog park where she has never shown any resource guarding issues (the resource she guards at the closer dog park is the water bowl, which is not an issue when there is an entire lake there...) We will see. I also hope to (1) get river into doggy daycare on Wednesday's where they will help work on her behavior issues and help burn off extra energy and (2) start taking her to my cousin's house who has a fenced yard and lots of dogs so perhaps we can specifically work on the water guarding thing in a more controlled environment.
It took me a long time to calm down after the dog park. On a normal evening I would be pissed (mostly at myself), but would get over it quickly and move on, but I was so overly tired that I just totally over-reacted and broke down over it. It was a mess. I was a mess.
When I did straighten myself out I continued my evening as planned. I went to the library and picked up a new audiobook (A Great and Terrible Beauty), I called my friend T who I had not seen in ages to see what was up with him and if he wanted to do something, and I went to the fabric store and got supplies for the next three blankets I am making for my two helpers and coworkers. Back at home we took the dogs for another late walk (which is sort of becoming habit, a good habit I think as it gets both us and the dogs moving), and headed to bed very early. River snuggled up and slept. I slept. I feel much more well rested today, and hopefully today goes much better. So far, its looking good.
My parents have massively different sleep habits and requirements. While my mom requires lots of sleep and tends to have a relatively early bedtime, my father has had various arguments with insomnia throughout his life and frequently gets up ridiculously early, yet still remains fully functional.
I say I am my parents child because like my Dad, I don't require THAT much sleep. 7 hrs is ideal. 6 hrs is OK. But, like my mom, I do NEED it. If I don't get a full night of sleep, lets say 6 hrs, I become ridiculously nonfunctional.
Wednesday night we went to trivia. We got home around 10:15pm and took River out of the crate. As expected, even after a late night walk she was not quite ready to settle down for the night, even though Aaron and I were. The result was that I was up half the night - stepped on by the puppy, keeping puppy from playing with the cat door, keeping puppy from chewing thing she shouldn't, trying to get puppy to lie down. I am a bit ridiculously patient with her, I really should just crate her on such evenings, but I feel bad doing that when its our fault that she has extra energy. Anyways, I did not get much sleep, and not much continuous sleep.
When I woke up in the morning I did not feel that grumpy or that tired, but within a few hours my minor sleep deprevation would raise its ugly head. By 11:00am at work I wanted desperately to go home sick, to just walk out, because of some minor things going wrong that would normally not phase me. I took lunch early and struggled through the rest of the day, arriving home ready to collapse in a heap and not deal with anything else. My poor judgement continued after work. I proceeded to take the dogs to the park, as planned. When there, River had one of her incedents (resource guarding), and in another show of poor judgement I did not immediately remove her. The result was a dog fight. Both dogs actually in the fight were fine once we got them seperated, but someone, a third dog that I did not even notice near the fight got bit in the ear? I don't know if this third dog stuck her head into the middle of it when I did not notice or what. I of course left the dog park at this point, even more distressed, and of course River cannot go back to the dog park, at least not that dog park where she has clearly shown the resources are an issue. I may still take her to the swimming dog park where she has never shown any resource guarding issues (the resource she guards at the closer dog park is the water bowl, which is not an issue when there is an entire lake there...) We will see. I also hope to (1) get river into doggy daycare on Wednesday's where they will help work on her behavior issues and help burn off extra energy and (2) start taking her to my cousin's house who has a fenced yard and lots of dogs so perhaps we can specifically work on the water guarding thing in a more controlled environment.
It took me a long time to calm down after the dog park. On a normal evening I would be pissed (mostly at myself), but would get over it quickly and move on, but I was so overly tired that I just totally over-reacted and broke down over it. It was a mess. I was a mess.
