In Anticipation

Oh, good, a Canadian Tuxedo.

Friends, I can't wait for Saturday. Over here in Suzhou, Thanksgiving is just a Thursday, BUT, many of our friends here have spent time in the USA and were really looking forward to celebrating. Rob and I are going to try to cook a turkey in our puny oven and everyone is gathering at our place to spend time playing card games and eating a gluttonous amount of food. I just hope my dog isn't a butthole, squelches his beagle-y urges to devour anything not intended for him, and just lets us enjoy the day, rather than holding onto his collar in hopes of controlling his rotten behavior.

Who am I kidding- everyone will be on guard, he'll still manage to steal something, and then the cat will tag-team with him to swipe more goodies, pluck something delicious out of a bowl and knock it to the ground to share. My pets are jerks. Adorably naughty jerks.

Chinese New Year and Down Time

Honesty is the best policy, no? Because if I'm being completely truthful with you all, I've been in real people clothes for maybe 7 of the past 25 days. I'm not ashamed to say that I've done every single dog poo walk in my pajama pants and have even done one or two of my pop out for groceries runs in them, too. And since I've spent the last seven years working my ass off supporting my family and in work clothes for 40-60 hours any given week, I'm more than happy to revel in sporting sweats daily for the entirety of this break. 

So, what have we been up to? While Rob was out of town for two weeks, I spent much of my time daydreaming, petting the animals, and snacking. The Chinese New Year fireworks (which were set off in the apartment community every 5 minutes by families to celebrate, day and night, for 48 hours straight) was pretty rough on the animals. Miles crapped inside a few times after some jerk set off a string of firecracker in the middle of us walking past him outside. Couldn't wait the 30 seconds for us to get out of the way? And Eddie got nervous, hid a lot (not normal for her), and lost her appetite for about 6 days, so I took her to the vet after she peed on our bed and didn't have a poop for 3 days. No diabetes, no bladder infections, no indication of problems other than stress. Poor little girl. And I swear to you here and now that I won't blog about my child's bowels when they arrive, it's just especially stressful when your cat baby (I've had her for over 9 years!) is showing signs of bladder infection or kidney failure (with a post-holiday diagnosis of "nothing is wrong") and personality changes just as EVERYTHING shuts down for 6 days. But, we're all back to normal, Rob is home, and we've had the really nice opportunity to get out and explore more of the city while all the students are still away and it's nice and quiet. 

Anyway, here's a few photos of the last few weeks and captions to fill you in on what's been up. 

My holiday uniform (pajama pants, crappy socks, and a random cozy top) plus a floppy-eared sidekick.

Daydreaming- making plans to buy a few household things for summer- crib, guest bed (for my mom when she comes to stay for a bit after the baby arrives), and a dresser. Because I'm happy to pay for furnishings myself in my furnished apartment since Chinese interior decor taste is pretty atrocious.

Our morning norm- Miles under the blankets to the right of my legs, and Eddie firmly snuggled between my knees. It's rare that she isn't snuggled into my lap if I'm sitting down lately.

Upon his return, Rob and I have been playing epic and cutthroat games. If you've never played Fill or Bust, find it and give it a whirl. You'll either love it or you'll start a war. 

My ultrasound records. Which the baby was too small for at 24 weeks, so they asked me to come back to try again. And now, the fun of retranslating them (I got the verbal explaination and all is a-okay, but I like having a record for myself).

One of my few for-fun trips out of the house. I went to Shantang Road in Old Town, Suzhou and finally found a pineapple vendor who uses this special v-shaped utensil to prepare the fruit. The big cleaver thing is for stripping and chopping sugar cane. If you see either of these utensils for sale in Williams-Sonoma next Chistmas season, thank my sister, who lived in Beijing and fell in love with how deftly the vendors could fresh-cut fruits for you, and is convinced the American obsession with kitchen gadgets will make these an easy sell. You're all welcome in advance.

