all day yesterday i wanted to write, i kept thinking i’d find a little time – and then, after going to hear the jazz band “real time” at the Inn at 835, and then going for a run (interesting to go for a run after not eating much all day and then having a glass of wine and some cheese and crackers. not terrible, but i hope i won’t make a habit of this kind of behavior), i was finally, FINALLY going to write.
but there was mollie the dog. VERY VERY DIRTY. she hasn’t had a bath in a very very long time.
i decided i had the energy, the time was ripe (the dog, overripe).
i removed her collar and then had to chase her around the bed, because she kept scooting across it because she knew SOMETHING WAS UP and it was probably one of those VERY BAD BATHS.
mollie weighs 40-something pounds, not that heavy, but since she was completely resisting me, it was a struggle to hoist her off the bed and into the bathtub.
my main dogwashing experiences lately have been washing shortie and gizmo, mom and dad’s pekinese. shortie and the giz are short and lightweight. they don’t care for the baths, but they’re small and can’t get out of the tub. also, i talk nicely to them and sing to them, and i think the singing so intrigues them that they forget to squirm too much.
it was hard to get a lather up on mollie because the grime was so deeply ingrained in her fur. she has very short hair, but it’s dense. at one point i thought, she could easily walk right out of the tub. but thank goodness she’s being a very good dog and is just standing there looking forlorn.
but then, when i’d lathered her, rinsed and repeated, and she was covered with suds…she stepped out of the tub. didn’t need to hop or anything, she just decided she’d had enough. she stood on the floor and shook, of course, and suddenly the floor was covered with lots of shampoo and water. not to mention great quantities of fur.
i picked her up and put her back in the tub and she resigned herself to more abject agony for a while.
i let her get out, finally, and she shook once more, flooding the place all over again.
the rest was pretty uneventful, except that she was then all wound up, as all dogs are when they’re FREED FROM DOGWASHING HELL. i gave her a big treat, and proceeded to try to swab down the walls and floor. but then, suddenly, Winnie the cat when whizzing by, and behind her was mollie. mollie chased the cat! i’ve never seen mollie chasing the cats; kevin says she’s afraid of cats ever since my parents’ two big cats attacked her two summers ago. does mollie really remember this? is she actually still traumatized? whenever honey hisses at her, which is whenever mollie is anywhere near her, kevin says that’s because of mollie’s trauma.
hmm. she was feeling no trauma as she chased poor innocent-bystander Winnie down the hall.
after all this excitement i had no energy for writing.
today kevin and i went to hobby lobby, where i bought some cake decorating colors. they didn’t have everything i needed so i ordered a few more cake-decorating things online. i keep buying more and more cake-decorating things, and i feel that this wedding cake that i’m going to MAKE ALL BY MYSELF is going to end up costing a fortune. but now i’ll have EVERTHING i need for making more cakes. so i can start a whole new sideline business.
i can’t believe it’s friday already. we’re going to see “aida” out at the muni tonight, and i feel it’s going to be breathtakingly hot. tomorrow night i think we’re going to see “godspell” at new salem, unless the heat tonight is too unbearable.
last sunday we saw “les miserables” in st. louis, at the Fox Theater. this is the second time i’ve seen the musical, and it blew me away again. by the end we were all drained, it’s such an emotionally exhausting show. it was over at 4:50, and they were doing another one at 7:30. i can’t imagine performing that show two times in a day. the guy who was the lead has performed it all over the world, so i guess he’s had plenty of practice, but still.
this was the last day of the tour, but then it’s going to be on broadway again. i’d like to see it on broadway. it’s funny, even though i spend a ridiculous amount of time panicking about wedding things, i do think a little about other things (like the honeymoon)…but always, in the back of my brain, i keep thinking “i can’t wait to go to new york again.” the last time i was there was july of 2001.
whoops, i’m running out of time here, no time to discuss this whole BAND SITUATION that i find myself in, except to say that i’ve been practicing “desperado” like crazy but it’s pretty hard but i’m getting better but not that great.
and also, christine CALLED ME ON THE PHONE yesterday, a momentous occurrence, and she claims that she thinks about me, and she is always disappointed when she opens this site and i haven’t written anything new, but how do you think i feel when every day i get no e-mails from everybody?
not that i have time lately to check e-mails every day.
she and jerri have both booked rooms for the wedding. very exciting.
ok, i have to spend a little more time thinking about the wedding cake. i hope your weekend is relaxing and cool.
july TIME IS RUNNING OUT grace.
p.s. in addition to thinking about going to NYC, i also think a lot about taking an alaskan cruise. and going to europe. my mom is on a plane to switzerland right at this moment, as a matter of fact. she’s going with the Eddy Flute Choir, a group of high school kids, plus mom. they’re going to play their flutes in a bunch of cities in switzerland. i told her to bring me back some swiss chocolates but to not give it to me till after the wedding day. i just talked to her before the plane took off, and she said it was very crowded and they hadn’t turned on the air conditioning yet and she was sitting next to two people she didn’t know, and the man next to her was talking on his cell phone in italian.
they’re starting off in Lucerne, after flying into frankfurt tomorrow morning and connecting into zurich and then taking a bus to lucerne. and then tomorrow night they’re going to have a fondue party. i wonder if anybody will be awake enough to enjoy the authentic swiss fondue.
i want to go to switzerland.