Wednesday, March 02, 2005 , evening

A hermit’s life for me

I am officially ailing with a run-of-the-mill head/chest cold.  I know this is punishment for violating my first rule for maintaining a healthy lifestyle: Have absolutely no contact with the outside world, and if you must touch a stranger, do it only while wearing a full HazMat suit.  I broke this rule last week when I shook hands with the closet designer lady and I’ve been falling to pieces ever since.  Koff, hack, wheeze.  Here’s a photo of me from Christmas eve when I attended the family Christmas party and was trying to avoid germs:


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Posted by Leigh-Ann on 03/02 at 09:54 PM
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Tuesday, March 01, 2005 , evening

Headaches from over yonder

Celine gave me her headache, and it’s been threatening to make the top of my head pop off.  Bad Celine!  I would have been happy with a simple gift basket instead.  I truly have been feeling ill all day, from a minor “tickling cough” which started last night, to a sore throat, to my current stuffy nose and throbbing sinus headache.  I’ve fed Chelsea, and I’m off to bed.  You can’t stop me!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 03/01 at 09:17 PM
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Sunday, February 27, 2005 , evening

That Oxyclean is pretty good stuff

Chelsea.  Vomits.  Still.

I turned down a work project today, and it bugs me because I hated the idea of doing the project, but I also feel badly for turning it down.  It was a big project which was sprung on me unexpectedly last fall, by people I didn’t know but who had a good reputation.  I didn’t want to piss them off, and thought they might be good people to be in business with, so I said “yes” to a project that I felt sort of confused about.  Turns out I wasn’t the only one confused—it was a HUGE project with far too many cooks, yet I was the only one who was responsible for doing “real work”.  Everyone else had “ideas”, and I was supposed to implement the ideas, with the promise of profits if/when the project was successful.  Right before Christmas I decided to turn the project down, as I didn’t know how something could be lucrative if there was no specific goal in mind except, “The project needs to make a lot of money!”.  A few weeks later I received an email from the “idea guys”, begging me to take on their project, offering to scale the project down, and offering to pay me up front for the work.  I thought about it and again said okay, but immediately I began to have doubts again.  The project just didn’t feel right, I wasn’t enthused about it at all, and I had a gut feeling that it would turn into one huge headache.  There’s so much going on right now, with trying to start the new “side business” here at the house, as well as dealing with Chelsea’s illness and doing a bit of home remodeling, well, I didn’t want to have the burden any worry of one more task hanging over my head.  So, tonight I wrote my final, “Sorry, but no thanks” email, and that’s the end of it.  I won’t reconsider, and wish I hadn’t reconsidered in the first place.  It’s so hard to justify saying no to work when you need money, but 90% of the time when I do work on a contractual basis it ends up being a nightmare and a headache.  Nancy and I have enough ideas of our own to keep me designing websites for the next few years, and that’s really what I need to be doing.  I also need to learn how to say no, and to not worry so much about being responsible for keeping everyone else’s lives running smoothly.  I’ll volunteer to do practically anything if a person needs something done, and it’s a stupid thing to do, and I have to stop.  I really, really want to find ways to spend more time doing things I love, rather than just whittling the months away doing busy work.

I watched the Academy Awards, hadn’t seen any of the movies, didn’t care who won.  I was much more interested in the fact that Halle Berry showed up to accept her Razzie Award earlier in the day, and I thought that was really classy of her.  I’m so very into movies and the cinema that on Saturday night I finally saw, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”!  I’m only about three years behind the current trends.  Know what movie I really loved?  “A Mighty Wind”.  I’d like to see that one again, as a matter of fact.

