Home again, home again

So, I've been hanging out in Dickson County since Saturday. It was good to see my family, but I haven't spent that much time there in a few years, so it was a little odd. Otis is very happy that I am home, and he seems a bit peeved that I am on the computer and not wallowing in the floor playing with him. The truth is, I can't play with him too much as I sustained the worst bug bites in the history of the world in my communes with nature in the motherland (walking to and from the car at my granddaddy's house). He's walked over my feet a few times since I've been home, and it scratches the bites. That causes me to spend a full five minutes scratching and cursing the monster bugs from the farm. (Did the RC get into the bug-farming business when he gave up growing tobacco a couple of years ago?? I wonder...)

Now that I'm home, the pile of birthday cards and presents on the dining room table is calling out to me, but I have to wait until M gets home. I think he left them there to torture me!

Oh, yeah, the big activity during my trip?? My aunt Melanie and I went maternity clothes shopping yesterday. I used one of the pregnant-belly pillows and everything! It was pretty funny. I got lots of legitimately cute stuff for fall and winter...but I couldn't find jeans, which I wanted. M and I will have to head to the Gap maternity store for those, I guess. Other than that, it was a low-key trip. Dinner for my birthday, dinner for my brother's birthday (I made him a ninja turtle cake!), hanging out at my aunt's house, a family reunion/party with my daddy's family. It was great.

Hungry, hungry hippo

So I am officially not "sick pregnant" anymore. I'm acting more like myself by drinking copious amounts of water and actually eating some fruits and veggies again. Of course, right now, I'm just hungry. I read that one of the second trimester symptoms could be a "hearty appetite." That's definetely one of the symptoms that I've been developing over the last week. I just want to eat constantly.

Today I was lucky enough to get to babysit the adorable A across the park. She's easily one of the cutest babies ever, and we had a blast for the hour and a half that she was awake. Of course, the whole time I was there, I was munching on everything I laid my hands on (grapes, cheerios, graham cracker sticks). A is a muncher, too, so it was funny...the two of us at the table around a mound of cut up grapes (much like Hungry, Hungry Hippos).

Since I've been home, I've been scouring the kitchen for snacks. I've been home for 45 minutes, and I have already eaten leftover chicken and rice casserole from last night, string cheese, and a spoonful of peanut butter. I'm thinking hard about hitting the peanut butter again, but I should really eat one of the oranges in the fridge instead...maybe I'll eat both so that one doesn't feel left out. I am an equal opportunity piggy.

Oh, and on the Otis front- he seems to be feeling loads better, but he DOES NOT like having the medicine put in his ears. M has to basically sit on him like a horse and put him into a headlock while I do the honors. I don't know how one person could accomplish such a difficult task. At least we're not having to take his temperature!!

Otis's first ear infection

Otis had to go to the vet this morning. He has been messing with his ears a bit more than usual for days, but he was still letting us play with them and look in them, so I didn't think it was bad, and I didn't see anything in there. Turns out I just didn't know what to look for. When he started shaking his head a lot yesterday and actually acting like he didn't feel well, I made an appointment. Apparently, labs have allergy problems, which can manifest themselves as recurrent ear infections. Combined with poodles having long hair that grows in their ears, it's apparently not uncommon for labradoodles to have ear aches. So, they showed me what the infection gunk looks like, cleaned his ears, gave me some medicine to put in his ears for a week, and gave me a solution that we can clean his ears with after that. Poor little guy. I can't imagine what it feels like to have a sick child, considering I just want to curl up next to Otis and pet him and make him feel better. We'll also be switching him from his "sensitive stomach" prescription kibble to a hypoallergenic prescription kibble when the current bag is empty. I long for the days of buying his food somewhere other than the vet.

Oh, and he's a shrimp by labradoodle standards. He's only 55 pounds! He's all legs, though, so I shouldn't be surprised...plus he's M's dog...I'm never going to be able to put weight on the "P" men!!

