Poor little conehead

Turns out there is something worse than losing all your data on your computer*:

Getting neutered.  

(Just ask Louie.)

First they shave you in all sorts of undignified ways.

This particular look surprised us.

Then you have to wear a sad little collar

for 10 to 14 days

(They try to class it up by calling it an Elizabethan collar

but really it's just a plastic cone.

I'm pretty sure Queen Elizabeth I would be insulted.)

No running and playing.  For 10 to 14 days.

No bathing or getting wet. For 10 to 14 days.

Instead?

Bumping your cone against walls, stairs, the floor

as you adjust to your new width.

(Do we laugh? Yes we do.)

Very sad.

Ah, perspective.

When I went to pick up Louie, they gave me this kit: 

Spay/neuter kit?!

Whoa! I had no idea this was a self-serve neutering operation! 

I hope they give some pretty detailed instructions.  

Cause I don't know if I'm comfortable...

All day Louie looked at me like this.  

Finally I realized what he reminded me of. 

He's like the RCA dog and the victrola all in one, 

don't you think?

You're welcome, Bob Barker.

p.s. Thanks for your condolences and sympathies for my Clementine.  (As Allysha so perfectly put it: Clementine is dead.  Long live Clementine!) Things are looking up as I reinstall and reconfigure and upload.

Sparks of inspiration

In which I sing praises of good things going on, my earlier blog crisis notwithstanding

1) Tara's got a great idea going on in her life: One Project a Month (OPAM to those in the know).  She looks around and identifies one corner of her world that she'd like to whip into shape (we all have them: the I'll-get-to-that-someday, not-quite-disastrous-enough-to-warrant-emergency-attention pockets of the house).

I asked her if I could post her photos of her last month's triumph + she generously agreed.  DO NOT BE SURPRISED IF THIS IDEA SHOWS UP ON MY WALLS.  I love it.  You can see details of this particular project here.  I love the blend of black-and-white and color, the fantastic close-ups (she's a photographer so she had great shots to choose from), the square format, the groupings, the TTV effect (she explains it better than I could), the modern + unobtrusive Ikea frames.

The best thing? You can join in with Tara on the OPAM crusade!  Fighting procrastination, one doable project at a time.  Are you in? I am.

2)  Believe it or not (I'm sure you do) I still have a bunch of my kids' artwork in boxes and folders.  Sometimes I took a photo of them holding the art and then got rid of it but much of it remains, even 13 years after the fact.

When I saw this collage by Jan Eleni, I was happy I kept them (or at least some of them).  This is genius.  A collage of miniaturized kids' artwork.  Brilliant, I say.

via Design Mom

Do you think I could get the same effect by scanning them in myself and printing on a great printer? Or here's another idea I just had: a collage of your family's yearly holiday cards. 

3) I have been particularly inspired lately by the lovely, delicious offerings of the foodie blogs.  In particular, I like Annie's Eats (no, the Annie is definitely not me), The Pioneer Woman Cooks (I know, with everyone else on the planet, right?), and Smitten Kitchen (who wins my vote for the cleverest cooking blog title and who sells her fabulous photos of food here. There's another idea for the collage! A food one for the kitchen.) What's important to know is that I, by nature, do not usually feel the love for cooking. Eating? Yes, got that covered.  But I have been a pretty utilitarian cook for my family.  I rotate through a standard 4 or 5 dishes.  The picky young eaters won.  Yawn.

photo via Smitten Kitchen

However.  These daily culinary ideas have been just the thing to spark my kitchen creativity (or is it still creativity if I'm just recreating their recipe? Hmm. Don't know). Honestly, sometimes I just look at the post and admire. But more and more, I break out the bowls and give it a try. Let me know if I'm missing out on one of your favorite food sites.

4) Allysha's hosting an virtual book group for Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.  I have to admit I've never read it (I know! And I call myself a bibliophile! I haven't read Anna Karenina either. Sorry) but I'm looking forward to joining in after reading her introductory tribute to it.

I love summer reading.  {Mom, remember the summers when I used to stretch out on the beige sofa and read All Day Long? And only every once in a while would you nudge me to go outside and do something? Thanks for letting me do that.  I was so oblivious to anyone around me...you probably could have used my help somehow...but it was a great gift, that endless reading.}

That's it for now. We're off with our friends to the Cape this weekend.  

I hope you have a good one!

