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!
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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!!