...when I would actually say that I like a Republican politician. No, it's not McCain. McWrinkle, McSeniorMoment, McFlipFlopper, McSayAnythingToWin. I used to have respect for him but that's totally gone.

No, the dude I am referring to is Governer Schwartzenegger. I didn't vote for him either time, but I am considering it next time around. The fact that he is opposing off-shore drilling, standing up for what he believes, rather than participating in the McCain-Bush political pandering, is refreshing. The idea that drilling for oil off the coasts is going to solve our problem is preposterous. Never mind that nearly 80% of existing off-shore leases are not even being explored/drilled. 68 million acres onshore and offshore are available for them to explore, yet they want the whole kit and kaboodle. They want to desecrate all our coastlines. It's a political game they are playing - in a sad attempt derail the Obama-fest currently happening in this country.

They have no other way to win than prostitute our country's land.

We've had $4 gas for a while. A long while. Tell me, why would it be a hot issue NOW? Hmm? Gee, timing is awfully suspect - less than 100 days from the election. If this was the panacea to our struggling economy, why not push it 6 or 7 months ago when it was clear we were hurtling towards a recession?

Maybe because it's a crock of horse-shit and they know it.

[stepping off my soap box] Guess I got a little off-topic. Anyway, the Terminator has grown on me.

In preparation for our kitchen addition/remodel, I have been researching, Googling, planning, calculating, and Craigslisting. On my list of purchases was, obviously, a kitchen sink (can't reuse the existing - it is one of those Corian built-into the countertop things). I had decided on the Ikea Domsjo farmhouse/apron sink - I love it and the price is great ($312 - most farmhouse sinks will cost minimum $700).

Here is it in a kitchen pic I pulled from google images:


On a whim, I checked Craigslist for "apron sink" and holy crapola! A guy is selling one, still in the box, because his wife changed her mind about the design and he can't return it (it's past 6 months since the original purchase). About 1 mile from my office. New, in box, $150! No tax, no shipping, etc. It's like a $190 savings! Woo hoo!

That'll pay for the faucet (I think I'm going to go with the oil-rubbed finish, I have my eye on one on Overstock.com). And this sink is a heavy motherfucker. We will have to make sure we support it properly in the likely non-Ikea cabinets we purchase.

Now if only we could just get this project permitted and started already! This waiting so does not work for my personality. When I make the decision to start something, I'm ready to go. Waiting around just makes me insane!

Not that we were in any imminent danger - though that was only known after the shaking stopped.

The rumbling began and after about 5 seconds where it didn't stop, we all got out of our cubes into the "cube hallway" and basically, looked at each other dumbfounded. I turned around and saw only one guy in the doorway. He must've grown up near LA or something, because that didn't even occur to me. After about 15 seconds, the thought crossed my mind that maybe I should consider getting the hell out of the building, but then 10 seconds later, it stopped.

The freaky thing about earthquakes is that you don't know where it's happening. It could be that what you're feeling is mild (less than 4.0), and the epicenter is nearby. Or it could be that it's moderate (less than 6.0), and the epicenter a bit far away. Or it could be really bad, like 7.0, and it's a couple hundred miles away. Thankfully, it was behind door number 2. A moderate earthquake of 5.4 about 70 miles away.

Still, 5.4 is nothing to sneeze at. Though, some of the folks here were sneezing at 5.4 like it was nothing, since they had been though 6.5. But I didn't grow up here, and the earth shaking any amount is just a little bit scary. Not to mention, all I keep thinking when we get these quakes is that I'll come home and find a crack in my foundation or something (which is a little bit of irrational paranoia, but still). Luckily, we are a ways away from a major fault-line. That doesn't make us immune, but at least we're not sitting on the San Andreas Fault. Our main problem is wild fires, and the nuclear power plan up the road in San Clemente. That's probably enough to worry about.

Maybe sitting on a fault line would be preferable.

