Nored No More

What th- ?!?!?

How is it August already? I'm pretty sure my sister is asking the same thing, since she starts teaching again any second.

JULY absolutely FLEW by. I spent the first five days of July in Lake Gaston, NC with some fun new friends. I mostly floated in an innertube in the lake the entire time, but I also did some mudding with a suped-up golf cart, road the boat to film the surfing, jet-skied, played some cornhole, and made some awesome peach french toast.

On July 9th I competed with some colleagues in the area's first ever Metro Dash. It was nothing at all like what I had thought it would be (and I have tons of pictures that I wanted to blog about here... but perhaps on ANOTHER rainy day I'll get to that...) - but I'm hooked and totally loved it. In October I have not one but two obstacle races - the Warrior Dash in Richmond and the Run for Your Lives Zombie Race in Maryland. In November I have the Primal Mud Run, and in December I have the Hot Chocolate 15K. Of the four, it's the last one that I'm the most nervous about. Thankfully I'm still churning away at Crossfit.

I watched the entire Game of Thrones series on-demand before it expired in mid-July. That was AWESOME, and much like MadMen and United States of Tara, I'm not sure I can wait until next year for the next season. In other TV news, my DVR delete the last episode of U.S. of Tara, and I haven't put forth the effort to find it somewhere else. Don't tell me anything.

Last weekend (the last day of July), I went white-water tubing with some friends. Glad I didn't do the rafting, as the 6-in-a-boat-with-life-jackets-and-a-helmet trip didn't appear to be nearly as fun as the solo-in-an-innertube-with-the-life-jacket-used-as-a-tie-off-for-the-cooler trip.

I'm making decent progress on the embroidery for my Christmas quilt, but have done no sewing or knitting yet. I bought enough Prince Charming and a pattern I'm siked about to make a huge quilt for my bed. I need to start cutting and sewing before the fabric is out of production!

I'm reading (STILL! for a MONTH now!) The Social Animal. I got sidetracked for three days by The Shack, which was... interesting, but I'm loving The Social Animal. Now if I could just finish it...

Finally, I am pleased to report that Charlie has been seizure-free since May 16. I do hope this new diet is truly the key!

Someday you'll come by to read this blog, and you'll be STUNNED! STUNNED, I say!! to see pictures posted, too. May I recommend that you not hold your breath on that, though?

Quickly

I know it's been ages, and I have so much cool stuff to post... I have a few things to get out of the way (a trip to North Carolina for the 4th of July, and the D.C. Metro Dash on July 9th) before I go back to regular sewing/knitting/posting.

In the meantime, Charlie is love love loving his new food. Even-more-expensive-than-before kibble for breakfast, with a spash of unpasteurized goats milk; an afternoon snack of virgin coconut oil, and dinner is either kibble with canned ground turkey (it worries me that I like the smell; makes me think of Vienna Sausages... and it makes sense since the ingredient list is TURKEY, WATER, and CARRAGEENAN GUM) or two raw chicken burgers. 

I am love love loving my Crossfit workouts every day (well, not every day anymore, since the trainer gave me the word on inserting two days of rest somewhere in the week).  I am love love loving the story line in Game of Thrones. The gore and the nekkid folks are kinda much, but the acting is excellent and the storyline fascinating (says the girl who isn't SUPER fond of Sci-Fi or Fantasy...). I've been watching on-demand, so no need to wait for the next episode - just have 9 and 10 to watch.

Happy (and safe!) Fourth of July to everyone.

Was it yummy??

Last night, I grilled a steak for dinner, and some of the edge pieces were too crispy for my taste, so before I sat down to eat I sliced off the offending parts and left them on the counter.

When I went to do the dishes, I looked at the meat (which I HATE putting in the trash because then it smells) and thought, "Hmm. Three little pieces of meat, three big dogs. I'll be their favorite human ever!" (Nevermind that I'm the only human they're interacting with over the next four days...). So I sit them all down on the deck, and starting with the oldest and moving to the "slowest," I dispense the treats.

Rosey takes it gently from my hands, and starts chewing oh-so-slowly, enjoying the taste and savoring the moment.

Finlay jumps up and takes it, chews three times or so, and then sits down and looks all expectant like, "May I have anotha???"

And then there's Charlie. Charlie lapped the piece out of my hand with his tongue and swallowed it without even chewing ONCE. He sits down and looks at the other two dogs as if to say," What's the big deal? Why are we freaking out? I didn't taste anything."

I'm pretty sure Rosey gave him a disgusted look, and then eyeballed me with, "What a waste." And I don't think she was talkin' about the food.

Happy Halloween!

"Bwuh-huh-huh!!! The devil made me do it. The devil made me do it! Bwuh-huh-huh!!!!"

