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Monday.

At 5:33 this morning Ace wanted to tell me that he lurved me

Ace - Hi Mama! I lurve you!!
Me - What cat? I have no cat. Leave me alone
Ace -I lurve you1 You're my mama!
Me - You have ignored Mama for weeks. Go away.
Ace - It was all a misunderstanding!
Me - I thought you ran away!
Ace - I was just playing hide and seek! Playing!
Me - You haven't played since you were fixed.
Ace - That's not true! Last week I played with a toy.
Me - Watching a cockroach is not playing.
Ace - I stalked it!
Me - The dog ate it.
Ace - Protean!
Me - He spit it out and I had to clean it up.
Ace - Work those abdominals!
Me - Go away.
Ace - I can go under the bed and made that noise...
Me - What do you want?
Ace - I lurve you!


What he was really trying to tell me was that the door to the attic had closed and if I would get out of bed and open it for him he would let me go back to sleep. I didn't get it and spent the rest of the morning licking plastic under the bed. Loudly.

When I wasn't having imaginary conversations with the cat, I got other things accomplished. I took Rocket to the Bluegrass festival downtown Friday night, on Saturday tore out the rest of the garden, blanched and froze the remaining peppers, made and frosted a layer cake and Sunday I put away all the hoses, went to my nieces birthday party and bought new sneakers.

 Once a garden, now compost

The only usable watermelon this whole season.

 



 Volunteer tomato plants

 Volunteer potato plant

 

Still some work to do , but much better job this time.

New shoe, the new thing in new shoes is color, color, color. The more color the more money.  This shoe is damn near Amish. The really pretty shoes were really expensive, even at DSW.

Subweimarine

Friday Cat Blogging

Yard Work

And its Friday! Finally! Now I can to tearing out the rest of the garden and getting my yard back and getting the garden soil in shape, I can't wait to use the compost I've made! Its going to be a yard work weekend.

I'm going to have to think about what I'm going to do with my hoses, I wasn't completely happy with what I did last year, as it resulted in hose chaos and I really should have put some thought into this before I decided I was going to  rip everything out and  had to deal with these hoses. I can't really put the hoses up right away because they are going to be soggy and covered with dirt and I can't leave them like that all winter. I'm thinking  after they have dried out, bringing them in the house and putting them into a plastic box to spend the winter in my basement. Safe and out of the way.

What is going to happen this weekend is that I will get the hoses out of the garden and then I spray them off and they will spend some time stretched out in the yard drying out, then I'll try to get them coiled up and secured and then they will go to the basement. I want to not have to re-buy drip hoses every year. The regular water hoses are faster to put up and this year I vow to do more then throw them down the stairs and hoping they don't fall apart over the winter. I'm going to spend a lot of time muddy, damp and smelling like dirty water.

I'm going to keep the peppers in the ground until the young peppers are ready to be harvested but I think I;m going to pull up the hoses and remove the weed barrier anyway. I am really looking forward to seeing that exactly the weed  acted as a barrier to  because from what I can tell, weeds grew through it really well so I haven't been sure exactly what it was designed as a barrier against , maybe zombies? I'll find out.

Santa

I got my card issues resolved. I got a couple of outside opinions, they didn't agree with each other but they acted as a tie breaker for me, so everything worked out. I;m going to order some of one of the designs and  some more of the other - I am going to have the super fun of over thinking who gets which card! Yay!

So this year I have three designs! I just have to decide how much of each, but before I do that I need to make a count of how many cards I'm going to send out. IO always say I'm going to trim the list but that never happens. I can do my bet not to add to the list, but that can be easier to said than done too - Thank you Facebook! I am now realizing that I will have four cards counting Rockets' card for the cookies. I think I should get a discount from the USPS

And the cookies. I have to make the cookies. I mean Yay! Cookies! I get to make the cookies! Woo-Hoo! Dog Cookie Season!!!  I'm going to need to decide how many varieties I am going to make this time around. I also was make too many but the idea of making 1500 of the same kind just paralyzes me with non-joy, really doing 1500 of anything makes me feel a certain degree of non-joy, but I need to make enough different kinds so that I focus on that number instead of the big number. It works better for me to say I'm making ten kinds, and I have made three varieties and I have seven to go!, actually, at that point I am not better, I'm better at I'm making ten kinds and I have two more to go! Right now I have made no kinds and have 1500 go, so I'm a little freaked because I should get started so I'm not forced to make them all at once. Making them a little by little over an extended time is much easier and more pleasent and I can enjoy the process a little.

