My Official Girl

Just a super short entry right now... Athena is OFFICIALLY Straylight's Affinity In A Row! I got an e-mail from the AKC letting me know they got her paperwork. (Uhh yeah, I really did procrastinate that long...) We have a registration number and everything. I can't wait to go make an account on the AKC site, lol.

Yippee!

OMG A MEME

To be perfectly honest, I've been blogging over a year now and have managed to avoid doing any and all memes. I very nearly caved when Phoenix Says did the purse one (where you empty the contents of your purse and show it off, very interesting for pack rats!)... But this one is a book related type, and well, I just have to.

This one comes from Patience:

Rules:

1. Grab the nearest book of 123 pages or more.

2. Open it to page 123.

3. Find the first 5 sentences and write them down.

4. Then invite 5 friends to do the same.

I currently have two books going, whenever I put my huge book of really hard crossword puzzles down. Those are Duma Key, a new book by Stephen King, and The Dark Half, an old book by Mr. King.

Duma Key: Wireman said nothing for a little while. The torn umbrella flapped. I had time to think, Well this was a potentially interesting friendship that's not going to happen, but when he next spoke, his voice was calm and pleasant. It was as if our little side-trip had never occured. "Part of Duma's development problem is simple overgrowth."

Dark Half: She sighed, looked down at her beer-bottle for a moment, then raised her head again.
"That's actually pretty lame, isn't it?"
"I'm afraid so," Alan said kindly, then looked at Thad. "You ought to be down on your knees thanking God for your alibi now, even if you weren't before. You do realize this makes you look even tastier as a suspect, don't you?"

Whee! :D And for the record, I am really liking Duma Key. Stephen King's writing as aged well. it makes me think of a good scotch or wine or something, where the flavor and aroma deepen with age. Every sentence has a taste or a texture that you want to savor before going on. I'm only like 100 and some odd pages in, which is HIGHLY unusual for me. I normally dig in and don't let go until I'm done. But I'm taking my time. It's not very often that I get to read new Stephen King, lol. I'm almost always buried in a reread of his old stuff. (Have I mentioned that I love Stephen King? I highly suggest him to ANYONE who likes reading. Any genre. He is that good.)

Anyway, I've got to run. Babies are calling.

PS. Ugh. I forgot linkage... I'll edit this in a few minutes to include proper links.

Deadly Plates!

I forgot to mention this...

Yesterday, Sully managed to drop a plate on his toe while trying to hand it to me. It didn't fall flat (that would be like buttered toast falling butter side up!), but with the edge directly at the base of his big toe toenail. He wailed! I snuggled him all up on the couch and thought that was that.

He kept telling me his toe hurt, but I sort of just assumed that was him doing the broken record thing. After all, he is -still- reminding us that the cat scratched his foot, and that happened like 2 weeks ago.

Caayn comes home after his appointment yesterday for a few minutes and Sully shows him his toe. OMG. Half of the toenail was purple! He's walking around with his toes pointed up so he doesn't have to put any weight on the one. By nap time he is rendered to shuddering, gasping cries of pain. I gave him some motrin to take the edge off the pain. He stayed in bed until after 6pm!! He wasn't asleep, he just didn't want to get out of bed. I had Caayn bring the tv down to his room with the PS2 so he could watch a movie. (Hehehe, perfect opportunity for Caayn and Lochlan to catch a nap with Sully!)

Today his whole toenail is purple, and the blood blister causing the purpleness is bulging out from under the nail. Caayn thinks the nail will probably fall off!!! Seriously, who knew plates could be so deadly? I mean, he's dropped plates on his toes before and this has never happened. Poor kiddo.

Congratulations Athena!

Athena finished her basic obedience class! It's official. She is not very good at sit-stays (she wants to lay down), but she did manage to wait the full 2 minutes during the down-stay, getting up just as we were told to return to our dogs.

As a fun little exercise at the end, we did heel-downs or something like that, where you walk around with the leash draped over your arm. The point is that your dog obeys you and the leash doesn't fall off and you don't need to grab it to correct your dog. Athena would have done well, except this gal walked in with her charpe (no clue how to spell that breed; they are the really wrinkly ones) who seems to have a bit of an agressive temperment and a shiba inu--the two of them kept snapping and barking at each other. And ever since that pit bull got Achilles, I've been very short leashed when around any dog who I've seen be snippy. One of the times we went around that corner (which happens to be the corner that Athena has the most trouble with anyway, she always wants to duck in there and hide), the dogs broke out in a snarling, barking fit, and I grabbed the leash... Boo. I think she would have lasted a bit longer.

