u-g-l-y

after coming across this pic on a blog,

i did a bit of yahoo seach. i knew i'd seen him before-- he's sam "the world's ugliest dog" 3 years in a row (2002-2005). he kind of makes me want to vomit when i look at him (and i usually find cuteness in all sorts of "ugly" animals)


this is a cute shot of sam though:

unfortunately sam passed away in november 2005 (i think he was 14 human years), passing on the crown of ugly dog 2006 to archie (who looks like a cute version of sam)
i also did a yahoo search for ugly dog images. sam is in there, along with a lot of other edited dog photos and some pretty ugly mutts.
sam also has his own website with some pretty funny photos of him and his story of how he came to be suzie's pup (she's the woman in the pics with sam).

busyness

this week has been really busy. not sure why. work has been crazy (until today), i skipped a meeting last nite (it was raining and i figured it wasn't too important for me to be there anyway and i wasn't getting paid for it and i was exhausted from work..... i had a lot of good excuses). my co-worker has been sick all week (she came in monday but probably shouldn't have). we've had a casual from an agency tues and wed(we never do that at work cuz we usually can rotate people around or part time people do extra hours). she was great but having someone in that doesn't know the centre or the children makes things harder on me. fortunately today i worked with one of the other part time staff and she's great (we set a new record of 21 out of 27 kids sleeping at rest time. i think 13 was our old record).
tomorrow is our last day before school holidays!!! i'm ready for a bit of a break (i do have to work 4 days over the holidays but the holiday program is very relaxed and we only have between 12-24 kids).


random wombat photo-- she gets really excited about carboard and paper. she chews bits off of it then spits them out (and continues til there's just a big mess of wet paper all over her bed).

suction

we went to get a new vacuum this afternoon. i'd looked at godfrey's website and picked out a $179 vacuum and possible $50 attachment piece. we walked in and i told the guy which vacuum we wanted and he went to get it down so we could do a test run. just before he grabbed it he asked how big our house was. i told him and he said that the motor was not powerful enough and it wouldn't last us more than a month or so with the amount of space we have. he pointed behind us to another vacuum and said this is the low end of the range of what we needed ($299). we just looked at each other thinking he's just trying to get us to buy the more expensive vacuum. he started pointing out all the feature like "its so tough you can stand right on top of it" (which he did and i was thinking "when would you ever stand on top of your vacuum???") and "the sides are made of [i can't remember] and therefore will not scratch" (who cares if your vacuum has some scratches on it-- it lives in the closet except when no one is around but the person using it). then he asked if we wanted to see how much suction it had and did this:

we were sold. its not that light a little beast and if it can hold itself up in the air its gotta have some decent suction to it (we also tested it out sucking up ground in pet hair on the carpet-- i think they shaved persian cat to get the fur-- and rice on a hardwood floor--you don't even need to do anything to the attachment moving between carpet and hard floor). we decided since we were going to get the expensive vacuum that we wouldn't get the $50 attachment piece. as the sales guy was ringing up our sale he asked if we'd take the attachment if he dropped it down to $40 (he'd showed us a demo of how it works and its pretty cool). we decided to go for it. its such a cool attachment. it basically sucks almost all the dirt into this clear plastic barrel that attaches onto the hose so the vacuum bag is the last point of dirt. this means the bag lasts much longer (and i'd assume all the filters and stuff in the vacuum too). when its full all you do is twist off the barrel and dump it in the bin. nice and easy. he also helped us take it to our car (which we parked the furthest possible from the shop since we didn't know exactly where the shop was and just went into one of the back parking lots off the main street).
i vacuumed the lounge room (which i had just done last nite with the old vacuum) and got SOOOOOO much dust and dog hair. this vacuum definitely works better. i also did the hallway (which didn't get done yesterday) and ended up with even a bigger ball of hair and dust swirling around in the barrel.

now we have a nice clean house and i don't think i'll ever forget how to spell vacuum again (i think i just used that word more now than i have my whole life).

we just gained an hour!

