A Night To Remember

The night before heading on any of my trips is usually pretty quite. The pups have been shipped off to their temporary homes, and I have time to get all the odds and ends together for a timely departure.
Take off to Hong Kong was slightly different. Ellen and Lenny, who are taking care of Harper, lost their power in the most recent ice/snow storm to hit Maryland. When power is out for a few hours it's one thing, they had been without power for close to 18 hours when they asked if they could come over. I didn't have to think twice about it, of course you can. The nice thing about having close friends is you don't have to entertain them in a situation like this. They both knew I had a bunch to do, so they settled in doing whatever, while I flitted through the house talking to myself.
About 3 hours later I get a call from another friend, her husband needs to use the shower. Sure, tell him to come on over, the more the merrier. I've met her husband twice before and he is a doll, but I don't really have time for this. Thank heavens for Ellen and Lenny. Ellen made dinner, and Lenny entertained Martin while I bid adeau, for an early morning flight.

Are You Excited?

I never really get excited about going on a trip until I am on the plane. There is so much to do before locking up the house. Packing is usually a pain, but because I am packing summer wear, I just had to go into my spare closet and get whatever I wanted to wear out.
The real nemesis of this trip has been the weather. I always give the pups a bath before they go to stay at their designated families house. Because I have Scout now, they are going to 2 different homes. Ellen and Lenny always took care of Harper and Bear, but they have not had a chance to meet Scout yet, and they have a dog of their own. No sense in ruining a friendship.
Yesterday they were calling for snow, but not until late afternoon. I went to get my hair and nails done, and had every intention of taking the pups to "Muddy Paws". Muddy Paws is this great place you can take your pups and have them bathed or bathe them yourself. This is a shot before their bath. Notice how calm and unsuspecting they look.

Even when Old English Sheepdogs are in there shortest coat, they are a handful in the tub. The nice thing about taking them to Muddy Paws is you use their towels, their shampoo, their water, and their blow drier, which I should add is so strong you can actually see the water spray off the coat when you use it. They also have staff that could wash one while I take care of the other. I get to Muddy Paws around 3:00, still wearing flip-flop, so I don't smudge my "Passion Pink" toenails. I arrive to a closed due to the weather sign. #*@^! So now a 2 hour job turns into the rest of Wednesday. I am not happy. You probably are asking why I waited so long. In this type of weather if I bathed the pups last week, because of the mud and damp ground, you would never have known by drop off date.

Scout is first in. This is the first bath I have given him, but was certainly not his first bath. He was so calm, I actually think he was enjoying himself, but hey, what guy wouldn't like getting lathered up by me. Shampoo, rinse, condition, rinse, dry off, shake water on any wall within a mile radius, towel dry again, start to blow dry and comb out. 2 hours later start on Harper, repeat. While Harper was in the shower I got a phone call between the conditioning and rinse cycle. It was mistake answering that call. Harper was still soaked and took off down stairs. So now not only are all the walls wet, Harper has drenched the carpet with her Ugg like wet paws. I have to drag her back up the steps and pull my back out. Find a happy place, find a happy place. 3 hours later both Harper and Scout are partially dry, but fresh as daisies. I, on the other hand, have swallowed 4 Alleve, washed down 10 walls, vacuumed the entire house, put 16 towels in the washer, and gone to bed with a heating pad. This is why I don't get excited until I am the plane.

Masters Swim Class

I have a good friend that I do triathlons with that has talked me into joining the Masters Swim Club. She has been trying to get me into this group for close to 2 years, but I always had an excuse. I have been in the pool when Masters practice and I know how tough the workout can be, but believe it or not that is not what has kept me from joining. The Club meets 3 nights a week from 8-9:30pm. That's right PM, the start time is about 30minutes after my crawl into bed time.
The 1st workout was very gentle, probably to keep the dropout rate to a minimum. We also had a meeting ahead of time to go over what we can expect for the next 20 weeks, which cut pool time down to about 45minutes. The majority of this group all do triathlons, and are here to improve on their swim stroke. Judging by the lane I've been put in I have alot of improving to do. Speed has never been a priority for me, I swim because it clears out all the nonsense I carry in my head. It has always been more therapeutic than speed demon for me. I am afraid that Master Swim will be to swimming what spinning is to biking. But you know what? I am diving in head first.