All this thought about Christmas puts me in the mind to write a letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good girl this year. I have not killed any of my co-workers, despite many reasons to do so. I have also been very patient with the world at large and have practiced great self control with society in general. 

For Christmas this year I would like a chest freezer for my basement. I would also like agility equipment for Rocket, so we can practice at home. If you can, I suggest checking out my Amazon list for other ideas. I might also need a new clothes washer.

Love,
Diana

I don't want to be too demanding, but I do want to advocate for myself with as much energy as possible, without coming off has being to grabby or greedy or  too needy. I am kind of needy, I do need a chest freezer. Just saying.

Smart Dog

A few days ago I had to run a couple of errands in the evening. I'm a grown up and I am allowed to do that. Rocket did not agree with that and peed on the carpet while I was gone. I can't be too angry because its not that he's not potty rained or he's doing it out of spite - Its the separation anxiety manifesting, note to self : call vet!

I pulled the area rug out of the room and dragged it outside to dry on the fence to be an object lesson for the dog/become a habitat for cock roaches/get less stinky. The next part of the plan is to lay out on the drive way and hit it with a hose, leave it out to dry again and then give it a good going over with Natures Miracle. Ultimately, I will move it back into the room.

At present its still outside, the office floor is bare. I miss the carpet because it covers up the less then stellar condition of the floor, Rocket misses it because the floor is hard. He has   a very nice futon as well as an ottoman to choose from and now he is sad about the hard floor.Whatever : Don't pee on the carpet and the carpet will not be removed.

Anyway. The floor is bare. It was bare. I had a remnant rolled up and stashed way under the futon to store it, today when I came home in the after noon the floor was no longer bare

This is a reenactment. The only change is that I put a curled up end under the chair legs to flatten it out. I did not move it from where he placed it.

He  first found the rug, then he maneuvered the rug out from under the futon, pulled it into the center of the room and unrolled it so he could have a carpet. I kid you not. The floor is too hard and too cold and he didn't like it. Now he's happy. I need to get this dog a job or into some sort of  home school program.

genius

Dog Park - The Parkening

I was going to take Rocket for a walk after work but instead I made us both an early dinner and we watched TV. This isn't good enough for Rocket and so later I made the decision to go to the dog park, this wasn't done lightly.

I still have dog aggression PTSD and any interaction Rocket has with other dogs makes me tense, it gets worse when its interaction off leash. I avoid this.  I have to remember that Rocket is not later years Daisy and he is a completely different dog. He is Rocket Dog and he does not have a bad history, he hardly has a history at all. I took him there once when he was very young and intact and while it went okay, I never took him back either. Today we went back.

The hipsters have taken over the dog park. The hipsters and their unsupervised mid-range dogs that they don't seem to pay a lot of attention to. They sit on the picnic tables and talk about whatever it is hipsters talk to each other about - beards, irony, premature nostalgia... You will notice "where my dog is" is not included in there.  Now, I admit, when Daisy and I would go to the park, I didn't exactly follow her around like I do with Rocket, but there were far, far fewer (much fewer) dogs at the park then and I really didn't need to keep a close eye on her because there were only seven dogs there.

Seven big dogs, big dogs who were comfortable with who there were and they didn't spend a lot of time having to prove anything to each other. There were a handful of  smaller dogs with Napoleon complexes, Daisy decided she really hated one of those, but for the most part, it was easy to tell who was there and how alert you needed to be.  I can't see how they can do that now. I think I will go back though, maybe shooting for a once a week visit so he can run full out more frequently, but we aren't going to make it our second home like it was to Daisy and I.

I guess if you go there a lot you know the dogs and what they temperaments are and how they react to stimuli. You also probably have learned over time what each dogs uses for a  doggy "Hello!" from a  canine "Fuck You" . I have lost that skill, to my unpracticed ears, I hear all barking as bad barking. The other people know the dogs body language and all the different subtle clues to when a greeting is going to turn into a confrontation. I don't speak that language anymore.

I used to know  all the dogs by name. I knew their people at least by sight and I could gauge a situation pretty correctly, now  of course I can't do that and I bet most of the people can't do that either. There are just a bunch of dogs, a few barked  just to bark and a few more seemed o bark at other dogs and that is what makes a problem. I was also surprised that you would get a ring of dogs barking and no one would  call their dog or wade in a grab the dog or do anything to defuse the situation. They were playing Chicken with their pets.  Those clutches of barking dogs can go bad very fast and its best to break them up sooner rather then later and everyone at the park seemed to be in the "later" school of  dog separation.

