If I didn't have a dog

My friend and I were emailing back and forth, trading stories of our mutts and their mutual dislike of peeing outside in these chilly conditions.  Normally, Chino is thrilled about the snow, running, leaping, digging and burying his head.  For some reason, this latest batch of snow threw him for a bit of a loop.  Yesterday morning, he launched his own personal pee strike - refusing to go out in the backyard and do his business.  It usually does take a little poking and prodding to get him moving in the morning.  I really can't blame him for wanting to stay in OUR nice warm bed and avoid the blustery outdoors at all costs. If you talk nice to him and give him a little nudge out the door, nature takes over and he's usually good to go.

(Extreme close up of Chino, trying to sleep) 

 

Not yesterday.  Yesterday, he refused to even step foot outside.  Nick lured him out there, leading him by the collar into the middle of the yard, hoping that he'd just give it up.  Chino promptly turned himself around and made a beeline for the house, desperate to get back inside. Our theory was that the layer of ice under the snow was causing him some distress as he walked, since he's heavy enough to sink through.  Rather than just deal, he figured he'd hold it and hope for the best.

(Sitting obediently, hoping to come inside)

Since we felt bad for him, we took him for a walk for both exercise and to search out a more acceptable spot than the fenced in backyard that he has at his complete disposal.  He seemed satisfied as he marked every tire track in the street as his own.  When we got back, he was finally able to relax, in typical Chino fashion, by lounging on the couch.

  

(This picture was not staged:  He's slept like this since he was a puppy, except he's now partial to pillows)

Back around to the email with my friend:  she ends her story about her pup's dislike of ice by saying, "dogs, what would we do without them???"  I answered, "well, I'd have more money, fewer tumbleweeds blowing around the kitchen and would own more black outfits....but have less laughs though, which is the most important thing."

Nesting

So I think I'm nesting.  Why?  Well because suddenly, I'm worried about what looks good on top of  my kitchen cabinets.  I'm also worried about it not looking "too country" but looking like the perfect combination of "fun and funky" and jiving with the margarita green walls.  So, I've placed a bunch of random things on the top of the cabinets, just as a trial run, to see what I think.  Its a total work in progress right now, which was started by a trip to Ikea last weekend. My mom and I were on a mission for my mantle (which currently has a big naked spot in the middle - waiting for that perfect thing), when we stumbled upon some really cute glass vases. Being the poster children for ADD, we immediately abandoned the original mission and began brainstorming about how these really cute vases could work in the kitchen.

I drew a picture and we lined things up and figured out how many vases would work for the task at hand.  Once home, Nick humors me for 1/2 hour while we rearrange the vases on top of the cabinets in various groupings.  Finally, we land on the notion that we can't figure out the vases without putting flowers in them.  BUT then I realize that I'm going back on all of my past declarations of having fake flowers in the kitchen and suddenly we have a problem. Vases are cute but not so much when they're empty, but the opening on top is small, so not much else will fit besides flowers and now we're back to the "no fake flowers in the kitchen" role as previously established.

Now, I'm even  more determined to make these damn things work.  Not only are they cute, but they were cheap, which automatically multiplies their appeal for me by at least 1,000.  To find that "thing" that will take my vases to the next level, I turned to Etsy.  I didn't know what I wanted, but knew what I didn't want and....ta da!  There it was....

Tracy B. Designs is an Etsy shop specializing in textile art, using various materials to create many different items from toys to pillows and pins.  These "bouquets" stood out immediately as something that would fit within the eclectic style of "this and that" which defines the design scheme of our house.

25 Random Things

There's been a facebook forward circulating for a couple of weeks that asks people to list 25 random things about themselves and then tag friends, prompting them to do the same.  I've found out a lot of interesting facts about some people that are already very interesting.  Here are  my 25 things:

1. I married my first boyfriend.
2. I could eat cereal for every meal of every day and be just fine.
3. I was the only one from my high school who went to Ohio State.  I think of it as one of the best and worst decisions of my life.
4. I miss my family every day.
5. I treat my dog like a child and I understand why you may think that its strange.
6. I've developed an obsession with houseplants, I refuse to believe that they're dead until the last leaf falls.
7. No matter what I do, I can't seem to kick my nail biting habit.  I know its horrible and I know that they're ugly, but I really can't seem to stop.
8. I think I want to run a 1/2 marathon, just to see if I can.
9. The thought of having children someday, scares the living crap out of me.
10. I've never been arrested.
11. Rarely satisfied, I'm often in search of "the next best thing" and because of this, often times have trouble living in the moment.
12. I've used geography as an excuse for losing touch with a lot of great friends.
13. I can chug beer faster than most boys.
14. My favorite band is the Offspring and I hope I get to see them this summer.
15. There's nothing better than driving with the windows down, the music up and the sunshine shining.
16. My biggest fear is failure.
17. It takes an act of God (or Nick) to make me take medicine, even when I'm sick.
18. I played the cello from 3rd-12th grade.  I think that I should pick it back up, but keep finding excuses not to.
19. My favorite  move ever is Hook.
20. I'm horrible at sending cards and remembering birthdays, even though I have them all written in my calendar.
21. I wish I had a better relationship with my in-laws.
22. Before Nick and I start a family, we are going to Europe.
23. I'm guilty of judging books by their covers - both metaphorically and actually.
24. I don't like drinking hot beverages when I'm cold.
25. My home decor and organization skills have really been developing in the last year or so.  They're not quite there yet, but every now and then, I see flashes of greatness.