Sunday morning I have my weekly phone call with my parents over in the Old County (Italy). They spend summers there, from May to August (they retired at 55 - talk about lucky! Rather it is the result of ridiculous frugality, but that is another story entirely), and if I miss a weekend phone call, my mother immediately assumes I'm dead, lying in a ditch somewhere. I guess that's one of the side-effects of being the only child of a paranoid worrisome mother. My father's latest news from Italy was that apparently the economy is doing badly over there. And the prostitutes in the Veneto region are taking matters into their own hands by offering Euro saving promotions! Buy three ladies and the fourth one is complimentary!

I mean, when the prostitutes start offering bogo deals, that is serious. I guess we're no the only ones getting squeezed right now!

Well, supposedly that's how you pronounce "cuil", like "cool". It's yet another search engine trying to compete with Google, built by an ex-Google employee. I tried it today and it kind of sucks. I was hoping it would blow my mind because I'm am not one to support monopolies (and Google totally is) but this thing is slow. And the results layout is weird and not conducive to scanning through to determine whether you want to click on the link or not.

Venture capitalists paid 33 million to fund this thing? Well, for sure, they had better beef up their response time because it's bad. It's like go get a coffee while you wait for your results. Sure, there might be an onslaught of requests happening this morning since it's a headline on cnn.com and it's their first "live" day, but you should be able to deal with that if you expect to best Google.

I am an admitted Google stalker. I will Google just about anyone's that I have known in the past. The worlds I find most interesting to peer into through the Google glass are those of the people that I no longer talk to - connections that ended in some kind of falling out or former romantic involvements (if I can remember how to spell their full names, ha!). The latter is probably where I could waste hours and hours on end on the computer.

It's sometimes surprising to see where they've ended up, even geographically. The last Google-ing I did was of a "fling" that lasted a couple weeks when I first moved out the Los Angeles right after college. I've since married and moved four times all around Southern California - from Redondo Beach to Harbor City to Lake Elsinore and now to Oceanside. Three different counties - and what is kind of wacky is this one fling appears to be living in the town next door. Few miles or so away - it's not a big city. It's really a small world. And another chick who I was friends with in college but then got retarded on me, lives about 15-20 miles south. I am still waiting to see if I'm bump into either of them, though will I even recognize people I haven't seen in almost 10 years? And vice versa? I mean, I tend to look the same through the years, but still. It's not like you see someone and immediately remember his or her from 8 or 9 years ago.

Hopefully I am not the only wacky Google stalker out there. I'm just too damn nosy. It's like when we go out to eat or wine taste or whatever, I always end up eavesdropping on conversations happening nearby. The Husband always chastises me for it when I try to yenta to him about what I'm hearing - because, really, it's none of my business, but I can't help it. My ears were built to listen to other's people's conversations. It's probably the same reason I enjoy reality television.

Well, the soda machine is calling my name, singing the praises of it's company-paid cans of Diet Coke. I must oblige.

We have water. Finally. Tuesday night, they found the problem in less than an hour and by 8pm we were back in business. I got so much shit, though, from everyone (the plumbers were jokesters) when I joyfully exclaimed "water!" from the master bedroom sinks. I was so happy to be able to turn on the faucet and have water flow out, and they though I had found a leak and there was water and came running upstairs after shutting off the main again. Oh, did they relish in making fun of me for SEVERAL HOURS after.

So, there has been much carnage. First, after setting traps last night, we got the mouse. I'm not sure if he is the only poor bloke, but he was easily fooled. I'm not sure he was the smartest mouse - the amount of time he spent outside his cave looking at us this past week was unbelievable. I had a feeling he'd be easy - not like the mouse we had in Lake Elsinore that took several months to catch. I feel bad for him - he was awfully cute. But catch and release is pointless - they'll just come back in. Plus, they carry diseases (hanta virus!) and uncontrollably poop everywhere so we couldn't keep him around. Sorry little guy.

