So as the title will inform you, this post is entirely about Bowser. If that is not interesting for you, move along.

I am never allowed to have children. I will talk about them all the time and it will not be interesting for anyone. It'll go like this:

"You will NOT believe what happened yesterday! I got (insert baby name here) to try this new brand of cereal for the first time and he/she actually liked it! And I switched to a new brand of diapers and it's working quite well."


Who would care about that?

But here's the deal.

I'm going to talk about Bowser anyway because I am EXCITED.



That is Boswer from back in the day when he was healthy and had hair and no issues.






This is Bowser now. Bald. Skinny. Mangy little stinker.

Mangy little stinker who I also happen to adore more than most things. He ranks fairly high on the list of things I love more than anything else. The list goes like this:

Christopher
Bowser
etc etc


Okay, that's mostly hyperbole. There are a lot of things in my life that go on that list.

But anyway, Bowser is not a healthy guy. He has a great energy level and he's happy and wiggly and great. He's also bald and skinny and has nasty allergies.

It's been a major battle getting him back into shape. About a year's worth of a battle. First it was demodectic mange. That took about six months to beat. He lost a lot of hair. He was very itchy. Now we're working on the allergies. He's on a grain-free salmon-based diet now. That's working. But he isn't gaining weight. He eats about a cup of food and refuses to eat more.

I've made friends with the owner of Compatible Canine, the holistic pet food store in Sturbridge.

I tried mixing in the canned food form of the same formula of dry food he's eating to stimulate his appetite. No good. He's allergic to it.

So yesterday, after an extensive conversation with said proprietor of Compatible Canine, we decided to try mixing in a scoop of a canned food that is protein source only. It's just pureed meat and water. That is all. No added vitamins or fortifications of any kind. It's just to get him to eat more. I got a can of buffalo, one of salmon, and one of tripe.

We're saving the tripe until last because, well, ew.

So last night I put a half cup of dry food, a scoop of buffalo (ew), hot water, and a squirt of salmon oil in a bowl at my parents' house, mixed her on up and gave it to him.

Gone in three minutes.

So we went home. I did it again but with 3/4 of a cup.

Gone in five.

Tried again this morning with 3/4.

Gone before I'd brushed my teeth.

This is monumental. This is GARGANTUAN. Bowser does not eat like this! MY DOG MIGHT ACTUALLY GAIN WEIGHT.

DOES ANYONE UNDERSTAND WHY THIS IS SO EXCITING TO ME!?!?!?

Probably not.

This is mostly absurd. But I'm doing happy dances over it.

I'm not very good at this whole updating business. Let's see.

Just had our CO visit. It was amazing. Br. Donna is absolutely fantastic.

I'm getting pretty deep into this Rennie business.

I joined a pyrate crew.

My character has a name.

My character is ship's navigator on the Merovingian.

My landlord owes me a lot of money.

I'm scared of my landlord.

I'm scared to tell my landlord she owes me money.

I want a puppy.

I quilt a lot.

Family stress sucks.

Money stress is worse.

I almost got hit this morning by a super bad driver.

I feel fairly sick.

I read a lot of books lately.

Join Goodreads.com and friend me.

Hannah had a baby.

I want to go home.

I guess that's it.

There's probably more but I don't remember.

Here are all the KRF photos, courtesy of the awesome Bekah who is having a root canal today. :[


( Nail yer gizzard to the mast, ye poxy cur!! )

It's time for a cell phone photo dump!

( Cell phone photos!!! )

Yesterday I went with my sister, Ian, Palmer, Chloe, Anders, Joel, Myles, and Josh to York Beach. It was the perfect beach day. It was in the eighties with very few clouds. The water was warm and the waves were massive. We got to the beach around 10:30 and stayed til 2:30 when the tide forced us out. Then we changed and went to Brown's. From there, we hung out at the beach house for a while and then had steamers, corn, salad, and lobsters. It was amazing. It was just absolutely the perfect day. The only downside was Christopher wasn't there to share it with me.


( York is my favorite place on earth )

Furious is more like it.

This mess that happened in Webster with the puppies being shipped here from Wisconsin isn't some ground-breaking thing. Horrifying, yes. Terrible, absolutely. Animal cruelty, NO DOUBT.

But any pet store you have ever walked into that sells puppies gets their dogs from disgusting human beings like this. Cute little puppies in pet stores ALL come from Puppy Mills. There are no two ways around it. They say that they come from a private breeder because technically, that's true. The people who run these mills are looking to make a profit. And pet stores are too. They cannot afford to pay the prices that REPUTABLE breeders charge. They'd never make money.

