Derailed

I was going to spend some time quoting some of my favourite bits of Pratchett--my current favourite brilliant author--but I'm a bit distracted and disconcerted by the very real nearly full-on brawl just enacted by the furkids. Their roughhousing just escalated to a very scary and potentially dangerous point. I actually had to pull them apart and "roll" Delilah because she wouldn't chill out. I think that a) their collars got stuck together or b) one's mouth got stuck in the other's collar because they seemed to be physically stuck together for a few seconds. That and the fact that normally when we scream "That's ENOUGH" they stop rumbling and give us the "What? Who? It wasn't me!" look and this time they didn't even hear me.

They are fine now, playing like normal and being pretty mellow, so I think it was just a fear thing--I know it scared the hell out of me.

Anyway. No Pratchett for you right now. I need to do walkies with the pups and then I'm going to REI to buy myself some new trail/running shoes. Now that the dogs are showing promise as climbing/running/trail buddies, I need to invest. My old running shoes are almost 2 years old, and that's SO wrong.

And it's my day off! Woohoo. Who knows what else the day holds? Hopefully a lot of slackin!

Guess!

You'll never believe what happened yesterday! It rained. Again. Twice. On my way to work and on my way home (maybe it's a sign?). The back yard is now so wet and muddy that Bucket actually stepped in mud this morning and sunk up to his ankle. It was pretty freaking funny too, as he glared at the ground as though it had just done the most offensive act ever. Just as another testament to the wetness here--after he sunk in the mud, his paw was merely wet--not really muddy. The ground is THAT sodden.

*sigh*

okay, well, I am a bit behind in my schedule today--I was having freakish dreams and feeling soooo exhausted that I hit snooze about 5 too many times this morning (Russell will find that amusing, I'm sure, after our little "discussion" about the alarm clock yesterday). So. I'd better get going; the natives are restless!

Wettest Desert EVER

In addition to the nearly complete week of rain we got last week, we had an out-and-out cloudburst yesterday evening. I was at work and was fairly certain that a freight train was rumbling over the roof of the store. Our back yard is a mud pit and there is a tiny pond where the pups had dug a little hole.

When Russell and I were driving to the trainer's on Monday we talked about the need for us to get some photos of the very green desert, because no one will believe it. I'll work on that for you. It's a bit freakish, really.

And despite my years of training in removing rocks from every yard of every house I've ever lived in, I now find myself removing clumps of grass and errant weeds from the rocks that make up our front yard.

Desert, my ass!

Apparently it was hailing in this area yesterday afternoon! If you have some time, go to this site and click on "Weather". From there you can view a slideshow (link in the center of the page) and see some proof. :)

Anyway. Time to walk the dogs.

Actual Letter

I just sent this email to our newly acquired Dog Trainer. We met with him last week for our introduction/evaluation, and went yesterday to our first lesson. He is amazing. I have hope!

Holy Moly, J.R.!

I can't believe learning how to use those prong collars has made all the difference in the world. Russell took Bucket out last night for a short walk and was amazed at the change, but we chalked it up to the lesson being fresh in his head.

I just came in from working with both dogs (seperately) and I have to say how completely shocked I am at the progress. We worked in the street and sidewalk in front of our house, and there were a few people walking and a number of cars drove by--nothing major, but some nice "easy" distractions.

Bucket was a champ--I hardly had the chance to make any corrections whatsoever after the intial check when we left the house. He still needs to be reminded to sit when we stop, but that's a minor detail.

Delilah scared the hell out of me by her freakish resistance to the "check". She leaped up into the air, flinging saliva everywhere. She pawed at the leash, pulled away as hard as she could, and flipped around like a dog possessed. If we hadn't seen you work with Bucket yesterday, I'd have probably given up on her, but I made her come to me--resistance and all. After about three or four scenes like this, she is a completely different dog. She's better than Bucket! She is relentlessly at my side--again, hardly giving me the chance to make any corrections. I can stop on a dime and she is on her butt at my side.

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! I know we have a lot of work to do with getting them settled down and to be calm around new people and other dogs, but this is an amazing start to the process.

Thanks so much for spending the time with us that you have so far. We are really looking forward to learning more from you!

