I don't think

this looks like two dogs who miss their owners.

What the crap, dogs? 

I'm not a cat person.

My in-laws have a cat.  When my husband and I were dating, I asked him what her name was and he said, "Cat."

I found out, eventually, that the cat's name is actually Mrs. Bigglesworth, though everybody just calls her Cat.

After having lived in my in-laws home for a couple of weeks (perhaps I'll write more on that later), I have also learned that when a cat, this Cat in particular, reaches her arm out to you, slowly, claws bared, it does not actually mean she wants to scratch your face off.  Though one time, she sprung at me like a spider monkey from hell when we were watching a movie downstairs.  This was also during our dating days, and has made me wary of said Cat ever since.

No, the arm out with claws flexed means she wants you to continue petting her, which I probably would have done had I not feared for my face, and my life, due to shows like Mystery Diagnosis which taught me that if cats scratch you, they give you flesh-eating parasites.  So, thanks for that, TV.

I also fell for the whole "cats-smother-babies-in-their-sleep" wives' tale for about a day, until I decided to ask google if that was true.  FYI:  It is not.  So, the girls will be ok in a house with a cat, I suppose.

Also, Bagheera likes to chase cats.  We've had to stop him and now he chooses, instead, to stare at her from inches away while she mews loudly.  I can't help but think he'd be an awfully awkward human.

Just you wait until I tell you about the dynamics between Bagheera, Bert, and now the final member of the canine trifecta at home:  Teke, delightfully grouchy, smallest of the bunch, tiger-striped chi-weiner dog.  Oh, and the dog fights wherein Bagheera basically kicks the crap out of Teke (pronounced tiki, like the torches) for doing things like sniffing Bagheera's dog food, barking too much, or defending his stuff at his own house.

STAY TUNED!

Life and all about it, lately.

I've been kind of a bad blogger, but truth be told, I feel ok about it, mostly because posting from my mobile telephone isn't the most pleasant experience.  (Because we don't have internet at home.) (And just got rid of cable television.)  (Hello, Siberia, it's nice to live here.)

But then I remember that I'll want to remember the ins and outs of life before we have two kids (holy cow, that still seems weird to me) and life will be totally different.

So, lately, we're watching a lot of movies.  We opted out of TV for budgetary reasons, but I've actually not really minded not having it.

Our heat went out about a week ago, and therefore I'm so SO grateful for a now-working furnace.  This has actually happened to us twice before in our current apartment, and the last time, it was the middle of winter.  We have two space heaters already, lucky for us, but they're not ideal--better that than nothing, though, because it's cold.  Our landlord called a guy and said it was a 5-minute fix; I guess there was a piece of plastic caught in it somewhere that made it not work properly?  I'm not completely sure, but after being admittedly quite grumpy since being pregnant, I was not too happy until I came home for lunch one day and there was heat.

Also fun:  I have some sort of weird bug bites on my leg.  I saw my doctor and a dermatologist last week and they're going away, but they've been here for 2-or-so weeks.  I debated writing about this at all here, but since I've completely stopped writing in my journal for now and, sad to say, this is the closest thing I have to a journal, I kinda want to remember the funny little things that seem to happen to me and NEVER ever not once to my housband--I guess I'm glad he's healthy.  (Sort of like how last winter I got a cough which may have cracked a rib, several colds in a row, bacterial laryngitis, then another cold with an ear infection--and he got nothing.  All winter.)  Anyway, the dermatologist thinks they're flea bites, but after having my dogs checked out and finding they're flea-free, I'm thinking they're probably not.  I originally thought they were hives due to being pretty stressed out about being my brother's wedding photographer/flying to San Francisco/flying while pregnant with twins, but they are not hives either!  So weird.

Oh yeah.  I went to San Francisco.  I've never been there before and didn't see too much of it, but it was absolutely beautiful, and I forgot what Utah winter was like, only to be rudely reminded upon leaving the airport in Salt Lake.  All of my siblings were at my brother's wedding, all of us in the Temple, but none of our spouses/kids came (except for my kids, I don't really have a choice right now).  It was a little weird without the hubbub of everyone, but strangely natural.  I kinda like those guys.  Their husbands/wives/kids are pretty cool, too, and I missed them.  But it was kind of cool to have the original 5 of us together.