I'm not against buying purebred puppies. Some breeders are working hard to further the lines and qualities of a breed. But pet stores that sell puppies are vicious awful places. Even the ones that look nice inside. That includes Puppies Galore, Laughlin Kennel, Elite Puppies, Debbie's Pet Land, and many many others.

Not all puppies from these places are bad. Of course not. Sometimes you can get a wonderful dog from there. But their mothers are being tortured and bred to death in mills. And for every puppy bought, one more is produced in those breeding hells and is shipped on trucks like the one found in Webster.

This isn't meant to attack anyone personally. Not at all. The events in Webster just made me so angry I had to vent it.

So it's been a while. But it always is. Since my last post, Lottie has found a home with a wonderful family. She has a yard and a mommy who stays at home with her. It's the perfect situation for her. It's not the ending I wanted but it's a happy ending nonetheless.

My mother's quilt is just about done. I just have to finish binding it. Sheri is also helping with that. We're going over my parents' house on Tuesday and we're going to do gifts then.

This weekend is jammed up. I'm working at Scales tonight. Tomorrow I have fabric shopping and then Mike's graduation party. And Sunday is the Whisker Walk! I can't wait.

I've begun costume planning for King Richard's Faire. I think we're also going to do the CT Renaissance Faire this year. It runs the same time. And they have pirate weekend! I bought a gorgeous bodice from Damsel in this Dress. She's fabulous. And I'm in the process of buying a baldric, flintlock, and cutlass from a leatherworker.

Work is insanity. I'm ready to run screaming from the building and diving headfirst into the pavement. We're intensely short-staffed and behind. What can you do though, right?

I'd love to put something insightful in here but there's really nothing. Mostly I just want to go get Bowser, curl up in a ball, and go to sleep.

Also, if you don't have Jeff Buckley in your life yet, your life is sad. Fix that and quickly.

My landlord is making me give up my Lottie bug.


She's been barking all day when she's alone.


To say that I'm heartbroken would not even begin to cover how I'm feeling.

So this weekend was real good. I had Friday off and I got my car back, went for the season's first ride on the bike, made my first chicken marsala, and had Mark and Lindz over which was AWESOME.

I'd outline the rest, but it's not really worth it.

Except, I went to Lush and bought the following:

Strawberry Feels Forever massage bar
Think Pink bath bomb
Sakura bath bomb
Vanilla Puff Dusting Powder
Buffy body butter
Lemony Flutter cuticle butter


( Hasn't it been too long since we had a cell phone photo dump?? )

I think this one floated around Facebook, too. But I hate doing surveys on facebook.

( Survey that is too long for any logical person to do )

Alright, checklist style updating.

Not buying a new car.

Billy got reinstated.

Billy being reinstated makes me really really happy.

My car is in the shop.

I walk to work every day.

I also walk home every day.

That is two miles a day.

I also walk on the weekends.

I need new sneakers for said walking.

I'm learning to sew/quilt. I like it a lot.

I am buying the world's hottest pair of boots for the GBD show.

You are jealous.

I could do this all day.

I probably won't.

Keep reading though, it could get good.

I picked Atlas Shrugged up again. I am determined to read it all since it's brilliant.

"I love you and my happiness bites the plum of your mouth."

I've also discovered Pablo Neruda.

This might be the end for real.











This definitely is.

I was going to do a play by play of recent events in my life but it's been way too long since my last update to do that.

Andy came and visited. It was fun.

I got a stomach virus and spent a day in the bathroom. It was not fun.

I ordered henna and bath bombs and soap from Lush UK and saved about eighteen dollars.

I went to Lush and bought the world's greated bath bomb, Butterball.

I am eating Jelly Bellies and it is an adventure in a bag.

Caramel Corn jellybean is the world's greatest invention.

How did I go this long in my life without listening to Jeff Buckley?




Neil, I love you. <33333333

So this weekend was rather eventful. I had friday off. I got up in the morning, went to Target for toilet paper and paper towels and a Swiffer WetJet and food and a bunch of other crap. Then to Michael's for some collage frames. Then Goretti's for my food. After that was intense cleaning time and some reorganization. I cleaned like a BANSHEE. My cleaning mode is a serious frenzy. I cleaned, HARD, for about two and a half hours. Then I cleaned myself up and went with Meryl to get Anders at the airport. We stopped at her Starbucks first and I made friends with the famous Patrick. Somehow during this, despite the fact that I was having a bunch of people over at seven, I got a call from Randy at Scales and agreed to work for an hour or so. I'm a sucker. So I worked til six then went home and made my snacks for everyone. Everyone ended up being Anders, Andrew, Meryl, Brian, Jamie, Palmer, Kory, me, and Chris. It was honestly a really good time.