When I did straighten myself out I continued my evening as planned. I went to the library and picked up a new audiobook (A Great and Terrible Beauty), I called my friend T who I had not seen in ages to see what was up with him and if he wanted to do something, and I went to the fabric store and got supplies for the next three blankets I am making for my two helpers and coworkers. Back at home we took the dogs for another late walk (which is sort of becoming habit, a good habit I think as it gets both us and the dogs moving), and headed to bed very early. River snuggled up and slept. I slept. I feel much more well rested today, and hopefully today goes much better. So far, its looking good.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Burning Out
This past weekend our former roomate Ben visited and brought his girlfriend A to meet us. It was a quiet weekend. We spent the vast majority of it on the couches - playing video games or watching movies that A had somehow managed to not see (Down Periscope, Snatch). We watched the soccer games. Saturday's game was highly enjoyable, Germany beating Uruguay and high scoring game. Sunday's game, the World Cup Final, was probably the least enjoyable game I saw in the entire tournament. Depending on your point of view, either there was horrible diving and a ref who bought every scam sold to him, or a crazy violent game with loads of deserved penalties and yellow cards, smashing the previous record for such things. I tend to side with the first. Either way, the game was painfully slow without much good continuous play. Spain ended up winning 1-0. We also all went to see Eclipse (A wanted to go and taking Ben with us would make it more fun for DH to go). I enjoyed it again, but Ben, DH, and A all thought it was hilariously bad. Oh well.
I have been feeling very drained the last few days, burnt out, but I am not entirely sure "of what". I have a feeling its just the whole work-life balance thing. I feel like I am not doing anything well at the moment (except perhaps work). I am not a good housekeeper, I am not eating well, not training my dog well, not seeing my friends enough, not seeing DH enough, not doing any of the projects I want to do. I don't feel like its going to get better anytime soon. I think the feeling this weekend was accentuated by our dog's bad behavior. River still has some behavioral issues that seem to flare big time when we have house guests. The biggest problem is her desire to dominate Grim whenever other people are around. We need to get back to some sort of training routine, as we were seeing improvements when we had her in the obedience class. The problem is its hard to get into a training routine when we don't really have any sort of routine in our lives. OK. I know thats not entirely true. We get up, DH walks the dogs in the morning, I walk the dogs in the evening. Thats the extent of our routing. I have been gone so much and there is more craziness to come for another few weeks. I say another few weeks but really I am not sure there is an end. I almost just want to take a month off of activities outside the house. You know? Slow it down big time, establish some sort of routine, and then add stuff back in. The problem with that idea is I am pretty sure that it would end up driving us batty. Who knows. I don't think this is a problem that just gets fixed, its probably just a part of life.
I have been feeling very drained the last few days, burnt out, but I am not entirely sure "of what". I have a feeling its just the whole work-life balance thing. I feel like I am not doing anything well at the moment (except perhaps work). I am not a good housekeeper, I am not eating well, not training my dog well, not seeing my friends enough, not seeing DH enough, not doing any of the projects I want to do. I don't feel like its going to get better anytime soon. I think the feeling this weekend was accentuated by our dog's bad behavior. River still has some behavioral issues that seem to flare big time when we have house guests. The biggest problem is her desire to dominate Grim whenever other people are around. We need to get back to some sort of training routine, as we were seeing improvements when we had her in the obedience class. The problem is its hard to get into a training routine when we don't really have any sort of routine in our lives. OK. I know thats not entirely true. We get up, DH walks the dogs in the morning, I walk the dogs in the evening. Thats the extent of our routing. I have been gone so much and there is more craziness to come for another few weeks. I say another few weeks but really I am not sure there is an end. I almost just want to take a month off of activities outside the house. You know? Slow it down big time, establish some sort of routine, and then add stuff back in. The problem with that idea is I am pretty sure that it would end up driving us batty. Who knows. I don't think this is a problem that just gets fixed, its probably just a part of life.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
The start of a LONG weekend...!!
Its funny that the phrase "its the start of a long week" has such negative connotations. This week I had a nice, short week, and now I get to start my very positively connotated long weekend. Four days off to be exact. We have memorial day off on Monday and I flexed to take Friday off as well. (When we rearrange our schedules at work we call it flexing).
The main reason I decided to take the whole day off was that my Dad came into town Thursday night. It is funny because this is my Birthday weekend, my birthday is always right alongside memorial day. My dad ALWAYS has a profession conference memorial day weekend, so there were many many years where he was gone for my Birthday (not that we did not celebrate, it just came earlier or later). This is the first time the conference has brought him to me for my birthday!! It is in Baltimore and he decided to stop on the way to see everyone here in Ohio.
