Shopping Spree

I spent way too much money today, but it was on my dogs so it was totally worth it, and now I won't have to buy anything for them for several months. Today, just in time for the holidays... was double discount day for employees at my work. Instead of my normal 15% off, I got 30%. So I used the opportunity to completely stock up on things for my babies...

I bought 2 40lb bags of the best dog food in the world, Blue. I am a huge endorser of this dog food. My dogs eat better than I do... and the best part about it, is that in a pinch, a person could eat this dog food. Here are the first 10 ingredients... 1.Chicken2.Chicken Meal3.Whole Brown Rice4.Whole Ground Barley5.Oatmeal6.Rye7.Chicken Fat8.Menhaden Fish Meal9.Whole Carrots10.Whole Sweet Potatoes. Doesn't sound like dog food does it? That's the idea. It also has no corn, wheat or soy, no preservatives, steroids or anything else yucky in it.

They also just recently came out with a canned food that's just as great. So I bought a few cans of that. I also bought something to give me some friggin peace of mind. Rikka is still learning to potty outside, and I'm tired of cleaning my carpet, so she gets to wear a doggie diaper until she learns that outside is the only place she can potty. Yay for no more carpet stains!

Then I got to the good stuff, a bully stick, some denta bones, a bag of compressed rawhide bones, (longer lasting than regular rawhide, safer as in less risk of a choking hazard because they can't eat a whole big chunk of it and get it stuck in their throat, and because they can only rip strands of it off, the big chunks don't sit around in their stomach having a hard time digesting.) some tug toys for Wesley, a "doggie purse" for Rikka, so I can take her everywhere with me... (Look out Paris Hilton! It's even pink.. God help me.)
and last but not least, a new Chuck-It. A Chuck it is the coolest dog toy for dogs who like to chase tennis balls.. It allows you to throw like a major league baseball player without dislocating your arm, and its also designed so if you can get your dog to drop the ball, you can pick it up with the arm and never have to touch that nasty slobbery ball!

What can I say? My dogs are spoiled, but I don't have kids. Besides, what good is having a dog if you can't spoil them from time to time?

Seeing Red Again...

After having lunch with my mom, I went back to her house and finished painting the downstairs. I'm FINALLY done with their downstairs. My guess is she's going to want me to start working on painting the other rooms now..

I finished around 4:30 and then had to drive in rush hour traffic (always a good time) down to Milwaukie to make my 5:30 appointment with Lenea. Lenea did such a fantastic job on my hair last time, I went back to her to do it again. This time, she cut my hair, something I'd needed done for quite a while, and then she put that fabulous red in, this time adding some blonde highlights just for fun. It looks great! I love it! Thanks again Lenea! If you need a good haircut or a great color job... call her!

We made plans to hang out sometime this weekend since I never get to see Matt, and I only get to see her when she does my hair, and that's not cool.. I haven't seen them together since July! Let's see how long it takes either of them to call me and give me crap about posting this picture I took of them 3 years ago when they first started dating! :P

Sing like no one is listening....

I had so much fun tonight! I went out with Rosemary to see Derailed. It totally wasn't what I expected. Lots of plot twists and incredible acting by both Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston. Definately must see if you have doubts about Ms. Aniston's acting abilities. Also I loved to hate Melissa George when she played the wife of Michael Vaughn in Alias, but I liked her a lot in this role.

After that, we went to Glen's house, where he made all sorts of yummy things like pecan pie (leftover from his thanksgiving feast) and flaming egg-nog and a buttered brandy that would knock anyone's socks off with it's hot, smoothe, yummy goodness. We played all sorts of crazy games like Smart Mouth, Guillotine, and Apples to Apples.




And finally, Rosemary reminded us that Sundays are "strip karaoke" nights at Devil's Point... at which point Guy, (Glen's brother) got redressed and out of bed just to see. It was a blast! We sang horrible renditions of all sorts of songs, while the lovely "Valentine" danced to our really bad songs that some of the singers would roll over in their graves if they heard us singing. It really was a great time! Unfortunately, cameras are forbidden here, otherwise I would post all sorts of embarrassing pictures of us!

Coastal Rejuvination..

