Merry Christmas from the corgi

Normally, we have our Christmas picture taken, which we then include in our Christmas cards, but we were quite behind this year.  Alas, there is no picture of our threesome this year, maybe we'll get it tomorrow.

Instead, Gimli wishes a Merry Christmas!

Things for 2011

So a bunch of people I know are doing a '100 things I want to do in 2011' list and while I agree its a great idea, I am finding it difficult to come up with 100 things.

Therefore, I'm just going to write things down until I can't think of anything else and see where I end up.

   1. Read More, nothing special, just reading.
   2. Pay attention to my blog and post more
   3. Join BlogHer
   4. Attend BlogHer 2011, wherever it is
   5. Do what I need to do to get off one of my medications
   6. Go to the Zoo
   7. Make a better attempt at brushing Gimli more than once a week
   8. To achieve this, setup a grooming table in the laundry room
   9. Start expanding the list of meals that I can cook from memory
  10. Start branching out and cooking different things, planning is key and laziness is no excuse
  11. Eat more fruits and veggies
  12. Cut my hair, and not just a trim either, goodbye long locks.
  13. Get a 2nd corgi
  14. Learn to walk two of them properly
  15. Improve Gimli’s recall
  16. Make a Pooh Bear gingerbread house
  17. See The Lion King stage show
  18. Continue with the No Complaint experiment
  19. Take more visits to The Arboretum and see our coyote friend again
  20. Get off my butt and be more active
  21. Play with Gimli in the snow
  22. Try to make a snow ‘animal’
  23. Get more sleep
  24. Read Brene Brown’s book, The Gifts of Imperfection and apply it to myself
  25. Woofstock?
  26. Parasailing @Castaway Cay
  27. Discover local restaurants in my city
  28. See the Tim Burton exhibit
  29. Go to the Animal mass with Jeannie
  30. Make it to Trinidad to introduce Mike to the rest of my crazy family, hopefully I'll still be married by the time we return.
  31. ...
 

What to do when you can't get through the door?

Pull the fire alarm!  Yes, this device that one must only pull in the event there is a real fire.

I went into the office yesterday to catch up with everyone so they wouldn't think I've succumbed to cabin fever.  It was nasty cold outside, -18 or something like that with the wind chill.  Colder than a witch's tit.

It was the middle of the afternoon, the office is quiet and all of a sudden we hear this noise, which doesn't sound like any fire alarm at all.  We're all walking around for about a minute trying to figure out if this is the actual fire alarm, since most of us work from home.  Finally it sinks in and we rush back to our desks to grab our coats to head downstairs.

Outside its freezing.  We're standing there bracing behind minivans trying to stay out of the biting wind, secretly cursing whoever planned the fire drill and equally hoping the building burned down so we weren't freezing in vain.  Finally they gave us the all clear and we trudged back upstairs.

I later found out someone had pulled, yes pulled the fire alarm.  Why you ask?  Was it a prank?  A method to break up the monotony?

Nope, not in the least.

See, in our stairwells at each door there's a security box where you swipe your badge and you gain access.  Its quite simple really.  Well, this person, swiped her badge and I suppose it didn't take, so instead of swiping again, she pulls the fire alarm... why?  Because the lever on the fire alarm would open the door.

No tv, no phone, no Internet make Candy something something...

As I have mentioned before, I work from home.  Every day, Monday - Friday I'm up in the office with two work machines plugged into the VPN via the Internet.

Today, this did not happen...

See, there was a slight snowstorm last night, at least I think there was.  There wasn't enough snow to qualify for a snowstorm on the ground, but the roads and sidewalks were a bit icy.  About two blocks away from our house sits the 'transformer' box that holds our telephone/cable/internet connections as configured by our ISP.  Well, sometime last night a car smashed into that box.  It totaled the box.  To quote Mike, who saw the box this morning, "Smooshed!".

Needless to say, this morning there was no phone, no tv and no Internet.

I came back home from walking Gimli on icy sidewalks and blowing snow to hear Mike say, "We are dead in the water.", then turn around and walk back to the kitchen.  I thought of Jaws for a split second before he clarified himself and said the phone, tv and Internet was down.


Crap!  I was away on Thursday and Friday, (the topic of which I will post in a few days once I have the videos nicely compressed), and I had a large enough pile of work before I left that I couldn't possibly take another day off, especially when I'm going to be away again next week for Christmas!!, ran through my head

The next few minutes were spent scrambling to figure out how I could get to 'work'.  We have one car and Mike's office and my head office are in different directions.  The highway was a write off, it took Mike 1 1/2 hours to get to his office, which is closer than mine.

Thankfully, my boss lives in the same city and so I was able to work from his house sitting at his dining room table.  Mike picked me up after work and we came home to find our phone, tv and Internet working again.

How much do you want to bet it came up about an hour after I made it to my boss' house?

My head is full and no one likes my cookies

I had a nasty horrible headache today, which I can only attribute to the fact that I have so many blog posts swirling in my head that its full.  The blog area of my brain has reached capacity and is threatening the other portions of my brain.

So, in no particular order, here's what I need intend to write about in the next little while:

1. Christmas decorations
2. My birthday
3. Impending trip to another province, the reason I'm going there I've waited for about 12 years.
4. That other thing that was in my mind, but now I can't remember probably because a new thought came in and that thought was banished away.

---

Last Friday, I went to a social gathering in the neighborhood.  I was very proud of myself, I went there, was nice, polite, dare I say it - warm.  I mingled, I laughed and smiled and tried to join conversations.  Sometimes I succeeded, other times I stood there listening to women's birth stories.

I made peanut butter cookies with two little chocolate chips stuck in the middle.  We each were asked to bring something to eat, so I was glad to bring my cookies... Except it seemed no one ate them.  :(  By the time I left, the container was practically still full.

Here's a picture, don't they look appetizing?

On second thought, maybe they were scared off because the cookies do rather look like little beady eyed mouthless monsters.... hmmmmm

The First bit of Snow

On Saturday it snowed.  We woke up to see snow on the ground and it steadily continued on til around midday.  We had to take Gimli to the vet for his annual checkup, so when I took him for a pee pee break and he saw the snow, he went nuts!  He wanted to root his nose into it like a pig looking for truffles and he wanted to run around and pounce in it.

Sadly, we piled into the car and went to the vet.  But, I knew, I knew I would have to indulge him upon our return.

The vet visit was uneventful, Gimli is healthy as a horse.  He's a bit of a fat ass though, at 31 lbs, I am not happy about this number but we'll see about getting in more exercise over the winter.  Our backyard is fenced so that means he can run around in the snow over the course of the season.  He got his usual shots and next year we are going to start alternating the shots now that he has built up his immunity.

We stopped off at Walmart so I could run in and grab some Tupperware that was on sale... it was all gone, big surprise huh?  I looked at the crazy people running around and sighed that I haven't even begun my Christmas shopping yet.

Upon our arrival at home, Mike started shoveling the driveway in his old wheelchair so as not to dirty the new one, and the passersby all slowed down to watch.  I should charge admission the next time it snows.  Yes folks, step right up to see the amazing man in a wheelchair use a shovel!  Wait til they see him use the snowblower!  That's at least $2 admission fee.

