Micro blogging turns macro

I haven't had any blog-worthy stories lately, but I have been doing a better job of keeping up on my Twitter updates.  I figured that I would expand on my 140 characters to give you more of an explanation as to what I've been up to in the last day or so.  Let's start off with my new ability to insert screen grabs into my blog.  A co-worker taught me about this awesome utility called Grab.  Grab allows you to pick a selection of a website and save it as a .jpeg.  This is life changing for the following reasons:  1.  no more screen shots, then cropping and resizing and moving and adjusting and squeezing, 2.  I can add fun website grabs into my blog - without it turning into a major production, 3. No more right clicking on images, only to get that annoying pop-up that tells me that the image is copyrighted to that website (ha-take that), 4.  Now I know the big boys and girls do it.

So that brings me back to micro blogging turning macro.  Here's a little snapshot of what I've been up to in the past few days, leading up to right this minute.

It seemed like I was chasing the sunshine on my way home, fighting for that last bit of daylight to soak in before it was time to curl up on the couch, in front of some bad TV.  I raced it home and saw the bright sunshine off to my left.  When I turned the corner into the last home stretch, over the water,  I was in awe of the beautiful sunset.  I took the best picture that I could, while safely driving, and I must say - it came out better than what I expected.  The glow was a beautiful shade of orange, one that I'd like to paint my spare bedroom, and the contrast against the sky and reflection off of the water was truly spectacular.  I think my mental picture is better than this, but hopefully, this helps you get the idea:

This next tweet was a re-tweet from the Lion Brand Yarn Twitter page.  I couldn't help myself when I saw it.  I re-tweeted only so I had the link available for when I got around to a project that WAS NOT a baby blanket:

See what I mean?  Mittens with eyeballs, lips and a tongue.  How could you resist that?  I think I would modify the eyeballs to be a bit more googly.  This is definitely on my list of things to make.  I think that a sandworm scarf would be pretty good too and probably safer for Nick and Chino, because you know that I'd be chasing them around with the mittens, making sandworm noises.  Hell, who am I kidding, that's what will happen with the scarf.

This is self explanatory  I heart coffee, I love the taste, I love the smell and I love how it makes me wake the heck up in the morning.  I've been trying to cut back on the caffeine, which is why I tweeted about coffee versus lattes.  Coffee wakes me up, lattes make me crazed. 

Now this brings me to Panera where I'm currently camped out in a booth, waiting for the next meeting to begin.  I've got email checked, a spreadsheet sent, facebook updated, news read and lunch eaten.  Its been a productive day thus far.  I'm pleasantly surprised at how a day out of the office is good to re-energize and recharge, while still staying connected just in case.  Thank goodness for technology, right?  Oh yeah, and Grab.  I love Grab.

Moose Policy

To the untrained eye, this might be one of the tackiest coffee mugs ever created.  To me, this is proof positive that my husband knows me better than anyone else.

Like fetch, but not

The following video is proof that Chino can be more than just a lazy mutt. He still has a streak of puppy, buried deep inside. It comes out once in awhile and when it does, its always good for a laugh. I was playing with him and Nick grabbed the camera to capture the silliness and to give me something to blog about. Its ironic that the way I'm playing "fetch" with Chino is the way Chino plays fetch with us. Its a little backwards, but gets the job done. In Chino's version of fetch - we throw the toy, chase him, grab the toy and repeat.  I suppose that this is good, since we all get a little bit of exercise.   In my version, I had originally planned to use our open floor plan to my advantage - whipping the gator across the kitchen for Chino to grab and bring back (he plays fetch properly in the house, go figure).  But, in my attempt to defy the laws of canine self control, I tried to make him sit before I threw his gator, so the gator would be his reward for being a good boy. Before I knew it, we were playing fetch and I wasn't the one chasing the toy. Go figure.

Revised blog title?

It was brought to my attention yesterday that people aren't aware that Chino isn't an only "child".  I happen to have two other pets -- red eared sliders named Larry and Tommy.  I say I because Nick refuses to acknowledge his step children.  They don't cause enough  antics to be added to the blog title, and I think that changing my blog to, "My life, his life, our life, a dog named Chino and two souvenirs from Myrtle beach that are still alive after almost 10 years" is a bit much, don't  you think?  But, for my adoring fans out there, here they are - in  their green glory.  We took these pictures while they were on safari in the backyard last summer.  Chino prefers that they be contained in their tank, where they belong.  But this post isn't about Chino, now is it?

Now here is a photo of them in their "natural habitat, causing a ruckus.  Shortly after this picture was taken, there was a turtle avalanche, with lots of flailing, splashing and thumping.  Again, not enough for a blog post.  They just flipped themselves back over, climbed back onto the rock and resumed basking.

Lastly, here is a picture of their current set-up.  We took an old farmhouse door, reinforced it with floor board, added legs and a plexi glass top - and VOILA!  A turtle tank stand + desk.  You didn't know I was that crafty, didja?!?  Pay no attention to the dog toys underneath - this post is NOT about Chino and I have nothing to say about the two bins of overflowing toys that he likes to ignore.  Nothing at all.  Well, I kind of want to point out how cool it is that I found vintage Coke and Pepsi crates to keep them in, rather than typical dog toy boxes, which are usually covered in paw prints, but this is about L&T, who are forced to live in the shadow of Chino, the wonder mutt.

