Disjointed Posting 101

Getting ready for a new little spud dog is hard work. Did you know that I bought tripe for the first time the other day? A big ol' pack, too. Yuck.

I've also been sleeping in the same bed as a boomerang stuffed toy that will *apparently* be a big hit with the dog because it will smell like me. Rolling over onto a boomerang in the middle of the night can be a bit of a surprise. And that's not code, sickos.

I've been away from the gym for a long time now, and I'm itching to get back into shape. The nice thing about an impending move is that it gives you an excuse to start things off on a fresh slate. Like a muscular, relaxed, organized slate as opposed to a chubby, stressed and chaotic one. We'll see how that goes. I anticipate a slightly asthmatic, perpetually distracted slate, but whatever. I'll take what I can get.

My Better Half is off playing ultimate tonight (HAHAHA, I mean, I support you in your sporty endeavors... kiss kiss) so I'm at home with a bag of organic BBQ chips and a long To Do list. All this makes me want "to do" is take a bath. Maybe if I put it in the list I'll be able to cross it off when I'm done?

I'm playing a gig Friday night at the church where my recording studio is based. There's a big room with beautiful church-y acoustics and man, I am looking forward to it. 7:30 pm at 2 Monk St. in the Glebe, for anyone who wants to stop by. I'll be on first. I think. Come on out!

Speaking of music, this song has taken over my mind.

And that, ladies and gents, is Disjointed Posting 101. Thank you for your time, and drive safe.

A New Spud

Something crappy happened a couple of weeks ago. The breeder sold our puppy.

I'm just going to guess that someone offered her more money, as well as agreeing to a breeding contract, and that was enough for her. I was pretty upset, but decided not to go chatting about it until I had a plan.

Luckily for me, the breeder felt awful for selling him. Really awful. She contacted another breeder in the area to get us a dog. The new breeder is a whole lot more on top of things. She has already started training her puppies, spends all day taking care of them, and she had a boy dog for us. I visited him on Saturday. Good lord, he is adorable.


He also has quite a little personality. Within a few minutes of me arriving, he started play-fighting with his brother. His brother kept biting him on the face, so my puppy turned around and bit him on the wang. The wang, people.

He also spent a lot of time nuzzling my boobs, so he's clearly a charmer.

My Better Half and I are picking him up this Saturday. It's so soon! I have to much to prepare before then! I need to locate a baby gate, get a dog crate, get some food and treats, and goodness knows what else. Then I'll probably never leave the house because I'll have a squishy little wang-biting potato to play with.

Five days, y'all! Five days until the potato comes home!

Just for fun, he's a picture of my potato's mama, Sadie.


Brilliant. I love bulldogs.

PS, If anyone has a baby gate they don't use anymore, drop me a line! (Or a medium dog crate, for that matter)

PPS, "Wang" is being picked up as a typo. C'mon Blogger! It's a perfectly valid word!

Time for Cost Cutting

Looking over my finances for the next few weeks is giving me a panic attack.

It's not even that things are drastically out of hand, it's just that I'm never 100% on top of my costs anymore. For a financial neat freak like yours truly, that's hard to handle. All the lists in the world won't make up for the fact that I have a lot of things to buy in a short period of time. I also don't get a big enough paycheck to cover it all in one shot. Enter the credit card. That thing is a blessing and a curse. Usually just a curse.

Other than reminding myself that things will ease up soon and that this is just a particularly strenuous month or two, I'm looking at ways to cut costs. There are obvious things like:

Don't buy new clothes for a while
Bring lunch to work
Have a glass of wine in the backyard instead of going out for drinks on a patio
No more buying "stuff" unless it's essential
Be prepared to say no to outings where I know I'll spend money

I'm also thinking about using up what I've got stored in my pantry... And I mean REALLY using it up. I've stocked up on a pretty impressive number of things: fish, tofu, grains, baking stuff, spices, noodles, soy milk, legumes... The list goes on. But I never seem to deplete my collection. Since I get a box of fresh veggies and fruit once a week from Life Organic, I should be able to make do with what I've got instead of always making small grocery trips for the extras. I wonder how long I could do this for? My food wouldn't be super rich or fancy, but it would still be very tasty. I would allow myself to get things like milk, eggs and yogurt if need be, but otherwise? I'm going to see how much cupboard space I can free up.

If you've got a suggestion to help cut costs, please let me know. I'm all ears. I used to be the queen of frugality, and I think I need a refresher.

(Insert Witty Title Here, Because I Can't Think of a Damn Thing)

Hoo boy, I'm not being the most consistent blogger these days. My apologies. I've got a platter of Things That Must Be Dealt With Immediately that seem to be attacking my spare time. I'll tell y'all more after this weekend is done with. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to prove it.

The birthday was great. My Better Half made me breakfast, which was a miracle in itself, only because we never seem to wake up at the same time. He's either a few hours earlier than me or a few hours later. It was a pleasant change. Later on, we had dinner at Oz Cafe and I drank one too many fruity martinis. He got me some killer gifts, one of which involved a collection of skeleton keys that have been turned into jewellery. Too cool. I slurred my thanks. It sounded a bit like this: "Thankzzz baaaaybee... I luvs you." I've had a few of you ask what he baked for me... And I'll tell you tonight, because he's at home baking RIGHT NOW. I do believe I heard the word "fondue" escape his lips when he was immersed in recipes.

I was supposed to go to a SOCAN information session last night, but to be honest, the thought of spending my evening in a random hotel room learning about royalties was unappealing (although practical, I know). Instead my BH and I made a big soup and salad, watched crime shows on TV, and hung out with Rach when she dropped by to spread birthday/bulldog cheer.

I think good things are brewing, but they are hiding beneath all this CRAP I have to take care of in the next few weeks. Here's hoping that it all comes together.

Obligatory Birthday Post

My weekend away was too short, but as always, an adventure. The weather was excellent, and I think I even got a sunburn on my lips. I was in Toronto with my Better Half and his dad to see a percussion concert at Roy Thompson Hall. Watching Zakir Hussein play the tabla is dizzying, because if you look hard, you can't see his fingers move. And this dude from Uzbekistan blew my mind.

The train ride home was a bit sluggish, but if I were writing this a year ago, I would be telling you about how the trains in India are infested with cockroaches and how the toilets make me gag a little. I'll take a chronically-late train with a functioning toilet this time around. Has it really been a year since I was in India? Holy hell. I may not miss the plumbing, but I still think about the food.

Which reminds me... I usually travel in May, but this year I'm staying put. Mostly because I am broke, but also because I have a few precious weeks of vacation time every year and I want to save them for a rainy (or snowy) day. May is usually a great time to travel, because everything is warming up, and then *cough* I get to miss my *cough* birthday.

Yeah. It's my birthday tomorrow. I usually slyly arrange to be out of town, not because I hate my birthday, but because I don't like people to make a fuss over it. There's also the fact that I am younger than I look and I've learned to dread people's reactions when they find out my age. When I was sixteen, people would ask me if I was married. When I was nineteen, people would ask me if I had any children. When I was doing my undergrad, people would ask me if I was doing my PHD. Maybe it's because I always spent a lot of time in grungy bars, or maybe because my friends are all over the age map... But frankly, I can't figure out why it always stumps people. Anyway. I just heard enough of "You're HOW old? Really?" and decided that traveling is more fun than party hats. (Ironically, if anybody tried guessing my age based on the amount of profanity I use, or on my ability to make anything sound dirty, they would peg me at about 14)

Although I work during the day tomorrow, My BH is taking me out for dinner afterwards and then I have it on good authority (aka my stubborn mind) that we are going to make out. All night. Wicked. And as an early birthday present, apparently I was #1 on an album chart in Windsor! I also got a pretty generous compliment here, so thanks for that, campus radio. You're the greatest.

Impeach That Bush

Well my dears, I am back and totally broke. Exhausted, too. My bed is calling me almost as loudly as the bag of toffee chocolate almond crunch I'm trying to ignore.

I leave you with a picture of a sign that pretty much made my weekend. May it help start your week with a smile.

Cupcake Debacle

I've said before that my baking skills are not quite up to par with my cooking skills. Now there's proof.

Last night, Rach and I decided to wash down our Ethiopian food and wine with some homemade cupcakes. We called my Better Half for the recipe and got down to business.

Then things started to go wrong.

Please enjoy this photo representation of the rest of our night.



Before the shit hit the fan. See those clean muffin cups? And the lack of flames? So domestic!

Things are starting to go wrong. I am destroying the butter with a potato masher. Rach is smiling at my pain.

We got too excited about the cupcakes and kept opening the oven door. Then we forgot about them for a bit. End result.

Rachel checks her boobs for a missing piece of cupcake.

Moral of the story: Leave the baking to your sexy partner, and stick to making pesto. Also, don't bake while drunk. Also, don't keep opening the oven to look at your pretty cupcakes. Also, purchase dessert ahead of time to avoid crushing disappointment at the end of the night.

I'm going out of town for the weekend... If I don't have the internets where I'm staying, I hope you all have a lovely few days.