New Baby

Yesterday we welcomed our first child into our family - Kodiak (or "Kodie"), so named because he looks like a little bear.

To do some bonding, and to be a model wife (as I tell the guys at work I am), I went with Shannon to a gun show. I was more interested in a hunting dog at one of the booths then anything. Somehow, Shannon and I decided it was time to get a dog. Somehow, we talked ourselves to heading to PetSmart where local shelters bring dogs and cats for adoption. I still don't think we were serious at the time.

That's when we saw "Cadillac", whose sister had already been adopted earlier in the day. Poor little guy had been there all day, but he was still so sweet. How can you resist that little face? We almost did, but we couldn't walk away.

They say he is a 10 week old Jack Russel / Lab mix and I weighed him at 5.4 lbs last night.

He is very well-behaved. It was about an hour and a half between when we first saw him and when we got home and no messes. We played outside a while before going in. We've decided he is only going to be allowed downstairs (we're there in the family room the most anyways) and the bathroom is his room for now when we aren't there with him. The shower stall is quite posh with an absorbant pad, a sheet and a body pillow. We should/will get him a crate, but this is working for now. We shut him in the bathroom while we were upstairs having dinner and he cried for about 5 minutes before letting a frustrated sigh and settling down. After dinner, we headed to the store to find him a nice toy to sleep with, since this was his first time away from his sister. On our return, we were delighted that there was no mess in the bathroom and took him outside. He did leak when I picked him up, but his little bladder was quite full. He did all his business outside and then waited until we were outside again a while later to do it again.

As you can see, all the running around wore him and his daddy out. Kodie and I also slept for a while on the chair. When we put him to bed around midnight, we had a nature CD playing in there and he didn't make a sound until 7 this morning. Again, no mess in the bathroom.

Hopefuly this will continue!

Off to take him outside again since he just had his breakie about half an hour ago.

I have more pictures at My Other Blog

Comfy

Just hanging out, watching In the Attic in Jammies ... in my jammies!

Rachel and The Boots Mission

These are actually two separate topics, but I'm supposed to be working ......

1. Due to my blathering on and on about (a) my favourite show of "In the Attic" aka the Rachel and Mikey Show and (b) my winning the prize on said show, here is the link to Rachel's Blog. Those interested in seeing "In the Attic" needs to scroll down a few entries to where she has the WHOTV link.

http://rachelfuller.blogspot.com

DO NOT forget to also check out her album at www.bn.com - the samples should get you hooked!

2. What prize you ask? I was the quiz winner on "Attic" this past week and am VERY stoked. I won a WHO t-shirt and a striped jumper dress. My weight is falling off finally and hopefully, if it doesn't fit now, it will before long. I've been on a mission though to get a new pair of knee-high boots, but all the ones I like are sold out :( I think I drove Shannon nuts this weekend going to every single store I could think of. There's one pair that I am considering that I found today, but I'll wait on the dress to see how they look - pretty much any black boot will go with my slitted skirts and my short green dress.

Rachel - if you pop over here, thanks again for all you do for your fans.

Friday Night Ramblings

It is 10:18 (at least at the start of this entry), and what I am doing? I am here with you ... my friends ... even those that are boneheads and lurk and only comment on my entries in emails months later.

Actually, here, at 10:21, I haven't been home from work long. For those that have followed me over from my msn space, you'll remember my rant on my profession ... how people think I am important when I talk about working 12 hour days and think I have such a worthwhile, meaningful, alturistic career and then it turns out that I am just an accountant .... Today was a 13.5 hour day with no real breaks (other than driving from one end of the plant to the other for meetings). It's a good thing my group has the same twisted sense of humour that I do ... long days are much more bearable when you don't have to stay serious and focused every minute of the day. I have to go into work fairly early tomorrow (Saturday) since we have a slightly after noon deadline.