So, how did I get to the point where I have two turtles, named Larry and Tommy, living in a 40 gallon reptile tank in my great room?  Well, I thought you'd never ask.  On vacation in Myrtle Beach with my family during the summer of 2000, I came across a ton of baby turtles for sale at a souvenir store called Wings (tourist mecca, tacky galore).  Actually, the turtles weren't for sale, their tanks were. Its apparently illegal to purchase baby turtles for anything but educational purposes due to the fact that they have salmonella on their shells, so here I was with my "free" turtle in a miniature plastic tank.

I get home from vacation and start doing research on turtles.  Apparently, they need more than a minature plastic tank, so I bought him one that was a little larger.  Actually, I think he moved in with a newt that I also had at the time.  Next came the filter, rocks, and basking light.  Lovely.  After that, the newt moved out because of a small run-in where Larry thought that the newt was food instead of a roommate.  In my infinite wisdom, I decided that Larry needed a friend, so off to Petland I went (FOR THE LAST TIME BECAUSE I HATE PETLAND) to buy Larry a friend.  The friend, turned out to be Tommy, named after the Olympic swimmer - Tom Malchow.  Tommy and Larry, who was named after my 8th grade civics teacher, now lived happily in a small aquarium on top of the TV.  The next year, they moved with me as well as the year after that, several years after that and a year after that.

Each year they got a little bigger and a little bigger, outgrowing a couple of tanks, leading me to the 40 gallon monster that they currently call home.  They've grown from about 1" to 6"-7" and it doesn't look like they're stopping.  They live a happy turtle life, eating turtle food and destroying their rock islands that we try to build for them.  They're messy creatures.  Their filter gets gross, really fast.  They belong outside.  I just can't bring myself to release them into the wild.  I think they'd be swimming around, looking for the magic blue lid to drop turtle food into their little home.  Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Let there be fudge

Two weeks ago, Nick and I headed off to a much needed weekend away to Frankenmuth, MI for its annual Oktoberfest celebration.  We figured that it was a good time to get away and it would be good practice for our own Oktoberfest, coming up on October 10th.  Fun fact:  Frankenmuth hosts the ONLY Oktoberfest which is officially sanctioned by the city of Munich. 

We each took 1/2 day off work, packed the car and began our trip up north.  Upon arrival, I was thrilled that the town was even more of a tourist trap that I had remembered.  Souvenir stores, restaurants, horse drawn carriages, crafts, coffee shops, themed plantings (FLOWER BED!!!!), photo ops and candy stores were plentiful and lining Main Street.  If you know me, you know that this is totally up my alley. 

How did we know that we were in fact, away for the weekend?  Well, when we walked down the street and saw this sign:

Nick and I have decided that we are not "away" or on vacation until we see the telltale sign offering its sugarey goodness to us as sustenance after traveling, window shopping, photographing and money spending.  Sometimes this gets a little dangerous. Normally we keep the purchases in check, except for that one time that Nick let me go into the Russel Stover store, unattended, during a sale.  For this trip, we started with a slice of chocolate peanut butter, which set the tone for a wonderful weekend.

He was born a travelin' man

This weekend, me and my mutt headed to Pittsburgh.  Chino is great in the car, in fact I don't think that the term "relaxed" does him justice.  Even through the monsoon, with zero visibility, he kept his cool.  If anything, I think that the pounding rain drops and increased road noise were inconveniencing him, more than me.

The Daily Drama

Nick and I have developed a system of signals which help us with our morning routine of mutt management.  If its not a gym or a jog day, I'm normally still in bed when Nick is heading out to work.  If I'm in bed, then my level of cognitive ability is about zippo.  I sometimes think that he tells me one thing, when he's actually said something else.  This isn't normally a problem, since  most things that need dealt with in the morning are inconsequential.  One BIG thing that we need to deal with in the morning is Mr. Mutt.

Chino isn't much of a morning creature either.  When the lights in our room go on, he'll vacate to the spare bedroom or downstairs to the couch.  Chino's 14 hour per day sleep requirment isn't really the dramatic part of this post.  Its the fact that it takes a little begging and pleading to get this dog outside to do his business so that he can resume his long nap on the couch.

Proper Mutt Management means that if Chino has been let outside by Nick, then he's wearing his collar.  Otherwise, his collar is hanging on our bedroom doorknob.  If Mr. Mutt has been fed, then there is some sort of something (candle, toy, etc.) sitting on top of his food container.  This morning, there was no indication that Chino had been doing anything besides snoozing.  First in his bed, then in the guest bedroom and finally down on the couch.

After I was dressed and ready for work, I came down with his collar, gave him some pets and said, "Chino, do you have to go outside?"  He proceeded to bury his head in the couch.

I said again, "c'mon buddy, lets go outside and go pee".  He ignored me.  Finally, I said, "c'mon, lets get up and go pee outside" and he flipped onto his back, stuck his feet straight in the air as if to say, "HELL NO."  This is typical of Chino and seem to be part of the game.  I entertained him for a minute, rubbed his belly and let him stretch it out before he dramatically rolled off the couch, stretched and then sauntered to the back door to entertain this notion of going outside.

This whole drama takes between 5-10 minutes from "lets go outside" to actual "grass watering" and sometimes puts a dent in my already hectically late morning.  Instead of packing my lunch or preparing my coffee, I'm standing at the back door, giving a pee-pee pep talk to my favorite mutt.  Sometimes, I have to go out there and shoo him farther into the yard so that he can muster up enough motivation to do his business.  Its all pretty ridiculous if you ask me, but I really wouldn't have it any other way.  There's something about his attitude problem that just seems to make me love him more.