Saturday Morning Update

Labels: Blue, work

posted by Miss Rachel 3/29/2008 08:13:00 AM

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Easter Eve Shopping Trip

... plus Blue with Easter Bunny Ears!

Labels: Blue, holidays, make-up, shopping

posted by Miss Rachel 3/22/2008 10:47:00 PM

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Me and School and a Dog Named Blue

Labels: Blue, friends, library science, school

posted by Miss Rachel 2/17/2008 11:11:00 PM

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Worried About Blue

When I came home today, I found Blue had thrown up in his crate, and then he "asked" to go out right away and I saw him trying and trying to poop, but nothing was coming out. Later he threw up a little more. I wonder if there is some of sort blockage so I've decided the best tactic is no dinner tonight. Tomorrow hopefully, he'll be able to "go" and I'll try giving him breakfast. I'm going to be home working on my technology paper so I'll be able to keep an eye on him. He was at the groomer yesterday (and he looks GREAT), so maybe he picked up a little bug or something - ? I hope he'll be better tomorrow. He seems emotionally fine; just as cuddly as ever.

Labels: Blue

posted by Miss Rachel 10/05/2007 09:30:00 PM

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Blue and I went up to Rockport for the weekend. We headed up on Friday night, and came back on Sunday around noon. Just a short visit, but it was good to see my mom and Andrea and the cats. The weather was pretty chilly so going to the beach was out, and I suggested going shopping instead. I hate shopping alone, but I enjoy it with them. We headed to the mall and hit Macy's, J. Jill and the Gap among others. I also went to the Apple Store and played around with an iPhone and tried to send Sweetie and e-mail from it, but got his e-mail address wrong (duh).

At Macy's I bought a new Definicils mascara from Lancome and a Clinique lipstick. My mascara was running low so I needed to restock, but of course you know I didn't need a lipstick. But I found this really cool color - Silvery Plum - and bought it. I wore it today, and it's really pretty. I really needed some bras, and I was SO happy to have my mom with me for bra shopping. I like nice lingerie, but trying on bras gets old fast. She gave good moral support and helpful opinions about the fit. I ended up finding 4 good ones. I also bought a summery dress at J. Jill and a winter dress at the Gap.

I got a strawberry slushie / smoothie type thing and then we headed home. On the way, we stopped and picked up a pizza at Papa Gino's. We ate while watching the Yankees game (Mom and Andrea are Yankees fans). Afterward, we watched some of the Red Sox game (and then I watched the Suze Orman show, which I love). I'm a Red Sox fan and it was great to see Big Papi hit a grand slam! I get all caught up on sports when I visit. My sister had taught me all sorts of things about baseball and knows way more about the Red Sox than I do even though she's a Yankees fan.

The visit was brief, but it was good to get some time with my peeps, and it was also good for Mom to get some dog time. She really loves dogs and Blue is quite love-y and entertaining. One of the cats, Woody, and he get along very well. Woody can be really nasty and my mom is always saying how bad she is, but she is an amazingly cute kitty. She's practically irresistable, although she might scratch you if she's in a bad mood. Here is a shot of Her Mighty Cuteness. Now is that cat cute or is that cat cute?



Speaking of cats, today is Trinka's 15th (!) birthday. Happy birthday Trinka!

Labels: Blue, cats, family, make-up

posted by Miss Rachel 8/20/2007 08:15:00 PM

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Summer weather arrived yesterday. Nice and hot, but not too humid. Today it was more humid with a high of 95. Sweetie and I are air conditioner-less, and I have a feeling we're going to miss it tonight. So will little Trinka. I know she wants to go downstairs to cool off, but she just refuses to deal with Blue, even if he's in his crate. I think she doesn't even want him to see her. Oh well, there's not much I can do about the situation. We've had Blue for almost three years now, and if she's not used to him yet, I don't think she's going to change.

Labels: Blue, summer, Trinka

posted by Miss Rachel 6/26/2007 06:35:00 AM

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The lilacs are out, and as you might have guessed from the color of this page and the picture at the top, lilacs are one of my favorite flowers. The weather has turned rather cold and damp for the last few days, but I didn't want to miss out on the "lilac experience" so yesterday Blue and I ventured out on what I called a lilac sniffing expedition. There is a lilac bush in my backyard which you can see here, but it is a different variety. It looks pretty and it smells nice, but it doesn't have quite the heavenly fragrance of the purple and white ones so I decided to head out and bring Blue with me.

We went to Elizabeth Park, home of the world famous Rose Garden. There was some kind of work going on in some trees there. I guess they were pruning or something - ? The trees aren't the kind you normally think of pruning though - big old oak trees. They were sending men up from trucks in those little cart things. A lot of people were standing around watching, but I couldn't really see what was so interesting. There was also a plant sale going on. I wish I had the time and inclination to garden, and I seriously have been thinking about it, but I held off on buying any plants. I would need to get a place in the yard ready and plan things out a bit, not just buy any plants that struck my fancy willy nilly.

