2006 vs. 2007

Ho hum. 2006 is drawing to a close. Allow me to take a moment to recap my year...
*I attempted to try my hand at dog-agility classes, by enrolling Bootsy. This was not a smashing success by any means. We dropped out, half way through the 7 week course. Actually, we were asked to drop out. While it was a small blow to me ego, it was also a relief, as neither Bootsy or I were having as much fun as I'd anticipated.
*Olivia finally graduated from obedience school for the umpteenth and final time. Then went on to test for and receive her Canine Good Citizenship certification. I had high hopes of going on to train her to be a therapy pet, but I'm thinking now that isn't going to happen, because she's just a bit skittish about certain things and freaks out from time to time in certain situations.
*We went camping twice this year... both times the weather played havoc with our plans, but hey!, a bad day camping is better than a good day at work, so who am I to complain?
*While attempting to bathe Oliva back over the summer, she decided to take a flying-leap and I attempted to catch her. In hind-site, I should've let her fly... but a mother's instinct is to protect her child, and that's what I felt I was doing. As a result, I've been in therapy since mid-August... physical therapy that is. The therapy has helped some, but therapy alone can only do so much.
*I had an MRI done yesterday morning, in preparation of having an MUA done. However, the results from the MRI were not what I expected, and certainly not what I wanted to hear. The MUA is out of the question, and it now appears that surgery is the only thing that will help my back. I get nauseated just thinking about it.
*I'm awaiting a call from the doctor, even as I write this, to see what the next step is. Right now it's a hurry up and wait. Also, as a result of all this, I've had to forego my nightly walks with my gal-pals, which really has me bummed out. I was doing really well (I felt) on my weight-loss/healthy living venture, and I see this as a major set-back. Depressed? Absolutely! Giving up? Not on your life!!
On the plus side, 2006 has...
*Brought new friends into my life, either from the bunco group or just by new neighbors moving in, and rekindled a few friendships from my school days. I had my 20th class reunion, and have had fun catching up with everyone.
*I've taken up the hobby of scrap-booking... I only wish I had the creativity to make mine visually appealling. But I'm not a decorator, either on paper or on a wall.
*I've seen some of my dearest friends grow their families... my gal-pal behind me gave birth to a little girl back in April...
So, looking forward to 2007...
* My gal-pal across from me is expecting her first child this coming April. Thus I get to be "Auntie Kimmie".
*I'll be turning 39 in a few short weeks. I'm at the leaping off point of turning 40. How did I get to be so old?
*I presume back surgery will take place in the early part of the year. I'm not looking forward to it, but by that same token, I would like some relief from the constant P.I.T.A. (pain in the ass).
*I look forward to 2007 being a new, wonderful year, full of opportunities and surprises (hopefully of the good kind).

Happy New Year everybody!

Name from the past

Yesterday, I was opening up the mail that had arrived at work. Among the items there was a letter from a software company based in Pennsylvania. Normally, I just "file 13" these items without even bothering to open them. But, for some inexplicable reason, I opened this one, and actually started reading the letter inside. It was from a sales rep, introducing himself and his product, blah, blah, blah. I didn't even finish reading it. I was making a move to trash the whole thing, when something made me shift my eyes down to the name and signature at the bottom of the letter.
Imagine my surprise when I not only recognized the name, but the scribbled signature as well. It brought back a rush of memories from my days of working at the cemetery. "Sam" used to work for the company that owned the cemetery. He was one of the regional manager-types that passed through the area from time to time and would stick his head into the office, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for a few days. If my memory serves me correctly, he lived in Ohio. He left the company (not his choice as I recall) about 3 or 4 years before I did (not my choice either). Sam did come back to visit though on one occasion. He was in the area, working for a new company, and just popped in to say "hello".
I'd always gotten along well with Sam, and wished him well in his new endeavors.
So now Sam is working for yet another company. He's old enough to retire, so I dont' know why he doesn't. Probably because he'd make his wife crazy if he sat around the house reading the paper everyday and getting in her way. ; )
I mailed the letter back to Sam's company, to his attention, and just wrote a little note on the letter to say "hello".
Of course doing this means he'll probably start pestering me (my boss) to buy his software. Sorry 'bout his luck, that's not going to happen.

Helping me

As most of you know by now, I've been under the weather for the past week+... my husband has done his best to help out around the house, in areas he'd normally not help out, not because I've asked him to, just because he wanted to "help".
**sigh**... I know he means well, but sometimes he creates more work when all is said and done.
I'd like to know just one thing... why is it, that if our men folk know where the dishes and other kitchen items are stored, when they want to use them (meaning, they go directly to the proper cabinet and remove the item), but when it comes to putting the item away, they have absolutely no clue where it goes?
My husband, on occasion, will attempt to put clean dishes away. Some he'll put in one cabinet or another, regardless as to whether or not it's the correct cabinet, and at other times he'll just leave the clean dishes stacked up on the counter for me to put away.
Grrr, why not just leave them in the dishwasher/dish drainer?? And half of what he does put away is put in the wrong spot. Six months later, after having given up looking for it and finally buying a new one, I'll stumble across the "lost" item. I believe this is why we have 4 pizza cutters and 7 spatulas.

The law?

On my way to work this morning, I was sitting at the traffic light at the off-ramp of I-71 and Hwy 53. The light turned green, and I, along with the car(s) in front of me, proceeded to make a left turn into the intersection.
Fortunately, I was where I was, and not one car forward in the line. Somebody was definately looking out for me this morning. The blue blazer that was in front of me pulled into the intersection (same as I'd have done had I been in her position), and seemingly out of nowhere, a white sedan sped into the intersection and broadsided the lady in the blazer.
As it was, I had already started into the intersection and came to an abrupt halt. I would've been further into the intersection, except that I had seen the car coming with no signs of slowing, much less stopping, and I stopped before I too became a victim. The blazers door took the full force of the hit. The sedan was crumpled enough that the drivers door wouldn't open.
I parked my Saturn and much to the annoyance of the cars in line behind me, got out of my car and went over to the two crumpled cars to check on the occupants.
The offending vehicles driver was only shook up, and was eventually able to crawl out the passenger side of her car. The driver of the blazer was more rattled, and thought her knee might be broken.
I called 911 to report the incident, and stayed around 'til the police arrived to give my name/number as a witness.
I was thankful that I hadn't actually been involved in the incident, but was terribly appalled that none of the other drivers (and there were several of them) that had been present had stopped to either offer assistance, or stay to give witness info to the police.
I thought it was a law that you weren't supposed to leave the scene of an accident??
At the very least, I'd think it's common courtesy. My goodness, I would hope had I been one of the victims, that someone would've stopped to offer help instead of driving around the mess.

Green stuff

This blog falls under the category of TMI!... it's rather graphic, and you probably won't want to read it. But if you do, and you're grossed out afterwards, then you've only yourself to blame.

I just really want to know how one person can produce soooo much phlegm, mucus and snot in 10 days time??? You'd think with all the crap I've coughed up and blown out my nose that I'd have lost 10-15 pounds by now. Honestly, where is it all stored??

Okay, that's my gross thoughts for the day.

I feel a little draft...

I, saw mommy kissing, Santa Claus...

Oh, wait, that's not the correct words. No, I think in this situation, it goes like this...

I, saw Santa bend and... rip his pants,
at the children's hospital this week...
He didn't see me stare,
at the big unsightly tear,
His jewels were there for all to see
if they only dared.
Yes, I saw Santa bend and... rip his pants,
as he tried to hug a little girl...
He felt a sudden chill,
and wondered, "what the hell?"
He didn't know his ass was bare
or maybe he didn't care...

Okay, there is a bit of truth in those lyrics. Perhaps I stretched the truth a bit, but, what fun would the plain ol' truth be??
My dear husband just loves playing dress-up. Fortunately, it's not in womens clothing though. No, over the years he's been a stork (for a baby-shower), Sparky the fire dog, Santa Claus, and I'm thinking there was something else. Santa is his favorite I do believe. He had a gig this past Sunday at the fire departments childrens party, and then one on Monday at Kosair Childrens Hospital. This was his first time working the hospital. Considering what happened, we'll have to wait and see if they invite him back next year.
Yes indeed, he did bend to give a girl a hug and his breeches did rip. But fortunately, he had on a pair of shorts underneath, so his family jewels weren't exposed for all the world to see. Although some children may wonder why Santa wore little blue shorts with a maltese cross on them. I'm guessing nobody was traumatized, as I haven't heard of any of the children having to be admitted to the mental-trauma ward as yet.

Miss me?

Hello boys and girls in blogger-reader-land. Have you missed me?
Probably not, as it's the holidays and most people are too busy to check their emails, much less take time out to read blogs. But just in case anyone has noticed my absence, I thought I'd fill you in. (For those of you that read the communal blog, you can probably skip this, as most of it's a repeat... emphasis on "most").
I started coming down with a touch of "whatever" on the 14th, but continued to ignore the warning signs until it was too late. Typical of me when it comes to my health. I wasn't feeling too awfully bad, so I feel, "if I ignore it, maybe it will just go away". Sometimes that works, sometimes not. This time, definately not.
By Sunday evening, I was ready to go to the Promptcare, but waited until too late and they were already closed. Now I had to suffer until Monday morning. I shouldn't have put it off... by Sunday night, I was running a fever of just over 101 degrees. The weight of three quilts did little to fight off the chills. The chills left me and the sweats set in. I kept a bottle of ice water close at hand for close to a week. I drank countless gallons of the icy liquid. As a result, my kidneys are functioning nicely. I was unable to participate in my nightly walking with my neighboring gal-pals, but I didn't lack for exercise, as all the water I drank kept me running to the toilet to pee every 30 minutes or so. It made it difficult to get a good nights rest, as I'd no sooner doze off then the urge to pee would hit me again.
I did go to the doctor on Monday. He never really said what was wrong with me, but gave me three prescriptions and said they'd cover pneumonia and bronchitis. Of course now it's Friday, and although today I'm probably equally as sick (or better) as I was on Monday, the three days in between I was definately worse, so I don't know how much good those drugs did me. The antibiotics are completely gone now, there's about 1 dose of cough syrup left, and I have such a hard time swallowing the other horse-pills, that I think I'll just resume taking o.t.c. meds tomorrow. Can't do any worse than what I'm taking now.
Tuesday, I had a dox appt. at 2:30, that I'd had scheduled for several weeks. While I really would rather have stayed home and slept, I forced myself to get up and go, as those appointments are too hard to come by and I didn't want to have to reschedule. I stopped for a fish sandwich on the way, and while eating it, I lost part of a filling. Gee, now I can add a trip to the dentist to my list of things to do. I called my dentists office, sure, they could work me in. They had an opening at 2:30. Um no, sorry, I'm already committed elsewhere at that time.
They couldn't work me in until the next morning. Grrrr, okay, fine, now that's one more day I won't get to just lay around in my jammies and vegitate. Even though I wasn't feeling pain from the gaping hole in my tooth... yet... I didn't want to put it off any longer than necessary, as I feared it might start hurting. So I got up early and ventured into the dentist office. As it turned out, he didn't even need to numb the area. He just packed the hole with a temporary filling compound, and I was good to go in less than 5 minutes. I didn't even have to wait for "X" number of hours before eating, I could eat right away. As it turns out, this is the same tooth I just had some work done on, and will be having more work done on in a few weeks.
Thursday, I vegitated most of the day, right up until late afternoon when it was time to go to the chiropractor's office. I'd cancelled my Monday appointment, so I really wanted to keep this one. As the injection I received in my back last week did little (if anything) to aleve the pain from my sciatica, now Dr. P. wants to send me to yet another doctor and have an MUI done. I'd think it would be called MUA, but I guess I'm going braindead on what the "I" stands for. It's Manipulation Under Anesthesia. Maybe it should be "maninpulation under the influence".
I wonder if I tried to drive home after the procedure and got stopped by a cop, could they arrest me driving MUI? I'd hate to have that go on my record!!
Whatever it stands for, I talked to that doctor, Dr. J. today, and I'm supposed to meet him this Wednesday for a consultation. At that point we'll decide whether or not I'm a good candidate for this procedure. I'm a wee bit nervous, about being manipulated while under the influence, that is.
On the weight loss front... seriously, I haven't had any exercise to speak of since Sunday afternoon. And I stopped keeping my calorie-journal sometime Sunday as well, as it just became impossible to track the calories of all the little snacks I was consuming.... I tend to snack a lot when I'm sick, mostly just so I can help force down medicine, and rarely seem to eat a square meal.
I did weigh-in this morning, albeit 2 days late, and have managed to lose another 6 pounds since last weeks weigh-in. I've no doubt most of it is due to the illness and I'll probably gain most of it back and then have to lose it again, but hey, if I'm lucky, maybe not. That makes a total lost since Nov. 1st of 24.5 pounds. Yea for me!
Well, hopefully this crud in my head will be cleared up by Christmas Eve, or at least, at a tolerable level that I won't worry about making everyone around me sick.
Hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Back to the back doctor

