Logan, week 1

We've had Logan ( Russell Terrier)for a week now, and just love love love him. The little guy settled in quite quickly. That is after the first night the cries were so loud and pitched, that all I could picture was a little pup alone in the wilderness, crying for his mother. Heart breaking as it was, we both made it with little sleep through the night.

Taking him out in the middle of the night went from 4 times, to him now sleeping straight through, and me being the one waking him up at 6:45am to go out and have breakfast.
The crate is no longer some scary isolation, but his little den ( which he is busy right now turning upside down, burrowing at the towel).

He's learning new lessons things daily, such as "leave it", which he understands, but has a short attention span for it, "come" which usually consists of him just sitting there, looking at me ( brain processing?)and then just sprinting towards me, and the new one "sit".
"Heal" will have to wait until he has all his shots and we can walk properly outside. Right now his poop/pee station is on the balcony, and finally I have some use for all the junk newspapers.
One key lesson that he is being taught daily is that our hands are not chew toys, and he's definitely still learning that one.

happy new year... late wishes, I know

( NOTE: these are not the puppy's actual parents, as we ended up with a different pup from a different litter)
Lets face it, December 31 and January 1 are really not much different from December 1 and December 2 days. Sure the days are are warmer then, the stress of holiday preparations starts creeping in and many of us are still trying to get back to the old pre-Thanksgiving weight, yet there is something that makes us believe that a new year is a new beginning.
So for this year, the main mantra will be to keep busy and get sh*t done.

One of those things that I am working on at the moment is that I've started knitting. I havn't knit since at least 15 years ago, yet surprisingly it feels like getting back on a wobbly bicycle. Youtube has helped with reminding me what to do. Right now it's this awkward, uneven, with odd patterns rectangle. It will most likely become either an odd pillow cover, or if I carry on, then an odd blanket. On the bright side, it feels really nice ( organic cotton) and is a lovely off white. Photos to come.

I'm also in the process of welcoming a new furry family member. His parents are beyond adorable, so now I'm just waiting to receive a picture that shows off his face. If we choose him, we'll have the new little member in about seven weeks. You could say I'm super excited and my friend has to listen to me go on and on about it. Good thing we have the same phone provider.

daddy

mommy

Still not quite sure on the name. Pippin has been a suggestion which I think sounds cute, but in the end I want the hubby to decide on the name. I also like the idea of giving him a strong name, like Ryder, which I can't use, seeing it's my friend's dog's name. It remains to be seen.

chilling in summer heat

AC is fixed! yay. So it seems. We either had, or have some little issues still with it, but those may have been resolved. Running a test on the machine. See if it can hit the 70 degree mark. Frankly, 70 is a bit chilly for me, but lets see what this baby can do.

I had the pleasure to spend about 4.5 hours on this little guy today. So cute, so well behave and oh just sooooo much hair to strip out of him. He was a good sport.


Since Aster has been gone, I feel like I'm hogging all the Westies at work. I guess in a sense they are her " relatives".

I came across this clothing store , picked out about 8 things that I liked and then pretty much gave up on them. Why? ----> Pollyester. I can't stand that fabric. I refuse to wear anything 100% Polyester. Even 80% is really pushing it. I can't breathe in it. Sometimes it feels even rough, sometimes it's like a cheap version of wanna be silk. I just roll my eyes when I see a designer piece of clothing, that looks like silk, is all nice and then guess what, POLYESTER. I refuse to spend a lot of money on something that makes me feel like I am suffocating. Well, I could go into how when I'm sweaty in it, the sweat has nowhere to go, but I'll leave that up to your imagination.


On a home design note, I really like these chairs

And I really want to repaint my office. Ok, no, I want my office to be magically repainted by itself. It's been months since I last painted a room, but the memory of the pain that goes into prepping walls has not been over taken by amnesia yet.
So maybe, until we get new floors, the office will be Benjamin Moore Tea Light. By then, who knows what genius color I will want to paint it. Right now it would be a medium gray. Not sure if cool or warm yet, but gray. Still love my other gray walls

summer heat

Last night it was 90 degrees at home. Needless to say, I got very little sleep. The fans can only do so much when it comes to humidity. I long for the dry summer days ( such as Florida in the middle of January is perfect, or when we were in Vegas in September a couple of years ago).
The AC should be fixed by Monday. I honestly don't know how I survived last summer in this home with no AC.

Work was a bit challenging with the lack of sleep. Dealing with a small dog who is determined to bite you at whatever cost isn't fun either. On top of it, the little bugger wouldn't even stand.
Fortunately two Westies managed to cheer me up. This was one of them. He was so cute. Didn't get to take a picture of the other one, as his mommy was waiting for him.


They can be a little naughty too sometimes, but it's ok, I understand, it's who they are. So spunky.