i completely forgot about the time change. i looked at zac's alarm clock (which is always at least 40 min ahead of real time) and it said something like 11:43 (just after 11am real time). it was nice to have a big sleep in but that's the second day in a row i did that (must have really needed it) and i felt like i just wasted most of the day since we have plans from 3pm onwards. i took the dog for a nice long walk and then came and sat down at the computer. i thought it was a bit odd that the computer said it was just after 11am and just figured maybe zac's clock is more ahead than i thought (zac tends to keep setting it forward a few minutes every day but he had just reset it yesterday after the power went out for a bit). i just read a blog post from people in canberra and he was mentioning how the time change always confuses him and the computer is the only one that remembers. i looked over at the vcr-- it was saying its after 12pm. our computer remembered the time change. we just gained an hour. that's exciting (especially since we get more megs/month on our computer between midnite and noon so its good to know i'm usuing up offpeak megs cuz we're already slightly ahead of where we should be for our monthly allowance of peak time megs (we just get slowed to dialup speed for the rest of the month when we use up all the peak megs). so now i'm gonna get off the computer and quit wasting this extra hour i've been given.

new and exciting

i never thought i'd be so excited about rain and coldness (mostly the rain but after sweltering yesterday, the coolness is a nice change). look at that drop in the temp (click on the graph to enlarge). also look at the rain graph near the bottom-- its off the chart!!! there's actually puddles still sitting along curbs (or kerbs as they like to spell it in oz). that last 24hrs have seen more rain than all of last month!
we went for a walk to find a new cafe today (the parents of one of the kids were having the grand opening of their cafe today). unfortunately we couldn't find it-- i don't know the name of it and i just knew the general intersection it is kind of near (not sure which of the 2 streets its on either). we got caught in the tail end of a storm on the way home but it was kind of nice. i went up to sydney road to get some fabric to make new couch covers (they look soooo much better than the ugly flowered things that were on there but they're cream coloured so i'm not sure how long they'll stay nice). i went into the shopping centre for a bit and when i came out everything was REALLY wet again and it was sprinkling. it was kinda nice to ride home in the light rain (haven't done that in ages). i'm excited to have a "vancouver rain" day hopefully this winter (or even in autumn). that usually only happens once a year or so. i love when we have a rain all day kind of day cuz it reminds me of home (even though i absolutely HATED it then). its especially good if its a day i don't have to go out anywhere and i can just stay inside, light some scented candles and curl up with a book and dvds (not at the same time- i've tried. it doesn't work too well) and light my candles.

tats and dogs

this is how zac spent his birthday money:

(he's also planning on spending it on some type of stringed instrument, probably a banjo. i told him you can't spend the money twice. he doesn't believe me)

i just took this shot a minute (or 5) ago.

we were trying to get a photo of wombat doing her new thing of putting her paws up on the window ledge to see down the side of the house (she's convinced something, like a cat, is there-- i think ray is the only cat that could/would jump the 6 foot high metal fence).
she got freaked out at all the coaxing zac was doing to get her to look out the window. she ended up just jumping up on him (so they're not actually dancing-- she's playfully attacking).

(10:50pm)funny side note: i just noticed a spelling error and went to fix. it was when i went into "edit posts" that i realized how funny the title of my post is (and its not a spelling error. i did mention cats but when i wrote the title i was thinking of zac's tatoo).

just the beginning...

i've been putting off updating my template since i switched over to the new blogger last month. i knew when i switched i would spend hours trying to get it the way i want it (similar to what it was but different). so i'm partly done (it may change completely though). i like the new click and drag way of arranging things but there's some things that i need the html. when i went onto the edit html page it didn't have some of the stuff layed out like it was before so i can't find it to change it (i.e. my own font that's not one of the 6 listed on blogger-- i don't know how/where to type the html code to get that font back in again. i also had categories for my links lists. i can't figure out where to put those category headings in the html code cuz my links aren't listed there they way they were before). oh well, i'll get it sorted. i think i'm off to bed cuz my eyes are burning.

