It's not easy...

It's not easy being a Chihuahua in the snow.

It's hard to find a place to go.

"Hurry up, Maddie," says my Mum.

But every time I lower my bum...

BBBRRRRRRRRRR!

xoxo

Maddie the Chilly Chihuahua

Hair: A "Ponytail" of Two Women

December 2008. When I look back at this picture, I'm not entirely sure why my hair is this long.

Superbowl, February 2009. I don't remember who played. I do remember that I got my hair cut off the day before the big game. At the time, I didn't have a hair plan so much as a sense of relief that all that length was gone, a sense of frustration because I wouldn't be getting my hair in a pony tail anytime soon and a huge sense of satisfaction in donating my hair to be made into wigs for cancer patients.

April 2010. A red letter day. Not for any other reason than I'd been reading a friend's blog. A young friend who'd developed breast cancer. Ironically, while I've met Blends (Blog+Friends) from all over the east coast, this blend lives in the same city as me and we've never met. .

I had all the usual reactions when I heard that Judy had developed breast cancer. I knew I wanted to help somehow. But not knowing her or having had any other contact except through our blogs, I didn't know how to help. And I didn't want to intrude. But on this day, I had K3 take a picture of me, because I knew without a doubt that I could grow hair. And as Judy was about to lose her hair, it struck me as being entirely appropriate I could commit to growing my hair on her behalf.

So while Judy went through surgery, and then chemo and then radiation... my hair grew, and grew. [chanted with the rhythm of Shel Siverstiens 'She would not take the garbage out'] It wrapped around my neck at night and got caught in my arm pits and bra straps. It got shut in the car door and retracted into the seat belt dispenser. It got static cling during cold snaps and went frizzy in the rain... And still it grew. Even as it frustrated me, all I had to do was read Judy's blog and remember why I was doing this.

Superbowl 2011 came and went. My target date. Two years since my last hair cut.

Saturday morning, I woke up and knew it was time.

I washed my hair and blew it dry one last time. I had TOG take a picture of my hair before he drove me to the salon. (Yes, I get overheated drying that much hair!)

I welled up a little when they braided it, cut it off and bagged it up for donation.

Conversely, it was also one of the best feelings I've ever had.

I'm adjusting to my new hair. I don't love it yet. And I don't miss my long hair yet.

But I do need to thank Judy for inspiring me to contribute in a meaningful, everyday way. More than a check signed, mailed and forgotten, donating my hair was a process. Every time I brushed it, deep conditioned it or threw it in a pony tail, I was reminded that ultimately it wasn't my hair after all. It was destined to be somebody else's.

AG out!

Day in the life of a bad blogger

5:15 am -wake up, make coffee, change puppy potty pads, shower, wash hair, let dogs out to bark

5:45 am -drink coffee, read news, cuddle daughter, cuddle puppies #1-#3, let cat in, yell at dogs #2 and #3 to stop chasing cat, read face book

6:30 am - kiss the goat goodbye, let dogs out to bark, yell at cat to quit teasing dogs, put dogs to bed on sofa, eat cereal,

6:45-6:50am - blog

6:50-7:30 - attempt to dry hair into some semblance of style, throw on work clothes, de frizz hair, take asthma meds, brush teeth, de frizz hair, apply eye liner, find shoes

7:30-7:35 - put dogs to bed on sofa, pour to-go coffee, forget lunch on counter, leave for work

8:00-4:30 - write grants, wrangle technology, write grants, wrangle technology, eat snacks out of food drawer at lunch, worry over funding, wrangle technology

4:30-5:00 - drive home, realize you have no dinner planned, try to surmise what's in the pantry, call house to see if anyone has any ideas, decide you don't care

5:00 pm- come home, kiss dogs, kiss goat, kiss kid, fumble together dinner, wash clothes, cuddle dogs, talk to goat

8:00 pm - fall asleep in chair

11:00pm - wake up, answer email, potty dogs, tell dogs not to chase cat, clean up kitchen, take asthma meds, cuddle with dogs, watch tv, try to go to sleep

1:30 am - sleep

3:30 am - get up to take dogs potty

4:00 am - back to sleep

5:15 am - get up to make coffee

Looney Tunes and Photography

K3 loves Looney Tunes! One of her favorites is the hunting season sketch with Bugs and Daffy...

It's Rabbit Season!

It's Duck Season!

Rabbit Season!

Duck Season!

It's Fiddler Crab Season! I'm a Fiddler Crab! Shoot me!

Yes, I have a shot of fiddler crabs somewhere from my first visit to CBW in Virginia. I did not realize they ran across the road in herds!

Yes, I'm rambling...

