I suppose I should write something here to let people know I’m still alive, eh? Well I am. My brain is a baffled hot mess right now, so you get short and to-the-point bullets (which aren’t all that short, but whatever).

- Blood tests all came back normal (did I say that already?). So I’m not down because of metabolic reasons. I’m down because I’m down.

- The Cymbalta seems to be working ok. Just ok, not great. The first couple of weeks I was on it, I cried. And cried. I think because it was so surreal for me to not be up and down every other minute. Yes, it was weird for me to feel normal, and it purged itself in the form of tears. Over anything. I’m a freak, I know. I’m okay with it, thanks.

- The house is wonderful. I love being a homeowner. People tell me this is “the honeymoon” phase of buying a home. But I think I’ll feel this way for a long, long time.

- I cleaned out the flowerbed in front of the house last week, churned up some fresh mulch and got rid of all the dead stuff. Lo and behold, I have hostas! And tulips! And stonecrop! And other things I don’t recongnize yet, but underneath the dead and dried ugliness were annuals! The hostas are about three inches tall so far, and they look to be the white variegated kind. Awesome.

- One last thing: I need to ditch Sprint. So I wanna know - which wireless carrier do you have, and why do you like them? I’m thinking Verizon, but I’m not sure yet. Do tell…

So, between getting the house and yard ready for Spring, and being a new puppy mommy, I’ve found that I’m not having the time to write about my many adventures of getting the house and yard ready for Spring and being a new puppy mommy. The house and yard part, no prob bob - it’s been fun! I love doing yard work, and watching things grow. The puppy part? Oh dear God, why did I get a one year old dog? Okay okay, I don’t mean that lol. I love that dog to death. He was very mellow when we adopted him, which I now believe was due to him being in the beginning stages of kennel cough, so he was feeling crappy aside from being in the shelter. So I knew we’d be in for a wakeup call when he got better. Well guess what? He’s feeling better now.

We tried the crate twice. The first time, he hated it, but stayed in it for a couple hours. The second time, he busted right out of it. I gave up on that, because by that second time, the housebreaking was done and successful and he wasn’t showing any signs of destruction or chewing behaviors… until now. (Maybe that was my first mistake - giving up on the crate training?).

I’ve been able to leave him for up to four hours by himself with no problems. I come home for lunch and take him out, then he’s good to go until we get home from work. Tonight, we were gone for about that long, and came home to a massacre. Alright, not really. Tonight, we said goodbye to the DVD player remote, a full box of tissues, his frisbee I just bought at Petsmart, one of my shoes and quite possibly a section of carpet in John’s ManCave. Our puppy has a serious case of separation anxiety. I feel like a horrible pet owner for not being more prepared to train him and raise him right.

So I need some advice. Training a dog yourself vs. obedience classes? I can watch Cesar all day long until I can’t keep my eyes open, but I’m still not convinced I can give this dog what he needs. PetSmart offers an 8 week class that I’ve been told is great. I’m just not sure what to do next. I do know that I need to give this pup some structure, because I’m thinking he’s not had that in a while. He does seem to know basic commands (sit, come, stay), but he doesn’t always follow them. You can tell by looking at him that he was someone’s pet… he’s gorgeous, and the pads of his feet are still fairly soft so he wasn’t roaming for long. Any words of advice for a new dog owner? Please? Somebody? Leo thanks you in advance.

I find it sad that even on my weekends off, I can’t sleep past 8am. Gorgeous day today, sun is out and it’s warm but not too hot. I checked out the dog park today, sans Leo, just to see what’s what. There were already three cars there, and four pulling in behind me. We’re definitely taking him next weekend we’re off. Ran some errands… went to Lowe’s for landscaping lights and got some dirt to fill in the holes that Mr. Hyper dug for us. Went to Target for dog food and treats. Okay, not so lazy Sunday I guess. Oh, and something broke my CSS. The page and content backgrounds are off from one another. Um, I haven’t changed anything in the CSS. Weirdness. Oh well, s’ok because I’m in the middle of coding a new look anyway for the site. I love the kiwi, but I wanna see if I can still do this stuff (if I can remember it. heh). Back to work tomorrow, blah. My vacation in August can’t get here quickly enough.

The sun is out, it’s not too hot, and it’s just gorgeous. I’m not a big amusement park fan, but we’re going to Kings Island today with some friends that got free tickets from their work. If we don’t stay all day (and I hope we don’t), I’m also going to try to go flower shopping again. My New Guinea Impaitens didn’t like where I put them, and have died off slowly. Someone told me that they’ll make it if I transfer them to a pot and put them on the porch out of direct sun, so I’ll try that. I’d like to find some daylilies to fill in the flowerbed, and also to put by the mailbox. We’ll see how the day goes.

On a site-related note, I found the coffee girl at iStock and had to make a layout with her. This is the first time I’ve designed my site in a few years (first time with EE, at that), so if anything is wonky or otherwise just ugly, let me know! I was definitely out of practice, as I had to use the net to find basic CSS properties many times over the past few days lol. I don’t have categories right now, because I think I’m going to try the tagging system. Anyway, that’s that. Have a good weekend! 