TGIF!!!!

it was a LONG afternoon at work. the kids were really tired (we had a lot sleep at rest time too which is unusual). it was really hot (the evapourative air conditioner at work doesn't work very well on humid days). our third person wasn't coming in again this afternoon (just like last week) so i was just me and 1 co-worker for the afternoon. there was sooo much cleaning up to do to (the director and another staff helped a bit before they left but there was still tons of stuff to do). it finally got to the end of the day and there was 1 child left. the phone rang (we always dread those calls a few minutes before 6 cuz its usually the parent saying they're gonna be late). the last child's mum was calling to say she was still 15 min away (arrrrghhh!). to make it worse this child talks very fast not stop. i tried to get a conversation going while we were waiting but he doesn't really answer questions, he just picks one word from the question and rambles on about anything he knows that relates to that word (i.e. i asked him what the name of the street his house was on and he went on about what his house looked like and the park near his house. i tried asking him a couple more times in different ways but still nothing that related to the question, not even an "i don't know"). we ended up taking shifts sitting with him because at that point in the day it was too much to just listen to him ramble in his fast talk. but its friday!! and the cool change has come (and even some rain!)!! i don't have to deal with work again for 3 days (and then i'll be refreshed and think his rambling is funny again and have the energy to try to help him have a proper conversation).

too smart

i think wombat is a little too smart. this morning i decided i'd walk up to the chemist and she could come with me. i closed the back door and as soon as she heard the lock click she darted to the front door (not once did i even give a hint that we were going somewhere!). as we were passing "yappy little stupid" (as we've affectionately named the neighbour's little dog that barks under the fence when we pass and drives wombi nuts) he did his usual barking thing but wombat did pretty good going past just looking over at his nose under the fence as we passed (as apposed to trying to pull me up the driveway so she can get to him). when we passed the house i just continued walking forgetting to stop and give her a treat so she associates other dogs with food. the next few steps past the house wombat kept banging her big head into my knee. i finally stopped and she immediately stopped and looked up at me for a treat. she had been banging into me cuz she was trying to look at me and walk at the same time cuz she was expecting a treat.

i think she's got the dog behind the fence thing figured out. she did a similar thing the other day in the park across the road. there's another little yappy stupid in one of the flats that back onto the park. the yappy's people have created a tiny little fence from their sliding door so little yappy can go outside a couple meters. there's also a bigger wire fence several meters from their door, separating the flats from the park. wombat knows about little yappy there and goes nuts at it so we try to keep he away from there. the other day she kept trying to pull forward toward the area where little yappy lives (he was inside). he eventually heard wombat and came out. he wasn't barking though but wombat was trying to get closer (i wouldn't let her). finally he started yapping and wombat immediately ran back to me and sat. she provoked little yappy to bark so she would get a treat!

after we got home this morning i gave her a bath. she was very good-- i took her collar off and didn't have her tied to anything but she was good and stayed still (probably hating every minute of it) and let me shampoo and condition her. after i finished i realized her towel was inside so i went in to get it. when i came out she went nuts trying to pull on the towel and play with it. i finally managed to dry her. then she charged down the side of the house and then back. jumped into the garden and spun in circles repeatedly!! she was COVERED in dirt. i thought maybe i should just leave her out back the rest of the morning for that but i decided to be nice and re-rinse her (i'm sure she didn't consider that nice but she would have hated the alternative too). i brought her in and made her sit on her bed with her dental bone and soft toy. i got busy at the computer and 10 min later i heard a sigh behind me. i look and see her curled up on my spot on the couch, wet and still slightly dirty! she's lucky there's covers over the couch cushions and that it was a hot day so my spot is dry now.

her other smart things (this is a LONG post but she's shown a lot of intelligence- even if she is very cunning in some of it) happened when i came home. i decided to open the side gate and bring the bins out front before going in. she was very excited to see me come around back. while i put the bins out front she just waited half way down the side and called out to me a couple times but wouldn't come down and thru the gate-- i didn't even tell her to stay!