I took Gimli into the backyard and all hell broke loose!  He ran around in the snow, frapping and barking at it, eating some and sniffing some.  He found his snowy soccer ball and we played fetch for a bit.

On Sunday, we were out again for a bit longer this time.  He frapped around and rolled in it.  I made snowballs and he chased and ate them.  I started making a snow pile, but Gimli wanted none of that and every time I made some progress, he came running up and pounced on it, digging and eating to his heart's content.

The snow is gone today and I don't think we'll have snow til the weekend, maybe, but I know Gimli's anxiously waiting for it!

Snow puff balls stuck to my fluff!

Gimli's crazy morning

I've realized I haven't posted anything on Gimli lately, so this post is allll about him!

He had a strange morning today...

Our staircase has two landings.  Its not a true 'boxed' in staircase, it has a slight curve as it comes down so there's 2 landings there so you don't fall on your butt as you descend the stairs.  Each area before the landing has about 4 or 5 stairs.  Gimli, in his infinite wisdom, because he is 'Looooorrrrd Gimli!', feels it is his duty to race down the stairs at break neck speed.  So much so that his front legs propel him downwards and his bunny butt is left hanging on for dear life and swaying like a rickety 18th century caboose that's been fastened onto a Japanese speed train.

This morning, he ran downstairs first and stood at the foot of the stairs looking up at me with that crazed 'feed me' look on his face.  I had forgotten something upstairs so I ran back up to fetch it.  He thought it was a game and ran back up with me.  When it came time to come down to go on the walk, he was even more excited and started down after me.  He reached the first landing and then slid fumbled fell down the 4 steps to the second landing.

I yelled at him, 'Gimli!' and we slowly went down the last bit of stairs where I felt him all over and stretched his legs to make sure there was nothing broken.  There wasn't, but I could tell he was a little startled by the whole experience.

We got ready and went on our walk.

It was blustery this morning and Gimli, being a little shaken up, was even more terrified because these frightening plastic trash can covers were spinning in the streets and threatening to get him.  Even the brittle leaves were scaring him, so much so he was less walking and more running/pulling with an air of, 'Let's just get this over with, hurry up woman!'  Normally I'm happy when he walks fast, but today it was almost a run to keep up with him, something I was not prepared to do because I am a lazy fat ass wasn't fully awake yet.

He calmed down as we turned the corner and slowed down a bit.  I happened to look behind us and saw the 'Golden Retriever Guy', (GRG), far behind us, but on our side of the street.

To explain a bit, neither Mike nor myself like this guy mainly because he's a bit rude and doesn't have a concept of personal space when it comes to him and his dog.  More on this later.

Gimli and I continued on into the park and we headed toward the bin so he could make his morning deposit.  After the bin, there's a small hill where the path dips down a bit and into the full park area with swings and a slide etc.  Gimli and I usually stop at the bin, then cross the grass back to the sidewalk, bypassing the full park altogether.  This morning, we ran into our neighbor from across the street.  She's a nice lady, with a senior German Shepherd, Pax (a male), and a puppy, I figure less than a year old, but nearly full grown.  We'll call her 2GS.  She's had the puppy for about a week so far, but we haven't met him yet because we haven't really run into each other and when we have, it hasn't been a good time to socialize.  Today was one of those days.

Gimli knows Pax and they get on well.  Pax is verrry mellowww.  We came upon Pax who was sitting on the path and Gimli said hi.  2GS was a little further away taking care of business with puppy.  As we reached her, the puppy was a little barky, mainly because he's never met us.  I somehow got Gimli to lie down in between my feet and he was behaving.  This normally never happens and I was pleasantly surprised.  Except I looked over to the left and there was GRG coming over the hill.

2GS then went into a bit of a scramble to move the puppy away from GRG because as she says to me, "He, GRG, told me his dog doesn't like puppies."  At this point, GRG was much closer and Gimli started acting up, mainly because his dog was getting closer and closer.  I heard GRG say, "Look, 2GS can't control two dogs.".

2GS started moving away and I stepped back with Gimli trying to get him to calm down before we started moving again.  I said to GRG as he was coming over, "Go ahead".  Meaning I'll wait here, you continue on ahead and cross the park to go to your house, which was directly across the street from where we were standing, so he could have just walked around where we were standing to go home.  He continued over to me, both of us trying to keep our dogs away from each other, and he says, "Is your dog a male?"  (Which he asked me before).

"Yes he is."

"Oh, well, I don't want them to meet because males will fight."

I knew what he was going to say before he even finished the sentence because he had said this before.  I brought Gimli next to me in a tight heel and walked away.  Gimli kept looking behind, but by the time we reached the sidewalk, about 20ft away, he was back under control.

I don't want this to be a rant or preachy soapbox ramblings, but some people just don't have common sense.  If you have it in your mind that your dog will fight with every other dog out there, then why bring your dog close enough to another dog?  Furthermore, why project this feeling onto yourself and by extension, your dog so that whenever you encounter another dog, that feeling is always there?

I'm not a genius and I'm not the world's best dog trainer and Gimli certainly isn't the most well behaved dog out there, but I know my dog and I know how I feel on any given day and if I feel like Gimli is 'off' or I'm 'off' or whatever the situation is, then on the walk, I avoid everyone.  I cross the street, I walk fast, I take detours.  I don't look for trouble, I don't see a situation and bring my dog into it with the pre-conceived notion that my dog is going to fight the 2 males dogs there.

I know there are 50 million ways to raise and train a dog and what works for me doesn't work for the next person.  But it would be nice if all dog owners out there practiced some common sense, awareness and respect people's personal space when on a walk.

Ok, now that's off my chest, pictures of Gimli!  I especially like the last one.

Halloweenish Guinea Pigs

Mike and I moved into our first house in July 2006.  It was a great house, open concept main floor with the dining room about 1/2 open concept.  We lived in that house for 3 years and never had a dining room table.  Because of this, we never hosted any large dinners, you know like the big ones - Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas.  I was secretly happy for this, shhh, don't tell Mike.

We moved into this house on Halloween 2009.  This house has the dining room incorporated into the kitchen and living room and so we purchased this dining room table soon after moving in and the sideboard this year.

This year we are hosting Christmas dinner for about 8-10 guests.

Because I had never made a turkey with all the fixins before and because I'm a huge perfectionist and paranoid things would go wrong, Mike and I held a Halloweenish Guinea Pig dinner party this past Saturday.  There was 11 guests in attendance.

Mike and I started preparing the night before.  We made the sour cream/cream cheese potatoes, (I made waaaay too much, a 5 lb bag, I'll use 5 less potatoes next time), and shoved them into the fridge and I made my two layer Dracula imprinted blood cake, (of which I didn't take a picture and I'm very sad).

The day of, my brother and I made some Halloween shaped cookies, (no pictures here either), but take my word for it, they were GOOD!

I used the convection oven for the first time, which cut the turkey roasting time by about 2 hours, (YES!).  Except because I was paranoid, I put the turkey in around 1 pm and the turkey was ready well before anyone had arrived, (BOOOOOO!).  No matter, it was still moist and juicy and awesome!  At least that's what everyone told me to my face...

