big fish (and blog mascots).

Currently Listening To: Maybe Not by Cat Power

Got Caught Up on How I Met Your Mother Last Night: Stella isn't the mother is she?! It was the episode where Stella tapped his shoulder while he was carrying the yellow umbrella. I'm so confused. We aren't watching last season in order ... just when we catch an episode. :-/

Loved reading your comments on the last post! We should talk about Jane Austen every week. Also, I wish we could all get together and watch Pride and Prejudice (... and every male reader clicked off this page at that sentence ;). I shall not use this forum to confess to you I like the movies more than the book. It's sacrilege to be a writer and admit to liking any movie more than a book. And the book is still superior. I still want a Jane Austen action figure. I just liked the movie version of P&P better than the book. We can still be friends, right?

It has taken awhile for me to write this blog. From start to finish these are the events that transpired:

- I drove. A lot.

- I dragged two orange suitcases into the house. They were not nearly as heavy as my suitcases typically are.

- As soon as I put the suitcases down, I turned and tripped over a shoe.

- I smashed my finger in the closet, which I grabbed in effort not to hit the ground after I tripped over the shoe. That was yesterday. My fingertip is still numb.

- I sprayed an entire bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper all over the kitchen. Not for kicks. It just exploded upon opening. As it sprayed, I thought to myself, "if a bottle of carbonated delight can gain that kind of momentum whilst just sitting there, in the bottle, doing nothing ... imagine what it does to a person's stomach lining." I've drank at least three since then.

- I listened to an audiobook that was stinking amazing, but I'll wait until next week to tell you about it.

- I caught a fish.

Let me work up to the fish story. Every true fisherman (fisherwoman?) does.

I spent the weekend in Georgia, with my sister and her family. I love them so much and leaving always makes me sad. Visiting them is a double dose of awesome because 1.) I love them and 1.) they live on a gorgeous farm. The farm is like a visual sedative. I feel chill as soon as I pull in the driveway. This is a pic I took one morning:

Inspiring, no? :) There are cows, little furry chickens, peacocks, and a big (sweet) white dog named Speck. And some really bizarre looking creatures called "guineas". I'll tell you about them around Thanksgiving, when I can show you a picture.

I'm not a farm person by nature. I like living near a city. I don't like the traffic, but I like having so much to see and do right in front of me. Seeing city lights at night still makes me shiver :) But the farm is good for me. And the best part of the farm is, of course, the people who live there. My niece just turned twelve and she is so much prettier, smarter, and cooler than I was at any point during middle school. Also, she's hilarious. My nephew is five. He is the most imaginative kid I've ever been around. Also the loudest. I'm nuts about them both.

When I walked in the door, they gave me a present. And this present was especially scream worthy because ... they gave me my own pair of farm boots! And the farm boots are pink plaid! I'm wild over them. I have to get a bigger size (tucking your jeans into farm boots is a necessity), but when I get them back, I'll show you.*

The weekend was short but so fun. We swam. We pretended to be pirates. We all sat on the couch together, ate Oreos, and watched The Iron Giant. That movie makes me cry every time.

And ... I caught my first fish! I didn't take it off the hook myself. I always think I'm brave enough to do that (my sister takes hers off. She's so awesome and tough), but then I start to try and have horrible flashbacks of fish dissections in high school. Fish don't even blink, they just stare at you. Like they know. Still, I caught the sucker with a really cool looking pole. It wasn't a fishing rod. It was a fishing pole. It looked more like the apparatus used for pole-vaulting than something used to catch a monster of the deep. The funniest part was trying to get the fish out. There's no reel, so you just have to swing the pole out of the water like a wrecking ball and hope nobody gets fish-slapped in the face. It's a dangerous job. My fish was huge, massive ... like I didn't know fish that big lived in ponds down in Georgia. In fact, it might have been a Kraken. It took all of us pulling, yanking, dragging that bad boy out of the pond.** We threw it back (we always do).

Something else monumental happened this week that I've been really excited to tell you about.

I got a dog.

If you know me, your reaction to that sentence might be, "I didn't know you were a dog person ...", that's understandable. I didn't either.

For several years, I had a super sweet cat named Hawthorne. He was extremely furry and mostly sat around and slept. He was so cute and funny. My whole family loved him. Best, funniest pet ever. Then one day Hawthorne disappeared. I put flyers in mailboxes. I called everybody on my street. I cried for days (I know it's just an animal ... but I tend to get attached). It wasn't just that my cat disappeared - that whole year was kinda sucky. My granny got really sick, and passed away. There was a job I wanted and didn't get. Lots of personal stuff that went crashBOOM. And then my cat disappeared. I was like a walking country music song. I was in a twirpy jaded funk and decided I never ever wanted another pet.

Ironically, Hawthorne was a cat I didn't want either. He came after my other cat, Bandit, whom I had all through high school, died. Hawthorne just showed up on the front porch, all cute and little and furry. I tried to pay no attention to the cat, but little furry animals have a way of winning me over.

So fast forward to the past month. My friend Allison (Also a fellow blog reader***) is responsible. Allison's super nice, super classy sister-in-law is having a baby. So she wanted to find a new home for her terrier, Biscuit. Biscuit is a sweetie. Her owners put a load of time and effort into taking care of her. And now I get to take care of her! :) I'm really excited. Learning to doggify my life is fun so far. It's nice having something new to love :) I'm really excited for you to "meet" her! But I'll warn you, she is super furry and super adorable. Swampmates, meet our new mascot, Biscuit!

Look at those little furry paws! Doesn't her face look a little bit like a muppet face? I think it does. Such a cutie. Here are some reasons Biscuit is made of win:

1.) She is adorable and furry with a muppet face!

2.) Sometimes when I'm working, or ... watching Regis and Kelly, I hear the tap tap tap tap tap of her feet on the floor. Then she's propped at the edge of the chair, holding her yellow tennis ball:

As if to say: Hello there, my tiny new owner. We both know you are not working, so I have a more pleasant alternative. Why don't we play? I know the effect my cute face has on you. I know you think my small furry paws are adorable. Watch me use my furry paws to push this tennis ball toward you ... see ... you know you want to play with me.

Don't let appearances fool you. The tennis ball looks the size of her head but she can cram the whole thing in her mouth.

3.) She's funny. A commercial for McDonald's came on, in which the announcer talked about homemade "biscuits". She stopped everything and stared at the TV in eager anticipation. She loves seeing animals on TV too. Loves prancing through the backyard like a little reindeer. Loves tugging on her toys (and then ripping them to shreds). Loves to cuddle when she's sleepy.

So Biscuit is the dog that is making me a dog person. It's not that I disliked dogs before, I was just kind of neutral on them. I grew up on a street where people bought massive dogs that only barked and growled. Some dogs are really cool and fun though. Like Biscuit. She's currently laying at the foot of my bed, snoozing, dreaming of squirrels. You would really like her :)

Do you guys have any pets? Any cute pet stories to share? Also, a question: do you think I should cowboy up and learn to pull the fish off the hook? Or does pulling the fish off tend to gross you out too?

* Funny because the purpose of farm boots is to wear them so you don't step in cow poop, etc. I never get anywhere close to cow poop, etc. The farm boots are more symbolic for me. A pilot gets his wings. So do angels if Jimmy Stewart rings a bell at Christmastime. Sorority girls get letters. I have my farm boots.

** It was small, about the size of my hand. I just wanted to tell the story the way any good fisherwoman should.

*** Allison is also married to Nelson. They both look like J. Crew models. And yet they're both really really nice. And talented. It's just annoying ;)