The thing is, occasionally, someone will say something to me that triggers Looney Tunes cartoons in my head and the lines that make K3 laugh the hardest... like "It's fiddler crab season!"

Earlier this week, the very lovely Baroness told me to shut up. No, not like that. Very kindly and with much love.

Which made me think of the line from one of the cartoons with Bugs and Yosemite Sam... "Shut up shuttin' up!"

Although I claimed to shut up on facebook, I basically stink at shutting up. But I did get on with it. I took ownership of my photography and realized that it's pretty good... and that I should auction it off.

So, I've enlarged and framed the photographs for the auction. The one that you all chose, plus it's sister photograph.

And here they are:

I had them printed in luster instead of sheen because I knew putting them behind glass would give them plenty of sheen...

So thanks...

Thanks for helping me to get over it...

Because the guy where I had the enlargements done... he loved them too.

That's all folks!

AG out!

What's important

Mom spent her blogging time editing phtos for the auction this morning. Apparently, once she goes into Photoshop, she loses all track of time.

Of course she was mumbling the whole time about it being important and getting the color balance right.

Then she left the room with this page open.

So I can tell you what's really important.

Madeline has a facebook page and I don't.

Cassie out!

PS~ Does this picture make my ears look hairy?

Preparation F

The above picture is Mount Rainier. And I took it while I was on an errand for work. And it is the lead in for the next installment in our Preparation week! in this case; Preparation F, in which F is for Fundraiser.

Last year I was in charge of the fundraiser. Afterwards, my boss told the team that one person could not know everything and that even though I would again be in charge, we were delegating specific duties next year. Which we did. But when people don't (for a variety of reasons, some very legitimate) meet their obligations, the work still has to be done... some of it is time sensitive.

So this year is much like last year in that regard. However, one of our improvements was hiring an ace auctioneer who has spent much of the year coaching us, doing work groups and dispensing huge portions of her auctioneer's "manifesto" which are timeless and will be useful for years to come!

The auction is now 7 weeks out. I confess that once I cross the border into my office, it is very much like getting sucked into a swirling vortex of marketing, contacts, sponsorship wooing (or blackmailing), donation wrangling and spreadsheet tracking. Each day, I hope for a stable server and no tech issues because there is still so much to be done for the auction.

So if you notice me lagging (as I have been) on my blogging, or if I haven't commented daily on your blog (guilty) please know that it is because I no longer have spare time. At lunch. I close my door and try to scarf down whatever I've brought and hope for 5 minutes to listen to my messages before someone pounds on my door wanting to know what color the table cloths will be (red) or how many coffee baskets we have (7) or if there are ladders at the facility (there are) or whether their guy's donation has shown up yet (it hasn't).

So yes, I'm deeply involved in Preparation F and still hoping to hit all my goals. If anyone wants to see the auction website or peek at the hotsheet, email me seperately!

Yours in auction wrangling...

AG

Jackson Hole or Death by Salad

We arrived in Jackson Hole, grubby and exhausted. TOG and I had been awakened early that morning by thunderstorms in Bozeman, Montana and after navigating through Yellowstone and all the traffic, we were ready to collapse. I'd searched on the laptop as we drove past the Tetons and I knew there were only a few places in Jackson Hole that still had rooms. I'd phoned one of them and they said they only had a couple left and they were going fast. So we made a beeline for this hotel hoping they'd still have a vacancy.

And they did. We choked over the price of the room, but they assured us it included breakfast in the morning and pointed out a seperate building on the corner where it would be served. Thankfully, the room was clean (mostly) and we dumped our luggage and walked "downtown" to find some dinner. I left my camera at the hotel so K3 has the only pictures of downtown Jackson Hole and she only took a few.

Jackson Hole has this park downtown with these elk antler arches at all four corners. Here's a happy TOG and an exhausted K3!

K3 was far more interested in the stage coach they had circling the park. TOG and I were all "yeah...yeah, let find dinner" since we hadn't eaten since Old Faithful.

After being turned away by one restaurant (It was swanky and we weren't) and having our stomachs churn in protest as we walked by a "chuck wagon" style operation we finally found a trendy tourist trap downtown that had room in the bar. Biggest mistake ever.

The waiter was a grizzly bearded fellow who acted like he'd never waited a table before. While TOG ordered buffalo and Ky had a burger, I opted for a chicken Caesar salad. We'd been eating so much heavy food and I wanted leafy fiber. TOG warned me that we were in meat and potato land but I thought it would take a miracle to screw up a Caesar salad.

Did I tell you they have miracles in Jackson Hole?

I know TOG hates it when I rank on the food, so when my salad arrived with what looked like slugs on top of it, I didn't say a word, and pushed the "slugs" off to the side.

