Funny Dog Story

The snow has finally arrived in Northern Middle of Nowhere, ND!

Montana winters are not always pretty - at least not where I'm from. We would get snow. And then it would all melt away. And then it would snow again. And all melt away. Etc. Etc. Etc. It's a frustrating cycle, and quite often leads to a Brown Christmas. Blah.

I have been told that here, when we get snow? It's there. Always - until spring.

But then we got snow in October. That melted. And a light snow again a few weeks ago - that melted before the day was even over. So once we really started to get snow, I've been pretty darn excited about it! It's thick and fluffy and beautiful!

It's also VERY cold.

Which leads to my funny dog story that happened a couple days ago.

Pirate Puppy is an Akita/Aussie/Rottie mix. His fur is thick and warm, and if he really does have enough Akita in him, it's also possibly waterproof. The snow doesn't phase him at all. He loves to charge around it, dig his nose in it, scoop it up in his mouth like a plow. If dogs have favorite seasons, I think winter must be his because he has so much fun playing in the snow.

Pirate Wench Puppy*, on the other hand, has very short fur, so she gets cold very easily. Usually, when I let her outside, she goes right to the end of the porch, does her thing as quickly as possible, and races back inside. But for whatever reason, she decided to take off with Pirate Puppy across the yard the other day. I tried to call her back, knowing what was coming, but she wouldn't listen. She then proceeded to have her own attempt at the World's Longest Pee Competition. (I would swear that Pirate Dog and Pirate Puppy were both competing for some world championship that I don't know about. They would be out there, in one spot, with one leg in the air FOREVER!) As I knew would happen, she came hobbling back to the porch, completely frozen. When she got there, her poor little legs were so cold she couldn't even raise a foot above the first step. So I had to rescue her. As I got to the base of the stairs, Pirate Puppy was racing back and forth in the snow, having a lovely time. I put my hands under Pirate Wench Puppy's belly and helped her get up the stairs (at 60+ pounds, carrying her up the stairs was out of the question in my current condition). She was quite happy to get inside the warm house.

And then I turned around.

Pirate Puppy was sitting in the snow just past the porch. His front left foot was raised in the air like it was injured, completely covered in snow. He had the saddest, most forlorn expression on his face. "Me too, Mom. I need help too." I laughed at him, and went to help him. (He weighs over 90 pounds, so you can imagine how difficult that could be for my big ol' pregnant butt!) As soon as I had my hands under his belly to assist him, he took off like a rocket straight up the stairs into the house! The big stinker!! He was jealous that she got the extra attention and was ACTING so he could get some attention, too! Then he enjoyed his little prank he played on me!

We have a tendancy around here to talk about him being dumb as a post. I think he's a lot smarter than he likes to let on.



* If you've been reading my blog for very long, you might be surprised to hear that Pirate Wench Puppy is back with us. It's a long story, and we're not really sure what needs to happen next. I may devote another posting to it, but then again, I may not. It's all pretty painful. Meanwhile, we're happy to have her home and we're enjoying all the love and snuggles we can get out of our sweet, affectionate girl.

Thanksgiving means.....

PINE CONE TURKEYS!!!!

This little beauty came home from school yesterday.

Seriously. Is there anything cuter than the yearly standard pine cone turkey?? This one is especially precious with it's baby-sized pine cone and funky feathers.

I've heard the project for tomorrow is turkey hats. I can't wait to see what that is going to look like!

You've got to love elementary holiday handicrafts. :)

Noises

The house we moved from in Montana was in my family for three generations. I lived there off and on for about 25 years. I knew where the creaky places were in the hallway. I knew the sound of the furnace right before it turned on. I knew which door in the house had just been closed from anywhere else in the house. I knew all the noises. I didn't have to question where what sounds came from.

And then I moved.

To a house built in 1903.

Let me tell you, this house has a lot of noises.

There's a ticking that seems to be coming from the living room wall at night. Is it really coming from the wall, or is it echoing off the wall from somewhere else? Is there a bomb in my wall?

I keep finding new creaky spaces on the floor in different rooms. One of them, I'm happy to report is directly under the rocking chair in the nursery. That's a really good thing because my dad refinished my rocking chair for me several months ago, and in the process, it lost the lovely creak it had that was so good at soothing babies that didn't want to go to sleep.

