I challenged a friend to post an entry to his blog once a week for six weeks
He accepted the challenge
He posted three times – the last time was just one page, a goodbye
He’s not responding to twitter messages, or facebook messages, or anything
This is not fair
People are worried, and frightened
I don’t like this kind of drama
For the floors to dry
Spilling a gallon of tea on the kitchen floor required a bit of mopping be done today
The floors were sadly in need of it anyway, but it wasn’t planned for today till the tea jug spigot got stuck in the open position and most of the tea ended up on the floor. The worst part isn’t the mopping, it’s the moving of the furniture so I can mop. And then moving it back. It never fails that after the floor is all wet, Max has to go out.
When he was a puppy, he got a taste of the mop water. I freaked! Called poison control! And if truth be told, I’d probably do the same today. He was fine, looked at me like I had lost my mind.
He seems to think he’s in trouble because I made him get up on the sofa. He’s sound asleep, half off the sofa, on his back – it’s hard work going to Lowe’s and being cute and getting loved.
We go for a walk in the morning
We go for a ride in the morning
It’s just how we roll
If it’s too hot to walk, we go to one of the pet friendly stores and walk around and visit Max’s many fans
Leroy can’t ride, he gets car sick. I could give him a pepcid, but he’s also not socialized, so taking him anywhere is pretty much out of the question.
Max is out of sorts and so am I, we are creatures of habit and our daily routine is in disarray. We shall get through this and be back to normal soon.
I hope.
I’ve proudly called myself a grammar nazi. I’ve delighted in correcting people who use “to” instead of “too,” or mess up “their, there, and they’re.”
I have never been able to remember when to use “lay” and when to use “lie,” but no problem, I have a “friend” who (I seem to be using a lot of apostrophes tonight) who delights in correcting me every time I use either word.
Tonight was about the 12,000th time she corrected me and I lost my temper and told her how I felt about it.
And then I realized that I’ve done the same thing – and most likely come off as the same smug, arrogant, bitch.
I hereby resign my Grammar Nazi title. Go merrily on misusing the English language, I will no longer be the “I’m smarter than you,” witch I’ve been in the past.
Of a dog yanking you around. I’m dogsitting this week. For a cute little mixed breed beagle type dog, who is a ball of energy and is terribly excited about being in the country with all kinds of wonderful things to SNIFF and OMG, there’s a SQUIRREL and it smells good over THERE! He takes off full bore and gets to the end of the lead and about takes my arm out of the socket.
The flexi-lead is going away. Tonight. He’s going on a regular lead and hopefully the running and yanking will stop. I spent half the day on the sofa, shooting pains in my ribs – which were already sore – and across my shoulders – from the jerking. Max pulls, but it’s constant, it’s not this yanking, jerking that about dislocates my shoulder.
Oh, I like the little guy. But this has to stop.
Max is not impressed. He seems scared by the little guy – who’s being called Fred because Bear forgot his real name. Fred tends to be very vocal, growly when he plays. Max is just a touch unsure. It’s kind of strange because they played well when Fred visited. Max is weird about company. I hope it gets better in the next couple of days.
and memories make you smile more than cry, healing has finally begun.
It’s been 16 years since my Poppa died. For a long time, I couldn’t look at an M&M, couldn’t hear certain songs, couldn’t watch a Mets game.
It’s been 12 years since my mother died. Everything about that part of my life caused me pain – everything except my Bear. He stood beside me and sheltered me from as much as he could. I wouldn’t have survived without him.
Going through pictures and throwing out some junk that I kept because I couldn’t bear to part with anything has been a recent project.
And I’ve discovered that the pictures bring back memories – and those memories are mostly good. Smiles, and some tears, and even a few good laughs, have resulted from this trip down memory lane.
Yesterday was Mother’s birthday. She was remembered by the grandchildren in words on facebook, words that described her as sweet, and loving, and loved by everyone. I smiled. She would slap them silly for trying to make her a saint. 🙂 (Although she was pretty darned close to one in my eyes, too.)
I challenged a couple of friends to blog more, and then realized that this means I have to write more too!
I’ve been a slacker, for many reasons. Two crazy classes, subjects I never taught before, students who were at times wonderful and at other times highly unco-operative, taking a class myself (and I should be working on that right now!) and all the rest of life, left little time for blogging.
I’m glad that the semester is over. It was stressful, trying to stay ahead of the class. The weather made things worse. We missed so much time, and got behind, it was a constant struggle to get anything done. I had great expectations for that class – an upper level class should attract students who want to learn the subject. In this case, I had a group who wanted to get a grade without putting in the work. Yeah, that isn’t going to happen. I’m sure that several are not happy with their grades, but they got what they earned.
So now it’s summer, six weeks off to play with fabric, play with yarn, play with the dog. And get myself up to speed with my class – write some damned content, will ya!
Teaching online is something I’ve wanted to do for a while – for a lot of reasons. For one, it would give me the opportunity to teach more classes. I’d never have to leave the house – and that’s a major benefit. I really don’t like most people, so not having to deal with them face to face would be a bonus. And the bottom line is that I love to learn new stuff, I love to be the student, and I love being online – so teaching online is the natural progression.
I got accepted into a course that’s teaching me how to teach online. Pretty scary – it’s been a long time since I was a student. I don’t do well at many things, but I excel at being a student. First part of the course completed with flying colors, on to the next.
It’s a ton of work. It’s self directed and I am not good with time management. Or with organization. Yup, there’s a file on this zip drive that has my course development plan – but what the hell did I name it? Three days into course building, creating modules and going “what the hell do I put there?” I found it! Yes! Score one for me!
Oh, crap, now I have to actually do the work.
I’ve been very scattered tonight. A bad walk with Max, and I’m just out of sorts. Tomorrow will be better. It has to be.
I glanced down at my hands tonight, while I was typing some notes for my class.
I stopped typing. I took a breath. I had seen my hands grow old, seen the wrinkles and creases that weren’t there when I was 21. I suddenly felt my age.
I have my mother’s hands. The long, narrow fingers – the hands that were never still, never empty. They were always busy, those hands – knitting, quilting, crocheting, writing. I miss her so – and I look at my hands and wonder – am I half the woman she was?
I hope so.
So I bought this Drinkwell fountain, for $50, and I change the filters and clean it and fill it up and put ice cubes in it and he STILL won’t drink out of the flippin thing.
Nope. He will stand at the freakin door and whine to go out, convincing me that he absolutely has to go pee RIGHT NOW! and when I open the door,
Five minutes later he wants back in
I’ve had a flippin party when he actually deigns to drink from the fountain. Treats and praise galore.
It doesn’t last
I just don’t know what else to do and it’s driving me crazy!
Then I read on this forum that I visit how everyone drops everything whenever their dog wants attention. Seriously? I love my Max but I do have things I have to do, and if I stopped every time he wanted attention, I’d play with him all day long. I wouldn’t mind doing that, but laundry doesn’t fold itself and eventually it does have to be done. I guess I’ll stay away from that forum for a bit, I can lay enough guilt on myself without reading about how other people are way better dog owners than I am.
Sigh
Suziecreamcheese Sings the Blues 
