Bailey Update

Just in case you were lying awake, wondering how my dog was feeling, I thought I'd post this update.

She is able to get up and around today. It seems that only her front leg is bothering her this morning. Yesterday, both front and back right legs were lame, so she couldn't stand (since they were on the same side).

She is able to gimp around much better today, and it's clear that she's feeling better because she doesn't just lie in the middle of the floor and bark to get us to come pat her. She actually limps over to us instead.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Dog Groomers...

I took my dog to the groomer yesterday. Not a huge event, though I only do it twice a year and handle the in-between times myself. She has arthritis, and typically can't walk well for a couple days after being groomed.

This morning, she can't even stand. So, yes, I feel guilty as heck... but that's another story.

What prompted me to write this morning were two "huh?" episodes yesterday. The groomer where I take Bailey is about 45 minutes away in Nashua, NH. It takes a few hours for her grooming, so I decided to kill some time at the nearby mall which has a really cool, two story Target with an escalator thingy that will take your cart up and down, too. My daughter, who loves escalators anyway (it's a bit like a ride at the fair for her), thinks that's just amazing.

So, we played on the escalator and the elevator a little, then I remembered I needed cold medicine for her, so I grabbed a box and checked out.

The cashier carded me. Picture me puzzled. I asked her why? Well, for the cold medicine, of course. You know -- the medicine I'm going to give to my six-year-old daughter. She can't buy it, but she can drink it.

This was very strange. I did some research, and discovered you can use it for drug manufacturing or some-such, and I suppose if you drank twenty bottles, you could get a bit of a buzz right before you threw up ... but I still think that's a little extreme.

Maybe that's just me.

The other odd thing happened on the way home. My mom is in need of a new vehicle (new to her, anyhow) and a guy in Nashua had one for sale in her price range, so we decided to swing by. He said it was parked in a business lot and gave us the name - I'll call it "Jane Doe's". I saw the sign and pulled in, noticing the rest of the business name in smaller print: Psychic Studio.

Huh.

The car's fenders were completely rusted -- no way Mom would be buying it.

Shouldn't he have known that? Sheesh, he could have saved us the trip...

Anyway, I'm facing a day of possible snowshowers and a dog that can't stand up. She's not a little dog, folks, and weighs about 85 lbs. How the heck is she going to pee?

I'm a bad mom... guess I should have let her stay dirty.

My writing? It's going well enough. I have the first few chapters of my NaNo book outlined and am counting on getting about half of my words done in the first week, so when I hit the wall I have more time to work out the kinks.

Man, I'm totally insane to try this.

Oh Rats!

For those of you who get the heebie-jeebies when you think about rats (that includes YOU, Ms. Judge of my last contest), clearly I am not the only person who loved her pet rat -- Check out this article about the Pet Depot.

Even now, I wish I could have a pet rat again... but hubby says "no rodents". *sigh* The sacrifices you make when you marry.

I have a cuter pet in my NaNoWriMo book: a ferret. I think I'm naming him "Rett", but that's still a work in progress.

In my first book (as an adult), the pet was a dog (well, several, actually). *YAWN* While I may do dogs again, and actually have one in Camilla, I think that the ordinary (dog) will always have to be balanced by the out-of-ordinary (rats, ferrets... chickens, or whatever). Everyone has cats and dogs.

Hmmm... I'm going to have to make a list of unusual pets... think, think: chinchillas? Bearded dragons? .... *scribble, scribble*

My Teenage Heart Goes Pitty-Pat

A friend of mine from way back (let's see... we met in October of 1980...it's October 2005...counting on fingers...mutter...mutter... carry the ...um... -- We've known each other for TWENTY-FIVE YEARS. How is that possible when I'm only 16?) emailed me the other day and mentioned that (ka-thump, ka-thump) Rick Springfield was returning to General Hospital!

I was so in love with Rick. He was my first concert when I was sixteen (I still remember what I wore: peg-legged, acid washed jeans, pink blouse and my pink/blue/yellow striped leg warmers... I was stylin'). I bought all his albums (even went back in time and got "Beginnings", "Comic Book Heroes" and "Wait for Night" ... none of which are available on CD except "Comic Book Heroes" and it's going for $75! Holy Smokes!)

On a side note, I worked on the outline for my NaNoWriMo book this morning and fleshed Liv and Mike out a bit more. But now I'm wondering if I can give her some kind of old teenaged crush, and then fashion her wayward fiance after that person to give her an additional reason why she's so fixated on the loser... come to think of it, my last serious boyfriend prior to my husband looked an awful lot like Rick Springfield... huh...

Guess I'll be setting the old TiVo to General Hospital on December 2nd, just for old times sake.

New Hampshire: Live, Freeze and Cry

The New Hampshire state motto is one of the coolest, IMHO:

Live Free or Die

Still, there is one thing greatly on my mind right now as I sit shivering in my basement.

I was born and raised in California. I like the sun. I like the warmth. I like that it only snowed in my hometown once every twenty years or so. Incidentally, I am not blond or tan, and I don't know (insert name of famous actor here).

Several years ago, it seemed like a wise thing to relocate to Colorado. That, in and of itself, wasn't probably a bad thing. But then, I met the man who would become my husband. A few years later, I got pregnant. It seemed like a good thing to raise our child amongst family, and since my family is spread all over the USofA, we opted to move to New Hampshire where his family has put down roots so deep, there ain't no movin' 'em. Ever.

What I didn't realize before I moved here is that the winter here is SIX FRIGGIN' MONTHS LONG. Yeah, yeah, there are four seasons.

Spring = May & June.
Summer=July & August
Fall = September & October
Winter= November through April.

It's COLD here. And wet. And soon it will be snowing. The snow STICKS here -- for months, and months, and months.

So, when I saw this bumper sticker the other day (after once again threatening my husband that I was moving away for the next six months to Arizona), I claimed it as my own:

New Hampshire: Live, Freeze and Cry.

Amen, Sister.

NaNo and Writing

I can't write a word lately. I blame it all on NaNoWriMo. Because I can't start writing on my new novel until November 1st, it has somehow morphed my brain into thinking I can't WRITE until November 1st.

I do a lot of sitting at the computer. I've brainstormed some scenes for Liv's story and worked through character profiles. I've played TONS of Bounce Out (I admit, I'm addicted), I've caught up on my emails, have worked on catching up on my writing group posts (it doesn't help that WVU was down for four days).

But writing?

Nada. I haven't even been able to write something original on this blog (hence the plethora of quizzes lately).

Please let November 1st get here soon.

Huh. I Should Be a Novelist... Imagine That!

You're a Verbal Linguistic.
You're probably pretty good at expressing yourself. You love to read and write and sometimes wish you could become one with your books or pieces of writing. Your strong point in school was probably english. You should become a Writer of some kind, maybe a novelist or a news paper writer.


What Type of Intelligence do you have?
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