So anyway... Blue and I walked past the plant sale, and then went down the path that runs along behind the annuals garden (which is currently filled with tulips) and the rock garden. It was very quiet back there - no people. I could just hear just hear birds singing. I wasn't scared though. There were plenty of nice seeming people nearby. And then we got to the lilacs which surround the Heritage Rose Garden.

It was lovely. I walked around for a while smelling the lilacs and taking pictures of them. There were 2 men talking and one of them had a pug so I brought Blue over to say hi. The pug acted kind of crazy though and was making all these sounds like the Tasmanian Devil so Blue got behind me. We talked for a little while about dogs and lilacs, and then I continued on. I circled back by them again a bit later and one of the men suggested I take a bouquet. I think he was joking, but I mentioned I would have to a be a lot taller, as most of the lilacs were high up. I took a few more pictures and buried my nose in the blossoms once more, and then Blue and I headed back to car.

Labels: Blue, dogs, spring

posted by Miss Rachel 5/20/2007 06:18:00 PM

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I am taking yet another day off from work to do schoolwork, but I haven't done any of it yet today. Yesterday, I conducted my interview with the librarian and took tons of notes. Afterward, she gave me a tour of the office (she is a librarian, but she works in an office for a library consortium), and introduced me around (there were about 6 other people who worked there). Everyone was very nice, and they expressed instant groans of recognition when they were told my paper topic was quality control in cataloging. The manager said that it was good to see a "young person" interested in that sort of thing. Hee! I'm betting he didn't realize that I'm 40.

In the afternoon, I spent a couple hours typing up my paper from my notes before I could forget what they meant. I have about 5 pages now which, after editing, will probably pare down to more like 4, but I think it's a good chunk. I e-mailed it to my work address so in case I have some kind of computer crash, it will be available. I know I can also save it on disc, but honestly, I still haven't quite mastered how to do that without Sweetie's guidance (burn folder - whaaa?). Yeah, I'm sure I can do it by myself, but I just haven't bothered to remember it exactly. I think one more disc burning review session, and I'll have it down. Another thing I usually like to do with paper drafts is print them, but my printer isn't working right. As Sweetie says, my printer is worth every cent I paid for it. (It was a free printer.)

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Sometimes I've heard people say that the weather in New England is so severe nowadays that the seasons go from winter to summer with no spring. But I don't really think that's true. We have spring; it's just not very long. Yesterday, however, would be a point in favor of the "no spring" argument because it was like a summer day - sunny with temperatures in the 80s. As Mike Landin said, "Yesterday was like a day out of midsummer, minus the high humidity. In other words, it was spectacular."

After working on my paper, I spent some time hanging outside with Blue listening to my iPod (and uh... um, smoking a few cigarettes...). I was sitting on the steps of the deck with Blue lying behind me, and I decided to see how he would work out as a back and head rest. Turns out, he does a great job. A few times he put his snout in my face, but mostly we just hung out peacefully communing with one another and the summery breeze.

Labels: Blue, library science, life at home, school, spring

posted by Miss Rachel 4/24/2007 09:35:00 AM

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Blue and the Bread Tree

Bonnie suggested that if I put some bread and popcorn on the Christmas tree, which is still out on the back deck of our house, that the birds would thank me. Yesterday, I finished up a loaf of bread; there were just the two ends left, and I realized I should put them on the tree. So I broke them up into pieces and placed the pieces on the branches as best as I could. I mentioned to Sweetie that I had done this, but that I didn't think the birds had noticed yet.

Last night when I got home, Sweetie asked if it might be possible that some of the pieces of bread were at height that could be reached by, say... an Australian Shepherd. Just supposing... because he noticed that Blue seemed to spend a longer than usual time outside than he usually does at that time. And that he was hanging out by the tree when Sweetie went to let him in.

Well, today it was pretty obvious that he knew it was a Bread Tree. He immediately went over to it when I let him out this morning, and usually he just scampers right off the deck. Then later, the wind knocked the tree over, and probably the last bit of bread fell onto the porch and Blue ate it right up. Then this afternoon Blue was hanging out by the door which usually means he's asking to go out so I let him. He didn't really have to go; he just went to check the tree for bread and then asked to come back in. Blue's comment: "I love the Bread Tree."

At least, the birds can still eat from the bird feeder.

Labels: Blue

posted by Miss Rachel 2/14/2007 06:29:00 PM

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A Clean Dog is a Happy Dog

Or the owner of clean dog is a happy owner.

