Book Club

I love to read ... always have ... I've always kind of leaned more towards the macabre (Stephen King, etc) for some reason. I have very fond memories of reading Edgar Allen Poe with the curtains drawn in the middle of the afternoon after school, scaring the bajesus out of my friend Melissa & her little sister Connie. Don't ask me why I remember these things but I do!

I also remember one time coming across "Helter Skelter" in the house somewhere ... and being genuinely interested in reading it. I was oh, I don't know, maybe 10 .... yeah, that didn't happen whenever one of my parents realized it was in my possession.

Anywho ... So last week when Esther was telling my mom & I about the book club she's in ... I immediately thought how fun it would be to be in one!! Even though a few years ago, bridget and i did join one when we lived in CT. That didn't work out so well. But I'm SURE that if we started one now ... it would totally work!!!

Who's in?!?!

Fun at the Playground

My mom & I took Miles & Julia to the playground this past Sunday morning ... I looooove the playground even though it makes me nervous to watch the kids climb all over everything and go high up on the cool slides ... I'm a nervous ninny, what can I say?!?!?

Julia made a new friend less than 2 minites after we got there. Julia ran up to and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek ... and off they went! And for the next hour, they were BFF



And you can't forget the swings .... gooooood times!!!!

All in all it was a fun, fun, fun morning! So much so that Miles fell asleep on the 7 minute ride home ... doesn't he look tired???

Why is it that when you have nothing to do, you have no motivation. This conditions is one of those tragedies like world hunger and global warming.

This Jack Russell puppy may look harmless, but she has earned her nickname of devil. We picked her up at 8 weeks old in February, and the house has not been the same, in good ways and not-so-good ways. Regardless, I am totally attached, and at times, Mike has been completely distraught.

We were crate training her which we knew she would not like. Like good pet owners, we took her outside religiously—every 2-3 hours, including twice in the early morning hours (2am and 5 am). And we followed everyone’s instructions:

-Keep her in the crate most of the day
-Make the crate small, so that she feels like she is in a den
-Feed her in the crate
-Discipline her when she poops or pees in the crate
-Put the crate in the center of the house

But she pooped in the crate. At first we thought she would grow out of it, so we endured. But after 3 months, we were beside ourselves. We were tired from getting up in the middle of the night, and it was so frustrating to have to give her a bath and clean poop 4 times per day.

Our vet was stumped; he felt so bad for us that he took her for a week at a time just to give us a break. We spoke to numerous dog trainers and all of them went through the list (do you feed her in the crate, is the crate small), and then would say, “That is so strange. You never hear of a dog doing that. You are doing all the right things. I don’t know what to tell you.”

We were ready to give her away. Mike believed she was the devil incarnate and just was a fundamentally flawed and nasty dog. So as a last ditch effort, we sent her to camp. We sent her to a kennel that also does training for a week. The trainer told us that she was sensitive (which is rare for her breed) but very smart and stubborn with lots of energy. He gave us some training exercises and changed the crate we used and how we discipline her, and she’s like a new dog.

Don’t get me wrong: she chewed another one of my shoes yesterday, but I’m not cleaning out her crate 4 times a day, so I’ll take it.

2008

As cliche as it is, where has the year gone?

Here in the South, the young ones have gone back to school, and I feel the need to recap why I have been MIA.

I started this post thinking that the year had been pretty uneventful and boring, but then I realized all the crap that has happened, and unfortunately, audience, the topics are not really appropriate to be posted, but feel free to call me for any updates.

The year has been horrible at work and unfortunately that colors my mood overall. The good news: my personal life has never been in better order:

• Christmas shopping: Done (thanks again Red Envelope)
• Wills: In process and to be completed soon
• Insurance: Now we have adequate coverage (what can I say, I have been digging deep?)
• Financial Planning: Done (wish I had finances to plan-see job slowdown above, but if and when I do, the plan is in place)
• Linked-In: Up-to-Date
• Facebook: Joined and waiting for friends
• House Projects: All that we wanted/needed are completed

The most notable item that is suitable for blogging is our new puppy, Mollie (aka the Devil). She has been a nightmare to train. She is a whole separate post for a later date, but let’s just say her “issue” stumped 3 dog trainers and 2 vets. Yeah!

Sports

All of a sudden I got REALLY excited for football season! The Bills haven't been playing well the last few years but it doesn't change the fact that I LOOOOOOVE football!

I think it also makes me happy because it means that HOCKEY SEASON is almost upon us as well ..... YAHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!