The Velvet Cerebellum

On my day off work I go back to work to meet the 'gals' to go to lunch. Gals. I have vacation time to burn up so I'm taking a day here and there to keep it manageable until I go on my vacations later (camping in the BWCA, the Badlands, Austin TX). Since my boss takes every Friday off and I was �ber-busy early this week. So I take a wednesday off, but we had plans to go to Cupcake and I'm not breaking those plans!! This is Cupcakes! If you have that whole healthy thing going on, you do not eat at Cupcake. If you worry about carbs or sugar or weighing your portions you do not eat at Cupcake. If you are one of those people that makes it really hard to go out to eat with, I will not invite you to Cupcake.

Cupcake is torturous hell for the anorexic/orthorexic crowd! They frost everything. I think my egg salad sandwich had a crown of rich buttercream on it the last time I was there, I can't remember, i went into a sugar coma.

Yeah, so...Cupcake today.

Then I go back home, get the all too charming Maddie-Delicious and bring her BACK to work so the 'Gals' can meet her. Then I take her to petcosmart whatever and get new collars for them. Something sparkly! Target had nothing in the way of cool collars, they did have an entire section devoted to those tiny yippy little dogs. It was upsetting.

I restocked the chew toy supply as Ghengis was getting dangerously low on things to chew on and was digging out toys he never wanted to touch before. I picked up a big pack of rawhide rolls and offered one to each of them. Maddie is not so keen on taking things from people, especially if she does not know what it is. She's not particularly interested in chew toys anyway. Ghengis, on the other hand is a selfish jerk (and I mean that in the most loving way!). He ran off with his rawhide and then came back and got Maddie's and put that next to his. I got Maddie a new one (you just can't teach dogs about personal property, they believe everything is theirs). Eventually, Ghengis ended up with a pile of rawhides and Maddie napped next to me unaware.

The only thing Maddie IS protective of (besides me, and that's its own post) is mushy food. We gave them some and Ghengis naturally pushed his nose into hers and a great explosion rattled south Minneapolis as these two dogs battled. David got them apart and I held Maddie down. She was terrified that she was in trouble, I felt so bad for her. I know now to keep them apart when there is mushy food!

Yeah, okay so housewarming party is 8/27. If it is a manageable crowd (doubtful when I start to look at the list) we'll have sushi dinner. If it's bigger we'll do finger foods. Suppose I'll have t decorate before then and set up the fish tank!

Ordered hiking boots and walking shoes yesterday. Ordered 2 different pairs of each and will send some back. The walking shoes are a toss up, the New Balance are lighter and more what I need, the Vasques are kiwi green and cute as hell (and probably way more than I need in that they are trail running shoes). The hiking boots are just going to be determined by which feel better.

Yeah, I bought hiking boots and walkign shoes. Jesus. Maybe I don't have cancer, maybe I am actually losing weight. Doubtful. I'm going to Cupcake anyway. Suckers.

Posted by Heather at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Tonight was a night of maudlin reflection. I'll spare you the details.

On a happy note, my housewarming is 8/27. More details to come. Come to my housewarming!!!!!

Posted by Heather at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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I have to rearrange my living room, one of the vents is right next to the end of one of the sofas and I'm sitting here getting blasted in the head with freezing cold AC air. It doesn't help that I keep things pretty cool in here. That thing is giving me brain freeze.

Did my hair. Lime green suckahs! I was hoping for more of a crayon green but this isn't really an exact science. My worry is that it will fade out to an icky yellowy color. Luckily I have enough bleach/developer around to bleach it out of that happens. Or I could get more green from Owen and redo it.

anything new? Lessee....swedish pancakes, dog parks, jackass brigade, shoe shopping, readig old stuff...

Living one block from a yarn store is dangerous. Especially dangerous if said yarn store is two doors down from the waffle offering coffee shop. They had red cotton yarn on clearance. Purse? Probably.

Dogs are a couple of jackasses but what do you expect, look at wo their role model is.

