August 2nd, 2010 / No Comments » / by Wendy
One of my favorite parts of foster is seeing what the dogs end up like when they get older.
Merlyn was our 9th foster dog. We got him in January 2009. He was just a little squirt:
He found a new (absolutely perfect) home with a couple my parents’ age and another dog, a lab-sized dog, named Mia. And here he is now:
He’s all legs! And on a boat!
August 2nd, 2010 / No Comments » / by Wendy
On the way back from the cabin yesterday, we talked about car insurance for a minute or two. It was probably because we passed a billboard with an awesome looking insurance agent on it, if I had to guess. I’ve never had cheap auto insurance. First, I was under 25. Then, I had a few wrecks. Now, it’s been four years since any accidents or moving violations and I have zero points on my license or against my license or however that works.
I pay $160/month for car insurance and renters insurance. That seems like an awful lot when I’m 32 years old, drive a station wagon type car with 4 cylinders, and don’t so much have a parking ticket on my record right now. And finally, last night, I realized that I actually am to the point of qualifying for cheap auto insurance, so I googled… that’s right, cheap auto insurance. That site alone had some places that I checked out.
Last night, I typed my name and address and the number of miles my commute is each day to work, I thought my hands were going to follow up. They ranged anywhere from $464/month (YES, I’M SERIOUS) to $108/month. The latter? That’s what I’m talking about.
I feel a little on the bad sad cancelling my current insurance, but c’mon. If I can save fifty bucks a month just by leaving the same insurance guy I’ve had for the past six years, I’ll probably do. And only feel bad about it for about 10 minutes when I realized I’d have all that extra money for things like blow.
I think I’ve checked everywhere I can possibly think of. But if anyone has an in on someone in the insurance world, I’d be more than happy to talk to them about rates. I know it’s a commission-based industry and I’m all about saving $50/month AND helping someone make some more commission if it works out that way!
August 1st, 2010 / 1 Comment » / by Wendy
My plan was to come back from the cabin today and write all about our wholesome fun and post some of the lovely pictures I took over the weekend of things like angel statues and adventures in beautiful Nisswa, MN. But that’s not happening because I can barely keep my eyes open. I was pretty sure I got some good sleep while I was there. At least it felt like it. Or that could have been the result of some poorly played hands of cards, too.
Instead, I came home, chilled for a while, put away the most of the things I took camping, and then The General and I decided to go have dinner. We came home about an hour and a half later and then left for the dog park right away. I just ran into the kitchen to get the dogs while The General waited in the car. And then we got back from the dog park and realized that while we were gone, Riley was very, very busy.
He’d opened the top of my cooler, which has a velcro portion of the lid that opens so you can slip things in and out without constantly opening up the coolest. It’s handy when we’re trying to prevent ice from melting. This time around, I’d just had it filled with dry snack goods I took to share with everyone. Turns out we didn’t eat a whole lot of it, which I guess is a good thing of you’re a five year old boxer who’s too smart for his own good.
Through this little hole, he’d pulled out a box of Swiss Cake Rolls, two containers of Pringles, and a container of powdered sugar donut holes. Shut up. I know none of it’s healthy, but you know what that kind of food is good for? HANGOVERS. The only thing that had been opened was the original Pringles can. And he ate all of those. Except for the crumbled pieces. Naturally.
He got pissed because he couldn’t figure out how to open the individual Swiss Cake Rolls, so there was one under the bed, one on the bed, one in the bathroom, and two in the entry way. And then he must have gotten pissed because he didn’t even bother with the other ones. He could get the plastic lid off of the still-sealed container of Pringles, but he couldn’t get the safety seal (or whatever the hell it’s called) off, so he didn’t get a chance to sample the Ranch kind.
And now he’s pissed that he’s not getting any dinner.
July 30th, 2010 / No Comments » / by Wendy
Thanks to winning a pair of free tickets from the Minnesota Women’s Press, The General and I were up close and dirty with the Lynx and the Mercury last weekend. Our seats were all right. And by all right, I mean ridiculous and made me wish I was a baller so I could have those seats every time we went to a game.
This may have been right before I stood up and said, “Hey, Taurasi, wanna go out for a drink after the game? You can drive me home.” I know she heard me. And that makes me happy.
July 29th, 2010 / 1 Comment » / by Wendy
Along with having a 13 year old kid milling about on a pretty regular basis comes the grounds of learning things that I never really have cared about. Things like the different characters that play the doctor in Dr. Who and what video game platform the next version of Kingdom Hearts is coming out on later this year are some of the things I get to hear about and a couple of the things that just go in one ear and out the other.
Don’t get me wrong. The Kid? He’s not boring at all. He’s an entertaining guy! And I feel pretty lucky to have a Bonus Kid that’s into video games and sci-fi shows as opposed to things like which Jonas Brother is dating which girl from the Mickey Mouse Club and which Anna blue song is the best one.
This is a kid whose ringtones are songs by Cobra Starship or Paramore, which are honest to goodness grownup bands, I think. The only Cobra Starship song I know is called Good Girls Gone Bad and I’m so not comfortable with having that on my phone at The Kid’s ringtone. Instead, I just have Michael Jackson’s PYT, which is probably equally as uncomfortable and not okay. But who doesn’t love a little Michael Jackson in the middle of the day when the person on the other end of the phone is calling because he can’t find the scissors to open his ramen?
July 28th, 2010 / 1 Comment » / by Wendy
The first time I came back from Fort Lauderdale, I started watching CSI: Miami. I just wanted some way to see palm trees and blue waters in the middle of the winter.
When The General moved in, she got me hooked on Law & Order: SVU. Big time. And most recently, I’m a little bit crazy about Criminal Minds.
