We'll Sarbanes your Oxley

Well, it hit the fan today. Hubby was "let go" and has two weeks left at his job. He's pissed, but holding up rather well considering. We aren't too worried at this point.

It's a good thing the headhunters still call to check in with him.
Watch out for the Legion of Accounting. We'll Sarbanes your Oxley.

In the mean time, what's a guy to do? Take tomorrow off with his wife and scream his head off at Great Adventure! Our local fav radio station, wmmr, is having a scavenger hunt at the amusement park. Preston & Steve are inherently evil, so it is sure to be a good time. I can't ride many of the rides without fear of puking up my internal organs, but it will be good for him to let go a bit. We haven't done anything like this since I took him back for my high school reunion and I took him to Kennywood.

Sticks and Twisted

Mont Co Sit n Knit. Getting to know everyone and having a good time. I like that they seem as sick and twisted as I am and maybe they even hear a few of the voices too. It is nice to know that others can be as obsessive as I can be - even more so in all actuality.

Came home to discover a gorgeous full moon and that my husband was working late - again. Poor guy can't seem to get a break - at least he's getting better pay and the company was just bought out, so he'll have a job for a while. Good thing I have puppies and knitting.

I got those doggy vests done - I am so glad! It was embarrassing that it took so long to do something that really only took a couple of hours. Now I must remember to actually mail them!

I wanted to take the dogs on a day hike or two this week, but it's gonna be really hot. So tomorrow is likely to be pamper the Mommy day - haircut, nails, toes and yoga. If I wake up early like I did today, maybe I will venture forth before it gets evilly hot and let the puppies stay cool here at home. Or just go to the air conditioned gym. Still beats workin.

Got to start being more vigilant on the working out & not eating thing. I think I've gained back almost 10 pounds and I am not happy. Time to get out the food journal again.

Seeing double

Here's Mommy with that flashing thing again.

Betcha can't guess who's Shiloh & who's Misty

What I did on my summer vacation

Yesterday was get the really hard stuff done day. I planted the beginnings of the garden - I have to wait til payday to get the rest of what I need to finish, but it's looking good so far. Tomatoes (3 kinds) sweet peppers (2 kinds), butter nut squash, Japanese eggplant, Italian parsley, basil, lavender, thyme, oregano. The lavender and perennial herbs I am going to use in a plan to disguise the small mound of shale from the dry well adventure. I'm going to dig out holes in the mound and fill them with good soil - like containers, and plant the herbs there. Maybe add a water feature. The thyme I am hoping will creep & cover the mound.
After the garden, I cut the grass - completely shocking Bill. Call it an anniversary present. I just wanted the yard to look good. The kids romped and turned their paws green. I then finally got the huge amount of laundry under control.
Today is get my study in order and get crafty day. My study tends to be used as a storage place and now needs some order. Then I can finally get the doggy donation vests I promised someone 2 months ago finished. My knitting group meets tonight too.
After getting all of this responsible stuff done, I am hoping the rest of the week can be utter relaxation, working out, and maybe a few doggy hiking trips.
Beats going to work.

Disapproving Husky

I disapprove of those who would disturb my beauty sleep

Jake update 2

As you can see, Jake is doing fabulously in his new home. Daddy Ken says he's eating and romping and being his awesome self. Jake even goes jogging 2 to 3 times per week. I love a happy story! Isn't he beawootiful?

Tagged Again

We've been tagged again by Sitka & Tia, but a different sort of tag this time! Here is what you do. First, you list 7 interesting things about yourself and you tag some more friends. Since there are more of us that just Guinness and Shiloh, we're gonna cheat and take turns.

Guinness: I love my FREEBEE! I live to play Freebee. They have tried to replace my freebee, but I ain't fallin for it!

Shiloh: I love the red bag of travel. When the red bag of travel comes out of the pantry, that means I'm going someplace fun!

Guinness: I like the bag too cuz it means these silly huskies are gonna leave in peace for a while.

Shiloh: I love doggie school! I get to meet my friends and mooch for treats

Guinness: I will not show my belly! I am a lady and ladies don't do that.

Shiloh: I am very shy but if I like you, you can scratch my belly.

Misty: Scratch my belly!!! Oh boy! Can I kiss you??? Oh, pa-leeze, I have to kiss you!