I wanted to follow Rocket everywhere, if he was more than ten feet away form me I could feel the panic starting. If a dog barked while Rocket was out of my line of sight I knew the worst was happening. What I didn't grasp, is that Rocket is good in groups, he likes groups! Rocket loves Doggy Daycare and from all reports, is a good day care citizen and  is a very dog friendly dog. He likes being in dog groups, and to his small brained doggy stand point, the dog park is just an out door extension of daycare.  Rocket lurves other dogs, he likes meeting other dogs and likes to be met, he wants to be around dogs and he is apparently good at being around other dogs. Rocket isn't thrown into a panic when other dogs sniff his butt, Rocket doesn't hyperventilate when other dogs bark at him, Rocket happily joins into doggy games. Rocket is a dogs dog. Rocket is also a little bit submissive and is not at all an alpha, which probably helps him ingratiate himself with other dogs too.

I also noticed that I didn't recognize any of the dogs. Not a single one.  I started to count back and realized that most of Daisys'  friends from back then are probably with Daisy now.  There weren't a lot of puppies in that first group and some of them were quite senior a few years ago so there is pretty good chance that those guys are all gone now. Which is sad because I liked those dogs, most of those dogs, some of them were assholes - if you think a dog can't be an asshole, spend some time a dog park.

Emmy Awards 2013 results

And the Awards went to:


And time waste begins. Why not just hand out the awards? Every host who ever lived but nada for Jack Klugman.


8:16p - Al Pacino is not impressed.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a comedy series -  8:18p, Merrit Weaver, Nurse Jackie

8:25 - Best Writing in a comedy - Tina Fey, 30 Rock

8:27 -Outstanding Supporting Actor in a comedy series : Tony Hale, Veep


Memorial for Jonathan Winters.


Outstanding Actress in a comedy series : Julia Louie Dreyfus ,Veep

8:40 - Honoring the less important awards handed out last week.

Did Melissa Leo have a lot of work done? Wow. Not cool.

8:43 -Outstanding directing in a comedy series :  Gail Mancusso, Modern Family
8:45 - Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series : Jim Parsons, Big Bang Theory

Memorial for Jean Stapleton

8:55 - Elton John. Memorial for Liberatice?

Tiiimmmeeeeee Waaaaassssstttteeeeerrrr.

9:04 -Outstanding Lead Actress in Mini-Series or Movie -  Laura Linny , The Big C, the Here after

9:10 - Tiiiiiimmmmmmeeeeee Wwwwaaaaaaassstttteee

9:13 - Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series - Henry Bromile, died last spring, award accepted by widow, Home Land

9:15 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama -  Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad


Memorial for a junkie.

9:24 - Tiiiimmmmeeeee Waaasssstteeeee Could we just hand out some awards Gawd Damn it!

9:28 - Outstanding Reality Show - The Voice

9:35 - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - Bobby Canavali,  Board Walk Empire
9:40 - Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama - Jeff Daniels,  Aaron Sorkin's Journalism Show

 9:44 - Televisions roll in The Kennedy assassination. 79 days later the Beatles played on Ed Sullivan.

9:46 Carrie Underwood sings Yesterday.

The dog was asleep on the couch and rolled over in his sleep, to the floor. He woke up long enough to make sure I was not watching when this happened (I was) and fell back to sleep next to the couch.

Worst use of  Bob Newhart ever.

9:55 Outstanding  Lead Actress in a Drama -  Clare Danes, Homeland

9:56 - Honoring everyone not honorable enough for the Big Show.

9:59 -  Outstanding Directing in a Drama series - David Fincher, House of Cards

10:00 -  Finally, Bob Newhart gets some love. Outstanding Writing in a Variety Series - The Colbert Report.

10:06 - Directing in a Variety series - Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live

Memorial for Gary David Goldberg

Outstanding Choreography -  Tiiimmmmeeee Waaaassttteee

Best Outstanding Choreography - Derrick Huff, Dancing with the Stars

Outstanding Variety Show - The Colbert Report

Memorial for James Gandolfini


10:32 - Outstanding Writing for Mini series, movie or dramatic special -  Abby Morgan, The Hour
10:35 - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a mini series or movie - James Cromwell, I didn't catch for what

In Memoriam for everyone else.

