Evening of Happy

The Man and I went out to raise a glass for my cousin.

When we were out I looked at him and said, "It's kinda amazing that I still like hanging out with you."

He smiled. I was happy.

The end.

Beautiful Pain and Thankful Thursday

My new tattoo(s) came out AWESOME! I am so ecstatically happy with them!

I say tattoo(s) because I started a sleeve. Right now I have four items that kind of stand alone on my left upper arm. I'm going with an old skool sailor theme. I have a hula girl, a ship, an anchor and a Sailor Jerry butterfly. There is still room for me to put more on there, such as a nautical star and/or maybe a swallow. Eventually we'll fill in the rest of the negative space with stars and such to make it one continuous tattoo sleeve.

SO GORGEOUS.

But let me tell you, it really really freakin' hurt! It took 5 1/2 hours from start to finish. Anyone out there who's been tattoo'd will know what that means... We completely finished them all, so there was the outline, black shading and then coloring. Essentially going over the same area three different times with sharp pointy things. **Groan** But I did it! I'm bad ass. My artist was stoked I was able to handle it and I've already talked to one guy this morning who was uber impressed that I did it all at one sitting.

I also got an unrelated tattoo on the lower part of my left arm. It's a memorial tattoo for my cousin who passed away a year ago today. I've been planning this tattoo for months and I'm glad that I was able to get it done before the anniversary. I try to keep him in my thoughts and remember but it does get hard with life getting in the way. Now with this tattoo I'll have a visual reminder everyday to live life to the fullest and love my family.

And that brings me to this week's Thankful Thursday. My family. I have a phenomenal family. My father raised us with the idea that it was "Us against The World". We all love each other even when we eff up. That's the most important thing in the world. Family, family, family. Nothing comes before that.

So this Coke Zero is getting raised to my family and to JMG. We miss you and we love you.

Foosh

Someday I shall figure out how to manage my time. Until then I will do woefully short blogs about things that are fantastico.

* I made TWO sets of curtains! One awesome brown and tan, Hawaiian style ones for the living room and one gaudy green and bright pink sparkly flower one for the grandbaby's room. Go me!

* Little Girl passed her evaluation for the doggie daycare/kennel so now I can go on vacation guilt free! Yay! (Though I didn't really have any doubts)

* Tomorrow I'm getting my late birthday present from The Man, a tattoo! I'm starting a half-sleeve. Oooo...

* Part of my tattoo is going to be in memory of my cousin. He died a year ago Thursday. He was 24 and got into a freak motorcycle accident which wasn't his fault and if he had crashed anywhere else he wouldn't have died. =(

* I leave A WEEK from tomorrow for Las Vegas!!! First time ever there and I am STOKED.

* I am now going to bed.

NITE

Potatoes and Beer

Happy freakin' St. Pat's day ya'll (I can say 'ya'll' because I lived in North Carolina for two years). I figured today would be like any other day, only with more drinking. I was right, only it is MORE SO.

The day started off with an argument with The Man. Nothing new there. I arrived at The Shop a little bit late. Nothing new there either. I was all working on the website and being awesome until noon showed up and brought with it my friend, Sargent.

Sargent is a really awesome guy. He became a friend when he became a client of The Man. He's fantastic. One of the only friends we have who doesn't just 'take'.

ANYwhooooo... He showed up at The Shop at noon. "Pack your shit up. We're going for lunch."

After a lot of hemming and hawing I finally agreed. I promised not to tell his gf that he was buying me lunch if he promised not to tell The Man that I closed The Shop for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. I left a note on The Shop's door with my cell number and we went on our happy way.

The bar we went to is one of my favorites. The only kinda crappy thing is that they have a rotating menu and more often then not they don't have anything veggie on there. Sargent got a Cajun halibut sandwich thing. I got potato skins with cheese and broccoli. Not the best ever, but potatoes (on St. Pat's day!) and cheese are BOTH awesome.

We had some beers and talked with the other bar goers. Turns out the dude at the end of the bar was an old The Shop customer! We talked with him for awhile and then went on our merry way. Not an hour after I was back at The Shop, the old customer showed up! I was stoked. I fed him beer and we talked for many hours. He wants to get back into the sport that The Shop supplies. If it wasn't for me slacking off, we wouldn't have pulled him back in as a customer!

Yay me!

Just Along For the Ride?

I feel like I'm on a freakin' tornado.

I love that The Man is home. I do not love his manic energies. I can't catch up and I can't catch my breath.

I'm late for an evening meeting.

Maybe tomorrow will be better?

Time to turn off Adult Swim and GO TO BED

Here I am NOT asleep. Why is that?

I think I'm excited for The Man to be back home tomorrow (later today). Not so happy that I didn't get more accomplished though. Maybe I should make shorter lists so I don't feel so accomplished after completing a few menial tasks and then get sidetracked by HBO On Demand?

