a99kitten's Musings

This weekend I bought myself some new sneakers and workout pants. Well, workout meaning dog walking. I have exercise gear for doing my stepper indoors. But I need a whole different set of clothes for dog walks/hikes. They need to be warm (but then not too warm for the not-as-cold or bright sunny days), able to get rained or misty-fogged on, able to deal with wind, pockets for dog treats and poo bags would be exceptional although I’ve given up on pants having these. I use a zippered pocket in my jacket for my phone nowadays. After sacrificing a couple old phones to the Pacific that were held in non-zippered pants pockets…I’ve finally learned. Also I must thank Verizon’s insurance/replacement program…AT&T is not so grand that way so I am way more careful.

I have some pants from Lululemon. Yes…the overpriced yoga pants. Mind you, I don’t do yoga. There is not one chance in hell I have the patience for that. I tried it once. Pretty much bored out of mind and hated it. Also – stinky. Blech. I’m just not meant to be that Zen I guess. I wanted to like it, but meh. I’ll take outside with the dogs any day. But I do like LULU’s magic ass pants. I can see why they charge so much for them. They make you look great! No kidding! Not so much that I’d buy the stock since I don’t believe there are THAT many women who will fork over that kind of dough for exercise pants (although they have basically replaced the Juicy outfit as the Mom-out-and-about outfit) and have to think they have just about hit their full reach, plus have Athleta to contend with now, but what do I know. I said that when they were at 40. I just refuse to buy the stock at the price they are at now. I’ve read how they are expanding and will possibly offer their stuff in large department stores and that will help sell more but still, I think, expanding the $100 magic ass pant market might not be as easy as they think. Crocs got really big too….although let’s be clear – these pants are WAY cuter. So I say no to the stock for my portfolio but I will still buy the magic ass pants. Hmm…I could buy more than 1 share of stock for every pair…but I’ll get more value from the pants. Of this I am certain :)

Because they were $100 magic ass pants, I do not wear them on dog walks. Why? That’s a damn good question actually. When you think about it, I wear my dog walking clothes every single day. Every day for the past 10 years. But I look for cheap bargains on the clothes. Why? I’ll spend hundreds of dollars on shoes and sweaters and even more on bags that I wear just a few times. But something I wear every damn say, I chintz on? That’s dumb! I am going to start wearing them.

So this weekend, I bought a new pair of (hopefully just as) magic ass pants from Athleta. That’s The Gap’s new(ish) foray into the magic ass pant business. The problem I found with their site is that it looks like a lot of the pants have momma rise. YUCK! WTH? The 2 pairs that specifically said low-rise were sold out in most sizes. Why? Because girls like low-rise!!! So make more!! I have this same problem with snowboard pants and husky walk rain gear and even regular pants. STOP with the high-rise momma pants!!! YUCK!!! Double-YUCK!!

Anyway, I paid the full price for a black pair, since the sale color (which was an awesome chocolate brown dammit) was all sold out in every size but XL (which shouldn’t actually be made in yoga pants but that’s another story.) These are supposed to be the “winter” version. They are lined so you can do outdoor activities and be warm. We’ll see. They show a girl snow-shoeing in them. Ummm…yeah. Have you been out in the snow? But I assume they should work for doggie walks here?! Crossing fingers and paws. And if so, I might just buy a couple more pair. Yes…spend the money on the activity I do (and enjoy!) every day.

I also bought a new pair of Reebok Easytones. I was just thinking it was about time to get a new pair of walking shoes and then the huskies made it easy for me….they took me down a very gloppy muddy hill this weekend. Gloppy muddy like my entire foot sank in. Nice. We were running down the hill so no time to worry about the mud. It is just mud :) We all sank in but they could just run into the ocean afterwards and clean off – little boogers! BUT…it did push me over into the “time to get new shoes” camp. Bummer is I just let a 20% off ‘come back to us’ coupon from Endless. Oh well. The color I wanted was on sale so that worked out. I got the light gray…with a little pink stripe :) Gray should hide the first few layers of sand and dirt!

