Dee Dee it is

Our new dachshund mix is fitting well in our household. As long as she's touching someone, she's happy. She hasn't had a real accident in days. And yesterday, the big news! Dexter and Dee Dee learned to wrestle. It took them almost two weeks, but our dogs are finally wrestling and chasing, and enjoying each other immensely. Almost too much. Both boy and girl enjoy the occasional hump.

Really, who doesn't?

Appliances

Have you bought an appliance lately? Specifically an over-the-counter microwave/vent, refrigerator, or dishwasher?
We NEED new ones of each. I'm about to purchase GE and Whirlpool. Anybody had any bad experiences? I'd love any insights.

Where I stand now:
My current refrigerator periodically lightly defrosts the food, making it go bad more quickly, and the ice cream gets burned.
My current dishwasher is putting rust on my dishes. I've been pretending that it isn't, but now I'm worried I'm going to get lead poisoning or something. Plus it SUCKS. I have to wash the dishes before using them.
My current microwave heats things half as fast as our other broken microwave (that one doesn't light up on the display, and is not built-in). Plus, when you set the clock, it gains about 12 minutes a day. I doubt that the timer works correctly since it thinks the length of a minute is way shorter than a real minute.

I can't wait to have working shit.

Bunny, or Dee Dee, or something

We looked at siblings for Dexter. And we found "Bunny." There were others that really made me swoon, but this little girl and Dexter seemed to have the exact same personality.
I don't know for certain if she'll end up at our house, but I want her.

Do you Salute Me?

I rocked today.

The other day, Jim used a gift certificate to buy the notorious game Guitar Hero. I was dubious. I'll probably get annoyed and bored quickly, I thought. Jim is such a juvenile, I thought. Plus he knows how to play guitar already, so he's gonna kick my ass, I thought.

But, big surprise, I am now addicted to my new video game.

Kool Thing is really fun to play. And surprisingly, so is Welcome to the Jungle. It's interesting that I enjoy these songs while playing them on a video game, but would change them immediately if they came on the radio.

Today I even put on an off-the-shoulder number for the event.
eeeee!

Old Married Lady

So I get married, and three weeks later, my hip hurts. Wow. I think my fleugal valve is misaligned. Good thing I have tomorrow off.

I received my wedding pictures yesterday, and I'm ready to play with them tonight. Does anyone have any favorite internet photo how-tos? I've never done anything photo related online. Where do I put them? How do I get them printed? So far, Snapfish seems to be the most complete. But is there anything better? And how do I show them on here? I need to go html learnin'.

I'm probably going to do my initial beat-em-up brag book printing at Costco. I think I can send them from here, and pick them up tomorrow when I meet my HUSBAND for lunch in Gwinett. Or, as my 1st real boyfriend called it, "Gwinnitt."

I received the wedding video two nights ago. There sure was a lot of laughter at our wedding. I don't just mean the alcohol-induced kind. I mean, there were a good three laughs that I could make out:
1. A nice giggle as everyone heard the beginning notes to "Rainbow Connection."
2. Everybody laughing at my nervous laugh and plastered smile. You gotta understand - if I had moved, then I woulda cried!
3. During the toast during the ceremony, I turned around and laughed at the sight. Seeing my best friends and family in one frame, all with glasses raised, deserved a gasp/giggle.

All thanks to Todd J for the extremely awesome video. And Anne J for the extremely awesome pictures that were available to me immediately following the wedding. The J's rock.

Sunday Sunday

I love Sunday. I woke up, ate a piece of halloween candy, and sat down to watch My Name is Earl, and other shows that are soooo inappropriate at 7am (now, officially 6 am). But it was nice to cuddle alone with the dog for a quiet morning. Then we went back to bed. Until I awoke to Dexter walking up my body (1st step, the ankles. 4th step, the knees. he has short legs) to tell me that we were supposed to be on the couch, not the bed, now.

After a little more tv, we determined that this morning was a good one for brunch. We hadn't been to Wahoo (GREAT outdoor patio in Oakhurst) in a long time, so headed out. When I saw the number of cars out front, I decided the wait was too long, and we drove around to three other places before ending up back at Wahoo, where there wasn't a wait in the least. silly me.

