Finally- we are back home safe and sound; and I’m happy to report that the pack is just fine too. The dog sitters that we had hired did their job well. Everyone was in fine spirits and was healthy when we got home, unlike the last time we were away for a long time.
I let Doug go in first to take the first wave of dog love. After 5 minutes he put them out back to stretch their paws and use the facilities. Then when they were out I came in and sat down. And although I’d said not a word they knew I was there and in just a few seconds three dogs were up on their hind legs looking in the back door. Then the barking really ensued. Doug let them in and in a flash I was engulfed by a sea of fur and licking tongues.
The twins were in front of me. Laser, not wanting to wait, hopped up on the chair behind me put his paws around me and start licking the top of my head. Daisy stayed on the couch waiting her turn barking vociferously.
It’s good to be loved.
Now if I could only get Doug to get that demonstrative…
In fact Blondie loved me so much I actually have a claw mark on my chest. I look like I’ve been playing slap and tickle with Wolverine.
Gizmo stayed the entire time at Miss Bunny’s Dog Spa. So Doug is out now picking him up and delivering an apple strudel to Evelyn. Evelyn and I had decided before I left that we were going to have to start being good again- food wise and going to the gym once I returned (no snarky remarks plz) so I hope she enjoys it.
The house looked just the same too. I was hoping that Dobby, the house elf, might’ve dropped by and worked his magic so I’d return to house beautiful; but that was not to be. Still it was great to be home and back in our own bed.
Now the wrap up from SxSW-
Did it wind up being the huge deal we expected?
Not exactly.
In fact, if you factor in all the expenses and the numbers of hours working, we probably only made minimum wage when all was said and done.
We didn’t come home with a boatload of cash. That’s for sure.
However while we were there unexpectedly I picked up two new boutiques. The first one came from a referral from a man I met while set up at Maria’s Taco Express. He suggested I contact Oo La La. It’s a gift shop in Pflugerville, a suburb just north of Austin and located about 3 blocks from his house. I did just that and when we went for a meeting the next morning, the owner bought on the spot. She also mentioned that’s she opening another location in a resort town soon. So we’ll have stuff there as well.
The owner of the second shop approached me when I was set up behind Hey Cupcake on Saturday. She asked if sold to boutiques. Of course I said yes and proceeded to help her pick out an assortment of pieces for her store 4 bags, which is located on the eastern shore of Mobile bay in Alabama. While we were talking she casually mentioned that she also had a job.
And what was this job?
She’s a VP at MTV networks!
This MTV:
She said it so casually it took a moment to actually register in my brain. Then she said “We could include these in the gift baskets to the artists.”I tried to remain cool and collected on the outside which was difficult because on the inside I was doing this:
MTV Networks also owns CMT, which puts on their own CMT awards.
Soooooo, needless to say after meeting her I was pretty happy that we’d gone to Austin for SxSW after all. I’m supposed to get in touch with her later this week.
I guess that the news that’s news for now. Today we’re trying to get our oars all going in the same direction again after being away for so long. We’d emptied out most of the frig before we left; so all that’s in there is assorted condiments, a couple of petrified oranges and a mystery Tupperware container which contains something mysterious that looks totally inedible.
In fact it doesn’t look like it was ever edible.
I have no intention of opening it- ever.
Life is just too short to do some things and opening that Tupperware is one of them.
So I’d better go for now. Perhaps I can locate a superfund site and sneak that Tupperware in before Doug returns and insists we open it. Perhaps the EPA will know what to do with it.
Back to the funny next time I promise.