Spent a couple days reviewing writings from various people from the last year or so. I can say this with all honesty, there are some real fuck-jbs out there but conversely there are also some real gems. Be safe, people!

What's the deal with Chipotle? It's a burrito place. They sell very large burritos. I eat at Chipotle now and then, the burritos are large. They aren't bad, they're definitely a step up from Taco Bell, less gimicky too. I know people who freak about how much they love Chipotle, like this place is the end all for burrito places. The way I see it, the only thing they really have going for them is that their burritos are big. The quality s really only middling, there's nothing flavor-wise that stands out, they aren't particularly authentic, they charge extra for guacamole. Don't get me wrong, I think they're tasty, I just don't see what's got people in panty bundling mode. Speaking of Chipotle...the boy promised to get me some for dinner tonight.

blah blah blookie

Posted by Heather at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Or something...2 dogs at the vet, one gets shots and a general once over. The other gets urinalysis to make sure her bladder infection is cured, she gets x-rays to find out the hard lump in her belly is a poop and not a tumor, she gets her ears check to make sure THAT infection is cleared up, she gets her eyes examined as the vet thinks she might be going blind, she gets Heartguard. They both get Frontline. Total cost for all of this? $390! The bulk of the cost was on the Heartguard and Frontline but you can't really not get that if they go outside the way my dogs do!

Yeah, it seems that the vet thinks Maddie might be going blind. It's hard to tell for sure right now without expensive tests so I'm just watching ehr for signs, vet seemed sure that she was acting like a dog losing her sight. It's sad in a way but not really. I'm not upset about it, it's just one of those things you deal with. Just means I can't move the furniture.

Maddie and Ghengis get along beautifully. They play all the time and I'm thinking of moving the dining room table to give them more room; especially on days like yesterday where it was too hot to go to the dog park.

Took the two of them out to my dad's for a bbq. My sister and her boyfriend made the fabulous pork tenderloin, brats and grilled portobella mushrooms. They announced that they were moving in together. I'd have congratulated them except THEY ALREADY LIVE TOGETHER. Their announcement had about the same impact as kd lang announcing she was a lesbian.

Just kidding, congratulations you crazy kids! Oh, and Keith, just remember you invited her in, man. Don't come crying to me later!

This week has been a week of reflection (when I have time to reflect, you know like when I'm not sick or hugely busy at work). A year ago I would never have imagined me in this position. I never would have anticipated this kind of success.

Anyway, breakfast is at 9:30 on sunday at OPH. Be there.

ps David got some great pictures of the dogs napping together, I'll get those posted soon as I know you just can not wait to see even MORE photos of dogs.

Posted by Heather at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Apparently it's hot outside. I wouldn't know. I'm the queen of climate control. I go from home to car to office to car to target to co-op to home and all the places are climate controlled.

The only real problem is that it's probably too warm to take the dogs to the dog park for long which means they get stir crazy on my ass. Damn them. I'll get them a Mr Turtle Pool and that should help keep them cool.

I'm taking them both to the vet today for all the fun doggie vet things like shots, heartguard, ear cleanings, dew claw clipping, blah blah blah. Good times.

Posted by Heather at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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fear.com is a dumb movie. dumb.

Sky Captain and the World of my own Butt is a stultifyingly dumb movie.

My dogs are the reigning champions of jackassville. They still have the occasional scuffle for alpha-hood but generally they are getting along like happy dogs. Took them to the dog park on Tuesday, I was worried Maddie would be overwhelmed or something but she loved it, she had a great time.

The dogs have this game, it involves jumping, growling, butting their heads into each other, running around and using me as some sort of home free base. Generally, this is a fine game until I have to be home free base too often. Jackasses.

When they play fight Maddie has this great tactic where she whips around and knocks ghengis with her butt. Good times.

Other than dogs and dogs and dogs...hmmm.

I am recovering from what is becoming my semi-annual bout of strep. Go me.

