Drinking the kool-aid.

Our trusty old Verizon Vortex cell phone had finally worn out its battery: it couldn't stay charged long enough for me talk to anyone for more than ten minutes. Luckily, we were almost 3 months past our renewal date, so I wandered in to our neighborhood Verizon store to see what they would give me for free.

snuggled up with sky

 I know nothing's ever free, really, but we don't have much to invest in our cell phone package right now. I had been really happy with the Vortex, but Shaun said it had irritated him (we share one cell phone. I know. We're such Luddites). The two phones that were free at Ye Olde Verizon Shoppe the day I ambled in were the big brother to the Vortex, now with Lightning Fast 4G! Or an iPhone 4.

in the backseat of the Scion xb

We were, for many years, a Apple family. My first desktop was a Mac (before the iMac), and I loved it long past its prime. When my work started issuing laptops, I came to speak Microsoft, grudgingly. Now that we rely on the work laptop for all of our computing needs, I guess we no longer qualify as an Apple family.

Dewey's slides, labeled in his handwriting. 

But my sister, she's got an iPad and an iPod and probably some other lowercase i's I'm forgetting. V and I both enjoy the Karstens' family electronics. Besides, free iPhone! I've never had an iPhone, but I'm hep. I know what the kids are into these days.

Yes, it's an iPhone 4, which is already outdated twice over, I hear. But man, I like it a lot. It's no slower than the Vortex (though it doesn't have Lightning Fast 4G!), and the app possibilities are fascinating, and I only allow myself to look at the free ones. Aaah! So many choices! It's intuitive and beautiful and I'm preaching to the choir, I know, because the whole world is aware of this. But it feels like home. Is that strange, that a certain technology should feel like home? Well it does. I'm so excited.

The photos above are from the iPhone's camera, through the Instagram program, which is a cool little social media thing that lets you apply a variety of finishes to the pictures you've just taken. You should follow me there, if you're on it. I'm jenlanguishes. I'll follow you too, once I figure out how.

How do you feel about your cell phone, folks? Do you have iTechnology? Do you not? Wherefore art thou, gentle readers?

Lessons at 39.

I've learned two important things this week.

1. Do not take the dog along for a car wash.

 2. Even if it's only 59 degrees out, and you need to wear a sweatshirt to be comfortable,

let the girl run through the sprinkler if she wants to. She'll stop if she's cold, and she'll probably have a really, really lovely time.

First swim

The new yellow swimsuit, in action yesterday at Lake Belle Taine. It was windy and cool but she was sure she'd have fun. 

 She was right. 

 It was lovely weather for ducks, too. 

Seven looked on with concern. 

About ten minutes after she got out of the lake, the thunderstorms began, and stayed the rest of the weekend. I hope it wasn't because we offended Mother Nature by swimming before Memorial Day.

Summertime!

Grades went in on Monday, so today is my second official day of summer. I thought you'd like to share in the joy that is my to-do list.

Walk the girl to school: done.
Morning nap: done.
Clean the kitchen: contemplated.
Selfish thrift-store shopping: done. Sweet $3 red mary janes scored. Photos to follow.
Mow the backyard: done. I had to restart that poor mower four times, but I got it done.
Pick the girl up from school, walking the dog to and fro: done.
Clean the dining room: considered.
Make a tasty supper that somehow includes broccoli: done. Unanimously voted as tasty.
Sew myself a cute summer purse: done. Photos to follow.

It was a pretty great way to start my summer. Hope your day was full of things you like, too.

Winter fun

Last week, we had a lovely little Wednesday snow day, so V and I and Seven went outside to play. We had big snowperson plans: so big, V was a little scared it might fall on her. I assured her I was an excellent snowperson builder. And Seven was very, very excited.

Making snow angels:

 Our snowman. Isn't he handsome? And enormous.....

 ...ly tiny.

 (Shut up. The snow didn't stick as well as we thought it would).

Except to Seven. Poor Seven could barely walk by the time we went in. It took him three hours to thaw out, and he spread wet-dog-smelling snow water all over the house in the process.

All in all, a successful snow day adventure. Even with all the wet doginess, and the tiny, tiny snowperson.  What's your favorite thing to do outside?

Doggone it.

These goofy dogs act like litter mates. They're almost exactly the same age (each just over 1 year) and though they have very different personalities, when they're together they just want to tear each other into bits. Figuratively speaking, I mean.

They're so damn cute.

Rejects from the Annual Christmas Card Photo Shoot

I know that you, like so many Languishing devotees, look forward to our family's holiday card for months every year. And I don't blame you. In fact, here's a little teaser of what might show up if you're a good boy or girl.

Unlike healthy, well-rounded families, we don't actually have an annual Christmas Card Photo Shoot. We just toss the camera to an unsuspecting family member once a year or so and demand they take our picture while Shaun makes faces and rude gestures and the rest of us try to play along.

Above: Shaun in the early stages of making a rude gesture.

 This one coulda been a contender, if it weren't for that pesky, adorable niece. She fits right in, though, doesn't she?

Shaun and Rocket have quite an affinity for one another, but this doesn't really include either V or myself. I'm just enough of a traditionalist to say a holiday photo should include at least 50% of any given family.