As it had been just over a week since I first saw the "other" doctor that my chiropractor referred to me, I called (per his request) to let him know whether or not the meds he'd prescribed had helped my sciatica.
They hadn't.
He asked me to come back into his office yesterday, and he'd give me an injection.
My appointment was for 5:15. I left work just before 4pm, sped home, changed clothes and felt I wasted no time getting back on the road. But either more time had lapsed than I realized, or it just took longer to get there than I expected.
I decided to take a different a different route in hopes of missing the Ford traffic on Fern Valley Rd. What was I thinking? The new route was longer, and I hit just as much traffic. Plus, it didn't help that I detoured onto the Outer Loop by accident, then had to find a place to turn around and rely on other commuters good humor to allow me to cut in line, in traffic.
I arrived at my appt. 4 minutes late. I hate being tardy. I hate it when other people do it to me, and I especially hate doing it to other people.
The doctor saw me right away, he questioned me about my aches/pains, finally gave me two injections. I was expecting to get them in the area of the offending hip, or buttock, but no, they were administered in my low back. While they didn't hurt, just the thought of getting a shot in an area like the back, where there's not a lot of excess muscle (like the butt), just makes me squimish. **blech**
He said it could take up to 3 days to notice any relief. **groan** He also said, if this makes it all better, Great!, but if it helps some, but not completely, we'd probably try another round of injections. If it didn't help at all, then we'd probably looking at having an MRI done.
He asked me if I wanted to have surgery. ?????? Is he nuts? Who WANTS to have surgery? Um, no, if it can be avoided, I'd rather stay away from it. I think I'd rather live with some discomfort &/or back pain if I'm still able to function, than to have to go through surgery.
As of right now, it's been about 20 hours since the shot, it hasn't helped yet.
We'll see what tomorrow brings.

and the Parent of the year award goes to....

I witnessed a shop-lifting incident while I was at Wal-mart the other night. Did I confront the shoplifter(s)? Are you kidding? In todays society of people pulling weapons on other people with little or no provocation? I don't think so!
However, I knew I'd not be able to sleep easy that night or live with myself in general if I just stood by and let it happen. So I reported the incident to the closest cashier, trying to be as subtle as I could while telling him what I'd witnessed, and pointing out the offender.
Did Wal-mart do anything to apprehend the criminal? I don't know. After reporting the incident I quickly made my exit from the store, I didn't want to stick around and bear witness to the scene, should it turn ugly. But at least I know I didn't just turn a blind-eye to the situation, so my conscience is clear.
It was appalling enough that someone would so blatantly steal merchandise from a retailer, but what really pissed me off, was the fact that it was a husband/wife (or boyfriend/girlfriend) duo, and with their 3(?) year old daughter in tow. It was just despicable! What kind of parents are these people? How can they teach their daughter that it's okay to steal?
I know we should all be spending more quality time with our children, but honestly!, this is probably one situation where the child would've been better off staying home alone.

We're living in an unfair society...

Obesity is on the rise in our country, this is a fact. What with all of the modern conveniences designed to make our lives easier, and the video games designed to lure our children into a sedintary lifestyle, it's no wonder we're putting on weight at such an alarming rate. Sure, we're a society on the move... we're constantly on the go, Go, GO!... but consider it, we're going, but we (the moms/wives) are sitting in the driver's seat of the SUV as we shuttle our families from one place to another.
We have so little time, that we eat on the go, which means fast food loaded with calories, fat and carbs. The doctors, fitness gurus and other health nuts preach to us about eating healthier, making smarter choices. Okay, fine... but that's a bit easier said than done.
Have you ever tried shopping for the healthier versions of some foods? They tend to cost more (sometimes, quite a bit more) than the "regular" or fat-laden varieties, and on many families tight-budgets, they have to stretch their food budget as far as they can, and if it means buying a jumbo sized jar of "regular" mayonnaise vs. buying a medium size jar of fat-free mayo, well, they have to go with what they can afford.... and that means consuming more fat, calories, sodium, etc., etc.
Another example: the healthier breads... if we want the whole-wheat, low cal breads, we usually have to pay around $2/loaf... but if we buy what our budget allows, we're buying the .68cent loaf that tastes good, but let's face it, it's not so very good for you.
The food manufacturers could help out our nations growing weight problem by lowering the cost of these healthier items, or, if they would start making some of these healthier versions available in larger packaging, that would help too.
So what's our option: be fat and have money in our pocket?, or be healthy/in shape and be broke?

Puppy breath

What is it about puppies breath that, while not a pleasant aroma to whiff, it's not unpleasant, and we (those of us that are dog-lovers), just "eat it up"!!!???
I went out to our breeders yesterday to pick up a load of dogfood, and to play with her litter of 9 pups that had just turned 7 weeks old. They were at that really fun stage... still small enough to pick up and cuddle in your arms and just too darned cute for their own good, yet big enough to romp, play and rough-house with.
I barged on into the kennel like I owned the place, brushed past the couple that was there visiting with their new puppy, and I plopped my arse down in the middle of the kennel floor. I was immediately swarmed by 36 little paws climbing all over me, 18 little eyes gazing at me while taking in this new "chew toy" in their pen, and 9 sets of very sharp teeth gnawing at my fingers, wrists, elbows, ankles, shoe laces, and anything else they could get a hold of. I was glad I'd worn a really old shirt and shoes. I was in puppy-heaven!!
I don't know why these people sat on the outside of the kennel (first time dane owners), just gazing in through the chain-link fence and poking their fingers through the fence to pet the puppies... my goodness!, enjoy the pup(s) while they are little, because it won't last for long!!
When we were getting our pups, I was all over the floor with them every chance I got.
This family was getting the one and only merle, an adorable little girl they are naming Gracie. Looks-wise, she was my favorite (but then, I'm partial to merles)... but my sentimental favorite is the little white boy, with just a few light gray spots. He's not as deaf as Olivia, but we believe he does have some hearing deficencies. But he's a cutie all the same!!
Two of the other puppies we've dubbed as "Bonnie & Clyde"... they're marked rather uniquely (they are pet quality ownly, having tan spots on a white background), and are as cute as can be.
It's a good thing I have a full house and an empty bank account, or else I'd be bringing three more puppies home with me.
Ah yes, every once in a while common sense does rule out over my heart, even when it's being tempted with puppy-breath.

Lost & Found & Lost again

I'm not the world's greatest house keeper (big understatement), and as a result, sometimes things get misplaced (okay, lost).
*When I started my new "healthy living" diet (again) on November 1st, I started a new Fat Lil' Notebook to track my calories and progress, but I wanted to look through my old notebook for some of the "tips and facts" I'd jotted down in it, so John & I practically tore the house apart looking for it, but without success. I finally came to the conclusion that I must've thrown it away.
Saturday night I was doing laundry and started digging through the pile of clothing on my dresser and getting fed up with the mountain of clothes, finally just throwing them all into the dirty clothes. Once the mountain of clothing was removed, I found an old duffle bag that's been buried for quite some time. Inside the dufflebag was my long lost notebook. I squealed like a child opening a Christmas present. I sat down and started looking through it.
Up until now, my former weight loss has seemed somewhat surreal... did it really happen? Did I imagine it?
No, now I had proof. My first entry was July 1, 2003, and the last was May 28, 2004. As I looked through those last few pages of entries, I saw that I entered some food/calories on May 20th, then nothing again 'til May 25th. Without even thinking about it, I knew exactly why there was a gap in my journal... we had decided on the evening of the 20th to have our beloved Kelsey put down the next day. Long story short, it ended up being put off until Monday the 24th. I was too overcome with emotion those few days to care about recording calories, and wanted to spend every possible moment with my little girl, and didn't want to sacrifice even a minute of time to record what little food I managed to consume that long weekend.
Once she was gone, I started my food journaling again the next day, but by the end of the week was sooo depressed, I stopped all together, and so began my "finding" of the 67 pounds I'd lost up to that point.
I'm once again on a mission or rather, a journey to lose those pounds and then some. And I hope never to find them again.

Diet update

Okay, it's been just over a month (5 weeks & a day to be exact) since I started my new healthy-living-lifestyle. It's been a few weeks since I updated my general reading population on my progress. My fellow dieters that are a part of our "communal blog" know of my progress, as we all report in each week (if not more often), so if they're reading this, they can pretty much skip this blog as it's old news to them.
I checked my measurements this past friday, as it was the first day of the month and was delighted to see some lower numbers...
I've lost three inches in the bust, one and a half in the waist line, two and a half inches in the hips, and one and a half in the thigh. I had the husband take new pictures of me, making sure I wore the same clothes as the first time, just to make it easier to tell if the changes were noticable to others... the pictures (below) are nothing to really look at (not yet), but I think you can see a bit of a difference.
Also, even despite a big Thanksgiving dinner, two days of baking sweet-treats, and the husband's company party, as of yesterday (official weigh-in day), I've managed to lose 17.5 pounds in these past five weeks. It's enough to keep me inspired to keep working at it.
The nightly walks with three of my neighbors/friends have basically become a necessity for me. Not just because of the physical exercise benefit, but it's been great having 30-60 minutes of "girl-time" (except the occasions when one or both of the "Jays" join us). We talk about anything and everything, sharing our success and pit-falls, venting our frustrations over men, work, health, dieting, shopping, anything from A-Z and life in general, sharing recipes, or stories from our youth. It's been a great stress reliever, and a fun-time. I get bummed when I have to miss, and if one of them misses, I miss their presence too.
Okay, on to the photos... I had to take in the margines a bit on these photos, which distorts them slightly, but I still think you can tell by the way the shirt fits (ie, hugs the rolls of chub or hangs) that there's a definite loss of inches. : )
The 2nd & 3rd photos were taken Nov. 1st, the others were taken on Dec. 1st.