10:46 - Outstanding Directing for mini series, movie or special event - Steven Soderberg, Behind the Candelabra
10:48- Outstanding  Actress in mini  series or movie - Ellen Burston, Political Animal

10:55 - Outstanding Actor in a mini series or movie - Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
10:59 - Outstanding Mini Series of movie - Behind the Candelabra


11:04 - Outstanding Comedy Series - Modern Family
11:09 - Outstanding Drama Series - Breaking Bad

Friday Cat Blogging

He looks at me like this all the time now. Its been over a year but he's just figuring out that the dog is staying.

Due to Circumstances mostly out of my control...

Between my clothes washer being a piece of shit and having to conference with my Washer Man  about said POS and Project Runway being on, I didn't really have um, time for an entry. Sorry.

Art Walks

The dog and I took our longest walk since before we left for vacation. We left the house at 4:20 and didn't get back until 6pm, and we walked three miles round trip. While we were in the warehouse district we came across a German Shepherd puppy and her friend and their person.  You could tell that the person didn't adequately lurve the  puppy because the puppy was still young enough to be fluffy and he was not holding her! The puppy was at that stage when you just want to hold them all the time and you really have to decide if  teaching them to walk isn't overrated - when its just as easy just to carry the puppy where it has to go. Her name was Willow and I wanted to eat her.

I am a creature of habit. I can't pass this mural  without taking Rockets picture in front of it along the way.

clearly, a dog that is no longer intact, is a much happier dog: Testicles make them testy!

 



I noticed on the way back that now both my feet hurt on the top, I looked online and they said it is caused by wearing too tight shoes. I wear sandals! It could also be a symptom of plantar fasciitis, which I do have, mystery solved. It does suck for it to be in both feet though, normally for me, it goes from one to another. I have no problems for months and then one day I wake up and the first step out of bed is a dozy. Yay for double the pleasure.

Fall

I decided to do two things today : 1) organize my turtleneck drawers and 2) get good at making layer cakes.  I was walking the dog this morning enjoying the breeze when I noticed that the enjoyable breeze was a cool breeze and every few breezes, there was a cold breeze. I also think it may be time for my tropical plant to come inside at night. It was a day of many thoughts.

The cake idea came from seeing that a layer cake takes up much less room in my refrigerator, also it is a good life skill. I am never going to get better at tennis but I might be able to turn out a layer cake a couple times a year. I would like to ultimately become good enough at it  that I retire my flat cake pans. I made one and it was gorgeous but I also slavishly followed the directions and made the cake along with a You-Tube video as a guide and it was gorgeous and I sent it down the runway, the second time I made one I did not use any educational aids and  the cake looked better in a room with poor lighting. Terrific personality and tells a great joke. Also, it tasted just the same as the pretty cake. I do now know why frosting is our friend though, it covers many faults as well as acts as cement. Good stuff frosting,  and under appreciated as a kitchen gadget.


In honor of this new cool breeze thing happening, I am wearing  brown and maroon to work tomorrow as well as actual shoes and stockings! for the first time since Memorial Day. I'm not sure how its going to work out though, I wore almost real shoes today and some how managed to damage the top of my foot. I sprained something that isn't even weight bearing!

I am feeling much better about  fall since I re-ordered my turtleneck drawers and got them ready to get back to work! I can find them or at least all of them that were in the drawers  where they belong, and if they were in the right place, they are now folded and ready to go. Yay Winter.

GOP hates history, truth...

NC Republican complains that the truth is mean and so are libruls.


On Tuesday, Chairman Claude Pope said the protesters were using inflammatory rhetoric and images, which are not constructive for political discussions.

He specifically mentioned a sign at a Charlotte rally, showing Gov. Pat McCrory, House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger on top of a Confederate flag with the phrase, "Jim Crow family reunion."

Hateful, hateful people who  tell the truth and remember their history!  If they were homeschooled like real Christian Americans they wouldn't even know what Jim Crow was.

Maintenance Manor

I am very psyched about my card images! Well, its a big deal for me, I know you don't share my excitement, but you know, its a big deal to me
I should have spent the after work portion of my day sorting and folding and putting away the  laundry I have been dumping on the bed upstairs. I did not. I watched TV an walked the dog and made my self a really outstanding dinner of angle hair pasta, shrimp and tomato's and peppers fro my garden.  The shrimp were the little kind and they could have had more seasoning, but all in all, it was great. I think tomorrow I am going to pull out the panko.

