Man I am severely lacking in meal planning inspiration with this latest food box. Got lots of fruit I can definitely work with, and stuff like onions, tomatoes, potatoes and carrots are always welcome. But... Celeriac? Radishes? *Really*? Bleah.

In other news, I have found an obedience class in NDG! Not only that but it's cheaper than the one that was further away. Next classes start in January, so hopefully we can get Sierra in. She is a good dog but she needs to work on focusing and walking on the leash. She will love classes though; she is so eager to learn things!

Tags: food, meal planning, sierra
i feel: tired

Ian spoke to the vet at the SPCA today who maintains that Sierra's shot is fine and that the other vet just has different standards, and also cautioned *against* vaccinating too soon/often. So it looks like we will go get the rest of Sierra's shots there just to avoid hassles. It's a long walk but she certainly has the energy for it, so meh.

Tags: sierra, vet

Well here is a pic of the freshly de-coned dog, anyway!

Tags: photo, sierra

How come it never goes smooth?

I took Sierra to get her stitches out today, at our local vet. That part was no problem - she was very good and lay on her back sweetly; didn't make a peep. However, having spoken to the vet tech on the desk, there appears to be a problem with her vaccinations. According to the sticker in her file she got her initial vaccine on September 16. According to the tech I spoke to, the booster needs to be administered no later than a month after that or it is basically null and you have to start over - this would have been October 16, before we had even seen her... Basically we need to know whether the date on the file is a mistake (could have written down 16/9/09 instead of 16/10/09, but it is in two places so doubtful), or whether maybe her vaccine was re-done while she was in foster care or at Le Refuge for her spay... Otherwise we are going to have to pay to get it done over, which obviously we are not thrilled over... Especially since we have the choice of paying for the exam before the shot at our local vet (that plus the shot is about 80 bucks) or renting a car to get her up to the SPCA vet (assuming they will even agree to do it for free). Ugh.

I sent an e-mail to our SPCA adoption counselor but I am most unimpressed.

Tags: money, sierra
i feel: annoyed

I took back the expensive food Sierra hates today, and got a slightly bigger bag of another kind for 12 dollars less. Between that and exchanging the too-big collar for a smaller size, I was able to buy a floppy duck toy for Sierra and still come away with a little more than $5 in credit!

The duck was an instant hit. I chose a toy without stuffing because of what elanya had mentioned about her dog destroying stuffed toys in instants - this one is supposed to hold up much longer (they say months, we shall see), and if she does wreck it, at least there won't be stuffing everywhere. She friggin' loves it. I haven't seen her so happy since we brought her home. If I squeak it with my foot and kick it a bit she will pounce on it, throw it up in the air, shake it, and generally do things she's not supposed to until her stitches are out. I let her play for a little while anyway before calming her down, and now she's flopped out in the hall next to it. So cute.

And we have our first doggy smile! :3



( Bonus pic of Sierra throttling the duck )

Tags: sierra
i feel: chipper

Because you need to see Cats Carrying Fish. It's apparently some kind of game show from Japan (of course!) where they see which cat can carry the largest fish.

(Sorry about the ad before the actual video, just mute it for those 20 seconds I guess.)

Tags: amusements, video
i feel: amused

All is going well with Sierra. She is a really chilled out dog for the most part, so far. I am sure she would *like* to play (not allowed until she gets her stitches out in a week) but she is not being annoying about it - mostly just lies around and naps unless I do something interesting like pick up her leash, or anything involving food. She was a bit resistant to the crate last night - whining mournfully and singing the sad song of the sea after we'd gone to bed - which I hope won't become a trend. Ian finally settled her by coming into the room, but just ignoring her... I dunno, I guess she wanted to know that we (or Ian anyway) was still here? She didn't fuss in it this morning after he went to work - or not that I heard anyway; I went back to sleep as I wasn't feeling so well.

We were a bit concerned that she wasn't pooping, but that seems to have resolved itself after a little bit of pumpkin puree. She is a lovely girl. I can't wait to be able to take her on proper walks instead of just around the block. I'm probably going to get one of those really long retracto-leashes so that maybe we can play fetch in the back yard as well. And man, would she ever like to chase a squirrel. She can spot one a mile away and then it's ears up, whine city! Those little fuckers are everywhere, too! I never noticed quite how many there were around. O_o

Tags: sierra
i feel: okay

...we hates it. ;_;

Tags: sierra
i feel: calm

We got a dog! ( A blurry dog! )

Tags: dog, sierra
i feel: excited

I'm taking a break from the Christmas knitting (I don't have a list; I'll just get what I can get to by then) to make myself a pair of fingerless mitts to wear at the computer. It's by the window - my hands are cold! I'm using the Fetching pattern from Knitty, and I just did my very first ever cable row. Neat!

Tags: bogganing, knitting
i feel: accomplished

We went to the SPCA tonight to look at dogs... There were a few that caught our eye but they all had some issue or other that made them not quite suitable - most were not okayed for young kids, which is problematic since our downstairs neighbours have 3 little kids (1, 4, 6) and we would like to have some at some point. There were some really handsome huge dogs which we couldn't look at too closely because, well, huge dogs. We are planning to go back Saturday morning right when they open, because one of the workers let us know that's when you have to come to get one of the less problem-riddled dogs. So we'll see how it goes! Still no word from that other place.

