Pathetic Puppy Update

I felt really bad actually, and definitely should have insisted on someone dropping her off at home rather than making her bike back with me... oh well...

So she collapsed on the rug and I sat down to work on some stuff. The real test was when we heard the front door open... Suzie feels it is her responsibility (and joy) to ALWAYS greet whoever it is that comes through that door. I watched as she lifted one ear and her tail wagged slowly, but she didn't budge. Wow, she must be really tired. When Kara came into the room, again, the tail wagged, the ear lifted, but that was all she could manage, it was pretty sad.

At bedtime, I made her go outside (as always) and she walked gingerly and stiffly like an old man and then went directly to her pillow on coming back inside. The next morning, my ususal tail wagging, jumping for joy, bottom of the stairs greeting was missed (again, something Suzie ALWAYS does), but she slowly dragged herself outside again. Poor pooch!!

However, when I came in last night, she was walking, tail wagging, and back to her usual self, and when I came home after women's group, she even jumped for joy- so clearly she's okay and back to her normal excitable, energetic self.

Great day at the park

This afternoon we had a birthday party for my sister's 30th birthday at a nearby park. It was a gorgeous afternoon, so I convinced Uncle D to bring all my stuff so Suzie and I could bike the mile and a half there. It was a great bike ride, Suzie is great with the K9 Cruiser on the bike, beautiful. When we got to the park, we staked out the pavilion, and then had almost an hour to kill before the rest of the party arrived. So we played kickball for about 30 minutes, till Zu could hardly breathe, then took a few minutes of breather before people arrived and we played ball again. She did great. The party was lots of little kids, but Suzie was tired enough that she wasn't overwhelming (with the face licking) but provided a lot of entertainment- especially her antics fetching her ball. The kids took turns throwing her ball, sitting with her when she rested, and she was so well behaved. She does have an amazing amount of energy (1.5 mile bike ride, 5 hours of ball with very short breaks, and a 1.5 mile bike ride home).

It was a great afternoon, lots of family, friends, munchkins, and my Suzie Q and the sunshine. Awesome. The ride home wasn't quite so fun because Suzie was exhausted and turned into a 35 pound weight behind my bike. Awesome. We went so slow it was hard to stay on the bike, but we did eventually make it home and Suzie is now passed out on the rug, probably won't move for the rest of the day :) I'm about ready to do the same, although I have some jeans to turn into quilt squares...

Fairy Princess?

Or Bitch Princess?

This is Maggie on her birthday with her disney princess castle. She is one happy Bitch Princess and as usual is happy to pose for the camera, unlike her buddy who rarely sits still long enough for a good picture. We're definitely saving the castle for my birthday too. :D

Signs of spring

I know I know, you're probably sick of all my flower pictures... nonetheless, I'm still loving the flowers, so you'll just have to deal with it.

And last but not least, the tomato plants in the windowsill, getting bigger and making me anxious to plant them outside and start getting fresh from the garden tomatoes again.... I can almost taste them...

I'm a survivor

I just got back from a long trip and a short visit in New Orleans for my nephew Pascal's baptism... I'll post about that later...

Upon arriving home this morning (stumbling in after a long car ride through the night), my tulips were all blooming! I guess those little dog hair packets did the trick. So I thought I'd share the surviving tulips with you...

Good stuff in my life

Last night I made it home from work just before 6 pm, and spent the next two hours in the yard raking, cleaning up some flower beds, picking up pinecones, scooping, etc. 7 yard bags, several rounds of ball kicking for the excited pooches, one blister, and a good dose of fresh air later, I grabbed a quick dinner and a shower before heading out with my lady friends to Coldstone Creamery. I got the dark chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cups mixed in... words cannot describe the incredible treat. The dark chocolate ice cream was incredible! Deep, dark, chocolatey, and not too sweet, and combined with the peanut butter cups- amazing, I highly recommend it. We sat outside chatting and visiting until late, I highly recommend that too - the chatting and visiting with girlfriends, the ability to sit outside in the beautiful spring air, a night out on the town, an incredible dark chocolate ice cream dessert, all of it. I am so blessed.

It's a doozy...

1. Lots happening at work this week, all at the same time. Feeling rather stretched and rather like I can't do anything right and like the heap of paper on my desk is growing instead of shrinking... but this too shall pass. 'nuff said.


2. I am a bad friend... need to initiate contact with several people, and have no energy or time to do it. Not to mention I never think to make phone calls to friends at a time they would be available... or at times when I am available.. I always think of it in the car, just before I reach my destination. or as I'm falling asleep. or first thing in the morning. But don't take it personally- I think about you a lot and one of these days I will actually get my act together and we'll talk...


