My weekend was crazy. I was exhausted by three in the afternoon on Saturday and things kept happening.
On Saturday, my first stop was the community center where the annual Holiday Market was held. The Holiday Market is run by the organization that runs the Farmers Market during the summer, but it has SO MANY VENDORS. It's at multiple locations across town and the community center was one of those locations. I bought ten pounds of honey.
Two things of note about this:
1) The deal is that the Holiday Market used to be at locations all within walking distance of downtown. I really liked this and I would walk to each of the locations and see every vendor and it was fun to see so many people walking downtown. But now some of the locations are, while technically walkable, too far to go by foot if you are an average human being who doesn't want to spend the better part of an hour going to the southwest part of town. I could have driven, but I didn't. And that is a real loss because the only location I went to this year was the community center.
2) I felt like Lorelai in Gilmore Girls while I was there. I walked in and the guy greeting me was someone I know from the community center. We chatted for a bit about what he's doing these days. Then I was chatting with the honey people (look, I know them - I spend literal hundreds of dollars on honey every year) about how Mr. Honey is going to have surgery and Mrs. Honey isn't sure if they'll be able to get to the markets held every month during the winter in our town and the guy across the street who let me use his cell phone when I got locked off the house when we first moved in was there and we chatted for a minute. Then I went downstairs and one of the ladies from my fitness classes was a vendor and we were so excited that she was selling her goods exactly where she usually works out. And then I saw one of the fitness instructors as I was heading out of the door with my honey.
Okay, whew. That was a lot of typing about a fifteen minute excursion.
Up next on my Saturday list was to donate blood at the church behind our house. Two things of note about this:
1) I told the lady that the last time I donated, I passed out. She immediately handed me a Sprite and some cookies and as soon as the needle was in my arm, she laid me down a bit. I did not pass out this time. Good job, Keisha!
2) I had worn my Lions zip up to donate blood because I knew I'd need to unzip it and remove an arm and I didn't want a hoodie because I didn't want to lay on the hood when I was donating. Little did I know (because I haven't watched an NFL game in literal years) that the Lions had just beaten the Packers in a game and I was bombarded with people getting snippy with me about bad calls and I sent my husband a panicked text (what do I say to these people?) and he sent me this link and sometimes I hate living in Wisconsin.
THEN!! It was pretty warm out, so my husband and I put up the outside lights. For complicated reasons having to do with the fact that ALL LIGHT BULBS NOW SOLD ARE LEDS WHICH IS THE WORST DEVELOPMENT IN LIGHTING EVER, we have a new set-up this year and it will have to be our set up forever because we can never buy Christmas lights again. Anyway, it took both of us and a bit of time, but we did it.
Then I walked the dog. Someone got the zoomies as we started the walk and she was running to the end of her leash, running around me in a circle and she was getting all twisted in her leash, so I took her to the nearby fenced in daycare playground (TOTALLY TRESPASSING) and let her run around like an absolutely adorable lunatic. Watch this video for the little nutter running around like the cutest vicious dog ever.
So we do our walk and then I take Hannah to the dog wash station at the Pet Supplies Plus in the next town over. I was reading a reddit thread where some people said they NEVER BATHE THEIR DOGS. I was dumbfounded because Hannah reeks. Like, I don't know why? Maybe it's her skin issues? The fact that she does get the zoomies and I let her run around? Maybe it's her breed? I don't know, but if you NEVER BATHE YOUR DOG, I am so jealous. If I were a better human friend/housekeeper, she'd get bathed every 2-3 weeks because I swear to you that this dog will start smelling terrible again by the end of this weekend.
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| Such a sad dog. She hates baths so much. |
And then I went home and my husband made me tea and the cat and I napped on the couch.
On Sunday we did laundry and chores, like the boring married couple we are. The town's Christmas holiday parade was Sunday night and that's all good (and fun!) except they line up in front of our house and neither of the four-legged creatures in our house enjoyed that.
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Did you do anything festive this weekend? If you have a dog, do you have to bathe him or her regularly?
She certainly enjoyed her romp. There was one cat that we felt we had to bathe for some reason. It was quite an event, let me tell you.