I have a new photography website coming up, and I honestly think all my brain power is being swallowed by babies because I'm having the most difficult time of figuring out the most simple things, so it might be a little bit before I can get it up and going.  My photo blog is still kind of a thing, but again... no internet at home... kinda hard. 

Lastly, I'll leave you with two photos of my buddies.

Here's my housband holding the dogs (who were flailing wildly).  I'd like to say he doesn't carry the giant one around, but he kind of does.  (Don't tell him I told you.)  Also, he decided he and Bert are best friends around Thanksgiving, and Bert promptly forgot I existed and refused to acknowledge me at all.  So now Pedro* has begun to ignore Bert once again, and Bert likes me once more.  I'd be lying if I said I don't worry our kids will do the same.  (I semi-secretly wonder why everybody loves Pedro and thinks I'm boring?  Yeah Pedro's fun and all, children, adults, animals and everyone in between.  BUT WHAT ABOUT ME?)

(*Again, not his real name, it just gets difficult to not call my housband by a name, ok?)

And when we ride in the car, Bagheera gets tired and Bert decides to sit on him.  I don't know why.  Perhaps for a better view out the window?  Possibly.  The dog's not the brightest, but sometimes I wonder if he just acts dumb but secretly knows a lot of stuff.  Could be.

I'm about 18-19 weeks right now, and feeling pretty good.  I recently got a different kind of prenatal vitamins, but I think I'll switch back because these ones are making more nauseous than I've been the whole time I've been pregnant.  Oh, and about the 18-19 weeks thing?  I originally based how far along I am on the first-day-of-my-last-period thing, but then my doctor gave me a different due date, which is almost a week later than I originally thought, so I don't know which I am, really.  I generally think I'm 19 weeks (because twins come early, most often).  Is that weird?  Do you see how my brain is not working?

This is such a long blog post.  I'm so sorry about that.

Bagsy Blue Co. makes....

wall flowers!  I made these for my wall, to try them out... and I kinda love them.  I'm going to be making more and putting them in the shop soon, so keep checking back.

PLUS, I have awesome dog models.  I didn't make them get in the photos, but they did anyway.  Bert is sporting a sweet bark collar because we live in an apartment, and he growls at dust particles.  I'd like to keep him, so therefore, the bark collar.  (It doesn't hurt him.) (He always knows when it's on so he's a suspiciously perfect little gentleman when it's on.  But when it's off...... naughty.)

Tonight,

I took my dogs for a bike ride.  Dogs.  Plural.  Previous to this weekend, I'd never done that before--taken both.  And it was interesting, yet not horrible. 

On bike rides, they both run alongside my bike.  I usually have one on each side, so I pretty much block the entire road.  Except I try to be conscientious... I swear I'm not self-absorbed enough to think everyone should yield to me.  Then I figured out how to get them to be good with both on one side, so that was great.

Anyway, as I was watching Bert bop around, getting kind of slow yet still SO MIRACULOUSLY bouncy, I thought:  if he were a girl dog, I'd have named him Stephanie.  He just SEEMS like a Stephanie. (And the fact that the thought just popped into my head was really funny at the moment.  It felt so natural!  But funny all the same!)

I also took them both to the fairgrounds and tossed around a tennis ball while they chased each other.  I had this completely surreal moment of absolute joy:  that was exactly where I'd want to be, given the choice of anywhere in the world, in that moment.  Spending time with my dogs, chucking a ball, the golden sun shining heavy shadows on the lawn the trees.  It was perfect.  But then I felt sorry, because I also thought of all the other things I could/should be doing, and realized how much I need to calm down and let myself be in the present.  It's a work in progress, that's for sure. 

