Doodles update

Doodles is at the vet, awaiting x-rays on his back legs. We saw the nicest, nicest vet yesterday, Dr. Taylor, and as it turns out, all 4 of Porter's legs are hurting him. Dr. Taylor said it was most likely (and I can't remember the actual name for it) growing pains, but that it can be quite painful & last for upwards of 8 months. I always wondered how Porter felt in his body because man, that dog grew fast! If it is growing pains, and that is the condition Dr. Taylor said we were hoping for, I guess that answers my question of whether or not it hurts his bones to grow so rapidly.

So, I will try to make it through today without crying, but it's not looking so good.

BIG news

I'm going to be an Aunt! My baby brother (Bucky) & his fiance (Michelle) are going to have a baby. HOLY CRAP!

He said ~ Michelle's going to have a child. I thought he was joking, like they were getting another dog or something. Then when he said he wasn't the father, I really thought they were just getting a dog. It was obvious that I wasn't getting it, so I think he finally said something like ~ for real. And I must have said for real-for real? about a hundred times, which is the same thing I said when Honey proposed to me.

Bucky couldn't stop smiling if he tried. Michelle seemed to me to be in shock still, but she said she just doesn't show emotion. I think I'm still in shock! Honey blurts out every couple minutes ~ isn't that crazy?! They're going to have a baby!

My mom must be on top of the world right now. I know she has been desperate for a grandchild since we've all (all 2 of us) left the nest. My dad on the other hand, keeps telling me that he's too young to be a grandparent. Whatcha gonna do now, dad?? :) And mom ~ you & Mike can't move now! HA!

I always knew Bucky would have a baby before me. Even though he's 8 years younger than me, he made most milestones at an earlier age than me. It was a running joke in my family that he would move out of the house before I did. Keep in mind he was 14ish when the joke started. He did move out at a younger age than me, he was a homeowner before me, and now he is HAVING A BABY before me. In the unspoken competition between my brother & I, I totally lose. *sigh*

Seriously, he's the most mature 23 year old I know & he has grown into the most loving, generous, funny, handsome, honest, hardworking, trustworthy brother & friend that I could ever ask for. He & Michelle will make amazing parents. Congratulations, you two! And as Honey says ~ We get Michelle forever!

While we're on the subject of babies, I will say that Honey & I talk a lot about them. Yesterday, for example, I asked him if he thought we might not ever have kids & he said he didn't know. Since I often feel the same way, it's not like I could be mad. I mean, I'll be 32 in August, and the older I get, the more I think I may never have a child. Some days I'm totally okay with that because truth be told, things are pretty good the way they are. The other days....I can't imagine not having a child. It would just be this empty hole in my life. A huge, gaping hole.

As I'm writing this, Honey said he wondered if Porter's leg is bothering him. He said he's noticed for the past couple weeks Porter's been walking funny. I take Porter to work with me & spend virtually every waking moment with him, and I didn't notice that his leg was bothering him. Some mother I'd make.

At any rate, poor Doodles had been wimpering since we got home from our walk at the Mendenhall Glacier, where he spent an hour & a half running his heart out with 2 other dogs. He seemed fine then, but I thought maybe he had gotten something stuck in his foot. I held Porter's head in my lap while Honey examined his back-right leg. We have never heard such noises out of Doodles' mouth. Honey barely moved his leg, and Porter yelped, growled, squealed, and then buried his head under my arm. My poor baby. I ached because he hurt & I couldn't help him. We gave him some pain meds we had left over from when he scratched his eye last month, but he still yelps everytime he gets up.

It's moments like those, moments when I cry because my dog hurts, that I think my need to have a child outweighs my enormous fear that I will suck as a mother. Of course, if I have a baby now, it will only look like I did it to keep up with Bucky. ;)

happiness

I just had to share that I'm so happy to have some new visitors! Ladies, I swear one of these days I'll get some crafting done & post some photos so I actually fit into this world of crafting & cottage blogs that I so admire. Once the days hit above 50 degrees, I spend as much time as possible outdoors, and creating a garden in our new home has me fairly preoccupied. You really have no idea how inspirational it is to read your blogs, though. To see the photos of your homes, what you've created, and to know there are so many like-minded women out there really is amazing.

