Don’t Forget…

All entries must be received by March 8 for the Second Annual Isabella Dog Biscuits Short Story contest –

It’s only 1000 words. Show me whatcha got!

 

Music on Friday

If I read one more story about how great it is to be a woman today I just may go postal out of sheer frustration. One more story about how “she deserved it,” one more picture of a beaten kid, one more rich, white dude complaining about how his life sucks because he has to pay child support. Gaaaahhhhh!

Here’s some Jo Dee Messina. She says it like it is…

 

Share Your World – Week 8

It’s Wednesday again (where are the days going?) Time for another installment of Share Your World brought to you by Cee’s Photography.

This week’s questions and answers:

Would you rather be given $10,000 for your own use or $100,000 to give anonymously to strangers?

I would donate the $100,000 to domestic violence shelters in my county. If I had to give it out to individual people I would visit those shelters and give stacks of cash to women and children who have been devastated by abuse to give them a chance to get out on their own.

When you’re 90 years old, what will matter most to you?

I want to have interesting stories to tell about a life well lived. Or cautionary tales. Lots of cautionary tales…

Candy factories of the entire world have become one and will now be making only one kind of candy. Which kind, if you were calling the shots?

Dark salted caramels. Every day. All the time. Who needs anything else?

So, you’re on your way out and it’s raining. Do you know where your umbrella is or do you frantically search for it all over your apartment/house?

I’m from Oregon – we don’t use umbrellas. The Grunden’s rain jacket hangs by the door, where it can drip onto a towel. This time of year it never seems to get completely dry.

 

Your Help Is Needed

If you can join me and help Merry keep her house, please do.

 

Monday Morning Madness

My eyes snapped open before the alarm this morning. I couldn’t breathe. My heart started to race as I tried to drag in some air around a huge obstruction. Raising my hands to my throat, I encountered a mass of fur that wasn’t there when I went to sleep. It felt like a hairy snake and immediately began to purr. Seems Revy decided to sleep across my neck, sprawled out with his belly resting right on top of my windpipe.

This shouldn’t have been possible, seeing as how I’m normally a side sleeper, but obviously the new bed is comfortable enough that I turn onto my back at the same hour Revy decides to start his wake-up routine. Threat of suffocation is, evidently, the latest in a long line of tactics designed to steal my sleep and get kibble into his bowl in the least amount of time. Guess this means I better not drink before bed or maybe I won’t wake up in the morning.

Spring is in the air and it was a very busy weekend. Thursday, Friday and Saturday saw me awake at 0530. Wide awake and listening to the birds outside. Revy is beside himself with joy. Apparently, his training methods are finally paying off and breakfast is being served on time.

I sewed up a bed for the dog, low in the center with a soft, raised edge, something I thought I could use as a training tool to make her be still instead of barking and having a fit when someone approaches the trailer. You know, train her to act like a Real Dog? As you can see, it was not received as planned:

Revy finds it perfect – a fort to defend against canine insurgents, a bathing platform and soft bed to sprawl upon after racing around like a maniac. The dog has been exiled to whatever small space she can find:

The good news is that the furniture is finally arranged to my liking and the silver insulation has been removed from the windows, letting in the beautiful Spring sunshine. Of course, the brisk Spring breezes now have easier access, but one has to take the good with the not-so-good, no?

 

 

Share Your World – Week 7

It’s Wednesday – time for another installment of Share Your World brought to you by Cee’s Photography.

This week’s questions and answers:

What is your favorite couch potato activity: readings, watching movies, watching sports, napping, anything on TV, computer games, play cards, or other?

I love to sit on the couch and knit or read, but I’ve also been known to watch TV and movies and nothing beats a nice nap on a Saturday.

What is your favorite toppings on pizza?

Pizza from scratch is one of my favorite meals to make. Hard to believe I haven’t made a pizza in over a year! I like roasted garlic, fresh spinach, chicken and lots of cheese on top.