I got off work at 5:15pm and he was already parked outside my house waiting on us. It was really great seeing him. Thursday night we walked the dogs and then drove into downtown Columbus and went to my favorite Irish resteraunt in town - O'Shaunneseys. It was delicious! Yesterday it was quite nice to not have to go to work! In the morning we walked the dogs, had breakfast, watched some ESPN and played the requisite Rock Band. I decided that its pretty much required that if you come into my house for more than a couple of hours that you need to be introduced to Rock Band, especially if you read my blog and see me posting about it all the time! He sang Pinball Wizard and then another one I did not know very well while I played guitar, it was a lot of fun.
After that we headed off to Campus where I showed him around - this is the first time since I moved here that he has visited me with any time to spare to look around Columbus! So, I took him to my "old life" as well as my current life- ie we went to the Political Science dept at OSU, met up with some of my friends and went out to lunch, I took him to Raising Canes, DH met us and took the afternoon off.
We picked up the Dogs and headed to Alum Creek to walk on the dam. After we were done walking we took the dogs down by some water to get a drink and they almost pulled Aaron into the water. Grim clearly thought she should be allowed to swim around at will. He eventually got her out with only minimal wetness to his pants and shoes. We sat in the shade, with then nice breeze blowing on us and the dogs laying in the grass and just relaxed for a while to give the dogs a chance to dry off a bit - it was rough. LOL.
We came home with the intentions of heading back out to the baseball game, but after all three of us pretty much fell asleep on the couch we decided we did not need to spend the night out and instead just went out to dinner at the Pig Iron (delicious!!) and then came home and watched the NBA playoff game (Magic/Celtics). My dad got his wish and the Celtics won.
All of last night I could not believe it was Friday night, felt so much like Saturday! This morning I am headed to the farmer's market. Dad left at 7am this morning to drive up to Burton and spend the day following my vet sister around as she is on call. Tomorrow we will meet back up with him at my Grandma's for dinner and Birthay cake , and then head our seperate ways. I am pretty sure by Sunday night it will blow my mind that I have another day off on Monday. LOL.
The main reason I decided to take the whole day off was that my Dad came into town Thursday night. It is funny because this is my Birthday weekend, my birthday is always right alongside memorial day. My dad ALWAYS has a profession conference memorial day weekend, so there were many many years where he was gone for my Birthday (not that we did not celebrate, it just came earlier or later). This is the first time the conference has brought him to me for my birthday!! It is in Baltimore and he decided to stop on the way to see everyone here in Ohio.
I got off work at 5:15pm and he was already parked outside my house waiting on us. It was really great seeing him. Thursday night we walked the dogs and then drove into downtown Columbus and went to my favorite Irish resteraunt in town - O'Shaunneseys. It was delicious! Yesterday it was quite nice to not have to go to work! In the morning we walked the dogs, had breakfast, watched some ESPN and played the requisite Rock Band. I decided that its pretty much required that if you come into my house for more than a couple of hours that you need to be introduced to Rock Band, especially if you read my blog and see me posting about it all the time! He sang Pinball Wizard and then another one I did not know very well while I played guitar, it was a lot of fun.
After that we headed off to Campus where I showed him around - this is the first time since I moved here that he has visited me with any time to spare to look around Columbus! So, I took him to my "old life" as well as my current life- ie we went to the Political Science dept at OSU, met up with some of my friends and went out to lunch, I took him to Raising Canes, DH met us and took the afternoon off.
We picked up the Dogs and headed to Alum Creek to walk on the dam. After we were done walking we took the dogs down by some water to get a drink and they almost pulled Aaron into the water. Grim clearly thought she should be allowed to swim around at will. He eventually got her out with only minimal wetness to his pants and shoes. We sat in the shade, with then nice breeze blowing on us and the dogs laying in the grass and just relaxed for a while to give the dogs a chance to dry off a bit - it was rough. LOL.
We came home with the intentions of heading back out to the baseball game, but after all three of us pretty much fell asleep on the couch we decided we did not need to spend the night out and instead just went out to dinner at the Pig Iron (delicious!!) and then came home and watched the NBA playoff game (Magic/Celtics). My dad got his wish and the Celtics won.
