Disney Dream a little Dream with me

I've been MIA for a while because we, Mike and I, have been on vacation!

We left on 4/9 to Orlando where we took the Disney Dream for a spin and then spent a few hectic and sweaty days at the parks.  Gimli got to stay with the in-laws and eat to his heart's content.  They say he lost weight, but they are just trying to justify the fact that Gimli appears to have eaten about 2 weeks worth of food in 10 days time.

This was our second time cruising with Disney, which makes us Silver Castaway Cay members.  It doesn't mean much really except that you get a cool gift in your room, which is Disney's way of thanking you for spending a couple thousand dollars in their direction - a tote bag and 2 reusable drinking containers and a Disney Cruise Line keychain, which I have already put onto my keys.  Sorry Mike, you snooze you lose!

We didn't plan on taking another cruise so soon after 2010, but Mike really wanted to see the Disney Dream, which is the newest and largest in their fleet.

She did not disappoint.  She's much larger than the Disney Wonder and much more modern than the Wonder and the Magic.  The atrium is magnificent and there are all these little details all over the ship that you can spend hours searching for them.  For example, I didn't see this til our last night, but in the railings on the grand staircase there are headshots of the original 6 characters - (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy & Pluto).

In the stateroom hallway carpets there is a picture of the world with the entire fleet at various stations.

In front of the Walt Disney theater, there are pictures on the ceiling.  The only way you'll see these is if you chance to look up, which I found myself doing so much of I'm sure people thought I was crazy.  Unfortunately, I only took two pictures - one of Robin Hood and the other of Hades, but trust me there are characters all around the ceiling.

  

The atrium's light fixture is comprised of only led lights and is a sight to behold.

For the rest of the week I'll have more pictures of the Dream and our adventures and I'll end with bonus shots of Gimli.

Wordless Wednesday - Closed eyeses

First Annual Dog Jog

On March 27th, Gimli and I went to the First Annual Dog Jog to benefit PetTrust.  This is an organization that provides support for the University's Vet School so the students are able to research rare illnesses and utilize up to date equipment/technology.  As much as I tease Mike about living in a "college town", I'm very glad there's a vet clinic a mere 15 minutes away just in case Gimli develops some strange illness etc.

Gimli doesn't get to play with other dogs very often and he LOVES playing with his doggie friends, so as you would expect, he becomes very excited when he sees other dogs.  We are working on this especially on walks.  Because we would be in the company of a great many dogs at the Dog Jog, Mike was a little apprehensive that I would be unable to control Gimli.

I was not scared in the least.  I had been working with Gimli for weeks before, keeping him focused on me on the walk and just asserting myself a la Cesar Millan.  I had made some progress and when Mike walked him when the snow melted he remarked there was a definite change in Gimli.  YAY!

On the day of the Jog, I woke early and took Gimli for a nice walk.  There was no one on the streets yet so it was quiet and calm.  I fed Gimli, I got ready and off we went.  We were running late, grrr, and I had to return to get my gloves, good thing I did as it was below freezing that morning!  I felt myself becoming agitated that we would be late and I sort of yelled at myself to calm down else I would go into the event in the wrong frame of mind.

I relaxed my shoulders, took a deep breath and we continued on.

We arrived at The Arboretum in time and quite early as there were only a handful of other people and dogs there.  Gimli saw the other dogs and started to get hyper.  Some of the Vet students saw Gimli, who was the only corgi and we all know how handsome he is, and they were all squealing at his cuteness!  Trust me, Gimli didn't mind this one bit.  My first test came when a female student came over to play with him and he was acting hyper.  I got him into a 'Down' and he relaxed and then I let them play.

"Hmmm, this is getting better," I thought to myself.

We had to wait as the swag packages were not yet ready, which was ok for me.  Gimli and I stood off to the side, I got him into a sit next to me and we people/dog watched.  There were all sorts of dogs!