ReplyDeleteEgads! We have never had to actually put Zelda in a bath. I'm pretty sure someone would come away deceased if we tried.
DeleteI wash Annabel A LOT-- but she fits in the sink and smells so good with her fancy shampoo
ReplyDeleteA definite benefit of a smaller dog is the ability to wash them in the sink. If only Hannah fit in the sink!
DeleteI loved reading about your small town exploits! So charming! When is a Hallmark movie going to take place in your backyard?!
ReplyDeleteHannah is adorable. My favorite is how she zooms somewhere and then sits down, like, "Oh yes, I am now a Calm Dog" and then whoosh! she's off again.
One of my top objections to ever getting a dog is the smell issue. My totally uneducated guess is that the dog owners who claim to never bathe their dogs have developed smell blindness. (Not sure if that is a real thing or a fabrication of Febreze advertising.) But maybe some of our dog owner buddies will weigh in and prove me wrong?
Yeah, I get the smell issue. I mean, if you get a dog that you can wash in the sink (like Sarah above) or you can wash your dog in the tub, you can really ameliorate that smell fairly easily. I'd argue that dealing with the litter box is a bigger issue for us. I scoop it twice a day and it still occasionally smells like litter in our bathroom and that drives me crazy!
DeleteNEVER? Like, never bathe the dog? That...is weird to me. I don't personally bathe Rex both because he's giant and because he hates water and I cannot even imagine how I would do it. But I take him to the groomer and he loves her. I also never bathed Barkley even though he was half the size for similar reasons. Fifty pounds is a lot of dog to wrangle. I only get Rex groomed every couple of months though, even though with his paws he could stand for more. He doesn't smell though, not really.
ReplyDeleteYour afternoon at the market sounds great! I love stuff like that.
If I'm being honest, I don't remember bathing my childhood dogs unless they met up with a skunk, so maybe it's true that some dogs don't smell. I don't know. I just know that I should really be taking Hannah every couple of weeks and I put it off longer than that because she hates it so much. She is fifty pounds and it's sometimes challenging to wrangle her.
DeleteI'm laughing so hard at you obliviously wearing your Lions sweatshirt. Yes, I'm sure people didn't take kindly to that! But I love it- Chicagoans don't like the Packers.
ReplyDeletePoor Hannah, she does look sad about her bath! All I have is cats, so I can't chime in on the bathing conversation. But I did think that bathing your dog was mandatory.
I got our outdoor lights up yesterday! PHEW!
I didn't know wearing the Lions shirt would be controversial. I get some snide remarks from Packers fans occasionally, but the Lions have historically been a non-entity in the NFC North! I didn't realize!
DeleteYay for getting the lights up! You did it!
That is a lot in one weekend! I'm glad you got some rest time in, too.
ReplyDeleteI built in plenty of cuddle time with Zelda.
DeleteI'm glad you gave The Honeys a chance to vent. Sort of like Verbal Zoomies.
ReplyDeleteHannah needed that time, obviously. She really has been holding it in about Zelda, her own bout of illness, the new rug, out of control spending on your part, and the Onslaught Of The Holidays. There is only so much a dog can take.
And she had to make that bath worth it.
Ha! Hannah's life is SO HARD. Occasionally she just has to let her hair down.
DeleteHannah's zoomies are the boost I needed this Monday! Our Morkie Bella gets groomed every 6 weeks. We will give her a bath in-between if she gets messy, but it is very rare. As for festive, this weekend my daughter walked in a holiday parade that was SO COLD and then immediately followed it with a dance showcase in a high school that was SO HOT; thank goodness for layers, am I right?
ReplyDeleteOh, it is that time of year when you are freezing one minute and sweltering the next. Layers are the only solution!!!
DeleteLED Christmas lights are the absolute worst. You can still buy incandescent lights though, in fact I bought some just 2 days ago at Target. I refuse to switch over!
ReplyDeleteWe went to our regular Christmas light place (Farm & Fleet) and they only had LEDs. I'm going to look at Target and maybe buy some spares just to have handy!
DeleteHannah zoomies! So cute! I'm not a fan of LEDs outside either.
ReplyDeleteOmg, chill out Packers' fans, it's just a shirt.