One last thing… I must post about a long-lost love.  I first saw him on a trip to Vegas 6 years ago, when I was living in San Francisco.  He caught my eye and it was love at first sight (for me, anyway), but my financial situation made our relationship impossible.  I’ve since thought of him often and wondered where he ended up, and today I found him again:

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He is Nighttime Winnie the Pooh by R. John Wright, originally selling for $495 I think.  If I can find one in stock today it’s anywhere between $600 and $800, so I still think our romance is doomed.  I still like to gaze at his photo, though, and dream about what could have been if I had a Platinum Mastercard.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/27 at 08:30 PM
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Saturday, February 26, 2005 , evening

Bears and Art

What do bears and art have in common?  They both arrived in the mail today!  I’m now the proud owner of two pieces of original art by my niece, McKenna, plus a third piece of original art which was perhaps drawn by my nephew Tanner, but arrived unsigned.  I also received two, count ‘em, two new bears—a new Starbucks bear from Pike Place Market in Seattle, courtesy of BJ and Print, and an absolutely adorable “Alice’s Bear Shop” teddy from my sister and her family (the aforementioned niece and nephew, plus a brother-in-law who never draws pictures for me, hrumph).

Here is a drawing which I believe is of Chelsea:


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And here is a photo I took of Chelsea today, so you can see the striking likeness:


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As I don’t want them to feel left out, here are my two new bear buddies:


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I just looooooooooove teddy bears, and especially love ones designed to look old and loved.  I’m getting so many that I’m going to have to find new ways to display them, but perhaps I’ll figure out a way to reorganize the spare bedroom.  That room used to be called “the guest bedroom”, but now we like to call it, “the bear room”.

My day was also very exciting because I got to go to Home Depot, my own personal shopping heaven (after PetSmart and Borders).  I was looking for some carpet remnants so I can finish my cat tree, but wow, they’re hard to find.  I want a remnant around 4 feet square, but to the stores, a “remnant” is something along the lines of 100 sq. ft. or more.  I ended buying a $10 carpet runner which has been edged, but I’ll just cut that part off.  I off course forgot to buy staples and new blades for my utility knife, because that’s the kind of thing I do.  There’s a section of my brain that seems to be perpetually on vacation.  Nancy even seemed to enjoy the shopping trip as we took time to look at flooring—we really want to redo the floor downstairs (the floor that Dante ate right after we moved in 4 years ago).  We’re thinking of this: Dupont Laminate Saltillo Tile.  It’s got the look and texture of tile, without the problems associated with grout (such as staining, cracking, and dog eating it).  It’s also got a great warranty.  I think it will really brighten up the downstairs, and it shouldn’t show the dirt too badly.  We had originally fallen in love with a Pergo design called “Restoration Pine”, but that doesn’t seem to be in their inventory anymore.

Oh, one more thing—even the cats got a fun gift today.  They received their Drinkwell Fresh Water Fountain and Reservoir for Cats or Dogs.  So far they feel ambivalent about it, but I’ve seen Derek drink from it so at least he’s not afraid to approach it.  I find the trickling sound sort of soothing, but Nancy says it makes her have to pee.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/26 at 09:58 PM
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Valium + Eli = Energizer Bunny