Now I have a little certificate stating she finished Basic Obedience to go along with her 2nd place ribbon from the B match. Yay!

There happens to be a dog show in Fargo at the end of May that I am thinking of entering Athena in. The numbers have been pretty good considering the state the show takes place in (27 whippets in 2007, and then 18-20ish in 2006 and 2005)... Plus I am pretty sure I'll be seeing some Affinity dogs there. :) I'll really need to work on my handling skills though, since I KNOW I am not very good at them. I'm getting better at getting Athena stacked quickly (and well), which is a good thing. I just need to figure out how to get a look of interest on her. At that B match, the whole time in the ring her ears never once perked up.

Appointments

I am procrastinating. What I should be doing is making appointments. Already this month we have 5? Shotgun training (mandatory class for Caayn), a sleep thing for Caayn because his surgery to correct his deviated septum appears to have not worked and he is still not feeling rested, a pre-op and then operation appointments for his big V, and Sully's dentist check-up.

Sigh.

I have to make two check-ups, one for Sully and one for Lochlan. The dogs are due for their annual check-up and vaccinations. I have to see a dr to see where we stand on the anti-depression meds (my rx is out), and see if they will let me continue taking them. Plus I seem to have developed a rash. I am alternating calling it an allergic reaction to stretch marks (it's mostly in the places I have the worst stretch marks) or the measels. Gotta find the humor in it somewhere!

So now you see why I am procrastinating. !! And to top all that off, I still have obedience classes on Wednesday nights (this is the last week for Athena, then none next Wednesday, but then I am taking Achilles to the basic class, so it'll start up again the following Wednesday), AND I need to find time to get a hair cut. I can tell Caayn is wanting me to grow it back out, but for once in my life, I am trying really hard to maintain the short cut. Normally I cut it short, let it grow long, cut it short, grow long, etc.

Achilles is going to have SO much fun in obed. He's a quick learner and really enjoys pleasing us. Plus he'll get to go on car rides every week and hang out with other dogs. It'll be a lot of fun. Maybe I'll be able to take him to advanced. I'd love to be able to tack a CGC title on him, since he won't really ever get any others. Athena is too stubborn. She behaves perfectly in class, but that's because she is terrified out of her mind. Once we are back in her comfort zone (home), she'll only do things if it involves treats. And only if she really wants the treat. All I really want her to learn is to recall, but she doesn't really even do that in the class. I think that will be one trick that I need to use good treats for. Just loving her up and singing her praises aren't enough to make her come.

One More Hour in the Day Please!

Geez am I having a tough time getting on here long enough to post an entry. Yesterday was the first time I managed to completely empty my inbox of new messages since coming back from St. Paul.

I had my wisdom teeth out on the 15th. UGH. It was pretty scary sitting in the chair and having two women converge on either side of me and begin poking and messing with me (sticking oxygen tube thingies in my nose, IV, etc). I got pretty swollen, and had massive bruising on either side of my chin. Apparently one nurse is supposed to hold your chin up, and when she does it she seriously bruises. (I was so hot with those green and yellow bruises, let me tell you.)

Very nearly stopped breast feeding, what with my milk supply being weird from the trip and then the surgery and being on antibiotics... I think Lochlan also really liked the bottle and how much easier it was to get formula out of it. But with a lot of hard work and putting up with him screaming (he would get SO mad at me because he didn't want to nurse, he wanted a bottle), we're now back in the flow. Thankfully. I really didn't want to give it up yet. It's my favorite thing in the world to nestle up with him and watch his funny little habits. Like how he rhythmically flexes his feet, or the way his hands move. Or when he is mostly done and he starts throwing himself backward, one hand flying like a rodeo guy, with a huge grin.

We also got our tax return! YAY for money! We paid off quite a bit of debt, bought a new tv (we were still using a really small ghetto style one, now we have a 42" LCD), an xbox... The only things left that we want to do are buy some bookcases, real wood ones, not those particle board with cardboard backings! And new couches. Heck, I don't care if they are used. I just want to replace ours. The cat has peed on them so many times (Achilles and Artemis too) that they just stink. Bad. No amount of Nature's Miracle or Febreeze will remove or cover up that odor.

Still working on the pictures from my trip... It'll be forever before I get any up. :P I've been thinking long and hard about this... I think I'd like to get another whippet. I've never seen Athena has happy as she was running around with her old pack. And I think I might like to bring her sister Cozy home. She's such a sweetheart. I'll have to write more about this later, but it's just something I've been thinking about.

Anyway, I must be off. Life is catching up with me again and I must go tend! :D