Twenty Things I Am Doing While Not Writing a Blog Post

1. Helping Angel with a semester-long research project
2. Lots of yoga
3. Making chocolate sauce and then dipping fruit in it
4. Revising a paper that I've rewritten twice already and just can't get right
5. Watching Dr. Drew on Celebrity Rehab
6. Rubbing Pupzilla's belly
7. Answering student emails in an attempt to clear up their confusion over the assignment
8. Reading other people's blog posts
9. Giving presentations
10. Snuggling b
11. Not cleaning my house
12. Reading dissertation proposals
13. Watching b's videos of his paddling trip
14. Worshipping The Brute
15. Not taking any pictures
16. Writing letters of recommendation
17. Hosting book clubs where no one read the book
18. Going to the theatre
19. Trail running
20. Wishing I was writing a blog post

Ssssh!

While b's Away

I am busy trying to get a ton of work done before I leave to meet him.  I spend most of my time sitting at my desk, my kitchen table, my couch, and in my bed, surrounded by papers and my laptop.  The Brute finds any surface that has my papers on them; passes out; and knocks everything to the floor.

If I am on the couch, Pupzilla sleeps next to me.  Sometimes her head is in my lap.

Smudge mostly stays on the kitchen table sleeping. Sometimes she is stalking the birds that tease her from the bushes. Sometimes she comes to visit me on the couch.  But The Brute doesn't like that and chases her off. (He's not called The Brute for nothing)

I bought myself roses to keep me happy.  I like them on my nightstand.

RBOC: Procrastination Edition

• I have had several serious posts in my head all week but no time to write them.  Today I seem to be doing everything possible to avoid grading the second half of a stack of student papers.  The result is an RBOC post.
• Last night I heard both sad and bad news for other people.  There is nothing I can do about the news except listen.
• The Brute has taken to peeing in Pupzilla's food bowl.  Yesterday he did it while her leftover breakfast still in it.  
• This afternoon I met with my latest doula-mom and her husband.  They are very cute and sweet and made me an incredibly delicious lunch with fresh baked buns and pie!
• I have plans for this to be the Summer of Yoga.  I cannot wait for the semester to end.
• I have developed a "bad attitude" towards work.  The trip to Emerald City did wonders for my mood but my attitude hasn't budged a bit from "evil."
• We have a faculty meeting this week and I'm going to try my best to keep my mouth shut and my evil attitude tucked safely inside.
• b was away doing a training this weekend.  The training happened to be in the same city that Angel lives in, so they met for dinner tonight.  I wish I was there.
• Smudge has taken up residence under the covers on my side of the bed.  Sleeping with a nose full of cat hair is no fun indeed.
• After days of thunderstorms, some spring weather showed up this afternoon.  I spent it sitting on my back patio looking up birthing videos (yeah, I know how to have fun).  
• As nice as it is in my backyard, I really enjoy the evening sun at the front of the house. 

Looking in the kitchen window

Looking out the kitchen window

Rat Girl

In my sixth grade class we had a science center.  It was a corner of the room where we had several cages of rodents.  One cage had female white rats and another cage had male white rats. It seems a male was mistakenly left in the female cage and pretty soon we had baby rats.

I was not very popular in the sixth grade.  My body was changing faster than the other girls and quite frankly it confused us all.  I dressed and acted in the hopes that I wouldn't be noticed.  I was partial to men's flannel shirts over a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. I had long bangs that were permanently covering my eyes.

I spent a lot of time in the science center, cleaning out the rat cages.  The males got really big and scary looking and not many people were willing to pick them up and take them out of the cage to clean it.  When the rat pups were born I took care of them.  One of them was especially bright and curious and I took to walking around with her in my pocket or on my shoulder.  I named her Rachel.

The teacher was ok with this and the other students already thought I was weird.  It was just another reason to stay away from me, so it worked out well for everyone.

At the end of the year I took Rachel home.  I kept her in a cage in a large closet in my bedroom. Unbeknownst to me (or my mother) she was pregnant and soon I had a litter of rat pups in my closet.  They didn't all make it but I ended up with Margaret and Peter.  By then I knew enough to give Peter his own cage before any trouble started.

I was crushed when Rachel died and, not to shortly after, Margaret.  Rats don't live very long lives but Peter held on for a while.

