She’s Young and With It

So, 2008, you are not really living up to your end of the deal here. What’s up with that?

Sherman’s new gargantuan plastic crate arrived last week. I put it together, it took up an entire corner of the living room, I put him in there with his food (he eats in his wire crate with no problems), and… he flipped out. We tried it a couple more times and he flipped out some more. We think he just cannot be crated. The separation anxiety is too intense in a crate.

We decided not to keep a $200 eye sore that took up a quarter of the living room. Then I discovered that, oh, since I decided to give old Google Checkout a try when I ordered the stupid crate, it could not be returned to a physical store for a refund, only for store credit. While we could eventually rack up $200+ in pet supplies, we generally do not shop at the big box in question and it would take a while to use up that much store credit on regular old pet supplies. The other option was to ship the monstrosity back to the warehouse and pay a huge amount for shipping. All because I stupidly used Google Checkout. Clint called and complained and they agreed to have Fed Ex pick up the package at their expense. So it all worked out after all. I think.

So far, with Callie crated in a separate room, Sherman has not gotten into much while we are away.

I bought this super cute pouch from Bea Binney. It holds my first attempt at knitting socks. These socks are from Son of Stitch ‘n Bitch, but the pattern had to be heavily modified. The original pattern called for casting on 100 stitches and with that many stitches, the sock looked huge. So I settled on 72 stitches and the result seems to be closer to a regular man’s sock size. However, I have just realized that my cables do not look right at all. This is my first attempt at cabling and I am obviously doing something wrong. Dang. I am going to have to rip out the sock and start over.

Clint, and he will probably kill me for posting this, got canned from the new employer. Of course they waited until he put in loads of extra hours (that are not compensated) and got his first paper out before canning him. The reasons given were only “90 day probation period” and “not the right fit.” He thinks they just didn’t like him. Apparently they were very religious and chummy and I guess Clint did not fit into their suburban ideal of an employee. They would have meetings off-site and stuff and not even tell him… and there were also two hour lunches and company parties that he was not invited to. Did you know that for a very small salary they can have any designer they want work there and it is the best work environment EVER? They make such an impact on the community that one should feel as if it is a privilege to work there.

He agrees that it was not the right fit, but they should have realized that during the interview process… or something. The positive is that he was already looking at jobs again and had a few interviews set up for this week. So… fingers crossed…

2008, you know what you need to do.

A few more photos:

Basil has a new favorite hideaway spot, inside the dog bed.

I made a very green and yellow stir fry for dinner. The meal was comprised of broccoli, green bell pepper, green onions, yellow squash, and then to throw the color scheme off, seitan.

Chim Chim says, “Shape up, 2008… Or else”

I have been meaning to tell you some stuff.

Have I mentioned that since Clint started back to work, we have stopped crating the dogs? Well, maybe I have not mentioned it, but the era came to an end last night. Let me see if I can list all of the things they have destroyed in the past couple of weeks: my eyeglasses (one lens was never located), a roll of paper towels along with a now broken paper towel holder, a screen print of a TV dinner that Clint made, a 1 1/2″ button, some 7″ records, a TV remote including lovely teeth marks on the batteries, some other things I cannot quite recall right now, and then last night they ate the sofa. Yep, my dogs ate the sofa.

The really amazing thing about this is that somehow they ate the sofa under the slipcover. The slipcover only has two small holes, although it also had a lot of drool on it when I arrived home. However, the sofa arm underneath the slipcover has an approximately 3″ x 4″ gouge out of it where they ripped out foam and stuffing. When I arrived home, there was foam and stuffing everywhere but I could not see the immediate damage because somehow the slipcover was still laying on top of the damaged area. How the dogs managed this one, I have no idea.

The thing is that we really need a new sofa and have been planning to purchase one for a while, but we can’t quite decide on one and we are also still saving up for the dream sofa that we cannot make a decision on because we love it the most but it has BUTTONS. And we have these dogs that eat/chew everything in site so buttons may be a very, very bad idea.

The reason that the dogs were not being crated anymore is because Sherman had begun to escape his wire crate. We would open the front door and there would be Sherman. We looked at plastic crates because a lot of people recommend those for houdini dogs but we decided to have a go at not crating him first. And we decided that since Neko and Sherman were not crated, Callie should not be crated either. The cats were safely tucked in their own rooms, mind you.

Well, last night I researched crates for a few hours and ordered a very pricey, supposedly very secure, very large plastic crate for Sherman. Callie got crated today in Sherman’s old, but very roomy, wire crate. Let’s hope that eliminating Callie from the mix today kept things a degree or two calmer in the destruction department.

Our house was beginning to look like no one lived there. All decor and books had been moved to upper shelves and the refrigerator was cleared of all magnets and papers. We unplugged all appliances before leaving and made sure nothing was left out on the tables or counters.

So… buttons? Would the sofa be safe? The gouged arm sofa may have to remain in style for a bit longer in our home. We may need to wait out these years of destruction or something.