Sincerely,
Kerri, Russell, Bucket and Delilah




Smile! The world is around you. . .

Things I love about My Love

His gorgeous blue eyes.
He will do things like try Falafel, because I like it.
He always asks if I need anything when he goes downstairs for a drink or a snack.
He trusts me to drive his truck (sometimes with him in it!). :)
He looks like an angel when he sleeps.
I can burp or fart in his presence (and often get a hi-five!).
His hobbit toes.
He indulges me constantly with things that make him crazy.
When we fight, we still somehow laugh.
His amazing design talent.
His laugh.
Curling up on the couch in his arms.
His sexy tatoos.
He not only loves me despite my random bouts with melancholy and hysteria, but counsels me through them.
The way he looks at me when he says "I love you".
He is my best friend.

I'm sure there are others who think they could challenge me for the title, but I'm pretty sure I'm the luckiest girl in the world. Russell is just amazing...and...
HE's ALL MINE!!!

I love you, baby!

Pouring

Again. The rain KEEPS coming down. Here. In the DESERT. The back and side yards are flooded. There is a veritable river on our street. Cacti are drowning.

On an up note, we are going to the Arizona Renaissance Festival on Sunday (it's only supposed to rain through tomorrow, so while we will be traipsing through layers and layers of desert sand and mud, we won't actually get wet from the shins up)! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I'm not sure why, really. It's been such a long time since we've been to a faire, and they *do* hold a special place for us you know. Besides, it's just going to be really nice to get out of the house and do something! We are going with Russell's boss and his wife (VERY cool people) and hopefully a couple of his co-workers. The dogs, alas, will have to stay home. No dogs allowed. (I almost spelled it "aloud", which is kinda funny when you think about it.)

Speaking of the dogs, next week is a big money week for them. I've made them appointments at the Vet's next Wednesday-something which was long overdue--and the dog trainer guy is coming over Thursday evening to meet them and us and to see if we all like each other and whatnot. If that goes well and all his references check out, we will likely hire him on to train us to train our dogs so we can all live together in harmony. I'm not sure if he can train me to get off my fat butt and spend quality time leash training the beasts, but perhaps the pain of writing the check will help in that process.

Anyway. It's my day off and I've worked most of it, cleaning the hell out of this house. So I'm going to go play!

cya!

Bitter Apple?

So Shanny says....but Shanny doesn't know that Delilah LIKES Bitter Apple. I bought a bottle to spray on the wood chips at our old how so the pups wouldn't chew them. I sprayed some on my hand to see what the reaction would be... Bucket fled to the other side of the room with his nose in a knot--if a dog could spit, he'd have done so. Delilah on the other hand wagged her tail and licked and licked and licked my hand as though it was spread with the most delightful tastiness EVER.

Good try, tho :)

More Exhaustion

It's 5:06am. I was planning on waking up around 5:30 today anyway because I have to be at work at 7... But I've essentially been awake since around 3am. Why? Because we have dogs.

For some reason, Delilah found it appropriate to begin barking about *something* around said ungodly hour. The blinds to the back yard were open and she was probably pissed about the lawnmower sitting in the yard (I tried to mow yesterday but couldn't get it to start). Then again, maybe she just likes to hear the sound of her own voice. Some of us do.

I tried to get back to sleep after she shut up, but worried thoughts of what they might shred next now that they have no beds kept me awake. Then Bucket started in on the whining at around 4:30.

Why, oh why, have I been blessed with the ability to wake up at the settling of dust when I am partnered with a man who, if he had an American Indian name, would be called "Sleeps Through Hurricanes"?

Does Kevlar Make Dog Beds?

Because they've chewed through another one. Yes, honey, the little green one was in the basket and they pulled it out again and it was an explosion of batting on the loft floor. I'm fairly certain that Delilah is the instigator in all of this. She has this bizarre habit of sucking on fabric. That of course evolves to tearing little bits off which evolves into "Hey, let's go for broke and tear it to shreds!"

Anyway. Dogs don't really need beds anyway, do they? I mean, hell, they're not even really supposed to live indoors. Let 'em sleep on the floor! As long as she doesn't start shredding the carpet we'll be okay, right?