Still love my vacuum cleaner in an unnatural way. Today I clicked 2 buttons and emptied the canister without touching a bag or anything. It is so very very wrong to love this thing so very very much.

oh but the big hooray...the big HOORAY!!
My birthday present from David. Achewood!!! It was personalized with my special nickname and had a hand drawn picture of Phillipe. This was a seriously happy and thoughtful gift. We love Achewood and there's even a cute story involving Achewood and how we met.

And he DID order it on time, but Chris Onstad had a baby and everything is late. I was glad to wait it was worth it.

Also, Ray's Rad Chilis garlic chili sauce is the shiznit.

So long Chochachos, this girl's off to bed.

Posted by Heather at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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I can do a post not revolving around the dogs.

Jesus, strep, two ear infections, the common cold. Pretty sure it's time for Bush to declare war on the biological insurgency in my body. It's what he does, he should do it here.

Started watching Carnivale first season. Interesting, a good watch, has some moments. I think the whole 'Scudder' business, while good adhesive for a series, is just slow and trite. Yes, Scudder's a bad man, he did bad things, I think there just comes a point where you say "this man is as bad as it gets" and you move on.

but this is why I don't write for TV.

Another fab hair cut today. Love Owen! Picked green for my clor this time, we'll see how it turns out. This is a true green, I wish they had more of a mint green, but I think this will be good. Change is good. I'd like to do the pink again, I love the way it looks but if I do pink too much then it becomes my 'color' and suddenly it's pink everything. I still want pink running/walking shoes or pink hiking boots.

one dog thing (sorry) Maddie is starting to play more, she's goofy about it. Regularly, though, she must stop to stand in front of me and make sure I am safe from the rabble. Shar peis are funny that way. She's a total doll.

that's it. no more dog stories until tomorrow.

Posted by Heather at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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In trying to find an all encompassing word to use when I am praising both dogs for good behavior I've settled on either 'doogles' or 'borgles' (both David's suggestions). I always call Ghengis 'good boy!' when he is good (I'm all over the praising of any good behavior, it helps to eliminate the need to turn to destructive behavior in order to get my attention). I praise him lightly for regular things like sitting before I put his leash on, peeing outside or eating his food. I praise him highly for doing important things like passing over a stray sock and chewing on a rawhide instead, sitting at intersections before we cross when we are out on a walk, and not trying to devour Maddie's considerabley large head.

I definitely want to get in the habit with Maddie as well. She's remarkably well behaved, very calm, rarely acts out. So she gets to be 'good girl' whenever she is behaved.

The trouble comes when they are well behaved in tandem, like both peeing outside, both coming in and sitting when I take off their leashes and such. 'Good dogs!' seems so very boring. So, I think we'll go with either 'doogle' or 'borgle'. Time will tell.

also, having a new dog in your house can make a puppy very tired

I'm off. yo.

Posted by Heather at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Maddie doesn't know how to play. She's perplexed by Ghengis, David and I. When Ghengis and I play tug rope she gets upset and gets in Ghengis' face every time he play-growls at me. She can't quite figure out why the 3 of us my start running around the house like fools, laughing our asses off (okay, most people and dogs wouldn't get it either). She watches Ghengis fetch his squeaky ball with mild disinterest.

So, we're teaching her to play. We're praising her when she's goofy, we lavish her with attention when joins us in running around the house.

Ghengis adores her, he follows her around and tries to engage her in play. I hope she can relax enough and start to play. It would be good for both of them.

As for me, i'm still sick (and running about the house like a fool isn't helping things). I had to cancel out of my dad's bbq today (sorry dad!), but there was no way I could make it. Ten minutes of effort finds me sweating, aching and exhausted. I'll make it up to him and I think a bottle of 10 year old Laphroaig will ease the pain.

The most I can manage is eating leftover chinese (oh Bill, I love you forever) and devouring popsicles.

nap time with the dogs, it's on.

