Fence and Driveway in Progress!!!

To add to my excitement over my new fence, the people who are paving my driveway decided to come this week too! I woke up this morning at 7am to see the fencers already in my backyard dumping cement down the post holes so all the pipes stood straight and tall. Really, it's a beautiful sight, all those posts so straight, waiting for fencing so my puppies can run free! I'd tear up, but I'm suffering from some severe dry eye secondary to my Zyrtec and Claritin combo today! Anyhow, the fence people left and a mere half hour later there was a backhoe, a bitty steamroller, and a huge dump truck in my driveway excavating! How awesome is that? I'd put up some pictures of my yard-in-progress, but I'm kind of tired and have dishes to do. So more in a few days, when I'm hoping the projects will be complete. I can't wait to start all my landscaping!

Fugly is the New AWESOME!!!

I think I have a problem naming favorites. When asked my favorite movie, I have about 10 that come to mind. To name a favorite book, I require a genre, as I can't name just one. I guess the problem is that I have many things that I really like a whole bunch. Like blogs. I can't pick just one as my favorite, I have several that I read on a daily basis. My latest discovery combines two subjects I am exceedingly fond of - fashion and celebrities. Go Fug Yourself is one of the most entertaining blogs I've come across. If you love looking at celeb mags and voting on who wore it better, Go Fug Yourself might be the blog for you...it dissects the often strange fashion choices of the rich and famous, sometimes trying to get inside their heads to ascertain what precisely they were thinking while in their closets trying on shoes and pairing them with shirts but forgetting pants and sometimes even panties. Gotta love it!

Book Review: Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

According to the cover of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, by Laurie Viera Rigler, it is "A rich, saucy lark of a book." I have to agree with that statement, even as I found the book to be a bit fluffy even for my own chick-lit loving tastes and somewhat predictable. I, however, have never turned my nose up at a predictable book, as I hate to be shocked by an unhappy ending more than most. So keeping that in mind, I did enjoy Confessions quite a bit, and struggled not to read it while I was at work for 12 hours on Monday.

Courtney Stone is a modern girl living in LA, that has just broken up with her fiance. One morning, after a vodka and Austen-filled comfort session, she wakes up to find that she inhabits the body of a woman during the Regency period in England. At first she thinks she's dreaming, but as she wakes up day after day as another person, she comes to realize that she might be stuck there.

At first, this seemed like something I would like to experience, although I've always been partial to the post-civil war era in Wyoming, or other places out West. But the more you think about it, the less exciting it seems. I mean, you have to go to the bathroom in an outhouse, give birth without benefit of painkillers, and suffer through the summer in hot woolen dresses with long sleeves, because it's considered ill-mannered to show one's elbows or wrists. So I wondered how this book would handle such things - would it just breeze over the more unpleasant aspects of this era, like so many romance novels do, or delve into the nitty-gritty? It turns out that the author didn't shy away from such things. We see a doctor "bleeding" a patient, what it's like for a woman back then to have her period, and something that has always concerned me - bathing in a public bathhouse. Quite refreshing, and just for giving us the good and the bad of Regency times, this book is worth a read!

On a final note, before I was even halfway through, one of my techs requested I loan it to her. So we'll have to see what her opinion is after she's done.

Our Fence is Coming!

I am so excited! I've been waiting all summer for my new fence to be put up in the backyard so Izzy and Emma can run free, and I can finally have a (sort of) secret garden type thing! Yesterday the fence company finally called and said they would be arriving Tuesday morning. Serendipitously, my partner at work had asked if I would work Thursday and take Tuesday off instead, so I was able to have them come today!

No, the pool is not part of my yard, so don't even ask.

Now I know my yard looked pretty beforehand, and it's going to look a little ghetto afterward, but I'm confident that with some landscaping I can charm it right up. I'm already planning to put up an arched trellis over the gate and plant some clematis, and my lilacs are coming in September! It'll be a sweet little oasis in the city. (Feel free to gag now!)

Who knew dirt came out shaped like a rectangle?

As you can see, my backyard is apparently filled with bricks instead of dirt. Strange, since there wasn't ever a garage on the property. Maybe someone had a secret lair in my backyard at one time. How cool would that be?

Soon to be my new 4-ft gate, complete with arched arbor!

Anyhow, the day ended with a bit of work left to be done. Which is why I was a little dismayed that the company that is putting in my new driveway decided they wanted to come tomorrow as well. I'm not seeing that happening, and I'm kind of sad. I really want to get started on some of the landscaping.

