Let me tell you...

Update for 2010

2010-11-05T09:04:00.000-05:00

I don't have much time today to make a detailed post, but hopefully I can resume making Dogs on Thursdays posts sometime soon. I miss catching up with other dog bloggers!

My last post was in 2009 and there have been lots of changes since then! It would take up too much time and space to describe it all, so here is a list of the big events:

Rich and I got married on 10/17/09! It was almost the only day in October that did NOT rain, and it was a bit COLD to be wearing a strappy dress, but the weather was still nice enough for an outdoor wedding. Friends and family helped keep all the behind-the-scenes stuff running and I got to marry a wonderful man.

Shortly after the wedding I lost my job. Social services took a big funding hit and I got laid off, spent some time on unemployment, but temporarily worked as an educational test scorer and also started a CNA job in February that has helped me get more out of nursing school and vice versa. I am pretty sure I'm done with social services, but will probably keep up my DV certification just in case I need it down the road.

In pet news, we adopted our dog Buddy in December 2009 from the local animal shelter. He is also a beagle mix like Zeus, but the mixes are different... as well as their personalities!

We also lost Kitty a few months ago. He had feline leukemia, and after it became evident that he was in so much pain, we decided it was time to let him go. Our vet put him to sleep and we buried him over at the house (that we are eventually moving into) under a huge tree. Now we have "Kitty's tree."

Progress has been made on the house, but it's not ready to move into yet. There is still work to be done, and now we're looking at moving in the spring. Maybe.

As for school, I am on the home stretch. If all goes as planned, I should be finished with LPN classes in December, graduate in January, take the NCLEX, and hopefully be an official LPN by February. It's sink or swim time. I have a decent shot at getting an LPN position where I work but nothing is guaranteed.

I registered for next semester, despite the fact that I'm tired of school. If I want to pursue the RN bridge program at all, I might as well keep working towards it while I can. I signed up for Microbiology and another math class. Yay.

We took a much needed vacation in October to Mexico. We didn't take a honeymoon after the wedding, so this was our combo honeymoon-1 year anniversary trip. Sitting by the pool and beach, all inclusive food and drinks, and going on excursions for exploring Mayan ruins, snorkeling, and swimming with dolphins is much more fun than the daily routine!

I think that brings everything up to date.

'Til I write again... :)

dog saves boy's life

2009-10-01T12:42:00.000-05:00

Hello to "Dogs on Thursday" bloggers,

This has been sitting as a draft since August...I haven't made a post in quite a while! Life has kept me busy, and the wedding planning took up a lot of my time. (The wedding is less than three weeks away now!) Then once school started again, I've had even less free time!

I took a photo on my phone of Zeus today, just so doggie bloggers can see he is doing fine:

Anyway, here is what I meant to post a couple of months ago. Wow, looking at it now, it would have taken SO long to post about three lines of text (insert sarcasm here). Hopefully I get to make another one next week or at least sometime this month:

I saw this article, and knew I had to share it with Dogs on Thursday readers, in case some of you haven't seen it yet.

See the article here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,538724,00.html

See you all soon on the 'net,

Mindy

Dogs on Thursday: Visual Representation

2009-07-23T10:57:00.004-05:00

I realized today was Thursday and I could make a DOT post. As I already blogged about today (see my previous post for news and photos!), we're a little swamped around here. I still haven't even unpacked my suitcase from our vacation because it's one more thing I don't want to mess with right now.

I snapped this quick photo of Zeus for today's post. It's not a pretty photo - he is napping on a pile of what was clean laundry (which now needs to be rewashed and then put away promptly instead of making a "fold later" pile). It is, though, a good visual representation of how I am feeling today.

A little down time - just a day or two - would be welcome! It will happen soon.

Happy Dogs on Thursday.

Summer 2009, so far...

2009-07-23T10:08:00.010-05:00

Hello, blogger world. I've been too busy for you lately. Here is a summary of the last couple of months:

I participated in a 1-mile fun run/walk with my Mom and my niece. My niece took off like a speed demon and left Mom and I in the dust! I think we still did a good job getting to the finish line. I think my 5K plans are going to be on hold until next year. I haven't trained and don't see how I would be ready for anything soon. I have a couple of races under my belt; that will have to do for now. Hopefully I can squeeze in some exercise to alleviate some stress, however. I am going to need it over the next few months!

Summer school is still in progress. I finished the phlebotomy class with a "S" (it was pass or fail) and found it pretty interesting. I am not sure how I would feel about sticking those needles into a real person, but at some point I will have to do that. I also finished my intro LPN course. I got a B in that, which I was really irritated about since it was only a two day class, but I can't do anything about it now. There are just a couple of weeks left of my medical terminology class. So far I have an A in that. It's right on the border between an A and B, which means I'll have to keep it up. I already feel like not working on it anymore.

Work is kind of nuts these days. Thanks to the state budget mess, some of my coworkers were laid off and/or resigned, and those of us left are trying to get by without them.

The best part of summer was the getaway! Rich was in a wedding at the end of June. It was in Texas. We decided to drive for the entire trip. Keep in mind, we live in Illinois! After the wedding, we continued on the highway up to the Grand Canyon. We spent two nights and a very full day there, participating in an all-inclusive tour (plane, jeep, walking, and pontoon boat), and it was amazing. I took hundreds of photos. On our second night there, we were walking along the paved trail at the top of the south rim, and he proposed! It was perfect.

I would take up way too much space on my blog posting photos from the trip that would do it any justice. The highlights were posted in my Facebook albums and I haven't printed any for real photo albums yet. I am forced to narrow it down to these, as follows: The highway in New Mexico on the way to Arizona, two photos from our first night at the Grand Canyon, and photos from the tour (plane ride over Marble Canyon, walking tour through Antelope Canyon, and the boat trip through Glen Canyon). The photo of the dam has significance because we saw it from the plane, and that is also where we started the boat trip after driving through an access tunnel near the dam.

Now I'm back in the daily life of working, tinkering with my online class, and planning a wedding. Most of my free time has been browsing websites, looking in stores, and running errands because the wedding isn't far away. I wanted an outdoor wedding in the fall, and there is just enough time to put it together. I'd like to have the big stuff lined up before I start school again in August. We have the site, photographer, my dress, my ring, the florist, the musicians, and some progress on the wedding party's attire. But there is a lot left to do!

I doubt I'll have much time to post updates for a little while. Maybe I will post more details as they come along. Stay tuned...

DOT: Musical Chairs

2009-06-04T12:52:00.005-05:00

Happy Dogs on Thursday!

Remember that game we played as kids where people are competing for chairs? Zeus and Kitty have it down to an art. Whoever hops up on the chair first claims it. Once they get down, the other will seize it.

What's wrong with this picture? I try to encourage Kitty to lay on the ottoman so Zeus can have the chair, but he's sneaky. Zeus DID get the chair shortly after I got this picture. He sat on his throne for a while.

I had temporarily moved the chair and ottoman in front of the bed so neither of them would get on the bed. Those are back in front of the window now. Even with access to the bed, the chair is still the goal.

That used to be my favorite chair.

Whiskers on Wednesday: habits

2009-06-03T07:09:00.007-05:00

Just a couple of quick photos here. I was looking through some photos on the computer and found some from the end of December 2008. Kitty was giving himself a "bath" in the kitchen.

Kitty does a pretty decent job of keeping himself cleaned off.

Once he was done, he started to return to his stinker self. Can't you see a little bit of a smirk starting to emerge? Hee hee.

late DOT post: Zombie Zeus

2009-05-29T09:45:00.003-05:00

This is just a quickie post - but Zeus is sleeping on the bed behind me - with his eyes open! His eye lids are open but his eyeballs are rolled up so you can't see them.

I can't post a photo of that - It's so creepy to see cute, cuddly Zeus looking like a zombie!

I can post an older photo though, one that I don't think I ever posted on my blog yet.

Rich took this one while he was playing around with the camera back in January. At least Zeus's face will show up on my blog today.

Happy (day late) Dogs on Thursday!

Whiskers on Wednesday: first post

2009-05-27T11:47:00.007-05:00

The title says it: this is my first Whiskers on Wednesday post. I don't know how much time or content I'll have, as I am not keeping up with Dogs on Thursday as much as I used to, but I'll see what I can do!

Kitty has been kind of needy this week. A couple of days ago while I was on the phone, I was lying on my back on the bed in the guest/computer room. Kitty took that as an opportunity to crawl onto my stomach and get some attention.

This may be a little "too much information" but cat owners will probably appreciate this: There have been plenty of times where he's followed me into the bathroom. It's happened before where he's followed me into the bathroom and propped his front paws up on my knees while I'm sitting on the toilet; it's as if he was saying - hey! PET ME! It's all about me, not you.

Today he topped himself. He jumped up onto my lap as soon as I sat on the toilet! I politely pushed him off and he decided to peek through the shower curtain to explore what was behind there.

He hovered around in the bathroom well after I was done, so I took a photo of him standing at his post.

Maybe I should start shutting the door!

It's happy dance time again!

2009-05-22T08:47:00.002-05:00

It's time for another happy dance, because the spring semester is finished!!!

I already used some images for the end-of-semester post in December, so needed to find some more on Google image search. (See the December post here.)

I ended up getting a B in my BIO/Anatomy & Physiology II class (almost got a C, but put in some extra effort at the end and also had a streak of luck). I also got an A in my health care topics class. Woo hoo!

Now I have my general ed requirements done and have only the LPN classes left to complete.

The summer term started this week. I just completed the intro class, which was one of those all-day, for two days in a row classes, and now that one is done. The big LPN classes will start in the fall.

Right now I can focus on the stuff I am taking for the heck of it. My phlebotomy class is proving to be interesting already. I found out we do not have to practice drawing blood from our classmates. I think everybody in the class was relieved to hear that. We'll use fake arms that have fake blood in them. Yesterday we learned how to use lancets (such as to test for blood sugar) and we were supposed to stick ourselves. The girl sitting next to me and I were both a little skittish about pricking our own fingers, so we did that to each other (with the instructor's permission, we were just told we had to wear gloves, of course). I think it would have been worse doing it to myself.

Speaking of needles, I've been poked with enough of them lately. In order to update my health records for nursing school, I had to get 2 TB tests, a varicella titer (to prove I'm immune to the chicken pox), a tetanus shot, and start a Hepatitis B series vaccination. Ugh. The hep B is a series of 3 shots, so I go back in June for dose #2 and in October for dose #3. Then it's recommended to get a titer to make sure the immunity worked. I just might do a happy dance when all of that is over too! My doctor had to clear me to do the work, too. She had to include on my physical form that I have "cervical degenerative disc disease" but as long as I am doing the regular exercises I was prescribed to do (that I learned in physical therapy last year), I shouldn't have a problem performing the technical skills for the nursing program. Zeus and I can hobble around the condo together if we don't keep our strength up, I guess.

I'm in the process of gathering up the books I'll need for the fall so I can start looking over them now...but that's not going to stop me from enjoying my summer.

As far as my race training goes, I have alot of work to do. I have quickly lapsed from 5k to nothing. The 5k that I was going to do on Memorial Day? I decided I'm not ready for it. I need to work back up to where I was, and find a way to do it without hurting myself. My mom and I did participate in the walk I mentioned earlier in May. There were different races in that event. We did the "Twosome" walk, which was a 5k relay, so we each walked 1.5 miles. I'm totally proud of her for doing that, and now she's the one that's kept up the activity and is getting me motivated to get back up and off of my butt.

Here we are after she went through the finish chute. We were in the "Combined ages: 81-99" category (our combined age is 92) and won first place in that category. Well, we were the only twosome in that age category, but we still did awesome! Walking 3 miles in 47 minutes is still a pretty quick pace.

We even have the medals to prove it ;)

There is an event in June that we might do, but that all depends on how the family schedules work together. Details and/or photos may appear in a later post.

Stay tuned...

DOT post: New Harness

2009-05-21T05:59:00.009-05:00

Earlier this week we had some nice weather when I took Zeus out for a quick potty break. He sat in the grass and rolled in the sunshine. Of course, I didn't have my camera. After we went back inside to get it, I let Zeus sit around for a while.

This was a good spot for him to enjoy the grass and still see an occasional person and pup.

In this photo you can see his new harness. Scroll down for more info on why he now has a harness instead of his neck collar. He doesn't seem to mind it much.

I couldn't find the fold up lawn chairs and was getting a little tired of sitting in the grass, so made the decision that it was time to go back upstairs. I thought the balcony would still allow some fresh air for us and I could sit. Zeus realized it was second best!

He was watching a neighbor walk her dog. We went inside shortly after that, but Zeus will have plenty of time outside to come!

Last week Zeus had an episode that scared us. I came out of one of the bedrooms and he was lying in the hallway. Normally he follows us everywhere, but he wouldn't get up. When he tried to move, he yelped, and he wouldn't turn his head to the left side. Rich was able to get him up, but when Zeus was able to walk a few inches, it was with his back hunched up and then he couldn't go any further. Rich carried him outside so Zeus could use the yard, and we thought maybe he was just constipated. But then he would lay in the yard and refuse to get back up, which is something he hadn't done before. Rich carried him back upstairs, and then Zeus went back and forth between moving around okay and then hunching up again and yelping.

There was already a regular vet check scheduled for the next day, so Zeus spent some time at the office getting his rabies shot, nails clipped, and under some observation. He was diagnosed with cervical disc disease. (He has a heart murmur too, but we already knew that.) After a shot of prednizone and some pills to take home, Zeus was released but it was suggested he should have a low stress weekend. We had a pretty heavy storm that night, but he survived it fine.

Hopefully the harness will reduce a little bit of strain on his neck during walks or time out in the yard. Really, his behavior is good so there isn't much strain anyway, but every bit we can do might help.

This week he seems like his old self again. We might just have to baby him a little more. I don't think he'll mind that at all.

Where is he?

2009-05-07T03:33:00.005-05:00

In my web surfing tonight, I came across a video about "Where the hell is Matt?" I have seen it before, probably a couple of years ago, but really enjoyed seeing it again. The story behind it can be viewed here on the website. Apparently Matt just finished a book about the experience.

How could anybody watch this and feel grumpy? How awesome that he got to see all of these places and bring other people into the fun of it.

I think it's a good reminder to lighten up a bit... and that I really should get that passport paperwork filled out and submitted one of these days. Soon.

The Kirby Derby 5k

2009-05-07T03:02:00.011-05:00

Saturday morning would have been an excellent time to sleep in. Instead, I got myself moving and attempted another 5k.

My niece was supposed to participate in the kids's race, but wasn't able to make it to town to come see me. We were both disappointed! I told her I would find another one that we could do together.

I got there just in time to pick up my timing chip and do a little bit of stretching before it all got started. Then we moved over to the starting line as I tried to determine what my strategy would be this time. I decided to try to keep jogging, but go slower, and maybe I could go longer distances in between the "walking it out" parts.

We got the announcement to "GO!" and then a gunshot went off. (I was not expecting that and it scared me a little!!) I jogged for quite a while. I started to feel the urge to walk, but had to push myself to keep going past the people with video cameras, and did my best to look like I wasn't struggling. The race went through some residential and business areas in a small town that I used to live in. It was kind of neat to run through the streets and remember that I used to drive down them running errands.

I finally hit the point where I needed to walk for a little bit, although this time I didn't need to walk as much as in the last race. I think going slower helped decrease the recovery time between jogs and my side/ribcage area didn't hurt as often. I also encouraged myself to keep trying, even if I could only make it to the next stop sign, or tree, or whatever I had my eye on.

Eventually I knew the finish line wasn't far away. As I hit the 3 mile mark, someone with a stopwatch announced 39:02. I got excited, hoping I could finish in under 40 minutes. The finish chute was just around the corner! I went through at 40:06.

The progress: my first 5k was finished in 45:52. I took just over 5 minutes off of my total time!

Room for improvement: I was sweating and a little dizzy when I turned in my timing chip and had to sit down for a minute. My right hip hurt pretty bad and I limped to the car to get my camera for some photos of the rest of the event. It seems that I am having a recurring problem with my hip (or both sides) causing me some pain after this kind of exertion. I'm going to have to get some guidance on that.

