Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Ch-Ch-Changes
In my quest to change and streamline, well, everything in 2007, I have decided to not only change my website, but also to change blogs. I'm combining the online portfolio and pretty pictures of my website and the chatty blogging capability of my blogger blog into one happy (and free) new blog over at Wordpress. Go check it out.
The new address is: http://lgaumond.wordpress.com and hopefully over the weekend the change will be complete and you will be able to get there by also typing in www.lisagaumond.com.
I've been playing with it for about a week now, customizing and trying out the new features. I posted a few entries, too, to see how it worked. I've been talking to no one, according to my stat counter, so head on over there and make me feel better. I think you'll like it. You can still comment, and I hope you do. The comment link is at the top of the message instead of at the bottom, but it works just the same. Let me know what you think.
The new address is: http://lgaumond.wordpress.com and hopefully over the weekend the change will be complete and you will be able to get there by also typing in www.lisagaumond.com.
I've been playing with it for about a week now, customizing and trying out the new features. I posted a few entries, too, to see how it worked. I've been talking to no one, according to my stat counter, so head on over there and make me feel better. I think you'll like it. You can still comment, and I hope you do. The comment link is at the top of the message instead of at the bottom, but it works just the same. Let me know what you think.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
The Houseguest
Since I've been asked about it, I thought I might talk about something I alluded to earlier: my mother-in-law staying at my house. Before I begin, I just want to report that everything is OK, my marriage is intact, and no one has been suffocated with a pillow in their sleep.
About three weeks ago on a lovely Saturday afternoon, Luke and I were in Vermont shopping for a truck. I was excited because I had coerced Luke to stop at Yankee Candle in Deerfield, MA on the way home for some shopping, I mean for lunch. I love Yankee Candle and Luke... well not so much. He has tolerated Yankee Candle once or twice in the past when they had a car museum in the building. Now that they don't, I can't convince him to go, so getting him to stop there for lunch (wink, wink) was a big victory for me. I had him park at the far side of the building so we had to walk through the entire place to get to the restaurant (sneaky of me) and we were about 10 feet into the building when his cell phone rang.
Crap.
It was a friend of Luke's mom's saying that she had fallen and she hurt her arm and was at the emergency room in Manchester and she wanted him to come.
Like I said: crap.
We turned around, candle-less, lunch-less, and headed back to Connecticut to see Luke's mom. She had tripped on her way into Shady Glen. She fell forward and onto her arms and wound up shattering the ball in her shoulder. She would require surgery, possible shoulder replacement, but the emergency room couldn't do anything for her, other than give her medication and the name of an orthopedic surgeon to call on Monday. She couldn't do anything herself, she could barely manage sipping from a water bottle, and since she lives alone, I knew we had to take her to our home until she could get to the doctor and have her shoulder fixed.
Two weeks ago, she had a partial shoulder replacement, meaning they replaced her shattered ball and a portion of the bone leading up to the ball with titanium, and she's doing much better. And now It's time for her to go home.
I never considered myself particularly compulsive, or a neat freak in any way, but whenever we have anyone stay with us for any length of time, they drive me INSANE. We have another friend who lives out of state and stays for weeks at a time while he's working in CT and I adore him. I look forward to his visits and I miss him when he's gone, but after about two weeks at our house, I could kill him. And it's completely my fault. It's just that he doesn't follow our schedule. He's loud and perky in the morning when we're used to quiet and grumpy mornings. He asks a lot of questions like a little kid when we watch TV or movies, when Luke and I are used to such quiet that we practically communicate through ESP. He leaves his socks in the living room. He spills sugar on the counter and leaves it there. These are all silly things that drive me nuts. Poor Luke. How has he manage to learn my rules and live with me this long?
I digress. So yes, it's time for Luke's mom to go home. This Saturday she's moving back to her condo, and next week, Luke will be duct taping Molly's mouth shut while he tries to sleep during the day. Right now, Molly hangs out with Luke's mom all day, watching TV and snuggling on the couch. This means that she can see out the windows and bark at every threatening leaf and bird that drifts by. Next week, she will be forced to sleep with Luke in the bedroom where she will hopefully learn to stop barking so much and waking him up. Of course, if she can't, maybe I'll be forced to bring her to work every day. Wouldn't that be a shame.
About three weeks ago on a lovely Saturday afternoon, Luke and I were in Vermont shopping for a truck. I was excited because I had coerced Luke to stop at Yankee Candle in Deerfield, MA on the way home for some shopping, I mean for lunch. I love Yankee Candle and Luke... well not so much. He has tolerated Yankee Candle once or twice in the past when they had a car museum in the building. Now that they don't, I can't convince him to go, so getting him to stop there for lunch (wink, wink) was a big victory for me. I had him park at the far side of the building so we had to walk through the entire place to get to the restaurant (sneaky of me) and we were about 10 feet into the building when his cell phone rang.
Crap.
It was a friend of Luke's mom's saying that she had fallen and she hurt her arm and was at the emergency room in Manchester and she wanted him to come.