Dessert social

We had our last get-together of the year on Sunday, 12/3. We lit the outdoor fireplace, gathered around the patio furniture, and I spent the day baking cupcakes, cookies, brownies, and added the left-over fudge and peanut brittle from the previous Sunday. Several of the neighbors came by and brought sweet-treats as well.
The temperature was in the mid-20's, and the wind blew non-stop, making the wind-chill who-knows-what! Most of us just huddled around the fire, ignoring the furniture. Some stayed for only a minute or two before deciding it was too cold. Others stayed for 2 or 3 hours. John & I were out there from 3pm - 8:30ish. And yes, we (or at least I) was frozen!! Actually, I had so many layers on that I stayed fairly warm, it was just my toes that were hurting from the cold. I was starting to fear frost-bite. I had to bale on our evening walk because of a combination of my sciatica and my frozen toes.
My vacation was now over. Time to head back to the real world. : (
I had John take all the left-over desserts to the bowling alley the next day and unload the stuff on the old folks. They ate it willingly!

Pain issues

I had a 4pm appointment at the chiropractors on 11/30. John accompanied me, just to watch me being tortured I think.
Tortured I was.
By the time Dr. P finished I was literally in tears. I was having a hard time keeping from sobbing. Neither a massage of the area or using the vibracus (sp?) thing on me helped either. Each just brought on more tears.
Before I left, Dr. P gave the name & phone number of a real doctor (ie, MD) he wanted me to go see, and possibly get an injection in the area to help with the pain.
It was tuesday 12/5 before I could get into see that doc. He didn't give me a shot, but did prescribe some new medicine.
**See the blog written earlier today about me being "messed up"**
Also, as I was leaving therapy that day, one of the pt techs asked if I still had my tenz-unit at home. I said I did, but that I didn't have any of the electrode-pads (and I was be damned if I was going to pay $10 a piece to get some... I think I blogged about that incident back in September... one receptionist gave me a replacement set at no charge, the other woman wanted to charge me for the things, hmph!! I just stopped using it altogether!!). So the pt tech said "hold on, I'll get you some". Before I could say anything, he was gone. In the meantime, the receptionist that gave me a free set before, reached in her desk and whipped out a replacement set and again, gave them to me, no charge. The tech returned with three more sets and gave them to me, again, no charge.
I accepted them, thanked them both, and mentally cussed out the woman that had tried to charge me for them before.

By now, the nice weather we had been enjoying had turned crappy, rainy & cold, so we cancelled our walking plans. I didn't get to walk friday night either, and only managed to squeeze one lap saturday afternoon. By the time I got back to walking with the girls on Sunday, I felt like it had been an eternity since I'd seen them. I really do miss not walking with the girls when either I'm not available or they aren't.
Saturday night was my husband's company's Christmas party, held at the Galt House. ooh-la-la
I'd never been in the Galt House, only heard about it. It was indeed very nice. Our only complaint was paying $9.00 to park in the parking garage. We feel his employer should have either warned everyone ahead of time (so we could park elsewhere) or had our parking tickets validated. Hmph!
The food was good, but I behaved and limited myself to one plate for dinner, and passed on the desserts.
I only managed to dance one slow dance with my hubby, the rest of the time was spent either sitting at our table chatting with old friends (from my days at Coke) or running back and forth to the bathroom, as something was making me a bit ill. I'll spare you the details.
John won a door-prize, some kind of flashlight/radio/mini-tv/emergency unit combo. We really didn't need it (or want it), and he managed to find someone to trade gifts with him. So what did he trade "up" for? Something else we didn't need, nor did I want it. But it wasn't my gift to swap out. His new gift was a large PT Cruiser, decorated in Mello Yello yellow & green, remote control car.
GRRRR!!
He just bought another r/c toy less than a month ago that he didn't need, but he couldn't pass up a good bargain. These two new r/c toys are to go along with all of his other r/c's: the giant Hummer I bought him a couple of years ago, his nascar vehicle, the v/w bug car, the micro-mini, the two smaller pick-up trucks, and a couple of other cars I think he has. Honestly, he has about 10 of these things now.
Enough is enough! He hasn't even played with any of them in about 2 years.
Somehow, this vacation isn't ending as well as it started.

Wednesday, 11/29

I'm slowly but surely getting you caught up on my vacation.
The week has been going well thus far. Beautiful weather to enjoy, and John & I have actually gotten along without arguing. Why can't all our vacations be like this? Perhaps we need to stop trying to get away while on vacation, and instead stay home in the future.
He was supposed to go to Lebanon to visit his mom/brother, but plans were cancelled.
After feeding the pooches, I'd gone back to bed in an effort to be lazy. I didn't get to be lazy for long as my cell phone rang, and I made the major mistake of answering it. It was my boss calling, asking me to come in and work a half day... on my vacation!!!!!
**groan**
A half day my ass! I arrived at the office at 9:45, only an hour fifteen later than usual, and literally spent the entire day there, working my arse off! I could've easily spent another full day there, trying to get things caught up. They had gotten slammed while I was off... people dropping like flies in this little town, and the paperwork was out of control!!
We were all cranky, all stressed, and it was not a good day.
That evening, I took a muscle relaxer as I was hurting, and when it was time to get up and go for my nightly walk, I was in soooo much pain, I had to bale-out on my girls. The first time I'd done that (without having a valid excuse of not being home) since we started our nightly walks.
All in all, wednesday was not a good vacation day.

Still on monday...

After finishing the futon project, we left to grab some lunch and go to the bowling alley (as is John's usual monday routine) to watch the senior citizens bowl. John's dad, aunt, and several members that are also a part of the church's bowling league are there, so it's not like we were watching a bunch of strange old people bowl.
I took some of the fudge I'd made and unloaded it at the alley.
While we were eating our Taco Bell, one person (who shall remain nameless) proceeded to piss me off no less than twice (I know, you're shocked that someone would piss me off, but it's true!), when she threw a nickle at me (she was aiming at John, but she can't toss a coin any better than she can bowl), and hit me in the chest with it both times. Not only did it not feel good, but the first time the coin bounced off me and landed in my food. Yuck!!
She apologized after the first time, and you'd think after that, she'd have known better than to do it a second time, but I'm convinced she's brain-damaged, as she had the nerve to do it again. After the second hazing incident, I grabbed my purse and book, took John's car keys and went to sit in the car. It was such a nice sunny day, I actually took a nap while waiting for John to join me.
Aside from the brain-damaged woman that threw nickles at me, the remainder of the day was good.

Futon

A couple of weeks ago, we went out and bought a futon at Furniture Liquidators. It has a metal frame, painted black, and a red mattress. Hideous colors, unless you're a die-hard U of L fan, but I wasn't concerned with it's looks, as we were buying it for the dogs.
It was time to get rid of the love-seat they (and those before them) had basically destroyed and I couldn't tolerate looking at anymore, and it was time for John & I to reclaim our recliners for our own use.
We opened the box out in the driveway and I read the instructions while John assembled it. Amazingly enough, we actually got it put together, correctly!, and with no extra parts left over. This was no small feat, as the instructions were less than clear and easy to understand, and many words were misspelled, making it even harder to understand. The best part of it all, we accomplished this without arguing or the mention of divorce.
Before taking the futon frame into the house, we had to remove the run-down love seat. This was the part I dreaded, simply because I was afraid a neighbor would see the condition of the crap we've had in our house. But then I realized, it's late morning on a work-day, all of our neighbors were at work. There was nobody around to see!
We drug it outside, got the futon inside and the mattress in place. New sheets covered the mattress and we finally let the big kids in from the back yard. The kids all loved it!!!!
I wish we'd thought of this a few years ago!!
I don't have to worry about them chewing up the frame since it's metal. Hopefully the mattress will last a long while, but can be replaced easily enough should it become to tattered.
Best of all, there's room for all three of them to lie down at one time. However, one usually still lies in the old green recliner, leaving plenty of room for the other two to sprawl out. In this picture, I was actually enjoying a moment of cuddle time with all of them... you can barely see my feet sticking out among the sea of canine, and Bootsy is barely visible. She's lying on her back, up against me.
It was another good day!

Sunday, 11/26

John & I were now officially on vacation. We spent the day at my parents house. It was a day of baking and candy making. I made chocolate-peanut butter fudge (with John's assistance of holding the candy thermometer while I stirred), peanut butter brownies (didn't turn out as good as I'd hoped), no-bake cookies, bourbon balls, and I provided the ingredients for mom to make banana-nut bread. Only problem is that she'd lost 1/2 of her recipe, as it had ripped in half and somehow part of it was missing. She finally found a similar recipe on the internet and used it.
She also baked a variety of cookies, and my sister made some white-chocolate & peperment candy.
By the time I got home (where I then made some peanut brittle), I was so sick of looking at sweet-treats! Amazingly enough though, I ate very little of the sweets, and managed to give away most of the stuff or freeze some of the items.
I ended the day with a walk with my girls.
Another good day was had!

Let the shopping begin!

The day after Thanksgiving is the traditional kick-off to the Christmas shopping season. In the past 4 years +/-, I've gotten into the madness-craze and started going out on this day, before the crack of dawn even, and fought the crowds in search of a bargain.
This year, I didn't go alone. I took my friend "momma-lbjune26" with me. This was her virginal-shopping experience.
We hit Wal-mart at 5am. We went in different directions once inside the store. Once the sale officially started, we grabbed our goodies, and met up in the middle of the store about 5 minutes later, hit the check-out lanes. We were out of Wal-mart by about 5:10 a.m.
We were on a "high", having a good time with our success thus far.
Our next stop was Kohls. Gee, what a let-down that store was after our Wal-mart experience. I like to never have found the item I was looking for. Once I did, we again met up and then we picked one of two lines to get in. Both lines wrapped around from the front, all the way to the back of the store and crossed over one another. Such madness! It moved slower than a slug. No lying, we were in that line for about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Ugh!!
Now that our shopping spirit had been dampened a bit, we decided to go to Panera Bread for breakfast and revive our spirits. I now have momma-lbjune hooked on the 4-cheese souffles at Panera. They are really good!
Spirits revived, we went to Target. Grabbed a buggy and weaved our way through the store. Before I had even put one item in my buggy, I saw that the line in Target also wrapped around the store, and not wanting a repeat of our Kohls experience, we left the store without even buying a single item.
Next stop: Michael's crafts.
We picked up several items, and then had to combine our purchase together, as some Scroogey-thief stole "mommas" 25%-off coupon right out of her buggy. How rude!!!
After leaving Michaels, we called it a day and went home. Actually, I took her home then headed back out to shop some more.
That afternoon, the beautiful weather still with us, I went walking with the "girls" (that would be the girls that I'm getting fit with).
I wish this kind of weather would be with us 365 days a year. It was great!!

Thanksgiving day...

I've got a lot of writing to do to make up for being away from the computer for the past 2 weeks, so I'll spare my kind readers the agony of reading one really, really long blog. Instead, I'll just write several short ones.
Thanksgiving day was spent at my parents house. The food was fabulous! Not just because mom did all the cooking, but because it was a "splurge" day for me on my diet, so I was free to make a glutton of myself, and that's exactly what I did, although not to the extent I wanted to, as my shrinking stomach simply couldn't/wouldn't allow me to eat as much as I'd normally do on such an occasion.
Oh well, I savored what I did eat. The day seemed to go by much to fast, and after we arrived back home, the evening weather was so fabulous, John & I decided to build a fire in the outdoor fireplace and sit outside and enjoy the evening.
The weather was just unbelievably fantastic!! A few neighbors stopped by to visit for a bit, and we ended our evening with a walk.
It was a good day!

