Two Things

1. I took Nic's suggestion about giving Hobbes the treat after he comes in from being good outside. It worked the first two times I did it, and then after that, he started to get distracted outside again. Then, when we'd come inside, he wouldn't even notice that something was missing. I didn't know how to get him to realize that he had behaved poorly (besides saying "bad dog" when he was wandering off into the neighbor's yard), so I tried showing him the treat before he went outside again. Ever since, he's been doing really well (and if he starts to slip up, all I have to do is remind him that I am there by saying his name, and then he seems to remember that I have a treat). It's really weird. I swear this dog has object permanence. I'm just glad he's not peeing on himself again. If this stops working, I'll try just showing/giving him the treat at the end again.
2. Nora is eight months old today!

I hope to get some better photos of her today. This photo was actually taken a few days ago.

Hodge-Podge Post

Check out this footage from Sunday morning. She's so close to cross-crawling, she can almost taste it.



And here she is passed out at lunch from a few days ago.




Good times. She's neat.

---

In other news, we've been letting Hobbes go to the bathroom outside without putting him on the tie-out. This, initially, worked well, but now that he's getting more comfortable, he likes to wander around the yard aimlessly while we wait and wait for him to finish the job and come back to the house. We have been considering getting an invisible fence, but I'm trying one more thing: treats. I realized yesterday that Hobbes responds incredibly well when he's about to receive a treat (be it a rawhide chew or any other sort of treat). So, I have been showing him a Milkbone treat before he goes outside to encourage him to "be a good boy."

So far, this has gone very well. He does his business, fights distraction, and then comes back to the house right away.

This morning, however, he did something that has me reconsidering this method. He pooped right next to the stairway, and then, he was in such a stinking hurry, he didn't bother to squat or lift up his leg to pee. He just peed on his front legs and all over his chest. What's more: he definitely was still peeing when he was running back up the stairs to come into the house. He was dripping with pee, the idiot!

I'm not quite willing to give up on the method yet, but I'm annoyed nonetheless. We'll see how it goes. The tie-out is annoying because he always gets caught up on something and can't figure out how to untangle himself. I typically have to go out several times a day to get him untangled from our fire pit, etc. because he's barking and wailing like he's dying or something. It always happens at convenient times, too: like when I'm in the middle of changing Nora's diaper or putting her down for a nap.

He is actually learning to hold the treat on his nose and wait until I tell him to eat it. He does very well with it, which really surprises me. I never thought he'd have the patience to do something like that, but I guess I underestimated the poor dog. It's bizarre how well he behaves when a treat is involved. I hate and love that at the same time.

---

Here's a something random: I saw a hearse speeding through an intersection today. It went so fast, I saw the car actually bouncing. If any one of my deceased loved ones were in that car, I'd be furious. Knowing that none of my loved ones were in there, however, it was quite a peculiar sight. It marked me.

---

My doctor wants to do an MRI on my wrist. I talked to him on the phone about it, and he unloaded so much information on me. When he asked, "Do you want me to schedule you an MRI?" I said, "Whoa. That's a lot of information."

Then, he said, "Do you want to just come in and talk about it, then?"

I said, "Yes."

I'd like to understand why I need an MRI on my wrist before I go, "Yeah! Give me one!"

---

Some guy on our block was definitely sawing something that sounded like masonry or tile last night: long into the night. I swear I heard it until after midnight. For those of us on the home team, masonry or tile is much louder (in my experience) to saw than wood. I guess it could've been metal, too. I don't know for certain. It was really stinking loud, though. Who does that late on a Sunday night, anyway?

---

Nora has almost figured out how to feed herself puffs! It's so neat to watch. She loves it when I feed them to her, but she's starting to figure out that the puffs are, indeed, food. It's so neat watching this kid grow: it happens right before my eyes!

---

We did end up picking a contractor for our bathrooms. We're pretty excited about it. I think they're going to be really nice when they're done. Supposedly, the upstairs bathroom can be done in two days. The downstairs bathroom, while it is much smaller than the upstairs bathroom, is going to take more time. We've decided to do a large, tile shower downstairs, so that's going to take a bit more work than what we've got planned for the upstairs. I'm really looking forward to having some finished, fully functional bathrooms that won't be naked or that won't have carpet on the floor! Woohoo!

---

I know I never talk about politics on here, and I probably won't. I do follow the presidential race very closely, though. I never realized that politics were actually entertaining until the 2004 election. I love this crap. I love watching people talk and blog about politics, too. Me? I probably won't. I know way too many people that view things much differently than I do. You know what? I like a lot of those people. I want to make sure it stays that way.

That is all.

Stupid

This morning, I planned to go to Randy and Kelly's to watch Marian while Kelly went to class. Because I couldn't carry the diaper bag, my purse, my breakfast, and Nora to the car at the same time, I took my purse and diaper bag to the car while Nora hung out in her hot rod. When I came back to gather Nora and my breakfast, it occurred to me, as I was not able to open the car door, that the button I hit to lock the windows (I decided on a whim that I should lock the windows so I don't accidentally roll the back ones down and pop off the sun blocks I put up on those windows) was actually the door lock.

My keys were definitely in my purse.