Second carnage was felt by my wallet. We are $5600 poorer. Apparently, he gave us a good deal compared to what he had the other guy down the street paid a couple years back (he told me not to mention it to him), so I guess can't complain. Much (I will always complain some - not to him, just to the Universe who is the recipient of much complaining from Yours Truly). The guy down the street did his own demo, and the plumbers did the demo for us. Copper parts alone were $1425. The price of copper is outrageous. I'm wondering if I should start melting down pennies or something.

The the final carnage was committed to my house. I am not even sure how many holes in the walls and ceilings we have. Nevermind the water damage, and the carpet that we have started pulling up. Here are some pictures of the carnage - if I tried to show them all you'd be here all day. I don't even thing I have pictures of all of the holes at this point.

Starting with the garage - all the way at the end is where the mouse-house is, under the water heater. Picture is tilted but I'm too lazy to fix it now.


Main water line area - this is the living room, front of the house. There are more holes up the wall to run the lines upstairs.


Small sampling of the holes in my bedroom.


And just a few holes from my kitchen.


These kitchen holes will not be fixed, just meshed over. Why? Because that wall is getting moved back and the kitchen moved into that space. No point in fixing it if several months from now it'll be ripped out.

Imagine, we have 4-6 times more holes than I have shown you. It's going to take months to fix them all up.

Time to head to the office so I can be bored out of my mind.

God, Universe, Great Spirit, Anyone, help me. Please. We are still without water. The plumbers worked until 1am last night, and when they finished soldering everything, we tried the water but, of course, it wasn't 100% right. There was an active line still, somehow, connected, and again, the same area got more water, as well as wall containing the washer/dryer hookups. After a 12 hour day, there was no way they were going to be able to figure out the problem. So, here we are, day 4, without running water. Today, they will come back again. I am praying they will figure it out.

Beyond the above nightmare, I am somewhat of a mess today because I am operating on 3 hours of sleep.

Why?

One, we were up until 1:30am with the plumbers.

Two, we are sleeping in a full-size bed in the middle guest bedroom. It's the only bedroom that isn't full of drywall dust, and a full-size bed gets a little cramped when you're sharing it with a six-foot-two husband and a dog.

Three--the most unsettling of the reasons--was my fear that a mouse would climb up the bed and walk on me. Yup, we have a mouse, or two, who knows how many. I was in the garage with the plumbers, when I saw him, about 5 feet in front of me - a little dark shadow scurried under a shelving unit. I finally got a good glimpse of the little bugger about 15 feet away, when he emerged once more. He was actually quite cute - small little mouse, with the little round ears, just like Mickey Mouse. But in no way do I welcome him in my house. I don't eat meat because I don't want to kill animals for good, but I WILL kill the mice in my house. They carry too many diseases and multiply like mad. Big problem now is that we have several large holes in the garage wall and ceiling and then 15-20 holes in the walls and ceilings in the house. It is like an open invitation for the mouse to move in from the garage. I probably fell asleep sometime around 2:30am trying to get my mind off the mouse and what part of the house he was scurrying around. I swear, this week has been Hell on Wheels.

And finally, fourth reason on why I got no sleep is we got up at 5:45am. We have no ability to flush toilets anymore (not so good when you have to drop the kids off at the pool), can't shower, so the only option left for us was to shower at my office. So, with nature calling, and the inability to flush combined with need to shower, I arrived at the office with the Husband at 6:20am.

I am surprised I even functional, at this point.

Well, he came by this morning just before 7am, checked everything out and measured, then said he didn't have all the stuff he needed but he would call a buddy who might have enough copper to do the whole job. Turns out, he does, and supposedly would be here around 10am... but it's 10:30am and no sign of him. He seems honest and I think he'll show, but living with a canal in the center of my house wasn't exactly how I envisioned recreating our experience in Venice.

I still am not sure what this will cost but, for sure, it ain't cheap. It'll be in the thousands, I am sure. If we can keep it to under 5K that would be ideal. I'm glad we have a big emergency fund. Had I listened, entirely, to What's His Nuts, Dave Ramsey, we would only have 1k in the fund and we would be up Shit's Creek without a paddle.

