New Puppy At My House Yesterday
Current mood: cheerful
Category: Pets and Animals

I ended up with a new dog yesterday after all. It wasn't the one my daughter sent me in search of at all from Petfinder but it was a rescue from a local placement rescue that was at the local Petco here in Katy. Baby Girl Sugar Plum is about 8 months old ... nearly white but not albino - she is a medium hairy dog ... rather like a miniature retriever but not quite that much or long of hair - guess I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I weren't covered in dog hair! She appears to be housebroken so far but she is not leash trained at all. She is hilarious when on a leash - she wraps it around ya and she likes to be right underfoot anyway.

Sugar Plum is rather timid and shy but a licker ... last nite was funny - I hadn't heard her bark at all ... she finally did last nite about 10 PM ish ... she growled just a little ... kind of like it was rusty & unused sounding - and then barked at my shadow in the yard and then she took off running. Sugar Plum has a weakness for pigs feet though - my daughter bought her one from Petco (she tried to eat one through the display barrel there) and my daughter took her home with her to show my grandson while I went to get puppy chow - I certainly didn't have any at the house since I had never intended to get a puppy!

She is quite the nosey puppy and she follows everywhere ya go, mostly right under your feet - I have to be careful not to trip & fall over or on her! Last night I told her that she is the quietest puppy I've ever seen! I'm sure she will get noisier the longer she is here and the better she adjusts to her new home.

She didn't want any part of going to the bedroom and getting on the bed to go sleep last nite though! I had to coax her to come to me in the living room and then carry her into the bedroom and put her on the bed ... the first time she jumped right off and scurried off to the living room where she kept pacing between my office and the living room very agitatedly . We did it again, though this time I held onto her until I got in bed & then I talked to her and was petting her - she kept fidgeting & panting as if she were working really hard. The first time I let go of her, off she went again for more pacing between my office & the living room. She didn't want in the bedroom on the bed but she didn't want to be out there alone either! :D

Poor Sugar Plum! Grandma went & got her and back to bed we went. This time, she didn't jump off the bed - she just kept looking over the edge after I let go of her - about 15 minutes of just calmly holding her & petting her while talking softly to her. She had calmed down yet her panting came & went at first. She seemed settled for the nite but then she decided she wanted to chew the quilt ... and my toes under them .... then only the quilt again. Couln't help laughing at her puppy antics but I got out of bed yet again and went and got one of her toys for her - more petting & cuddling & she was quite happy to chew on her toy instead of the quilt. She finally settled for laying there quietly and going to sleep.

Sugar Plum was still there this morning when I woke up at 5 AM :D ... that surprised me - I thought she would probably be off & gone the minute I went to sleep!

Currently playing : Final Fantasy XII Release date: 31 October, 2006

4:39 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Struggling To Find New Purpose in Life
Current mood: sad
Category: Pets and Animals

It hasn't even been a month since we lost our pretty girl ... she wasn't just a dog ... she was a beloved family member and she spent 13 years as part of our family ... though sometimes it feels like an eternity with my life feeling so empty without her.

I was thinking about going & seeing about adopting a rescue tomorrow ... but it makes me cry just thinking about putting a strange dog that isn't already family into Miss Gabby's yard to bark at Gab's neighbors and chase Gabby's squirrels.

I do not think I am ready to get another dog yet ... I miss Gab's terribly and I feel very alone without her ... but I'm not ready for another dog if I cannot quit crying just thinking about letting another dog into her yard and her home.

I do not know if I am buying a house or renting an apartment next year ... maybe I will be ready next year after I move ... I do not know if I will be or not ... maybe I will like not having to rush home to walk the dog or feed the dog ... perhaps I can start going back to the Writer's Meetings at Barnes & Noble ... maybe I can find other things to do for me ... maybe I will want to get one to rush home to after work.

Only time will tell.

7:02 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Buyer Beware
Current mood: angry
Category: Games

If you do not know anyone in real life who has a Nintendo DS system and the Animal Crossing Wild World game to share Friend Codes with you - you CANNOT play Animal Crossing Wild World online at all UNLESS you find someone somehow with a Friend Code to share with you.

The game box DOES NOT say - "Game Intended for Two to Four Real Life Friends / Family Members to Share Friend Codes to Play Game on the Internet".

The back of the game box DOES say and I quote:

"Visit friends near and far over local wireless or the Internet"

How is any consumer supposed to know BEFORE buying and opening the game - $35 plus tax (and possibly like me, a $40 plus tax Nintendo USB WiFi Connector since I do not have a wireless router) to specifically play this game on the Internet and then contacting Nintendo Customer Service after trying to play it online and cannot?