Okay. I folded the laundry and put everything away. I am happier now. I also needed to do this because I was tired of not having access to my underwear. This is not an item of clothing you want to play hide and seek with and I am tired of playing games. I also needed to do this because my washing machine guy who was supposed to come by today and fix my washing machine - didn't come by today and fix my washing machine. I decided to stop using the machine until it got fixed and I planning on it being fixed today. My machine is not fixed today and I need to wash my clothes! Now that I did my housework, I do now have a few more days of underwear in the "win" colum, so its not the emergency it could have been, but so help me, if I even have to think about the prospect of  washing my underwear in the sink, Mr. Repairman is going to know about it! I AM WASHING MY UNDERWEAR IN THE SINK! FIX THE MACHINE  RIGHT NOW DAMN IT! RIGHT NOW! ARE YOU ASLEEP? WAKE UP! ARE YOU EATING?  CHEW FASTER!

Another thing that needs fixing but is in my hands, my sneakers are broken  and for once, Rocket didn't break them. They just fell apart, I bought them on deep discount two years ago and they have worn out but you would think that $100 sneakers would last longer. Now I need to find a new pair at deep discount and get a new pair, hopefully, another $100 pair for under $40. I also need to find some new shoes to wear to the office over the winter but I'm going to back burner that pair.

I am almost looking forward to wearing real shoes again, I have tan lines on my feet, perma-Tivas, and while sandals are super comfortable, my feet are also exposed to the world and I am getting a little tired of washing the world off my feet every day. It also brings to my attention  that I really need to get a pedicure before the winter or risk the damage setting is permanently. I also just want to get a pedicure and now I actually need a pedicure and hat makes it less of a splurge and closer to something I can spring for and not feel like I'm being wasteful or princess.

Sparkcon 2013

I'm excited1 I have my Christmas card image! I have another image for the MIPers out there, but now I like the other card much better!  I'm going to march down to Jerry's Artorama and pick up some inexpensive blank cards and get this party started1 If only I could excited about starting to stock pile dog cookies ahead of the holidays. If only had roomt to stock pile dog cookies ahead of the season... A good harvest  can be a doubled edged sword - I have so much food I have no room for  more food!

I had the best weekend ever. Rocket and I went to the Dog Olympics and had a great time, then I went to Sparkcom and had a great time and then I went to Alphagals birthday party, and had a great time! There was a pattern there, I know it.

I didn't take a lot of pictures at Sparkcon because crowds of people are nice but they aren't really interesting or photogenic, they also don't make it easy to set up a shot. So I went back Sunday, after the crowds had dispersed , they need to make Sunday a bigger day, I think the majority of folks thought they were  done on Saturday. Anyway... fewer people made it easier to get a good look at the chalk art.

 

Friday Cat Blogging

So Over Summer.

Pawriffic!

I'm going to get right down to a discussion of Rockets hoof problem, I know its as important to you as it is to us, almost, possible more important to you because I was fretting about the hoof instead of remembering to get a picture of it so you had only your own vivid imagination to fill the blanks as to what it looked like and for sure you all have vivid imaginations . I still should have taken a picture to illustrate to the vet exactly how awful it was. It was a hoofpaw! It looked like it belonged on  a Clydesdale!  A very sleek, gray, attractive, fashion forward Clydesdale! But a Clydesdale! My God! He was asking for Budweiser! Crippled and longing for bad beer! He doesn't even know what beer is! It was heartbreaking to witness.

#Pawhoof was trending on Twitter,  don't pretend you weren't posting about the saga or offering your prayers and good wishes. We weren't actually following the hashtag but we totally felt the love! I was totally going to put the Pawhoof on Facebook but it seemed too soon and again, I forgot to take a picture of it. Facebook is nothing
He was so stoic though, he  literally never missed a step or stopped chewing his toys! He chased the cat when his foot weighed more than the cat does! He needs a stamp in his honor, maybe the Franklin Mint can cast a silver plated dog foot coin to mark the occasion - A double sided coin! On one side a happy, healthy, sleek dog foot while on the other side would feature a  sad,bloated, heavy foot! Both sides would feature a tasteful, porcelain ribbon, in gray!