Attack of the killer tomatoes

We have tomatoes. There are going to be LOADS of tomatoes before this thing is all said and done. You can't look anywhere in the tangled mass of vines and not see dozens of green ones. Of course, our friendly backyard rabbit seems to be taking to the grape tomatoes. I noticed lots of half eaten ones beneath the vines. Otis can't reach back there, so I know he didn't do it (not to mention he would've demolished the smaller grape tomatoes). Besides, we see the rabbit hanging out by the garden a lot when Otis is inside. Amazingly, Otis has yet to notice Mr. Bunny Rabbit. I don't really care how many the bunny eats because we could NEVER eat as many tomatoes as we are growing. Oh, and for the record- they are completely pesticide- and fertilizer-free tomatoes. Of course, I was sprayed down with bug spray while I was out there digging through the plants. I need to check out that Burt's Bees stuff before next summer. I don't really want to hose my kid down in Off Skintastic.

Either way, here are the first of the tomatoes...and a picture of Otis lying in front of the sink, guarding them.

Hooray for the beautiful football team

My husband is very happy right now. He is watching his beloved Colts. While they are having their tails handed to them by Seattle, Peyton and Company looked good on their few series in action. M has, during the course of the game, proclaimed the Colts uniforms to be beautiful, the Peyton/Wayne touchdown pass also beautiful, and he has waxed poetic on football as the battle of good vs. evil. He loves football. At any given moment, he can tell you how long it is until UT takes the field in its first game. I hope the baby isn't born on a Sunday during the playoffs...

We had a very busy and productive weekend. We have gone through boxes and boxes of old papers, Zip disks, photographs, clothes- you name it- as we try to prepare the house for the baby. Considering we have thrown away what has seemed like tons of stuff in all of our moves over the years, we are perplexed by the volume of stuff that is left. We had the four tuckers of nutcrackers in the baby's closet, so I spent most of my day cleaning out the guest room closets to make room for them and all of the stuff that we legitimately need to store in there. I think we've done a pretty decent job when all is said and done. Another good couple of hours in both rooms should leave us in excellent shape for actually making the nursery into a nursery. I can't believe that we find out the baby's sex in just two weeks...two weeks until all-out baby preparation mode! The time can barely go by fast enough!!

Happier things

As yesterday's post was a complete and total downer, today's is happy...more of my favorite stuff!! I know everyone is thrilled. This week's winner is my Mickey Mouse bank. I've had it as long as I can remember, and somehow it reminds me of being a little kid. The same bookshelf that the bank sits atop also serves as home for some of my favorite books from my childhood: Sideways Stories from Wayside School, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and a whole host of Sweet Pickles books. There is also a collection of Richard Scarry stories.

We've already started getting books for the baby. Our only purchase for the baby (aside from a ceiling fan for the mini-me's room) has been a collection of Little Golden Books. We bought the Disney collection strictly for the fact that it contained the Three Little Pigs and Scamp. The baby is also a proud mini-environmentalist as it owns a copy of The Lorax- a gift from Miss Alice way over in CO. M and I walked all around the children's section of Joseph-Beth Booksellers last weekend, and we realized that we will likely spend many a weekend there. I can't wait!!

Where does it come from?

Sometimes I just know that I am a nerd and that I am lucky to have friends who will put up with my nerdiness. Last weekend, M and I watched the LOTR movies. In The Two Towers as Saruman is ripping up all the trees to create and outfit his army, there is a brief commentary on industry. It's been a few days, so I'm sure I'm not getting it exactly right, but it was something along the lines of the old ways and agrarian lifestyles will come to an end because they will be usurped by industry and war. It made me sad to watch all the trees being torn down and burned to fuel the hate and disaster of the future. I guess it hits a little close to home.

As I watched it, I tried to remember if the commentary was actually part of Tolkien's book. I can't seem to find my copy, and it would be hard to locate the reference anyway. It makes you wonder, though.

I had decided not to bore you all with another one of my ridiculous trains of thought, but then I read an interview with Kurt Vonnegut yesterday, and we all know how outspoken he is on what humans have done to the planet. Anyway, it just makes you think. It scares me to be having a baby when I don't know what the planet will be able to provide for it as it gets older. At what point will we have pushed the limits too far? It's just scary.

