4:17 A.M.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night, with an urgent need to, um, use the facilities, so I grabbed my glasses off the night stand, got out of bed, and crept my way to the door, trying to avoid the major squeaky spots so as not to wake my sleeping husband. As I did, I glanced at the clock: 4:17 a.m. I quietly opened the door, took a step into the hallway, and promptly found myself face down in a veritable pile of puppies. (On a side note, if you're in the market for a family pet, don't pick a black one. They simply disappear at night, leading me to believe that Alice's encounter with the Cheshire Cat was simply an encounter with a black cat in the shadows of a tree's leaves. Silly Alice.)
Now, the nice thing about dogs is that when they sleep, they really sleep. One of them sort of sighed, but they both never moved as I extracted myself from the pile. Once freed, I went down the hall to the restroom, which is equipped with a handy night lite so as not to wake the whole household at 4:17 a.m. This is not one of those plug-in nite lights, but an actual wired-in light with a switch on the wall, with a wattage of about 4 or so. When I was finished, I thoughtfully turned off the light before opening the door. My night vision now truly gone, I stepped outside the bathroom to once again find myself face down in the aforementioned pile of puppies. They seemed to have thought it was funny enough the first time to quietly move down the hall way and lay in wait outside the bathroom door for a repeat performance.
This time, however, they were not quiet about it. "Woo-woo-woo!" said our Malamute, while the black lab did his hound dog imitation:"Roo-roo!" "Shhh!" I told them, then extracted myself from their wagging, licking embrace, and stepped over them. I've had dogs long enough to know what a 4:17 a.m. howl means. Grabbing the wall for support, because I've been here before, I cautiously asked them,"Outside?" and was promptly almost knocked off my feet by two swirling masses of fur competing to be the first to the back door, the lab stopping halfway down the stairs to run back up, circle me, lick my toes, and jump three steps in an attempt to catch up with the quietly confident Mal.
Once they were outside sniffing, I leaned on the back window for a good look at our sleeping neighborhood. The narnia house behind us (my name for it-you can only see a window between several tall trees, but there's a street light near it that casts a permanent glow in the back yard, and in the summer they leave a side window open, and a trick of the breeze causes the curtains to blow out into the yard, giving the illusion that you're inside the house looking out. ) , the totem pole in the yard next to us, and the eternally blinking light in the garage next door.
I let the dogs in, settled them with a treat, and went back upstairs to my warm bed. I lost this particular battle in the war of Who Lets the Dogs Out at 4:17 a.m., but that's alright. Falling face down in a pile of puppies isn't too bad, when they're your puppies.

Random Stuff

Well, we've all had the flu to various degrees here. I think I had it the worst, and when it left, it left behind a nasty sinus thing which I am still struggling with two weeks later. Thank God it wasn't that nasty 1910 flu, which killed thousands of people, but it was bad enough, thanks.
Things tend to get neglected when you move, and the list of things I've neglected due to simple forgetfulness grows longer daily. I recently realized we haven't had the oil changed in the family van since before we moved here in September. I normally have it done every 3ooo miles like clockwork, but for some reason it just escaped me when we moved. So I'll try to have it done on Thursday this week, my only short day of work, currently.
We had a lovely warm day on Sunday, and managed to get all kinds of cool, warm day-like things done: we got the car washed and vacuumed, cleaned out the garage (two dogs in the garage on a long day of shopping equals one messy garage!), picked up trash in the backyard, and dd picked up a weekend babysitting job due to a local mom going back to her weekend seasonal job at the local ice cream place. The dogs got to spend quite a bit of time outside, which meant they both needed baths afterwards. Didn't get them, but then that's on the list for the next free day.
I like spring, but it has a nasty habit of leading to summer, which I just sort of suffer through to get to autumn and winter. I can't stand the humidity of a midwest summer, but it's better, IMO, than the dry heat and various poisonous creatures of a western US summer, and the nasty weather of an eastern US summer, so I'll stick around here, at least until I win the lotto and can afford to travel during the summer. ( Notice I said ," Until I win the lotto"? I have every confidence I'm going to win. Have to, every week when I pay the bills, it's what keeps me going until the next week!)
On the list of neglected things is the two full size quilts I'm currently working on. One has been so frustrating I'm not sure it will ever get done, and the other one is simply awaiting a few spare minutes. Spare minutes are not something I have in great supply; I'm writing this blog post while the daycare kids are playing at my feet, so this time doesn't count. I can't quilt with babies in the room, there are too many spare pieces of thread and needles to chew and choke on.
I recently bought a pair of reading glasses for when I work on my cross stitch. I ignored to need for them for quite some time, but the last time I tried to thread a needle, I ended up poking myself in the finger so many times that I just gave up. Old age threatens, but hasn't won yet!
Well, that's all for now. I'm off to change diapers.

