Catching Up

A belated happy 4th of July to everyone in the US! I hope you took some time to ponder the freedoms we enjoy and to thank the people in our military who keep those freedoms safe for us.

It's been a stressful couple of weeks here. I've been involved in an internal audit at my big client. There's some internal politics going on, and I hate stuff like that. At any rate, the internal auditors from corporate came in and went through stuff with a fine toothed comb... problem is, the main auditor is accustomed to auditing government contracts and procedures in a large company, not what is essentially a small retail business. Top it off with the fact that, to put it politely, she's "confused"... can't keep bank accounts straight, keeps asking for duplicates of documents she already has... and I'm seriously questioning her competence. Unfortunately, I think someone's job is on the line here. I'm not denying that there's record keeping issues, because there were, and I had cautioned about them numerous times. But those have been compounded by the auditor's incompetence. I think something ugly's going to happen within the next couple of weeks, and to be frank, my trust level for everyone there is currently at zero. I'm currently deciding if I can continue to contract for them. It's a difficult decision, because they're my biggest client, but I'm not sure I can keep working in that environment. Sad, because I've been with them for ten years now.

In the middle of all that, we've been trying to keep up with training Penny. She'll be 17 weeks old this week, and she's going through all the predictable puppy stuff. Teething is a big issue, as is housetraining. She's finished her puppy shots so she's free to mingle with other dogs. Tomorrow night she has her first session with a trainer here at the house, and then this coming Saturday she's scheduled to start Puppy Kindergarten. Good news with her is that she's now walking on a leash, thanks to Kim at Dr. Weaver's office (I had a small meltdown there when we went for her last shots about all the problems we've been having with her. Our frustration level is high.). That means she's been able to get outside, and she loves it. Keeping in the great dachshund tradition though, she completely ignores the geese and ducks who frequent our front yard.Here we are in a quiet moment on a Sunday afternoon. I'm in mid-summer allergy attack.

For the 4th, we went to Rome for Penny's first overnight visit to Mom's. It went ok.... we had a couple of potty accidents, and we had one unfortunate incident where Mom and Penny were playing and Penny got a little overzealous and nipped. On the bright side, Penny did find a chipmunk hole and actually started digging at it! We may have a little earthdog here after all. :)

In the middle of all this, we had Vacation Bible School at our church, and once again I was the Snack Lady. Attendance was down slightly this year due to the fact that we had to postpone our school to accomodate a teacher (who ultimately couldn't attend due to a death in the family) and we were competing against several other churches in the area. But we managed to attract over 50 kids. Snacks were uneventful for the most part. I'll admit one day was particularly lame (although I like Twizzlers), and two four year olds rebelled. They informed me they didn't want the snack, and they knew I had other stuff because they'd seen it. Couldn't argue with that, because it was right out in the open. So I relied on the old "well, this is what we have for today and if you don't want it, you're welcome to sit quietly at the table and have some water" which is what they ultimately did when they realized they weren't going to get their way. As I told one of the teachers, it must be a shock to find out you're not really that special when you've been told all your life that you were...

In a vivid demonstration of "keep me away from the internet when my stress level is high", Amazon politely offered to ship me a Kindle 2 via ovenight shipping and I accepted. I must say that I love it so far! I've downloaded two books I wanted (haven't updated the reading on the side of the blog yet), but I can see where the downloads can quickly become addictive (and expensive).

Knitting and stitching, you ask?? Well, I do try to sneak some in around the puppy. No real pictures tho. I'm frantically working on ornaments for the annual exchange. It's time to start making the kits so I've got to order stuff (Drema at Needlecraft Corner, are you listening?? :)) As for knitting, my DF Sara from Ravelry sent me some wonderful Mirasol Hacho merino wool that screamed to be a pair of socks. I obliged them and started knitting during the Sprint Cup race this past Saturday night.The color is much bluer than it appears in the picture. Beautiful stuff and so soft!

That catches you up with us. Hope all of you are having a good summer. Take some time to be good to yourselves.

Mail for Me!

Penny here. Mom let me take over the blog tonight to say hello and tell you about my big week. I got a box in the mail. Really! Addressed to me and everything!
Drema at Needlecraft Corner and her faithful canine Amber are friends of my mom, and they wanted to welcome me to the neighborhood, so they sent me a box of my very own. Well, ok. They sent my mom some silly toys with it, but the important thing is that it was addressed to me! I couldn't wait to get into it.
I *finally* got it open. This whole lack of opposable thumbs thing is a real drag. I mean, I had just had my final round of puppy shots that day, and I was feeling kind of grouchy, so I was hoping for something really good, ya know?? It smelled interesting, so I thought there must be some kind of really fabulous surprise in there...
Aaaugh... so close! Got the package out... full of Mommy's silly stuff... and I could see an envelope in there with my name on it!! Must... keep... working...
Got it!!! Now, to get the envelope open and savor the wonder within.
Inside were some of the yummiest treats ever! I gobbled them up all at one time. Mom said she felt sorry for me because I'd had to go to the vet, and I'd had all those shots, and I'd had a mani-pedi on top of that. Plus... well, I kinda snapped at the vet, and Mom tattled on me and said that's what I'd been doing at home. So then we had to do some obedience stuff. They made me walk on a leash! The very nerve. My feet aren't supposed to hit the ground, you know. And Mom and Dad have been making me do that at home too. Things have been changing a bit. So they're gonna have to get me more of these treats.Because I really deserve them.