This is a post for the gardeners and flower lovers out there. I think I’ve killed my flower bed. I thought I was doing everything right, but alas, most of the flowers I planted have been wilting to a pitiful death over the past two weeks. I didn’t take a “before picture”, but the pic below is the after. I thought it turned out really nice.

When we moved into this house back in February, the flower bed was already here, so I had no idea what would be coming up. There are four hostas that are doing great, not a dead spot among them. The bigger section of the bed had four small evergreens, a gigantic fern, coral bells (that are doing fine), a few other things I couldn’t identify, and more weeds than I’ve ever seen in such a small space. One weekend, my mom came over and helped us dig up two of the evergreens, the weeds, the fern and some other things. I planted gerbera daisies in several colors, New Guinea impaitens, a big yellow thing and some dusty miller to accent. We mulched, we watered, I talked to them. Most of them are dying. 

Should I have done something to the existing soil and mulch first? After we got the weeds out, I churned up the mulch and soil, and picked out the bits that looked bad before planting the new stuff. Should I have added new potting soil? I’m new to the whole gardening thing so maybe I should’ve done some research on this before even starting the project. We’re out about $70 in plants and that pretty sierra red mulch that I’ve always wanted. I dug up the impaitens and transferred them to a big planter on the porch, because I think they were getting too much sun. The actual flowers are looking good and starting to bloom again, but leaves are looking pretty horrible. (I forgot to mention, the bed gets full sun from about 11am to about 4pm)

Since it’s the end of June, is it too late to dig it all up and start over? I don’t know how to save what I have, if that’s even possible. I know the flowerbed wasn’t taken care of for at least a year (the kid that we bought the house from lived here that long, and didn’t touch the flower bed). So who knows what kind of shape the soil underneath was in. I’m going to take a trip to our local nursery on Thursday and talk to someone about what I should do next, but any tips would be great, if you have any! I’m at a loss.

I am a bundle of overworked nerves lately. The biggest issue I’m having is the lack of help I’m getting from John with the dog. I’m the one who walks him, and the only one who tries to practice discipline with him. I’m trying like hell to be consistent, but it’s not working because My Other Half is not pulling his weight in this arena. I’ve gotten to the point that I really can’t stand the dog sometimes, and I HATE feeling that way. It’s not his fault at all, and I know that. His lack of exercise is making him impossible to deal with. Labs and Huskies are both known for excitability… and he’s a mix of the two! It’s like a double whammy here, and I can’t get John to see that.

The obedience class is being saved up for again. I’m just afraid that the money will be wasted because John won’t enforce the training at home once the course ends. On top of all this, the cat has decided that she’s going to stop using her litter box consistently. My pretty carpet, that was brand new when we moved in six months ago is now a mess. We use Kids & Pets and it works really well, but it’s like every day we’re finding a new spot. The carpet has lost it’s newness. This Saturday, we’ll be taking the carpet cleaner to the floor and heading to the dog park for a while to let it dry… again.

So this is the main cause for my nervous energy. I feel that my household is slipping into chaos. I have no energy to keep up with it, and I’m tired of feeling this way, like I have no control. Also, I’m not trying to make John out to be a horrible person or whatever, because he’s not. I love him dearly, and I couldn’t ask for a better mate (most of the time haha). The problem is, he’s one of those people that wants the cool thing but not the work that comes with it, know what I mean? Ugh, I need to do some yoga or something, get centered and regain some control around here. So uh… anyone wanna tell me how?

Been a while since I last posted. I’m kind of finding myself without coherent thoughts lately. That’s one thing I love about Twitter. I don’t have to organize my words and read it ten times to make sure it makes sense. Short and to the point. Kind of like bullets. Which I will now subject you to. *smooch*

• School is back in, and it’s finally starting to feel like Fall is right around the corner. I noticed today that a couple of trees have started turning. Still, it’s hard to think Fall when it’s 90 degrees. The bad news? I’ll be spending obscene amounts of money on decorating this year!
• We have a new head boss at work. Our entire team can be very resistant to change at times. Any time we get a new boss of any level, the negativity kills me. He’s only been here a week and some have already decided they don’t like him. Give the guy a chance, you know?
• Our master bathroom got some love this past weekend. The biggest change was the painting we did. We somehow managed to cover up the ugly with only two coats. When you see the before-and-after pics, you’ll understand. Those will be up soon.
• I call off work maybe twice a year, so when I do, you know I’m really sick. Yesterday was one of those days. I thought I was just getting a sinus infection or cold, but I had a fever of 102 and was throwing up. I’m feeling better today, just really wiped out and congested. I’m about to drink a mug of theraflu and go to bed.
That’s all I have the energy to talk about for now. I’ll have a lot more to talk about soon, as Fall and Winter are always super busy for me - both in my personal and work life. Happy Hump Day.