Milly's New Digs

As many of you probably saw on FB, Milly had a minor incident last week.  While I was at work, Milly at some point got sick, and then presumably proceeded to bite off her tail.  I should clarify that it's not like she ripped the hair out at the root, but rather it looks like she took a pair of scissors to her tail ala an 8 year old trying to give herself bangs.  

For comparison, I present to you before pics (a mere month ago) of her long, beautiful fan tail.

Exhibit A

 Exhibit B

 (yeah, the picture's not that cute-thats why it didn't make the christmas post, but it really showcases the length of the tail) 

And now, for the after....

Yep, just take it all in.  (After I took the evidentiary pictures, I trimmed up the tail so it looked slightly better).   A lot of it was in her crate that day, but a large part of it also "appeared" (if you catch my drift) about a day later.  Good times.  

This was Milly's face after I showed her what her new tail looked like: 

"Whoops, my bad"

Since no matter how we slice it, Milly will continue to be in some sort of containment device for long hours, I decided to try using the huge crate that I bought when she was a puppy. (back then I had this crazy idea that we could put it in the living room and I could use it as a playpen type thing and she would contently play in it-I was so naive)  

To make her feel at home, we put her bed in, and her new favorite item: an old afghan that my grandma made, which my mom had in the house. (We visited W-S last weekend)  Milly instantly was drawn to it....

She's been super attached to it ever since her first nap with it, so she's been cuddling with that as well.  Also, her favorite pal Gingy usually goes in with her.  Finally, a blanket goes over the whole thing so she can have a nap time environment. 

She seems to have taken to her new kennel well, like the super star that she is, but of course Milly can't be a total angel.  

She now has a new favorite resting spot even when she's out of her crate: 

Yes, that's her lounging on top of her kennel watching tv, right next to a seemingly much more comfortable couch.  

Milly, never a day goes by that you don't make me laugh for one reason or another.  

Happy Lee/ Jackson Day

Virginia has a very unique state holiday, Lee/Jackson day, that is always celebrated the Friday before MLK Day.
It's to remember the efforts of two Civil War greats, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

Lucky for us, Mike's apartment is very close to the Robert E. Lee statue on Monument, so we could easily take in the great Civil War re-enacters guarding Mr. Lee's statue.

Last year, I believe they were "on duty" Friday-Monday.  This year, they shortened it to Friday & Saturday, so it's a good thing I was a stalker and took pictures on Saturday morning.  There were actually lots of people taking pictures, and some people would go up and talk to them. I'm not sure exactly what one says to these people though.

I'm the biggest fan of the women in the giant hoop skirts.  In case you couldn't gather from the pictures, the "armed soldiers" circle the statue constantly, standing guard, and then they also have a little tent for them to take cover in.  The women also circle the outer sidewalk in the aforementioned hoop skirts for emotional support.

Living in the capital of the confederacy definitely makes life interesting.

L&O: SVU

It's no secret that if Mike & I are spending "quality time" together, aka when he's not reading or sleeping, we are probably watching TV.  Yep, it's true. And we both wouldn't have it any other way (ok, maybe a little more going out would be healthy nice :coughmikecough:).

Currently, the two shows that we currently DVR the most and watch together are COPS and Law & Order: SVU.
We're kind of waning on our cops though, since it kind of gets repetitive after the first 50 arrests of dumb people.
Our TV fave right now is definitely Law & Order.

I personally am ok with SVU or Criminal Intent, but Mike holds a special place in his heart for Ice T., so therefore we started getting hooked on SVU.

How can you not think this dude is awesome. Best career move ever, Ice T. 

Some of us also like Mariska Hargitay (Olivia Benson).  You can often gauge how good an episode will be based on the length of her hair. The longer the better, generally speaking. Chris Meloni (Elliot Stabler) is pretty cool too. We generally like how he beats the nincompoop out of people for no apparent reason and gets away with it.  

I've also noticed something really strange.  Just in the past week, I've noticed at least 4 separate episodes (not seemingly connected) where she is wearing the same sweater. I literally googled screen caps of the show and found this within seconds; she wears it that much. 

Did they have that small of a wardrobe budget that season? Was Olivia homeless for some time and I didn't realize? Did Ice T demand a new black shirt and leather jacket every episode and Mariska was left in the dust? No one knows, but it's really, really strange and I'm very bothered by it.  

We also like SVU because they don't spend the entire episode trying to find out the "perp", but rather they just keep making the "perp" more and more crazy as the hour goes on.  In a related topic, I hate the use of the word "perp" and also how they say "get a bus" instead of an ambulance.  Despite this, the show is still amazing. 

Our favorite episode is Season 5, Episode 20, entitled "Lowdown".  I'm not going to indulge you on the plot line here, but Ice T plays a key role in this episode and it's pretty amazing.  

Another crucial part of watching L&O: SVU is guessing which scenes will have the "duhn-dun" sound at the end.  It's important to try to get the timing of your "duhn-dun" to be exactly right, and for it to be louder than your watching partner. A novice may assume it is every time they go to a new location, but that would be false my friends. It's only sometimes.  Only when they go to special places.  

Finally, I leave you with these immortal words: 

"In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories."

.....DUHN-DUN.