During the summer, when we have the doors and windows open so we don’t melt into puddles of goo on the couch, we are constantly peeling ourselves off the couch to let the dogs in and out. They hear a noise outside and need to go bark in the yard. Then they realize they’re outside and we’re inside and they want to be with us so they need to come in. And then they hear a noise outside and need to go bark in the yard. And, repeat.

Fun as it is to go through this cycle approximately 1,000 times/night, Tim decided to put an end to it and install a doggie door in our screen door. They’re very skeptical of the contraption, naturally, and so far refuse to go though it unless we hold it open with a piece of cheese on the other side. The concept of pushing through it themselves is downright terrifying. Nobody is surprised by this.

I’m sure that in time they’ll figure it out. They’ll be desperate enough to go outside and bark at a noise that they’ll just run though it (much like Smalls tried to run through the screen pre-doggie-door yesterday afternoon) and realize all the freedom and joy that come with the doggie door.

Until then, I expect there will be a lot of coaxing on our part, and a lot of cheese eating on their part.

It reminds me of the time a few months ago when I was getting ready for bed and I looked at Tim, already in bed and snuggled up with an e-book. There was a dark spot of lint or fuzz or something on the pillow next to him and, because my first thought upon seeing any dark piece of lint is, “is that a spider?” I lightheartedly said to him, “Is there a spider on your pillow?” (Even though I knew it was most likely just a harmless piece of lint.) Tim slowly turned his head to discover that the harmless piece of lint mere inches from his face was, in fact, a big, nasty spider. I watched in awe as he calmly got out of bed, found something suitable for spider-squishing, and took care of the situation, not acting at all like someone who has just been in bed snuggled up with an unfriendly spider. He later admitted to being rather freaked out about his nasty bed bug (and he probably thanked me profusely for saving his life).

I’m a little irritated that our neighborhood spiders seem to be under the impression that we would like them to come into our house and try to cuddle with us. I’m also annoyed about the big, ugly spider-gut stain that now adorns the back of my couch and won’t come out, despite my best blotting and scrubbing efforts.

You know what else is fun? Taking refuge in the tent from an unexpected rainstorm, snuggling up with two cute dogs, and playing cards by flashlight (not quite as romantic as candlelight, but less likely to burn the tent down). Then burrowing into sleeping bags and drifting off to sleep to the sound of raindrops falling softly outside the tent.

You know what’s not so fun? Waking up to the sound of mariachi music being blasted from the car stereo of campers up the road from us at 2:00 AM. As we lay awake in the tent trying in vain to sleep through the neighbors’ fiesta, we learned that the bass line in every mariachi song is exactly the same. Mariachi bass players must be bored out of their minds, playing the same 6 notes in the same rhythm over and over and over again. Tim and I could hardly tolerate it for two hours; I can’t imagine having to make a career of it. Needless to say, we were relieved when the rain started up again at 4:00 and drowned out the music so we could get back to sleep.

1. I performed in my first-ever tap duet.
2. I won my first-ever platinum medal for the duet. (Platinum=highest score possible.)
3. I won two more platinum medals for group tap and jazz dances.

It was a good day!

Would you like to see my award-winning dances? Well, you’re in luck because for once I actually managed to upload the videos. (I figure since I never blog anymore since I spend most of my free time dancing, it’s only fair that you should get to see just what exactly is taking up all my time.)

“Jack and Scottie” (a/k/a “You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three”)

My tap duet, performed with my fabulous friend Colette. The stage was not the best for tapping, so you can’t hear the taps over the music, but you can see us in all our sassy glory.

“Puttin’ on the Ritz”

The group tap dance. Since there are more of us, you can actually hear the tap sounds in some places. I’m second from the right through the majority of the dance. Keep an eye on me when we do a fancy cane toss and I narrowly avoid taking a cane to the face. Of all the times we’ve performed this dance, this was the closest I ever came to dropping my cane onstage. Good thing it was our last performance so I’ll never have to worry about dropping that cane again.

“Big Spender”

Jazz, Fosse-style. I start out third from the right, then finish up in the back/center. Since I only recently got back into jazz dancing after several years of nothing but tap, I am going to drop all pretenses of modesty and just come out and say that I’m proud of how far I’ve come in the last couple of years. For example, in the middle of this dance we all do a double pirouette, something I wouldn’t have been able to do six months ago. Hell, I could barely make it all the way around a single pirouette without wobbling, and now I’m consistently nailing my double turns and even thinking about working toward a triple. Tap will always be my favorite, but jazz is awfully fun too!

So, there you have it. This is what I do for fun.

A. Employees should wear shoes at all times.
B. Slipping off your shoes at your desk is acceptable, as long as you wear them whenever you get up and walk around the office.
C. Footwear, schmootwear…comfort is priority #1, even if that means spending the whole day walking around the office in socks.
D. Shoes and socks are overrated; walking around the office barefoot is totally acceptable.

Please discuss.

1. This one time, my friend RA came to town and we had dinner together. She is every bit as adorable as you’d imagine. I was pleased to be there to witness her husband’s first taste of New Belgium beer, though I was sorry to have missed seeing her shoot tequila out of a hollowed-out lime peel.

2. Another time, my friend Gary came to town, which is always awesome. Making this visit extra awesome, he helped Tim and I recreate the moment we first met. It went a little something like this:

Top row: Cheers!
Bottom left: Mmmm….cheap vodka!
Bottom right: Several shots later, we are too drunk to hold our own heads up.

Awwww…young love!

3. A couple weeks ago, my niece came to visit, and Tim and I got to test our toddler-chasing skills for an entire weekend. We learned a lot that weekend, mostly that slides at the park are fun, but few things are funnier than having your Aunt Audrey hold you so you can reach to turn off the light switch every time she turns it on. Over. And over. And over. Man, was that light switch trick hilarious.

4. This past weekend, I had a dance competition. I was in a tap dance and a jazz dance, and we took home gold medals in both. I was hoping for platinum, but gold is pretty darn good. Like last year, though, the best part of the weekend was the full day of classes the day after competition. They went so much better than last year. I’m not sure if the classes were easier this year, if my skills have improved, or some combination of the two, but either way it was awesome to survive four hours of challenging classes without feeling completely out of my league. Plus I can walk today, which is not something I could do (at least not well, owing to the excruciating muscle pain) at this time last year.

I have another competition next month, where, in addition to the two dances I did this weekend, I’ll also have a tap duet with my good friend Colette. We just started working on it, and it’s shaping up to be a really cool dance. Here’s hoping it’s cool enough to bring home a platinum award!

5. By far, the awesomest thing to happen recently was making a deposit on the most amazing vacation. This fall, we’re going on an incredible Mediterranean cruise with stops in Italy, Croatia, and Greece. And for three days before the cruise…..drumroll please….we’re going to Barcelona!!! I am so excited to go back to Barcelona and revisit all my favorite parts of the city with Tim. It’s been over a month since the details of the trip were finalized and I still get so excited thinking about how great it’s going to be that I can hardly sit still. It’s going to be amazing.

So, that’s what’s happening in my life. Maybe, if we’re lucky, I’ll manage to post a couple more times between now and the big cruise.

That, or she plans to take up horseback riding and is trying to get her legs used to the feel of straddling a saddle.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, full of food, family, laughter, and lots of goodies from Santa!