Category Archives: Butters the dog

The day I gave a non-existent kitten the cold leg

Ever have one of those moments when you’re busy pouting, and ‘cut off your nose to spite your face’ as ‘they’ say?

You know, that mood usually reserved for teenagers or PMSing females.

That mood when you’re likely to say ‘no’ to something amazing (like cake) just because you’re not done being grumpy.  Even though you really want the something amazing (like cake.)  Yeah.

My boss offered to get me a sandwich (not cake), and I was hungry.  But stubbornly pissed.  “No thank you.”

My inner hungry person was wide-eyed and asking me “What are you DOING?!  We WANT the sandwich.”  

I looked at her, (yes, I have perfected the eye roll to the point of being able to literally see the inside of my head) and she backed off.

Must have been quite a look.

That’s when I realized … I had reached that  mood today.

As I told my friend Ruth who I sought out to vent to at, “If a kitten was rubbing up against my leg right now, I’d move my leg away … even if I wanted to pet it.”

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Petty pouting perfected.

 

I was slammed at work today.  And every time I quickly returned from the scanner or printer, I noticed my boss on the internet.  

That bothers the crap out of me.  I work my arse off, and believe me, I’m not the one getting the commission.  I could have used some help.

I digress.

Remember the fan that a customer brought me?  Out of the goodness of his heart?  In a random act of kindness?  The one I had a really hard time accepting, because I have the hardest time accepting anything from anyone?  No?  Read more of my posts, you’ll see that moment. Or, just click HERE.

Now, yesterday (or was it Wednesday?) ‘Fan Guy’ comes in and plops himself down at my desk and has me make copies for him and fax something for him.  Not work related.  A personal favor (he’s a friend of my boss.)

Okay, I can accommodate that – (after my inner busy person made the snide ‘let me just drop everything’ comment in my head.) 

As I was preparing to stand up and ‘accommodate’, he turned to my boss and said, “She’s my indentured servant, working off that fan.”

WHAT?

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I felt about one inch tall!! 

My jaw might have hit the floor had it not been clenched in a major effort not to say out loud what my inner busy person was saying at that moment.  I shan’t repeat it.  It wasn’t pretty.

Don’t do that.  Don’t give someone a gift and lord it over them.  Don’t make comments like that people.  Just don’t.

I felt awful.  As if I didn’t already have a hard enough time receiving gifts, that further cinched it for me.

Back to today.  

So I’m slammed and already getting a little grumpy – when ‘fan guy’ comes back.  I was entirely too busy to even make eye contact.  Or was I still just entirely too humiliated and pissed to make eye contact?

  Hmmm … no matter.  He must have sensed the temperature of my shoulder and sat at my boss’s desk this time.

It was shortly after that visit that I stomped scurried off to vent to my friend. 

I decided as my lip quivered and my blood pressure rose, that I needed a break.  And a major attitude adjustment.

So I took a rare lunch and drove.  Just drove.  Then turned around, took a deep breath and returned to work. 

I keep counting my blessings – but some days my inner whiner makes a pretty good case about being allowed to occassionally take a moment to acknowledge that some things just suck. 

Then my inner grateful person (she’s taller than the whiner, and smarter too) takes over quickly and get’s us all back on track. 

It’s Friday.  I’m home.  Groceries are purchased (thanks to my job) AC is blowing cool air (thanks to my job) and I’m chatting with my son on my ipad (who went clubbing for the first time ever, in the UK) thanks to my wifi (again, thank you job.)

So – if any kittens found my leg now, I would pet them.  That’s if Butters didn’t eat them.

(But if she did – she’d be grateful.)

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**Disclaimer: No kittens, imaginary or real were or ever would actually be harmed by Butters**

Friday! Stars, startles and hitting send/receive

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Ahhhh FRIDAY!

It was a bonkers day today.  (Yeah, this is going to be one of those ‘Dear Diary’ posts, but don’t avert your eyes in voyeurism shame, you’re invited to flip through the pages of my life.)

So, I awoke at 2:15 am.  Yes, we’re starting from the beginning, because I had the best giggle of the day over what ensued.

The dog was the source of my early hour awakening (shocking, I know.) Got up, trotted after the dog – no, wait, SHE trotted, I begrudgingly shuffled along after her, like the beta of our pack that I am.

Let her outside, and  – instead of shuffling back to my cotton sheets – I noticed how clear the sky was and how gorgeous the stars were.  I mean, even with half-opened eyes I’m noticing this, so you KNOW they were stunning.

Decided to sit outside and wait for her.  Be one with nature for a few moments.