Jim got the fried green tomato eggs benedict (the crispy piece of heaven replaces the muffin). While good, my eggs totally won. And why can't I make grits like that? Is it cream? I know it's more than just cheese and butter. They were ummy. (it's even better without the y)

Then I played a video game for a few hours.
Now I'm typing.
Soon I'm going to make macaroni and cheese - Kraft.
Tomorrow, I'll get us back to adult life. I promise.

hah!

I was right. Sunset is at 7. phew

But it's not my fault!

"Are you suuuuuure?"
I get that question a lot from my mother and my fiancee. They know me well. In spite of my best efforts in the research and development department of my brain, I'm always rushing to production. My brain must be outsourcing to China.

Here's the most recent potential lead recall:
When I was planning the wedding, I thought sunset would be a great time. The wedding itself could enjoy some daylight, but the rest of the party would be after dark - people drink more after dark. That's the right atmosphere for a cocktail party.

Weather.com has a wonderful "plan ahead" area that gives you all sorts of helpful information about average temperature, rainfall, and sunrise/sunset. I found a table that listed all this information. October is the driest in Georgia (I didn't know that), and the average temperatures on the 20th are perfect - 45-71 degrees (I DID know that). I love October.

According to this chart, sunset is at 6:57 pm. When you include "civil twilight," or dusk, I'd have another half hour after that of light. It was perfect. It was planned. The "are you suuuuure?" came from my mother, warning me about congress' decision to extend daylight savings time. I know about that (I listen to NPR, dammit. I know what's going on in the world). And Weather.com knows about it.

I mailed the invitations.

The next day I was checking Weather.com, and found something called a "sunset calculator." Guess what - we're getting married 1 hour after sunset. oops.

But I checked. I really did!

What a Dream

Here's my dream from this morning:

The salon required us to attend a "progressive" church service while we were all out of town in a team-building exercise. My company does not offer team-building in the same sense that the corporate world does. We don't get all-expenses paid trips to Miami. More often we get 8 hour meetings in windowless rooms. So, keep dreaming, Robin. But we do have a helluva holiday party. Be really nice to me, and I may let you come with me in December.

Despite the fact that I am extremely NOT Christian, I willingly attended and sat fairly close to the front. The Jesus talk became increasingly annoying, so I spent most of the time people-watching. There were lots of people sitting in the aisles in sleeping bags. This later reminded me of "Love Week," the annual youth group camping trip at my church. We would sleep in cabins for a week, and pray a lot. Oh yeah, and we stole the boys underwear and tie-dyed it. Yeah. We were such good kids. I wonder how many kids lost their virginity at church camp...

The minister took a break, similar to real church when the choir sings by itself, but instead, the lights dimmed, and a jumbo-tron played a Dominos Pizza commercial. At this point I became so disgusted by the deadly combination of commercialism and blind faith that I stormed out, and noted that Jeffrey and Kitt were right there with me. It was so disturbing to see a commercial in church. But I'm almost positive that churches of the future will have some sort of advertising for "donating" companies. Until they invent pay-per-pray.

We met at the bar and drank Sprite. Really, Sprite. Jeffrey had been craving a diet Sprite at work Thursday afternoon. Guess that left an impression.

The dream then devolved into a Post-Apocalyptic Fight Club in the Wizard of Oz goes to San Francisco scene. That one was just too freaky to describe. So I'll stop here.

Star Stomping

I'm so tired, but all is well.

First, I went to Toledo, OH for a visit with the future-mother-and-step-father-in-law. They are a fun couple. Linda took me to H&M, where I spent $130, but got a dress, a coat, matching unmentionables, and two tops. You can't beat it. And I look cute in my new clothes. This is more my kind of store than Urban Outfitters, but H&M won't be in Atlanta until spring, so I really need to take a trip to Lenox soon.

Then I worked for two days.

Then I spent 1.5 days in Hilton Head with my best girlfriend. I got a little sunburned, and we played therapist with each other (that sounds dirty), and ate some seafood. Oh yeah, and some margaritas, beer, wine, and mojitos.