Saturday morning was service and then Katy joined Anders and I for a Natick trip where I went to Lush, of course, and bought Imperialis moisturizer, Godiva shampoo bar, and Honey I Washed the Kids soap. We pooped around Natick for a while, ate gelato, then went back to Millbury and to Target where I got a shower rack to keep all my Lush products out of the water. We chilled for a bit and then went to the Wonder Bar which was, as the name suggests, wonderful. Katy slept over and we hit The Wright Place in the morning, then meeting, and then Katy helped me re-henna my hair. Devin and Kory came by and I cooked for everyone and we watched Aqua Teen and Flight of the Conchords. Then bed. Then woke up and Katy got in my bed and slept til ten while I played Fable (beat it) and then finally, after seventeen hours, unwrapped my head and washed it out. Then I did nothing the rest of the day. And it was good. Then CT. Truffles, felt really sick, came home and went to bed. And now work.

( Lots and lots of photos )

So this weekend was good times. Saturday we just chilled all day and it was honestly pretty great. I cleaned the whole house, cooked dinner, Meryl and Palmer came over to play with the pups. It was real nice. I played a lot of Fable II honestly.

Sunday we went to CT's meeting where Chris was welcomed like the prodigal son. They had 155 people at their meeting. HUGE. Our hall averages around 85. Then we went to Wendy's. My diet suffered pretty intensely on Sunday. Then we stopped home and then drove out to Bruce and Danielle's. We had such a great time. I really love spending time with them. I always feel positive and upbuilt after the fact. Their new apartment is so super cute and awesome and I love it. Roxy was adorable as always. We played a lot of poker and ate a lot of food and had lots of girl talk when Amanda and Beau came over. I'm pretty tired today but it was way worth it and the drive isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.


( Photos!! )

I guess there's not much to update on. I'm back on my diet. Hard. I want to win this thing!!

Flight of the Conchords is the new love of my life.

I just put my Coheed comics up on ebay.

I've been playing Fable II. I like it a lot. I might play a lot of it this weekend.

I've already bought more stuff on Lush.com. I'm officially diving headlong into my newest obsession.

( Cell Phone Photo Dump )

I took yesterday off because Chris has had this past week off of work for vacation time and I wanted to spend one day with him. So Katy came over and we got breakfast at the Wright Place and then headed off to the Natick Collection. We bee-lined for Lush and I went on a SPREE!

I bought:

The Comforter bubble bar
Flosty Gritter bubble bar
Soak 'n Float shampoo
Seanik shampoo
Shampoo tin
Shave the Planet
Shimmy Shimmy massage bar
Youki hi bath bomb
Up You Gets emotibomb
Sexy Peel soap
Porridge soap (the new love of my life)

Because I spent so much I got two free fresh facials. I got Cosmetic Catastrophe for me and Ayesha for my mother. I did one last night and it was amazing! The one I got is full of blueberries and chamomile and amazingness.

After Lush we went to FYE and I bought Flight of the Conchords. Then we went in Anthropologie and I fell in LOVE with a dress there but, alas, it was $178. Too much. Sephora happened and I bought Sheri a nail polish. Candy store and I got a buttload of candy and some Smooth 'n Melties for Sheri.

We headed back and I stopped in to Allcare and gave Sheri her gifts from Lush and the candy and such and then gave Kelly her gifts. Then we went up to the shops and I went into FYE, again, and bought Kings of Leon and Muse Blackholes and Revelations. Then Old Navy and I got two pairs of jeans and some boxers for Chris. Chris also bought himself some jeans. The level of desperation with which I needed jeans is pretty epic. It was a wise purchase. Then we ate at Qdoba. Then Katy and I went to Target and bought groceries and cleaning supplies and picture frames. Yankee Candle for tarts and a gift for Jamie.

It was a big spender day but we got our tax return and used the vast majority of it on bills and assorted other very responsible things. So we decided to set aside a little to have fun with. And it was very enjoyable.

Today is Bowser's follow-up at the vet and then grocery shopping and then god only knows what.