That's all I can show you for now. Perhaps I've already revealed too much. Maybe this year we'll go to Wal-Mart and choose a special winter wonderland background for all of us. Maybe.

What constitutes a good holiday photo, in your world?

A story with no discernible moral (and sadly, no photos).

About three miles before V, Seven, and I arrived at the in-laws lake home today, V cried from the backseat "I spilled! Oh!" I glanced back to see a large puddle (nearly a pool) of chocolate milk, rapidly moving toward our white dog. For some insane reason, I travel without a full sized bath towel in the front seat, so there was nothing I could do. V was upset, though, and not just because she'd lost the last cup (or more) of her chocolate milk. "Aaah!" What now? "He's DRINKING IT!" Good. Maybe he'll soak less of it into his tail that way.

But as we got out of the car, it was clear that a full half of the dog's fur was chocolatey down to the skin. Now, at our house, I probably would've toweled him off and called it good, but, you know, the in-laws might notice a chocolate milk coating on their carpet and sofa, and their two dogs would certainly notice Seven's new hairdo.

What to do? There was no choice: get V to don her swimsuit, and then toss the dog in after her. He promptly ran out, but I caught him, we washed him, and now he's all fluffy, lake-scented dogginess, with just a hint of chocolate. Yum, yum.

Happy end of summer, y'all.

Puppy love

It's a little amazing to me how quickly he just became a part of our family; we were three, and now we're four. He's woven in to V's imaginary stories, he's a part of our morning/afternoon/evening routine, and when we're away, we all miss him. Life is too short to not share it with a dog, for me anyway.

Sweet Seven, we're so glad you're here!

Holiday Weekend in Nine Photos

Seven recovers nicely, it turns out.

After a week, Seven got to take his silly cone collar off, and his eye is so much better. We still don't know if he has vision in that eye, but since it's finally considerably smaller than a tennis ball, and it isn't hurting him, we are happy dog owners. Someone recently pointed out that his breed is the best, because it's the two swears: bichon/shih tzu. For some reason I find this completely delightful.

 We're still working on the finer points of housetraining, and he likes to bark a lot at our neighbor's three dogs (who bark at him even more). But he is so soft, and every so often he comes over, and rubs against my shin with his goofy face, and we feel pretty lucky to have such a sweet addition to our family.

How could anyone not love that fluffy face? Awwww...

What we're enjoying right now....

 Backyard wildlife.

 Visiting the in-laws.

Soft pupdog cuddling.

Hope your June is going beautifully.

My kind of sculpture

The shelter where we went to adopt Seven is a working ranch, with all kinds of fauna. And as we drove in, it was pretty clear that if my crazy neighbor Kathy and I lived on a farm together, this would be the kind of place we'd have.

 Most notable, aside from the turkeys, llamas, dogs, peacocks, ducks, geese, and cats, were the mannequin heads.

 Atop the fence posts, with silk flower accoutrement.

And the occasional farmyard diorama.

 One of the members of the board has a beauty school, and donates heads each season. I'm so jealous. And I love how they look after enduring the Northern Minnesota winters.

 I love a girl with an Ankh earring....

Or a fella with a head full of blooms.
I was so grateful they let me take photos, because they are really hard to describe effectively. Now, who knows where I can get myself some mannequin heads?

Ebony and Ivory

Seven meeting Rocket for the first time.

Thanks for all your happy responses to Seven! Some of you had questions about him, and since he's all I want to talk about lately, I'm more than happy to do another post.

We found Seven through Petfinder.com, a lovely way to yank your own heartstrings. I have read more than enough student essays on puppy mills to convince me of the importance of pet adoption, but we've also had our share of less than perfect pets through adoption. I do recommend pet adoption, though, to anyone considering pet ownership.  There are so damn many dogs (and cats, and bunnies....) waiting.

We didn't have a name chosen when we went to pick him up, but we had fun on the drive home: V liked Milk, Coconut, and Vanilla (but she may have just needed a snack). I loved Umlaut and Dr. Nutbucket (any pet name that begins with "Dr." or "Mr." is automatically funnier). Shaun was unimpressed, until I mentioned numbers. Eleven? Five? (I liked Five, because V is, of course, a roman numeral....) I said we could name him Nine, after Roger Maris. And it came to us, clearly, as a family, that this little dog should be named Seven. It's a Seinfeld reference, and also V was born on the seventh of September. And it's a lucky number. And Mickey Mantle's. And none of us hated it (though I cried a little to lose Dr. Nutbucket).

Aside from his eye, Seven is healthy (knock on wood!), though he does sometimes make funny little hiccup/burp noises when he sleeps. It's just about the cutest sound ever.

The rumors you have heard are true.

We have a new dog.  We've named him Seven.

 He's a bichon-shih-tzu cross, and will be one year old on June 25th. We got him from a rescue, who got him from a puppy mill. He's housetrained, and kinda quiet, and he is completely in love with V.

 An hour before we picked him up, he got bitten in the eye by another dog. These photos are from day one and two; by day three, he was an unholy mess (I have photos, but you don't want to see them). $160 worth of dog medications later, his eye is getting better, and hopefully he'll get to have his funny cone-shaped collar removed by the end of the week.

 A warm bundle of fluffy love at my feet? Oh, mercy, I've missed this.

V reads to Seven, and Seven loves V. I hope they have many years of adventures together.