I'm not going to have to show anything to a vet : The Hoof has completely dissipated and the paw is back! The paw pads look a little pinkish, but you know. Paw!

Big Paw

24 hours later the paw is still swollen but not as swollen as it was,  as it looks much less like a hoof than it did last night, as there are now recognizable, separate  toes and that is very encouraging.

While Rocket strongly suggests that I not touch any of his paws swollen or otherwise, he doesn't have a problem with  flash photography. Through this method I was able to learn that there are no foreign objects embedded in the paw or between the paw pads, that there is no wound, it is clean and dry but does appear to be slightly more red than  his un-swollen paws. There is no signs of infection, although his claws are much too long on that paw.  On inspection of the pictures, I may have found a spot that might be a sting, its  a small pinkish area on the top of the paw near the end of a toe and the swelling does seem expand around it. Or its just a spot left over from an old injury, dogs don't  for the most part wear shoes and their feet get beat up just from general dog-being.

He is weight bearing on all four feet, he is not guarding or pulling up, he is eating and drinking as normal and playing with his toys - using the swollen paw interchangeably with the other front paw as a tool, and  merrily chasing the cat.

 I have been giving him Benadryl and the swelling is slowly decreasing.  I'm not quite ready to call the vet, and then the question is, which vet? The old stand by vet? The office is a bitch to get to, their hours suck and they charge too much - but they are excellent vets and I would trust to get it taken care of. Choice two is the surgeon that saw Daisy, not close by, but easier to get to and their hours are rock star, again, that office is never cutting one of my animals ever, but they are good meat-and-potatoes vets and they certainly could be trusted to deal with a minor injury,  choice three is the vet that just fixed him, close by, easy to get to , good enough hours and I would trust them for a minor injury.

Hopefully, this will resolve and I won't have to go into an over thinking spiral about this.

Sting

I would have totally had an entry for today but, instead I went to Alphagals birthday party and then I came home and watched Too Cute and a home improvement show and then I noticed that Rockets' paw looked swollen.

Because it is swollen! I can't find a sting or a wound, but it looks bee-stung. He's  weight bearing, running around happily, using it to grasp his toys, chasing  the cat and he ate his dinner like a dog that likes food and he's not guarding the paw more than he usually does - under the best of circumstances he hates having his feet touched, and he still let me examine it and I didn't see anything that looked alarming. He's also not licking or gnawing it or worrying it.

We walked three times today, very short walks, and I didn't hear him yip or  yelp or  freak out - like I did when I got stung a couple of weeks ago. He also doesn't appear to be in pain. I looked online and the suggestion was give him some Benadryl and put an ice pack on it. I know he isn't down with ice packs but he tolerates Benadryl well. If it doesn't get better in a couple of days or if he starts guarding or limping, I'll call his vet.

Wally World Again

I didn't take the dog for a walk today! I came home and instead of  changing shoes and bopping out the door, I watched Too Cute - Top 20 cute Kittens and then I played with my phone.
 I feel a little, not sick, but like there are warning lights on and I need to pull over. There are a couple of people at work who are genuinely sick and I don't want to get that way. Rest and not over doing it are key.

Rocket did get a ride to Wally and the enormous treat of waiting in the parking lot for me to do a quick in-and-out... No such  trip ever occurred at Wally World, Rocket spent a lot of time checking out People of Walmart and feeling superior.

It took a long time because I chanced across a display of  deeply discounted fabric and Rocket needs a new shroud for his dog bed. The old shroud has gotten torn over time, looking at you Phantom Daisy and corporeal Rocket! I was able to find a really nice bolt of fleece that matches the office room and was attractive. But then I had to wait for the woman to figure out how to use the scanner. And I waited and I found a cheaper but  much less attractive, bordering on the ugly, fleece. And waited and finally called the manager over myself ( he had been  casually chatting with another worker through this whole broken/can't work it/have never seen this piece of machinery before imbroglio we had going on,  and didn't I just hear a plea over the speaker for workers to come work the registers?) Sir! Sir, her machine don't work and I have to gooooo!

The other worker, not the Manager I specifically requested - Note to Wallyworld staff, I feel you! Damn The Man! But. I am a customer, be angry at The Man all you want, but do not let that color your interactions with me, do not piss me off. Ignoring me or sending a minion  to fumble around and waste fifteen minutes of my time to do something that would take you  thirty seconds to accomplish? That pisses me off.