The furnace always startles me if it kicks on when I'm in the upstairs bathroom. It just sounds so weird up there.

I heard a door slam this afternoon and it took me almost an hour to figure out where the sound came from. I had been trying to figure out whether we had a bad draft somewhere, or if maybe Captain Kitty had managed to shut a door. (After a long day at work, I was exhausted and those 16 stairs to the upper floor are really daunting at times! Most of the doors in the house are upstairs.) I finally realized that it was the screen door right on the other side of the wall where I was sitting. It hadn't been shut fully and was blowing back and forth in the wind. I felt pretty silly when I figured that one out.

And the stairs! They're pretty darn creaky when you're on them, but they're NOTHING compared to how loud they sound when you're in the kitchen and someone is coming down them!

This morning, I heard a really strange sound (while I was in the upstairs bathroom), and I was trying to figure out why the furnace was being extra noisy. Turns out, my neighbor had just started his snow blower! I'm so not used to my house's noises that I can't even recognize a sound coming from outside!

We plan on being in this house forever. This little town is our home from now on, and this house will be a part of us as long as we can (we're hoping our kids will keep it in the family after we're gone). I know I'll eventually get used to the sounds here, and they'll be second nature just like in my old house. But for now, they sure can be a mystery when I'm the only one awake in the house!

Tuna Sandwiches, Water and Furry Beasties

My stomach was growling. Baby Pirate and I were apparently hungry. But it just so happened that I had some tuna already made up in the fridge.

Sandwich time!

It was yummy.

And not at all surprising, Captain Kitty had to come investigate the good fishy smell.

So he was curled up on my lap and we were having a lovely time snuggling while I read my blogs and tried to decide if I should go back to bed yet.

As usual, I am accompanied by my constant companion - my water bottle.

As I took a drink out of it, it was apparently the most fascinating thing on the planet to Captain Kitty! His eyes went super-wide as he watched me pick up the bottle, put it to my mouth, take a big drink and put it back on the computer desk.

Huh. I never thought water was that interesting.

But then again, I'm not a cat.

Pandora is Letting Me Down

In general, I love Pandora radio. It's very nice to be able to either find or set up my very own station with the kinds of music I want to listen to at any given time. I have a couple of stations that I truly, truly enjoy.

But then there's my Love Song station. I set it up one day when I was feeling all romantic about my upcoming wedding. I wanted to be surrounded all day at work by the mushy lovey-dovey stuff I was feeling at home.

It started out well. I gave Pandora THIRTY-THREE song seeds! I'm not kidding! Thirty three! From there, I thumbed-up fifty two songs that played on there. (Yes, I really just went in there and counted all of them.) Should be pretty simple, right?

Love songs. Easy. Just play the little things that couples who are sickeningly in love want to slow dance to.

Except Pandora is completely lost tonight apparently.

It's 4:00 in the morning. I went to bed WAY too early tonight, and was wide awake by 1:30. So I decided to come downstairs, catch up on some blogs and listen to music (mostly because I had a really annoying country song in my head that wouldn't die - and no, I won't say what it was because it will weasel its annoying self back in there). But this is not the time of night that I want loud dance music. I wanted soft, soothing love songs.

Tonight, Pandora thinks I want to listen to a million Beatles, George Michael and Air Supply songs. Okay, yeah. So some of their songs are romantic and mushy, but not all of them.

And don't even get me STARTED on "Take It On the Run" by REO Speedwagon! I HATE that song with a passion!!! The guy hears through the rumor mill that his girl is cheating on him. Then he goes on and on about how he knows rumors are crap and he doesn't believe it. But then he turns back around and says that he knows she's lying and she's on her way out. Huh?? Make up your mind, dude! That's the kind of mind-game garbage that makes me want to punch people! AAAAAARRRRGHHH!!

Ahem...

Sorry. Little ex-husband flashback there.

Anyway.

Pandora. I love you. Now figure out what you're doing so I don't have to hurt you. Killing Me Softly is a nice try, but the word "killing" in the title doesn't exactly scream mushy love song.

There's Somebody in There!

