Rawr, and so forth

The best thing about Memorial Day is that the Hubby and I don't have to go to work today. Hooray! The second best thing is...maybe my car will finally be fixed today. Yes, the saga continues. The car is currently sitting at a dealership, hopefully being worked on. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get it inspected and pass before June.

So I'm going to take this blog back in time about a week. Last weekend was mom's birthday, and so we had the parents over for dinner and a movie. It was our first real chance to spiffy up the dining room since we had recovered the chairs. It all ended up looking very nice.

The dogs have been doing well overall, though last night we had a scare. Rose was stung by some sort of bee or...something. I don't think it was a bee because it didn't die after it stung her. We were worried about her, but she seems to be okay now! She looks pretty okay, huh?





Last night we watched the movie Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It was pretty funny--Kevin James can do some great physical comedy (though probably pretty demanding on his body!) While we watched it, the dogs took turns sitting in the beanbag chair.





Rose also has a new toy that she enjoys perhaps a little too much. It's called Tug-a-Jug and she has already sort of...killed part of it. The idea is to put food in it and the dog is supposed to figure out how to get it out. Rose's solution is to try to chew her way in (which doesn't exactly work). She figured it out after she chewed off the toy part of it. She seems to enjoy it regardless.



The backyard is still looking overall pretty good, aside from the occasional weed and rambunctious Johnson grass trying to take over. The L-bed, at least, is looking pretty snazzy.




These pretty pentas are one of my new additions to the bed! They seem to be pretty hardy so far, which is nice!


I got this new hibiscus, which is currently residing in a pot. It seems to be fairly happy there, so we'll hope it stays that way!

And now...to relax for a little bit today, and cross my fingers that the car is fixed!

Wow, it's been a busy week. Has it really been 7 days since I had time to make a post here? It sure has. I don't think I could recount even half of what made this week so busy, is how busy it's been!

I'm quite sad about the http://www.galleryfurniture.com/ Gallery Furniture Fire. I couldn't quite believe it last night when I saw it on the news. Mattress Mack has been such a part of Houston for as long as I can remember! And not just any old part of it, but a good part. He's done so much for people here and across the world.

Hubby and I bought our new mattress and bed there just in February, and when we were there Mack was there, working hard. Our salesman who helped us was named Antonio Banderas (no, not the actor--but that's how I remember who it was!) I really hope that they are able to recover and reopen for business. I was hoping to go shop for a new kitchen table there in a little less than a year.

I went to a training for the HeartSaver AED yesterday. That's the defibrillator. So now I can sort of do CPR--I say sort of because I want to get one of the mask things they use now for the breath part. They added masks so you can't get any contagious diseases from people that you help now. Nice, needed change. It was a really good training, all things considered.

This morning I went to a retirement center, the Terrace, with another librarian. I was in charge of teaching a computer class. They only have 3 working computers. Luckily, I only had 3 students. I taught them some health sites on the internet, which they seemed to really enjoy.

Here's some highlights if anyone is curious...

http://www.drugs.com (Not as nefarious as it sounds! A very good site, actually)
http://www.mayoclinic.com Mayo Clinic
http://www.hhs.gov/familyhistory/ Family Healthy History

The ladies I helped did a great job of navigating the internet, even though they didn't feel like they did! They appreciated the help, though.

And now this weekend is a long weekend, huzzah. The Car Issue should hopefully be resolved tomorrow--it's an oxygen sensor that went out. Let's hope that after that the inspection is a breeze.

When last we left our blogging heroine, she had been poised to leave work to go home for the night (last night, in fact)...

But on the way home, I received a call from the hubby, unable to find Rover Oaks. And he had a nervous dog and the map on the floor of the car. I couldn't give him good directions since I had only driven by it in passing on the way home from the mall--"You know, it's on that road we went down that one time." So, I decided to detour from going home and sprint to Rover Oaks to make sure they made it.

And they did, luckily. I got in and saw them ready for class. The trainer seems very knowledgeable and nice. The class has a variety of dogs, from young pups just learning manners to what appears to be a show dog getting an obedience tutorial to a dog that was attacked by another dog and is in serious need of help.

Rose did well overall. Hubby says that she was scared to go into the room at first. When I came in she was sprawled on the floor beside his chair, not looking too shut down or nervous. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she seemed willing to stick around when she realized hubby and I weren't abandoning her.

The class started with easy stuff once the trainer got to know the dogs. First we taught Rose to respond to her name (she's supposed to look at our face when we say it, but sometimes she'll still look at our hand, hoping the Amazing Clicking Treat thing will give her a yummy.) She also got to learn more Sit, which is already somewhat knows but she got reeeeally good at. We also did a little bit of baby work on Stay and her release command. All in all, a good class.

