I’ve posted OK Go videos before, and I’m doing it again. Because these guys are so joyful, so fun, so creative, and they make me so happy I cry.
Coyoting
This weekend we dogsat for my brother and his fiancé. They’ve got this funny little dog who looks just like this stuffed toy I had when I was a kid. He’s exactly my favorite kind of dog. Gorgeous, smart, and scrappy.
Internet, meet Smelmut:
If only I’d managed to catch a photo of Smelmut playing with his new cousins! They are adorable together. Whenever Smelmut comes over for Thursday Night Family Dinner, there is much bouncing and dancing in small circles and play bowing. The three little dogs tussle and frolic and fight over scraps. They take turns curling up in each other’s beds and in the laps of each other’s masters. It’s wonderful to see them together.
This weekend was no different, only this time I got to spend some one-on-one time getting to know him. I also almost got him eaten.
Thursday and Friday were really hard on sweet little Smelmut. It was his first time away from his family, and we made him sleep all alone in the kitchen. Except it’s not like that, we’re not evil. Valentine and Theo sleep in a crate next to the backdoor, and he had his little bed right next to them, so he wasn’t actually alone. But he sure felt alone. I could tell by all the barking.
Saturday morning I got up early to run before the heat set in. By seven-thirty it was already seventy-six degrees and rising. Mike was in class, and rather than run alone, I thought I’d bring my back-up. Normally when Mike can’t run, I’ll go with Valentine. If there is one thing that little yellow mutt loves, it’s running. She can go and go and go and go, and I swear to you, there is absolute joy on her face all the while.
Smelmut is another little dog who loves to run. My brother is always talking about how fun it is to take him running, and since he’d seemed so sad and lonesome, I thought a nice run would be just the thing to cheer him. So I leashed him up and off we went.
And I shall call her Georges.
I made friends with a praying mantis on Saturday. Isn’t she beautiful?
She let me pet her wings, and touch her feelers, too. She seemed to think I was as odd as I thought she was.
Don’t you just want to kiss her on her little mouth-bits?
And then, just because, I re-wrote my About page. Oh what a thrilling life I lead!
God Bless Suburbia
After dinner last night, right before we headed upstairs to get ready for bed, we realized we’d forgotten to run the errands we needed to run. We were supposed to pick up coffee, sugar, a GFCI electrical socket, and the required black pants/black shirt Mike needs for his new part-time job. (Yay for the part-time job!)
Luckily, it was only seven-thirty, so we tucked the dogs in for the night, grabbed sweaters to protect against the freezing sixty-degree weather, and hopped in the car.
Yes, we get ready for bed at seven-thirty. What can I say? We’re an old married couple.
By eight-thirty we were brushing our teeth and marveling at how we’d just run three hours worth of errands in one. It was because of the strip mall. And the trunk of the car.
You see, most people who live in suburbia take for granted their ability to run multiple errands in a short period of time. I know, because I used to be one of those people. And then I moved to New York and figured out how the rest of the world works. Or at least the part of the world situated in Manhattan.
If we were still living in Manhattan, we’d have had to make three separate stops, instead of the one we were able to make last night. First we’d have gone to K-Mart for black Dickies and a generic black button-up. It would have taken us thirty minutes to get there, plus a ten minute walk off the train, and it would’ve been a miserable experience because that K-Mart was never fully stocked and it was always so full of people there ought to be signs out front warning shoppers not to enter if they fear large crowds. Next we’d spend another twenty minutes on the subway, another fifteen minutes walking, and then we’d be at Home Depot, also terribly crowded, with checkout lines thirty people deep. Fifteen more minutes walking and an hour on the subway before we got to our neighborhood market, all while carrying everything we’d purchased elsewhere. By the time we finally got home we’d have spent at least three hours, probably four, and we’d be exhausted, sweaty, and praying for an early death.
Instead we hopped in a car, drove to a strip mall, purchased everything we needed at a Target and a Home Depot sitting back-to-back, and were home in sixty minutes. Yes, it’s a little freaky that we can buy groceries and clothing in one location, I’ll be honest. Target’s new grocery section makes me feel a little bit dirty, I don’t know why, but still. I do not miss the city at all.
P.S. There’s a wiener in the lantana.
The Valley After Sunrise
All that weight I lost while I was taking the pill for a test drive last spring came back in July and August when our regular work-outs were replaced with packing, cleaning, and freaking the f*** out. I’ve been slim and athletic my whole life, except for that time in college when I was in the habit of making midnight runs to 7-11 for Ding Dongs and Twinkies, and except for every winter I ever spent in NYC, so it’s incredibly frustrating to feel my body folding over itself whenever I sit down in a pair of pants that fit perfectly only two months ago. I know, I know, poor me and my little first world problems. I feel fat, wah.
But still.
So we’re running again. Mike and I. Huffing and puffing and marveling at our inability to make it through a run without stopping a squillion times so we don’t puke breakfast all over our sneakers. But the nice thing about running here, even when it’s awful and you can’t see that it’s making any difference in your physique, is the view at the top of the hill.
At least with a view like that, I can pretend I’m breathless not from poor physical condition, but from the beauty flung out before my very eyes.
Little Houses
One of these little houses belongs to me. (At least, in my heart it does.)
Exoskeleton
This was a gift from my mother today. She dropped it on my keyboard while I was working and scared the living day lights out of me. Me, who likes dead things and reptiles and taxidermy. Then I realized what it was and started laughing. A much needed moment of brightness during a very long and frustrating day.
Something. Anything.
Work is going really well, but it is all consuming. In the mornings, sometimes, when we’re able to drag ourselves out of bed early enough, Mike and I have been taking the dogs for hikes, because all four of us need the exercise. Then I spend the day working and Mike spends the day job hunting. Then we have dinner with my parents, and then we crash. And I just haven’t figured out where to make time for my writing. But I have got to figure it out, and I’ve got to figure it out soon, because I can feel myself getting out of practice.
My bosses are writing a book, and when I finish transcribing it, it will be my job to edit it, which is the part I’m really excited about. Editing has always been one of my fantasy careers. But in the meantime, I spent over four hours typing today and I swear to you, my fingers ache in a way that I cannot even begin to describe. So for now, even though I miss you terribly, I must let my fingers and wrists rest. There is probably another four hours of typing to do tomorrow, in between meetings and phone calls and Thursday Night Family Dinner, which is surely the highlight of my week.
One day I’ll get back to regularly scheduled posting, and until then, may all our days be full of sunshine and wildflowers.
(I don’t even know what I’m talking about anymore.)