There is a cute and *clean* dog lying on his bed behind my chair. I had him groomed yesterday and he looks beautitul. He also smells better. He's never been much of a smelly dog, but I guess this time I let him go a little too long "between cleanings" and he started to get a bit ripe. While he was at the groomer's, I washed the cover on his new bed to nip any smelliness in the bud (is that a mixed metaphor?). I also ended up throwing out the orthopedic bed in his crate because I found that it wasn't just the cover that smelled, but the whole bed.

I need to keep up and not let him go too long again. The thing is, the groomer is very busy and Blue is a very furry dog whose coat requires time to work on. So when I call, it's often two weeks before I can get an appointment, because other very furry dogs have already been scheduled, and that means living with a smelly dog for two weeks. So for next time, I've planned ahead. I put a note in our WebCalendar to call the groomer two weeks before Blue will be due for a spring cleaning. Literally, spring cleaning, since I like to have him done every 3 months, the next appointment should be in May.

Unlike Blue, I always enjoy going to the groomer because the people are so nice and I enjoy seeing the other dogs there. Yesterday, there was a Border Collie and a Pug and there was one of the groomer's dogs, a Pomeranian and another groomer's dog, a Shih Tzu. There was also a cat. As you might imagine, the cat was extremely unhappy to be there. When I arrived to pick up Blue, two of the groomers were working on the cat.

There used to be only those two people, but there is now a third groomer, who saw me out, and she seemed quite enamoured with Blue saying how cute he is and how well he behaved. I said he was different at home. When a stranger is in our house, you have to watch him because he might take his or her ankle in his mouth. For some reason, he never does this with my mom or sister though. It's as if he immediately accepted them as part of the pack even though they don't visit here very often. Maybe it's because my mom and my sister and I have similar genetic make-ups, and since Blue likes me, and they seem similar, he's decided they're all right too.

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My arms are finally more mobile. There's still pain when I straighten my right arm, but today is the first day since my new strength program that I can fully straighten it. I did my new program for the first time on Monday so I was due for my second weights workout of the week on Thursday. I was still in a lot of pain then, and I had some training for the new job and then the ill-fated meeting with the branch manager, and by then it was 3 PM, and I still hadn't gone to the gym. As you know, I was pretty unhappy after the meeting, but instead of shutting down, I thought, "F*** it, I need to go to the gym." So I did.

I talked to the trainer, and we decided I should still do all the exercises, just with lower weights. So in exercises when I had previously used 7, 8 or 10 pound dumbbells, I used 3 and 5 pound ones instead. I also managed to due my push-ups, but I didn't straighten my arms all the way when I came up. I probably said before here that my goal is to do a real, full push-up, and at this point I can't even do full "girlie" push-ups, but I am progressing. The trainer is now having me do girlie push-ups on the floor starting from a lying down position. So I start them fully pushing up, but I don't lower myself all the way down in between them. I know to some of you super fit types, this may not sound like much, but I tell you, I have really make some progress here. And I'm proud of myself for this.

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In other good news, I had a good conversation with my mother. She called me at work on Thursday, after my meeting with the manager and before my work-out, and I kind of felt like crying. I didn't though; I dealt with my stuff. As you know, I was really upset with my mom's reaction to me last week, for a habit she has of trying to deny or ignore any feelings I express if they're negative. So after we had chatted a bit, I said, "Mom I don't want to make you feel bad, but it bothers me when you try to deny my feelings. If I feel depressed or unenthusiastic about my job, I can handle it. You don't have to fix it, and I'd rather just feel bad than pretend I don't feel bad." God, that sounds like something from an after-school special or a self help book, but I felt so relieved after saying it. And she totally seemed to get it and, she was all right with it. Really, it was like, now that I've said what I need to say and she accepted it, I can go back to having a good relationship with my mom.

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Watching: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season Five. More awkward and offensive interactions with one of the most unlikable people to ever star in a show. It's just plain funny though. The Susie Green character is still my favorite. Larry: You call Jeff a fat f***. Susie: That's because he is a fat f*** !

Labels: Blue, family, fitness

posted by Miss Rachel 2/10/2007 08:33:00 AM

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Here's my blogging partner on his new bed which I placed behind my chair. I'm not a fan of buying material goods for my pets because I don't think they even want them. An occasional toy or treat, sure, but pets really don't want a lot of Things; they mostly want your time and attention. However, Blue used to avoid lying near me when I was on the computer probably because the floor is hardwood, lovely to look at of course, but not the most comfy surface to lie on. Also, he has a deformed front leg and hip displaysia and since he can't talk, who knows how uncomfortable he might be? So I figured another bed would be helpful to him. And he seems to like it, as you can see here.

Labels: blogging, Blue

posted by Miss Rachel 1/28/2007 08:50:00 AM

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