So, at 10:25, I am doing nothing more exciting then playing on my email / delphi forums / blogger (luv ya Rachel/Mikey/Simon/Dale/BallerinaGurl!) Some say that the net is such a waste of time. I have to admit - there are many times I feel guilty about the time I spend on here when I could be more productive, especially in terms of housework! I look back to '95 or '96, the years before I started learning the ways of the chat, and think of how much I enjoyed reading books. I don't have time for that now ... at least, not like I would maybe like. Then I think that my free time was because I had a much less stressful (but less interesting!) job and lived with Mom and Dad. Has NOTHING to do with hours spent reading about / chatting with people I don't really know.

But is the net such a waste? Perhaps without it, I would have lost touch with dear friends from my youth. It is much more convenient to drop a line or two from time to time online then have to make time to write letters, find stamps and actually snail mail. Without it, my phone bill to my sister and parents would be a lot higher (although I still love calling and chatting!) Without it, I wouldn't have made some really great friends. Heleen, Julie, Ali, Wendy and the like ... can't imagine my life without them now. Who knows what friends the future will bring? The net brings me my new favourite program, and related blogging, of "In the Attic" - will it also bring friends that I will be holding near and dear years from now?

Of course, here at 10:34, I can't forget the great gift of the net. 8.5 years ago I started chatting to my darling hubby ... who I met through my friend Jay ... who I met through my university friend Laura who had met Jay online .... and Jay met Shannon online ..... Yes, maybe 3 hours a night in the early days puts me in the loser category (like Kip from "Napoleon Dynamite"!), but is a budding relationship with someone you originally met online (although we met in person before starting to date!) REALLY a waste of time? My parents, who love Shannon to death, would still say yes .... before adding a "giggle giggle". Even now, after being married over 5 years, we'll message from across the room just for old times. Waste of time? It makes us laugh and lightens the day, so I would say "no".

But now, at 10:41, my contacts are feeling scratchy and I think I might plonk on the couch for a bit before bed. Shannon's off camping, and I think that this has proven that I am not so much of a bachelorette anymore.

Off topic, Sara, here's my hair now (keeping in mind that it now 16 hours since I did my hair, or even my makeup for that matter!):

Break In

Generally, I go to bed quite a bit earlier than my husband. For one thing, I get up before 6:00 and he's still in bed at 8:00. He also doesn't need as much sleep. Most nights, he comes and lays down with me for a while until I fall asleep and then gets up to go back to the computer or watch Napoleon Dynamite for the MILLIONTH time. Sometimes, he falls asleep with me (mostly unintentionally).

Monday night was one of those "fall asleep with me" nights. I was tired as it was and went upstairs around 10:00. We talked for a few minutes, but were probably asleep by 10:30. At 11:30, both of us were in a deep sleep when we were awoken by a loud crash. Disoriented, we lay there for a couple of minutes. I heard barking and whining, but figured it was one of the neighbours dogs - until I realized IT WAS FROM OUR FAMILY ROOM DOWNSTAIRS.

We went over to the stairs and confirmed we were hearing right. Going down, we saw an older medium-sized puppy. Our family room windows are at ground level, and one was open with just a screen between us and the elements. The dog had pushed hard enough on the screen to break off the snaps holding it to the frame. The crash we had heard was the screen falling down and the fan on the window sill being knocked off. Being scared, it had peed all over the (laminate) floor. We saw it hiding underneath Shannon's computer desk, pulling on various cables as it shifted around. It took us FOREVER to get it from under the desk - luckily, it was very good natured and only licked our hands instead of biting them. Its coat looked well maintained and clean and it had a collar on, but no tags.

We managed to get it out to the garage and closed the door to the house. Shannon couldn't get the garage door closed before the dog was back inside, sitting at the door to the house, looking up and wagging its tail. Anytime we tried to move it, it would give us slobbery kisses. Finally we got it outside and Shannon came back in the front door. The dog proceeded to scratch and bang at the (now closed) window.

By morning it had left - since it was healthy, I'm assuming (hoping) it was a neighbour's dog who just got loose and was attracted to the fact that we had a light on.

That night, it was bound and determined that we would be its new family. If it hadn't startled us so much out of a deep sleep, it might have gotten its wish.