This is Charlie's favorite toy these days. Chris bought it for him a week or so ago as a Halloween treat, and he hasn't put it down. Every time he grabs it or bites down on it, it repeats over and over again, "Bwuh-huh-huh!!! The devil made me do it. The devil made me do it! Bwuh-huh-huh!!!!"

Hope you enjoyed your Halloween!

Happy Howwwwloween!

XOXO~
ChARRRRRRGGHHHlie

The Honeymoon? It's Over.

Greetings - I know, I'm not back on a regular posting schedule yet...but I've been knitting and going crazy with work and school. I also have a TON of pictures to upload and write about, but today warranted a special mid-day post to talk about my favorite beast.

You guys remember Charlie, right?

How could you forget that face? That sweet, adorable, "I'm-not-a-puppy-but-I'm-not-yet-a-dog" brown hunk o' squishy love!?!

(Live-action shot - his ears are still a'flyin' from whipping his head around when I called his name! How cute!)

If you haven't read them here, then I've probably called or emailed directly to regal you with stories of how wonderful and awesome Charlie Boy is - he's been to dog school, I've left him alone with the garbage out and food on the counter and he's done nothing wrong, he let's me sleep as late as I want in the morning regardless of what time he last went out or ate, he hasn't had any 'accidents' in the house (other than that first one on the first day he was here, but that was a freebie)...you know, he's been an outstanding and loving companion, a pleasure to be around, yada- yada-yada.

Apparently, he was just testin' the waters, and that "honeymoon period" may be over. As evidence I present the following:

1. In March, I filled out the forms for dog school and addressed the envelope and placed them on the counter where they were awaiting a check. While I showered, SOMEONE decided to show how he felt about being sent to obedience school. Exhibit A:

Yep - that's one shredded dog school application and envelope. He even ate the stamp.

2. In May, I had a small snack-size bag of salt-and-pepper potato chips from Whole Foods with my lunch, and I left the half eaten bag of chips up on the counter. The counter is higher than my hip, and should be hard to get to - especially the middle of the counter. Alas, after leaving for an hour and coming back, what should my wondering eyes spy? Exhibit B:

That's one empty and torn up bag of chips.

And that's one busted doggie.

3. TODAY, I came home at lunch time as I have pest control coming to remove an old hornet's nest from my balcony. Typically, the sound of the keys in the door will rally Charlie up from his bed, and by the time I'm in the door way hanging up my keys, he's there stretching and wagging his tail in front of me. He's gotten a lot of exercise lately with the weather being so agreeable, and so more recently he's still been shaking out of the sleep and stumbling out of his bed when I get in the door. So when he wasn't there wagging today, I called his name and peeked around the corner expecting to see a very groggy doggie.  Instead, THIS is what I found (a.k.a. Exhibit C):

See those blobs of blue? That's Sublime Soya Cotton, which I purchased to make little matching striped cardigans for Chris' new twin nephews. I now have two tangled masses of Soya Cotton rather than two balls of Soya Cotton. Two, because if you only saw the dark blue blob in the foreground, check out the light blue blob in the background - which I didn't even NOTICE until after I took away the dark blue blob and shamed the bejeezus out of the beast. What's great about this is that he's been kinda sniffing around at the yarn while I've been knitting with it, and I've giggled and said, "No!" each time because for Pete's sake he's a dog and dogs aren't known for playing with yarn (or maybe they are - but none of the dogs *I* know play with yarn, so I may be generalizing). But before I left today I made sure to stash this stuff up high on the couch - ON THE COUCH HE'S NOT ALLOWED ON - so he couldn't get to it. Clearly, he's spent some time on the couch when Mama's not been lookin'...

So while these are only three small instances on an otherwise  clean permanent record, I'm officially assuming the honeymoon is over and vigilance and careful stashing of the stash and trash is required from here on out.

Next post, I'll try and show you the babies' sweaters. Or, I'll show you pictures from Denver. Or from the last class of dog school. I wish I had as much free time as I have photos to post!!

Happy June

Where does the time go? Last weekend was the official start of summer, with Memorial Day festivities abounding. This year I wanted to do something other than lounge poolside all weekend, and while camping sounded great, it's just too popular a weekend to book a campsite last minute.

Luckily, Chris' family has a place on Lake Anna, about two hours (with traffic) away from here. No dogs allowed in the house, as people have allergies and whatnot. Since we weren't leaving Charlie behind, and since the weather was perfect, we put up a tent in the big back yard and had clear, sparkly skies to sleep under. Charlie was in H-E-A-V-E-N (except for maybe when he fell off the boat or when he maybe got shoved off the dock because he was being way too girlie and afraid of the water for anyone's liking...) - plus for a dog not allowed in my bedroom back home, he took to sleeping on my head real quick (and not necessarily a bad thing when it's only 50 degrees at night!).