About a block before home, we passed the dog park, and Bert stops to a near-crawl every time.  So I picked him up, and he yelped like I was stabbing him to death--he had shots yesterday, and I must have hurt him in the spot where they poked him.  So I put him down and we kept going.  But THEN he was really just too slow, so I picked him up (carefully), put him in my basket, strapped him down (oh yeah, did I ever tell you about the time he was strapped down in a complicated leash hold in the basket and he STILL JUMPED OUT?  WHILE I WAS MOVING? AND HE DANGLED FROM THE SIDE OF MY BASKET?), so I strapped him down REAL good and finished the ride with Bagsy sprinting beside me.

All this after a guy who saw me with them said, "Looks like you're having fun."  And then as I was turning the corner, "That's the funniest thing I've EVER seen." And he laughed and laughed and laughed.

So, I guess it's kinda funny that I take them both on rides.  But until I find a better way to wear them both out real good, this is my method.

Happy Christmas Adam

This is the message I just received from my housband.

No idea what he was talking about--I thought maybe he meant to send the message to my brother, who is named, coincidentally, Adam.

I texted him back, confused, and this was his response:

"Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so today is Christmas Adam."

And then I remembered he says this every year.

There are lots of reasons I love that dude; this is just one of 1,678,956,443 reasons why.

And for your viewing pleasure, the sign I made which was inspired by this:

Hers

Mine, which took a lot longer than I thought it would, and also, I didn't have enough paper to do it awesome like hers.  Plus, I was tired.  Sorry about the crappy iphone photo.  It's a lovely red, though.

  And lastly, here's a photo which will either make your day cheery, or really creep you out:

Bagel (pronounced bag-ul) is really quite happy about Christmas Adam.  Also, don't mind the mismatched sheets and blankets.  This photo was taken a while ago, and I have my life more together now than I did then.... kinda.  (Wishful thinking.)  (Though my sheets do match right now.  BONUS!)

Also,

I'm pretty sure it was a year ago Monday that we brought home our blue-eyed, silky black puppy dog of wonder. 

It has been a truly magical year.

Remind me to tell you about the time he jumped out of my housband's car (through the window), past traffic, and went rogue into a pet supply store.

Awesome.

Things, or something like that, about today

I have some good news, and I have some bad news.

The good news is that it snowed last night.  I don't completely hate snow!  Also, I enjoy the Christmas-y feelings it gives me.  The truth is, I don't hate snow... I hate driving in it.  A completely huge difference... right?

The bad news is that Bert ran away this morning, came back, and then he had to eat his breakfast in his cage because HE. IS. A. BAD. DOG.  (Sometimes.  He's learning.)

And then while I got ready, Bagheera sat, quietly, and I remember what it was like to have one dog.  It was like the heavens opened and angels sang about what a miracle it is to have one dog who is brilliantly obedient...... but then I remembered Bert and his little brown eyes, and subsequently forgot all about it.

Bert is an awesome lap-warmer.

My dogs, resting their heads on the same pillow.  So cute I could squish them both.

Also.  I have something seriously wrong with my right-side ribs.  So that's also bad news.  Life is really punching me in the throat this last month-or-so, health-wise.  I think I coughed a crack right into my ribs. (I don't really know what's going on, but it hurts when I breathe and cough and generally move.)

So, that's my average Wednesday.  Oh, and I'd also like to point out that I had to go look for Bert this morning in my sleeping shorts, my black wellies, and my pink pea coat.  And, oh, you know, my hair which stuck straight up (and when I saw my reflection I thought I didn't know I could look like such a fine cockatoo).

This is not to mention last week, when I took the dogs out one morning in my fluffy pink robe, my wellies, and a towel on my head--to the community lawn area.  The same neighbors keep seeing me like this every morning and all I can do nowadays is shrug and pretend I don't see them.  If I can't see them, they can't see me.................. right?

Walking

Last night, we went for a walk with our dogs.

We found a HUGE pile of wood chips--probably 20 feet tall--in a parking lot near our apartment.

So, naturally, we climbed it, let our dogs climb it, and slid down.

It was sort of romantic in the dark, worrying a little about getting caught but doing it anyway, the orange street lights giving just enough light.  Bagheera wouldn't go to the top until someone did before him, and Bert wasn't interested until I was at the top, which made him freak out and and run up the side of our wood chip mountain.  (Bert loves me and I love that.)  My housband didn't make it to the top, but mostly just because he didn't try.

