Pssst

(I would have given anything -- an organ, a limb -- for Hubby to stay home from work today. I miss him all the time.)

Don't Laugh

I love Little House on the Prairie. I have watched Half-Pint and Mary grow up since the '70s -- over and over again. I swear I have seen every episode at least twice. Like the one where Laura runs away to the top of the mountain and meets that grizzly old mountain man. And she learns huge life lessons from this hairy angel man while her Pa and Mr. Edwards are searching all over creation for little Laura. When the men finally find her, Laura is ok, and well-fed and safe -- but the angel man is gone. Gone! But Laura knows he was real because he left her the bird in the tree. And her heart is full of love for everything.

Yeah, I've seen them all.

And the Hallmark channel runs two episodes back-to-back every weekday morning. I admit it: I have it on in the background (and sometimes the foreground) as I putter around.

(Can a person putter before the age of seventy?)

Queen of No Immune System

Hello World,

Please stay away from me for a little while. I seem to have lost my immune system somewhere, sometime after the wedding. I am currently on my second illness in a month's time. I have battled strep throat with a little help from Mr. Penicillin and now have moved on to the mystery sore throat illness that wakes me up in the night with pain and inability to breathe.

So please. Please. Keep your germs to yourself and let me reclaim my antibodies.

Thank you,
klhp

The Smart Thing the Dumb Dog Did Last Night

We have two dogs. Two big pointer mixes. Eppie is the smart one with big sticky-up ears and a brindle spot around her left eye. She is the one who will try to climb up into my lap if I'm crying, or put herself between me and a stranger while out on a walk. She is sensitive and as intuitive as a dog can be. Maggie is the dumb one with lying-down ears and a black mask over both eyes and ears. She wiggles and wags at anything that moves (unless it's a squirrel or a mailperson -- she tries to eat those) and loves to be pet. If you look at her too long, you risk getting a face full of wet nose.

They couldn't be more different.

Our nighttime routine to puppy-proof the house before bed requires pieces of furniture flipped upside down on the couch, Rob's bag on the chair, and all doors latched tightly, because noses are known to push open doors to find soft places to sleep. Last night, all the puppy-proofing done, we went to bed for the night. Eppie in her bed at the top of the stairs, Maggie in the living room on her bed.

In the morning, Rob got up and went downstairs to check his email, and what did he find? Maggie! On the couch. Behind the cushions. She had climbed up the side of the couch, walked across the back like an acrobat on a tightrope, then wedged herself down behind the back cushions, pushing them out into a 'V.' And the worst part is, when Rob found her, she just looked at him with this (smug!) look that said, "Look! Look what I did!!" I would have expected this type of behavior from Eppie.

Now the couch is blanketed in Maggie hair. Something I loathe more than anything. Aaaaand, she was just in the kennel for Thanksgiving and is a little stinky, even after a bath. Good thing that my grandparents got us a supercool, ultralight vaccuum cleaner than sucks up all allergens known to Man.

I guess we need to come up with a new puppy-proofing routine. [sigh]

Married

So I'm married now. The wedding and reception were perfect. I am living in PA now, to which I am slooooowwwly adjusting. It is definitely wonderful to get to see the Husband every day. It still feels like we are playing house a little. I am so happy to be in the same time zone, let alone the same house. We've been celebrating First Married Things, like First Married Movie Date, First Married Singing Gig, etc. It makes people around us throw up in their mouths a little, but we like it!

I've been hardly reading since the wedding. I am just so happy to be with Hubby that I don't want to spend my time reading! I am reading "The Rainbow" by D.H. Lawrence. Slowly, slowly, I am getting through it. I absolutely love Lawrence. I love his writing, love the meandering way he goes through a story, I love the way he fleshes out his characters. I don't know when I will finish it, but I'll get there. I have so many piles of books to read, I need to get cracking!

I found this little list on someone's blog. All of the bolded items are things that I have done. Feel free to steal it for your own!

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life