Plenty of Golden Retrievers, a few Labs - chocolate and yellow, a few Pugs, some mixes, a Great Dane who Gimli took a liking to, a lovely calm Akita, some Shelties, some Puggles, some Beagles, a Basset Hound, a Saint Bernard and a couple Jack Russel Terriers.

As Gimli and I stood off to the side, I was able to get a reading off the dogs and their owners.  Most, maybe 90% of them were calm and assertive.  There were a few like me who were working on their calm assertiveness and then there were the ones who allowed their dogs to pull them everywhere.  One Puggle and the Jack Russel Terriers were behaving in this way.  I made a mental note to keep Gimli away from them because I knew their energy combined with Gimli's need to meet everyone would be a bad combination.

Finally, they announced the Signin desk was ready so we all lined up to check in and get our numbers.  I had a twinge of uncertainty as I had to line up with Gimli and other dogs but I dismissed it.  We got in line and slowly made our way forward.  To my surprise, Gimli did not pull, he didn't try to jump on the other people or dogs who were in line with us.  We got our number and this nice lady helped pin it onto my shirt.

We walked back to the car to drop off our goodie bag and on the way back, the owner of the Basset Hound remarked, "Finally another dog with short legs, gotta represent!"

We retreated off to the side again, but not as far as before.  By this time, people had the same idea that I did and started congregating closer to the starting position.  I allowed Gimli to meet other dogs here and he behaved.  I spoke to a few people about Gimli and Pembroke Welsh Corgis in general.  Suddenly, there was a piercing bay from a Beagle.  Gimli did his usual, 'Woof' and I gave him a correction and he settled down.  I didn't want him to freak out every time the Beagle bayed, which I figured would be all the time since there were so many other dogs!  Gimli then went back to the other dogs like nothing happened.

"Excellent," I thought like Mr. Burns.

We continued to wait and eventually I realized there was roughly 60-70 dogs in this area, all just hanging out with their owners and each other.  I've heard Cesar Millan speak on the power of the pack and the feeling of being in a pack before, but I never believed I would experience it for myself until that day.  It was overwhelming to be in the middle of it all, my dog being influenced by them all and behaving.  It made it easier on me to relax, which in turn helped Gimli to feel at ease.  I still don't know how to describe it, but that's as close as I can get.

At one point, I was looking off to the side, when the unmistakable sounds of a dog fight broke out.  I whipped my head around to the direction of the noise.  About 15 feet away with a bunch of people between us one of the aforementioned Puggle and Jack Russel Terriers were fighting.  This all happened in a matter of seconds, the owners were on it and separated them, then went their separate ways.  While this was going on, the dogs closest to the fight started barking, which I imagine was the dogs way of saying to the fighters, "Knock it off!".  Then, the most amazing thing happened.  The uncertainty of the fight and the barking started spreading outward in ripples as it affected the other dogs.  By the time it got to Gimli and I, I knew there was nothing to worry about, but I had to give Gimli some corrections so he would relax and not get caught up in that mess.  He quieted down quite quickly and things were back to normal.

Some minutes later, the organizers gave us the instructions.  The 5k runners without dogs were to go first, followed by the 5k runners/walkers with dogs.  Then, the 2k runners without dogs and finally the 2k runners/walkers with dogs were to go next.  We were in the last group.

We lined up, got into our heel position and off we went.  The sides of the paths were quite snowy so Gimli and I walked and pounced in the snow as we passed the slower moving people.  I remember looking down at Gimli to see him looking back at me with those big brown eyes full of life as we walked and I was elated!  I had wanted something like this to happen for so long, to bring him into a pack of dogs and be unafraid and it was finally here!

We continued on and stopped at a refreshment station.  I got some water and Gimli, being a corgi after all, had to drink from not one but both bowls of water! I guess he thought he would be missing out on the 2nd bowl, who knows!

Coming back, we passed these walkers and I heard them giggle at Gimli's wiggling butt.  Its a corgi trademark!

