I've been getting ready for my new "family member" tonight, lots of cleaning and putting away to be done. Although I'm not sure why I care if the dog comes home to a clean house, since she peed on the floor during her first visit. A stickler for housekeeping she's not. I'm nervous, which I realize is probably a little strange, but it's how I am. I want to do things right. It's been a stressful week, and I've gotten very little sleep the last two nights. I'm exhausted, but I doubt I'll rest any better tonight - too much going on in my brain.

I've thought about getting a dog for a long time, and I'm not sure why I finally decided to take the leap. I have a couple of theories, but I think I'll keep the most likely one to myself. What I can share, without too much embarrassment, is that I think I wanted something that would give my life a little more purpose and make me responsible to something other than myself. There are other routes I could have taken to accomplish this goal, I guess. I could have gotten married or had a kid; but honestly, I'm not sure about the concept of marriage (several people have told me they think I'm even more ambivalent about it than I'll admit) and apparently my biological clock was never wound up. I think, in the end, I made the most socially responsible decision.

Suck it, all you jerks out there!!  

I have to admit, I hope karma is a legitimate force in the universe. I'm probably wishing a world of hurt on myself for that hope. I'm not trying to say that karma won't bite me in the ass at some point...I've done things that would probably take me back to dung beetle status if I believed in karma's counterpart - reincarnation. But you know, if I should come back as a cute chattering squirrel in the next life, the best I can hope for is that some people get what's coming to them and only make it back as blind, hairless moles.  

Born Free

Even though my soon to be dog is part Catahoula Leopard, I'm thinking of renaming her Elsa because her fur is the same color as a lion (except for the whole spots thing). I like Elsa and ANYTHING is better than Tinkerbelle. Can I get a witness?   

Knowlege is Power...

...the kind of power I don't want. I've known something - an incriminating sort of something - for a while, and I don't know what to do with it. I think keeping my mouth shut is the best thing for me to do for several reasons, but it's tempting. If this was Dynasty and I was Joan Collins, I'd be coming up with a fabulous blackmail plot - most likely involving diamonds, an ex-lover and a house in Greece - right now.    

Overheard

"You are not your thoughts."

I'm working on "getting" this. I've been doing a lot of reading lately and this statement, or some variation of it, keeps coming up. It's Lazy Susan time again - bringing things around again and again until you finally take them off and deal with them. 

(Lazy Al sometimes wishes they'd just go away.)

I love the color navy these days.  I want to marry it and have little navy babies.

Awesome.

Formula for success:  

Hair Band + Cheesy Power Ballad = Guilty Pleasure

Specifically:

Skid Row + I Remember You = Awesome 

You know that feeling you get when you know you've done something wrong and you're kind of scratching around in your brain to find an excuse, but there's not one up there because basically you just did a crappy thing and that's all there is to it? You know, that uncomfortable gnaw in the pit of your stomach and the uh-oh cringe? Yeah, I kind of have that now. I totally flaked on someone the other night, which isn't unheard of, given my love affair with my couch, but I should have at least warned of my impending flake. Bad Al.  

(Sorry Katie.)  

I love him. No, seriously I do. I'm hoping he's narcissistic enough to google himself and find this post. I mean, he's an artist, they probably spend hours at a time googling themselves, right? Anyway, he'll find this, fall in love with me through my posts, come find me, profess his undying devotion and eventually change the lyrics from "Kathleen" to "Allison." Events will start unfolding at any minute now, I'm sure.  

Oh, ha! I just realized that if this whole googling himself plan is going to work, it might help if I actually put his name (JOSH RITTER) in the post. 

 

Public Flower Announcement

This is not a crocus (or a pipe).  This is an iris.  
 

This is a crocus.

That is all.  

They're more scared of you...

When I was driving home a few minutes ago, the 3 little foxes playing in my neighbors' yard were so sweet and cute, I just wanted to stop and watch them. When I pulled into my driveway and saw another one run out of my carport, the feelings changed a bit. I sat in my car a few minutes and then scrambled out muttering, "they're more scared of you than you are of them" as I tried to get my door open as quickly as possible.   

And by the way, how many freaking foxes live in my neighborhood?