Dog Park Drama

On Saturday, we attempted to take Daisy and Meatie for a walk around the park. You know, so we could also get exercise. Unfortunately though, with all the stopping and starting and tripping and squirrel chasing - we got more annoyed than exercised.

So we decided to leave after doing just one mile - and hit the dog park on our way home.

We were suprised by how well Meatie did. Daisy is Miss Social and likes to check out everyone and run around a lot and get things going. She's super nosey and always wants to know what's going on when there is something going on. She's not shy.

Meatie, on the other hand, is a baby baby mama's boy. He whines a little and he hides a lot. He sticks close. And if he does get brave enough to run off; he always looks back to make sure we are we he left us. He had also developed a bit of a limp in his front legs; which we blame on growing pains. However, on Saturday - his limp was gone and he was being very social. It probably helps that he's as big as Daisy now (55 pounds!) (and still growing! ack!)

So Daisy was boxing and playing and running with another dog, Bo. And then another dog joined in, and then Meatie did too - and they ran and they jumped and they played.

Until Meatie got rolled and stepped on - and he FREAKED THE F OUT! He was YELPING so loudly I thought he'd like lost a limb or something. And the other dogs ran off like, "OMG please make that noise stop!" and the other owners all stopped and stared. We ran over to him; expecting to see a dislocated shoulder or something - (he was holding his foot up, so I should have known better) - but he seemed fine. I was petting his face (he was still yelping for like 30 more seconds!) and Mark was poking and prodding to see if he had a tender spot.

But, fortunately he was mostly just startled.

He was up, not limping, and ready to play again within minutes.

I'm very thankful not only that the experience didn't break his spirit - but also that it didn't break the bank by requiring a vet visit. whew!

Roll Call

It's time to make yourself known. Who is still out there?

I feel like I've been out of touch for too long. Especially after I checked in with Rhi and saw that she's planning her wedding to "the boy" that I remember her going on her first date with. And after I heard through someone else that Erin is expecting twins!!

So congrats to you both!!

Can I just say that everything I know about my blog friends I learned on Facebook? Facebook is ruining the face of blogging. It's too easy to twitter or facebook a one-liner. Who knew we'd see the day when we thought blogging was a more personal way to keep in touch? hehe.

As such, every post ends up being an "update" of what's been going on. After a rocky start to 2010, I think things are getting much much better.

The puppies have made life a little more crazy. We added Meatloaf to the mix and he was pretty well behaved when he was tiny. Now he's Daisy-sized and he's LOUD. He likes barking. He also thinks "sit" means "speak." Which is actually just darling. Much cuter than how he thinks "high-five" means "bite the hell out of my arm."

Work is work. Nuff said.

Mark hurt his back pretty bad, which left me bowling alone (and badly). But, thankfully, he'll be back next week. whew! And he's going to be starting softball again next week. That will be nice - except that the weather isn't nice yet; so I have to prepare for cold nights. (some of the games start at 9:30!)

Other than that - it's all wedding, all the time. haha.

I'm really down to just finding one vendor. The DJ. We have a meeting with some people next month that I'm hoping will fit the bill perfectly. I'm very happy with the line-up we've arranged for this shindig. Everyone really fits in with our personalities and the feel we want for the day. Today I met with my fabulous florist to get things squared away. She came up with some pretty ideas; you can see them here.

I finished putting the ribbons/charms on the bubbles. Of course, I figured out that the basket I bought is too big for them (grrrrr).

I also did some mockups of the programs - which one do you like better? Mark is leaning towards the one that folds up. I'm indecisive. You know this.

Next on my list? deciding on invite wording and starting to print the invites. woot!

Blue Ribbon Jam (and other stuff)

I was going to wait to write this blog post until I had pictures - but then I realized if I waited until I downloaded any type of picture, I'd never blog again. So...you get no pictures. SAWWY!

