A giggle, a cackle, a gut-deep laugh

Posted by random olio

I love hearing laughter, especially the full body kind that you can feel in your bones, that can be contagious. I love hearing my niece laugh. I am adamantly addicted to her and cannot go for more than a month or so without seeing again. She is growing up so fast. I vicariously see her through the videos my sister sends to me. She sent me a video of Charlie a few days ago (at 13 months) trying to put on her socks and shoes. She was like her Aunt Tami — relentless. She just kept trying and trying. It was so precious to watch her try to fit the shoe on her foot, and then open the velcro, and then when that still did not go on her foot, she tried her socks.

I am head over heels in love with that little munchkin, and one of the things I love most is her deep and utterly free laugh. So when I saw this video of this baby and dog, I instant thought of past videos of Charlie. The squeals of joy that come out of that baby!

What is not to love? Especially how similar it is to a much younger version of Charlie (maybe at 6 months)? I also included it below.

Irresistible right? I just want to eat her up. While I do not get to see her every day, I wonder as she gets older if it will be harder and harder to get her to giggle like that from head to toe. If only we could all giggle and laugh like that throughout our day. We got a bit slap happy at a work meeting yesterday where a few of us had tears in our eyes from laughing, but that at times is the closest we get to that uncontrollable laughter of a baby when they find something funny. Let’s try to laugh more.

Puppy Love

Posted by random olio

I used to be scared shitless of our dog, Ginger. I was young, and our German Shepherd was much larger than me and she would often jump up on me, was way taller, and well most of the time knocked me over. When I would leave my room in the morning I would yell out: “Is Ginger outside?” My family sometimes supported my fears and would say yes, and other times they would mess with me and think I was a complete baby, and tell me she was outside, only to be lovingly mauled by her. Ugh. How my family frustrated me. Rather than work with me on my fear, they teased me.

Somehow over time, and maybe just with growing taller, and more mature I got over my fear of Ginger. She was eventually hit by a car while delivering newspapers with my brother. We had many more dogs over the years. Some that tore up our house because they were afraid of thunderstorms, or jumped fences, and some chewed their own fur off. I never feared our large dogs after Ginger. We never had a “normal” dog. My father always brought home dogs that had been abused (thus their strange behaviors).

Fast forward to Chris and my time dating. He had a massive Great Dane, who had also been abused before Chris rescued her. While my dad and brother were great with our dogs, I never saw a connection between a dog and man before Chris and Belle. So when I saw this dog + baby video, I immediately showed him. His response: “That is ridiculous.” He could not stop laughing and smiling.

The baby continues to move closer and snuggle with the dog… What is not to ooh and ahh over?

“Reach out and touch someone.”

Posted by random olio

I was talking to a colleague yesterday about “Orange is the New Black.” I had mentioned that scenes from the series kept coming back to my mind. She asked if there was a reason why, and I relayed a few ideas. One being that I NEVER want to ever go to prison. While you might have a simple response: “well then do not do anything stupid, Tami.” Easier said then done. We live in a culture that sues. You piss someone off, they sue you, and sometimes the law is not alway on your side. Maybe I have watched too much of “The Good Wife” but I am not optimistic about our legal system, and I do believe that innocent people often end of in prison. Sad but true.

I digress. One of the things I mentioned about Orange is the New Black that got me thinking was about being touched. They only subtly show you this in the show, but I picked up on it immediately. Inmates are not allowed to touch each other. When the main character gets her hair cut and is getting her hair washed (not sure how many real prisons have hair salons) she groans. Having her head touched by someone else is just so foreign, yet matters so much to her. They are starved and crave the human touch.

Yet, as the thought continued to spin around in my head yesterday I realized we ALL crave physical touch. Whether it is a gentle hand on our arm telling us we are going to be fine, or a hug, or maybe just a pat on the back. Touch grounds up in ways that words sometimes cannot. We are reminded that we are all right. We can make it through today, and tomorrow. So when I saw this Chevrolet commercial “Maddie” (ugh I know another car company ad), the impact of this girl and her dog I thought to add that it is the snuggle of your pet, their sloppy, wet kiss, and the lifetime of comfort when we need it most. A dog always knows.

So not to jump back to the early ’80s but “reach out and touch someone.” [old AT&T slogan]

Just what you need: laughter

Posted by random olio

I had one of those weeks where I had every emotion run through me. Not crazy sick like it seems has hit so many parts of the country, but a sore throat that was slightly irritating as I had back to back meetings most of the week, and well it was just inconvenient for me. The emotions? Well sometimes when I am not 100% I can range from having a shorter temper, to being near tears, to exhausted, to a bit slap happy.

On weeks like this, sometimes you just need a good laugh. If that is too hard, then you need to watch a little one that finds laughter in popcorn, a dog, and watch out for the slobber. Thank you little munchkin for giving me a moment of laughter on my Friday. It is just what I needed. Hopefully it brings a smile to your face. Oh, and a happy weekend to you. My weekend will be filled with sleep, rest, good food, catching up with friends, a big football game, and dare I forget precious time with my hubby. TGIF!

Dishes and Pooper Scooper

Posted by random olio

Did you ever try to get out of doing your chores? I did. I used to hate to wash dishes. My sister, brother, and I used to have to wash the dishes after dinner. We alternated each night. One of us would wash, and another would dry. I hated doing both. I would do whatever I could to get out of doing the dishes. One thing I remember doing specifically, is stating that our Frankoma dishes were to heavy for me to wash and dry. It meant I had to wash the glasses, silverware, and pots & pans.

I also can remember having to clean up after our dogs. The worst part was what we called “pooper scooper.” We had this yellow plastic trowel with these slots in it. We took turns walking around the yard cleaning up after the dog. It was never fun. We had a big backyard, and somehow we would wait for ages to clean the yard, which meant it took forever to finish the job. Looking back I do not know how we ever got away with waiting so long to clean up after the dog. It would have been easier to do it more often, but we did not think like that back then!

The little things we do to get out of doing work. I do actually remember that those Frankoma dishes were heavy, the plates especially, but I wonder if my parents knew I was trying to get out of washing them. These days cleaning is actually therapeutic to me. Although I do not get overly excited to clean, I like the feeling of calm I have after the house is clean, the laundry is done, and the sheets are freshly put on the bed. Bliss. Why is it that having everything in my house in order means that I feel clear and ready to tackle the week ahead?