estacey
He’s in the shower stall for now, since we don’t know what to do about his enclosure. We still don’t think he GOT OUT on his own… But what happened? Did a neighborhood kid let him out? Someone else? Or did he get out? We don’t know. We gotta get that figured out, and in the meantime the poor guy is walking around on a tile floor, trampling all his hibiscus flowers and wondering where the heck his nice little cardboard-box den is (when he goes back to the enclosure, he’ll be in for a surprise: I replaced it with a nicer, Rubbermaid-style box while he was gone – I hope he likes it!).
But anyway, Wailey's back! I really honestly had given up on the idea we'd get him back, so this is awesome. I don't have to worry he's off being mistreated somewhere. What a happy, happy thing. :)
¶ 3:46 PM 0 comments
OK, so I've OFFICIALLY lived with Chris for a couple of months now.. And I am quite happy. Let me list a few reasons why. Silly, but I was thinking about this last night.. Strangely enough, while pumping gas. :)
1. I always remember my billing ZIP code now.
This may SOUND like a small thing, but you don’t know what it’s like to have THREE addresses (“home”, PO box, and Chris’s), and never be quite sure what goes where. I’d call my cellphone company and they’d ask me to verify my address and I’d have no idea which address they had because I don’t receive statements. The pharmacist would ask me to verify my address when I’d pick up a Rx and laugh when I’d have to try twice – or more – to get it right. I’d be like, “Give me a clue – is it in Pompano?” Worse, sometimes places would have old, old addresses and then it could get REAL ugly.
And then there was the gas pump.
I used to stand at the gas pump and think, “Now, does this card bill to 33324, 33060, or 33308?” And if you guessed wrong twice, the pump would sometimes not let you try again. You’d have to go to a different pump! Now, I get it on the first time, every time – 33308! Sweet!
2. We was po’ when I was growing up.
We were ALWAYS out of stuff. Toilet paper, milk… Now, mind you, my mom was out at the bar every Friday and Saturday night, spending money, so we shouldn’t have been lacking for the basics. But anyway, yeah, we didn’t have much. And even after my mom got her A.A. when I was, uhh.. I dunno.. 12 or so.. and got a decent job, well then I can’t blame it on the money, because we were still always running out of everything. And I can tell you that a box of Kleenex was a special treat reserved for when someone was sick. Forget that I had allergies all the time, so I had to use toilet paper or napkins or something to wipe my sore, red little nose.
OK, Chris’s house? We have, like, 30 rolls of toilet paper under the bathroom sink at any given moment. There is a box of Kleenex (or two!) in every room, and a kitchen closet stocked full of more. (This is my doing – is someone making up for their childhood?) And the batteries! You need AA, AAA, C, D, even those little flat ones you put in calculators? WE HAVE THEM ALL! It’s really quiet strange. He even has stamps. Usually. I think it probably says a lot about the lack of normal adult responsibility that I am impressed with the possession of stamps in a household, but I absolutely love having something to mail and saying, “Where are the stamps?” and hearing a, “Office desk drawer,” in response. Which reminds me: we’re out. Gotta buy more.
3. We have a houseful of animals!
Yes, I do realize this is pretty insane, and I spend a lot of my evenings & weekends acting as dog-cat referee, but they give a lot of entertainment and love. The best part is that it really isn’t crowded… others may be overwhelmed by the numbers of animals.. but honestly, there’s a lot of room. Except in bed at night, when all the dogs want to sleep with us. I had two of ‘em in bed the other night and ended up sleeping up by the pillows of our king-size bed since they took over my side. (Gee, why didn’t they do that to CHRIS?) Then Oreo reclined onto my head. Lordy.
4. One home, that's it!
No more feeling weird about staying somewhere all the time that wasn't home. Or not ever staying somewhere that was supposed to be home. Or feeling awkward ddropping off a rent check once a month because I never stayed there. Or wondering if Chris wanted me to stay at my house sometimes, even though he assured me he didn't. Where I do belong is where I want to belong, and that's a good feeling. :)
5. Chris!
OK, we all know Chris is the best. He's good to me, good with the animals, he makes French toast for breakfast by request, he makes dinner... Good-natured, even-keeled, and immature (but in a good way, of course.. you know, usually). All this great stuff I thought about him when I first met him wasn't just him being on best-behavior. He's really just like that.