I do love Endless.com. I ordered them Sunday and they shipped today. I will have them tomorrow or Wednesday. And that fast shipping is free. As is return shipping if I don’t love them. Awe+some. Yes – same as Zappo’s BUT they will actually put their stuff on a real sale, unlike Zappo’s. Not to say I don’t like Zappo’s – I do. And now that AMZN owns them, they can offer the stuff at full retail and people can pay. And some of us will find 80% of the same stuff on endless for less :) And if not, then buy it at Zappo’s. As an AMZN shareholder, all good to me.

Now I just need a new pair of rain pants that aren’t too bulky and big. And then I think I’m set for awhile. I found a pair on Backcountry.com tonight and the first reviewer complained how low-rise they were – PERFECT!!! SOLD!!!

It’s important to be functional AND cute :)

Please forgive my winterized, gopherized front yard. But Angelus loves it :) He’s been hoarding this bone since Super Bowl Sunday. What buddies.

It was howling wind and rain this morning. The huskies didn’t seem in too big of a rush to go out. I thought “Yay – no wet and cold walk for me!” But once they ate their breakfast, they charged for the door. Doh. Ok…out we go. I wore my bright pink J Crew rain boots this time since my sneakers took 2 days to dry after the last rain walk. I looked pretty sexy in my mismatched rain outfit…in that “there is no way you could look any unsexier” kinda way ;) BUT – I stayed warm (ish)!

Storm doesn’t typically like to go out in the rain so I figured it would be a short walk. Angelus? Well, he would make an excellent postman. Rain, sleet or snow – he doesn’t care! But the huskies (both of them!) wanted to go to the beach. Sigh…ok….we are already wet at this point so we might as well. It tapered off to a light rain and then rained off and on the whole way there. We got to the beach and the wind was blowing and even the harbor was pretty choppy. Low tide was just starting so there was some more beach to run on and a TON of seagulls hanging around.

I let the the huskies off leash and they took off – both of them! To chase the birds and each other! Stormy was running around and having a good time!! Yay! He got a bit cheesed up in Tahoe last weekend since he can’t stay out in the snow as long as his brother or go in deep snow due to his naked belly. He wants to go out a lot but then gets cold after like 20-30 minutes so I take him on a lot of short walks and not the deep snow running Angelus gets. So I was very happy to see him running around on the beach having a fun time!! I wished I could have videoed it but it was raining and my phone was safely stashed in a pocket :( Would have been a very cute video!!!

It started to rain harder so we decided to head back. No one (including Angelus) is a fan of the sideways rain. Although I will have to say, when you wear rain boots you can have a lot of fun jumping in big rain puddles :)

We aren’t going to Tahoe for this new snow storm today, which makes me pretty sad. Who knows if it’s the last big snow of the season? But husband is driving up from San Diego where he was picking up his newly-made surfboards for an upcoming surf trip to Portugal. He was going to swing by here and get us and we’d all drive up to Tahoe. But the storm is just hitting now and he doesn’t want to take the extra time and get stuck in the traffic and snow. But he doesn’t want me driving up in my car alone since I have high-performance tires and not snow tires (don’t get me started on that) which means I wouldn’t go till tomorrow AM sometime. And that just seems silly to then come back Sunday night or Monday AM. Especially since I want to be there during the snow! I don’t know why people don’t get how much I love being there as it is snowing – not only when it’s all over. *pout* But I think Storm might be OK with is since it’s also supposed to drop to about -2 and possibly even colder up at our house. He says brrr with missing fur!

Plus CalTrans says do not drive up there today – wait till Saturday. Bad weather. Heavy snow and wind. Alert. So you absolutely, positively know some ass clowns in their Prius’ and Hondas and other teeny tin cans will be heading up and causing traffic at chain control and likely spinning out into a snow bank. Good times.