The system, the game and the USB Connector are non-returnable to the store at this point - they've been opened and they are not defective.

Nintendo's recommended solution for me?

Buy a DS system and Animal Crossing Wild World game for my grandson and exchange Friend Codes with him so I can play Animal Crossing Wild World online OR buy a different WiFi game to play online that does not require a Friend Code to play online to use the USB Connector but still not be able to play the game I already purchased?

This is the only DS WiFi game I have (or will have), my grandson does not have a DS system and guess what - I will NOT be buying a Nintendo DS for him for Christmas now after contacting Nintendo Customer Service about this issue and their handling of my complaint.

As a consumer, I find this type of deceptive advertising unacceptable and I do not spend my hard earned dollars with companies that practice it.

I will be buying a PSP for my grandson for Christmas.

I will also be writing a letter of complaint to the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Consumer Affairs Department.

8:32 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

A Dead Hamster & A Very Alive Boxer Dog
Current mood: Sad but Moving On
Category: Sad but Moving On Pets and Animals

This last Saturday was a very emotional day ... one of my two hamsters died ... and our Beloved "Bad Dog" came over to Grandma's house to spend the day and brought his girl friend Miss Candy who gets car sick just thinking about riding in the car.

Bad Dog LOVES Grandma ... follows me everywhere ... drools and jumps all over me and tries to sit in my lap ... I got very little done on Saturday but pay attention to our doggie guests. Miss Candy was so excited to see Grandma when she arrived though that she jumped out the back window of the Explorer and raced into the garage then into the house to the patio doors for the backyard - that was funny - she didn't even wait for Dad to let down the tailgate - just jumped over and down and came flying!

The electrician was going to be at my daughter's house replacing their breaker box - their light bill is horrendous - it is because that needed fixed ... so my daughter had her husband bring both her dogs over here (the two that live with her) ... her third dog already lives with Grandma ... and poor Miss Gabby had to spend the day in the bedroom while we had doggie guests ... she does NOT play nice with other doggies.

And the Bad Dog has good reason to be terrorized by Miss Gabby too ... they used to live together and one nite she had him cornered under the bed squeeling because Gabs had a severe PMS moment in the middle of the nite! The Bad Dog probably rolled over on her or something ... scared the bejeebers out of EVERYONE!

Being mauled by a Boxer for hours on end that loves you leaves you weak from laughing as well as paw-claw marks all over legs wearing shorts instead of blue jeans and my arms are sore too from pushing him off me - I keep telling him HE IS NOT A LAP DOG!!! But he doesn't listen :)

7:56 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Dragonflies or Helicopters? Painting or Print?
Current mood: indescribable
Category: Art and Photography

Yesterday morning about 10 AM CST, I went outside to have a cigarette - I was swamped with overload of things needing accomplished but needed a break so my eyes would uncross from being so intent on the computer screen that morning.

I'm standing outside there and I notice about 5 or 6 dragonflies flittering about ... I knew they were dragonflies and then the viewing angle changed as the one I was watching kept flying & doing it's aerial acrobatics. Suddenly, it looked just like a teeny tiny helicopter just the right size for itsy bitsy teeny passengers. The dragonflies kept flying & enjoying the morning before it became swelteringly hot and I watched them and wondered if who-ever first invented the helicopter had been watching dragonflies before sitting down to design the very first helicopter.

I do not know the answer ... I haven't even tried to look it up on the Internet ... but if anyone knows ... please let me know :) ... but it was uncanny looking at those dragonflies silhouetted against the sky looking just like tiny helicopters! I kept expecting them to land and for tiny little people to get out!

This morning, I took my grandson and step-granddaughter to the Art Museum - I wore my Dragonfly Swarm tank top - it was neat walking around the art museum wearing my own designer shirt!

The museum has a new Rembrandt painting on display ... it was okay ... I was not overly impressed though ... I LOVED the two Georgia O'Keeffe paintings though! I really HAVE to go to New Mexico to her museum now though to see more of her paintings in person!

I bought an inexpensive print of one of them for me and one for my step-granddaughter - she liked the painting very much too. What I found the most unusual though is the color variance between the print and the actual painting. The painting has bright red and pinks while the print - those colors are brownish burgundy reds and tannish pinks - the print is lovely.

