mister

got a new old dog haven dog. he's terribly cute. and i have to admit that he is both a chihuahua and currently wearing a sweater. i know, but he was shivering, and he seems to like wearing clothes... about 12 years old, failing kidneys, but he doesn't know about either one of those things. also, his name is mister. see, you'd thought i was crazy for that weird title, right? or just thought i was crazy anyway.
so the little football is fitting in really well at my house. the cats don't like him much, but they don't like any dogs, so that's to be expected. speaking of my house...
i loooooooove my house! mostly unpacked. still need to purchase an additional closet and a shed so i can finish putting stuff away. but oh! despite some more boxes, my house is incredible. i sleep in the loft, where the whole south wall is windows. when i wake up in the morning, it looks like i'm in a treehouse - just birds and leaves and clouds... my kitchen is wow. just that. wow. super space efficient, super modern and fancy. and the shower... i could go on. and in. and stay there. ahhhhhhh.
not having carpets is incredible too, especially with a bunch of senior critters. yesterday, for example, when i had to clean up every conceivable bodily function at least twice, i did not curse at all - the messes simply wiped away. none of that shampooing and worrying about stains. bliss, i tell you!
in further adventures, i learned that if you tell a fancy hotel front desk that hotels.com told you that you would get free breakfast, they'll give you a free breakfast? in their fancy restaurant? made to order? i didn't know that for sure until last weekend. and after paying a whopping $4.15 for the room (no, i am not kidding), i'll just go ahead and call that the most economical work trip EVER! also, the conference itself was at a marriott, and the catering was ridiculous - local cheeses paired with appropriate fruits and wines, grilled asparagus, mushroom quiches... quite the spread for a free event!
then i went to ikea and faced the grim reality of living in a small town and how that makes dealing with large crowds and commercialism a bit much. i didn't like all the people. there were too many things. too much moving around. by the time i left i was sick to my stomach. and i used to enjoy manhattan for crying out loud. bah - i gotta get into some more cities more often. or just never ever leave shores again.