So the huskies and I are desperately hoping we get to see a snow flurry here! It can happen. I think highly unlikely (I am truly AT sea level so it would be a rarity!) But I do believe the huskies are working with some powerful forces to get it here :) So we will stay awake late and up early to try and get the coldest parts of the night/morning to see if their magic worked….crossing fingers and paws!

At the beginning of the year I decided that I was going to eat lunch outside of the office one day a week. And enjoy it! This might not sound like a big deal to many people but to me it was. Before my current job, I worked at a hedge fund. That means market hours and you do not leave your desk during market hours. I think I can count the times I had lunch outside the office on 1 hand in the 10 years I worked there. And have fingers left.

Then I had start-up hours (which means never leave the office) and then even when my hours went to fairly normal, I didn’t go out much. I think mostly because a) I got used to eating quickly at my desk scanning news, stock prices, etc b) I thought going out to lunch was a waste of time, money and calories and c) I have the dogs here with me so never really thought I should leave them by themselves in the office.

But this year I decided one time per week, it was OK to spend a little time and money (and calories) out with co-workers/friends and actually enjoy a meal. It lasted pretty well through January. But sadly I think the experiment has come to an end.

Part of the problem is that in order for me to want to spend the time, money and calories on it, it has to be worthwhile to me. I know a lot of people garner a lot of joy from eating. I don’t think I am one of them. Certainly a really tasty meal is great. But I am far from one of those people that thinks about my next meal as I am eating my current one. Or that truly enjoys the experience of eating. I think my mind is too busy calculating how much exercise I just wasted on that food. Plus I’m a pretty plain/simple eater. So a lot of “fancy” stuff means nothing to me. And a lot of fatty, delicious stuff just creates guilt.

Some people live to eat. They truly enjoy it. They love to cook, find weird ingredients, talk about their joy of it, make up complicated or exotic dishes, try every new restaurant that opens, etc. That’s cool for them I suppose. I’m just not one of them.

I love going out to eat with my friends. But I actually enjoy the company and conversation more than the food. So if I’m not craving something in particular, and we are rushed, there is really no good reason to do it.

If I’m not able to spend the time and relax a little, it’s just not worth it to me. If I’m still eating and the check is already being divied up and people are grabbing their purses looking at me (no, I am definitely not a slow eater – kinda like Storm that way!), then it’s not worth the time, money or ingested extra calories. F it.

And if it is pointed out how many calories I just ate, I don’t need to be with those people out to lunch.

So I guess it’s back to my desk and checking twitter and my stock prices. The huskies like this more too I think. a) I am here b) they can share my lunch c) I don’t have to stay at work later to make up the time I spent out and can take them home at a reasonable time and d) the money I save I can use on more treats for them :)

I almost didn’t take today off. My original plan was to take last Thursday and Friday off to have a 5-day President’s Day weekend with the snowstorm dumping tons of snow on Tahoe. The snowstorm had been predicted by the local weather guys for a couple weeks so I was looking forward to it. Tahoe hasn’t really gotten much snow since I the Christmas/New years craziness so I was very excited to get the huskies (and me!) into some fresh snow. I was going to leave Wednesday night for 5 days of snow!

Then some stuff came at work and I didn’t feel comfortable not being there Thursday or Friday. The CEO said it was OK to take off but I felt like I shouldn’t. Then the weather changed a bit and the heavy snow was coming Wednesday and Thursday so I was bummed to miss that. But they closed the highway so had I left Wednesday night after work, I would have been stuck in the closed highway and probably got up there at like 3am. I would have been tired and grumpy. The CEO insisted he could do just fine without me (that might be a very bad thing for him to realize!) on Friday so I planned on leaving the office around 11am after getting some stuff done and that way still missing any holiday weekend Bay Area traffic plus the snowstorm coming that night.

