The One About Wordless Wednesday- 3rd Edition

I’ll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween.
~Author Unknown

It’s Wordless Wednesday!

I had to work Saturday for our museum’s Halloween party. No one recognized me until I spoke!

The One About the Goof

Her lips on his could tell him better than all her stumbling words. 
~Margaret Mitchell

I kinda made a goof last night with B but I didn’t mean it the way he took it.  We were watching TV while eating dinner and a commercial came on for the upcoming Keith Urban show.  I commented that I thought going to concerts was a waste of money.

Of course, B took it the way I said it… like anyone would.

In my mind, though, I was meant that I thought going to concerts all the time… like every single concert that comes to town or going to the same concert more than once or twice was a waste of money.  I was also thinking about my own financial situation where I don’t have much money to spend so going to a concert once would take all my “extra” money for two months.

B then said that I’d hate the surprise he was planning for me on the 17^th.  He had refused to tell me in the past couple weeks what we were doing beyond the fact that I could wear jeans but would need a sweater or something because we might be standing outside for a while.  Yup, you guessed it… he ended up telling me that we were going to a concert.

I felt horrible for him thinking I meant going to ANY concert is a waste of money (which is totally, absolutely, 100% my fault because that’s what I said even though I meant it in a different way—but I didn’t clarify that).  He now thinks that I’m only faking/lying about being excited about the concert.

But I am totally excited because I still haven’t been to many concerts and this is Brad Paisley with Taylor Swift (love her!) and Rodney Atkins.  I think it’ll be awesome.

B also surprised me with asking if I wanted to go to the Navy/Notre Dame football game this weekend.  He said he’d buy tickets if I wanted to go with him.  Sounds like a heck of a lot of fun to me!  I might not like watching football on TV, but I do enjoy live games every now and then.

Seriously, I’m the luckiest woman in the world to have a man who goes out of his way to surprise me with things and to try and do things that will make me happy.  I just can’t believe how blessed I am.

The One About No Weekend

I wish I could stand on a busy corner, hat in hand, and beg people to throw me all their wasted hours. 
~Bernard Berenson

I truly hate it when I only get one day off a week.  I genuinely need two days off… one to relax and re-group and one to get things done.

I worked nearly 60 hours this past week and while I know a lot of people do it, it’s exhausting to me because I was having a flare as well.  I work at a museum and we had a family-friendly Halloween party with games and prizes and trick-or-treating and we even brought in alligators and snakes and stuff.  It really turned out well, but having to work 3:30-9:30 p.m. on Saturday really messed up my weekend (picture of my Duchess of Darkness costume will be Wednesday!).  I also worked quite late on Tuesday and Wednesday for other things that were happening here.

But it’s okay because I’ll get it all back next week when I take the second half of the day on the 8^th off and all of the 9^th without having to use any of my PTO when I go to the other side of the state with B for his Navy Ball.  That’ll be nice!

Lu sliced an inch-long cut along the side of one of her paw pads. I swear that between Chase, B and Lulu, I need to buy stock in first aid supplies.

B and I figured out how to rearrange my bedroom to fit both the dogs and a crate in there so that there is room for a puppy if we get it.  With his huge king size bed that will be coming in, there really isn’t much room for anything else.  I’ll have to take out the dresser but B is going to build a base for his bed that will have pull-out drawers instead, so that’ll work.  The cats will hate it, though, because there won’t be a place to hide under the bed… but they have the rest of the house.  Come to think of it, it will eliminate hairballs that I can’t reach under the bed… that’s a good thing!

This weekend B and I also went up to Grand Rapids to have dinner at Brannigan’s with my brother.  He’ll be leaving next week to go do training with Audi after he was scouted by them when he finished his degree in high-performance engine repair.  He’ll be in Pennsylvania for four months learning the intricacies of Audi cars and then will be sent to an Audi dealership that participates in the program (the dealership gets a qualified Audi repairman for at least a year in return for paying for his schooling).  He’s hoping that the Grand Rapids dealership participates as he likes the area and has a few friends from there.  Then both of my mom’s children will be on this side of the state… that is, until I move in 18 months or so.  Hopefully my brother will be able to make it home for Christmas as it might be our last Christmas together for quite a while.

This weekend I get my hair dyed red again (yay… I love it when it’s red!) for the first time in over a year and we’ll be going to a dog show in Indiana.  Good thing the time changes Sunday morning because we have to leave my house at 7, which will be 8 in today’s time.  That makes me feel better that I get an extra hour to sleep in!

