Thursday, October 19, 2006

When less is more...or less

Okay, I heard you - no more news links for awhile, I promise! It may say a little something about yesterday's state of mind that I found the whole Turkey Testicle Festival thing so entertaining to begin with. But today is a new day! On to the excitement:

My beloved pup Kylie went to the groomer for her quarterly day of beauty. She's part afghan, so maintenance of all that long fur gets a bit unwieldy if I let it go for too long. Once - only once - I thought, "I can save some money and do this myself!" I bought a pair of barber shears, placed my visibly anxious dog on the kitchen table, and confidently lopped yards and miles and tons of blonde dog hair from her trembling torso. When I was done, she looked like a Flowbee victim; I expected to hear from the SPCA by sundown.

So now I leave it to the professionals. This time, I asked them to cut the fur around her ears a little shorter, as it grows really fast (nothing on this dog functions in an even or predictable manner, other than her personality - which, if kept sated with tissues and recently worn socks, is unerringly sweet). Unfortunately, Groomer Girl took my instructions a little too seriously and chopped every piece of hair on Kylie's head down to less than a millimeter; she now looks like this baby antelope. It might sound like I'm exaggerating here, but you can actually see her little scalp through what looks like a strange canine version of five o'clock shadow. Good thing Steve is a trooper about letter her sleep on the bed, because she has exactly NO fur left to keep her warm. (Which raises the question, how do baby antelope keep warm??? I won't Google to find out, lest I be tempted to post a story link...)

In other "not quite news," I have some new book reviews up over at my website. Feel free to drop web manager Meg a line there and tell her how much she rocks for making all those pretty cover links work - Yay Meg :) And I'm looking for a new book, so if you're reading something great that doesn't feature the words "desperate" or "haunting" on the back cover, let me know!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, my condolences to your dog- I've definitely endured my share of bad haircuts. . .

And on book news- I just finished Twilight- though it was definitely "haunting"

Happy Thursday!
Alyson

Anonymous said...

Poor Kylie. If I lived nearby, I'd bring her some doggie treats. Don't feel so guilty though; I'm sure she's much warmer than you think.

So you liked "Singing with the Top Down?" I bought that the other day at Target, and I read the first few chapters last night when I should have been catching up on sleep. So far, I like the writing, but the little girl seems a bit obnoxious.

Trish Ryan said...

Stacy, I LOVED Singing With The Top Down. Hang in there with the little girl - you'll want to hug her by the end!

Kari Lee Townsend said...

Oh, yeah, bad haircuts and colors. REmember my elvira poodle look. God, I can so relate.

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

Manic Mom walking through the halls of CyberSpace: "I'm going to check out your web site... see ya there!"

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

"Okay, I'm back! That was a fun trip over to your blog. I LOVE what you've done with your book recommendations. There are so many on your list that I've read, so many I have but haven't read--great job!" Manic Mom sighs, whoo, that was a long trip over there, but I'm glad I made the journey!

xxxx said...

Gosh, I'm blanking. I DO read! Just not a lot lately. I'm still working my way through Jen Weiner's short story collection ... I read a story when I take a bubble bath, which in fact I plan to do sometime in the next hour!

LEstes65 said...

I highly recommend 'Walter The Farting Dog' and all following installments. We have all of them. You could read them to your dog as an apology. Them's good read'n'!

Trish Ryan said...

Anonymous -
You say you didn't find what you were looking for at my blog, i.e., different ways to earn money. CLEARLY you didn't read my posts, as they're FILLED with money-making ideas: learn to dance like Janet Jackson; gather soon-to-be-priceless chicken memorabilia...the list goes on and on! Why, just yesterday I gave a detailed primer on how you, too can become a dog groomer for low price of one set of shears and a little enthusiasm.

And just so we're clear, I made over $900 last month, too :)

LEstes65 said...

Trish, you slay me. I love how you dealt with your blog spam. See, this is why I aspire to be you.

kim said...

I'm supposed to be at the grocery store -- not reading book reviews. If
I'm late to school with Lizzie's birthday snack, I'm comin after you.

Julie Carobini said...

Thanks for the list of books; looks like some winners in there. I just finished reading Calm, Cool and Adjusted (it's about a chiropractor with OCD--fun!) by Kristin Billerbeck. The only thing that makes me mad is that I didn't save it for my plane ride to Pitt today. Aargh. Hopefully I'll have the chance to pick up something before I leave--I'll bring your list :)

Kim Rossi Stagliano said...

If you've got $90 I'll take her to my appointment for the Curly Girl next week..... :)