Monday, March 30, 2009

Confessions Of A Self Proclaimed Celebrity Stalker

My kids call me a stalker. I prefer the term tracker, or maybe pursuer. Or, maybe I am a celebrity shadow.
Yeah, I like that one. I am a shadow.
I am have no celebrity affiliations. None.
Unlike my BFF's Heidi and Jethro, or my blog buddy, Rick Rockhill, I don't regularly hobnob with the rich or famous.



I do, however, frequent events like The Sci Fi Con, and Soap Opera conventions.






Christina Schmidt





Once, I even met Christina Schmidt from Degrassi: The Next Generation at a Tim Horton's. Of course I was in my pj pants at the time. It was well after midnight when KC, Kayla and I decided to post flyer's for our garage sale the next morning.



She was incredibly gracious and sweet. She sat at our table and spent a couple of minutes chatting with the girls. Well, not so much the girls. Kayla was stunned into silence and as Christina was signing an autograph for her...When asked how to spell her name, Kayla replied.


'K..........."

Last night was no exception to my celebrity stalk - er - shadowing. Jabbawockeez were the special guests at the New Kids On The Block concert in London. Shawn, KC, Spencer and I all went, and poor Jessica, the Jabbawockeez biggest fan got stuck at home. I thought that I would take some photos for her and make her happy....
When Shawn and I saw the T shirts for $40, we almost didn't buy her one. I mean, forty freaking bucks?? That was pretty much all that I had in my wallet...Jessica never gets any concert t's though, and is usually left behind when any of us head off for a concert venue. We decided to bite the big one and get her a t.
Then, to our complete astonishment, we saw the dance crew sitting at a long table, surrounded by security and handlers, signing autographs! Whoo hoo! We high tailed it to the table, only to see the staff herding the dance crew off to whoknowswhere. Undeterred, we asked security if we could get the Jabbawockeez to sing our girl's t. No luck. We were directed to one person, then another, until I thought - 'screw it.'
I went to the Jabbawockeez themselves, past security and staff, and pleaded my case. They not only signed the t, but they offered to pose for photos (no thanks, I didn't want to be in one, I just wanted to be the photog) and paused to shake our hands!
I was so pumped that I could hardly catch my breath. I mean, these are just cool dancers to me, but to Jessica, they are...the epitome of celebrity and stardom. To a 14 year old girl, they are gods among men.
Meeting the Jabbawockeez was different than meeting Henry Winkler, or Kelly Ripa, or even my fav soap opera character. This was better, this surpassed anything or anyone ever before..This was for my Jessica.
































The rest of the night was beyond amazing, too. KC and I had soo much fun. We laughed so hard that my sides hurt.
At the end of the evening, when we searching for a bootleg t for Kayla, we passed the area where the tour buses were parked. The screaming built to a deafening crescendo, and at that point, we were struck by the mob mentality...We got sucked in. I mean, what if NKOTB were at the buses, right now?

She and I sprinted into a run, each going a different way. KC bolted past Shawn, pushing him hard into a bush as she went. We met up at the fence, only to see Jabbawockeez fleeing the crazed women and escaping into a van.

Sigh....So close, yet so far.

Maybe next time, The New Kids won't be so lucky.

I hear that they are coming back in June.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Good Bye, Mia












Mia is leaving today. I knew that this day was coming, but it snuck up on me just the same.
I am already missing her.



Wednesday, March 25, 2009

We took the pups to see the vet yesterday for their first check up. The doc was pleasantly surprised that all of the puppies survived after the close call that we had with Ruby and the fact that we started bottle feeding at two weeks old. In fact, these pups are the healthiest pups that the vet has seen in a long time! Yay us! It all paid off in a big way - the sleepless night, the expensive baby food, the vet bills. We had five healthy puppies! Bruno found a home. It is, my humble opinion, one of the best homes ever.. He is staying right here! We just couldn't bear to part with him.
Mia will go to her new home of Friday and honestly, I am going to miss her like you would not believe! We had Chloe here yesterday (she went to the vet with her siblings) and Ruby was beside herself with happiness. Poor Chloe (now named Darby) was covered in Ruby slobber the whole time that she was here. She played with her sisters and brother like old times. They will be visiting each other again - it's one of the benefits of having Shawn's sisters adopt the doggies.

Look how big Bruno is now! He is a whopping 3.63 pounds, almost half of Ruby's weight already! She weighs in at 8 pounds.
Sigh....
isn't life beautiful?



Monday, March 23, 2009

The puppies will 8 weeks old tomorrow and are almost ready for their new homes. This has been such an emotional journey...I doubt that we will ever do this again. No more puppies for us!
I knew going in to this that we would finding new homes for the pups. I was - I am ok with that. What I wasn't prepared for was the heartache that would come with it....
It looks as though three of the pups have found homes. Mia, Chloe, and Bella have found new moms and that is part of the problem. I thought that Bella was going to stay with us. That was the plan. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way.

I went out for groceries on Saturday and when I came home, she was gone. To say that we (the girls) are heartbroken would be an understatement.
A family member took her for a visit, and now refuses to bring her home. She wants to adopt Bella.
I know that this person will give Bella a great home. I know that..What pisses me off is that she refuses to even bring the dog to the house again and Bella is the runt. She needs her mommy for a few more days at least, and I never had the chance to say good bye. Nobody did.
Oh, and we haven't been paid yet, either.