Is it Friday yet?

The One About Thursday Thirteens- 3rd Edition

Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.
~George Eliot

It’s time for the Thursday Thirteen again. If you have a Thursday Thirteen of your own, leave your website in the comments section and I’ll visit it

Thirteen Pets I have had Throughout My Life

1. Fonzie. Fonzie was my first pet. My parents got him as a wedding present (he was supposed to be full poodle but ended up to be a cock-a-poo) and when I came along, he was always at my side–until I learned how to crawl. Then I tormented the poor dog and he hated me (and any other kids) from then on. He died when he was something like 12.
2. Ginger. Ginger was the first dog that was for me. She was a Golden Retriever/something mix. I think she was a free puppy at the local county fair and my parents brought her home for me since Fonzie hated my guts (with good reason). I don’t remember much about Ginger, but she ran away when her puppies (oops) were about 6 weeks old.
3. Brandon. Brandon was one of Ginger’s puppies and looked full-blooded Golden Retriever. He was seriously the dumbest dog I ever met–he didn’t learn to even sit on command until he was 11 of so. But I loved him very much and he was always a sweetheart. I named him Brandon after Punky Brewster’s dog. He lived to be 14 and died my freshman year of college while I was away.
4. Blackie. Blackie was our first cat (and was black in color… duh!) that my mom brought home to control the mice population in our old farmhouse. My mom broached the subject of a cat to my dad and he said, “I won’t have a cat in my house!” So my mom went out and brought Blackie home the next day because she said it was her house too and my dad didn’t make the rules. He was a stray and was an indoor/outdoor cat because we lived in farm country. Unfortunately, he was hit by a car.
5. Pixie. Pixie was a Sheltie that was given to my dad as payment for some carpentry work he did. My mom wasn’t too happy because we needed the money, not another dog. But she fell in love with her–who couldn’t fall in love with a little Sheltie puppy? Unfortunately, Pixie was killed on the road in front of my brother when she ran across the road (she never did this) to meet a neighbor’s dog who looked exactly like Brandon. She was halfway across when she realized it wasn’t Brandon, so she came back. She didn’t make it all the way
6. Heidi. Pixie was killed less than a week after my grandfather choked to death in front of us. None of us could handle the double loss so my parents went out and got another Sheltie to help us fill the void. She died during my freshman year of college, too.
7. Friskie. Friskie was the cat we got after Blackie. My dad by this point had grown to really like cats and had to help us pick him out. He was a beautiful black and white cat. Unfortunately, he was also an inside/outside cat to help control the mice population both in our house and in the horse barn. He was our last cat killed on the road because we started keeping them inside.
8. Archie. Archie was the next cat in the household… a beautiful and HUGE white cat with grey/tan tiger spots. He was 12 weeks old when we got him from one of my classmates and was nearly feral. He’s still alive today at age 13 and is living with my mom.
9. Lexi. Lexi was one of Heidi’s puppies that we kept because my mom “just had a feeling.” A year after Lexi was born, Heidi died. We now know why my mom “had the feeling” to keep Lexi. Lexi is still alive and living with my mom.
10. Sadie. Sadie was my first animal that I got myself as an adult. She’s a beautiful white and calico and was born to a feral mother who abandoned the kittens when they were only 3 weeks old in the lumberyard where my dad worked. My dad brought her home for a neighbor but she didn’t make it that far
11. Jake. Jake is a gorgeous black and white cat that I adopted from a group after college when I got my first job. I wanted Sadie to have some companionship while I was gone during the day.
12. Chase. I decided I wanted a dog when I bought my first house and after much research, decided on Greyhounds and wanted to foster some before I adopted. Chase was my third foster and is handsome red boy. He never left.
13. Lulu. I had decided to stop fostering after a bit because Chase wasn’t happy with having fosters around. But I heard a plea through a Greyhound forum that they needed to get some puppies out of Kansas because a farmer was giving them up. I gave in and said I’d foster two of the 4 1/2 month old puppies. Both Lulu and her sister were cute blue fawns. I fostered them for a while, but only one left

That’s only 13 of my animals. I haven’t even gotten into any of the horses, rabbits, fish and hamsters I had growing up. That’s for another time

The One About Wordless Wednesday- 2nd Edition

Did you ever notice when you blow in a dog’s face he gets mad at you? But when you take him in a car he sticks his head out the window.
~Steve Bluestone

It’s Wordless Wednesday!  The progression of Lulu in the car this past weekend enjoying my sunroof (click on the picture to see it larger).