I finally got my ugly Kelly green fabric and I went to use a coupon for Nutrish dog food by Rachel Ray. It's expensive and not Buffalo, but I brought it home and Rocket ate it. I looked it up online and the very expensive version of the food not available at Wally, got four out of five stars from the ridiculously picky dog food reviewer I use to judge dog food. The version I bought today is a lot cheaper then what I have ben buying,  but still better than a lot of the dog food out there, but it sins by utilizing corn and corn by-products and  fillers, and some grain and grain is bad. I might try out the Big Box Pet store super duper high quality version Nutrish and see how he likes it.

I think his favorite kind of food is "not what I have been eating". Maybe that is the secret to getting Rocket to eat, is to keep it moving and keep it new.

Hi, My name is Rocket. Woof.

The little things

Set (reasonable) goals and ye shall receive. Shocking. Make a goal, give yourself a deadline, maintain  your will and shockingly, you can get the goals accomplished.

I think I said I wanted to get the green bean tee pee down. I did not realize that this would take as long as it did or that it was going to be as hot as it was. I am glad its done though, pretty soon Rocket can be in the yard again off-leash. I left the weed barrier down because the flowers on it were blooming but after I removed the pole, it tore them up and they are no longer blooming. They were pretty. I didn't put them in the composter yet because the green bean plants are taking up a lot of room in there. I'll add them when the beans have had a chance to wilt down a bit.

And then, I think I talked about the getting the bed moved and then moving into the bedroom?

That took hours and was no fun at all.  I would have done a pictorial of this as well but it would have been pictures of piles of crap moving from place to place and me being frustrated. The "after" picture is a trophy for me. Thank God for sliders though, they are life savers. I'm not going to get bedside tables for in there because I have one already and its fine. It was also heavy as all hell and hard to move, lets now all praise our friends: Sliders. It doesn't say a lot of the mattress in there that I tossed and turned all night it, but spent weeks sleeping like a baby on a futon. Grumble.

Okay, then I think I wanted to get my green beans taken care of. It took an hour of chopping to get to the picture below, it was more beans than I thought I had collected.

I'm not going into the winter with two gallons of frozen green beans, not as good as other years but good enough.

Last but not least, I also wanted to get my sunflower seeds roasted. I was going to get right on this but then I read the directions and they have to soak over night before they can be roasted. So it took longer than planned but it got done. I now have a little under a gallon of sunflower seeds for the birds this winter. Its not very much but added to the store bought I'll surely get, it will be a nice treat for them and for me because I'll be feeding them in my yard with food grown in my yard, I like that.

First Friday

Cat Blogging

Garden Day 11

Time is marching on, right through my garden First it was the potatoes and then the sunflowers and now the green beans. They had a burst of productivity but now they are thinning out, one plant just died all together - I don't feel bad about taking the rest of them out and pulling out the bean tee-pee. It's time.

I would love to pull out the watermelons but I have two growing and while I have no faith that either will mature, I'm going to give them a chance and hold off with the Great Melon Purge of '13, it is coming.  I'm going to spend the winter  adding new dirt and feeding that patch and getting it ready for corn next spring. I've decided that while I can grow watermelon, I don't have to and I'm going to give the melons a break this next year.

The peppers seem thrilled that the tomatoes are dieing back more and more and they have taken advantage of the elbow room by growing peppers! I'm so happy to see them because prior to the new growth I pulled maybe two or three total over the summer and that was not what I had planned for when I put them in the ground last spring.  This year instead of trying to keep whole frozen peppers around, I'm just cutting them up into strips and bits and they easier to use in more ways. Also the fridge is full of tomatoes and there simple isn't room for whole peppers.

I  also need the room for my green beans, this was defiantly not their year either, but I managed to get some and I'm going to spend some time this weekend getting them prepared and ready to freeze. I'm also going to roast my sunflower seeds although I am a little afraid I waited too long on them. I don't think the birds will mind either way. I hope.

When I'm not in the kitchen I am planning on transforming my guestroom back into my bedroom, at least for a short time before it gets cold and the freezer like qualities of that room kick in. Its cooler downstairs this time of year but I am getting tired of having to strip and fold up the futon every morning and then remaking it and folding it down every evening. If the futon people really loved us, they would make them easier to take up and down.