Gone to the birds

You know what I don't like about this time of year? No, it's not the insane heat and humidity. It's the dead birds. I just chased my dog through the house to retrieve (one by one) a mouthful of bird feathers. I'm not about to let him bring the avian flu into my house. This is the third time in two weeks that he's brought bird feathers into the house. I did just walk the entire yard twice looking for any "leftovers", but I didn't find anything. So, either it was only feathers that he got into or the feathers he brought in were the leftovers. Gross. Of course, this is not to mention the decapitated dead bird that M found Otis skulking around in the backyard a couple of weekends ago.

This time last year, we had a couple of bird-related incidents. He ate one bird on a walk in one gulp- before we could do anything to stop him. He was a pretty small puppy at the time, so it freaked us out. It never really seemed to bother him, though. A few days after that, he found an enormous dead black bird in the yard while I was home for lunch. It was disgusting, and I won't go into detail. It took me about 15 minutes of running around the yard in the late summer heat on my lunch hour to get the mangled thing from him. That will ruin your day in a hurry.

I understand that my dog is part retriever. I know that it is instinct for him to go after dead animal carcasses (not to mention chasing the live animals in the yard or the park). Just the same, it's not something that you expect to deal with when you get a puppy. I guess I should just be grateful that he doesn't exhibit all bad behaviors associated with poodles and labs. Either way, I have to go clean up where he just puked. At least children throw up normal things like food, right? Not grass and bird feathers? This is going to be an awesome day!

It cooks, It cleans, It sews

I had a bit of a domestic goddess day yesterday...in a strangely inept sort of way. I cleaned all three bathrooms in one day, which I rarely do. The last time I cleaned the bathrooms (this only applies during pregnancy), I got sick from the smells and all the "up and down." Even though I use the chemical-free, fruity-smelling cleaners, it's still a little overpowering for the heightened sense of smell. Just the same, I was feeling pretty good yesterday, and I went to town on all the bathrooms.

I also made my favorite quick bread as a thank you to our friend Angie who got us the tennis tickets. It smelled so good coming out of the oven, that I almost gave up on sending it to her (opting to send her a bottle of wine) and ate it myself. Alas, I was good, and I wrapped it up before the yummy smell drove me insane. I also made actual dinner last night, and that it a rare accomplishment lately. Fried rice. It was delish, but I would still like to be eating the bread!!

I also (finally) made the mini moopy bunny yesterday afternoon. It's pretty funny. The left arm is pitched a little higher than the right, so it looks like it's waving, and the left leg is nowhere near being properly placed. It's kind of hysterical in a "my six-year-old made this at 4-H camp" sort of way. In my defense, I was having to dodge Otis while making it, and I tend to not follow directions (not really a defendable excuse as much as a reason).

In case anyone is interested:

SWEET BEER BREAD

3c self-rising flour
1/2 c sugar
1 bottle/can of beer
1/4-1/2 c of melted butter

Mix the first three ingredients, and pour into prepared 9x5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Pour melted butter over the top, and bake an additional 10 minutes.

It's that easy. The original recipe calls for a full 1/2 c of melted butter, but I think 1/4 cup is plenty as sometimes 1/2 c can make the bread too greasy on the sides. As for the beer, I have used everything from PBR to Shiner Bock to Saranac Christmas Ale, and it doesn't really make any difference in the taste of the bread. Sooooo, use the cheap beer that is hanging out in the back of the fridge to make the bread and enjoy the good "front of the fridge beer" while the bread bakes! It's a win/win situation.

Slapping myself on the wrist

I have been out of Memphis for far too long. The candlelight vigil is tonight at Graceland, and I just realized it. Not that I've ever been to it or that I would ever go (just watch it on the news- it's a zoo), but it deserves special mention. I do love me some Elvis.

Game, Set, Match

M and I spent a wonderful day in Cincinnati yesterday at the Masters Tennis Tournament. I love going to tennis tournaments. You get to see so many people!! It's funny how my years in Pat's office in Memphis left me pretty much immune to being starstruck, but it's still fun to get to see the players that I watch on TV! You'll all have to indulge me as I recap every moment of our fabulous day...

