Please remind me WHY I show my dogs.... (rant)

In order to show one dog in BC in a couple of weeks, I have had to overcome the following obstacles and incur the following expenses IN ADDITION to regular show entry stuff.....

1. Find a doggie-sitter for Chyna (cocker spaniel). Since this is the same weekend as a local show AND my usual doggie-sitters have brand new puppies this was a challenge.
2. Find a boarding kennel for Elton (boxer) that did not require me to vaccinate him unnecessarily..... HUGE challenge (and fielded a few insults along the way about how I need to do MY homework on vaccinations - don't make me laugh!), but done (at an extra expense).
3. Book a flight to BC including the extra charge for having a pet in the cabin.
4. Fight with airline employees over their pet-in-cabin size restrictions.
5. Figure out airline requirements for paperwork of dog.
6. Figure out real health requirements for dog (ie. Heartworm testing and/or preventative).
7. Beg a friend to let me stay at her house while out there.
8. Beg another friend to let me ride with her from airport to show grounds (actually, this one was offered... thanks Jackie and Kelly).
9. Wander aimlessly around airline website trying (unsuccessfully) to confirm flight information.
10. Call airline to confirm flight information - they changed both the flight number and departure/arrival times.
11. Fight with airline employee AGAIN over their size restrictions of pets in the cabin (there is going to be a scene at the check in counter if they deny us boarding).
12. Realized there was going to be a judging conflict between the specialty and all breed show. Contacted show secretary about it.
13. Realized, after asking for early morning ring time on Sunday, that cockers are on at the VERY END OF THE DAY so I can't show on the last day at all as I'll be on an airplane coming home during that time.
14. Learned who some of the dogs are that are entered and discovered that the competition is going to be fierce for even a single ribbon that weekend.

And there is still a week to go before the show.... lots of things could still go so very wrong and cause me even more stress. So tell me, after all that, why the HELL do I show my dogs? I could spend all that money on a short vacation with my dogs and we would all probably have way more fun!

The perfect salad

Mixed greens (I prefer the "spring mix" prepackaged lettuce)
Cucumber (slice down the middle lengthwise and then again so you have 4 long pieces. Chop those sections)
Carrots (I use the prepackaged baby carrots. Slice lengthwise if you are feeling energetic LOL)
Grape tomatoes (Rinse. They don't have a long shelf life so watch for any wrinkly ones)
Radishes (sliced so they are white with a ring of pink is prettiest)
Celery (washed and sliced)
Green onions (washed and sliced)

Toss the above and keep in a covered bowl in the fridge. When you are ready to eat, serve on a plate and top with.....

Teriyaki marinated grilled chicken (any marinade will do but teriyaki is good with the following)
Pineapple pieces (I use a snack-size can of pineapple or mixed pineapple/mandarins)
Cheese (a snack-size cheese stick cut into pieces works well if preparing for one)
Craisins (dehydrated cranberries... find them in the produce or raisin section)
"Salad Sensations" almonds (either bacon-cheddar or tomato-basil flavour work well)
Olive oil (I use virgin olive oil but regular should be fine)
Red Wine Vinegar (a light "fruity" vinegar)
Salt, Pepper, or "Jamaica Me Crazy" seasoned pepper to taste

Yum Yum Yum. A plate of this will fill you up and leave you feeling very satisfied.... not like being on a diet at all :) Warning: the second section of ingredients can add a ton of calories to your salad so keep an eye on those nutrition labels and portion accordingly.

Disneyland recap

Check out the details of my trip here....
http://members.shaw.ca/vicky.bennett/Dland/disneyland_trip1.htm

Did everyone know this already? It's new to me...

I have just discovered the joy of body lotion.... seriously. We live in a very dry climate yet I only used hand cream on my hands when they were uncomfortably dry. But I recently started using body lotion after a shower and my skin has never felt so soft. Even the next morning before I shower again... it's still so soft :) I still need hand cream as I wash my hands so often during the day but the rest of my body feels like silk LOL.

My body lotion of choice is Lubriderm. It comes in a large container with a pump for use at home. You can also get smaller containers for when you are on the road. And they even have little wee containers in the travel/trial section of the drug store that are perfect for keeping in your purse.

This is getting ridiculous

When I started working in downtown Calgary... just 4 years ago... parking spaces were about $9-12/day. That was considered high at the time. Today I went to the closest "cheap lot" near my office building and had to pay $15 for the day!!!!! That's outrageous! I can only imagine what the higher priced lots in the area are charging.

It's bad enough for me but at least I make a decent salary and have the flexibility to work from home occasionally. But what about the people who work in the coffee shop downstairs or across the street for not much more than minimum wage? They have no choice about working from home. They must have to car pool or take public transit to survive on that or their first two hours of salary would go just to parking! It's simply outrageous.

I'm ba-aaaaack :)

My write up about the trip to Disneyland with Scott is finished but it is 7 pages long so I won't publish the whole thing here. So these are just my "final thoughts" about the trip.....