I'm not right

Pardon my French, but I'm just a bit F****d up today.
I went to a new doctor on Tuesday about my sciatica problems. He put me on a med-pak and strong pain killers. Directions on the pain-killers said take 1 or 2 pills every 4 hours. I finally got the medicine from the pharmacy yesterday evening, got home and took 1 of the pain pills right away (couldn't start the med-pak 'til this morning). The single dose did nothing for me. After I finished my 3 mile walk last night, I was getting ready for bed and took 2 of the pain pills. It still didn't do much for the pain, and didn't really make me sleepy (believe me, I was tired enough because of the long hours I'd put in the past two days at work).
However, it did hit me like a ton of bricks in that my arms felt as if they were made of lead. I could barely lift them up off the bed, and I just felt very "messed up". When I awoke this morning with John, I was still hurting, but initially felt fine otherwise, then while I was packing his lunch, out of nowhere, I started getting so light-headed it was unreal. Then the cold-clammy feeling came over me, and I knew I was seconds away from passing out if I didn't lie down pronto! I grabbed an ice-pack from the freezer and made it to our bed and stretched out for a few minutes (and hoped that the dogs didn't help themselves to John's lunch still laid out on the counter). After a few minutes, I got back up, managed to finish packing his lunch, but had to go back and lie down again.
On the drive into work this morning, I felt like a "balloon-head", and have continued to feel that way non-stop ever since. I did finally take 1 more of the pain pills (no more taking two at a time, that's for sure!!), but I've just been in la-la land ever since. My boss has had a few laughs at my expense this morning, and has all but accused me of being drunk. He even took my scissors away from me at one point, afraid I'd either hurt myself or him.
I hope I'm "sober" enough to drive to the p.t.'s office this afternoon.

I'm baaaaack!!!

I'm back from vacation, physically, if not mentally. I am however, completely covered up here at work, and really don't have time to blog... so much to blog about, so little time!
If I get a chance later today, I'll bring everyone up to date, if not, it may be a couple of days before I get a chance.
I've missed everyone, truly I have!!
Love to all!
k

Thanks...

It's Thanksgiving Day, 2006...
I'd like to give thanks to my parents, still married after almost 40 years. Thank you for not being a family-divided, and forcing us to either go to one more home on the holidays, or forcing us to choose which one to spend our time with.
I'd like to give thanks for my sister and her family, and for all the tough times they've come through, none the worse for wear.
I'd like to give thanks to our "benifactor"... I won't mention any names, but you know who you are and we are ever so thankful for all you do for us.
I'd like to give thanks that Johns parents and siblings are all well and accounted for.
I'd like to give thanks for all our wonderful friends/neighbors, for making this a great neighborhood to live in....
especially the Worths, for allowing me free-use of their computer... and am thankful that their dream of having a child is about to come true... babyWorth due April 28th.
I'm thankful for the friends/neighbors that I'm in a bunco-group with. I joined them a year ago with much trepidation, but have been ever so thankful ever since. It's been wonderful to have a "girls-night" once a month, and I look forward to each and everyone.
I'm thankful to the "Brownhurst Walkers"... our newly formed group of dedicated walkers, we're out there pounding the pavement every night. We're each others support group in all-things-good. These past three weeks have been FABULOUS!!
I'm thankful for the ability to blog.
I'd like to give thanks for my k-9 kids, and all the smiles they give me. And last but not least...
I'd like to take a moment to give thanks to my husband John, of 18+ years of marriage. I give him a hard way to go sometimes, but only because I love him so.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Miss Leah Flower Elliott

Miss Leah Flower Elliott... sounds like the name of an exotic dancer or something, doesn't it? Well, close, she's exotic alright, and she does do a little dance without benefit of clothing, but it's not quite what you'd expect.
Last night, I attended a jewelry party at the home of an old school chum I've known 4-ever. I was thumbing through the catalog when the last of her guests arrived, her sister-in-law, three nieces, and Miss Leah Flower Elliott.
One of the girls was carrying what looked like a miniature cat-carrier, and made mention of her hedgehog. I was expecting it to be some kind of "virtual pet", but it wasn't, it was the real deal. Inside this toy pet-carrier was an African Pygmy Hedgehog. She was too cute!, and kept us quite entertained.
The girls have only had Miss Leah about 3 weeks, but have already trained her to go in the pet-carrier when it's placed before her, and it was fun to watch her scurry inside. They've also trained Leah to do a little dance, of sorts, when they spit out a little rap-noise.
Whenever I attempted to pet Miss Leah, she made a sneezing noise that startled me, and I couldn't draw my hand away fast enough. Maybe it's a defense mechanism with hedgehogs, in addition to rolling up in a ball and presenting their quilled backside. Regardless, she's very cute, and I can see why the girls love her so.
Ladies and gentleman, I give you, Miss Leah Flowers Elliott...

Another first

I did something over the weekend that I've never done before in my life. It's just one more example of "never say never"... I went to Churchill Downs, and not to do volunteer work either as in the past. I went with a group of women and I actually bet on the ponies. Me!, betting on racehorses!! Who'd have ever thought it? Certainly not I!!
I had no clue what I was doing. I don't know how to read a racing form (although I should, as often as my grandfather brought them home and had me adding numbers up for him), I know nothing about the horses lineage, the trainers, owners, mudders, exactas, perfectas, trifectas, blah, blah, blah... you get the picture. My only knowledge, slim as it is, was what it means to Win/Place/Show.
There were 10 races. I sat out the first one, just content to follow our little crowd around, and stay comfy-cozy (almost too warm) in my heavy coat, hooded sweat-shirt, hat, scarf, mittens, and blanket, while the other girls nearly froze in the rainy-40 degree weather.
Before each race began, we went to the paddock to watch the horses being saddled up. I went with the old theory of: always bet on the gray horse. So that's what I did. If there was a gray horse running, I bet on it. Only problem was when there was two gray horses in a single race, how to pick the right one. I kept my bets at the minimum of $2.00. Lost race #2 & 3. Finally won some money on races #4 & 5. I'd have won more, if only I'd bet those horses to win instead of just placing/showing, but a win is a win. I'd also have won a lot more if I'd gone with my first instinct most of the time, as my first instinct paid money in nearly every race.
We sat out race #6 so we could eat lunch. Darn it!! When I had glanced at the horses names for that race, one name stood out at me immediately... "Coping With Mike". Huh!, I do that on a daily basis at work. Had we bet, that's the one I'd have chosen, but we didn't bet, and of course the horse won.
Not counting what I spent on lunch... I ended the day only down by .60 cents. Not bad in my book, for someone that had no clue on what they were doing.
I have to say though, I did witness some things going on at the track that rather appalled me. Since when is it legal for children to place bets? I'm talking children in the 12 year old range, +/- a year. There is no way in hell those two girls I saw were 18. And it's not like their parent/guardian was standing in line with them telling the clerk that it was "okay". What's this world coming to?
Also, I couldn't believe the number of people that had brought their young children (infant thru 10 yrs. old) to the track. Why??? Why drag an infant/toddler out in that kind of weather to an event they have no comprehension of? And why give these youngsters the impression that it's okay to gamble away all your money and drink in excess, then get mad when your horse doesn't win?? Granted, I can remember my parents/grandparents taking me to the track (Louisville Downs I believe) as a youngster, but I could've cared less about going.
Okay, I'll get off my high-horse now (pun intended).
I did have fun at the track, but still don't plan to make a habit out of it.

I'm off center, & other misc. stuff

So, the lower back pain had abated (again), however, the left side sciatica is a p.i.t.a.... literally!, a pain in the ass!! I went to the dox yesterday for an adjustment, and saw Dr. P. He looked me up and down, stood me in front of a mirror and pointed out how my head was left-of-center. Totally Freaky!! Poked me in a couple of places I didn't even know I was hurting until he poked me. He had me lay down on the bed, then he strapped my ankles to the bed, put some kind of strap around my head, then leaned waayyy back and proceeded to ski off the top of my head. I've watched him do this to other people, and seriously, it looks like he's water-skiing.
By the time he was done, my ears were burning something awful as it felt like they had been ripped off my head. While I didn't have back pain when I walked into the place, I did by the time he was done. However, the sciatica wasn't as bad... go figure! Also, the places he'd poked me previously that hurt, no longer hurt, and my head was again centered, in alignment with my spine.
This morning, the back pain was gone, but the sciatica is acting up again. Why oh why can't I be completly pain free?

On to other news...
I couldn't help but shake my head at the headlines the other day, all the people standing in line for the new PlayStation3. How ridiculous!!! Some were getting them for presents or for themselves, and I can't help but think "how foolish!"... wait 'til after the holidays and they'll probably be much cheaper. And then there were those that were buying them so they could re-sell them and make a profit. For them I'm thinking, "if they have the time to camp out in front of these store for "X" number of days, then they probably don't have jobs... perhaps they should try gainful employment to make money and fill their otherwise empty days." And for those that are even more foolish to go on ebay and purchase one of these toys for thousands of dollars, I can only say that I weep for the future of our country if parents are spoiling their children that much!!!
I remember a few years ago when the new WindowsME came out, people stood in line for that too, and it turned out to be a dud. Only to be quickly replaced by a newer, and much better edition of Microsoft Windows. There will always be something better just around the corner, given enough time and patience.

After nearly 3 weeks of business being dead (pun intended), we're once again slammed. Figures that it would happen right at the start of the holidays, when people want to be off from work &/or travel. What totally amazes me, are the families that decide to hold their dearly departed ones visitation on an actual holiday. Why??? I swear, if one of my close family members passes away near a holiday, if I have any say in it what-so-ever, I'll put off their funeral a day or two even if it means paying extra, just so that the rest of the family isn't bummed out over having to spend their holiday at a funeral home, and so that the funeral employees can have an opportunity to spend it with their families.
Okay, 'nuff griping about this subject.

The Brownhurst Walkers are staying committed. We even made it a 3-mile walk last night, instead of the usual 2-miles. We were pumped!! Can't wait to step on the scales tomorrow.

Mrs. Peter Wolfspider

Okay folks, I give to you, Mrs. Peter Wolfspider.... it wasn't easy taking pictures of her, so forgive them not being really clear and close-up, but I had no desire to put the camera right in her face to take the picture. I was doing good to be about 18" away. I dumped her out on a grocery bag on the front porch (as you can see in the bottom two pix), in an effort to get a "scaled" picture, but, oh my goodness!!, she moves so very fast!!!! She'd take off running across the porch and it was all I could do to catch up to her. It's a good thing her jar is plastic, otherwise it would've broken when I slammed it down over top of her. That was after taking the second picture. I wanted to get another, and had to "walk" her back across the porch, holding the jar upside-down over top of her, and scooching her back over to the white bag. How many people can say they've taken their spiders for a walk?
In the picture, she appears about 2" in diameter, but her legs are somewhat drawn up, when she's "sprawled out, she's about 2 & 3/4" wide.
She's so ugly she's cute!

My chinese birth year

I've often heard/seen people's Chinese birth year-sign, but never had a clue what they were talking about, and even less of a clue what my "sign" was. Curiousity finally got the better of me today and I went 'surfing (as I do so frequently).
I found that I was born in the year of the monkey. It states the following:

People born in the Year of the Monkey are the erratic geniuses of the cycle. Clever, skillful, and flexible, they are remarkably inventive and original and can solve the most difficult problems with ease. There are few fields in which Monkey people wouldn't be successful but they have a disconcerting habit of being too agreeable. They want to do things now, and if they cannot get started immediately, they become discouraged and sometimes leave their projects. Although good at making decisions, they tend to look down on others. Having common sense, Monkey people have a deep desire for knowledge and have excellent memories. Monkey people are strong willed but their anger cools quickly. They are most compatible with the Dragon and Rat.

