July | 2009 | Jeez Louise 2009 July |

July, 2009

Don’t hate me, neighbours…

July 22, 2009 by Louise

This morning as I was out making sure Sprocket and Doozer did all that stuff that dogs are supposed to do outside, I chatted with our next-door neighbour. She is enamoured of these two boys. She, too, has a Shih-tzu, a female. As soon as she found out that ours were both males, she said “Ooooh! We can breed Sandy with them!”. My immediate thought was “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? THEY ARE BABIES! I’m not ready to be a dog grandmother!”. Plus we are planning on getting these guys neutered as soon as the vet will do it. Anyway, this morning we were just chatting about this and that. Of course, in all these neighbourly chats, the weather has got to come up. She grumbled about the rain, saying she hated he rain and wished it would just not rain for the rest of the summer.

I made noises indicating I agreed with her, but my mind was harkening back to yesterday afternoon. I was out, once again, with the boys. Doozer’s favourite area of the yard is anywhere that has bushes or plants taller than he is. I take advantage of the time spent outside by ridding the vegetable garden both of weeds and of small dogs, and yesterday I noticed that things were getting a little dry in my planters. “Ugh,” I said. “I’m going to have to water these”.

Now, I don’t begrudge my plants the water. And I don’t mind the actual watering. What I mind is
a) dragging the hose from the front of the house to the backyard, and running back and forth from the back to the front to the back making sure the hose isn’t tangled or caught on something or kinked so that the water doesn’t get through, and
b) getting the super-long hose wound back up and hung on the front of the house, because there’s just too much hose for the hose-hanging thing and it always falls off and I get frustrated and then leave it on the ground where it gets tangled up and the next time I need it I’m cussin’ at it again.

And so, I said to Sprocket, who was busily terrorizing my turnip greens while his brother mounted a stealth attack on a tomato plant (I planted no tomatoes in the garden itself this year, only in planters which are on the patio. Why is it then that seven or eight tomato plants have popped up all over the garden amongst the things I actually did plant? Leftovers from years past, I suppose), “I hope it rains. Then I won’t have to water anything.”

So yes, neighbour-who-wishes-to-broker-the-deflowering-of-my-baby-boys, the rain that you hate? I brought it down upon us! It was me, all me! AND I’M NOT SORRY! And I hope it rains all day today! And even tomorrow! Which it will, according to the weather forecast! And your little trollop, Sandy, will have NOTHING TO DO with my puppies, do you hear me? NOTHING!

Ahem.

By the way, yesterday we had beets and beet greens with our supper. Aside from the radishes, it was our first harvest of the season. Hooray for beets!

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I am too mesmerized by these dogs (and terrified that I am being surgeried in 10 days) to actually post anything of value.

July 21, 2009 by Louise

Instead I will post this meme that I was tagged with on Facebook (but will probably not do on FB, because I am barely able to change my profile picture over there, let alone post a note).

Grownup Meme

1. What bill do you hate paying the most?

Student loans. Education should be free. Or the electric bill. Not because it’s high, just because I hate the company involved.

2. Do you miss being a child?

I have always missed kindergarten.

3. Chore you hate the most?

Dishes. Cleaning the bathroom. It’s a tie.

4. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?

Cedar’s in Charlottetown. Or our livingroom. Every meal is romantic when shared with my husband (okay, stop gagging).

5. If you could go back and change one thing what would it be?

That idiot I was with.

6. Name of your first grade teacher?

Mme. Una (actually her last name was Arsenault, but every teacher in my school was an Arsenault, so we went with first names).

7. What do you really want to be doing right now?

Sleeping. Or watching Facts of Life, Season 4 (which is Not Available, and I’ve watched seasons 1 through 3).

8. What did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be an artist, a librarian, or a teacher.

9. How many colleges did you attend?

One, but I got two degrees from it, does that count? Actually wait. I also took a correspondence course. So technically, two.

10.Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now?

I needed a t-shirt, was tired of the three black ones I’ve had in heavy rotation, and there this one was.

11. What are your thoughts on gas prices?

TOO EXPENSIVE.