And, of course, livin' there, I get to be there with Chris every night. This is pretty much routine until, like, the other night when his bud who lives in the Phillipines was in town and wanted him to go up to Delray to watch the Steelers game. Chris was sleep deprived and the game lasted until late, so he brought his work clothes with him in case he got too tired to drive home. I was like, "But... but... I don't want you to not come home!" He kept saying I could go with, that way I could drive and he'd for-sure make it home. But, first of all, I have lots of school stuff to do. Second, that would involve me going 45 minutes away to watch a FOOTBALL game. FOOTBALL. I love my boy, but it just did not add up for a sane person to do, an in-love sane person or not. But the funny thing is, I really went back and forth on it -- I really considered it. If that's not love... But anyway, he ended up coming home that night anyhow. Lucky me. :)
this is what i like to call "crunch week"
gotta finish up a bunch of stuff for tonight's class... this field experience log stuff.
have to do this huge powerpoint project and all my OTHER field experience log stuff by sunday for my other education course.
also by sunday i have to take my math final. ha ha ha. so unprepared for that. SO UNPREPARED, and that is an understatement.
uhhhh... yeah.
we didn't go to key west this weekend. long story. basically, we have seen gretchey and maggie fight twice. once when we had company over. it was kinda scary; i separated them. we decided it was them trying to figure out who was alpha.. so far it's been gretchey.. she humps both the boy dogs and is the toughest and fastest doggy.
well, they fought again thursday night, when gretchey growled at her over a toy. it ended when maggie got terrified and came and jumped on me. only afterwards, gretchey's chin was bleeding. just a tiny bit, but still. whenever gretchey and the boys fight, it's not for real.. never to draw blood. it's always playing. i called chris in to clean it off while maggie huddled on my chest, still scared... chris found another wound on gretchey's neck/back from earlier in the day (it appeared). it was deep.. and smelly. we took her into the ER... they sedated her and flushed the wound, sutured another cut, put a drain in the big puncture wound, and now she's been wearing a cone around her head ever since.
i guess maggie doesn't know what play fighting is. in retrospect, she did have little scabs on her head when she came to our house.. and this lady at work said that her pound puppies have really possessive over toys and treats. i am guessing that since there was so little in the shelter.. i only saw one tennis ball in the enclosure, just one bed, communal dishes... and maggie was pretty skinny.. i dunno. but she obviously fought there, even though she is sweet as can be and pretty scared of the other dogs.
also, gretchey and buddy gang up on her. they chase her around the outside, barkind and barking and barking. she ends up crouched down and scared. before i realized she actually hurt gretchey, i was HOPING she'd stick up for herself. just, you know.. not go this far.
two minutes after they fought, maggie and gretchey were licking each other's faces, so i guess there are no hard feelings, but we have had to instill some rules. gretchey is inside today, until she gets her drain and cone off tonight, then maggie will have to stay crated while we're gone during the day from now on. once we see there are no instances of fighting - or getting close to it - while we're there for a while, we can start leaving them outside together, unattended. if everyone's still safe for a while, then everyone can be outside together again, alone, all day.
i feel bad for maggie, having to be in the crate all day, but there is really nothing else we can do. if this were long-term, we could maybe block off half the backyard or something, but hopefully it won't be...
i was really worried thursday and friday, but it's turned out to not be so bad. we just don't leave them all alone outside at the same time. that just means they're all inside most of the time, or maggie or gretchey comes inside. :) gretchey AND maggie slept inside on sunday night with us.. it was quite cute.
anyway, enough of my doggy babble. back to work!
Considering the 6th grade teacher didn’t tolerate so much as an ass out of a seat, literally – not even RAISED UP OUT OF A SEAT – I figured she would have an aneurysm if she was ever forced to teach a class like this. And I didn’t think I would ever want to teach a class like that.
And, well, given the choice between bright students and students that are going to fight me at every turn, I’ll probably take the former, but after sitting with them for 13 hours, I could certainly see taking an assignment like the one I’ve been observing.
But still.. some of the kids just take absolutely no interest in school. Important 40-point test? One kid lays his head down and goes to sleep. How do you make them care? I would find that frustrating. What do you do? And their parents don’t care either. The teacher was telling me about the old days, when she taught a magnet class. Open house for the parents of one of her classes -- 36 kids -- and it was standing-room only. Open house for her 100+ kids from all her classes in the lower levels? She had two parents come. Two! She tries to help me understand, that some of the parents only have one car and that car is with the parent at their job… Or they’re in survival mode working 2-3 jobs, so what the kid is doing at school is the last thing on their mind. So, oh, it’s so sad.
