Teener tiny ribs

Teener tiny ribs
Originally uploaded by riblet.

So the date is set for Heylove's surgery. Next Friday, she's getting her tail amputated. Amputated! Really, it's major surgery. The vet even referred to it as spinal surgery. Oh, man. She's so pricey, this dog. Leon and I are talking about how we're going to dress when we go to pay for the procedure. Maybe we can garner some kind of sympathy and they'll give us a big discount. We're going to dress in rags and put Ira in a flour sack, cinched at the waist. And we're going to put smudgy coal marks on our cheeks like we've been shoveling it into furnaces all day long. Then Leon's going to look over at me and I'm going to transform into a pork chop. Ok, don't feel sorry for us; feel sorry for the dog. She's going to be in a lot of pain for a few days. Then a little bit of pain for a couple of weeks. Or more.

This week my birthday came and went. I had a great time last weekend with friends and food and cake. On Wednesday (my actual birthday) I had a real wild time. First, I treated myself to a nutty taco at Sunflower, visited my parents and renewed my driver's license. When Leon came home, we had take out from Zelda's and then we hit up Gunther's for a Rocky Road sundae (with nuts and a cherry!). Later I fell asleep doing a crossword puzzle from an old New York magazine. That's how I do it. Top that!

Gross, sad...mostly sad

Brisket gets a bath
Originally uploaded by riblet.

Well, our vet says poor Heylove needs a tail amputation. She's got just barely a nubbin of a tail and yet it's corkscrewing back into her body like an ingrown hair. That's the gross part. The sad part is the surgery to amputate it. It sounds like a whole lot of pain. This week we'll be talking to our pet insurance company to make sure they cover the cost of the procedure. If they do, it looks like Miss Ribs will be going under the knife some time in March. If they don't, I guess we'll be stimulating the economy by filling our vet's pockets with our hard-earned tax rebate.

Word inventory

He kind of looks like my mom here
Originally uploaded by riblet.

Here are all the words Ira can say. Some of them he doesn't say exactly right, but I understand him. I put his pronunciation in parentheses.

ball (bao)
duck
drink (ock)
hot
hat
hug (ug)
dog
cheese (chess)
mama
dada (di-dah)
banana (nanana)
milk (meh)
eyes
no
don't (doan)
bird (bees)
big bird (be-bees)
truck
more (mo)
cat (at)
yo gabba gabba (gabba gabba)
bubble (buh)
apple (apps)
cracker (ack)
Ira (I-wa)
rock (bock)
shoe (eet)

I think that last one, he has shoes and feet mixed up. Not too bad, Ira!

33!

Leon is about to enjoy
Originally uploaded by riblet.

Happy Birthday, Leon! I love you like a fat kid love cake.

HARD SAUCE!!

For serious sauce fanatics
Originally uploaded by riblet.

Oh man. What a wasted trip. I went all the way out to Roseville to go to the DMV there. It's close to my parent's place and I needed them to watch Ira so that I could renew my license. No, they weren't taking appointments, I already checked. So turns out they're closed for Lincoln's birthday! What the french, toast?! Are they also going to be closed for Washington's birthday and President's day? I thought that the whole reason behind President's day is so that banks and such are not closed two days of an already short month. Lame, I say.

When Ira goes to bed, I'm hitting the hard sauce. Well, actually just a glass of wine. But that's hard enough sauce for me these days.

Bravery

I think that next to bungee jumping and maybe bathing a cat, cutting up a butternut squash has got to be one of the scariest things to do. I can't do one with out breaking a sweat. It seems as if the knife could slip at any moment and take a finger off. Or two.

Bad manners

Playing inside
Originally uploaded by riblet.

I am so mad. Some moms are so awful! Today at Land Park playground, Ira was bumped by an older child into a stumble, from which he fell, then he was kicked while he was down. The mother of this older child looked on and quietly corrected her son, but did not offer an apology to me or my kid, nor did she ask her son to apologize to mine. And this child was at least 4 or 5. Old enough to talk! Old enough to say he was sorry. Old enough to know that he should not kick babies. It is just good practice to set examples for your kids (even ones as young as Ira) that kicking and bumping (even accidental) requires an apology to the injured party.

Ira was stunned, but otherwise okay. As I was picking him up, and I realized that the mother was not offering any apology whatsoever, I said loud enough the most politest, pissed thing I could muster. "Come on Ira, this playground is for big kids." And we went back to the little kids area. Effing fancy Land Park moms! I shake my fist at your oblivious "my child does nothing wrong/I'm raising a jerk" ways.

Here's the kicker (ha), the lady was pregnant and I hope that she finds a way to deal with her rude kid before her new, little one is born.

Wha?

Little sleeping face
Originally uploaded by riblet.

I cannot tell you if I have slept at all between the hours of about 1 AM and the present. Ira however, has been snoozing happily for the last hour. Heylove is still in bed and I'm puttering around the house like a caffeinated zombie.

That's how things are at our house today.

Later we're going to take a "naggin nide" (wagon ride) to our polling place, then we're hitting up Winn Park playground before we head back home.

Ugggh. I can't even have any more coffee. It's just going to make me grumpier.