just some miscellaneous thoughts

I decided one of my problems is that every single morning of the week I wake up and moan, "I don't want to get up. I don't want to go to work. I want to stay here with youuuuuu" (meaning the Ts). I should probably come up with some more positive statement to make about mornings...

Got one problem taken care of last night. Got a potential new cat-sitting client and was supposed to go out and meet her and her cats tonight--except she lives 8 miles out of town. In my van? I don't think so. So I called her and explained I couldn't go that far, and suggested she call the weekly advertisement paper because they ran an ad from another pet-sitter two or three weeks ago and I was sure she could get the number from them. I think I handled it all right--although it would have been better if I'd been able to get the number for her--anyway, I called, explained my problem, aplogized, and suggested a solution. So. That's one thing off my mind

Taenzer had the runs last night, so she got only 1 cup of kibble for dinner. Timber refused to eat. *sigh* That means he'll vomit up bile sometime this morning because his stomach's empty. I've been crating him at night since he peed in the bedroom, and I'm teaching myself to wake up around 2 or 3 and take him out. He likes to start out in his crate, but when we come back I shift him to Taenzer's because it's bigger and he can stretch out. Last night I didn't wake up until 5, so I took them out, and by the time I made it back to the bedroom, he was curled up on the foot of the bed , looking up at me and wagging just the tip of his tail. Of course, I caved immediately, and he spent the rest of the night there. I know, because Taenzer took her usual place on the pillow beside me, so I spent about 2 hours snoozing and trying to (a) reclaim my share of the covers and (b) find a place to put my feet.

Then when I took them out this morning, neither of them would potty, so they're spending the morning in their crates. I'm sure they don't understand that they're in their crates because they didn't potty, so it's not a learning experience for them, but it's a help to me knowing I won't go home to puddles.

I ordered the 5 Nero Wolfe books I don't have Friday--or maybe it was Saturday--anyway I was hoping at least one shipment might arrive by Wednesday, so I approached my mailbox with great expectations. Alas, no books. I didn't expect the one coming from California to make it by Wednesday, but I thought Amazon might manage it. In their heyday they were really fast shippers. No more, I fear. Maybe one of them will come today! I hope so; I've read all the ones I have twice.

I'm thinking about re-purchasing the Season 1 and Season 2 Miami Vice DVDs (Timber, you brat), and also acquiring DVDs for the Canadian series Slings and Arrows (3 seasons), which is garnering all kinds of awards and stars one of my very favorite actors and lust objects, Paul Gross. With the shift off daylight savings time and the onset of colder weather, I'm going to need to have something on the TV to accompany my knitting.

There's a sweater on the cover of the paper Webs catalog (photo here: http://yarn.com/) that I would love to make. It's a plain sweater with a multi-color slipstitch pattern on the sleeves from about elbow to wrist. I bet you could make socks to match.

But then there are about 10,000 sweaters that I would like to make. I think I should inventory my stash--really inventory it thoroughly--decide what I can live without and either sell it or donate it, then see what I can do with what's left. My real problem is that I seldom buy large amounts of plain-colored yarn. That should be one of my new year's resolutions: NO MORE HAND-DYED YARN. Most of the lace and cable things I want to make show to best advantage in single-colored yarn. Problem is, buying enough yarn for a sweater for porky me costs a lot more than a twenty-something-dollar skein of Schaefer Anne, which which I can make socks or a small shawl. I don't wear shawls, but some of the fun of knitting is the process, and besides, Schaefer Anne, and other hand-painted yarns, are soooooooooo gorgeous, I find them virtually irresistible. Nevertheless. I would like to make some things I could wear to work, and this means large amounts of single-colored yarn.

I also discovered a new dog behavior book I feel I must have, about off-leash dog play. The blurb by DogWise reads: "Off Leash Dog Play by Robin Bennett and Susan Briggs. This book was delivered to us last weekend at the APDT conference and proved to be a big hit with attendees. Written primarily for trainers and doggie daycare folks, there is great advice included about how to manage off leash play time for dogs, what you need to watch out for in terms of body language and other canine signals, and how to minimize problems and fights. Even if you don't work with dogs for a living, the information included can be helpful for anyone whose dog goes to dog parks or gets together for off leash time with other canine pals." I want to be able to read the Ts when they're around other dogs--not to mention the other dogs.

How much money have I just spent in fantasy here?

I had to stop by the store last night, so I put the reading glasses I keep in the office in my pocket so I could read labels. Thing is, I put them in the pocket of a different coat than the one I wore this morning, so they're still at home. So far so good, but I hope I can remember to bring them back with me at lunch!