Life with the Two Crazy Dogs

Spring break ended on March 24, which means back to grind the books and assignments again. I was supposed to read some chapters of my textbook, heck, I didn’t do it. Instead, I was watching all the recorded NCIS shows DB recorded for me.

Things sure didn’t change for me. When there is a break from school, the books are thrown aside and I will just relax. I spent every night of last week watching my fav evening shows. I didn’t even bother to prep for my assignment for today. I wanted to watch “Remember the Titans”, I didn’t get to it. This movie is part of the competency “Small Group Discussion & Leadership” I have to take. I put this competency for this summer, but I am not sure if it will happen. I’m planning on taking “Principals of Management” because a buddy from work suggested we should take this class together. This class is an accelerated course just like the HR class I took last fall. With a buddy system, it’s always easier should I have questions with assignments.

School tonight and that means it will be a late night for me. I am always wired when I come home from class. Wish I have another week off…….

I met up with Wombie’s Burrow on Sunday for some shopping and then headed to this restaurant, Mysore Cafe located on Hennepin Avenue, for our lunch. It’s an all vegan restaurant that serves South Indian cuisines. The complimentary dosai that came with the buffet were so good, I could have eaten more of them if they refill the plate! I’m a real glutton

Mysore Cafe will be the next meeting place when my bro comes to town. Since he is a vegetarian and he loves Indian food, I think this will be a good place for his chow. He was asking me about vegetarian restaurants in Mpls. Well, now if he comes to the Cities, he can check this place out. The decor is not too bad - plain and simple, and the prices are very reasonable.

I would come here again for a good round of food.

Ventured out for a walk with all three by myself. It was an expedition. I’m sure glad I can walk Mr. Coops without the leash. Yesterday’s walk was cut short by the thunderstorm warning sirens. Yeh, whoopee doo, damn sirens. It was so loud it really hurt my ears. Coops for some reason howls just like a wolf when he hears any sirens.

Overall, this dog-sitting thing was not that bad. Would we do it again, probably.

Out of the blue, DB asked me:-

DB: We have not heard from Marial since that phone call?

Me: No news is good news for me.

DB: What do you mean? Don’t you want her here? (I know he was kidding me.)

Me: No news means she is not coming. (Yeah!!) Probably she can’t get a visa. It took me 3 tries to get a visa and the last was you had to make that phone call to speak to the consulate.

DB: What if she is able to get a visa and…?

Me: Well, she can be my housekeeper! Clean and cook for me and I will pay her which will be tax-free. How nice is that? In other words, I’m hiring an illegal worker!

I have no idea how she is going to get a work authorization from INS and without that, she cannot apply for a social security card before she can could start a job.

I’m not going to worry about it till we hear from her. Honestly, I don’t want a stranger living with us for long term. Short term, say a week or two, is fine. “Mah kwai fan”! (troublesome)

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It was a breeze sitting Riley. He is very easy going, loves to fetch like all retrievers do.

Came home yesterday afternoon and all 3 boys were so excited to see me. All 3 tails were wagging super fast, like the windshield wipers turned on high speed! Looked around and no accidents. Kong balls all over the place and giant double-knot rawhide for Riley was three-quarters gone.

Sent them out right away and fed them their afternoon treat. The weather was perfect – sunny and temperature was in the 50s. I dug out the tennis balls and Frisbees for them 3. Well, I should have known that Ranger does not care much about fetching. Cooper and Riley were bouncing off the ground dying to fetch. Fetching freaks, they are. Those two were fetching till their tongues were hanging by the side and slurped up the whole water bucket. Took some pictures of the boys…will put them up when I get home.

We were out there for about 45 minutes. Came in and them boys were out lying next to me by the piano. I was hitting the ivory keys till DB came home at 4. As soon as DB changed, we hit the road for our walk. It was a slow pace walk for me which I’m not use to. Our two boys were so excited to see DB walking with us…..very rare DB comes with us on our walks.

Got home and fed them hungry boys, and then we ate. All 3 were out to lala-land. As soon as we were done with our dinner, Coops and Range know what will come next – carrots and apples. They both sprung right up and patiently waited for me. Good old Riley tagged along and was given the bare teeth “Grrrr” by Coops – dominance thing.