I left work early on Thursday to go to the county fair and see how my jam did. We didn't see it at first, among the other baked goods/canned things, so I was worried that maybe I did something wrong and was disqualified. BUT! On another table, THERE IT WAS! WITH A BLUE RIBBON! Yeah me!! So yeah, I got first place. And now, instead of eating toast and jam, we are eating toast and blue ribbon county fair prize winning jam. hee!

The holiday weekend was spent cleaning a LOT. I did a total scrub down of the kitchen and much furniture polishing and windexing ensued. We did get out quite a bit too. On Saturday morning we took Daisy for a walk by the river - it's kind of a woody trail and she was a little nervous and kept slowing down when the bushes got too dense. We were all exhausted when we got home and so we took a nap.

On Sunday we run a bunch of errands and took a walk around the park. And then yesterday we took Daisy back to the river. She was EXHAUSTED. I think it was all the "trying to run away from the bad bad man in the scary hat" I'm not sure what got into her - but she did NOT want to be anywhere near that guy. Apparently, she didn't hear me say that I brought pepper spray.

Today I am contemplating the fact that I have an interview on Thursday. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I don't particularly like it here - but I do like most of my coworkers. I'm afraid to jump into something different and maybe I'd really like the work, but hate the people. Or maybe I'd hate BOTH! or LOVE both. ::sigh:: No harm in going on the interview, I guess. (as you can see, I'm super excited. ha!)

Wish me luck. Or you know, don't.

Can We Get Married Tomorrow?!

For those of you who are out there thinking, "OMG woman, seriously. You have 18 months till your wedding, spare us the details!" you might want to step away from the blog. And maybe come back in for the last couple paragraphs - unless you hate puppies too (in which case, what is wrong with you?!).

As you know, there will (eventually) be a much anticipated wedding next year. October of next year to be precise. Last time I updated we had reserved the church and the reception location and were talking to photographers. And we had decided on a noon wedding.

On Monday, we talked to the caterer. From that conversation we decided to move the wedding to 3 p.m. so that the owner of the catering company would be available for the wedding (his restaurant is open that day and he'll need to be there during the day). This is also good because 1) the lighting will be so much better at 3 than noon for photographs; 2) I can actually light the candles that I'm putting in those pretty pretty votive holders I bought off craigslist; and 3) we can plan more of a dinner than a lunner. Which was too confusing.

I was able to switch the time with the church with no problems and I'm just waiting to hear back from the photographer that we decided to go with to make sure that a 3 p.m. wedding works for her - and then we'll book her too! YEAH!!!

Our meeting with the caterer went so well, and both Mark and I were thrilled with everything he had to say. He's very reasonable and he's just the nicest guy ever. His staff will handle all the set up and rentals (linens mostly since the location comes with tables and chairs). They will pass hors devours, serve a fabulous meal, bartend, and cut and serve the cake.

Mark and I had pretty much decided on a feel for the wedding, which was that we would be surrounded by people who love us and are genuinely happy for us. I wasn't sure how vendors were going to fit into that - but so far, we've found the nicest and most accommodating vendors possible. I can't wait!

Out of curiosity, for those of you who are married - what things did you do or not do that you wished you would have done differently for your wedding? Any tips for a beginner? hehe.

*****

I hear something funny from one of the daycare moms at Daisy's daycare. She said, "You know, it was so hot today, so I tried to get Daisy in the pool - but she would only put her front feet in." Um....Yeah, Daisy is a pool lovin' fool! So she must have been feeling kind of contrary that day. She was pretty tired, apparently, since the owner of the daycare said she should pay me for the day since Daisy wore her dog out so bad he was passed out on his back with all four feet in the air. (hee!)

We took her to the dog park last night, where she played with a cute young yellow lab named Carmen. They played and ran and jumped in the pool. She also got to play with Malakai - which really just gets her in trouble. She will find someone to play rough with and Malakai will come along and want to join in - but he's really vocal and kind of rough - so it looks more like they are ganging up on the dog. We had a couple incidents that required us to grab her and sit her down for a time out, but otherwise, all was good. And she did, in fact, play in the pool, the little turd.