Posted by Heather at 11:01 AM | Permalink

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The weather is beautiful and I'm knocked flat by a cold. It sucks, i'm in pain, i'm tired, i'm cranky, i'm popping pills. David was a prince and stocked my freezer full of popsicles. Three diferent kinds. He also made breakfast for my mom and I.

Maddie's adjusting nicely. She's very calm and mannerful. Ghengis definitely wants to play with her but she's not much for playing right now.

She came with an AKC pedigree showing her lineage and guaranteeing her 'purity' or some bullshit like that. What i learned though, is that her great grandfather on her mother's side is also her grandfather on her father's side. Weird.

She's being medicated for a severe bladder infection and yeast infections in both ears. We're also trying to get some weight on her, she's pretty thin.

Once we get her in shape then we'll work on commands. She knows her name and comes when called, but she does not sit or lay down or anything on command.

Time for another popsicle! I'll catch you all on the flip side.

Posted by Heather at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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She is a calm joy, a thoughtful dog with a sweet demeanor. Slowly she is settling in and getting used to things. I'm glad she is here.

Posted by Heather at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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I took today off. Most people take mondays or fridays off to extend their weekends. It makes sense, I do it most of the time. Every once in a while, though, I just like to take a day off in the middle of the week. It breaks my work week up.

Today April came over to micromanage. In anyone else, this would be an insult, but my sister is the queen of the micromanagers. If you need someone to come in to a situation, take charge and get shit done down to the littlest detail you call my sister in. I had unpacked everything but my books and the serving dishes. Easy enough to do but completely uncritical to my life and since I'm so easily distracted it just was not getting done.

In comes April on her micromanagement chariot. Boxes are emptied, shelves are filled, space is created.

Aprils fee? A ham and cheese sandwich, 15 tater tots and an iced tea.

Things are coming together. I really love this place. I love having this thing which is all mine. It's very freeing. The next steps include getting pictures up, decorating and then setting up the aquarium.

Tomorrow is Maddie's day! If I can't find out her birthday then tomorrow will be her birthday from here on out. Dogs need birthdays as much as I do! I'm excited and worried. She's 4 years old and in that time she was owned by people who didn't care. Now she's in a doggie foster home with a woman who is very fond of her. Tomorrow, one week after she was abandoned, she will go to yet another home. There will be a whole new set of things to learn, people and animals to deal with. She's always lived in the country and now she will live in the city with all the traffic and noises and smells.

She's been neglected and abused and harmed and then abandoned. She deserves something quite fantastic. I hope I can give it to her. Our big mission is to deal with men. She's been abused and she's scared of men now. We will work on that slowly and carefully. She deserves to be calm and comfortable.

I can tell you with all certainty that Ghengis is a happy dog. A very happy dog. I hope I can give that to Maddie as well.

Posted by Heather at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Yeah, baby, ain't nothing like riding your bike around the lake with a secret service escort. Bring it on you weak ass mofo's, I got thugs watching my back.

Or, more specifically, I've got David and Levi running with me as I ride my bike. It was funny, though, me on the 2-wheeled boulder (you would not believe how heavy that bike is) and the two of them running and triathlon training.

The only thing I'll be talking about for the next few weeks is Maddie and Maddie related things. I just can't wait.

Posted by Heather at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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2 things then I fall into bed.

1) This is Maddie (and here and here they took the listing down so I updated the links), she's a beautiful girl and on friday she's my new special little gal. I can't tell you how excited I am. I had initially passed her over on the petfinder site as she is all the way in Iowa, but the more I looked at her the more I fell in love with her. I'm a sucker for a hard luck case. Figured I'd drive down there and get her! Well, I went through the approval process, spent the day emailing the lady who runs the shelter and discovered that she will be in St Paul with the dogs from the shelter for an adoption event. She's bringing the dog to me! Here's the keenest part: I had decided to get a dog, I decided if I got a dog I would name her Madeline and call her Maddie for short. Cool? Cool!