All of last night I could not believe it was Friday night, felt so much like Saturday! This morning I am headed to the farmer's market. Dad left at 7am this morning to drive up to Burton and spend the day following my vet sister around as she is on call. Tomorrow we will meet back up with him at my Grandma's for dinner and Birthay cake , and then head our seperate ways. I am pretty sure by Sunday night it will blow my mind that I have another day off on Monday. LOL.
Friday, April 30, 2010
About those goals...
It is 1 hr from the end of April. I set myself plenty of goals for the month and I can't believe how the time flew by. My organization has not improved one ounce. One step. One goal. I just can't get started. Here is the irony of it though - on my "to do" list for April was to read the organization book I bought. It is called "Organize Yourself" and has been around for quite some time. I did not start it until last night. The first chapter is about Procrastination. It asks, within the first few lines, 'do you put off tasks until the night before the deadline?" I almost laughed out loud. It also talks about a lot of reasons people procrastinate and states you need to figure out your own reason. Some proposed reasons that struck a chord: its just easier to let it go, I over-estimate the time or effort the task will take "inflating" the difficulty to an insurmountable height (this tends to happen especially with making phone calls, filling out forms, etc). I also have a tendency to get overwhelmed if there is too many tasks or too large of a task - I just don't have that organization bug that my sister possesses. If I am going to make any progress towards my New Years Resolution, I am going to need to prioritize it more, and change the way I think about going about it. Organization certainly is one of my dragons at the moment - that and puppy obedience!!
In the spirit of focusing on the positive, I will say things I did do this month: I did go to see LEKT and had a wonderful time. I went hiking. I read a large chunk of Ulysses, though I am not quite finished. I took the dogs to the dog park about once a week, and squeezed in some longer walks as well. I cooked slightly more than in the previous month, and planned more meals. I got my garden bed ready for vegatable planting, and, of course, I made Springtime Dessert!
In the spirit of focusing on the positive, I will say things I did do this month: I did go to see LEKT and had a wonderful time. I went hiking. I read a large chunk of Ulysses, though I am not quite finished. I took the dogs to the dog park about once a week, and squeezed in some longer walks as well. I cooked slightly more than in the previous month, and planned more meals. I got my garden bed ready for vegatable planting, and, of course, I made Springtime Dessert!
Friday, April 23, 2010
A Somewhat Green Post
Now that I have gotten that rant out of the way (sorry if it offended anyone), how about an update on my life?
DH has spent the last two days home sick, poor guy. I don't know if he has the same thing I did or not, but I doubt it since that would indicate an incredible long incubation period that just seems ridiculous. Besides that, even though he was home sick, he spent part of today (a small part, don't worry) fertiziling a small section of the lawn. Our lawn looks HORRIBLE. We are very bad at taking care of it. This is the first place I lived that there were neighbors to worry about in terms of lawn care. DH is a bit mad at the next door neighbors because the first summer we were here there was no dandelions in our yard and tons in theres, last summer there was a few in our yard, and now ours is as bad as theirs. DH does not want to pass on the disease to others, lol, so he wants to do some lawn treatments. We have even considered hiring a company to come do it, but I am worried about the chemicals and the dogs. I don't like the idea of toxic grass. For now we are putting down some simple fertilizer, if that does not help we will research other pet safe options.
In work news, my building is finally starting a recycling program for cans/bottles etc. I know I have only been there a few months, but seriously, this is 2010, they should have had recycling for five years at least!! I went to the kick off and got some free green pepper seeds, signed up for the raffles, and volunteered to help empty the recylcing container from my area into the dumpster. I hope they got a lot of volunteers or I will get stuck doing it all the time (I was the first to sign up for my area). In general, work is going well. I am very caught up, I am closing a lot of cases. Last week for the first time I closed as many cases as I got, which is the ultimate production goal (to do this consistently). It was 13 cases. This past week I only closed 8 again (which is about what I was averaging before the 13).