Now, you might be thinking ~ This girl pees with the door open & then posts a photo of it. I am nothing like her! To clarify, I normally tend to "rush the process", and I don't even have any magazines in my bathroom. Honestly. I, too, tend to wait until I'm about to pee my pants before I finally make it to the bathroom. There are just too many other things I'd rather do than sit & pee. So it only makes sense that when I was looking at the broken piece of the gourd bowl (purchased via mail order from the Body Shop when I was 16 & got my first checking account) gingerly held in place by nothing other than my will, & that I have been meaning to super glue back on for about 4 months now & really didn't see it happening anytime soon, I was compelled to turn the bowl around. I just couldn't look at the broken, cracked piece any longer. This of course meant that the fancy soaps had to be rearranged to be facing the correct direction. So, you see, it was all perfectly innocent! Not that I'm not completely neurotic, but a girl can pretend.

If you're not convinced yet, here's another tidbit for you. A few weeks ago while Honey & I were making the bed, I practically screamed STOP! at him because he was putting the pillow in the pillow case with the tag facing OUT. Really, can you imagine? The tag facing out and not all the way tucked inside the pillow case where I can't see it? Who can live like that?? Certainly not me. Anyway, the beauty of that little bedtime moment? Once Honey realized what my "emergency" was, he understood that I NEEDED the tag inside the pillowcase, and he still loves me!

Sleep well, Honey. I love you. (photo circa 5 minutes ago)

something you should know about me

I am not capable of doing one thing at a time.

This would be me peeing, and rearranging my "fancy" soaps. Honey happened to be walking past & found this scene wildly amusing. Since he felt the need to document the occasion, I felt the need to share it with the world. All 3 of you dear readers now know that I am compelled to multi-task even while sitting on the toilet. Some people just take a magazine, but not me.

Anyone else do strange things in the powder room? Yes, I will call it a powder room as that sounds much more refined & lady-like than bathroom. Because clearly, I am the model of refinement when I pee with the door open, allow my husband to photograph me while peeing, and then post it on the internet. *sigh*

weekend update

God love three-day weekends. And I'm not even religious.





Clearly, Riley-Cat loves 3-day weekends, too


Yesterday I thought a lot about it being Memorial Day. Up until probably last year, I viewed Memorial Day as just another holiday,
but I now see it for the important day of recognition that it is.

I thought of my dad who served in Vietnam & my grandpa who served in WWII. I thought of how lucky I am to be alive because they did serve. Growing up, my dad used to tell my brother & I that his job in the army was to deliver the mail. Which was true. Except that in order to deliver the soldiers' beloved letters, he had to travel through highly dangerous areas, not once but twice daily.

Two years ago at my grandpa's funeral, I learned that when he was overseas, his ship's departure time was changed to an earlier time & he never caught word. The ship was bombed & everyone on board died. Except for grandpa, who was probably sitting on a barstool at the time. Thank God for grandpa & his alcoholism. (again, I say ~ I'm not religious, but the G-word just keeps popping out & it seems appropriate in this context!) And please don't take my speaking of my grandpa's alcoholism as me being flippant. My grandparent's alcoholism was as much a part of them as anything else, and I don't fault them for that, nor do I love them any less.

At any rate, between my grandpa missing his ship & my dad making it through dangerous territory twice a day for who knows how long, I AM LUCKY TO HAVE BEEN BORN. And I think I need to remind myself of that from time to time.

Thank you to grandpa, who I know can hear me even though I'm not saying it out loud, and thank you to dad, who I promise I will tell in person. Or maybe I'll send a card because I'm not good at expressing the sentimental stuff.

Honey & I went to a wedding Saturday, which is always fun. I swear, Alaska is the only place it is acceptable to wear jeans to a wedding reception. I could never, of course, but it is nevertheless acceptable with certain couples & venues. I don't think I got any photos of Honey & I, but I did take this photo of our gift to the bride & groom. I just love the paper & I thought the little crocheted flower was quite clever of me. I had bought a baggie full of them at a community garage sale a few years ago, but they're so damn cute, I haven't thought of the right project for them yet.










Sunday I worked on several craft & sewing projects, none of which got finished. Really, the story of my life. If I thought I had any followthrough at all, I would make a declarative statement ~ I WILL finish one project tonight ~ but that's just too much pressure. Better to see where the evening takes me.