We were about to leave the house last night pick up a delicious dinner of Subway and Starbucks, when we glanced out the window and saw flashes of lightning over the Strip.  A few moments later we heard rumblings of thunder, and that was the end of our dinner plans.  Eli is such a nervous wreck when it comes to thunder that she can’t stay home alone, and Nancy didn’t feel like going out by herself, so instead we had frozen pizza and salad.  Eli had 30 mg of Valium in an attempt to calm her reaction to the impending storm.  She developed her fear of fireworks and thunder just a few years ago, and it seems to worsen with every passing year.  We tried acepromazine first, but just ended up with a stoned-yet-frightened dog—her eyes would get all red and bleary, as if she’d consumed a bottle of Thunderbird directly from the paperbag.  The vet then let us try Valium, and while it still doesn’t eliminate her fear of loud noises, it does help her control her bladder when stressed and that’s worth a lot.  Dogs can apparently withstand HUGE amounts of Valium.  If you consider that the largest pill made for people is 10mg (they also make 2mg and 5mg tablets), it’s amazing that 100 lb. Eli is prescribed 30mg for her anxiety.  Her dose can go as high as 80mg, but we’ve found that 20mg seems to be the best mix of “a bit groggy and doesn’t pee on the floor”.  I don’t know what I was thinking last night though, because I gave her 30mg, and was soon reminded that Valium turns Eli into an over-tired child.  Even if you don’t have kids of your own, I’m sure you’ve known kids who are exhausted, yet try to avoid going to bed by running around the house and acting like idiots.  That’s Eli on Valium.  She paces, she whines, she fusses, she bugs the cats, and does everything she can to avoid quietly resting (she does it all while drunkenly wobbling).  When she finally does put her head down, just like an over-tired kid, she crashes and sleeps for hours without moving.  It took an eternity for her to fall asleep last night, and the irony is that we didn’t even end up having a major thunderstorm.  There were two little rumbles that Eli didn’t even notice, and then the clouds moved on to someplace else.  She got her pills around 7pm, and was still poking at the cats at 3am.

Speaking of drunken wobbling, I wanted to mention a delicious little thing I found at the grocery store in the booze section: E & J Cask & Cream Caramel Temptation .  I don’t even like alcohol very much, except for the few times a year I indulge in some holiday Irish Cream or eggnog (or perhaps some really cheap wine), but this Caramel Tempation stuff is pretty darn tasty.  The make a Chocolate Tempation, too, and I want to look for that in the store—I need a small bottle, though, because large bottles just end up being wasted.  We bought Ouzo about 5 years ago for New Year’s Eve, and the bottle gets opened exactly once a year—New Year’s Eve—and about half an inch is consumed.  All things considered, we’d just rather have a Chantico.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/26 at 11:07 AM
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Friday, February 25, 2005 , evening

A girl with a scroll saw

As of today I am no longer just a Canadian-lesbian-pet-owning-web-designing-coffee-drinking-book-reading-TV-watcher… I am now a Canadian-lesbian-pet-owning-web-designing-coffee-drinking-book-reading-TV-watcher-with-a-scroll-saw.  It’s a scroll saw in a box, but nevertheless, it’s inside the front door which means it’s all mine.  I want to make cute little things from wood, like I’m sure Pa Ingalls did when he wasn’t busy tilling fields or mending fences or barn raising whatever it was he did with his time.  You know he had power tools hidden somewhere on the farm, and electricity was generated as he forced his children to run furiously on a large hamster wheel.  You can always come to me for interesting historical tidbits that you won’t hear elsewhere.  This is the first project I’d like to try: Welcome Moose, although I’ll alter mine slightly so the sign says, “Welcome, now please go away.” Under absolutely no circumstances will I ever build this:  http://www.thewinfieldcollection.com/display.aspx?id=715&catid=0 .  That’s just totally creepy, especially because it’s intended to be displayed on your front lawn.

We were browsing in Borders bookstore recently (one of my favourite things to do), and I found a wonderful “book” in with the magazines.  It’s the current Earthwatch Institute Reseach and Exploration Guide, and it’s a huge catalogue describing more than 100 unique vacations you can take while also supporting the Earthwatch Foundation.  Go on an archeological dig, help count endangered sea turtles, visit small villages in China, or even measure snowpack thickness… there are some incredible opportunties listed.  My favourite is an expedition which tracks the movements of lemurs in Madagascar—what an amazing experience that would be!  If you have a chance, pick up the catalogue a local bookstore, or browse the expedition list here on the Earthwatch site: Earthwatch.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/25 at 09:29 PM
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Oreck Air Cleaner