Riley loves his pats and he acts like Coops. I was playing the piano again in evening, he came over, nudged my elbow to pat him. I patted him and took my hands away, he used his snout to “moved” it back to his head.

All three of them now are super clingy to me. Cooper is still telling Riley who the resident dog is, Ranger don’t give a shit at all as along as I’m home and he can be with me. When it was bedtime, Riley still goes over to the door probably waiting his owners. He was lying on Cooper’s bed, and was growled at again. It was funny to see how dogs tell other dogs who is the alpha. All three wants to sleep near me…..sigh….what can I say….motherhen.

Riley came right at 7 p.m. on the nuts, while I was getting ready to watch “Survivor” and work out at the same time. CBS switched “Survivor” from Thursday to Wednesday night because of March Madness.

Anyway, Riley walked in with his owners and he went wild. Riley is also a yellow lab, 6 years old, and occasionally has accidents in the house. His owners brought the stuff we told them to bring, contact numbers and asked how well he respond to commands. He responds better to hand signals and when he needs to go out for his business, he will sit by the door, and when you want him to do his business, say “Hurry up!” It worked.

Once the owners left, Riley was all over the house looking for them. He has separation anxiety and I was wondering if we should get the crate out. Also, we found he already had an accident in the Executive Office – both duties. DB cleaned that up. He is trying to make things easy for me, and that is how it should be.

We went to bed at 9 with all 3 boys in the room and the door closed. We didn’t want Mr. Riley to wonder around the house with us snoozing away. As it is, he paws the counters; good thing I saw him and I kneed him good. Didn’t do it again after that.

I was surprised the night went by very good. I thought I would have sleepless night. Riley was a little nervous initially, but settled down when we shut the TV.

This morning I took all three of them for a walk. Good thing is I can walk Cooper without a leash. The walk went very well. I was surprised.

This afternoon, DB will be joining us for our walk….will see what the room look like when I get home this afternoon.

DB’s coworker is bringing her pooch, Riley, over to our house tonight. We’ll be dog sitting Riley till the rest of the week. It will be a fun and hair pulling rest of the week!

The snow’s all gone except for a few patches on the backyard. With the thunderstorm rolling in this afternoon, it will get rid of whatever snow that’s left. So with rain in the forecast I can see three in the backyard. Hopefully there will be no marking of territories in the house.

I guess DB and I are no longer gonna be grandparents. SD text her old man last Saturday and said she spent the whole night in the ER in Owatonna. The bleeding just wouldn’t quit. Doc said it could be a miscarriage. Bummer!! Her Ob-Gyn confirmed it the next day she miscarried.

DB was looking forward to being a grandpa. SD’s mom was not happy at all, instead gave the daughter hell. Poor kid, all bummed out and her mom wants to tell her and her sisters something from the old lady’s past, but the old lady said “wait till they are older”. Probably gotta wait till they are 50!! I kinda know what it is, but not telling SD and so is DB.

SD’s mom told her about the miscarriage “it’s never meant to be!” Nice. Very comforting. SD said she and BF gonna try again later when they are ready. At-a-girl, go for it!

Ever since DB sobered up, he has been in contact with his mother and sisters very frequently. Most of his brothers and sisters are residing in New Braunfels, Texas. Two other siblings and DB are the only ones living “far away” from the rest of the clan.

DB calls his mom almost every weekend, if not every other. He speaks and text messages his sister, Juls, every weekend, too. He would receives all updates from each of the other 5 siblings. Yeah, he comes from a big family of 9 kids but now it’s only 8. The one sister passed away in 1999.

Out of the blue last week, DB’s mom asked him when he will be moving to Texas for good. She said it would be nice if he is in Texas with the family. Juls told DB that it will be nice to have another brother with them in Texas. DB told me about it and I just looked at him for a moment with my mind thinking of the heat in Texas. I told him if we were to move to Texas, it would be at least an hour or 2 hours drive to New Braunfels, or even more. That’s really mean of me, but I guess I don’t like having to live so close to the in-laws who are all bums (except for MIL, youngest BIL, and SIL). If we would to move to Texas and lived close to the in-laws, I know they would be bugging us, all the time - all family functions which always turned out calling the cops on someone.