So, I’m sitting outside, star-gazing, and I notice light coming from the kitchen.  The fridge is open and my son is stood staring at the contents.

Oh this is great.  I’m already rubbing my hands together in mischief. Butters is ready to go back in, and so am I.

I walk in the front door and got the reaction I was hoping for from Nic.  He did the full on, trying to find purchase with his feet, mouth agape, arm flail STARTLE move.  Classic.  Absolutely classic.

Tangent time: 

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I have never ONCE responded to a scare with a blood curdling scream – not once.  Why is that the way they portray it in movies??  My response is usually a “SShit!” combined with some sort of body shudder.  I call shenanigans on authentic movie scare responses.

Anyway, Nic’s response was authentic,  and OH so satisfying.

I nonchalantly continued to my room, in a cloud of smug. 🙂

SO worth the 2:15 wake up.

Was up anyway so checked my email.  Found the email I wanted (and pathetically live for these days – the send receive button is hit more than my snooze button and my knee on my desk lately.)

NOW I could go back to sleep.  Content.  All was right with my little world.

Then came the alarm … and preparing to conquer the mortgage world alone. 

The loan officer I process for is on a mini-cruise, and, I already had a TON of work waiting for me. 

I braced myself and confidently entered the building. 

Day started off with an offer for an additional job.  So, that would make 3.  I took it.  Hey – I am not turning down an opportunity to make extra money! 

I have to be able to support myself in the manner to which I’d like to become accustomed – you know, like, having groceries and paying the rent AND being able to look at the ‘nice’ shampoo section.

After that, things went pretty well considering.  (Except for having no access to the VA website and three VA files desperately in need of me HAVING access.)

Discovered what it must feel like to be a pet today too … one of the realtors was filling his M & M jar. 

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I heard that sound and my ears pricked up and my head tilted to one side.  Came prancing out to make sure it was in fact candy, and not kibble being deposited in a bowl.  Nope.  M & M’s for sure.  My afternoon was looking up.

I won’t bore you with the exciting life of loan processing (saving that for an entire post lol)  Fast forward to now … here I am, sharing my exciting day with you lovely people, and looking forward to hitting send/receive on my email. 

Because:

Happy Friday everyone!

Musings from the Laundromat – Giving and Receiving

First I’d like to thank Butters for only waking me up 4 times in the night.

Then, I would like to thank my weekend alarm (set when Nic was still a young school boy, you know … a few weeks ago) that went off at 2:16 am.

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It had been set for something he was going to that I had to wake him up for. What was it?? … I can’t think of it.

Anyway, in trying to turn off said alarm, I:

1) woke the rare sleeping dog

2) knocked my phone off of the nightstand, and

3) sent my glass of kiwi-watermelon drink flying – only to land in between the bed and the wall.  A nice tight space for cleaning up.

I don’t know if that is the actual flavor by the way … I’m guessing based on the portion of my carpet that is now a lovely kiwi-watermelon color.

Heard my son up several times in the night too – and when I left the house this morning, he was rocking moves like Jagger.

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A sleeping Jagger, but moving like him none the less.

Speaking of moves, yesterday I modeled a dress for a good cause.  CASA is a program that benefits abused and neglected children in the area.

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It was a lot of fun to meet the other models and attendees.  

It was also a little hilarious to be half-naked getting ready in a room closed off from the event, whilst facing a huge, wall sized window facing the river.

I don’t think any of us really cared.  The people going by on their jet skis probably were going by too fast to notice.  (Not sure about the people on the beach.)

I noticed some things though.  

I noticed that I didn’t have the fears I had in my 20’s or 30’s to stand in a slip and a bra in public view.  

And I noticed that I thought the other ladies,  in all shapes and sizes were beautiful.  Just as they were.

They were even more beautiful to me because of why they were there.  Women giving their time, wanting to do what they could to help such an amazing non-profit organization.

I refer to my growth again as a lot of things are changing.  44 has been pretty amazing so far. 

It’s so wonderful to be comfortable in my skin, comfortable in my head and full of hope and joy and promise. 

Life is amazing.  And if you’re patient enough, and do the next right thing, it turns out life has gifts you didn’t even know were coming.

I’m still processing  this.

But, as someone very special to me said recently, it is nice to sometimes  receive after all the time we gave. 

Yet, I can never forget that there is nothing worth receiving unless I keep giving.

Restless dog syndrome

I learned a very short sentence in German.  Mein hund.  Probably it’s not even a complete sentence, but since it’s only 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning and I am not close to thinking in complete sentences yet … I can’t be sure.