12. First thought when the alarm went off this morning?

“Dog Party!” (the alarm went off at 3 am. I have the alarm set to the Frisky Dingo “Dog Party” ringtone).

13. Last thought before going to sleep last night?

“Oh yay, I have to wake up at 3 am to put those dogs out!”

14. What famous person would you like to have dinner with?

I don’t actually know. I was going to say Paul McCartney there for a second, but he’s vegan and what if I wanted some chicken?

15. Have you ever crashed your vehicle?

No, but it has slid off the road. Okay, yes.

16. If you didn’t have to work, would you volunteer?

Yes of course.

17. Get up early or sleep in?

I’ve been sleeping in all summer (by “in”, I mean like, 7 am instead of my usual 5:30). And I have been napping for an hour in the afternoon, too.

18. What is your favorite cartoon character?

When I was little (from age 4 to probably 7 or I had a huge crush on Disney’s Peter Pan. I would imagine him coming and flying me to Neverland where we would get married (um yeah, sort of impossible). My favourite modern cartoon character is Brendon Small.

19. Favorite thing to do at night?

Something that you can also do during the day.

20. When did you first start feeling old?

I don’t usually, until I start freaking out about all this fertility business. “I’m 33! I’m going to be the oldest parent ever if I ever do manage to get pregnant!”

21. Favorite lunch meat?

Um. Turkey or roast beef. I don’t love processed lunch meats.

22. What do you get every time you go into Wal-Mart?

Annoyed. And generic allergy pills.

23. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual?

No, I don’t. I don’t think everyone should have to get married, either. For me it’s kind of a “do it if you want to, don’t do it if you don’t want to” type of thing.

24. Favorite movie you wouldn’t want anyone to find out about?

I am very unashamed of the terrible movies I watch. HEAD, Empire Records – I’m a nerd and I’m proud.

25. What’s your favorite drink?

Milk. Or water. Or Coke. But I usually don’t drink Coke anymore. Or Diet Sparkling Lemonade from Superstore.

26. Whom from high school would you like to run in to?

I pretty much still talk to everyone from high school I still want to associate with.

27. What radio station is your car radio tuned to right now?

CBC Radio One.

28. Sopranos or Desperate Housewives?

Um… I have never watched either? How about True Blood or Hung?

29. Do you like the person that sits directly across from you at work?

I don’t know yet (the teacher across the hall from me was awesome, but she is going to a different school next year and they’ve hired someone I don’t know).

30. Have you ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purposes?

No.

31. Last book you finished reading?

A Jodi Picoult book

32. Do you have a teddy bear?

Somewhere

33. Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth?

In the car

34. Do you go to church?

Not religiously (ha ha ha) but every now and then, yes.

35. How old are you?

33

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… don’t let it get away…

July 19, 2009 by Louise

It’s a beautiful day.

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… and your mama’s good lookin’…

July 15, 2009 by Louise

I know posting has been lax here lately – first The Strep (which is gone now, thank you), and now The Insufferable Cuteness of Puppies have taken over our summer.

Plenty of other things have been going on – my parents and brother’s family’s move into their new house, two of my favourite aunts and my cousin visiting, gardening… but I just have been enjoying the summer and not actually taking the time to write about it.

My oldest friend, C., has been coming over every Wednesday to play Guitar Hero against Rob, and to watch the previous Sunday’s True Blood. Good for her, because she gets to leave her three sons and husband at home for a bit of a time-out, and good for me, because I tend to be a hermit and never hang out with anyone, unless prompted. It’s not that I don’t like people, it’s just that I’m fine on my own, and don’t want to intrude on other peoples’ lives. So this has been a good development.

I stopped my morning walks when I was sick. Started up again today. Amazing how two weeks of not doing much of anything will lower your stamina. I had to push myself to make it past 45 minutes.