But thank you Aunt Drema and Aunt Kathleen and Amber. Thank you so much for sending me the yummy treats. I enjoyed every bite and licked up all the crumbs after they were gone. I appreciate you treating me like the princess I am (unlike some people who make me walk on a leash...).

Ok mom... I'm getting off the computer now. Geez. Parents.

An Update on The Princess

So, I imagine some of you have been asking, what's up with that adorable puppy of yours?
The good news is that she's still alive. See that face? That's what's keeping her living.

She's now 14 weeks old, and at our last vet visit she was five whole pounds of dachshund fury. And teeth. Don't forget the extra sharp puppy teeth that puncture human skin like Wolverine slashes through supervillains.

We had seriously forgotten how much work a puppy is. She is so energetic! But the funniest thing is that she's acting like a dog. Seriously. How strange is that? Oscar would be so amused at the sight of us dealing with a dog.

She's learned to play fetch. And she'll bring you the toy over and over and over and over and over... well, you get the idea. Favorite toy at this point is Mr. Ram, the blue and yellow fellow you can see in the background of the picture. She'll play tug of war. She has learned where the treats are stored and if she hears the mere hint of a bag crinkling (even if it's for human treats) she'll drop whatever she's doing and park her little rear by the treat box with that ever hopeful look on her face and the slight head tilt so as to maximize her cuteness. I tell you, the cuteness is a survival instinct.

She's also learning rudimentary obedience skills. For example, "sit" is short for "if I drop my butt here now, a tasty morsel will fall my way." She knows her name and chooses to answer if it suits her, which is normal for any dachshund no matter the age. Housetraining? Eh. Not so much. But we now have new machine washable throw rugs.

The kicker was last night when we took her in the back yard. She'd previously been out there, clad in collar and harness, and she hated it. She'd sit like a lump and occasionally gnaw on a blade of grass but she'd make no effort to move. But last night we decided to take her down there nekkid as a jaybird since the back yard is fenced in. That did it: she frolicked; she cavorted; she ran; she leaped; she sniffed; and so help me, she laid down on the ground and rolled in the grass.

Oscar would have been mortified at the behavior.

That's when we realized that we have an actual dog this time. We have no clue how to deal with it.

A Bittersweet Day

I'll begin with a brief review, since I know I have a lot of new blog followers...

My best friend growing up, Lynne, passed away suddenly in April, 2006 at the age of 47. Like me, she was an only child. She left behind her mother, who was 88 at the time. Her mother found her in the house when she couldn't get Lynne on the phone after a day or so, so we really don't know how long she'd been dead when she was discovered. It took months to get a cause of death; the coroner finally said the primary cause was pneumonia, with a secondary cause of undiagnosed thyroid cancer. To this day, I don't think any of us really believe it, but it doesn't do any of us any good to dwell on it.

I wound up as executor of Lynne's estate. As those close to me can tell you, it's been a long, sometimes painful process. There were issues with her mom understanding what was going on. There were issues with some charities (which will remain unnamed here, but if you really want to know who contact me and I'll be happy to tell you) causing trouble because they didn't think they got their "fair share" of what she left them in her relatively small estate. And ultimately, the whole thing caused a bit of a rift between her mom and my mom, which I had nothing to do with, but which I regret.

I had distributed most of the funds due to Lynne's mother, as her sole heir, quite awhile back. Yesterday, I closed out the bank account, being satisfied that after this length of time, there would be no more claims against the estate. Today, I mailed the check for the balance to her mother.

So this chapter in my life is now officially closed. Aside from putting things in file folders and moving them to my archives, my work is finished. And Lynne's time here on earth is complete.

I sent a letter with the check to her mother saying telling her to consider this little windfall as Lynne's final gift to her and to go out and do something nice for herself with it. I doubt I ever hear what she does. I'll be able to track that the package was delivered, and that's about it.

A lot of things have changed for me in these three years. I learned not to take people around me for granted, because they may not be there. I learned not to wait till tomorrow to do what I want, because tomorrow may not come (thus, the Hummer, that I bought a week after Lynne's death). And I've learned that somehow, someway, I always end up with a lot more responsibility than I bargain for. Danged if I know how that happens.

So, my friend, goodbye. I love you like the sister I never had. I miss you. I hope the life you have now is much happier than the one you had here. I'll see you again one day.

Support Small Business

Think about it. Go there now.

Just sayin'.

Thanks to Tammy for letting me know about it.

A little busier at our house...

Why, you ask?
Meet Penny Jasmine. She was born 3/12/09 and joined our household this past Saturday from the folks at the Indian Cotton Kennels. We've been keeping her under wraps as a surprise to our friends, but she's ready to make her debut. In case you can't tell from the photo, she's a longhaired black & tan dappled little girl. Right now she's 3.1 pounds of dachshund fury.