What killed me was today, when she told me how they took them on a field trip to downtown Fort Lauderdale to the Museum of Discovery & Science (“where my kids basically grew up”). She said one little girl got off the bus and looked up and it was like she couldn’t believe her eyes – she hadn’t seen anything so pretty before. Downtown Fort Lauderdale, folks. And on another field trip, they took the beach route home… A bunch of the kids had their faces pressed to the bus window, oohing and ahhing… THEY HAD NEVER SEEN THE OCEAN. The school is, um, maybe five miles from the beach. They're 13-14! They have no idea about the Everglades. No idea about anything.
And it hit me – how can these kids hope for better things when they really don’t know they’re OUT there?
My thoughts for the day. ¶ 5:47 PM 0 comments
she had, like, the best day EVER.
why?
for the third day in a row, she got turkey. leftovers from work, you know.. all the animals have been spoiled with hunks of turkey since friday. buddy likes it so much his mouth starts shaking when he sees it in my hand.
also, she got to go to the DOGGIE PARK. she loved it! she and gretchey did. sebastian, um, not so much - i think he likes the car ride there better than the actual doggie park. buddy, uhh... we had to leash him up the whole time. but oooh, gretchey and maggie loved it. a coupla gazelles, those two.
so anyway, tonight they're so tired that i honestly thought something was wrong with gretchen. she just stood in front of her dinner, not eating. i called chris out, worried. she eventually starting eating -- she was just tired.
the best part at the dog park was when the ENGLISH MASTIFF showed up. biggest dog ever. he made the german shepherd look like a chihuahua. sebastian and the mastiff sniffed each other's noses and, maaaaaan.. sebastian looked so nervous and so small in comparison. that dog was a monster! (a big, sweet, nice monster! :)
anyway, back to maggie's best day ever. then she got a shower! well, she hated that part, but afterwards, i toweled her off, and then she seemed VERY HAPPY. clean and happy! and someone is rubbin' my belly with a towel! whee!
now she's sleeping on the bed next to me, with her head on my knee. and to think the shelter was only a week ago...
and i had the zzzzzoooom lens on the camera and was too lazy to go switch out, so this is the only pic i could get. also, it was dark in the house. :)
so anyway, yeah, how we have this fancy cybex treadmill. i hope to start using it a little before work each day...
kelli and i talked tonight.. it turns out she be pregnant again! yay! she's due in late june.. so summertime will be the perfect time for a visit! that was good news, and very unexpected.. for her too. :) but in a good way!
all is going well here. little miss magnolia is setlling in quite well. sadly, we are thinking now that someone mistreated her in the past.
she's so darn sweet that she tends to leave her meal to follow you around.. which she did this morning. this is a big mistake around our dogs since they will go and polish off the rest of her food. this morning she followed me over to the outdoor shower when i went to fill their water dishes. i turned around and saw that sebastian was eating her food. i yelled, "sebastian!" and started to run back over to the food. maggie COWERED down, like i was running over to hit her or something. i'm like, no, no, no!
then tonight, chris tried to chase her around the house like we do with the other dogs all the time.. flailing his arms in the air. oh my god, she got so scared. she cowered down like he was going to hurt her. it took a while for her to recover from that one. she had her tail between her legs and everything. we did LOTS of reassuring and petting and beggin-strip-givin' to assure her that we're nice folks and are not going to hurt her.
so yeah, it's happened a few times that she has gotten scared over nothing.. and not just, like, a little scared.. but cowering-on-the-ground scared, which i don't think is normal. it's very sad.
it's going to take a little while.. we're used to being able to be a little rough-playful with our guys, and i don't think that'll fly with maggie, at least not at first.
later, i brought her over to say goodnight to chris before we ran out to finish a few more things in the kitchen. she's just so darn cute... she was like three feet away from him. sitting on the ground, wagging her tail, wanting so much to get close to him but.. scared? so she scooted along on the ground towards him. hunkered down a little. wagging her tail. apprehensive, but wanting the love.. so it's good. she'll be okay. she trusts us.. she's just a little worried. :)
i guess she was four or so months old by the time she got to the shelter, so it's very possible she was abused by the time she got there. can i reiterate how fucking happy i am that we have her here? she deserves a good home. plus, i think she and gretchey will be friends - they're already licking each other's faces here and there.. :)
we had a potty accident in the bathroom this morning.. two actually. but that was good. i was RIGHT THERE to say no and lift her outside. and then i was there when she did go outside so i could say YAY MAGGIE. two potty accidents in four days is damn good!