ANYWAYS. I'm starting to get curious about what cool things The Man will bring me. He's really great about bringing things home after trips. I usually get at least one item of jewelry (because he's also, kinda awesome). His favorite thing to give me seems to be broaches. I had never really given much thought to broaches. I'm liking them now. The Man seems to bring out the happy little old lady in me (I now know how to darn socks). Since he forgot his camera I was able to get a picture of the nifty ones that he's given me so far.




He has, uhm, interesting taste. Even if I don't like something I can never tell him. He gets so damn excited. The look on his face when I open them! He's so cute.

He gave me the thistle broach(top right) for my birthday last week. He is very proud of his half-Scottish heritage. Apparently thistle is the national emblem of Scotland. Ahh, I see now. I was confused as to why he gave me an ugly flower broach until I figured that out a few days later. ("It's THISTLE honey!" Yeah, uhm, nice. Thanks?)


...The more I look at that photo, the more I hate it. I NEED A GOOD CAMERA. **Sob** I guess a new broach with do.

March 12 To Do List

I HAD AN IDEA

I make lists. Lots of lists. I use them to try to battle my horribly crippling procrastination problem. My problem is, I'll make the list, set the list down and then go online. POOF. Six hours gone in an eye blink.

I need to put my list on here! I'm going to write out all the crap that have to accomplish tomorrow before The Man gets home. (I pick him up Saturday night but I won't be home during the day Sat). I will cross them off as I go because that will be WAY more satisfying than just crossing them off on a paper list. Yay internet celebrations!


1 - Exercise (because you haven't the whole time The Man's been gone. You fuckin' slacker face.)

2 - Shower/dress
2.5 - (Shave legs! Yeah. He's been gone for over a week. Clear that shit off.) Edit: I chose to wash my hair over leg-shavage. I'll do that tomorrow morning. =P

3 - Walk dogs

4 - Do Craigslist postings for The Shop

5 - Wash dishes

6 - Recycle cardboard

7 - Make deposit for The Shop Edit: Do on my way out of town tomorrow.
7.5 - (Probably go to Taco Bell. Because seriously, it's right across the street from the bank...) Edit: I stopped at a deli while walking the dogs and got a veggie wrap with hummus, romaine lettuce, red onions, green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, kalamata olives and sprouts on a garlic & herb tortilla. Healthier AND yummier!!)

8 - Clean under kitchen table (and stop storing shit there)

9 - Sweep kitchen & hallway

10 - Clean bathroom (sink, shower, toilet)

11 - Straighten up living room (all those Coke Zero cans have got to go)

12 - Vacuum living room

13 - Fold/Put away laundry

14 - Iron The Man's shirts

15 - Wash dog beds

16 - Rip new cds

17 - Clean car (ONLY if it's warm out. Eff that if it's even remotely cold.) Edit: It's cold out. OH WELL.

18 - Try really really hard to not eat the half gallon of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.


HOLY CRAP THAT A LOT OF SHIT TO DO. I'm going to go to bed like, now. O_O


(If I accomplish even just half of these things tomorrow I think The Man will TOTALLY owe me because I'm awesome and do these things for him. Because I'm awesome. Did I mention I do crap for him? Yeah, 'cause I'm awesome.)


Yeah, I seem to have accomplished only the not-so-invasive tasks. The Fifth Element sidetracked me for awhile. And Google. Fuck Google. But at least I exercised. And DIDN'T eat the ice cream. Those both make me happy.

Thankful Thursday - My Dawgs

With the post I did earlier, I hope that I can help Lebron, however I am VERY thankful that within the past two years I have been able to rescue and give good homes to three different dogs.

Stinky was the first dog I rescued. I already knew that I was getting First Girl in June. I was getting a tattoo in February (it was our first Valentines day together and The Man got me the tattoo <3). My tattoo lasted for 3 hours. We talked about this and that and the other thing. I mentioned how I was going to be getting First Girl in June and wouldn't mind finding her a playmate. I knew she had never been a single dog, I thought that she'd do a bit better. Well surprise of surprises, my tattooist is also a doggie-foster-mommy!

