Confessions of a One-Track Mind

Was out all day at a doggy event with J. A new animal wellness clinic was baving an open house. Per her orders, I was there at 8AM to stake out a good spot in the shade...J didn't show for another five minutes, and when she did, she had her useless friend with her.

They go back a long time, which is admirable, but I don't like her, if for no other reason than her snide comments. She gets in the way, then when I step back, comments about how she's doing all the work while other people (meaning me) are sitting on their ass. This conveniently overlooks the fact that she departs midway through the event to take her offspring to his music lesson---meaning J and I have to do tear-down by ourselves.

But hey, the up side to it was, J took me out for barbecue; I got enough of a doggy bag for brunch tomorrow. Then we went back to her place and saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One. God, that was LONG. Longer than the book, which I found interminable. At just under 2.5 hours, it felt like 3.5---I hope the final one is more digestable.

Also picked up an interesting factoid...at the event, another friend of J's, this one somebody she knows from dog training, asked her if they'd ever found out what her mom died of. As it turns out, it was *not* an OD, which I think we were all fairly well convinced it was. No, it was fatty liver disease. I'd never heard of it, but a quick look at Wikipedia confirms that she had a couple conditions that would've put her at risk. And yet, she had no symptoms, and none of the tests done during multiple hospitalizations for other complaints ever showed anything.

Now that she's gone, I find myself remembering Susie as she used to be, and wishing I could talk to her, the rational her. I feel like death should have hit the reset button, and she should have defaulted to the witty and wonderful friend she was for so many years. I know, it doesn't work like that, and even if it did, there were plenty of times when "I Used to Love Her, But I Had to Kill Her" was my theme song for her. I still miss her, though.

Okay, now I'm going to crawl into bed. I may or may not blow off church in the morning, because I'm knackered, and I'd *really* like to sleep in.
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Some of you may be wondering where I've been all weekend. Some of you may have been busy with your own lives and not noticed that I wasn't posting. Some of you may think that I'm full of myself. Hmm, maybe so.

Anyway, after gorging on Thursday---no kidding, there was salmon and prime roast beef and apple-walnut salad and a pretty good key lime cheesecake---I was kind of weighted down.

Friday---what *did* I do on Friday? The shuttle's sonic boom woke me up before 10 AM. We had movie night at church---UP, which I'd seen at the theater, but surprisingly, I was the only one who had. Got home and watched White Collar, which I'm quite smitten with. (In my fanon, Neal Caffrey is the illegitimate son of Templeton "Faceman" Peck.) There will be fic! Eventually....

I can say that fall seems to have breezed on through in the space of about two weeks and it's gone and gotten nippy. Overnight between Friday and Saturday, I found myself awake and shivering under a sheet and a quilt, despite wearing a long-sleeved nightshirt. Saturday, I washed a heavy comforter, and last night I was cozy and comfortable.

Yesterday, J and I and two helpers went down to Melbourne for a training session, and one of the gals got chomped by accident. The exercise was supposed to see how the dog would react to people running in his territory, IE the backyard, and she got a little too close to him (on his leash) when he snapped at her. It was a single puncture, nothing that needed stitches or awkward exlainations at an ER, and the dog seemed apologetic afterward. Other than that, he was pretty calm---J's been working with him for a while---and from what she and the others say, he used to be a regular maneater. His owner was freaked out, but the rest of us weren't. I've chosen to project an energy that says I'm furniture, nothing to get excited about, and so far, it's worked.

I'm writing---deadline is next Friday---and found out yesterday that Kat departs on her trip next Saturday, not Wednesday as I was thinking for some reason.

While I was at Schnauzerland on T-day, before we left for the Radisson, I got some largesse. S has been going through her massive, jam-packed walk-in closet and is getting rid of everything that's too big for her. Since she's currently in the vicinity of a size 10, that's just about all of it. There wasn't much in my size; there's one two-piece ensemble---I was with her when she bought it and have lusted after it ever since---I can get the top on, but the buttons pucker, and the waist of the skirt is definitely too tight, but maybe I can wear it to Thanksgiving dinner next year, wouldn't that be a kick?

Meanwhile, I got a very pretty skirt, 3X, new with tags, a floral print in purples, greens and aquas on a black background. It's long---ankle-length maxi without even trying!---and I have at least six colored tops to wear with it, and a few black ones, although I think that's too much black, personally. Today I wore it to church with a short-sleeved sweaterish top in a soft celery green, and I belted it with a black belt I got a couple years ago---this is the same belt that wasn't working with the black PVC jacket I was talking about the other day. I'm getting a lot of use out of it now that I've got a waist and can use it to definite the same.

Today I went to church, came home and took a nap. Nothing special, but nothing tragic, either, so it's all good.