Obligatory puppy update: They are at 99.99% for no poops in the house (last week Doozer had poop all stuck to his butt and came inside and it went all over the kitchen floor and then Sprocket had the same thing that afternoon – pleasant! We ended up cutting their butt hair a little to prevent that from happening again because I am not the type of girl who likes pulling poops off butts), about 75% for not peeing. I think that’s pretty good, and it’s mainly our fault when stuff does happen inside – not catching them the second they wake up and bringing them outside is the main culprit. Like, before they even stand up. Because if they stand up, then they’re gonna pee. They’ve had their first baths (see the Horrible Poop Incident mentioned above) which they weren’t too happy about. They’re being mauled on a regular basis by us, messing with their feet or looking in their ears, so it was fairly easy to clip their toenails earlier today. They’re not really chewing on anything they shouldn’t be – sometimes they try to chew the bottom of the sofa, but they get a mouthful of the vinegar I sprayed it with and hilariously sort of do a double-take and fall backwards.

They like their puppy biscuits (the breeder recommended Milk Bone, but I liked the ingredients in these better), they LOVE their squeaky bones (crazy how this is the exact squeaky bone they have, and was one of the first to come up when I GIS’d “squeaky bone”). We’re feeding them four times a day, like all the books recommend until they’re 12 weeks old – which means about 1 can of food per day (in a week or so we are going to start switching them to dry food but this is what the breeder started them on, and it’s pretty good – NO I haven’t EATEN some, I just mean ingredients-wise).

They usually just kind of hang around and chill – they are still babies, so they sleep alot – but about twice a day, this happens:

… mental. MENTAL. They’re great though.

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Buffy, the face slayer

July 12, 2009 by Louise

I went and totally checked over that sponge – and for the life of me I can’t find what scratched me. I’m not going to be using it again, though. Now the question is – it came in a pack of two. Do I use the other one? Or do I just throw them both away?

I know what the right answer is. But the cheap answer is the one that resonates: “NEVER THROW ANYTHING AWAY!”. Maybe I’ll use it to scrub dishes.

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I’m so buff

July 11, 2009 by Louise

I have mentioned before that because of my PCOS, my face skin is so effed up it’s unreal. I have super-dry skin on top of super-oily skin. Not like, dry cheeks, oily forehead… more like oily forehead, with flaky dry skin on top of the oily.

Are you hungry now?

My solution to this is cetaphil or spectro (which get rid of the oily), along with exfoliation (to get rid of the flaky). My usual exfoliation consists of either sugar mixed in with the cleanser, or when I remember to buy one, a Buf Puf Or, well, a no-name brand “Facial Buffing Sponge”. You know. Store brand. I’m nothing if not cheap.

This morning during a nice long soak in the tub, I opened up a brand new sponge and used it on my face and neck. And holy crap. Something was wrong with that damn sponge! Because you should see my chin and neck now. Oh wait! I have a camera! You can!

So, this is one of the scratches on my throat:

and these are the ones on my chin:

There are a couple on my jawline and my face, but I don’t particularly like my face these days so you’re not going to get to see those scratches.

I haven’t yet checked out the sponge to see what manner of broken glass is embedded in it, but rest assured you will be the first to know.

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Big major events! Ones I didn’t mention in yesterday’s post because I was preoccupied by sweet sweet puppy breath!

July 7, 2009 by Louise

My friend (we were Maid Of Honours in each others’ weddings – well, I guess she was the Matron of Honour in mine since she’d already been married for 2 years at that point) had twins this weekend. A boy and a girl, on July 4th. They were only due on August 3rd, so they’re going to be in the NICU for a bit, but they are healthy and she and her husband are SO happy. The babies emerged via c-section, after about five months of bedrest for momma so N. is pretty sore and exhausted. I know that if I were her, I’d probably want to just lay around watching the plasma tv mounted in my hospital room, but she is not doing that – she’s in the NICU with her babies at all times. She’s going to be released from the hospital soon, and they are looking for a place to stay close to the hospital (they live about an hour away from the city) because nursing and sleeping could be problematic if they were going to and from home. She’s joking that she’s going to bring in a sleeping bag and camp out in the hospital lobby.