Mike and I finished up with some corn, maple baby carrots, our gravy, which ran out, (oops) and my favorite non-dessert part of the meal, the sausage stuffing.  Oh yeah, slightly spiced Italian sausage cut into 1/2 moons mixed into the stuffing along with its oh so bad for you drippings.  Man, that was good!  My only problem with it was I didn't make enough!  I'm buying more boxes of stuffing for Christmas, never mind what Mike says.  The stuffing is all mine...

... I wonder what the stuffing would taste like if I put bacon into it... hmmmmmmmmmm

We're going to need a bigger boat.

While its not my favorite movie, (I don't have one), but Jaws is one of those movies that I watch whenever I catch it on television.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen it, but trust me, its plenty.  I can't remember when I first saw Jaws, but it was when I was an adult.  My first foray into the Jaws franchise was Jaws: The Revenge, which I saw as a child.  Yes, that abomination that subconsciously preached that a great white shark could track a plane from Amity all the way to The Bahamas.  Yes, didn't you know they had a built in tracker?

Anyways, if you've ever seen that movie, you might remember in the first scene the shark attacks, Sean Brody, the police officer on a boat while in the background you hear carolers singing, The First Noel.  To this day, when I hear that song I think of that scene.  Christmas and a bloody shark attack where a man's arm is taken off, then he's eaten...

Because when I become interested in a topic, I have to consume everything about it, I've subsequently seen the rest of the Jaws movies, including the 3D version set at Sea World and I've read the original Peter Benchley novel.  I credit the Jaws franchise for my interest in great whites and one day I'd like to go to South Africa to see them up close... if I ever have the guts to actually get into the water with those magnificent creatures.

Last Friday, we caught up with some friends of ours to watch Jaws on the big screen.  Some 35 years after the original premiered, (I wasn't born yet), I was able to watch it on the big screen.  In a word, awesome.

Automatic corgi

When Gimli was a puppy, went to Obedience classes at Petsmart.  He learned the usual things like, sit, down, stay, wait, come (sometimes), and all about walking on a leash.

I taught him shake a paw, wave, touch, pray and roll over.

This went well up until very recently.  Because everyday he visits Mike's parents who stuff him with cheese, he goes through a routine of tricks so he gets his cheese.

When he comes home, I make him perform a trick before he's fed and at other times in the day. It varies each time to keep him on his toes.

Except now, he does his tricks by memory like a trained seal.  If I so much as hesitate before giving him a command, he waves, then touches, then prays etc.

I'm not entirely sure how to remedy this, but perhaps when he doesn't listen or performs the wrong trick, then the game is over and I'll walk away and we'll try again in a few minutes.

Will update again once I have some results.

Bacon! Baaaacon!

There's a Begging Strips commercial where the dog goes nuts for bacon.  See it here.  It should have been written for me.

Well, I have a confession to make, I'm addicted to bacon.  Crispy bacon, stringy bacon or chewy bacon, I love it all.  Except its bad for you and with my addiction, I'm apt to eat all of it in one sitting, making it really bad and really good at the same time.  I've had a craving for bacon for quite some time because its now Fall and Fall makes me want to make my stew, which calls for bacon!!!

This morning Mike asked what I wanted for breakfast, (yes, he's trained well!), and I told him eggs and hashbrowns.

"No bacon?"

"No, we don't have the 'bad bacon', so I don't want any of the other bacon."

I took Gimli for a walk and some fetch in the backyard.  We came inside, fed Gimli and I turned the TV to the Food Network to watch "The Best Thing I Ever Ate".  Today's best thing was, you guessed it, BACON!

I ate my breakfast in silence admiring the bacon on tv and envying the guests as they devoured their bacon.


*sigh*

I'm walkin' here!

Today must have been, 'Let's slam Candy!' Day.

Had a crummy day and a headache during the afternoon... YAY!  Yes, I get migraines every once in a while and they pretty much cripple me.  Unfortunately, I don't get any warnings or auras that other migraine sufferers do, so for me its like in the cartoons when the ACME anvil falls on the character's head.  It hits right out of the blue!

We went grocery shopping this evening, all was well until I was returning the cart.  I returned it to the corral and started back to the car.  All of a sudden, this woman zooms into the parking lane and zooms into the parking spot next to our car narrowly missing running me over!  I had to jump out of the way and almost bumped into this guy who was heading into the supermarket to buy some strawberries or Coke.

I got into the car ranting and raving how this mad woman driving like Cruella deVille trying to get some Dalmatian puppies almost ran me over.  Then, Cruella proceeded to sit in the car and organize 'things'.  She nearly killed me going for a parking spot so she could sit there and organize 'things'.

Where's my Stewie death ray when I need it?

Oh and ranting when you've nearly been killed doesn't count against the No Complaints thing.

Halloween!

Yes, its now November, but better late than never right?  Besides, I took some pictures of Gimli yesterday that I have to post today.

Even though we like all things horror-ble, we didn't go all out for Halloween this year.  Our only decoration consisted of this skull that a friend made for us.  Skully has been sitting in the window for most of the month and we aren't sure if he's going to stay there forever...

On Saturday we picked up close to 200 pieces of candy to distribute on Halloween night, thinking we were going to receive plenty of children... WRONG! We have about 100 pieces of candy left over!  Ay and I'm supposed to be on a diet.  Oh well, they'll all end up in my belly at some point!

On Sunday, we dressed Gimli in his bandanna, mainly because he doesn't have any costumes and I don't think he would like wearing one.  It takes us about 5 minutes to put the bandanna on him.  This is leftover baggage from the cone of shame he had to wear when he was neutered at 6 months of age.  I think it scarred him for life and its taken quite a bit of working and treats to get him to the point where he'll tolerate the bandanna.  I did contemplate putting a white towel on him and letting him roam around the house or putting his foot blanket on his head so he could grab it from the side and pretend to be 'Phantom puppy', but decided not to.  I will have pictures of the 'Phantom puppy' one of these days cuz its just too cute for words!

So, to make up for the lack of costume, I took a few pictures of Gimli with his Halloween toys and Skully.

When the trick-or-treaters came around, Mike manned the door and Gimli and I sat on the staircase where I could correct him and help him understand that its ok if the doorbell is hit 4 times in a row, we don't need to bark at each one.  I'm not sure how much he understood and how much was for the treats, but one can hope!

The absolute best costume was a toddler wearing a sheep's costume.  I kid you not, had we known this family, we would have asked to have Gimli pose with their child!

Now that Halloween is over, my sights turn to Christmas, and for someone that's not a big fan of what Christmas has become, from somewhere comes this need to put up the tree, get some extras to hide in stockings and bake like there's no tomorrow!

Poop, crap, excrement

I had a craptacular day at work, hence the title.  Yes, all that I planned to do today went out the window.  Nevermind I didn't feel well, so it put me into a right mood this afternoon.

Our cable box and remote is acting funny.  At first I thought Mike wasn't standing directly in front of the box, which is where you must stand in order for the sensor to detect the signal, but he was.  Its just acting weird.  Maybe this weekend I'll make the guide freeze again, that was fun!