The One About a Possible Puppy

The inability to make a decision has often been passed off as patience.
~Author Unknown

So B will be moving in in the next few months. That means a lot of cleaning out for me… which is a good thing since I have too much crap in my house. Crap that is still in boxes after moving in 2 years ago (Sunday is the 2 year mark of owning my house!). Obviously if I haven’t used it, I don’t need it. Well, other than the extra plates and dishes that me, as one person, doesn’t need in my cupboards.

But beyond that, B wants a dog of his own. He’s been wanting one for a long time. He loves my dogs and all, but he wants one that is more solid and more rough-and-tumble and one that is more of a watchdog.

Hey, my dogs are watch dogs… they watch whatever is going on. While staying on the couch, of course.

So we are researching dogs. He wants a purebreed because he wants specific traits and you really can’t tell what you are going to get at a shelter. Don’t get me wrong… I totally advocate for adopting a dog from a shelter or rescue group. I mean, all my animals were from adoption groups except Sadie, who was abandoned in a lumber warehouse by her feral mom—and I still volunteer for my local Greyhound adoption group.

So since he wants an AKC dog, I’m making sure that we find a reputable breeder that only breeds for the betterment of the breed and not for the money… read: no puppymill.

Right now, we are looking at a Great Pyrenees (Pyr to those who know the breed). B wants a dog that is huge (with him being 6’5”, that’s pretty understandable) and that is a watch/guard dog. I didn’t want a breed that has a reputation for being aggressive as we might have to rent for a while in Washington and some breeds are restricted from renting. A breed that isn’t too hyper so that it matches my current dogs’ activity levels would be a must. I also wanted a breed that was good with other dogs and cats and definitely with kids as I plan to have some at some point. Click here to look at a photo story (which is what the photo to the right is) about a young Pyr who didn’t like the way an infant was uncomfortably leaning in his walker and tried to get him to sit up straight by nuzzling and nudging him until he got frustrated enough to sit there and stare at the mother until she came to fix the baby to the dog’s liking. It’s soooo sweet!  The photo is from Dogwoods Kennels, which is one breeder we are looking at.

The Great Pyrenees is a watch dog that looooves children and other animals but it will defend its territory and “pack” (read: his/her humans and other animals) if needed. They do allow strangers to come in the house… but only if a family member invites them. I know this would give B peace of mind while he is gone 2 ½ months on the submarine.

The only down side to them is that they shed a lot, especially when they blow their coat. I read that when they blow their coat once a year, “you will think that it snowed in your house.” Eh, I grew up in the country. Dog hair doesn’t bother me. That’s why I got a Dyson Animal vacuum. And why I’m going to be taking all the carpeting out of my house

We are currently researching breeders and have been in contact with a few asking questions. I bought a book called The New Complete Great Pyrenees by Paul Strang off Ebay.  The book was recommended by Dogwoods Kennels. We are going to a dog show two hours away in Ft. Wayne next weekend to meet some breeders and get up close to these dogs to see if they are really for us.

The reasons we aren’t going all-out and saying yes to getting a dog is that my house is small. We are trying to see how we can physically put another dog in the bedroom (there’s really not much room) as well as putting one in my Hyundai Tucson. As a puppy it wouldn’t be a problem, but as an adult it might be quite tight. He he… I might have to buy a new vehicle just to support my dogs!

But then I think about puppy breath and a sweet little ball of fur… that will become a whirling dervish of puppy/adolescent energy and accidents and chewing and digging before finally settling down as an adult. Hmmmm…to tell you the truth, I can’t wait!

The One About the Breadmaker and Tornadoes

Weather is a great metaphor for life – sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, and there’s nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella.
~Pepper Giardino

So I splurged and bought a breadmaker Wednesday night. I’ve wanted one for a while and this one was on sale at Kohl’s for $59.99 and if you used your Kohl’s charge, I got a $10 certificate for every $50 spent to spend next week. Yay!

Anyway, this breadmaker is awesome! It not only bakes 1 ½ and 2 pound loaves, but it also does pasta and, get this…HOMEMADE JAM! Yeah, jam! So I decided to try it out last night and make the jam first. All it required was a bag of frozen raspberries (they have a fresh strawberry recipe too, but since they are out of season, I went with the frozen recipe), some liquid fruit pectin, some sugar and some lemon juice.

