Blasted Germs

Hey Dear Readers,

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. Not only have I not felt the urge to do one of my favorite activities, but I have a host for germs brought in by my husband from the offices of Corporate America.

Since I have become a dog trainer, I have been far less susceptible to trading germs back and forth. My husband has been going to the office more frequently, however, where these microscopic beings lay in wait on surfaces, and in their hosts' bodies. See with the whole financial crisis, there is a lot of positioning of loans to close first, so if he's not there, they will get bumped. I wish I could put him in a biosphere suit before he leaves here!!

So I am lying sick in my sick bed very uninspired to do anything other than sleep. Luckily, my job does keep me active so that mucus can not get a hold of my lungs, if I actually could sleep all day. All in all, my new career choice remains a healthy one!!

My apologies, hopefully my fever induced meanderings will make something creative shortly.

Just got a funny thought

You know it's just like my life, that the one time I DID take a big risk, well the whole economy drops out.

LOL. So typical. Been there done that in soooo many ways, but I am happier in my current circumstance anyway.

The Feel of Fall

I thought it would never come, and now it's cold outside!! This means wearing warmer clothes for right now, as oil/gas are too expensive to start wasting as yet. My poor older dog, Jazz, was shivering this morning, and I covered her up with the down blanket. She doesn't have much meat on her bones these days, but I still remember when she would bust through snow banks when we lived in Worcester MA.

I find it hard to get up when it starts getting chilly, and I get easily chilled. It's lucky that my business/job keeps me outdoors most of the time, or I would just hibernate inside. That's what I used to do when I worked in corporate America. It was either being miserable inside working, or huddling under the blankets at home in front of the television. Dogs have really opened up my enjoyment of the seasons for me. Dogs and discovering skiing again six or seven years ago.

Fall gets chillier, and it also gets easier to hide your fat. However, I am determined to continue loosing my fat this year, and emerge in the spring much thinner. I am hoping to loose a good eight pounds this month, but I need to actually focus on that, and not how cold and chilled I get outdoors.

I am fine once I get outdoors and moving, but then when I stop....it's like the cold just settles into my bones. It takes a little while for my body to adjust to the chillier weather again each year. However, I get used to the cold more than I used to when I was younger.

Name MeMe

Stolen from this blog, who stole from this blog.....

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (favorite perfume, current car):
Tea Rose Mercedes

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (fave ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe):
Baileys Via Spiga (this isn't going very well)

3. YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (favorite color, favorite animal):
Violet Dog (this should be my druggie name)

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born):
Katherine Worcester

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first three letters of your last name, first two of your first name):
Rubro
or if maiden
Capro

6. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink):
Blue Captain and Coke (Coca Cola dumb ass)

7. NASCAR NAME (the first names of your grandfathers):
John Paul

8. STRIPPER NAME ( first pet name, first home road name):
Sniffy Hawthorne (see that one works, did I miss my calling?)

9. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your fifth grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter):
Lane Lawrence

10. SPY NAME (your favorite season/holiday, flower):
Fall Posie (now if this was Bond, females should always have a body part in their name right?)

11. CARTOON NAME (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now):
Cherry Velvet (also a good stripper name)

12. HIPPIE NAME (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree):
Pop Tart Birch (um, no)

13. I changed the stripper name thingy to one I had used before. Was going to be creative and make up one for this spot, but I am wierdly uninspired today.

Artist Name (Farvorite Pizza Part, Favorite Crustation)
Saucy Steamers

Kraft & Hershey, helps China eliminate Chinese citizens and others

Love their products, I am banning them now. US Corporate outsourcing at it's best. Who could have thunk this would happen.





How many people aren't aware that their taxes are being done in such countries as China as well. What is the harm anyway with a little oursourcing??

And how is it that these stories don't immediately hit our news sources???? Yet we get to hear about celebrity latest adventures which seem to tie directly into what products they are selling for our news. This is all so fucked up.

Found this on A Walk One Day

That's a snapping turtle baby!! Apparently they are well known for nesting in the swampy areas down by the beach, and there is one female that always has a nest around Mimos restaurant.

Nice Weekend Again

Well, last weekend might have been the last non-chilly weekend judging from today and the forecast for tomorrow. Last weekend was the perfect weekend for a little fun for me and the husband. I had exactly four hours of a Saturday to myself LOL. Actually, a bit more as it was only Roxy and Harley (Great Dane Canine Clients) coming over, and they are pretty much like one of the family now LOL.