Like I said: crap.
We turned around, candle-less, lunch-less, and headed back to Connecticut to see Luke's mom. She had tripped on her way into Shady Glen. She fell forward and onto her arms and wound up shattering the ball in her shoulder. She would require surgery, possible shoulder replacement, but the emergency room couldn't do anything for her, other than give her medication and the name of an orthopedic surgeon to call on Monday. She couldn't do anything herself, she could barely manage sipping from a water bottle, and since she lives alone, I knew we had to take her to our home until she could get to the doctor and have her shoulder fixed.
Two weeks ago, she had a partial shoulder replacement, meaning they replaced her shattered ball and a portion of the bone leading up to the ball with titanium, and she's doing much better. And now It's time for her to go home.
I never considered myself particularly compulsive, or a neat freak in any way, but whenever we have anyone stay with us for any length of time, they drive me INSANE. We have another friend who lives out of state and stays for weeks at a time while he's working in CT and I adore him. I look forward to his visits and I miss him when he's gone, but after about two weeks at our house, I could kill him. And it's completely my fault. It's just that he doesn't follow our schedule. He's loud and perky in the morning when we're used to quiet and grumpy mornings. He asks a lot of questions like a little kid when we watch TV or movies, when Luke and I are used to such quiet that we practically communicate through ESP. He leaves his socks in the living room. He spills sugar on the counter and leaves it there. These are all silly things that drive me nuts. Poor Luke. How has he manage to learn my rules and live with me this long?
I digress. So yes, it's time for Luke's mom to go home. This Saturday she's moving back to her condo, and next week, Luke will be duct taping Molly's mouth shut while he tries to sleep during the day. Right now, Molly hangs out with Luke's mom all day, watching TV and snuggling on the couch. This means that she can see out the windows and bark at every threatening leaf and bird that drifts by. Next week, she will be forced to sleep with Luke in the bedroom where she will hopefully learn to stop barking so much and waking him up. Of course, if she can't, maybe I'll be forced to bring her to work every day. Wouldn't that be a shame.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Ahh...spring.
Nothing says spring like ice crystals. Isn't this a cool pattern? I couldn't resist taking a picture. Can you guess what it is?
Can you?
Scroll down to see...
Have I mentioned that it's mid-April. And SPRING. It may look pretty, but I refuse to use my ice scraper past the end of March. That's just wrong.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Adjusting
Monday morning (or is that Sunday night) was Luke's first day (night?) working third shift and now we're all trying our best to adjust. He had to come home from Easter dinner at my sister's on Sunday to take a nap before he left for work at 11:30pm. He's been looking forward to this change for a long time so he was prepared for the adjustment. I have been apprehensive about the change for a long time, but I'm willing to see how it goes.
Here's how it goes: we all need more sleep. Except for Molly, she's adjusting fine. She sleeps with me at night and with Luke during the day. She gets half the bed to herself. She's thrilled.
Previous to this schedule change, we were generally in bed by 10pm and I was out like a light by, oh, about 10:02pm. It seems though, in these last two days, that if I stay awake past that 10pm point, I don't need to sleep at all! I'm wide awake. Sunday night/Monday morning, I stayed up in bed reading until 2am. I had to force myself to stop reading and turn out the light because it was getting ridiculous. Same thing happened last night but I made myself turn the light out at midnight. I'm sleeping better than expected in an empty bed, and I'm waking up just fine, but about an hour after I wake up, I feel like a zombie. I can't remember anything, I can't focus, and obviously, I can't tell an interesting story either. Sorry about that.
Luke's doing OK so far. Yesterday he slept for a few hours after he came home from work at 10am, and then he napped a little before work. The worst part for him is, as he referred to her, Barkums. Molly barks in a shrill, ear piercing way when we're home and she sees something outside. We're trying to break her of this, but you have to physically threaten her with Bitter Apple to get her to stop. Yesterday Luke was trying to sleep and a delivery guy came rolling up the driveway. Then someone stopped by to pick up Luke's mom for a doctor's appointment, then they came to bring her back. Each time, Barkums just couldn't stop herself from alerting Luke of the danger. We're going to have to work on this some more.
One good thing I've noticed about Luke's new schedule so far is his mood. He's a new man. It might be that he's just too tired to be anything but mellow, but I don't think so. It's amazing for me to watch him. He's generally so short tempered and frustrated. Sunday night, just before he had to leave for work, our toilet decided to explode all over the floor, which normally would result in swearing, slamming, and yelling from Luke. Instead, he was laughing and shaking his head in disbelief. Who is this man? I came home last night and he was washing dishes. If this is what I get to live with from now on, I'd be more than happy to live without sleep.
Another good thing is that I have more time to read. It's been so long since I read a book - I've almost forgotten how. I used to read everyday on my lunch break, but then I started to go meet Luke for lunch everyday and the reading stopped. Don't get me wrong, I loved having lunch with Luke, but the driving and the paying for coffee and the rushing - that I won't miss. And now I can READ! Yay! Right now I'm trying to finish up my last book club book, Bookends, by Jane Green and I have Goodnight Nobody, by Jennifer Werner that I started and never finished. And Flann and Amanda gave me books to read that have been collecting dust on my book shelf. I'm very excited at having more time to read.