She had Stinky. He was 9 years old. He had been saved from a shelter in Arkansas and brought up to Maine. She had had him for 3 or 4 months and he had been adopted. Apparently he's very, uhm, strong willed. The woman that adopted him didn't know how to be a leader and got snapped at. She returned him. My tattooist then had him for almost 6 months before I showed up! Poor beast. No one wanted him... My heart bled. I WANT HIM! My tattooist ended up just going on a tattoo tour in Europe and it was a couple of months before we were able to meet up again. In April of 2008, Stinky came home to stay. He is definitely a handful. I was a little insane to think that it'd be cool for my first dog ever to be a dominant alpha but after a couple of rocky months we've got each other figured out. =)

So in June, First Girl came to us. She had been living with family of The Man's. Unfortunatly, First Girl had pretty bad separation anxiety. It was impossible to leave her unattended without her destroying, defecating and urinating all over the place. When the family was at work and school, First Girl was tied up in the back yard. It took awhile, but we convinced the remaining 'kid' that when she went to college, First Girl would do better at our home rather than tied up all the time. She was a wonderful dog. Very obedient and snuggily. I just could never leave her at home. I'd leave her in her crate but she'd always urinate if left for more than 3 hours and would paw and chew at the metal bars, injuring the crate and herself. She was wonderful at the shop. I wouldn't even have to tie her up. She just wanted to be near me.

I first started noticing something odd with her in behavior/health when we moved in July. She was a little shaky but thought that it was nerves from the move. The first vet visit was on a Friday in August. I noticed that there was some green goop coming from her eyes. The vet gave me drops, thinking that she had an eye infection. By the next afternoon however she was shaking violently at the shop. She wasn't interested in food (VERY odd) and grunted any time I picked her up. I was upset because I was going to have to wait until Monday to bring her back to the vets. (The emergency vet is MAD CRAZY expensive.) To my amazement (and relief) my vet happened into The Shop on Sunday afternoon! She took a look at First Girl and told me to bring her in first thing the next morning. She'd make room for her. That's how bad First Girl was looking. I couldn't get her to stand up. I had to carry her home from The Shop that night (1.5 miles).

That Monday morning we did blood work and a urinalysis which all came back normal. We started her on antibiotics anyway to see if it would help. I suggested that maybe her shaking was from pain of some sort? We started her on pain meds. With the pain meds we saw a bit of an improvement but it didn't last long. Her legs started swelling so we thought maybe kidney problems? During the next couple of weeks we did more blood work (fine, no kidney problems), tried different meds and taking x-rays. The vet thought that there might be something on the x-ray of First Girls abdomin. We were referred to internal med specialists for an ultrasound. By this point The Man was starting to get a bit irritated at the sheer amount of vet bills that were coming his way but I wanted hardcore to know what was wrong. The ultrasound ended up being clear. DAMMIT! The internal med vet then decided to take an x-ray of First Girl's legs to see if the swelling was soft tissue or joint. WHOA. Something the doctor had not seen since vet school. First Girl had a condition called Hypertrophic Osteopathy. Essentially her bones were growing out from where they should be. This is usually a secondary condition caused by a lung tumor. We already knew from x-rays that her lungs were clear. We were left to guess that her tumor was in her brain. Huh. That would explain the random seizures she used to have in her old home (she never had one with me).

While this wasn't the answer that I really wanted, I was relived that we at least had an answer. We knew what was wrong and while we couldn't do anything to cure her, we could sure as hell load her up with outrageous amounts of pain meds. She was a brave little girl but it eventually got to the point where she couldn't stand, she couldn't walk, she couldn't even go to the bathroom on her own. At the end of September we made the decision to put her down. It was horrible. We only had her living with us for 15 months but in those few months she almost never left my side. I was in a rough spot.

The hardest thing after losing First Girl was going to The Shop without her. After she joined us, I had never once been at The Shop without her. I tried bringing Stinky but he is just not good there. He whines and barks and is not easily calmed. I started what I wanted to be a very slow process of looking for a new pup. I perused petfinder and craigslist. I didn't want to jump into a dog that wouldn't be right for either myself or for Stinky. I let my tattooist know that I had started looking. Almost instantly she found us Little Girl. Within a few days we had Stinky and Little Girl meet and it was love at first sight! They were even more perfectly matched than Stinky and First Girl had. Since Little Girl hadn't actually made it into the rescue she wasn't fixed but I was able to convince The Man to bring her on because we weren't paying a rescue fee for her. Yeah, that didn't work out quite the way I was planning; her $350 fixing turned into a $600 fixing and hernia repair.

So there's my painfully long Thankful Thursday. Whew.

Lebron (You know, as in James...)

I'm going to throttle my sister.

She has brought to my attention a neglected dog who needs help. Dammit me and my friends/families knowledge of my bleeding heart.

Her - "Any way you'd wanna adopt a 3 year old chocolate lab whose owner can't afford to feed him? :( I was going to but my landlord said unfortunetly his insurance doesn't allow dogs... *Sad face sigh*"

Moi - "I wish I could. Little Girl's surgery cost $600. It's going to be awhile before I can talk The Man into another dawg... Forward me a picture and I'll pass it on to my rescue folks."