We continued on with our walk, on which we saw horses, people, a giant dirt mountain, a bonfire, and a neighbor who asked to pet our pups.


Then I found wood chips in my underwear (!!), behind my knees (I was wearing long johns, which in itself is an entirely different story), and in my shoes all night.

And yet, it was completely worth it.

Life, lately

I am happy.  The weather is getting better, and there's sunshine outside... I forget, every year, that winter ends, that spring always comes. 

Lately, I find myself regularly wanting to share funny stories or little anecdotes with my office-mate at work, but then I realize they're probably only funny to me and my husband.  So I don't share several things; instead, I keep them with me and they make me smile and my insides feel warm and swollen in a good way.

Photos of my grandparents.  I love their goofy grins in the second photo.

I love my dog.  I think I love him more every day.  He has brought me such happiness, and I love his company.  He tries very hard to be a lap dog, but he's not particularly good at it.  He also enjoys getting drinks from the tub faucet, which is charming.  He almost always wags his tail, and he puts himself in his cage when he thinks we're mad at him.  He has whiskers JUST long enough, and his fur is so soft.  He naps by me.  He licks my face.  He's a good dog.

I love my husband, too, but I don't want to tell you everything about him because he wouldn't like that, and I'm not particularly mushy about him except to myself.  He makes me laugh all the time, laugh in the sort of way that is explosive or a "burst laugh" as he calls it.  I think this laugh is embarrassing, but he says he likes it.  Nobody else makes me consistently laugh like he does.  Sometimes I laugh really hard at things he says to me when it's just us, but get embarrassed when he says the same things to other people, but he never cares.  Nobody else is willing to be so silly and crazy with me.  Sometimes, I'll say something I think is incredibly outlandish, and he will, without any hesitation, top what I just said, easily.  It drives me crazy, but it also impresses me--his wit is quick.  (Except that I never win our bizarro what-if situations...it's a regular game we play.)  He's good at making dinner for us, but bad at cleaning it up.  He likes dumb shows on TV, but some good ones, too.  He likes to talk about moving to Nevada because he knows it bugs me.  He's my biggest supporter and compliments me a lot about things like my outfits or my hairdo.  He loves our dog and tries to teach him new tricks all the time.  Ok, yep, I just love him.  That was mushy.  But I didn't tell you everything about him, just a little.

Life is good in the sort of way that makes you want to take off your clothes and play with your brother and sister in a lake.  If you were a kid, that is.

Anyway, life is good and I am happy.  I have a lot of things going on right now, lots of changes and new ideas, but it's good.  So good that I just can't keep it to myself.



What's good for you lately?

Spring makes the world happy

Soon, the trees will be blooming.

We picked up our cruiser bikes last Friday night and since, I've been on five bike rides.  Today, Bagheera pulled me over with a big CRASHBANG because he had to go poop.

That little dog is strong.

Anyway, I didn't care so much except that my bike now makes weird noises, probably because of the basket and the way it's hooked on, but oh well.

The next-door neighbors were out back when I went to unlock my bike before we left.  Bagheera went to visit them and generally put his paws on them while wagging his tail so hard his entire back half swayed from side to side.  She (the neighbor) said (after I told her it might be an interesting ride with a leashed dog), good luck!  When I came back, she said, you made it!  And I said, yes, but he pulled me over once, and now my bike makes noises.

Isn't life so silly sometimes. 

Also, the neighbors are really very nice, and I don't know why, but I haven't really bothered before.  So maybe I'll make some new friends.  But they're neater than me, and I can tell because they were doing laundry today--I haven't done mine in over a week and my bedroom's messy.

Huh.

I just finished looking through over 1,000 of my grandpa's negatives which my uncle scanned last summer.  I think I'll share more because they make me so happy, and this is my blog, and I like posting that which makes me happy.

There's something in the way you laugh,

and it makes me feel like child.

