At Wits End

It was one of those days. You know, THOSE days, where everything seems to go wrong ...and then you stub your toe.

I've been having some problems with the VPN for work, nothing really major, but it takes about twice as long to up/download work as usual. Mildly aggravating. Except suddenly it doesn't want to let me even log in to my desktop and I spend a frustrating 10 minutes beating the computer keys into submission.

The dog appears to have decided that sleep and calm, rational behavior were for sissies and proceed to bark, paw, chew, yelp, jump, chase, bounce, gnaw, bite, trod on, and otherwise violate every animate or inanimate object in the house. I am against corporeal punishment of animals, but she got her nose bopped, her bottom tapped, and her ears lightly smacked. She spent hours in "time out", which consists mostly of her pressing her snout to the glass of the back door and howling piteously. Then she would come back inside and chew up my wallet (real leather), knock the cats food dish off the table where it sits and break it (I hand painted the dish), eat my chips off my plate while I was getting water, pee in the hall 10 minutes after I took her out for "potty", drag a book off the shelf and parade with it around the living room (that's when she got the bottom smack. She's already chewed up 2 books that are VERY hard to replace as well as a library book), chase my shoes around the room (with me still in them), and attack the cats. Why did we get a puppy again?

Work issues have begun to rear their ugly heads. Just the kind of things that will require some reorganization of life, the universe, and everything. The floors of the house are still only half finished, and I got a splinter. The TIVO cut off the one single part of American Idol that I wanted to see (Bono! WOO!)... and I gave up and went to bed. Except, my knee was really bothering me and I couldn't sleep.

However.....
Yesterday?
We paid our very last car payment on Rosie the Saturn. >cue cheers and dancing and confetti<

Of course. Last week? Her starter decided to start...dying. It just goes to show...erm...something. I'm sure.

Busy Bee

For the last 10 days, I have not only been doing my own job, but also have been managing the MediScan side of my ME's job while he was on vacation. Added to church obligations, working on the house, and helping some friends build the forms for their new airplane hanger... I hope you all can understand why I've been a little less than prolific on the blog lately! Even today, I haven't much time to compose a wonderful piece of prose, but I did want to share the following pictures of our intrepid adventurer:





Furthermore... We've finally got most of the floor into my office. The only gaps are the places my new built-in bookshelves will occupy! Still not fully moved into the room, but what do you think?





I'm particularly proud of the curtains. I found them in a bargain shop in NYC when I was visiting my sisters. Aren't they PURTY?

Marsh Grass and Cat Tails

Once again I find myself absolutely swamped and "stealing" time to blog. My managing editor is in Italy for 2 weeks with his family (hate him) so I'm doing his job (really hate him) and my job (really really) and we're currently in the middle of one of the busiest times for our department this quarter. Guh. Hence? Speed blogging. Blogging lots of photos and not a lot of substance.... letting both blogs lag because I'm addicted to actually SPEAKING with my husband.....

Well, ok, it's only been that bad for me since Wednesday. Before that? I was on vacation myself! I went to NYC for Jaime's first birthday and I wanted to stay long enough to Jackson's 3rd birthday, but the boys are too far apart and the Italy thing mentioned above too early. But Easter was fun, and the birthday was fun, and I used fondant for the first time when making Jaime's bday cake.... And now, in the interest of time and wading out of this swamp, you can put together the rest of the week by viewing the photos below:

Feeling... old.

This weekend was a busy one, but besides the burning of the finger and the painting of the office and all our assorted and sundry duties at church on Sabbath we took a little time off on Saturday night to play. Its been a while since we "out" anywhere other than a movie or dinner... or a run to Home Depot (ahh, home depot. With its romantic lighting and fresh lumber smell... the perfect date! Right?). My friend Krissa from high school has graciously shared her friends E and J (Although I think we may have stolen them even if she tried to hide them from us because they? are Fun!). J is a musician and some friends of his from Boston were here with their band The Vital Might, playing in a bar about a mile from our house. We got "duded" up (ie, I put on makeup and high heels with my jeans) and met them there for a night on the town. Of course, E and J just closed on their first home and had spent the day painting, Krissa had helped them paint, taught SS, fulfilled other duties at her church, and played chauffeur. Needless to say, we all were tired. We met, we sat, we giggled at the people who were at the bar because seriously, are you even supposed to BE at a bar when you look that young? We talked over the music (yelled. loudly.), and tried not to let the white guy in the white suit with the hippie sunglasses see that we were laughing at him (we couldn't figure out if he was trying to be Heath Ledger a la "Ten Things..." or John Lennon....). In the end, we all gave up and left. At around 10 pm. Yes. A night out on the town consisted of us sitting around chatting, enjoying the music but feeling it was definitely too loud, and wondering why all the "kids" were out when they were obviously too young to be missing that 8 pm curfew. >sigh< So much for being the "hip young things", eh?

Summer Sunday

Do you know how hard it is to cook, type, paint, work, etc with your finger all bandaged up? You’ll never know how many spaces got smooshed and/or missed all together in this post… and the misspellings! If I hadn’t gone back over it time and again yiu;d have ended upo seeing siomethibng luje thus (just for an example…). Anyway, I’m currently on medicines (happy medicines! No sneezing or throbbing finger or itchy eyes or feeling of the burn when on medicines̷ and heavily bandaged, so cooking was not an option this evening. We spent the day FINALLY painting my office (renovations. joy.) and were starving. Since cooking was out, and the dog was hyper, we did the next best thing. See recipe below:

Fetch sunglasses, dog leash, keys, wallet. Pocket all (except the leash). Attach leash to hyper dog. Chase dog around house and stomp on trailing leash to catch her. Open door. Brace self against door while dog runs in circles around the porch. Lock door. Bring dog to heel, grab hand of husband (who has graciously taken leash) and stroll happily hand in hand along streets near home. Turn smartly into parking lot of Sonic. Maneuver around parked cars and take up your post at the ordering post, carefully hitching dog to same. Place order. Eat in fresh air and sunshine, with happy dog getting tidbits (not from me! I swear!). Order large tea to go and reverse process, ambling home on the opposite side of the street. Pretend that that amble before and after said meal will counteract some of the calories. Arrive home. Collapse.

Its a great recipe! I recommend you try it. Feel free to replace the destination with any fast food type establishment that has outdoor dog parking, erm… SEATING.

Pictoral review...

I got a 2nd degree burn on my right forefinger tonight by being a little "blonde", so the post will be mostly photos...I'm nothing if not happy to take advantage of some husband pampering!
Enjoy!

Choir director at his first concert performance... a couple weeks old, but still fun.
What can be better than a cat in a box? Its CAT... in a BOX.
Last weekend, Hubband's University Singers performance.
Hi mom! What's that thing? Can I see? Can I come over there? What're you doing? HI!
Painting! Finally! Its the color of my new office. :-)