I did leave at 11am and sailed through the Bay Area (avoiding the as usual accident on the Bay Bridge and taking 92 to 680 to 80 instead) as well as hitting no traffic through Fairfield, Davis, Sacramento, etc. Was actually kind of weird for a holiday weekend Friday. It was pouring rain the entire time so maybe people didn’t want to drive in it? Hit the mountains and rain turned to sleet. A little more up the mountain and sleet turned to snow. And clear sailing turned to loooooong line of traffic inching along at 2 mph. It was traffic created by all the goobers that drive their little tin cans up to the mountains during a snowstorm and so they need chains. Ugh. Go rent a 4-wheel drive SUV if you plan on coming here during a snowstorm.

Anyway, it only added an extra 75 minutes or so. Not so bad considering I was hearing the previous nights’ drives were taking 8 hours or more. Yeesh. So I didn’t get much fun use out of my day off but did get up to Tahoe before the crazy storm that hit us on Friday evening/night. White-out conditions driving around town. And our street had 1 skinny lane of plowed snow through it. It was very Shining-like :) And I think they closed the highway again. BUT, the storm was done by late Saturday morning so it’s been sunny with a mix of high clouds ever since. And no snow falling. Boo. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a complete winter wonderland up here and the snow plows are just now getting all caught up with the roads and there is so. much. snow. But I love to watch it fall too.

So because I didn’t take Thursday off, I decided to take Tuesday off. But then have been going back and forth about it all weekend because the next snow storm coming isn’t coming until late Wednesday or Thursday so I’ll miss fresh snow falling so maybe just use my day off for a 3-day weekend next Monday or another upcoming snow storm. I pretty much decided to not take it off and just drive into work Tuesday AM until late last night. Changed my mind right before bed. Like literally, my mind just switched gears. Had been packed and everything. Decided to take advantage of the snow here and now and can always take another day off if I want for the next storm.

This was a very long-winded, convoluted rambling way to say pretty darn glad I did….

Angelus and I were out for about 2 hours this morning. He was running around back and forth and then we turned around and ran the other way and jumped through untracked snow like a deer! Then rested and “drank” snow and ran some more! I thought I was videoing that too but turns out my gloved finger didn’t press the start on that. Boo. It was damn cute. But I got to see it and Angelus got to live it :) It was 9 degrees when we went out. His kind of weather :) But then it warmed up to 15. We were both pretty hot in the sun by the end of our journey. He had a great time and is now happily sleeping and getting ready for the next outing this afternoon :)

Definitely a good use for a day off :)

On my way to take Angelus out for his 2nd walk this morning, I took an excellent digger on the icy entry way. I’m sure it looked pretty classic. Knee and hand smacked down on the icy stone. Cut on my hand. The instant sharp pain in my knee made me want to cry but Angelus coming over and sticking his nose in my face to see if I was OK made me smile instead :) Then when I got up and said OK buddy let’s go – he walked slowly next to me as we crossed the icy part. What a buddy :)

Later on in the walk, as we were passing some houses, Angelus started slowing down and sniffing in the air like he smelled something around. Then we came upon a driveway where someone had left their garage door open, either overnight or from this AM, and you could see the garbage can tipped over in the garage next to a car and 2 big plastic bags of garbage ripped open and strewn around the garage and driveway. Oopsie. There is a full bear somewhere. Angelus was walking around slowly and sniffing the air there too.

I got him going again and we went off the street onto a trail that we like that is basically a single track right now going through walls of snow in the forest. But cross country skiers pack down the track well enough so we don’t fall through the snow. About half way into the forest on this trail, Angelus just stops cold right in front of me. And starts growling. I didn’t see anything but trees and snow and didn’t hear anything. He moved up a tiny bit and started growling again and then turned us around. At this point I’m thinking OK, it could be nothing. Or it could be the bear. Or a ghost. Either way, we’re listening to Angelus who has the better sense of smell and hearing. No one is going to accuse me of being the dumb girl in the horror movie you scream at the screen saying “listen to the dog!!!” right before she gets mauled or killed.