She got stung by a jellyfish. No, I didn't pee on her. More than one person has mentioned that since I started telling the story. Maybe it was on Friends or something? Anyway, the real treatment is to rub wet sand on the sting for a couple of minutes. Then you spray it with vinegar. Nessa was a trooper. She didn't even cry. I would have cried.

And we went star stomping. There were phosphorescent thingys in the tidal puddles on the beach. When you stomped the puddles, they would glow like tiny floating stars. Really. I swear it wasn't the margaritas.

Wedding Music

Thank you Annie!
I've been having a good ole time working on the music for the wedding. Currently listening to "To the Nth Degree" and I forgot how much I loved this song. I figure a song which gloriously spells M-O-R-N-I-N-G-W-O-O-D is in balance because:
Mom wants "Muskrat Love" played at the reception. How long has it been since you heard it? I promise, it's worse than you remember. Especially when you can hear the detail of the "muskrat sounds" that are actually some instrument being played in a stupid way. If anybody knows what this instrument is, I would love to know.

Sensory Memory

This evening I stepped outside onto my too-small deck to enjoy my yard after dark. I stared into the trees, listening to the cicadas (or Jim thought they were tree frogs - I don't know). I remembered that sound, that music, as the indication of my alone time at girl scout camp. We would go to our tents (yes kids, we used to bunk on cots in tents on wooden foundations), and get in our sleeping bags, and the singing insects would be so loud as to drown out the sniffles, snores, etc. of the other girls.
It was at that time I would create stories, imagine worlds, that eventually (years later) would form into writings. Not great ones, but creations that were my own, geeky or not.
So I came inside and jumped on the laptop. silly.

Two Nights Alone

Jim will be leaving town tonight, and I will be alone until Sunday when I travel to Ohio to see his mom - my future mother-in-law, Linda I. There I will overeat, overdrink, and hopefully get enough time alone to read a book. The latter hope will most likely not happen, as she is an energetic (her daughter calls her "bippy") woman. I'll be on personable mode most of the time. But they tend to go to bed early, leaving us a bit of alone time. I'm just looking forward to being somewhere other than Atlanta. And seeing his parents. They are super fun.

Now I have to decide what to do with my two nights alone in Atlanta. Tonight will probably be tv, maybe a recorded movie (I have One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Dave which are both good movies I've already seen), but not a Netflix movie, because Jim wants to see both of them (An Inconvenient Truth and Black Snake Moan featuring Christina Ricci's boobies). I can't have too much fun tonight as my Friday night bedtime is 10 pm in preparation for my usual 6 am Saturday alarm. ug. At least tomorrow is jeans day at work. I look good in my jeans.

Saturday night is supplying me with many exciting ideas. My first is to have a margarita and IBS-inducing Mexican at El Azteca, then modeling my wedding dress (maybe I should do that before the Mexican) with the correct bra and a key-ute tiara my client let me borrow (what a nice offer by the way - preventing me from spending money on a used tiara which may or may not be cute because it's hard to tell on eBay). It's been too long since I spent quality time with my mama. The only problem is that I will be REALLY tired, and she'll say, "You look tired." Do mothers realize that this is NOT a compliment? Also, I'm never super chatty after a day of work (and 10 hours of chatting). It's easier to spend Saturdays with her if Jim is there to fill in the silence. My days off are much better for me in the visiting department.

My other possibility (or probability, actually) is that I will pick up a bottle of wine and some yummy, superbad takeout and hide in my house with The Cutest Dog in the World. Maybe I'll do pay-per-view.

If I write tomorrow night, just assume that said bottle of wine is on its way to empty.

My Tomato Plant is a Diva

The count officially reached five tonight.

I don't like tomatoes. They are squishy, and gross, and ruin everything they touch. Unless they are a)made into a sauce of some sort or b)breaded and fried while still green and accompanied by a light dollop of goat cheese.