3. I am a bad pet owner... weeks like this are tough and I feel bad for neglecting my poor doggies. Not to mention leaving them for the weekend... ugh... they are going to be a mess when I get home on Tuesday.


4. I'm excited and a bit nervous about leaving town for the weekend. Donal, Lindsey, and I are roadtripping to New Orleans for a baptism, leaving here before dawn on Saturday and returning around dawn on Tuesday. I'm excited to meet my new nephew, to visit my other nephew, to spend time with 2 brothers and a sister in law there, and a brother and sister in law to be for the long car ride there and back. But I'm panicked about taking Monday off work, about leaving my poor dogs for a weekend of neglect (and the inevitable digging in the backyard or chewing of a plastic coat hanger and/or stray pen that is bound to happen), about another weekend of not getting anything done at home (not to mention the 32 hrs in the car to think about all the stuff not getting done and the dogs being neglected). Regardless, it is sure to be an adventure.

5. Its Drama Season apparently and I know a lot of people in plays... so in the next couple weeks I have been invited to and will attend several plays, with varying degrees of talent involved I am sure. So far on the calendar:

• This weekend - Darn Yankees, by Fr Gabriel Richard High school - lots of my LT kids in it
• Next weekend - Cheaper by the Dozen, by Saline Area players, my housemate is the assistant director
• May 2nd - Pride and Prejudice, by HSC, lots of LT kids in it
• and, drum roll please, the Core Team is doing a trial (play sort of thing) for Life Teen (in which I'm starring as a witness)... this isn't some huge production, but will require extra time and practices in the next two weeks
• and I think there are one or two more I'm forgetting right now...

5. I didn't mean this to be a complaining post... so I'll end with a happy spring-ish note... Its 70 degrees and sunny!! I love spring! I cut some daffodils and the lone hyacinth from the garden which are gracing my desk and making it smell and look wonderful. Rather than getting flowers from a boy (something that never happens to me), I get flowers from God :D I'm heading home to do a much needed raking in the yard and maybe clean out the rose bed which is still covered with leaves. Working in the yard and soaking in the sunshine is good stress relief after a week like this.

Totally random

More destruction...

I know, you're probably dying to hear how its going, what with Operation Hair going down at the Nichols homestead. It's now day 5 of OH and it was working beautifully. The previously chewed ones are getting quite tall (I think they've grown over an inch every day) and you can see the buds getting ready to bloom. Then today I stopped at home for lunch and was naturally checking on my tulips...

...and I noticed a new tulip has been chewed... (cue scary music)... As I scanned the ground around it, I noticed the hair is gone... no red Geno hair, no black bitch hair... no hair to be seen anywhere. Grrrr. Naturally I can imagine lots of possibilities for who stole my hair... maybe a jealous blog reader... maybe the neighbors who also have chewed tulips... maybe some mother bird trying to make a nice nest for her babies... maybe the wind... maybe some boy dog in the neighborhood who has a crush on my dogs... or maybe, just maybe it was stolen by that wascally wabbit who continues to feast on my spring. I can see it now "The Mystery of the Missing Hair"... thankfully we have no hair shortage inside (although i'm not usually thankful for it), and I'm thinking of going back to my brilliant hair packets from last summer (dog hair in a nylon piece) to keep it from all blowing away.

On a cheerier note, the daffodils are blooming and look awesome!! I definitely need some daffodils around the front, both for the beautiful cheerful yellowness and to protect my poor victimized tulips. A few hyacinths are almost blooming. The crocuses are just about done blooming, and the little blue mountain flowers are just beginning! I'm loving spring!! There are buds on the forsythia and rose of sharon, and rose bushes, and the irises and daylilies are all poking out of the ground. And last night I pulled out my trusty shovel and transplanted some irises and stella d'ora to make a flower border around the very bare looking vegetable garden. Digging in the dirt is so very therapeutic.

I want to be spring when I grow up...

Operation Hair (OH)

Poor sad eaten tulip

tulip salad anyone?

I should point out that part of my problem with the rabbits and the tulips is just that rabbits really like tulips... but then again, so do I, thus the problem.

The path of destruction

Since I'm a garden freak who enjoys reading gardening articles, magazines, and books, I often find helpful tidbits I like to test (like the hair thing). I'd read somewhere that if you plant your tulips with daffodils, they usually leave them alone because daffodils have a strong scent that rabbits don't like. Interesting. And sure enough, the side garden (a mere 6 feet from the eaten tulips) gives some credit to that theory since the daffodils are untouched and the tulips next to them are also untouched. So, note to self, next year plant daffodils in the front garden next to the tulips for added protection.