I've gotten a couple emails out to some dog trainers/behaviourists here in Phoenix, so we might be putting one to employ. The first task for him/her will be to convince us to spend more time with the dogs, I'm sure. That will be the hardest step, as we are willing addicts of a game that sucks the hours from the day at lightning speed.

On another note, I've started doing the Pilates workout dvd that Russell picked up--oh, about a year ago. :) I did it on Tuesday for the first time and it kicked my ass. I'm so sore--but it's a deep down soreness in my bones, not just the superficial soreness of the muscles that you get from lifting weights. I just ache. I consider this a good thing. I gave myself yesterday off and did it again today. I won't be able to walk by the weekend.

That's all really.

Mini-Vac

A world of translations there, really. Especially considering that on this, the first day of my four-day-weekend, I intend to do a lot of cleaning. I actually vacuumed the other day (when the dogs shredded the bed), so I can probably skip that step. However, since Arizona is the dirtiest place I've ever lived--enough dust here to choke a small country--I may just have to whip it out again. The vacuum cleaner that is.

So, yeah, I am the first recipient of the newly initiated Four Day Weekend. Supposedly this is a new, regular thing to be rotated amongst the supervisors for the rest of eternity. What a cool thing. I hope it does happen again and that I have some forewarning so we can actually plan to do something cool, like pawn the dogs off on someone and skip town. As it is, I plan on the aforementioned cleaning and some gaming. I'm going to try to convice Russell to go on a little hike with me at some point over the weekend, and I would LOVE to go look at some new wheels. The weather is going to turn hot sooner or later and I am going to roast in my truck. Oh, and I think tonight we're going to go see a co-worker of his play some music. Heaven!

I did put together (finally) the CD rack that Bucket tried to eat, and despite missing a few important bits (the kickboard and the top) it's not really too bad. Now I just need to wade through the storage unit to rescue the remainder of the CDs and it will all be good. Actually we just need to empty out the storage unit entirely and save ourselves the $80/month or whatever it is. Perhaps this weekend will be a "clean-out-the-second-bedroom-slash-junk-room" adventure.

I'll keep you posted.

There are days

The dogs ate one of their beds this morning. Well, it doesn't really look like much was ingested, so I suppose it's more truthful to say that they shredded one of their beds. It's been a long time coming--bits and bits and bits have been pulled and we shout "NO" and they stop until they think we've forgotten about it. This morning they went for broke and I awoke to find a loft full of fiberfil and cedar chips. Fun stuff.

Now they are laying on the naked carpet looking sad and I'm so cold all I can think is "HA! You did this to yourselves!"

It's the 26th of January and I don't really think that I have committed to living in Phoenix yet. I haven't changed my driver's license or my truck's license plate. I haven't taken the dogs in to get new Arizona tags. I don't do anything but play video games and work. I need to make some friends or somehow get involved in something here so I can start to make it home. I feel like I'm still in that limbo I was in before the house sold in OKC--like I don't really belong anywhere. I have a four day weekend coming up and no plans. I really should do something about that.

Okay. Well, that said, I'm off. To play. I was going to go for a walk, but who am I kidding? It's 10 past 8pm, it's dark, and it's probably raining again. Yes. More rain. All it ever does here in ARIZONA is rain. I'm not lying. Exaggerating, yes. Lying, no. There have been floods recently. Yesterday something like 6 of 8 water treatment plants were not functioning because of flood related problems.

Anyway.

untitled

why do I have to title my posts anyway? so much pressure! and then I feel obligated to stick to some sort of imposed theme or subject. "colour *inside* the lines!" bah.

So today has been Sunday. I was off work--at least the paying sort--so when Russell and I got up I went straight to housework, doing some dishes, laundry, and general cleaning stuff while Russell continued some work on a way cool website he's doing. I took Bucket to the dog park (again! twice in two days!?? amazing!), where he charmed most everyone with his big goofy grin. I say *most* everyone, because I don't think the woman whose folding chair cover he peed on was very impressed. ;)

We splurged and ordered out from Claimjumpers (it's a free day for us diet-wise--which is not to say that we are "dieting" as much as just trying to eat more healthfully and, well, less), and now we are waiting somewhat impatiently for our game's log-in servers to come up so we can play!

that's all really. just killin time.

