Positively green

Green! Green with envy! Eric got to meet Alton Brown. Oh Alton! Why have you forsaken D.C.???

Gotta love 'em

I have such a good dog. Today he decided at 4 AM to play with his bone, the really hard one made of cow, not the rubber one. On the hardwood. So I woke up to clatter clatter BANG!

Then he decided he was lonely and brought the bone up to the bedroom. Muffled the clatter clatter banging, but his teeth scraping against the bone wasn't what I would call quiet. That was about 4:30.

At 4:45 he wanted me to get up so he whined and whined and when I didn't move he licked me square across the face. So I pulled him up on the bed and held him and petted him until I drifted off. As soon as he felt my hand drop, he jumped down and did that not quite a bark thing for 5 minutes. I wouldn't budge, because I refuse to let him win. He KNOWS that he's not supposed to bug me until the alarm goes off (sounds crazy but he does know this).

So at 5 AM he gives up whining and then goes back downstairs. I doze off again until I hear RIP RIP RIP RIP!!! And I'm thinking CRAP! We just got some checks and they were on the table...so I go running downstairs to find he's gotten into the recycling and is shredding up credit card applications.

I just gave up and gave him his breakfast and let him out. Of course as soon as that was done he RACED back up the stairs, to the bed and went to sleep.

Little brat.

Really backlogged
Ok, so I'm a bit behind. My boss is out on medical leave until December and now that the frantic OH CRAP WHAT DO WE DO NOW bit is over I'm playing catch up on the things I haven't had time to do in quite some time. One of those things has been cleaning out my computer files. In doing that I found notes I was joting down after I got back from Australia. And I promise I'm working on finishing those posts for those of you that really need closure. Hopefully a lot more to write about coming soon.

Halloween

We only had about 15 trick-or-treaters this year. Pretty slim pickings compared to last year's count of about 40. I had fun handing out the candy anyway, and now I still have some for me to munch.

We also had the re-appearance of Aragog. Or one of her children. The spider appeared as if on cue anytime people were leaving my front porch. I couldn't have planned it if I tried. What struck me as really funny though was how the kids reacted.

The three-year-old boy tried to stomp on it, the spider was saved only by a quick mother who swooped her boy off the porch.

The thirteen-year-old boy jumped and then laughed with his buddies as they walked off the porch muttering about "that big-ass spider."

Ooops. . .tumbled over

I went out to breakfast not long ago with a friend of mine. As I related my office woes to her I referred to one grumbly co-worker as "an ungrateful cow." She stopped me mid-sentence and said "WHOA, been reading too much British literature lately?"

Thanks for keeping me honest, T. Although I do blame you for getting me hooked on Bridget Jones 2 years ago!

Please people!!!!

For the love of all things bright and beautiful, it's MANILA folders not VANILLA folders.

I think if one more person asks me for a flavor of folder I'm going to go medieval on their ass.

Home again, home again

Ireland was lovely. I got to tour the shops, eat some delicious food, drink some delicious drink (Guiness and Jameson), and all together have a terrific time.

The jacuzzi in the hotel was broken (that man from Australia must've beaten me there), and that was the only downpoint about the trip.

On top of that, my parents came home on Monday. For good this time. We're all finally back on the same continent and remarkably in the same time zone!

I never thought I could talk so well to someone who doesn't speak my language

Arrow and I have a system. He'll whine and lick my face if he wants to get up before I do (i.e. before the alarm goes off). If I don't want to get up I'll tell him "shhh" while scratching his ears.

Most of the time though I don't have to do even that. He'll whimper a little and I'll sort of sleepily pet the air around where I think he is. Usually that'll buy me another 10-15 minutes.

Sort of a biological snooze button.

Hairy, greasy, fat-man tea

I'm taking another trip. To Ireland this time. I know I know, "Another trip Laura? Do you ever stay home?"

Andy's away on business. Away in Dublin no less. He went about 4 years ago for business and I didn't get to go. Damned if I was staying home this time. So I'm off on a long weekend, just in time for our 5th anniversary. Everyone say "AWWWWW!"

So, when we were in Melbourne a few months back the hotel where we stayed had a Jacuzzi. We went down to check things out before deciding to actually don the bathing suits. When we got there, there was a large man in the tub. I don't mean slightly overweight, I mean large as in filling most of the jacuzzi tub. He was hairy. All over hairy. And he was having a ball in the tub. Splashing around and scrubbing at his chest and back. The water was hot so his face was sweating (I know it was sweat and not water because his hair, on his head, was completely dry). We chatted with him briefly, he was incredibly friendly, and said the tub was terrific!

We just couldn't bring ourselves to go in later that evening, I didn't care how often they cleaned the tub.

So the hotel in Dublin also lists a jacuzzi as a feature. I've asked Andy to go scope it out for me.

I'll let you all know.

Double-Edged Sword

I've been flipping through some of my favorite blogs and moaning that people haven't posted anything for my amuzement lately. Then I looked at my own blog and notice the last post was over a week ago. Hmmmm....I suppose people in glass houses and all that...