2) I don't care, hiking boots and walking shoes should come in pink. What's wrong with pink? Well, besides the fact that no one takes you seriously? I found some kiwi green walkign shoes, cool, but not the same. Oh well.

There you have it, my peeps! The world is getting calmer, my 'family' will be getting bigger by one puppy, things are good. Good.

Posted by Heather at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Where did my spontaneity go? Where did the whole jump-in-the-car-wake-up-in-another-state go?

I need to get rid of my calendar, stop scheduling things and start finding myself with free time.

I miss Kansas city, the Badlands, Chicago, Denver, Nashville and Memphis. What's the point of having a dog and a car if I'm not using them?

Wake up, Maggie, I think I got something to say to you.

Posted by Heather at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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CUPCAKE!!!!!

Cup
CAKE!

Sigh.

We went to Cupcake for lunch on Friday (finally). The cutest coffee shop/deli/bakery ever in the tradition of French Meadow but without the attitude. They focus on the bakery stuff, while also serving up delicious food. The thing is, the food is great, the coffee is great but the cupcakes...oh the cupcakes! Sigh, cupcakes.

They had about a dozen different cupcakes in decadent, different, insulin destroying flavors. Mocha, black bottom, Betty Crocker, malted milk, apricot rum, red velvet, caramel, buttermilk chocolate, blueberry lemon, carrot cake, and on and on in both regular and mini sizes. After lunch (which was surprisingly good considering they focus on pastry) and my birthday mocha cupcake from Jen Z (the payroll chica, not the ex) I went and bought 6 more cupcakes to bring home to share with the boy. I let him have the caramel all to himself, he says it was too sweet (which is why, ironically, I didn't want it), I LOVED the red velvet (if I ever get married, I've decided I want a red velvet wedding cake), the black bottom was decadently wonderful, another mocha (YUM). There's half a buttermilk chocolate and a whole malted milk waiting for me! Sigh. Yum.

It should be noted that I limited my purchase to 6 cupcakes and avoided the lemon bars, the banana chocolate chip scones, the key lime tarts, the chocolate macaroons, the creme brulee...

Anyone who comes to visit me is getting lunch at Cupcake. No lie. This is your excuse to come to Minnesota now.

Man, it may not be healthy, but it sure is happy.

Posted by Heather at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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my weekend...
sames as always! dog park, chilling at the coffee shop in the sun with the boy and the dog, grocery shopping, laundry, eating watermelon on the lawn, blah blah blah.

Went over to John and James' (the twins!) for dinner and games last night. I love going there, authentic chinese food, playing cards all night.

Anyway, all chillin, nothing exciting, still love my vacuum (sick, yeah). Today was probably not the best day to make a pork roast, but i had it and I wanted it. Yum.

I'm tired, I'm off to bed.

bebebebebombom

Posted by Heather at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Bill's Garden, the valhalla of cheap chinese food! They serve all the fakey americanized dishes, sweat and sour pork, buddha delight, beef and broccoli, but the difference is that everything is make fresh and everything is surprisingly tasty and good. The cashew chicken was so amazingly good and stuffed full of barely cooked veggies that I ended up plowing through the whole thing (well, except for what I scooped out for lunch today). The salt tried to kill me though.

SIGH! There's a basset/beagle (a bagel!) mix available for adoption! All neutered, up on shots, one year old, potty trained! And today is his BIRTHDAY!!!

Sorry to cut this short, but I gots me a dog to look at1

Posted by Heather at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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The house I am renting is a MAC house. MAC is the Minneapolis Airport Commission and a while ago they were tasked to deal with airport noise in the city. It was determined that it would be cheaper to take every single house anywhere near the airport and soundproof them instead of diverting airplane traffic or building a new airport somewhere else, they were probably right. So I live in one of these soundproofed houses. The windows seal incredibly tight, the insulation is so good that the AC cools the place down in about 25 minutes. The best part, though, is that with the soundproofing, you can not hear ANYTHING from outside.