After coming out of our Thanksgiving coma, Eldon and I drove down to the coast for the night. We stayed at the house he grew up in, and relaxed for far too many hours in their giant hot tub. It was adjusted to just the right temperature so that you could stay in it forever and not overheat. We did have to get out eventually though, because we started to dehydrate! Eldon's parents were nice enough to leave their thanksgiving leftovers and we munched on some turkey and watched some tv before heading to bed.

Saturday morning, Eldon's parents arrived, and promptly made us breakfast. Of course, given Eldon's affection for bacon, there was LOTS of it. Shortly after breakfast, Eldon's mom began making lunch. We finally had to escape to the beach so they would stop feeding us!

I'm so glad I'm back here. I almost forgot how absolutely stunning and magical the ocean is.

I could sit out there forever and just watch the waves crash up and back against the rocks.

Eldon took me to his favorite spot. The rocks make a perfect chair for just sitting on the rocks and thinking.

We wandered around taking pictures of the waves and admiring the beauty of the ocean.

It was a little chilly, but thankfully, I had Eldon to keep me warm. :)

The Hunt for Thanksgiving Dinner...

The search is on....

I found it!

I brought dinner mom!

Ok, so maybe it didn't go quite like that... but I did have duck and Wesley would have loved to have gone and got it himself....

Instead, Wesley and I joined Eldon and Ildiko for Thanksgiving dinner at Ildiko's place. He did seek and hunt for Nero, Ildiko's cat but never actually made the acquaintance. He found her big stuffed bearded collie and made friends with it though. :P

She made duck, something I'd never had before, but it was really good. I'd heard that duck was greasy, but I didn't think so.. maybe it's because Ildiko said she overcooked it, but it didn't taste overcooked or dry, it was just right.

Before dinner, I stopped by to wish Glen a Happy Thanksgiving and pick up a bottle of wine he said would go good with duck. He was right. It was a really good wine. Thanks again Glen!!

Even Ildiko liked it, and she's not a fan of wine. She really is a fantastic cook, and she likes doing it so Eldon and I felt quite spoiled that she did all that cooking just for us. There was duck, stuffing, mashed potatos, sweet potatos, salad, green beans and for dessert a sweet potato cheesecake and apple pie. We left quite stuffed. Thanks Ildiko for a great meal!

No Turkey bones for doggies

Just a reminder... turkey is ok for dogs.. the bones are not~ They splinter and can get caught in their throat.

It ain't Jumanji

Today Eldon and I went to see Zathura. While it was fun and the special effects were cool, we both decided Jumanji was better. Zathura had some neat stuff happen, but there wasn't the whole "neighborhood gets trashed and the city is in chaos" thing going for it like Jumanji did. They were in space, so the only thing that happened was things that happened to and around the house. It was pretty funny though. My favorite character was the bitchy sister, and she really didn't even have that big of a part. However her discovery line cracked us both up. "And I wanted to...."

Even though Jumanji was better, (how can you top Robin Williams anyway?) it was still a fun way to spend an afternoon. I would recommend seeing it in the theatre, just because space movies are so much more fun there, rather than renting it.

Laughing all the way....

After I got off work I had to rush down to Harvey's to meet up with Eldon, Justin, Jessica and Rosemary to see the show. The opening MC sucked horribly. His delivery was off, so even when he did manage to say something funny it didn't come across as funny. He was also sort of offensive and not in a funny way.

Thankfully, Colleen Crabtree was one of the featured comedians and she was hillarious, so the MC sucking was soon thwarted by her quick wit and excellent delivery.
Then Ron Feingold came on. He was pretty good too. However Justin commented that he saw the EXACT same show from him 5 years ago. Which of course explains why some of his jokes were a little dated. He was still funny though, just needs some new material. I was impressed by his acapella singing, but not enough to warrant buying any of the crap he was selling. Even the F U (Fuck You University) tshirt was skipped.

When the show let out, Rosemary headed home and Eldon, Justin, Jessica and myself went over to Embers. Using the restroom at Embers is always interesting, because there is almost always at least one man dressed as a woman using our restrooms. I got stopped by one of them and he/she talked my ear off. I was gifted with a card for the karaoke variety show "they" do. So if anyone is interested....