First lesson, if you're not sure if someone is famous, watch for a gaggle of children with Sharpies. Somehow, a seven-year-old will recognize even the number 86 player in the world even though we can't. Maybe it's because all seven-year-olds are on Ritalin? Does that have something to do with it? I digress.

When we first arrived, we were walking around to get a feeling for the tennis center's layout. Mainly, where are the practice courts? As we're walking, I hear a kid that's walking in the opposite direction say, "there's Tim Henman." I turn around, and sure enough, he's walking right at us, just a few steps away. M was only able to snap a picture of the back of his head as he walked past.

We then found our completely awesome free box seats right off center court (thank you, Angie!!) before we continued our search of the practice courts where we saw Marat Safin hitting and debated over whether or not Ivan Ljubicic was the big guy we were watching practice at doubles. I am certain it was...he's pretty distinct looking.

We then went to the first center court match of the day- Marcos Baghdatis v. Thomas Johansson. We watched the first set, which was a long one that went to a tie break. Baghdatis won the match after taking the first and second set tie breaks. It was a crazy long match. After the first set of that match, we headed over to the grandstand court to see the Davydenko match. He got whipped by some ridiculously skinny guy I'd never seen, but that M quickly pointed out was a clay courter (apparently evident by the wicked topspin the guy was putting on the ball and the way he approached his shots). We quickly tired of that match and went in search of $18 wrap sandwiches for lunch.
Somewhere in there, we caught Rafael Nadal on one of the practice courts. I couldn't really see over the crowd, but I did catch a glimpse of him in all his gross-me-out shirtless glory. I don't like that guy...put on a shirt with sleeves and lay off the man-capris, okay? Just the same, he is the #2 player in the world... On the other practice courts, we got to see Gasquet hitting. Yet another shirtless European. There were a lot of older ladies talking about his chest. Yuck. Gael Monfils walked past us (ala Tim Henman) sometime around then, too, but I didn't notice him until he'd gotten past. No pics of the newbie.

By this time, center court match 2 was ready to start- David Nalbandian v. Ric De Voest, a young qualifier from South Africa. Nalbandian was up 4-0 when the rains came at 17 minutes into the match. A couple of hours later, after watching the courts dry, the match resumed, and Nalbandian won in less than an hour. Oh, I did spot Andy Murray and Brad Gilbert on the court during the rain delay. We caught a little of the Grosjean/Tursunov match, too. In fact, Grosjean nearly ran us over on the way to the locker room during the rain storm.

We walked around a bit more, waiting for our last center court match of the day. This was magic time. We got to see Andy Roddick practicing, and that guy knocks the snot out of the ball. Plus, he's enormous. One thing I noticed yesterday was that most of the guys are fairly small...not necessarily short, but trim. Andy Roddick has tree trunks for legs, and a huge upper body. No wonder he hits the ball so hard. Just the same, that was cool.

We tooled over to the other set of practice courts and wham! there was James Blake hitting with some other pro we didn't know. M's old teammate Evan from Colgate was there with James, so we talked to him for a bit (as he is standing on the practice courts with friggin' James Blake!!!). For the record, Max Mirnyi was one court over, and I think I'm the only person that noticed he was there. Either way, we left the practice courts and I got caught in the crowd of kids trying to get James Blake's autograph. He got so close to me that I could've thumped him on the forehead if I'd wanted to. He was a lot smaller than I thought he was, and he was in a daze...sort of on autopilot through the crowd. M caught up to me, and he got a chance to talk to Evan a bit more. Then he met James Blake's mom. How funny is that? He doesn't get to meet James Blake, but he met his very tiny (and according to M, very sweet) English mother?

We then headed to the Ginepri match, and stayed for the first set, where Ginepri had it handed to him 6-1 by Mathieu. Evan called M during the set, offering us tickets to the James Blake night match. M resolutely turned them down as we had to get home to Otis. What a responsible dad! I think that's pretty much it, and I am certain you're all bored to tears reading about it!