The Hardship of Living in the Mountains

I never used to think that where I grew up was flat. To the northeast, you could sometimes see the shadows of the Laurentian Mountains and could get to a ski hill in an hour (although the better ones were closer to 2 hours away). Across the St. Lawerance River stretched the outline of the Adirondacks. When I was in university, I lived on top of the Niagara Escarpment. More locally to my hometown, we had rolling hills.

When I go home now, it is so flat. Nestled in the Blue Ridge and Smokey Mountains, this area drives home that I really didn't know what rolling hills were. I love fall, and now that it is getting cooler, the leaves are slowly starting to change. We had a fairly dry September, so the colours will be muted, but still, the colourful quilt of autumn is taking over the hills.

Here's a pic I took last October driving down Unaka Mountain on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina (not too far from here).

I LOVE going to work

Hmmmmm ... let me play with the font a little to convey the correct emphasis

I LOVE going to work. Not to be confused with loving work itself. Don't get me wrong - I generally like my job and work with some great people, but well, the hours are long and the appreciation isn't there like I'd like ... but I digress.

This time of year is wonderful for driving in. Of course, as I say that, it is a glum, dreary day. For the past week, however, it has been practically cloudless. I leave the house shortly before 8, breathing in deeply as I first step out of the front door. The air is crisp, unlike the more muggy days of summer. The trees on our property, some with berries, are just showing a hint of colour, teasing at the coming glory of the fall foliage.

Generally I take the interstate, but occasionally I take the back round in. Either way, I have to take a longish bridge across a river. The river cuts into the mountains, so that on either bank are masses of trees. If there are houses there (and there are), you can't quite see them. After a cool night, a mist rises off the water and hangs just above the slight valley it is in. It is just so peaceful and beautiful and is always a great way to start the day off. I wish I had a picture to post, but it is hard to get a good shot when you are driving 80 miles an hour.

Farewell, my friend

Today marked the last day that my dear friend,
Jessie, was a member of our family. Perhaps there are some who would say that I shouldn't be affected by her departure - afterall, I haven't seen her in a year, since she lives with my parents in the Great White North. But the fact of the matter is, I probably won't get to see her again. (No, she is not dead, but I will explain in a moment).

Jessica was just a puppy when my brother took her off his boss's hands. Living on the 13th floor of a Toronto apartment with an owner who was gone 12 hours a day was not the best situation for a border collie-huskey-german sheppard. Things improved slightly when he moved into a house with a bunch of guys, but he was forced to keep her outside all day while he was gone to work.

My parents claimed they wouldn't help him out when he first got her, but when they met her, it was love at first sight. They offered to take her for a while while he got settled in his new house. Once she got to their place, that was it. She was Mommy's baby. (To the extent that I was told I was in the guest room, yet the sunroom was called "Jessie's room"). My parents are practical people - they love their pets, but never forgot they are pets. The dogs in the past were allowed in the house, but were restricted to only one room. Jess was different. She truly was a member of the family. Mom spoke to her like she was a child and it was a ritual that she watched tv with them in the evening (unless hockey was on - than she would get scared and hide since she knew Mom could get hyper) - dogs had previously been forbidden from being in the livingroom.

When I graduated university and was living/working at home while waiting on my immigration, Jessie was my bud. She'd sit with me while I'd chat on the computer - either laying at my feet or, especially when she sensed I was depressed, sitting with her head on my lap. She was a great listener too - never passed judgement. And it was rare that playing with her thick, soft fur couldn't make me feel better. She must have liked me somewhat too - when I did finally move out, she was depressed for a couple of months. moping outside my old bedroom and occasionally going inside and whining.

Mom and Dad moved last week. They left the 5 acre place in the country(ish) for a MUCH smaller place in town. Between moving into town and her behaviour with the guide-dogs-in-training that Dad works with now, they decided that it might be better to put her on a farm. We talked a lot about her coming here, but it wouldn't be fair with all the hours that I work and Shannon's unpredictable schedule. Plus Shannon and I are further apart on dog issues than we are on kids. In the end, the people who bought the old house took Jessie too. At least she can stay in her home with people she seems to like.

I will miss you, my dear friend.