All doggies: love the mommy & daddy and make sure they wake up to nudges and kisses and make sure they have constant contact with us or our dog hair.

Dessie: I love Bill, my doggies, crafting, fitness & yoga, and being silly. I was an actor who turned to children's librarianship as a way to get paid for acting and being silly. Dessie & Bill are also semi retired living history reinactors.

We want Tia to know that we used to have a kitty at our house too. We miss her a lot, but we do not miss the litter box ;) Guinness does not miss Scotty batting her tail or bopping her on the head.

Bill: loves Dessie, his doggies, numbers, and really bad movies that include chicks with guns.

Jake Update

A note from Jake's new daddy, Ken
Hello Denise,
Good times so far Jake is settling in just fine, in his first 48hrs he has:
1) Claimed the back yard as supreme ruler, all small fuzzies have been reminded of their place in the animal hierarchy
2) Proven his dominance of all dogs in the immediate yards including a young obnoxious upstart Lab.
3) Declared the squishy lounge chair in the living room as his throne so he can view the front yard.
4) Anyone caught sitting in his majesty's "throne" will be treated like a seat cushion.
Overall he is doing great and so far it has been the easiest transition I've ever experienced, he adapted very quickly, a little clingy (sp) and whiny at times but I'm attributing this behavior to stress.
He is eating, but is picky, I've had some luck using organic peanut butter to entice him eating the dry food and snacks, but he continues to be more interested in what is coming out of the fridge. Wed. night I'm going to try the boiled chicken routine and see how things progress.
As for exercise both Monday and Tues nights he has joined me for 45-60min jog/walks and he is sleeping soundly through the night on his "throne"
This weekend I will try to send some pics.
Take care and thanks for the generous gifts and assistance.
Ken

Doggy School

Misty was a hit at doggy school. Even though it was her first time, she's a very quick learner. Bill and I have a routine for doggy school. I leave work and get home to feed the dogs and let them out. Then I carefully get 2 huskies into my car and meet Bill at the Variety Club were the classes are held. Bill's job, meantime, is to stop at a local place to pickup dinner and we meet up at school. He works with the beginner dog while Shiloh and I hang & greet folks. Then Bill can go home early with one dog while Shiloh and I work at the advanced class. Our trainer, Kathy Manser, is an awesome lady who lets us bring our foster dogs to classes for free. Shiloh really amazed her with his willingness to come out of his shell and is in his 4th or 5th class now. Kathy really liked Jake and tried to talk us into keeping him. She's now trying to talk us into keeping Misty! Misty didn't heel so quickly (yea, she's part husky after all!), but the other commands were pretty easy for her. I'm not looking forward to summer break, though. Bill and I aren't very good about working the dogs outside of class - we need the class more than the dogs do!

Teflon Misty

My poor girl cannot seem to stick anywhere. The kisser is back, Teflon Misty. Her adoption did not work out and we had to go get her back. But then, Jake was here then and Bill says no more than 3 dogs - yea, he's crazy, I know. Anyway, so, she went to another foster home but did not get along with their alpha female. Now that we had space again, back she comes. Misty seems to be right at home very quickly, but I can only imagine what she's thinking in her head. My face has already been washed several times by her kisses. If you look up the previous post about her, you'll see what I mean. She's sweetie and I was worried about her with all she's been through. She's also one of our more popular dogs, so we'll find the right place for her soon, I know. But she'll be going to doggy school tonight! Whahahahahah!! We'll really confuse them. All of these dogs in and out - most of them white - you just can't keep them straight.

Jake finds his fur-ever home

Here is Jake with his brand new daddy, Ken, filling out all of the official paperwork to make them a furry family. We miss him already, but we know that this means we have room for another who needs our help. As you can see, Jake is taking all of this in stride. He knows that foster mommy is sending him off with his good food and favorite cookies, so all will be just fine. Jake and Ken seem to be two laid back kind of guys, just hangin and chillin. He'll even have a koi pond to play in at his new house! Yummy, Jake loves fish!

The Sole Eater

Look at him - he looks all innocent, doesn't he? So content and easy going, not a care in the world. By looking at him, you'd never know that he's really the Sole Eater!