Eldon decided to "people watch" in lieu of dancing.

They played a lot of 80's music, which was fun, and I couldn't control the urge to whip out a scrunchie put up a side pony tail for a laugh.

Jessica does a pretty impressive robot, by the way....

Since my dance partner was "not feeling it", Justin got all the attention.

Somehow, I don't think he minded one bit though.

Eventually, we did manage to get Eldon on the dance floor too, and a good time was had by all.

Cody week 2...

I had my 6pm class with Cody again today. He's already showing vast improvement over last week. He and his "mom" arrived around 5:30 and I didn't hear him bark until class began. We did some walking around today, I was teaching the "parents" how to walk without the dogs pulling, and when we stopped I lined all the dogs up and the dogs had to walk by each other without pulling toward the other dogs. Each time a dog passed Cody, if he reacted, he got corrected with his Gentle Leader being pulled snug, and if he didn't react he got praise and treats. He's no dummy. He's already started to figure this out. I really think he's going to be ok. :)

In other news, Rikka is in heat. I was hoping to get her spayed before this happened, to save me a whole lot of irritation, but I wasn't fast enough. Now that she's in heat, Wesley won't leave her alone. He comes up to her and sniffs her rear, lifting her whole back end off the ground, while whining incessantly. In turn, when she gets annoyed by it, she turns around and growls and bites him on the lip. This goes on ad nauseum all night long. The worst part about it is that Wesley has turned into a complete hornball and even tried to hump Rosemary's leg the other night! He's only ever tried that on 2 people before her EVER. This is going to be a long heat...

I think I may have found, albeit a costly way to keep his interest off her until she's done with her heat so I can get her spayed. Technically, you can spay a dog while she's in heat, but there's risk of complications because she will bleed more, and I don't want to risk it with a dog who only weighs 6 lbs. Wesley LOVES his Bully Sticks. They usually take him a day and a half of constant chewing to get through them, and very little can take his interest away from them. I bought him one tonight, and he's enthralled in it. I may actually get to relax a bit tonight! Yay for Bully Sticks!

Rest in peace, Hershey...

I cried at work today. My boss comes up to me shortly after I came back from lunch, and asked me if I had a German Shorthair named Hershey in my Wednesday night class. I said "yeah are they not going to make it today?" She said, "No, Hershey was in a car accident yesterday and he died." Tears immediately came to my eyes.

Hershey was in my puppy class about 3 months ago, and he was typical german short hair... LOTS of energy. Well he had so much energy that he ran full speed into the family's adult Mastiff and broke his leg! He had to recover before he could come back to class. I saw them in the store a couple times with his little cast on, and told them I couldn't wait till he could come back to class. I have a soft spot for this breed, especially after having Ferris.

So about a month ago I got a call from John, his "dad", and said he was all healed up and could come to class again. I put him in my big Wednesday night class, and he was there each week for a month... he was supposed to come tonight. I sent the family a sympathy card. Tonight was tough.

Day off?

I had the day off today, so I decided I would meet Eldon for his lunchbreak downtown. I managed to get a decent parking space really close to his office, and we walked around trying to decide what to eat. We ended up at the Virginia Cafe, and had some yummy london broil. It was fun to meet him for lunch. I wish I could go more often, but our schedules collide except for my days off.

After that, I went back up to my mom's house to paint yet another room in her house. I spent about 4 hours prepping, masking, removing lightswitch panels and painting the downstairs hallway and ceiling.

Then I went down and picked up Rosemary and we had "chick flick night". She hadn't seen The Notebook, and I absolutely loved that movie. I made homemade nachos and we munched while we watched, then cried at the end. It was a great night.

Dog Nerd meets Wine Geek....

Tonight after work I finally got the chance to hang out with Glen. He's the one whose Murder Mystery Dinner party I was supposed to go to the night Eldon went into the hospital.

We were originally going to meet up at Wine Down, but even though their sign said they were open till midnight closed at 10... So instead we went to Navarre a few blocks down and had a glass of wine. I proceeded to inundate him with my vast dog knowledge while he chose a wine based on my simple preference... sweet. We first tried a wine that was so sweet it tasted like they squashed marachino cherries into a glass.... that's a little TOO sweet. Then he picked out a tawny port that was just the right blend of sweet and delicious.