DH and I spent the last two nights watching the NFL draft. We are very interested in the outcome, and very disapointed by the coverage. DH is disapointed because they don't show many clips of the players getting drafted, have poor timing in the announcements, and are a running commercial for verizon. I am disapointed because they keep staying stupid things that contradict things they said earlier. For example, spending 20 minutes talking about how its so surprising Tim Tebow went in the first round, and then asking 30 seconds later if people think the Bronco's got the best value of the night by drafting him (value meaning he should have been drafted earlier than he was). Another case of logic not being the most valued commodity around... Anyways, I stayed up watching last night to see the Vikings pick, and then they went and traded it away. Tonight they drafted a couple of players I am less than certain about, and I am completely at a loss as to why they would draft a RB when they have the best in the league (Adrian Peterson), and there are other positions they could use.
Puppy's behavior has been getting more and more out of hand (more hyperness, inability to calm down, etc). I did some reading online tonight about being the Alpha, and putting it into practice. She certainly seems to respond to at least some of it (such as working on the sit/stay command to calm her down and assert dominance gently). We decided its time to start obedience school and we signed up for a class starting Monday, May 3rd. Wish us luck!!
Sounds like its raining outside. That makes me smile.
DH has spent the last two days home sick, poor guy. I don't know if he has the same thing I did or not, but I doubt it since that would indicate an incredible long incubation period that just seems ridiculous. Besides that, even though he was home sick, he spent part of today (a small part, don't worry) fertiziling a small section of the lawn. Our lawn looks HORRIBLE. We are very bad at taking care of it. This is the first place I lived that there were neighbors to worry about in terms of lawn care. DH is a bit mad at the next door neighbors because the first summer we were here there was no dandelions in our yard and tons in theres, last summer there was a few in our yard, and now ours is as bad as theirs. DH does not want to pass on the disease to others, lol, so he wants to do some lawn treatments. We have even considered hiring a company to come do it, but I am worried about the chemicals and the dogs. I don't like the idea of toxic grass. For now we are putting down some simple fertilizer, if that does not help we will research other pet safe options.
In work news, my building is finally starting a recycling program for cans/bottles etc. I know I have only been there a few months, but seriously, this is 2010, they should have had recycling for five years at least!! I went to the kick off and got some free green pepper seeds, signed up for the raffles, and volunteered to help empty the recylcing container from my area into the dumpster. I hope they got a lot of volunteers or I will get stuck doing it all the time (I was the first to sign up for my area). In general, work is going well. I am very caught up, I am closing a lot of cases. Last week for the first time I closed as many cases as I got, which is the ultimate production goal (to do this consistently). It was 13 cases. This past week I only closed 8 again (which is about what I was averaging before the 13).
DH and I spent the last two nights watching the NFL draft. We are very interested in the outcome, and very disapointed by the coverage. DH is disapointed because they don't show many clips of the players getting drafted, have poor timing in the announcements, and are a running commercial for verizon. I am disapointed because they keep staying stupid things that contradict things they said earlier. For example, spending 20 minutes talking about how its so surprising Tim Tebow went in the first round, and then asking 30 seconds later if people think the Bronco's got the best value of the night by drafting him (value meaning he should have been drafted earlier than he was). Another case of logic not being the most valued commodity around... Anyways, I stayed up watching last night to see the Vikings pick, and then they went and traded it away. Tonight they drafted a couple of players I am less than certain about, and I am completely at a loss as to why they would draft a RB when they have the best in the league (Adrian Peterson), and there are other positions they could use.
Puppy's behavior has been getting more and more out of hand (more hyperness, inability to calm down, etc). I did some reading online tonight about being the Alpha, and putting it into practice. She certainly seems to respond to at least some of it (such as working on the sit/stay command to calm her down and assert dominance gently). We decided its time to start obedience school and we signed up for a class starting Monday, May 3rd. Wish us luck!!
Sounds like its raining outside. That makes me smile.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
April's Fool, Resolutions Re-tooled
It is now April 1st. We are officially 1/4 of the way through the year (by months.. not days actually). I think its a good time to pause and reflect, to look at how I am doing on my goals for this year and how I am feeling about life in general.
Here are my New Years Resolutions, and how I feel like I am doing on them:
1) Get Organized!!!