And this whole, un-washed-ness is really not fabulous either. My face, the most fertile breeding ground for acne this side of the Mississippi, is starting to have that lovely sheen. It's starting to cackle hysterically, like the Wicked Witch of the West, ready to erupt. And the Husband? Still un-showered since Friday morning. If we were at a foul armpit smelling contest he would probably win.

Yep, we are now official members of the Unwashed Masses.

No, that's not right. But then again neither is the POOL of WATER that is currently soaking our carpet in the dining room and staining the drywall.

Happy 4th Anniversary! And your gift from the Universe is a massive water leak in your house!

That's right. We have a fucking mess on our hands as I type this.

Last Night, I noticed funny staining on the wall in the hallway. We opened up the wall and couldn't immediately find the problem. Neighbor came and looked at it but his advice was to let it dry and out then watch what happened when various things were used, to try to determine where the problem is. By late evening I thought I had pinpointed it to something under the sink/dishwasher. This morning, I showered, taught my two classes at the Y, came back and figured it was underneath the sink. Something under the sink because it's all wet under there. We tear a hole in the bottom of the sink cabinet in our search for the root cause.

Call the plumber recommendation from the neighbor and wouldn't you know it, the dude is on a day trip in Tijuana, but will be back later in the evening. I call a few others and they don't do house calls on weekends and refer me to the big name plumbers which I know will cost me my right arm. At this point, I am unaware of the true breadth of the problem. Water is turned off at this point, at the urging of the plumber in TJ. I call the TJ guy back to tell him that we'll wait for him to get back since I have no idea what I'm going to get with the other people I'm calling and he has been referred by people I trust. We go run a couple errands, get food, I come home, turn the water on momentarily to go to the bathroom and wash my face. Turn it off. Turn it on once more a little later so the husband can go to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, looks like the border patrol had their panties in an especially complicated knot this evening because 8:30pm rolls around and I get a call from the plumber. It took him 4 hours to get through the crossing. By this time, I have found that what appeared to be a mild-to-moderate leak, is actually a moderate-to-severe leak. The carpet in the dining room is soaked, there is water stain creeping up the drywall in there, as well as up the wall in the back of the coat closet.

Hello, second level of Hell. I would prefer to spend 10 hours or more at the DMV listening to the computerized female drone of alphanumeric combinations all of which are not, frustratingly, my number, than deal with this shit. I have to pee right now, and know that I will have to let it "mellow", because only two toilets remain with full tanks that will allow for a number 2 deposit (thank GOD we have 3 toilets in this house). And I have to go upstairs and use the guest bath because the downstairs one has since been flushed by the husband dropping the kids off at the pool. And we can't turn the water back on unless we want the entire first floor to begin to flood. Tearing up sopping wet carpet is hardly going to be a fun job and if I can avoid not flooding all of it, that would be ideal. It's enough that I have to rip it up, prematurely. Looks like that remodel is happening sooner than planned.

Lord. And the Husband has not showered since yesterday. It's looking highly likely that tomorrow morning he'll be showing down the street at the Y. How pathetic is this?

Seven AM tomorrow, the plumber comes. He thinks it's a slab leak which is bad fucking news. Bad. Read: Will cost lots of money. And who, in name of Jesus H. Christ, runs water lines through the damn slab?! How is this a good design? Doesn't that make repairing them just a little bit difficult? Gee, let's make future homeowners have to JACKHAMMER into the slab in the event they get a pipe that needs repair. I mean, water has pressure when it runs through the lines - there is no need to run through the slab - that's what the walls are for. For hiding electrical and plumbing.

Unbelievable. Boy do I miss our old, problem-free house.

Back in April, I submitted a request to the county tax collector for reassessment for my home value. I did all my comps research and came up with $453,146.

Well, the Assessor's office decided I am even more fucked than I, the eternal realist, thought I was. They came back with $450,000. A 15% loss in one year. Sure, less taxes for me to pay - that's a savings of over $800/year. But it certainly makes the reality of my depressed home value more concrete. And the fact that we are underwater is now truly official. I have a feeling I'll be submitting for reassessment again next year - because I could only DREAM of getting 450K for our house seeing as I saw our same model this week in the MLS, a foreclosure, for 349K.