There was an art show going on called Art in The Park, and so that was the first thing that we did. Here is an article about it.

My client had let me know about this. She is an artist that paints on silk. Her adorable Maltese, Dixie, was attending the booth as well. Susan has some pretty incredible artwork, and this was the first time I had seen it.

Additionally there was an artists that did sculpture, calligraphy, wood carvings, paintings, water colors, some incredible hand embroidary, and anything else you could think of. I was very pleased that this event pulled in really great stuff to look at. The events in town lately have been disappointing this year, probably due to the economy.

The event did not disclude dogs from coming, and it was a pleasure to bring Leon and Jack with us, as well as see other people with their well behaved pets there.

We were going to attend the antiques show but it was small, and they wanted 10.00 per person to attend. Probably due to the fact it's in historical buildings that you usually pay to see. So we nixxed that particular activity.

Later Robert joined me on a bike ride past the Nubble. We drove into down town, and had some ice cream at the Village Scoop which makes their own waffle cones warm. The ice cream is delicious too, and comes home made from a place around the Middleton Mass area. Richardsons, I think?

Palin, She Gets Better and Better (Sarcasm Alert)

IHere is a little news story that should turn most people's stomache's as the new candidate for VP becomes better known. Really there was no chance of me voting for McCain, even if he did find a way to make Hillary his VP candidate. He's old, feeble, and apparently stoopid. I am imagining many republicans are thinking "WTF?" I am neither, I don't vote along party lines. I think about the last thing we need is an old, white, health challenged, new president. Especially considering his running mate will be up next should something happen to him. Is it possible he intentionally picked a disaster female knowingly to block out any near future attempts for a female president? Did he take one for the team or what?

Have you heard Palin speak? She is a disaster. Not so much so as our current president, who whenever I see him on the news, seems to have a problem stringing simple words together into a sentence. Nevermind poise or panache. Can you say defensive? OMG. Please, please keep her OUT of the white house. I am having flashbacks to Swifty as Governor of Mass. Those were NOT good years. Oh, by the way, Romney was another of McCain's prospective runnees. Must be because of all the good he's done in Mass. Are you Fing kidding me!!

No I am not thrilled with Obama either, but it's coming down to picking the best of the worst. Okay, it might be harsh to call Obama the worst, but I soooo wish it was Hillary who got the nod. I find him an educated and well spoken candidate, but a little too "slick" for my liking. He lacks sincerity. I doubt he's experienced enough as yet. However, I think he's less of a disaster than others, and most likely to make the better president. His VP I need to look into more. I was somewhat shocked that he seemed to pull from the old white boys club. On the other hand, I have heard him speak (the VP candidate), and he sounds intelligent enough. Is he healthy though or will this be another Cheney? I mean the White House must age you 20 years to every 4 years or something like that.

Lisa Kleypas-Blue Eyed Devil

Now that I have come clean about one of my, er, unfortunate addictions; I guess I can do a little book review for you. Yes, I discovered two Kleypas books had come out since the last one that I read Sugar Daddy.

Like Sugar Daddy, this is in modern times, which is not my favorite venue of this author. However, she still does it better than anyone else, and I can't resist her sex scenes. I don't know what it is about her writing that actually makes me read the story rather than skipping ahead. See I bought another unfortunate romance novel in the meantime due to a craving I was having for the genre. The writing style was excruciating to get through, so right to the sex scenes I went, and I am not sure I can go through the torture of sticking with the story.

Lisa writes in such a way that you are captivated from the beginning. Though I must say, damsel in distress works much better in Victorian times, when women really had few rights. Modern times, it's hard to take that any kind of woman would put up with that crap. Still she writes well, and keeps you intrigued. I would say this is the biggest complaint about her modern books. Even her historical romances could be written less from the damsel in distress viewpoint on occasion.

On the other hand, I made it more than half way through the book in the first day!! So it's pretty good as far as this genre go. See, I am ashamed to admit that I do love this genre, because it's mindless and fun. Much like how I love Gossip Girl. If you like this kind of thing too, check out this author.

Outdoor Sports

Yesterday was an awesome beach day. Besides it being the perfect degrees with cooling wind that made you the perfect temperature, the storm also blew in some warmer water from the south.