Movie Night: Becoming Jane

My latest Netflix feature was Becoming Jane, which my mother and I settled in to watch tonight. I figured it would be a cute little love story, all the while forgetting that Jane's life didn't turn out so happily. You would think I would have known this, having written a term paper about her in 11th grade, but I'm always hoping for a happy ending! The movie turned out to be similar to Shakespeare in Love. You have star crossed lovers and the enjoyment of picking out bits of the movie that were pulled from the author's stories. Anne Hathaway was adorable as Jane, and James McAvoy was cute, but too short for the role. I suppose that shouldn't matter, but all the other men in the movie were taller than him! All in all, I enjoyed it thoroughly but will probably never watch it again, as it made me cry several times, and I do hate tearing up when I don't have a tissue and don't want to miss a scene! And I have a sudden urge to read all of Jane Austen's novels again. Thank goodness I'm on vacation in a few days!

Purina Busy Bone Dental

I'm a big fan of the Purina Busy Bones, as they seem to keep Izzy and Emma occupied for quite a while, and seem to be keeping their teeth nice and pearly white. I tried the new Busy Bone Dental that I found at Target yesterday, and I have to say, I was kind of disappointed. Emma had hers gone in about 10 minutes, and Izzy finished soon after. Apparently these new Dental Bones are meant as daily treats, and thus don't last as long. It's partly my fault for not reading the packaging completely, but from my point of view, a Busy Bone should last a while...you know, keeping your dog BUSY! Aside from the short life span, I don't think these tasted very good, as Emma didn't even try to steal Izzy's away after finishing her own. And she'll eat just about anything. If anyone has tried these, let me know what you think - are they good at keeping your dog's teeth clean? Because that's my main concern!

Emma's Catastrophic Day at the Beach

My poor Emma. First she gets spayed, which means no running, jumping, or swimming for two weeks! Finally, Friday she was allowed out in the lake. I was so worried that she would have forgotten all about fetching, as she had just figured it out the week before her operation. But no, she remembered everything, and even challenged Izzy a few times to swim out an fetch their Wubba Kong. I was so proud!

Saturday we returned to camp, as the weather looked promising. Iz and Em romped all over the shore as the Mothership and I cleaned up around camp. Then I took a break to get some sun out on the dock, and Emma joined me. I looked up a few minutes later and she was laying in a pool of blood. I kind of freaked out a bit. Heaven help me should I ever have a child who's been injured. I called up our poor vet, who is about the most awesome doctor on EARTH, and she told us to bring poor Emma right in. She had almost severed one of her toes on something sharp! They had to knock her out and stitch up her poor little foot, and now she's stuck in a green bandage bootie, and isn't allowed to swim again!

The green bandage matches her eyes in person.

I'll admit, I'm kind of sad because she won't be able to swim when we're on vacation. And she's so pitiful, she can't use that foot to get up on the couch, and she doesn't want to play with Izzy or knaw on poor Henry. But she's so cute, I can't hardly stand it. How did I end up with four such brutally attractive pets? Really, such good looks should be spread out a bit more!

Seriously, I have the cutest dogs ever...look at that face!

Merry-Go-Round Playhouse: Les Miserables

Until tonight, I had never seen Les Mis before, despite every other Geneva High graduate in my decade having seen it. This is mainly because my languages of choice in school were Latin and Spanish, and it was the French classes that had the privilege of seeing it. I was never really all that broken up about it though, considering the show is described as a story of "the power, the passion, and the triumph of the human spirit." I've never really been interested in the triumph of the human spirit. As previously mentioned on this blog, I'm more interested in cute boys and a happy ending. So I wasn't too excited about seeing Les Mis, and tried to convince my mother that we should give our tickets away, because I've also never loved musicals that have no spoken lines, just singing.

I am an idiot. Les Mis was great, and lived up to all the hype that has been spewing forth from the local media, about it being the biggest production Merry-Go-Round has ever done, and how the theater had to be expanded so that they could host the production. The actors were great, and the singing was wonderful. The sets were amazing, and so were the costumes. Overall, a great performance...I'm so glad I didn't give away my seats! Only two days left in it's run, definitely go and see it if you can!

A Work in Progress (another favorite blog!)

I love reading other peoples' blogs, as you may have figured out by now. My latest addiction is A Work in Progress by Vicki, which I found when I was researching how to scrapbook digitally. I have to say, I think this is the best website devoted to digital scrapping that I have seen. The kits that are featured are absolutely beautiful, the best I could find, and they are FREE! I love freebies!!!