So we took the same trail back and as soon as we got back to the road, Angelus immediately took us in the direction of home. I decided he can be in charge of this walk from here! So we got home safe and sound, no more icy falls, no bears and no ghosts. And now I have hot coffee. We’ll try again later :)

This was upon arrival yesterday :)

And this AM

And more playing!

I do not know what the heck is going on. The weather is gloomy? PMS? General sadness? All of the above? But ever since last night I am in a funk. I hate that. And crying. Hate that. I think it basically started last night when I tried to contact Facebook to limit access to my brother’s account. I couldn’t bring myself to have it deleted. He has photos up there and his updates. And as goofy as some are, they were him. The last thing he ever said I think…was posted at night before he went to bed and then didn’t wake up. I just cannot delete that. Not yet.

But I am not a general fan of most of his friends or his fiancee. And she posts weird stuff and I have no idea if she had his password. Pretty sure she does and I want to lock his account. So I finally found the form on FB, after searching morbidly for death through their FAQs, which was awesome, to have his account “memorialized” whatever that might entail.

I can submit a special request as a family member to lock it but this requires me sending in his death cert or obituary along with an online form. Again…awesome. I already had to do that once this week for something else and I am just not in the mood to do it again. I’ve tried to hold it together but ya know…there is only so much…And my Dad calls every day to ask if I have taken care of everything (ashes) and I tell him…every day. Short-term memory loss is a bitch.

So after last night and dealing with facebook and his fiancee, I am tired. I couldn’t sleep at all last night. Had a raging headache all day. So I think that makes me more susceptible to emo. And I really hate that. And the sun being taken away from me did. not. help. Seriously I do not know how people live in Seattle. No wonder they invented grunge.

So I’m taking the huskies to the fresh snow tomorrow. I need it. For some reason, fresh snow falling is happiness-inducing like the sunshine. And they will enjoy it. I stress about them. No real reason. Just do. Love those guys so much. Focusing on them and making them happy keeps me grounded in right now. And not thinking about other stuff. Like Yoda said a Jedi needs his (or her) mind mind on where he was and what he is doing.

I’m trying. Well…doing…because Yoda also said Do..or do not. There is no try. Damn Yoda.

I have about 1/2 of a handful left of these at home. The huskies want to know what kind of Mom am I to let our supply get that low?! These are their FAVORITE bite-sized treat (Greenies, Happy Hips chicken jerky and Dingo bones all tie for favorite larger treats!)

Since we are low, on our walk this AM, I brought along other treats to mix in with the few yummy chummies and Angelus spit the other treats out. Literally took it in his mouth and then spit it out on the ground (where Storm proceeded to apply the 3 second rule and picked it up and ate it happily.) What buddies.

I like giving them because they are made from salmon, are natural and made in the USA! I’ve tried to get away from all non-US made dog food, treats, toys etc (Dingo bones being the only exception.)

These are great because they are soft treats so can be broken in half and shared (the huskies say what the??) I use them as treats on walks and we take long walks every day so they get a fair amount of treats. This way, broken up even into 4 small pieces, they don’t actually get so much food (no wonder we are starving they say!)

The only downside to them is that they break apart (being fresh soft treats) in your pocket if you leave any in there, so I use a small plastic baggie to carry them in my pocket. I put the crumbs on top of their food and they love that too :)

Anyway – anyone looking for a very healthy and good treat – get these! Angelus is rather picky and he loves them! I’ve been giving them to him since he was a puppy and he still loves them just as much. Storm…well…he is less picky and will eat just about any treat ;)

You can find them in pet stores but they sell the much smaller bag and the mark-up is fairly high. I found them on Amazon and you can get free shipping when buying from Amazon (and not a marketplace seller who also offer them on AMZN.)