Lets face it, I have hardly touched this one. I did buy some storage containers that SLIGHTLY improved the use of our front closet and cabinet under the sink. That is pathetic though. I have not read the organization book I bought. I hardly have cut back on activities or tried to manage my time. We have slightly improved in responding to mail, but not by much. We have not fixed our filing. We are not keeping the house cleaner. We have not purged anything. I need to step up and get working on this. Clearly I need to set some smaller goals.
(2) Cook More, Eat Healthier
I have made some progress here, but there is more room for improvement. This task was LARGELY assisted by my Lent resolution to give up fast food, which took away the quick and easy option. I have been bezzling less, snacking less, and paying more attention to portions. The ammount of meals eaten at home has slightly increased. My weight has stabilized (I had been in a long gain), but is not really dropping. DH is also very into exercise/diet (on his own personal 90 day program), so I would really like to step this up another notch.
(3) Reading Goal
Finally, one I am doing decently on! The goal was to read 40K pages and to tackle some of the tomes I have been meaning to get to. I currently have read 10621 pages, meaning that I am 26.5525% done with my goal with 24.6575% of the year gone. I am just ahead of the curve, but will have to keep it up to finish this! As for the tomes, well, I am working on one. Sort of.
(4) Grimmy Grim
I have increased the ammount of walking I do with Grim, but not as much as my resolution called for. I will walk her longer if its beautiful out and I am not in a hurry. The puppy complicated this resolution significantly because she was too cold to take long walks before it started getting nice.
So... in Other Words ---
So what am I going to do about all of these resolutions? Not time to give up yet! I still have 9 months to achieve my resolutions! I think its time to break them down a little! Here are my goals for the month of April.
(1) Get Organized!!
a. Read my organization book
b. Clean out the rest of underneath the cabinet and buy appropriate organization bins to keep it clean
c. Make a list of all activities that I regularly partake in, including puppy time, and prioritize them, and act on my schedule accordingly.
d. Sit down with DH and make a list of all the little projects that are waiting to get done around the house.
e. Take Stock of My Office and figure out what exactly needs to be done to make it functional
(2) Cook More, Eat Healthier
a. Plan 2 meals for each week in advance (starting this weekend), and execute them. Ask DH to cook one meal a week.
(3) Reading
a. Finish Ulysses by the end of the month
(4) Grimmy Grim
a. Take advantage of the one day per week DH is handling dinner to take the dogs to the dog park.
b. Continue to try and walk them longer whenever the weather is decent.
Other April Goals -
(5) Clean the Garden Bed out and plant seeds inside to start
(6) Go Hiking
(7) Visit LEKT
(8) Make Springtime Dessert
(9) Visit Alum Creek Lake or another large Body of water (well, not that large)
(10) Order Pictures
Here are my New Years Resolutions, and how I feel like I am doing on them:
1) Get Organized!!!
Lets face it, I have hardly touched this one. I did buy some storage containers that SLIGHTLY improved the use of our front closet and cabinet under the sink. That is pathetic though. I have not read the organization book I bought. I hardly have cut back on activities or tried to manage my time. We have slightly improved in responding to mail, but not by much. We have not fixed our filing. We are not keeping the house cleaner. We have not purged anything. I need to step up and get working on this. Clearly I need to set some smaller goals.
(2) Cook More, Eat Healthier
I have made some progress here, but there is more room for improvement. This task was LARGELY assisted by my Lent resolution to give up fast food, which took away the quick and easy option. I have been bezzling less, snacking less, and paying more attention to portions. The ammount of meals eaten at home has slightly increased. My weight has stabilized (I had been in a long gain), but is not really dropping. DH is also very into exercise/diet (on his own personal 90 day program), so I would really like to step this up another notch.
(3) Reading Goal
Finally, one I am doing decently on! The goal was to read 40K pages and to tackle some of the tomes I have been meaning to get to. I currently have read 10621 pages, meaning that I am 26.5525% done with my goal with 24.6575% of the year gone. I am just ahead of the curve, but will have to keep it up to finish this! As for the tomes, well, I am working on one. Sort of.
(4) Grimmy Grim
I have increased the ammount of walking I do with Grim, but not as much as my resolution called for. I will walk her longer if its beautiful out and I am not in a hurry. The puppy complicated this resolution significantly because she was too cold to take long walks before it started getting nice.