So, LUSH is my new obsession. I still love MAC but I've moved on a little bit from cosmetics since it's eaten up probably a grand or so of my money. Maybe more. I still love it but I own so much that new collections don't really excite me anymore.

I've been going to LUSH for a while and just buying things here and there. A soap. A massage bar. A dusting powder. Now I'm all about it. Recently I was reading about their all natural organic henna hair colors. These things are one hundred percent AWESOME for your hair. They've got all natural ingredients that really enrich your hair as they dye it. So I decided, hey, I'm going to do it.

So Meryl and I went to LUSH. I bought my mother a shower emotibomb and a toner tab. For myself I got Business Time massage bar, Sex Bomb bath bomb, Herbalism cleanser (my face lives for this) and Caca Marron henna. The girls gave me some tips on using the henna and I took it home.

I used three squares of the henna and grated it with the small side of a cheese grater so it was a super manageable powder. I put it in a pyrex bowl and added boiling water until it was a thick consistency. I also added some chili powder and some olive oil for shine. Then I put that pyrex bowl into a larger pyrex bowl with boiling water in it to keep the henna hot. Meryl slapped on some rubber gloves and we plastered my head with the goop. Then I wrapped my head in plastic wrap and went to bed.

The smell of it made it a little difficult to sleep. It's full of coffee and that scent definitely kept me awake. But I stayed in bed with Chris until around ten in the morning watching Lost and then got up and peeled off the plastic wrap and jumped in the shower. It was a process getting it out. It took two conditions, tons of rinsing, and three shampoos to get it out but out it went and my hair feels great. I totally loved the process and next time I'll probably be more adventurous with it and add more red.

( New Hair!!! )

Okay, so obviously I'm no good at those updates where ya just post what's going on your life. For some reason I only update to post photos or crappy poetry. But I'm going to turn it all around!!

Oi, when was the last time I posted anything about my life in this thing? Okay, December 22nd. Oh, I posted about my utilities. That's a fun story. So Chris and I have a steam furnace. You have to occasionally check it to make sure there's water in the system to heat the apartment. One morning a week or so ago I woke up and it was fifty degrees in the apartment. The heater had run out of water. So, I got up and added some and we were golden. But then a few days later, it ran out again. That was this past Friday. So at about 6 o'clock, Chris added water and then we went to CT. If you remember, Friday night/Saturday morning was the coldest night of the year thus far. Sometime in the night, the heat stopped working. When we woke up, the thermostat was as low as it could go. It was probably about thirty-five degrees in our apartment. So Chris refilled the furnace and it slowly heated up and then promptly was empty again. There was a leak. They fixed it and now we know why our heat bill has been so high. We've been heating the basement with all our leaking steam. Now that it's fixed, our apartment feels much much cozier. And you better believe we're chasing after our landlord for them to pay at least part of this bill. It's so high it is absurd.

My anniversary was on Monday. Chris and I went out to eat and exchanged gifts. He bought me a watch and this unbelievably gorgeous leather journal. I told him recently that I missed writing so he got that for me to start the juices flowing. But the winter saps all my creative energy.

I guess that's the big stuff. I can't think of anything else. Chris put his car back on the road. He's going to take my car to Patrick Subaru next week on his week off to find out about lease options. Uh....Cory and Eva came over last night for dinner and Eva and I drank wine that was totally delish. My two pups are good but Bowser is on a special diet because he'd been losing weight. My mommy is making me window treatments for my kitchen and dining room. Uh........I haven't read a new book in a while.

But this quote is really inspiring me lately.

"When I was alive, I believed-as you do-that time was at least as real and solid as myself, and probably more so. I said 'one o'clock' as though I could see it, and 'Monday' as thought I could find it on the map...Like everyone else I lived in a house bricked up with seconds and minutes, and I never went outside until I died, because there was no other door. Now I know that I could have walked through the walls."

Peter S. Beagle The Last Unicorn

I suppose that's it.

stand there screaming silent
empty gasping turning air white
there's sanskrit in your cheekbones
dripping lightless down your chin

webster couldn't translate the
hieroglyphs that you create
they stain my fingers purple
as I try to wring you out

like a rag that's thick and sodden
you're better off forgotten

you're a language god didn't write when
he spent his days inventing kindness

even he'd forgive me spitting you out

so now it's camouflage in bright yellow grins in
a battle of wills that nobody wins
your knife-sharpness turns my stomach
but i can't concede defeat

here's to sorrow and white flags