Your dog died, will that be cash, check, or charge?

It's been a while in coming, but as I predicted, Rubik died yesterday. (No, I didn't predict the day, just the upcoming event in general). He died in the kennel, which is kind of a mixed blessing. On one hand, I didn't get to see him one more time and he died in a lonely, foreign place, but on the other hand, I was spared having to find him and figuring out what to do with him. Their general manager, Brian called me and let me know; he said he'd seen Ru just the day before and he was happy and running around, then the next morning, he just didn't wake up. I was glad to get the news from Brian, though. He's been there for eons, and even though I've had my issues with the kennel in general, it's always beein in relation to policies and pricing, never with personnel.

We went in today to 'take care of his affairs' (settle the bill and decide what to do with his remains). They initially treated us like a family member had died, but once they realized we were okay, we even laughed a little bit. I thinked them for keeping the flag at half-mast on Ru's behalf (never mind Gerald Ford that was all for Rubik!) Kinda wish they'd said they'd eat the cost of kenneling him for the week prior to his...departure, but hey...I guess they've got a business to run. And they didn't charge us for the day he...um...didn't use.

Of course we'll miss him, but he was 10. He's up in doggie heaven, eating a big fat turkey that he got out of a trash-can. And know what...nobody yelled at him for taking it.

Delicious breakfasty-toast!

Granny Herrmann (Nick's mom's mom) made this delicious recipe. I liked it so much I thought I'd share. It's a lot of work, but Granny swears that kneading the dough is "very satisfying". I don't know about that, but eating it sure was!!! It's yummy warm with coffee, or toasted with butter. Deeee-licious.

Ethiopian Honey Spice Bread (makes 2 loaves)

4 1/2 to 5 cups flower (divided)
2 packages of yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 egg

In large mixing bowl combine:
2 c . flour, yeast, salt, coriander, cinnamon, and cloves.
Mix well.

In saucepan, heat milk, water, honey, and butter until warm (120 - 130 degrees). Butter does not need to melt. Add this to flour mixture.

Add egg and blend at low speed until moistened, then increase to
medium speed and beat another 3 mins. Then. by hand, gradually stir
in remaining flour to make a firm dough.

Knead on floured surface 'till smooth and elastic (about 5 min.)

Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top of dough.
Cover and let rise in warm place until light and doubled. About 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down dough. Divide into 2 parts. Shape into round balls and
place in greased 1lb coffee cans, greased cookie sheet, or into
greased loaf-pans. Cover and let rise in warm place until light and
doubled; about 30 mins.

Bake at 375 for 30-35 min. until golden brown. Remove from baking
container, brush with butter if desired and cool.

Connor has officially survived his frirst haircut. He was sure it was going to be his undoing, but he pulled through like a trooper. We took him to Nick's barber, Jeff. He had a customer when we got there, so Connor got a chance to watch someone else getting his hair cut, and watch Jeff moving around and talking. He was having a ball until he realized that the booster seat in the chair was for him! Thankfully, Jeff was great with him; he just did his thing despite the fact that Connor was wailing like mad. I'm sure it helped, because ultimately, he realized: 1) the haircut wasn't stopping and more importantly, 2) the haircut wasn't killing him. After he was finished, Jeff gave him a lollipop and they were friends again. That was also his first lollipop, so he wasn't quite sure what to do with it at first, but THAT's the kind of new experience he was made for!

aaah, the guilt begins...

If you're reading this, you got my email...please think about it!

Separated at birth? (maybe not)

I see a slight resemblence in the first guy (whoever he is) but Nick Lechey?? Kyra Sedgewyck? WTF? I've also been told he looks a little like this guy...

(the singer from Blink182) Dunno...maybe a little???
Good thing he doesn't read my blog...

Screw you, sentimentality!

Disclaimer: I'm not normally prone to being overly-sentimental. Sure, I like a cute kitten as much as the next girl, but generally I express most of my feelings with sarcasm. Since sarcasm really isn't appropriate for sentimentality, it's generally an emotion I skip altogether.