Not only that, the waves were soaring above us, and then crashing into us like a linebacker . Makes it a bit tiring, if you are like me and can actually catch a wave (especially all the way in) like me, and sadly unlike the husband:( Perhaps we will have another coaching session today. It was quite a workout, fun but battling the waves back in was exhausting eventually, even though I would have liked to have stayed out.

Not being a strong swimmer, and being able to feel the undertoe, plus finding myself in above my head more than once, I thought it best to air on the side of caution after a half hour to forty five glorious minutes of that.

I caught four incredible waves in, and then seven or eight so so rides that were short. The four were really good, and at one point me and another lady were flying right beside each other, and I had to steer my board for the first time so that we wouldn't collide head on!

Horrible Sunday Secret

Look away it may be too horrible for you. It is my shame to bear.

Recently I demonstrated my weakness both on amazon.com and in BJs. What could this horrible secret be?

I have a fondness for romance novels. There I said it. And they are specific as to historical romance novels. I like to imagine myself in little pantaloons running around a mansion with a pirate chasing after me for an afternoon of .......well fun.

I don't like modern or cowboy romances. Not at all. It's my way to completely slip away from the real world, and in stark contrast to my love of horror movies.

Thursday Thirteen (13) Things That Scare Me

Here are thirteen things that scare me:

1. Air travel (ie flying). Not only does it scare me, I just don't like it. There is nothing enjoyable about flying except MAYBE if you are in first class, and that doesn't look all that great either.


2. Thunder storms. We get some dooseys around here.


3. Tornado warnings or funnel clouds (go to MI, and you will see some as often as you might like to).


4. Being in a foreign country or even state, and not feeling as if I belong. Or wondering if I look like I don't belong (ie easy target).


5. When cars drive slowly past me, or I seem to see them no matter where I am going. Luckily I normally take my Dobermans out dog walking with me, which might make most people pause before messing with me.


6. Something happening to my husband:(


7. Coming into contact with a crazy person unknowingly!! Look what happened right down the road from me.


8. The Economy . I bet the economy right now scares everyone!!


9. Bumps in the night when the husband is not around.


10. Someone trying to hurt my dogs (again see the lovely person and what they did right down the street from me.....).


11. The day my dog Jazz is gone:( Or Leon or Jack.......or any of my client's dogs.


12. People who don't smile give me the heebie jeebies.


13. Being alone when I am old (the curse of not having children). Course children do not guarantee that you will not be alone when you are old. Everyone tends to forget that.

Right in My Neighborhood on Rogers Road

Rogers Road is right where I dog walk a lot. Yesterday a 39 year old man was murdered by a lovely man convicted of animal cruelty in the past.

Ugh, you just never know who you are living around, do you?

About Six Nightmares Last Night

I can't remember them all, but they were so horrifying that I want to capture what I can:

First one, very vaguely was about Elephants and dog training, thanks very much to the Greatest American dog. Don't remember much of it, but I believe the elephant may have stomped everyone to death.

Second one that I remember. I went with Robert to his Jewish camp reunion. The Rabbi was crazy and thought he could "heal" people. He cut holes in everyone's backs and filled them up with something, then stiched us up. Then he said he was healing, but he started cutting limbs off everyone who had not made enough of a contribution. My husband and our dog ended up getting three limbs cut off. So my husband was only left with one arm, and my dog only had one front leg (our dog wasn't our dog but my client's dog Logan). My husband was just like "oh that's what they do at these things". I wanted to go after them and he didn't. Then a non existant aunt was having a party and she said the same things my husband did.

Third one I remember, I am living with my dogs at my old home in Holden, and my tenant is there too. We have no control over the dogs and they are all running towards the busy 122A where a hotdog stand has been set up across the street. They are spilling hotdogs everywhere, and all the dogs are running towards the traffic. My dogs are already in the traffic, and it ends up with Jack being killed in the traffic.

Horrible, horrible dreams like this all night long. Ugh.

