The Day or the Hour

Fiorella is an April fool a day early. She thought March had just thirty days so she scheduled a blog for tomorrow which she thought was today so now she's red-faced and posting late. But at least learning there's one more day in March gives Fio leeway to finish the Christmas clean-up by her appointed time.

She's been playing catch-up in other ways too. She went through her notes and posted a lot of stuff to the back stories of her manuscripts, sent out some email stuff, paid the bills, and bought airline tickets to Toronto for the memorial service for Friend Nicole, who died in December. Yeah, Fio should have visited her last year, but who knew? Who ever knows?

March 30

March 30, crunch time. Fiorella has committed to having all Christmas decorations down and packed away in the garage by April 1, and she still has two boxes to go.
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As Fio has told you, in order to clear her mind for sleep at night, she sets up interesting situations in Big Bang Theory. Like Danny DeVito being cast as Leonard's father. Or Howard's father reappearing. Or Alicia showing up again, having been mowed under by the Hollywood machine--maybe she and Raj can hit it off. Or Leslie Winkle marrying Raj and standing off his parents. Or Raj showing up married to Miss India, which actor Kunal Nayyar actually is.
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Hey, before Fiorella closes up Christmas, she has to tell you something weird about Sonia Dog--she likes to carry glass ornaments around in her mouth. The only thing Fio can figure out is that she savors the smooth roundness of them.

The Happiness of Verbenas

The wildflowers are blooming like crazy right now, especially the purple verbenas. Fio and husband have a lot of wild ones on the sides of their long driveway and several tame ones in their front planting bed.

Fiorella loves verbenas. They're faithful, coming up every year bigger and better, and they're grateful, reaching up their long arms to thank you for the water you've ruined your hip to give them.

The whole world should be like verbenas.

Her Ladyship

Sonya is such a lady. Instead of practically inhaling her kibble in one foul gulp, as Wendy did, she waits politely for Fio to place the bowl on the serving mat, ambles over to survey it, takes a few practice bites, wanders around the kitchen, comes back and takes a few more bites, then finally settles in and eats her supper--if she feels like it. And, like the well-bred lady she is, she always leaves a few kibbles in the bowl.

How this dog is ever going to end up at 150 lbs. is beyond me.

Bill and Jen

It's Tuesday and The Little Couple is back.

Fiorella loves following the lives of Bill Klein and Jen Arnold, even if they are rich as Croesus and getting richer by the episode, which sometimes irritates her. Talk about profligate spending--they never stint themselves: food, clothes, vacation trips, whatever. Of course, she's a doctor, he's a business owner, and they have a highly successful TV show so they can afford dropping a thou in the gutter every time they turn around.

Fio is not a dwarf, but the circumstances of her life have been rough from time to time. Maybe that's why she enjoys watching The Little Couple. It's nice to see good things happening to nice people. But that's how it should be for everybody.

Mastiff Mastery

When Fiorella and Husband started talking about a new dog, they knew it could not be another Weimeraner because Fio would weep for Wendy every time she saw it. So, after a fair amount of research, they decided on a Mastiff--big, amiable, and looking not at all like Wendy.

What Fio didn't know is that a Mastiff, or at least our Sonya, is smart as a whip. Puppy learned "sit" and "stay" as if she'd been practicing in the womb, has figured out how to let herself back inside by leaping up and pawing the lever on the patio door, and hauls poor Bosco out of his hidey holes by his leash. You've never lived till you've seen a dog walking a dog.

Puppy Fare

As Fiorella was munching her shredded wheat yesterday morning, she heard an unfamiliar sound behind her. Turning around, she discovered Sonya chomping on the window sill. Yes, Sonya is still teething, and on everything that takes her fancy. Fio and Husband have supplied plenty of the standard fare--rawhide bones, cow bones, ropes, dog toys of every variety--but like children who prefer playing with gift boxes rather than their contents, our Sonya prefers to chew on furniture, logs of wood, and window sills.