Bruno still needs a home. He is getting so attached to me - and me to him - that I just want him to find his new family - NOW. Still, these things really can't be rushed. It has to be the perfect family.
KC had a friend come out to see the pups last week and her kid was, umm, let's see, I'm trying to be nice here...An asshat. This friend came out to see Mia, knowing full well that she was spoken for and we made no promises to her about any of the other dogs. Of course, he obnoxious 10 year son (please remember, he is 10) came barreling out of the van, and from the instant that I saw him, he rubbed me the wrong way. It could have been the way that he mauled the tiny pup, squeezing her so hard that she couldn't squirm away, or the way that he wrapped her up in his vest and rolled on the frozen lawn with her..It could have been the way that he did a rolling throw and tossed the dog like a bowling ball.
Yes, you read that right. A ten year old kid. HE THREW MY DOG.
The mom was there for all of it, and her response was this...(whispering)..'Kyle.....'
No, for real. That was all that she said.
Then, after they left, I found out that she wants to buy the dog, and keep him at a friends house until mid June, when they move into their new house.
WTF?
Are you kidding me? WHO in their right mind, would sell them a dog?
Not I.
So, this lady lays a guilt trip on Kristy about the dog...
"Can't you see how attached Kyle was to the dog?"
and
"He won't understand."
Look, if your kid, at ten, can't understand that a dog was sold to the person that it was promised to, if he gets that emotional about every dog that he sees, then you have much bigger problems.

Mia's new family, on the other hand, is great. They have been here twice to visit with her and the boys (11 and 13) are age appropriate with the pups. I have no worries about her. I am going to miss her like mad, though. She is such a little firecracker!

Bella

Yesterday, Shawn, Kayla, Jessica and I went to visit his brother in law and two nephews. In about three weeks it will be the year anniversary of his sisters death.
I can hardly believe that Mary has been gone nearly a year.
The grief in that house, the feeling of sadness, was beyond overwhelming. Flowers from the funeral home were still sitting in the dining room, dried up and untouched since they were placed there nearly a year ago.
I am reminded, once again, that life is all too short and much to precious to be squandered and wasted.
Why does it always take a tragedy to bring us to our senses?
Jessica has an appointment with her specialist today. In two hours, actaully. I guess that I best get moving. I have no reason to think that she is anything other then fine, but I get nervous just the same.
Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Mia's new family is coming to meet her tomorrow! I am both excited and saddened by the prospect....I am going to miss these little dogs so much.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Hinder, Theory Of A Dead Man and The Crue

Last night was The Big Night. KC, Spencer, Shawn and I all took a tour to Hamilton and Copps Coliseum to see Motley Crue. The fist act was Hinder...I thought that I hated them, but as it turns out, they rock! I'm not sure about the lead singers personal Axl Rose/Davey Jones/Mick Jagger swagger, but the music was stupendous. Truly.

Theory Of A Dead Man came on next. Hmm. To me, they sound an awful lot like Nickleback. I keep waiting for my 'Rock star' song, and then I remembered - oh, yeah...These are the Santa Monica guys. I actually really like that song, but I have to be honest, I was happy as hell when they ended their set.
Motley Crue came out to the ass kicking Kick Start My Heart. The first few songs seemed to just flow into one another - seamlessly. It was nothing short of magnificent. Breath taking.
Sigh.
It was - The Crue!

Part way through the set, Tommy Lee (I say Tommy, you say Lee!) sat on the edge of the stage for a little q&a session. Of sorts.
He told us that he was horny as hell and asked if we all were, too.
(Ah, these mother daughters moments that I will never forget. Sniff)
He shared his jagermeister with the audience (ewww) and declared the city of Hamilton was now SLAMilton, cuz, he was, horny.
Tommy thanked us all for sharing our bitches with him (umm, you're welcome, I think??) and called us all MotherF#$%ers so many times that I lost count.
Vince Neil was - well, he was Vince Neil. He was incredible.
I was slightly shocked at the porn that was playing the screens. I mean, yeah, this is Motley Crue, but it was, ahem, weird to be sitting there with my daughter on one side of me and a sweet little eight year old boy rocking out on the other side of me while porn flashed on stage.
Mind you, I doubt very much that the boy even noticed the porn. It was his very first concert, he knew ALL of the lyrics to ALL of the songs and he was rocking out. I enjoyed him almost as much as the bands.


Of course, the smoke damn near killed me and today I have no voice at all from all of the coughing that I have been doing. That flu is still hanging on and I feel like...yuck. Still, it was worth it. I would do it all again in a heartbeat...Well, maybe not a heartbeat, but in another 2 weeks or so when we hit London for NKOTB!



Saturday, March 07, 2009

Damn Blogger

I have no idea what is happening, but all of my comments are missing! No matter where I comment lately, or on which blog, the comments just - poof - disappear!
Barring a conspiracy, blogger has to be screwing up, yet again!
Either way, I really have not been on much lately. I came down with a nasty flu. Can your brain actually melt when your fever hits 102.5? Let's hope not!
Shawn at the casino
Lola sleeping happily, legs in the air.

Dog pile.
KC turned 21 yesterday and she asked (ordered) me not to post any of the photos. I felt (feel) too miserable to even move, so I still owe her a birthday dinner. Maybe I can do it tomorrow...
The pups are really coming into their own little personalities now. They still run sideways at times, but they can do much more quickly. They tear the house up in minutes and are seemingly fearless. Bumble is afraid of the balloon bouquet - the pups pull it around the livingroom. They are an endless source of entertainment.
Wednesday is our Big Concert night. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I am well enough to go. I will be so bummed if I miss Motley Crue. I want to relive my youth, dammit!



Monday, March 02, 2009

I have a mustache

KC, Kayla, and Jessica saw this the other day and nearly passed out from the laughter.....I LOVE it!