All too soon, our 2k walk ended.  I wanted to do more, but I don't think I could have done a 5k walk though, but its something to work up to!

Back at the event, Gimli and I shared an apple. The picture above is him waiting for his piece.  I don't think I've mentioned this before on the blog, but Gimli loves apples.  He knows what apples look like and the sound the crisper drawer makes in the fridge when I open it.  When he saw me grab an apple, he ran back to me and sat down.  The world melted away and it was just Gimli and I and our apple.  We shared as we usually do, much to the amusement of passersby.

There was a giveaway too at the event and wouldn't you know we won a new dog bed!  Gimli likes it already!  Its bigger than he is, but it looks just the right size for 2 little corgis to curl up in.... hmmm.....

When we came home, I couldn't stop raving to Mike about Gimli's behavior and how Cesar Millan has the right idea in terms of being in the right frame of mind and relaxed.

I struggled for a long time in finding my 'calm and assertive' voice because I always sounded angry.  Now I feel I have found my voice and Gimli and I will go far!

I want to fly away

I don't know when it started, but it had to have been when I was a child.  My guess is around the Lockerbie, Scotland tragedy.

I had been on plenty of flights before then and I experienced no troubles whatsoever.  After that tragedy, it all changed in my mind.  I became terrified that I would die in a plane crash. A big Boeing or a small Cessna or one of the sizes in between.  They are all the same in my mind.

99% of the time, I'm ok when preparing for a flight.  I try not to think about it, I utter my usual litany of prayers that I can recite like a robot and by the grace of God things turn out fine.  I sit during the security briefing trying to memorize the safety booklet, I remember where the exits are and try to come up with a plan to drag Mike and myself out of the plane if needed.  I force myself to remember to stay calm and think, if anything happens, instead of giving in to panic and freezing.  I wear comfy shoes, I wear clothes made of natural fibers like cotton.

Any noises made or turbulence sends my heart spinning until I feel the aircraft stabilize again.  I look at my watch a million times as if it will make the hands move faster.  If I'm exhausted I cannot sleep because what if something happens and I'm not coherent enough to make a life saving decision?  I can't get comfy in the seats, who can really?, but I can't relax. I prefer to read horror novels by Stephen King and HP Lovecraft et al because those are stories, they can't get me.

Do understand, I'm not scared of the act of flying, but the act of crashing and burning or vaporizing in the ocean.  This is why I cannot watch shows like Mayday on The Discovery Channel.  As a rule, if any movies or TV shows are set on a plane, I don't watch.  Except maybe Snakes on a Plane or AirForce One cuz Samuel L. Jackson and Harrison Ford are badass enough that I'd breathe easier if they were on a plane with me.

We are going on a plane very soon and to say I'm slowly losing my mind is an understatement.

It seems once I turned 30 I crossed some sort of barrier in my mind and now I'm paranoid of everything that brings me closer to death.  I'm scared of losing people and pets close to me, most of all myself.

Over the past few days we've heard of the troubles with SouthWest Airlines and I'm glad there were no injuries and that the airline is taking steps to correct the problems.  This does nothing to help alleviate my fears.

Sometimes I sit and say to myself that airline travel is one of the safest methods available.  There are so many flights each day around the world and days go by with no issues.  And I slowly calm down.  Then something jars me back to the fear, I won't cite examples lest they run through my mind, and I'm back to square 1 again.

I'm going to think positively and we'll get through it, some way, some how.

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream

One of the lovely ladies I follow on Twitter and on the BlogRoll is the fantastic Karen Walrond aka Chookooloonks.  True story, I happened upon her blog, maybe 5 years ago(??), because she lived in Trinidad, (where I'm from originally), and at the time and I had Googled about a tsunami hitting the island.  She had written about it as her family had been at the beach that day. I've been hooked on her blog ever since.

She's an amazing photographer, some of her pictures blow me away, an author and an all around lovely person that I'd love to meet and then sit quietly in her presence someday if I ever make it to BlogHer.  She's one of the inspirations for my setting up this blog and my desire to take better pictures.