then it came time to go inside. she had her bone in her mouth and she's not allowed those in the house cuz they're gross. i told her to drop it. she did but as soon as the door was opened she picked it up again so i closed the door (this happens all the time). we tried again. i said "drop it". she did. door opened, she picked it up, door closed. we tried a 3rd time. she came in the door with her smiling, panting face and went to her bed. i followed and saw she was chewing something on her bed and it didn't sound like her dental bone (a nylon bone). she had put the bone in the side of her mouth opposite to me and panted normally while she walked past me!

grizzly man

we just finished watching the movie grizzly man. all i can say is the guy was pretty much a complete nutter. i love animals (probably more than the average person) but what he was doing with the bears was just completely stupid (his relationships the foxes in the film seemed a bit reasonable but still, i think the way he perceived his animal relationships was a bit off of reality). he did obviously have some mental health issues and if those were dealt with properly he probably wouldn't have spent 4 months a year (for 13 years) living amongst the bears feeling it was solely his duty to protect them from people. he did get some really cool footage though. it was a really good movie, but i couldn't stop laughing at things the poor guy said.

damaged

zac damaged the dog a bit yesterday. i guess technically it was mostly wombat's fault but zac's elbow got in her way. when she comes in from her morning walk if one of us is still in bed she likes to jump up and lick our faces in her big boofhead sort of way and rub her nose under the pillow to get rid of the feeling of the muzzle on it. yesterday when i brought her in she took her normal flying leap from the door of the bedroom onto the bed. unfortunately for her zac was just rolling over to avoid face licks and ear biting. her lip went into his elbow and now she's got a bit of a fat pink lip (the left side of the bottom lip in the pic). that must have hurt when she did it. she didn't yelp or anything (she never does when she hurts herself). i didn't even find out about it until later when zac got up and said "i don't know if her lip was like that before or if this is from this morning cuz she rammed into my elbow." her lip was definitely not like that (i have pics from 2 nites ago that prove it). poor dog. that'll teach her to be more careful getting onto the bed.

a long nite

wombat won't be going vegan (at least not while we live at this house). she will be "freegan" though. the landlords keep bringing over gigantic bones for her (very sweet of them). wombat loves them so we freeze them and give them to her sometimes when we leave her at home alone. zac gave her a massive one on his birthday while he went out for the day. he thought she must have buried it but now we think she ate the whole thing. all evening she was panting. we thought it was a bit weird cuz it wasn't that hot (it was in the upper 20s and humid though) and we thought maybe she was just excited that people were at her house. i went to bed early. she layed in the room panting and wouldn't stop. she kept getting up and moving around every few minutes even though it was way past her usual bedtime. we tried wetting her down, putting the evapourative cooler on her..... nothing worked. we realized her stomach looked pretty bloated and she went outside for a few poops. poor thing over indulged on her bone. i made her some peppermint tea and we let her sleep on the bed. she finally settled and we all got to sleep around 3am i think. i was exhausted at work yesterday! plus friday afternoon the other room doesn't have children in it and all the other staff went home (including the director) so it was just me and my co-worker (our 3rd person couldn't make it in either). we only had 20 kids but it felt like a lot more. i was glad for the day to end. we'll be careful about how much bone wombi gets at one time now (not sure how we're gonna cut up gigantic bones though).

