I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack

The summer has come and gone and I have been neglecting you...sorry about that! I suppose I should run down the highlights to catch you up.

Well... where should I start?

My puppy can't stop stealing our underwear.

(with a pair of Mommy's Joe Boxers)

(and let's not forget Daddy)

I have been creating plenty of naughty cross-stitch.

And our first garden turned out lovely

I hoped that my time off would never end...but it is back to school with another year to look forward to with new material from the children ( perhaps that's why I had nothing much to say).

Is this for real?

I mean really.... I am speechless...

I am finally a mother...

I have been all-consumed with our new puppy, Zadie. It really is like having a baby and I am finding the summer is just flying by, me with puppy bowel-movements on my mind. Hey, that could be a catchy title for a song!

Look people, I have not even been knitting!

We took Zadie for her first haircut on Tuesday. I had no idea that my dog's haircut would be more expensive than my own, but there you have it...

Been humming a catchy tune around the house lately. My co-hort in the library turned me onto it and at first I was rather mortified by it, but recently came around. It all happened one day when Zadie fell asleep on the coffee table.

It reminded me of this.

The real sick thing is that she wags her tail like mad whenever we play it.

Yep, that's my girl!

A health message for all...

In support of spreading awareness on the H1N1 flu, I felt it was my obligation, no my duty, to provide adequate information to my 15-year-old step-son. So I slipped this into his bathroom when he wasn’t looking...

Perhaps I should hang it on his bedroom door instead...

My dog has diaherra and other summer tales...

My dog has diaherra, oh yes yes, she does. Within a mere 24 hours, she graced us with 5 packages; some large, some small, some solid, some not, yet fortunately all outside.

This all from a recent vet visit where she received her second distemper shot and heartworm pill. It must be a reaction, but yesterday she had an accident in her kennel.

You could tell she felt bad about it, so I am going to call the vet today to see what we should do to resolve this.

But, really, I can’t talk about it....anymore...

***

There once was an English teacher and a high school librarian, who had nothing to do for two months.

So they read.

They read on the lawn, they read on the couch. They read in bed, or waiting in the car at the yarn store while ‘someone’ took her time.

Where did they get these books to read you may ask?

Some were from the librarian’s high school library, while others were from the English teacher’s library.

Of course they would partake in the offerings at the local public library.

Then there were the purchases from Amazon and Chapters, or while waiting for the next bus, one would pop into Coles...

There are books about Britain, knitting, vets and doctors. And dysfunctional relationships or the Second World War.

How to grill or crochet, herb garden or stitch. Horror, drama, satire and some just low-brow romance.

Oh yes, it is going to be a fine summer indeed...

Meet Zadie...

This week we finally found our perfect puppy (she is sleeping over the air conditioning vent right now).

We have talked about a puppy for awhile, but I felt that deep inside I was never quite prepared for one. You see, I was not raised with “animals” (as my mother put it) in the house, so pee-pee accidents never concerned me.

We found Zadie online, hey, this just happens to be how Jerome and I met. It worked for us and, yes folks, it can work for puppies too.

You do have to be careful meeting puppies ( and people) online. Our first puppy experience was not a good vibe .

We were told it was a purebred, “Do you have the papers?” NO

We were told it was up-to-date on her shots, “Do you have the vet record?” NO

Ah...then no.

We met Zadie (formerly known as the artist 'Tiny') on Tuesday and met her dad too, Sam.

Sam is 2 ½ and is a purebred Shih-Tzu. As for Zadie’s mom? Never met her, but she is half Shih-Tzu and half Bison Frise.

So we took one look at her ...sold.

I was playing it cool, like I was buying a car,keeping my cards close to my chest. Jerome, however, was rolling around on the grass with her. Our cover was totally blown.

We get to the car (as we decided that under no circumstances will we look at a dog and take her/him home the same day) and Jerome turns into a five-year-old. “Can we get her...can we get her? Can we get her NOW?”

We drive away.

I had to talk him out of it, “We have no food at home; we are not prepared for a puppy tonight”.