Your doggie will love you :)

This is their website:

I just finished the book, The Red Queen, by Philippa Gregory. Before it, I read her other book, The White Queen. And no, it was not about the Hellfire Club :)

To be honest, I have not read too, too much about the War of the Roses (no, not Michael Douglas…) or the Plantagenets. I started most of my English history reading with Henry VIII (after anything Arthurian of course.) And all of the reading I did was purely historical (well, as historically accurate as one can hope it to be since I am a firm believer that history is written by the victor and the loser and it’s up to the readers to see the middle.)

I have to say – I am sucked in. I was recently drawn back into my love of all things English by watching The Tudors. This is a fantastically well-done show on Showtime. This past season was its last and that is very sad. Like all really good shows on TV, it will be off the air while pure crap like Jersey Shore and The Bachelor is on. But I digress…You could also argue that Henry only had so many wives to off :) And they have taken some historical license with battles, members of the court living or dying, etc so I’m sure there was only so much they could do to keep it kinda-sorta historical but also intriguing and believable.

So now that I am watching this final season, knowing more about the stories behind his family, I find myself even more intrigued. Like, his standard (of the House of Tudor) is a red and white rose. Made after the joining of the houses of York and Lancaster. I also brought down an old book from my bookshelf “Kingdoms of Europe” that I have had for years and years, having been enthralled with English and European history since I was a kid (baaaaack when they were great countries and not Socialist messes) and will be pouring through it again now. I even found my old handwritten notes in it. Funny. I seem to have always loved the pink post-it note.

Philipa Gregory also wrote The Other Boleyn Girl. I have not read the book ( just bought it as my next one though), but did see and enjoy the movie even though I don’t think Scarlett Johannson was cast correctly in that role. They cast Eric Bana as Henry VIII. I love Eric Bana. Ever since I saw him in Troy (another great period movie IMO) and loved him more than Brad (WHA?) I have seen all of his movies I think. But they made him a very noble and likable king who was just in a bad situation making bad decisions. Yeah. I am thinking this is not historically accurate. But whatever. I will read the book now and see if Hollywood took license with it or if this author is simply more of a Lancasterian and very kind to Henry. Although, even Henry Tudor in The Tudors is very likable. Although you can clearly see how he is son of a bitch and goes kooky sometimes. All that damn in-breeding the royals do…

I will have to say that after reading these 2 books, I am more of a Yorkist. By far. The author does not claim them to be 100% historically accurate or anything but the general facts of the people and places are there and then she takes license with what facts are now known. And the “Red Queen”, Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, is a first class self-serving, jealous bee-yotch dressed up in holy piety. She is called the Red Queen because the House of Lancaster had a red rose as their standard.

The “White Queen” is Elizabeth of York (white because the York standard was a white rose.) The wife of King Edward IV. She is a bit wacky too. And quite selfish. But she is definitely more loving and cares for her family. Her entire family. And wants England to be peaceful and successful. Margaret’s only goal is for her son to be on the throne because she has seen herself as some Joan of Arc type who must serve God like Joan did…but does it by plotting and murdering and getting her son on the throne no matter what as he “deserves” it because she has suffered for it. And even though England is at peace and prosperous and people are happy with King Edward (or later King Richard) on the throne, she doesn’t care. Her son MUST be on the throne no matter what. Clearly a very pious and selfless woman.

I think the author does a good job of writing these 2 very powerful women from a time where women were treated as property. Margaret has to get permission to read books. Nice. Women were only good for birthing sons. And yet, like Guinevere, it seems they control and cause to be so much more.

If you are looking for a good book – start with The White Queen. It’s a bit slow to start, and keeping all of the different people (and their loyalties) straight can be a bit of a challenge but a worthwhile one. And once it gets going, it’s involving. Same with The Red Queen. Starts off a bit slow, but you luckily more familiar with the characters now, but then gets going. They are basically the same (ish) story, from different points of view. And that’s really what history is anyway right?! In my opinion…