But now that I have seen one of her paintings on the wall ... I understand why a customer once compared my oil paintings to hers ... bold but subtle :) ... her "Red HIlls With White Shell" is a masterpiece of bold but subtle hanging on the wall and in the print ... it reaches out & grabs you!

My painting, Ship Boneyard, is a similar contrast in lights & darks ... bold yet subtle. Mine was painted on the computer so the colors are the very ones I used when I painted it - no color variances or color differences ... that is one of the lovely things about digital painting - the colors stay the same!

8:25 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Wild Animals in the City
Current mood: enthralled
Category: Life

Yesterday morning when I got to work, I stopped at the trashcan/ashtray just outside the door where employees enter ... I'm still one of those vicious monsters the smoker .... I heard a plastic rustling noise ... it wasn't raining  (YET - it waited til afternoon) and the wind was not blowing - I kept looking around trying to see what was making the noise.  Then I looked in the trashcan (it is a large rough concrete-rock type that has a sturdy trash bag in it) ... I saw something dark but moving.  My first thought was that it must be a rat (YUCK!) ... then I moved a little & I could see a long tail.

Then IT moved and I could see a face ... it was a possum!

I've never been so close to a possum before in my life!  Don't ever expect to be again either :) ... I stared at it - it stared at me ... then I decided that I needed to go inside & get to work - when I went back outside a couple hours later for a cigarette break - there was little claw holes in the plastic trash bag where it had probably climbed out & went it's merry way too.

Bet possum's have daily agendas too!  It was a strange nature moment though!  I've never been in a stare down with a possum before!  As a kid, I used to have stare down contests with my younger brother all the time ... and we were both always in trouble for it too!!!

If you stop, look & listen ... sometimes you have the oddest nature adventures even being a city slicker.

7:50 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Trailer Parks & Pink Flamingos
Current mood: amused

I've lived in a few trailer parks in my lifetime :) ... some nice ones and some not very nice ones ... I never had any of the plastic pink flamingos that some people are so fond of though ... last Christmas, I painted a flamingo for my step-grand-daughter for a Christmas present - she LOVES flamingos! Thus Flamingo Heaven was born ... I will probably paint her another flamingo for this coming Christmas since she likes flamingos!

My neighbor had to paint a flamingo in wateroclors too just because I had painted one :) ... Flamingo Feeding ... it is quite lovely too. Then recently, he asked me for a painting challenge so I told him to paint more flamingos ... so he did paint another watercolor flamingo painting - Flamingo Pride was born - it too is quite lovely!

6:34 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Musings From The Grandma Front
Current mood: gloomy

My grandson came over yesterday to spend the nite ... he is growing up so quickly! He is nine ... gets his own drinks ... plays Toon Town on the computer ... writes his own letters ... those are just a few of the things this half grown young man does for himself.

I got a letter in the mail Saturday reminding me to renew my drivers license ... there is a place on the letter reminding young men to register for the US Selective Service. In 9 years, my grandson will old enough to register. How very scary! Especially with all the war going on all over the world right now.

7:20 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Baby, Babies & More Babies!

Our It Manager's daughter-in-law & son had their baby late Monday - it was a happy healthy baby girl with lots of red hair.

Another lady I know just found out she is going to have a baby ... and she is worried how her daughter who is 7 will take the news .... older kids, especially when they are the only child, can sometimes take having a new baby about to invade their home & "take away" their parents from them as they are not loved or wanted any more.

30 plus years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter, I craved chocolate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I felt like I ate enough chocolate to purchase a candy store! My daughter still to this day loves chocolate too! The funny part though ... I only gained 20 pounds with my daughter ... with my son, I craved fresh fruit & fruit juices (which he still loves to this day too!) and I gained about 60 pounds with him ... with babies ... there is just no predicting how your pregnancy will go or how much weight you will or will not gain. Always listen to your doctor if you are pregnant and take your vitamins & exercise ... eat veggies ... they are good for you & for the baby too!

5:50 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Happy 4th of July!!!

My neighbors are shooting off fireworks ... in the rain ... to me that is just a little ... WEIRD!!!!!

It was one thing that inspired me to create a design though - "My daddy has more fireworks than Your daddy!" - I've lived in this neighborhood awhile - every holiday but especially the 4th of July & New Years ... it sounds like we have a world war happening right outside in my front & my back yards & around all over my neighborhood.

Scares the dog! Worries me they are going to burn the entire neighborhood down as much gunpowder smoke as there always is while this is happening ... seriously - it won't be foggy but it appears to be heavy fog in the neighborhood!

Hope your 4th of July is a safe & happy one!

8:16 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment