NaNoWriMo Update Day 7

Over 12,000 words so far!

I’m not really a machine, but I’m trying to get the bulk of the writing done before Mr. Demonic comes back to town tomorrow night. Then it will be payroll, holiday, limited Christmas shopping and playing with the new dog. (I forgot to tell you, I got a dog! Will post photos next week!)

Here’s another photo in the meantime. It’s Maxx. I’m reading all y’all, just not commenting all the time.

Doggy Visit

The Demonics have been toying with the idea of adopting a dog. Well, that would be THIS Demonic.

I don’t want a big dog, or one that that needs a lot of attention. In reality, I’m a cat person, but Mr. Demonic has stolen my cat! Well… Maxx wasn’t really my cat, he was my daughter’s. Now he likes Mr. D the best.

My thought is that we need some more fur in the house. Plus, another animal would keep the cat entertained. He needs something to do during the day, because right now he sleeps all day and keeps us up all night.

It’s also important to find good homes for homeless animals. Maxx was a shelter cat, and I rescued him. And look at him now… Fat and sassy, living the high life. My brother-in-law runs a shelter for German shorthair pointers in LA. Their house always has a full contingent of foster dogs. I like that rescues try to find suitable homes for throwaway animals. It’s hard to believe, but a lot of people think of their pets as interchangeable as a pair of shoes. A lot of rescue animals came from puppy mills, discarded after their years as a breeder were over.

My sister has two Boston terriers. I like how her dogs are well behaved, friendly, and don’t bark or shed a lot. They’re also compact and don’t take much space. So I did some research, starting back about six months ago. I went on the web site and filled out an application, and waited.

The Boston terrier people are fanatical about their dogs. I had to go through an application process, where I listed all of my references. They asked me how I felt about fencing and crating, discipline and training. They then would decide whether or not I was good enough to be a Boston parent.

This week, I made an appointment for a home visit. This is where one of the rescue workers comes over to check out my house and make sure I wasn’t going to use the dog to fight professionally or pull my sled in the winter.

Yesterday, a very nice dog came for a visit, along with his foster mom. His name is Henry. You can see what he looks like here. He’s really a handsome little dog.

Maxx was non-committal, but Henry wanted to play with him. Then Henry found Maxx’s big fleece ball and started playing with that. Maxx was a little upset. Mr. Demonic was non-committal too, but he was doing the dishes, and heaven help us if I interrupt that.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about Henry ever since.

I wonder what that means…

Dream Dog

I would like to preface this by saying that I have been looking into getting a dog from a rescue, as soon as my youngest goes off to college in the fall. My brother-in-law helps run a rescue in Los Angeles, and his belief is that you should never have to get a breeder dog because there are too many poor animals in shelters looking for homes. I’ve been taking my time and getting lots of information before I decide if that’s what I’m going to do.

This is a vivid dream which I had last night:

I dreamt that I went to a breeder of Boston Terriers. My sister has always had two Bostons in the house. They’re small and short-haired, are loyal and friendly, a perfect house dog. Except for occasional snoring, they don’t make much noise. If I were to get a dog, this would be the breed.

The breeder was a German man with a rather thick accent. He introduced me to the mother and then the father of the upcoming litters. (Seems weird.) Both dogs were very nice, even tempered, you could tell they liked each other, too. (Why this was a concern, I don’t know!) I asked if I could put a deposit down on one dog from a subsequent litter. I told the man I wanted a little girl, and he agreed, girls are the best.

We went into his home office to make the payment. He told me it had to be $300 in cash. I went to the breeder with $300 cash (very unusual, since I never carry cash), but along the way managed to spend $295 of it (I don’t know how!), so all I had left was a rumpled $5 bill. I took it out of my wallet and proceeded to dig around in my purse, hoping that I really hadn’t spent $295, but knowing that I did.

Finally, I asked if I could write a check. German man looked over his shoulder warily and said he really shouldn’t, his wife would be angry. He relented, and I started scribbling out a check for $295. While writing, I asked him when my puppy was born, could he please name it “Cooper” so she would be used to the name. He agreed, and scribbled the name down on my receipt.

Just then, German man’s wife came over, and nixed me writing the check. “NO, we can’t take deposits unless they are cash!” (She was quite the harpy.) I looked down at the counter and noticed that they also took major credit cards, so I asked if I could charge the deposit, to which both said “yes”. I was highly annoyed because I had written out the check and would then have to void it.

It seemed like only a minute, but I got my little puppy. I brought Cooper to work with me, where one of my office girls went ga-ga over how cute she was.

Then I woke up.

What does this mean?

Women (and Other Things) I Would Totally Not Sleep With

Now that some of my gender are discussing the women they would totally sleep with, I thought I would take this moment to discuss some of the women and other things I would totally NOT sleep with. Let me preface this by saying I’m not a lesbian, but as you will see later on in this discussion, that’s not the least of it. I can keep my options completely open and still draw some parameters as to bedtime partners.

The list of women and other things I totally would not sleep with:

1. First of all, need I say it? Britney Spears. I couldn’t sleep with her. Frankly, I don’t know when she sleeps, but she can’t be on the same circadian cycle as me. Plus, she doesn’t wear panties, and that might be one late night surprise I don’t think I’d want to delve into. The mental picture of me unconciously sliding my hand over her naked ass, well… yech! I don’t want to go there… Also, I don’t want to sound shallow, but her body is horribly out of shape. Instead of having the washboard of a pop princess, her stomach sort of looks like… well, mine.

2. Hillary Clinton. Again, I must be shallow. Hillary was no beauty queen at Wellesley and she’s packed on a few pounds since becoming a senator. Perhaps she shouldn’t eat at all on the campaign trail. Also, she couldn’t keep her man happy, time and time (and time and time) again, so I can only deduce that she’s unimaginative in the sack.

3. Rosie O’Donnell. ‘Nuff said.

4. Dogs. I’m a cat person. I can sleep with cats, especially if they’re well behaved and don’t like to pull pranks when you’re sleeping. It’s disconcerting to have your eyelids licked or your earlobes munched on, but these are minor inconveniences, considering 1 through 3 above. Besides, dogs smell.

5. Rocks. I’ve slept with small TVs in my bed, with fast food wrappers (I was younger!), with books, telephones and sketch pads. When my son brought a large hunk of gold ore into the bed, I had to say “no” to that.

6. My children. As long as we are talking about what the children bring into bed (donuts, potato chips, pop tarts, cookies, etc.), let’s also discuss my children. The last time the three of us shared a bed was about ten years ago at my sister’s house. She had a huge king sized bed and we thought it would be big enough. It wasn’t. My son, who is now twenty, tends to sleep on the diagonal. Yes, even now. My daughter kicks, and kicks hard. I can sleep with other children in my bed, just not MY children.

7. And finally, the ultimate deal breaker. A dead person. I definitely could not sleep with a dead person in my bed. At first I was going to limit it to skeletal remains, but I think any dead person would negatively affect my sleep. This includes zombies, vampires, and those who spontaneously combust.

A girl just has to draw the line somewhere.