The breadmaker mixed it all up for me and then it baked it for an hour. I then poured the liquid jam into little mason jars and put them in the fridge. A couple hours later, it was set. And OH MY FREAKIN’ GOSH… it’s the best darn jam I’ve ever had in my life. Probably because it doesn’t have any added preservatives or dyes or anything. I’m seriously never ever buying jam from the store again.

After the jam was done, I made a wheat bread. It turned out yummy too.

Of course, right in the middle of this, we had horrific storms come through. They were saying up to 90mph winds, so B (who had just got to my house) turned around and when to his apartment because his motorcycle was turned the wrong way to the wind and would get blown over.

Not too much later after he left, the TV station started announcing a tornado warning for my county and said it was 4 miles south of a city that’s only 6 miles away (so 10 or so miles away from me) and then the tornado sirens started going off. I took the pups down to the basement and brought my emergency radio and cell phone with me. I turned my emergency radio to the local TV station and they were talking about a definite “hook with significant rotation” that was heading straight for my area.

Luckily for me, it didn’t hit and I don’t think any tornadoes hit in my immediate area (the warning was for a Dopplar-indicated tornado). The wind definitely blew hard and there was a lot of thunder and lightning.

It’s really odd for my part of the world (southwest Michigan) to get storms like this this late in the season. We usually don’t have to worry about tornadoes much after late August/September.

Of course, the last few weeks have been weird, too. It was near 90 degrees last Monday and only 53 by Tuesday night.

The old saying is still true for Michigan: if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.

The One About Thursday Thirteens- 2nd Edition

No one will ever win the battle of the sexes; there’s too much fraternizing with the enemy. 
~Henry Kissinger

It’s time for the Thursday Thirteen again.  If you have a Thursday Thirteen of your own, leave your website in the comments section and I’ll visit it

Thirteen Search Terms That Brought People to my Blog (with links to the pages they looked at)

1. Liquid Lortab
2. Dancing Dogs
3. shirt My Life Has A Superb Cast, But I Can’t Figure Out the Plot
4. who is Toby Keith dating?
5. about being in love
6. figuring out calorie intake
7. what is life being in love?
8. i need to win lottery
9. HOW MANY CALORIES FOR TURKEY AND CHEESE
10. don’t like the wall oven next to my fridge
11. generally how many calories in a banana
12. What is the major things toby keith did?
13. calico mother cat always hisses hissing

And this was just in the last seven days… I sometimes get stranger ones and I’ll keep you updated on them.

The One About Wordless Wednesday- 1st Edition

Silence is also speech.
~Proverb

Just like my post last week about Thursday Thirteen, I’m going to join another blogging tradition: Worldless Wednesdays.

Most people think Greyhounds are high-energy, crazy dogs that need a lot of exercise, room to run and things to do. This picture is not only typical of my house, but also typical of Greyhounds in general. And note, Lulu is still very much a puppy at less than two years old.

The One About the Kitchen Faucet

The fellow that owns his own home is always just coming out of a hardware store. 
~Frank McKinney Hubbard

That quote was me this weekend.  B and I returned the cooktop stove that I bought a month ago because the pilot lights won’t stay lit if more than one burner is turned on.  I like to cook more than one thing at a time, thank-you-very-much.

Unfortunately, Home Depot didn’t have the cooktop in stock, so now I have to wait two more weeks before it comes in.  Blaaaah. I miss my stove.

I also missed my faucet.  When B had his accident, I wasn’t thinking and was trying to break up a package of frozen vegetables to put on the swelling on his head and I ended up snapping off the faucet handle. 

So yesterday I went to Home Depot and bought a new faucet.  After getting back to my house, B and I realized that I was missing some plumber’s putty so we ended up hitting Meijer on the way back from his aunt’s house (we were invited there for dinner).  B had a 2,100 word paper due for his online class, so I set out to un-install my old kitchen faucet and re-install my new one on my own (I’m handy like that).

I got the old one out, put putty where putty should go and put the new one in, added the rubber washer and the brass washer and the brass locking thread, then used the screws to secure the washers.  It was then time to connect the pipe threads to the wall pipes.  Yeah, the connections don’t fit so now I have to go back to Home Depot and get a connection that fits them.  Fun fun.  Hopefully I’ll be able to finish this tonight.

Just call me Ms. Handy-Woman.