Two things come to mind while moving

#AnniesMove

When it's time to move, two things always come to mind: The #AnniesMove episode of Community, and this cartoon from Hyperbole and a Half. 

Annie's Move, well, just because it's hilarious. The Community gang destroys Annie's old apartment above a porn store as they move her in with Troy and Abed where -- SPOILER ALERT (seriously if you haven't seen the episode by now...) her room is revealed to be a blanket fort. They tweet the whole thing, which is how Jeff gets busted for faking illness and going to the mall instead where the dean blackmails him into hanging out, and Shirley and Britta pick up an interesting passenger.

In the Hyperbole and a Half post, the author, in great detail, describes her dogs' complex and not-so-complex emotions as they move.

The characterizations of "simple dog" and "helper dog" fit my two to a T. Lizzie is "simple dog." She's fairly intelligent, independent and carefree. She doesn't let things bother her until they really bother her, then she breaks down into a bundle of nerves.



The first canine breakdown came when I brought her home from the sitters. I had taken a carload of stuff, packing the car after I dropped them off, and when she came home, she paced around the house, looking for all the missing things.

Then she stopped. Her eyes got wide. Her ears pointed. Like she just remembered something really important. She rummaged around her crate, emerged with her tail wagging, prized green ball in her mouth. We tossed it around, and all was well with the world again.

It squeaks.

The next week it happened again. I was packing and Lizzie was hanging out, unphased. Then someone came to buy my dresser. This was her tipping point.

As the strangers carried my dresser out the door, she started whining, and it didn't cease for 15 minutes. I tried petting her, coaxing her, feeding her, nothing worked. She finally laid down on my bed. I sat down next to her, talked to her like an adult, and promised her everything was fine.

Oh, Lizzie.

I scratched her ears for awhile. Then she suddenly jumped up, rummaged around her crate, again emerged with her ball, and all was well again.

While Lizzie is having her ups and downs, Brandy has settled into the role of "helper dog".

Brandy is a quiet, shy girl, and gets startled easily. Unlike the dog in the cartoon though, she didn't pick up on the fact that her environment was changing.

Until Lizzie had her first panic attack.

While Lizzie recovered, Brandy hasn't wanted to be alone. She gets anxious when I leave, and when I get back. She hoovers over me when I'm packing. She freaked out when I moved the couch.

My landlord was showing prospective tenants my apartment. When I go running, Lizzie and Brandy take turns lapping around Corn Hill with me. One tenant showed up early, Lizzie was with me, Brandy was at home.

Steve described her reaction when the strangers walked into the house: "She was like, umm, I don't know if you're supposed to be here and I don't know if I'm supposed to do something about it." So she stayed on the couch and watched intently.

Lizzie wears her emotions on whatever the canine version of a sleeve is. Brandy is harder to read, and I can't tell the difference between her worried look and her "feel bad for me and let me on the couch" look.

The Brandy look.

Either way, our lives will return to normal soon enough.

Not a champion this week

I'm slowly dying.

That's actually a gross exaggeration. But I really did have had the cold/flu/I-don't-really-know-what-it-was from hell this week. We're talking pounding headaches, random body aches, a general fatigue and, of course, an imaginary clothes pin clamped tightly on my nose.

So, a few miles around the indoor track at the Y has been the extent of my training. Instead of talking about that, I offer you this link to this hysterical blog. Enjoy. Especially this post. And this post. See you next week. In the meantime, I'm going to be a little busy, in Lost we just found out Juliet is not such a good person after all (or is she double-crossing the others?)

One more random note -- of the me being annoyed with a company and needing to tell the world in a way that will come up in a Google search style. Never order from Nutty Guys. I love dried fruit and nuts, so I got a Groupon for them and ordered more than the Groupon would cover. It took them 20 days to ship my order (their website promised 2-3 days). They didn't respond to several emails wondering what was going on -- their online chat doesn't work and no one picked up when I called. It wasn't until I complained to Groupon that I got an unapologetic email from them explaining that they were out of stock on something. They're shipping is pricy too -- lesson learned: Go to Trader Joe's, same prices and they're way better!

And to not be the whiny consumer, do order from Marbles: The Brain Store if you like puzzles and such. I also discovered them through Groupon, and they are super-reliable. I love my Buckeyballs!