i still exist!

not in a poetic mood right now, so i'm giving the poetry blog a break and getting back to documenting the madness beyond the middle of nowhere...
i was quoted in the King 5 News Blog today since they wrote a piece about my foster dog and her puppy. little miss came in to my office from the local shelter, filthy, emaciated, parasite-ridden, and just as terrified as she could be, even after a couple of days of loving care at the shelter. she stayed terrified throughout her exam, during which it was discovered that she has a horrible heart murmur. She was skinny enough that the vet could see the murmur "buzzing" through her ribcage. she figured little miss to be about 8-10 years old, and in serious need of some medical care. so she called me in to talk about old dog haven. when i walked into the room, little miss practically sighed with relief, stopped trembling, and climbed into my arms. when i tried to set her down, she clung like velcro and gave me "the look". so i told the shelter volunteers that she was going home with me, and i'd see what i could do about getting old dog haven sponsorship. so i had three dogs. old dog haven came through, so we were able to take x-rays of her heart. imagine the shock when x-ray revealed that she had a puppy inside! just over a week later, little gigi showed up at my house. 4 dogs, 3 of which are chihuahuas. how in the hell did that happen to me?
i'm down one kitty - twilight went to "fat camp" and fell in love with her "unky art". so she's there indefinitely, and shadow has taken the opportunity to come out of his shell!! my formerly feral hiding-cat roams around in daylight, sleeps in dog beds, lets me pet, scruff, check teeth, and play "wheelbarrow" with him. so i have a sneaky suspicion that his sister has been bullying him his whole life and i didn't know... but she's happy at art's house, so i guess it all works out.
reasons i've not been blogging: the last theatrical posts involved the tender trap at driftwood theatre; well, the show was great, and i made new friends, and i won the theatre company's best supporting actress award, and i just started rehearsing my next show with them - i shall play a.e. in excursion fare. at the same time, i'm rehearsing for my directorial debut with nana's naughty knickers here with stage west theatre (i'm acting in the play too). so there are rehearsals more than half of my nights.
the other nights: ...so i mentioned a boyfriend. that went south, suddenly and horribly, and i got very depressed and shut down for a while. didn't eat, didn't sleep, all that fun stuff. i lost 15 pounds and my dr. got all concerned and put me on like 6 prescriptions. turns out i really got my heart broken, and a mitral valve was acting up, and my liver didn't like that, so it did all kinds of stupid things with my system. also, i grew a goiter (which i learned just means a growth on the thyroid gland, and not necessarily something that can be seen). so part of how i dealt with feeling physically and emotionally horrible was that i started a poetry blog. i brought out all my old notebooks and copied/edited a bunch of stuff, wrote a bunch of new stuff, and i think i found my "voice". after a few months of that, and some gentle nudging from friends, i decided to self-publish. so i formatted and edited again and went to lulu.com for help. turns out it was pretty easy to get it all together. books went on sale online about 3 weeks ago, i got my first shipment in last week, and they're actually selling! the one wacky woman shop in ocean shores has 'em out with a "local author" sign, and i'm just pleased as punch. didn't think i'd ever really use the phrase "pleased as punch"...
fairly soon after i started the poetry blog, i went on my third world vets trip, to guatemala! i kept a trip blog. and just before i went on the trip, i met a guy. he's frikkin awesome. have you ever had someone just think you're amazing? i think we both have that, so things are really good so far. it's been over 4 months and still smiling.
so pretty much looking up, keeping busy, getting things done, oh, and did i mention it's huckleberry season again? teddy and i went out picking today. i got a couple of handfuls of berries and a weird spine-thing in my leg. i went to a tool sale yesterday and got a saw and (finally) a power drill! i've only wanted one of those forEVER! and i get to play driving instructor the next few months - someone has to log 50 hours of driving time to get her license...
the goal was to get sugar cookie dough made, finish dishes and laundry, work on some lines for the nana's play, clean the house, and so on. did i do all, or even a major portion of this? of course not! i played on the internet. and played with critters. and talked on the phone. and took pictures and videos of the puppy. speaking of puppy, she's just woken up from her nap on my lap, so it's time for puppy food.
g'night blog!