For the record, most of the really awesome matches are today, and M is a little bummed that we chose to go to day one instead of day two. Oh, well. Agassi had pulled out of the tournament anyway, and since we technically got to see Henman, I think everyone else that was there will be around for awhile (namely Federer). Maybe we'll see him next year!

One year later

It's official. Otis has been a member of our family for one year today. I can't believe that it was a year ago that we drove to Lancaster to pick out our dog...driving home with the little black fuzzball on M's lap as we tried to determine what to name him. The breeder sedated him before we took him, so he was pretty out of it for the first few days we had him. M and I were just discussing how we managed to pick our perfect dog. I wonder if I'd chosen the black female instead of our silver male, would she be as perfect? Are dogs really a reflection of their owners or do they have their own personalities from the beginning? Either way, I am happy that Otis is one of us. I can't believe this is the same dog that's lying at my feet... (I know it's an awful photo...we were using a borrowed camera!)


Things that have changed (other than his hair color): he was terrified of coming down the stairs, he couldn't figure out how to get onto the deck once he'd gotten off it, he couldn't demolish a Nylabone in a few short hours, he had puppy teeth and claws (ouch)...

Things that remain the same: he still loves to chase tennis balls, he still doesn't like to have his paws touched, M still thinks he can pick him up, he is still an attention hog...

Empty closet

I just spent a significant chunk of time going through drawers and my closet to get rid of all the things that are too tight (thus miserable) now. It's pretty frustrating to try and get ready to go somewhere and realize that you can't find anything on a hanger that won't cut into your tummy. There are three huge piles on the bed now with contents ranging from too small bras to completely unused workout clothes, suit pants to cute wrap tops that used to accentuate my little waist. Only the "big clothes" are left. It's a smidge disheartening.

Knowing that my days perusing my own clothing are numbered, I checked out the "Liz Lange" section at Target the other day. What is the deal with EVERYTHING being made in brown lately? There were several cute pieces, but they were brown (and generally only available in L or XL). I don't wear brown, and I'll be glad when black is the new black. Am I going to be stuck in M's Colgate shorts and tee shirts for the duration of this pregnancy? Hopefully not. We'll see.

Five Senses Friday:

Sight: Giant green tomatoes in my backyard

Sound: Little girl at DQ asking her mommy for "bites"

Taste: Strawberry Kiwi smoothie at lunch with Heidi on Wednesday

Smell: Otis when he came home from the groomer!

Touch: Getting stung/bitten by some giant freak bug yesterday...while not at all enjoyable, it was definetely memorable.

My Favorite Things

I've spent a lot of time recently staring at the things scattered around my house. I LOVE my stuff...some of it more than others, but as a general rule, I develop attachments to my things. I get all excited when I think about my obscenely large collections of plates, glasses, platters, and bowls. I love M's nutcracker collection, and I love the fact that he has sentimental attachments to the things around the house that came from his grandfather. We have a lot of stuff. In realizing how many things we own that are completely and totally frivolous, I decided to start picking out my favorites and sharing...

This week's winner is my grandmother's antique buffet. When I was a little girl, it sat in her house, and I always called it "the bar." I loved it then, and I basically threatened any family member that tried to take it. My aunt Mel and my granddaddy brought it to me this spring. Now it sits in my dining room, holding a lot more of my favorite things!!

Return of the Cue Ball

Otis is a much happier dog now...and he looks like he weighs about ten pounds less. Wouldn't it be great if people could look ten pounds lighter just by getting a haircut? I'm anxious to see how long his new accessory lasts before he chews it off himself. They've never given him a bandana before. Hehehe...he's so funny and bald!

Wedding pictures

M and I have been married for over a year and a half. That means that we paid for our wedding album WAY over a year and a half ago. I just ordered it today. He made me promise I'd take care of it before the mini-me arrives. So, I spent the entire afternoon organizing and refining our list of selected photos from the photographer's website. It was wonderful to see the photos and at the same time exhausting...there were something like 400 to go through! Just the same, we should have an actual wedding album in about 4 weeks. M will be thrilled. Here are a few of my personal faves.

Porkin' up- finally!

