A Very Weird Day

First, there was the weather. After we dropped the kids off to school, we headed to work. Within a mile of our house, we encountered bright sunshine, blue skies, pouring rain, and a hailstorm, all within a few minutes.

Next, Poppy managed to break through the back fence and let herself out again. She was picked up twice by kind strangers. The first put her back in our yard and left a message on our home phone. (Since there was a huge hole in the back fence, she very naturally went right back out.) The second kind stranger held onto her until he was able to reach us by cell phone, then brought her home.

Last (but certainly not least!), after I picked the kids up from school, I sat down at the dining table to have a quick snack before going out to repair the back fence. A fire engine drove past, lights and siren going. I wondered what was going on, and went back to my snack. A second fire engine went by, which made me curious enough to get up. By the time I got my shoes on, I found a police car at the end of our driveway, a horrible burning rubber smell outside, and flashing lights everywhere. Just past our house is a little cul-de-sac, and the house at the end had smoke pouring out of the garage. I counted FOUR fire engines (three big and one small), a fire-department SUV, and five police vehicles.

The fire appears to have been confined to the garage, and it looks like it started in an antique car. (DH came home and saw them towing it away.)

Surprising Ancestry

This is Poppy, the mutt we adopted about two years ago. What kind of dog do YOU think she is?

Our guess was a Doberman/German shepherd mix. The vet thought she might have some Lab in her, and someone else mentioned Rottweiler (mostly because of the coloring).

We got a doggie DNA testing kit for Christmas this year, and the results came back today. We were quite surprised, and I'll bet you will be, too.

[drumroll] And the results are:
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• 20–36% Siberian Husky

• 10–19% Boxer
• 10–19% German Shepherd
• 10–19% Lhasa Apso

• <10% Chihuahua
• <10% Chow Chow

!!!

A Busy, Busy, Expensive Week

Yesterday evening, DH took B to her ballet class, while I went to a meeting at her school about fifth-grade camp. Our rule is that whoever has the kids gets the minivan, so I got to drive the Saturn. On the way to school I noticed that it was even harder to steer than usual: when I got home, both front tires were noticeably low on air. We've known for several months that the car needs new tires, but haven't gotten around to taking care of it. This morning DH went out to look at it, and the left front tire is entirely flat.

So, the schedule for today ended up starting with driving DH to work. Normally we carpool, but I was already planning to work at home because of some other things on the schedule. He would have taken the car in for new tires today, but he had an appointment with the optometrist. (Yes, he needs new glasses, and so do I--my appointment was yesterday.) Tires are on the schedule for tomorrow morning.

First planned stop of the day: B got her braces off this morning, and her upper teeth look beautiful . But, the orthodontist has referred her to an oral surgeon to have four ankylosed baby teeth removed a.s.a.p.

Next scheduled stop: Poppy gets to go to school this afternoon. M's science class is having Dog Day, when students bring in their dogs. (They're studying genetics right now.) At least this one isn't going to cost us anything, other than a $3.99 bag of doggie treats.

Then, a quickie house cleaning before the piano teacher arrives. Dinner will be a frozen lasagna (B requested homemade, but I told her it wasn't going to happen this week.)

I've spent almost all of my spare time this week balancing the checkbook. Every year we swear we won't wait twelve months to do it, and every year we end up doing it all in February and March. I do have to balance the checkbook before I can do our taxes, because of the myriad of work expenses and reimbursements and honoraria that DH accumulates every year.

S&P dress rehearsal tonight from 7:00-10:00. Come hear us this weekend!

Weekend of Labor

It's been a loooong weekend. Our back deck has been badly in need of a paint job for the last year or so, so I decided a long weekend would be the time to tackle it. Because the dogs usually hang out in the back yard when we're away from home, I needed the kids to be home for a couple of days to entertain the dogs and take them out on a leash.

I started prepping the deck several weekends ago, sanding and scraping the loose paint. On Friday, I spent several hours finishing the sanding and scraping, but had to stop when it got dark.

Saturday morning, I scrubbed the deck and rinsed it off, then had lunch while it dried. M helped me put on the first coat, then we let it dry overnight. Yesterday I put on the second coat: three hours and forty minutes from start to finish.

BEFORE

AFTER

Today was supposed to be my day of rest: an Orinda Idol rehearsal for B in the morning, a quick run to Target, then SimCity and yesterday's Sunday paper. The animals had other plans, though. B took both dogs out this morning, then we left them in M's care. Shortly after we arrived at the rehearsal, my phone rang. It was M, letting me know that one of the dogs had somehow made her way up the stairs and done a #2 on the carpet (despite having been taken outside less than an hour before). I told him to pick up what he could, and I added carpet cleaner to my Target list. By the time I got home, one of the dogs had added a #1 to the family room floor. This is their third day confined indoors, so I don't know why they're suddenly having trouble today. Last but not least, we had put Otto temporarily into his winter quarters (because he can climb the stairs onto the deck). It's pear season outside--the neighbor's pear tree is dropping pears all over the back yard, which Otto loves. I'll just let you imagine what happens when you let a tortoise eat tons of pears and then put him in a confined space: let's just say that the garage door has been open for the last half hour, airing out the garage.

Three P's

1. Mr. P
Today B and I went to see her music teacher, Mr. P., perform in Seussical. It was a great show, and the entire audience was kids and parents from her school. I'm really impressed by people who do theater in their "spare time": rehearsing five nights a week on top of a day job is not easy!

2. Poppy
It's hard to take pictures of a dog! I know it's a little blurry, but this is the best one so far.


3. Petits Fours
I finished the petits fours for tomorrow's Voci fundraiser. They look pretty good for a first try, but they're a little on the bland side (vanilla cake, one layer of vanilla buttercream, and vanilla coating). Maybe next time I'll try something more flavorful.

Both kids also commented on the red ones looking like little cheeses: maybe red wasn't the best choice for the ganache. It seemed to fit with the "Flame of Love" theme of the fundraiser, but I guess in the future I'll stick to pink.