Guess I'll be staying in this house for the next 10 years or more.

Wow, I am so disheartened with our country today. I hope we can pull out of this mess, I have never seen us in such a dark hole in my entire life.

First, I read that Bush repealed the executive ban on off-shore drilling, which, thankfully is symbolic since there is still a federal law banning it, but I fear this will create momentum towards repealing the law which is just terrible. The solution to addiction to a substance is NOT to consume more of it. Yet, this is exactly what we would be doing, rather than finding a solution. I'm sure all the money he has invested in oil companies would grow exponentially, if he gets his way. I don't trust him as far as I can throw him.

Then. I read that some idiot pundit, John McLaughlin referred to Obama as an "Oreo". And on top of it, the New Yorker magazine was totally out-of-touch and put out a cover with a caricature of Michelle and Barack Obama fist-bumping in the White House, dressed as Muslims, with the American flag burning in the fireplace. How is that funny? Or even satirical? All that does is give all the bigots, the racists, and the ignorant more fuel for their fire.

And then, I read that a third female soldier has been murdered in the past 7 months, which is so sad. I am beginning to wonder if women are treated with respect when they are in the military, serving our country. These crimes make me think they aren't.

I am losing faith in our country. I'm not even angry in that fired-up, political way. I feel beaten-down, and saddened, and at-times, disgusted with what we have become.

When it comes to money, large purchases, I am really conservative. I will research, plan, consider all the options, until I have thoroughly cooked it in my head. Once it's baked, I am good to go, decision made.

That's how I am treating the idea of having children. In my head, right now, they are a huge, ginourmous purchase. I know that is kind of objectifying the whole "magical" process but in order for me to be comfortable with taking on the responsibility, I have to think about it this way. I know, I'm weird, and you're probably thinking I shouldn't even have children because I am talking about them like they are a new car or something.

I know there's never a good time to have kids but the reality is we have a mortgage that requires we both work. One income won't cover it - maybe just mine would but it would be brutally tight. And there is no selling and downsizing (we already did) because the value has dropped below the mortgage balance. Thank you Mr. Greenspan for keeping the rate way too low for way too long - now the entire housing market is fucked because money was so cheap they lent it to the completely irresponsible who probably couldn't even pay their electric bills.

I need plan this because day care is expensive - like $1000 a month. Which turns out is about the same monthly amount we were spending on non-house debts in the beginning of the year. There is still about $15,000 left to pay before we're free - one car and my last student loan. If we keep pace - keep our jobs, we'll be done by June-ish next year. Which still seems to soon, but, like everyone tells me, there's never a "good" time and I don't want to find myself in my late 30s unable to have any because my ovaries are dried up and useless. Nice visual, right?

For the first time in ages, I made a true impulse buy. I'm not talking about the occasional, every couple months, clearance shirt from Target, but a totally impulse buy without alot of thought and cost more than like 10 bucks.

I had been cruising The Nester's Etsy store because I love to look at her stuff, and decided to check out he main Etsy store front. Mistake, right there. I clicked on a picture of a cute necklace which was an pendant that was an acorn made with a pearl. Cute! So I clicked on her store and boy was there a shload of cute stuff. Ugh! I ended up getting a bright blue starfish pendant necklace - and apparently, in the time I spent checking out, the acorn pendant was out the door as well.

I really don't know what got into me. I just though it was a good price and loved it. { Sigh } That will have to be my personal splurge for the month. If I don't count my hair appointment tomorrow which is just plain highway robbery. When it comes to hair, I am willing to pay to have it done right. There is nothing worse that trying to get a deal, and then when it's done, you're less than enthused and wishing you had just paid the extra 30 or 40 bucks to be happy with it. I tried to stay local when I first moved down here and pay somewhere under $150 for cut and highlights. Well, I paid like 140 but the coloring was sub-par - she did not get the color down to the hairline which meant roots were more than visible in only 6 weeks. I knew walking out the door because in some spots I could still see roots. She was a little green as far as stylists go, but I swear, I could tell she was not doing it right during the process. But kept my mouth shut. I've learned my lesson. I will pay the extra money to only do this 4 times a year.