okay, whoa, tired.. rambling.. night!
we call her maggie. she's fabulous!
it's 1:40 a.m. so i am leaving it at that. she's really a great dog, though. as good as i could have hoped for! she and gretchey are sleeping together in a crate in the big, empty room right now.. :)
(sebastian is in the living room, buddy is in the bathroom, oreo is right next to me, kitten is on the headboard, ellie is in the garage.. whee!)
more later. just.. ahh, i'm happy! :)
When we got to San Francisco, we were on the tram that took us to the rental car area. I looked out the window and saw a hill. My knee-jerk thought was, “Oh, look, a landfill.” Then I realized we weren’t in South Florida.. it was a mound of earth NOT filled with trash. What a concept! How nice!
We had to wait a long time for the rental car, which sucked.. I could feel my time in California ticking by while sitting in an uncomfortable airport chair. Our car became available just as Chris’s cousin from LA, Tony, showed up. He had flown in, too. We got our car and went to pick up his other cousin, whose name I can’t spell, who had just landed on a flight from Boston.
We went and got pictures at the Golden Gate Bridge, then stopped off for food at a brewery-restaurant overlooking the ocean at Golden Gate Park. (Maybe the other way around?) It was trippy since the sun was on its way to setting, so it felt like it was in the wrong place in the sky. (“The sun is over there – so shouldn’t it be morning?”)
Then we drove on over to Napa.. By the time we got there, it was dark. I dazedly greeted Chris’s family and took a quick shower, then dressed for the welcome reception. They had a picture show of Catherine’s and Tim’s childhoods, which was really nice.. Chris’s parents really did create blessed childhoods for their kids. Honestly. I think Chris had been more places by the time he was 10 than I have been by now, at 29! Catherine had piano lessons and dance lessons. She played Carnegie Hall. There she was, smiling in San Francisco – in front of the Twin Towers – at the beach. Most importantly, she looked liked she had a very, very happy childhood. It was really nice.
We fell into a coma for 7 hours, then got up early to get ready for the wedding. When I got up, I finally got to see what Napa looked like. It was awesome. Outside our hotel room window, we had beautiful hills with hot air balloons floating in the sky.. Too bad I couldn’t get any better pictures.
The hotel had a pool. Chris and I had to run to Target that morning.. When we came back, I suggested to him that we go swimming, laughing. It was like 50 degrees out. As we were getting out of the car and laughing, looking at the pool, we both paused as we realized someone was in it. Outside. She got out of the pool just as we realized.. Now, I’m sure the pool was heated, but the outside sure wasn’t. Brave girl. Maybe she really needed to wake up? Hangover?
The wedding was gorgeous. It was so cold in the morning.. I was worried about my sleeveless, above-the-knee black dress, but by the time we got to Auberge du Soleil, where the wedding was, it was nice and warm. By the time the ceremony rolled around, everyone who got stuck sitting in the sun was actually hot.
Da Bo (Catherine) was gorgeous. Brides are always gorgeous, of course, but she started out that way, so I knew she’d look especially pretty. Tim kissed her every 10 seconds or so. They seem very happy. It was a happy day.
We sat with Chris’s friend Dawn, Patty, Patty’s boyfriend John, Tony, and the cousins who came in from Australia.
Chris ate part of the centerpiece. This caused John to ask, “What about this man says Successful Doctor?” Ha!
See something is off?
After the wedding, we drove back to San Francisco. We stopped off at one point and I got some pics on the side of the road.. Napa is so pretty.
We saw the bridge at night.
Chris found Lombard Street for me. We drove down it twice. It cracked me up, totally.
Then we found the hotel. Chris picked a nice one! We cleaned ourselves up and grabbed a cab to Fishermans’ Wharf for some sub-par shrimp dinners. By the time we left there, it was nearly midnight – 3 a.m. our time. We were tired. We couldn’t find a cab to get home. Our strawberry shortcake was melting.