My favorite thing about Vicki's blog isn't the free stuff, though. I enjoy her posts about her adorable dogs, a chocolate and a black lab, much like my babies, although I suspect hers are purebreds, and mine are just sweet mutts, as my cousins (who pay entirely too much for designer mutts themselves) are always keen to point out. I think that is mainly because my dogs, while naughty, are quite nicely mannered, don't bite, keep their barking to a minimum, and were amazingly FREE, while the designer mutts are annoyingly yippy, tend to bite, and cost upwards of $700 despite only weighing in at 10 pounds full grown. All in all, I got much the better bargain.

But I digress. Check out Vicki's blog for cute dog stories, awesome scrapbooking kits at no charge, and really cute scrapbook layouts that both she and her readers create. Oh, and she's British, which makes me feel remarkably well traveled, despite not having left the great state of New York in 17 months, and only for Massachusetts that last time. And with that, I'm off to see Les Mis at Merry-Go-Round Playhouse. I'll be back later to let you know how that goes!

***Update*** Melissa emailed me to ask me what a "designer mutt" is. A designer mutt is a dog that is a mix of two purebreds, like my grandmother's dog Woody, who is a "Pekeapoo", otherwise known as an accidental mating of a Pekingnese and a Poodle that resulted in some very badly mannered puppies that someone decided to charge an exorbitant sum for. (My mother and I are the only people that haven't been bitten by Woody...he actually bit my brother's then-girfriend Shannelle right through the lip while she was petting him.) Anyhow, designer mutts generally cost more than a purebred with papers, and usually have many problems, both behaviorally and physically. There are exceptions to every rule however, as Labradoodles (lab/poodle mixes) are usually pretty sweet and don't bite. And my cousin Matt just bought a Havapoo (I think that's what its called), which is a Havanese/poodle mix, and so absolutely adorable that I am sort of desperate for one, but would rather put my $500 towards my upcoming trip to Hawaii with the Mothership. And that, not so much in a nutshell, is what a designer mutt is.

Movie Night

Tonight's Netflix feature was Sydney White, which is supposed to be a retelling of Snow White, set at a modern day college. Sydney starts college planning to pledge her mother's old sorority, only to find that she doesn't exactly fit in with the designer-clad blonds that seem to make up the entire sorority, which is led by president Rachel. She meets a cute boy, who happens to be the object of Rachel's desire, which helps along Rachel's seemingly unreasonable hate of poor Sydney. In a cute twist, the mirror from Snow White becomes the college's Hot or Not website, where Rachel and Sydney compete to see "who is the fairest one of all."

Very, very cute. Of course, it starred one of my favorites, Amanda Bynes, so how couldn't it be cute? Also featured is one of my future husbands, Matt Long, who I first discovered on Jack and Bobby, which was a show that didn't last very long, but was enjoyable while it did. Weird stalking info aside, you should rent this movie for your next sleepover night with the girls. Totally fun! I gave it five stars on my Netflix queue, which means "Loved It." Of course, I'm pretty easy to please in the movie department, as I'm a sucker for a cute boy and a happy ending...

Bonding with Izzy

Last Friday, Izzy and Emma were scheduled to be spayed, as I have no desire for little Izzys and Emmas to be tearing around my house in the near future, or ever. But because Izzy is on her third round of antibiotics (after conquering staph and strep in her bladder and kidneys, now we're working on E. coli...delightful) her operation was postponed, and my poor Emma had to go alone.

I dropped Em off at 8:30 am. I have to say, I always get nervous dropping my babies off for operations. I almost canceled Ruthie's appointment because I was scared she might not survive, because I am an idiot! And I was worried that Emma would make a scene at the vets because she hates to be separated from Izzy. Nontheless, I left her in Moravia, and headed back to the lake/farm with Izzy in tow. Since we had to wait until 4:30 to pick Emma up, we had plenty of time to play.

I decided we would practice fetching, because Izzy has a habit of leaving expensive fetching toys in the middle of the lake so that someone else has to get it instead...Luke has taken the Sea-Doo out on numerous occasions to retrieve what the RETRIEVER has refused to swim after. I have to say, for a dog that is mostly inclined to ignore any command sent her way, she did really well with our lesson:

Step 1: Run and get the ball.

Step 2. Tear around the yard while listening to Sarah tell you to "bring it here...come on, Izzy...Izzy, bring me the ball!"

Step 3. When Step 2 finally becomes boring, bring the ball back so that the process can be repeated.

Book Review: Me & Emma

I'm not really sure what possessed me to buy this book, because once I started reading it I realized that it wasn't a happy, smiley book. I see enough nastiness at work, so I don't like to read about it on my day off...unless it involves celebrities and their various interests. Then I'll read all about it!