Obviously, I couldn't take a picture of myself coming through the finish chute. This will have to do:

This is the final stretch, off the street and back into the park. You can't see the finish chute in this photo, but when I was turning that corner, I could see it!

I had to settle for getting this photo after I finished.

It seems cheesy now that I look at it, but it was a sense of excitement and relief when I jogged under that big blue inflatable arch.

There were many people that were staffing the event. Under the pavilion were some wonderful people handing out food for us to refuel ourselves with. I ate a bagel, a banana, a little bit of gatorade, and my water. You can bet I also took two of the oreos that were laid out. I think I earned them!

I decided to watch the kids race even though my niece wasn't there. It looks like she would have been one of the older kids there, though probably not the oldest. I applauded all of the kids as they finished. Then I went back to the finish chute and cheered on the last 10k runners that were coming in. Super kudos to them!!!

The results were posted and I was able to figure out where I fit in with the statistics. On one hand, I think I shouldn't do that because I should be competing with myself, not everyone else. On the other hand, I want to know my times and the numbers so I can evaluate my progress.

My total time: 40 minutes, 6 seconds

Average per mile: 12 minutes, 56 seconds

203 people ran in the 5k. I was the 193rd person to finish.

I stayed to watch some of the awards ceremony, but applauded for many people I didn't know and was moving from a moment of enjoying the event to a moment of wanting to get in my car and go home so I could take a nap. I did exactly that.

The next 5k: Memorial Day! I have a little time to practice and get my time under 40 minutes. I only need to get 10 seconds off my time to do that, and I'll be happy enough. If I can get it down to maybe 38 minutes, I think that would be awesome. In the meantime, I just need to practice.

This weekend I will be doing a "twosome" walk with my Mom. She's been training for it and working hard. There are different events that day, but we are doing the walk where we each walk 1.5 miles as a relay, so together you end up walking a 5k. I am pretty excited about this one, because she'll be doing it with me.

It's time to put on those running shoes again!

DOT post: Happy Returns!

2009-04-30T13:10:00.010-05:00

Happy Dogs on Thursday!

The DOT posts have gotten away from me and am glad I can make a post today. I have plenty of blog reading to catch up on now! I think a few new people have joined the DOT blog roll since I've posted anything, and I totally missed the 100th post contest.

These are photos I took of Zeus some time earlier in April. He was bored on the couch...

...until he heard the door downstairs slam shut! Then he knew someone was coming home. We like to build it up for him. "Who's that? Go get him!!" (Or her, depending on who it is.)

There are no exciting Zeus news going on at the moment. He is, however, overdue for a nail clipping. He's either getting a trip to PetSmart's grooming station or getting a combo deal at the vet when he gets his shots - so he will have some adventures sometime soon.

The other household animals are fine. Kitty is his usual stinker-but-cuddlebug self. The doves that decided to take over our balcony raised their babies and they've left the nest.

We humans are fine too. I have one more week of school and then it's time for final exams. I have alot that's up in the air with school, but that will be determined over the next two weeks. In summary, I have been accepted into the LPN program (FINALLY!) and will have finished my general education classes after this semester, with only nursing classes left (3 semesters to go, part time). But, in order to meet the GPA requirement I need to get B's or higher in both classes now. I have one A and one C. So we shall see. I have a back-up plan in place for the summer, just in case I don't get that C up to a B, but I'm still going to try.

Until next week...or two... everybody enjoy your day(s)!

Race, take two: the 4k

2009-04-30T08:19:00.024-05:00

Last weekend I attempted another running/walking event!

This was my second race: a 4k, which is about 2.5 miles. The only training I did, however, was walking three miles on a particular Saturday, which was about a week before the race. I was dog sitting and used the opportunity of walking around in a subdivision. Initially I planned on running as much as I could. I had mapped out 3 miles in my car and knew exactly where I needed to turn around. Unfortunately it was pretty hot outside and all I could do was walk. I had a bottle of water in one hand and my cell phone in the other.

Here is where I ended up at my turnaround point. I was in a stretch of unsold land lots. If it weren't for the sidewalk, I would really have felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. The sidewalk was in the middle of the street median, which was pretty convenient for walkers and runners. There were a few other people I encountered during my hour or so of walking.

The simulatenous pro and con of walking outside: I had no choice but to walk all the way back.

On the way back, I noticed a bit of yellow poking out towards the sidewalk. I know some people think dandelions are just weeds, but I remember as a kid always thinking they were the flowers that would turn your skin yellow and I think that was supposed to mean you liked butter. It brightened up my walk.

The day came last weekend where it was time for the 4k. It happened to be at the university I went to, so I knew my way around pretty well. Rich came with me and took a few photos from the sidelines. My goal was to jog what I could, walk the rest, and just finish it. I had just enough time when we got there to pick up my stuff, find a bathroom in the closest building on campus, and change into my provided T-shirt before the race. I'm not visible in this photo; I was under the other side of the pavilion, I think.

I was glad it didn't start until 2pm because I wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn. What I soon figured out is most races start so early so it might not be so hot outside!

Here is a quick pic of me getting ready to join the crowd at the starting line.

It wasn't long before we took off! I was able to jog for a couple of minutes, just to the edge of the pond and beginning of the first loop that led into the wooded area. It's hard to see in this photo, but I am second to the right of those bleachers. (It was easier to see when I had it pulled up on the computer rather than this image for my blog.)

I think I pushed myself a little too hard because my side started to hurt. Then my stomach started to hurt. It was also pretty hot and windy, which was drastically different than the chilly weather I ran in for the 5k at the end of March. I ended up walking more than anything else, and occasionally jogged for 10 seconds here or there. I was happy to see that there were marks spray-painted in the grass to tell you how far along you were. When I saw the 3k mark, I thought "less than a mile to go!!!"

By the time I got to the finish line, I didn't want to jog anymore and walked to the end. It looks like there was nobody else around, but that's not really true. I think I was the last of the runners, but there were still plenty of walkers behind me, as it was a run/walk so you could do whatever you wanted to do. I finished it in 35 minutes and 52 seconds, which Rich said is about the same pace as the first race I completed (which was 45:52 for 5k, or about 3.1 miles).

I haven't needed as much recovery time as I did with my first race, although this one was a little shorter distance. My hip was bugging me for a couple of days after. Yesterday my lower back started to hurt, but I think I just strained a muscle somehow and am not sure it's from the race.

I've figured out that I look forward to participating in these events, and am happy after I do them. It's during the race where I feel out of shape and wonder why I'm doing this to myself! I am signed up for more though, and am focusing on the sense of accomplishment I'm getting out of it.

Next up is a 5k this weekend (May 2nd), a 2 mile walk on May 16th, and a 5k on Memorial Day. If I can get my Mom to join me, we might do a relay walk on May 9th - where each person walks about 1.5 miles, so together you walk a 5k.

At this point I might wait before registering for anything else. There is an event on June 6th that I am thinking about but am not sure if I'm doing it yet.

I'm making what progress I can. That's all I can do! :)

Wierd luck

2009-04-30T08:18:00.002-05:00

At the beginning of April I had my cholesterol tested as a routine every-couple-of-years thing. I was a bit disturbed when I got the results that it's "borderline high." It's always been on the high end of "normal" so that means it went up!! My doc knows I'm working on the diet and exercise thing, and my blood pressure is fine. She said she was suprised too, actually. I'm supposed to retest in the fall.

I am not denying I have room for improvement in the management of my health. I could stand to lose a few pounds, have a sweet tooth, and I like to eat - but I try to use "moderation, not deprivation" and make a mental note of when I should be getting more grains, fruits, and veggies. I'm even cutting down on the diet soda to one or two cans per day and forcing myself to drink water instead. What I find odd is how some people can do all the wrong things and still get by just fine.

When I took my car to get a belt replaced at a small auto repair shop, I ended up chatting with the owner, as I have when I've been there before. He is in his 70s. We started a conversation about food and health when he saw me eating my hurried lunch in the waiting area (I was having a turkey and cheese lunchables package). He recently had a "healthy heart test" that one of the medical clinics here was offering. He said that he did so well on the stress test, they stopped the treadmill and told him "whatever you're doing it, keep doing it." He confessed to me that he smokes, drinks two pots of coffee a day, eats fried foods, and his breakfast five days a week consists of 1 egg, 4 pieces of bacon, juice and toast. He never takes medications and said that if a doctor prescribes anything, he's not going to take them.

I'm not perfect, but he gets away with all that, and I'm the one with a borderline health issue? Hmmm.

Learning opportunities galore!

2009-04-30T07:34:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I registered for my summer classes. (I will be taking Medical Terminology and Phlebotomy Skills). I am not required to take either of these, but am taking them as electives because I feel it would help give me a good background for the LPN courses I should be starting later this year.

While flipping through the school's catalog, I started to feel the urge to find more electives just to take for the heck of it. There is only so much time and tuition money any one person can have available! I decided to make a note of the classes I'm interested in and see what kind of info I can find online for self study or just websites to browse.

I searched for a couple of things on Google and bookmarked a few sites. Then I remembered that when I did my 200th post, I came across a web site for free online classes. I went back to that link, clicked on it, and what I found is AMAZING! The site is here. A couple of the links I tried didn't work, but there are plenty that do.

There are so many learning opportunities here! I am looking forward to digging into some of this. I tinkered around and found that Yale offers some introductory courses where the entire semester was videotaped. (Link: Open Yale) Not only can you watch these for free (course credit is not available), the classes I looked at even have a link where you can download the midterm and final exams and the answers just to test yourself!

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (open courseware) has some topics I want to follow too. I opened a course on the epidemiology of infections diseases, and found an in-depth power point program that might be a little over my head but looks interesting. Their site offers what they call a "snapshot" of course materials.

Another one that looks pretty good is from the University of California - Irvine. It's called "Physics 21: Science from Superheroes to Global Warming." There is video content along with text. Here is the link to the list of courses available on their site.

Other countries are involved in the open courseware project too. Links are provided for those institutions. Click here for a list of every institution/organization that is participating.

I will probably start with the first three schools I mentioned because of the format they use. I prefer watching videos and power point shows over reading the text or web pages.

As if I don't have enough to do... now I have discovered yet another method of distraction!

Just working on some stuff

2009-04-21T12:36:00.002-05:00

I have been a little too overwhelmed lately to blog... so I thought I'd throw a couple of sentences on here and let anyone who follows know that I'm still around. I have some posts in progress in the drafts section, and once I get through this week I think I'll be back in the blogging world!!!

For the rest of today though, I am going to be trying to crank out a 5-8 page paper that is due in about 5 hours from now and I'm just starting it. (Bad me.) Yesterday I was focusing on my BIO class instead of writing anything because we had a quiz and an essay exam. Since it's a "Who am I?" paper I didn't think it would be very hard. What I didn't allow for is that while it might not be hard, it IS going to time consuming because there are certain questions we're supposed to research online and then apply to ourselves.

If I can do a little more than a page per hour I'll be okay... better get to it now.

Estimated return to blogging world: probably Thursday, hopefully in time for Dogs on Thursday.

Spring planting and cleaning

2009-04-03T04:00:00.003-05:00

It's starting to feel like spring. Last weekend was pretty cold but it's finally warming up around here. This means it will be time to enjoy the outdoors for a good two months or so. I like the low 60s to low 80s temperatures. If it edges beyond that range, I start wishing for spring/fall.

One fun thing that will happen now that it's spring: we're planting a garden! The house we will be eventually moving to (owned by a family member) has a big yard which will have a portion of it designated for our garden. Rich got a head start and bought this miniature greenhouse tray thing. There are 72 little pots that get the seeds going, and once they sprout enough you can plant them outside.

The list includes: eggplant, watermelon, lettuce, honeydew, butternut squash, brussel sprouts, spinach, broccoli, and radishes.

The broccoli is really taking off fast! The radishes are too, but he can have those because I don't like radishes very much. I am kind of excited about the watermelons that we're going to have... looking forward to the spinach too. We'll also be getting tomatoes and zucchini from his parents' garden like last year so we're not planting those.

The indoors is also going to need a boost. A big one. The major spring cleaning has yet to come, but I got a small start on our dining room. I ended up doing it because I had a moment Thursday morning at the end of my shift that left me in a bad mood. So after work, I stopped at the grocery store thinking: I'd buy a few things, have a margarita for breakfast, catch up on some blogging, and go to bed. While I was at the store, I saw the flowers section and thought "I deserve to have some!" I picked a pretty (and only $5) bunch of little spray roses with some oranges and reds in them. The vase was already at home.

When I got home, I cleared off the table, de-kitty-furred the chairs, vacuumed the carpet, put the tablecloth on the table, opened the window blinds to let some sunlight in, and finally added the flowers.

I like how this macro shot turned out. It's just a tad blurry, but very pretty:

The final result is one uncluttered spot to sit and unwind for a few minutes with maybe a mug of tea or hot chocolate and a magazine or newspaper:

At the very least, we can eat at the table instead of in front of the TV, until the clutter returns.

After doing all that, I didn't crave the margarita anymore and will save the bottle (the TGI Friday's ready to use kind, just add ice) for my next night off! The rest of the condo, however, looks like it threw up on itself. (Thanks to one of my coworkers for using that line while referring to a resident's room, I thought it was pretty funny.) If I could focus on just one area of the condo at a time like I did with this one, it could look pretty good very soon. It's probably going to have to wait until Sunday though, because my schedule is booked up most of Friday and most of Saturday. I have to train some people on Saturday for work, and I have another practical exam coming up for my BIO class that I need to study for.

When the down time comes around again, I'll find a cozy place at home to hang out. Zeus, Kitty, and Rich will most likely join me in doing that. And when that garden takes off, we're going to have plenty of fresh veggies and a few fruits too. Yummy. Maybe I'll try to think about those things to keep my mind off of the stress for the rest of the weekend!

My first 5K race!

2009-04-03T03:48:00.006-05:00

Over the last year or so I have thought about participating in some kind of walk or race but never got around to doing it. That is no longer the case! I completed my first 5K on March 28th. It was called "Penguin in the Park" and it was about 48 degrees outside!

I am showing the photo a bit ahead of the story, but here is a photo of my race T-shirt, my runner number, and the medal for finishing (everybody got one).

I didn't want to crawl out of bed at 6:30am on my day off. I wanted to sleep and realized that going out in the cold weather to run - while I still had a cold - was stupid. But I knew I would be very disappointed in myself if I didn't try, especially since I had psyched myself up for it so much. I got up around 6:45am and ready to go, out the door and on the highway, and arrived just in time to register and wait for the 9:00am start time. I am glad I brought extra clothes; the capri workout pants I was wearing surely would not have been warm enough. I changed into sweatpants, our provided T-shirt (with my long sleeve white T underneath), my zip up hoodie, and gloves, while wondering what I had gotten myself into. There was not a separate race for runners and walkers. I think this was a great race for first timers such as myself so I didn't have to pick between the two and could go at my own pace.

There appeared to be all types of ages and runners at the starting line. It did feel a little intimidating to see the dedicated runner types in their gear and jogging around to warm up. As I was eavesdropping and people watching, I overheard two guys talking. "What's your goal today?" The other guy laughed and replied "to finish." I chatted briefly with a lady next to me and asked her if she'd been in a race before. She said she's been in some, but she didn't start until she was in her 60s!

A guy got on a bullhorn and gave a quick speech, welcoming us to the event and telling us what we needed to know. The course would be on part of the street in the park and then move to the paved bike path through the woods. When he finished talking, we all applauded, and he joked that applause isn't the same when all you hear are thuds from everybody wearing gloves. Then we were off!!! I managed to jog for the first stretch and then downhill. Once we were heading up the other side of the hill, I needed to walk. The bike path wasn't far away from that point. I decided my strategy would be to jog as much as I could, and then walk only long enough for me to get my breath back (and for the pain in my side to go away).