I bathe Lucy, and would do it more often but I'm worried about drying her skin and also it hurts my back. It does take her quite a while to smell really bad, but i prefer her clean smell.
Yeah, I'm worried about Hannah's skin, too, which is why I don't take her IMMEDIATELY when she starts to stink, which, by the way, was within 48 hours of this bath. I am envious that Lucy doesn't immediately smell like dog. Lucy's a queen.
DeleteI almost linked to your post because we also hit the Holiday Market, but also only one stop (the Municipal Building) mostly because we got a super late start. Even worse, we didn't even buy anything. At least you came away with an insane amount of honey!
ReplyDeleteOh, we go through about 5 pounds in six weeks, so this *might* get us through until markets start up again, although I suspect we'll have to call the Honey People and go pick some up in February or March. We are super honey consumers.
DeleteI love the sound of your community vendor market. You sounded like Lorelei. Never bathing a dog? Sounds, wrong? I do not have a dog but when finn lived here lad bathed him in our downstairs shower and my water bill is happier now as is my drain.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Hannah despises baths and I cannot imagine trying to put her in a shower. There would be much destruction of human life and property, I suspect. Finn is maybe better behaved than Hannah.
DeleteI am with you on the LED lights. They make me very grumpy. I need warm white lights, people - environment be darned.
ReplyDeleteThat video was so fun.
I don't have any pet that needs washing but I have two kids that need washing and it is a) amazing they can do this independently, although the 10-year-old hates turning on the shower by himself and insists he can't do it and I secretly am so grumpy about turning on the shower for him because I always end up getting my arm wet and b) our teen went from only showering when we insisted to wanting to take a 45 MINUTE SHOWER EVERY NIGHT. I am not kidding on the 45- minute thing. I am trying to nib it in the bud because water is not cheap or something to be wasted, but goodness I did love a really long shower at her age and my dad would always bang on the door after 10 minutes. But 45 is just...too long!
Oh, I can't judge Belle for taking 45-minute showers. I hate the process of showering, but once I'm IN the shower, I like it, so I maaaaybe take showers like her!
DeleteWell, if there's one perk about Charlie needing to go to a groomer ($$), at least they bathe him and I don't have to! Since he's so curly, the groomer actually asked me specifically to NOT bathe him in between (unless truly necessary, of course, like if he got into something gross) because it would increase his odds of matting. However, he doesn't smell at all. Only thing that can be stinky occasionally is his eyes which tear sometimes. I think it's probably a breed thing?
ReplyDeleteLove the zoomies video. We have a decent sized FENCED IN backyard, but it's such a shame, because we can't really fully utilize it with Charlie.... because he EATS EVERY GD thing he finds. We have several landscaped beds that have like wood chips or pine cones or little acorns from our trees, etc. and he will go racing across the yard, and then just put his head down and start looking for stuff to eat! I've had a little success with having high value treats available and trying to just keep calling him to me and then throwing toys for him to run after. But overall it's a little frustrating bc I never know what he's going to find! (In summer sometimes little mushrooms grow... or like I said, stuff from trees, or we also have a lot of rabbits and squirrels in our yard, or plant matter, etc.) It's a shame to not really be able to utilize our nice yard! I have tried putting him on a lightweight long 50 feet leash, because then at least I can yank him if I see his head go down. But he doesn't run as wild and free when that's on as when he's just loose. Ah, I guess something to keep working on!
We used to take Hannah to the groomer, but it's so hard to get her in! I feel lucky that we don't need to get her coat cut or anything, but it was nice when we did take her in because they would do such a nice job.
DeleteHannah is not as mouthy as Charlie. She doesn't explore with her mouth and I am so grateful for that. It's hard to train out breed traits, you know? She will roll in anything, though. *sigh* I guess that's why we have a punch card at the dog bath.
Your experience at the community center is a little bit akin to what going to the library is like for me. I will often run into good friends of ours who have a tutoring appt at the library most Saturday mornings. And then we'll run into kids from Paul's school and Will's daycare. I love running into people I know like that. One time I ran into someone I had a work meeting with - at first I could not place him because my work life is so separate from my personal life typically, but he came up to me and said 'hi Lisa' and I luckily quickly figured out who he was. I've ran into him multiple times since. Last week one of our portfolio managers had a meeting with him and he was like - hey, don't go to the library because Lisa's kids have strep (as a joke, of course, because I would not go to the library when my kids are contagious). But it's kind of funny that the sales person and portfolio manager all know that I see this guy at my neighborhood library.
