Ernie is 8

Ernie is 8, originally uploaded by swandive00.

Eight years ago tonight in November, a hairless blind puppy was born on a horse farm in Winterville, Georgia.

Seven weeks after that, I took him home, and named him Ernie. Since then, he's driven to wherever I've gotten an inkling to move (Georgia to Maine via Ithaca, NY; Maine to California; California to Colorado; Colorado to California where he lived with the Pants and his family; California to the District of Columbia where he lives today.) He's been too rowdy for words, peed in excitement before my friends, played fetch with my mom, delighted and intimidated my dad, and maybe bitten one or two along the way. I have been less than ideal of a friend to him sometimes (he just wanted to play, I just wanted to knit...) for such a sweet, silly high energy mutt. But he's never been anything but extremely devoted and loyal to me.

So today, Ernest P. Givens XVIII (Not his real last name), in honor of you eighth birthday, you are presented with a bacon double cheeseburger, a Nerf basketball backboard, and an unlimited amount of belly rubs.

Ernie gives thanks

Ernie gives thanks for a blurry dinner, originally uploaded by swandive00.

I am a day late and a dollar short. In saying happy Thanksgiving and that I am very thankful.

I started off yesterday taking pictures of my Very First Thanksgiving Dinner that I have ever made. I took pictures of the turkey in process, of the roasting pan with a Built In Rack, of the gluten-free bread (which may or may not have been gluten free...) for the gluten-free stuffing.

However. And there always seems to be a however. I lost my enthusiasm with the blinding migraine that forced me to push away my dinner for fear of tossing my cookies. I did, however take a picture of the spoiled dog's thanksgiving dinner because his begging paid off in the form of turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes on top of his kibble.

And because I went to bed at 8:30 last night after a mid-morning migraine nap that lasted 4 hours, I've been up since 2 am. Today, I am still thankful, and doing laundry and getting ready to pack for my 10 day business trip to Tokyo.

On my Tokyo agenda: Sushi, yarn shopping, avoiding chikan, and I suppose working.

I'm bringing my camera, I'm bringing yarn for the flights. Here's to hoping my needles aren't confiscated.

Things that are good and girly but good nonetheless

• First and foremost, Maryam is coming to town today!!
• We are going to eat Ethiopian food and Persian food and laugh and knit and...
• Have an Anne of Green Gables (The Kevin Sullivan flavor) movie marathon with Pandles.
  
• I finally got a new bedspread and sheet set to replace my polyester "Quick! I just moved to town and it's snowing and I need sheets and a bedspread!" The new one is cotton. And polka dotty. And brownandgreen. And it's from Target. And I am pleased. I also got a mattress pad. The mattress pad is not pictured. And it is wrinkly because I haven't washed it yet and I can't be arsed.
  
  
  
• Ernie is wearing a batman (well Bacardi) bandanna so that he can fight crime.
  

I swatched Ravelry

I swatched Ravelry, originally uploaded by swandive00.

Yay Beta shirts!

Seriously?!

It's November 8 and Starbucks has already gotten rid of the Pumpkin Spice Latte in favor of the Christmas drinks? Two weeks before Thanksgiving?

And they're not even letting the Pumpkin Spice syrup run out like they normally do?

Edited to add: I totally wrote a complaint to Starbucks. I am a nerd.

Tagging

I was tagged for a meme. I'm never tagged, but frequently participate if I'm out of blogfodder. But this time, I was tagged by the lovely lovely CiCi.

7 Random Facts! Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. (truth be told, I'm unlikely to tag. Because many, many people have been tagged for this. And because I have very few friends.)

1. I have intermittent fits of domesticity. I love to cook (frequently off-the-cuff, sometimes using a recipe as a bit of a guide), bake (frequently from a recipe, but rarely measuring things smaller than a tablespoon), knit (duh), sometimes sew, sometimes plan how to decorate a home space (but I suck at this) and have fleeting fantasies of being a farm wife. However, with an exception to the cooking and knitting, these things rarely stick longer than a week or two (rarely) or a few hours (more likely). But I really wanted to learn how to can this summer. I didn't have time.
   
2. I've reached a point where if I sleep for longer than about 7.5 hours in a row I have a blazing headache when I awake. So on weekends I frequently have blazing headaches. In fact, I sort of don't love this Fall Back weekend because I wound up awake at 5:30 on a Sunday morning with a blazing headache because I went to bed at 10 pm last night. My grandfather on my mom's side had a similar problem.
   
3. I love puzzles, especially visual spatial puzzles. Jigsaw, horseshoe, 3-d puzzles. I find the solving of puzzles to be very satisfying and soothing. People hate finding giant knots in yarn, but I will spend days and days working on a single knot because it's relaxing to see how all those threads intersect and unravel them. That being said, I've never had the interest to figure out a Rubik's Cube and never fiddled with one for longer than about 30 seconds.
   
4. I love being Catholic. I'm rarely good at it, but I love it nonetheless.
5. I have never really liked Starbucks coffee. That being said, the Pumpkin Spice latte appears to have been created by Satan to be the Best Beverage Ever. Also, Starbucks coffee, which I think tastes burned, has ruined me for all other coffees now... I always think they taste funny if they're not Starbucks. Yet somehow, the cafeteria at work has found a way to make their Starbucks coffee taste like donkey feet, so I will usually stop at Au Bon Pain for coffee in the mornings unless I suck it up and go to Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice Latte.
6. I get the "Freeeeeeeeeeee credit report dot com!" jingle stuck in my head a TON. Crap. There it is again.
   
7. I think I'm the funniest person, like ever. If you don't then I will punch you in the face. See? That sounds fun! Ha ha! (I'm going to add as an addendum to this item that I'm also a giant dork, and if you like to laugh at giant dorks, I'm your gal)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm out!