Another dear friend of ours was married this past weekend. This is why Rob and I spent the weekend in a tent, in the rain (amazingly, the tent didn’t leak, and it was super cosy. Rob I think had bad thoughts about camping until this past weekend. Now he’s like “Hey, when can we go camping again?” – yay! Also there was a pool there, and I went in it. I was the ONLY ONE in it), but it was well worth it. Of course, I was feeling BLURGH (I promise to try not to turn this into the Summer of the Strep Blog but it really is colouring everything I do lately) so we left the reception a bit earlier than I would have liked, but it was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful day – which is exactly what these two (yes I’m saying it again) beautiful people deserved. I won’t put up any photos of faces or anything, but here is one from that day (and E, we have a few cute pictures that I’d love to send you, when you get back from your honeymoon!):

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Deux

July 6, 2009 by Louise

Two reasons why I won’t be needing Stimerex ES or any other diet products anytime soon:

1) The Strep. It still has its grasp upon me. I finished my antibiotics today and, really? No improvement. I can barely swallow, so there’s not a lot of eating going on. PLUS, I’ve developed an ear infection. I’m all infected! I imagine that my head and throat are teeming with bacteria. C’mere, gimme a kiss! Tomorrow I will be going to yet another doctor to try and figure this out. Only, not the doctor at the walk-in clinic, who prescribed the penicillin in the first place without taking a swab or anything. And not my family doctor, because it takes three months to get an appointment with her (precisely the reason I went to the walk-in clinic in the first place). So… anyone want to spend 8 hours with me in Urgent Care?

2) PUPPIES. Two puppies live with us now. Surprise! And I can hear it now… “Two puppies? These people are nuts!” We very well may be (please, please, please, rest assured, a great deal of thought and preparation went into this, we have researched everything, we know the risks and we know mostly how to overcome those). Anyway, there is a great deal of running around that happens, punctuated by short bursts of puppy napping. Then more running. And pooping! Fortunately so far, all the pooping has happened out of doors (puppy pooping. we won’t discuss human pooping). Of course it’s only been six hours, so things might change.

Would that be three reasons then? One strep throat and two puppies?

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beans don’t burn on the grill

July 4, 2009 by Louise

My brother and his wife started moving into their new house yesterday (my parents will move into their part once all the renovations are done. They’re putting in new flooring instead of the 70s shag carpet, and new appliances and fixtures in the kitchen, including zero radius sinks and stainless steel everything.

Now, I ask you this:

My parents, along with my brother and his wife, bought this house five weeks ago. Bro and sis-in-law had set their move-in date as July 3rd. Is it right, then, that as of July 2nd, the previous owner hadn’t started packing yet? Yeah that’s right – they went to do their walkthrough on Thursday night and the lady hadn’t packed anything, and, in fact, hadn’t rented or hired a moving truck yet. “Don’t worry, I’ll be out of your hair by noon tomorrow!” she said.
So yesterday, the move-in day, the lady was still packing as of 5 pm. She was just using her car to move her stuff, too, so it was taking extra long. And of course, because they had given up their house and had no place to sleep that night if they weren’t in their new place, my sister-in-law and brother ended up helping her to pack and move her things with the truck they rented. My mom went over, too, and did all the floor and wall washing.

This lady got a pretty darn good deal out of it all!

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One of the grossest things.

July 3, 2009 by Louise

I’m beginning to have a taste of what life will be like after my surgery in July. I have basically been konked out these past three days, or, if not asleep, I’ve been lying prone on the sofa, either reading (Jodi Picoult novels have proven to be surprisingly satisfying; I’ve read Nineteen Minutes and am in the middle of Plain Truth), watching TV (have been sucked into the UK version of Big Brother again), or messing about on the computer screen, where I’ve been finding some very odd things. You know how it is – you’re looking up your medication to make sure that it’s not just sugar pills because HI, still ucky feeling, then you somehow end up on phenphedrine reviews, you quickly click away from that, and after like, six clicks, you’re on a video of some kind of unknown life form found in the sewers somewhere. Scary.

BUT! Today I actually dragged myself away from the sofa, and off we went to the veterinarian, who said all the puppies are perfectly healthy and can go home any time – which will be Monday for us. OH I AM SO EXCITED!

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