Where I'm At

I'll be home alone all weekend as Max is going to Paris to spend a couple of days with his friend (and former police colleague). They're going to Disneyland Paris on Saturday and while you might think I'd be jealous, I'm most certainly not! Big crowds, roller coasters, and overpriced food/tickets are so not my thing. I'm looking forward to a few quiet days at home with the pets to get over my cold, catch up on some housework, and relax before going back to the museum on Monday.

I called TCS owner yesterday to tell her I won't be continuing there. She seemed disappointed and a bit surprised, but thanked me for my honesty. I'm going in tomorrow to pick up a cheque for the hours I worked and hand in my apron. It might be an awkward meeting, but I'm still sure of my decision. She needs someone who can commit 100% to the job right now, and that person is not me. I'd like to see where this museum job takes me and I also want to be more available at home. Pinch is visibly (and audibly) more relaxed when I'm here with him, and until we get him sorted out via the dog behavioural expert, it's best I not be out all day, 5 days a week. And for those who asked about bark collars in the comments of my last post - we've already tried! A few months ago we bought one of those citronella spray collars that emits a cloud of citronella product when the dog barks. Pinch got used to it rather quickly and learned that if he turned his head to the side when he barked, he wouldn't get the citronella product in the face. I also brought back a gadget from Canada in August that is supposed to make dogs stop barking by emitting a high frequency only they can hear (and is supposed to make them uncomfortable enough to stop barking). We positioned it by the door and it seemed to work at the beginning, but now has no effect. I don't really care for those shock collars that "zap" dogs when they bark. We did try it on him once (I borrowed it from Max's mom), but he nearly went into a seizure when it zapped him and it was very traumatic to watch. Those collars are usually reserved for larger breeds and are totally not adapted to my 5-kilo weiner dog. And doggie daycare and dog walkers simply don't exist out here in the countryside where I live. Even if they did, Pinch is not very sociable and I wouldn't be able to leave him in the care of a stranger. He's got some aggression issues which is why the behavioural expert has become absolutely necessary. Believe me, we've tried many things to fix his barking/anxiety problems and are desperate to find a permanent solution!

In other news, tomorrow night Max and I are going on a proper "date" to celebrate my new job and to just spend some quality time together - something that has been rare these past few weeks. We are going to get some groceries when he's done work (romantic, isn't it?), then go out to dinner. I realized today that I really miss him, and I miss doing fun things with him. We used to go out all the time in the north of France - visiting his friends or family, weekend trips to Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg, Germany, walks in the park with Pinch followed by a drink somewhere, going to dinner and a movie more often than we could afford (but not caring).

And then we moved to Paris for his job and started living like roommates. He worked nights, I worked days (at my soul-sucking teaching job), and we were both too tired to go out on our days off. We lived out in the suburbs and always found excuses not to head into "town" to do something fun (my agoraphobia, hatred of the public transit system, overpriced bars and restaurants, leaving Pinch alone to bark and piss off the neighbours...). Slowly but surely we became boring and predictable and I wondered what happened to the old fun couple we used to be. As any couple knows, the key to keeping things exciting is having fun and avoiding the "rut" as I like to call it. We've gotten lazy, and lazy might be nice from time to time, but I can't imagine what our marriage will be like in 10 or 20 years from now if we are already acting like seniors in a nursing home!

Now that I'm a bit more sure of which direction I'm heading in in terms of work (at least for the next few months) and what our schedules will be like, I want to go back to being the fun couple. Instead of shooting down his idea of going skiing this winter (It's too expensive! I'm scared! We don't have any equipment!), I'm going to tell him, Sure, why not? After all, Max has accompanied me to the animal shelter to walk the dogs many times even though I know it's really not his thing. And if we can get Pinch and his barking under control, it will lift a huge weight from both our shoulders and encourage me to go out more. A lot of the time I prefer to stay in to be sure he won't bark and disturb the neighbours, but I've become Boring Betty as a result.

So that's where I am right now. Enjoying my new job. Getting my dog some therapy. Spending time with my husband and resolving to be more fun. It's not quite January 1st yet, but my resolutions are already made.

I'll leave you with a few fotos of Skinny Mini that I've taken over the past month with my actual digital camera and not my cell phone. I finally took the time to upload them into my computer today!


Anything with neck wrinkles is automatically cute (I think she looks quite Mr. Bigglesworth-y here).

Her favourite part of the day - sunbathing next to the balcony doors from 9 to 12



Long skinny mutant tail (and can you see the little tuft of red hair behind her ear?)

Sphynx cats are not completely hairless, as evidenced by the wonky coarse hair all along Mini's tail.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!