Boo!

Yay. It’s finally here! It’s Halloween…but unfortunately I have night class tonight. I think I will miss most of the kids. So that kind of sucks. But Jetta will be going to class dressed up. She is a wizard and wore her costume to class this afternoon. Then we stopped by Accessible Learning where a few people gave her dog cookies. They were all thrilled that she came trick or treating. I must admit, it was pretty damn cute. I only made her wear her hat when people were giving her cookies though because otherwise, she probably would have been so mad at me that she would have walked me into walls. Lol
Anyway, I must get going-I have potatoes boiling on the stove to make mashed potatoes. I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Halloween!

"We did the Monster Mash"

Today is our annual Halloween party-well it happened last year and it is happening this year. This will be the last Halloween we all have together, so I think it's kind of special. We have about fifteen or so people coming and about seven dogs. Jetta was going to be a My Little Pony, but the coloured hair spray we bought beaded on her oily coat. Well, actually, her little friend Cessna tested it out and it beaded on her coat and barely showed up. So now they are both going to be wizards. Huib, Brooke's husband, made the two dogs capes out of some blue material that has silver stars on it. Then Brooke and I constructed hats out of left over material, ribbon, glue, duct tape, staples and dollar store party hats. They are sooooo cute! If I get pictures I'll have to put them up on my photobucket. Cessna's friend, Endora-a yellow lab-is going to be a witch. We made her hat the same as the other two girls' but hers has black felt and blue-silver dots made with fabric paint. Tenie also drew a huge spider on her black cape with the fabric paint. Brooke and Lynette-Endora's and Cessna's handlers-are going to be Christmas elves. So, Brooke and I had the tedious task of stringing the bells onto the ribbons that she had previously sewn on to the red shirts they will be wearing. It took us about 45 minutes to get just ten bells on each shirt.
Tenie, Carmen and I are going to be vampires...um, erm, pretty riske ones if you ask me, but it's Halloween. It will be fun. We've already painted our nails "blood red" last night. This morning I put a bunch of rubber gloves filled with water into the freezer. This way, we will have hand shaped ice cubes for the punch. Speaking of the punch, that still needs to be made. It will also be blood red" and we have to bake one of our friends a birthday cake. Her birthday was yesterday and so, we said our party could be a kind of birthday party for her as well.
I baked chocolate chip cookies on Thursday and Tenie picked up chips and a pumpkin on Wednesday. Most of the decorations are up-except the cob webbing that we will hang all over the house. Since our house is a century house-which I have mentioned numourous times before-it is the perfect place for a Halloween party.
We've asked people to bring munchies with them because we are students and really can't afford to feed everybody. So, one of my friends is bringing these amazing peanut butter marsh mellow squares. They are so good! He doesn't have a costume yet, so I think we should dress him with a sheet for a cape, a cloth napkin on his head, an apron around his waist and he can be Captain Linen. (See post about Jason's wedding. He was the same guy who we called Captain Underpants). It seems fitting.
I was a little worried at first that no one would come because it seemed everyone I invited, had already made other plans. But now, it seems we may actually have a very good turn out. carmen is a bit disappointed though because her brother said he was coming, but now decided he's not. She was pretty sad last night, so I bought her a bag of salt and vinegar chips she could have to herself. They're her favourite. :)
Anyway, I guess I should stop blabbing away and start getting other things ready-we still have to help Christena's cousin go get a costume, bake a cake, clean, finish decorating, make punch and get ready. I am sure something else will pop up in there that will need to get done.
So, the next time I am bac, perhaps I will have ghoulish tales for you.

