Day Off!

Day Off!

After 6 days of work, I am off. So is my sweetie.
Randy, our mobile mechanic, is in the driveway working on our cars.
I'm doing laundry and wrapping gifts and cleaning. Brian is playing some football video game. 'Skins vs. Ravens.
I made cinammon buns for lunch.
I really have to pay my bills. I have been procrastinating that task.
Later we're going to Annapolis Mall for tempurpedic shoe inserts from Brookstone and birthday gifts for my mom and sister. Brian wants to see Napoleon Dynamite. (??)
I'm going to set up my keyboard today so I can be musical again. Maybe we'll play some DDR. And at some point I will be making a flyer about John's puppies that need a new home.
I'm anxiously awaiting the mail lady's arrival, hopefully with the sexy police woman costume I ordered for Crystal. (Finally got around to getting her wedding presents.) I can't find the fuzzy pink handcuffs I got her to go with it. I'm also giving her a cookie pan and washcloths off her registry. Strangest wedding gift ever, huh?
Tomorrow I hope to drop by Happy Tails with her gifts and stuff for 2 of my other friends there and a donation to FOHA (Friends of Homeless Animals, where one of them volunteers). I would like to volunteer for a shelter I think. Those poor doggies need some love.
I'm so excited ... I'm getting a laptop with wireless internet in September. Yay! I'll be bloggin' more then! (And will get this ugly blog looking better!)
Though I'm grateful to no longer be scratched and bruised (and the occassional bite) all over from working in doggie daycare (I can wear shorts!), I do have scratches from the bunny, parrots and chameleons. And constant crud under the fingernails. Today my shoulder and wrist are sore from washing the windows Tuesday. And I really need those shoe inserts. And my back is always sore. Who decided it would be a good idea to make bonus bags of dog food? Now your 40-pound bag of food is even heavier! We're giving you 10% more free! And it's been kinda stressful because we've been so busy that I haven't had much down time to try to really learn more. But I really like my co-workers and the customers are almost all nice or at least patient. And I am learning soooo much. And I get to play with all kinds of critters. And my paychecks are quite nice, at least for me. I will soon be designing our new newsletter. That's pretty cool.
I'll be dogsitting 2 yorkies, Pepper and Torri, Aug. 5-15 near my store. And I assume I'm still watching Dara's 3 dogs for the first 3 weeks of September. And I think Kobi the eskie, across the street from Lex, for a few days in August.
Sorry if this post was kinda boring and rambling. Just wanted to touch base... I'm sure I'll have a more entertaining post after Brian & I spend the weekend together. Everytime we try to have a mini vacation or outing or anything, it's a complete disaster.

Pet Survey

Pet Survey

Everyone! Tell me all the pets you've had!
I've had:

