The last two weekends, not very briefly

You guys, I am totally alive. Thanks for waiting. I'm no longer sick, which is awesome. We're experiencing a period of cool weather, which is even more awesome. I turned on the bedwarmer last night. I may have jumped the gun, because I woke up sweaty and had to turn it off again. Included in this post, sad + happy dog stories, a movie review, lots of pictures of unrelated things.

We might have a puppy. Not us, specifically, but the family in general. One of the family crises the other week was that my sister lost one of her beloved dogs. NO ONE START CRYING YET. I'll spoil the story and tell you this: we found her. Thank god. Sis had gone out of town for vacation and the dog sitter accidentally let Joey out within 12 hours. So by the time they got home, Joey had been missing for a week. Only fellow dog owners could understand how frantic my sister was. Joey (short for Josephine) was a rescue dog, and she's terrified of strangers, so the chances of anyone else catching her were low. We blanketed the neighborhood with flyers and everyone spent hours walking around. Two days later, by random good luck, my sister talked to someone who'd seen her and then found her huddled under a motorhome. She's back and everyone is happy although I'm pretty sure we've all developed some extra gray hair.

What does this have to do with a puppy? On the first day of searching, someone called my sister and told her that she'd found her dog. Rena arrived, beyond herself with excitement, only to find a dog that in no way resembled Joey. Also, it was a male. And a puppy. She explained that it wasn't her dog and the woman (clearly not a dog owner) suggested that perhaps she had lost her dog for a reason, and this was the universe's way of giving her a new dog, the right dog. Very tactful, lady. Rena starts crying. Then the woman tells her that if Rena refuses to take the dog, she's putting him back out on the street because she can't be bothered with him. Definitely not a dog owner. My sister takes him (obviously), drops him off with my parents.

We have flyers up so that the real owners can get in touch with us. It might be terrible to admit but we're kind of hoping that he really was a stray and no one wants him. You see, Circe is in love with him. She's notoriously cantankerous with most other dogs, but this little guy has won her over. They play, constantly. He follows her around. She lets him snuggle with her when she's napping, which is sort of unfair because she gets annoyed with me if I try to pull that move. My parents weren't looking for another dog, but sometimes the universe sends you a dog, I guess, at least according to the dog hating lady. Even if the owners turn up and all we get is this week of puppy love, it's pretty sweet.

D and I saw a movie. That doesn't sound groundbreaking, but it kind of is when you consider that the last movie we saw was Up in the Air. Almost a year ago. We've been busy. I have a hard time making time for movies. I always have something I should be doing, and when I have free time I feel like I need to make the most of it and actually sleep. Also, movie theaters tend to stress me out. It's mostly the people. They are so unpredictable. You could get a weird laugher, or a loud popcorn eater or a woman who files her nails (that happened yesterday - luckily her humiliated companion convinced her to stop, after a heated debate). I also hate it when people clap at the end of the movie. The actors aren't there, so I find the clapping bewildering. I guess it's just a signal to the rest of the audience that you liked the movie, but who are you applauding? It seems so self satisfied. D says I'm unbearably weird and that his greatest fear is that I'll get even crankier as I age.

Anyway, we saw The Town. I loved it. Good car chases. Ben Affleck was not annoying. No one clapped when it was over although someone coughed and I thought they were going to clap and I got tetchy and D sighed. We'll chalk it up as a win.

{baby puppy}

{driving, driving, driving}

{laundry}

{udon}

{playing around}

{coffee, sunday morning}

 Actual posts coming up this week, which I'm looking forward to. Food and probably a crafty giveaway included. Check back.