Hmm, interesting. I'd have to agree with more than a few points there. Then I looked up John's. He was born in the year of the Rat (as were my parents). It states the following:

People born in the Year of the Rat are noted for their charm and attraction for the opposite sex. They work hard to achieve their goals, acquire possessions, and are likely to be perfectionists. They are basically thrifty with money. Rat people are easily angered and love to gossip. Their ambitions are big, and they are usually very successful. They are most compatible with people born in the years of the Dragon, Monkey, and Ox.

Well, I'll agree with the part about their "charm", at least where John is concerned, but I really have to disagree with the rest, especially the parts like: perfectionist and thrifty w/money. That's not John at all!!

But at least it was interesting that both of our years listed us as being compatible with one another. Guess that means we're a match made in Chinese heaven.
----
So, do you know your Chinese birth year and what it stands for???

todays lesson

I've gotten quite an education this morning! I was 'net surfing, looking up conversion charts from metric to US measurements.... you know, the stuff we're all familiar with. Metric just doesn't cut it for me. The two weeks I spent in Canada a few years ago, I was constantly doing mental conversions... I just couldn't accept that a street sign said it was X kilometers from point A to B, no, I had to try and convert it into miles. Same thing for the daily temperature forecasts, using the Celsius method makes it sound too cold!!
Yesterday, I was looking up calorie info on a lot of the fruits and vegetables I regularly consume, and writing them down in the back of my "little fat notebook" for future reference. **sigh**, most of the info was given in "grams". Crud!! Now you know why I was trying to convert.
When I entered the number of grams I wanted to convert, it gave me several choices of what I wanted to convert it to. Oh, the choices, it was all so confusing. I wanted to know ounces, but I had to choose between ounces-avoirdupois and ounces-troy. What are those?? What's the difference?? I had to dig out the dictionary, which only lead to a whole other plethora of questions... along the way, I learned what an "umbrella bird" is, but that's a story for another blog.
I'd heard of a "dram", but didn't really know what it was. Also among the liquid measurement choices were "pipe", and "gill". Ever heard of those, other than in reference to something you smoke or on a fish?
Temperatures... as far as I knew, they were measured either in Celsius or Fahrenheit, but no, there's also the Rankine and Kelvin methods.
One last new word for the day... angstrom. A unit of measure where lengths are concerned.

Do they teach these words or units of measure in school these days? I swear, I don't remember them being taught when I was in school.

2-week progress report

Just thought I'd report my progress to all of you non-participating dieters, er, um, I mean, those of you not a part of our "secret society" and communal blog.
It's been two weeks now since we set forth on our endeavor to slim down and shape up. It's going well. Our little group is up to 6 members now, and we range in size from vertically-challenged to almost-hitting-our-heads-on-everything, and from a few pounds (10-15) overweight to 70+ lbs. (and yes, I fall into that last catagory!).
I've managed to behave thus far. Last night was a small "splurge" night, as it was bunco-night, but I feel I kept my eating behavior pretty well in check, and stayed away from the desserts.
This morning was weigh-in, and so far for these past two weeks, I've managed to lose 9.5 lbs. Woo-Hoo!!
My goal is to lose another 15 by New Years, then I'll set a new goal... small steps, small steps!!
I'm happy to announce that my BodyMassIndex has already dropped from 35.9 down to 34.6 (my goal is 25-ish).

Bug-off!

I mentioned a few weeks ago about my new "pet", the spider (wolf spider I believe)... I've since renamed him Peter. Peter is still living. As much as I dislike the creepy creatures, he really is kind of fascinating to watch, especially when he pounces suddenly on an insect I've deposited into his jar.
This time of year, it's getting harder and harder to find food for him. He's somewhat of a picky eater, seeming to prefer moths and houseflies. I haven't come across any flies since our camping trip, so he's had to make do with the occasional moth I procure for him. I've tossed in a few other flying creatures... a crane fly, a couple of mosquitos, another strange looking winged creature, but aside from finally using the crane fly as an appetizer (guess there's not enough "body" there, as it's mostly wings, to make it worth his while), he hasn't eaten much.
I keep wondering, what's going to happen when it gets really cold out and I can't find an occasional moth? If I buy a cricket at the petfood store, would he eat that? How long can spiders go without eating (I know they can go at least 5 days, no problem!)? Do they go into a state of hybernation, so to speak, to save their energy until a food source becomes available?
Should any of my neighbors happen to see me out staring at the porch lights after dark and holding onto a small pickle jar, especially if I'm doing so at a neighbors house, please overlook me, I'm just seeking out food for Peter.
It's been a few days now since Peter's eaten. I'd just about given up hope of capturing anything for him, so imagine my surprise when out of nowhere, appearred 5 moths in the window here in my office. They all look just alike, so I'm going under the assumption they came from the same "litter", and that perhaps there's an infestation somewhere in my office. I've been scrambling to catch them, one by one, and place them in a small baby-bottle someone left behind after a funeral ages ago.
Mr. Peter Wolfspider is going to eat well this evening.

update on stuff

Well, I got some good news at the chiropractor/p.t.'s yesterday... I now only have to go twice a week, and they've cut out just about all the physical therapy now. The doctor took new x-rays last friday and we went over them yesterday... I'm within about 3degrees of where I should be in the curvature of my lower back. Quite a difference from the 29 degrees or whatever it was I was off in the beginning! Most of my pain now is from the sciatic nerve running through the left side of my tush. Fortunately, it hasn't spread down into my leg. But, the doc feels that all the p.t. I do is probably aggrevating the situation, and too he feels many of the muscles they were trying to strengthen in my lower back are now substantial that there's no need to keep up the long routine they had laid out for me.
So I'll keep up my evening walks and my twice weekly adjustments, coupled with isolation massages (ie: clothes on, 10 minute massages). Give it a couple of weeks and once the sciatic problem clears up, resume some exercing at home to go along with my "healthy life-style" changes.
I've been keeping up with my diet very well. Tomorrow is weigh-in day, can't wait!!
Tonight is bunco... a "splurge" event on my diet-path. Have to have those occasional splurge moments, they help keep me sane! This will be my first splurge, but I vow to not splurge too much, as tomorrow is weigh-in, I don't want to ruin it.
Our last week of vacation is less than two weeks away, can't wait!!!! No plans to go anywhere, just perhaps have one last hurrah around the outdoor fireplace that last weekend. Have the neighbors over and maybe sing Christmas caroles.
Hope everyone has a great week!!

Moving day

My dear friend/neighbor, Vicki, and her husband Ron, moved out of their house about a month ago, with the anticipation of closing on the sale within a few days. They moved into an apartment a few miles away, but then things fell apart, thanks to the home-inspector from hell. This was now the second potential buyer that had backed out of the deal. Now they were stuck with an apartment rental payment and a house payment. **gulp!!**
Fortunately though, the third time was the charm. They closed on the sale of their house this past week. She informed me that the new owners should start moving in over the weekend.
I kept an eye out for activity all day saturday, but never saw any movement. I left around 2:15 to go to a wedding, and we returned home around 7:30 that evening. Upon our return, we noticed a huge U-haul moving van parked in Vicki's driveway (it will always be Vicki's driveway in my mind, even a year from now). But the truck was the only sign that anyone had been there. All the lights were out and there were no other cars present, so we had no way of knowing if they'd already unloaded the truck or what.
Sunday, I again kept an eye out for activity, whether when I was outside or from my kitchen window.
Nothing.
I finally headed out for my evening 2-mile-walk around 8:20, and the husband even joined me this time. Still there was no sign of life. As we were nearing the end of our first mile, we were approaching the back of Vicki's house and John commented that all the lights were on. I said they must've just gotten there, as they hadn't been on. Sure enough, as we rounded the corner, we saw the garage door was up and people were milling around inside.
As we made another loop of the neighborhood and neared the end of the 2nd mile, there were now more people over there.
Around 9:30 or so, I heard the moving van start up and leave our street. Gee, either they didn't have much furniture in there to unload in the first place, or else they had so many people helping, that they were able to blitz it in no time at all.
So my curiosity is getting the better of me... wonder why they waited 'til so late at night to move? Are they night owls?
Can't wait to find out what makes these people tick... if for no other reason, so I can answer my boss' questions that he keeps asking me as I'm trying to type this.

I'm challenged

I'm challenged... photogenically that is.
Ever notice how some people just never seem to take a bad picture, whether they're the ones being photographed, or taking the photo? And then there are people like me, that are just destined to appear awful!, in one lousy photo after another, and aren't much better at taking them. Either the lighting is all wrong, or things are out of focus, or there are shadows... it's always something to ruin the moment.
As mentioned in my previous blog, I attended a wedding over the weekend, and took exactly 50 photos. Out of those 50, about 18 are total crap!, as they are so dark, you can't even make out an image, and of the remaining 32, there are probably another 15 that are barely viewable. **sigh** why?
If truth be known, I took more than 50, but with the advent of the digital camera (greatest invention of the last decade), I did delete several right after taking them. Guess I should've deleted a few more. I tried every imaginable setting on my camera... auto, red-eye reduction, delayed flash, all the others, but none of them seemed to help. One setting did work pretty well for close-up photos in the dimly lit room, but for anything more than 5' away, forget it! Another setting did light things up well for more distant shots, but then the object of the picture was not very focused. Just horrible, I say!!
So is it just me? Or possibly me camera?
I think I'm going shopping for something better, and put it on lay-away. Obviously since Walmart has done away with layaway, I'll have to shop elsewhere.
Anybody have suggestions on a really good digital camera that won't break the bank??

Jenna Daisy

Almost 23 years ago, a fair-haired little angel was born. She came into this world the day after Christmas and was named for her grandmothers', thus christened: Jenna Daisy Rhodes. She completed the "brood" of her parents, Paul & Phyllis, and joined older sister & brother, Jessica & Joshua.
So where do I fit into this story?, you might be wondering. I lived next door, and was the mother-hen, drill-instructor of a baby-sitter, more so to her siblings, as by the time Daisy came along, I was getting older, starting to date, hang with my friends and working. But there were still several occasions I loved and cared for them as if they were my own.
Daisy came into this world, giving us all a scare with her hiatal(sp?) hernia, and the need to be propped up when she ate and especially when she slept. Oh heavens!, my fear of something happening to her especially on my watch.
Fast-forward 4 1/2 years and it was time for me to get married. I chose little Daisy to be my flowergirl. She looked so precious in her peach-colored dress.




