Transformation

It's that time of year when we start to notice a sudden transformation at our house. No, I don't mean the leaves changing colors or anything like that. I mean something more Jeykll and Hyde. More like Bruce Banner getting angry, resulting in the Incredible Hulk. I'm talking about the change from normal, every day pup to Prancy Butt.

For those of you who are now looking at your computer screen quizically and saying, "What?" - it's ok. You probably don't own a pup. For those of you who immediately glanced at your four legged friend and snickered, you have one too, don't you? BFF Jen and I were discussing this at lunch yesterday and used the phrase "Romper Room" to describe her house when she gets home. She has two of them.

It happens when the weather hits the appropriate prancy window. It lies somewhere between the low 60's and upper 30's. More than that and you just have lazy pup. Less than that you have "let me in before the fur on my tail becomes icicles!" pup. But in that magical window you get a pup that comes bounding into the house, high stepping like a Clydesdale, and shaking his groove thing as though disco was back in style. That's the Prancy Butt.

We've also noticed that our Prancy Butt couldn't care less about hanging with us all of the sudden. He will beg to be outside all evening. Last night he wouldn't come inside at all to play with us, but at 10:15 he realized it was time for bed and rammed the back door hard enough to let himself in. He then curled up on his couch and promptly went to sleep. He was dragging this morning, right up until we let him outside. Yep. The return of Prancy Butt.

Lazy

I will readily admit that I'm not in good enough shape to routinely climb the stairs to my office on the 6th floor (in a building with a basement and sub-basement, which leads outside). However, since moving to this building I have made a point to routinely take the stairs down any time I have to hike across campus (which is two to three times a day, at least.)

Now I must confess that for the past few days I have not been taking the stairs down, but rather have been taking the elevator. I have a good reason. I've nearly broken my neck trying to walk down 6-8 flights of stairs while playing brickbreaker on my cell phone. It's much easier in the elevator. I have, however, learned to navigate the long walkway in between buildings while keeping my ball alive, and I think that demonstrates some serious talent.

Condolences

It's never easy to say goodbye to a pet, but when you've had that pet for 22 years it's more like losing a member of the immediate family. My mother-in-law called today to let us know that Greg's oldest feline sibling was no longer with us. To my cat-in-law, Pooh, you were a great kitty, and I'm glad I had a chance to feed you roast beef and let you torture our pup. We'll miss you so much!

A Nice Surprise

It's the little things in life. Really.

You see, I don't like being cold. At all. During the summer I wrap up in blankets in the living room when the air conditioning turns on. I keep a jacket in my office and wrap up in it off and on all day. During the winter the hardest part of my day is actually walking to and from the car. I hate this time of year when the cold starts sneaking up on me. On one hand I deny it and don't want to pull out my fall and winter clothes. But then I walk outside in the mornings and want to cry. It takes a little while to get used to the fact that the cold is inevitable and give in to it. Yes, I realize we live in the South and our "cold" isn't real cold. But people, this is WHY I life in the South. If I liked cold, I'd move North.

So now I'm sitting in the living room, not entirely dressed for the day yet, and a little chilly already. I hear the air conditioner switch on and I cringe. I start searching for the nearest blanket, which is across the room on he couch, under the napping pup. It's far away and I know there's no way I can get to it before the Arctic blast hits me. A look of terror crosses my face as I prepare to throw my laptop across the room and dive for the blanket. But then... ahhh. It's not an Arctic blast. It's the sweet warmth of heated air. Somebody made sure the heater was on last night, and I know it wasn't me. Sigh. My world is a slightly better place at this moment. And I just added "dig out winter clothes" to my to do list.

Prizes

I've been sitting here waiting on somebody to get back with me about something, which is how I've spent the majority of my week, and decided that maybe I should look at the actual schedule of events and such for the Heart Walk on Sunday. To be honest, I don't care much about actually walking, I was more interested in raising the money, so I had no idea what time I was supposed to be there or how long the walk actually was. I still don't know the actual length of the walk, the website just said where it starts, but while searching around I remembered that they were offering prizes for fundraising.

When I signed up I checked the box waiving my right to a prize, since taking the prize just means that much less money going to the AHA, but I decided to look through the list to see what I would have been eligible for had I chosen that as my motivation:

Cuisinart Citrus Juicer (I've never juiced anything in my life)
Dooney & Bourke Wristlet (I think it's like a small purse or pocketbook or something)
iLuv Stereo Speaker with iPod Dock (I don't have an iPod...)
Jabra Bluetooth headset with 33 interchangeable covers (I hate bluetooth. I refuse to be assimilated.)
Motorola Two-way radios (So Greg and I can talk from opposite ends of the house? Eh, we text.)
Mr. Coffee Espresso Machine (Because me on espresso is a GOOD idea???)
Wilson Badminton Tour Set (Well, that could help towards my dream of Olympic badminton gold...)

I'm feeling pretty good about the fact that none of those items will be cluttering up my house. I did notice some cool things at lower levels though, like an ice tea maker (um, I have one. I call it a stove) and Swiss Army binoculars (what??).

The good stuff actually came at the next level up, which was $3,000 or more (I've raised $1,200, so not even close). Level 7 prizes include one of those little personal sized trampolines and a cool hand blender. And a DVD player. Then Level 8 gets into the digital cameras and gps systems and George Forman grills and a full sized stereo. Level 9 hit on the food processor, nicer camera, mountain bike, and rowing machine. But Level 10... Ahh. For the low price of $10,000 in donations we have camcorders, cookware sets, TV's, home theater systems, and a charcoal grill.

I have to wonder if anybody as an individual raises $10,000 or more. If they do, I have to wonder if they are really motivated by the chance to win a charcoal grill.