Its also interesting that the two or three tulip clumps closest to the front door are also untouched... that is where we walk in and out, where Maggie and Suzie usually leap off the porch into when heading out for a walk, and where we shake the rugs (which usually have dog hair on them). Interesting. And all the tulips in the back box garden (that the dogs run through constantly - grrrr) are also untouched.

The tulips next to the front door

OH began on Saturday with a good dose of Geno hair and a sweeping of dog hair. And, as of today, the tulips are now several inches taller (just 3 days later!). I think its working!!

A Weekend with the LoveBoy

Note: Long post, more for the benefit of his parents than the rest of you... :)

Loveboy is three years old and one of my best buddies in the whole world. He had a great day playing with Ben and Ellie and was excited to see me when I arrived to get him after work. We drove and discussed interesting things like what red lights and green lights mean, getting onto the highway, how he "wikes" the highway cuz we go fast, and our plans for the weekend.

As soon as we walk into the apartment:
Loveboy: Um Weenie, I have 2 surprises for you!!
Reenie: Oh boy
Loveboy pulls up folding chair, opens cupboard with a flourish and points up on a high shelf: "Loook Aunt Weenie!! Quadat milk and hot quadat!!!!" (chocolate milk and hot chocolate).
Reenie gasps with delight
Loveboy: Oh wait, 3 surprises too, MARSHMALLOWS!! ...More gasps of delight from a very surprised aunt...
Loveboy: Wasn't that such a great idea??

Reenie: You're my loveboy!
LoveBoy: You are my loveboy Aunt Reenie!
Reenie: Aww, thanks buddy.
LoveBoy: Um, um um you're you'youre my loveGIWUL (lots of giggling ensued at his silly mistake earlier)

At dinner, I was explaining how tomorrow we would go to Aunt Reenie's house, what we'd do, etc and that we would see Maggie and Suzie, and give Suzie treats, and she would be so happy to see her friends Anthony and Geno and Lucy.

Loveboy: yeah, we are her best fwends.
Reenie: You sure are, she loves you guys.
Loveboy: An-an-and and you are her best fwend.
Reenie: Yeah, she loves me too.
Loveboy: Noooo, wait, she's not not not not your fwiend, she's your AUNT! (I think he meant to say I'm her aunt...)

Still eating dinner, Loveboy: Um Reenie
Reenie: Yes buddy
Loveboy: My mommy weally wikes you.
Reenie: Awww, thanks, I really like your mommy, we've been friends for a long long time.
Loveboy: And I weally wike you!
Reenie: I love you too Anthony!
Anthony: Well, I weally wuv you Aunt Weenie!

Saturday was a busy busy day. Anthony was up and in his room when I got him at 8 am, his first words "I want Mommy." Uh oh, said my tired brain. "Good morning Anthony, I love you" said my overly enthusiastic exterior. He responded with a big smile and said "I wuv you Weenie!" and we were off to a good start. Thank you Jesus! I know waking up can be tough anyway, but especially if you're 3 and expecting to see your mom.

We had breakfast, played with trains, and then got stuff ready to head to the Nichols homestead for the day. The entire car ride was filled with, "I love you Anthony." I wuv you Weenie. "I love love love you..." I wuv wuv wuv you... and that's only significant because I think he mentioned it at least 20 times Saturday and then again numerous times on Sunday. "Aunt Weenie, 'member in the car when you said you wuv me and then I said I wuv you??" How could I forget?

By the time we stopped at Lowes for some seeds and seed starting mix, and got to the Nichols homestead it was almost time for Geno and Lucy to come over. The kids played with the castle, I cut Geno's hair, put pigtails in Lucy's hair, and then we had a picnic lunch on the porch, while watching and discussing the honeybees sucking pollen out of the crocuses. And then there was running, lots of running, up and down the sidewalk, across the yard. Lucy wanted to keep up with the boys, but unfortunately her pants couldn't keep up with her!!

Anthony, who had been talking about playing with Geno and Lucy for days, saw Lucy on my lap at some point and said, "Weenie, I think Geno and Lucy should go home now so we can pway." He still doesn't like sharing me, I guess, not even with his buddies.