I mean, I knew we were going to get her. I just needed one last full night’s sleep, to be mentally and physically prepared and to make sure I felt the same way about her when I got home.

We get home and immediately called the owner to plan pick-up the following day.
So...guess who was at Walmart at 11 p.m. that night? Not that there is anywhere else you can go buy puppy supplies at 11 p.m. at night. By the time we got home I was exhausted. Then Jerome wanted to discuss names....

Why, for the love of god, why?! I was delirious at this point.

He felt we should do something literary since he is an English teacher and I am a librarian.

If it was a boy dog it would have been easy...Mr. Darcy (from Pride and Prejudice), but a girl dog proved harder to name. I am seriously thinking of getting another dog just to use this name, people!

I liked Maude (after the cult flick Harold and Maude), its unique, quirky but more suited for an older dog; she would have to grow into it. Plus it didn’t seem that fun. I just couldn’t think of a cool literary female reference.

Jerome went online and started surfing dog name sites, at this point it is midnight, I am in bed and beat. Then I thought of one of my favourite authors,

Zadie Smith.

Done.

Jerome liked it, I liked it. It was Sadie with a Z.

So, the following day we pick her up. We are given a kennel, food and her vet papers.

Jerome takes one look at the kennel and said “I am not taking that thing in the house!” It was beat up, dirty and duct-taped together,missing screws.

Once we got home I took it apart, cleaned it thoroughly and went next door to or lovely neighbour, John, who is a retired mechanic and he found me some nuts and bolts to do the job. It now looks great.

I must admit, I was worried that we would not sleep at night after putting her in there. She cried for 10-15 mintues and slept. The following morning Jerome removed her and she had no accidents and dutifully went outside.

She has been an amazing puppy thus far; easy-going, playful but not too hyper, and just rolls with the punches. Everyone who meets her falls in love with her as we have.

I feel so lucky that I met the second love of my life also online!

I am ready for my close-up Mr. De Mille...

So, about that movie set thing I mentioned in my last blog. I am...now brace yourself....an extra.

Jerome has been doing it for years, he was in Capote ( when Philip Seymour Hoffman asked him what book he was reading), A Bear Named Winnie ( when he wore wool in July), and who can forget Hell on Wheels: The Battle of Mary Kay ( where he had the distinct pleasure of catching a shoe hurled by Parker Posey).

So when Jerome got a desperate call that they were looking for paid background for The Don Cherry Story, he asked if I was interested. Let’s see, sit around all day, play dress up, get paid and knit...I’m in.

So we headed to Selkirk, MB to an ice rink. They dressed us in 50s, 60s and 70s looks and placed us in a crowd to cheer on command.

I was dressed in 50s gear with a long wool coat; perfect to hide my knitting. I would bring it out between takes and knit away, then hide it when someone would yell “Here we go!” I just wish they would have had the courtesy to wait until I got to the end of the row!

Half way through the day, after successfully hiding my knitting, I hear someone yell "Hey, lady with knitting", ohmigod I am in trouble. "Yeah you" ( who else would it be) "Keep knitting, you are a 1950s housewive, your husband has dragged you to a game, keep knitting". Score!

It seems like a simple task, being an extra, but once you are nearing your 13th hour you start to question what you are doing there? I mean, I could barely stand, let alone give them a spontaneous burst of energy.

And the people, well...let me tell you. They were either “been doing this for twenty years” or film students with delusions of grandeur. Yet we also met some nice folk, like the guy who brought his parents who so clearly was living in their basement, or the lovely young couple who were yelled at because they ate food from the actors’ table ( I was wondering where they got those scrambled eggs from). You see, we are not worthy; we are a step above “volunteer” but miles below “performer”. Here are just a few of the instructions that we were given prior to attending our gig:

· Do not speak to the performers (unless spoken to)
· Do not sit in a chair with a name on it– not kidding
· Lunch will be provided...at 4 p.m. (4 o'clock?)

All in all, it was not that horrific because we did it again. Two days that we will never get back, but $600 in our pockets and some cute photos for a memory.