Conversation over email with Nick

Important background information (required to understand the following exchange of emails):  Every night, typically around 9:00, Chino sounds the alarm, which consists of him running frantically down the hall, barking his head off, continuing to do so until someone distracts him or yells at him to shut up.  The only way to placate him is to open the door and let him see for himself that everything is in fact, A-OK.  This obnoxious barking also happens when he's outside in the backyard.  Yes, we are those people who own "That damn dog who won't shut up."

Linda: ...speaking of crazed, I think I know what Chino barks at EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. RABBITS!!!!!  I saw evidence of footprints and poop in the snow.  Maybe he's not as nuts as I thought he was.

Nick: I have also noticed rabbit tracks in the mornings...should Chino's middle name be "Elmer Fudd"?  Chino "Elmer Fudd" Lollo who hunts "wabbits"?

Linda: YES!!!!  But I think that that is the reason that he goes berserko at  night.  The poo is located near the small fence gate...and he goes back there and barks...and the tracks are across the front yard.

Nick: Chino is the homeland security to the rabbit terrorists.

Linda: LOL - he shows them that he means business when he eats their poo.

Nick: Seriously...that poo probably smells like steak to him.

**Update:  Chino's policy on Bunnies**

The United States Government of Chino does not negotiate or take kindly to bunnies.  The soviet deer population is now on good terms, but no extremist bunnies.  This includes bunnies who may enter the yard, patrol the fence or reside in the neighborhood or surrounding area.

My name is Linda and I'm addicted to Etsy

I'd like to take a second to pay hommage to one of my favorite websites, www.etsy.com.  This site is a showcase of homemade and handmade items from all over the world.  I stumbled upon it in the style section of my favorite blog, dooce, and it was immediately bookmarked.  I tend to visit it, several times a day, just to check some of the items that are featured on the front page.  The items rotate throughout the day, so there's always a different theme happening - whether its color, holiday, gift recipient or material.  During the holidays, I stumbled upon some feature items from a store called UntamedMenagerie. 

 

After clicking thru Etsy's front page, I found myself enamored with the store.  The store is a two woman operation and their work is phenomenal.  Specializing in cut acrylic, they craft jewelry with amazing and exquisite detail at an affordable price.  The item that I wanted kept selling out so quickly that I asked for a custom listing so that it would be reserved, just for me.  One item turned into two and two turned into three because I couldn't turn away from the unique and beautiful designs.  I ended up with two pairs of earrings and one necklace.  Pictures just don't do any justice to these very unique pieces.

Good things come to those who wait

Its hard for me to type that title, but its true.  At least it has been for me anyway.  This past weekend, I got the chance to hang out with a group of friends that I didn't plan on making.  One of them, who had recently moved to NYC expressed her surprise that Nick and I haven't gotten another dog yet. Nick's stance on this subject is "Hell no".  Mine is, well if it happens, it happens.

Thinking of this made me think of an observation that Nick made the other day.  We were searching for something - a  mission of some sort - and I found that something something that I liked-mission accomplished-but was refusing to believe that I was able to find that exact something that I was looking for, but with little to no effort.  It sort of just happened.  Yes, whatever it was we were searching for was very inconsequential, but it was symbolic of how our lives have been thus far.  Which is where the observation comes into play, as it defines how we've found each other, found our careers, our house, our dog and some of our friends.

Starting with our relationship in general.  Nick and I were the two people in our groups of friends that were always single, without prospects.  That sounds pathetic, and I assure you that its not the case.  We still had fun, enjoyed college, met and dated people, but hadn't found OUR PERSON, yet.  Next, we begin chatting online (yeah seriously, internet dating) and become friends.  Very close friends, but not the romantic kind.  Last weekend, however, Nick made a confession.  He claims that he said it once before, but he said that as soon as he saw my picture, that very first time, before we were even entertaining the notion that we'd be more than our screen names for each other, that I was "marriage material".  Something about my picture triggered that in him.  Kind of a big deal for a 21 year old college student.