Many many years later we got Angel a pet rat.  We named her Penelope but b started calling her "Ratty" and that stuck.  Ratty lived in Angel's bedroom closet but he never really gave her much attention.  After a while I felt bad for her.  Rats are very social creatures.  We gave her to my nephews, who had sisters from her litter.  She lived a good long life with my sister's family.

b and I have been in and out of pet stores the last couple of days.  Pupzilla got a new bed, two new bones, and some bacon-flavored treats.   I've also been on an obsessive search for the perfect cat food.  Yesterday I was amazed that the Doggie Treat Bar had cookies.  Really the entire display was set up to look like a candy counter.  I find this very disturbing.  Far more disturbing than having rats as pets.

Today we saw these beauties.

I'll admit I was tempted but the animals I have drive me crazy enough.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: Animal Edition

We have three pets living in the House of Dirt and Rocks.

The Good (She really is the sweetest pup ever)

The Bad (He can be evil but I love him)

And The Ugly (Actually she's very cute but she is an ugly pet to own)

I write frequently about the first two but have never really described TOC before. TOC (not her real name) stands for The Other Cat. Its not a good pseudonym for her. The other day I told b her name was Smudgy McDoodle, or Smudge. That seems more fitting. [All of our animals have multiple nicknames. Pupzilla is also Pupsicle, Puppy Chulu, and Maximus Fartimus, just to name a few.]

We have a love/hate relationship with TOC/Smudge. Most of the time it is closer to hate than to love. I know that sounds horrible but the truth is you don't always like every family member you have but like them or not, they are still family. You stand by them and you love them even if most of the time you wish they would just disappear.

Smudge is odd. She stares at walls. She will stare at the door without saying a word until someone notices that she wants to go out. That's not really the part we dislike however. I think the part that gets me the most is the amount that she vomits. There isn't anything physically wrong with her. She's been doing it since she was a kitten (she's 10 years old) and several doctors have checked her out. She may be bulimic as she often does it after gorging herself (and she's never weighed more than 6 1/2 lbs). When I say vomit, I really mean projectile spewing. Luckily it starts out fairly loud so about half the time we can catch her at it before she throws up on something valuable. A few weeks ago she threw up on my pillow while I was sleeping. Unfortunately I wasn't fast enough that time.

As small as she is, she's a fierce fighter. This ability only comes out when humans (like vets) are trying to do something she doesn't like. Around other animals she's quite the chicken. Last month the doctor tried to give her a pill. It took her and the technician several attempts. They used a long pill inserter, a towel, and a syringe filled with water and the doctor still walked away with several deep scratches.

The second thing that bothers me is her need to climb the clothes in my closet (there is no door so I can't keep her out). She has really sharp claws and particularly likes leather. She climbs leather jackets and silk shirts and scratches at my boots. She doesn't seem to possess the ability to completely velvet her claws. She does like affection. In fact she likes a lot of it and if you don't give it to her or if you stop after several minutes, she reminds you of her desire by extending her claw into your arm. Of course if you continue petting her and she likes it too much, she bites you.

She likes people but can't stand any other animal on the planet. The feeling is quite mutual and we often need to rescue her from the neighbors' cats when she's outside. When she's inside we have to rescue her from The Brute. Pupzilla no longer cares about her one way or the other but she still hisses and claws at her whenever she gets too close. To get away from the other animals she sometimes climbs into the kitchen cabinets. We try to catproof as many as possible but some are just not set up for locking. I cannot begin to describe the number of glassware she has broken as she walks her way around the shelves.

She is a big fan of the "Make The Bed" game and manages to be in the room every morning when this event happens. Sometimes I play along.

She is a climber and it is one of the few things b respects about her. She used to climb on top of the doors constantly when she was a kitten.

She still does it occasionally. It is her best trick.

Reason #569...

...why I love my husband.

Sometimes when I'm at work and he's not he sends me emails. I got this earlier in the week in the midst of my grant frenzy. The subject heading was:

We are both thinking of you

A View From My Desk

Belly-Up 1

Belly-Up 2

What It Takes To Go On Vacation

My life the past few days:

• finished data collection (yay! - just 2 short of my original goal but passed the minimum required)
• completed Annual Review Meeting
• passed student at proposal defense (she did an amazing job - another yay!)
• conference called w/ A-girl and Sparkle
• shopped and cooked so Angel has food to eat while I'm away
• filled prescription for migraine medicine--just in case
• took Pupzilla and TOC to the vet (TOC has fungal infection and will need 40 days of meds; Pupzilla needed a "pre-geriatric screening")
• wrote Angel a to do list on kitchen blackboard so life continues while I'm away
• packed for 10 days of beach camping and city life
• weighed bag to make sure it isn't over 50 lbs (2 bags under 50 lbs is cheaper than 1 bag over - don't you love flying these days?)
• provided feedback to student's dissertation grant application
• organized lit review articles for manuscript--so I can hopefully pick it back up when vacation is over
• returned all emails
• made yummy snack for 6 hour flight that will charge me for inedible food

Can't believe I got it all done but it seems I did and I'm leaving for the airport in a few minutes. Tonight I'll be snuggling my sweetie and tomorrow we'll hit the road and head on down the coast.