First of all, I have to show off my favorite t-shirt. It came from the same website the Rock Baby shirt came from. Surfer Pirate and I both love tools and working with our hands, so the first time I saw this shirt over a year ago, I knew I had to have it!


Anyway

We're in the 7th month now.

It's hard to believe that I've been pregnant for well over half a year! It's certainly been an adventure. I haven't enjoyed it as much as I always thought I would. The hormonal issues are driving me insane. My pelvis has been separated for weeks now, and it's quite painful. I've had pretty much non-stop heartburn for about 4 months now.

Pregnancy is definitely not a picnic.

But the one thing I wouldn't trade for anything in the world is getting to feel this little baby moving around in there.

I don't think this kid has STOPPED moving all day today! Rolling, kicking, punching. I've got little elbows and knees and feet roaming around all over in there! Quite often, I'll get a good solid lump on one side or the other of my stomach and I'll have to announce to the family "Baby Butt!!" Up until the last few days, this little one and I have had a little game going. The Little Pirate likes to kick my hand! If I move my hand away to watch the rolling and kicking, everything stops. I put my hand back on the belly... kick, kick, kick. But I guess we're getting to the point now where things are pretty crowded in there because the last couple days, I've had the chance to watch quite a bit of movement. It's really fun!

It's my newest source of entertainment.

Dear, Sweet Technology

I went to church today. In my living room. While wearing my slippers.

That is the blessing of technology.

Periodically, throughout the year, we have different conferences where our smaller congregations get together in one bigger congregation. We call it conference. In my case, it would be a 3 hour drive to get there. Since it starts at 10am, that means I would have to be out the door no later than 7am. Which means, to get myself and Pirate Munchkin ready for church, we would have to be up by 5-5:30am.

That's really early.

Not to mention all the gas it would take to get there and back.

And I'm now 7 months pregnant and road trips are getting harder to do.

But thanks to the wonderful internet, they've started running live-streaming video of our conferences for those of us who can't make it. Aside from a moment about halfway through when the live feed froze, it went just fine.


However.

There was another issue.


Apparently they either didn't give the "When you sit directly behind the speaker, sit very still because you are on camera" speech, or one particular teenage boy in the choir didn't take that advice seriously.

So those of us got to watch his lovely antics during the conference. He yawned and stretched, scratched his head, fidgeted, rubbed his face and talked to himself. But that had nothing on the multiple times he picked his nose while sitting up there. On camera. For half a state to see.

He wiped it on his pants.

His poor mother.

Wow! Another Food Post!!

I have already mentioned my food issues lately.

So when I come across a food that makes me blissfully happy, I try to make sure I keep it on hand.

(Peanut butter, how I love thee!!)


Okay, seriously?? Has anyone else tried these pies??? As my sister would say, they are THE YUM!!

I picked these little babies up on a sale at my local grocery store for a dollar apiece. 4 minutes in the microwave for perfect peachy pie-ness. They come out gold and flaky and wonderful!! I have to eat them with a spoon so I make sure not to miss any of the sauce.

Maybe one day I'll get around to trying them with ice cream. But for now, when I pull one of these bundles of deliciousness out of the microwave I can't be bothered by things like getting the ice cream out of the freezer and grabbing the ice cream scoop. The peachiness calls to me!

Thankfully, I've discovered the regular price is only $1.09 at my little store.


So okay, Banquet people? You're more than welcome to pay me for this lovely commercial I've written for you. And I would totally be okay with you paying me in pie!

Ow

I have a headache.

It hurts, and it feels yucky.

It's caused by florescent lighting and staring at bad handwriting for 5 hours.


Because I have a job.


It was all pretty quick. Two days ago, Surfer Pirate told me his boss wants to hire me. They have paperwork overtaking their office, and they need some help. Since I have lots of office work experience, they need me.

The best part is since they need ME, not the other way around, I get to make my own hours!

That's kind of cool.

So I'm working 20 hours a week, and the plan at this point is I'll do this for about 2 months.

Today, I got the exciting job of trying to decipher various people's handwriting. Not fun.

But I accomplished something today while still sitting in basically one spot. That was nice since I don't have much energy these days. I spend big chunks of time sitting in one spot while accomplishing nothing, so today was an improvement.