Fast forward about a year and all of the sudden, we were now "Nick and Linda".  Fast forward a few years later and he's working in Zanesville, I'm working in Columbus and we're talking marriage.  Three years ago this past Sunday, January 18, he asked me to marry him.  He said that he was ring shopping and found the one that he just knew was meant to be mine.  It wasn't a long, drawn out search, it was just it.  Our wedding was much the same way.  We did little leg work, we just seemed to find the right places, things and venues that were just, us.  Just ask any of our friends if they were surprised when the Dreamland Express rolled up to take them to the church and you'll probably understand.

Back to the dog conversation.  Chino was the same type of phenomenon.  We were not dog shopping, we weren't even looking.  Nick's aunt was looking and successfully found and adopted two puppies.  Since she was such a proud dog mom, she sent out pictures along with photos of the rest of the litter - desperately looking for homes.  Of course, I wanted to go look at them, and of course we fell in love with two of the little male pups.  I had it in my head that a fun dog name would be "Neato Pachino...Cap, Frap and Al Pa"...Chino for short.  So Nick and I crouched down, the two male pups facing us and called for Chino.  The little yellow fur ball came right to us, and we were hooked.  We both knew that it was a bad idea (it was the July before I graduated with my Master's and I was working on a paper.  We were also in the thick of wedding planning).  Knowing nothing about puppies, except that they were cute and fuzzy, we took on the challenge.  Chino quickly shattered our "rainbows and sunshine" attitude, but he balanced his diabolo antics with lots and lots of laughter.  Again, we stick by the story that he found us - and he was meant to be our dog, since we were able to take everything that he dished out and remain hopelessly in love with him at the end of the day.

Rewind again to our weekend with a new group of friends.  These friends used to be just co-workers, but have turned into so much more.  It was something I wasn't expecting when I found my job.  I was expecting a career change and a chance to try something new.  I wasn't expecting the atmosphere and the energy that I found in the people that I work with.  I wasn't expecting to have as much in common with them as I do, let alone wanting to hang out with them OUTSIDE OF THE OFFICE.  I'm very grateful for this group and for the fun and energy that they add to my life.  They make my 8-10 hours per day, more than a job, and make me feel very fortunate.

They are a part of what I've come to realize as my (our) path.  Going after what I want, showing initiative is vital, but so is letting things happen as they happen.  When I sit back and relax, the best things seem to come to me, strengthening my relationships, enriching my experiences and connecting the dots.

Man time

Linda: Will you take Chino to daycare this morning?

Nick: Sure.

Linda: Take his blanket with you, so he can snuggle up in the front seat.

Nick: Why does he need a blanket?

Linda: Because the car is freezing since it sat out all night.

Nick: When I take Chino to daycare, we have MAN TIME.  I take off my shirt, put the windows down and enjoy the ride.

Linda: Mmmhmmm

Nick: Besides, I have my truck warming up as we speak.

Delightfully Tacky

I finally remembered to bring my souvenir from Nick's Nashville trip into work.  Some wives might roll their eyes at such a thing, but I screamed!!!  Its another instance of Nick knowing me all too well, and knowing that something as ridiculous as a coffee mug in a bonnet, would make me smile.  Incase you're wondering, yes hot beverages do taste MUCH better out of a friendly coffee mug (that also happens to wear a straw hat) rather than a run of the mill, plain old Styrofoam cup.

Knitting projects

A few years ago, I discovered knitting and quickly became obsessed.  I'm not exactly sure how it started, it was probably one of those trendy type things that I wanted to try out.  Of course I got hooked and began working on projects.  Thankfully, there are lots of tutorials online that give me some help and guidance as I'm trying to figure things out.  I'm taking things slowly because I like the mindless repetition of it all.  My goal for 2009 is to do something that requires a bit of skill other than "knit until finished", so hopefully I'll be posting some new pictures soon.  In the meantime, here are a couple of shots of projects that I recently finished.  

Chino is modeling an ugly blanket - it started off as a baby blanket for a friend's son, but after running out of the yarn, that was clearly not going to work out.  Rather than abandoning it all together and having it live in my closet of unfinished craft projects, I continued on with some scraps of yarn that I had laying around and voila, the ugly blanket was born.  You can see that the beginning started out all well and good, but look to the left corner and you can see a random splattering of the wrong blues and greens and a dark orange.  He seems to like it. Don't let the dirty look fool you.

The next project, after the ugly blanket was a V-Shawl for my friend, Sheila.  She's always cold and loves to be cozy, so this yarn was perfect. Lots of fun colors and the shape makes it very universal - she can wear it around the house or as an extra thick, fluffy scarf.  This shawl was primarily crafted during long car rides during the month of December and was symbolically finished up on the ride back to our house after the last stop.  I think this shawl might resurface again - it was pretty fun and easy to make.