I Am Officially....

Well, I'm not sure what you'd call it. But I'm kind of tickled by the fact that I have decided to enter the strawberry jam contest at the county fair. I sent in my registration yesterday - which means I will be making jam early next month so I can send it in mid May. heeee.

Yesterday I got back into the wedding planning. I've been slacking for a week or two because of this awful head cold. But now I'm feeling better, and frankly, work sucks, so I spent some time yesterday sending emails and checking on a few things. I was talking with one of the photographers yesterday - our mission now is to find photos that we really like to send to her so she can show us samples of similar things that she's done.

Next week we meet with the person we want to perform the ceremony, the caterer, and one more photographer. So we will be back in full swing.

Let's see, what else? Oh, Daisy got in trouble at the dog park on Monday. She had been playing really nice with all the dogs - it was a particularly mellow day at the park. But then, she decided she wanted to wrestle with this big german sheperd. And he decided he did NOT want to wrestle with Daisy. But she wouldn't get out of his face. Like, "hey! play with me! Hey! You! Hi!" and I'm chasing her around trying to make her stop - while the other dog's owner has a hold of him. Finally I caught her and I made her leave. I admonished her with, "if you can't listen and behave, then you can't stay and play" Of course, all I got in response was a giant doggy grin. She passed out almost immediately in the backseat of the car anyway, the little turd.

I'm sure by now, Today, she's already living it up at daycare.

In other news, I'm looking for a new job. I have a couple leads and a few apps out. Keep your fingers crossed for me, wontcha?

I Shoulda Went to Work

Monday was my day off. I had spent the weekend cleaning and was pretty comfortable that I was going to get to enjoy my day off by Sunday night. Until the refrigerator made a clunking sound. And we realized that it was really warm inside (not optimal, right?) Luckily Mark was able to make some adjustments (it was almost like a breaker made just the fridge go off, which makes no sense to me, but I'm not an electrician, so whatever) and get it to seem like it might be cooling off.

But, better safe than sorry...we moved all the stuff into an ice chest - and threw most of the leftovers in their containers in the sink. (it was late - like 11).

So, in the morning I was greeted with (yeah!) a working fridge....but left in the wake of the night before was the leftover containers and the fact that I still had to unload the ice chest back into the fridge. sigh.

And then I realized that Jack was having an issue, and would need to go to the vet.

And then Daisy decided that she didn't like the ice chest. It took me 15 minutes of watching her to figure out what she was barking at. OMG dog, STOP! She saw me put it out there! and didn't start barking till like an hour later. I think it was just an excuse for her to be an asshole. But maybe I'm wrong (I'm so not wrong!)

Yesterday I was back at work, where I had a ton to do. I made the realization that, 1) my direct supervisor is not the brightest bulb and that 2) she will take every opportunity to throw her staff under the bus.

I did manage to get everything done today, but not till I spent 15 minutes trying to show her how to add three numbers together on her calculator. (i wish I were kidding, y'all)

I also managed to cry twice in the last two days, both times were about Chance.

And now, while I'm happy to have gotten my invisiline, I'm not super happy about how much my mouth hurts. I am happy that it's such a pain in the ass to take them off and then brush/floss before putting the trays back in. it's just not worth the hassle to have extraneous snacks. I'm hoping this is going to be the BEST DIET EVER.

Wish me luck.

Weekly Update

It looks like I'm only updating like once a week - so I'll get a head start on this week and do it on Sunday, how does that sound?

Let's see - Daisy is still full of energy. She's found a new way to deal with it though - digging. She has been digging in our flower beds. Exhibit A:

I've had to do a little rearranging at the house. It seems that Minnie really likes this vase of fake flowers that I usually keep on the buffet. She's been rubbing her little face on it and knocking it off. Which, in turn, makes Daisy bark like a crazy person. So I moved the vase to the dining room table. That worked for like 20 minutes. And now it just lays on its side on the table. Minnie took the opportunity for a photo shoot:
Pretty!

