poopy puppy, hurray!

I'm getting a puppy! I feel like a 5 year old, I'm so excited. James and I drove to Remlap, AL tonight to choose our new nanimal. It was nearly impossible to choose because they were all so gosh-darn cute. There were puddles of puppies everywhere. I mean, how does anyone say no when there's the sweet pungency of puppy breath in the air? We have to wait at least 2 1/2 weeks until he's ready to part from his mama. I can't wait! Hard as it was, we made our choice. Here's our Bongo:

bling it on

Man, am I exhausted. My new job is a little stressful, and I'm feelin the wear. (in the form of a partially-formed ulcer burning in my gut.) It's not that I dislike the work, it's just that I'm not accustomed to feeling this sort of "do or die" stress in my day to day life. I'm not sure I like it. But one thing is certain: I need the job. And it's a new form of work for me, sales. It's low pressure for the customer, but the whole idea that my paycheck depends on my success/luck is gonna take a little getting used to.
James and I "pimped our chalices" last night. Or, we "pimped our chali-cees" as was decided it should be pronounced properly. It was a lot of fun. I still have super glue under my fingernails, and James has some minor burns from the so-called "low temp" glue gun.
James' chalice didn't make it through the night, unfortunately, given it had already cracked at the base and had been re-glued, and I believe after a few beers graced its gilded form, and jewels began to kamikaze their way to the ground, he flung it across the deck. Oh well, you can't save them all. My chalice, however was bling-a-rific, and super-sweet. Who knew how much fun pimping cups could be? Now we have to come up with some other crafty things to bling. I have so far suggested to Buffy that perhaps we could pimp MY ASS. It's just so plain-- I mean, it's sexy as hell, but it really could use a little sumpin'. Maybe next Wednesday.

happy happy joy joy

Ok, after my last posting, I decided I should leave you guys a little something more upbeat. I"M GETTING A NEW PUPPY! In 3 weeks, to be exact. And we shall call him Bongo. He's only 3 weeks old, and Juicy is so excited to have a friend. He's brindle black white and grey. I'm so excited. I shall post pictures as soon as I get them. Yea!

I fell into a fucking manhole.

Seriously.

Monday morning, 9:14 am.

I leave for work as usual. As I pull out of the driveway I see a kitty in the middle of the road that has been hit by a car. It looks like my cat. My heart stops. I pull up a few feet and see it is not my cat, but my neighbors cat that looks almost identical. I breathe a guilty sigh of relief. So far, the damage to the cat isn't too bad. However, since he is lying in the center of our very busy street, I decide the least I can do is move him off the street. The neighbor diagonal just moved in three days ago. There are boxes, blankets, carpet, etc., waiting to be picked up by the garbage truck near the street. I put the car in park and put on my hazard lights. I get out of the car, go grab a discarded blanket and scoop up the poor kitty. I walk approximately seven feet to the neighbor's yard, just past the rain gutter, and turn to face the road before setting the kitty down. What I do not realize is that my left foot is resting on a manhole cover. That is, until the manhole cover flips, and my entire right leg sinks into the manhole up to my thigh-- WITH A DEAD CAT IN MY ARMS. I mean, seriously. People are driving by and I look like a clumsy psycho-killer sprawled out on the ground clutching a dead and bloody cat. What a great way to start the day. What are the odds?? Seriously. I'd like to see some statistics.

i get itchy just thinking about it

ok, we bought our house in November. A nice, cool November at that, and the view from our back deck was pretty nice. We live on the top of a ridge, and when the foliage is dormant, we can see all the little city lights glistening through the tree trunks that criss cross our backyard. Well, since Alabama weather has once again decided to skip a season (more on global warming later) the view we once enjoyed is now blocked by all the leaves, brush, and VINES. It seems our winter home purchase left us with a backyard completely and utterly consumed in poison ivy. Not just a little here or there, but EVERYWHERE. I mean, it is eating the trees, the ground, and at this point it wouldn't surprise me if it could float, and tomorrow i'll wake up to find a vine maze hovering on my deck.


Everything you see in these photos is the IVY! Now, I have been very lucky, and thus far in my life, I have never had a reaction to the stuff. Once in California, I came home with some Sumac as a souvenir, but the ivy hasn't ever really affected me. Unfortunately, my fiance is not so lucky. Apparently, James is one of the lucky people who not only covers over with blisters and rashes when he touches poison ivy, but also is someone who would go into anaphylactic shock and may even die from touching it. This has not made me a happy camper. And our beloved dog, Juicy, has decided that the most comfortable place in the entire fenced area of our yard in which to wallow is a small patch that is padded in POISON IVY. He loves the stuff, apparently. SO, now every time we pat the puppy's head, or scratch his ears, or scrub him down, we are playing roulette. yea! I spent most of the morning pulling up the vines, spraying it down with Ortho's poison ivy killer, and then re-spraying it with "pet away" spray, which makes Juicy think he is in trouble, because the only other time we sprayed it was when he continued to try to eat our deck, our bench and any wooden parts of our house. (we have since calmed him with large branches he eats for snacks as part of his high-fiber diet.) Well, this summer should be fun.

sleep to dream

So, last night I had a dream in which I was looking through items on a shelf that I had placed there IN OTHER DREAMS. How strange when something is familiar only in your dreams. Like a common location where you've had many dreams that occurred there, or people who you can't quite place anywhere but in your dreams, but if you think about it, you've dreamt of them for YEARS upon years... just seems interesting to me.. I have always had extremely vivid dreams, and I almost always remember them when I wake. I've never been one for much dream interpretation. I don't think if you dream you are a school bus driver (night before last) that it is related to the "road of your life" as a recent coworker suggested. I think I had watched school bus racing on some "extreme tv" show a couple days ago. Voila. Other things that I do think have deep meaning are very easy for me to understand. These things tend to make sense TO ME, not necessarily someone else to interpret. For example, I used to dream about a friend from highschool, and whenI would get near her, a scorpion would be clasped to my forearm. Now, I severed this friendship because this girl was sucking the life out of me. So, it makes sense. But I also have these reoccuring dreams where it's the end of the world, or civilization is undergoing a massive overhaul, people running, screaming, killing themselves, fighting each other, hording canned goods, etc. , and I really try not to read too much into it. I mean, we've all watched movies like Armeggedon and Mad Max, and we all lived throught the "Y2K" disaster, so I figure these dreams are just a culmination of what every culture has: a fear of death, a fear of nothingness, a fear that we are just a speck and no matter what we do, we cannot leave a lasting impression. Pretty big stuff when you are sleeping. But I don't find that these dreams have some big meaning. They are only dreams: my brain's way of sorting out life.

honey

Last week, James came home from a long jog, stood in the middle of our living room and smelled his left armpit NINE TIMES. I mean honestly, after two or three sniffs, you get it, right? Perhaps this is something residual from childhood, being a boy and grossing each other out or something. This is what prompts a man to drink spoiled milk and then ask someone else to taste it. "Hey, this milk is rotten. Taste it." Um, no thanks, I'll pass. Honestly, I trust your judgement. I know that I love this man. He offered to let me have a sniff of his armpits when he was done with his NINE sniffs. I passed.

well, here we go.

Wow. Who knew it was so easy to start your very own blog? I mean, my friends have blogs, but for some reason I thought it was an excruciating process to actually create your own. Well, I was wrong. Thank you, Google. Here goes nothin'.