Whack (out of)

It feels like Monday to me, which is oh-so-confusing because it is, indeed, Friday. I'm glad to be working primarily early and mid-day shifts lately, but the days off in the middle of the week thing still throws me for a loop every time.

So it's 20 til 9 and I have to leave in about one hour for work. The dogs are wrestling at my feet, eager to get out all their energies before they get to rest up again in their crates for the day. Tonight they'll do it all again. Will they *ever* slow down?

Don't know if Shanny ever got to see the link, so I'll mention that the cool gift I got was an iPod Shuffle--a teensy little gadget that weighs about, oh, NOTHING, and holds 512k worth of songs. That's about 5-7 hours of music if I'm not mistaken. Woohoo! Plenty for me, and it shuffles everything automatically, so you never get the same mix of stuff. Very nifty. I downloaded and subsequently uploaded a bunch of stuff last night, and I'm going to do the crazy thing and listen to it on my way to work today. A test drive as it were.

Now, the aforementioned bump to the head is doing much better. The swelling has gone down and the scratch is crusting up sooooo nicely. :/ I was watching my feet instead of my head the other day at work, and in order to clear some clutter on the floor I had to sort of hop it. When I did this, I leaped unknowingly into the "Big Joe" (pallet jack) that was at half-mast *with* a pallet on it. My right temple met up with a corner of said pallet in a very dramatic fashion. I dropped to the floor and cried a bit before being ushered into a dark office with a bag of frozen vegetables. Fun times.

Breakfast time for me--ciao!

Lookeee!

My honey surprised me with a new toy when I got home last night, which was a welcome distraction from the aching head I had after leaping oh-so-ungracefully into the corner of a half-mast pallet lift at work. More about that later...

Check this out!

Combine this new gem with the news that I've finally gotten my cds out of storage (well, most of them) after over a year--I never really unpacked them/had access to them at The House in OK--and you have one VERY happy girl. And I have tomorrow off from work and perhaps this will be my new WoW!

Of course this is incentive to work out, so I need to get back down to the gym and shell out the bucks for that... ;)

And to shell out bucks, I need to work, and to work I need to be dressed and ready to leave in 20 minutes. Ack!

World of Difference

again, not writing for some time has garnered more responses than my actual posts.

hmm

Lots has been going on, primary being that I have a new job.

Not really. But it feels that way. My old boss was "suspended pending investigation" on New Year's Eve. Didn't see that coming, but as it turns out, it was painfully overdue. I'm finding out new horrors daily, such as: Small wonder we all felt strung out and frustrated and sick throughout the holiday season--we were apparently about 25-30 bodies short on staff. We had over 230 hours of overtime for the month of December; our new manager, who transferred from another store, was concerned that his previous location had around 30 hours. I have learned more and taken on more responsibility in the past two weeks than I had the previous two months.

We have a new General Manager and an additional Assistant GM, and they have been wonderful to work with. Communication is happening. Praise is being given. Organisation is happening. I like going to work now.

A great deal of that may have to do with the fact that we aren't as busy now that the holidays have passed. A bigger part may be that I have been working primarily day shifts for about a week and a half. All that really matters is that it is a much better place to be now, and I'm not nauseated before leaving for work anymore.

There's more, like how we went to Ikea to buy some CD cabinets and Bucket ate one of them before we even got it out of the box. And how horribly awful a movie Napoleon Dynamite is while, at the same time, being completely endearing. And that we are Arrested Development junkies (got the DVD collection for Christmas, if I didn't mention that previously). And how my best friend in the whole world even England is going to have a BABY!

But I won't go into all that right now. I'm stinky and need to bathe.

listen

I just had a beautiful two days--in a row--off with my honey. He has this week off from work (we won't discuss the enviousness I feel about this), and I somehow got Monday and Tuesday off, so after months of living the "two ships that pass in the night" life, we actually got to hang out. It was GREAT. We played WoW (of course), went shopping for a new office chair for me (one of my Christmas presents--woohoo!), took Bucket to the dog park that we accidentally discovered and which happens to be pretty damn close to the house, went grocery shopping--all the stuff that we used to do. We watched a couple episodes of "Arrested Development" (the first season DVD was another of my gifts), ate a bunch of junk food (New Years is just around the corner and we're bingeing before the Resolutions begin!), and just enjoyed our time together.