We were invited to a Halloween party tonight, but we aren't attending.  My old standby costume of Morticia Addams doesn't work anymore since the top ripped :(.  I haven't had a chance or the forethought to go looking for another one so I don't have a costume, unless of course I make a fast ghost costume out of bedsheets.  Check out what this blogger made, its quite good - Bedsheet Ghost.

There was a meltdown over at the in-laws because they received their new kitchen appliance today.  We received a frantic call with regard to the dishwasher because it wasn't the one they wanted.  I can only imagine the shrieks and gnashing of teeth going on when they realized they received a plastic tub instead of the stainless tub.  Even though the plastic tub was the one that was ordered.  Can you imagine what would have happened if the box had been scuffed???  Heads will roll!!

Gimli and I came across the icky cat that likes to poop in our backyard.  Gimli wanted to eat him, the cat just sit in a driveway and hissed.

Last but not least, as I sat here on the floor composing this post, Gimli lay down next to me and put his head on my foot.  I thought to myself, "Awww, Gimli knows I've had a bad day and is keeping me company.  I love my dog"... until... it happened.  He farted.

(Come on, you had to know this was coming!)

I'm off to find some alcohol now.

Wordless Wednesday - Mists at the WDW French Quarter

Smitten

I'm pretty sure I'm biased, but I really can't see myself owning another breed for the rest of my life.  I'm pretty much devoted to the Pembroke Welsh Corgi.  I'm not averse to Cardigans, I like them too, but something about the Pembroke spoke to me all those years ago when Mike and I sat watching the Westminster Dog Show and started whittling down our doggie lists based on looks.

Shallow, I know but I needed to have a dog that I loved the look of.  Both corgis made the cut, but the Pemmie always was a step above the Cardi.

There's something about that mischievous 1/2 smiling face that gets me, that slightly leaning body with the tilted head that looks back at me as if to say, "Are you coming???".

The bunny butt as it wiggles when he runs or walks.  That silhouette when Gimli walks with Mike and his wheelchair and he stops to look up at Mike and his topline looks ever so straight.

When he lies on his back and motions to me with his little feet to come play.

The little ears and beady little eyes that peek up from behind the coffee table, reeking of sweetness.

Those ears that hold so much emotion - straight up, straight back, down to the side.

Where did it go?

Where oh where did October go?  Its a little freaky to say the least that I blinked and we're in the last week of October!

It also didn't help that we celebrated our 4 year anniversary, went to Oktoberfest, went to Chicago, took off my complaint bracelet because I'm now on day 75 and I think I've got it down pat now and a bunch of other things in the span of this month.

In reality I took it off because it gave me a bruise that wouldn't heal because the bracelet kept attacking the same spot and plus it became really stretched and was a pain to keep track of, so its off.

I have much on which to post, but not tonight, I haven't even downloaded the pictures from the camera yet, so nothing recent to post on here... I'm so lazy bad.

Wordless Wednesday - I know how to read!

Bark at the Moon

We have 3 floor to ceiling windows at the front of the house.  Two on either side of the door and one on the side of the house.  Gimli adores these windows because it allows him to lie down and look outside.  In our previous house, the bottom of the windows were about a foot off of the ground so he couldn't see out unless he jumped up on the sill.

Needless to say, Gimli is now a neighborhood busy body.  No one can go by without his permission and he lets you know by barking and arooing.  He often falls asleep at the window with one of his many toys.

Tonight there's a crescent moon.

I came downstairs to see Gimli sitting in front of the window staring at the moon.

Then, he turned into this...

It must be close to Halloween, what do you think?

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 62.

Will I ever learn?

Its probably no surprise that I adore Gimli. Its hard to put into words actually, but its true.

I love stroking his back, giving belly rubs and scratching his ears.

He's a fluffy corgi, so his coat is much softer than a corgi's coat should be, as such, its great to snuggle next to him and rub my head into his back and neck until he looks up at me and grumbles in annoyance.

My most favorite thing to do, however, is to shower him with kisses... on his head, on his ears, on his snout, that spot in between his eyes.



All great places, however, I never know when to stop don't have the best timing and I have been headbutted many times. I've hurt my nose and busted my lip a few times.

Tonight was no exception, I went in to kiss him on his head, he jerked up and hit me squarely on my top lip. He continued playing without missing a beat. I now have 2 front teeth stenciled into the underside of my lip.

I love my dog!

DNA

Mike is the last of 3 boys. He was given up for adoption when he was a newborn. Therefore it goes without saying, there's no familial genes between Mike and the rest of his family, anymore than there are familial genes between him and I.

This weekend was Thanksgiving in Canada and while we're sitting around the table, this comment was made...

"Mike you're adopted but you must have the same genes as this family because you and J, (his brother), both have weight problems."

Riiight.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 61.

Its Loser, not Luser

On our morning walk today, we happened to pass by one of those green electric boxes that's erected every 5 or 6 houses. Crudely scribbled on the side were the words, "Daphnee is a luser".

Yes, you read it correctly. What's the state of the school system where childhood bullying isn't done properly?

I'm thinking Daphne probably knows how to spell, which is why she's a luser.


Complaint-O-Meter: On day 59.

Wordless Wednesday - WTF

I just want to watch my tv shows

Mike and I have a roster of television shows we watch on a weekly basis.

Family Guy
The Amazing Race
The Event
Little People/Big World
Law and Order: svu
Criminal Minds
Survivor
CSI: NY
CSI: Las vegas

We used to be on one particular television service provider, let's call it 'Ding Dong'. We were sharing this with friends of ours. we ended up switching because the satellite dish died and it was increasingly difficult to get channels added or removed.

We are now on a new television service provider, let's call it 'Tool'. This provider advertises time shifting so we can catch episodes aired in the Maritime provinces or episodes aired in the western provinces. It also advertises their On Demand feature, so you can catch up on episodes you may have missed.

This Fall, Mike are I are upside down and backwards in terms of television watching. We don't subscribe to the Sunday newspaper or to TV Guide magazine so we don't know the air days of the above shows. Yes, I know, we could have looked on the website, but bear with me on this one. Certain shows are on at the same time as others. In the past, we would utilize the time shifting so we could watch some episodes earlier or later than the EST time slot.

Each day consists of going through the guide trying to locate the show and its airtime and arranging our evening schedule around it. Well, we missed CSI:NY on the last two Fridays. We also missed Law and Order: SVU last week.

Tonight, Law and Order:SVU is on at 10pm, so, since its 7 pm now, we had the bright idea to see if we could watch one of those missed episodes on the On Demand service or online. No dice. On the American sites, it doesn't stream in Canada for some reason. On the Canadian networked site for Law and Order, it doesn't show either. I haven't figured out why, just that it shows clips and not the full episode. We checked the On Demand service, which we have used to watch Family Guy, so we assumed it would have the other episodes too, (that should have been my first clue since I was assuming), it didn't have either show.

As a last resort, we fell upon the time shifting feature. It seems to work for Law and Order:SVU. It doesn't seem to work for the rest of the episodes.

My point is, I'm growing increasingly tired of having only two television companies to choose from. I'm tired of seeing the American commercials on the stations for programs that aren't available in Canada, case in point Shark Week. I'm tired of not having a choice and for being held over a barrel because Ding Dong and Tool know residents of Ontario don't have much of a choice in the matter.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 55.

Only 2 years...