I would have slept through the whole storm last night if it wasn't for Ghengis getting upset. He hates storms, even if they aren't making noise (or maybe they are making noise he can hear that I can't). It was disconcerting to see the flashing lightning outside but not hear anything but the faintest rumbling. The dog kept waking up so I had to take him out to pee. The dog HATES the storm but will not come in at 1:30 am or 4 am until he has determined things are safe even with thunder, lightning, and driving rain.

We were unscathed, the worst I can complain about is my neighbors giant tree puking fetal pine cones all over my car (I forgot the garage door opener in the house and had to park on the street again). My car looks like a bunch of maggots humped some puffed rice and layered their offspring onto my car in some sort of sacrificial offering. I hate that tree.

Power seems to be out intermittently around town. A lot of major intersections did not have traffic lights. MOST people know that in this situation you revert to 4-way stop sign mode in lieu of lights. MOST people do this, the occasional asswad thinks they should skirt the cars waiting their turn and then blaze across the intersection.

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? That's right, spongebob! Got the movie, will watch it many times.

My big post house sale splurge on myself....A Dyson vacuum! Do i know how to party? oh yeah, baby, i do. Now, before you say "Heather, you fool! How could you spend $500 on a vacuum?!" I'll tell you I didn't! I got it on eBay (thanks Alex for the tip) for a price so low that I could conceivably sell it again for a tidy profit. But I won't. First off, this thing is like a motherfucking Transformer. If dirt was a band of Decepticons my vacuum would kick their asses! This thing (once you figure it out) is so damned easy to use! It has all the great features one would need in a vacuum cleaner, but also, that damned thing sucks...HARD. In a good way. I'm amazed at what's coming out of my carpet. Eeeuuw, but in a good way. Also, the canister pops off and you hit a release button and everything just dumps into the trash. No bags, no filters, no clogging. The only thing to be careful of is accidentally dumping everything on the floor when you are still trying to figure out how everything works. Ah well, I just vacuumed it all up again. Is it wrong to get excited about a vacuum? Could be, but it feels so RIGHT.

You have to accept that if you are wearing a t-shirt with a t-rex, a giant squid, ,and a sperm whale battling it out for supremacy on the high seas you're going to spend a lot of your day with people staring at your boobs (moreso than usual).

Suddenly, I'm addicted to NPR. What the hell. I couldn't stand listening to it before. They always talked all slow (jesus, they talked a lot!) but now, suddenly, I'm listening all the time. They just sit there telling me things all day long. I know I know, NPR is nothing new, but here I am, coming into the game kinda late. Seriously, I just sit here listening to people telling me things. Interesting things. I got to listen to a blind, Dutch scientist telling me about the evolutionary model of bivalves and mollusks and then how that model applied to politics, I listen about using gumballs to fish for carp, I get insight into the news. Fascinating.

I'm using my new Hello Kitty lunch pack today! Hot and sour soup, cookies, carrot stick. YAY.

later...peeps

Posted by Heather at 10:50 AM | Permalink

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Night 4 of birthday celebrations. This was at April and Keith's place with my mom and grandfather and David. I literally suffered a sugar crash and subsequent hangover from the very lovely and VERY sweet Princess Torte that was provided for this party. It was supposed to say "Happy Birthday, Pretty Pretty Princess" but 'Princess' wouldn't fit.

The cake was Keith's idea and based on that and the fucking fantastically delicious dinner I will give him permission to date my sister. He's a smart man, that Keith, he knows the safest way to my sister's heart is through my stomach.

Spongebob movie, dinosaur pancake molds, stuffed spongebob. Yay.

dang.

How do the birthday celebrations keep dragging on? I don't know, but I am supposed to be treated to Cupcake for lunch today, but ecess sugar and excess work and a sick dog might push it to tomorrow.

Speaking of work, I'm off.

Posted by Heather at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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"Your whole life is one giant sign of autism"
From me to Mark

Posted by Heather at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Man, when you start celebrating your birthday the friday before it actually happens you kind of get tired of celebrating your birthday.