It's been a long time since we've had a puppy, and we've never had one this young. Our Oscar was 3 months old when we got him. Penny is a ball of energy, exploring everything (she's particularly obsessed with whatever she thinks is behind the recliner, which frankly is only a bunch of electrical cords she can't have, and we're amazed at how she's working out different ways to get around the barriers we've erected). Those little puppy teeth are sharp and her favorite targets are toes. She is a rather opinionated young lady and will readily let you know what's on her mind. Loudly.

We know that it's not fair to compare Oscar and Penny, since they're two completely different personalities, but we've been amazed at the differences so far. Oscar would never, ever get into a crate; so far Penny's been sleeping in hers and in her puppy playpen. Oscar was always a "nervous eater" and had to have someone with him while he dined; you'd best not get between Penny and her bowl.We've been for our first well-puppy visit and Dr. Weaver has pronounced Penny "perfect" and is really impressed with the breeder as Penny didn't have any of the puppy parasites that generally come with dogs from kennels. Penny has also been well socialized and didn't mind all of her "aunts" passing her around to "ooh" and "aah" over her at stitch group last night. She can already work the room with the best of them.

Penny's already gone hi-tech, as any modern puppy would. You can follow her on Twitter, and I have it on good authority that she's going to be setting up her own web-cam to follow her during the day when we're not home. You'll find details here when it's set up.

We never, ever intend for Penny to replace Oscar. As my dear friend Benne on Ravelry said, Oscar was tired and needed to rest, and now he knows that someone is there to take over his work. Richard and I are a pawfull, so Penny will have her work cut out for her. We hope she enjoys the journey as much as we're gonna enjoy having her with us.

And, The End of the First Wave

Ah, April 15. The end of the first wave of tax returns for the year. I guess what really upsets me more than the usual litany of people not knowing what to bring for their returns and people bringing stuff in late is the fact that folks have no clue how much they actually pay in income tax. They phrase it in terms of "I got this much back -- I didn't have to pay", not actually absorbing the concept that they've been paying all year. It's food for thought, and maybe it'll inspire some of you to actually look at page 2 of that 1040, line 61, and see how much of your hard-earned money is going to the government every year.

But my political opinions are not why most of you come to this blog...

You come for fun things, like SHEEP!This past Saturday I played hooky from work and went to the Atlanta History Center for their annual Sheep to Shawl festival. The festival featured re-enactments of life as it would have been on the Tullie Smith farm in Atlanta in the 1850's. It's amazing that the actual structure still standing -- we don't have a lot of pre-War-of-Northern-Aggression buildings standing around here considering how rude Sherman was with the fire thing when he came through. But this one was and they moved it to the grounds of the history center. There are animals there, including one ram and one ewe who were in need of shearing, since it's spring and they were sporting their heavy winter fleeces.

The unhappy sheep you see in the picture is Napoleon, a roughly 250 lb ram who was the first to be sheared. Took three men to bring him out. The gentleman shearing him is a professional sheep shearer and has a farm here in the area. Silly me -- I didn't know there were enough sheep in the area to merit a professional shearer here, but evidently there are. He carefully sheared Napoleon (avoiding obvious boy parts... and boy, were they obvious once all that fleece was gone). The shearer said that the sheep would cooperate pretty well as long as their hooves were up in the air.For his part, Napoleon cooperated pretty well except for in mid-shear when his hooves did hit the ground and he decided to make a break for it in the pen, with half his fleece hanging off him. He was quickly wrestled into submission by the three men again and put over onto his side so the shearing could be completed.

When he was completely sheared, the shearer let Napoleon up to run free. We thought he would run around the rather large pen, but instead, he said "Check, please!" and made a break for the barn, where he no doubt told the ewe what was in store. And actually, it was a bit chilly out and well, he was nekkid at that point. The shearer passed around the fleece for the kids there to grab a handfull -- I passed on that one after explaining to one rather perplexed mother that the fleece would feel sticky because of the lanolin in it. She expected it to feel like a cotton ball.

There were other exhibits of blacksmithing, basketmaking, dying with natural colors, and cooking, but for us, of course, the highlight was the shearing.

After the shearing, we went up to the Swan Coach House there for lunch. When I worked in the area, that was a favorite lunch spot for me and my co-workers when we felt like taking a long, leisurely lunch. I hadn't been there in 20 years, and I didn't know if it was the same. I was not disappointed -- the chicken salad in timbales and the frozen fruit salad was still delicious. Plus I splurged on a dessert:"The Swan"... a meringue base with whipped cream goodness concealing a chocolate mousse middle. Yum. Blog worthy.

As for stitching and knitting during tax season -- precious little, considering I generally fell asleep once I sat still, and frankly, after Oscar passed, I wasn't in the mood to do much. But in early February I had one completion I hadn't blogged yet. Richard asked for and got a handmade scarf to keep him warm in the winter weather:Pattern is the Scrunchable Scarf (look it up on Ravelry), made with two skeins of Manos del Uruguay wool.

So, I'm back and hope to be posting more now that my silly job will allow. Actually I'm thankful that most of my clients came back and I picked up some new ones this year. I'm busy, but it's all good.