I was going to tell you about a cute old lady who talked to me about knitting fingerless gloves when I had my eye exam this week, a trip to Ecology Action which made me not so thrilled at the idea of ever again returning during their work hours and my effort to purge junk mail, catalogs and other toxic stuff from my life. But the dog story was so long that I think I will leave you with that for now.

Looking forward to a potluck and Wii playing with friends on Saturday, lunch with a friend on Sunday, and a holiday on Monday! Yay!

Is my RSS feed really working again?

I was recently tagged by Jennifer R. and long before that by Noelle. I will finally do this, although these seem both deeply personal and incredibly boring at the same time.

1. I am adopted. My birth mother is the woman who I grew up knowing as my cousin Judy. Judy is my adoptive father’s niece. So my dad’s brother is my birth grandfather. Judy has two other children so I have a half-brother and a half-sister as well as an adoptive sister. Judy and I were both told when I was 16 that she was my birth mother. The family made arrangements so it was not obvious that she was my birth mother at the time that she gave birth. However, I have been told that Judy was always a bit suspicious. It became particularly apparent during my teenage years when I looked very similar to her teen photos (long brown hair, parted in the middle).

2. I am named after my adoptive father. His name is Dixie Lou and my name is Dixie Louise.

3. I am a vegetarian. I have been some form of semi-vegetarian for nearly 13 years. The first stage eliminated all meat except seafood. I think I even limited eggs during that time. Then there was a two to three year period where I gave in to poultry. I have been a pure ovo-lacto vegetarian for at least 8 years, I think. I can’t really remember. I have become more strict as time went by (doing my best to eliminate gelatin and rennet for example) and I try to buy organic as much as possible, especially when purchasing dairy and eggs because hormones weird me out. However, I do not limit my dairy and egg intake when eating out. I drink and cook strictly with soymilk, with the exception of recipes calling for cream or evaporated milk. We go mostly organic though!

4. I skipped third grade. Third grade is when you learn your multiplication tables and how to write cursive. As a result, my multiplication abilities for the upper numbers like 11 and 12 came a bit later than other folks. I prefer to print when writing so maybe it has something to do with that skipping a grade thing as well. Because I skipped a grade, I was 16 when I graduated from high school and 20 when I graduated from college with my undergraduate degree. I could not even legally drink while an undergrad!

5. My bachelor’s degree is a B.S. in Agriculture, specifically Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, from the University of Florida. I studied science, but I never worked in the field. My current archival career seems like such a far cry from those beginnings. However, I work for an organization that is in part committed to preserving water and land resources so I still feel like I am distantly involved in the realm of ecology and conservation – but not so much wildlife. My master’s degree is an M.S.I.S., an M.S. in Information Studies, with a focus on Archival Administration.

6. My childhood dog was a pekingese named Dee-Dough. He hated white socks. Dee-Dough was the third thing that I named Dee-Dough. The other two things included my imaginary friend when I was younger (Dee-Dough the first) and a weird drunk/bum statue my Dad brought home one day that I named Dee-Dough (the second). Am I remembering this correctly?

7. I attended private school until fifth grade, at which time I was released into the public school system. So began my decline into lesser learning and my introduction to living life as a slacker. My fifth grade public school teacher was also named Dixie. It was fate perhaps.

I do not really want to tag anyone, but if you are reading this, I would not mind seeing your seven things!

I am somewhat superstitious, so I hesitate to say this year might be a good one after all. I will, however, say with certainty that today was an awesome day.

• I went to the orthodontist. He finally gave me an estimated time frame for removing my braces. Prior to today, he would only commit to “soon” or “close”. Today he said that it could be as early as the middle of February! I could not be more excited with the news.

• Clint was offered a job! It is not his dream job, but who has their dream job? Besides, his last job seemed closer to his dream job and it turned out to be a nightmare. Maybe this will be the opposite. He is not so excited about it, but maybe it will turn out to be a really good thing.

Jennifer R., Clint wants to know if he can come use your stove/oven at lunch? Kidding!

• Clint convinced the kids at Super Alley Fun House to move their basketball hoop to the vacant lot next door instead of its recent location which faced our fence. He confronted the children at first (because we frequently ask them to stay off our easement and fence line and it gets annoying to repeatedly ask/tell them to do this) and they laughed. He then took a different approach, complete with curse words (teenage boys like curse words) and ideas for change. He even helped them move the hoop to the other lot. This actually happened yesterday. When I came home last night, it was back in their yard so we felt defeated. Apparently this afternoon they moved it back to the empty lot when they played. Success! Fingers crossed that they keep this up.

• A detective from the police department called about Sherman. I guess the lady really did file a police report. Clint explained our side of the story, which the detective apparently could have cared less about. The detective basically said that he already told her that it is not a criminal matter and that she will need to pursue civil action and sue us to take it further. So unless she sues us, we are good on the Sherman front. Just in case, I am signed up with the legal protection plan on my benefits package. We are covered for seeking legal advice should we need it!

• The last good thing that happened today, and the cherry on top of it all, was the package I received from Courtney. Ms. Courtney sent me a surprise New Year’s package to start my better year off right! Thanks, Courtney!