The bedroom, after I  move the bed - a huge undertaking because it is an enormous, heavy bed, I'm going to have to figure out what to do with the rest of the heavy furniture in the room and then get bedside tables from somewhere because there really aren't  any in the room and I have clock issues and I need to be able to see the lock or I get anxious and I don't want to wake up with anxiety at 1:30 in the morning because I can't see the clock clearly.

So, going into the weekend with plans and goals. Yay!

Dog Foodie

I was so happy when I came home today. I didn't have anywhere to go, well, I did have to go back to work to get my phone that I left there, but I was going to go there to walk the dog, so I could multi-task. I also didn't have to run any errands. Other then to try to remember to go to the store to get soda for lunch and maybe see if they have the weight loss cat food variety and while I was there anyway, maybe see if I could find some cheap but not nasty dog food to add to the healthy dog food so that the dog can maybe gain some much needed weight.

Expensive dog food is grain free dog food and without grain your dog isn't going to pack on the pounds he would with a ( bad, evil, why do you hate your dog?) grain included dog food. Even your dog has gone low-carb. But then I start to figure in the cost of bad dog food to what I all ready paid for the good dog food and I end up buying a tiny bag of bad dog food because I can't stand the thought of feeding him the good stuff straight.

It needs to last and last and if he eats it, it isn't going to last. My next idea after my next expensive dog food is used up, is to buy a  an high quality  big box dog supply store level dog food, Pro Plan, for example, and mix it with a smaller bag of very high quality artisanal  dog food...

If you spend enough time in the artisanal  dog food world,  all of a sudden the run of the mill gold plated dog food that I used to be all "Oh My God They Want How Much?!" Petco/Petsmart level food all of a sudden seems so reasonable! Go to Wallyworld and look at food and its almost free by comparison.

But all good things must come to an end and eventually, I am going to run out of artisanal  dog food and have no choice but to go with  something cheaper, but not that much cheaper dog food, because I do have some pride. Proplan sport-all-life-stages-performance-30-20-formula is looking like a winner, however most the ingredients sound like chemicals and probably taste like them too and my current dog food features, well, currents and blue berries and cranberries and buffalo - All things I can recognize and I know what they taste like. The Pro Plan is not cheap either, its "cheaper" than the really good stuff, but not really cheap either, still running about $55 for 37 pounds, so if I am willing to be spendy on dog food, perhaps I need to do more home work on what kind of dog food I spend on.

Party on

I went to a class on how to shop with coupons and I learned that if I shop with coupons I will save money, if I shop with a lot of coupons I will save a lot of money. I also learned that as a single person I may not really need to use a lot of coupons - for example, I do not need five boxes of Hamburger Helper no matter what the discount! But I can donate what I don't use to a food pantry.

I learned about "stacking" which is when you use several different coupons from different sources for the same item. Digital coupons "do not stack", Catalina coupons also do not stack, Catalina's are the coupons you get with your receipt and the ones that the little machines spit at you in the aisles -  but the discount on your loyalty card and a regular coupon can both be used on the same product.

Other things I learned:

1. Just because the coupon says "Redeemable at fill-in-the-blank store, this does not mean you can only use it there, its just another opportunity to advertise fill-in-the-blank. Do check to see it does not say  ONLY redeemable at fill-in-the-blank.

2."Like"Kraft, Kellogg's, P&G etc. on Facebook, you can get more and better coupons. This is exspescally good for organic products. Also go to their sites and  register with them, they will email or mail you special offers above and beyond the regular store circulars.

It was also suggested to use another email address for your couponing because the sites are very aggressive in their marketing of the coupons, they send hundreds a day. They said that Gmail will now separate your email into types for you.

3.Check the internet for coupons - there are sites that have printable coupons, digital coupons and sites that list methods of combining deals.

4. Check out the beer and wine aisle, there are often coupons on the displays. Due to NC law, you don't have to buy the booze to get the coupon, if its a buy a bottle of vodka and get a pound of  pork chops for a X amount, you can get the pork chops for X amount and not buy the vodka.

I learned that while using coupons is a real money saver that it requires a lot of time and energy to do it well. A good idea is to check in with your store loyalty cards and see what other services you can get through them. Some of the have digital coupons that go directly to your card, when you buy the product, it is automatically used for the sale. This saves you time and energy.  You first have to go to the store web site and pick with the coupons you want, you have to scroll through what is offered but you are sure to find something you want. These offers do expire so you have to remember that they are on the card.

It was a good class, and I got free water and a handful of bite sized snickers.