Now that I'm looking at these pictures, I'm thinking that I might begin a perpetual ugly blanket/scarf/shawl of some sort.  Rather than having the yarn end up in my craft graveyard in the closet, I think it would be fun to turn it into something, rather than nothing.  It might be an interesting way to use all of the leftover yarn that I've been accumulating.  Then again, it might become that project that never ends...I might have to set some boundaries (yikes, me? boundaries?) for this one.

Saturday antics

The black dog in the picture is my best friend's puppy, Max.  Chino and Max have a love-hate relationship,  Max loves to steal Chino's bones and Chino hates it.  Right this minute, they're running laps around the kitchen and great room.  All I hear are nails on the carpet, the sounds of two galloping dogs and some heavy panting.  They're alternating between the chaser and the chasee, but I can definitely tell that these two are developing a doggie friendship.  In typical Chino fashion, he's seemed to have figured out how to stand in one place and let Max run around in circles, appearing that he's chasing him, when he's not.  Every once in awhile, jumps up or on Max, for effect.  He's definitely enjoying himself, but in typical Chino fashion, would never, ever admit it.

Quality daytime TV

Seriously, they took the time to devote a segment on The Early Show to discuss whether or not facial hair was coming back.  Even if you don't take the time to watch their slideshow of hairy celebrities, I bet you can guess where they went with it.  YUP, they photoshopped mustaches on each other and laughed...even the girl.  Ha ha...original.  Fu Man Chu and all that jazz.

Yes, this is why they rush through the segments that I really need to hear about such as Kate Hudson's new movie and "How to prevent your pet from peeving you off".  Heck, I woudl have even settled for some do-it-yourself craft of some sort that I would never do myself, but might have thought about for a second or two.   Anything is better than watching a quartet of talk show hosts stick cheesy mustaches on one another and chuckle, leading of course to the inevitable joke as they all stick their mustache on the bald guy's head.  Would Matt Lauer ever stoop to trying to stick a fake mustache onto Al Roker's head?  I think not.

I understand what all of the fuss is about

I've gone there.  The floodgates are open and there's no turning back.  I've made the fatal mistake that will change the way I live the next few weeks of my life.  No, I haven't started a crash diet or some sort of lunatic cleanse...I've started reading the Twilight series.  I've been hearing the hype for some time now, and actually had added the series to my list of "must reads", kept on a post-it note in my planner.  I figured, I'd pick them when I got around to it or when I finished the other books that I've got piling up in my house.  The problem with me is that I can't go into Barnes & Noble without coming out with SOMETHING.  Add to that the fact that I tend to judge books by their covers and that most covers are eye catching for that very reason and you can understand the stacks of books that are in my possession.

So what do you know, our first book club assignment is none other than Twilight.  I bought the book and began reading.  Its very apparent that its written for a teen audience.  This brought to mind the Harry Potter Books, which obviously weren't written for adults but were loved all the same.  I'm another one that was hooked on that series, but I digress.  So I begin reading Twilight and don't get hooked.  In fact, despite popular opinion, I was actually able to put the book down to complete simple tasks like laundry, bathing, eating and sleeping.  My friends told me that they were so hooked that they'd read hundreds of pages at a time, but I was still in the very beginning of the book.

Over New Year's break, I had some time, so I picked it up and began to read.  I looked up and hours had passed and the book was finished.  The book grabbed me and held on until the bitter end, leaving me wanting and needing more.  Today, I headed off to the store to pick up the remainder of the series.  Since I  had pre-ordered the books, they were waiting for me, making the transaction very quick and easy, so much so that I figured that I had some time to sit down and read.  One hour and 94 pages later I realized I was late for a meeting.

The girls that I work with are equally obsessed, sneaking pages in during lunch.  Someone even mentioned that she thought about sneaking off to the bathroom to catch a chapter or two.  Now that we've completed the first book and some of us are on to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th books, we're braving the critics and going to see the movie on Friday.  I'm hoping that I'm not disappointed but am so glad to have found this series.  The books are doing wonders to beat the winter blues and seems like a fair trade-off for the sweets and treats that I'm trying to detoxify from.

Pretending to live like grown-ups

Happy New Year!!!!  As promised, here are the "after" Christmas/pre-New Year's Eve party shots!!!  We even swept and vacuumed the floors and....DUSTED.  We had to do a few touch ups today to make up for the fun that was had on New Year's Eve, but it was definitely nothing like it was to get ready for this year's party.  We also took down the Christmas decorations and  I have to say, now that they are down, our house looks a bit naked, especially since you can still see the countertops and the floors!