Many, many people passed me up on the bike path. I figured as long as there were still other people behind me, I was doing fine, and continued alternating the jogging/walking. The path provided some scenery and helped it go by quicker. There were people with stopwatches at certain points who provided encouragement and told you the time and how far along you were. Then I started to see people running back the other way, and felt hopeful...the turnaround point was coming up...although it was not as close as it appeared. Those thoughts shifted to "where's that turnaround point??" because I needed to know I was halfway done. I found it funny to hear all the sniffles and snorts that the runners were making as they sped past; this meant I wasn't the only one with the runny nose problem (which in my case, was initially due to my cold and then aggravated by running in chilly weather). The lady I talked to at the starting line started to pass and I waved at her. She smiled and said "keep going!"

There was a girl in front of me that had been keeping about the same pace as I was. I suggested to her that we could make it a partner effort, with one or the other deciding it was time to jog again. The water station at the 1.8 mile mark was a blessing. My new 5K buddy and I chatted (as best I could get the words out and still breathe) and kept it up. She was only in junior high school and her grandmother was in the race too. Then we could see the finish line coming up! The timer was at 45 minutes and was almost at 46. I had hoped I'd finish under 40 minutes, and 46 sounded unacceptable to me, so I asked her if she thought we could make that finish line in less than 25 seconds and we made our final jog. Someone at the finish line was videotaping everybody (great). I crossed that line, turned in the info at the bottom of my runner number, and got my medal, then thanked the girl for being my 5K buddy.

What's surprising is that as cold as it was, and even starting to rain, I burning up by the time I got to my car. I took off the hoodie to cool down and found my way to the awards ceremony. I almost didn't go because I knew I wouldn't get anything, but I figured I might as well watch.

There were awards in different age divisions. Most people that got awards finished in around 3o minutes or under, some slightly more than that. The lady that told me she didn't start racing until her 60s got second place in the 70 and up age division. Kudos to her.

Once I left the awards ceremony, I stopped for a roast beef sandwich from Arby's and headed back home. Then I took some cold meds and took a nap later that afternoon!

Race results weren't posted immediately and were supposed to be posted on the website in a few days. Now that they're posted, I know that my time was 45 minutes and 52 seconds. In my age category (35-39), there were 29 people and I came in 17th. Out of the whole race, there were 250 people and I came in at 237. That doesn't feel like much to brag about, but I'm still proud of myself for doing it in the first place. Now I have established a point to which I can compare progress!

I was very stiff and sore the day after. Every time I got up or sat down, my thighs and hips cursed at me. By Monday I was a little better. It was Tuesday before the aches and pains were gone.

The medal we got is kind of cool :) I didn't wear it but I am putting it with my keepsakes stuff.

This is the front side...

...and here is the back side:

I have found a few more runs/walks that I want to do this summer. The next one is on April 11th and is coming up very soon! If I can just beat my time by a minute or so, I'll be pretty happy.

It will be interesting to look back a few months from now and see what I've accomplished. I think I'm on the right path...hopefully I can continue to stay on it!

Dogs on Thursday: Yummy treats

2009-04-02T18:48:00.004-05:00

Zeus has a few different kinds of dog treats that are running out. I mixed up a handful yesterday and let him chow down!

He's always happy to get some treats.

It looks like he wanted more! He'll have to wait until the next treat time so he's not too spoiled.

On a Kitty note, Kitty is doing fine after having his tooth extracted. It took him a few hours once he was home to come out of the anesthesia, but he hasn't seemed to be in any pain and is eating fine. He does not like taking his antibiotics. Lucky for him he's almost done with those. As for other health issues in the household, I went to the doctor on Monday and learned my nasal turbinates were swollen and blocking off my nasal passages. I was prescribed a good cocktail of drugs that have already kicked in, and life is good again! I am ecstatic that I can breathe.

This is a shorter DOT post than I usually make because I was totally blog crazy today and have been looking at the computer for too long. I finally made a post about my vacation and Disney World. I still am going to write about the 5k I did over the weekend and also have another post in the works about our garden. Those should be up by tomorrow.

Happy Dogs on Thursday!

200th post!

2009-04-02T18:45:00.002-05:00

It seems like my 100th post wasn't that long ago. I have been blogging more in the last year than in the first few years of my blog combined, between Dogs on Thursday , going back to school, and just life in general keeping me entertained and busy. Years ago, I wrote in journals. These days it's all online...if my blog ever gets accidentally deleted I'd probably freak out and be pretty upset!

In my 100th post (see it here) I listed some things I found involving 100. Can I do this for 200? Let's see what a Google search can dig up for me... I am not vouching for any of the content on these pages, just posting what I found that was relatively interesting!

Billboard Album Charts - Top 200 Albums - Music Retail Sales

2009 University Rankings - Top 200 Colleges and Universities in the World

Top 200 Star Trek Sites
(Wow, that's for some serious trekkies!)

America's 200 Best Small Companies

200 Reasons Why WD-40 is Awesome

200 Free Online Classes to Learn Anything

Google lays off another 200 staff

Celebrating 200 Years of Braille

Starbucks Coffee Beverages Under 200 Calories

I think the search at the 100th post produced better results, but there are a few links I am going to go back and read. I am definitely going to read the Starbucks list, and the WD-40 list appears to be funny.

I wonder what I'll find when I hit 300 posts?

My trip to Disneyworld

2009-04-02T17:50:00.034-05:00

There are so many photos from my Disneyworld/Florida trip that I would not possibly be able to post every great photo that I would like to post. I will have to pick just a few, provide links to websites and videos where I can, and describe the rest of the trip! (The videos that people have posted on YouTube while they're actually on the rides make you feel like you're on the ride all over again, just by watching it.) Of course, going to the Disney World website will provide the most accurate photos and descriptions of the parks, rides, and features. I often find it difficult to not go into too much detail; I just have too much to say and show about everything we saw and did! I'll try not to write a novel about it.

Here goes...

Saturday, March 8th

I was supposed to be sleeping in the evening so I could leave after midnight, but I was too wound up. I ended up starting out my trip with sleep deprivation.

Sunday, March 9th

I started my journey on the highway at about 1:15am. We were to be boarding a flight at 8:00am in Indianapolis, which didn't seem like a problem. It wasn't, until a few days prior to leaving that we realized they were still an hour ahead of us...AND this was the same day of the switch to daylight savings time so we were losing yet another hour. Between traveling to the airport, the time changes, and allowing time to get through the airport, we needed to be there very early. I picked up the rest of my family vacation mates (my Mom, my niece, my brother, and his girlfriend) and we were in line to get our baggage checked somewhere around 4:30am in the time zone we were used to, but now it was 6:30am! We didn't have to rush and boarded the plane with no problem. The airport in Indy is pretty easy to get around in. Next stop, Florida!

We took a cab to our hotel in Kissimmee, and then all took a long nap! Then we spent the evening getting settled, ate dinner, walked around the touristy shops, and checked out the nearby "Old Town." It had more shops, restaurants, rides for the kids, and so on. One of my high school classmates lives in a neighboring town, so she and her daughter came to hang out with me. (Where have the last 18 years gone since we were in high school?!)

The evening came to a close and it was time to dream about Mickey Mouse. Or Disney princesses.

Monday, March 10th

The big day! I should add here that none of us are morning people. We got up early, took a shuttle bus to Disney World, and spent our first day at The Magic Kingdom.

Who doesn't get their photo taken in front of the castle? This is all of us except my brother's girlfriend because she is the one taking the photo. My niece was dressed up as Cinderella for the first part of day, complete with tiara and magic wand. Eventually she changed into comfy clothes.

The day was mapped out so we knew exactly what we wanted to see and how to get there. We made sure to go on the popular stuff like the It's a Small World ride, Peter Pan's Flight, Winnie the Pooh ride, the Haunted Mansion (very cool!), Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Carribean ride, (see this link too for Johnny Depp looking at the animatronic of himself) etc. The Carousel of Progress was pretty interesting. I enjoyed the Tomorrowland section because we rode Space Mountain (woo-hoo!) , Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin ride and I got to see some decorations of the aliens from Toy Story ("I have been chosen!" I love those guys!!!).

There was a huge parade in the afternoon. That's the only time out of the whole trip I got to see Mickey Mouse - on a float! I was disappointed that there wasn't a Mickey Mouse waiting to greet people at the gates to the Magic Kingdom. Come on, they should have one in each kingdom. I guess he's more visible in the Animal Kingdom in Camp Mickey or whatever it was, which we didn't go see. We did get to meet other characters in the parks and had our pictures taken with Donald Duck, Goofy, and my niece had her photo taken with every character she saw. Anyway, the parade was very colorful and energetic, with Disney dancers/"singers" in the street between floats.

Every night there is a fireworks show. My camera couldn't do it justice, but I can provide a link to the whole fireworks show. It's amazing, especially towards the end. Tinkerbell even flies away from the castle (on a zip line that we adults ignore) and the music really adds to it when you're there in person. I still get kind of a cheesy emotional hold-back-a-tear when I see it. Yes, I admit it. Watch it here on YouTube - somebody posted the entire show.

I can't guess at how much walking we did that day. Later in the evening, my feet were past the point of hurting and my calves started to slowly cramp up when we were in line for the second time for Splash Mountain. We dragged our tired selves back to the hotel, ordered pizza and pasta, and turned in pretty soon after that.

Tuesday, March 11th

The second (and last) day at Disney. We had a park hopper ticket for the day, so went to Animal Kingdom for a while and then to Hollywood Studios. Once the studio park was closing, Epcot was still going to be open for another hour, so we went to Epcot and crammed in some fast sightseeing before watching the awesome fireworks show.

Highlights from our time at Animal Kingdom: the first thing we did was ride the Mt. Everest Expedition roller coaster. I can't describe it other than that it was intense, one of the best coasters I've been on...and I definitely should not have went on it the second time in a row (the lines were short). My stomach didn't like me much and I was woozy, so had to sit down for a few minutes. I would ride it again if I get the chance, just not twice in a row. If anyone is actually reading this incredibly long post, you must watch this video of the ride! (This one looks like it was done by a pro, with music added and extra footage. This one is a good point of view and you can hear more of the ride.)

We saw Finding Nemo: The Musical which was pretty good once you got used to the idea of real people being in it, and it was very creative. Then we went on a "safari" for about 20 minutes and saw elephants, a giraffe and other animals from the vehicle, that were roaming around.

We were in the back row of our vehicle. I took this photo to show some of the scenery and to show what the safari vehicles look like.

In the Hollywood Studios, my brother's girlfriend got to be an extra in the Indiana Jones stunt show, we saw some fake scenery sets, rode the haunted elevator in the Hollywood Tower of Terror, rode the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (this one went upside down!), and saw another show - this time it was Voyage of The Little Mermaid.

This is the scenery they had made up for San Francisco.

Epcot was my favorite park. Maybe it was because we saw it at night and all lit up, but it felt so different than the rest of Disney to me. We didn't get to see much of it. We went to the World Showcase, where there are pavilions representing different countries. We stopped in "China" to eat and then watched Epcot's fireworks show.

I would really like to go back to Epcot at some point. I would be okay categorizing the rest of Disney as "been there, done that" but I could probably spend a whole day or maybe more seeing the rest of Epcot. It had something for everybody, but seemed to be geared less to the little kiddies and more toward adults.

I did let some of the inner child come out. I became determined to find some Mickey ears. I had to settle for Minnie ears. My brother and I posed in front of the monorail on our way out of Epcot. Then we were done! We took a shuttle bus to the hotel where my Mom and niece turned in, but the rest of us went to grab a burger/hot dog before going to bed.

Wednesday, March 12th

The second part of the trip: checking out of the hotel and traveling further down the highway via van rental to the home of relatives, where we would get some R&R before returning home. Traveling took longer than we thought and we just kind of vegged out once we got there for the night.

Thursday, March 13th

Let's go to the beach!

My niece was in the sand and water as much as possible, while the rest of us dabbled between the water and the chickee huts. I tried to stay in the shade for fear of getting a sunburn (I didn't feel like getting all sunscreened up, and the water was a bit chilly anyway). I broke that committment for the last hour or so and sat in a chair just outside of the shade. I did turn very pink, but only on the front side of me and it was nothing I couldn't handle.

We left the beach long enough to eat dinner and then went back, where we just missed the sun going down. We still got a nice view and a few photos. I got this one when we were leaving:

A stroke of luck makes it look like the sun is really setting, but it's just a deck light!

Friday, March 14th

We joked about "accidentally" missing our plane and staying for a while. Traveling home was pretty easy. The only problem I had was with the pressure changes. During most of the flight home, I felt like my head was going to explode and my ears hurt. Then I heard and felt my right ear pop, which also hurt, but my left ear wouldn't. I was so eager to get off that plane. It was actually bothering me the rest of the day and even the day after we got back...it would make a little pop occasionally but my hearing was still off and the pressure wouldn't return to normal until late Sunday.

I dropped off the family and got back home...happy that I took the trip, but happy to be back in my own bed, drive my own car, and back in my family unit with Rich, Kitty, and Zeus.

The next big trip will be in June, when we go to Texas and then to Arizona (to see the Grand Canyon!!!). Stay tuned...

Perfect video about procrastination!

2009-04-01T09:46:00.003-05:00

I came across the video on YouTube when I should have been getting some sleep because I need to be up in time before school tonight to get an assignment finished and study for a quiz. So I'll go to bed now, as soon as I post this video. Ah, procrastination... my worst habit.

Useful doggie service

2009-03-26T09:06:00.000-05:00

Greetings to my fellow Dogs on Thursday bloggers!

Today's Zeus picture was taken this morning on my cell phone. I didn't have any recent photos so I took this one of him rolling over so I could pet his belly (as he sometimes does when I come back home). It's a little blurry but it's the best I could get today!

In other doggie news, I learned about a service in my area that would be pretty useful for dog owners. It's called "Doodie Calls." The title made me laugh until I read about it. Then my laugh turned into a "Hmm..." Where I live we have common yard areas and everyone cleans up after themselves, but for people I know that let their dog out to go in the yard, this would be a pretty good service to take advantage of!

Here's the info that I saw:

Doodie Calls, the area's first and only "Doggy-Doo Removal Service" is up and running. The service cost $20 for most yards and the fifth service is free. We will come to your home in our all-white uniforms and remove the offending refuse. We are serious about our work and will do the job in a clean, professional, and environmentally friendly way. The service features biodegradable bagging and "gifts" for your pet(s). Gift certificates are available as well.

That's a pretty creative idea for starting a business!

Now an update for the rest of the household: we're having some minor health issues.

As of yesterday I am once again getting this sore throat/nasal cold thing. All of March it has been bothering me, then I will feel better for a week and then get it again! Rich suggested it's probably allergies, but to my knowledge I'm not allergic to anything. I'm going to take some over the counter allergy meds and get alot of sleep today and see what happens. Hopefully I can still participate in that 5K this weekend. A couple of nights ago, Rich spent a few hours on the couch recovering from feeling under the weather too.

Kitty had a trip to the vet yesterday because he's been having some (delicately speaking, here) painful moments in the litter box. The sample I took in was tested and there's no problems there, but the vet checked his teeth too and they are in BAD shape. He was given an antibiotic shot, plus drops for me to give him over the next few days, and on Monday he's going back to get one of his teeth extracted. The cost for all of that is almost the same as my monthly share of the mortgage! Nobody ever said pets are cheap...but wow...there goes some of my tax refund. Other than that, Kitty appears to be healthy and the leukemia still seems to be lying dormant.

Zeus is the only one of us that is perfectly fine! Maybe he can give us some of his good luck this week. He'll probably curl up next to me and be my nap buddy today.

Have a happy doggie week!

DOT post: hard sleeper

2009-03-19T06:00:00.001-05:00

Hello again to Dogs on Thursday bloggers! I didn't get to make a post last week due to being on vacation - which I will make a post about within the next day or so - and didn't get to see much of Zeus either. When I was gone and talking to Rich on the phone, I told him to give Zeus a pat on the head for me.

So I have no new Zeus photos, but here is a video clip Rich showed me before I left and I thought at some point I would use it in a DOT post. Some point is today :) It's pretty funny.