So... in Other Words ---
So what am I going to do about all of these resolutions? Not time to give up yet! I still have 9 months to achieve my resolutions! I think its time to break them down a little! Here are my goals for the month of April.
(1) Get Organized!!
a. Read my organization book
b. Clean out the rest of underneath the cabinet and buy appropriate organization bins to keep it clean
c. Make a list of all activities that I regularly partake in, including puppy time, and prioritize them, and act on my schedule accordingly.
d. Sit down with DH and make a list of all the little projects that are waiting to get done around the house.
e. Take Stock of My Office and figure out what exactly needs to be done to make it functional
(2) Cook More, Eat Healthier
a. Plan 2 meals for each week in advance (starting this weekend), and execute them. Ask DH to cook one meal a week.
(3) Reading
a. Finish Ulysses by the end of the month
(4) Grimmy Grim
a. Take advantage of the one day per week DH is handling dinner to take the dogs to the dog park.
b. Continue to try and walk them longer whenever the weather is decent.
Other April Goals -
(5) Clean the Garden Bed out and plant seeds inside to start
(6) Go Hiking
(7) Visit LEKT
(8) Make Springtime Dessert
(9) Visit Alum Creek Lake or another large Body of water (well, not that large)
(10) Order Pictures
Friday, March 12, 2010
As I was saying...
Little updates on things I am sure you want to know about:
River continues to be an escape artist. Yesterday, despite being crated when I left with the latch properly locked, she greeted me at the door. I went upstairs with some trepidation to find out exactly how she got out. Turns out she just flat out pushed out the front door, snapping part of the plastic that holds the door on. I spent the hour and forty-five minutes that I was home first walking her, then cleaning up the mess she had made (some poop of course, and every shoe in the house had been dragged to the middle of the room, one sandal destroyed), and then devising a way to fix the cage. I did not have the tools or abilities necessary to find a real solution to the broken cage, so I ended up putting the new, solid crate inside of the larger, wire crate. So, the puppy is now double-crated. It has worked twice so far, we will see how long it takes her to figure out an escape route.
My finger is healing. It still is UGLY, looks like there is a centimete cut across the pad of the right middle finger, but it does not hurt anymore, and is actually just a seem of dead skin that has yet to detach itself. It finally stopped tingling, which was a problem for the last week or so, and last night I caught it on something and it did not even hurt!!
Book club last night for Sense and Sensability. It was fun. We talked about the book a little, which is always nice, but I found I had the most to say about it of anyone, which does not make for much of a conversation. I do have fun at book club, but something has got to give if I want to simplify my schedule, and one or both book clubs might be it.
I do not have big weekend plans, we are having people over to watch Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (extended version) on Saturday night, and I am visiting Grandma's, as I won't be able to for the next two weeks. Other than that, its puppy time (I hope we can go to Alum Creek Resevoir, I am Lake-Sick... that is similar to home sickness), reading time, and perhaps a movie or two. Hope everyone has a good weekend.
River continues to be an escape artist. Yesterday, despite being crated when I left with the latch properly locked, she greeted me at the door. I went upstairs with some trepidation to find out exactly how she got out. Turns out she just flat out pushed out the front door, snapping part of the plastic that holds the door on. I spent the hour and forty-five minutes that I was home first walking her, then cleaning up the mess she had made (some poop of course, and every shoe in the house had been dragged to the middle of the room, one sandal destroyed), and then devising a way to fix the cage. I did not have the tools or abilities necessary to find a real solution to the broken cage, so I ended up putting the new, solid crate inside of the larger, wire crate. So, the puppy is now double-crated. It has worked twice so far, we will see how long it takes her to figure out an escape route.
My finger is healing. It still is UGLY, looks like there is a centimete cut across the pad of the right middle finger, but it does not hurt anymore, and is actually just a seem of dead skin that has yet to detach itself. It finally stopped tingling, which was a problem for the last week or so, and last night I caught it on something and it did not even hurt!!
Book club last night for Sense and Sensability. It was fun. We talked about the book a little, which is always nice, but I found I had the most to say about it of anyone, which does not make for much of a conversation. I do have fun at book club, but something has got to give if I want to simplify my schedule, and one or both book clubs might be it.