Fast forward to today (it really did seem to fast forward!) I had to wake up at 5:30 so I could get to the County Awards Ceremony in time (I needed to be there by 7:30 to be ready to greet people). My brain decided I should wake up at 4:30 instead so I didn't get much sleep. But I did get to the UH Hilton on time, which was good.

The ceremony was very nice. Ed Emmett addressed us, and he is actually a very good speaker. He had no notes and just gave a stream of conscience talk on leadership and ethics. It was pretty interesting, considering how he said that if not for certain politcal events, leaders such as Lincoln and Churchill would not have been respected due to their ethics (at least in our current age.)

So when it was time to leave, however, getting out of the parking garage was a nightmare. And then, to add insult to injury, on my way back the feeder road of I-10 to 6 was closed due to an accident (a car's entire backseat and trunk had been crushed in--I'm not quite sure how they managed that, but it couldn't have been fun). That took additional time to crawl past since they closed the entire four lanes. Once I fought my way through that, on 6 a truck decided his load had shifted so he blocked off a lane to unshift it.

At that point, I decided I was safest getting to work ASAP and thus hurried to the library. Phew.

Stay tuned for our next exciting chapter: does my car get fixed and pass the state inspection?

Tonight Rose goes for her first Obedience Class at Rover Oaks. I don't get to go this week, sadly, due to not being able to get off early. We're really short-handed today. Que sera, sera. I have made arrangements to be able to go the other 4 weeks of the course, though. So tonight just the hubby gets to go learn about canine higher learning.

Tomorrow we have the staff awards for the county library. Apparently it's a pretty big deal. I was chosen to be a greeter, which is a nice thing to be chosen for. The only not-nice thing is the unholy hour I will have to wake up at. But on the bright side, Saturday is here soon and I plan to take advantage of sleeping in. Ohhh yeah. Zzzzzzzz...

Going to take my car to the dealership to see if they can figure out why the check engine light is staying on. The guy reset it last weekend, but it still hasn't gone off like it was supposed to. After researching online, I found out that "check engine" can mean anything from "hey your gas cap is slightly loose" to "explosion is incoming, duck and cover".

Okay so that last one was a joke really. However, the check engine light flashing does mean something similar. Good to know, right?

So it may cost me some dough, but the car is pretty good overall so getting it checked out will be worthwhile. Plus I sort of need it to pass inspection.

Oh and in other exciting but gross news...last night our cleaning crew reported a snake in the ladies restroom AC vent cover. Our children's assistant saw it, but it was well after closing time so I decided "Meh, the snake can wait--I'll email about it tomorrow."

So today dawns and I send in an email about it. Guy comes out to wrangle snake. Guy finds out that what was in the AC vent really wasn't a snake.

What was it?

*drum roll*

Dead cockroaches. Many of them.

Ewwwww. I told him I would much rather have found a snake there, and pretty much everyone agreed. Ick. Yuck. Totally gross.

Apparently we had a weekend a couple days ago, but I'm not quite sure where it went. Darn sneaky weekends!

Had to take my car in for an oil change and state inspection. Turns out I couldn't get the inspection done because the check engine light is on. They allegedly reset the code for it, and it should have turned off after driving 60 miles, but it didn't. Much worrying ensues. Hopefully I can have it looked at again this weekend and maybe resolved.

It was way too hot to do any planting on Saturday, much to my dismay.

Sunday was spent with sleeping in as much as we could manage (I'm still feeling behind on sleep), then grocery shopping, then hurriedly going over to my brother's house for Mother's Day. We had a nice get-together.

Afterward on Sunday, laundry was done and we decided to try to work in the garden while dinner was in the oven. Amazingly, we got everything planted in about an hour, thanks to the hubby helping out with the big and sharp plants. I didn't really want to plant the roses or the sago palm otherwise.

I finally uploaded my pictures of the garden before it was planted. Better late than never, right?

And here's a close up of the ugly stuff we're trying to eventually hide with this elaborate garden scheme of ours.

Here's a look at the garden from another angle. The salvias don't look so incredibly sad because they've had some water.

And finally, Rose was very curious about the whole photography thing. So time for an awkward-looking picture of her!

Partly an informational blogging for me, and also so others can see what's growing in the L-garden. Hopefully this stuff will continue to survive!