So I'm driving home from with Connor this morning after about an hour or two of Christmas shopping and we're yelling, being silly, and and generally carrying-on in the car. Then some unknown, twangy, country-Christmas song comes on the radio and it's all about going home and seeing your family for the holidays. Feel-good kinda song with a catchy chorus, so we're singing along, (Connor is making up his own verses and choruses as we go). Having fun and I'm thinking about the week we just spent in New York with my family. Okay, warm-fuzzy, but nothing rediculous. Since I've landed on a country-music station, the next song is the deal-breaker. It's all about a dad who overhears his little girl praying for an abused girl she knows. Yeah. So by the time I pull into the garage, I'm bawling. Thinking about how lucky I am, how wonderful Connor and Nick are...generally being a puddle of girlie-girl. Poor Connor doesn't know why the hell I'm all sniffly and watery as I take him out of his car-seat and give him a bear hug. He probably just thinks I'm insane.
THEN...
We walk into the house. In my absence, Rubik clearly discovered something delicious-smelling in the garbage can and he seems to have been removing everything in the can and depositing it allllll over my kitchen floor. Poor mutt was standing at the door with an "oh shit" look on his face. I just had to laugh. Nothing else I could do at that point, I just walked over, opened the door and let him outside; he ran like his tail was on fire, I might add.

Ho-ho-effin-ho.

I'm outta (t)here!

So this is it...Cook Pharmica. The terrible world of "INDUSTRY". Academics think industry-types are automatons that are obsessed with secrecy. I doubt it. Academia has its problems, and I'm sure industry does too, but all I know is I'm ready for a change. The lab I work in is great-the people are wonderful, but the work is less than stimulating. When I heard about this opportunity at Cook, I jumped. I start Monday; I guess I'll finally be using my degree in an official capacity. I'm still a little hazy on the exact details, but basically I'll be doing quality control- making sure that things are sterile. Whatever those "things" might be. :-) Looks like I'm leaving academia for the dreaded *industry*; I guess we'll see what lies ahead!

Tryptophan or just plain tired?

Are we there yet?
Originally uploaded by Imamamma.

Finally a few minutes of down-time! Since Dad's not a flyer, and the drive is too long for him to come out to Indiana, Nick Connor and I packed up and flew home for Thanksgiving. 6 days of craziness followed by 3 days of work craziness; now, almost a week after turkey-day and I finally have a chance to put my feet up for a bit. The house is a wreck, suitcase is barely unpacked, and God only knows what's incubating in my refrigerator, but hey...that's what weekends are for. It's just good to be home, however smelly and cluttery it may be.

The Very Arab Caterpillar

Connor learned some Arabic last weekend. Okay, I'm willing to accept the fact that he probably didn't retain very much, but it's a beginning. Our local library has a room specifically designed for little guys where they have fun games, story-telling and some neat toys. Every Saturday at 10:00 is an arabic lesson. They read us The Very Hungry Caterpillar (complete with hand-puppets!). Connor wandered around and wasn't terribly interested but the cool thing was that he found a group of older boys speaking Arabic amongst themselves. He wandered over to them and kinda watched them talking. They were clearly arguing (2 older boys were, I think, trying to ditch the younger one) but hey...hearing ANY language by native speakers is always a good thing. Even if he only learns how to curse!

...with visions of [chickens] dancing in their heads.

Poor Rubik, he's getting so old. 10 years this August...or is it 11? Jeez, time flies. In some ways he's really showing his age, but in others he's still a spry, at least middle-aged, dog. I've found a a golf-ball-sized tumor on his shoulder, and it popped up pretty suddenly, which tells me that it's probably not good news. Also, he's got one on his chest, near his armpit...I'm assuming dogs have lymph nodes in the armpits, like humans do? If so, tumors near the lymph nodes are never good. He's not eating nearly as well as he used to, so he's lost some weight, but he's truckin' right along. Started eating trash out of the garbage (charming) and diapers out of the pail (is charminger a word?) so he's still got energy for mischief. Sometimes I feel guilty for not taking him to the vet to have the tumors checked out, but honestly at his age would we put him through chemotherapy even if we could afford it (which we can't)? I think we'll just have to watch him and love on him while he's still not in pain. He's a helluva dog, even when I want to beat him about the head with the now-empty diaper pail.

Staring at the sea

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Originally uploaded by Imamamma.

We're back home on Long Island this week and having a fantastic time. Mom and I took Connor to the beach today and he did pretty well. Was NOT okay with the water; never even touched it. He got as close as the wet sand and that was close enough, thank-you-very-much. He wasn't cool with me standing in the water while he was safely on-shore. I think the sound of the waves crashing was just too much this time. He loved playing in the sand, though. Even dug himself up a cigarette. No syringes, though. There's always next time. Aaah, New York.