Finally, after weeks of worry that I would never be able to put on weight due to my battles with all-day-sickness, I have put on two pounds. When I was weighed this morning at the doctor's office, I was so excited I felt like I deserved a prize. Jelly Bellies would've been nice (only red ones...none of those funky buttered popcorn things). Either way, I never thought I'd be so excited to GAIN weight, but I am. My belly is also growing at what is apparently the proper rate, so me and the mini-me are coming along nicely. M also got to hear the heartbeat. I looked over at him right as the doctor found the heartbeat and his face was lit up like a little kid seeing fireworks for the first time. It was a wonderful moment, and I am so happy to be having a baby with my completely fabulous husband. He's going to be the best daddy!

Now I am going to chill out with Otis for the day. He's laying on that vent again...it's his new favorite spot, I guess. I'm just really excited and happy today, so I hope all of you are having great days.

The recycle bin is full

M and I had a pretty productive Sunday- even though mine didn't start until around noon. He was good and went to church even though I wouldn't because of a tummy ache. When he got home, we sat around for a bit, reading magazines and talking about how cute our dog is. Then for some inexplicable reason, I started cleaning out the trunk/coffee table in the den. It generally stores old blankets and picture frames, but we needed to make room for some random office-type stuff that's been taking over all of the horizontal surfaces in the room. We started by declaring several old wool blankets bound for Goodwill. We used to need them all, but then I started collecting quilts from family members, leaving the itchier wool blankets unused. We also tossed some old pictures (prints I'd swiped from family basements for use in college apartments) and some frames into the Goodwill pile, and now we have 75% of the trunk space available for the box of file folders and M's gazillion CD's of random thesis data and geomorphology pics. Then I organized M's receipts from the entire last year (bring on the audit) and organized all the files I brought home upon my "retirement." Cleaning out these files left us with an obscene amount of paper to recycle. (How much money do insurance companies spend on printing the same stuff year after year?) M worked on cleaning more stuff out of the baby's room and shredding junk mail credit card offers. I finished off the afternoon by vacuuming and dusting the downstairs. So, our den/office is organized and the bottom half of our house is clean.

After dinner, I took to some old magazines that were laying around. Old magazines are one of my biggest pet peeves. Every time I get a new magazine, I am instantly compelled to throw away the previous issue. I also can't bear to hang on to catalogs once I've determined that I'm not purchasing anything (which is always just after the first time I browse said catalogs). My distaste for piles of glossy magazines makes me very happy to live in a city that recycles them. Anyway, just because I don't want to collect old magazines doesn't mean there isn't valuable information to be had from amongst their pages. I started notebooks of magazine articles in grad school. So, before I throw away an old magazine, I always look through it one more time looking for decorative ideas, gift ideas, or recipes that I may someday regret tossing out. I have one enormous binder in the kitchen that provides a home for the recipes. Another binder holds the gift ideas and other stuff. (There's a whole section of "organize your closets/cabinets/freezer/underwear drawer" types of articles.) I hadn't cleaned that binder out in quite awhile, so I worked on it for a bit while M enjoyed the season's first televised football game. I usually manage to purge the recipe binder every six months or so. I refuse to keep recipes that I've had for over a year if I've never made them and can't actually foresee making them in the very near future (in reality, I usually don't understand why I tore them out once I get to this point).

Can you tell I am bored right now? I just keep typing even though there is nothing insightful or interesting spewing forth from my keyboard.

Just the same, we finally gave Otis a much-needed bath tonight. He didn't smell before the bath, but he actually smells good now, and he is so soft and fluffy. He's asleep on a vent by my feet right now. Have I mentioned that I love my dog? Here's some pics...my fingers are tired of typing.

Everybody's workin' for the weekend

Well, everyone except me. I'm a deadbeat, remember?

Considering that I am slowly becoming one of the laziest humans on earth, next week is going to be pretty productive. I've got my 16 week checkup on Monday, I'm taking M's car in for a checkup on Tuesday, and I finally scheduled a haircut for Otis for Wednesday! All of that running around may cut into my "baby growing" time, but I think we'll be okay. I'm also going to check out a swim class for expectant mommies at the Y if my doctor says it's okay. I need to be doing something more active. I'm getting too mopey, and I am still afraid to do the YogaMama video I bought because I still get dizzy a lot. Plus, with the swim class I'll meet other mommies and potential future playmates for the mini-me. Bring on the playdates!!