And now it's Wednesday and I have to be at work in just over an hour. And I feel sick. Not really physically sick, you know? It's all psychological. I DON'T want to go to work. I dread it. It's a long story, but there is a lot of bad feeling going around right now about certain people being played favourites to. There is also the non-suportive/non-communicative GM made *more* frustrating by the fact that the AGM is out of town this week. She is amazing and supportive and communicative and fun...and she's been gone since last Thursday. It's been very tough without her.

Anyway. It's time to start thinking very seriously about how to approach yet another job hunt. I would love to quit cold turkey, but the responsible side of me says "Wait until you've found something else!". So that's probably what I'll do. Sort of depends on how things work out for this Saturday. That's another long story (and ties in with the favouritism mentioned above)...I'll let you know how it turns out, at least.

later.

A Long Time Ago

Churches were the center of any town or community. The buildings were not merely used for religious practice; they were meeting halls and schools and, sometimes, centers of defense in times of need. They had very tall spires or towers so that people could locate them easily from miles around.

Yesterday morning I drove East on the 101 at 6:30 in the morning. In the distance I saw, to my horror, the giant blue spire that sits at the corner of the shopping district where I work. I had never realised that at night it is lit up and visible for miles and miles. So are shopping centers the new churches? Do they now give our cities their sense of self? "Here is Our Shopping Center! Behold its Majesty! Revel in its Importance to our Community!"

It kinda seems that way as the holiday approaches and there are so many thousands of people out fighting traffic and lines in order to gift family and friends with lots of "things". More than once as I have rung up a harried shopper's purchase at the store I have wondered when, if ever, these folks think about why Christmas even exists as a holiday. Pagan and Christian, there are pretty deep roots to all this "celebration", and I think all or most of it has been lost to the monsters of marketing.

So. Here's my challenge to you: if you are celebrating some sort of winter festival this year, be it Hannuka, Christmas, Solstice, Kwanzaa, or whatever...take a moment or two to stop and think about it. Give the season a little bit of reverence amidst the shopping and spending and wrapping and baking and eating. I'm not saying that all that stuff is wrong; I'd be a hypocrite to do so (I'm going out to finish my holiday shopping as soon as I'm done here)--I'm just saying that regrounding ourselves from time to time and remembering to be thankful and reverent (to Mother Nature or Jesus or, heck, yourself and your family--whomever floats yer boat) is a needed activity.

That said, I'm off to see the wizard... ;)

A Few Things. . .

If the hot cocoa cannister says "mix with 8oz warm milk..." don't imagine that substituting water will be a nice alternative. The cocoa folks know what they are talking about.

If you are holding a tube of pre-mixed pesto sauce and need to cut the top off for serving purposes, HOLD THE BOTTOM OF THE TUBE...not the top bit you are cutting off.

Guys: Soaking your dishes will win you points EVERY TIME. Leaving pizza sauce and cheese crusty plates in the sink to be washed will not.

Countdown

The desert is not a good place to have a holiday like Christmas. I'm having a hard enough time adjusting to the no-cold-no-green aspect; the lack of snow or even frost on my windshield just throws me completely off kilter. It doesn't seem possible that Christmas is 11 days away. I started shopping *yesterday* after a chat with my mom on the phone gave me the appropriate "D'OH" response.

On the up side, real trees are much less expensive here. Proximity to the mountains and all, I guess.

Another odd thing about this place is that there are trucks that hose down the desert. That's right. Any desert that encroaches on civilization (read that again and THINK about it...) is given a good water bath on a regular basis to keep the dust down. There is actually a sign in our neighbourhood that lists a toll-free number that residents can call if they feel the dust is not being appropriately nullified. Last night on my way home I found myself behind a big water truck that was spewing out thousands of gallons of water onto the side of the road.

*sigh*

ze's page

Oh! And explore ze's page!

It's fantastic stuff.