Monday I worked in the garden, and did get one flower bed finished. I mapped out my plan, dug out the grass, mixed in the peet & good soil, and finally got my lilac in the ground. The bushes are called Japanese Barberry, which was my cheap alternative to a Japanese Maple. Geesh, trees are spend-y!! I stole some hostas & strawberry plants from the backyard to fill in some of the holes, and voila! It's sort of a random little flower bed, and I will likely rearrange it later on, as when I put something in the ground, it rarely stays put. I always plant too close together, or too far apart, or it's not getting enough light, or it's all in a row (how very un-cottage like!) instead of scattered, etc.
















Our 3-day weekend with a bbq with Bucky, Michelle, & our friends Brian & Jenn. We had a house full of dogs, and yes, my new garden survived. Just barely. And here is me & Porter about 2 minutes after everyone left. Note: I am sleeping on one of my sewing projects ~ one of two pillowcases. Cute, no? I also got the same poppy-fabric in a turquoise blue. Honey is not thrilled that I'm flowering up "his" couch. I let him know that if I wanted to put flowers on the couch, there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it. Sorry honey, but that's the way it's gotta be.















nighty night ~

frazzle the bluebird

I just ordered the last frazzle that Miss Jeanetta had in her etsy shop. My mom bought one & after seeing it in person, I knew I had to have one, too. Frazzle is just too cute & since I feel totally frazzled on most days (plus I've been obssessed with turquoise blues lately), it seemed the perfect addition to my crafting room. My crafting room that I drag all my tools & supplies out of & into the living room to work because I'd rather be in the same room as Honey. Plus, I love having things that my friends have created so as to inspire me to get off my butt & put some of my ideas in action. There are so many amazingly creative women out there, & I often feel I have nothing entirely special or unique to offer. One day my etsy shop will actually have something in it.....

my favorite part about spring

The smell. I love the smell of spring. One day the air is normal, and the next it has exploded in sweetness. I love the day that I realize the smell has arrived. It happened last Thursday, when Honey & I were walking Doodles at Construction. Construction is our favorite, if only for its convenience, place to walk Doodles. About a quarter mile from our house is a construction site which will be filled with houses by the end of summer. We let Doodles off-leash & he does what Doodles love to do ~ RUN! Lately we've been loading up his backpack with rocks (one on each sideof the pack) to outline our garden beds. Like I said, rocks are the best free landscaping medium around. Although, at 2 rocks per walk, it's going to take a while.

Honey made it home from his bachelor party in Gustavus, a really really small town a quick plane ride over the mountains, pronounced gus-davis. Not his bachelor party, our friend Colin's. Honey said they tried to talk him out of marrying Topaz, but he wasn't having it. That's a relief, because I already have my dress picked out.

It doesn't sound like the boys got into too much trouble, and they were not told to never return to Gustavus. Besides drinking lots of whiskey, they played golf, whiffle ball & croquet. What wild men! Oh, and Colin had to wear a red velvet dress, previously worn by our friend Bud at his bachelor party/camping weekend. Honey is so lucky we were already married before the dress made an appearance. Not that he doesn't have the figure for a floor length dress.

My garden has entered into stage 2, thanks largely to mom. She took me plant shopping on Sunday, and when she told me that my garden "needed" them, how could I possibly argue? I had originally tried to spread out the plants I had purchased from Fred Meyer, mostly annuals, but decided I ought to focus on making each flower bed beautiful instead of making each bed look frightfully skimpy. Mom helped me pick out some perennials, which I finally remember are the ones that come back each year. P is for Permanent!

I also got some ground-cover to fill in the bare spots, and if I could remember what they were called, I'd tell you now.

I knew I wanted a hydrangea before I had even seen what the flowers looked like, and I can't say as I've ever even smelled one. I just love the word Hydrangea. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? So, now I have a lovely hydrangea, and it will be planted at the corner of the deck, at mom's suggestion. Porter, as always, is right there helping.

My lilac tree, another something I've wanted for ages, will be planted at the other edge of the deck. I thought about planting it on the other side of the yard, to give added privacy from the crazy neighbors to our left, but it will be way too long before it's tall enough & by that time, we may very well have new neighbors that we like. So, in front of the kitchen window it goes. It will get good light, won't cause shade where I don't want it, and if I'm patient enough, will give me a lovely view from the kitchen. When I'm yelling at Porter to stop digging.

Can you see my vision?