One wonderful moment I had with Zeus was on Wednesday. Someone at work made a particularly rude and snarky comment at my expense, and because I believe she likes to push people's buttons I didn't give her much of a response. When she saw that I was studying a diagram of a kidney and I told her it was for my anatomy & phys class, she appeared to be surprised and walked off saying - loud enough for me to hear - "Maybe you're not so dumb after all." Grrr...! I tried to mentally push it aside but was still fuming a bit when I got home. I got to the top of the stairs and Zeus bolted down the hallway at me, happy to see me and say hello! Ah, loveable Zeus.

That'll be me!

2009-03-19T04:00:00.003-05:00

I saw a clip from Scrubs where J.D. decided he needed to do a triathalon before he turned 30. I'm past 30 and my triathalon is only going to be a 5K, but I am going to do my first one next weekend. For the last few months I have been planning on participating in a 5K in April, and when I found out about this one I thought it might be good practice for the big one.

Towards the end of this clip, J.D. realized he was in over his head. That's probably going to be me!

The problem is, I am not going to be able to run much of it at all. I haven't trained like I should have. When I was at my best, probably in February, I could run for about 30 seconds and then had to walk for a while. Then I stopped doing everything for a couple of weeks because I got sick, and the idea of working out while I had a sore throat and a cold didn't sound very appealing. Even while I was on my trip I still had a couple of days where I was taking cold meds. I am finally feeling myself again this week. Now it's back to the gym, or at least the treadmill or track, but I think it's too late to make any major progress.

I will have to change my goal to walking the whole thing and maybe jogging where I can. I won't have any problem walking that far, it just isn't what I had envisioned I would accomplish by this point. If I want to put a positive spin on this, I could say that at least I'm attempting it at all, and hopefully I won't come in dead last!

I'm going to Disneyworld!

2009-03-07T23:52:00.004-06:00

I think the big famous line is "I'm going to Disneyland" but I am looking forward to going. In just over an hour I will be hitting the highway and picking up my family, then we're all heading to the airport! Less than even 8 hours from now, I will be in Florida.

This is a photo I took on a previous trip, and edited it heavily by adding the neon effect. Kinda cool, huh?

It's going to be a long Sunday, but then we're ready Monday morning to see the Magic Kingdom. We'll be at the park all day Tuesday too, and then travel to family's house further down the highway for some R&R. We come back on Friday.

Maybe I'll get a little tan.... :) I'm sure I'll have some photos to post when I return!

DOT post: "I Love My Dog"

2009-03-05T00:28:00.001-06:00

Yes, I do love my dog. First, I'll post a quick photo of a semi-visible Zeus. Then I'll explain how the rest of this post popped into my brain.

I've had a cold for over a week now and spent alot of this past weekend on the couch. I got up to get a blanket so I grabbed one of Zeus's blankets for him too. As I goofed off with him, I covered his head up with the blanket, and he didn't bother to wiggle out of it. I think he liked it. My cell phone was nearby and I got one photo. The little click of the "shutter" got his attention and he popped his head back out to see what I was doing.

The idea for this post though came from my Tuesday night class, where a reference to Cat Stevens was made. We were talking about people changing their names, and Cat Stevens (who, according to this Wikipedia article, was born Steven Demetre Georgiou) changed his name to Yusuf Islam. I remember listening to some of his music because my parents had his record "Tea for the Tillerman." At at the time he was recording it (released 1970), I wasn't going to be born for another three years. Once I was a little older and started going through my parents' music, I decided I liked that record. Ah, memories of listening to my parents' records... lots of different stuff: The Beatles, Bread, Billy Joel, and Johnny Mathis, to Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Richard Pryor (maybe I was a bit young for that one) and Bill Cosby. Of course we had our own kiddie records and those records that came with the books so you could read and listen at the same time. We had a few 8-tracks at one point but the only one I remember listening to was 38 Special. My grandmother had a bunch of Elvis and country 8-tracks at her house.

Anyway, the reference in class was enough to make me do a little bit of web searching. Here is something I found that I thought might interest other Dogs on Thursday bloggers. (Disclaimer: I am not taking any stance on why he changed his name, or opinions on his political or religious views from the last 20 years - if you want to read about those, you'll have to search for them... I am simply enjoying this song for what it appears to be!)

A video on YouTube of him singing "I Love My Dog." I also found the lyrics on another site and will post those below the video.

Enjoy!

lyrics:

I love my dog as much as I love you
But you may fade, my dog will always come through.

All he asks from me is the food to give him strength
All he ever needs is love and that he knows he'll get

So, I love my dog as much as I love you
But you may fade, my dog will always come through.

All the pay I need comes shining through his eyes
I don't need no cold water to make me realize that

I love my dog as much as I love you
But you may fade, my dog will always come through.

Na, na, na, na, na, na, nana...

I love my dog as much as I love you
But you may fade, my dog will always come through.

Na, na, na, na, na, na, nana...

I love my dog, Baby, I love my dog. Na, na, na...

I love my dog, Baby, I love my dog. Na, na, na...

DOT post: Supervised by Zeus

2009-02-26T07:28:00.009-06:00

Zeus was pretty people friendly this week. He prefers to be in the same room as the human(s) that are home. If we're both home, he'll pick one of us to follow.

He took a little snooze while I was on the computer in the guest room. (Normally it would be made up better for guests, but the nicer sheets are currently in the laundry pile.) I still need to find a frame for the Zeus painting.

On Saturday, I had a bit of a project on my hands. I needed to use up the rest of my flex spending by the end of the month, and bought a ton of stuff with it. This gave me a good opportunity to clean out our medicine cabinet/closet and bathrooms, throw out some expired stuff, and organize all the new stuff with it.

Zeus didn't have any suggestions on how to get started, but offered moral support and supervision. I figured dumping everything on the bed would give me a good spot to work on.

I threw out the old stuff, then found some empty boxes and containers to organize the new stuff. I set aside the first aid kits so we have one for each vehicle.

The end result: everything labeled and ready to use in the closet, complete with beagle post-it notes. The cotton balls just got thrown on top, they're in a bag and won't get damaged.

We now also have about a year's supply or more of every kind of bandage we could possibly need. It takes up an entire bathroom drawer.

If we get sick or need minor first aid, I think we're ready!

Dogs on Thursday: 2 for 1

2009-02-19T00:45:00.006-06:00

I didn't have time to make a DOT post last week. This week's post is a summary of the last two weeks, and I had PLENTY of material!

The highlight was Zeus receiving his swap package from Sharon and her dogs Abby and Sophia. He got some pretty cool stuff!

He tried on his shirt, snacked on some gourmet dog cookies and sampled the other treats, and then cozied up with his new paw-print blanket.

There was a fun ornament in the package too.

She also included a book for me that is very cute. Each page has a one frame inspirational cartoon and of course it's all doggie related.

In other doggie news: I watched Hossie (my Aunt and Uncle's dog) for a few days, so Zeus got to play with a friend. I snapped this quick photo while they were looking at the box of dog treats in my other hand! It was their reward for being so good outside.

On Sunday, I met with a friend of mine at a local park to walk Hossie, Zeus, and two of her dogs. It was a little chilly, and having that many dogs with us was quite a handful, but it was a lot of fun. I didn't get any photos that day. I would have needed a third arm and hand. Maybe four.

And finally, I have noted before that Zeus likes to sleep under the covers with us. On Tuesday morning, I was jolted out of my peaceful slumber. I discovered - by rolling over and hence, into it - that Zeus had thrown up on my side of the bed, under the covers! Rich helped me do a linen change, start a load of laundry, and I changed my clothes and wash my hands thoroughly - all at 4:00 am!!! Then I couldn't fall alseep. Around 5am I got up and played on the computer until 7am before I got sleepy again. I still couldn't get back to sleep for a while and the incident threw off my entire day (Rich's too). What a morning!

Ah, the joys of having a dog!

Pumped Up (for the cardiovascular system)

2009-02-18T10:30:00.012-06:00

Do I ever have my work cut out for me the rest of this week until Monday. I am just one point short of a B in my Bio class, and it's early enough in the semester that if I put enough effort into it I should be able to get that back up quickly. However, I have a quiz tonight and despite my studying last night/this morning, I don't feel ready for it yet. I've done what I can for the moment and it's my bedtime now.

In searching Google for an image such as above, I came across an image of Slim Goodbody. I'd forgotten all about him, but when I was a kid I thought he was kind of cool. Looking at it now, I guess the suits with the white background are a bit wierd. The suits that match his skin tone look better. (Check out the blog that this photo is linked to, it looks interesting. I want to read more of it when I get time.)

From some of the comments I saw, he apparently frightened others of my generation. I guess everybody gets freaked out at something. I'd never seen the website Kindertrauma before today. I haven't decided if I want to look at it again or not...some of it's definitely creepy, some of it's funny to see what creeps out other people.

*FOCUS!* I need to focus on the day ahead of me. A few links that we were encouraged to follow have been helpful to review:

Fluid Exchange Across the Walls of Capillaries
Some animations on heart abnormalities from Your Total Health
Practice Quiz for Blood Components
The Cardiovascular System on the University of Minnesota's WebAnatomy pages
Autopsy: Emergency Room videos. The link we were given didn't work, I found it on YouTube.

What's both good and bad is we have the Cardiovascular practical exam on Monday. It's worth big points, which could really help or really hurt my grade. Our school's cadavers are in well used condition, so that doesn't make it any easier to figure out what we're looking at. We have a list of arteries and veins we're supposed to identify.

How am I going to remember all this stuff?

Valentine's Day 2009

2009-02-17T06:24:00.012-06:00

Rich and I are on the same page when it comes to Valentine's Day, or for the most part. He acknowledges it because I want to... but we both agree it's best not to go overboard. The plan was to cook dinner, have some wine and/or champagne, and a quiet evening at home instead of going out for an expensive dinner, finding a parking spot, and fighting crowded restaurants.

Tulips are my favorite flower, when they are available. Chrysanthemums are runner up for the fall seasons. These are my Valentine's Day flowers from Rich!

I found a little gift to give him too. It was a package of pre-printed post-it notes that had different messages on them, ranging from the cutsie/romantic stuff to the more suggestive stuff. It will be fun to leave those around the house for each other.

We did cook dinner on our own. The menu was pretty tasty!

For starters: a salad with half spinach, half other mixed greens. The spinach salad dressing was sweet and spicy with little pieces of bacon in it. It's also loaded with high fructose corn syrup, so that might not be a purchase we'll be making again.

The main meal: baked salmon with lemon and butter, steamed asparagus, sauteed mushrooms, and a baked potato with cheddar cheese. We also had some of the best cheap wine there is: Lambrusco. It's yummy and doesn't break the bank. The wine glasses don't show up in the photo very well between the red wine and the black counter top, but they're in there.

Special occasions call for dessert! I cheated and thawed out a Sara Lee cherry cheesecake, which was pretty easy. I garnished it with some chocolates I picked up at a gourmet foods store. They were filled with this delicious strawberry filling. We will be buying more of those sometime!

We opened a bottle of Asti Spumante and watched a movie before calling it a night.

Another benefit of cooking at home: we squeezed four servings out of that whole meal, which means we had enough leftovers of everything (except the chocolates) for a full dinner the next day too!

Great excuse!

2009-02-17T06:15:00.003-06:00

The gym I go to has a bulletin board at the entrance of the women's locker room. Various announcements are posted along with some great cartoons. This one made me laugh:

DOT post: Venting

2009-02-05T06:46:00.006-06:00

It's been a surprisingly uneventful week for a household with a dog and a cat. Hmm. I don't really have anything for a DOT post. There have been a couple of times this week where I've been home when Rich is getting home, so when I've heard the garage door open I tell Zeus to "go get him!" and enjoy watching his ears perk up as he waits at the top of the stairs for his man buddy to come home. Here and here are pics of him doing that on previous posts.

I suppose I could use today to vent about my irritation with the ASPCA. Back in April I made a donation thinking I was at least paying for something that would help out an animal or two - thinking direct services such as food, shelter, or emergency medical care - but I am wondering exactly what they do with the money they get from donations. I was happy to send something in, but now I get frequent requests to send them more money, not only from them, but now from other organizations too. I have more address labels than I could use in three years from animal welfare groups, a pair of gloves from the Humane Society, a keychain, and more requests for donations. Did they just sell my name to a massive mailing list? I'm sure non-profit organizations get all kinds of breaks on items and postage, but I would think they've spent more on that kind of stuff than I ever mailed in.

It makes me not want to donate anything again...I'd rather make a donation to the local animal shelter or something where it would be used for direct services rather than solicitation. I do like getting the ASPCA emails/newsletters though since there are always helpful tips and stories.

Does anybody else feel that way?

My Knight in Winter Armor

2009-02-04T01:24:00.017-06:00

Rich came to my rescue last night. One of my tires blew out while I was on the way to class. I pulled off into a nearby subdivision and called him, then discovered I was driving on the rim and I had a headlight out too (again). He came out into the dark and freezing cold to change it for me.

I was pretty happy that I filled up my gas tank earlier in the day and that my heat works. I munched on a clif bar and listened to the radio until he got there, while trying to email my instructor to let him know I was not going to make it to class until well into the session. I didn't get the email sent out before Rich arrived (it takes a while to compose on a cell phone) and decided screw it; I'll get there eventually.

He didn't complain about it or tell me to figure it out myself. In fact, he cracked a joke once he was taking off the lug nuts and handing them to me. He said he was expecting a replay of the scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie helps his Dad change the flat tire and the nuts accidentally go flying into the air. I laughed loud enough that one of the neighboring houses probably heard me, and then imitated little Ralphie's famous line.

What a great guy I have!

Video clip:
Oh Fudge! - from the movie "A Christmas Story"

Sleepwalker to the extreme

2009-02-03T01:45:00.007-06:00

I thought about a lot of things when I saw this on Yahoo video, such as: my bed sounds comfy right now; how can she sleep without covers?; what a neat video; how did they do that?

Sometimes I wake up feeling like I didn't even get any sleep. I think she's got one up on me there.

"Her Morning Elegance" by Oren Lavie
(Click here for link to video on YouTube)

DOT ornament swap package

2009-01-29T01:00:00.008-06:00

Zeus (and Kitty too) got spoiled on Friday! They received a swap package from Kathy and Lucy, who stepped in as a swap angel, when their package didn't arrive in December. I also got an email from my original swap parter who apologized and said the package got buried (I have done that before myself! I hardly ever get to the post office when I mean to and then I lose things) and said it will be in the mail soon.

Kathy had everything wrapped up and labeled so we knew just who to give things to. I showed Zeus and Kitty their presents and then opened them (just pointing this out so the photos make sense).

I took a quick photo of everything and then couldn't wait to give the fur-kids their presents.

I let Zeus check his out before opening it.

I wasn't sure which treat to give him. He couldn't decide either. It kind of looks like he's pointing to the beggin strips. That's what I gave him first.

He must have caught a whiff from the bag, because he started sniffing in anticipation when I opened it! Then he took his beggin strip to a favorite spot to eat.

And because he's such a good boy, he also got a yummy piece of Pup-peroni for dessert.

Even though it was a dog swap, Kitty wasn't left out! Before I even unwrapped Kitty's items, he sniffed one of them like he wanted to know what was in there.

I think his toy has catnip in it...

Because I haven't seen him do this before!

Or this! If you look closely you can see his tongue sticking out. After he played for a bit he had a few bites of kitty treats.

While Zeus and Kitty were enjoying their treats, I enjoyed looking at the beagle ornament, snow globe, and note holder. I think they look a lot like him and they brought a smile to my face.

I think he liked them too.

Thanks again to Kathy and Lucy for such a generous package. (*Zeus gives Lucy a paw high five*)

Sometime this week Zeus is getting his nails trimmed, we just haven't gotten around to that yet, as this time he is probably going to get them professionally done. It is a task that's overdue! Also, Zeus wasn't feeling too well over the weekend, and did that walking-hunched-up thing and yelped once when he moved. He slept alot. But, he seems to be much better now. He apparently was a little bound up...and then nature took its course. Maybe not wanting to do his business in the snow had something to do with that? We'll be sure to have lots of water available too, I think having the heat turned up was making it evaporate faster.