Me & Emma was written by Elizabeth Flock, an author that I am was not familiar with. It's a story about an impoverished family, told by Carrie the oldest daughter. She has a little sister named Emma, a mother who doesn't seem very fond of her children, especially Emma, and an incredibly abusive stepfather. When I say "incredibly abusive" it's not incredibly abusive to me, as child who was never even spanked. I mean incredibly abusive from any perspective, as the novel's first line is, "The first time Richard hit me I saw stars in front of my eyes just like they do in cartoons."

I'm not really a fan of child-abuse stories, as the movie Radio Flyer scarred me at an early age, but the matter-of-factness of that first statement forced me to continue reading the book, despite concerns that I would be subjected to detailed descriptions of various kinds of child abuse. For the most part, that isn't the case. The author is so good at staying in character as a child who has grown up believing that such treatment is normal, that sometimes it takes a few pages for you to realize that something has happened. I won't lie, I was shocked by some aspects of the story, but was unable to put this book down because I needed to know what happened to Carrie and Emma.

When I first started the book, I thought I knew how it would end. I changed my mind halfway through, only to find myself correct from the beginning. So you could say the ending was kind of predictable, but you'll be interested while getting there. I'll label this as a definite reread, because I actually read it a second time immediately after finishing it the first time! And I've recommended it to several family members, and now to you!

(Me & Emma available at target.com for $11.01 on July 15, 2008. I purchased it in-store at WalMart for $8.88 but wasn't able to find it on their website, so I headed over to Target for a link.)

Test of the Nerds

My friend Julie challenged me to take the NerdTest in an effort to prove that I was nerdier than she is, despite her being in a graduate program for calculus. She scored a 72. I figured she'd be hard to beat, what with the calculus and all. I was wrong:




And so, I've confirmed what I've long been told I was...I am a major nerd. And you know what, I'm not embarassed about it. I think being a nerd has served me quite well, since I'm not serving fast food or working a cash register at H & M like some of my former classmates, now 8 years out from high school. Long live nerds!!!

Bathing Beauties

I have to say, I think I have the two most amazing dogs in town, and the people that pull over in their cars when we're out on our morning walks all seem to agree. But they really surpassed themselves at the lake today. Emma finally learned to swim. I know, I know, what kind of lab doesn't know how to swim? And it's true, she was once able to swim, but something must have happened because the dog hasn't actually swam since late April. She'll go out neck deep, even sit and lay in the water, but will not paddle around. She's always been kind of a strange little dog.

Regardless off Emma's oddities, yesterday I carried her out a few times and then set her in the water so she could swim back to shore. It didn't seem to scare her, since she let me do it over and over, but she still refused to swim out herself. Well, not so today! The Mothership and I were out floating, and out paddled Emma to see us:

"Look, Mom, I'm swimming without floaties!"

I know I'm turning into some weird animal person, but I was so proud of her I almost cried. I'm kind of afraid I'll be one of those crazy mothers that attends all of my children's games in t-shirts with their pictures on them. So I think maybe I'll reconsider the whole child thing for now...

So, onto Izzy...Izzy has been swimming nonstop all summer. She'll come out with us while we're floating, and swim around for a while, rest on shore for a bit, and then swim some more. I guess she must have gotten sick of all the paddling around, because as I was shooting Emma's first real swim, Izzy decided to steal my SmartFloat. My first thought was "please don't pop the SmartFloat" because, well, SmartFloats are about the best inflatable water toy ever, and I didn't want to have to trek all the way down to Target to get another one. But then I realized that my dog had actually climbed onto a raft by herself, and was chillin in the water with the Mothership. You have to admit, it's impressive!

"Oh, a puppy's life is so tiresome, sometimes I need to kick back and float the day away..."

Izzy's Illness: Update

Izzy went to the vet this week for a checkup, along with Woody, Henry, and Ruthie, who all needed either rabies shots or leukemia vaccinations.

While she's better, the vet still can't figure out what's wrong with my Izzy. Her kidneys still aren't working right, despite the special kidney food. Poor Izzy. Although judging from her antics at camp today, she must not be feeling too out of sorts.

According to the vet, she most likely has a kidney infection, since our spot check urine sample showed more bacteria. Strangely, the new bacteria is not the same as the old bacteria, so we're sending yet another sample for culture to Cornell. Aren't I so lucky to live so near to an overly expensive Ivy-League university with a college that specializes in veterinary medicine? I guess for Izzy's sake, I'm grateful!

Rock Band

I don't have much time to post, since I worked all day, then played with the puppies at camp until we came home around 11. But I had to stop by and share that I am so excited by my new Rock Band game for the Wii! Truly awesome, although I've only tried the singing part so far. I'll post more after I try the drums and guitar. Woohoo!!!