Eventually we got back. We woke up early and watched the sun rise over the bay out our hotel window in bed. Then Chris said, okay, we have a couple of hours before we go to the airport – what do you want to do? I said, aren’t there sea lions here somewhere? So we got the scoop from the hotel concierge on where to see them – head back to where we had dinner the night before! So we did. And oh my god, I’m glad.
I absolutely LOVED the sea lions. Loved. Chris was trying to get a picture of me at one point and he asked why I was smiling funny, and I’m like – because I am choked up right now! They were LOUD and all of them were either fighting or sleeping like babies.. It was just hilarious. I loved them. I can’t wait to see them in the Galapagos. Chris assures me I will be sick of them by the time we leave there, but I can’t believe it. :)
He ended up literally pulling me away by my backpack.. Apparently we were running really late for our flight. Luckily, we weren’t checking bags or anything and we made it. Oh, he did stop by Lombard Street again so I could hop out of the car to get a daytime shot. SUCH A GOOD BOY!
Of course, the plane didn’t – Chicago was especially windy and O’Hare limited the amount of flights they were accepting, so we were forced to circle over Iowa for a while. We got to our connecting ORD-FLL flight while it was still sitting on the runway, but after anyone was there to let us on the plane. That sucked. The flights to West Palm Beach and Miami for the night were booked, too. But we could fly home the next morning at 8, they told us.
This is a whole bunch of annoyed people missing their flights. I sat there and took pictures and tried to not worry. That technique obviously did not work.
Luckily, my boy is smart. He had Patty find us a flight out of Midway that night, so we cabbed it there and were back in Fort Lauderdale by 11:30. I won’t say how much it cost, but Chris said it was worth it, so that’s all that matters.. :)
Now I just need to get caught up on my sleep! ¶ 4:39 PM 4 comments
since it's COLD in california - between the 40s and the 70s - chris will be wearing clothes other than swim trunks and the italian stallion and the new favorite, his wisconsin badgers shirt.
yes, chris in REAL CLOTHES.
the tie he's wearing to the wedding should be a real treat. :)
Good thing I have two flights to sleep through tomorrow!
Honestly, it's after 2 now... The alarm goess off at 4. I'm counting on Chris to wake up. :)
I met the dog tonight. She was cuuute. Way older than in the picture.. Not a puppy anymore; she's grown up at the shelter. And 40 lbs! 15 lbs bigger than any of our dogs... Hehe.. one of the rules Chris laid down about any new dog was that it had to be the same size or smaller than our current dogs.. He's very strict, as you can tell. I said, um, Magnolia's 40 lbs.. is that OK? "Yeah, that's fine." Very strict. It's okay though.. They may have to squeeze to fit in their crates together, but they'll still fit.. :)
So she's no tiny puppy, but she's still oh-so-cute. Confused when we took her out of her room. Then she got scared. Tail between the legs. Shaking. I had her on my lap and she was shaking terribly, just like Ellie used to do when I first brought him home. I couldn't get her attention after that.. It was hard to get to judge her character, but from her description on the site and from what they tell me at the shelter -that she's a great dog but with no obedience since she was raised at the shelter.. I think it'll be good. It'll be work, but worth it!
So yeah, Chris & I are going to get her.. one day, next week, when we can work it out. Monday would work only they aren't open. Tuesday I have class. It may wait until the weekend.
One of her kennel friends got all worried when she came out to see me.. She stood on her hind legs and was looking out the window for her. My heart broke. Seriously, my eyes were tearing up.. I sized her friend up and realized she was DEFINITELY too big for our house. I wish I could take them all home, I really do. But atl least this girl is not going to have to live her whole damn life there, never realizing there's more to life than that... As Sebastian snores next to me as I type this. All dogs deserve a life like these guys have, ya know?
Okay, now I'm REALLY not going to get any sleep.. Yeesh.
So busy this week! And I've been sick on top of it!
But yeah, tonight I have so much to do - shop and pack and in the morning we leave for California!
We're looking into adopting a dog, so that's taken up much of my at-home time. I'm a dork. Petfinder.com, Petharbor.com... We were looking at this adorable dog named Rosie, but I talked to her foster mom and it sounds as if maybe she wouldn't be such a great fit for our house. Tis a shame. There are a couple of dogs on the horizon, though.. One that has been at the Humane Society in Miami since February. That breaks my heart. I may try to go look at it after work today, although that will make night even crazier... But if I don't go tonight, I won't get to meet her until, um, next Wednesday!
Many pics to follow I'm sure...