Excuse me for a moment while I sound like a commercial, but I want to rave about our Oreck Air Cleaner.  I keep it in the bird room and had to clean it today, and it never ceases to amaze me when I see all the dust that it’s trapped.  I usually clean it about once a month (whenever it starts making a “popping” sound), and it’s always filled with cockatoo dust.  Filled!  Every nook and cranny of the pre-filter is 100% cockatoo!  I swear I could mix the dust with some glue and water and build myself a dozen new cockatoos with all the junk that the air cleaner traps.  I’ve only got one small Goffin’s cockatoo, too, so it’s not like I’m living with a flock of umbrella cockatoos… it’s just the Goffin’s and 5 other birds, none of whom produce anything like cockatoo dust.  We keep a second Oreck Air Cleaner in the hallway outside the bird room, and while it doesn’t get as dirty, it still traps an incredible amount of dust.  I’d like to pick up a couple more during Oreck’s current “buy 1, get the second half-price” offer, and put one in the master bedroom and one downstairs.  They’re not cheap initially, but well-worth the investment in the long run when you don’t have to buy expensive replacement filters.  I’ve got two inexpensive Honeywell air cleaners sitting in the garage, unused, simply because I don’t want to pay $60+ for new HEPA filters, plus 15+ for pre-filters.  So, the Orecks do the job, and they do it for a great price.  If you’ve got pets, especially birds, I’d highly recommend it.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/25 at 09:07 PM
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Thursday, February 24, 2005 , late evening

Yes, dammit, I know who The Corrs are!

I recently mentioned something to a “young friend” about how I liked The Corrs.  She replied, “Seriously?” I’m not sure what to make of that, except that perhaps she thinks I’m too busy listening to Perry Como to discover any newfangled “rock and roll” artists.  I haven’t written back to her yet to tell her that I’ve loved The Corrs since she (my friend) was only 11 years old!  That’s right!  They had television back then and everything, and on March 17, 1996, I saw The Corrs perform live on the “Today” show for St. Patrick’s Day, and I was smitten.  I bought their album, “Forgiven, Not Forgotten” the next day, AND even found an Internet discussion group via Compuserve all about the band.  That was quite an achievement in 1996, when I was on a 14000 baud modem and doing anything took half the day.  So yeah, I do like The Corrs.  Hrumph… kids today.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/24 at 10:00 PM
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Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs

I was intrigued by the title, and I was intrigued by the photo on the cover (a cat wearing a wig and makeup and looking a bit like Dame Edna, if Dame Edna had been born in a trailer park), so I bought a used copy of Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs by Cheryl Peck.  I’d read “iffy” reviews of it on the QPB.com site, but the Amazon.com readers seemed to love it, and my love of the cover and title made me optimistic.  I started reading and was amused.  I thought to myself, “How could anyone not love this book?” I then got further along and thought, “This is a fairly likeable book”.  I got about two-thirds of the way through and thought, “How on earth did anyone ever agree to publish this book?!” It never did live up to the cat photo.

The book is a collection of more-or-less true anecdotes about the author, her family, and friends.  The author is a lesbian, she’s from a large family with sisters and brothers, she’s got a partner, she’s got a pet, and she’s got a lot going on in her life which probably makes for a good story if you’re at a picnic or sitting around the dinner table, but the stories just aren’t that funny when they’re written out.  I think a lot of them have that, “I guess you had to be there” quality to them.  Cheryl Peck isn’t a bad writer, but a lot of the anecdotes are rambling and unfocused and just sort of… end.  Many of the stories are like all those bad sketches on Saturday Night Live, the ones with a funny premise which never seem to go anywhere and which end abruptly.  She’ll introduce a story as being about her brothers, but then she writes mainly about her sisters and tosses in a brother reference as the closing sentence in an attempt to tie up all the loose ends.  It reads awkwardly.  Peck is also a poet, and interspersed with the anecdotes are a number of her poems, some funny, some serious.  The amusing ones are okay, but the serious ones are such a downer that they completely destroy any good fun you might be having while reading.  The poems also make the book seem like a lesbian book, where women are getting in touch with their feelings, blah, blah, blah.