Needless to say, we are probably not getting a Christmas tree this year. Nor will we be putting up many decorations. I'm still trying to figure out where to hang the stockings since everyone has one (I got Minnie's recently and Daisy's about a month ago). It will be sad without Chance and Golem's stockings though, so maybe it's better to be more low-key. I'm not really feeling all holiday spirity. Well, I take that back. I'm excited about some projects (like our gift of warmth and adopt-a-family) at work and I'm excited about holiday get togethers. I'm just kind of stressed about shopping and all the stuff that doesn't even really matter. go figure.

As for wedding stuff - we're talking plans. I think the only thing that will stress me out is the guest list. We really need to decide if we want to make it really small and intimate or if we want to have everyone there. That will probably help us decide if we want to do it in 2009 or 2010 (read: more people = more money required = wait one more year). I think I've decided that I'm going to try to rent a dress - I'm really against spending a frillion dollars on a dress to just have it sit in the closet forever. Because I'd probably never get rid of it, and I'm not naive enough to think that in 25 years when I have a daughter who might be getting married that she'd want to wear my out-of-style dress. So, to save me (and my non-existant offspring) the guilt and the closet space, I contacted the dress rental place to see if they can get the gown that I love. (keep your fingers crossed). Otherwise, we've pretty much decided autumn (october), sunflowers, and these darling leaf invitations. And that's pretty much it. But, considering we have 11 months or 23 months to plan - I think we're doing pretty good.

Ending on a good note: I can't wait for Thanksgiving. I love stuffing. and then I can start cookie baking for the holidays! yeah!!

Okay, Okay - Sheesh!

Boy, you ladies are DEMANDING. Hee.

We had a pretty eventful weekend, but I know you're just here for the good stuff...so I'll get to it. Mark and I went to Fort Bragg (on the Northern California Coast) Thursday night through Sunday afternoon. We try to go once a year because we both LOVE it there. This time we brought Miss Daisy with us, to stay in a cottage for the weekend.

We arrived late in the night and got settled in. We spent most of the drive talking about how he had bought me a ring (Mark is HORRIBLE at keeping secrets) and that I should NOT expect him to propose because the ring was being set/sized and he wouldn't be able to pick it up for a week or so.

On Friday we got up early and took Daisy to the dog park to play and then we stopped for breakfast. After breakfast we went to my favorite beach (Glass Beach). Afterward, we went walking through downtown (it's a cute little town) and checked out the shops. The pet shop was having a pet halloween party and Daisy was having fun eating treats and she got her picture taken, while I tried a scavenger hunt game.

Then we went to Mark's favorite beach, Jughandle. We all had a blast watching Daisy chase the waves and just enjoying the light rain.

When we got back to the cottage, Mark dropped down to one knee and asked me to marry him. I said, yes and asked him what he had in his hand. It was a rock. A rock shaped like a heart that he had picked up on the beach. :)

The rest of the trip was a series of eeeeeeks and yippeees and shmoopiness. And he wasn't kidding about the ring - I really do have to wait until next Monday to get it! And I'm just giddy with excitement and happiness (everyone in our family is just over the moon about it).

We're thinking of having a fall wedding.

More details about our trip and some more pictures later.

ThursDaisy!

How you bee, people?

Daisy had a fabulous time at daycare on Tuesday. When we got there, no one was at the reception desk and so Daisy was loooooking all around like, "where is she?" When the woman came around the corner, Daisy was very happy to see her.

When I picked her up, they reported that Miss Daisy has a boyfriend! Apparently she played and flirted with a 7 month old border collie named, Buster. A younger man! Go Daisy!