"Woofs" to the rest of the Dogs on Thursday bloggers.

DOT post: Snow and cookies

2009-01-22T15:14:00.011-06:00

These photos were taken today in a hurry for today's DOT post!

It was a rather warm day compared to the below freezing temperatures we've had lately. Some of the snow is melting and has left some neat patterns on the ground of snow and grass patched together.

Zeus got to check out the yard for a minute.

Once he got inside I offered him a "cookie" (doggie cookie). This means - yes, I want a cookie!

He got his cookie. Then he got another one just so I could get a photo of him eating. Sneaky me.

So now he is on the couch for a nap and I'm going to bed. I'm sure he will follow me into the bedroom and crawl under the covers.

Happy Dogs on Thursday! I am looking forward to reading everybody's posts (I have to catch up on last week too).

3 and 3

2009-01-22T13:22:00.007-06:00

After work this morning I managed to go to the gym, and walked 3 miles on the treadmill then biked another 3 miles. That doesn't mean it was easy; it only means that I did it despite my hips and thighs threatening to give up on me.

Biking was actually easier than the treadmill. That was the cop-out for not going to the boot camp class I meant to go to today - I chickened out of that. Unfortunately I met the instructor after that class, to find out more about it, and told him I would be there next Thursday. I'm sure he doesn't give a rip if I show up or not, but I feel like there's a little bit of accountability on my part to keep my word.

Hopefully my body isn't killing me tonight, because there are two classes I really want to attend in the morning. The first is a 25 minute stretch class that I am sure I will need. After that is Zumba. I am looking forward to trying that one again and maybe I can look like less of a dork trying to do it! It's a fun class, although it will take practice for the dance challenged such as myself to get the hang of it.

Here is a video I found on YouTube of a Zumba class. It's a glimpse of the kind of class I was in. The one I went to was an hour long so there was alot more to do than what this video shows.

The guy that whips the towel around in the air (about one minute into this video) cracked me up! I did not see anyone do that in my class!

Now I'm going to take Zeus out to potty, snap a quick pic of him on my cell phone, throw my Dogs on Thursday post on my blog, and get to bed. The heck with housework and making some kind of dinner - that can be done later. I need sleep.

Spam. Not the meat in a can, not the musical Spam-a-lot.

2009-01-21T09:49:00.003-06:00

As of this writing, there are 425 messages in my spam folder! It's been a few days since I've emptied it because I haven't had time to look through them and make sure I'm not missing something. I am not stupid enough to actually open them; it's just that sometimes a message I am expecting accidentally winds up in the spam folder.

Today they are all going to get permanently deleted. Before they hit the trash, here are some subject headers that made me laugh:

"Find Military Scholarships!" Because the military won't help you with that at all.
"Become a Psychologist Online!" Sure, I would want to see a shrink that had no clinical experience whatsoever.
"You probably have ROTTEN junk inside your body. GET IT OUT the EASY way!" Well, that sounds pleasant.
And my favorites for the day, supposedly from eBay, typed here exactly as it was shown: "...Are you DUMB and POOR? Well, here's a simple way to MAke Money!" and also "a way to make money so easy even a Stupid Idiot could do it!"

It seems that Acai berries are some kind of new gimmick. "Help your body cleanse today with Acai Berry!" "Acai Berry Boom! is here to boost your energy levels!" I also get frequent messages from a "Michael Vincent" claiming "I found you a new job" and various people want me to come see their pics! There are alot of ads for nursing stuff, and others asking me to help prevent terrorist attacks. Apparently I am missing out because I don't have a ShamWow.

My email provider has a nice feature that lets you see the email address it came from without you having to open it. You just hover the mouse over the sender. It looks like a lot of them came from some of the same sources. This way I can be sure it's something I don't want to mess with.

I am going to block some of those senders and see if less spam comes through.

Who comes up with this crap???

Dogs on Thursday: watch dog?

2009-01-15T07:09:00.005-06:00

I don't have alot of Zeus news this week. He's doing fine. Today's photo is a painting that my brother's girlfriend gave me for Christmas. She painted it from one of my favorite Zeus napping photos that I put on our Christmas card in 2007:

Pretty awesome! It was a total surprise because I didn't even know she likes to paint. I need to put it in a frame.

For today I do have a doggie thought to share.

On the way to work last night, I was listening to the radio and heard some kind of public safety announcement about home invasions. It listed a few suggestions on things you can do to make your home safer such as a using home security system, etc., and "maybe even get a dog."

Zeus only barks if the doorbell goes off. If someone broke in, Zeus would probably just lick him/her and watch all of our stuff get stolen.

Something I forgot about until I heard that announcement: a few weeks ago, Rich was leaving for work (I didn't have to work that day and was at home) and discovered that our front door had been a few inches open for the entire night. I think one of us had used the front door and the other of us had used the garage door, got distracted, and then assumed both doors got shut. So all night, anybody could have walked right in to our condo, where we were sound asleep. I'm amazed that everything was just as we left it and that Kitty didn't run off in the middle of the night. It's kind of creepy to think about what could have happened.

Zeus wouldn't have known about that either. He was asleep in our bed, under the covers with us as usual!

Oopsie

2009-01-15T06:52:00.003-06:00

The quest for the perfect smoothie continues. I attempted to throw one together last night before leaving work. Some vanilla yogurt, a banana, some orange juice. The blender attachment I needed was in the dishwasher so I improvised and used the power whisk in a bartending cup. That was a bad idea! In lighting speed, my smoothie flew everywhere.

This is only a hint of the kind of mess I ended up with. The front of this sweatshirt is nothing compared to what ended up all over the kitchen. I didn't have time to clean it up before leaving. I changed clothes, snapped this photo, dumped what was left of the smoothie in a plastic cup, topped it off with chocolate chips (why not? I've been good), and left. I told Rich I'd clean it up after work and he was going to bed. Maybe I'll get my upper body exercise by all the scrubbing I'm going to be doing when I get home! Hopefully the hoodie doesn't stain, because it's not my shirt.

Sometimes improvising isn't the best thing to do.

First week, another semester

2009-01-15T06:16:00.005-06:00

This is my last semester of pre-reqs! I am still waiting to hear if I got into the LPN program. I was hoping I would get in for this semester and be able to start the first class (one of those all day, two day things) this friday, but I haven't heard anything back so I assume my application was too short notice to get in for January (even though I was told they still had room in the program so was encouraged to turn mine in). Oh well. I am sure I'll get in, it was just a matter of when. I'll either take that class in the summer or the fall, and plan to start the LPN stuff in the fall.

I made it through the first week. In contrast to previous semesters, I didn't leave either class wondering what I've gotten myself into. There is still going to be plenty of studying to do, but I think I'll be okay this time around. *crossing fingers*

A little scene of this Tom Hanks movie popped into my mind as I was thinking about my A&P II class and the exams we'll have to take. I saw this movie a long time ago, I think it was in the early 90s or late 80s. In "Punchline" he plays a medical student that flunks out and pursues stand up comedy as a career. I remembered that he referred to a part of the anatomy as "the poop chute" in this movie so I looked for it on YouTube, knowing it would make me laugh. This is especially because in A&P when we had the skeletal study, all I could remember about one particular bone is that it was shaped like an S so I kept remembering it as the "s" bone. I had to study a bit more to remind myself it was the clavicle! There wasn't much video about this movie, but the scene I had in mind is shown towards the beginning of the trailer.

Hopefully I will do better on the practical exams than that! The first one is next week, although it's a small one for not near as many points as the later exams will be. On this one we have to look at models of the eyeball and the inner ear and name off the structures. We got to dissect an ox eye in lab. It wasn't pleasant.

I'm trying to fall into a routine of juggling my work schedule, classes, and sleep, along with also fitting in some kind of workout schedule and other stuff. I think this semester will work out better than last, in that regard. BUT: So far I haven't been to the gym all week and the condo likes like a tornado hit it. Rich cleaned up the massive pile of dishes and the kitchen garbage can. Thursday I have no classes, so after work it will be the day to catch up on laundry, change the litter in both of Kitty's boxes, and hit the treadmill.

The countdown to May begins now.

Healthy stuff (for the most part!)

2009-01-12T04:00:00.003-06:00

As I have noted in a few blog posts recently, I am attempting to make some healthier choices. This doesn't mean I will always make the right choices. It just means I might make some of them. The more, the better.

Anybody wanna guess what this is???

It looks like something I would see while flipping through my anatomy and physiology textbook! I've landed on some odd photos by doing that. However, this photo is the smoothie that I was drinking at the beginning of my shift. It's just light vanilla yogurt, frozen fruit, and a little calcium-fortified orange juice, all blended together. I wanted a simple recipe (without the protein powders, flax oil, wheat germ, and so on) and I finally found one. In this batch I used a bag of mixed fruit that contained blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. There were way too many seeds in this cup for me. It took the fun out of drinking it due to spitting out a bunch of seeds. It was a bit thick too, but I don't think that would have bothered me if there were no seeds. Maybe next time I'll add a little more juice or only use blueberries, peaches, etc. I can play around with it.

I took a few sips on the drive to work and had the urge to spit out the seeds. A couple landed on my steering wheel and I then stopped doing it. It reminded me of this scene from "When Harry Met Sally" where Harry spits grape seeds on the window in the car. Of course I had to look this up on YouTube and post it here. The scene I'm referencing is about 1 minute and 50 seconds into it.

This was one of my favorite movies when I was in high school. Now I am older than the main characters in the movie. *Sigh* The older I get, the more this movie makes sense to me.

Back to the smoothie. I really wanted to add some chocolate chips to it. I know that would have defeated the purpose, so I resisted. I am now at work (it's quiet, which is why I can blog for a few minutes) and there is usually some kind of junk food around. I found one of those 100-calorie packs of Hostess mini cupcakes: the yellow ones with the chocolate icing. That should take care of the chocolate craving. I am going to try and resist those too.

I made a big grocery store run last night. I did what I thought was all the right stuff: spent some time planning out a week's worth of specific meals and menus, checked the kitchen to see what items we already had, and made out the grocery list according to what I needed for those meals, and headed out to the store. (Okay, technically it wasn't a full week's worth of food. I had seven breakfasts planned, but Monday through Wednesday were the only days where three meals a day were finished. I figured we could wing the rest with leftovers and things we still have in the kitchen). I even made out the list in order of how I would walk through the store with no backtracking: produce, refrigerated stuff and meat, dairy, aisles, and frozen stuff. Once I was at the store I bought a few impulse items like string cheese, more bell peppers than I intended, Diet Dr. Pepper, and a couple of other things. There were a couple items I couldn't find and had to look for a substitute. Most of the items were healthy. The sugar free jello pudding (mix) probably isn't, but I read the label and it doesn't contain much of anything but a little sodium. It's still going to be reserved as a treat and not an everday item.

I typed up my list as I planned out the meals. It's better than trying to read my own handwriting.

This trip ended up costing about 20% more than I would normally spend on a big grocery run! Hopefully the differences will be that since it's organized and planned out, it will last longer and end up costing less by the time it's run out. It should also leave little to no room for making stops at restaurants with drive-thrus. I stuck with some meals that I've made before, with recipes either from the internet or this "Low-Fat Ways To Lose Weight" cookbook that I have where they've altered heavy foods and made them lighter. There are some tasty breakfasts coming up this week: New Orleans Specialty (eggs sardou, spicy vegetable sipper, and raspberry cheese buns); Down-Home Southern Breakast (I modified it a little) that includes cornbread muffins, sweet potato/granny smith hashbrowns, turkey bacon, and warm apple lemonade; Raisin-bran loaf and fruit; Single-Guy's Quick Oatmeal Breakfast (see recipe here! and you can change the number of servings. It will automatically calculate the measurements for you), and some other stuff. We have a small cookbook with diabetic recipes that we keep meaning to try, even though we're not diabetic, but it's supposed to be one of the healthiest diets out there; and I was also given a Martha Stewart cookbook for Christmas so am going to test out some more recipes!

The super-organized part is going to be getting the meals completed on time. I tried to pick things that I can make ahead and put back in the fridge, and make certain meals when I know I will be home long enough to do it.

I'm sure there will be some progress reports coming up on this blog! Stay tuned!

Semi-responsible Saturday

2009-01-11T13:42:00.023-06:00

(Click on the images in this post to see more articles.)

Yesterday turned out to be a fairly productive day. I was signed up to take a healthcare provider CPR class. Registration was easy, and that was done in December, so I just had to wait for January 10th to come and then show up for class from 8:00am to 5:00pm.

I was only able to make it up so early due to getting so much sleep on Friday. I actually bolted awake at 5:50am because I was afraid I had overslept for class! I decided to get up at 6, since I wanted to get breakfast ready and wasn't sure if we would get a lunch break, so figured I should pack a lunch too. This was a challenge, because I have made very small grocery runs lately and there wasn't alot to choose from in the kitchen. I also wanted a relatively healthy balance of foods. The "menu" worked out pretty well. Breakfast: cheese omelet, turkey bacon, orange sections in a dessert dish and topped off with slivered almonds, and Special K fruit and yogurt cereal. I put a plate for Rich in the fridge, and figured I'd eat mine right before leaving. Just to be funny, I garnished his plate with an individually wrapped prune. They're actually yummy and I've eaten them sparingly for obvious reasons. My brown bag lunch: an apple, a Kashi granola bar, some celery sticks with peanut butter, and a bottle of water. I would have preferred diet soda but we were out. I wasn't done in the kitchen until 7am, and thought I better get moving. After a shower and getting dressed, I didn't have time to eat much of the breakfast I prepared, but figured I still had the "lunch" food to munch on and maybe the building would have a vending machine.

At 7:35am I went out to start my car and discovered it was covered in ice. This is where the morning started to go downhill. I cranked up the defroster and hoped that it would take care of the ice while I ate. When I got back to the kitchen, Rich was already up, so he got dressed and came outside to help. I scarfed down the oranges and bacon, put the omelet in a plastic baggie to go, and left the cereal. Rich and I tackled my car quickly and I was out of there by 7:40am. Sort of. As I turned off our street, my car wouldn't turn but kept sliding straight and I slammed into a curb. Once I got onto the roads, they were fine, and I was able to eat my omelet in one hand and drive with the other. Yes, I realize this wasn't smart. I got across town to where I thought the class was.

My college is constructing a new off-campus site and this is where the class was being held. I even asked someone where it was (last month) and she told me it was in the old K's Merchandise building. I showed up there and found only another retail store. Well, I went to the wrong building. It was actually in the really old K's building - the location they had before the last store that closed for good. By the time I got into class it was almost 8:30am and I felt like an ass. I'm surprised they still let me in. Three other people came in after I was already settled, and they got to come in too. So much for my "I have my stuff together" morning.

This was the kind of CPR dummy I got to use. I am not the lady in the picture. I was one of the lucky people that got my own dummy. The only downside to this kind of dummy is that if I ever have to do CPR in real life, people don't have an easy to find big "do compressions here" black circle on their chest. It's just enough where you get the point of how to do it.

We finished the class early and I never needed that lunch I packed. I had just enough time to go home after that, grab some workout clothes, and I headed to the gym! I was able to make it to the Drums Alive class after all. I really like it. Once I get more used to it, I will be able to add the little extra hops and jumps the instructor is doing. Right now I'm just keeping up with it. After class I got on the treadmill for 45 minutes and walked 2.25 miles. The first time I tried to walk 3 miles, my left hip started to hurt around 1.5 miles. This time my hip didn't start to hurt until 2.08 miles and then I quit at 2.25 miles. Attempting to make myself not feel like an old woman, I told myself even though it wasn't what I wanted to accomplish, it was definitely progress.

On the way home I stopped at a wine store and picked up a couple of bottles of new stuff to try. I took a nap and then Rich and I went over to friends' house to share the wine and hang out.

They made me learn how to play euchre, which I have attempted before and never liked it. I have a hard time wrapping my brain around card games. After a few rounds I started to not hate it anymore. I'd be fine with not playing it again, but will give it another shot if they want to play. Once again, a little progress.