• Calgary airport bathrooms are way better than LAX bathrooms (cleaner, more modern, and more plentiful)
• Disneyland bathrooms are better than Universal Studios. Disneyland bathrooms are kind of sparse on the Disneyland park side. They must have learned a lesson as bathrooms are more plentiful and better labeled on the California Adventure side.
• Ideally, before booking your hotel, ask to make sure the shower head is more than 5 feet high. Anyone taller than 4½ feet tall will appreciate this.
• If/when I go back I’m not sure if I’ll stay at a resort hotel. The Best Western across the street was fine but a splurge on a resort hotel could be fun.
• The Disneyland experience seemed to vary depending on who you went with…
  - the young families with strollers were often moving slower and the little kids could only go on some small rides. They would frequently stop to meet the characters and watch some of the street acts. Some little girls were dressed up as their favorite Disney princess character.
  - the families with older kids had a much broader experience as they were able to get from place to place a little faster and the kids could ride more rides (often the minimum height was 40 inches) but they still stopped to see the characters and street acts.
  - the groups of adults (we saw a few large groups but there were mostly small groups of 2 to 4 adults) seemed to be there mostly for the rides and the shopping.
  - the advantages and disadvantages vary but from my perspective it was great to go with just another adult. It was certainly cheaper than going in a large family and easier to get a table at a restaurant with just 2 of us. And although I think it would be great to go with older kids that could enjoy the rides, we actually met some pretty cool kids on the rides. The Grizzly Bear Rapids (inner tube ride) was great for chatting with some kids about how much fun they were having and what they had seen. We also chatted with some families in line when waiting for a ride… we even ended up in line behind a family from Calgary! LOL
• The best time to go to Disneyland and Universal Studios is definitely the off season. There were a couple of rides closed for maintenance and the weather was cool (typically high of 20C but we didn’t get above 16C – but still better than Calgary weather LOL) but the line ups were extremely short. We didn’t have to use the Fastpass system (method of bypassing the long line ups) until the last day. For the first three days of Disneyland and the day at Universal Studios we never had a lineup longer than 20 minutes (most were 5-10… in high season they can be 2 hours or even longer).
• My advice for souvenir shopping… don’t buy anything on the first day. Every store in Disneyland has slightly different merchandise so you haven’t seen it all in the first store… or even the first dozen stores LOL. For kids who want to wear a Goofy hat or Mickey ears for the trip, it would be fine to buy the hat on the first day as they are pretty standard from store to store. But things like ball caps, t-shirts, mugs, magnets, key chains, etc that you plan to use at home are different all over the park. So I’d wait until later in the trip to buy them as by the end you’ll have seen most or all of them that are available and you can truly pick out your favorite one(s) to take home.
• Things I would like to have done but didn’t…..
  - I should have brought home more taffy and less fudge (I’m currently on fudge overload)
  - I still have no first hand knowledge of In and Out Burger. I’ll just have to believe everyone who says they are the best.
  - The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. You have to order tickets weeks in advance and it was way out of our way so we didn’t bother with it. But it sure would have been fun :)
  - We didn’t plan a trip to Knott’s Berry Farm but in retrospect we should have planned a day for it. Apparently they have awesome roller coasters and the world’s best fried chicken.
  - Six Flags is only open on the weekends during off season so we couldn’t plan to go there during this trip but I’d like to go at some point. Luckily there are many Six Flags locations so chances are good that I can go there in the next few years.
  - 7 days is the magic amount of time when the limit of stuff you are allowed to bring back to Canada duty free jumps from $200 to $750. If we were there just one more day I wouldn’t have had such stress about bringing my souvenirs back. Not that I would have come close to the $750 limit but $200 doesn’t go very far with theme park memorabilia prices.

Joy... and Pain

Yesterday I went to get a manicure and pedicure. We started off with the pedicure..... oh sweet joy! I can't explain the pleasure except to say it was totally worth the $40.00. I sat in a massaging chair and read the latest issue of the "Cocker Classic" magazine, while someone rubbed my feed and made them very beautiful.... it was heavenly :)

But then I got the manicure done. Usually a lady named Cindy does them and does a great job but Cindy was busy yesterday so the lady that did my pedicure did the manicure too. Since she did such a good job with my feet I though she must know what she is doing. However, 3 hours later I wasn't so sure! She got a little carried away with the Dremmel (rotary power tool) and not only buffed the nails but stripped away the skin around the nails. My cuticles are gone. She actually drew blood! I was thinking, "do you not see the skin you are flaying off my fingers?" Then when she put the polish on, a couple of the nails wouldn't co-operate (white tips would crack as they dried) and she had to start all over. And since we had to wait for each coat of polish to dry it took FOREVER!

So today my nails look pretty enough, however my fingers are in pain. Next time I'm going to insist on Cindy. She's the best :) At least my feet still look and feel good... so good I don't want to wear socks. LOL

What is Jenny Craig thinking?

Am I the only one completely turned off by the Jenny Craig commercials starring Kirstie Alley? She comes off as a glutton that feels the need to stuff her face with every sugary or high fat food available (or the Jenny Craig substitutes). I don't know if that is what she is like in person but her persona in the commercials is really off-putting. Personally, I'd be embarrassed to admit if I was on Jenny Craig right now as the Kirstie Alley image is not something I'd want to be associated with.