EBay City

When I closed Woofs & Whiskers the groomer down the street came in the Tuesday before I was locking my doors, and said "What ever you don't sell I will buy". This included everything except the dreaded Webkinz. So here I am, with close to 500 darling little adoptable stuffed dogs and cats. This photo does not include 7 unpacked, but labeled boxes. I am trying to pretend to be organized.I have donated cases to "Toys for Tots",the child oncology department at Mercy Hospital and various homeless shelters. This is why I am at the manageable number of 500plus.

I have now taken to ebay. I am sure there is a world out there where ebay savvy people exist, I have yet to enter their realm. At my first selling point I did not realize you can put your item on for 1 day, 3 days, 5days, 10 and so on. So... instead of a quick turnover of 1-3 days, I had to wait out 10 days to sell maybe 2 items out of the 68 posted. Aaahh yes... 2 out of 68. I am not even going to go into how long the posting of said 68 items took me. If at first you don't succeed......

I give it a second go round, lower prices, shorten days and find a relist key that does it all for you. My selling record is still nothing to brag about, 28 items sold out of 187 listed, but I am at least at the door of EBay Savvyville. Whatever I have not sold, one way or another, will be donated next holiday season.

Deep.

I don't know who reads my blog aside from Sara and Rachel. They are the only 2 who leave comments, so I know they follow along with my usually mundane life. I try not to post anything too personal for fear someone may find a chink in my armor. Someone may discover I'm not always at the top of my game, I have needs and feelings that are never worn on my sleeve.
I have some amazing friends and 2 sisters that are always there if I find the need to share my innermost sentiments. My problem is I rarely do, which brings me to this post.

About 2 weeks ago, I made an appointment for a massage. With working out, catering and all the other little things my body has been through I felt like I was due. I have not had a massage since Donna gave me one for my birthday in August, and that was given by a women in her 7th month of pregnancy. Enough said.
I am a true believer that massage not only relaxes and rejuvenates, but also moves your inner chi and balances chakras. I was going for a nice deep tissue, and David always uses stones. Aaahh!! I never consider massages sexual, but they are definitely sensual. While on the table I was reminded how much I miss being touched. At one point when David was stretching my arm our fingers were interlaced so he could pull just so, my eyes filled with tears. Luckily I was face down. It's been close to a year since my last relationship. I really have not been anxious to get back out there. Now I find myself making up excuses. I didn't really want to go through the holidays with someone new, now I don't want to get involved before my trip to Asia. It's not really the sex I miss, it's the closeness. The hugs and holding, the reading in bed together, the coffee in the morning and the laughing. I have processed all these feeling for nearly 11 months and I know that I am worthy of someones love, I just need to kiss a few more frogs. Until then, I am scheduling my massages alot closer together.

Meet Scout!

It has been one year since I lost Bear, and I always said that if I'm meant to have another dog it will just happen. Well it has.

2 weeks ago I got a call from a friend telling me that Winslow's brother needed a new home. OMG!! A 3 1/2 year old Old English Sheepdog, pick of his liter, needs a new place to live. The reason he was being let go by his old family was because they have since had a 2 legged baby and Noah nipped her. I don't know all the specifics leading to the nip, but even I know you don't leave an 18 month old baby with a 100 pound dog unattended. Anyway the parents could not take the risk of it happening again. The parents of Noah called a friend of mine, who in turn, called me. He got along great with Harper, which was a prerequisite.

I switched his name to Scout, because "NO" is a word used often in my house. I was afraid Noah was a little too close to that, and I would spend a fortune on therapy. There has to be a city named Scout somewhere, in the meantime he fits perfectly on Mockingbird Court with Harper.