Some things I've learned

Well...Over the years, In spite of the fact that I try really hard to be smart on my own, there are some things I've learned, in spite of myself:
1. Children will learn from what you do, not what you say.If you go to church, they'll think that's the thing to do.
2. Babies will get sick when you least have the time, or the money to go the doctor.
3. Dogs will eat anything.ANYTHING!
4. Emergencies will expand to fit your emergency savings.
5. Your friends and family will be just enough to help you through the rough times. But most friends suck. Stick with God. He's cool, and He's there ALL the time.
6. All those hymns you learned in sunday school will be just what you need to help you up on days you couldn't get up otherwise.
7. God is GREAT!
8. I'd rather have Jesus, than anything... (that's a hymn...)
9. A husband is a gift from God.
10. So are children, and friends...

Winter Marches On

Up here, in the land of the 8 to 10 inch snowfall on a really depressingly regular basis, we are plodding along through winter, as best we can. The new puppy has taught us that black labs don't like snow, and will pee on the porch in an attempt to avoid the deep drifts in the back yard. Our Malamute has taught us that old dogs dislike new puppies but love deep snowdrifts, and will bury themselves in them, given the chance. The current baby I sit for has taught us that Influenza type A this year, is very contagious, and comes on fast. (So far we've avoided it in our family! ) Owning a house has taught us that old pipes break on regular basis, leading to savings account deprevation.
On the other hand, we thank God for the cash available to fix those leaky faucets, for cute if hyperactive little puppies, for old furry huuuge dogs, and for the opportunity to hold those sick babies and offer them comfort.
Now that we've been back from our Washington trip for awhile, and have had the chance to make up for missing our dd's 13th birthday by being snowed into DC (our airport at home was closed because of the snow in Chicago;DC was a beautiful balmy 65 to 70 degrees while we were there), we've had the chance to settle back into our routines a bit more, but like every other day, unexpected things will happen.
I've been obsessively blog-hopping lately, a wonderful sort of treasure hunt that started with a search for a new apron pattern, and lead to the discovery that there are whole bunches of women with small children out there, who sew their own clothes and dress their children in what I can only assume is some sort of hippie-retro-live off the land-cool style, and who make their living by sewing little stuffed doll creatures on Ebay.
I started looking for the apron pattern because our new puppy ate my vintage cotton apron that I bought at the flea market last year. That's right, he ate it. Fortunately, it was a thin cotton, worn thinner by years of wear. So on that note, I'd like to offer this partial list of things the new puppy has eaten since we brought him home:
1. DS's headphone/mic combo for his xbox.
2. An entire 2 lb. tub of butter. (Resulting in an every-2-minutes trip outdoors for something like 4 hours that evening. )
3. An entire 5 lb. box of clementines
4. the apron
5. DD's barbie's shoes. Several of them. No barbie feet were harmed, however.
6. Many, many socks
7. Several pepsi bottle caps, plus the rings
8. The antique baseboards in the upstairs hallway-approximately a 4 inch square
9. A corner of the linoleum square in the downstairs bath.
10. part of the downstairs bathroom door.
11. small clothes that were glued to the "laundry room" sign on the laundry room door.
I'm sure that he's eaten more than these few things, but the point is, what in the world are puppy stomachs lined with?
Anyway, happy rest of winter!

Back From Washington

We went to Washington, D.C. last week, my dh and I, with his union, to lobby members of congress for help for a little more attention to the plight of the middle class.
We had fun, and I learned alot. Like, how well-spoken my dh can be when he's passionate about something. And how the other members of his union care about what happens to you. But mostly, I learned that certain political parties, who shall remain nameless here, just don't really give a crap about the middle class. And some from the other party do care.
But aside from that, we really did have fun. We went to the National Archives, and got to see the Declaration of Independance and the Bill of Rights. The Constitution was behind a large screen while it's case was being repaired. My dh asked the guard if the prez was back there erasing the parts he didn't like, but the guard only laughed in response, so we still don't know. I was a little sad to see how much the Declaration and Bill of Rights have faded since I last saw them, in the eighth grade. They can hardly be seen now, just a few words are still visible. Fortunately, with a nod to Ben Franklin, the truths set down in writing there are "written upon every man's heart". If you have a heart, of course.
Democracy , even a limping old decrepit democracy in need of a triple-shot of double-caffeine espresso, is a wonderful thing. We listened to Congressmen speak, visited with their aides, saw the great documents of our nation, and just generally got to participate in the running of said Democracy. Of course, everyone can do this. Vote, call or email your reps in congress, run for local office-just do something to make your voice heard.
And on a side note, bring walking shoes. And bandages. Or lots of cab fare. But if you opt for cab fare, don't go during a cab strike.