I was now living across the Ohio, and didn't get to see her, or any of the Rhodes for that matter very often. All three of the kids grew up when I wasn't looking, so imagine my surprise when a few weeks ago, an invitation came to the wedding of Jenna Daisy and Bryon Wesley Shrock (hope I'm spelling that correctly). Yikes!, could this be correct? Were my eyes deceiving me? No, it was all true! My little flowergirl was getting married.
She made a beautiful bride!!! My photography skills just don't do her justice.
The little faux pas that occurred, while she and the family may have fretted over them at the time, like her flowergirl and two ring-bearers running full steam ahead down the aisle, making a hard left and exiting the sanctuary instead of staying for the service, or the leaning wedding cake, the caterer's incident with the warmer-ovens not working and the food not being as warm as it should've been, the d.j. forgetting the bride/groom's last name when he announced their arrival or the matron-of-honor constantly changing the order of events... one of these days she'll look back on them and laugh, if she even remembers them at all.
Most weddings have some little mishap or another, and looking back at mine, I couldn't tell you much about our evening. Everything is such a whirl-wind of activity, that you'll be thankful you have a video to look back on and remember it all.
Congratulations Jenna Daisy and Bryon. Best wishes for a long, loving, life together!

it's a Slumber party

For the most part, my "girls" aren't exactly the best of friends. Oh sure, Olivia tries to play with anyone and everyone, and doesn't take Bootsy's growls and snaps as a warning to leave her alone, no, she just takes that as a sign to try harder to engage Bootsy into playing with her. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
My girls might share a drink from the same bowl, and may from time to time lay in the floor, in close proximity to one another (I think this is more by chance than on purpose) and chew on a bone or toy, but they've never been ones to cuddle up with one another or mutually groom one another, as so many dog-pals do or as Eliott will do with either one of them.
So imagine my surprise this morning, when I exited the front bathroom after taking my shower, only to discover that Bootsy had managed to open the door of the doggy crate and gone in and stretched out on Olivia's blankets, and Olivia had partially pulled the spare/clean blankets out of their storage area so that she was lying half in front of my bedroom doorway, and half in front of the dogcrate. The door of the crate was pushed wide open bumped up against the dining room table, blocking Eliott's entrance to their girl-zone (unless he wanted to walk all the way around the kitchen and come back up the hallway). The girls seemed to be having their "girl-time", and looked so darned cute!, I wish I'd had a camera handy.
I asked them if they were having an all-girl slumber party and Bootsy just responded by stretching her front paws out towards me and Olivia rolled over, partially onto her back for a tummy rub.
There was peace and harmony among my children, and I hated that I had to go get ready for work, as I'd given anything to been able to lay down in the floor with them.
These are some of the moments I crave and live for!!!!

Smurf teeth?

I've got a serious question that I need help with.
What is "Bluetooth"??? Sounds like something a Smurf would have. Who on earth comes up with these names?
I tried looking it up on the internet, but I only got more confused, because the sites it took me to were "speaking in tongue", so to speak. The sites seemed to be geared towards people that are "hip" to all these new-fangled technologies that are out there. Trust me, I'm not hip. I'm usually the last to come on board with new-age things.
I need an explanation in plain English, please.

Babies, babies, everywhere!

I foresee myself being very busy over the next few months...
I've got three friends &/or family members that are pregnant with their first child due between late April and mid June, and another friend trying very hard to get that way... so I guess I'd better get my arse in gear and get cross-stitching. My cross-stitching comes in spurts though, I'll work like crazy for a while, then slack off for a few months, then the frenzy starts again. Right now, even though I need to get myself in gear, I just can't seem to make myself do it. I think I need a jump-start.

Random question

I came across something today that lists several types/styles of music... and it brought to mind a couple of questions. Perhaps some of my kind readers could solve the mysteries for me.
What is the difference between "Hard Rock" and "Heavy Metal"? I always thought they were the same.
What is the difference between "Blues", and "Rhythm & Blues"? Didn't know there were 2 different kinds of blues.

Totally off the wall!

I had gotten off work early (don't know why), and went shopping. I was in some little shop, and while looking at something on a shelf, my aunt Carol walked up next to me (Hi aunt Carol!). We'd no sooner started talking then a store clerk came towards me calling my name, saying that my p.t. office had just called.
Strange, how did they know I'd be at that store?
They had apparently called to tell me to keep an eye on the time, so I wouldn't be late for my appointment.
Hmph! I've never missed an appointment yet!, and the only one I've ever been late for was way beyond my control because of a wreck on the interstate, and I at least had the courtesy to call them and tell them I'd be late.
I looked at my watch, thinking I had plenty of time before my appointment, and was horrified to see that I had about 20 mintes to get there, and I was much further away than 20 mintes. Yikes!
I ran out of the store, hopped on my Wobble-Chair, and started wobbling down the sidewalk. Fast forward...
for some unknown reason, I wobbled right past the p.t. office, and turned into my subdivision. Cripes!, they were paving the street. Now I'd have to take a detour. But then I realized that I'd just passed the p.t. place and that I needed to go back the other way. Grrr, now I was really running late! Okay, I'll just go out the other side of the neighborhood and head back up Chamberlain. I maneuvered my Wobble-Chair up onto the sidewalk to avoid the paving equipment, but as it was now after 5pm, it was apparently quitting time, and the three Hispanic workers started walking home. They were taking their sweet time, and blocking my path on the sidewalk. I couldn't wobble around them, as the grassy area was too wet and soft from all the rain we'd had recently. Arghh!, would I ever get to p.t.?
Well, the question will have to remain unanswered, as I woke up from this dream (nightmare?) I was having.

update

I've already updated on our "communal blogsite" regarding my weight-loss success.
I'm not going to bore you with all the details... that info is privy for my fellow "champions".
Let me just say that we've taken up walking 2 miles every evening, and that changes are indeed taking place, things are going very well for me.
This is sooo much easier to do when you have someone going through it with you!

a dogs life

I went to the G.M.A. website a few minutes ago, to look up a news story they had previewed, but I had missed as I had to leave for work. I did find what I was looking for, but I also found another news story, or more precisely, an interview that Robin Roberts had done with actor John O'Hurley (a.k.a. "J. Peterman" from Seinfeld, also of Dancing w/the Stars). I hadn't known they were doing an interview with him, but just out of curiosity, I clicked on the video link.
Apparently he's recently written a book, "It's okay to miss the bed on the first jump" (or something like that). He had his Brittany spaniel sitting by his side for the interview. While his book isn't all about dogs, I guess he does talk a lot about how important a role dogs play in his life. Needless to say, my eyes teared up while watching the interview, and thinking of my own k-9 kids.
He mentioned how some people treat dogs like, "Oh well, if I decide I don't like the dog or it does something to make me mad, I'll just get rid of it and get another one." His words are sooo very true. I see people that treat their dogs as "disposable" items. Sadly, I know of a few people within our family tree that are that way, and it saddens me so.
Some probably look at what my dogs have cost me (us), not just in vet/food bills, but the ruined furniture, ruined carpeting, ruined clothing, ruined window treatments, etc. etc., and think I'm nuts, but so what? Those items can all be replaced (if I so choose... I just haven't chosen to do so thus far). Besides, I get more love and joy out of my dog-wrecked home, than if I had a spotlessly clean, pristine house, that lacked pet hair.
I intend to pick up a copy of his book this weekend, and I hope it's as funny and touching as I fully expect it to be. If the book causes me to shed a few tears while reading it, then that just means it ranks a 2-thumbs up as far as I'm concerned.

Frozen foods

I think I mentioned a few weeks ago how I had to call for service on our refrigerator. The technician came to the house on a monday (John's day off), and of course the in-door dispenser worked fine while the guy was there. He did however discover that our doors had been recalled. So he ordered the new doors, and made an appointment to come back in 4 weeks to install them.
We of course thought it was going to take that long for the doors to come in, thus the reason for the delay in scheduling.
Not so.
The doors arrived that same week, and have been clogging the aisle in our garage, nearly making it impossible to move around out there. There were five boxes in all, two of them very large.
So yesterday, I get a call from the tech. He said, "This is your G.E. tech, I understand I need to install some doors on your fridge?"
I'm thinking to myself, "dumb ass!... you ordered them, you should know what the job is. what do you mean 'I understand...'?" Of course, I'd no sooner finished the thought then I felt bad. What if this was a different technician? Shame on me! I called John, told him the guy was on his way, corral the dogs.
The tech arrives, installs the new doors, fiddles with this and that, tells John we're good to go, and leaves.
I arrived home about 6:30 last night, approx. 6 hours after the tech had left. I opened the fridge side of the appliance, and the first thing I noticed was the big bag of salad looked a little funny. It didn't appear rotten, no, it appearred frozen. And if any of you have ever encountered frozen lettuce, then you know what I'm talking about. It has a "glassy" look to it.
I looked up at the two dials that controlled the freezer and the refrigerator temperature.s GRRRR! The G.E. tech had set both of them way up! The fridge side was on like a "7", where as I usually keep it on a "4". I wasn't very happy. I started ranting and raving (big shock I know!), the husband tells me I'm exaggerating about things being frozen. Oh really? I picked up a bag of baby carrots. Instead of them tumbling individually loose from the bag, they fell out in one big frozen clump.
He only finally conceded that I might be right, when he opened a 2-ltr. to pour himself a drink, and the beverage came out as slush. I hate to think how much food might've been ruined had we perhaps gone out for dinner last night and not noticed the high setting 'til this morning.
Yeah, I'm hoping G.E. gives me a customer-survey call to ask about our experience. Trust me, they'll get an earful!

Weekend in review...

My weekend in review: One of my "lifestyle-change" buddies and I took up walking to "compliment" our new diets. Actually, three of us were supposed to be walking, but one person keeps baling... ahem!, you know who you are!!! (are you feeling any guilt??). Anyway, our 2-miles walks have felt good, even if they have caused the muscles in my left tushy-cheek to hurt like heck. At least that pain has taken my mind off my back pain. I stop short of calling it sciatica, as I've experienced that before, and this doesn't feel like that. No, I think I'm just stretching muscles that I haven't stretched in quite a while.
We now have a communal blog for our little group to air our thoughts, accomplishments, pit-falls. It's kind of like cyber-Weight-Watchers, only without paying the fee.
We got the camper winterized and it's now parked back in Henry Co., although on a different friends property. This is a little more level of an area, and easier to get in/out of.
The Festivus Tree was re-decorated. Off with the Halloween, on with the fall colors. I'm just not ready to give-in to the Christmas holiday decorating as yet... too soon!!... so it now sports lively shades of orange, rust, golds, cream, w/a hint of green and purple, and little scare-crows peeking out from random branches. Quite festive if I do say so myself.
That's about it from the homefront.
Oh, I did have to report a bus driver to TARC this morning, for some uncalled for maneuvers on Hwy 22. The maniac could have seriously hurt someone, if not killed them.

lazy bones

I've had a dry cough for the better part of three weeks now. No other problems, or rather, no other symptons of a cold, flu or bronchitis coming on... just the annoying dry cough.
My allergist was sure I was coming down with a cold, told me how contageous I was and apologized for not shaking my hand. No problem.
So the cough has continued.
Last night, I briefly choked on a bit of my dinner, and after that, the dry cough became an irritated phlegmy thing that wouldn't go away. I finally sucked it up and took some cough medicine and Advil PM, and I was out for the night by 6:45. I woke up briefly when John came home 3 hours later, but quickly passed out again. It was the longest, best nights sleep I've had in a long, long time, and I had no trouble going back to sleep when he left at 4:30 this morn'.
I'm not sure if it was a combination of the medicines that knocked me out so completely, or if I was truly that exhausted, but either way, my old lazy bones welcomed the sleep.