What is is favorite genre of movie or book?

Drama, historical and documentary for movies, the same for books with the addition of thrillers, some humorous horror and amusing biographies.

Do you prefer eating the frosting of the cake first?

Nope. In fact, you can just leave the frosting off! A very thin layer of frosting is fine, but not the gloppy stuff that stains your teeth and tastes of Crisco. Blech! In fact, I’d really rather have a croissant or a toasted piece of home made bread with butter.

 

Another Busy Weekend

Is there any other kind?

Awana came over and I instantly commandeered her van to haul a new mattress and “bunky board” back to Towanda so I can at last have a Real Bed! I haven’t slept in it yet because surely poor Awana deserved that pleasure more than I did – I ask her to come over for a little R & R and then proceed to drag her all over the county for my own ends. The project is finished and I’m quite happy, though. I also rewarded her with many episodes of Dexter and lots of tea and knitting time, so I hope it wasn’t too bad 🙂

More projects to come!

Sabu and I went to the dog park on Friday between work and knitting class and found it flooded. She went for a swim and had a great time. Awana and I went back yesterday and conditions hadn’t changed:

The park slopes down 3 or 4 feet towards the fence, leaving maybe 2/3 of it high and dry. On Friday there were geese swimming here. Inspired by having an audience of two, Sabu began to wade out towards the fence:

Getting her knees wet didn’t seem impressive enough, so she kept going:

And kept going:

And finally found herself unable to touch bottom:

If you’re guessing that I waded in to save my stupid dog from her folly, you would be wrong – it was cold and starting to rain. I walked away and she remembered she knows how to swim. She wasn’t happy about it, but what choice did she have?

Towanda smells like wet dog, but we all survived. Sabu is due at the dog groomer’s tomorrow and now the groomer will have to earn her fee 🙂

 

How to execute the perfect ‘hoover manoeuvre’

Here’s another illustration that refutes the narrative narcs and their ilk constantly spout about how “special” or “superior” they are – they all follow the very same playbook and my ex was no exception. You would think that such an exclusive club would at least have some variety in its membership!

Avalanche of the soul

Have you tried to leave your abuser, just to get sucked back in? Are you stunned by the military-like precision with which your abuser tries to get you back? Then check out this tongue-in-cheek exposé on why and how abusers hoover.

A Quick Guide to Hoovering for the determined domestic abuse perpetrator  – and those of us determined to make that permanent break from our abuser.

I’m an abuser. Why do I need to hoover?

Yes, ordinarily you have a woman to do the vacuuming. But if you wish to keep her at the kitchen sink, you’ll need some ‘hoovering‘ skills of your own. These are a set of tactics designed to suck a target back into an abusive relationship.Finely-honed hoovering skills will be enormously useful when your partner makes a bid to shake you off – or, unbelievably, actually leaves you.

To successfully hoover, you need to leave…

View original post 1,007 more words

 

V-day

Here we are again at the second most commercial American Holiday. For those of you not aware, this is the red hearts holiday, as opposed to the red and white candy cane one.

I’ve always had a problem with V-day. It’s so fake. So contrived. So commercial. So fucking stupid. Even as a kid, I resented having to give everyone in class a cheap little card when mostly I hated them all. Oh, Miss Sofie had no use for the imbeciles she was forced to spend time with every day. If she could have stooped so low as to use curse words, she would have sounded like a sailor describing the wild animals in class.

But this isn’t about childhood trauma. This post is all about that most “romantic” of days – Valentine’s Day.

God I hate the hypocrisy of V-day. Last year was the first V-day in 25 years that I “celebrated” as a single woman. The liberation was as sweet as the darkest fudge brownie, rolling across the palate like a fine Merlot, scenting the air with the fine fragrance of a hot lavender bubble bath.