ReplyDeleteOh and I also ran into the goose house mom on my way out of the library on Friday. I said hi to her and at first I could tell that she could not place me (I was wearing winter hat and coat so that prob didn't help) so I said "I'm part of the family that comes to play with your toys every weekend" and she said she knew she recognized me but could not figure out how she knew me.
It seems odd to never bathe your dog? I feel like that is a necessary part of having a dog!! Thank goodness cats don't need to be bathed. Like you, someone would die in our house if we had to give our cat a bath.
We took Zelda to a groomer once and was politely told she was not welcome back. There's also a note on Zelda's vet file that she's a bit feisty when it comes to shots. People who bathe their cats have mysterious abilities!
DeleteOscar sounds like Zelda - she also has a note on her vet file. She swiped at a vet tech once so now I think they muzzle her at her vet appointments... I'm amazed when I hear that people can brush their cat's teeth! You're risk life and limb if you tried to brush Oscar's...
DeleteSounds like you had a very productive weekend. Saturday was mostly filled with chores for me - laundry, cleaning. The plan was to go to two different holiday markets and I did not go to either. But I did finish labeling holiday cards, decorated the outside of the house and had my monthly book club meeting. I should just plan less.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you did plenty if you ask me! The holiday markets will be there next year.
DeleteHuh on not bathing your dog. Stepdog hated baths, so we would wait until she got stinky, which took quite a long time. Sometimes she went a few months between baths. Doggo doesn't mind baths, and after a few weeks her fur starts to get a bit greasy, so we give her a bath about once a month.
ReplyDeleteA few months between baths!! Wow. I would love that. Oh, well. You play the hand you're dealt.
DeleteI think people have different ideas about how often to bathe, and different ideas about when their dog smells. I have a higher tolerance for it, and would totally bathe my dog every other month if I could. Keeshonds supposedly do not need baths often. But Ted can't take it, so we would bathe Mulder about every 3 weeks, though he was professionally groomed every 8 weeks, so sometimes it would be sooner or later than the 3 week mark. I love seeing her play in the playground!
ReplyDeleteOh and also, my husband just came home with new christmas lights because our old ones died, and they are LED. ARRRGH. I am going to keep my eyes open and see if I can find normal ones, I'll check our Target per Sarah.
DeleteLED lights are the worst. We've had to start to transition to LEDs inside because we can't find incandescents anymore. The light is so bright and harsh and we're buying the "warm" bulbs. I think we might just go back to candlelight. LOL.
DeleteOh, LED lights are so awful. Aren’t they supposed to last a long time? Because mine burn out frequently and I feel like I’m paying a lot of money for an inferior product. Grrrr.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the zoomies video cheered me right back up!
Yes, the LED lights are "better for the environment." I guess they waste less energy and last longer. I'm sure some day I'll get used it it.
DeleteOh, Hannah getting the zoomies made me smile! She's such a delight.
ReplyDeleteI definitely don't know anyone who doesn't bathe their dogs regularly. Chip and Lucy get a monthly bath at the groomer's and then my stepdad will sometimes give them a quick bath if they roll in something stinky. I'm still weirded out that I don't have to bathe my cats. And they smell AMAZING? By licking their fur with their fish-scented tongue? I do not get it!!
I need to know all the ways you're using honey in your home! That's a lot of honey to consume.
Okay, all this is making me feel better. I am not ridiculous for bathing my dog regularly. I was *shocked* that some people never wash theirs! We've never bathed Zelda either - cats are MAGICAL.
DeleteWe mostly use honey in tea. For real. My husband drinks A LOT of tea and I drink a fair amount myself. We also use honey as a substitute for most sugar - we've had the same bag of white table sugar for years at this point. I add a tablespoon of honey to a lot of soups - add it to carrot or butternut squash soup and your life will be changed. It's my go-to!