2 years ago this weekend, we drove 2 hours west to pick up Gimli. We came home with a small ball of fur who cried for about 45 minutes on the drive home.

He went for his first mini walk up and down the street, then fell asleep in his crate for a few hours.

After many sparring matches with those pointy puppy teeth and plenty of puppy cuddles, we have this little monster.


2 years isn't a long time at all, but it feels like he's always been with us.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 53.

Wordless Wednesday - Brooding

Beware the Moors!

Earlier this evening, around 6 o'clock, Gimli and I went on our evening constitutional. It started like it usually did, put on the leash, picked up the poopy bags and headed out. I had to go back to put on a heavier coat because it was windy. Windy and cold and overcast.

We started down our usual side street. Gimli urinating at the usual spots, the wind whipping past us. Further up, I could see a dark figure approaching with an equally dark figure next to him. I moved off to the side and put myself between Gimli and the smaller dark figure and continued walking. Somewhere a dog barked loudly to send Gimli hopping forward in fear. The dark figure was closer now, but it was only a man in a hood walking a black dog. We continued on for a bit until we reached the park.

We started up the path amidst the wind that was much stronger on this side of the neighborhood. The trees were shaking in the wind, the yellow leaves falling quickly to the ground. The clouds were low and dark almost to the point of kidnapping the sky. We stood on the small hill and looked around. It was dark, and the nearby streetlights did not help. There are no lights in the park either, its darkness concealing any number of things - discarded cans, playground equipment or something else perhaps. Somewhere far away, I'm sure, a dog barked again, but carried on the wind it sounded quite near.

I started to feel like we had ignored the warning and walked into the Moors on the English countryside. I expected at any moment for something, fleshy or bony or wispy to spring from the shadows and take us away.

Gimli and I continued on away from the park and up towards our street. We turned the corner and I saw another dark figure up ahead. We kept walking and the figure turned down the same side street and was gone. We went into the garage, closed it and the monsters outside disappeared.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 48. Although I almost lost it today when Google maps sent me to the wrong location, good thing I had the GPS, whose battery then died 2 streets over from where I was headed!

Bouncy Butt part 2

I've gone a full work day sitting on my exercise ball. I really tried to maintain my posture because I don't have the best posture, never have. My parents used to say I would be hunched over like an old crone when I was in my twenties. I'm not hunched over yet, but I know I don't have good posture. How? Because at least once or twice a day I become aware of my posture and I correct myself.

I know the exercise balls are not supposed to be used to improve posture because one can also slouch while sitting on them, but I found it did help me today. I hope to use it a bit more tomorrow. If all it does is improve my posture, I'll be glad.

In other news, Gimli was in the doldrums today. I have no idea why. At lunch time, he was lounging with a sad look on his face. I grabbed his pumpkin and tried to play hide and seek with him - he loves it when you 'hide' from him so he can come find you! I squeaked it, he didn't come. I peeked around the fridge back to him, he looked at me like I had a 2nd head.

I snuck around to the other side of the island, still squeaking the toy and peeked at him again. He gave me the, 'wtf are you doing woman?', look. I snuck back and heard him walk to the fridge and adopt his pouncy pose. I peeked at him again and he didn't move.

I hid behind the table and squeaked, he didn't move. I ran into the living room, me running usually gets him going, but no dice. He slowwwly moved to the living room, hid behind the wall and 1/2 of his face peeked around to look at me.

That was when I ran up to him and smothered him with hugs and kisses! Everyone knows corgi kisses are the best!

Then, I grabbed one of his feet and threatened to eat it because it was that cute. I made munching noises, to which Gimli whimpered as though I was really going to eat it tee hee.

Notice the lipstick mark on his cheek, this was his birthday kiss.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 43.

Bouncy butt

I've removed my office chair and for the entire morning I've been sitting on my exercise ball. So far so good, its a bit lower than the chair, so both arms are resting on the table to offer adequate support.

I still have 4 hours to go, we'll see how I feel at the end of the day.

Double needles!

As I posted on Friday, Mike and I had to make a blood and urine donation to the lab in advance of our Dr. appointment next week.

Well, we made it to the lab 8 minutes after it opened, only to find about 7 or 8 people ahead of us. Sheesh, and I had to pee! we took our numbers, reminiscent of that Mr. Bean episode and sat down. Thankfully the line went quickly and we were called in. Mike went into one cubicle and I went into the ECG cubicle, which has a place to lie down.

The nurse performed the usual, cleaned the area, applied the rubber band got the large needle ready and got to work. She found the vein, (YES!), but then said, "Oh, you have wobbly veins! It wriggled away from the needle!"

I said to myself, "What?? I thought you had already started taking blood! That poke hurt woman!".

"Let me try again."

She rejabbed the needle, which now felt and hurt like one of those big ugly needles you see in the cartoons. "Ohhh, its still not going in properly." She saw me looking up at the ceiling and asked, "Are you ok?"

"Yes", I said meekly.

"Let me get a smaller needle."

She returns with a smaller needle and proceeds to take the rest of the sample. She finishes and asks me to cover the area with the cotton ball and to take it easy with my arm. I move the cotton and see this. I didn't know Dracula had a hand in this, what do you think?


Then, I have to give a urine sample. I'm in the stall, hadn't peed since late the night before and, now I can't pee. Grrr. I'll spare the details, but soon, we were on our way to the breakfast of champions, McDonalds!

A few days since, I have a nice bruise and my arm still hurts a little. At least my arm isn't as bad as Mike's, who has a large red mark because some of his blood leaked under his skin. Yeah, don't ask me how that happened.

Suffice it to say, Saturday was a write off.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 40.

Bleeding Me

At long last, this week is over. To continue on from Wednesday, the week became progressively crummier as I had a migraine on Thursday and Friday... yay. The one good thing to come from Friday was I received an Exceptional Survey from one of my customers. YAY!

Tomorrow Mike and I will be up at the crack of dawn to make our way to the lab. We are due at the Dr at the end of the month and we have to go for a blood and peepee test. Crummy thing is, its a fasting blood test... for 12 hours before... and the first urine of the morning, so we will definitely be zombie like by the time this ordeal is over. We stopped eating at 7 pm tonight, its now 9 pm and I'm hungry again. Gimli's corgi appetite is definitely rubbing off on me!

Mike is good with needles and blood, since he had to deal with so much of it when he was a child/teenager and had multiple surgeries etc. Me, not so much. I once had to have blood drawn and fainted clear away. Must have been the combination of the needles, blood, the fact the nurse didn't listen to me and chose the WRONG arm to poke and not find the vein. If she had listened and chosen the right arm, I probably still would have fainted, but it would have taken me a bit longer. Now, when I go to the labs, I ask to lie down for them to take the blood. They always look at me like I'm some sort of weirdo when I make this request...

Its not like I go in looking like this or anything... although if I did, Mike would probably faint due to sheer loss of blood on both counts ;)


Complaint-O-Meter: On day 37.

2 more days

I've had a crummy week this time around and its only Wednesday evening.

On Sunday, I realize my account for this MMO that Mike and I play was compromised and quite a bit of my items and in game money was stolen. For the most part, its been returned by the game provider, but still. I changed my passwords for everything and I've been watching my bank account like a hawk just in case, even though I know they could hold onto the bank information for an inordinate amount of time before they try something. We don't know how my information was compromised and Mike's wasn't seeing as we are on the same network.