Speaking of haircuts. I got one too, and after a wash feel like a chopped up Shih-Tzu. The guy styled my hair nicely and it looked fine, but when I washed it! OHHH MAN, BAAADD. Parts sticking out, so choppy. If I have time tomorrow he will see how he can fix it. Frankly I don't want him to fix it, I want his boss to fix it. I have never seen anything so uneven in my life. Now my hair will have to be probably cut shorter than I wanted. Ugh. Such is life.

On a sport note:
Looking forward to the match on Sunday. Germany - England . May Germany win. They got me all worried with the previous match. Also, very niiiiiice shot by USA. So last minute. Excellent. Perhaps this will spark a bit more soccer interest in this country. I see why there isn't room for another sport.

I knew South Africa wasn't going to get far, but I am pleasantly surprised that they got as far as they did.

Yes, we could do without the horns, but my brain manages to block them pretty much out.

Bafana Bafana...

I've been busy the last few days trying to get a glimpse of the world cup games.
As much as I would love for the South African boys to win, I'll stay realistic and cheer for my other favorite team, which would be Deutschland (Germany)!

Oh, watching the games just makes me wish I were back in South Africa again. And seeing the German team brings back memories of school and Germany.

The tv networks have blatantly failed me, by showing so few games on tv. Fortunately espn360 is there to cheer me up, by providing not only live coverage of the games, but replays of the ones that I missed.

Sugarfree week - 1

I have an incredible sweet tooth. To be honest, I could have cake every day, or even better, some chocolate. Ice cream is awesome too. But when I noticed strong arthritis in my left hand after pigging out on nutella, I've decided to test and see if the sugar and pain were related.
A whole week later and I am pain free.

The cravings have gone down, but I still would very much enjoy some chocolate. They are certainly not at the same level as they were on day too.
I shall see how it goes from here.

I found this blog helpful with information.
http://myyearwithout.blogspot.com/

oh rats

I was going to write about our powder room rennovation, or lack thereof, and about my picture hanging dilemma..... still have those blank walls.... but lets face it, it's late,it's over 85 degrees with humidity and I came across an archive of these chriters ( embarassed that I didn't make a note who photographed them).
They have been featured on other blogs, but sometimes we can't get enough of cuteness.

I realize that some people are grossed out by rats, but really? Do you look at these and still say " eeewwww"?

North Shore Animal League

I went to the North Shore Animal League last sunday. Since I was dog sitting, it was a good time to check out that popular animal shelter. I was advised that nothing good would come out of my visit. I'd either end up surprising my husband with a new adopted pooch, that he had no choice in choosing, or I'd walk out depressed about the abandoned dogs.

Something else ended up happening. Disappointment with the place. I saw about seven adult dogs, and three puppies. Great news, right? Doesn't this mean all the other dogs have found homes, or people have become wiser and kinder about pet care? Not exactly. We were told that all the other puppies we'd be only able to meet during the following weekend's large adoption drive. Yes, they were hiding puppies, most likely kittens and I don't know what else, in another room. ( you could even hear them).
When my friend mentioned this to one of the workers, he started saying how they need to be checked before the next weekend and aren't ready yet. Like she said to him " come on, do we look stupid to you?". Boy you could see he was lieing out of his ass, or whatever he was told to say.

Either way, I was disappointed that if a dog could find a home during the week, why make it wait till the weekend? For a huge drive when it was most likely a zoo in there.
One lady in there was smart. She got approved just so that on the weekend she could give a loving home to a new pooch.

This was one of the available puppies. An older man wanted him for his daughter, or grand daughter. He was told that she had to come in order to receive the pup. I hope the pup found a loving home either way.

little Aster

About a week ago it was clear that the sad time has come. On March 27th, our beloved Aster had to be put to sleep. The bladder cancer was no longer under some control.
She was quite the family dog. Although she was really my mother in law's dog, she ended up living with us due to circumstances and ended up being just like my own. I had the pleasure ( and sometimes — rarely, a little frustration) to live with her for the past four years.
Interestingly enough I came across the podcast by the New Yorker: Out Loud,where Meghan O'Rourke briefly discusses grief.
If you wish, you can find it here . She talks more about losing a person, but I think it doesn't have to relate just to that.
What struck me as incredibly true is that grief cyclical. It doesn't just get better over time like a flu. You have your good days and your bad ones.

new camera, new doggies

As a birthday gift, I got the DSLR camera that I have been dreaming of. The new toy, a Nikon D90.. Tested it out today in the city for the first time on some pooches in the park. That is, after I used it on our sweet pooch as a model first.

above: Aster

As a birthday gift, I got the DSLR camera that I have been dreaming of. The new toy, a Nikon D90.. Tested it out today in the city for the first time on some pooches in the park.