Yesterday on her blog, she wrote about a silly, (at the time), game she and her friend played to write down all the qualities she wanted in an ideal husband.  Skeptical, she did it but only half following the directions and lo and behold, she found her husband Marcus.

When I read the post his morning, I thought of Mike and I and how we met.

See, a long time ago, when I was a Sophomore in high school, I had the biggest crush on this guy who was a Senior at the time. He had no idea who I was, but I was convinced I was completely in love with him.  It didn't help that I would run into him all over campus, thus fueling my crush.  I should also note I didn't have any boyfriends during high school so this probably added to my liking of this boy.

Around this time, I started having strange dreams.  I should note, I was really into dream interpretation at this time and dream symbols etc.  In my dreams, there was always a man with brown hair and green eyes, but nothing else.  I couldn't remember his name or any facial features or the details of what we did, although in one dream we went to his parent's boat.  Naturally, I was convinced the dreams were about him.  Because after all, he had brown hair too, so it must be!

Time passed and the school year ended, he graduated and that was the last I saw of him.  I moved on.

I still kept those dreams in my head and would think of them once in a while, but they remained just silly dreams.

I got into another relationship, that person looked nothing like what I had dreamt of years before.  That relationship ended.

I was in school at the time, first term and not knowing anyone, and was full into my Goth phase, complete with black trenchcoat and all.  There was a guy who I'd glimpse every once in a while that caught my eye.  He had this amazing red hair, well what was left of it on the top as he had shaved the sides of his head.  He wore this black jacket and Dr. Martens boots with the pant legs tucked in.  He'd wheel around school in his clip on sunglasses and I thought he was the coolest thing!  After all he had to be, he had a Deceptacon sticker on the back of his car!

I found out later that he was in his last term, (what's with me and seniors???), but he was in a first term course because he never took it and needed the credit to graduate.  I started off stealing glances here and there at him, but I was too shy to actually strike up a conversation.  It took one of our teachers pairing us together on an assignment for us to actually start talking.

So what does this have to do with my dream?

Well, weeks later, the red hair dye had worn out to show Mike's true hair color - brown.  This was around the same time he told me about his parent's boat anchored at a marina in Northern Ontario.

Then it hit me, the dreams came flooding back.  Somehow the Universe knew what I needed and sent him to me.  We've been together ever since.

Wordless Wednesday - Handsome Gimli

Things to do for 2011 - March update

An update on my 2011 list

1. Read More, nothing special, just reading.

2. Pay attention to my blog and post more - already started

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 - Spoke to a friend, we are going to go once the weather warms up.

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 - Started looking at grooming tables and reached out to a carpenter friend of mine.  Will be able to make a better decision in a few weeks.

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. - I did this!  See the post here: Hair today, gone tomorrow.

13. Get a 2nd corgi -Going to put out feelers in a few weeks!  The promise has me excited!

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 - bought tickets for June!

18. Continue with the No Complaint experiment - ongoing

19. Take more visits to The Arboretum and see our coyote friend again

20. Get off my butt and be more active -I've totally lapsed on this one.  I plan to pick it up again in a few weeks.

21. Play with Gimli in the snow - went out with him in February when we had snow, had a great time romping and wrestling in the snow.

22. Try to make a snow ‘animal’

23. Get more sleep -Getting better, but not quite to the level I want, still working on it.

24. Read Brene Brown’s book, The Gifts of Imperfection and apply it to myself

25. Woofstock? - Going in June.  YAY!

26. Parasailing @Castaway Cay - not happening as its cost prohibitive.

27. Discover local restaurants in my city

28. See the Tim Burton exhibit - Saw this 2/26.  I found myself wondering what other things Burton would have done if time and space warped and he met Walt Disney himself.

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. Go to the Winter Walk with your dog - Unfortunately, this was canceled due to a lack of attendees.  I am still on record and they've said they will try to hold it again in Feb/March etc, so we'll see.  If they choose to hold it again, I will definitely attend.

