Hot Mess Minimalist

Dear Pitbull with lipstick, hockey mom, Governor Sarah Palin, I admire you quite a bit as a person, it is very impressive that you have made your way into the political arena from the PTA, to become Mayor of Wasilla, then to become governor of the unique state of Alaska. All while having five children, and supporting your husband. You seem like a very interesting woman, and have a very different perspective. However, your speech tonight frustrated the heck out of me on a number of levels. Admitted I am not exactly your intended audience, being from the other freak state, and having voted for Linda Lingle because of her greater emphasis on eduction, realizing that because of the nature of our government she wouldn't have complete control on our state. I think it is absurd of you and your running mate to continue this argument on "experience". Admitted John McCain is one of the senators who has held his seat in congress for a very long time, and Obama and Biden have som...

I recently finished an excellent book by Barbara Kingsolver called Animal Vegetable Miracle . I really enjoyed this book, and found it to be a great motivation to attempt to change my lifestyle. The biggest step I am going to try to take is cutting beef (of unknown origin) out of my diet. This is going to take a while, as I'm accustomed to going to Burger King when I don't feel like cooking, and really enjoying beef jerky. It was a very fun book for me to read though, especially being a city dweller, and really made me appreciate farms even more than I already did. I am impressed by her family's dedication, but then again to me canning your own food is a foreign and even dangerous concept. One of the chapters in this book was on "harvest time" which was when the family harvested their roosters and turkeys for the year. In other words it was when they took the animals they planned to eat out of the flock, killed and cleaned them. I don't have any problem...

I dislike bugs. I like some of them and I understand that they are necessary, and very useful, but I dislike it when one gets into my house. My cats on the other had love them. Flies are the best. I just had two get into the house somehow, and they think they are the best to chase to play with and finally to eat. Zinc is the kitty in the photo. I actually cheated to get this photo. Harry had already eaten the fly, so I used one of their other toys to get Zinc's attention.

I haven't written in quite some time, and though I probably should write something about the goings on at work... with the nutty clients, and fractious cats, and nice adoptable pit mixes, or perhaps something about my new job (substitute teaching) or even my complete failing to get the jobs that really matter to me, I have an idea sort of stuck in my head. A few weeks ago a friend of mine came down to celebrate her 25th birthday with us. 25 isn't really that big a deal, I mean you get to drive a rental car (and if you are willing to pay more you were able to do that a few years ago), but that's about it. I did mention to my friends the one thing that I think does change when you start hitting those higher numbers. It becomes less and less sad to strangers when you die. I've thought about this a bit before. News Media and the like will make a sad story of a person's death if say they were under 20, but as soon as you are older than that, it no longer seems to be ...

Theobromine is the main reason that people know dogs can't always eat food that people can eat. Theobromine is from several plants but the main think that it's in is cacao. It's one of those wonderful ingredients that makes chocolate yummy. Now many people know that chocolate kills dogs, but really it takes about* 100mg/kg to cause toxicity in a dog. We get calls all the time regarding dogs that ate Valentines or Halloween candy. We always advise the owners to either make the DOG vomit (give them about 2 tbsp give them about 10 minutes, repeat (only up to 6 or so tablespoons, and only if the dog is more than 10 lbs) if needed. NEVER INDUCE VOMITING IN A CAT! (They tend to continue to vomit, and eventually get ulcers because of the vomiting.) Honestly when we use H2O2 it is more labor intensive. I tend the either run around with the dog, or shake their tummy around so that it is quicker (and easier) for them to vomit. If it is already in the dog's system, an...