some moments to make you laugh

while the kids eat lunch at work i'm inside laying out mats for rest time (something i'm quite happy to do cuz i hate watching 4 year olds eat/spit food out of their mouths trying to talk while eating/dribble yogurt down their fronts with their lack of co-ordination). one of my co-workers came in and said that one of the little girls out there just informed the boy sitting next to her that the brand of yogurt he was eating had ground up cow hooves in it. i just started laughing. i knew she'd been fed that from her parents. the boy's yogurt had gelatin in it (made from skin, cartilage or bones of animals). i knew she must be one of the 3 or 4 vegetarian kids we have this year. she probably didn't need to be that blunt about it (and its probably not hooves) but she is quite blunt/rude a lot of the time. i think that might be something we need to help her work on this year.
a girl came up to me with a "treasure map" she'd made. she started telling me that the map would take her to the pub (her dad is irish-- i think they spend a lot of time hanging out at the pub). then she started telling me that she wouldn't be able to go to the pub on her own. i was thinking she would say cuz you need to be older to go to the pub on your own but no- her reason was that there was a road in front of the pub and she couldn't cross the road without holding her mum's hand.
some kids were playing a matching/bingo type game where there are a bunch of cards face down on the table and they have to flip one over and see if the picture on the card matches one of the pictures on their bingo board. whenever it was one of the boy's turns he would lay his head down close to the table (like he was trying to see under the cards that were laying flat on the table). finally my co-worker asked him what he was doing. he had figured out that the cards had different coloured frames around the picture on them and by looking closely you could see the reflection of the frame colour on the white table and then he would narrow down his choice to 4 different cards that had the same frame colour (smart kid-- although a bit of a cheat!).

mmmmm...cheesecake

for zac's birthday (which was yesterday-- i didn't do a birthday tribute to him cuz he says he doesn't read my blog) i made a special birthday dinner (on wednesday since we were going out with family for dinner yesterday). we had spring rolls, stir fry (i forgot to cook up the vegan fish though-- but zac made homemade fish and chips with it tonite), sparkling wine (didn't know if zac would drink alcohol even for his birthday) and the highlight of the meal: vegan cheesecake!! i got a white chocolate and raspberry vegan cheesecake from soulveg (the same people that did our engagement party).
it was amazing (i didn't get a photo of it before we cut it). i'm finishing off the last piece now (with the doggy staring at me waiting for a crumb-- too good to share though). they do an amazing job of cheesecakes at soulveg. they have about 20 flavours (so hard to choose) and they deliver! definitely will be doing their cheesecakes again (can't even tell they're vegan for people who aren't sure of anything not made with animals)

yes i take too many picture of my dog

i have TONS of wombat photos (and we've only had her 3 months-- exactly 3 months today!) but she's so cute i can't help take photos (especially when she's all worn out). after being a bit sick (or maybe just wanting a lazy day) yesterday she's been bouncing around all day today. i took her for a BIG run at the oval this morning and she was charging full speed the whole time (i've taught her the command "this way" so i either weave back and forth with her going on the wide part of each turn or i run in a small circle and get her to run in a bigger circle around me cuz she's too fast for me).

she was quite happy that i decided not to go to fnb tonite and i was gonna spend the evening with her. i took her for another big run at the other oval where all the dogs hang out (with their people). she did very well with all the other dogs around and we managed to run without her trying to run towards them instead of listening to me (and getting yanked with the lead in the process).
she was still bouncing everywhere when we got home so i took her out back and threw her rope toy (colored thing on the side of the pics) down the side of the house a dozen or so times. she bulldozed down the side of the house and returned it over and over.

i got tired of trying to get her to drop it (sometimes it takes a few tries) so i told her to bring it in and just chew on it. 2 minutes later she crashed and was snoring. that's when these photos were taken (now she's snoring again as i type this)

this photo (below) was me and wombi crashing on the couch the other nite. we both look exhausted. don't know why i'm so tired (i think that was the day i attempted to clean the front room (aka the music/storage/guest/junk room). it now looks like there was an explosion in there (maybe i can convince zac to tackle it on his birthday since he got the day off-- would it be wrong to ask him?)

this video is wombat's dream noises. you can't actually see anything (not enough light) and the tv is on but those "whoop, whoop whoop"s are wombi's. she does this a lot (but we've had trouble catching it on video). i'm pretty sure she's dreaming. we think its about other dogs (or cats). she flinches and stuff too while she's doing this. we just talk softly to her and tell her its ok when she does it. sometimes she'll wake up then and realize its not real. i think she has a lot of doggy-nightmares.