I learned this after wanting to learn some German, and because ‘mein hund’ is slowly driving me to the brink madness. And ‘mein hund’ is of late, at the forefront of my ‘things that come out of my mouth to mention when called upon to answer the “how are you?” question.’

I do not sleep through the night anymore.  

It’s like having a newborn in the house again.  Only, without the instant dissipation of frustration and loathing for sleep deprivation I experienced when I did lay eyes on my actual baby. (18 years ago)

Lack of sleep has taken its toll.  I can’t remember the last time I hit REM mode during the night.  And I would remember.  Yes I would.  I have a knack for remembering my dreams.

My only dream currently is that of an entire night with my eyelids touching.

Not the left and the right ones … the top and the bottom ones.

And why I had to clarify that is a testament to the fact that I’ve probably rolled and crossed my eyes so many times in the past few months to actually convince my tired brain the first scenario is actually possible!  (And yes, I’ve gone from possible incomplete sentences to definite run-on sentences, that’s what mein hund has brought me to!)

SO there’s that going on.

Can’t focus, losing weight (What that has to do with lack of sleep, I don’t know.  Probably due to increased nocturnal exercising and lack of daytime energy to chew.) 

She has the audacity now, after I’ve given up on any chance at more Z catching, to lay adorably at the foot of the bed, head rested on her paws – and nap.

I should go crawl over to the edge of the bed, stare at her, breathe  in her face and *thwack* the wall with something that would make a similar sound to that of her tail.  Turn-about is fair play.

I would do it too!  If I weren’t lacking the energy and motor skills to crawl over near her.

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Morning Manatees, Royal magic and cheesecake

Good Morning to you, good morning to you.
We’re all in our places
With sunshiny faces,
and this is the way
to start a new day!

I beg to differ.  My face feels like a handful of sand was tossed at it by a drunken Sandman.  He did get some granules in my eyes – that must be why they’re sore and grainy. 

OR … or … it could be that my dog pulled her ‘there shall be no alarms, who wants to be alarmed?  C’mon, I’ll gently rouse you from sleep by creeping around the bed, then staring at you” routine again.

It IS Saturday right?  Yes.  And yet, at 5am, I was up.  Stomping to the front door being led by my manatee with hair.

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I’m getting pretty redundant writing about Butters. 

I’m thinking of changing my blog name to ‘Musings-from-the-laundromat-about-Butters’  That would pretty much encompass my posts. 

So, I am in fact up.

It is what it is.  She is what she is.  The morning has broken and since I’m too tired to start cleaning it up, I’ll share some exciting news.

It’s not my news.  Or is it?  If I’m sharing the news – is it technically … oh, never mind.

SO!

I have a brother in the UK.  He works at Warner Bros.  Well … (she says, like an eager, sparkly eyed gossip) … guess who he got to meet yesterday? 

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AND … (she leans in closer for effect)

He was the one that got to hand Prince Harry his wand!  (If I am to believe my brother-in-law’s post on his wall, which I do.) 

Haven’t seen anything on my brothers wall about it yet, but he’s been too busy hob nobbing with Royalty I suppose. I’ll be grilling him  soon about all the details.  The horse’s mouth will be parched by the time he’s done answering all my questions.  Wait, he’ll be typing.  Horses hoof?

Pretty cool if you ask me. 

I had 2 pieces of cheesecake yesterday.  That was pretty much the hi-light of my day. 

I had been coveting the cheesecake through a glass door. 

There was a meeting going on that was none of my business, but the dessert caught my eye. 

It’s who you know people, it’s who you know. 

That meeting broke and I had already sent my ‘don’t think I didn’t notice that cheesecake in there’ email to someone who’s business the meeting was.

Dessert tangent.  Sorry.  Hey – ‘Dessert Tangent’.  That would be a great name for a little shop. 

Back to my sibling story.

He’s talented too – made Nic and I these wand replicas before he worked there.  (Oooo!  Foreshadowing!!!!)

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Perhaps I can wave one at Butters while saying: Expecto Patronum!  That should clear the area of Butters the Demented.  Or does that just work on Dementors?  Hmmm ….

OR, I could just stick one up her nostril until she gets the hint.

I’ll give it some more thought when my brain wakes up.

 

*update … Story confirmed and got some other tid bits I can’t share … Also had to remove my brothers name due to strict social media rules. Warner Bros. has a privacy thing with their staff. But let me just play Perez Hilton for a moment and say … One person who was there has an epic imagination ;)*