Luckily, I left my cell phone upstairs accidentally, and I had Kelly's number on it. I was able to call her with plenty of time for her to bring Marian to our house.

Good grief. I thought my mind would come back once I had Nora, but it's still gone. Completely gone.

Feelin' Awesome

I have been rocking and rolling all day long, and I have to post about it. Here is what I've accomplished today:

• A load of diapers is washed and dried.
• A load of other laundry is washed and drying (currently).
• I picked up the downstairs, especially near the dining area (we have a meeting with Floyd the contractor this evening).
• I discovered a way that I can get my body moving (I have been feeling a bit of atrophy lately, and I haven't really had the time to do anything about it. Plus, it just wasn't a priority). I danced hardcore with Nora today, aerobics-style. In fact, I used her as a bit of resistance (I did some squats, I lifted her up with my arms, etc.). I think I'm going to do that everyday 'cause it rocks. It's, like, working out without realizing I'm working out. It also helps that Nora giggles the entire time. I think it's a wonderful way to get off my bum.
• I somehow got a shower (Nora's taking a good afternoon nap).
• I cleaned off a Nora's playhouse that the neighbors gave Nora (I actually took it outside in the rain, sprayed it with vinegar, wiped it with a soapy cloth, and hosed it clean).
• I fixed a dental insurance issue today. They made Willis pay a balance yesterday from my checkup that was a few weeks ago. It should've been covered by our insurance, but for some reason, they didn't pay. So, I called the office to figure out what happened. It turns out, they billed my old insurance policy, not my new one. Note to everyone: even if you update your insurance with your health care provider, it doesn't mean that they're going to actually update it in their system. I think it's pretty stupid, but this is the third time I've played this game since Willi and I got on the same policy when Nora was born.
• I called to get my wrist x-ray results for the third time this week. They told me, a third time, that someone will be calling me this afternoon to tell me the results. I'm starting to get skeptical.
• Oh, and I worked about four hours today, too.

Cute

This morning, I was snoozing a little while Nora was rocking on her hands and knees on the bed after Willi left for work. I was somewhere between asleep and awake, when I heard a door open in the house, and I heard a man shouting, "Hello!"

This scared the bejeepers out of me since mainly because I knew it couldn't be Willis, and I was still inappropriately dressed (and groggy) for facing visitors. Plus, there was the whole fear of, you know, being murdered and whatnot. So, I was traumatized for a few minutes while I tried to get my bearings, find some clothes to throw on over what I was already wearing, and try to locate a car outside to see who it was.

As I was looking, I saw Willi's car pull out of the driveway, and a few, short moments later, the phone rang. It was Willi (Caller ID), so I answered it with, "HOLY CRAP! Was that you?"

"Yeah. Sorry about that. I forgot my wedding ring. I take it off when I'm showering in the morning. I was almost half way to work, and I realized I didn't have it," he said.

"Are you serious? What: were you afraid people were going to think we're having problems or something?" I asked.

"No. I just take this very seriously," he said.

"Aww," I said.

Lotsa

Here's the post where I actually attempt to catch up on some important things. Of course, I'll be leaving out a lot because it's just impossible to fit it all into a post without killing people with boredom.

Firstly, here are a couple of videos I just dug up and realized I hadn't posted.





Those were both from awhile ago.

Now, here are some photos of our Labor Day weekend experience (I really, really need a new swim suit that actually fits me, but I swear to you that nobody is selling any right now—at least not anywhere that I went to find one):











Here's a list of Nora updates:

• She just started waving at the right time today (this morning, in fact, as Willis was leaving).
• She pulled herself up to her knees in her crib today when she didn't want to go down for her afternoon nap.
• She's been giving kisses. I don't remember if I posted that yet or not.
• She loves water.
• She cries when I lay her down to change her if she has a poopy diaper (that one is kind-of weird). She doesn't seem to cry if she's just wet. I haven't figured out what that's all about yet.
• She's still putting in her miles on the changing table (that's what I call it when she's laying on her back and kicking her legs).
• She loves her penguin.

I think that basically sums up all the happenings around here (along with my other posts from today). I hope you all survived.

Power Outage

Our power went out at about 7 p.m. last night. It was out until about 10 p.m. In fact, I caught it on video (when the power came back on at 10 p.m., that is):



What's sad: the power went off again about 20 minutes after this video was taken. It didn't come back on again until about 12:30 a.m.

It was off for a total of about five hours, and most of La Porte was without power that whole time. There was absolutely nothing going on, too. There was no storm. There was no wind. It was absolutely still and obscenely hot. To add insult to injury (speaking of the heat, here), I had been making a soup in the crock pot, and I had been using the oven for a few hours before the power went out (I actually made brownies for the first time in my life yesterday evening, in fact). So, our house got hot right quick. It made it rather difficult to sleep for that two hours after the power went out the second time.

All I know is: I'm really glad I picked up a couple of oil lamps awhile back from a silent auction at work. I definitely busted those out last night. I didn't even break any of the chimneys (I've broken the chimney on one of them twice now)!

So, we had a fairly weird night. I hope it doesn't happen again tonight. If it does, we're already in better shape. I'm not baking and it's not ridiculously hot outside.