Geno and Lucy left after lunch, and Reenie introduced the idea of a nap, or "quiet time" in Reenie's bed. Loveboy insisted he wouldn't sleep, but agreed to look at books until I came to get him. I put him in my bed with several books, my teddy bear, and turned on the fan. Amazingly enough, he didn't call for me, and when I went to check on him an hour later, he was surrounded by all the books, fast asleep with his feet on the pillow and head on a book... but sleeping. More amazing still when I went to get him almost 3 hours later, he woke up with a smile! "Hi Aunt Weenie, I wa-wa-wa-was saweepin' in yer bed!" A second miraculous happy awakening- God clearly loves me :D

We went down and played, and then began the dirt project. I'd told him he could help me with planting some seeds, so I'd pulled out the trays, etc during his nap and gave him a bowl of seeding mixture, a scoop, and a tray to fill. Every few minutes he'd say proudly, "I'm doin' such a gweat job, look!" He did do a great job and I ended up getting most of my peppers and tomato seeds planted. I left the dining room in a dirty (literally) state of disaster, but it was time to think about dinner and then we headed back to the Loves for bedtime.

During dinner, noticing my almost empty plate, Loveboy: Oh Weenie, you did such a gweat job, you're almost all done!!

Saturday night bedtime was fine again, it was the middle of the night vomiting that wasn't quite so great, but could have been much worse. I awoke at 3 am to a clear voice coming through the baby monitor, "I threw up in my bed." Oh boy. I went in, thankful that he was pretty happy and unfazed by the throwing up, cleaned it up, new sheets, new PJs, big hug, sip of water... and while we were getting the water, he noticed the track on the floor and suggested excitedly, "Maybe we can play trains now!!" Nope, back to bed, trains in the morning. That was okay too and he went down great. I was laying there awake, remembering that he'd given me drinks of his hot quadat and milk before bed, and trying to go back to sleep when I heard it again. "Weenie, I threw up in my bed." Change #2, cleaned up, new PJs, new sheets, back to bed and then blessed sleep until almost 9 in the morning.

I opened the door to get Anthony and thought I'd cheer him up with the good news of the day, "Hi buddy! Guess what today is? Sunday, and mommy and daddy and Rosie are coming home!!"

Loveboy: "Nooooo, stop it! I want you to stay wif me!"

Reenie: Awww, I love you! (no point in arguing this...)

Although he was showing no signs of being sick, I decided against going to the 11.15 Mass with the boy who vomitted the night before, i just didn't feel like taking the chance. Instead we loaded up the laundry from the night before and headed to the Nichols homestead. Loveboy came down with me when I put the laundry in, and noticed my kitchen set in the family room. On the kitchen is a pic of my nieces and nephews, and a pic of Anthony. Naturally, he recognized himself and was very excited.

Reenie: "Yup, that's pictures of all my best kids"

Loveboy: "Wee-wee-wee-weenie?"

Reenie: "yes buddy"

Loveboy: "You're my best kid."

We went for a nice walk, Anthony watched D & I play ball with the dogs from the safety of inside, we watched part of a Veggie Tales, we changed loads of laundry together, etc. The moment of truth came when his parents arrived to pick him up, and he screamed and threw a fit, he didn't want to go. Awwww, so cute in a weird way... at least it's nice to be appreciated. So we told Mommy and Daddy stories about things we'd done, played in the yard, and before long he was ready to go without incident.

And then I had to go back to the grown up world, watch an episode of Trading Spaces while programming my new cell phone, and then head out the door for a coffee date with a friend and then Life Teen. Maybe that's the main difference between being with teens and being with three-year-olds... I wouldn't dream of repeating my teenage years, but maybe I'd like to be three again someday :)

Nonsensical

Thanks to DaWheeze who reminded me that dog hair and people hair are both supposed to work, we may do a combination of both. I'm sure sweeping up with produce a good dose of dog hair, but I'm also giving Geno and maybe Anthony haircuts on Saturday, so maybe it will be OD&PH. When I pulled into the driveway last night, there he was- a large brown rabbit, nibbling on my tulips. I was tempted to let the dogs out the door after him, but thought better of a whole neighborhood chase complete with barking, in the middle of the night. Instead I told that darn wabbit to leave my tulips alone and scared him out of the garden. sigh. The hair thing needs to happen tomorrow for sure.


I finished my taxes and sent them off, put money into my IRA, and finished and mailed out the extended family address lists from last summer's family reunion. Its a great relief to have all of that off my lists. Not that my lists are blank by any means, but I still feel like I may be making some progress...


This weekend will be a blast- Anthony (my 3 year old best friend) and I will be spending the weekend together so his parents and Rosie can head for a wedding in Texas. I'll pick him up from the Veens on friday after work and we'll be sleeping at his house, for ease of transition. But the plan is to head to the Nichols homestead for the day on Saturday for haircuts & lunch with Geno and Lucy (some of Anthony's good buddies) and possibly getting some stuff done around the house for me... I at least need to get my seeds planted and the Life Teen dying plants repotted- that's my goal for the weekend (other than playing with my buddy)... maybe I'll get the leaves off the other flowerbeds too, that could be fun for me and my friend.