32. Start a new job - started Feb. 1st

33. Eat at a Summerlicious restaurant

34. Write a letter to Queen Elizabeth II for her birthday and include pictures of Gimli. -just realized I'm running out of time.  I need to get something done this weekend.

35. Lose anywhere from 5-10 lbs, I'm 122 lbs now.  Its deliberately vague as I'm really only striving to look better in my clothes.  I'm unsure if 5 or 10 lbs will do it, so starting off small. -working on it with eating better (cutting out a great deal of unhealthy food and doing Wii Fit.) I can already tell something's working, I now HAVE to wear a belt with jeans.

36. See Rammstein again - going to again in May when they return to Ontario!

37. Go to the Dog Jog - Went 3/27, had a great time!  Post coming in the next few days!

38. Stop playing that soul sucking MMO that Mike and I started together, but I've been left in the dust - Officially canceled my account.  Need to tie up some loose ends, but come 4/6 my account will be closed.  Then, uninstall.

39. Do the Toronto Zombie Walk and bring Gimli along with us.  I had aspirations of going in 2010, but it didn't happen.  I feel this year will be different and I'd like to do it!

40. Take a Photography class this year.

41. Speaking of photography, I was looking through my pictures tonight and I was saddened there aren't more pictures of Mike and I.  This needs to be rectified.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

I've had the same hairstyle for the past 10 years, perhaps more.  Black hair parted down the center, sort of like Morticia Addams, in varying lengths.

When I turned 30, it was like a light switch went off in my head.  All of a sudden I wanted to do things that I never did before and I started craving change.  Changing my hair was no different.

I hummed and hawed over the design. With my face shape, I didn't want to do the Pixie hair cut because I'd look like I was all face and no hair.  Not Good.  I didn't want to do a Bob either because my hair has a tendency to frizz and curl and it wouldn't look good with a Bob.  I also didn't want bangs.  I stayed away from them when I was a kid because all the clique-y girls had them and I wasn't going to be one of them.

I went to the Salon a few weeks ago and had a chat with the stylist.  She recommended I keep some length, but put in some layers to give it some shape as opposed to the straight cut across the bottom.  She agreed with me that the Pixie, Bob and bangs wouldn't suit me.

When asked why I had the same hair for so long, I responded that I was lazy, which is the truth.  I own a hair dryer, a comb, a round brush and a regular brush for my hair, scrunchies, alligators, which is my speak for hair clamps, and headbands.  That's it.  I rarely use hair spray or mousse.  I use gel or a frizz gel when I want to keep my fly away hair from moving in a direction.

Finally, the stylist and I decided to put slight layers in, which, unfortunately you cannot see in the after picture below.  Trust me, its there.

However, I still feel like something's missing.  I think when I go back for a trim, I'll talk to her about color.  Not my entire head, but maybe highlights or something.

Gimli's antics

Gimli has been a very busy dog of late, he's updated Twitter on my behalf, he went to the Dog Jog and won a dog bed (!!) and went to the Vet and played a diva.

I have a full post planned for the Dog Jog so that will be sometime this week once the pictures are posted to the Dog Jog website.

In the meantime, back to Gimli's antics.

On Friday night, a short time after I posted about having corgi on the brain, Gimli felt the need to post what was on his brain.  He successfully hijacked my Twitter account by capitalizing on my inattentive behavior towards my BlackBerry.

I was lying on the couch with the BlackBerry next to me, while I played Dragon Age 2. He jumped onto the couch next to me and while I was busy blasting Templars and Qunari, Gimli posted the following.  He jumped off the couch quickly and ran off to gloat with that trademark corgi smile.

Clearly Gimli is trying to make his mark on social media and because he's cuter than I, he has a better chance.

