You ain't nothin' but a hound dog...

I hate my next door neighbor's hound dog. The bloody thing howls/bays all day long, and now, it's 8:45pm, my kids are in bed, and he's at full throttle. We've talked to the neighbor, and he assured us he was getting a bark collar, bringing the dog inside and if all else failed, he sure wasn't going to keep a dog that barked all the time! Liar.

I registered for classes today! I'm going to be taking a basically three classes plus two that I have to take because I'm going to school online (they're 2 credit educational planning classes - yay.) So I'm taking a class on the Enlightenment, World Religions, and Multicultural Lit. I started reading one of the books for the lit class, Mona In the Promised Land by Gish Jen. It's okay so far - she's got a pretty sassy voice, and when I say she, it's only because I don't know if Gish is a male or female name, but the first person narrator is female. I start back to school in November, but I figure getting a head start isn't a bad idea.

I went to a fiber festival yesterday and bought some wool yarn. Now, although I'm glad to have decent yarn instead of the acrylic crap I normally buy, I'm having a hard time figuring out what to make with it since it's wool and can't be washed in the machine. Not being able to wash something in the machine renders almost any garment unworthy of existing as far as I'm concerned. I can't tell you how many "dry clean only" items I've bought and threw in the wash because if they didn't make it through the wash and dry, they simply weren't meant to be in my wardrobe. I've toasted a number of dresses that way. Anyway, I'm thinking hats might be the way to go, otherwise, I'm going to knit some wool soakers for cloth diapers to sell online. May as well make a shekel or two.

I seriously hate this dog.

I was quite domestic today. I got up, and got the boys situated and did the dishes. Then, I threw some white bread fixings into the bread machine to make dough while I grated up some zucchini for some zucchini bread. When my mom came to visit, I made the same bread and forgot to add the margarine. This time around, I forgot the 1/4 cup of sugar. (It still had 1 Tbsp. of sugar that I proofed the yeast with, but still, WTH?) So with my head clearly NOT on my shoulders, I finished the three loaves, and they came out okay. Dinner was a much better success. My friend gave me a slew of tomatoes and some basil and parsley from her garden, and I made a delish pasta sauce for dinner. I browned some ground Italian sausage, pureed the tomatoes with some olive oil, the basil and parsley and a pinch of salt. I mixed it all together, fried some garlic in a olive oil and tossed it in as well. I served it over Rigatoni and used the sugar-light bread to sop up the sauce. So yummy!

I sent Mat over to ask the neighbor to deal with his dog. He did, and now, blessed silence. The guy apologized said the dog has a bark collar. The dog must be a masochist.

I was going to walk to pick Vin up today, but I was chatting w/my brother on the phone, and realized I had 20 minutes to get to the school .8 miles away, and Nico was still napping, and the baby needed a diaper change. There was no way I was getting there in time, so Mat left work to pick him up and had lunch at home instead. Tomorrow I'm walking because Mat is closing, and I'm not piling the kids in the car at 9pm to go get him if I keep the car. He can take it.

Today was not easy, since it was my first day home alone with the two little ones. Nothing is more frustrating than settling in to nurse, and when the baby finally latches, your toddler decides to dismantle your DVD collection. That happened at least five times today. We're moving the DVDs.

Oh, AND, I tried to make my curtains today, and my sewing machine isn't stitching right. Not sure why, but I don't have the know-how to know what to look for. Oh, AND, I'm on Mat's computer, because, that's right, mine took a dump yesterday. I do have the know-how to troubleshoot it, but not the patience. I think it's the power supply. We're going to get one tomorrow.

Now, it's off to wrap up the first season of "Heroes" on DVD. What a great series. I hope they don't cancel it. (Damn you, HBO! I'm still mourning "Deadwood"!)

Night, all.