• Fish, including Bubba the plecostamus (those sucker fish that get really big) and another pleco that Wendy murdered when she attempted to rescue him from my neglected tank after I moved out of our apartment and two big exotic fish that Sarah's ex-boyfriend John & his roommate Mark murdered when they adopted them into a tank of foul water and wild stream fish in our dorm.
• Perkins the parakeet in elementary school. I've never seen one with his coloring since. Most are either blue and white or green and yellow. He was blue-green. He survived being left in the house during our chimney fire but was eventually returned to the Haus of Birds or whatever it was called, right at the intersection of University Boulevard and Route 1. The house is now a coffee shop named College Perk with apartments above it, owned by an ex-boyfriend of my best friend. He was practically our other roommate when she & I lived together.
• A venus fly trap named Fluffy in middle school. Not actually a pet, I know, but it was the first of many things I would name Fluffy (none of which were actually fluffy or even living). I didn't manage to keep it alive for very long. It probably starved.
• Cindy (Cinderella), a gray long-haired Maine Coon mix -- the best cat ever -- from 5th grade through post-college years. She was a lovechild of my cousins' cat and their neighbor's tomcat. I think my childhood best friend Jessica's sisters are still mad at me for leaving her birthday party early to go play with my new kitten. She was such a people cat. My dad would pretend he hated her, but we knew he liked it when she curled up on him in the recliner and purred while he watched TV. Mom would let her into our rooms if we wouldn't get up. She was a very effective alarm clock. First you saw the flickering tip of the tail, then you felt the foot of the bed sink, then you felt the footsteps until UGH she was standing on your full bladder, then pressed on your lungs until she reached your head, where she curled up and smothered your face. Mom claimed "She's not fat, she's just fluffy." She lost her toe in a trap of some kind when I was in college.
• Rusty the german shepherd, from puppyhood to donating to the Prince George's County police the following year. He was a thank you gift from my sister's godfather for construction help from my dad. "Uncle" Ronnie was a breeder. Rusty's tail was too curled for the breed standard. He was too much dog for my sister and I to handle. German shepherds really need a job. He would jump up on my chest in his excitement to see me and knock me down and then stand on me. I think he was like 110 pounds. He loved Nerds candies when we got them from the ice cream man. He would try to play with Cindy but was too big and rough. His nose looked like a tick-tack-toe board from her claws. He was so proud of himself the day he killed the neighbors' gimpy pet duck Goofy. We have pictures of him in a really deep snow we got that winter. He loved it!
• I don't remember Max the doberman when I was a baby, but my parents tell me he was an awesome dog. Super sweet, especially to us babies. But very ferocious if protecting my mom. The people who bought our house kept him because we were moving to a rental house. Supposedly he went to live on a farm after that.
• I took home Rob the king snake from biology class in 9th grade for the summer but it only lasted 2 weeks until I realized I could not deal with killing mice for him. He couldn't kill them himself ... too old or weak or spoiled or something. I still have guilt for the 2 that I did kill.
• My sister had a horse, Sidone, for a few years until she went to college. But I was in college for most of that time. And I had been told years before that horses were going to be my sister's thing & I was not permitted to get involved, so I wouldn't overshadow her, as I had in music, dance & T-ball.
• My mom missed having a horse but was intimidated by the big ones, so my parents got miniature horses. Willie was the first. Then Suspect. Willie died suddenly of some brain abnormality. Very sad. Then they got Ruby and discovered that she was pregnant. Rosie was the cutest baby mini horse! They drive them in a cart. I've walked in the county Christmas parade with them twice. And given pony rides at my cousins' birthday parties. They have to sell Suspect now because he is a nervous wreck. Although he had always been very sweet and loving, he has become terrified of my parents because he has anxiety problems which were made worse when my parents followed advice from trainers to not put up with any disobedience from him and would yell at him and force him to drive the cart when he was freaking out. Good advice in most cases to establish authority, but Suspect is a fragile boy, emotionally. The new trainer is very gentle with him and he does great with her. But there's no repairing his relationship with my parents. He needs one owner instead of 2 people ganging up on him. So they are very sad but want him to be in a better home.
• Xena, the crazy miniature pinscher. She is almost 5 now I think. We got her for my mom from a breeder in the paper because my mom really wanted a female dog that looked like a doberman but was small. Silly mom. Xena is very entertaining and very neurotic. She tries to protect us from the evil dog she can see reflecting in the oven door and in the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door. I was living at home and working nights when we got her, so I helped with the house-breaking and basic training. I took her to Happy Tails last summer when my parents went away and her little head just about exploded from the overstimulation. We had to remove her from the playroom and crate her halfway through the third day. Then I passed through that room and she started screaming like she was being murdered because she wanted to be with me. I had to explain to the very alarmed customers in the lobby that it was just my dog and she wasn't dying. My mom likes to joke that it's not her fault that she has a brain the size of a peanut.

You don't have to write a whole book, but please do tell me what pets you've had! And if anyone needs/wants anything from my petstore, let me know. ;)

Dog/Cat/Housesittin'

Dog/Cat/Housesittin'

I'm back at Gaby's house. The cable is back on and I've gotten on the internet (dialup - ick). I've had a tough week. Looking forward to tonight & tomorrow. Gonna go shave. Ta-ta!