I'll be traveling with all electronics, so if internet is available I may pop in to say hi and give updates.

RBOC: Weekend Edition

• Pupzilla has a new bone and The Brute has a new toy that squeaks.
• I'm playing with the new Genius playlist feature on I-tunes. I'm a playlistin' fool but have been sticking with a lazy shuffle as of late. This feels like a smart shuffle option.
• I just made roasted red peppers in a balsamic vinaigrette.
• Last nite b and I went to a cabaret version of Dracula. They did a great job with it but I think the story is just too big for the venue.
• During Friday nite's class my sensei decided it was "let's mess with Brigindo's head" day. He has me doing mirror-images of my forms and threatening that doing them backwards comes next. Its amazing how wrong it feels to do automatic movements on the opposite side. Its like writing with your left-hand when you're right-handed only with your whole body. Funny thing is, if you close your eyes it becomes easier.
• I believe I drank myself off my diet this weekend.
• I'm in class prepping hell--spending way to much time and getting nowhere.

Potential Pets

Here in the House of Dirt and Rocks we spend a lot of time discussing possible future pets (once Pupzilla and the cats have "gone to college"). Below are some of the candidates:

Boy and b are often asking for something along these lines.



I think b would really prefer one of these



Boy and I have always wanted one of these but b says they're just big stupid dogs



b really wants one of these but I say no



Actually b and I know what we really want, we just can't decide what type.

These



or these

RBOC: Update

• So not too much of interest has been happening here in the House of Dirt and Rocks. I'm afraid this state of affairs is likely to get worse with the coming weeks. Boy is visiting his dad and b will be leaving shortly for Alaska. That leaves yours truly home alone to obsess over her work.
• So that's what I've been doing--working on several analyses and research ideas (oh and still reading too many blogs and trying to comment - but that will end shortly). I wish I could describe some of the research I'm working on because (a) they are on really interesting and relevant topics, (b) I've had some really cool and original ideas that I'm dying to talk about, and (c) it's pretty much all I'm thinking about these days so it's hard to blog about anything else.
• Hence the RBOC post.
• I'm not particularly good at the RBOC post since the items tend not to be random but rather connected.
• I use it more as an inferior grammatical system.
• One of my favoritest colleague/friend dropped by to see me this afternoon. We went for coffee, chatted about our kids and gossiped about our department.
• Good news: my monitor and printer came in and they rock! (well I hooked up the monitor and it rocks, the printer is still sitting in the box but trust me it will rock)
• Bad news: I'm not going to be able to keep my power office. I'm just awaiting the official notification and will probably spend some time next week moving.
• It is too hot for Pupzilla and even TOC is staying inside the house today. Victoria, poor thing, is still out on the front stoop.
• Yesterday was b's birthday and we had a lovely dinner out. Tonight we are planning to go see what should prove to be a really bad movie.

Pizza...Or How I Spend Spring Break

I love to bake (much more than I love to cook) and baking bread is probably my favorite. Since it's Spring Break this week I figured I had time for "Make Your Own Pizza" night. The name is a misnomer as I do most of the making. B assembles at the end and Boy prefers me to do everything.


The Ingredients


The Dough

My favorite part of baking bread (or any yeast product) is the kneading. I just don't get the point of bread machines. To be able to feel the dough come alive in your hand is the most exciting part of the process. Ok, maybe eating it--actually I don't know which I like more.


One-handed Kneading (b wasn't home so other hand was taking the picture)


Ready to Rise

As I wait for the dough to rise I make the sauce:



I also do some writing on the "Grant That Just Doesn't Want To Be Written."

It seems The Brute:



and Pupzilla:



had other pastimes in mind.


Dough Risen

At this point I separate the dough into 3 pieces for our individual pizzas, wrap them, and put them in the 'fridge and I'm off to the dojo.



Hours later I return to find b home with our brand-spanking new tent set-up in the backyard (sorry no pics yet). We are very excited.

Back inside for cocktails and the forming of the pizzas:



At the end b and I enjoy the fruits of my labor:


(photo courtesy of b)


Boy, who is out for his first day of work at his 2nd job, does not make it home in time for dinner. I make him a calzone (his usual preference):



which he eats when he gets home at 10:30.

b and I stay up to watch "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."