Thursday Thirteen (13) Things I Need to Make Time to Do

Things that I need to make time to do:

1. Day at the beach.


2. Lunch dinner with friends.


3. Walking my own dogs.


4. Reading a book.


5. Exercise, though I have been doing a good hour walk everyday, but more muscle firming and flexibility exercises.


6. Play with my doggies.


7. Pay attention to my poor husband.


8. Have fun with my husband.


9. Spend time with family.


10. Window shopping day.


11. Woodsy walks.


12. Bubble bath!!!!


13. Cleaning (yuck)

New Blog to Keep My Horror Movie Reviews On

http://horrorheaven.blogspot.com

Done with the Negative Dog Training Lists

As a dog trainer, I have belonged and followed two main dog training lists for years. One is of a trainer in Maryland, who is awesome. The other is of a professional group that I belong too. Just this year I got really sick of following the threads, or even becoming involved due to the negativity there.

So this is my first day of freedom from doing that thing I normally do early in the morning, going over my list postings, and getting very annoyed.

Still bringing files over from typepad

I am close to done with my business blog files from typepad to blogspot. What a pain. Yet another reason not to use a pay for service, and their export tool no worky. Go figure.

Only thing about leaving typepad, is now I should find a photo album/storage type of free (but of course) program.

Still love ehostpros, however for website hosting.

Thursday Thirteen (13) Things My Grandparents Would've Been Surprised That I Paid For

My grandparents lived during most of these inventions, but would still be surprised that I pay for:

1) Internet access

2) Not that they would know what this is, but in addition to Internet access, DSL service.

3) Cell Phones (in addition to land lines!!)

4) Web site hosts

5) E-mail service

6) Virus security service

7) Cable charges, except basic cable fees (they had that themselves, though I think their kids took care of paying for it)

8) Boxes for cable

9) TIVO like services (DVR as we have it, which is also the additional box for cable)

10) Movies on demand

11) DVD subscription services (like Netflix, which I love)

12) Voice mail services (as opposed to the crummy voice mail machines which always seem to break in a year anyway)

13) Music Downloads

Bernie Mac RIP

Bernie Mac dies at 50:(

Truly very sad. This man was a genuis of comedy. I haven't felt this blue about the death of an actor since John Candy.

Things I Obsess About

The other day, me and my husband go for a walk down the dirt roads, past neighbors houses and to the beach. We walked by a neighbor whom my husband claims never says hello to him. She almost always does greet me. This day she was reading a book on her porch.

Now I have in the past (I really need to get some bifocals or something) been a huge book reader. So I don't greet her, as I don't want to interrupt her in the middle of a pertinent chapter. Then the whole way down I am thinking "was I just rude to that nice little old lady". And then, she didn't greet my husband, does she not like him?

Lady was just reading a book for gosh sakes, why does this thought keep floating around in a circle? Anyone else have these stupid things that just get stuck in a loop. It reminds me when i hear an annoying jingle, and then that jingle is trapped in my head for the rest of the day. I mean, I actually find myself humming this thing that annoys me, or making up different words to it.

The brain is so bizarre.

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

Sorry guys, pretty soon I will start my blog on this site, and start to download (Yuck) the archives.

Typepad is holding my money hostage!!

Typepad is a service that I have used for a couple of years now.   I haven't been entirely happy with them as they say you are paying the "pro" charge for a certain space of storage for files that you can never upload.   Then they began hiding that info in the account, so you wouldn't know how much you were not getting.

So they prebill years, and that's fine.   Last year they collected two years of payments from me erroneously.   I was fine with that, as I saw my account page showed me up to date until June 2009.   Then the end of June comes, AND MY ACCOUNT IS SHUT OFF.   I explain what happens, and the accounting/customer service department starts talking to me like I am the idiot.  I just love that, and they are not listening.

From June 19th until June 24th, they insist there is no fax number or e-mail to send billing documents to, but that you need to upload.   What a perfect opportunity to demonstrate how the upload tool DOES NOT WORK.   Yeah, good luck with that.   

So after having to send several nasty messages to customer service, I finally get the e-mail that I needed.   Course they send over the wrong one first, and then taunt me that if I send it by fax it will just take longer.   I have very rarely had such bad service before.   I can assure you, that I have never done business with the company again that gave it to me.

So I send the the pdf file with all of the credit card info, they can't find the e-mail for two more days.   By the time they do, they claim they can only see one page of a 9 page pdf.   Fine, I start sending them it page by page.   Now the story is the file was damaged, they couldn't read it at all, but brought in a team of experts that worked on it for 30 seconds, and bingo they have the info that they need.

Course now they are refusing to refund me the money, even if I cancel the service and they can't deliver the service that I am paying for.   So I will now commence my daily posting on this blog of exactly this statement for every day of service.