Mild Weather and Walks

Suzhou is in the midst of a nice mild break in the weather, so my days at home with the animals have been quite pleasant and layers worn haven't been quite as thick. We're due to dip back down, though, so don't get too harumph-y about my bragging.

I don't think I ever mentioned it, but poor Miles escaped my parents' house while he was staying with them, tore greyhound-speed circles around on wet, muddy grass, and tore a ligament in his back right knee, followed, of course, by surgery. In October. And he's still kind of gimpy (no shock, it's a long healing time). So, a lot of the reason I'm so very glad to have this extensive time home (especially with nice weather) is so I can take him on multiple slow walks each day, in hopes that the muscle mass lost in resting and healing can be slowly rebuilt and get his little ligament stretched out so it doesn't hurt as much. I'm not totally sure it's working yet, there's lots of evenings where he's hobbling around on only three legs, but we're trying. And since it's the week of celebration for Chinese New Year, almost everyone who is from elsewhere in the country has departed and gone to spend time with family, so it's much more devoid of crazy Chinese neighbors who panic everytime they round the corner on the weaving walking paths to see me and my big bad beagle sniffing the ground and minding his own business. Seriously, one 14 year old girl screamed, "DOG!" and ran away from us. Miles was literally 3 feet off the sidewalk, sniffing a discarded skewer from someone's cart food snack.

But, on the flip side, a 5 year old boy was playing some sort of chase or hide and seek game with his dad one evening and was really enamored with this weird looking critter (most "China Dogs" as my sister called them look like this or this. Perfectly cute, but nothing I'd want to love on). Miles could tell this kid was into him and sat down like a gentleman and I told the kid he could come over. He touched the silky ears, patted his head, and squatted down to look Miles in the eye. He then popped up, yelled he wanted to tell his dad, and came running back to show off his new buddy.

Melt me right into a puddle.

Dog on Loan

Jeans: UO...Blouse: H&M thrifted...cardigan: Gap...Belt: Target...Shoes: Kenneth Cole Reaction via Piperlime...Shades: Coach via TJ Maxx

No, it's not cooler here in Houston, I'm not wearing a sweater because I need it outside. It's still dreary and a little rainy and the combination of humidity in the air and relentless AC is literally freezing me. I have numb fingers some afternoons. It's getting ridiculous. I just can't understand the need to cool a space down to 72 degrees. Wasteful, unnatural, and overly cold!

I had a funny afternoon yesterday. I loaded myself into my car a little after lunchtime to go take a photo of the damage to the car Boss Lady loaned to a friend (poor guy got hit while he was on his way to pick up his new car). Oh, my gosh, it's bad, the "knuckle" in the suspension is totally severed, if that means anything to you. Anyway, that's not the funny part of the afternoon. I was walking out to my car in the side drive at her house and trotting up the driveway was this absolutely adorable Cavalier King Charles. He had this wonderfully portly physique, black shaggy tips on his ears, a perfect little underbite. He was the goofiest looking dog I've seen in a while, but he was incredibly sweet. I walked out toward the sidewalk, but there was no one walking nearby. So, I found and dialed the number on his collar (his name is Rudy, by the way) and it rang and rang and rang and rang. I called the neighborhood patrol, who didn't have the phone number on file, but told me to secure him for a while, wrote down his particulars in case the owner called, took my name and number and then we waited.

Guys, I had a dog for the afternoon at work. And it was awesome.

Eventually, his owner did call the patrol and got our address to come pick him up, but I've never before had such an amazing time at work. Ah, dogs are good for the soul.

Pup

I love my doggy. I love that he loves to be loved. I'm just going to leave you with an only okay-looking outfit and offset the blugh of rainy day bad photo quality with a smeared beagle whose little eyes sparkle when he knows he's going to get his hip scratched if he snuggles in close.

Also, stay tuned this weekend- my guy and I are hitting a marriage milestone... which means a little peek into wedding photos! Oh, and my photos of the courtyard were crap, so I'll try again.

Dress: Gap...Cardigan: Target...Belt: Banana Republic...Shoes: Naturalizer...Bracelet: jade from PanJiaYuan market