Fun things to do with the dog on a sunny winter's day. Jowls and ears a-flappin'!



( This is never gonna stop being funny. )

I think you need some Awesome Fabulous Captain Jack today.

Yeah, you look like you do. So here you go.

This little exchange cracked me up. I am saving it for posterior posterity.

Bleu: @indi what's this about an Ikea sale?! Didn't you need to go there? I think we need to set a date to go to Ikea!

Indi: @bleu I always need to go to IKEA. I never have enough chocolate or lingonberries.

Badger: @indi AHEM!

Indi: @badger Yes dear?

Badger: @indi I want to go to IKEA too :(

Indi: @badger You're going to Sweden, you can IKEA there.

Bleu: @indi then its a date! How about Friday night, dinner and shopping at Ikea?

Indi: @bleu Sounds good to me! We'll nom like Vikings!

Badger: @indi :( I'm visiting Jager's family! There will be no time for IKEAing.

Indi: @badger Come visit here when you're done. We'll IKEA and hockey until you are tired of it.

Indi: Hey @bleu, when we're at Ikea we must have a toast or something for @badger who will be, at that moment, IN SWEDEN. Hokay?

Bleu: @badger if you're in Sweden you MUST find time to visit Ikea!


So that's settled. We shall ADVENTUR while he is on a SWEDEVENTUR and perhaps someone will take a picture.

... someone is probably me.

... I'll bring the Troopers along, just in case.

Don't try this at home. EVER.

I woke up with this on repeat in my head. Seems fitting, somehow, given the time of year.

These are the days of miracle and wonder, this is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo, the way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation that's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder and don't cry baby, don't cry don't cry...

If I can carpe a diem half as well as these two.....

I called the jeweler today, and the mystery of the suddenly revived gnome is somewhat more explained.

Turns out they did repair the tomte, and since I had asked them not to I wasn't charged for it. The lady on the phone was apologetic about it, which I found a little confusing. I just got a free 90-dollar (with tax) watch tune-up, this is not really an apologizing moment, it's a yay moment.

Merry Christmas to me, my gnome hath returned!

In other news, Riley's present, which I ordered on the second, apparently got lost in a post office in California. The manufacturers are looking into it, which is nice, because I don't feel like driving over there to collect the thing. The USPS is completely insane, as things I mailed out over the past two weeks all arrived today in Canada, California, Oregon, and England.

Also, you know you're dog people when you find yourself doing your post-shower combing and detangling with a flea comb because it's the only one you could find and you honestly don't see anything wrong with it. I am pleased to announce that I do not have fleas, though I shed like a Malamute.

(All of you iconistic folk: I think I need a gnome icon, don't you? A proper wild European one, not a tame North American garden one. Ideas?)

When last you guys heard about my clockwork tomte, either you'd heard that I had it and was dorkily happy about it, or you'd got the news that it had stopped working and I was sad about it.

Bleu and I went on an EPIC QUEST trying to find a place in town that would fix it without having to mail it to Belgium or something (cos, seriously, one guy said they'd have to do that, and I was all, WTF, this is a Soviet childrens' watch, this should not be so difficult) and after two malls and about seven jewelers total we found one. They said they'd have to keep it and have their watchmaker take a look, so with great sadness I left my gnome in an envelope and exited the place with a slip of paper. They wanted 85 bucks for the repair (before tax) and I could not do that, so I told them to just keep it and I'd come pick it up after the holiday.

This is where things get interesting. Bleu was in the area, so offered to pick it up for me -- she'd driven on our Watchfixer Quest, and I honestly did not know where in the mall it was. I phoned them and said I was having a friend come in to pick the watch up, was that okay? They said sure, fine, just let us know what the tag number is so we can have it ready for her. I did this thing, and they assured me she could collect the tomte without problems.

Perhaps an hour later they called me - I missed the call - I got a message letting me know Bleu had got there and that they wanted me to call. I figured, okay, they must be giving her problems and I called Bleu.

She picked up and said: "I have it, I'm on my way out. I think they fixed it anyway."

Me: "They what with the huh?"

She then told me that they asked if she was paying for the gnome, and she said: yeahbuhwhat, she told you guys she couldn't afford it and to not fix it. Then, she told me, the girl at the shop was all "Okay, here, take it, just have her call us."

The tomte is merrily ticking along now and has been all day. I honestly have no idea if it's fixed, or if the enforced week of rest fixed whatever was wrong with it. I checked it, set it, and I kept rechecking it - it kept the time, and didn't speed up or slow down, and the ticker ticked along the way it ought. So, either just BEING AT THE REPAIR SHOP fixed the gnome or I got a free 90-dollar watch repair. (Though, now that I've written all this out, expect it to break again tomorrow.)

Gnomes. There's always trouble when gnomes are involved.

(Then to celebrate this, she and Jen and the tomte and I went to Disney, where my favorite thing was the 1960s space-age hotel with the cafe that had the monorails going through the center of it.)

Score an awesome goal? Celebrate so hard you disappear.

This doesn't stop being funny, it really doesn't.

I love this song, though it makes me sniffly. Have a good one, everybody.