HELLO insomnia

Once again, I can't sleep.  And this time it's a new culprit.  It's not money worries.  It's not a restless husband.  It's not breathing problems.

It is HOT as HADES outside and our dinky little window units just can't cut it.

This heat-wave introduction to summer simply will not do.

Good news is, I've been invited to go to Belle Isle tomorrow (today) for 'a swim and a beer' by someone apparently named Susan, whom I don't believe I've ever met in my life.  I'm not sure who she is or how she got my number (especially because I have an NC area code, and Belle Isle is definitely in Richmond) OR why she's awake at 4:30 in the morning - unless she's dying from the heat as well.  

At least if I have to be awake at o'dark thirty, I have something to entertain myself.

tank the tank

I'm excited! Today we are getting back in the saddle, and transporting a dog from shelter to rescue. In other words, we're taking a dog from a shelter where it very well might be put down, and taking it to a group of people who will care for him and find him a permanent home - a 'forever home' as they're called.

Some of the transports I've done in the past couple years include an older chihuahua, a momma boxer mix and her million little puppies, a family of cattle dogs (a mom, an aunt, and 4 or 5 wiggly rascally puppies), and a pair of spaniels. There are others in the mix too, whose names I don't remember.

Today we'll be transporting a Great Pyrenees. His name is Tank.

And he weighs nearly 100lbs. He sure looks like a cutie, though. An enormous hairy cutie.

I'm not sure how to prepare my vehicle for such a monstrous dog.

We'll lay down the back seats, spread out a blanket...and hope he sleeps, I guess. Cus if he's pacing or drooling or barking.... that's a lotta dog to handle. And as he'll be coming from a shelter, he probably will smell very bad.

Adventure!

In which I complain endlessly

I am tired.  It's been a long month.  Fraught with a $$$ fundraiser at the Jefferson Hotel and some related candy-making escapades, a visit to a few too many doctors with a few too many 'well I don't knows,' and a couple of days of x-treme summer heat soon to be followed with x-treme outbursts at the summer electric bill.  Let's not think of the cost of 'an ambulance escort to the hospital' until I have a couple more paychecks socked away.  Please and thank you.

I don't get paid enough for this.  I mean really, I work at a nonprofit people.  Cut a sister some slack.  And let's have us some time off.

Tomorrow we're doing a transport - the first in a long while, since we took a break after losing one of the dogs that we were attempting to transport last year.  Oops....  she turned up, fortunately... but yeah, there was much laying low.  Or is it lying low?

I'll also be attending a 'doggie event' where my small-breed dog can get to know a few of his compadres.  Should be fun!  Eli will probably disagree, though.  He's not so much into 'other people' and especially not into 'other animals.'  He ALSO does not do the x-treme heat, so much.  We're probably going to get him shaved next weekend, provided it's not too expensive.  Imagine a very small dog with big pointy ears and a big poofy tail, and otherwise shaved.  Hilarious.

Generally I have overbooked myself this weekend and my to-do list is too long.  It's ok, though - most of what I'll be neglecting isn't too important.

behind

A somewhat late announcement as to why I have not been quite as prolific a writer lately. Back to your regularly scheduled insanity as soon as I can focus my eyes.

inchworm

A while back I mentioned an inchworm that I'd found, once lovingly painted by my brother at summer camp.  I also mentioned that he greets me in the morning.

Here he is, thoughtfully perched atop our kitchen 'table,' which is more like an oversized stool.  He totally clashes with our black/red/chrome decor scheme, and to some extent this makes me happy.

He might be classified as clutter someday, but for now, he's cute and sentimental.

mmm....firsty

I've been taking better care of my skin the past couple weeks.  It was going great until the weather decided to turn 'summer' and now I just feel greasy all day.  Not so much fun.  The cool thing is that Brian mentioned last night that he'd noticed something.  Brian is not quite as oblivious as most guys when it comes to a girl's appearance, but he's still a guy...so it was nice to see that he could tell a difference.

It's part of this whole kick I'm on, to take better care of myself.  Too many episodes of House combined not fitting well in cute clothes combined with one scary ER visit have jump-started my 'motivation.'  It's time to take charge, and eat better, dress better, do some skincare preventative maintenance, and MOVE more.

Even Flylady's on board - the new habit for June is to drink enough water.  My goal is about 64 oz a day minimum.  I'll try to drink that much while I'm at work, and then anything else I have while at home is a bonus.  I hear it's good for just about EVERYTHING - skin, weight loss, energy...magic elixir!

How conscious are you about how much water you drink?  Did you ever set out to drink a set amount or reach a threshold every day?  If so, how did it affect you?

Glory Daze

Today we had Brian's last Sunday at the church where he's been interning.  We've been going to this church since last September and the folks there have really embraced us.  There are lots of 'personalities' there and we're going to miss them.

Remember how I was talking about knitting the baby blanket in church, and how all the church ladies thought it was cool that I'd knit, and they'd monitor my progress, etc...   well, apparently not ALL of the church ladies were very happy.  I was discreetly informed of this fact a few days ago, and as such, I left the needlework in the car today.

I was amused when a few folks - even folks who hadn't really talked much to me before - even MALE folks - mentioned that they saw I didn't have the knitting with me today, and how was it coming along, and what will I be working on next?

One nice gentleman even said "I hope it wasn't because of me!"  'I hope so, too,' I thought to myself.

Something that hadn't really occurred to me before this 'knitting incident' is that people will be watching me, and any offspring, perhaps more closely than they'll be watching Brian.  I figured it wouldn't be as bad, seeing as he isn't setting out to be Head of Staff -- but it's still something I need to keep in mind.