Nouveau Cujo

80s fans... I know you are out there.  Remember all of those amazing John Hughes movies?  I can recite every line to Sixteen Candles.  But what about the darker side of the 80s film genre?  Does anyone remember a little gem titled "Cujo" by chance?


5 second synopsis:


Lovely family dog (St. Bernard) contracts rabies and terrifies a small town with grizzly encounters.  In my opinion, not Mr. King's best work, but here I am 25 years later rattling off the plot to you.  Yes, it made an impression.


Unfortunately, I know another dog with a 4 letter name that has been terrorizing a small town of late... L-O-L-A.  It pains me to say it, but our beloved pooch is kind of a nightmare these days.  Case in point, a snippet of an email I sent to my husband this afternoon after a shopping trip gone bad.

At a shoe store (local designer - nothing too posh - which is a good thing you will realize as reading on) I was looking around and I noticed that Lola had seen herself in the floor to ceiling mirror behind where I was standing.  So I stopped and watched her, b/c as a puppy she loved this game.  

So she locks her gaze and then lifts her front paw and starts to point.  Cute, right?  Then she starts to growl a little bit... and all the shop ladies laugh a little b/c we realize she is trying to intimidate her own reflection.

And then all HELL broke lose.  She charged the mirror barking like the worst Cujo impersonation you could ever imagine.  Then she got on her hind legs and started clawing the mirror and biting it - getting it all smudgy from her mouth and nose.  I had to PULL her away from the mirror with all of my strength and then calm her down.  She was absolutely crazed and out of her mind.  Women starting screaming in the shop that didn't know what was going on b/c they thought some poor dog was being murdered by another dog.

I stayed there and calmed her down... one shop lady came over to help me pet her and shush her.  Then, we were asked to leave.

Our sweet pooch has been having some random rage episodes recently... so we have enlisted Amsterdam's version of the dog whisperer to give us some insight in the coming weeks.  I will bore you with the details soon.

Observations: Prague

Just back from the Czech Republic... never a dull moment over here!  Beautiful city, lovely places to stroll, and a few oddities.  In no particular order of importance, here they are:

ATC (aggressive table clearing)
In every restaurant we ate at, from the lowest to the highest (i.e. hotel breakfast buffet to private dinner in a palace) one thing held true - your plate was never safe!  My husband missed his entire main course one evening just because he was deep in conversation with the person to his left.  Someone swooped in and removed his plate at lightning speed and he had literally taken 2 bites.  Another friend at lunch was asked if he was finished 3 times (this while he was in the act of actually eating) and finally... a dear friend actually had to put her elbows on her plate at another dinner to ensure that she ate a full meal.  Someone still came by and tried to take her plate - while her elbows were resting on the plate.  It almost became a tug of war.  ATC starts out as comical and strange... but after 4 days on an empty stomach, it really starts to piss you off.

SS (strange salutations)
There were many, but this one takes the cake.  After making a purchase from an antiques dealer, I thanked him for lowering the price of the object for me... the dialogue went something like this:
Me - thank you very much for helping me with the price, I really love this piece
Owner - I am sorry, I just had hot soup for lunch
Me - blank stare and walk away

ITP (impossible to purchase)
The one thing that I was absolutely set on was bringing some czech glass home.  After managing to miss our scheduled glass factory tour, a friend and I hit the streets and made our way to renowned Moser glass (there are 2 showrooms in Prague, both equally stunning).  You couldn't help but find a million things you would love to have!  However, you also couldn't help but be told that none of it was in stock!  It took ages to locate a few scotch glasses... I think the sales associate reported that there were a total of 6 in the entire country.  So much for starting a bohemian glass collection on this trip.

All in all a wonderful trip.  Would definitely go back.  Will certainly be prepared!

Frenzied times

Things are getting extremely busy around these parts... I think I can breathe again come July.  We are just gearing up for lots of travel - which has us all on edge just a smidge.  At the moment both my dog and my husband are bounding up and down the stairs nonstop, but for very different reasons.

Out of my intense guilt of sending Lola off for weeks at a time between now and the first of July, I have been indulging her every whim.  She leaves tomorrow morning for the first round - and she has already exhausted 2 new toys along with an extra helping at dinner.  Now, before bed, we are having one last hurrah and are playing "find the treats" - sure to be her absolute favorite.  It is quite simple... I hide some treats around the house and she runs around like a crazy dog looking for them all for about 30 minutes.  Having 3 floors to cover keeps her very busy!  Got to love these narrow Dutch houses for something.

My husband, however, is not playing "find the treats" but instead one of his own favorite games... "install the gadgets" - tonight being a Sonos sound system.  Since this is our last quiet night at home before madness ensues, this job must be completed immediately - or wait a few weeks - which would absolutely kill my husband.  The thought of this new system staying in boxes for weeks on end would keep the man up at night - honestly.  Installation also requires him to be on all 3 floors at different times along with the dog.  There is a bit of a traffic jam on the stairs at the moment.

And what have I been doing to keep myself busy during all of this?  The urge for organization bit me hard this morning and the pantry, refrigerator, and bathroom cabinets have all been scrubbed and organized accordingly.  Just a little taste of our brand of crazy for you.