ah, well, wednesday we went to the local neighborhood bar (for you, d, pub) to listen to chicago mark's new...uh...girlfriend (the stray followed us home from the beach and never left) sing kareoki (ok, ok, i can never spell that freakin' word) what the result was i lost my voice (why not, already lost the voice in my head, only to be replaced by other not so ambitious voices in my head) that was probably a plus to others, for me to lose my speaking voice, as it is often a little too loud and blunt. and well, many of my peeps were still going the next day. not me. little miss not 21 anymore needs sleep. kind of long story short, my voice is still hoarse, although once i was out and about today, it's not so bad as it was yesterday and the day before.

yesterday, i left my house only twice. and both for short, short, short periods of time. i spent the whole day watching the first season of Desperate Housewives. why do i like this show? i didn't at first. but i wanted to know (and i still have a few episodes to go) how that season ended.

i knew i had to get up early this morning (more on this in a sec) and what happens? it's like dieting, when you go on a diet, all of a sudden you want to eat everything in sight. when you know you have to get up early, you can't sleep, even tho you are usually up at that same time every other day you don't have to get up early. *sigh* you know what i mean.

i had a fitful night. there's something here that is killing my allergies/sinuses. most mornings i wake up with my eyes matted shut. people ask me, "have you been crying" i can now say, most times not...but it's my stinking allergies. i was feverish last night going through those chills then hot as hell phases. i got no sleep.

****

the reason i got up so early is because of anna marie. anna marie is the local resident that asks everyone for favors. i've spoken to the woman twice, maybe. most of the time when she asks for favors, she doesn't really pay the kindness back. not only that but then she'll hound you time and time again for favors. often times she offers to pay for said favor and then doesn't. you can only push the "old lady" thing so far.

so she knows i have a car. and yesterday i'm at home and i hear knocking on my door. before i can even get to the door, i hear someone calling my name through it. when i open it, there she is. "oh, thank god i found where you live."

i'm feeling like crap, i can barely talk, and she asks if on saturday (today) morning i can take her to run a few errands.

i tell her immediately (and it's the truth, plus i do know her reputation) that i have no gas in my car and i'd be lucky if i can make it the few blocks to the 7-11 to get some.

i get up with no sleep and feeling like crap, but i agree to take her anyway, telling her i don't feel good so please let's make this as quick as possible.

it was not quick. and true to her reputation, one favor beget another favor which then beget yet another favor. All in the space of 4 hours.

when i told scotty i was doing this favor, he told me i would be blessed for doing so (thank you for that religious insight, scotty)...we'll see.

all i'm saying is, i'm used to doing favors for people who gladly do favors back. when i ask someone for a favor, i repay them someway. that's only the right thing to do.

and, in all honesty, she is going to let me have the lattice on her patio (so i can block off the bottom of new neighbor guy's really sweet arbor covered bench, to keep Asche off of his patio) and she said i could have her nifty little roller cart thingy. so i guess those are my blessings

when people take advantage of the system, i get a little pissy.

thankfully, she's moving come tues, so she won't be able to abuse the system when it comes to me

****

puppy update:

i knew there was a reason i didn't want a puppy. she's becoming more adjusted to her crate, although, admittedly, she's usually sleeping between my feet or sitting in my lap. but at least now she doesn't make those god-awful yelping noises. good grief, i could hear her from the parking lot the first morning i left her and she was still going at it when i came back less than 10 mins later. and then now, she barely whines when put in there, but we are still struggling with the housebreaking.

i think she peed in her crate twice yesterday, unless it was just a massive amount of salvia from her chewing on the towel or shirt i placed in there with her. but that is what i feared with a female. they don't seem to have as much problem peeing in their crate. all that being said, she has bonded with me (much to Z's disappointment) and i can put her in bed with me at night and she'll sleep for hours, right next to me, not peeing in my bed.

i've been trying to stick to an "every hour" out schedule. at night, she's in for at least 4 hours before i take her out and then often in there for another 2, before i finally give in and let her sleep in the bed with me.

not only that, but lots of times, i'll take her out (or Z, though i bet he's not so patient with waiting for her to pee) and she'll come back in and pee within 15 mins.

oh, see, it's been so many years since i've had to do this, and back then, i was the one with patience. i've kind of lost that and expect it to be done NOW. but i'm reminded she's just 8 weeks old. after all, we don't expect a baby to be potty trained by 6 months, do we?

however, she has another month to go and then she'd better be towing the housebreaking line...hard!

*sigh* she's so much like Yasha (not too bright, a little leary of men especially, and instinctually motivated) playing with her leash when she walks (my goodness, she was going after it this morning. she can be quite the mean little bitch, taking down dogs when playing twice her size and giving her brother whatfor) in the house, she's just a big baby, and in my house, she's my big baby. well, she's not so big right now, and if other people's projections hold true, i'm liable to end up with a 80-100 lap dog (not much different then my Yasha)

new photos to come soon.

now that i've bored you to tears, you are now free to go about your regular daytime activities.

;-)