Salvia Coccinea--Coral nimph
http://www.rainyside.com/features/plant_gallery/annuals/Salvia_coccineaCoralNymph.html

Aztec Wild Rose Trailing Verbena
http://www.bartonsgreenhouse.com/plant%20pages/Spring/Verbena_aztec_series.htm

Pink Jasmine (it's actually in a pot but we'll count it)
http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2006/03/10/pink-jasmine/

Bougainvillea http://www.plant-care.com/bougainvillea-plant-care-blooming.html

Red Cascade
http://www.antiqueroses.com/public/antiqueroses/pg_1/rcascade.htm
Our Red Cascade is a little unhappy right now, trying to figure out why.

Tiny Tangerine Bulbine frutescens
http://ag.arizona.edu/pima/gardening/aridplants/Bulbine_frutescens.html
So that one is native to South Africa. Heh, no wonder it's doing so well in the glaring full sun.

Serenity Mix Verbena
http://www.damseeds.ca/productcart/pc/viewcategories.asp?idCategory=1545

Indigo Spires Salvia
http://www.floridata.com/ref/S/salv_indigo.cfm
Another salvia that hasn't been very happy with us. We're watering it aggressively to keep it happy.

Purple Majesty Sage
http://www.plantsafari.com/Catalog/Detail/01030.html
These have been about as happy as the Indigo Spires. We're putting them through therapy, too.

President Hibiscus
http://hibiscus-sinensis.com/care.html

Compact Spicy Jatropha
http://www.almostedenplants.com/mall/Compactspicyjatropha.asp
This one is really, really pretty. However apparently it is highly poisonous. Must keep Rose from eating it.

David Verity Cuphea
http://www.magnoliagardensnursery.com/productdescrip/Cuphea_David.html

Sago Palm
http://www.junglemusic.net/cycadadvice/cycads-sago-palm.htm
Very sharp and I am not a huge fan but it looks nice?

Green Cloud Sage
http://www.westongardens.com/page%20content/plant%20library/texas%20sage%20green%20cloud.htm
I like this one and it's not been too unhappy so far!

Today is Friday, and that means I have a Real Weekend of me. A Real Weekend now involves not working on Saturday or Sunday. This is my first Real Weekend since March, so--huzzah!

It's bound to be a busy weekend. I need to get my car inspected, so I can be sure that the small chip in my windshield doesn't hold me up. Also the car is well overdue for an oil change so I can kill two birds with one stone. And factor in that this would be a good weekend to take the dogs to the dog park if it's still not underwater, it's Mother's day weekend, we have to go grocery shopping, and we have two nights of raiding ahead of us--yes, it will be a busy weekend.

Work in the L-garden would also be nice. The L-garden is a bed we made specifically to shield the eyes of anyone in the backyard from the utility stuff that is not so pretty. We got all of the salvias in the dirt, but a lot of plants are still patiently waiting in their pots. I think the hibiscus has long ago given up hope of existing outside of its pot. Soon, my pretty! Soon!

I have pictures of the L-garden, but I don't think I got so far as posting them to Photobucket. Oops. Maybe next time.

The salvias are not wildly happy with being in the L-garden, at least the purple ones aren't. The pink ones are happy as clams for whatever reason. We're watering it (and the yard toupee) twice daily to nudge the salvias along. The yard toupee looks more like a rice paddy at times.

In other news, it would be nice to see the Star Trek movie sometime. And Wolverine: Origins. Who do I petition to make this a three-day-weekend?

In movie news, I found this jewel this morning on Yotube. Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans will get a kick out of it, as I did. Twilight fans...maybe not so much. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs73q2Qrs_k

As it is, I would have happily riffed Twilight the book, but I don't consider it the epitome of writing. Maybe of teenage angst though.

Anyway, tonight we have the Ulduar raid ahead of us. We took out Flame Leviathan, Ignis, Razorscale, XT, and Kologarn on Wednesday. That wasn't too bad, really, considering we managed to bug out 2 of the encounters. How do you bug out Leviathan? You don't kill a tower. >.> Ooops. XT we somehow bugged with his trash, and I had to fix him with my famous Faerie Fire->cat form->dash the heck out of their move to reset him.

Tonight we'll hit up Iron Council, Auriaya, and then hopefully Hodir.

So, as much as I am on computers and enjoy writing, I'd never created my own blog before. I'd thought about it. But part of me wonders why anyone would want to read what I write, or even care. But maybe times have changed and various people thousands of miles away do care what people they don't even know are saying?

Yeah, unlikely.

Anyway, I have 6 hours of reference desk (which I made a Freudian typo as "red fesk" earlier, which amused me) ahead of me for the day. This can either be a good thing where I get lots accomplished, or a bad thing where we just go insane the whole day. There generally is no middleground, it's always one or the other.

Now it is time to press the "publish post" button and see what happens!