Day 2 - We have a roof!

Roofing in the rain

Making sure it's all straight

Pound, pound, pound inside tarp city

Eric the roofer man

Sheet after sheet after sheet

Caught in the corner

Geriatric construction crew has a Pedialyte party

Here we go

Working late into the night.Chimney down...Junk overboard... At least it's not raining yet. Piles and piles of wood. The crane arrivesBring on the trusses First truss in place

Raising the Roof, well, sort-of

The roof work has begun. At least the tearing things off it and putting on "headers" has begun. (Apparently those are so our windows don't break. Which is something I would really appreciate not happening, so "header" away!) Last night they said they'd be inside in "45 minutes" to eat dinner. An hour and a half later, I had to go out and ask how many "45 minutes" they meant. It's supposed to rain this afternoon. How miserable. I hope it holds off for them. Harry, who hates thunderstorms, has been shaking in the corner since they started the incessant pounding. He must think it's one big can of whoopass from God. At least he's found a bit of refuge in the basement. Which is where the only real guest bed is. I ordered a fabulous pillow-top mattress and frame from Sears which got delivered yesterday. Yup, forgot the boxspring. So, we have a mattress on the floor. Ahhh, sometimes I'm so frickin' brilliant, I amaze myself. ************* Riley still won't put weight on his leg. The vet said wait a week. I'm not very optimistic, though. He's totally in love with all the extra attention he's getting from the houseguests though. He was even sassy enough this morning to give Harry a big thump. So we've got that going for us. ************* In case you haven't gotten over your political junkie needs... I find Newsweek to usually be a pretty biased pain, but this is a fun little read: http://www.newsweek.com/id/167581

What a great day to be an American

Yesterday C-man wore his "I Voted" sticker from the polls to school. Apparently he swayed he fellow 3 and 4 year olds to all start rooting for Barack Obama too. I was told this morning by a teacher that a couple of parents were surprised when their kids started talking about Barack Obama for President. (Apparently they didn't have the same sentiments and were assuming the teachers were doing the indoctrination since it's pretty inplausible that a 3 year old would start talking politics). I gotta say, I'm pretty proud of my little politician. :-)

Get out the vote!

The lines were long, the atmosphere was kind of electric, and I have to admit - I choked up a bit. My only regret was not bringing a camera.

Snack Partner

On the way to school this morning, as C-man is petting Riley (who is in the car because after I drop off C-man I need to drop off Riley for his bone biopsy) he says, "I'm going to ask to be snack partner today?" "Why?" "Because the snack partner gets to pick the prayer, and I want to say one for Riley." I almost had to stop the car.

Daily Riley and Gratituituous C-man Photos

"Mom, can we make an apple pie? Please, can we make an apple pie? I really want to make an apple pie. That would be so good. So we'll make an apple pie? That's our deal, right, Mom?"

My new favorite TV show is old

I am completely addicted to The Shield. It's on FX, and I'm too cheap/stubborn/resistant to new things for cable, so I've been watching the episodes on DVD. If you haven't watched, I highly recommend starting with Season 1. But beware - you'll be addicted in no time at all, so set aside some time for yourself.

Ramping up

This morning I did Costco trip #1 and purchased a ton of food for next week. I'll have to make trip #2 for some fresh stuff on Thursday or Friday so I can feed all these people coming to start getting the roof put together. Now I just have to get the bed delivered on time so we're not sleeping on the floor. ************ It's pretty sad how quickly Riley is slowing down. This week, he only needed 2 doses of pain medication a day. Today, he needed a mid-day picker-upper because he wasn't putting weight on his back leg. I'm hoping it's just because we're home and he was moving more, but I don't think so. This is going to be fast. I know that some people don't understand why this all makes me so incredibly heartbroken. They hear about it and don't give it a second thought because, "He's just a dog," they'll say. And I guess I don't understand those people. Yes, he is a dog. But he's never been "just" a dog to me. So in the meantime, I'll do what I can to make his life worthwhile, including buying him a new bed today. So far, it's a hit. ************ I have a facial scheduled for today. Good thing, since this will probably be my last indulgence before we start paying for Riley's treatments. So that will make me happy. As does the creativity of C-man. This is his "bridge" for all his cars.

Happy Halloween!

And in costume contest news, Miss Piggy won the Halloween contest when she was 7, and she won it again at work this week. Only this time there was no slick trophy, just raisins and an apple.

Up all night, sleep all day

Now that I have that song firmly stuck in your head and you've been transported back to 1995, it about explains my life. Despite being up at 11 pm, 1 am, 3:42 am, and 5:12 am, I didn't wake up to go to work. Beerman woke up when he heard the oven beeping. Thank God I'm still doing the croissant in the morning thing or we'd still be in bed. And I'm still exhausted. We spent yesterday afternoon at the doggie oncologist. Many options, all of them crappy, and all with many zeros behind them. And because Old English Sheepdogs have hair, not fur, the chemo will make him go totally bald. Time to start knitting some sweaters, I guess. This just sucks. I love that big, sock eating, counter food swiping, dog.