With a nice little wine buzz distracting my brain from my stiff post-workout body, I went to bed late and slept in today. I am hanging around the house on my last day before school and will probably only leave when I go to Yolates class and come right back home.

While the day had its ups and downs, I'm glad I got to accomplish what I did.

DOT post: New Year for Zeus

2009-01-08T06:10:00.014-06:00

Last week we didn't officially have a Dogs on Thursday week, but I made a post anyway. See that one here, for a quick photo funny.

New Year's Eve brought some company for Zeus. Sadie came over with her humans to our party and paid a visit to Zeus and Kitty.

Isn't she a cutie? They got to play together a few weeks ago too. I made a post on my blog about that somewhere before Christmas.

Zeus didn't feel like having his picture taken at first. He's never been a big camera hog.

Zeus had previously tried a chew bone/treat that he didn't really care for, and it was just sitting around for a while. So we thought even though it would be big for Sadie, maybe she would want it. She did.

She went to town on it for a while. I was surprised she could even chew on it.

Then Zeus decided he wanted it after all. Maybe he got jealous. He finished it off for her. She kind of looked at her humans like "So you're just gonna let him do that?" She reportedly gets plenty of treats at her own house.

Zeus soaked up a little extra attention before the clock struck midnight. Kitty preferred to be off on his own and kind of ignored everybody. None of the pets particularly cared for the noise horns we sounded off at midnight!

Overall everybody had a good evening, and another year was about to begin.

Exercise is fun (?!)

2009-01-08T04:54:00.005-06:00

"C'mon, this is fun!" is what I heard from the instructor as she patted me on the shoulder and tried keep me going through a fitness class Wednesday night. I am sure I looked like I would rather be going through just about anything else at that point. The class was called ABC, which stands for Absolute Body Conditioning. I only had some idea of what I was getting myself into when I agreed to go with a friend. I am still not sure what word, or expletive phrase, I could use to describe this experience.

It was an hour of cardio/athletic drills. I made it through 30 minutes or so and decided f*** this and left. My friend that went with me and couldn't finish it either. Let me tell you, there are no fat people in this class. I had to keep stopping to drink water and catch my breath, my chest started to hurt, and then I had to bolt to the bathroom to cough up half a lung. NOT FUN. I also had a good pain brewing in the left side of my lower back that bothered me for a couple of hours after I got home. I am not ready for that class yet! At some point I will try it again, or even next week but with the intent on doing what I can and leaving when I've had enough. I might talk to the instructor first. Tonight (Thursday) I am going to Yoga. Maybe Friday I will try a Zumba class and/or the treadmill. There is a "Boot Camp" class I want to go to, but keep chickening out. I heard the guy that teaches it actually used to be in the military.

I went to a Drums Alive class one Saturday that was great, and plan on doing that again but am taking CPR all day this Saturday, so hopefully the week after I can go. They give each person a pair of drumsticks and you bang on an exercise ball to music like it's a big drum - combining that with aerobics. Wierd, but fun. It was challenging and a good workout without making me feel like I was going to die.

This video is an example of the Drums Alive class I went to. It was not filmed where I took the class; it's just something I found on YouTube. It looks alot like the class I was in. If you fast forward about 3 minutes into it, you can see how much work it can be.

The gym I go to (some weeks more than others) is actually an awesome facility. If they had a pool, if would be perfect. There are alot of classes to choose from, there are plenty of treadmills and other machines, a couple of different weight rooms, decent locker rooms, plus racquetball courts (that I have never used) and personal trainers available for a fee (that I am considering using). There are other services in the building, also for a fee, that members can use. The membership isn't cheap. Luckily Rich and I get an amazing discount through his employer. I need to make myself take full advantage of it.

After I recover from Wednesday's workout, I will be back at the gym giving it another shot. If I want to be able to run that 5K in April, I have alot of work to do.

2009: Another year!

2009-01-08T03:52:00.016-06:00

We had a little party for New Year's Eve.

I have a few photos with people in them, but I decided not to post them on my blog, just in case they might not like that. There are also a couple of photos I would have liked to post of myself and Rich, but I had a little bit too much punch and champagne. Combine that with my holiday slight double chin/weight gain, and they are not attractive photos!

The party was fun. Here are some photos of the decorations, anyway. There was also a packet of "Happy New Year" confetti that came with the package that we forgot to use, so maybe we will use it for 2010 if we can find it by then. I bought a 6-pack of those noise horn things, that brought us and our guests more entertainment that I would have expected! (Zeus and Kitty did not like them!) I will save the doggie photos for my next Dogs on Thursday post.

I made a collage for "Memories of 2008" as I did for 2007. That seemed like an appropriate place to hang the 2009 decorations too.

I wish I could take credit for this photo that Rich took. I don't know how it turned out all red like that. Pretty cool!

I am not making "New Year's Resolutions." I am going to keep working towards the goals I set last year and ongoing. Keep plugging away at school, attempt at living a healthier lifestyle as best I can manage, and try to keep a sense of humor about everything. Sarcasm is ok too, though!

Happy 2009!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-02T06:32:00.003-06:00

In order to not bog down my blog with a ton of photos, I put together a slideshow of my best Christmas photos. I went to family gatherings in three different places, so it was a little busy, but a great holiday! This was also the first Christmas in about three or four years where I didn't have to work, and I even had a couple of extra days off!

Enjoy the slideshow.

DOT post: Inspiration

2009-01-01T11:00:00.003-06:00

A friend emailed this to me. I am not a church goer, but I like the message and thought it would be appropriate to share with Dogs on Thursday bloggers.

If we could all do that, the world would be a fabulous place to live!

Blago tune

2008-12-29T07:08:00.002-06:00

It's rare when I have a comment on politics - but I saw this posted at work and had to share. Even if Christmas is over by a few days, the Blago mess isn't.

Get Packin’ Rod Blagojevich

Sung to the tune: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Get packin, Rod Blagojevich
The state’s in disarray
The Tribune wants you unemployed
At least by Christmas Day
The TV pundits want your head
Could there be pay to play?
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy

Good riddance Rod Blagojevich
Your Elvis look’s inane
The Senate’s mad, so’s Lisa’s dad
You drive us all insane.
Our transit’s broke the state’s a joke
The Tollway’s one big pain
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy

Good luck old Rod Blagojevich
The feds have quite a place
Fitzgerald’s poked his nose around
And if he has a case,
George Ryan’s moving stuff around
Creating extra space
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy

Consolidating the holidays

2008-12-29T06:55:00.004-06:00

I was looking for a document at work and found this funny image that somebody saved on the desktop. I don't know who originally created it:

Magazine Madness

2008-12-29T05:46:00.008-06:00

One of the gifts I received for Christmas was a paid magazine voucher. This is a pretty cool idea. I was told it was a fundraiser for the boy scouts. I spent a little time trying to decide which magazine to pick.

There isn't enough time in the day to catch up on all of the back issues of my current subscriptions, although that is something I keep meaning to do. Usually I don't get around to it but I like having the option and having all of that information at my fingertips. (It's great to take a magazine along on a road trip!) One of them - "Better Homes and Gardens" - is one I signed up for the heck of it because I got three years for the price of one. The other one was a subscription I bought just to help out a friend's kid and her school fundraiser, and with that one I picked a 2 year subscription to "Health." I think instead of throwing them in a pile in the guestroom, I should put them somewhere closer in sight - like my bedside table. I could read one, then pass it on to someone else while it is still relatively current.

I decided to go through the websites of some of the magazines I was interested in. Many of them have newsletters that can be emailed to you. I signed up for a boatload of newsletters and I'm sure my email inbox will be swarming with them now. I can get lots of tips and stuff to read without subscribing, and narrowed down my subscription choice to "Real Simple" magazine. It looked like something I would actually pick up and wouldn't have to commit much time to.

(While researching my selections, I learned about a new service called Maghound. I don't need to take part in it now, but it is an interesting idea. People that get bored reading the same thing would probably love it. Subscribers pay a monthly fee and then switch the titles they want when they feel like it.)

In the meantime, I will create a mail folder for "magazines." Bring 'em on.

Elfed 2008

2008-12-18T13:39:00.005-06:00

Once again I elfed our household. I am posting the videos to share. The shows will expire January 15th, unless I want download them for a fee and I'm not paying to keep them. They're cute, but not cute enough to pay almost 5 bucks per video. So watch them now and enjoy! The first video is a Charleston dance, the second one is a Country theme.

(For you Dogs on Thursday bloggers, please see my other post from today too, that one was the DOT post.)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

DOT post: Snoozing and Visiting

2008-12-18T06:00:00.008-06:00

There are lots of photos in today's post, and a bonus video!

Here are some more photos of us being lazy around the house. In my defense, I was pretty darn tired when Rich snapped this one of me conking out on the couch. (This particular photo was taken around the end of November, I think. I know I was still juggling the school and work thing.)

Zeus makes a good nap buddy. I stole his blankets, but we shared the pillow.

Rich got some funny shots last week of Zeus hogging our bed. We have the flannel sheets now for the winter, and an electric blanket, so it's pretty cozy in there! At first he just had his feet and tail peeking out of the covers.

Then the Z man emerged in mid-yawn! I think this is my favorite shot from this post.

Finally, he decided to get up but he looked a bit apprehensive about it! It never fails to make me laugh when his ear flips inside out like that. I am surprised it doesn't seem to bother him.

On Saturday we had some friends over and they brought their doggie Sadie. ("Sadie Bear.") Isn't she a cutie?

Our living room furniture was scattered all over the place since the carpets were being cleaned. Rich goofed off with Sadie while Zeus hopped up on a piece of the couch and pawed at Rich.

The dogs took a break from playing for a minute or two.

I got some video footage of Zeus playing but couldn't get the right moment with Zeus and Sadie playing together. I have never seen him actually energentically play with another dog. In fact, he hardly ever plays with anything. When Hossie was here, they picked up on each other's energy somewhat, but didn't play. I assume that was because they're both older, whereas Sadie is only a couple of years old.

Zeus is playing with Rich in this one. Sadie is off on the sidelines with her humans.

The conversation is about the doggies for the most part, but you can listen to it or not. The fun of it is just watching Zeus pounce around.

Happy Dogs on Thursday!

Monday Monday

2008-12-15T07:03:00.004-06:00

Hopefully this Monday is good to me. I just have some errands to run and I am still not sure in which order I am going to complete them. The goals for the day:

Doctor appointment. Just routine stuff.

Work out. I don't want to, because my muscles are still sore from pushing myself on the treadmill on Saturday...but I need to get back on it. There is a stretch class I might go to and then either use the gym's equipment or use the treadmill at home. I have an exercise ball so could use that too, but I think I should focus on cardio today.

Post office. I bought some jeans off eBay that I need to return, and I need to mail out my DOT swap package. I finally received the last item over the weekend and I am excited to get it shipped off to my swap pal.

Take a good nap!

Watch "How I Met Your Mother" if it is a new episode.

There are no major events coming up that I can think of...and that is fine with me.

Another semester done!

2008-12-12T20:58:00.010-06:00

WOO-HOO!!! I made it through another semester. How closely I made it still weighs on my mind, which will encourage me to work a little harder next semester.

Right now I'm just going to do my happy dance - which nobody will see - so here are some cartoon characters to do it for me. Calvin and Hobbes, and Snoopy, are good at their happy dances.

I love Google image search, and that's where those images came from.

So the final grades: an A in algebra, a C in nutrition and diet therapy, and a C in anatomy & physiology. I am lucky that those are the final grades, because I was right on the border of having to repeat both of those C classes. I am grateful that my instructors were so helpful and they saw that I was really trying as the semester was coming to a close. It was my form of panic setting in and realizing I needed to get serious because it was crunch time. While pulling "C" level grades wasn't the goal I started out with in August, I am happy to get them because those were some time-consuming classes. Even if they were interesting, they were still difficult. The nutrition exams were frustrating for me, but I did well on the assignments and learned alot from them. In the anatomy and physiology class, I looked at the reports in our online grading system and compared my grades to the course average. I was either at average or slightly above or slightly below most of the time, with the exception of doing really well on a couple of the exams (I got an A the histology practical and another A on the neurology practical). On the final exam I got a 72%. The course average for the final exam was 49% ! That made me feel a little better to see I wasn't the only person that couldn't breeze through the class.

The good news is now I have everything I need to apply for the LPN program for Fall 2009 admission. I am turning that application in as soon as I can, and then I just have to wait. The deadline is March, I think, so I won't know for a while if I am accepted. By the Fall 2009 semester, I will have completed all general courses and have only LPN program courses left, which I can do part time and complete in three semesters. That's how it looks on paper, anyway.

Next semester starts in January. I am taking Anatomy & Physiology II, Health Care Topics (the topic for the semester is something about personal growth and awareness), and Healthcare Provider CPR. The CPR class is one of those one-day-only, all-day classes, so I am not considering that in my course load. Hopefully my school schedule will flow better with my work schedule. I think it will, and I will only have classes three days per week rather than all over the place.

What am I going to do now? I applied for a CNA job (as a second job) and haven't gotten a response, so will follow up on that. I have some photo projects I want to work on. I need to work out because I keep talking about doing this 5K in April, and I have a lot of training to do before I can handle something like that. And, I do already have the lab manual for A&P II and the textbook is the same as the first A&P class. I don't think it would be bad idea to get a head start on studying that. I am definitely going to work on that.

Most of all, I am going to try to enjoy the free time while I still have it!!!

Dogs on Thursday post: Bribery!

2008-12-11T11:38:00.009-06:00

No, I am not talking about the bribery that our lovely governor Blagojevich has been attempting. (Money hungry creep, I am not shocked he only has a 13% approval rating. My coworkers and I were almost laid off a few months ago because of his funding games.) I am only referring to how I got my photos of Zeus for today's post.

I have managed to lose not one, not two, but all three USB cords that I could use to upload pictures from the digital cameras. That means today I had to rely on my cell phone and then send a picture message to my email. This is actually alot faster than uploading it anyway.

I thought a photo of Zeus by the fish tank would be a good change of scenery, since most of his photos are on the couch! I tossed a doggie treat over that way - we call them his "cookies" - and hence, the first photo. Look at his face. It's like he knows that's why he got the cookie. On most days he gets one or two anyway, just for being Zeus.

Here he is looking around for another one. "What, that's all I get?" I did give him two!

I didn't realize until seeing this photos that we really need to clean the glass of the fish tank. Oh well, the carpets are in the process of being cleaned so that is something. Isn't it wierd the things you see through others' eyes or a camera lens, that you ignore on a daily basis because you don't notice it?

I have funny photos to post next time, just need to get them off the camera and onto the computer, and I might elf Zeus again this year and post that if possible.

I almost have my package ready for the ornament swap; I am waiting on something to arrive in the mail and can't wait to see it myself, let alone get it off to the doggies and human!

On a non-related dog note, I took my last final exam of the semester this morning! I am still anxious to find out my grade, because I am right on the border of the grade I need, and it all depends on the exam. I will find out tonight.

Happy Dogs on Thursday.

Attention span of a five year old

2008-12-08T05:30:00.007-06:00

I have been trying for most of Sunday, and now Monday morning, to study for my online final for my nutrition class. It covers 14 chapters and a mega amount of information.

I have a curious mind, and unfortunately I sometimes get interested in something stupid rather than what I should be focusing on. Even worse, I felt I had to blog about it.

For example: I have a playlist that I thought would be a pick-me-up for studying for the nutrition final. This playlist features songs that have some kind of food in the title of the song, whether or not the song is actually about food. (Actually, here is a link to that playlist; disclaimer - the last track, by Denis Leary, is not for sensitive ears, but it's hilarious if you're not easily offended.) There is a song on there from South Park that Chef sings about Chocolate Salty Balls. I ended up going away from studying to look online for a recipe, to see if anyone has actually tried to make them. I found a few sites and discussion boards. One of them mentioned chocolate bacon. I then had to look that up... especially because my Mom loves bacon and that would be a wierd thing for us to try sometime. In that search, I found some info on bacon candles. Then I remembered a conversation that Rich and I had about making candles (a possible side thing some friends and I might do to make a few extra bucks), and he said he has a friend who would s*** himself if we made bacon scented candles because he loves bacon.