And then the narc started in with his bullshit. I did my best to ignore it, celebrating Galentine’s Day with Awana instead, but the narc was persistent. When I failed to respond to his offers of love, he got mad. And then I got mad. I quit being civil and started telling him what I really thought of him. I had to explain to people why I wasn’t broken up over the ending of my relationship because everyone thought I was nuts for not being miserable to be spending V-day alone.

Ha! You know, I can’t recall a happy V-day. A box of chocolates (cheap, stale chocolates, usually) and/or an impersonal card do not a happy day make. It’s like the men in my life felt obligated to get these things for me but there was never any sincerity behind their actions. It was so obvious to me at the time, but I ignored my gut and thanked them. What a chump I was!

I could go on and on about how if two people love each other, every day should be romantic and loving, but fuck that shit. Being single rocks! I have everything I need with none of the obligations and pleasing another person to contend with. It’s all about ME now and I’m still loving it.

I don’t miss having someone to cuddle on this “most romantic” of days because I know there won’t be any obligatory sex on the agenda either.

I don’t miss being chastised for my lack of romance or abysmal gift-giving skills.

I sure don’t miss being told “it would take eight of you to keep me entertained.”

Fuck all that shit. I’m sorry for you singletons out there who are unhappy about your relationship state – I can’t relate, but I do want everyone to be happy 🙂

On this day, go forth and love the one you’re with, even if it’s just you…

And quit being influenced by the media hype over this stupid day – it’s all bullshit designed to make you feel Less Than whatever the current trend is.

 

Share Your World – Week 6

It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time for another installment of Share Your World brought to you by Cee’s Photography.

This week’s questions and answers:

Have you watched or plan to watch any of the 2014 Winter Olympics?

I caught the first five or so women contestants during the team figure skating competition. Yawn. I’ve watched some events in the past, but this time around I am just not interested, even while knitting. A Bones marathon on Netflix is way more appealing, especially considering the horrible living conditions for people and animals in Russia. I just can’t get enthusiastic about this Winter games or the host country.

What is your favorite winter Olympic event? Would you ever want to be an expert in that sport?

No favorite Winter game. No favorite Summer game. Uh…no favorite sport/game of any sort. I am sport neutral. I mean, I know they exist – they’re not as rare as, say, unicorns, but I don’t care a bit about any of them. Oh, wait! Disc Dog! Yeah! That’s a sport I could get behind! I could toss a frisbee for Sabu in a big grass field while keeping time to heavy metal music and a choreographed dance routine. Of course, I can’t dance and she won’t fetch, so I doubt you’d be seeing us on TV at the Frisbee Finals, but I could totally do that.Something like this –

Only with more falling and watching frisbees sail away and not going after them. We’ll start training if Spring ever gets here…

Have you ever met an Olympic Athlete?

Hahahahahahahaha! Where in the world would I ever meet an Olympic athlete? I don’t hang out anywhere near where sports might happen, so, no. No chance encounter with an Olympic athlete.

Do you have a favorite athlete? Name sport.

Nope. Not a one. I see televised sports as sanctioned violence designed to keep the unruly masses confined at home or in neighborhood sports bars and off the streets. The constant demand that “fans” remember all the “stats” for their team, the competition, the sport in general, the office “fantasy” contest, etc. keeps them from using their surprising recall and number crunching capacity to decipher what’s really happening with the economy and other World Events. I liken it to the Romans and their stadium games – fake war beats the peasants revolting and waging Real War against the assholes in power.

What is your favorite exercise or sport? Is there a reason why?

Sleeping. I really like to take naps. So far I am unaware of a “league” or “team” that supports this most valuable of my sporty talents, but if it ever catches on, I’ll be a superstar for sure! And, hey! If me and all my neighbors are being chased by bears or lions or zombies, I only have to be faster then one of them – not a difficult prospect as they’re all elderly, grossly overweight, disabled in some way, or a combination of all three. Is that a mercenary attitude? Call me a bitch after the Apocalypse. If you survive…