Daisy's Fun-filled Weekend

I know I've totally been MIA lately. The dog, she takes up all our time (the dog, not to mention the tennis, the bowling, the being lazy and watching TV)

So to help you with the waiting (until I get off the couch and actually blog about something using my words...) Here is Daisy's weekend, in pictures.

First, there was the partying.





And um, too much partying.




And new toys! (notice it's pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness)



And snacks! (Daisy chewing a bone and a Dinosaur eating Daisy)



And finally, exhaustion.

I Need a Break from the Real World

Not the show on MTV (is that even still on? if it is, it probably shouldn't be...but that's totally not the point). I just need a break. Like a C@lgon take me away break - except for like a month.

Daisy did much better this week in Puppy Kindergarten. The trainer was impressed with her response to "sit" (she's a good dog!) and she did a lot better than we thought she would on the "loose leash walking." She tugged some, but she didn't try to drag Mark down the aisle...and she responded well when he stopped (every time she pulled). She'd look at him like, "Daddy? Can we go? Hello?" and then she'd sit. (see! I'm a good dog!) and then they'd start walking again.

One of our problem areas is working on "no cat!" Daisy wants so badly to play with the cats - and the cats are like, "oh hell no!" So she's always getting swatted at or spat at or hissed at. And she continues to jump at them. So last night, she did pretty good with "no cat!" and I refocused her attention on a toy or her bone. Except, Clyde thought she was still too close to him and he reached out to smack her. And instead, dug his paw into my skull, not to mention freaking me the f*ck out by smacking me a couple times.

And then Daisy came running out of the bedroom from her kennel and knocked into the back of my knees - practically knocking me to the ground.

I swear, when I die and my life flashed before my eyes - it will just be a series of me being knocked down, tripping, or burning myself in the kitchen. That is not exactly how I want to remember my life.

Daisy Goes To Kindergarten

This morning when I got up, I thought, "I need to remember to charge the camera so I can take a picture of Daisy on her way to her first day of school."

I didn't charge the camera. So there is no photographic evidence of Daisy going to school. This is probably a good thing. No reminder of the clusterfuck I'll call Daisy's Kindergarten Class.

There are 9 dogs in the class. Daisy, Bailey (my friend Bri's dog), this white fluffy drop-kick dog, a dog that the woman thought was spayed but went into heat and now wears "panties", a bulldog named Cheeseburger (ha!), a really calm Rottweiler named Johnny, and three German Shepards (one of which was really docile - and the other two kept playing and mauling each other).

The dogs are all fine. Well, except drop-kick...but one of the owners should have been drop kicked herself. She's the one with the dog in heat...and a stroller with two screaming toddlers.

At what point did she think to herself, let's lock me, the dog, and the two screamers into an area with 8 other dogs who have not had basic obedience training (that's why we're all here!)

Bri actually did okay - Bailey can be a handful, but she brought an extra set of hands. I can tell you that being a single parent at doggy kindergarten is not easy! lol I had to hold her leash (while she tried to play with drop-kick and Bailey), our binder, and her homework. My hands hurt from struggling with her leash. I bet she has a sore throat tomorrow from tugging.

So, I'm really hoping that the screaming toddlers don't show up next week. And that the clickers (used for training) have arrived so we can get started. I'm really anxious for Daisy to focus in a large group and be able to do the commands that I know she already knows...but with an audience and not just for me or Mark.

I did get a chance to take her to the dog park (alone, because Mark has been out of town)...and she was playing too rough with a tiny 3 month old pomeranian (she's a little too exuberant for tiny dogs) and so I had to grab her collar and pull her away....as I'm walking away with her, my friend Kait is laughing and I'm like, "what?" and I look behind me and the little fluff ball is following us...hippity hoppitying right behind. The little bugger.

Seriously, I wish I had something uplifting and fun to tell you - but really my weekend was full of "let's tire out the dog!" fun. Otherwise, I did get the house clean. So that's something. :P