Stupid phone calls

Telephones are one of my (many) pet peeves in life, for a variety of reasons, too numerous to list.
But I gotta tell you about a call I made to day... I received in the mail the other day, a letter from our health insurance company (or so I thought). It stated that it needed more information regarding my visit to the doctor & a medical claim that was filed on Aug. 10th. The letter asked me to call a 1-800 number and use "X" reference number.
So I made the call.
As it turns out, it wasn't really our insurance company at all. It's a company that tries to go after other companies to get monies reimbursed to my company.
When a real person finally came onto the phone, the girl asked me: "Why did you go to the doctor on 08/10?"
Feeling a need to give a smart-assed answer, I replied: "Because my back hurt."
I know what she really meant... had I injured it at work or at some business that could possibly be held liable and they could go after to pay my bills? And she did finally ask that very question, since my answer didn't satisfy her.
I hated to disappoint her, but when she asked why I decided to go at that time, my smart-ass mode kicked in again: "because it hurt a lot".
I hate insurance companies and these big "stick-their-nose-in-your-business" companies that work for them. Can't they just accept that sometimes accidents happen that really aren't anyones fault? Or that our bodies just start to wear down and out, and aches and pains eventually set in?? The girl seemed somewhat disappointed that she couldn't sink her teeth into my misery. Sorry about her luck!
---
Stupid phone call #2
John dropped the camper off at the camper-fixer-upper place on monday afternoon, and asked them to winterize, repack the wheel-bearings, and repair the dinette table.
Today, the fixer-upper guy called to inform me the camper was ready to be picked up. Fine, I asked how much the bill was.
Oh, well, I don't have that tallied yet.
Okay, can you call me back when you've got it figured up?
Oh, well, I can give you an idea... and he starts reading off how much this service and that one cost, and this part and that one ran (ballpark idea), so that should give you a guesstimate of the cost.
Okay, fine, but can you call me back when you get the bill figured?
Apparently not. It seemed beyond this moron's capability to honor my request. I mean, how hard is it to go to an adding maching, total up the numbers and any taxes that are due, and call me? Pretty darned difficult I guess. I'm now starting to understand why Leisure Life went out of business and am starting to suspect that these idiots won't stay in business for long either.
Perhaps in the future we'll start going to Tom Stinnett's for service.

Halloween

**sigh**, another Halloween, come and gone. We always look forward to this holiday... building a fire in the outdoor fireplace, sitting around with our bowls of candy, many of the neigbors coming down to join us and hand out their candy too. It makes for "one-stop-shopping" for the kids, and the adults get one last chance to chill-out and relax with the friends/neighbors before the really cold weather sets in.
Last year we didn't get to have our usual gathering, as John had just had surgery, and was staying at his sister's house... I didn't want to build and be responsible for the fire by myself, so that was double the reason for us to anticipate having a good time this year.
But, Mother-Nature had other plans. : (
It was cool and rainy all day. By evening, the rain had slacked to a constant mist, just enough to dampen everything and make for a bone-chilling time. But we weren't discouraged (much). We (John that is) still built the fire and managed to keep it going. He & I set up the canopy for some shelter. He grilled a few hotdogs and Polish sausages, some neighbors came and went through-out the evening... there were anywhere from two to seven households represented at any given time.
For the most part, the women huddled under the canopy while the macho-men stood around the fire in the misting rain. We handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters as they marched up to our cabana-room. We finally met some of our new neighbors and added a new member to our bunco group.
The rain stopped about 8:15, just around the time the last t-o-t stopped by... figures!
Oh well, the weather be damned!, we made the most of it and had a good time anyway!!

Day 1 fotoz

Yikes!... I had the husband take these pix last night. Hopefully in a few months there will only be curves in the appropriate places, and fewer lumps & rolls (did I say fewer?, I meant NO lumps or rolls).
Cheers!!

Sick day

I took a sick day off from work yesterday, not that I was really sick, but I did have two doctors appointments, so I didn't see any point in driving all the way to LaGrange for an hour in between appts.
My first appointment was with the allergist to be re-tested. I was hoping to get a "clean bill of health" and hopefully be able to stop taking allergy injections. But that was not to be.
While some of my allergans had decreased significantly, if not completely, several still remained, some of them ranking as a "4", which is high, and warrant me continuing my immunotherapy each month.
Some of the things that rated a 3 or 4: Dust mites (this should motivate me to clean my home, but it doesn't),
Cats (I'll let my 3 kitties live out their natural lives, but I WON'T be getting any more once they're gone... perhaps in the next 2-6 years???),
Cedar trees... hmm, maybe I should have neighbor "M" come cut down the 1/2 dozen or so cedars growing in our back yard,
a lot of different grasses, Fescue and Rye two of the big offenders among some others I'd never heard of... perhaps we could have our lawn astro-turfed, then the husband wouldn't have to cut the lawn, nor would we have to get it treated or water it. Hey, that's looking like a money saver!
And lastly, Plantain weed... never heard of it, don't know what it looks like or where it grows, so how do I avoid it?
Some other allergans, but to a lesser degree of only 1 or 2 on the irritant scale: Dogs... sorry, I'll just have to suffer! I can't live without canine-kids in my life!!!!!
Some molds, but I asked, and the one's I'm most allergic to are found naturally, nothing to be done about them!,
Some trees... oak, box elder
Blue grass and timothy grass, and ragweed (I was shocked that wasn't higher!) Goldenrod actually rated a ZERO!
And tobacco... gee, what a shock (dripping w/sarcasm!!!), actually, I'm surprised it's not a lot higher than the 2 it rated.
My 2nd appt. of the day was to the dentist (again!). About this time last year, he removed a permanent filling I'd had since childhood. I don't know why, I wasn't having any problems with that tooth, but I guess he felt it needed to be replaced. Ever since he put the new filling in, I've been having problems... that molar has become soooo very sensative to heat/cold, that it's unreal! It just about brings tears to my eyes at times, and as a result, I've been forced to change my habit of chewing on the right side to the left. Every once in a while I'll screw up, and am immediately reminded. So yesterday, he removed the "new" filling, and replaced it with a temporary filling, loaded with some kind of medicine that's supposed to deaden the nerve endings in that area, then in a couple of months, he'll remove the temporary filling and put in yet another "new" filling. If that doesn't fix the problem, then he said we'll probably be looking at root-canal. Ouch!! Now there's a word that fills one with dread!
So now I have something to look forward to at the start of 2007... either being pain-free (in my mouth), or getting a root-canal.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life...

If today is the first day, then what was yesterday?... the last day of my past???
Today is Wednesday, November 1st, 2006.
Today, I, along with my friend/neighbor, a friend/co-worker of hers, and anyone else who cares to join us, are starting our new life-style, dietary changes. I simply hate to say diet.
We will be each other's motivation and support system.
We'll be checking in with each other once a week, reporting our weight and progress. Yeah, I admitted my weight to them, but I haven't quite decided how brave I want to be and admit it to all my blog readers.
I managed to lose approx. 65 pounds three years ago. It took about 10 months to do so, but I did it!! Unfortunately, I lost my motivation (faced some depression in my life), and my work-out partners trickled away one by one, and over the past 2 1/2 years have gained back those 65 lbs. and then some.
I'm hoping that my new partners, even if they are cyber-partners, will help keep me motivated, and I can help them too. We're working on the honor-system.
Same as last time, I'm keeping a little notebook with me, and everyday, I write down every single thing I eat and the amount of calories it contains. I'm setting a 2000 calorie limit on myself, but past experience showed me that unless I make a glutton of myself with all the wrong foods and beverages, then rarely did I ever hit 2000.
I think I'll get my husband to take my picture this evening that shows just how out of shape I am (nothing too revealing!) and I'll go back and add it to this blog, so I can see my starting image. Then add a new photo once a month.
Too, I need to remember to take my starting measurements... I didn't do that last time and wished I had...
I'll report back in next wednesday with my progress.

One more thing...

I did leave out something from my vacation blog...
Poor little Livvie, the child has no peripheral vision to speak of. She frequently will walk up next to something, then decide to make a sudden turn and run smack into things.
I totally lost count of the number of times she smacked into things while on our trip. But she did hit one tree (or a branch at least) hard enough to cut the edge of her left eyelid. John brought her back from a walk and she looked like she had gone a few rounds in a boxing ring. Poor little girl!!

Signs, signs, everywhere are signs...