I told DB, I’m not going to move out of MN till I complete my Associates. I have a gut feeling he really wants to move to a warmer place instead of this arctic tundra, getting sick of it, according to him. I guess I will take my sweet ass time to complete my 2-year!

Birthday today, another year older and wrinklier!! Damn, how time flies. When I was 18, I couldn’t wait for I my 21st birthday. Once 21 came, the years just crept by faster and faster.

So, happy birthday to me. I didn’t remember by birthday till my co-worker mentioned it 2 days ago. Oops, yep, it will be my birthday this Friday. Bosses will take me and other co-worker out whose b’day is also in March, for lunch in a couple of weeks. Hopefully we can go to California Cafe at MOA. That will be nice…..

So, tonight, it’s Friday and it’s our junk food night. I tapau-ed (to-go) char keow teow, mee goreng and siew pau from Satay 2-Go. I didn’t feel like going out for dinner tonight. All I have in mind are my research readings to get done and incorporate them to my mid-term papers. Mid-term papers due next Tuesday before spring break. (Ok, ok, I’m taking a little break to blog so that you folks won’t think my blog closed shop for good.)

What did I get for my birthday this year? Tell ya, never received so much greetings before. First of, my friend in Vancouver sent me an E-card. DB gave me a card from him and another from the boys. Got to work, another friend in KL, sent me an E-card. Boss came in and wished me and followed by two more from my co-workers. Big boss came in and gave me a b-day card. Sis sent an email to wish me, too. Hers was more “geng-chau” - all the birthday wishes in Cantonese with the help of a translator.
“Happy Birthday.
Sang yat fei lok
Nin nin yau kam yatt
suei suei yau kam chew
Kong hei lei,kong hei lei
Chuk lei cheong mang pak suei.”

My co-worker, E, and I went to the cafeteria for lunch. I had a cheese burger with fries. Well, what the hell, go ahead and indulge on my special day. E bought me lunch and we agreed to have lunch every other Friday which is payday.

Later in the day, when I came back to my desk after a potty break, E told me I have the same thing as last year for my birthday. What the hell is she talking about. She said “You got flowers.” Walked over to my cube, and there it was all waiting for me to open them up. She had to sign the package on my behalf since I was not at my desk.

Since it’s a weekend, I decided to bring the flowers home, why leave them in the office when I’m home? Folks who walked passed my desk asked “What’s the occassion?” The entire HR department knows it’s my birthday today. Check my emails, saw my sister helped advertised my birthday on one of my post.

2:30 came and I left with my belongings. Took my cellphone out to unmute it, saw a text msg from sis. Birthday greeting. I sure feel so special today!!!

Once I got home from Satay 2-Go, I couldn’t wait to unpacked the flowers from the box. The vase came with the flowers.

And after….it’s now sitting on my desk in my home office.

Tomorrow evening, we’ll be heading out to Red Lobster to get my shrimp and seafood fix for my birthday.

Do I feel anything different being a year older? Not much…. All I can say is there are a lot more gray hair; I have to work harder to lose a few pounds; few wrinkles, and my effenhiemers are now part of my daily vocabulary. And what stayed the same…I’m still a very impatient person; still as hot-tempered as ever, and still wants to walk/run until my body aches.

Selamat Hari Jadi to myself!!

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It was snowing so bad on Thursday, I left work early. I didn’t really want to, but all my co-workers told me to. Roads were pretty slippery because of the freezing rain earlier.

Once I got to the driveway, I was stuck again on the hill. Damnit. Friggin ice under the snow, again. Rolled it down to the street for DB to take care of it.

The concert I bought tickets to, Brahms German Requiem was cancelled. Called the orchestra hall to do an exchange for May 25. Unfortunately it will not be the German Requiem.

On Friday morning, the city has not come through with their plows yet. I think there was 10 inches of snow on our driveway. Took a look at our backyard, there was probably 15 inches of snow.

Took Friday off as snow day. Called my company’s toll free number to check if the company closed due to the weather, but hell no. “The XXXXX facility is open on Friday. All XXXX businesses in the Twin Cities are open.” Son of a bitch. I had to take a personal day for today.

The city plows finally came to plow the streets around 10:30 a.m. and plugged up the driveway. DB did all the unplugging, and me, I cleaned the house.

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