January Wrap-Up

I have a problem here, blog.
I'll have a fit of creative spirit and write, write,write and then...I'll get over it. I'll work and I'll read other blogs and I'll read books and obessively watch Frasier (the whole thing is on Netflix which makes Ben so unhappy) and not feel like writing anything at all.
Then, I feel bad because I'll be silent for weeks at a time but at the same time I haven't put in effort into planning anything either. Sigh, so you'll have to settle for this ramshakle of a post to assuage my guilt.

This book is the main reason why I've not been able to do anything. It's six hundred pages long and I really thought that it would be a slow start since it started with Helen's childhood but the writing has honestly swept me away. I haven't been captivated by a writing style in a while so it's nice just getting to enjoy the process.

I also, after much thought, picked up this book which deserves it's own blog post once I'm done. It's eye-opening and encouraging and a feel like I'm no longer alone in my questioning of traditional patriarchal actions that have been explain away as Biblical.

A couple of weeks ago I was on my way to work in the morning and I turned down this residential road that leads to the highway and found this poor little girl wandering toward my car. I see dogs on this road all the time for some reason but they all look healthy and not lost. This one, however was clearly scared and she was running at my car. When I got out to call to her she ran away from me, and started heading toward another car coming in the opposite direction. I must of looked like a crazy person also running at the car but it was an SUV that sat high and I was afraid it wouldn't see her. The guy stopped and asked if everything was okay and the dog tried to get in his car. That's when I got a look at her up close and as you can see from the picture she did not look remotely okay. He told me he was going to pull off and call animal control and I told him I was going to get a towel to wrap her in. I jogged back to my car and found one of those big black garage blankets in my trunk. I got it out and started to look for the SUV...and the guy was gone. There were two driveways right behind my car and I had assumed he would pull in one of those. I don't know if he just pulled into one further down, but that wouldn't have made sense to me. When I turned to look for the dog she was also gone.
Well, as it turns out I had left my driver's side door open and my car was low enough that she could get in. She was sitting in my passenger's seat eating the crumbs out of the folds of the seat. Clearly freezing (earlier that week was when we had our -2 temperatures) I wrapped her up in the blanket and turned on the heat. Now, I had to open the store that day but I couldn't very well kick her out after all I didn't know whether or not that fellow had called animal control and she was clearly in bad shape. So, I called the other manager who was supposed to work that night and told her she just had to go open the store for me while I dropped this poor dog by the humane society. Thank God, she answered her phone and I was able to take this dog (now asleep in my passenger's seat) to the Humane Society.
That weren't going to take her at first since they were full, but once the lady saw her she changed her mind. They were so sweet there and that poor dog was just so happy to not be freezing. I felt so much better knowing she was going to be okay because I know animal control would have taken one look at her and put her down. She had clearly been around people before and I knew if she had any chance it would be there.
Ben called the next day and they told him she had been fostered and was eating fine, had mange of course and unfortunately a leg that had been broken and healed wrong so they might have to amputate.
Ben and I have been on the look out for a dog recently and I told him if she checked out okay I would like to adopt her. I just called the shelter to ask about her, but I guess I got the wrong person or didn't say the right phrase because I was told since I didn't pay $75 they didn't release information about animals even though I was told I could call and ask about her. I'm going to call back tomorrow and try again and hopefully a different person will be answering the phone!
I've also been baking up a storm lately with all this cold weather I've craved nothing but gallons of hot coffee and homemade sweets. I've been thinking of doing a recipe post since I do cook so much I just need to actually plan ahead... the bane of my life, planning, haha!
I'm also really excited for Valentine's Day this year since Ben is taking me to the Philharmonic! Normally we don't do anything but I heard the Maestro talking on the radio about the new upcoming season in August and told Ben that this is what I wanted to do this year. So excited! I haven't had an occasion to really dress up in a long time and it's nice to pick out an outfit and plan ahead it sort of reminds me of prom except I only planned ahead for that like 2 weeks in advance.
That pretty much sums up my January except I'm been listening to a lot of Ella Fitzgerald Pandora Radio. With it still being so cold and the music being reminiscent of Christmas music it's the perfect comfort music.