Current mood: Contemplative

Just sitting here in the quiet house, kinda taking stock of things and feeling pretty good this evening. Many years ago, I dated a generally all-around pretty good guy. We went our seperate ways but keep in touch every so often. We're both happily married now (him to his high-school love and me to my college-love), and we've both got a new little boy (though his is newer than mine). Anyway, his son is really pretty sick; he was born with a heart defect that's required a few surgeries and has provided him and his wife with more than their share of worries and heartache. I follow the little guy's progress through his mom's blog and I'm always amazed at her ability to keep positive through all the craziness. I worry about a baby I've never met, born to a woman I've never met and a man I haven't seen in 12 years...I can't possibly imagine having to hand Connor over for surgery, seeing him with tubes and stitches...I feel a little sick just thinking about it. I guess you do what you have to do in order to make sure your child has the best possible chance, but I just wish everyone was as lucky as I've been. Knock-wood but Connor is as healthy as can be, and I couldn't be any more in love with Nick if I tried. Maybe it's the good Liberal in me, making me feel just a little bit guilty for having it so good. :-)

Eat a peach

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Originally uploaded by Imamamma.

Had a great Sunday with the little guy. Took an 8 mile walk around town, and he slept through just about all of it. Gotta love the jogging stroller! After dinner, we went to a local playground and ran around like nuttos. He just gets to be more and more fun as he gets bigger and bigger. Just another day in the (extremely blessed) life of yours truly.

Goin' Turtlin'

Connor and I were on our own again today, so we decided to go hiking at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve.
So we pull into the parking lot and immediately see a big ole Chevy and a moped parked by the water. "Looks like some good-ole boys doing some fishing", I say to myself. We went for a nice long, uneventful hike. Saw some geese (Connor likes to scream at these) and pulled on some tree-limbs.. a good time had by all. Upon our return, the guys are still fishing, Connor notices the bright shiny moped and makes a bee-line for it. The guys mumbled a hello and seemed nice enough, so I figured he could go be friendly. As were approaching, I notice two big 'somethings' sitting there on the ground next to the moped. Theyre covered with mud and theres a swarm of flies...turns out theyre turtles. HUGE turtles. One of them has his head bashed in (fresh red blood which is probably whats attracting the flies) one of the guys yells {this must be read is if you're Boomhauer}
"Hey, don lettim near them turtles. Theys dead, but they c'n still bite". Um yeah, okay. So I thank him for his concern and steer Connor away from the corpses. I say something like 'yuk' or 'gross' and he replies "they look bad, but theyre good eatin!". We all have a good laugh and Connor and I head back to the car. As were getting into his car-seat, I notice that Mr. Moped is leaving. So, he picks up the biggest turtle (were talking like 1 ½ foot diameter shell) and puts it belly-down on the floor of his scooter, where his feet go. Then he bends over and picks up the smaller turtle (maybe 1 diameter, still not small) and I see the gears turning in his little noggin, wondering what hes going to do now. Looks at the turtle, looks at his lap, then looks back at the turtle, back at his lap.So he yells to his friends "Hey, whatm I gunna do with this'n"? To which his friend responds without batting an eye, "Putim in yer seat". So, Mr. Moped gets off the scooter, flips up his seat (where the helmet is usually stored) and drops in the dead turtle. He fires up his ride and heads off, presumably to make some stew. Do I need a better reason to love Indiana? Who wants to visit first???

Aunt Natasha and Uncle Ed

DSCN3347
Originally uploaded by Imamamma.

Tonight we had Ed and Natasha over for a belated celebration of their first anniversary. It's so funny how much Connor loves them! Having them here was great for everyone; they get some kiddo-time, we got 4 extra eyes to watch the dude and Nick and I got a chance to hang out with actual honest-to-goodness adults for a change! It's wonderful being in our little cocoon, just the three of us, but sometimes you don't even realize how much parenthood can isolate you. It's nice to be reminded that the rest of the world is out there.

insomnia makes me think maybe i can be productive...then i find my laptop and dreams of accomplishing meaningful work go poof! i get crazy creative ideas and run with them...then ignore them for months at a time...then pick up where i left off and start running again. since i've been toying with the idea of blogging for eons, I figured that would be where I'd start running this time. Now that I can't sleep (but everyone else can, so I have to be quiet) I'll give it a whirl.