on my way!

i've now ordered some cards for blogher to pass out in case anyone wants my details. guess i'd better get to it and start blogging some more substance.



i'm extremely excited and anxious at the same time! for now, i'll just anticipate the long holiday weekend, so i don't worry myself sick.

leftovers

i'm broke until payday on july 1st. once a month pay periods are a pain in the fanny. it's difficult to stay ahead of the game when the end of the month rolls around.
so until then, i'm going to try to refrain from buying any groceries. especially since s got another flat tire on the way to pick me up from work on wednesday & therefore, i need to buy 4 new tires before our trip back to nd in less than 7 weeks for my baby brother's wedding.
for dinner we are scrounging my pantries and fridge:
spinach salad with tomatoes, radishes and dried cranberries & crumbled goat cheese
baked salmon with dill (dried, not fresh. hey, i said i was scrounging!)
broccoli cheese pasta (one of those lipton bags or whatever)
day old oatmeal raisin cookie from work for dessert

i'd also like to direct my readership to a new food blog by someone i know from the internet pre-blogging.
deb's perfect bite
she has got some tasty recipes, for sure.

also wondering if i should get actual business cards for blogher. i don't exactly have a 'theme' and i'm not really looking for a huge increase in traffic. i'm more of a fangirl than anything else. but it seems like the thing to do, so if i meet even more cool people in real life than those i already know on the interwebs (and some of whom i've been lucky enough to meet in person. suzanne, i'm lookin' at you.) i'd better make my decision soon, since time is running out for printing purposes. i'm getting so excited for this!

rawr

i really want pancakes for dinner!
that is all.

worries

i realize i've been missing in action lately. part of it can be explained by the increased attention to grover. another issue is that in the past couple of weeks i've been having some blurry vision. some of that could be a result of my colitis. eye inflammation or problems can originate with other inflammatory conditions. i have an appointment with my eye doc on monday. it's not particularly fun & can be somewhat scary. computer eye strain, since i sit in front of a screen all day at work, doesn't seem to be helpful in easing the blurs and floaters when they appear either.
though considering that the hospital is announcing that its 130 layoffs will start today & tomorrow (need to cut $45 million from the budget) maybe i don't need to worry about sitting in front of my work computer anymore. i'm merely a 'support' position, not a healthcare provider & after all, they say they are trying to avoid reducing quality healthcare. we shall see.

social responsibility

with all this puppy hubbub, i've really been slacking on the blogging. and cleaning. and exercising (not counting the 12 to 15 miles i'm putting in walking to work & then home on my lunch break to let grover out). not such a great thing with blogher coming up & not getting any writing in at all.
grover is truly the cutest puppy on the planet. (okay, all/most puppies are pretty darn adorable.) when he’s not testing boundaries by biting my feet & hands, that is. he's getting better about that & he’s started puppy kindergarten last week. grover just needs to know what’s appropriate around people vs. puppies. and he’s only 14 weeks old as of yesterday.
one of the things i didn’t take into consideration when purchasing my “teddy bear puppy”, as s was calling him last night, was all the attention he’d draw from strangers. obviously i take him outside on a regular basis, multiple times per day, and any time a person, dog or car comes by, grover is fascinated & wants to meet them. considering my self-imposed hermit status, this is not really conducive to avoidance of all living things. either the puppy inserts himself in the stranger’s path (99.9% of the time) or the person spots grover & bombards me with questions and requests to pet the cutest puppy ever. my first response is to swoop in and pick grover up, while making a run for my apartment. i still succumb to this impulse on a number of occasions, particularly when he tugs on the leash to jump on someone or another dog. again, it’s all a learning experience: grover is learning & so are s & i as he’s our first pet.
i guess being more socially available and open to meeting new people isn’t such a bad thing. besides having even less time to do anything. including blogging. perhaps I should look at it as practice for blogher next month. although i still think i'll spend most of my time hiding in corners being a wallflower.

sore bum

poor little grover has a sore bum. took him to the vet this morning to get his rabies shot (it's 12 weeks & he's 11 weeks, 5 days) & he got his 3rd booster for distemper, i think. boy did he yelp when dr. y gave him the first injection, then cowered over to cuddle into me. then he turned him around and poked him in the other side & he howled some more. so he's all drowsy & tender in the rear when i pick him up. luckily, i don't have to pick him up too much anymore. in the past 2 weeks, he's progressed so much, it's incredible! when we first got grover, he was none too stable on his feet and weaved around like a tiny drunk. barely able to climb over the lip on his crate. last weekend we picked up a playpen to go around his crate & the edge is easily 3" high; now he can hop right over it like a furry hurdler.
yesterday i taught him up, which is the most adorable thing ever! i showed s this morning & he almost died it was so cute.
motherhood is grand!
speaking of motherhood, i get to meet up with the fun & talented suzanne of cuss tonight for an impromptu party for her sister's newborn, who wasn't supposed to arrive until june. can't wait!

motherhood

wow, this is a totally different experience. there is definitely a reason i've said i'm much too young (yes, at 30) to be a mother. taking care of a baby (particularly a furry one) is tough work. i have always had the utmost respect for parents, but even moreso in the last 10 days since we've had grover. when s was gone for his grandfather's funeral last tuesday & wednesday, single motherhood was rough. i have been lacking in sleep these last days. having to get up in the middle of the night once or twice is painful. for the first few days we let him sleep on the floor, which he still seems to love doing. 3 nights now he's slept in his crate & whined, but i haven't given in to his crying. that was a problem with the first night; we gave in so he wouldn't be sad. grover's mostly been okay with accidents in the house. once we figured out his mannerisms & potty signals. also, we've been trying to take him out after meals/drinking & when he wakes up from naps. accidents have still occurred daily, particularly because he wants to 'play' with me & gets bitey/chewy on my hands & feet. i try to replace my skin with an appropriate toy & show encouragement, but if i don't cooperate, he'll act out & pee on the rug. he knows that's showing me. tomorrow night i'll be calling our local, highly recommended training class (spot & co.) to start her puppy class next wednesday. scotties are notoriously stubborn and aggressive (they were bred to chase vermin), so whatever i need to do to get him off on the right paw. he is still the cutest thing ever & he only seems to act out with me (probably pent up energy). s takes him all over the place & comes over to let him out of his crate a couple times a day. next week will be a challenge because he starts an 8 to 3pm job about 10 miles away, so he won't be available to let grover out during the day. i'll have to adjust my lunch break & haul @$$ back to the apartment to give him a break in the middle of the day, so he's not stuck in his crate for 8 hours at a time. we'll make it work. s thinks he's the cutest thing & i think he's second cutest only behind s himself. i'm trying to imbed a video, but i can't get quicktime to work on my laptop. (and of course he just bit me in the boob, so that's awesome)