In light of my bigotry against tomatoes, it may be surprising to you that I installed a tomato plant in my backyard, in the "vegetable garden" underneath my kitchen window. I just thought I should, since I needed some sort of vertically-growing plant in the space, and it seemed a good complement to the snow peas (resulting in a single yummy stir-fry), peppers (currently being eaten by slugs I believe), lettuce and spinach (won't try that again), cauliflower (not enough rain/watering), and herbs (did well for a while, not anymore) that shared the 5'x5' space.

But I didn't just buy any random pot from Home Depot. I thought ahead and purchased a roma tomato plant. "I'll make sauce out of them," I've been explaining to anyone who will listen. But after the first fruit appeared, and the second quickly followed, nothing.
Just two, lonely, oblong green tomatoes.
Len said I could make a ketchup packet.

But two more babies appeared a few days ago, followed by a third, all on the same sprig. It's doing alright, my little (5-6 foot) tomato plant. I talk to it at least once a day, and I've been spraying the blooms with... stuff. I dunno - it's supposed to give me more fruit. Whatever. I think it just likes the attention.

Feelin' bad

My esthetician said that Venus is in retrograde causing chaos. That must be it.

First, my best friend's dog took her last walk recently. Kita was special. She did a great Elvis impression.
Second, my client's mother told me that my client's three-year-old son drowned at the lake a couple of weeks ago. He leaves behind a twin brother. When I saw her at the salon, she was almost as medicated as I would require. Yeah, yeah, I know kids can drown in seconds. I'm sick of people saying that shit. I've heard that on the local news, thanks. You can't heal a broken heart, ever. Her heart will need a bandage change a day for the rest of her life. But the free-bleeding may end in a few years.
Third, another client's best friend told me that my client's 48-year-old son died of a heart attack while playing tennis. That's why I want to live my life as if tomorrow were my last day. People may think that I'm irresponsible, but I won't die wishing I'd played more tennis.
Fourth, a client put her dog down as well. She drank wine before her appointment. I like wine.
Fifth, a friend is leaving his relationship of many years. It's time for them. But that will not make the process any easier. But I want to be there for him.
Finally, there are some birds in my yard that are missing feathers. I understand why domestic birds have no feathers - they are miserable, caged creatures who are acting out because of their frustrations. But why would I see a bald cardinal? Sad.

So I'm drinking more wine than the surgeon general would suggest. And eating white pizza (in other words garlic pizza). And I may watch Bridge to Terabithia because my client said that it's a good cry.

Sad Dog

Dex is just crying. This poor little dog has creepy-ass maggot-like creatures boring their way up through his skin, and nobody (not me, not him, not Jim) can stop it. He doesn't know why it hurts, but it does, and it makes him sad. He looks at me as if I should be doing something. He's not supposed to ever be uncomfortable. He's only supposed to be relaxed, on the couch, perhaps being fed a piece of cheese.

He is distracted temporarily by the new toy on the floor in front of him - a stuffed skunk, 2/3 scale to himself. It makes a metallic, recorded sound when squeezed. We've saved this toy for months, avoiding the clouds of white acrylic fluff that will dance across the floor by the end of the night (and well into the weekend). But now he deserves it. It keeps him from crying as much.

Oh, and the vet squeezed his anal glands too.
Bad day. Sad Dog

Wolf Worms

Dexter, the cutest dog in the world, has gotten a bad haircut.
After scratching and biting and whining, we took the pooper to the vet (my awesome sister) to get his "hot spots" treated. As the vet tech was examining him, she noted that the spots were more like puncture wounds than raw patches. When Sherry came in and had a chance to examine him, she exclaimed, "I think they are wolf worms!" Which was followed by the vet tech's exclamation, "Cool!"

Now, of course, this isn't what you want to hear when your baby is being poked and prodded on a slippery exam table. While they were excited to see something new, the description made me wanna hurl. Turns out, these things are essentially maggots living under his skin that work their way to the surface to breathe. Jim said he could see it when they squeezed the skin like a zit. gross.

So he had to be put under, then three worms were cut out. We know he has at least one or two more that we have to wait to penetrate the skin before we take him back to the hospital for more poking and prodding. Sherry said that she's never heard of a dog getting more than one at a time. Lucky dog.

We still don't know how he got the parasites, but I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Especailly pussy dogs like mine. He really is a wus. But a damned cute one.