Those of you who know me, know that I am a shoe whore. I love my shoes. I have many pairs of shoes. Some shoes are just special. Some shoes have mojo - good things happen when you wear them. They make you look good and in turn that makes you feel good. You fellow shoe whores also know the love of a pair of shoes that are so very comfortable that you will keep them around until they are falling apart - they are like old friends, reliable and always there for you.

When I got home from work last night, I let the dogs out, they romped and played with all of their exuberance. they ate their dinner and I went upstairs to get ready for yoga class. There it was, on my bed, the horror! I can scarcely think back upon it now. Bits and pieces of my favorite summer sandals. Comfortable and cool, yet nice enough to wear to work. Basic black, so they go with everything. Shredded and chewed beyond recognition. It's other half, sitting on the floor, so sad and in shock, wondering if it would be next to be tortured. Worse still, knowing that with the demise of it's beloved partner, that the trash bin would be its next and final journey.

I knew who was responsible. There could be only one culprit. I turned to look at those eyes and saw no remorse, no guilt, only longing to play and romp more in the yard.

The eyes are the windows to the soul. When General had done something bad, his big, brown eyes had held all of the guilt of the entire world. Guinness has what I describe as "old soul" eyes. She looks to me as if she has seen it all. Husky blue eyes are different, however. These icy blue orbs look as if they could stare right through your soul and freeze it. Once in a while there is a look of indifference, mild amusement, or quiet astonishment at how incredibly stupid something or someone is. A "don't look at me" or " You've got to be kidding" expression.

These eyes have learned to work magic. When attached to a slight head tilt, they can make even the hardest heart soften and dole out treats. Add a delicate paw lift for more emphasis and multiple treats appear.

However, I am not fooled. I know what lurks behind that icy stare - it's the Sole Eater! Destroyer of shoes and mojo! I look at those eyes and say "did you do this? Did YOU do this?!" Those lite blue eyes and that husky smile look back and say, "Who? Me? Let's play! Woo, woo!"

And, like many other mommies in the world, I cannot stay angry for long. He missed me and this is his way of saying that. And I know, deep down in my heart that this is a cry for snuggles and pets, and I can look forward to a time in the near future when another pair of soles will call to me to take them home.

Froggin at Sit-n-Knit

They keep saying they might scare me off , but I did return for the second time to Sit-N-Knit last night and had lots of fun. It's really nice to get to know new people who let their hair down and just have fun with heach other. I tell them that they don't know me well enough yet and I just might scare them before they can scare me.

Frogging is the process in which you rip out part, or all, of your knitting project. I ended up taking apart the entire yoga sweater I had ben working on. It just had way too many humility spots and one major eff-up that just looked bad. I will either start over or try something else because I love the yarn. I have at least 3 ohers I am working on currently, so we'll see what I pick up next. Have to get the Harry Potter Scarf done before the new book release so we can raffle it off at the program!

Tummy Tagged!

Echo has tummy tagged us! So we have to post our tummy pictures again. Guinness, however, is too much of a lady and will never, ever show her tummy. She leaves all of that sillyness to us huskies.
However, somehow her rear end is okay - silly puppies!

What's in a name?

Okay, so we changed the name of the blog - sorry to all of you linkers out there. This better reflects our whole family, instead of just Mommy Dessie. The old name was a hangover from our medieval reinactment days. It means "Inn of the Shrew." Stoutino is the combination of Stout & Pulgino, for you new comers - my sister made it up for us before we got married and we liked it, so we jokingly used it a lot. Some people actually thought we changed our name completely!

We still have open arms for everyone who needs shelter, doggy or not. We'll leave the light on for you! Bring a lint brush!

Celtic Music Rocks!

Spent the day with good friends and listening to awesome Celtic music. Phoenixville Celtic Street Fair was a very good Time and the day ended with a concert from one of our favorite bands, Enter the Haggis. Nothing like a day of sunshine, music and men in kilts!

Fitness is a lifestyle

So, about 3 or so years ago, I joined my local gym - it was Bill's idea for us to join really. It had been many, many years since I had been a fitness person and boy was it showing. I worked out regularly back in college (hey, the gym was FREE there!), danced, performed and walked everywhere then.

Then I became a working person who sat a lot and got really lazy, frankly. Over the years I had gained like 40 pounds . I had never had to be concerned about my weight until I quit smoking (twice) and hit my 30's. So, I started going to the gym and I rekindled my love for working out. Heck, it was ?Bill's idea and I was the one going regularly. In about a year's time, working out at least 3 times per week and a plan that included the miracle diet called portion control and common sense, I lost 35 pounds! Yea!