Snippets from my brain

Sometimes I wish I could have a different blog for every one of my interests--a design one, a kinda funny observations one, a more serious writing one, a photo one, a journal of our lives and happenings one, a parenting one (okay, I do sort of have that), etc. Instead I end up with this goulash of a site--everything just thrown in here. Sometimes--like today--it's all a jumble in one entry. Buckle your seat belts, folks, here we go...

Greg's Grandpa Lee sings "You are my Sunshine" to all the babies in the family, so it's become something of an anthem for us. (Although I have to stifle a grin when he gets to the line "my only sunshine" because, clearly, he has more than one sunshine in the world. He's very generous with doling out his sunshine status. Even inlaws like me are eligible!)

So when I found this handmade sign (at Yeehaw Industries, via the enchanting Snippet and Ink) I knew it must be ours. And that's all I have to say about that.

* * *

I just heard that An Inconvenient Truth will be made into an opera. REALLY, Al Gore? Are you sure you want to do that? Sounds like making a mystery novel from the tax code. Not sure how powerpoints will be translated into song. Not sure I even want to find out.

* * *

Our Memorial Day backyard party was great. Sadly, I took no pictures to document the event but trust me, it was a gorgeous day with a fun group of people. Kids played wiffle ball and on the trampoline, grownups enjoyed laughing and talking. People brought great food and we sat around and ate it until we were full and then we went ahead and ate it some more. Party #6 this year! It's my favorite new year's resolution by far. (But still not totally easy for me. This is the philosophy behind the resolution: I was an anxious hostess whenever I did a party so I decided to do a bunch of them to get over my anxiety and enjoy it. I'm getting there!)

* * *

I'm spending much of my life in the kitchen, the only room where the puppy is allowed to roam. He misses me when I go elsewhere in the house (I am his sunshine, his only sunshine, please don't take my sunshine away) so I mostly camp out here. Working. Folding laundry. Listening to NPR. Reading. Cooking. Eating. Eating again.

Note the curtain tied up off the floor so he doesn't playfully tug it down, the crate where he ostensibly sleeps, the various chew toys and towels on the floor. The chair in the foreground is next to a big long box blocking the entry to the rest of the house that we all have to climb over to get in and out of the kitchen. See the dog sleeping directly beneath the chair where I usually sit. Notice the open door to encourage house training and going uno and especially dos outside. So that's the miniature vision of our everyday life. He's cute but he's kind of taken over around here.

Black gold, Texas tea

We got a message from our bank yesterday that there was suspicious activity on Greg's credit card. They were putting a hold on it until they were able to speak to us.

I called Greg right away. He checked his wallet--the card was still there--and we tried to think about our spending over the last few days that might have triggered the suspicion. Me: grocery store? pet supplies? He: ATM machine? hardware store? We couldn't think of anything extravagant or exciting (someday I would like to set off the warning flags with our own out-of-character purchase, though. Wouldn't that be fun?)

Greg called me back after speaking to the bank. "Yup, someone got a hold of my credit card number and they were going crazy in Detroit. They already used it three times."

"They did?! What did they buy? How much did they spend? Are we accountable for it?"

He laughed before answering.

Guess what the crooks did with the number? Did they get jewelry or electronics or plane tickets? No. Did they buy a new wardrobe or go to expensive restaurants? No again. They got gas. As in filled up their tank(s) with gasoline. That's it. And a sad commentary on the price of crude oil it is.

(p.s. I guess it was the Michigan use of the card that set off the bells and whistles, not the price}

Happy dances

When I was in my teens I acquired a distinctive happy dance. It was a hoppy bit of glee that signalled my excitement. College acceptance letters, invitations to a big dance, good scores on a test all warranted the probably-awkward-but-definitely-sincere choreography. I don't pull it out very often anymore, not because I don't feel gleeful but because I've learned to contain it a bit. Still, my family knows I might break out into happy dance without notice if something takes me by surprise. Much to their chagrin, I'm sure.

In that spirit, here are some happy dance videos. Feel free to break out into your own version.

1. This one's kind of old school + I think I posted about it a year or two ago. But you've got to include Matt in any discussion of happy dance. The guy's turned his herky jerky one into a money maker as he traveled the world and taped his happy dance.

2. I saw this one in the last couple of days {via Very Short List ...if you don't subscribe to their daily posts, you're missing out!}. I get tired just watching this guy jump two-footed around what looks to be London. Literally light in the loafers. A good workout. How'd they do that?? Here's Goldfrapp's video of Happiness:

3. This one's my new favorite. A girl (24ish?) dances right along to the footage of her 1987 self dancing with abandon. So sweet + it made me want to connect with the 4-year-old me somehow too. Girl's got moves! {Found via Mighty Girl}