After that, we went for a short walk and decided to continue our conversation at his place. He opened a bottle of Stanton and Killean Australian Tokay. It was fantastic. Sweet without being sickening and we managed to polish off the whole bottle! He showed me The Lonely Astronaut. And I showed him the Petting Zoo. He said I won the twisted humor battle, although the squirrel site, Ill Will Press was pretty twisted.

He also tried to teach me cribbage, but being that math isn't my strong suit, we skipped it in lieu of great conversation. After about 5 glasses of water and 3 am rolled around, it was time for me to head home. I'm glad I finally got to meet him.

This is my borther Brian, this is my OTHER brother Brian...

I haven't been on the west coast in the last 5 years, so it stands to reason my mom should want to celebrate Thanksgiving with me... but she's going to be out of town. So instead, she decided to have Thanksgiving at her house two weeks early. I asked Eldon to come with me to brave the vegetarian "feast". She made vegetarian lasagna. It wasn't that bad actually. Maybe it was all the wine she fed us before dinner that made it bareable. My mother really loves her wine, but she seems to have decent taste in that if nothing else on her pallet works.

My brother Brian brought his girlfriend Lisa, and my mother's husband ALSO has a son named Brian. He brought his girlfriend Sara, and his absolutely adorable 4 year old daughter Gwendolyn, who of course stole the show.

The chocolate caramel cake was delicious though. Mmmm yummy!

It wasn't that bad, but it was a little akward, as I haven't seen my mother's husband's son Brian in about 13 years... back when we were dating in high school....

I'm not into the whole incest thing... I dated the son and we broke up YEARS before my mother met his father, but it is sorta wierd knowing you dated someone who later became your brother! Wierder yet that he has the same name as your brother. Life is truely funny sometimes.

Cut the damn nails!!!!!!

If your dog's nails look like this, I officially hate you.

After my three classes today, the grooming manager begged me to help them out as they were swamped. I had very little else to do so I said sure. Being that I'm not trained as a groomer, I did the quick things like clean the ears and clip the nails. I pulled this little chihuahua out of the kennel in the back and the nails looked like the picture above. I felt so bad for the little girl. I clipped them quickly, and then realized the poor thing had dewclaws that were not only too long, but they had curled all the way around and were imbedded into the pad of her foot! Not on just one paw either.. on both front paws. :(

So I clipped off the nail, and of course the dog started screaming bloody murder in my ear, which was right next to her mouth as I clipped... then I had to pull the nail out of her pad. :( Of course it bled and I cleaned it out with hydrogen peroxide, and did the other one. The poor dog. I was so mad. I wanted to beat the owners to a bloody pulp. Especially because they had not one but FOUR dogs all with overgrown toenails!!!! Thankfully only one dog suffered nails grown into the pads.

When they came back for their dogs, I grabbed the little dog I performed minor surgery on and showed them what their neglect had done to their dog. I also explained to them how to keep it clean and begged them to come in more often if they didn't think they could clip the nails themselves. Incidentally, if anyone reading this is afraid to clip their dog's nails, here's a great site. Click here.

Horse Brass

After I got off work, I went down to the Horse Brass to meet up with Justin and friends to celebrate his victory over a bum wrap. (He got a DUI for being drunk and SLEEPING in his car.)

When I got there, Justin, Ben and Joel were playing darts and Emily was making fun of them. I visited with Emily for a bit and then Rosemary and her boyfriend Ben arrived.

Finally Eldon made it. He had planned on heading over much earlier but had been so wiped out from work that he fell asleep after I called him to let him know I was heading down there. :(

After Rosemary and Ben took off, Michael and his girlfriend showed up to visit for a while too. While nothing incredibly exciting took place, it was really great to get out and visit with some friends, and it was also great to see Rosemary and Ben and this time I wasn't puking. :P

Here's a few pics from the evening.









Maybe I shouldn't have told the "rusty nail" story to a table full of guys.









Ben and Rosemary seemed to have a good time.









Joel and Emily are so cute together!










I'm not as drunk as I look, I promise!