This evening, Mike and I took Gimli to the Vet for his heartworm blood test.  The techs took him to the back to draw blood.  About 15-20 minutes later, they asked us to help put the muzzle on him.  They had been unsuccessful in getting the vein as he was undoubtedly baring his teeth like a little monster.  The muzzle probably didn't go on because he probably continued baring his teeth and moved his head around like the girl from The Exorcist.

Mike and I went into the exam room.  Mike took the muzzle, slipped it on Gimli's head and I supplied the cookies.  We left the room and the little monster corgi was returned to us a few minutes later, a bright yellow bandage on his short little foot.

Don't get me wrong, nothing against the Vet team because we think they are great and Gimli loves them, but Gimli is a drama queen.  He knows how to push buttons and what behaviors will get people to back off and he uses it.  He will curl his lip so fast because he knows it will freak out the person and they will give in to him.

One of the techs told me he started acting out when they swabbed his skin with the cotton.

Clearly this is something we need to work on.

Corgi on the brain

We went to the supermarket tonight and as soon as you walk in, you see the flowers and balloon section.

I got all excited because I saw a balloon that said "Corgi", except it actually said "Congrats".

hrmph, I think that means its time for a second one...

Because I'm an awesome wife!

Mike's 40th birthday was a couple weeks ago, yes I'm just getting to post about it now, blame Dragon Age II.

For his birthday, he didn't want anything too crazy, just dinner out with friends and then back home to play Rock Band.

I asked him about the sort of cake he wanted and he said he wanted some carrot cake cupcakes.  Now, I despise carrot cake, but I obliged since it was his birthday and all and agreed to make it for him.

About 2 1/2 weeks prior to his birthday, I was looking through my Twitter feed and saw "HensonCompany" tweet about this bakery, Kandy Cakes, that made these awesome Labyrinth inspired cookies.  I stalked around the site and realized the bakery was only about 1/2 hour away in the town where we used to live.  I thought to myself how wonderful it would be to have one of their cakes.

Around that same time, the Disney Parks blog announced some of the Walt Disney World 40th anniversary items on sale.  One of which was a Mickey Ear Hat with various images on it commemorating the 40 years of Walt Disney World.  We're heading there later on this year and we're looking forward to the 40th anniversary merchandise.  I think Mike is more than I am since he can use this as his "Disney thing", being born in the same year as Walt Disney World.

My "Disney thing" is better though.

It was then it hit me!  Why not have them make Mike's cake in the shape of the black Mickey Mouse Ear Hat?

I got in touch with Kandy, how fortuitious!, and we got started planning.

I must tell you, during this time, I became even more secretive and self conscious during this time. During my emails back and forth with Kandy, I told her I worked from home so if she had any questions or needed an answer right away, to call at home.  Our phone has caller id that is spoken.  As you might expect if the phone said, "Kandy" or "Cake" within earshot of Mike, he'd become curious. Then he'd ask me and while I'm good at lying to him, with this cake being so cool and all I was sure I'd start giggling and spill the beans.

Naturally, the week Kandy was making and decorating the cake, Mike worked from home all week because he was sick with his Karma sickness.  So there is my BlackBerry going off all throughout the day with Kandy and I conversing.  Of course this coincided with my Facebook notifications malfunctioning on the BlackBerry, which leaves only the text messages 'dinging' every time I got a new one.  He did ask if my Facebook notifications were working again and I did lie and say they were, but only because I started at my work computer screen and pretended to type away so he wouldn't press the matter.

Then I grabbed the BlackBerry like a thief and typed in my response to it.

Finally Saturday came and Mike drove my brother and I to the bakery to pick up the cake. During the car ride over, he asked, "Hey, how come you didn't make a cake?"

To which I replied trying to kill the smile that was slowly appearing on my face, "I had too many things to do and figured I'd get it made."  Then, I fumbled with the BlackBerry again hoping he'd stop asking.

When I saw our cake on the shelf, I got the biggest smile!  As we were putting the cake into the box, which needed to be kept open due to those big ears, Kandy said the following:

"The best part for the cake is to go into the trunk or on the floor to minimize any shaking.  Don't do any hard turns or hard stops either."

