Off to the vet

Poor little Freckles is sick ... or at least I think she is. She's had some intestinal troubles (it starts with a "d" and ends with "iarrhea"). I thought it was over but I came home yesterday to my sweetie being in her kennel with a gigantic mess. I felt like the world's worse dog mom. I hate to think how long she had been in there with that.

This morning we head off to the vet. I'm sure it's nothing and that this happens to dogs all the time but I can't just let her feel bad if there is something wrong. On the other hand, I think my hair looks especially nice this morning.

I had such a nice lunch yesterday with a friend I worked with about a hundred years ago. It was at a law firm while I was going to college. I worked nights and weekends and John was a new associate which meant he worked nights and weekends too. We are both slowly creeping towards the day when we can retire in the style we've become accustomed to -- yeah, that made us laugh too. I'm lucky to have friends that I've known for so long -- actually I'm lucky to have friends -- actually I'm lucky to remember who my friends are. Actually -- oh look a shiny object.

Well Freckles and I are off to the vet -- bag of dog do-do in hand. It's such a wonderful fashionable statement.

Oh no...

I used to square dance vigorously right after I had skated to the stables to ride a horse to a fast game. No wonder puberty was a mess. If you'd like to see the video this photo came from it's here. I'm not sure if this is the film we saw in fifth grade but it's pretty close to it.

There's one point in the movie where Molly's mother decides to tell her father that Molly is becoming a woman. Thinking back on my life I would have died if my mom had made this announcement to my dad -- in front of me. Of course that would have never happened because my mom barely talked to me when I told her the big news. She gave me a big blue box of napkins and a torture belt and left the room. I'd seen this big blue box before in my mom's closet and my friends and I thought they were bandages. We colored blood on them and tied them around our arms and legs and ran around the neighborhood playing cops and robbers until someone's mom figured out what we were doing and came and took our "bandages" away. It wasn't until years later that I understood why.

Well I have to get to work and stop those young women in the office from spontaneously square dancing in the lunchroom. They have no idea the damage those do-si-do's could be doing.

Another Monday

Happy birthday to my friend Sue. Hope you have a great day. She has three kids under the age of 10 so she doesn't get to rest much any more. Maybe she can take a birthday nap -- that would probably be the best gift ever for her.

Well they took away my old washer/dryer Friday and now I have more space for junk. And I have more junk than I really need. There's a book out there called The 100 Thing Challenge where this guy decides to limit himself to 100 things - including clothes and hygiene items like a toothbrush and a hair brush. You can find his list here. It's an interesting idea although I don't think I'd count my toothbrush or clothes or shoes. I'm not a clothes horse but I think it's nice to have a variety of clothes if you can afford it. I'm going to work on a list of 100 unnecessary items or perhaps as a compromise 50 unnecessary items. What would I keep? Well to start with Freckles is number 1. My computer is number 2. My car is number 3. Phone number 4 and camera is number 5. Oh my television would have to be up there too -- although if I have my computer I wouldn't have to have a television.

Of course the irony of this challenge is that if you are going to take the challenge you can't buy the book that discusses the challenge because it's something you don't really need. You could get it from the library or borrow it from a friend but it's like watching a television show about how to stop watching so much television or driving 50 miles to a seminar on how to conserve gas. I should write my own book called The 101 Thing Challenge and people would join my group because they get one more thing -- my book.

If I Had Some Pliers

I'm quite proud of myself. I have someone coming out to remove my washer/dryer and I realized it had to be disconnected from the water source. I was going to make my nephew Brett come over and do it but I figured out how to do it myself, grabbed my pliers, and voila I did it.

I have this tool kit I bought at a silent auction and it has all sorts of, well tools. I'm going to have to have Brett come over and explain what all the things it it are for. I figured out the pliers, the needle nosed pliers, the screwdriver, the ratchet (although I'm not sure what I'm suppose to ratch), the hammer, and the glue gun for all my craft projects -- but I have no idea what all those little points and circles of some sort are for. I think it has to do with a power screwdriver but there isn't one of those in the kit so I guess I would have to buy one. This could lead to furniture assemblying, but I don't think so.

Oh, oh I need a wife

I usually do laundry on Friday but for some reason last Friday I decided I just didn't want to do my laundry. Well tomorrow, I'll be going commando when doing my laundry because I'll be out of luck and underwear. I used to work with a woman, Lou, who would just keep buying new underwear rather than do her laundry. She said she had about 40 pairs of underpants. I haven't gotten to that point but it's a thought.

Wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to do all the stuff that seems to take up our precious free time like laundry, dishes, picking up, cleaning, shopping, cooking -- oh who am I fooling with cooking. But I wish I could afford to get me a wife to do all this stuff for me. Oh I guess I can. Yes, you too can rent-a-wife to do all your tasks such as:

Organize Closets, Clothes, Cabinets and More…
Shop for Gifts, Food, Furniture, Hardware and More…
Interior Decoration – Staging Furniture, Maximize Your Space
Party Planning
Choose Gorgeous Paint Colors for Every Room
Charity Donation Drop Offs
Bake Cupcakes for School Functions
Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping
Pick Up and Drop Off Dry Cleaning
Last Minute Costco Run for Your Bbq or Big Event
Pick Up and Drop Off Your Kids from Soccer, School, Daycare
Office Administration, Filing, Scheduling, Shredding
Bouncer of Ideas
Mind Management
Phone Caller
Order Taker
Gift Wrapper
Clear Out the Garage
Walk the Dog, Feed the Kitties, Run To The Vet
Make Things Pretty
Packing and Unpacking A Move
Ikea Shopping Mate & Assembly
Create a Photo, Book Or Music Library
Errand Runner

I think my two "favorites" are "Clear Out The Garage" and "Make Things Pretty." Notice she isn't cleaning out the garage she will be clearing out the garage which to me means she's going to steal your car and sell your stuff. And as for "Make Things Pretty" I'm not sure that "things" need to be prettied-up. It's hard to make a pile of dirty laundry "pretty" or a room filled with old pizza boxes and beer cans may not have "pretty" potential. I have no idea how your wife would accomplish "Mind Management." I guess she could keep saying "Stop thinking about that!!!!"

I have a feeling if you gave this list to most wives, they would be surprised to see that these are the tasks that they have been assigned. In fact I think the average wife whether a stay-at-home wife or a wife who works outside the home would take a look at this list and add one more "task" -- laugh in your face.

Out With The Old ...

In with the new. This is the new chest of drawers I bought at Pier 1. I've also bought a loveseat and new chair and on Friday 1-800-Got-Junk is coming to remove the washer/dryer that's been in my place since I moved in but has never worked. It's as if, after 5 years, I'm finally settling in. I'm going to paint my living room/dining room this spring. I'm going with a nice light yellow and I'm painting the trim green. Two of my favorite colors. My friend Jean says I'm getting "grown up furniture" and I guess she's right.

Of course my first requirement when it comes to anything new is that it has to be assembled. If I see "Assembly Required" I move on. No one over the age of 50, make that 40, should have to assemble furniture unless they are a professional carpenter or perhaps enjoy doing that sort of thing. Fortunately I have a wonderful nephew who has assembled a couple of things for me, but he has the nerve to have gotten his own life so doesn't really have hours and hours of time to spend putting my furniture together. He is so selfish but he has red hair (at least red facial hair) so I will forgive him. He did, however, pick this chest up for me at Pier 1. I asked him how he liked it and he said "It's you." I think he has potential as a politician with answers like that.

So at 56 I'm starting to grow up. This scares me. Perhaps I'll make a bookshelf out of bricks and boards and get a futon -- I'm feeling younger already.

Call me. No don't call me. Call me.

March is here! March is here! Last year it was the first time we had a March with no snow. Let's go for a repeat performance Mother Nature.

I have a hard time believing the February is only 28 months, I mean days, long. It always seems like the longest month of the year. Oh well it's gone ... let's skip right on to May.

When I got home last night I had 4 messages on my voice mail, which is odd because I usually don't have any. The first message went on for about 5 minutes and I could hear some sort of machine in the background then some heavy breathing then more of some machine. I would have deleted it right away but the heavy breathing gave me hope that something more exciting would follow, but no such luck, Then I got a call telling me I would have to reschedule my appointment for my annual exam, then another message telling me that I could disregard the previous message which seemed to be cut off before the caller was finished, followed by another message telling me to disregard the previous message. Now I'm not sure if I'm suppose to disregard the message telling me to disregard the message or to disregard the message telling me to call. No wonder I had to up my dosage of Cymbalta.

I had the same thing happen at work. There was a message asking me about an upcoming conference and there was an email telling me we aren't going to the conference and so I'm not sure which came first -- chicken or the egg. My life is confusing enough without all this "help." I can't take the pressure anymore, I need to go to the Bahamas or Jamaica or Cincinnati to clear my head. Ha -- there isn't enough sun, surf, sand, and scrubbing bubbles to clear this old head.