Murphy's Monday

Tonight, Jasmine had a bout of explosive diarrhea. I found an enormous pile on my bedroom floor, already smushed into the carpet. She must have felt it coming and tried to sit down. I found more splots across the carpet, where it leaked on her desperate run for the door. I found more on my bed, where it apparently started. ON MY PILLOW. There are dots of it all over my (thankfully) duvet cover. A+ to Mom or Tracy, whoever told me I needed one of those, because that is cleanly tumbling in the dryer now. All I could do was laugh harder each time I found another tiny poop. It hit four spots on my bed, several shots on my floor, a pair of jeans...

I cleaned and cleaned, then made an urgent car mix of stupid pop songs that Chris would have made fun of and drove the long way to Winco to buy extravagant sandwich makings for my volunteers for an impromptu lunch party tomorrow. Ken is always eyeballing my lunch, so I decided to feed him and my Tuesday bunch.

Now I have to go wash Jasmine, make my bed, and clean the couch, where she has been hiding with an embarrassed look.

Happy Monday!

Lo siento, amigos.

Tracy told me I have been remiss in my blog writing lately, and then had to define "remiss" for me.

Yeah, well, I have been pleasantly distracted lately, as you have already inferred. (There's a word I know.) I will try to recap some of the things that have gone on lately, minus all the juicy bits you were hoping for. (Sorry.)

One highly amusing and completely unimportant anecdote I have for you is about one evening when I was on my way home from a hot date and my keys felt strange. I couldn't identify the problem immediately and didn't worry about it, as it was late and I was highly distracted. When I got to my door, and saw my keys in the light, I found they were covered in chocolate. Melted, then dried, key shaped chocolate. (Well, I told you it was a hot date.) I had to suck the chocolate off before I could open the door. Welcome to my life. Mmmmm, mysterious purse chocolate.

Work has been going well- lots of happy chaos and fun people. Word is spreading that a library tech is back, and I am increasingly busy with article requests. I've been incorporating suggestions from my coworkers and volunteers and we have gotten rid of a lot of superfluous stuff (still trying to make up for not knowing what "remiss" meant), replaced furniture, got all the cardboard boxes off the floor, and generally made the place look more open. That's the response people say most, along with "more professional," and "more like a library." There's a glass wall and a hall that used to be cluttered up with furniture and posters in an attempt to deter people from using the customer service window, but now it's totally clear and people are free to pester me all day long. As an added benefit, we can now see when someone looks lost at our intersection and can go out and help them. I have gotten rid of all the red stop sign instructions and am replacing them with kinder, clearer, and less signs. We're going to be repainted from a less vomitous yellow to one of the four approved, neutral VA paint colors, and we're replacing our M O T I V A T I O N A L 90s posters with local photography. We're trying to get a functional DVD player going so we have a nice, non-confrontational way to thwart any conspiracy theory discussions that get too heated.

I'm told that my presence has been a marked difference- that the atmosphere is much more welcoming, the place is cleaner, the staff helpful and friendly, and that I am much prettier than the grumpy old guy who used to run the PERC. Or there's my favorite compliment thus far, when a coworker told me that I "run a rockin' bar." Sometimes people bring in food or candy or extra free stuff, my favorite so far being one of those rubber wristbands- not advocating PTSD awareness or the suicide hotline or anything so sensible. No, this one bore someone's unfortunate choice of PERFORMANCE MEASURES. But they were free, so they disappeared quickly.

I talked to Dad today and in the course of our conversation, got him to sign up for My HealtheVet. This is one of the main functions for the PERC these days. It's a website where vets can order prescriptions, download their VA medical records, send messages to their providers, among other features. I've been using it for years for my prescriptions, and as Dad gets set up in the VA system, it will prove to be a efficacious tool. (Eh? Eh?) I will give him a tour of the website when I go visit, once he has premium access. We are going to take him out to dinner, but he thought this was a nice Father's Day gift.

That's all for tonight, I think. I'll be back sooner this time.