Well, I've been seeing myself get a little lazy again lately. Not going to the gym quite as often - lucky if I get there once or twice a week, portions are creeping up too. I'm lucky to still not have gained weight back - it regularly fluctuates within a five pound range, though my original goal was to get by body fat percentage much lower and loose five to 10 more pounds.

I also started working out for another reason - my anxiety and panic attacks. I've apparently had these since I was at least in my teens, if not younger. But after the death of my parents and my sister, they really started kicking in. Money issues seem to be my triggers. Counselors told me that when things get really bad, I should get out and MOVE. Walk & move until I am too tired to freak out. I know that when I miss work outs, I seem to feel more anxious. If I do not take the time to take care of my body, I pay for it in more than one way.

So, tonight, instead of using the excuses, I made myself work out at home and feel less guilty about sitting here to type now. If you need a motivating work out buddy, here I am.

Heh, if you look below, I'm workin out at work! nope, gotta get my ass to the gym.

The things that I'll do for children

There are days when I think that maybe my staff don't worry about getting a good evaluation!

It's week 2 of Fitness Explorers. I named this week, "Under the Big Top." We moved like circus animals and the parachute was the circus tent. We had loads of fun, even tho we had no AC and it was really warm. This is me, trying to kick my back legs like a horse. If you don't get silly and do the stuff that you're asking the kids to do, well, they won't do it either.

This parachute is really cool. It's made to look like a spider's web and comes with little stuffed "bugs" to catch. But first we did traditional parachute activities.

Next week is "Yogakids." I am sure that my photographer will be better behaved then! humph!

Knitting

While doing a web search, I have discovered the merging of my two latest obessions. When I get out my knitting bag, Jake thinks it's time to snuggle - esp if I am working on the black crocheted skirt. It will not be completely mine unless there are some beautiful white hairs embedded into the fibers. The ecru yoga sweater project doens't seem to get the same responce somehow. The yellow & black Harry Potter "Hufflepuff" house scarf seems to get mild interest. All of the dogs know that it's the best time to ask for outs, cuz mom is all tied up and cannot ignore the nudging for very long.

Knitting, crocheting, embroidery have all taught me some patience. Something my mother would be quite proud of. I get my impatience gene from her it seems, along with "librarian spread." Now that the weather is getting nicer, I ought to put down the knitting occasionally and work on the spread a bit more often. I'm getting lazy about the gym.

Trying

This blogging thing is hard! I need a nap

Good Causes

Today, Bill & I dug out our old medieval clothes to help some old friends and a great cause. Royer Greaves School for the Blind in Paoli. The SCA helps out by putting on a Renn Faire as the annual fundraiser. Bill was the kids games master and I was "Lady Katerina, who knows all and sees your future!" It was a fun day, sunny and very windy - it made it pretty cold. I hope they made good money for the school.

If we had not been at the Faire, we would have been Hoofin with the Huskies at the Walk for Paws, benifitting the Chester County SPCA. They invite dog rescue groups to have space.

Hmmm, doggies or children....it's so hard to choose! We even have a few sight impaired huskies in rescue right now!

I guess the lesson here is help when you can, how you can - there is always someone who needs your love and support.

Playin outside

Puppies gettin silly in the yard on a pretty spring day

What a great day!

Just to prove that there is more to me than my dogs!
Yesterday was one of the very best days! We had our first series of "Fitness Explorers" programs for 2-3 year olds. What a blast. Even in the very warm library, everyone had fun. We actually did the rogram 3 times, once for a day care and twice for the public - one morning and one afternoon session. It was the more sedate of the plans for the 4 week session, just so I could see how things would go. Everyone had a good time and we got loads of positive feedback from the parents.

Later in the afternoon, I wrapped up a very positive project with a graduating graphic arts student at Cabrini College. Jeff was great to work with and did professional level logo work for the youth services department and the library. I also had an opportunity to see more of his work on display and this young man will definately go far.

The evening brought me to meet a new group of really cool and enthusiastic people. MontcoSitnKnit rocks! They meet every other week at a local restaurant, they talk, knit, eat, and just enjoy life. I can tell that I am going to have fun learning about knitting from them.
I am greatful for days like these.