...so far I don't like the book I'm reading. I think creation stories/stories of gods/stories of past battles that mentions 3-10 characters that the reader has absolutely no investment in are, if maybe not pointless, then incredibly boring and annoying. Start a novel with no less than two separate of these and I start getting irritable, especially since I thought the first part was the standard creation story, which would make the second part the start of the novel and why I started concentrating on the characters there - only to find out by the 3rd part that they were actually loooooong dead, only leading up to a history lecture, and gone by the time the story actually starts.

Continue the actual story by introducing, granted what appears to be just 3-4 main characters, but include 7-10 minor characters PLUS include additional information about long dead characters and irritation level rises, not to mention that while juggling all these characters around, the reader must relate to the huge amounts of information about world-building, politics and various races - this on top of the history mentioned in one of the prologues being expanded on.

Also, I can't figure out if the writing is omni-present of if there really is a case of mangled POV.

Since I actually paid for this book and own not only it, but the sequel, I'm going to grit my teeth and continue reading. Hopefully, my first impressions are waaaay off and the book/books will be worth it.

We got the results from Lia's x-rays. HD status A/A and AD status 0/0!!!!

These are the best results possible and means that she's complete hip dysplasia and elbow joint dysplasia free.

I wanted to post about Kelli and Albert's visit and how much I enjoyed getting to know them, but I'm melting here and my brain is as fried as my body. It's great weather for a trip to the beach or drinking lemonade and snoozing in the garden under a tree, but not for much else. Since I barely slept last night because of the heat (despite an open window and a fan), I'm setting up camp on the balcony tonight, mosquito net and everything - Danish style safari!

I'm officially house-wifey. Just made my first jam ever. Strawberry - don't let the label fool you.

So filled with nervous energy after today's hassle, I play with Lia in the garden and then get the insane idea to make jam. I'm half-way through the process now and stress-levels have dropped. With just 4 1/2 hours of sleep last night, it's a struggle to stay awake. Never said I was the brightest bead in the bucket. :p

I feel the firing itch come over me. 5 hours left for us to pay out taxes on time without punishment fees and I still haven't heard from our accountant. I can't deal with this last minute frantic rush, especially when it means getting up early on a post-injection day and stay glued to the telephone and e-mail.

Oh, and did I mention I'm so stressed about the whole thing that I just got 4 1/2 hours of sleep last night?

EDIT: 3 hours left.
EDIT: 2 hours 30 min left. I called them and they're still not finished.
EDIT: 2 hours 5 mins left. PHEW. Bill is paid, but she's cutting it close. Some banks do not transfer payments after 16:00* and I got off the phone with her at 15:53.

______________
*Ours is not one of them, but she didn't know that.

...our accountants are worrying me. The last thing I need is accountants running around like clueless, headless chickens - especially when the tax deadline is tomorrow.

C finds it slightly amusing, but he's twisted that way.

...visit to the vet went surprisingly well. Although she did bark back at a German Shepherd who was throwing a typical GSD whine/bark tantrum, Lia was on her best behaviour.

She liked the vet, but did "growl-woof" at him when he injected the sedative. Luckily the vet was cool about it, and they were friends again as soon as he'd pulled out the needle. He explained that the sedative injection was one of the more painful ones, and to confirm it Lia was completely indifferent to the regular vaccination jab and even let the vet grab her around her muzzle and spray kennel cough vaccination up her nose.

So now there's nothing to do but to wait axiously for DKK (Danish Kennel Club) to get back to me with the x-ray results.

Now the fun part! As I was paying the bill, I looked down and saw a little white dog, who looked awfully familiar: Albert! I look up and there's Kelli looking exactly like on the photo in her blog. I think this just shows that we were meant to meet up eventually. *grin*

...today's strawberry harvest was 2,2 kgs and that's not including the discarded slug-eaten ones, nor the portion C gobbled up before I dug out the scale.

We took around 1 kg to my cousin on Saturday, Kelli won't be allowed to leave without strawberries when she comes to visit on Thursday and we'll invite my aunt and uncle for strawberry plucking on Sunday.

We'll be having strawberries for dessert tonight and then maybe, while waiting for Lia to wake up at the vet's tomorrow, I'll drop by the grocer's and pick up stuff to make jam and marmelade.

*pant pant pant*
I've been without internet for 3 days! Utterly frustrating - especially when you run an internet shop.

But it did give me the time to read a book, watch 2 movies, go to a birthday and attend a 7 hours course of "Packbonding" with Lia.

"Packbonding"
While the theory was sound and gave me new inspiration on how to train Lia, and while the trainer and I agreed on many theoretical things, such as correcting your pet when it's deliberately disobedient*, the packbonding principle involved a significant amount of physical correction - significant, which is very surprising considering that Scandinavia is the center of modern dog training. I think it speaks volumes, when the trainer was actually snapped by one of the dogs. Lia and I tried it out a bit, but I quickly reached my domina saturation point and when Lia started to get a little upset about it as well, we called it a day. Continued the course, but used our own methods that didn't involve causing anyone pain or discomfort - that was frowned upon, but Lia is my dog and I say what she has to put up with and what not, which is actually what makes me a good packleader to her.

Also, while the trainer's dogs were obedient, they were not more obedient than I expect Lia to be once she has their age (4 years old and 6 years old) - the difference being her dogs were obedient at a much earlier age, and that she more or less dictates their whole day and controls their every move. She said it best herself, I think, when she said "my dogs are never truly given free time".

Personally, I much prefer giving my pets a little space. Yes, there are rules, yes they must be respectful and adhere to me, but I don't mind a bit of youthful exuberance or exuberance, initiative or playfulness in general. Nothing wrong with a bit of spunk, as long as it doesn't become insolence. And no, I don't believe every misstep is your pet flipping you the bird, mostly it's not fully knowing what's expected of it or simply lack of self-control.

To be fair, she did tell people to watch their dogs and never push them beyond their intimidation level, but the practise level didn't have me convinced.

C was worried that I'd made sarcastic smart-arsed comments, but I was a good girl and held back, anyway the other dog owners just had to look at the way I handled Lia to notice that I probably didn't agree 100% with the training methods shown, and Lia was actually one of the better behaved dogs there.

________________________
* Lia gets a hard "no!" and maybe a growl from me, which does the trick.