Girl seeks adventure...

I was speaking with friends of mine the other day. They usually always go camping on the beach for their anniversary, so I asked if they had gone this year. They were going to go, but the weather report said there was a chance of a thunder storm that night, so they stayed home. It turned out that it didn't thunder or even rain. So they didn't have their camping trip due to the possibility of bad weather. It struck me that if I had made plans to go camping, with my spouse, on our anniversary, to a place that is kind of special to us, I don't think that I would let something like a thunderstorm stop me. I though it sounded kind of cool - I like thunder storms.

I am fairly impulsive. I like adventures. I like things that make my stomach drop and my heart pound (Thank God for you Christine, who alwasy comes with me). I like taking off for a day and doing things just for fun. I don't even want to be the kind of person who lets the possibility of bad weather stop them from doing something they want to do. I don't ever want to become the kind of person who stops having adventures or exploring possibilities.

Stupid names.

I think there there should be rules about naming your children. You can't just pick any old word out of thin air and just use it to call your child. Your child has to live with this for the rest of their lives, or at least until they are legally old enough to change it to something that isn't so stupid.

And it is still wrong to take a name and just add extra letters, like "a", "e" or "y", when they don't belong in that name, which was a perfectly good name when it was spelled the normal way.

This is one of my favorite websites - the names that some people think of for their children, who they ar supposed to love, are unbelievable! notwithoutmyhandbag.com

50 things about me...

Fifty things about myself:

1. I am average height. I wish I was very tall.
2. I watch a lot of television sometimes, then I won’t watch any for weeks.
3. I don’t know how to cook and have no desire to learn.
4. I eat when I'm bored or upset. Sometimes I eat when I'm hungry.
5. I could live on fruit.
6. I've been in love once.
7. It's hard for me to open up to people.
8. People often think I'm a snob but I'm just shy.
9. I get bored very easily.
10. I can be very moody.
11. My dream job would be to be a travel writer.
12. I have never watched “The Simpsons”.
13. I often wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.
14. My sister is one of my favorite people and I would want to be her friend if we weren’t sisters.
15. My favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate. Vanilla is not a flavor - it is the absence of flavor.
16. I read a lot.
17. I'd like to go to Egypt.
18. I wear black almost every day.
19. I've been fired.
20. I have two nephews that I adore.
21. I think my brother’s wife is perfect for him.
22. I love my dog.
23. I've never been to a professional hockey game.
24. I'm not lucky.
25. I have glasses that I never, ever wear because I am too vain.
26. I work a lot.
27. I hate reality television
28. I'm a huge sucker for movies with dancing in them (Flashdance, Dirty Dancing, Footloose...).
29. I live for email.
30. I love to drive.
31. I am not very athletic.
32. I love shopping.
33. One of my many pet peeves is people who wear sunglasses indoors.
34. I can stay in my house, alone for days at a time, with no contact with the outside world.
35. I fantasize about living in seclusion on a deserted island.
36. I like my parents.
37. I think everyone should have to be a waiter or waitress once in their lives so they understand how hard they work - and then tip appropriately.
38. I'm a good kisser.
39. I often feel alone, even in a big crowd.
40. I either love or hate my job, never anything in between.
41. I don't have a long term plan.
42. I'd like to get married someday, I think.
43. I give people nicknames in my head.
44. I don’t eat meat.
45. I cannot sleep on a plane.
46. I have great friends that have known me since I was young and still like me.
47. I lose my keys everyday.
48. My face gets red at the slightest provocation.
49. It's hard for me to ask for help.
50. I'm not a morning person.

Parental Guilt

I am having extreme guilt about having to leave my dog all day while I work. It doesn't help that I work 2 jobs - Veterans Affairs by day and bartender at Dalvay By the Sea 4 nights a week. So some days, we go for a walk in the morning, I see him again at lunch time, again for a few minutes between jobs and not again until midnight. I am suffering from such guilt! And Desoto can turn on the sad looks like you would not believe. At least , since I am staying with my parents while house-hunting, they are home with him more than I am, but still since they also work, he is alone a lot. I feel bad that I am not home playing with him during the day, that he either has to be tied up in the yard or shut in the house or garage while I am not home. This seems cruel and adds to the already overwhelming guilt. I am a terrible mother for leaving him all day. Obviously, I can never have children - I wouldn't be able to leave my house!

He has to lie on a blanket so he doesn't drool all over the floor. 

I think he looks hung-over in this picture! 

Pretty boy! 

He looks kind of intimidating, but he is a big sweetie. 

He is a very big dog. He weighs about 150lbs right now and won't be full grown for another 18 months. 

This is Desoto, my dog. He is a Dogue de Bordeaux. 

People Magnet

So, my dog is finally here. I went over to St. Stephen, NB on Friday to pick up Desoto, accompanied by my friend Liane, who made the long drive much more fun with her company and her collection of 70's rock and 80's pop. She didn't even complain when I laid down the "no Clay Aiken" rule. The drive was not too bad, about 4.5 hours there and a little longer to get back with quick stops at the Mall, Starbucks (ahhhhhh, Starbucks coffee) and the liquor store, and Desoto was quite well behaved. He did manage to get a lot of drool over the entire inside of the car which was kind of gross.

We stopped at the Big Stop in Salisbury and while Liane went inside, I took Desoto over on the grass. Within 2 minutes, 10 people came over to see him. One little girl came right up and gave him a big hug - she wasn't a bit scared of him, althouhg her mother almost had a heart attack! Everyone wanted to see him, pet him and to know what kind of dog he was. Two big bikers, all in their leathers, came over and made a huge fuss over him, and another guy brought his boxer puppy over to say hello - the puppy was not even as big as Desoto's head.

He has been adapting well to life in Stratford. We had a big open house on the weekend for my Aunt and Uncle's 50th wedding anniversary and of course, everyone wanted to see my new baby - he didn't mind all the people, I think he likes the attention. He is a little nervous sometimes if there are too many people at one time, and then he hides behind me, which is funny to see.

I will post some pictures later.