Happy Weekend everyone!

someone is eating my spring

In spite of the weather, it seems spring is going to win. Today was blustery and rainy, but not terribly cold (58 degrees)... or at least not when I lef the house this morning. Although by the time I left work, it was pretty cold and its supposed to be down to 25 with snow showers. Regardless, its exciting to see some green grass coming up under the browned winter look, the crocuses lining the garden, the tulips all coming up... and its precisely those tulips that appear to be someone's lunch. I looked at them this evening and most of them have been chewed to nearly the ground level. Sigh. Those bunnies don't know who they are messing with... so Operation Dog Hair will be starting back up...

What is ODH, you ask? Well, the smell of dog apparently scares small edible animals, and last year after a snacking in the garden incident, the presence of dog hair kept the garden free of those hungry little buggers. The garden book that mentioned this trick said you can either sprinkle it in the garden, or you can braid it into twine to keep in place. Last year I just made a couple small nylon sachels (a 3 inch piece nylon tied on each end), filled with dog hair so it wouldn't blow away and that worked great for me. My sister also tried ODH at her house last year, after the bunnies ate their entire garden right after planting. She cleans here twice a month and would take home a baggie of the stuff (wierd I know, but hey, if it works...) anyway, after ODH at the Veen house, they also manged to have a great garden free of the bunnies.

So, tomorrow I'm going to sweep up and see how we do... or maybe I should just put one of their unwashed pillows out there... although it looks strange, I'd have to believe that it would get the message out there. Stay tuned on the success of ODH where the tulips are concerned, if it doesn't work, I may become a vigilante tulip guard, those flowers are important...

in case anyone was wondering...

I was down in the laundry room the other day putting in a load of dog laundry (their two matching pillow covers from the dining room and the hideous old rag of a comforter in the downstairs crate) and I realized its now April and there is no new striped dog pillow gracing the laundry room crate... so whoever it was that thought I'd buckle and make one, you're wrong.

I should admit, however, that I've been pretty busy with other out of control things... this past weekend it was making a whole Life Baby set for Baby Panning (whose parents are Life Man and Life Wife). The Life Baby set* included Life baby pants, two shirts with snaps, and a one piece Life baby outfit, and a shining red cape that snaps onto all of the outfits. Oh yeah, and a shining red baby blanket to match the cape (complete with Life Baby logo stiched into it), and a Life baby baseball hat. I am totally out of control... but I wish I'd thought to take pictures of it before giving it away :) *I should add that I didn't make all the clothes, but rather bought the clothes and added the L logo and snaps, etc... and I only made the logo, the blanket, and the snapable cape... yeah, see that's not so crazy after all. ;)

Suffering

For Encyclical Guild this past week, we read Pope John Paul 2's apostolic letter On Human Suffering. Amazing stuff!! Somehow everything he said hits home... and yet, suffering is still a complete mystery to me. And its not something I'm good at... at all. It is also interesting to think about suffering and realize its one of those things none of us escape. Even the people who make life look easy and perfect suffer with their own struggles and challenges. A few excerpts from JP2 himself:

"If one becomes a sharer in the sufferings of Christ, this happens because Christ has opened his suffering to man, because he himself in his redemptive suffering has become, in a certain sense, a sharer in all human sufferings. Man, discovering through faith the redemptive suffering of Christ, also discovers in it his own sufferings; he rediscovers them, through faith, enriched with a new content and new meaning."

"Those who share in Christ's sufferings have before their eyes the Paschal Mystery of the Cross and Resurrection, in which Christ descends, in a first phase, to the ultimate limits of human weakness and impotence: indeed, he dies nailed to the Cross. But if at the same time in this weakness there is accomplished his lifting up, confirmed by the power of the Resurrection, then this means that the weaknesses of all human sufferings are capable of being infused with the same power of God manifested in Christ's Cross. In such a concept, to suffer means to become particularly susceptible, particularly open to the working of the salvific powers of God, offered to humanity in Christ. In him God has confirmed his desire to act especially through suffering, which is man's weakness and emptying of self, and he wishes to make his power known precisely in this weakness and emptying of self. This also explains the exhortation in the First Letter of Peter: "Yet if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God"."

One of my goals in life is to learn to suffer well, to truly make the suffering in my life "salvific", responding to the call of Christ to unite our suffering with His redemptive suffering, to accept the invitation of Christ to be susceptible to the workings of his salvific powers... Wow. Deep stuff. Definitely worth the read, and definitely worth listening to Fr John Riccardo's talk about the apostolic letter... good stuff... sooooo much to learn and ponder there.

So, on this blustery day, Happy Suffering one and all :)