I do not have big weekend plans, we are having people over to watch Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (extended version) on Saturday night, and I am visiting Grandma's, as I won't be able to for the next two weeks. Other than that, its puppy time (I hope we can go to Alum Creek Resevoir, I am Lake-Sick... that is similar to home sickness), reading time, and perhaps a movie or two. Hope everyone has a good weekend.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Only Tuesday?
Yesterday evening turned out to be crazy. We had nothing planned but DH called me at work and said his coworkers were going out to dinner and we should join them, and it sounded like fun. I was supposed to meet them at the bar. I got the dogs walked and played with River some, crated her up, and headed out. When I backed out of the garage my garage door opener would not work. This has been happening intermittently for no apparent reason. So, I got out of the car and went to close is manually. There is no handle on the outside of the door of course, and in trying to close it I managed to get my finger stuck between two of the slats as it came down and crush my finger. It hurt like crazy and a glance revealed that I had basically managed to remove my finger print - peel back the top few layers of skin on the pad of my right middle finger. I did not think it was bad enough for the urgent care, but I was also unsure if I could clean it (the skin was folded under and there was dirt in it), without some sort of pain relief. I called DH and he came home, though by the time he got there it was mostly for moral support as I had decided to try and deal with it at home. (Also, thanks Mom for the moral support!! Whenever I get hurt I call my parents since my Mom is a nurse and Dad is a sports physiology professor). I managed to get it cleaned out, then we headed back to the bar to see DH’s coworkers. I have only met them once or twice. It was fun, though some of the spouses that were their were a bit too vocal and offensive for my liking. The vast majority were fun to hang out with.
We got the second surprise and part of the craziness when we got home. Remember when I said I left River in the crate? Well, when we got home River was running free and there was various chewed up items piled in the center of each room, as if she had gone searching for little things in the corners. And of course she pooped in the house as well. Luckily nothing she got was too valuable, she seems to have similar cheap tastes as Grim when it comes to chewing things up. We went upstairs expecting to find the crate door popped open somehow. We got up there and the crate was upside-down several feet from where I left it, with the door still seemingly closed. Upon closer inspection, the door was actually only half latched, the top latch having not snapped into place. As far as we can guess, River figured out the top half was not latched and in her attempts to push through it flipped the crate, then somehow squirmed through the still mostly-closed door, and had her way with the house. She is quite the little Houdini, and we will be using the locking feature from now on.
This morning my finger is still very tender, I am keeping a close watch on it, and it is slowing down my work - typing and using the mouse, etc.
Trivia update – I am going to trivia tonight and never had a chance to share my victories from last week! Pixel is a combination of picture element. The questions I got right last week were:
(1) Who played Romeo in the 1996 movie remake of the classic story?
(2) What video game features a main character named Snake?
(3) What type of bird has varieties named burrowing, little, and Eurasian Eagle?
We got the second surprise and part of the craziness when we got home. Remember when I said I left River in the crate? Well, when we got home River was running free and there was various chewed up items piled in the center of each room, as if she had gone searching for little things in the corners. And of course she pooped in the house as well. Luckily nothing she got was too valuable, she seems to have similar cheap tastes as Grim when it comes to chewing things up. We went upstairs expecting to find the crate door popped open somehow. We got up there and the crate was upside-down several feet from where I left it, with the door still seemingly closed. Upon closer inspection, the door was actually only half latched, the top latch having not snapped into place. As far as we can guess, River figured out the top half was not latched and in her attempts to push through it flipped the crate, then somehow squirmed through the still mostly-closed door, and had her way with the house. She is quite the little Houdini, and we will be using the locking feature from now on.
This morning my finger is still very tender, I am keeping a close watch on it, and it is slowing down my work - typing and using the mouse, etc.
Trivia update – I am going to trivia tonight and never had a chance to share my victories from last week! Pixel is a combination of picture element. The questions I got right last week were:
(1) Who played Romeo in the 1996 movie remake of the classic story?
(2) What video game features a main character named Snake?
(3) What type of bird has varieties named burrowing, little, and Eurasian Eagle?
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