Doppelganger Dogs

There's an American Bulldog in the neighborhood. We haven't formally met -- his human is kinda unfriendly and ignored my initial attempt to coo over his dog-friend. (I like introducing myself to new dogs. Just ask Josh. He loves it when I derail our strolls and/or fully drop our conversation to pet strangers.) Mean disposition aside, man and dog look. exactly. alike. Both are white, stocky (sorry), older (sorry again), and move with more of a waddle than a walk. Throw matching outfits on 'em, and you'd swear you happened upon the casting call for Twins 2. (Full disclosure: I've never seen Twins, but I think the reference works.) (Does the reference work?)

I'll venture to guess that most people have either seen or lived a similar pet-human phenomenon. Very much a chicken/egg situation. Are pets chosen because they look like us? Or does some weird scientific transformation (likely osmosis) go down, causing us to morph into each other? Because the Internet is an unrelenting information blitz machine, I just read a new article that seeks to find an answer. Spoiler: Basically, when selecting a pet, we ARE looking for something familiar, for ourselves. Most interesting part? According to research from Japan (fancy), the strongest similarities can be found in the subjects' eyes. How romantic!

These relics were taken about four years ago and discovered in the depths of my computer's guts. Technology!

Growing up, Copper didn't physically resemble anyone in the family. Instead, she behaved like us -- most like my mother, whom she trailed around the house/yard at every opportunity. They snacked at the same time, went in the garden at the same time, watched the same TV shows. It was inevitable that Copper would become a very loving creature who could tolerate your bullshit (when she saw fit). She'd listen, she'd play, but do not fool yourself into asking her to make room on the sofa. She's comfy, so pick another spot. And the number of times that dog straight-up walked off on me in the middle of a hilarious joke. The nerve! Good gracious, I miss her. <3

There you have it! People look like animals, animals look like people. Maybe we're all vain. Doesn't matter. Give your pet a big hug today (if they so deign). Heck, go buy color-coordinated tops and wear them with pride because you're family. See ya!

Photo of Trotter via CJWHO

Sweater 911

I have a lot of sweaters. If you live in Montreal (or anywhere north of the 49th parallel), you probably have a lot of, too. Predictably, I take terrible care of mine -- possibly because most are from Forever 21 and already looked cheap-ish when I bought them, but also because I can be un petit peu lazy (gotta love our rickety washing machine). Lastly, I just don't know how to properly maintain them, save for going to the dry cleaners but I'm no daddy warbucks so that's out of the question.

Enter this post from the Madewell blog. They offer some pretty genius tips on how to take care of your sweaters. My favorites:

How can you gently remove pills from a sweater?

The unavoidable truth is all sweaters will pill just by wearing or cleaning them. You can remove pills easily by holding the sweater flat with one hand and slicing off pills one at a time with a simple razor, like a Bic. You can also buy a manual pill remover. [Stef's big mouth comment: Like I'll slicing anything other than my fingers right open. Still, good to know.]

What's the best way to hang a sweater to avoid little peaks in the shoulders?

The best way is to not hang it at all because sweaters, especially those with a loose weave, will stretch out. Preserve their shape by keeping them in drawers or on shelves, folded or rolled.

They even offer a step-by-step process for gently washing your knits in a bucket, plus how to handle a shrunken situation. Interesting!

Moment of truth (we all knew it was coming). Imagining myself *really* preparing a sweater bath makes me lawl. (Have we met? I'm impatient as hell.) But then I realized it takes more time (and $) to go out and replace all the tops I fuck up with poor maintenance. Maybe I'll try these tricks, at least as an experiment, and report back with the news.

Or maybe not. It's almost 11am and mama wants to make breakfast instead. (Make breakfast = go to Byblos.) Hey there, Maytag!

Image via Jigsaw

Why toothpaste + orange juice = barf

You've for sure had the misfortune of drinking some OJ right after your morning tooth brushing, only to experience what I'll (conservatively) describe as the taste of a bag of buttholes in your mouth. But worse. I've been wondering about this phenomenon forEVER. Today, nymag solves the mystery.

"[Y]ou should blame it on sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), which is added to your toothpaste to give your mouth that bubbly, fake-clean feeling [...] The compound seems to suppress your tongue’s sweetness taste receptors, so after brushing you have a harder time registering the juicy-sweetness of the OJ. At the same time, SLS blocks taste receptors called phospholipids, which inhibit the taste of bitter. In other words, SLS tamps down your ability to taste sweet things while, at the same time, amping up your ability to taste bitter things."

Neat, right!  Though I guess there's still nothing you can do to prevent the aforementioned butthole brew, save for avoiding juice. But who can live under such oppression!

Anyway, this post is brought to you by Science Before Noon (TM), because we're smart people. Now, enjoy some cute photos while I go put my makeup on. See ya! :*

Top image c/o Joeri

Bottom image c/o 72dpi