Her - "Oh.. Well he IS free to a good home. But I definitely will send you a pic. I want him. He's a good pup. :("

Moi - "Little Girl was "free" too... There's always things that come up. Plus, going from feeding 2 small dogs to adding in a large one would significantly increase the food budget. But I'll run it past The Man. What's his name?"

Her - "His name is Lebron. (I know, I didn't like it either...) And I'd have to agree it would be more expensive for food. I just feel so bad for him, cause literally his owner can only afford to feed her toddler daughter, not him. He's so skinny (as you'll see in his picture). My landlord was willing to buy him a huge bag of food every few weeks for me to give them, but they live an hour and 15 minutes away from me. It wouldn't be worth the gas money. Anyways I'll send you the pic, he just needs a home ASAP. ♥ , Me"


FREAKING **SIGH**


I really want to help this dog but I also kind of want The Man to say no. It will be a lot of extra work for me, our place is way too small for three dogs and we're going on vacation soon! I'd hate to bring in a possibly scarred pup and then go away and have to put him in our kennel (not to mention the added $$ that would cost!).

I have a voice mail into The Man, as well as the rescue that we got Stinky from and one other women I know who's involved with rescues.

Would anyone in the Massachusetts/New Hampshire/Maine area like to foster/adopt a lab?

That's What She Said

I have an urge to blog. But I don't have a topic in mind. And it's actually time to close up The Shop. I need to head home to feed the dogs before running over to a meeting I have at 6:30. I also have to pick someone up on the way to said meeting.

This was entirely pointless. I'm okay with that.

-Gem-

When The Cat's Away...

You would think, since I haven't posted in 4 days that something exciting has happened, or at least that I've been busy. Big ol' nope on both accounts. The Man left Thursday morning. I'm not picking him up until 5pm on this upcoming Saturday. 9 Days of no high energy, demanding man. I've shut down. Come Thursday I'll start freaking out about the messy house and unwashed laundry, but I can't get myself to care right now.

Case in point... It's nearing midnight and I'm still awake. I kind of pride myself on the fact that I've turned into a little old lady in the past couple years. I bake bread, own broaches and try to go to bed early. I'm not naturally inclined for that. I would love to sleep until 10 or 11 every morning and stay up accordingly. Life with The Man doesn't work like that however. The earlier we're up in the morning, the better. The dogs also enjoy that lifestyle. I'm the only one who doesn't.

(As I type, Little Girl is starting at me as if to say, "Stop all this foolishness and get yo ass to bed. My 6:30am whining for breakfast is going to come awfully soon there killah."

So when The Man is gone, I enjoy my late night television, ice cream for lunch and not washing my hair for 3 days at a time. It's almost like recharging my relationship-tolerance-battery by pretending I'm single for a few days. So while I miss The Man when he's gone, it's kinda alright.

-Gem-


PS: I also enjoy spending WAY too much time online when The Man is gone. I re-arrange the living room so that I can mess around online and watch TV at the same time (pathetic, I know, but there's nothing better than playing Farmville and watching Clean House at once without craning my neck...) ANYWAYS. I have a new hetero-crush. Amy from An Apple a Day. I'm so in lust with her beautiful lacy clothing, her family's New Hampshire home and her florist job. Want! Her blog does make me ache so badly for a nice camera, however it doesn't make me love her any less. Amy, if you ever come across this here little bloggo and want to take a trip up to Maine, I'll bring you to my favorite antique shop (a good hour+ from where I am, but sooooo worth the trip! OH, and I've totally gotten a rocking straw hat there before!)

Tired ramblings and the first Thankful Thursday

I'm back. I'm sure you were all angsty that I wouldn't be. =(

I now "Whatever" myself.

The past week has been mad crazy busy. I've been working on instituting an online store for The Shop (confusing). The Man was trying to catch up on work from the last trip before his next trip (left this morning). My birthday happened (not really much of anything happened that day however)... Oi.

One awesome awesome thing? The Man revealed that my birthday present is a new tattoo! I'm going to start a sleeve. SAWEET. Of course he announced this two nights before my birthday, wanting me to get it ON my birthday. Uhm, yeah. Doesn't work like that. My artist is freakin' phenomenal. She travels the world and tattoo's with the best of the best. She of course was already booked up for my birthday but I went in and talked to her about what I'm looking to get on the day however. We have the 24th set up. I have her all day! We're going to just go for it until I can't take anymore pain. =)

Okay, I'm too tired for anything more. Dropping The Man off at the airport at 4am totally threw off the rest of the day. Night!



Oh snap! Almost forgot. I want to try to do Thankful Thursday every week. I need to start taking more time looking at what's awesome in my life and stop being so damn negative all the time.

Thankful Thursday: Little Girl's Health

I'm very thankful for the fact that Little Girl is almost 100% back to normal. She's all over Stinky again. Jumping all over the place and crazy demanding. =) Love it.