The book jacket explains that Peck was encouraged to write this book by family and friends, and that it was originally self-published.  I can see how the collection might have appealed to people who know her, but it just didn’t appeal to me.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/24 at 09:44 PM
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La gastronome?

In the previous entry I really wanted to refer to Chelsea as “la gastronome”, but I was sure the noun was masculine, and didn’t know if there was a feminine version of it.  La gastronomée?!  If you know, please tell me.  Chelsea only ate once yesterday—and it was just a tiny bit—but she was willing to eat another tiny bit again today.  She’s most interested in eating first thing in the morning, when I guess she’s most hungry.  We had one more vomiting incident today but I hadn’t given Chelsea her Reglan, and it obviously makes a big difference.  Tonight she came by the sofa and practically asked to be lifted up, but she wanted nothing to do with me and only wanted to hang out and be cute with Nancy.  I feel like an under-appreciated Mom :p Oh, and Chelsea pooped today!  I didn’t know if that function was working, so it was a relief to cross one worry off the list.


Here’s a little photo of Chelsea and her thousand dollar shaved belly:

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We’ve been having a lot of problems because of the excess rain, and on Monday I discovered a big wet spot on one of the garage walls.  I figured the water was leaking in from a spot outside, and I called in a warranty request to go with our “please repair our leaky window” request.  The warranty rep came by today and pointed out that water was leaking from the roof of the garage too, so it’s not just one little spot in the middle of the wall—it’s a much bigger problem.  He then wanted to go charging upstairs to look for leaks there, and got very annoyed when I told him that if he wanted to go poking around upstairs in the master bedroom, I’d really need him to come back next week when I could prepare better.  He was not happy with me and gave me a little, “We need to get moving on this” lecture.  You know, I want the leaks fixed too, but I think it’s okay for me to ask for some advance notice if some strange guy wants to go traipsing through the room that we never bother tidying because no one ever sees it but us.  He was also annoyed because I hadn’t emptied the garage cabinets so he could move them, but I didn’t know he’d need all those things done!  His job only seems to be to coordinate repairs, so I didn’t bother getting the house repair-worthy.  He doesn’t carry around tools and fix-it things—he just looks at stuff and makes irritating phone calls.  It’s been over a month since we asked to have our window repaired and it still isn’t fixed, so I think I had pretty good reason to not empty out the garage in anticipation of speedy repairs.

After he left and my blood pressure sank a few notches, I did some measuring and comparing and poking and prodding and I can safely say that there is no leak upstairs, anywhere.  I’m sure he’ll still insist on looking for one, the bastard.  We’re going to run to Target perhaps this weekend and buy some really big plastic storage bins so we can put all our books away and move the bookcases, and then the master bedroom will be a bit more presentable.  Those poor sad bookcases have to go, anyway… I think their time is about up.  It’s my dream to build wonderful built-in bookcases which run from floor to ceiling and have doors on them, so the books don’t get dusty, but that will be an awfully big project to tackle.  I’m still working on the damn cat tree… I finally did the carpeting but ran out of carpet scraps before I was able to finish the top perch.  I either need to find some scraps at Home Depot, or figure out how to hack a chunk of carpet from the 200 sq. ft. piece which is all rolled up and hanging from the ceiling in our garage.  Oh, one more garage-related item—I got an estimate today from Closet Masters for a great garage workbench with some storage cupboards.  I love the design and really want the cabinets, but can’t place an order for anything until the leak is fixed.  Bah.

It rained some more today, and I had to stay home while Nancy went to a birthday party because there were thunderstorms in the area.  I didn’t want to come home to Eli with a broken leg or something from panicking during a storm.  It ended up being an uneventful evening, and Nancy rewarded me with cake and a peppermint mocha.  Kate, if you’re reading this, I want you to rest assured that I’m eating all the sugar you gave up long ago, so there is still equilibrium in the sugar universe smile

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/24 at 08:58 PM
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