Can't I read the signs? Can't I take a hint? Apparently not.
I'm back from vacation. Not one of my better vacations either. But then, I'm not really remembering when I last went on a vacation that could truly be classified as a "good vacation". It was the week from hell. But what else would one expect me to experience? I've come to the conclusion that it was not in the cards for John & I to experience a truly wonderful vacation. Or at the very least, a dull, uneventful, yet relaxing vacation.
Here is my story...
Sunday, 10/22: our first official day of vacation together. So much to do! Take our two eldest children to "camp grandmas" (a.k.a. our breeder's kennel) for the week, get our youngest child bathed before the trip, open up the camper and give it a good cleaning (and pray that nothing has broken during the summer of just sitting idle). The first two tasks we completed with little problem. John brought the camper home (it's been parked at the firehouse since wednesday evening) and we opened it up. At first, aside from a few small cobwebs, nothing seemed amiss. But then, once I started inspecting things a little closer, I discovered a blue-ish colored mold growing on a few things, but it only seemed to appear on things that were very dark in color. I started cleaning all the surfaces vigorously, removing the mattresses (which seemed to be mold free), and spraying everything down with Lysol, including the mattresses. Everything that could be removed from the camper was taken indoors and washed. So now we wanted to let the camper sit overnight and allow it to get a good airing-out and the Lysol a chance to dry and hopefully work some magic.
Okay, so there was "sign" #1. It was a minor set-back... I'd just have to wait 'til monday morning to pack the camper. No big deal.
Monday, 10/23: Sign #2... Olivia took a dump in the middle of the living room floor. She never does that! What brought this behavior on from out of the blue? I cleaned up the mess, used clorox to clean the area... so what if it left a bleach spot on the carpet, the carpet was ruined a long time ago. At least I know I killed the poo-poo germs.
While I was stuffing things in every knook & cranny of the camper, I was bitten (by a spider I assume) on the wrist. I didn't feel the bite, but when my wrist started itching like crazy, I noticed some bite marks that had popped out. I dabbed some cortizone creme on the area, and went to finish packing.
We continued to ignore the warning signs, and proceeded to pack the camper. I made the beds up with fresh linens, and just before we prepared to close it up, we discovered we had a new pet (sign #3) which had taken up residence in the camper. The backside of the curtains are white, so our "pet" stood out vividly against the background. It was a very large spider. **BLECH!!!!** I do believe I jumped about 3 feet in the air, and another 6 feet sideways to get away from the critter. I screamed, shivered, and did my best to avoid soiling myself. Where had that thing come from? How did I miss seeing it on my other trips right past it?? My thoughts turned to the bite marks on my wrist. Oh crap!, what if that's the thing that bit me? Of course one's first instinct is to smash a spider flat and not give it another thought. But since there was the possibility that this thing had bitten me, what if I got deathly ill? Or worse? No, we needed to keep this spider alive, for evidence. I ran into the house and grabbed a large pickle jar, which I promptly handed over to the husband to go capture it.
Well, I'm happy to report that whatever did bite me, it left no lasting marks on my wrist. So I've been carrying this spider around with me all week, catching flies or moths and tossing them in the jar. I now have a pet spider (which I think I've identified as being a wolf spider), I've been calling him Furry-Freddy.
We finally hit the road around 1 or 2pm, later than we had intended, but what did it matter? We weren't on a schedule.
As we headed down I-65, just past Shepherdsville, we encountered the Titanic. Sort of. There was a houseboat, of proportions the likes I've never seen before, being hauled down the road on the back of a tractor-trailer. It was so wide, it took up two lanes of the interstate. If I'm lying, I'm dying. It was enormous!!!
By the time we reached the campgound 90 minutes later, my back was starting to ache. We virtually had the campground to ourselves. When we arrived, there were three other campers spread out over the 4 sections. No need to worry about disturing anyone, or about being disturbed. Throughout the week, there were never more than five other campers, but usually only 2 or 3. I dare say, all the other campers were older than us, and not one of them had a child, other than the 4-legged variety with them. That was the most delightful part of the whole trip... the peace and quiet!!
We set up camp in site B-5, which we kept referring to as "After"... a bingo joke. We chose it as it was a little closer to the bath-house than our usual site, and as our friends (a pregnant friend no less) were supposed to join us later in the week, we wanted to be closer to the toilets for her frequent urges.
John went to the host site and asked where we could purchase some firewood, but the kindly attendant offered up his whole supply, as he was leaving in a few days, and wouldn't be needing any more. So we made off with quite a stache of firewood.
By the time we were done setting up, we were both worn out, my back was really aching by now, and we just wanted to rest. So we opted for heating up some pork tenderloin I'd fixed at home, instead of cooking a big meal over the fire.
It got pretty darned cold that night. The space-heater ran non-st0p. Olivia slept curled up next to John in his sleeping bag on the bed below mine, leaving me to shiver alone. Hmph!, my Kelsey would never have left my side. I see who my loyal companions are!!
Tuesday, 10/24: we awoke to a heavy frost on everything, and my back in absolute agony. I was having pain-flashbacks to August, when my troubles began. I called my friend that was watching the house at 7:30 that morning and had her go root through the cabinet to find my muscle-relaxers, so I could get the prescription number and have it refilled at the Wal-mart in Leitchfield. Like we've always said, never camp anywhere that doesn't have a Wal-mart within a half hour drive!
Once I was finally able to crawl off my bed and get dressed, I fixed a big breakfast, did the dishes, then limped up to the bath-house for a hot shower. Thankfully, the water was hot. Unfortunately though, the heat wasn't turned on in the building, so I was very cold once the water was turned off. My teeth chattered uncontrollably while I got dressed.
We got to the Wal-mart and John dropped me off. Of course, this store is laid out the exact opposite from the one by my house, so the door I entered was the furthest one away from the pharmacy. I limped across the store, gave them my refill number and insurance info, and they informed me it would take 30 minutes. Fine. While I was waiting, I picked out yet another heating pad (this makes the 3rd one in my collecti0n), and a bottle of Advil PM, then I sat in the waiting area and waited, and waited, and shifted, trying to find a comfortable position. One was not to be found. I cried a few tears from the pain and frustration, and waited some more. After 30 minutes had come and gone, I finally went to find out what was taking so long. Oh, my prescription was ready... then why the hell didn't they call my name? I was sitting right in front of them! Arghhh!!!
Back at camp, we ate lunch and waited for John's aunt/uncle to arrive for a visit. 45 minutes past the scheduled arrival time, I gave up waiting and went to lay down. I had no sooner plopped down then they showed up. Figures! I went outside, and Olivia proceeded to try and take a bite out of aunt Jane. I was horrified!! My sweet little child has never acted so horribly before, but she just did not want Jane anywhere near us.
They wanted to take us to dinner that evening, and I was just in a mood not to argue, so we met them at BB's Italian Restaurant. Olivia was left in the car while we dined. Our waitress was a low-talker, and for anyone that's a Seinfeld fan, then you know what I'm talking about. We couldn't understand a word she was saying, and had to strain to catch a word here and there.
Back at camp, I opted to sleep in the lower bunk, opposite of John, as I'd be able to prop myself up somewhat, and hopefully that would help ease the pain. It didn't help.
Wednesday, 10/25: I wasn't getting any relief from the back pain, and refused to fix breakfast. Coffee was all I was willing to prepare. We lazed around, not even getting dressed until almost noon. We skipped the showers, and wore hats over our mussed hair. We went out driving around, and witnessed the odometer on the 4-Runner roll over to 123,000 miles. There was lots of wildlife... deer, turkey buzzards, woodpeckers, chipmunks & squirrels, and a huge flock of wild turkey that ran past our campsite before flying out across the lake. That evening, we cooked a big meal, John grilled chops out over the fire. After dinner, I had the space-heater on low, just to keep the chill at bay, and I plugged the slow-roaster oven in and fixed a pan of brownies. While I was washing the dishes, the power suddenly went out. John checked the circuit breaker outside, but nothing was tripped. He unplugged the camper and re-plugged it anyways, but that didn't help. I unplugged everything in the camper. We were at a loss. John drove up to the host site and informed the attendant that we were without power... thinking that maybe the power was out to our area of the campground.
The host came and tested the electrical post, but wasn't getting any juice. He was perplexed. He walked to the next site and tested it. At this point, I misunderstood him, and thought he said it didn't have power either. I was now getting frustrated by everything. If we had to move our camper to another site, then I'd just as soon pack it in and go home. Finally, the host said we needed to check our fuse & breaker box in the camper. Huh?? Didn't know we had one. He & John looked around, then finally found it... back under our beds. So John had to disassemble our bunks and crawl back to the box. He finally got the breaker reset, and we were back in business. Yeah, John disassembled the bed, so you know who got to re-make them. Moi.
That night, the sky was so very clear, the stars were very bright and we enjoyed the campfire.
Thursday, 10/26: It sprinkled rain off and on throughout the day, but never rained much... even our bath towels that we hung on the clothes line we'd tied between two trees stayed dry. The temperature was warm enough to enjoy wearing shorts. The heat had finally been turned on in the bath house, so now it was a toasty affair while taking a shower. We knew the real rain would be setting in soon, so we tried to make the best of our time outside. I couldn't walk very far, as my back wouldn't allow it. I gave serious consideration to making the drive back to Louisville for a trip to my chiropractor, but nixed the idea and toughed it out. Late Thursday night, the rain picked up. By now, our friends had informed us they wouldn't be coming down, but I wasn't even upset. I wasn't in the mood to play hostess.
Friday, 10/27: We awoke to drizzle. It drizzled off and on all day. It would rain for 10 minutes, then stop for 5, then start again, repeating a similar cycle all day long. It was depressing. By now, we had exhausted our supply of movies that we'd brough along, so we made another trip to Wal-mart. I scoured the 2/$11 bin and came away with a handful of movies. Most of which proved to be total duds!! I also picked up a Nyla-bone for Olivia, thinking it would help keep her occupied. Not!!
Back at the camper, I suggested setting the dinette table up and playing some cards or dice games (thus far, we hadn't had need for the dinette table). Bad idea! I tossed all the bedding onto the spare bunks, and reassembled the beds into the settees and the dinette area. As I was lowering the legs on the table, one of the legs broke off. Crap!! What else was going to go wrong?? There was no way to fix it either. I just reassembled the beds (again!), and told John we'd just continue to watch movies. Now we were both fairly bored out of our minds!!
And poor Olivia!! Anytime we tried to eat or even prepare a meal, we had to lock her in the back of the 4-runner. She wasn't happy about it. She threw a few fits over being confined to the car, but what could we do? One can not eat any food in her presence, or else she's right there in your face. Even at home, we have to put her in her crate while we eat. I will say this though... by having her there, we didn't eat nearly as much junk food as we'd normally have consumed. Usually within the first 24 hours, we'd have nearly consumed an entire container of dip and a bag of chips. But by having her there, we didn't even break the seal on the chips/dip until friday, as it wasn't worth the hassle of putting her in the car just to indulge our snack-attacks. At home, she normally works off her excess energy by trotting up/down the hall, wrestling with our other danes, or else by running circles on the retractable leash in the side yard. But on this trip, when I put her on the retractable leash, she just kind of wondered around, sniffing the ground, eating acorns. She tried to run laps inside the camper a couple of times, but we had to discourage that and give her a couple of Benadryls to help calm her down. I'm a such bad mother. Then Nyla-bone, which normally lasts a dog several days, if not weeks (I've even had them last for a year or so with previous danes), was completely eaten by Olivia in less than 20 minutes. Good luck with that bowel-movement girlfriend!
This next little story falls under the catagory of T.M.I., but I'll tell you anyway. Normally, when I pack clothes for a trip, I pack 1 pair of underwear more than what I should need, just in case. I mean hey, you never know when you'll slip and fall in some mud or a puddle, or have an auto accident causing you to have an accident. But not this time, no, I packed exactly the number I needed. I don't know why. Friday afternoon, Olivia's devouring her Nylabone, we're watching a movie, munching on Pringles, when I got choked on a chip. I started coughing uncontrollably, which only made my back spasm even worse. The inevitable happened, and I wet my pants. (Ah yes, I see Depends in my future.) Okay, remove the now wet panties... I now have one clean pair of undies left. Crud. I wanted to save them for my shower in the morning so I could be dressed in nice clean clothes. The alternative? Put yesterdays underwear back on.
We picked up aunt Janie and took her to dinner at the local Mexican restaurant. John & I ordered different things off the menu, but when our plates arrived, they were exactly the same, the only difference being his had green bell peppers mixed in. Of course, our waiter couldn't understand our questions, so we just had to shrug and accept what was served us was the correct thing.
The rain finally stopped (for the most part) that night, but now the wind had picked up. At times, it felt as if our little camper would blow away. But I guess it wasn't that bad, as we never had to take our awning in (unlike the last trip where we put it up and took it down at least twice a day).
Saturday, 10/28: When we got up, the wind was still fierce, but this was actually a good thing. It had dried everything out, so we didn't have to wait 'til later in the day for the camper to dry. At least, not for the outside. We noticed that there was a dewey layer of condensation all over the inside of the camper. Grrrr. As it had been zipped up tight, the steam from cooking, our warm breath as we slept, the steam from doing dishes, etc. etc., had all collected on the ceiling. Now I had to crawl around with a towel and dry the inside before we could close it up.
We fixed a quick breakfast over the fire, which barely stayed lit because of the high winds. We were both fed up, and decided to forego showering, instead we decided to pack it in and hit the road for home. We didn't even take the time to change clothes, but just wore the clothes we'd slept in. Okay, so by the time we arrived home, I've now been wearing the same pair of undies for three days. I think they could have crawled into the washer unassisted.
When we got home and got everything unloaded, the dirty laundry filled the hallway. I did no less than 8 loads of laundry. How do two people manage to dirty up so much stuff? A hot shower and clean clothes does wonders for one's spirits. We went out to dinner with our friends, where I proceeded to dribble bbq sauce down my clean shirt and pants, and left a permanent grease stain on the shirt that didn't come out when I laundered it the next day. : (
Olivia was glad to be back home in her recliner. That makes two of us!!
Sunday, 10/29: We went to pick up our other children. They seemed oh so very excited to see us. I couldn't keep Bootsy from jumping up and trying to hug me, and Eliott knocked John down into a chair and did his very best to climb up on top of him. We managed to get them both bathed, then peeked in at the 8-day old puppies that were their nieces/nephews. Too cute!!
Back home, Eliott gave us the pouty-silent treatment the rest of the evening, I suppose his way of letting us know he resented being left for so long.
So now it's monday, I'm back to work and finally caught up.
I think I've come to the conclusion that John & I need to take separate vacations in the future. That way, one of us can stay home with the children at all times, and we won't get on each others nerves in the event we'd get cooped up in a small space together as we did this past week.