Yesterday…

Did anyone see the strange weather around the St. Louis area?

Starting in the morning and continuing during Easter dinner and through all of the afternoon the weather fluxed from blizzard like snow, rain, a sort of light ice and bright sunshine. Do I get to blame global warming?

I had a nice weekend. I managed to finish my online test Saturday morning before driving east. I called Peg because it was her birthday and soon met up with her and some others at SLFC for a monthly Saturday service called Anchors. “For Young Adults ages 18 & Up: Married and single young adults, come enjoy food and time with friends as Pastors Jeff and Patsy share from their hearts and give practical wisdom for authentic Christian living.” It was fun. I’m not used to the LOUD, crowded surroundings any more, but the message was interesting, the food was great, and I got to be with friends.

Easter, besides the strange weather, was pleasant, inside. Four dogs kept us busy at the back door, though. I wish I’d gotten a picture of them all together. Aggie’s so much taller, it sometimes looked like she was herding little black sheep – not that she was trying. Casey, Lou and Ella are all smaller black dogs and better at sitting on laps. Aggie’s more of a guardian, a sentry. And she spent most of the day outside watching the backyard for squirrels.

Mom made an excellent dinner, as usual. Dad’s apple pie was wonderful, and Risa made a cheesecake with a granola crust that I loved… but I guess I was the slacker.  😦

truck maintenance

Is there anything as depressing as learning you need $700 worth or work done on your vehicle, when you thought you were actually doing well for once?

Last year my dad put new shocks on my truck (I helped!). He was awesome and I actually enjoyed doing the work. I mentioned that he had always seemed cranky when he worked on the cars when I was a kid, which was why I never wanted to help. But he wasn’t so cranky when we did the shocks. He said it was because there was less pressure – it wasn’t his vehicle he was working on, now, so it didn’t matter… thanks, dad. Love you, too!

But I just had my truck checked over and they mentioned that I need a new water pump and the front wheel bearings are bad. About $700 worth of work. I said, I would need to talk to dad first – it’s Easter, I’m going home anyway.

I wasn’t going to say anything to dad until I got home, but I mentioned it to mom and she immediatly handed the phone over to him… we’re back to cranky. :{

behold… the birk

My first official pair of birks. After last summer, I’ve decided to give up bad shoes! I no longer buy any cheapy, make-my-poor-feet-unhappy shoes. Peg, very kindly gave me a pair of birks – a plastic pair, that I wore too much and are currently smelly, but when I bought my first pair today, the guy told me how to fix that. They actually go in the laudry with jeans! Go figure, why I didn’t think of that!

So this has been a week of new shoes. The birks (and maybe some Chacos – I might go back, but I’ll have to think about it) and boots and sneakers from Kohls – New Balance and Everest (waterproof hikers, for next winter). And today I walked downtown on my lunchbreak, with Marie and hit the Birkenstock store. Marie bought Chacos – which were actually on sale, which in turn is the reason I might go back.

I usually have this bad habit of power shopping. I wait until the very last minute, until I can’t stand it any more, then I splurge and get what I need. And I expect it to last! So, I need to stick to better quality.

Now, I need to buy some inserts!

online classes

This has been interesting to say the least. I’m taking 4 credits this semester for Library Science. One credit/class I finished the first day. All we had to do was read some papers and take the quizes. I did it in one evening.

The other class is more involved, but I don’t have internet access from my home. I do most of it from work, after hours. I tried borrowin my dad’s laptop, but that was so slow I couldn’t handle it. I think the speed of my work connection has made me spoiled.

Then I don’t have the right text book. I bought it on amazon, but from the used section, under the CORRECT edition!!! Only when I got it in the mail, it was the wrong edition. I was so mad, but I needed the book, so I’m dealing. It’s doable on some parts and I’m scavaging info as I can for others. GGGGRRRR! I’m never buying a book that the seller does have a pic of.

And they have this interactive review that they tried. I can’t tell if my computer was having trouble with the sound, or if the heavy accents of the profs were the trouble, or if the profs were moving around the microphone, so that the sound wasn’t consistant. I don’t think I would call it successful, from my view anyway.

Now I’m just trying to get through the semester. I’ll take my first test on Saturday, when I can be pretty sure no one will interrupt me and I can have a solid 90 min. to devot to the computer… I hope I don’t die… 😛

art in bloom – St. Louis, 2008

This weekend I got to go to the St. Louis Art Museum, with Sonia and Peg to see the art in bloom displays. We had a really good time and the arrangements were quite excellent. 🙂 I think my favorite was inspired by John La Farge’s stain glass window of “Hollyhocks” that he did for the Ames house of Boston. I can’t remember who submitted it, but I really liked it. Also one inspired by a Chinese, Northern Song Dynasty, Guanyin from the 11th century.

I wish I had pics, but I don’t.

It was a wonderful girl-day. We went to Llywelyn’s Pub in the Central West End before going to the Art Museum. ** I should mention, right now, that Forest Park in St. Louis is awesome. It is probably my very favorite feature of the whole city. Everything there is wonderful, not to mention mostly free!**   Then we refreshed ourselves with a pastry at La Bonne Bouchee and dinner at a Chinese/Asian bistro, that I think was called Wong’s Wok – just down the street from the French pastry place. It was quite a day for ethnic food.

all the lost puppies…

I like to peruse the local rescue lists on http://www.petfinder.com periodically. If a special dog or cat popped out at me, it’s possible that I might get another, but usually I just look. It’s sad, but I like to see what kind of animals are out there – if one seems like they would be a great pet for someone I know, I can send it to them.

Beagles are going to be crowding the pounds/humane societies by summer because of the beagle that won Westminster. They’re especially sad for me because they need special owners that realize they’re loud and stubborn, and follow their noses right into trouble; no matter how cute they are as puppies, they are a lot of work for people not used to pet responsibilities.

There are a few breeds like that, that are particularly needful of attentive owners. It’s a pity that they are often breeds that people buy on whims: border collies, dalmations, beagles, labs, heelers.

My own dog is a really good girl, a red heeler x German Shepherd. But the biggest reason we work well together is that I take her to run in the park twice a day. It keeps her relaxed and she knows by now that she can rely on me to keep our schedule pretty closely. And if it gets close to that park-time and we haven’t gone, she begins to get pushy. She’s a pretty dog, and I got her from the humane society. But I could see how she could be trouble for a family who just saw how striking she is and didn’t realize that she needs – desperately – a lot of exercise to keep her relatively calm. And I don’t even think that she’s an overly active dog. Most dogs need this minimum attention to keep them acting sane.

So if your dog’s always bugging you, take her for a walk – some place she can really stretch her legs. You’ll both be happier.

And, truly, many humane societies do a pretty good job of picking quality animals to offer for adoption. If you need help, ask. There are plenty of people, like me, who are pretty good at picking dogs with the right personalities for the right owners. I’ve always had good luck and never a bad dog.