The lettuce was fresh and I thought I could make do. And then I took a bite of the toast points they provided instead of croutons. I swear to you, they were dipped in habanero oil and sprinkled with powdered jalapeno. After about 5 minutes during which I drank all of my drink, TOG's water and my water, I pushed the remaining toast points to one side and tried the chicken. Then I set my fork down, picked up a piece of the chicken and started tapping it on the side of the plate. You could have pounded nails with it. I ate two pieces of it and then couldn't go any further. TOG usually finishes things I can't eat but even he was reluctant although he did try the toast points and one of the slugs which turned out to be an entire side of a salt cured anchovy. Ack!

Eventually we made our way back to the hotel and slept the sleep of the exhausted.

In the morning, I woke up early and was facebooking with Ms Lala who was in Italy at the time! She was telling me all the wonderful things to do in Jackson Hole and I was pretty excited. Then TOG woke up and as I shared my excitement and jabbered about mountain luge and horseback riding, he pointed out that it had taken us three days to get to Jackson hole, and we only had two days to get back.

Thud. Reality.

We showered and got dressed and packed up. The timeline for hitting the free breakfast was approaching and we needed to eat quickly and hit the road. With 10 minutes left, TOG and K3 loaded the car and I walked over to the little building, opened the door and was welcomed by the aroma of breakfast, the ring of silverware and coffee, blessed coffee. I walked back to the car to assure TOG (who thought we were late) that all was well and we could at least grab coffee and a muffin to go. We all walked back across the parking lot to the breakfast place and the door was locked! At that moment, one of the employees who had checked us in last night walked by and I told him we were locked out. He casually responded  that they had to maintain their schedule and it was too bad we were late and he walked off.

Wisely, TOG grabbed my arm and dragged me to the car before I could rough the guy up (verbally).

Thus we left Jackson Hole having paid a king's ransom for our room and having no coffee or breakfast to show for it.

To be continued!

AG out!

This and That

One of the last shots I got Sunday was this immature eagle in one of the trees overlooking the pier.

He must have had lunch up there with him. He was being yelled at by the crows and was remarkably unaffected by their ruckus! No way was he stepping away from the buffet! (I know that feeling!)

Getting ready to get K3 up. We are off to her intake session this morning. She is not looking forward to the process.

Why do some people take something "this big" and turn it into something "that big"?

I really cannot recommend getting a Chihuahua unless you're on board with the "grape sized bladder". Something must be done!

I woke up feeling like someone rammed a railroad spike in my right ear. That's normal, right? That throbbing feeling should go away by lunch time?

I think my computer ate the paperwork I needed for this morning. I left it open and now I don't see it. Crap-sicles.

Can someone take over for me for the next couple hours so I can go back to bed? Thanks!

AG out!

Beam of light

Friday's meeting with the neurologist did not go as planned. Our request to the school district for K3's records to be sent to the University were rewarded with 3 pieces of paper that provided insufficient information to support a diagnosis. As K3 prepares to enter her 14th year of public school, I swear, she likely has three reams of paper consisting of evaluations, recommendations, plans, reports, etc. To provide us with three sheets of paper seems a little hard to believe. I'm past the point where I can work up any real anger with the school district. I think they've burned it out of me. Ah well...

So the plan at this point is to do yet another evaluation of K3. Possibly not the last if we decide to apply for state services. But this will be the most complete evaluation done since jr. high. I did find it mildly interesting to note where we were referred... it is a clinic associated with the university's autism center, probably the most logical place to do it.

If anything, I'm simply impatient with the process. K3 has had any number of evaluations in her life and they don't seem to have moved her past this point. That and I'm fairly certain where this is all leading. But I guess I have to honor the process. I'm not looking for a short cut, just efficiency.

Off to work. I got the one grant out last Friday. This one is due by noon. I worked on it a lot last night and I know I'll have some rewrites this morning.

In the meantime, I'll try to get my cheery butt back online. Thanks to all of you that sent your good vibes last week. So appreciated!

AG out!

Update on Monday, August 2, 2010 at 6:35AM by Asthmagirl

PS ~ Blogger has decided that I may not comment again this morning. Stay tuned for further insanity.

Blooms

Just a shot of what's blooming in my garden right now. At times like these, I wish I had a macro lens.

As much as I've complained about what a wet spring we had, it's hard to hold a grudge when you've got things like this going on in your yard!

However... now that it's officially summer, I would like to request a few days of temperatures in the 80s. And if that's too much to ask, I'll settle for the 70s.

Yours in "oh goody, another 65 degree cloudy day"

AG out!