I was watching videos of Jason Mraz on hulu the other day.  I don't know if I've ever told you before, but I love Jason Mraz, especially his early stuff from Java Joe's and his live recordings.  He may be odd in the way he presents himself or things he says, but I find myself coming back, again and again, to his music.  That must mean I'm supposed to listen, right?

Anyway, he was talking about touring in Europe and how it was a surprising process of finding people he was acquainted with or fans and asking them if they knew of venues where he could play, and how every stop was a different adventure.  I found myself envying him, that lifestyle, whatever you want to call it.  Sometimes I want my life to be a lot less traditional than a regular job and a stay-put lifestyle. 

Jason Mraz reminds me of 2005 when I discovered his live recordings and listened to that and near nothing else.  I traveled to New York for spring break and found more snow there than what I had left.  I spent time with my brother, and the whole trip planted a deep love for the frozen gorges of Ithaca within me. 

I miss times like those, my only worries about getting papers written and readings done, about passing classes and getting to the next year of college and new experiences. 

I don't ever want to feel like my life is stagnant, you know?  I often wonder how I'm going to fit all these things I want to do in my life, like traveling and family and a job... oh dear, a job.  Most of all, I want to travel.  A lot more. 

I haven't written a lot lately because I just haven't known what to say, really.  Not that things are particularly good or bad, but because life just is right now.  It's just what it is--normal--not great, not bad.  Sometimes I get tired of not being in school--I guess that's what being in school for most of my life does.  Anyway, I've gone on a lot of walks lately and though it's 20-or-so degrees out, it feels good because the sun's out.  I forget how important feeling sun on my skin is after winter.

To finish things up, I want to share my favorite things as of late:

1.  Paul McCartney's live version of "Blackbird."  I know you already know I love the Beatles, but I saw him singing it on TV one morning a couple weeks ago and it was just perfect.  It was exactly what I needed.  After this winter, it helps to have Paul take my  sunken eyes and learn to see.

2.  I've forgotten that it's not normal to have a black lab with blue eyes.  I see brown-eyed dogs with black bodies and I become sort of puzzled.  My little dog was sick yesterday, but I think he's much better today and I'm so glad.  Though his shedding is out of control right now, I needed a little reminder that it's nice to have him around, fur and all.

3.  My Life as Liz.  Have you guys seen this show?  I don't know why I love it so much, but it reminds me of high school.  Also, I haven't told you, but hipsters kind of freak me out.  So, I alternate between loving Liz and wondering if she'll get a good hair-washing in... it's a weird quirk, I know.

4.  I'm really, really trying to find a way to visit the beach sooner rather than later.  I don't even really know why I love it so much, I just do. 

5.  My hair's getting longer. 

6.  It's almost time to pull my cruiser out, and I'm secretly wondering if I can fit my dog in its basket.  (Probably not.)  (I don't think I'd be able to steer with him in there... he's a little... big.)

7.  I changed my header.  I like doing that sort of thing more than I should admit.

8.  I have about a bajillion choices to make here soon, and I'm actually kind of excited about it. 

And that is all for today.  Good day.

Good news!

This little booger turns one TODAY!

He started celebrating early yesterday, apparently, by chewing a huge hole through the only handmade quilt we have, which we got from my mother-in-law upon the occasion of our marriage. 

Yep.  I'm thrilled.

Nonetheless, I still love birthdays (and, I guess, this dog).  Birthdays just feel like special days, so perhaps I'll find something fun for us to do tonight. 

OH!  And I met his sister yesterday.  She has one brown eye and one blue eye, and she's smaller than he is... but it was clear they were the same mix and that they most likely remember each other. 

Anyway, happy birthday to our Bags.  He drives me nuts but I'm so glad we have him.

News...

I have a new friend.

He makes me very happy, mostly because he has such joy for life. He doesn't care too much about personal space, but only if you invite him into your personal space. He likes to snuggle me and roll around in the snow. He's happy a lot. He checks on me and my husband when I get ready in the morning... back and forth, one to the other. He likes to be a part of the action. He's not afraid of people or other dogs. He comes over when I call him, and holds still when he's photographed.

Ok, so I already love him. He's a very good boy.

And his name is Bagheera.

He is very pleased to meet you.