Tags: dog
i feel: hungry

Someone came and took the beagle already. *cries*

Tags: dog

So, the place that had posted the hound mix emailed me back on Friday night to say that she was homed but that they could keep me updated on other dogs they find. Yesterday they e-mailed me about a 3 year old beagle mix at a pound(found as a stray but apparently had been a pet), calm and friendly, needs a home or will be put down in a week or so. We got the picture and he looks so sad and sweet, so we asked about meeting him... but it turns out this pound is in Ste-Adele, an hour away. Without a car I can't think of a way we could feasibly get there and back (plus it would likely be two trips there and back; once for the initial visit, then again to pick him up if we finalized an adoption). Ian is going to ask at work if anyone would be willing to drive us but I'm not very hopeful. I'm so disappointed now. :(

Tags: dog
i feel: disappointed

So as some of you know, we have applied to look at another rescue dog - a medium sized shepherd mix, adult dog. He is listed as housetrained, good with kids, cats, and other dogs. Sounds great to us! This is with a different rescue than last time, so we had to start from scratch with contacting them. With this shelter, you have to have an application approved before they even let you look at their dogs. So within a day or so of us e-mailing our interest, they sent us a very thorough questionaire, which we sent back within another day or two - they say that once the application is received it will be reviewed 'very shortly'. And then we waited... A week went by and we heard nothing, so Ian sent an e-mail. They replied later that weekend, saying they were very busy and also having computer problems, but that they would get to our application 'soon'. So, that's fine...

Another week went by. So we sent another e-mail, just to basically say hey, we're still here and interested in this dog, is everything okay? This weekend it will have been a week since we sent *that* e-mail, and we've as yet had no reply. That makes 3 weeks since we sent our original form, and we have no idea what the deal is. Have they really been having computer problems for 3 weeks now (they do have our phone number too)? Have they decided we're no good and are they just hoping we'll go away if they ignore us long enough? What's going on? :(

Meanwhile I've got postings like this one breaking my heart. I am wavering right now on sending them an e-mail asking where this dog actually is, and for more information. The only thing giving me pause is that we're supposed to go to Ottawa tomorrow, so it would mean we'd have to go and basically decide tonight. And if it turned out to be too far, or somewhere that closes to early for Ian to come, I would feel soooo guilty for having gotten the dog's hopes up (never mind the fact that the dog wouldn't know either way, I guess). Even worse if we went out and met her and for some reason we *couldn't*, like if she turned out to hate kids or whatever. And then if we did get her, I would feel guilty for 'abandoning' the *first* dog, who has been waiting for a home for months.

So what should I do? At what stage of no contact from the first shelter is it ok for me to start looking at other dogs? Blah.

Tags: dog, frustration
i feel: frustrated

Today's Good Food Box Haul:

1/2 dozen potatoes
5 oranges
1 lemon
bunch of bananas
1 large eggplant
2 red peppers
1 thing of celery
3 bulbs of garlic
2lb bag of carrots
1 bok choy
1 small pumpkin

I'm thinking...

Wednesday & Thursday - Moussaka
Saturday we'll be in Ottawa
Sunday we may be meeting the Crumwrights but if we have dinner at home, baked chicken with potato scallop or similar
Monday probably chicken leftovers since it's a big package
Tuesday - Stir Fry with box choy and red peppers
Wednesday - Carrot & lentil soup

Also probably pumpkin bread and lemon squares, and maybe some orange cranberry muffins. :)

In other food news, I had some kind of cinnamon croissant thing from the bakery next door to the Eco Quartier and now I think I might explode!

Tags: food, meal planning
i feel: full

It's Lannie's birthday! The very best Lannie that ever there was! :) Happy birthday to the Best Sister ever. I hope it is awesome and full of SNAKS.

Tags: *heart*, birthdays, lannie
i feel: full

So dudes, it is Friday night... Who wants to come and play D&D online? It would be cool to get a whole bunch of us on together to do assorted missions in Stormreach & surrounding area and perpetrate kobold genocide. We generally play on Cannith, where I am Ilphere and Ian is Guillame. I will probably hop on about 7 est, so come on over if you're up for it.

Tags: ddo, geekery
i feel: geeky
groovin' on: ABBA - Does Your Mother Know

I will be on Cannith as Ilphere tonight if anyone wants to play! :)

Tags: ddo
Current Location: Cannith
i feel: geeky

Ian got me playing D&D online... :o It's free now, and he was looking for a way he could still hang out with some of the UK peeps (John Blower in particular I believe). So he pulled me in as well... I find it a bit more finicky to play than CoH was (maybe I'm just rusty though) but I'm getting better. I only died twice yesterday and one of those times was not my fault at all... Ian told me it was safe to jump off a thing, and I did, and... splat. Then he was like 'oh, I forgot I have like 8 jump.' El oh el. So anyway my geek friends with time to kill should come play as well... Mrs. Holmes I'm looking at YOU. I've already made my D2 character on the Cannith server, and my 5k char on Khyber (although I had to call her Joela since Jola and other variations were taken). I plan to make Belden (probably on Cannith as well) and my Planescape lady too!

Maybe even Erystelle.

Tags: ddo, games, geekery
Current Location: Montréal
i feel: geeky

Happy birthday Mr. Fish! :3

<3

Tags: birthdays, friends