Month: July 2010

Normally I’m not scared of spiders but this was hanging from my living room ceiling and I almost walked into it. With my FACE.

The Kids Are All Right: A Memoir 53/104; Sweet Valley Confidential (Chapter One) 54/104; Everything Matters!: A Novel 55/104

You might think that the 12-page, first chapter of a Sweet Valley book doesn’t count, but YOU’D BE WRONG. Sweet Valley Confidential is the literary event of the decade. You also might have noticed that with every “What I’ve Been Reading” post I say less and less about the actual books. That’s because I don’t really like reviewing books, and I wouldn’t want to discourage anyone from reading something just because I didn’t like it (I’ve disliked plenty of well-written books that others have loved). Basically just, READ EVERY BOOK YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON, but if you really want my opinion on something I’ve read feel free to ask.

Sometimes crazy little puppies that won’t calm down and keep trying to chew on babies need to spend a little quiet alone time in their crate.

Georgie has this stuffed pink elephant. It came from the breeder’s house and smells like all her brothers and sisters and mom, so I haven’t washed it. It’s been a month now so the elephant is getting pretty gross, especially since it is Georgie’s favorite toy for one particular activity: humping.

Georgie humping her elephant is basically the funniest thing in the world, like on Saturday night she was humpin’ around and I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. She can’t quite figure out how to do it. She bites to top of the elephant’s head and stands over it and then she kind of… spazzes out. Sometimes she humps it so hard she falls down, or even flips head over heels. I call this a “humpersault.” She’s also almost humped herself off the edge of the bed several times, going both forwards and backwards.

Humping like this is natural behavior for dogs, even female ones. It shows dominance over other dogs (or elephants, as the case may be). As long as is doesn’t get to the point where she starts humping everything I don’t see any reason to discourage it, and right now, Georgie and the elephant are monogamous

For dinner I made pork chops with apples & cranberries poached in white wine and white cranberry, apple and lemon juice. I was going to do like, potatoes or some sort of bread but I totally spaced and we ended up with just one side (broccoli and tomatoes). I’m so embarrassed!

My neighbor had a garden party that night so we hung out in the backyard and ate cakes and had drinks- I inadvertently drank and ENTIRE bottle of pink sparkling wine. WHOOPS. Sym had her friend Ali over for a couple of hours, and then they went over to Ali’s house to see her baby degus. Taylor and I picked Sym up at eleven and we all went to bed as soon as we got home.

I sort of slept in (ie got up to take the dog out at six and then went back to bed) and although I was surprisingly NOT hungover I was totally starving, so we all went to Joe’s for brunch. I’d originally planned on conscripting Sym and Taylor into my house cleaning army but I was feeling too lazy. Instead we spent most of the day reading in the backyard, interneting and sanding the new desk (me), watching cartoons and drawing (Sym), and playing video games (Taylor).

Once Sym was picked up Taylor and I made some tentative plans to go see a movie, but instead I fell asleep while reading. We ended up having nachos and watching Tales from Earthsea, a totally nonsensical and garbled Studio Ghibli film. I didn’t think it was great, but I also didn’t think it was any worse than Howl’s Moving Castle aka the ruination of my favorite book in anime form.

I got up early to take Georgie out again, but when I went back to bed Taylor REALLY let me sleep in – until almost eleven! When I finally got up and had a shower we decided to take the dogs for a walk on the beach. But not just any beach- Dog Beach! It’s down on False Creek just west of the Burrard Street Bridge. It’s kind of small and dank but what it lacks in charm it makes up for in dogs!

Unfortunately I didn’t take many pictures, but there were TONS of dogs down there, running around being crazy. Georgie had tons of fun, and even Kichou played for a while! Afterwards we walked along the Seawall to English Bay before heading back up the hill to go home. We dropped off the dogs and had a late lunch at The Speakeasy, then wandered down to Robson St to do a little shopping (I was looking for sale dresses, but all I came home with was a grey striped tank top. Because clearly what I need is another grey tank top, haha).

Symphony was dropped off at around 6:30. We walked Georgie around the park and went grocery shopping for stuff for her lunches this week. Then I painted her nails and we watched cartoons and read in her room- we’re reading Stuart Little and I had promised to read her a chapter yesterday but forgot, so tonight we read extra.

She went to bed at nine o’clock and I spent the evening very lamely tidying (I have such a hard time cleaning anything on the weekend!) and playing with my puppins. Here you can finally see her cool, topaz-coloured eyes.

This weekend was totally low-key and uneventful but honestly, that is just so nice sometimes! I’m all calm and relaxed and ready to face another week of work!

Cheers from me & Dougal! I’m so happy it’s finally the weekend!

Imperial Bedrooms 49/104; The Girl Who Fell from the Sky 50/104; The Year of Magical Thinking 51/104; Easily Amused 52/104

And happy Friday from me & Georgie!

I’m really hoping to have a good day today- this week has been dragging and I’ve been in a crabby funk. I think I ran out of patience for work somewhere around oh idk, JUNE, so every day has been a real struggle recently. Everything has been annoying me- daycare kids being whiny and fussy and weepy, parents suffering from take-a-mile syndrome (ARGH), all the out of control spider-filled plants outside, and the creepy neighborhood lawnmower man who lurks and stares and last week menaced one of my clients with a weed-whacker. ENOUGH ALREADY!!

Anyway I only have 2 kids coming today, so it’ll be nice and easy and maybe by 5 o’clock I won’t want to strangle myself!

It doesn’t mean what you think it means!

I want a light blanket or quilt for my bedroom. I’m really liking both of these but for some reason they can’t be shipped to Canada. How aggravating!