Good thing I went ahead and invested in that carpet steamer. Madame Chelsea must have eaten something that didn’t agree with her, as she demonstrated out both ends all over the office carpet. Bless her heart, but that’s challenging.

And of course all I can think is that the GIANT ASS SPIDER in my garden might have bitten her, or that she might have eaten some foliage that was sprayed with the chemicals I used to destroy that fracking thing. This is why I would make shitty mother, because my head doesn’t go to “ate something that disagreed with her” but more to “poison spider bites” and “ingestion of toxic chemicals” and the resultant neurological damage. I was also listening to her chest to see if she might have a collapsed lung or narrowed airway. Whatever. At least I know these things about myself.

In other news, as my very clean bathroom and almost-done laundry can attest, I’ve been very householdy. I also wrote 1300+ words at this silly SLU coffeeshop and hung out with friends while doing so, giving me a total Lifescore of 3/4 today! So yay me.

I am really grooving on this whole “silently hanging out and communally working on our own projects” thing at various local coffeehouses. MyTodd™ was doing homework, another friend was blogging and another was doing something with her photos online. It’s fun. We shoot each other weird and funny weblinks from time to time, but by and large we just work. I get a ton done because that’s what I am there for, and would feel like a slacker if I didn’t do something. Plus I don’t have to worry that maybe I should be doing something different, because I am already doing two things at once, and that’s enough even for me to calm down about it.

I am going to ix-nay that coffeehouse in the future though, because their chairs were uncomfortable, their WiFi served up ads, their food was overpriced and they were crawling with SLU students.

OK that’s all, I am headed for shower and bath time, then joy of all joys… WORK tomorrow.

Dogs. We love them in part because they have no dignity.

Dogs. We love them in part because they have no dignity.

Yes, yes. I have two chew toys and she has none. Your point being?

Truthfully, I do not like the way you are looking at my chew toys. Please avert your eyes so that I may rest next to them.

Yes, yes. I have two chew toys and she has none. Your point being?

Truthfully, I do not like the way you are looking at my chew toys. Please avert your eyes so that I may rest next to them.

…r bone, I don’t want nobody’s bone, bay-beh!

…r bone, I don’t want nobody’s bone, bay-beh!

So trying to meet goals for the day. Three out of four isn’t bad, I think.

1. Household. I did the laundry and carried the vacuum cleaner down two flights of stairs to give the downstairs rug a good hoovering.

2. Exercise. I took Jakester over to Lafayette Square Park and walked around for half an hour. He’s totally petrified of everything, and horrible to walk with. I might make myself walk him more by focusing on the benefit for him, getting more socialized. I may take la Chelseapants next time though, she seems to walk better than the other two.

3. Social Stuffs. This one is harder for me, especially during the week. But after our walk I drove Jake over to Todd’s house, on the off chance that he’d be back from his class. He was! WIN! So I chatted with him for awhile about our respective first days of school, and updated his iTunes so that he could buy movies.

4. Creative. Hrms. Nothing so far. And now I am really only wanting to take a shower, finish the laundry and go to bed. But maybe I will think of something?

5. Spending large amounts of money. My laptop was indeed on the verge of failure. When I talked to the IT guy at work he told me that I needed to get my stuff off of it, sooner rather than later. So I bought a new laptop. Well. I ordered a new laptop, which doesn’t relieve my buyers remorse the way it would if I could have brought it home with me today. But overall it was a really good buy. It’s a Sony Vaio, and it blows my old laptop out of the water as far as RAM and HD capacity, plus it’s lighter, with a larger screen. And… it’s pink. I know! But seriously, it’s also a good laptop for my needs, in addition to being pink! I checked! It’s a model that’s on its way out for them, so it was discounted in price, then I found it at newegg $150 or so cheaper than MSRP, then I found it on Best Buy’s website $100 cheaper than THAT even! So, I practically made a profit.

My “nervous about spending money” threshold is around $200 or so, anything over that and I start to triple-guess myself. So this makes me angsty. But I am sure that will all go away once I have it. I had it shipped to work (less chance of it getting delivered to my neighbor, who I am still dodging quite well.) and I really hope it will come before the weekend. My only decision still to be made is whether I am going to wipe Vista off of it when it gets here and install XP. I feel like I would rather, since I use XP on my desktop and at work, and plus I don’t want to be the person with Vista, because I hate it without trying it like all good Intertubes dwellers should.

Anwyay, that’s my day today. Now, off to be creative…

Those that come immediately to mind are “anxious” and “handitarded”

Those that come immediately to mind are “anxious” and “handitarded”

She WILL eat the eyeballs right out of your head.

She will NOT feel badly afterward.

Todd was creeped out tonight by Jake’s tendency to sleep in zombie-mode. I have to admit, even I had to look and make sure he was still breathing - there’s a lot of eye white going on there.

Our flash photography woke him up though.

People, when they see pictures of the dogs, are always asking me the same question. “How do you tell them apart?” Which, aside from them being different sizes, with different coloration and different bone structure… duh. How do you tell your wee screaming children apart, dork?

But aside from knowing which one I am looking at, I also know which one is barking, by the sound. That’s a huge difference. And I would know Bruiser by her little doggy smell alone. And I know which one is sitting at the side of the bed crying to be picked up in the middle of the night because they all cry differently. And I even know without looking which one just jumped up and rested their little paws on my leg when I am sitting at my computer, by how hard they hit me. They all jump on me differently too.

Last time I went to my parent’s house my Dad came up with this sensitive bit of assholery: “Every time I see Bruiser she looks older.” Which, thanks for that. It’s both inane and hurtful. Yes, she’s getting older, and one day she’ll die. And I need no reminder of that because when that happens I am afraid I might die too. I’ve had her for 6 years now, and yeah she’s gone pretty gray. I compare pictures from then to how she looks now and it’s startling to see how she’s gone all white in the muzzle, and grown this white stripe on her back. And since she was a stray I have no way to know how old she is, or how long I might have left with her - if one could predict such things.

I likewise esteem people who, when meeting the three of them, say things like “Oh, she’s an old one, huh?” (Which I would like to say about their grandma, or maybe their mother, sometimes.)

Anyway, just meditating this morning on the way you get to know the creatures with which you live, and how comforting that can be, esp. when other people don’t fudge it up with their dense commentary.

This is Jake’s patented foot-pounce/pet maneuver. First he lays down next to my toes and swats them with his paws, like so:

then he waits for me to poke him with my foot to get him to stop:

Then he lays back for the belly-rubbing to commence. And adopts a crazyface/boxer pose.