"Ok, sounds good!"

Little did I know we would hit what seemed like EVERY. STINKING. POTHOLE. on the way back home.  We had to stop so I could put the cake on the floor in the front passenger seat but angled away from Mike so he couldn't see.

The cake made it home mostly unscathed, except for the little yellow bits at the top from the shaking from the potholes.  But, what can you do, I was glad it was all in one piece still as I was expecting it to have fallen apart!

Needless to say, Mike was thoroughly surprised.  The cake was yummy, even though the fondant turned everyone's teeth black... tee hee.

Kandy was great throughout the entire process!  I was very impressed with the workmanship and care put into our cake.  And she's got a great name, what can I say?

The only unhappy part is that I live too far away to frequent the bakery on a regular basis to sample all the other goodies they have.

Kirkwall

I've been in Kirkwall the past day and I'm going to head back into it soon.  This traveling is seriously going to affect my blogging time.

Kirkwall is the fictional city in Dragon Age II.  I am a huge fan of Dragon Age I and when Bioware announced Dragon Age II, I was very excited!

One of the things I like about this game is you can import your character's file from Dragon Age I so that there will be subtle references to your first file.  This is very cool and I find myself paying more attention to the game's background and "talkable" characters so that I can find those references.  It makes a game so much more than hacking and slashing!

I can't wait to see if any past characters make an appearance!

Not Irish, but I married one!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wordless Wednesday - Memories of Snow

Static

The good news: I'm still roughly 121 lbs.

The bad news: I'm still roughly 121 lbs and a little pudgy.

And I'm going to a place where I have to wear a bathing suit in just under 4 weeks.

Oy vey.

Karma

Remember how I was sick at the beginning of January, because Mike made me sick, but he didn't get sick himself?

Guess who's been sick for the past week and a half?  Karma is a bitch indeed!

message to da faeries

hewo again,

this is Gimli riting again.

da oder day i heard on the news there was a big earthquake in this place called japan.  Candy and Mike have been watching on tv.  it was a bery large earthquake, i member the one we had last year but i think this one was much bigger.

i neber been to japan but i think its a nice place becus the peple der like corgis bery much.  and we corgis lub our peple.  i also herd der was all this water and peple were lost and i was sad to hear that.

Candy was bery sad today becus she saw this pictur and it made her cry.  she came to me to give me some hugs and kisses and i snuggled with her becus thats what i do.

i don't understand many things becus i'm just a short hungry corgi but i know i'm a faery steed and i have a connection to the faeries and the power of da fluff and so i send a message to the faeries to send some magic ober der to help those peple and their corgis and other doggies.

if any hoomans want to help, they can donat to the Red Cross.

They're coming to get you Candy

Ok, so my name isn't Barbara, but that's the only zombie quote I could think of.

Today was cold, rainy and foggy.  By the time I finished work and took Gimli for a walk, it was very foggy, so much so it made me nervous when crossing the street and I looked back and forth about 4 times before starting across the street.

We went over to the park and was walking and bouncing on the snow.  Gimli was having a grand old time pouncing around with the leash in his mouth.

We made it to the portion of the park about 20 feet away from with small hill and then Gimli stopped.  He looked over to the hill with his ears perked up, his body rigid, but he didn't make a sound.  At first I thought it was another dog, but I looked to the hill and there was no dog.

I looked to the ground where my foot just ended up in a puddle, back to Gimli, who was still rigid, then back to the hill, where I saw a figure emerge from the fog.

He wore a gray hoodie, pulled up over his head, blue jeans and boots.  The way he was walking, I swore it was a zombie.  His arms were stretched out in front of him, his feet a little unsteady coming down the water logged hill.

I half wondered if he was a slow meandering zombie and if I'd have time to turn around and run home or if he was one of the fast moving ones and Gimli would have to nip at his feet and rip them off while I ran away.