Let's get some shoes

Lena took me shoe shopping at Target for some nice flats. This picture is deceiving- they are actually coral. I bought coral shoes. No, wait- I tried on coral shoes. And I liked them better than the black ones.

Not only that, but I blow dried my own hair three times. And last night, I went out to dinner (with the guy) wearing the craziest shirt you have ever seen. It has multiple personality disorder. It was Lena's. I'm going to have to show this thing to you.

Shazam!

We ate a tasty breakfast at Squeeze In, where Shannon had too many options to choose from.

We got a late start today, since we were up until 3 talking. Today was a little bit of catch up and conversation since I had to run to work and also wait at home for the maintenance guy to come fix my AC.

We ate an absurd amount of sushi for dinner and walked the dogs.

Tomorrow: Insanity.

Incoming!

I am sitting outside on my balcony enjoying the cool night air and thinking about good things. Also about things that are not quite sad, but just life things that are equally important in any good story.

My friend Lena met my pets this week, and she loved all my little girls, but had a special affection for Riley, as anyone with good sense would.

My cooling system is busted, which was not helpful on a day that was almost 90 degrees. I was super productive today, and Shannon will be here in a little over an hour. I will surely post lots of pictures of our adventures this week.

Solo is rubbing her tail in my face like she does anytime I sit down for more than five minutes. I am probably being eaten by mosquitoes right now, but I do not care.

I can't wait for the Shannonigans to begin!

Nothing left for creative titles

It's drunk and I'm late, ah ha ha ha ha ha.

My iPod just died or I would still be out swaying in the dark living room, singing along to the quietest songs I could find so as not to wake my neighbors.

It's been a busy... I don't want to know when or what my last blog post was. You know what, though? I am well. It's been late, full nights for a while and I was running out of momentum, but I am crash landing on a nice, soft bed of a three day weekend, followed by a visit from the best kind of friend, which is an old friend. Nine days off. One down, eight to go. My first day off was spent visiting friends and dogs at a fundraiser for the Humane Society. I met an Irish Wolfhound, and talking to his owner did not diminish my extreme desire to adopt one in the slightest. This dog is 200 pounds and eats only 3-4 cups of dog food a day! He was a love, and very attached to his owner. Sigh...

I took Riley with me, and she did great. We took lots of breaks in the shade, but she didn't snap at any dogs and invited lots of people to pet her. Many people went out of their way to tell me she was adorable.

The event was pretty busy, and I got a ton of brochures and freebies. We were walking along the sidewalk when Riley turned left and sat down directly in front of a booth handing out cookies. Lots of booths were giving out cookies, but this one was stocked solely with packages full of free cookie samples. That's my girl.

For the rest of my day, I spent it with some great company, had great eats, and a marvelous time.

That's all you're getting out of me.

I was up super late last night watching the first episode of Firefly on Netflix, and tonight is getting pretty late, so I am going to pass out now and wake up whenever the hell I feel like it.

Nice, nice, nice.

Mmmm, dinner.

Sharing one washer and dryer with 13 other people is not bad until someone forgets about their laundry and clogs up the system. I am also mourning the loss of my yard and being able to let the dogs out without having to change out of my pajamas.

There's a big fire up in the mountains and the wind is blowing this way, which means all the smoke and ash is making me nauseated. No one is out except for the one oblivious family playing tennis and me with my insolent dogs.

Today I went to go see Godzilla in 3D at the new IMAX theater in town. It was a lot of fun and good company. :) We made a pretty good dent in our popcorn bucket.

One more week until I have nine days off. Shannon will be here next Monday night!!! That means I have eight days to clean. I expect most of that will be done in haphazard fashion a week from now.

This weekend went by fast, but it was nice. I would really like to work on my puzzle, but I think instead I will take a bath and go to bed. Maybe read for once. Curl up with my doggies and the kitty and go to sleep before 11 for a change.

I think this week will be calmer than last week. Well, I just decided that. I have some things to finish before I disappear for a week. I am so looking forward to that. And a chicken patty. I am looking forward to eating one.