Here's a photo montage of the fun:

(his permanent cruising-location, as viewed from the back of the boat)

(his permanent cruising-location, as viewed from my eyes)

(Here you can see how falling off the boat was a total possibility... we were at a sandbar, where the water was not quite waist deep. When he went in, he sunk like a rock but then popped up and started swimming. Thankfully Chris was there to lift him back in the boat - while the SeaEagle is tough, I don't know if it's panicking-dog-nails-that-haven't-been-cut-in-three-months-tough!)

I swear he came home a different dog. He was on a 30-foot lead for most of the time, but he thought he was wandering around at will. And when his selective hearing kicked in, he was quickly and easily reminded to "COME!" when called by a firm foot planted on his lead. He met other dogs, he learned to swim, and he learned to retrieve a stick thrown in the lake. His mother, meanwhile, learned it's not smart to try and take the stick away with out saying "DROP IT" first.

The week went by quickly (six hours of dental work on Wednesday helped, I guess...) and this weekend was Herndon Festival. We went for a little while on Friday, and on Saturday I volunteered at Alex's Lemonade Stand. Today has been lounging and laundry, as I'm leaving for Denver tomorrow afternoon to complete the next round of data collection for the dissertation.  Have a great week!

(PS - Don't worry about Charlie while I'm in Denver - he'll be in the very capable hands of Chris!)

A Little Knitting, A Little Life

So, as promised, a little knitting content:

A silk and linen clapotis. This is a gift for someone. The yarn is CAKE to work with, and actually that's a lot of progress up there that was made in a very short amount of time. I worked on it for about a week in mid-March, and haven't touched it since. Going in the travel bag for my trip to CO next month.

My friend Kelly had a little boy on April 30th. I started this last Thursday - the yoke and chest are done, and I'm starting the sleeve. Problem: went up a needle size because it was the only needle size I could find. As such, Jackson will be able to wear this garment when he's heading off to kindergarten.  Also, the stellar photographer didn't take more than one picture, and the light is off; that's actually a really pretty lime green that'll look great on the little bugger, who has some reddish looking hair (as Kelly calls it, "it's not hair so much as it's a total mullet: he's bald in the front and top, but totally sportin' long hair in the back!").

This is a LOT of stockinette, and eventually it'll be a Cobblestone Pullover for Chris. Here's Chris, by the way - we went to Charles Town, WV this past weekend to check out the local landscape. While we were there we hit the slots, and Chris won enough money to pay for the gas it took to get there as well as an all-you-can-eat-buffet dinner for the two of us. What was really funny was we both started out with really healthy plates. In fact, Chris' plate was all vegetables. But his last plate was the one that cracked me up - a piece of pizza, a cheeseburger, and some macaroni and cheese. Here he is, discussing the decline in his food choices:

In other blogworthy news, check out these beauties, which were $2.99 at the grocery store the other day (there are three there, but again, my stellar photography skills...the picture of all three came out really crappy):

And of course, adding interest to my life and preventing the "noredom,"  there is Charlie Boy. Brought him a new squeaky toy from Tar-jay (it's ruined already) that he immediately loved.

Yep - a giant peapod! Here he is, resting, post peapod playtime:

And, finally - I have to call my dog out. He's a GIANT baby. I ran the vacuum today, which always makes him tweak out. Then I busted out the fly swatter and killed a fly; here's where he went, with his baby-toy to save him....

Yeah. Good thing I didn't need him to be a guard dog!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone - be safe!

Good Dog

A couple of days ago (well, probably weeks, but whatever - ) I fed Charlie his breakfast, took him for a walk, and then went to get in the shower. Sometimes he'll lay on the floor of the bathroom, sometimes he'll nose the shower curtain and try and get a drink from the shower water (typically this means I forgot his water bowl...), and still other times he just lounges around in the living room.

Anyhow, on this particular day, he was laying perfectly - an absolute ANGEL, I tell you! - on the little rug that covers the patch of carpet between the bedroom, the bathroom, and the kitchen. This isn't necessarily a convenient location for the boy, because it's a high-traffic area (hence the new small area rug) and I end up stepping over him three or forty times trying to get my act together on the way to the shower. But like I said, he was laying there, just looking up with his big brown eyes, not moving or making any noise.

After I got out of the shower, I praised him for staying put all that time. After I was dressed and had finished drying my hair, I went to give him some love and praise for being such an EXTRA. SPECIAL. GOOD. BOY!  Well that got his attention, and he tried to sit up, but it just didn't work. He tried and tried, and finally he managed to get up - and this is what he looked like (good Mama that I am, I made him stay like that for the photo opportunity). Notice the frumpled rug...

Do you see that string hanging from his neck, going down to the carpet? That's one of his ID tags on his collar totally knotted up on a loop of the carpet. Trying for a close-up here:

and here:

One more flash at any self-esteem the poor beast had:

and then I whipped out the scissors and 'unleashed' him.  Needless to say, I don't keep the collar on him much around the house anymore...