And my Craigslist stuff? Well, the flurry of responses I got yesterday has stopped. It is looking less likely that I will sell them in the next couple days. I have a guy with a thick Asian accent coming to look at the speakers tonight, and then Sunday, hopefully (she has yet to confirm), another lady looking at the bench and shelf set. If they end up coming through and buying them, that would be fabulous. We'll see...

So I bitched about Craigslist last time I sold something on it, but here I am, at it again, putting myself through the same aggravation. I am selling two things on Craigslist (a PB style entry bench and shelf, and a speaker system) and as usual, have gotten quite a few responses, and am thinking most will be flake-a-roos. I suppose I could hold on to the items and wait until my garage sale next month, but they will not get their true monetary value if I peddle them on my driveway. I will get totally nickeled and dimed. Alas, I am resigned to dealing with the mildly interested who are more chatty than committal. Royal Pain in the Ass.

I am also currently fretting over the fact that I have a 40 pound box sitting outside my front door that UPS deposited there from Overstock around 1pm (why would they not require a signature for such a large shipment??). For whatever reason, I am "Ye of Little Faith" when it comes to the general public and fear that someone will swipe it. It's a set of nesting tables to replace an old Ikea end table. And how fast is freaking Overstock? I ordered them on late Sunday night and they are already here. Three days. That is lightning fast. Nearly beat my bluetooth headset which took a ridiculously long time to go only 100 miles (from LA county to SD County). Like just got it yesterday, the 9th, and ordered it on the 1st.

Nobody better touch my box! I would think it's safe, we're in a decent neighborhood but you never know with these people.

BAH!

It's always fun when you forget that wearing a bra is a necessity. Especially on a work day.

This morning I was up at the ass-cheek-smacking early hour of 5:40am, getting ready for the 7am First Series Ashtanga class. This entails getting dressed, while also remembering (1) hand towel, (2) clothes for work, (3) clothes for Tuesday night class that I teach. There are so many opportunities for error in this process. Especially if you are me.

Around 7:15am, folding forward for my second sun salutation when I realized I had forgotten a bra for my work attire. Nice. And, though I am petite, I do, indeed, still need to wear support. Driving all the way back home was not an option - that would take entirely too long. Luckily there is a Target in the next shopping plaza from the shala.

The part that is "unluckily" is that getting a quality hooter-holder at Target is a complete crapshoot. I didn't have time to try it one, plus I was a sweaty mess after class, so I had to wing it. I even bought a shirt because the one I brought requires a decent bra which I knew might be hard to achieve. So I bought the most normal/plain shaped top I could find. Still, I feel like I have molded boobs that are entirely to "lifted" in this crappy Exhilaration brand bra. I feel like a hootchie waling around the office, all pushed-up and padded. Oh, what a waste of my well-earned money this mistake was. I am not sure I will ever wear this bra again it sucks so badly. Sure, I could return it, but that feels wrong, returning a bra after I've worn it the entire day.

Bah.

Today's Lesson: Remember to pack all your clothing, including all pieces of underwear. And avoid Target bras.

Talladega Nights was on last week and I was thinking that I missed Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live because he's damn funny. Then, I wondered something else, which I'm not sure is even related, but perhaps it is in some distant, tenuous way

Is there any reason why I would miss Dubya?

I have gotten some great laughs out of his Bushisms. Damn, those are funny.

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? ... That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Feb. 28, 2008

"Your eminence, you're looking good." --George W. Bush to Pope Benedict XVI, using the title for Catholic cardinals, rather than addressing him as "your holiness," Rome, June 13, 2008

"Thank you, your Holiness. Awesome speech." --George W. Bush, to Pope Benedict, Washington, D.C., April 15, 2008

"All I can tell you is when the governor calls, I answer his phone." --George W. Bush, San Diego, Calif., Oct. 25, 2007

"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again." -George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

And it goes on. And on. And on.