I am going to get through this week of studying. I only have until Monday night to take the nutrition final and then I have to cram a semester of anatomy & physiology into my brain. That final is on Thursday. My algebra "class" is over. I surprised myself by getting an A in that! I can't count it toward anything though, since I only completed 1 credit hour module. It was basically a review, and if I ever went on to the class it was equivalent to, I would have to take the whole 5 hour class. I don't need it for the LPN route. If I ever go back for RN, I will have to take it. For now, I still have pre-reqs to finish (although almost done with those!) and see if I get into the LPN program.

Friday I am going to do some stuff I have pushed away because I haven't had time. I have a ton of old photos to scan than I took from my parents' house and promised to give them back. Then I'm going to play some video games! I am in a little bit of Xbox withdrawl.

But for now...back to studying!

DOT post: Companions again and other stuff

2008-12-04T05:45:00.001-06:00

Zeus and Hossie got to visit again, this time at Hossie's house. We all got to witness the first snow of the year!

Here they are looking out at the snow and wondering when they could get out in it. You can't see it in this picture because it didn't make it up on the patio, but it's all over the yard down there.

This is what I could see from the windows.

Once I took them out, they stopped at sniffed at the snow, as if they were thinking "What is this stuff? Oh yeah, it's snow!" They both played around a little bit before doing their business.

Hossie was sitting pretty and begging for food as I ate my breakfast.

Zeus had no problem getting comfy on someone else's couch:

His head was hanging off the couch as he cuddled up next to me while we watched tv. He seemed to be just fine in that position.

The dog sitting ended on Monday and I am sure I will see Hossie again soon. Zeus may see her sometime later.

In other doggie news:

While doing a little online research to come up with ideas for my DOT swap pal, I came across something I have never heard of before: yarn made with dog hair. Apparently it's not a new trend. Here is just one article about it: http://ezinearticles.com/?Using-Your-Dogs-Hair&id=61671

I have mixed feelings about this. Rich and I have joked before about having enough pet hair after a vacuuming session to knit another dog (or cat); not that I know how to knit. Little did I know that dog hair yarn actually existed. I love Zeus, and understand the sentiment to some extent, but at the same time it just seems a little wierd. It is hair that is brushed from a clean dog, no harm done...but I can't get the image out of my mind that it has some kind of negative impact on the dog. That's probably because of the negative association with people wearing animal fur. I suppose this is better, because the dog would fine. Maybe if it's clean hair left over from a grooming and furminator session, I could deal with that. I would probably have to see how it's made to get over it.

Any DOT readers know anything about this? Any comments?

Thanksgiving 2008, End of Fall

2008-12-03T03:51:00.025-06:00

A review of Thanksgiving this year and thoughts about the upcoming winter:

Thanksgiving day was the meal at Hometown Buffet with Rich's family. The restaurant was super busy, the food was good, and none of us had to clean up afterwards or crawl for a couch.

The day after Thanksgiving was when my family met up at my parents' house. My niece took extra special care in setting the table like she did last year. She even made us place cards!

I noticed that my Mom had recently hung up some old family photos. Very old. One of them is a family photo that was taken at a funeral, casket included. Back in that time it wasn't unusual. I don't think anybody would pose for a photo like that now.

And, speaking of old... there's the family cat Sophie. If memory serves, she was born in 1996. She was the only kitten in the litter and has always been a real trooper. She's tired now and has lost her meow; it's barely audible. She still likes attention and eats it up when we are home, to the point where she drools with happiness. Or I guess it's happiness.

This isn't the most attractive photo of me and isn't really the best photo of Sophie either, but it will do well enough for today's post. My sweater was covered in Sophie fur after she sat on my lap but it was worth it to show her some lovin'.

A few of us then played an old board game that was found in the basement: Careers. This is the version in the orange box, somewhere around the 1970s, I believe. I found an image through Google image search that led me to someone's blog, but since I haven't asked for her permission to post her photo, here is one from Amazon.com:

For as old as our game is, it's in darn good shape. I remember seeing it when I was a kid down on the basement shelves in our old playroom. Now at age 35 I finally learned how to play and decided on my formula for success. I didn't win. I had plenty of hearts and fame, but no money. Ah, such is life. I shouldn't have started off in Ecology, there was no money in that.

We were sent home with plenty of leftovers that fed us for a couple more days. Too bad I don't have any more of that pumpkin pie left.

The end of Thanksgiving led to the beginning of the Christmas season. I can finally put up my village (when I get around to it soon). I have been to what will probably be the only Christmas parade I will go to this year. There might be another one I get to, which is to be determined.

Some of Rich's family members were in the parade. By the end of the parade I ended up with a little bit of candy in my pockets just like the kids. The weather was just the right temperature and not freezing like it was last year.

I didn't care to take any part in Black Friday. Now I have some shopping to do and it will be on my own time, most likely at 24 hour stores in the wee hours, or online if possible.

Now I feel winter is officially here. It's time to break out the warm coats and gloves, windshield de-icer, cold medicines, aveeno intense relief hand cream, and sick foods. Yesterday I bought some soups and Stash decaf vanilla chai tea (yummy!) because I have the sniffles already. Stash used to sell a decaf/herbal red tea that I really liked and can't find in stores anymore. One of these days I'll place an order for it online. At least I finally made it through a fall without an episode of bronchitis, which is progress.

I have less than two weeks of school left and then I'm done until January. I hope finals go well and I am very much looking forward to the break!

I'm sure December will fly by. I am going to make sure I enjoy some Christmas lights and decorations, maybe a few parties, and try to ignore the cold weather that Mother Nature is throwing our way.

DOT post: Companions

2008-11-27T06:08:00.017-06:00

For the last few days and until next week, I am Hossie sitting. I picked her up and brought her home at first because I had a lot of running around to do. This turned our home into kind of a zoo. It's another world having two dogs around (plus a cat). Zeus and Hossie got along pretty well as they have before. Kitty did his best to ignore both dogs, but did bat and hiss when he finally had enough one day.

Here are links to previous posts I've made when Hossie sitting: (Visiting - May 2008) , (Buddy and Pretty Girl - February 2008), (Temporary Playmate - January 2008). See them for photos taken during those times. Scroll down for new photos!

It was funny that whenever Hossie went up to Rich, Zeus had a reaction of "Uh-uh, that's MY human" and would get up to get in on the action.

Taking the dogs outside to potty was another challenge because they always seemed to shoot off in different directions on the leashes and I'd get wrapped up in them. Attempting to take them out separately wasn't easy either, because when one doggie got up, the other would do it too - especially when a leash was visible despite how good I thought I was hiding it.

Here is a blurry and somewhat dark photo of them coming back in from outside.

I am not sure what they were looking at in this one. It was most likely the door because they wanted to go back out again.

Hossie is back at her own house now and I am staying there until her own humans get back from vacation. I pop in at home so I'm not missing anything. Here is the face I got when I was leaving last night! (Taken on the cell phone which means no flash.)

I would like to think he was wanting to show a little love...although it could have been because I was eating a snack and he wanted some of it!

Zeus would like to tell everyone to have a Happy Thanksgiving and also a happy Dogs on Thursday. Hossie seconds that :)

Relax...just don't fall asleep!

2008-11-25T15:46:00.005-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I found a video on YouTube that is great for just playing in a background window while providing music to study to, or just zone out to. The music is really pretty. I had to bookmark it so I wouldn't forget where to find it. That one is here:

Tapestries: Celtic Dawn - Child of Majik
4 minutes, 7 seconds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhSQAWELDhs

Then today I followed a related link and ended up finding this one, called "Celestial Journey." I played while looking at other windows on the computer. Then I decided to actually watch a little bit of it.

Celestial Journey
10 minutes, 5 seconds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSFKGAQpmi8&feature=related

With a mug of hot chocolate in my hand and playing the video on full screen, I found the music and scenery so relaxing that I almost fell asleep about 2 and a half minutes into it! I haven't even seen the whole thing yet. I have studying to finish right now, so I am going to listen but not watch. The next time I need to wind down, I know that I can either go to YouTube or just come back to this post.

There are also some very nice videos on YouTube with music by Ryan Farish. I had never heard of him before, but now that I've listened to some of his music, I really like it. Here is a link to a whole bunch of Ryan Farish videos .

With the end of the semester not far away, I am starting to stress out a bit. I think I'm going to need some calm moments to balance it all out. These videos and links should help!

DOT post: Fall is fun

2008-11-20T03:45:00.013-06:00

I have a few photos of Zeus hanging out in the yard. He enjoyed the few minutes of the fall weather and just a little bit of sunshine that was left.

He started off with a roll in the grass and leaves:

Then he observed the outdoors and looked for a good spot to sit:

And he let the wind blow through his fur...um, ears. :

Finally he found a spot on the ground to relax:

Then I got cold and decided it was time to go in. It looks warmer than it really was. I think Zeus was okay with going inside too. He wasn't as animated as he usually is when he gets outside.

Fall is also the beginning of that time frame where it's comfy to hog the couch too!

I wrapped Zeus up in his blanket. His ears perked up when he heard the phone ring:

And Kitty decided that my textbook would be the place for him to curl up. I had only put my book down long enough to grab the laptop, and he took the book for himself.

Once I got to another section in my textbook, Zeus was in full nap mode, complete with twitching. Here is 30 seconds of him snoozing. It might be hard to tell, but if you look closely you can see his upper lip snarl and his eye/forehead muscles move.

I know this is Dogs on Thursday, but to even out the video clips, here is Kitty stealing some remains of my breakfast. I had just put the empty yogurt container down, and when I looked up a few seconds later he was getting what he could out of it. I didn't know that cats like yogurt. From what I read it doesn't hurt them. Please ignore the messy coffee table! I filmed this a week or two ago and forgot to post it.

It seems that pretty soon I could very well have snow pictures to post! We had our first snowflakes over this past weekend. I am fine with having more time before it really snows. When we do have it, Zeus will get to play in it. I'm sure he'll try to eat some of it, too!

Tagged: page 56

2008-11-20T03:13:00.006-06:00

I got tagged by Paula, so here is my part of the game.

Now here are the rules:

Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment.Turn to page 56....Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following there.Then pass this lovely little award on to five other people.......

The closest book to me was my nutrition & diet therapy textbook because I have an assignment due today. We are WAY past page 56, and the case study that is due is on page 642!

Page 56, five sentences down:

"Meat, Poultry, Fish, Legumes, Eggs, and Nuts: With two exceptions, foods of this group provide almost no carbohydrate to the diet."

The next three sentences:

"The exceptions are nuts, which provide a little starch and fiber along with their abundant fat, and dry beans, which are excellent sources of both starch and fiber. Just a 1/2-cup serving of beans provides 15 grams of carbohydrate, an amount equal to the richest carbohydrate sources. Among sources of fiber, beans and other legumes are outstanding, providing as much as 8 grams in 1/2 cup."

Now I am tagging:

I'll try to pick a few fellow Dogs on Thursday bloggers that haven't been tagged already (to my knowledge), because I don't know who else to tag or who participates in these things. If you want, post this on your blog too with your answers, and just leave me a comment to let me know you did it (so I can read it!). I am tagging: Leslie, Mary, Krystle, Nichole, and Vivian.

Have fun...

Cheezburgers and hotdogs

2008-11-17T01:55:00.015-06:00

When I was out with friends for Halloween, we saw someone dressed up as a cat with a sign around her neck that said "I can haz cheezburger?" I had no idea what it meant until someone explained it to me. Then today I saw an article on Salon.com about it. Apparently it's been around for a couple of years and I'd never heard of it or seen it. I had to look it up.

Some of what I saw was kind of dumb. Then I saw this and it made me laugh:

I found this funny not only because I like the show trading spaces, but our Kitty has recently taken a liking to Zeus's doggie bed. Zeus doesn't sleep on it much anyway, as he prefers the couch or the human bed.

Then I saw that there is a similar site called "I has a hot dog" so I went that site to see it. Just as on the first site, some dumb stuff and some funny. I liked this one:

I can't say it's hilarious, but it IS cute. He might drive better than some people I have had to drive with in traffic.

My complaint is that the grammar is so bad on some of these photos, it takes a minute to figure out what they are really trying to say. I may have an occasional typo or make a grammatical error (or run-on sentence) here and there, but I try not to do it and find it annoying when someone makes too many of them. Sometimes I observe what the younger generation uses as their language, such as all of these abbreviations and screwed up spellings and pronunciations in attempt to sound "cool" and it just makes me cringe. That I just used the word "cool" probably dates me because I'm sure there is some other word for that now. I remember a scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off where the snooty guy looks at the high school kids and says "I weep for the future." Yeah, it kind of makes me think of that. I just tried to find a clip of it on YouTube. Instead I found this little tribute to Ferris Bueller as Abe Froman and it's a good parody to a Billy Joel song. Then I found what I was looking for, once again on YouTube. It's a long video, but the quote I referenced can be seen at 3:25 into it. I don't think the characters in this movie really deserved that line, watching it now, but I can't help but remember it.

There are other sites similar to those with the photos above. I think I have enough to do without spending too much on time on them. They may just have to be a humorous distraction once in a while.

DOT post: Photo review, web games, and swap info

2008-11-13T09:44:00.023-06:00

Happy Dogs on Thursday!

I don't have any NEW photos, unfortunately. For today I decided to post a little review of some more favorite Zeus photos from the past year or so. I pulled all of them off of my blog from previous posts, but made them smaller here because there are more of them. They actually somewhat fit a theme:

Playing around outside...

Hanging around the house (and waiting for one of the humans to get home)...

And taking a trip to go somewhere else!

Also - I have "adopted" another dog... an online version, anyway! A friend of mine who is on Facebook (yes, I have been sucked into the world of Facebook too) sent me an invitation to play on PetPupz. It's kind of like those digital pets on a keychain thing, but on a website. You have to spend puppy points to feed, care for, play with, and train your puppy. You can earn puppy points by petting other puppies and winning competitions. I picked out a crossbreed and named her Corkie. Here is her (stock photo) picture:

I picked out a girl doggie, in honor of Bonnie (my family dog as a kid - learn about her on this post), and gave her some of Zeus's personality traits! Also, both Bonnie and Zeus were/are mixed breeds. I don't know if anyone can see the page without actually being logged into Facebook, but here is the link. I am just going to have to remember to log in every day and play, or her status in the categories will drop. You have to spend points in feeding, health, and happiness to keep your dog's overall happiness up. You can also spend points to take care of other people's dogs. I saw that someone's pup was sick so I used some of my points to deworm it.

I am going to participate in the holiday ornament swap since I didn't get around to the last swap DOT had. If I don't post my questionnaire now, I will forget about it, so here it is:

1.)How many dogs have you? Zeus is top dog - and the only dog! - around here. We also have a cat that we just call Kitty.

2.)What is/are your Dogs name? Zeus

3.)What Winter holiday you celebrate? Christmas.

4.)Do you or your dog(s) have any allergies? Not that I know of. Rich has asthma, but it seems to be under control.

5.)What is your snail mail address? I will email this to Paula.

6.)What is your Email address? Paula has my email too.

7.)What is/are your Dogs favorite treats/kind of toys? He isn't into toys much (doesn't like squeaky or noisy things), but he loves treats! Here are a few that I can think of, that I know he has chowed down on: Puproni, Beggin Strips, Peanut Butter Doggy Pops... Really I can't think of any treats we've given him that he didn't like. He has had a couple of teeth removed but still seems to chew pretty well. He is also a snuggler and a cuddler. He got a blanket in a past swap that he likes. He seems to like pillows too...good for napping against if a person isn't right there to lean on.

8.)Anything else you would like to share about your dog(s). I can't think of anything, but feel free to scroll through my blog - there are tons of photos! Zeus brings alot of life to our little home. Kitty does too. Zeus is about 11 years old now and maybe even almost 12, so he's an old man, but still has his moments where he acts just like a puppy! Today when I got home he ran down the stairs to see me and whimpered with excitement.