For some strange reason, I've broken out in a large amount of zits. My skin care regimen is the same, I'm just getting some weird, under the skin ones that if you look at the wrong way will double in size. Yeah, I don't get the two symmetrical ones on my cheeks either. This is what I look like these days, except this picture doesn't show my frizzy cat lady like hair.


Work has been crummy, I'm always tired of late and a part of it is because we're always out on the weekend so its tough to get a chance to relax.

Here's hoping the weekend comes a bit quicker this time around and I can relax.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 35.

Gimli the minion

My dog does not like bag ladies. This morning on the walk, we passed a house where a lady was standing with a large black canvas bag. Gimli saw her some 5 or 6 houses away and immediately started growling. He's never done this before to a human anyways so it was a little unnerving to say the least. I gave him a few corrections because I didn't want him to get into the habit of growling at people who mean him no harm.

We have the same black canvas bag at home so I don't know what his problem was. Maybe she had a streak of evil and Gimli spotted it, although since he hasn't picked it up on me, he's a worthy minion I suppose. tee hee.

I want one of these, I really believe I'm the coyote in sheep's clothing. Paraplusch - Psychiatry for abused Cuddly toys.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 34.

Woof!

We finally received our new washer and dryer yesterday. When we moved into this house last Halloween, my Mom gave us her old washer and dryer since she moved into a condo and didn't need it anymore. It was always the intent to get a new front loader washer and dryer pair once the finances were back in order. Finally they arrived yesterday, the washer & dryer, not the finances!!

These are some new fangled gadgets, let me tell you. There seems to be a setting for every. type. of. clothing. There's the standard categories like whites, delicates, colors etc, but then there are these specialty settings that provide options such as, jeans, blankets, sweaters etc. Sheesh, the way this is going, pretty soon I'll be doing a load of 2 sweaters followed by a load of one pair of jeans!

Seriously though, Mike and I hooked them up last night and somehow channeled our Samson strength to push the washing machine into place. This thing weighs a ton, probably due to all the settings, and I have no idea how one of the delivery guys was able to take it off of the truck without much help.

Yesterday, while Mike was connecting the dryer, it was Gimli's feeding time so I had started getting his food ready. Gimli was seated in his usual spot, in front of the island, where he waits for the all clear to go after his food. Mid food prep, I went into the laundry room to see how Mike was coming along. A few minutes later, I heard a 'Woof'. I returned to the kitchen, fully expecting to have to correct Gimli for barking at nothing, when to my surprise, there he was still in his spot, but reminding me he was waiting for his food.

Moral of the story: never mess with a corgi and its food!

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 32.

Not easy bein' green

Yes, my friends, appliance envy will make even the most normal of people become shallow as they realize the world no longer revolves around them.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 29.

What's your name again?

Gimli has a great many nicknames. Here they are in no particular order:

Gimmo
Mr. Goo
Gimli fluff
Gimli puff
Gimli bear
My/Little bear
Gimli Boo
Mr. puff
Mr. fluff
Boo
Mr. Fox
Fluffy pup
Lord Gimli! Yes, said just like that for when he's been naughty.



Complaint-O-Meter: On day 28.

Whaaaaat?

Woke up in the middle of the night from a dream where I was pregnant and had a girl who was born with thick black hair.

Very odd to be sure, because she was only in the dream for a short time, because then the dream shifted to me walking two corgis, one a red and white and the other a tri color. The red and white one had a red collar and leash just like Gimli, but I can't quite remember the collar and leash on the other one.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 24.

Puppy power or Puppy pouting?

I was a huge Scooby Doo fan, but the 60s Scooby and the associated cartoons of yesteryear, not the ones out now. I was never a huge Scrappy fan, I just tolerated him. One of the things I remember from Scrappy was his line, "Da da da da da daaa, Puppy Power!"



At times, Gimli acts like Scrappy. Very opinionated, very vocal, always in the middle of things. Except, while Scrappy has the guts to go after the person in the bad costume, Gimli does not. Gimli's a talker and a show off but when the chips are down, he's run off to hide behind Mike or myself.

Today, we lost power for about 10 minutes. It had been raining for about 1/2 hour prior so Gimli was already a little off due to the rain and thunder. The power went out and he came running up to hide under the desk. I went to find my cell phone to tell Mike the power had gone so he would call on the cell when he was leaving work. Gimli followed me to the bathroom, what I had to pee!, then downstairs to my phone, then back upstairs. I was one the phone with Mike when the power came back on and the smoke detector emitted a long beep when it came back online. This beep sent Gimli flying under the desk again. This time, he was shivering and shaking with fear. I finished up at work, logged off and came downstairs. Gimli was still next to me, still shaking. I even thought he had hurt his front leg at some point because he raised his leg and was shivering.

He was scared out of his mind!

I sat on the couch to wait for Mike, Gimli was next to me.

Even now, its thundering and lightning outside, Gimli's lying next to me.

Yes friends, if only there was a way to remind him of this when he pretends to be big and bad.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 22.

Please Mike, can I have another?

Well before Gimli was born, Mike and I knew we were dog people and when the time was right, we would get a dog. ie once we got a fence in our old place, a time for which I counted down the days and once we had a schedule for the fence, I was off to the races emailing corgi breeders looking for our doggie.

Gimli was born in August 2008 and came to live with us in October of that year. I consider him our unofficial 2 year anniversary present to each other.

We have since agreed we would get a second dog to keep Gimli company and to share our home and our hearts. Unofficially its probably going to be another corgi, but that's about all we can say at this point because we are no where near any serious discussions with the corgi rescue group or any breeders that have adults ready to go to a forever home.

We were very close to getting a 2nd one this past May, but alas, he was not to be. He was Gimli's half brother and born on the same day as Gimli just a year apart, they shared the same sire and he was struck by a car and killed when someone left the breeder's garden gate open and he escaped. We were quite saddened by this and we haven't broached the subject since then, its always been, 'oh next year we'll discuss etc'.

Yesterday I mentioned there was a corgi breeder 20 mins away from me and sure enough, she has an older puppy female that's up for adoption. She was also born on Gimli's birthday, again a year apart. Already, I want to message the breeder, find out more information etc.

I saw this video on The Daily Corgi and now I want a puppy again.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 20.

Hmmmmm

One of my good friends, Zombie man, commented on my 'Snub' post and gave me some things to think about. I don't quite know what I want and I think that is fueling my thoughts and actions on the subject. Its kind of like being hungry, looking through the fridge, cupboards etc but since you don't know what you feel like eating you become frustrated because you aren't satisfying that need.

I will make a conscious effort to a) not let things like this bother me and b) come up with a way to work within my situation to not be a hermit.

In other news, went shopping yesterday with Mike. I was in the change room and right outside, the salesperson was training a new employee. While trying on the items, I heard the training, such as, 'When you see the customer exit the change room, compliment her right away' and other such things.

As expected, whenever I opened the door to get Mike's opinion, the salesperson I was working with would exclaim, 'Wow, that looks sooo good on you!'. For every item. Even for the red top that looked good on the hanger, but when I tried it on, it didn't sit right, but the salesperson said it looked good.