Till the Fat Lady Sings

Today has been a bit of a laid back day for me. Yesterday I wrote a midterm that took three hours and the week before that I had been studying and preparing to other exams-so I figured that after practice I deserved bit of chill out time. So, I have not been productive-well, I did have a good practice this morning. That is besides the point. The point of my story is that I like to sing. I often don't do it because I live with two other people, but whenever I am in the mood and the house is empty, I will sing. Sometimes I crank up the stereo and sing along with a favourite artist or sometimes I just sing alone. And that is what I did today.
I was in the kitchen stirring milk and sugar into my coffee when the mood to sing suddenly struck me. No one was home, so I just started singing whatever came to mind. There was a mishmash of everything from Phantom of the Opera, Ani Defranco to Christmas carols. While I was belting it out, Sisu came into the kitchen rather disgruntled. She started meowing loudly at me. I stopped singing and her insistent meowing stopped. I started singing again and the meowing began. I've seen her do this before. A few years ago I took voice lessons for six months, but quit after I realised I could not balance school, swimming and music lessons. Whenever I was practising during those six months, Sisu would come into my room and weave in and out of my legs, rubbing herself against me and meowed. I learned to ignore it. There were even a few occasions when she hopped into my lap and pressed her mouth against mine. I'm not sure what it is about me singing, but it makes her crazy-she almost becomes carnal.
So, today when I was singing and she was meowing at me, it seemed like no big deal. But what shocked me was that Loki soon came in and started winding through my legs purring. I had never seen him react to my singing before, so I bent down to see what he was doing. That is how I found out he was purring. I laid my hand on him and he crouched low to the ground purring and staring up at me-all the while I kept singing. I began to sing in higher octaves to see if it made a difference and the cats went even crazier. Sisu ran in circles around me and kept putting her paws on my legs, trying to climb into my lap. I had my hand resting on the floor because I was balancing on my toes and needed the support. All of a sudden, after one particular loud meow, someone-and I say someone because I don't know who it was-bit me! They walked over and placed their teeth on the back of my hand and held it in their mouth until I said quite loudly, "hey, no biting!" Then they both sunk low to the ground and stared up at me. It was the strangest thing I have ever seen them do-ok, maybe not the strangest, but one of them. I scooped Sisu up off the floor and held her and she seemed to return to the cat that I know. The primalness had gone. She just leaned into me and insisted that I rub her ears. Neither of my cats have ever bit me. I don't know what it is about the singing that resonates with them, but when I sing they become "wild" cats. Even when I put CD's of certain artists on, Sisu circles the living room meowing. I don't know if they like it, or if they don't...but maybe they do because they don't run away and hide. My voice instructor once told me that singing creates noises that resonates in the cats' ears and makes them happy; especially the high ones. I believed her until my cat bit me today. lol Then again, it wasn't exactly like a bite-it was like they were holding me in their teeth. Maybe they thought I was a mouse making high pitched noises? Either way, I am locking myself in my room from now when I sing because apparently even my cats don't want to hear it. :)