You don't get tired of free lunches, though! I get another one tomorrow. Some friends have informed me that I should go for some sort of hannukah version of my birthday because that way when their gifts arrive a week after the fact they won't actually be late. This is the kind of logic that I appreciate!

I need to do laundry but there are issues! My dryer has a buzzer. A really really LOUD ANNOYING BUZZER. It goes off 3 or 4 times at the end of the cycle. I can't throw laundry in to be done when I am not going to be there because this buzzer is so loud and long that it's got to be irritating to my duplex buddy. So I have to stick around so i can run get the stuff out of the dryer after the first buzz. Also, I cannot just put laundry in before I go to bed. ALSO the washer and dryer are about half the size of my last set. Sigh. Still, though, it's completely free to use, i don't even pay for water.

Also, my house is a spider haven! My side of the duplex was vacaant for about 6 weeks before I moved in so the spiders had free reign. Their free reign combined with the wet weather has filled my house with spiders. So many spiders that David is tired of wresting them out the door and has started allowing me to kill them. I appreciate spiders and I appreciate their very important place in the food chain and in the ecosystem as a whole, but that food chain and ecosystem does not exist in my house, or, if it does, NOT in my line of sight. Period. Go serve your role in the food chain out of my site.

More birthday celebrations! HOORAY!

Later peeps!

Posted by Heather at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Sadly, I couldn't get a picture of everyone, but I'll post more soon.

We'd had it all planned, bowling party at Stardust Lanes, bowling, beer, fried food and cake. What could be better? Saturday afternoon, as I lay on the couch painfully hungover after a night drinking and Denny's (it's not a birthDAY it's a birthWEEK) I decide to call the bowling alley to reserve some lanes for the party as we were looking at 14 to 18 people. So, me, hungover, on the phone with the bowling alley listening to a message informing me that they are closed for renovations.

6 hours before the party I'm in panic mode (and hungover), what the hell!

The ever calm and helpful Jessi assures me everything will be okay! I make 8.5 billion calls to let everyone know that the party has moved to Nokomis Lanes. Phew.

I get some coffee in me and all is well.

Best. Party. Ever.

We bowled, we danced in the lanes, we ate cheese pizza, we celebrated every roll! I got a Hello Kitty lunch pack, a million dinosaurs, COOKIES, a surfing hippo clock, and LOTS of toys. Also, Levi watercolored the t-rex on the card for me, I'm going to frame it.

David made me a lovely carrot cake with pineapple glaze and crayons all over it!

We bowled until they turned off the lanes and then stood in the parking lot like a bunch of ruffians.

When we got home, David went out in the middle of the night to get Beebo the caterpillar some tasty new leaves. Beebo rewarded the attention by making his chrysalis during the night. Now I wait to see just what kind of butterfly or moth he will turn into.

Today was dinner and cake with my dad and Monday (my birthday proper) is dinner with april, keith, my mom and grandfather.

beebombom!

Posted by Heather at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Not my birthday yet, but I had my party tonight! After a near disaster got averted we were on our way and tonight was by far the best best best birthday party ever!!!

Pictures later! I'm off to bask in the glow of the best party ever.

Posted by Heather at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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How can you not be happy on a day like today??

Things that made me laugh today:

Daily Dancer (thanks to Alex for that one!). Holy crap! Who is this guy? How does he do it? Be sure to check out "Come Sail Away".

Dinosaurs regularly try to attack me during my commute to work. I actually didn't kill a squirrel the other day, I killed a dimetrodon (which is actually not a dinosaur, but a permian era reptile).

Today I'm wearing suburban fat woman clothes that don't match. I need to do laundry again.

German food for lunch. YUM.

Posted by Heather at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Happy birthday, Robert! Welcome to the cruel bitch that is your 30's. It's all downhill from here, you start craving meatloaf, your clothes get more practical, you really have to think twice about whether or not that 'paid escort' is practical for your budget.

Good luck man!

Man, gemini's are kicking it. woo.