Lastly, something made me check the Pembroke Welsh Corgi rescue site, which led me to the Breeder's section. I scanned Ontario and there it was! A new breeder in the next town over, roughly 20 minutes away AND they have an available year old female...

(we have decided we aren't going to add to the doggies til next year, but that she's only 20 mins away isn't helping my corgi lust!)

Mike is in so much trouble now.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 19.

Snub

We've been in this neighborhood for about 10 months now. We don't know all the neighbor's names yet but we do wave when we see people, often we're the only ones waving.

Mike and I tend to keep to ourselves, I'm not sure why exactly, but we're not outdoors people so we are rarely out puttering in the garden. We don't like sitting in our garage and looking out at the street when we could just as easily sit on our comfy couch inside. Even though I'm literally at home during the day, I have to be at my computer and readily available in case a colleague needs to send me an instant message, in case my boss(es) need to reach me, if I need to jump on a Severity 1 issue and to just plain work. When I walk Gimli, its early in the morning so he can do his business and I can get some exercise in first thing in the morning. When Mike walks Gimli, its in the evening when its a bit cooler. Neither of us prefer walking Gimli during the day because this summer has been fraught with heat waves and its just not safe to exert oneself when its in the 90s or 100s. As a result, we miss the chance stroller meetings and outings to the swings in the park.

Lastly, we don't have the seemingly must have accessory of a brood running behind us.

Now, before you ask why haven't I switched my bracelet to my right hand, I haven't finished my statement.

So I don't come across as accusatory, because why would I ever do that, let's break it down to Mike and I.

I am the ice queen, the frosty Lilith reincarnation who gives the impression I'm better than everyone else, even though I, like the red headed stepchild, am just glad we joined a neighborhood that was so together and knew everyone. I'm boring and don't have much to talk about, perhaps because I'm in the house all the time, perhaps I'm just plain boring. Perhaps I'm too crass or perhaps I swear too much.

Mike is the social one. Mike has the personality to work the room and network and be friendly.

What prompted this? I went into the office today and when I came home, Mike informed me the entire street was invited to the neighbor's, but we weren't. He said he saw everyone walking down the street with assorted covered dishes and I suppose the worst part was Mike had seen the host a few times today but nothing was mentioned.

Memories of high school I suppose, all the cool kids are getting together and the rest are left to find their own way. What can I do to rectify this? I'm not sure right now besides kill people with kindness and pretend we were unaware of the party, because if I don't, then the crass, unfeeling, sarcastic person will come out and that will be much worse. I'm not going to try to make people do something they don't want to do, that's not who I am. I don't give chase, but I do go half way and that's as far as one can go.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 16.

Too many choices

I've changed the color scheme on the blog, mainly because I felt the other scheme was a bit too red, (gasp) I know. I chose this one, even though Mike feels its too cold. Methinks he didn't read this post.

In other news, Gimli's booboo has scabbed over, YAY!
He's picking at other places on his feet, BOOOO!

We think its because we aren't wiping his feet enough when we bring him in from walks and I may not have washed away all the soap from his feet when I gave him a mini-bath the other day. Blarg.

The City finally poured the concrete for the sidewalks today. We'll probably be able to park in the driveway again come Friday. This makes Mike happy since he's been a bit of a hermit since Monday - working from home and not taking Gimli for any walks. I'm just glad the sidewalks are in, because that means the driveway won't be far behind!

We were able to give our little piece of sidewalk the G touch in the form of a Hidden Mickey, since we are Disney nerds after all and I didn't think Gimli would appreciate falling becoming stuck walking on the concrete just to get his paw prints immortalized.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 14.

chocolate milk makes me smile

I'm having a crummy day today so I felt I would make a list of things that make me smile...

chocolate milk
Kit Kat I bought yesterday at the supermarket that I forgot about til just now (YAY!)
green seedless grapes
having meaningful discussions with Gimli
Mike making dinner
hot sauce
pooh bear pajamas
Enchantment
watching Mike and Gimli perform the cookie and nail clippers dance
watching a sole Monarch butterfly flutter against a cloudless sky to the top of the tree in our backyard

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 13.

At least the firemen were nearby

As I've mentioned, I've been fighting some illness disease plague sort of a cold for the past week. I thought I was getting better since I woke up feeling 10x better than yesterday... Wrong!

Today we went to the supermarket and I had a feeling I would have a coughing fit so I started with a lozenge. I thought I would be home free until we arrived at the checkout... I felt the itch, that small tickle that resists the healing soothing liquid from the lozenge and slowly grows until it erupts in a hacking cough that can't be stopped. My eyes water and my body just wants to cough and cough and cough. We somehow made it out of the store and to the car. I think Mike was more startled that I was struggling to breathe and see and sniffle and cough at the same time. Yeah, I can multitask!

After I finished coughing and swallowed my lung, I noticed a firetruck outside the supermarket, I figure they were picking up some dinner or groceries etc. At least if I did stop breathing, they wouldn't have far to go!

At home, Gimli has been fighting the itch to pick at the sore spot on his leg. He had a huge mat on the inside of his back leg, which we cut away to provide some relief. Unfortunately, the mat was so close it was pulling away at the skin and gave him a bit of a booboo. We've been putting Neosporin on the booboo in the hopes of helping it heal and preventing Gimli from irritating it further. Depending how things go, we may have to head to the vet.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 12.

2nd or 3rd in command?

In our house, Mike and I share the role of alpha. We and I are on the same page when it comes to disciplining Gimli. We have our rules laid out and we have done well to back each other up and to enforce the rules with Gimli and any other 4 legged friends in our house.

Now that we've been taking care of Gatsby for the past few days, every time I've had to correct him, Gimli has felt the need to chime in to 'reinforce' my correction. For example, when Gatsby put his feet on the screen door, when I corrected, Gimli barked in his direction. When he was going for Gimli's blanket and I corrected, Gimli barked again.

It seems Gimli views himself as a higher rank than Gatsby and is following with the house rules as it were.

Pack animals are strange aren't they?

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 11.

Correction, correction, correction

We're dog sitting an 11 month old Boston Terrier, Gatsby, this weekend. I'm treating it as a litmus test to see how well Mike and I do with two dogs in the house.

There's been corrections all around on both dogs when they misbehave etc.

A more detailed post coming soon.

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 10.

Just the two of us

I found this new blog and I think the author is absolutely awesome because she's about my age and she speaks her mind and she doesn't have children and revels in it and she has the same feelings about children that Mike and I do, which is that she has no desire to procreate because life is far too much fun without having to worry about carrying around something for 9 months every couple years, squeezing it out and risking your husband being scarred for life seeing this thing stretching your lady parts and you professing your profound hate towards him, when 9 months prior the two of you were like wild animals in every room of your house; then having to deal with being(s) for roughly 25 years because they won't leave home and give you back the peace you had before you felt having children was the awesomest thing in the world; plus having a house the way you want it instead of brightly colored noisy kiddie toys littered about and having to worry about chocolate stains all over the place and spit ups and horrid sports/recitals with overachieving helicopter parents and being told by everyone, 'you know what you should do...?', when those people are batting 1 normal well-adjusted independent free-thinking child and 2 still attached to ragged faded apron strings.

