More sappy

I had a post all planned about some of the things I'm excited about at the Bridge, but I'll save that for later.

Instead, I'll say that I just finished seeing this on Oprah, and cried watching TV for the second time this week.

I am so sappy

I'm sitting here watching Sunday night's episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and getting choked up.

Thrift stores

I introduced Dad to thrift stores today. Though, really, the concept is a fairly new one for me. I think there's a thrift store in Frederick, and I even dropped off stuff there once, but I didn't drive and I couldn't tell you how to get there again. Luckily, there are several really nice ones nearby.

I got more than he did, though I think he spent a bit more. I got a couple still new gifts for this year, a few Christmas decorations (I couldn't help myself), and a really framed tree that I'm going to use to create a family tree gift for either my mom or my grandma.

Worth quoting

My dad and brother arrived for a visit late last night (and by late I mean, 2 am). Already they've said some of the weirdest things, both to Dakota.

Jon: Dakota looks like an animal, not a dog.
(I'm not sure what he thinks a dog is.)

Dad: Dakota, you've grown into quite a woman.

On the agenda for tomorrow - basic science lessons.

Random bits and pieces

Just a few random thoughts on this Sunday night:

(1) Its funny to me how differently snow is perceived here compared to Frederick, though Frederick is not that far away. It snowed last night, such a small amount that no one in Frederick would really even take notice, but people just get more nervous down here. I heard a rumor that there was a run on bananas.

(2) I've been focusing on drinking more water, and as part of that, having been using a Google gadget to make sure I drink 8 cups of water per day. The trackers resets at midnight, and if you know me, you know that I'm usually up at least that late, which means that I've found myself guzzling water at 11:45pm the last few nights. I'm also peeing more than I ever have in my life.

Lessons learned

If you live in an old house, there may come a time when you hear interesting noises coming from the garage, the attic, or the crawl space beneath your house. As I have recently found myself in this situation, let me offer the following suggestions on how to handle this. Feel free to follow any or all of those listed.

1. Assume that these are just "old house noises" and mean absolutely nothing (this is also known as denial).
2. Call your friend for help in dealing with this, because although you are "fairly independent" and "not particularly girly when it comes to bugs and such", you cannot deal with any critter that could actually be making these noises.
3. Buy mouse traps, spend ten minutes figuring out how to set them, then set them in the kitchen and carry them into the garage.
4. Notice your dog is staring intently at the ceiling, decide that you should set traps in the attic, and once again, set the traps in the kitchen and carry them into the garage and up the ladder into the attic.
5. Have a weird dream about your friend telling you to just throw your dog up the ladder into the attic to deal with whatever it is.
   
6. Have even weirder friends who find humor in odd mental pictures of you sitting in your attic with a coonskin cap and a rifle.
7. Decide the noises are too loud to just be a mouse and spend way too much on a cage trap for a squirrel.
8. Actually go up into your attic with a flashlight and thoroughly investigate every corner.
9. Close the window that has most likely been open since the last time anyone was really up in the attic.
   

I recommend that last one.

Well said

I like this quote:

"If you would not be forgotten as you are dead and rotten,
Either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing."
-Benjamin Franklin

Here and there

You know those days when it just feels like there is so much to do, that you'd rather just sit and watch TV and not do any of it? This is what it feels like here - everywhere I look there's a reminder of something else I need to do. Christmas gifts to be put away (and, um, Christmas decorations), papers to be filed, letters to be sent, dishes to be washed, dog hair to vacuum up...

And I know that if I would just start, instead of watching TV or playing on my computer, that it would all have been done by now.

Something that I've always been suspected, but discovered to be definitely true over the past year, is that the state of my house has a lot to with my mood and my attitude and my productivity. It doesn't have to be clean - there can be dog hair on the floors and nose smudges on the window (and let's face it, that's pretty always the case here), but if there are things lying around everywhere, I just don't want to do anything at all.

Birthday girl

Yesterday (Friday) was Harvey's 2nd birthday.


I wish I had a photo that really captured her personality. Someday I'll have a friend take photos of me with her, so I can capture the way she likes to lean up against me.

Still, though, I think this will always be my favorite photo of Harvey:

Ew, ew, ew

There's a mouse living in my garage and under the crawl space in my house. I figured this out when I got home New Year's Eve and let the dogs out, and found something had chewed through a trash bag I left in the garage. That's when I realized those weird noises I heard a few days ago weren't just old house noises after all.

So I called Robbie, because although I am fairly independent and not particularly girly when it comes to bugs and such, I just cannot handle a mouse. I can set the trap, and I can force myself to look from a good distance away to see if the trap caught anything. But I absolutely cannot dispose of it if the trap did catch anything. And I'm getting tired of making plenty of noise whenever I go into the garage to make sure that whatever it is has time to go back into hiding before I come get my laundry.

I set two traps last night, both of which were sprung without catching anything. Because of course it couldn't be a dumb mouse that decided to move in.

My dad says that it's okay, because a mouse doesn't eat much. I said that if its not paying rent, then it has to go. And then I asked him to please not tell Jacob that I was trying to kill Jerry.