And what tends to happen is that I start combining all of the shows together. I feel like Horatio Caine and his super douchey sunglasses should be meeting up with Stabler and Benson in Quantico to help the Behavioral Analysis Unit figure out some serial killer’s patterns.
Is that how dirty fan fiction gets started? Because Delko and Morgan would kind of make a hot little gay couple.
July 28th, 2010 / 2 Comments » / by Wendy
We’re in the beginning phases of a lot of things right now when it comes to our future, but the main thing right now is looking at moving from the duplex we’re in now to a single family home. The reasons are endless.
We have a list of “demands”, as we’re calling it:
Yeah, we’re not picky. Personally, I’d like to demand three bedrooms, but I haven’t convinced The General that’s a must have right now. Give me time.
Now our “dang, that’d be nice list”:
See? Not all that picky at all.
In a perfect world, when I get a 200% raise, we’re going to be living in a 3 bedroom house (complete with finished basement), two car garage, a Butler named Jeeves, In-Ground Swimming Pool, Stainless Steel Kitchen Sink, Stoves, ‘Fridge, you name it. Everything that can shine will shine and Jeeves will make sure it happens. Or else.
I might get carried away. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t tell the difference between Stainless Steel Kitchen Sinks and the kind we have now, which is probably something fashioned out of spare car parts that were found on the side of the road, if I know our landlord well enough.
So basically, I’m down for a landlord that’s version of a basement is one that doesn’t smell like mold and consistently have a quarter inch of water standing in at all times, 2-3 bedrooms that are the size we’re currently accustomed to (quite large!), and a backyard that doesn’t look like patches of dirt the second we move in. I’d also prefer a roof. And electrical wiring that allows The General to use a blow dryer.
July 28th, 2010 / 3 Comments » / by Wendy
We sat up in the cheap seats during the Lynx game tonight, where we found that the fans up there? They’re something else.
Fan #1: Male. Somewhere in his late 30s, or early 50s if you look at the wrinkles he had around his eyes. Dirty orange, halfway-dreadlocked hair down to the middle of his back. Wearing a tie-dyed dashiki and short black swim trunks. Dirty white socks and dirty sneakers. Enough junk underneath his fingernails to probably fashion a small shelter. Very loudly yelled TWO POINTS anytime the Lynx held the ball above their heads; sometimes yelled THREE POINTS even when it wasn’t a 3-pointer. My favorite part of this guy? His testicles. Every time he put his feet up on the chair in front of him, I got to see a little peak where his tighty whiteys didn’t quite fit.
Fan #2: Male. Probably in his 60s. Walked in carrying a bible and a black plastic megaphone. Pretty sure he didn’t blink the entire time he was there. Anytime one of the Lynx got up to the free throw line, he would yell through his megaphone “Nothing but the bottom of the net. Net only. Swish”. Every time. Since the Lynx were playing like a one armed blind man riding a donkey, it was incredibly quiet in Target Center meaning everybody, likely including the players, could hear him, too.
Fan #3: Female. Angry lesbian who was there with her partner, but they kept a seat between them. Her partner kept nodding off. Meanwhile, the angry lesbian fan would yell things like “PUT IN THE BASKET” and “TAKE A SHOT” repeatedly, even at times when it didn’t make sense. The ball just getting over the center court line? Probably not the most opportune time to take a shot. In the game’s final few minutes, she would yell encouraging things like “C’MON, REALLY?” and “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” And the thing that made me want to roundhouse kick her right in her stupid neck was when the game was over and she got up to head to her rusted out Subaru. She yelled “BOO” and waved her hand in a dismissive fashion at the court. I love that she paid money to make herself that angry.
July 27th, 2010 / No Comments » / by Wendy
We were supposed to get a new foster puppy tonight. He was a 3 month old pit bull hanging out in “pit row” at animal control. You know what happens to any single animal back in “pit row”? Euthanasia. No exception. Unless a rescue organization (like the one we volunteer for) saves them. Luckily, there were multiple orgs just waiting to get this guy out, so he went to another home, which I have no doubt will take fantastic care of him. And it leaves us foster dog free for a while!
The General and I were just talking the other day about some of the different ideas we have for various photo albums we want to put together, including one photo album just for all of the foster dogs we’ve had.
Oh, yeah. It’s nerd. And we’re so okay with that it’s not even funny. We’ve had 24 different foster animals and we’re starting to lose track of when we had them, and how long we had them. Want me to top off the nerdiness? No problem. I even started a Google Calendar, so we could remember when exactly they started living with us and when they moved along to their forever home.
It’d probably be a good idea to start one for our family, too. You know, in case it grows or something.
July 26th, 2010 / 1 Comment » / by Wendy
‘Twas good. And I even have some pictures, except my memory card reader is broken and therefore every type of photographic evidence of my awesome weekend is stuck on my cute little camera. Someone’s going to have to go to the store this week to get one.
I’m pretty sure we did some things once I got off work, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was. I just know it was about 8pm and we realized we were hungry. We headed up to the intersection of Main Street and Coon Creek Boulevard (I can’t stop saying that) to have dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I know it’s a chain, but my boss said it was awesome so we gave it a while. It was decidedly awesome even though we ate so much bread and so many cheesey bacon fries that we ended up taking half of our entrees home.
The servers dance to Cotton Eyed Joe. You can’t go wrong with that.
Our server was incredibly nice and awesome. The manager on duty came over and talked to us for a while. When he found out it was the first time we’d been there and that we drove “all the way from Minneapolis” (it was maybe a 25 minute drive), he gave us a coupon for a free appetizer. Our loyalty can easily been swayed by free appetizers, other restaurant managers.
This is the third time I’ve decided I was going to write a nice letter to the general manager about someone’s awesome service, but I keep putting it off. I’m never going to send out all five that I’ve relegated myself to doing in my 101 things in 1001 days list.