I'm so following her blog.

Cough Cough... Brains

My sickness is a bit better today. Sore throat is gone (Yes!), but I have a somewhat persistent cough due to a tickle in my throat.

In other news, our Zombie prize pack arrived today! YAY!

It contains some mini-zombie toys, pins, magnets, a freaky zombie bear (my favorite), two t-shirts and our ticket to our free night at a supposedly haunted hotel! I was having a crummy day, but this made it better...

Well that and the coupons to Cold Stone Creamery that came in the mail. *chants* I'm on a diet, I'm on a diet

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 7.

Scratch Scratch

I live at home.

Monday - Friday round the clock, I'm at home.

Sometimes being lazy cleaning, relaxing, working.

Having the ability to work from home means no traffic snarls, two hour commutes or icky snow extending your commute to 4 hours.

It also means I've lost the ability to rebuild my immunity, which is probably how I ended up with this scratchy throat and chills. I am going to restock on my Benylin and Neo-Citran tonight so I'll be good and dopey over the next few days :D

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 6.

Paging Dr. Sternin... Dr. Lilith Sternin

I was born in the early eighties, so while my parents watched Cheers, many of the jokes flew over my head. Later, I started watching Frasier and still do. One of the characters that's always made fun of is Frasier's ex-wife, Lilith. She's almost always portrayed as a frosty and strict woman.

At times I feel a little bit like Lilith. On the outside looking in. I'm quite shy and I feel my shyness comes across as though I'm a bitch uninterested or aloof.

I've recently met a great number of women and I feel like Lilith in that they all have children and so a common bond. They get together and walk around pushing strollers, have play dates et al. We don't have children, we have a hairball. Try talking about when your dog was a puppy to a bunch of women with babies on their hips...it doesn't go over that well.

sigh

Oh well, tomorrow is another day and I'll continue on to overcome my shyness and be less like Lilith.


Complaint-O-Meter: On day 5. I almost slipped earlier today, but Mike gave me a look and I caught myself in mid-sentence, so I continued on and provided a positive :)

Aug. 13th

Complaint-O-Meter: On day 2.

Just wanted to write it down somewhere so I wouldn't forget and lose track.

Corgis and cats and coyotes, oh my!

Complaint-O-Meter: Currently about 4 hours away from completing my first full day.

This morning was very difficult for me to wake up. I'm not entirely sure why, since I went to bed early, but it may have been because I was that comfy my body did not want to leave the bed. I took Gimli for a walk, returned home, fed Gimli, bribed him for a slobbery kiss and then proceeded to eat my Cheerios. By the time I sat down on the couch to stalk read Facebook and other blogs, Mike finished his tea and left for work.

I soon finished my Cheerios and headed into the kitchen to put the bowl into the dishwasher. (I should pause here to explain the layout of the back of our house. The entire back of our house consists of the living room, dining room and kitchen. We have an open concept downstairs so from any vantage point in the above three rooms you can see outside.) Out of the corner of my eye, I see this dark colored 'thing' sitting in the backyard next to one of the gazebo legs. I hastily place the bowl and spoon into the dishwasher and peer out the screen door... after all, who knows this 'thing' could turn and charge in at anytime. All the while, thoughts of the July coyote sighting are filling my head. I look out the back window to see a very large cat. This was no nubile cat or kitten, this cat looked huge, almost the size of Gimli. I calmed down a bit as it stalked away, presumably over the fence because it probably could have jumped that high.

To elaborate on the July coyote sighting, on the July long weekend, I took Gimli to the Arboretum that's about 10 minutes away from our house. I like taking him there for an extended, quiet walk that's reserved for just the two of us. We spent a leisurely walk and then on our way back to the car, we emerged through a clearing of trees to see what I initially thought was a dog...

Here's a replay of what went through my head upon seeing the coyote...

There's a dog! But why doesn't he have a leash? Dogs are supposed to be leashed in this area, where's his owner? What's that in his mouth? That looks like a rabbit.... ohh....

I now realize this is no dog. My first clue should have been that Gimli hadn't left my side. If it was a dog, he'd have wanted to go say hi. The coyote started to walk away in the direction we just came from and Gimli and I headed in the other direction. All the while I kept looking behind in case he decided Gimli was better to eat than the fresh rabbit in his mouth.

You might wonder how it was I didn't know it was a coyote, well, the only coyote I know looks like this.

The No Complaint Experiment

A friend of mine posted this link on his Facebook page about going for 21 days without making any complaints or criticisms etc without having an Action Plan to correct it.** If you do complain without an Action Plan then you have to start counting from day 0 and switch the bracelet to your other hand. (more on the bracelet later).

To explain, something like you go to pick up your dry cleaning in the middle of the evening rush when everyone else is picking up their dry cleaning. When you get home, you complain that it was so busy there and you felt rushed. That complaint would get you back to 0. If, instead you said, 'Wow, it was very busy at the cleaners. Next time I'll get my act in gear and pick up my cleaning when its less busy'.

The bracelet is the way you have a reminder that a) you're on this trial and b) to think and be constructive about finding a solution instead of complaining about it. There's an official bracelet that you wear, but since we don't have it, we improvised. He's using a blue rubber band and I'm using a thin black hair tie.

We started today around 7.30 pm Est. I acknowledged, then Mike and I took Gimli for a walk... the bracelet on my right wrist. We came home around 8.15 pm, the bracelet was on my left wrist.

I really believe this is going to be a challenge for me and I really hope I can surpass the 21 days, no matter how long it takes to get there, because if I can make this change then I can make all the other changes I've been telling myself I need to make but have never gotten around to it.



** Link: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/09/18/real-mind-control-the-21-day-no-complaint-experiment/

Mike broke the television

Well it certainly wasn't me. I, who only know how to turn it on/off, raise/lower the volume and change channels couldn't possibly have broken it because I don't know enough to break it.

Nevermind I was the last one to watch it last night, it was working fine when I turned it off, when Mike turned it on this morning, it wasn't. Therefore, I conclude he broke it.

If I miss the finale of Hell's Kitchen, I'm blaming him... hmph.

Wow that dog's legs are long!

Living with a corgi, who at full grown is about 10 or 11 inches tall from toes to shoulder, you get accustomed to a shortie running around.

Of course, living with a corgi, you must also become accustomed to the following:

• Copious amounts of hair, everywhere, in places where Gimli has never been... such as in a drawer.
• Random conversations consisting of high and low hums and grumbles. See the YouTube corgi video below.
• Frap
• Pembrokes have no tails, or a very small one, so when they wag, they wag their butt :). This is also called the 'bunny butt'.
• The corgi appetite... they will eat dinner, then give you this look as if they are starving. They are very good at pulling this with guests. When we stayed at the in-laws for those wonderful 3 months, Gimli honed his 'starving' abilities and I really believe they were convinced we weren't feeding him enough.
• The stubborn corgi mentality. They had to be strong willed to move the herd and so they need a firm hand in a velvet glove.
• Lastly, a loyal dog who thinks the world of you.
  

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My puppy is now 2 years old. He's not a puppy anymore, but he'll always be my puppy.