So all in all, it's good. We're adjusting. It's only been two days (or nights) so far but I think it might just work out OK.
Here's how it goes: we all need more sleep. Except for Molly, she's adjusting fine. She sleeps with me at night and with Luke during the day. She gets half the bed to herself. She's thrilled.
Previous to this schedule change, we were generally in bed by 10pm and I was out like a light by, oh, about 10:02pm. It seems though, in these last two days, that if I stay awake past that 10pm point, I don't need to sleep at all! I'm wide awake. Sunday night/Monday morning, I stayed up in bed reading until 2am. I had to force myself to stop reading and turn out the light because it was getting ridiculous. Same thing happened last night but I made myself turn the light out at midnight. I'm sleeping better than expected in an empty bed, and I'm waking up just fine, but about an hour after I wake up, I feel like a zombie. I can't remember anything, I can't focus, and obviously, I can't tell an interesting story either. Sorry about that.
Luke's doing OK so far. Yesterday he slept for a few hours after he came home from work at 10am, and then he napped a little before work. The worst part for him is, as he referred to her, Barkums. Molly barks in a shrill, ear piercing way when we're home and she sees something outside. We're trying to break her of this, but you have to physically threaten her with Bitter Apple to get her to stop. Yesterday Luke was trying to sleep and a delivery guy came rolling up the driveway. Then someone stopped by to pick up Luke's mom for a doctor's appointment, then they came to bring her back. Each time, Barkums just couldn't stop herself from alerting Luke of the danger. We're going to have to work on this some more.
One good thing I've noticed about Luke's new schedule so far is his mood. He's a new man. It might be that he's just too tired to be anything but mellow, but I don't think so. It's amazing for me to watch him. He's generally so short tempered and frustrated. Sunday night, just before he had to leave for work, our toilet decided to explode all over the floor, which normally would result in swearing, slamming, and yelling from Luke. Instead, he was laughing and shaking his head in disbelief. Who is this man? I came home last night and he was washing dishes. If this is what I get to live with from now on, I'd be more than happy to live without sleep.
Another good thing is that I have more time to read. It's been so long since I read a book - I've almost forgotten how. I used to read everyday on my lunch break, but then I started to go meet Luke for lunch everyday and the reading stopped. Don't get me wrong, I loved having lunch with Luke, but the driving and the paying for coffee and the rushing - that I won't miss. And now I can READ! Yay! Right now I'm trying to finish up my last book club book, Bookends, by Jane Green and I have Goodnight Nobody, by Jennifer Werner that I started and never finished. And Flann and Amanda gave me books to read that have been collecting dust on my book shelf. I'm very excited at having more time to read.
So all in all, it's good. We're adjusting. It's only been two days (or nights) so far but I think it might just work out OK.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Party Girl
On Saturday, my neighbors held a memorial service at their house for a sister who died last month and we went to lend our support. Molly thinks that she lives at both our house and our neighbors' house, so I knew she would be fine on her own all day. I put on her fancy collar and added a purple bandana to dress up her outfit, and we all walked over to join the service. Molly spent the day visiting and comforting, licking and begging. She snuggled with those who needed a snuggle. She tolerated the cute little girls who followed her around pulling her tail, she gently woofed at the door to tell anyone nearby to let her in or out, please. She cracked me up. She spent the day greeting everyone, ignoring no one, and it was hilarious to me to hear peopple I don't know say to one another, "that's Molly, she lives next door". She was a doggie ambassador that day and I am so proud.
So who thinks I should change my blog title to "Me, My Dog, and My Friend's Dogs" since that's all I seem to talk about lately?
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Sad News
If you're Amanda, you might want to stop reading. I know how you hate sad news involving dogs.Last week was a hard week - with work being crazy and my mother-in-law moving in (more on that later) - and it was made even harder by the news that Sydney had lost her brave battle against cancer and went to the big comfy couch in the sky.
This painting above is of the beautiful Miss Sydney. I had an assignment on college where I had to take a famous painting with people in it and put animal heads on the figures. Sydney was featured in several of my paintings. She even made it onto the cover of a magazine right here.
Sydney was with us for eleven years and experienced so many life changes. She was there when my sister's apartment caught fire and when she got married and had her babies. She patiently welcomed Molly and Aimee into the dog pack and never minded the new cats that came and went. She bravely accepted losing her front leg and never let it slow her down, but sadly a new cancer developed and she couldn't fight it any more.
My sister is doing surprisingly well, considering the situation. Her pup is gone, the pup who had been around longer than her two kids, even longer than her husband has been around. I can't imagine the empty space she must feel in her heart, but Sydney is in a better place now and she's not in pain any more.
So think happy thoughts everyone, and go hug your puppies right now and be thankful that they're healthy and there by your side.
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