Five Senses Friday:

Sight: the dozens of little kids at Steak and Shake last night- most of them were the standard "little kid filthy" that comes with hours of outdoor summer playtime. I can't wait!

Sound: This is gross, but Otis has been constantly pooting this week as he stretches and the little sound cracks me up. Lucky for me, no smell involved.

Touch: Cuddling with my hubby

Smell: Some restaurant that we drove past last night. I'm not sure which it was, but the smell was heavenly.

Taste: Baskin-Robbins Very Strawberry Ice Cream

You're out

Seriously, is there anyone else out there as obsessed with Project Runway as I? I am totally hooked. Last night's episode was good, but not nearly as dramatic as hyped. I suppose that's always the case, though, huh? Either way, are there normal people out there who really have Heidi Klum's legs? If there are, I don't like them. That's all I'll say about that.

In Otis news (and what else is there, really?), he was completely adorable last night. M played poker after work and didn't get home until around 11. Sometime around seven, when M is usually home and rolling around the floor with the dog, Otis started getting hyper...tossing his puzzle bone in the air, running like a madman through the house, and growling. I looked at him and sadly noted, "I bet you wish your dad was home."

The simple mention of M was enough. Otis looked up, looked at the door, looked back at me like "why didn't I hear the garage door," and took off for the door like always to wait for his dad to come in and pet him. He sat there, attentively staring at the door, for about 30 minutes. I guess he got tired of sitting up at that point because he whined a little and laid his giant silver self right in front of the door and wouldn't budge. Every time he heard a car on the street or any unusual noise outside, he would jump back up, looking at the door, waiting for dear old dad. It was pretty sweet actually.

Considering Otis crashes at 9:45 (like clockwork, people, it's strange), he was asleep by the time M got home. When I heard the garage door, I looked over at Otis. Sensing the fact that someone somewhere was moving, he looked up at me. "Daddy's home." Then he heard M in the garage and darted to the door again. Finally! I don't think that Otis likes "sick mommy." Sick mommy doesn't play.

Wow, that story was the most interesting part of my day yesterday. How sad is that? What do I care? I'll have more than I can handle soon enough. I embrace my boring laziness.

L'eggo my Eggo!

Yesterday was not a great day. I met with yet another window salesman, but this one wasn't annoying,and I think we may actually be on the verge of committing to getting all new windows. (Sorry, bank account!) The day was all downhill after that. Plenty of afternoon/early evening sickness to go around. Not pleasant at all. It made the trip to the grocery store somewhat less than exciting as I couldn't think of ANYTHING that sounded even remotely good. I did pick up some homestyle Eggo waffles, though.

When I woke up this morning, I was thrilled that I didn't feel sick, and I remembered my Eggos! I popped two in the toaster and added just the right amount of Aunt Jemima (Vermont Maple syrup just isn't right on Eggo waffles). I scarfed those waffles down in approximately 4 seconds. They were so good, in fact, that I made two more. Now that I've eaten those, I don't feel so hot. Go figure. I always overdo it.

Moving beyond my gastronomic happenings...we're pretty sure that I have finally acheived tomatoes. I say "pretty sure" because the ones on the vines are still very green, but we keep finding half-eaten red tomatoes scattered across the backyard. I guess Otis likes tomatoes. Considering I still don't want to eat vegetables, maybe Otis is taking care of my "what on earth am I going to do with all of these tomatoes" problem. Also in gardening news, while we have what will likely be BUCKETS of large slicing tomatoes and tiny grape tomatoes, I'm not sure the other plants are going to make it. The tomato plants are so large that they are smothering everything else. As I had never before grown a garden, I had no idea how out of control the whole thing could get. Also, I felt certain that I would kill most everything before it actually grew. Next year, I think I'll actually pay attention to the seed packet recommendations on spacing. Live and learn...