Luckily he turned down the path and went through the park.

We continued on and then back home.

I'm glad I have a dog that will protect me from the Zombie Apocalypse.

Wordless Wednesday - Can I come too?

The Oatmeal made me do it

I did have a post that I was going to use for today, but instead I was side tracked by the lovely site, theoatmeal.com.

It started off on the musings of Sriracha, the rooster sauce found in a variety of Asian restaurants and then I clicked and clicked until I got to the page about "8 Ways to Prepare Your Pets for War".  Then, spent about 8 minutes roaming around other images on this site and chuckling to myself, before I hit the Back button to return to the Pet-War page.

Right, back again, I went to check on a point on the Pet-War page and was distracted by "17 things Worth Knowing About Your Cat".  I don't know why I went there, I don't even own a cat nor do I particularly like cats, but I clicked it anyway.

Ok, so on the Pet-War page, one of the points states to disguise your dog as a Panzer tank.  This got me thinking...

With a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, it might be possible to disguise it as a Panzer tank, however it would be a touch shorter than the other dog-Panzers running around.  Therefore, its plausible to line up the corgis and other 10-12 inch tall dogs in the front of the line.  Then, behind them the taller dogs roughly the same size as Retrievers and Shepherds et al who would be similarly disguised, yet their gun would be considerably taller than the corgis.  Rounding out the last row would be those tall dogs like the Scottish Deerhound and the Irish Wolfhounds whose guns would be taller still so as to create a long firing line capable of hitting various targets.

However, would it be wise to shackle the corgis to masquerading as tanks when their strength lies in herding and frapping?  Both of which, when combined properly results in a low to the ground dog running around with reckless abandon in a manner, which to the uninformed eye seems random, but is actually quick enough to dodge table legs, laundry baskets, chair legs and dog beds and still squeeze through a small space at a very high rate of speed.  The corgi could be used to frap-herd the enemy to an area where the rest of the dog-Panzers could fire away.

Yup yup, one must think of these things when planning for the Zombie apocalypse, where corgis are also the recommended dog breed.  Yes, one day, Gimli will save my life.

I hear laughter in the rain...

Walking hand in leash with the one I love...

Cutest. Dog. Ever!

Wordless Wednesday - The Gimli Worm

Pirates of the Corgi-bbean - The Fluffer of The Black Pearl

We are big fans of making 3D puzzles.  We have all of the Lord of The Rings puzzles and I've created 2 of them so far.

Orthanc - we tried this one and it hurt our heads because the pieces were mostly black with little white/gray/silver slits in them.  One day when I'm really bored and the Internet is having a slow day and none of the people I follow on Twitter/Blogs are posting anything exciting and I don't have to organize my closet, I'll come back to it.
Hobbiton - completed
Meduseld aka The Golden Hall of Edoras - completed
The Citadel of Minas Tirith - have never opened this one, but I might soon, I want to start it.


I picked up The Curse of the Black Pearl 3D puzzle for Mike a few years ago, but it took me to start and finish it, except with Mike hovering around trying to sneak in a piece and take credit for it.

Gimli was not impressed when I spent a great deal of time fussing over pieces instead of playing "I-throw-the-toy-Gimli-grabs-it-but-doesn't-give-it-back-to-me."

Instead, when I showed Gimli my hard work, this is what he did.

Can you imagine a corgi-monster?  Think of the appetite it would have!

Spring?

Its now the first day of March and a great deal of the snow in our yard has melted away.  However its still cold outside in the evenings once the sun has set, which means any of the melted snow turns to ice quite quickly.

Because of this, over the past couple days I've been unable to walk Gimli because its been far too treacherous for a clumsy person like me to walk an excited corgi.

Gimli's been uber hyper of late because of this and when he's hyper, he's ornery and cranky and bratty.  We've been passing the time by playing fetch down the hallway and working on some obedience.

All I can say is I can't wait for the ice to go away!