The newest (canine) member of the family!

Well, after a combination of poor directions, phone calls, and the magic of the Garmin GPS, we made to Kitchener, ONT to pick up our little bundle of joy, who is currently penned in the kitchen and howling because I've left her, so I have to make it fast.

I think I can say with no bias whatsoever that Penny is the cutest puppy who ever trod this green earth. She's eight weeks old, so she's still incredibly floppy and soft and sweet. So far my favorite thing she does is try to scratch her collar while she walks, so she does this crazy, three-legged stagger. She's quickly learning to "eliminate" outside, which also makes me think she'll be doing linear algebra by late spring. Basically, we are just in complete love with her already. I'll only post some of the pictures (We've already taken 50), but I think you'll agree that she's a very sweet beast, as T says. We're training her on a combination of Cesar Millan and www.dogdaysusa.com, a fantastic site run by a woman I know who ran an extremely successful dog day car/puppy training center here before moving to Atlanta (too bad for us!).

I wish I could take the week off to play with her!

In the car , on the way home.

A typical terrier, she's tried to "kill" all of her plushy toys by snapping their necks

Just to give you a size comparison....

We figured she'd grow into the bed; she loves it.


With "grandpa", being her silly self

With Mom (Grandma)


Tell me you can resist this face!

Hope you're having as fun a weekend as we are!

Two very quick ideas

Two websites of possible interest:

www.localharvest.org to find farmer's markets, organic produce, etc. near you

www.workingmomsagainstguilt.com seems pretty self-explanatory

Oh, and Ouiser, be proud: I ordered a rain barrel. Thanks for the site!

Two Updates

OK, first of all, due to problems in personnel (read: someone wasn't doing his/her job when he should have), I now won't find out about my job status until the end of the month. Because that doesn't mean too much longer and because I have no control over the situation, I will patiently wait. Or just wait.

In other news, instead of getting our puppy in May, we will go get her next weekend!!!!!!!!!!!! This means we're frantically reading our Cesar Millan and cleaning the house so little girlie won't lick anything she shouldn't. Here are a few pictures of the pups. I don't know which one we'll get, but one of those little balls of fuzz will come home with us! The one boy, Clancy, likes the soccer ball, and that's Mom with all of them.







Prepare for me to bore/dazzle you with various tales of puppy cuteness and woes with training. I'm sure the woes will mostly be us screwing up....

Still Here

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth--I found out early last week that my internal interview for a possible probationary (read: tenure track/more permanent) position would occur Monday, meaning yesterday. Thus I've been preparing for that, mentally and literally. I could find out as early as Thursday, so keep your fingers crossed. Since the interview happened on St. Patrick's Day, I'm hoping the luck of the Irish, or at least marrying a partial Irishman, will help me out. ;-)

The quick wrap-up, which I'll expand on later:

- Saw B.B. King this past weekend--AMAZING. The man is 82 years old and can still sing and play like nobody else. Not even Mr. Obnoxious Guy sitting next to me could take away from it. Details to follow.

- Ouiser, upon your suggestion, we got into Heroes. We're hooked. I still don't know if they'll save the cheerleader from Sylar at the prom (don't you love it?), so don't give it away. Our favorite character is Hiro. We just love him. I know, I know, I write about not watching TV, but there are exceptions....

- It's been almost 40 degrees lately, and sunny, so for Buffalo, spring is just around the corner.

- Our future puppy will be born any day now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Quick Simple Joy: Having coffee with a girlfriend for almost two hours, dishing about everything, laughing hysterically, and singing along with Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" and "Everybody" by C+C Music Factory in the coffee house.

That's all for now--I'll catch people up later. Meantime, please send me good thoughts! I've already had a bunch from my dearest blog readers, so thank you very, very much.

Chasing Winter Blahs

In some places, a foot of snow over a weekend in March would make folks cry and drink out of bottles in suspicious looking paper bags. Not here.

Recipe for winter fun:

1. Find snow gear
2. Go to local hardware store, buy sleds
3. Go to local sledding hill. Leap on and don't hit anyone!

Yes, DH and I went sledding today. We had tons of snow, new sleds, freezing cold temps, and at least 30mph winds, and we had a ball. I regret that we don't have pictures, but with the wipeouts we both took, a camera wouldn't have survived. I know we were the oldest people there without children by about fifteen years. What a blast! And what a workout--you forget that the better slide down the hill means a longer walk up the hill. Combine a 45 degree incline with six inches of snow, and you've got yourself quite a slog. We're totally doing that again.

Have a great start to your week, folks.

Simple Joys

As I drive from home to downtown, I pass the General Mills plant. On certain days they make cereal; I know this because the air fills with the scent of sweetened grain which reminds me of Life, Cheerios, and my childhood in general. I breathe deeply, inhaling that cereal-y goodness, and get a huge smile on my face. It makes the drive worthwhile because I never know when it will happen.

On my short walk to work, I try to slow down and marvel at the quality of light through the trees—I saw the sunrise this morning as I made my way, although I like the last few minutes of darkness as well. Once I walked through lightly falling snow that seemed to coat everything in a fine blanket. The only sound was my own footsteps. It allows me a few precious minutes to myself to consider my day, sing along with the song in my head, or just exist with the world around me.

When I lived in VA and had my dog, Boo, as I walked to my door, I would hear her run to the door and listen to her collar jingle as she wriggled with anticipation for me to finally get my key in the lock, whining and half-yipping in impatience as I cried, “Ok! Ok! I’m coming!” As I opened the door, she would jump all over me (as far as she could reach, anyway), wagging her tail like a metronome gone wild. She would give me doggie kisses and then run downstairs not only to be let out but also just to do a few circles, and come back for one more jump on my knees. It made coming home a treat; I sometimes felt like wiggling around myself. I look forward to the same kind of fun with our future puppy (whom we’ll get in May!)

Try to think of these things yourselves, or at least acknowledge them when they happen to you. Enjoy your day!

A Dream Come True

Growing up, I remember my first band I ever considered my favorite: The Police. Oh, yeah. The Singles? Synchronicity? Regatta Mondatta? Oh, YEAH. Thus when they broke up I lamented the fact that I would never get to see them in concert. I spent my youth belting out "Roxanne" and other, non-prostitute related Police tunes, practically wearing out my tapes.

Well, fortunately for nostalgic fans like me and those who love to make money on reunion tours, I now have two tickets to see The Police in concert in May. YES! Thank you, Mom, for the early birthday present! OK, I bought T's, but that's neither here nor there. Also, thanks to most concerts having those giant screens, unless we have seats somehow behind the stage (I checked, we don't), almost every seat is a good one. I rarely shell out bucks for concerts, considering we have to think about mundane monetary items such as bills, but this is THE POLICE. I don't mean to brag or anything; I'm just very, very excited. Can you tell? I take my thrills where I can get them, and this thrills me.

Oh, and I did not play in the faculty basketball game, although my back has improved drastically, but I cheered heartily and my team, made up of the leftover teachers who hadn't been chosen by other grades (sophomores got last choice), made it to the finals due to the ten-point half court shot made by one of our team members. I find it very funny to see people in totally different elements: Some of the men in particular were out for blood, throwing elbows and acting as if NBA scouts sat in the stands. Before the game even started they had to remind everyone that this game came about as a charity event and something fun, not overly aggressive. Of course, anyone who knows me and my competitive spirit, I'm not entirely sure I would have remained entirely docile on the court....I'll have to start training for next year.