So I was thinking to myself if it would be possible that I could miss this buffoon. Perhaps I might miss his comedic existence as President, but really, the laughs couldn't possibly out-weigh the damage he has done.

Which led me to thinking about what would you give up if you could go back and change the course of events, thus electing Gore in 2000? I have thought about this. In fact, I thought about it back in 2003 before his second term which turned out to be an even bigger disaster. There is that saying of "I would give my right arm", or whatever, for such-and-such. I have come to the conclusion that if it were actually possible to time travel to the past and somehow prevent GWB from getting elected in 2000 that I would give my pinky toe. For sure.

You might think this is drastic, to give up a body part, but I believe it's a small price to pay, thinking about the lives lost in the war, the current cost of oil/gas, the current state of the US dollar and economy, the horrendous response to Hurricane Katrina, negative progress on environmental issues - I think his presidency made all these things worse, and some may never have happened has he not been elected. My pinky toe is nothing compared to the suffering he has inflicted on the citizens of this country and the rest of the world.

And how cool would of a story would that be?

"So, how did you lose your toe?"

"Dude, my toe saved you and the rest of the world from the biggest bumbling idiot ever to run for national office. My toe SAVED LIVES."

I would be like Xena the Warrior Princess or something. Super-Hero Chacha, saving the world from incompetent politicians, one pinky toe at a time.

I hope posting this doesn't mean I am now doomed to lose my pinky toe. I'd like to keep my pinky toe, thank you, since I know it's impossible to time travel ala Hiro Nakamura. I'm just saying, if it were possible.

Lord, help me, I want another dog. Why??? They are a TON of work, they cost an ass-load, an when they're puppies, they DESTROY your house. So why do I want one?

After we put Rusty down, I figured I didn't need a second dog, and I have actually been enjoying the "less work" factor of only having one dog. Recently, however, Nikki has been acting strange, and the only thing that has changed is that she is now alone. Last night, she kept me up until like 1:30am, whining, wanting to go out, etc. We'd go out and she wouldn't do any of her "business." Just look around, eat some grass, etc. Finally, I just let her whine it out in her crate and she eventually settled down. She has also gotten more angry in her interchanges with the next door neighbor's female lab mix. The whole fence-fighting thing. Not to mention the breaking and entering incident this weekend. I mean, sure, she could have some physical ailment causing the whining last night, but it just seems like too much of a coincidence that 3 weeks after Rusty's departure to the other side (hate saying "death"), she is getting all weird on me.

Part of me knows that Nikki would probably be happier with a buddy. This revelation sparked the "I must have a puppy" in me, and I feel like a 12 year old kid who keeps bugging his parents for a dog. Instead I am bugging my husband.

For a goldendoodle.

Or a labradoodle. Sure, I have been singing the praises of the Miniature Australian Shepherd ever since getting the Fuzzy Lady, but I think I would rather have a different breed, just to mix it up. Plus, the doodle mixes tend to shed less and the reality is, I do have a dog allergy. It has gotten better with age, and Nikki doesn't bother me much, but it's still there. Certain breeds tend to aggravate it more, so, I figure, going with one better for allergies is a smart choice. Plus, they have medium sized varieties that get to be about 30-45 pounds.

I have a moral conundrum, though, with buying a puppy. There are so many dogs that need homes in shelters. The problem is that, generally (out here in Southern California), the shelter selections are big dogs (I really don't want 50+ pound dog again), or very high energy (not into the high energy thing, did that already), or the pit bull variety. It is harder to find a medium-small dog at a shelter that isn't (a) old as dirt, or (b) psychologically messed up. Add on that I need a male due to Nikki's dominant female behavior, and the pool is SMALL, possibly non-existent.

Anyway, this is all just "blah blah," really, but, man, does the "I want a puppy" feeling really take over. Maybe this is what normal women feel about wanting a baby. Still waiting for that feeling to kick in.