Shades of Paint, Thirteen Dwarves and Other Random Thoughts

Today's post is one of random thoughts, mainly because I haven't posted in awhile and have nothing else to say.
We painted the lower half of our dining room yesterday, below the chair rail. When we moved in it was Go-Bears Blue. Not a bad color, but it didn't go at all with the green carpet and '80's-small-print-mauve-and-hunter wallpaper above the chair rail. Since I don't currently have the money or the patience to rip off and replace all that wallpaper, we updated it by painting the patterned paintable wallpaper below the chair rail a more updated color. I was aiming for a
tan-ish linen color, but the dear people at Menards just couldn't get it right, and we ended up repainting at 11 pm with paint that was already in the basement when we moved in. This was after two coats of primer/concealer on top of the Go-Bears Blue and a coat of the paint I actually bought. I'm praying that the wallpaper is not now so heavy with paint that it falls right off the wall. So far, so good, and the new color looks a lot better than the one that was there to begin with. Next project: the hot-pink room that my daughter inhabits. Who paints a room hot-pink anyway?
While I was doing the breakfast dishes this morning, my mind was wandering aimlessly towards nowhere(A pleasant place to be when you're stressed and not feeling too well, as I was). Of the things that were cavorting around in there was the fact that I can still name the thirteen dwarves without even thinking too hard about it.(If you just said,"Thirteen? Aren't there only Seven Dwarves?" Then you are not sufficiently geek-ified for this blog. Please move along to a nice Disney oriented blog where you will feel more at home.) I suppose that being able to name all thirteen dwarves means I am still, after all these years, just a nerd at heart. That's alright, I guess, because I feel at home here. (And for the record, Dori , Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bomber, Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Balin, and Thorin Oakenshield. Nod to Tolkien.)
Another thing in my mind is that our new puppy, whose official name is Buddy but has been known affectionately at various times as Vlad, Imhotep, Dingbat, Stupid, Trouble, and D*&^^%! , is, sad to say, not the brightest of dogs. Our four year old Alaskan Malamute seems to think Buddy's going to go away if just ignores him long enough.
Black Labs are supposed to be intelligent fast learners. Ours is just stubborn, or lacking a few marbles, I can't decide which. When we took him for shots recently, the vet said he needed obedience classes badly. We got some, in the form of a shock collar, which is not as bad as it sounds. All the other members of our family tried it and said it wasn't bad, it just sort of vibrated. We used this same collar on our Mal, and it worked wonders. Schooled him right up. We'll see about Vlad.
The last thing I'll write about is my new-found interest in old houses. New-found, that is, since I first walked into this house, and wanted it right away. It just felt like my house the moment I walked in. It's a 1920's - era Craftsman style house. I love all the cool touches put in by whoever built it. Aside from the woodwork every where, which is what drew me to it, there are neat little extra's everywhere. In the closets, for instance, are brass coat hooks. If you look closely you can see flowers have been carved (molded?) into them. This is something that no one but family will ever see, but the care this little touch speaks of makes the house feel like a home.
Since we moved in, I've almost stopped reading the other things I used to read. Now I read things like This Old House magazine, The Old Home Journal magazine, and browse the web for old home websites. I worry about whether or not our lighting is period-appropriate, and whether or not my dishes look right with the cool new period-appropriate dining room table we seriously splurged on. It's sort of an obsession.
Oh, well, just an adult form of geek-dom I guess! Have a great day!

Fun Meme

Nods to Jenny B's blog ( Here: http://allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/craft_room/index.html )for this too fun meme:

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car),Frisky Dodge
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie), Chocolate Butter Cookie
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name),V-Ham
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal),Red Puppies
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born),Ann Evansville
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first),Ham-Va
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink),The Blue Iced Tea
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers), Henry Julius
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy), Heavenly Chocolate
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ),Louise Melvin
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter),I don't remember, Indianapolis
12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower).Autumn Rose
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Strawberry Pajamay
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree), Bagel Oak
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”),The Quilting Rainstorm Tour
My fav is the last!