Some People's Children

It's been a while since I have actually sat down and blogged about Jetta, but I am sure in the past I have complained of the ignorance of some people. Well, today's story is a prime example of some people's idiocy.
Yesterday Tenie, Carmen, me and Jetta all headed to Chapters. I wasn't going to buy anything, but there is a Starbucks in this Chapters and I brought along my class notes so I could sit and have coffee while studying. Plus, studying in the Starbucks should have less distractions than studying at home-no phone, television, MSN or internet. So, I bought my drink and settled down at a table to work while Tenie and Carmen traipsed off into the jungle of books.
While I was studying, a few people made comments about how cute Jetta was and how well behaved she was being. This is a normal occurrence and I just pretended to be absorbed in my notes, while silently praising Jetta for her good citizenship. Every once in a while I would reach down and rub her chin or shoulder to let her know she was being good. Her head was up and her eyes were moving around the coffee shop, watching all of the patrons and beyond them, all of the shoppers. But not once did she get up to visit anyone and not once did she make a noise. So, all of the praise poured on her by the other coffee drinkers was appropriate.
Tenie returned as I was reading through the last note with her purchasers and a hot chocolate. She and I started talking and I put away my binder so she could show me what she had bought. In the middle of the conversation a man ventured over to our table and began talking about how great Jetta was. Since this has happened numerous times before, I thought nothing of it and engaged him in conversation. Little did I know that he would flop to the floor saying apologetically "I know I shouldn't pet these dogs, but I can't help it. She is so cute." I was so stunned. This man was openly braking the "no pet rule." Now I have had people break this rule before, but I have never had them camp out on the floor with my dog. Of course, Jetta's wonderful behaviour then ceased to exist because this guy was practically rolling around with her.
He proceeded to yammer away about how he should not pet her, which I promptly responded, "yeah actually she has bad people distraction. I don't people touch her." He sort of laughed and said, "Yeah, I guess I'm one of those people who make her people distraction worse eh?" This made me furious. Did this man not know what he was doing? Did he not understand that he was violating my personal space, and tampering with my safety? This all sounds rather dramatic, but Jetta is my personal space and she is my safety. If people distract her, it puts us both in danger. So I said-without even realising it-"ah, yeah." MA little snarkier than I planned. Well, Mr. dog petter, then climbed up off the floor and left.
I was slightly stunned from my conversation to I asked Tenie if I had actually said "ah, yeah." Normally, I am more articulate than that and explain in a calm voice why people should not be touching my dog, but I think I was so flabbergasted at his ignorance, that articulation failed me and I became an inarticulate bitch.
It never ceases to amaze me how rude and ignorant people can be. What gives them the right to go around touching my dog? She is not just a dog people! She is my eyes-she serves a function. You don't see me going around taking your glasses off your face and smearing my fingerprints all over them now do you? I didn't think so.
Tenie told me that she gave him a look to kill and although I don't like being rude like that, maybe it needed to happen. Maybe it's time I stop being miss nice guy and tell people where to go. I don't th9ink they comprehend that when they distract Jetta it could lead to us walking into oncoming traffic or stepping down a hole or something. It's just not safe.
So, to anyone who may read this, please don't touch service animals unless their handler tells you it is ok. I don't care what you think or what self of entitlement you may have...HANDS OFF!!!!!!

A leafy ramble

So it seems that fall has finally decided to arrive. The weather has been so confused lately that it's actually kind of scary. Just two days ago it was 30 degrees C and that is not normal for October at all! But today as I made my way to the pool at 6:30, I actually had to wear a jacket and socks with running shoes. By the time Jetta and I arrived at the pool, my fingers were stiff from the cold, but I am not complaining. I like the fall. So does Jetta.
I think it is one of my favourite seasons-although I am sure I say that about every season when it first starts. Fall is just a great time of year because it's cool enough to walk places without sweating one's ass off and not wade through thigh high snow drifts. I think Jetta likes it too because she doesn't over heat and she doesn't have to wear her winter boots. (She hates those things)!
The air also smells so much cleaner. I doubt it actually is, but it's crisper and fills the lungs without suffocating the breather. I also love listening to Jetta's little paws crunching through the leaves. It is the cutest noise. Sometimes it makes me laugh out loud when she trots through a particularly deep pile of leaves. It sounds like she is swishing the leaves out of her way as she walks. Since I can't see her movements, the noise of her trampling down the leaves also gives me an insight to the way she walks. It's a simple pleasure that not many people could appreciate. Most people can see their animals motions, band probably don't even realise how interesting those movements are to others who normally can't see them.
Fall also means Halloween, which is one of my favourite celebrations. I think I have said before that our house is a century house and that it is the perfect building to decorate for Halloween. We're having our Halloween party this year of course and that is exciting.
I've also learned to appreciate the taste of pumpkin now that I am older and pumpkins are in higher surplus in fall than any other time of the year. We made pumpkin pie for our Thanksgiving supper and it was sooooooo tasty! We always get pumpkins for Halloween too and carve them. So, I guess that is another reason to appreciate fall.
I'm sure by the end of November I'll be wanting winter to arrive, but as of right now, I am satisfied with scuttling dried leaves and fresh, crisp air-oh and pumpkins too. :)