Wordless Wednesday - Pink Day

Just ignore the fuzzy picture and devilishly red eyes - it was a rough night and my photographic skills are off today.

Crying in the vet's office again

Once upon a time, the vet told me Harry had a heart problem. And I sat there in the vet's office crying to myself because I'd just gone to South Dakota to get this dog, and now he wasn't even save-able. The thing is, 6 years later, he's doing just great. But yesterday, I took Riley to the vet. He hasn't been putting a lot of weight on his back-right leg. I figured he was licking it like crazy again, and just caused some swelling. Or maybe he ran around the yard like an idiot and hurt himself. But it wasn't getting better, and seemed to be getting worse, so I left work today to take him in. And that's when the vet slugged me upside the head and punched me in the gut. Well, he might as well have. Actually, he was really nice and just handed me a box of Kleenex. Because he told me that Riley's got bone cancer. And that typically means there's less than a year left with a lot of pain in between - in more ways than one, from what I can tell. And there I sat, crying in the vet's office again. Sigh...

My funny of the day

Just Don't Breathe In

So we went to a black tie affair on Saturday night. Decent time. We were table #15. Now you'd expect that to be, oh, on the fringes of the room. So imagine my surprise when we sat down smack in front of the podium with Mr. Bigtime himself and 5 Mr. Bigtime Juniors and their wives from Beerman's company. My own Mr. Bigtime doesn't know me by sight, let alone kiss me on the cheek and wish me a lovely time on our way out. (Which, by the way, I now know why Republicans don't understand there's a recession on - They raised $383,000 in 3 hours with 400 people in attendance. And we did not bid on anything. You do the math.) Anyhow, to get ready for the event in my cotton candy pink dress, I knew I needed some color to this pasty skin. So, I went to a MysticTan booth a la Ross Gellar. Just before getting in the gas chamber, the woman says, "Try not to breathe in while you're in there, okay?" You know that just can't be good for you. Anyhow, apparently I didn't follow directions very well, because the bottoms of my feet are bright orange. Oops. At least the rest of my looked fine enough and not spray-painted that I didn't scare anyone at a non-Halloween event. But we'll be leaving this experience to be a very rare, only when necessary sort of thing.

Trick or Treat!

Remembering what it's like to be an adult

Phonics

C-man loves to spell and sound-out words. This morning, this is what I overhear between C-man and Beerman... "Daddy, how do you spell man?" "Mmmm-mmmm-mmmm What's that letter?" "M!" "ah-ah-ah How about that?" "A" "en-en-en?" "N! MAN Because 'I'm the man!'"

Wordless "Photo Credit to C-man" Wednesday

Tuesdays Thoughts

Still confused about the mess on Wall Street? Then check this out. It explains pretty simply how we've based our financial industry on trading nothing for something. I found it pretty eye opening. That, and that the AIG derivatives are only .8% of all the derivatives out there. Yikes! ***************** Complaint alert: Yahoo went and "upgraded" my website account. What a pain. Now I have 4000 more options to website development that I didn't want nor need, and I can't find one that even works! Argh! ***************** I recently watched the movie Outsourced. If you haven't seen it, and need a cute rental, I recommend it. ***************** Tonight's going to be the first "deep freeze". I brought a ton of stuff into work today to give away. It kills me to do it, but the basil is going to have to be chopped down and brought inside. I've made a ton of pesto and butters already, but now I'm going to have to start preserving it in oil. I was hoping this would have waited until the weekend. But hey, at least I have 3 days of low pressure to look forward to! Ouch. It's a good thing I have a chiropractic appointment today. It's the only thing keeping me happy sane alive lately. ***************** Yesterday morning Beerman called to inform me that we have a black tie event to attend on Saturday. On such short notice, this is the only thing I have in my closet. I know, it's pink, but it's just going to have to do. I figure with a black wrap, some swanky jewelry, and a breast cancer pin, it will look like I'm making an October activist "statement". Now I just need to find a breast cancer pin. Oh, and a babysitter, because Harrydog has been just too irresponsible lately. ***************** Apparently I have found heaven, and its real name is "delay start". The past two mornings I have awoken to a freshly baked, outrageously decadent chocolate croissant. That, and a just perked cup of coffee to which I add my wanna-be Starbucks pumpkin latte mix. Oh my God, add the morning newspaper crossword puzzle, and I quake with excitement. Who knew mornings could be so frickin' good?!? Yes Jennifer, you say, welcome to 1978. I know, I know. But I just get so hectic at night. Or so tired. That things just don't come together after 8 p.m. like they do for most people. But I think I'm onto something here...