Posted by Heather at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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So there's this whole Gift of the Magi thing going on with the birthday cake. I'm a total social event planner, i get off on planning parties and I know that David doesn't. In trying to help him with the whole birthday party thing I went ahead and ordered a cake for me. I should have checked with him first. I suck, he had plans for a cake.

Easy enough, though, I cancelled my cake and we're off to the races. Or something.

Nicest line in an email to me today: "What's wrong little peanut?". It totally made me feel better!

I'm driving the Allergen-mobile right now! I parked it on the street the other night as I was expecting to go out again and didn't. My neighbor has this gi-fucking-gantic evergreen tree in her front yard. This tree got tree-horny and sprayed a thick layer of greenish pollen stuff all over everything. My car is covered in it, but the cool part is that it seems to work like fingerprinting dust, it really sticks to the handprints and fingerprints on my car. I'm more than a little disturbed at some of the handprint placements on my car.

So I need a car wash.

Yesterday, I went to go compare auto insurance rates. Currently I pay something like $90 a month or something like that, I don't know, I know I write the check for less than $100 a month. The cheapest rate I could pull on Geico was $178! Screw that! Screw you, Geico!

Yet another dream that I will never realize. Dammit.

I'm off to eat papdi chat and masala chai!

Posted by Heather at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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I've seen a manatee fart and now I have seen a caterpillar poop. David found a happy green caterpillar on his way home from work today. Beebo is a green cloverwom (we think, I have my reservations as it has 4 pairs of mid-ab pro-legs instead of 3, but I can not find anything else closer to it). Anyway, we got him set up and tried a variety of leaves with him, finally found some he liked (caterpillars are hugely picky eaters).

But I'm not here to tell you of the particular and stringent dietary needs of the caterpillar. No, I'm all up on the other end. Obviously, caterpillars poop. The reason why they eat so damned much, besdies needing the energy to pupate, is because they are insanely inefficient digesters. Seriously, though, Beebo produced a stercus almost as big around as he was! Granted, it was not terribly long, but STILL. If you or I tried to shit something with that turd:body size ratio we'd be screaming for our mamas!

Anyway, if all goes well, Beebo will become a beautiful something or other and fly away to a life fraught with the little dangers of everyday life, like hungry birds, impassive windshields, and bug zappers.

Also, didn't get to break into a car. Sad. But I did get to stand there and watch David break into his own apartment. Mostly, though, I just played with Beebo and offered up helpful suggestions like "do you want to use a credit card?" (which, technically, was a good suggestion because he tried it and it worked.)

Just about time to turn on the AC for the summer. That kind of makes me sad, but not really. I should have been more productive this evening but it's too hot and humid to do much.

Peace out beebos.

Posted by Heather at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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This morning I dreamed that Darryl Strawberry was an anthropomorphic dachshund that went from school to school teaching kids to stay off drugs. He was about 7 feet long and the kids loved him so.

Oh my wacky brain.

Dinner got rescheduled to thursday. Fascinating. I think David and Bryan will hit it off, they both like music, they both are tall and skinny, they're bipedal!

Man, we're so rocking the Big Lebowski birthday party on Saturday! Right now I am trying to find a place that makes a bowling themed birthday cake. Seems you can't go high class for that. I can easily order a golf themed cake, but bowling isn't listed.

Okay, just got off the phone with Lunds and talked to the coolest guy ever. I actually have an appointment to speak to a cake decorator. Cool? Yeah, cool!

Every year I vow to be more grown up about my birthday, to not get so giddy and excited, to not drop hints. It doesn't work, about a week out I find myself singing made up birthday songs, I have impromptu dance parties. I give the dog lists of birthday present ideas to distribute to my friends. Sigh, some day I'll grow up, but not for a while I guess.

Is it wrong to talk about your birthday party to people who aren't invited?

The squirrel I killed yesterday is all mushed on the street now. Sad.

I'm off to break into a car now. Wish me luck.

Posted by Heather at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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