No More Homeless Pets

Recently I interviewed at No More Homeless Pets in Utah, and I love the organization- they promote subsidized and free spay/neuter clinics and vouchers for low income families, as well as run a Feral Fix program that spays and neuters feral cats. Additionally, they have a great fostering program, and also a nice dog facility where dogs who were slated for euthanasia get a second chance at a forever home. Adam and I have been wanting to be involved with helping out dogs in this boat, and since we can't adopt another one, nor foster at this time, the next best thing is to help get these dogs adopted. We were on a waiting list to volunteer for Best Friends down in Kanab, which is the largest no kill shelter in the country, if not the world, and shares the same mission as NMHP, but had to reschedule due to lack of lodging. However, NMHP happened to need some extra hands locally here in SLC for a Pet Adoption event, so we were glad to lend a hand. We walked the dogs all day and helped them put their best paw forward to find a home. This is Taige, he was one of my favorites, and I'm going to try to help him find a great home because he has alot of love to share and would make someone so happy. You can learn more about NMHP by going here: http://www.utahpets.org/

This is Taz, he's another sweet adoptable pooch, he was so laid back, nothing seemed to phase him, he just rolls with the punches. He's kind of making a crazy face here, I think he was just happy because we were taking him out of his kennel to go on a walk.

David Sedaris

Is freaking hilarious. I bought Adam tickets to his show back in June for our Anniversary, and we finally went last night. His dry wit and wickedly funny storytelling were just what the doctor ordered for me this week. I think I peed my pants a few times, and I love that he jokes that people pay to see a 'gay middle aged man read aloud.'

I am used to hearing his essays read by him on This American Life and also a few books on tape, but I'm going to for sure check out some of his books. He also spoke highly of a funny collection of essays called Braindead Megaphone...anyone read it yet? They have it at the SLC library, we're going to check it out.

If you ever have the chance to catch him on tour, go see him! His bit about 'undecided voters' was priceless. He said being an undecided voter is like being on an airplane, and having trouble deciding between the chicken, and the plate of human shit (with broken glass in it). The obvious punchline being that in the end, it all gets chewed up and spit out and ends up in the same place...except for the glass, which was clearly a reference to the McCain/Palin campaign. Funny stuff, and my narrative really does it no justice.

You can read the story here, as published in the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/10/27/081027sh_shouts_sedaris

Go see him!

Denial

Well, I haven't posted this tidbit of info, because I am in complete denial, but last Thursday I injured my self climbing, AGAIN! After missing all of the Spring and Summer (four long months!) due to a tendon injury on my left hand/forearm, I did nearly the identical thing to my right hand/forearm. It's a really bummer, because I've been climbing well for the last six weeks. In fact, I floated a long time project, only to botch the top out, and then on one of the next goes, I injured it on the opening moves. Normally I try to keep a good attitude about injuries, after all, they are a part of the game, this one really bums me out because I just came back!

Well, I'm seeing an ortho doc this time and getting PT. They put battery-powered steroid patches on me, and do ultrasound, heat and massage. Plus, I'm dosing loads of ibu, with heat and ice, and taking MSM/gluco. I'm determined for this to heal in a very expedited manner.

The doc thinks that the tendon didn't rupture at all, but rather the juncture in the forearm where the flexor tendon joins to the muscle belly. In fact, she thinks it's more muscle related that tendon. It's not like that is any better or worse, but it does get good blood flow. So, I may be able to climb sooner, but would have to take it EASY. That's quite a slippery slope for me! Well, I'll keep you all posted, and hope to be back in action quicly.

Couch Covet

My absolute dream couch currently on Ebay. I have to have it!

Wood Floors "AFTER"

Floor Sneak Peak

Before

Not quite after, more like 'in progress'

My Flickr Page- House and Design Stuff

In an effort to somewhat seperate my obsession with interior decorating and design from the mundane day to day ramblings on this blog, I'm going to link you all to my Flickr page where you can see more in depth photos of house projects. I will still post them here, but you can find more here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dzinelvrslc/

Melissa's Mad Skills Get a Shoutout!

I love checking in on Grassroots Modern every now and then, almost as much as I love obssessing over Craigslist and KSL.com. All of my friends know that I love bargain hunting and I love when people charge me with finding them a sweet deal on that rare or hard to find thing. Creede mentioned on his blog that he was looking for some Emeco chairs but didn't want to spend the ridiculous price of 400/chair that retailers like DWR charge. I found authentic ones some on CL.com for 70/chair and let him know. He promptly snagged them, and gave me a shoutout today:

http://grassrootsmodern.com/2008/10/08/thanks-melissa/

If anyone else needs anything, let me know, I'm always on the hunt. But beware, I might beat you to the punch if it's supa-cool!

The Annual Salt Lake City Neighborhood Clean Up

Adam finally got around to cleaning our house today, boy we had a lot of shit to throw out. Just kidding, it's that time of year when Salt Lake City picks up residents junk piles. The clean up rules are simple: put a 20ft long by 5ft wide and 5ft tall (there is a lot of rule bending as you can see from this picture) up to 10 days ahead of your neighborhoods pick up week, and the city hauls it away free of charge. In some ways, this is a disturbing phenomena- yesterday I had to chase out a bat-ass crazy old lady who was scattering garbage all over the street trying to find a "key" which she did in fact find, and then proceeded to attempt to break into my deceased neighbors vacant home, but all in all, a lot of recycling happens, as big pick up trucks comb the streets in search of metal to scrap, or cool vintage furniture than might have made its' way into someones pile. Two years ago, I salvaged two teak chairs from the very house we now live it (prior to us buying it).

If you can deal with the interesting garbage collectors, er...recyclers combing through the trash, it's kind of an entertaining couple of weeks.

Oh, by the way, this is NOT our trash pile...

Paws on Paws

Yin and Yang

Update on Tiggs

Sorry everyone, I should be more on top of updating, because a few of my loyal readers have expressed concern about Tiggs after my last post.

Well, we don't really have a lot of answers. He seems to be doing better, they added an antibiotic to his meds over the weekend, and they are continuing to monitor his blood. The PCV came up a little bit, so that was encouraging, but there were a few puzzling things in the CBC. Our vet consulted with a Pathologist, and he didn't really have a lot of answers, other than to monitor him and check the CBC early next week.

He has had more energy, so we are encouraged by that, and I'm hoping that he was just dogging a little infection that we are hopefully addressing. It's just part of the whole shitty IMHA process, and we have to remind ourselves to take it one day at a time- some of those days will be good, and some will be not so good.

Today he's psyched, and he came to work for our Scarpa ski boot clinic. So, if any of you have questions on which ski boots you should buy this year, just give Tiggs a shout, and he'll let you know the advantages of Skywalk vs. Vibram soles, or which degree of forward lean might be right for you.