random rambly confessions

Stealing this confessiony format from the B who in turn stole it from Sarah, who is TRYING to steal Logan Echolls from me (but b/c my love has lasted LONGER, we know who wins this battle)....

1. Bluebirds are happy things.
Not noisy mean nasty blue JAYS-- oh no....
but cute little bluebirds. Saw 3 on our walk today.... which leads me to...

2. I have spring fever in the worst of ways.
Is it warm yet?
Not sure why I'm so lulu for warm weather... a) I'm from Wisconsin and b) we need a new air conditioner. You'd think I'd want cold for as long as possible.

3. I am completely addicted to the Discovery Channel. My love of Dirty Jobs (OK, and of Mike Rowe) is well known. But what I really get addicted to are these "Expeditions" they keep doing-- the Everest one? I cried watching... and poor Mike gets the play by play the next morning: "and THEN a SHERPA died... and it was the FIRST person to EVER die on one of his expeditions... and then the OTHER guy got frostbite on HIS LEGSTUMPS. Yes. And then I CRIED." and he nods... and pretends that what I'm saying is really quite fascinating...
Now they're doing a Borneo one... and the problem is that I feel like I should be there. Really-- that's what I've always wanted to do-- climb trees, raft up unexplored rivers, find new species, sleep in tents and caves, get stung by random insect life... Until I realized that I don't think I'm smart enough. Everytime I see something like that, though-- man, I just want to GO. I want to DO something. I mean, they found clouded leopards and teensy tiny primates and just AMAZING things-- in the midst of rainforest that was nearly entirely destroyed by wildfire less than 10 years ago. I want to BE there.

4. Max lost 5 pounds!
Woo hoo.
This is exciting...No, strike that, THRILLING to me-- I'm a huge spoiler... and he was in big need of this diet.... So that's pretty huge. Like 10% of his bodyweight huge. I'm pretty proud of all of us-- especially the number of times we've had to tell him that he wasn't getting anymore food as he stood in the kitchen and morosely flipped his food bowl over and over...

5. Saw a mail truck on the way to the vet for the above weigh in. Panicked momentarily and thought I was SUPPOSED to be at work today. Hee.

6. My sisser and all her boys-- all, Colin included-- have a raging case of strep throat. Send some love her way.

7. Reading "The Artist's Way." OK, that's an overstatement... I'm through the introduction. Feeling a little nervous about it-- it seems kind of intense. Maybe that's the wrong word... I do sense it is going to challenge me-- which is good, which I need. I'm always very apt to just ignore scrapping, ignore anything creative because I just don't "feel" like it. And I'm also my own worst critic-- that is for sure. So we'll see how this goes...

8. Needing to get back to yoga.
I was thinking on our bluebird-seeing walk today....
I have yet to get back into any sort of routine, any sort of groove since, well, about a year ago. And I guess maybe I shouldn't have expected to get back into the SAME one... because nothing at all is the same anymore. But I still feel so unrooted, so upended, so like I cannot get my bearings right yet. And I don't like it.

9. Realizing that I'm not a very good friend.
That is a confession unto itself.
But I know that it is true. It is something that I struggle with every day... when I sit back and think about old friends, and how few I actually stay in contact with-- I start to wonder a lot about myself. I don't know WHY this is... I just know that I hate it about myself. How do you fix something like that?
I really don't know.

10. ... and to fit this number-- realized on Saturday that this year would be my 10-year high school reunion. Makes me feel old. Makes me contemplate. Makes me remember that I am certainly not attending said reunion should we have one... ;) But man. 10 years. Do you remember how be-all and end-all high school felt while we were in it? I do-- so clearly.

and one last one for good measure...
11. Sara's amazing post about motherhood's made me think a lot lately. I so agree with her that it is so interesting-- and so hurtful, to me-- that mothers, in a sense, rank themselves based on working vs. nonworking-- and so many other categories. I just don't understand ever judging someone based on the choices that they need to make. People make the choices that are right for them-- and sometimes, they don't like what they have to do.

Lots of stuff heavy on my mind, eh?
Good thing Max is lighter
(bum bum DING!)
Happy short week, lovies.
xoxoox,
g

just a tiny soapbox

This breaks my heart.

I can't help it.

You're talking to the girl who cries-- big, ugly, gasping sobs-- when that Purina commercial comes on. The one with the dogs at the pound telling us that they are good dogs and they don't know how they got there? They just want to go home?

Yeah.
See, I lose it just writing about it.

I made it through the article I linked-- just once.
Until I got to the part about recommending that animals be put down within 72 hours of arriving at a shelter if no one adopts them. That made my blood run cold. 72 hours. What if they don't come in over a weekend-- which is when most people have the time to come to a shelter. Do they make it at all? Do they have any hope of finding a family-- more importantly, of a family finding them?

What if I'd been a day or two later?
What if the family that chose Max didn't take the time to work through his puppyhood?
What if 72 hours came and went?

I just can't even imagine.



If you ever can adopt a shelter dog or from a rescue organization, please do.
I know that sometimes-- people can't. Allergies, kids, specific needs... I get that.
But if you can... please. You'll earn a lifetime of gratitude. It will change you. It will make you look at things just a little differently than you did before.
Max, and all the dogs in my heart from before him, thank you.
So do I.

Annual Blog Drop version 2.0 (2007 edition)

I'd like to begin with a special thanks to my darling wife (that's Gabby, in case you haven't figured that out) on a special day...you guessed it, my return to the maxxy pad. I'm not sure I will be able to live up to the hype created by her post earlier today.

If you happened to make it through my post from last year, congrats. Nothing quite as exciting to report this time around. It would be pretty hard to follow up the Valentine's Day Massacre of a year ago. No flowers for Gab this year. Don't worry, this year's version won't be quite as long. I turned the big 3-0 since my last post, and I'm not sure if I have the stamina to keep up with my previous effort. Plus, I think I am supposed to seek medical treatment if I experience bloggage for more than four hours.

So to keep it simple, I wanted to send big thanks to Gabby for starting my day off with "a surprise" as she put it last night before we went to bed. After taking Max for a walk this morning, I returned to the house to a YUM-O breakfast of strawberry pancakes, the best bacon ever (I like to call it candy bacon), and even a little strawberry milk to keep with the theme. I used to love that stuff. It reminds me of the days when I would pop that can open and dump that pink stuff all over some ice cream. I don't even think Gabby knew how much I used to love me some Strawberry Quik.

Dinner was also Fantastic, and we are about to have some chocolate fondue for dessert. I'm a little unhappy that the Hoosiers game against the Boilermakers from Pee-Eww has been cancelled due to the weather in the midwest. Watching Hoosier basketball is how I met my perfect match. The chocolate is melting, so I guess I'll talk to ya'll again next year.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention one last thing...
I LOVE GABBY THE MOSTEST!!! SHE IS THE BEST WIFE IN THE WORLD!!!

return of the mike

Remember this post?
Aw yeah.
Mikey says he is reclaiming the blog tonight.
Hopefully... I am also not attempting minor finger surgery tonight.
Just Mikey.
No bleeding.
I'm just getting the anticipation up.
xoxo,
g