Dead Dogs and Writers. . .

Well, this Saturday was what would have been my sweet little Scout's seventh birthday. It was a rather tough day. That's understating quite a bit. It was at times bittersweet, full of tear filled laughter, and at others, guilt ridden and remorseful. I feel privileged to have been able to have her in my life for those six and a half short years, and while normally I know that she wasn't perfect, Saturday she became a near sainted being. Added to this was the fact that I was watching David and Jena's two dogs who are, let's face it, alive, and therefore imperfect. My mom called midday and that was the first time I allowed myself to cry about Scout, but it was a good cry. She admonished me to "go and do something fun" so I decided to go to Deseret Industries and then to a movie.

I know. I'm weird, but I love a good trip to a thrift store. I love finding great deals, and I'd already been to the Goodwill in my neighborhood. Let me tell you one thing about us Mormons. We don't give anything away until it's no longer of any use or beauty. Really. The prices at D. I. were MUCH better than those at Goodwill, but the goods. . .ain't good. I was looking for picture frames in particular, and those at DI were hideous, banged up, or contained a cross-stitch saying "Families are Forever" in dusty blue, mauve, or any other color popular in the 80's. I'm not kidding. Had I been in the market for a collage of such cross stitches, I would have been able to fill a wall. That being said, I'd like to now personally apologize to any and all people for whom I made one of these for in the late 80's and early 90's, a time I like to refer to as my "Cross Stitch Period" which was followed by my "Crocheting Crooked Afghan's" period, then came the "Scrap booking without Stickers" and now I'm currently in the "Geesh! What do you want from me, I don't have time for crafts! Period." Like Pablo Picasso, you can date my crafts by medium.

I then went to the Goodwill Superstore (yeah, they called it that.) it wasn't overly super, but it did have a brand new frame from Target for $2.50, and that made me happy.

I then drove across town to catch a viewing of "Becoming Jane" a film about the early life of Jane Austen. I was really excited to see this as I LOOOOOOOVE me some Jane, until as the theater darkened I thought about everything I knew about J. A.: she was in love with a young man early in life but never married and died in her early 40's of what I think was tuberculosis. Hmmmmmmm maybe this wasn't the right choice in the "do something to make me happy" plan. I sobbed, yes SOBBED through the ending (which didn't get to the coughing up blood clots into a hanky part, but did include the love of her life introducing her to his DAUGHTER. EEEKKK!!), which wasn't really called for, and then drove home to walk two dogs that had the gall to be alive.

This was a low point for me as I walked the dogs crying and when Bo wouldn't poop informed him, "You've had enough chances! We are going home!" only to turn around and see one of my new neighbors smiling at me the way you do to an escapee from a mental institution. Oh well.

Luckily, my lovely sister Christy called me and allowed me to tell her about my day, which helped me see the humor in the situation. Bless my sister Christy.

Now, I'm in my classroom and in 15 minutes will have a meeting with my AVID site team about our presentation to the staff tomorrow.

Oh, by the way, a friend of mine (without hearing the story of my sad Saturday, mind you.) told me that the plan for the year was to get me "a nice fella." I said, "Sure, why not." With my track record I figure a Lutheran lesbian has a better shot at finding me a nice Mormon boy to marry than I do. On that note. . .Good Day!