9.)What are your favorite colors?make your gift more special. We have a lot of neutral colors around the home, warm tones, etc. But anything is fine.

See you all online next week! When I have more time I will read other DOT posts, I need to catch up on everybody's blogs!

35 and counting

2008-11-13T07:24:00.008-06:00

I turned 35 on Monday. I was not looking forward to my birthday in the last couple of months, but now that it's here, I think I'll be just fine. I've actually seen some articles and health related charts that lump "middle age" into one big category of 35-55 years old. That's pretty messed up - there are two generations in there. I refuse to believe that I am middle aged, or at least I hope I live longer than 70 years old.

Overall it was a pretty good day. I had to work, and then had school, and began to get tired and cranky. But once I got home, I got a good nap and then spent the rest of the evening with that handsome, thoughtful, and wonderful boyfriend of mine! He had flowers waiting for me, took me out to dinner, and we opened a bottle of wine when we got home.

This photo doesn't do it justice, but it's the first photo I took and was on my cell phone, and it shows the whole thing. The photos from my digital camera show the detail better. They are very pretty!

And, I collect buildings for my "It's A Wonderful Life" village that I display every Christmas. Target sold them around the late 90s and then stopped making them, so eBay is the place to get them now. I have been trying to get my hands on Mr. Potter's Mansion, and always got outbid. He knew I wanted it and snagged it for me! I can't wait to put it up...but have a pet peeve about too much Christmas stuff before we even have Thanksgiving, so it will have to wait until then.

For a couple of birthdays in the past, I read a book called "It's My F---ing Birthday" that I thought was really funny. The main character/narrator writes a chapter every birthday during her mid-to late 30s to summarize the year. It's been interesting to re-read it, because when I read it last year I realized I felt a lot different about my life than I did a few years ago (the first time I read it). Things are going much better for me now, even if I do whine and complain sometimes. Anyway, the book is written by Merril Markoe. Here is a link to it on Amazon.com . I usually get a copy from the library (why buy it if I can check it out for free? I only read it once a year). That is just one of the things on my agenda for today.

I still have a late birthday dinner coming up with my parents, so I am kind of celebrating all week. Happy Birthday to me...

Cookie Monster's Dream

2008-11-13T07:06:00.003-06:00

A friend of mine had to make a stop-motion film for a class, and was gracious enough to let me post it. I'm impressed with it!

Isn't it awesome?! I think she should get an A+ !

Lazy Furbabies

2008-11-06T09:35:00.006-06:00

Zeus and Kitty like to nap around here. I have a couple of photos from this week.

Since it's Dogs on Thursday, Zeus gets to have his minute of fame first:

That wasn't the best photo of Zeus, so I just took this one too, just a few minutes ago:

I think he is bored this morning. The weather is a little windy and getting rainy, so it might not be the best time to take him out and play. I hope to do that if the weather is nicer (maybe when I get back from school later) because there are some pretty fall leaves on the grass and would make for a good photo - but more importantly it would get him off the couch for a little bit.

Kitty stretches out while he naps. I had never noticed before this nap that he'll do the same kind of twitching that dogs do when they sleep, his tail, face, and so on. Maybe Zeus is influencing him...

And now I'm going to go take one myself. I need to recharge my batteries before going to study in the cadaver lab...have a big test coming up next week, and I need a good grade on it.

Next week hopefully I'll have some outdoors photos.

Studying pains

2008-10-30T13:04:00.007-05:00

I have been behind on my blogging, so this post is about my first day back from my trip :(

For today's Dogs on Thursday post, keep scrolling down to the next post, if you don't want to read this one. I promise I won't be offended.

On Monday I had two exams to take. The big one was the skeletal practical, where we are shown a table full of bones and we have to answer questions about the name of the bone or parts of the bone. This included the skull (cranial and facial bones), arms, legs, vertebrae, hands, feet, bones in the shoulders/chest...everything. I wasn't sure how I was going to remember it all, which is why I kept starting at that anatomy & physiology coloring book while I was on vacation. I do think it helped...but while I was taking the exam I am still not sure how well I did. I was 100% certain about some of the answers, but there were 40 questions and I think I still missed around 10.

I had about an hour after that to study for the written exam on the rest of the chapter. I hadn't even read the textbook because I spent so much time trying to learn the anatomy for the above mentioned exam. Great.

I am on a continuing search to find the perfect study spot on campus. Even if it's quiet, I find it distracting if other people are around. I went to the third floor of the library this time, since it's supposed to be the "silent zone" and found what I thought was going to be THE spot. It was just on the edge of the library in a little hall with three chairs in a row, one behind the next. I settled in for some reading...

Then this guy sat down in front of me to take a nap! I was able to tune him out until he started snoring. I was almost done at that point. Actually, I was almost out of time, but nowhere near done. I was trying to memorize this stuff, more about the types of bones, how they are formed, and much more detailed information than that:

...and that's just the beginning. I got that exam out of the way, did better than the first take (we get two tries on those) but still only got a D. That D stands for dammit, I guess. Although the word I wanted to utter starts with an F.

I'll keep at it, I am sure I will do better on another section. We have the whole muscular system coming up and there are some big points from that. There is plenty more studying to be done.

DOT post: Halloween Zeus

2008-10-30T12:39:00.007-05:00

Doesn't Zeus look thrilled to tell everyone Happy Halloween???

This was as close to a costume as he was going to get this year. Rich didn't think Zeus would go for anything on his head, or the rest of him, for the matter!

He loves his blankets. He was actually just looking up at Rich here, but I thought it was funny because he looks like he was rolling his eyes.

Here is Zeus from this morning:

He doesn't look like his friendly self here, but I think he was in the middle of some kind of sniffing or snorting noise, so his face is all scrunched up.

Kitty has become a big fur ball now that he's healthier and his winter fur is coming in too:

He looks huge from the second picture, but it's just because of the angle and I was sitting right next to him:

Happy Dogs on Thursday, and Happy Halloween!

Florida fall trip, with details and visuals!

2008-10-30T08:22:00.029-05:00

Our vacation trip to Florida went just as fast as I thought it would. It would have been nice to have another week or two before going back to work! I have had a little diversion since returning though. I went to a conference yesterday and did some browsing around EIU, which I will describe in another post. In order to attend it, someone covered my shift. Tonight I have to work, but only for one night - then I am off for the weekend! There are a few activities for Halloween and other things on our social calendar to look forward to.

Here is a run-down of the days we spent away from home! Keep reading to see the photos, videos, and links in this post! The main purpose of the trip was that Rich was standing up in a wedding, and the secondary purpose was to get some R & R.

Tuesday:

We finished up our work and school responsibilities for the most part. I got an extention on my assignment for my online class and made sure to pack school stuff with me. We got out of town just in time. We drove to the airport, got through security, and were the last two to board the plane. We changed planes in Atlanta, only having enough time to grab a quick dinner at O'Charleys and get on the next plane. I had a philly cheesesteak sandwich and some some sweet tea (Rich called it "diabetes in a glass!") and Rich scored two sandwiches because they didn't have the large bread, so made him two smaller ones. One for now, one for later.

The arrival was late into the evening, and we still had to pick up the car rental. We had a good rental experience with Budget before, great bargain and another free upgrade. There is an advantage to picking up a car rental at midnight. After driving for about an hour and getting settled into the house we were borrowing for a couple days, we didn't get to bed until wee hours.

Wednesday:

Slept in, went out to lunch, hung around the house, went out to dinner, stopping at restaurants we liked on our last trip to the area. Weather: warm but overcast and raining. No swimming or sun today. I worked on my assignment and emailed it off to my instructor. I wish I could do all of my assignments sitting by a pool with no distractions, because I got an A on it! I needed that A too, my classes are hard and I am just squeaking by.

Thursday:

I did some studying and took my online quiz before we packed up for the next part of travel. It started to rain after I had only been out on the patio for a few minutes, so I had to go inside to study.

I was very irritated because I spent days studying for this module quiz: even on the plane, around the house, and again the day of - and I did worse on it than any quiz I've taken this semester in that class. I felt like I had just wasted my time. I think I'm going to have to take some drastic measures to finish off this semester with passing grades.

It rained some more. Here is some video of raindrops in the pool.

We left Marco Island and headed for Longboat Key (near Sarasota), where we stayed over with the future bride and groom for the night. Rich had to be there for the bachelor party. He went out for that. I pulled my nose out of my "Anatomy & Physiology coloring book" and went to socialize a little with the female side of the guests/family, then returned to my book. I overheard a classmate talking about how she bought one, and it's very time consuming but helped her remember anatomy. I thought it couldn't hurt so I bought one and a giant pack of colored pencils. It is VERY time consuming. I spent some free moments on the trip labeling and then all the travel home coloring in parts of bones.

Friday:

Rich went out to golf with the guys. I finished labeling anatomy pages and then went outside to the beach for maybe an hour. It was a little sunny but not warm enough to swim; the water was chilly. I took in the scenery and got some photos and video clips.

There weren't many people out enjoying the water and sand this morning!

This is one of my favorite shots, which is suprising because I took it on my cell phone.

The seagulls were out and about:

I got almost a minute of video for the second clip, until someone came up to talk to me. You can see how windy it was by the birds walking sideways to keep their balance.

The guys weren't going to be back for a while, so I went shopping on St. Armand's Circle with some of the girls. I didn't buy a thing. Everything was either out of my price range (a $900 purse?! Prada shoes that were still $120 on the clearance rack?!) or just things I didn't need, touristy stuff and clothes I would never wear back at home. I think spending that much money on a purse, for example, is just plain stupid. There were alot of restaurants.

The wedding rehearsal was Friday night and it was alot of fun. Everyone wore orange and blue to show our support for the Illini and enjoyed some catered food and bartending.

Here we are sporting our orange. I have pictures of other people, but don't want to post them if I haven't asked their permission, so anyone reading this will just have to imagine what the party looked like.

That night was our first night at our vacation rental. We tried to save a few bucks and instead of staying at the resort where most people were, we stayed with Lido vacation rentals. Overall it was a good bargain. The location was great and the rates were cheap - we just got a guest room instead of a bedroom suite. It was compact but had everything we needed, even free internet access, a fridge and microwave, and was decorated nicely. However, I was less than impressed with the cleanliness. If I stayed again I would take my own towels (the towels in our room had light stains on them). The white shower curtain liner had brown and black mildew stains, and when I asked for a replacement they never got around to it. I should have asked when I first noticed it.

Saturday:

The big day. Rich and I walked to Lido beach for some scenery, went out to lunch on St. Armand's Circle. The food at ChaCha Coconuts was delicious! I wanted to get some fudge to take home, after seeing it being made in the window of Kilwin's. While I'm looking at the fudge in the glass case inside, Rich nudged me and said "That's Jerry Springer." I looked up, and yep, he was a customer! He was on the way out of the store so I only got to glance. The girl working there said he has a house nearby and comes to the shops sometimes. I didn't get a picture. The fudge was yummy and has been nibbled on in small doses. There is still a little left even as I am writing now.

I had a minor drama back at the hotel room. I tried to help Rich along in getting ready and offered to iron his pants. I saw that the iron was leaking water all over the ironing board, and somehow my brain forgot the iron was already plugged in when I went to grab it, which resulted in scorching two of my fingers. It hurt so bad I cried like a little kid for a minute or two! So he ended up helping me out instead. It took over an hour for the pain to go away. Luckily only my index finger got the worst of it and that's the only part that blistered. I dropped Rich off at the wedding stuff, bought some special blister care bandaids (these things are awesome!) at the local CVS, and got myself ready for the wedding.

The wedding was a beach ceremony and in my opinion, couldn't have turned out better. Everyone seemed really relaxed and happy, especially the bride and groom! There were a few raindrops, but not enough where it actually rained and ruined the ceremony. I can't wait to see the photographer's photos. I got some snapshots, but I really had to zoom in from where I was sitting, which means some of my photos are a little grainy.

Some pretty cool music...

Everybody in the wedding party went barefoot (except the groom, I think) - even the officiant!

This is the whole area where the ceremony took place (picture was taken after it was over).

After having a great time at the reception, we returned to our room and got some rest.

Sunday:

Ah, the last day. Of course, that's when the sun finally came out! One more trip to Lido beach and I got a decent photo there, then had to check out of our guest room:

We had lunch again at ChaCha Coconuts, and saw a little bit of local wildlife hanging around:

Then it was finally time to hit the beach in Longboat Key. The water was still cold, but just bearable enough to slowly adjust to going in. My little bit of sunburn pink-turned-light-tan that I have now all came from that hour and a half on the beach. After getting some sun, it was time to leave or we'd miss our plane. By the time we got to the airport, returned the car rental, and tried to check in for our tickets, we DID miss the plane! Luckily there was a new flight that was leaving soon and we were just in time for that one. We had just enough time in Atlanta to make a restroom break and change plans. Of course the ladies room had a long line, so we almost missed that plane too.

Arriving at the airport in Illinois was a wake up call. Hello, wind and cold weather! With teeth chattering, we finally made it to my car and cranked up the heat. One more drive and we were home. Zeus had been dropped off at home and was waiting for us. I figured he'd go bezerk with happiness to see us, but he must have been sleeping because he drowsily wagged his tail and was pretty calm. It was the next day where he went crazy telling us hello! Kitty had been in good hands also while we were gone. My last betta fish didn't fare so well. He wasn't eating much when we left, and didn't make it through the week.

I think when anyone gets back from a trip, you have one week where you can use the excuse that "I just got back" as a reason for not unpacking or doing any housework. That one is being milked for all it's worth! The suitcases are still in the bedroom and belongings thrown about. Today is the day that it's getting picked up though. I have time to clean things up today, and know I won't have time tomorrow.

It just took me three hours to complete this post...I'm sure I could have been doing some more productive with that time, but I like putting the whole trip on the blog so I can see it all with photos, videos, links, and details in the same place.

*Sigh* Now it's back to the daily responsibilities of things.

DOT Post: Big Appetites!

2008-10-16T13:42:00.008-05:00

Hello fellow Dogs on Thursday bloggers. I am posting this later in the day than most people, so I doubt many of you will see it, but I didn't make a post last week (too busy) and won't next week either (will be on vacation!). I figured I should do it now.

Here are some photos and brief narratives, or really just captions.

Zeus was begging for some french fries. We shouldn't really be eating them, and he shouldn't be either!

He did, however, get a big beggin' strip. Tastes like a beggin strip, chews like a bone, or so the package states. He liked it alot!

Kitty lounged around a bit on our Wii balance board (the humans do use it too)...

...but Kitty's appetite got the better of him. He is becoming a real hog when it comes to kitty food, so we are going to have to start putting it up out of his reach. I'm glad he has gained some weight after being treated for the tapeworm, but it's not healthy for him to get fat either.

Next week Zeus is going to stay with his "grandparents" and Kitty is going to have the condo to himself (a friend will check in on him), with the exception of the fish. One of my bettas died, she was a real trooper and two years old, so I am down to one betta fish now. Rich has saltwater fish. The friend will feed those too.

I am looking forward to this vacation. I was so overloaded earlier this week that even checking my email was stressing me out. So as of next Wednesday, I am going to be in Florida soaking in some sun and viewing the beach! Yay!!! The trip will go too fast, I am sure, but will be sooooo worth it.

Details and photos when I return. Have a good week or two.

Today's 2nd DOT post: The Look

2008-10-02T13:17:00.006-05:00

I already made one DOT post today (please read that one too!) but I just HAD to post the email I got from my mom a few minutes ago!!! I changed the color of the text just so you could distinguish the email from my own content.

If there is an "aww....!" moment, this is it. (In fact, I even "aww"ed out loud and laughed.) Although now that I think about it, I hope it wasn't really a puppy getting scolded for something because that would make me sad...so I hope he/she was just trying to look cute. Let's think positive.

If you need me today, I'm afraid I will be unavailable. I am going to be standing in front of a mirror practicing this look. And once I have it mastered....... I should be able to get away with ANYTHING!

Why can't humans do this to get what we want? Heehee.

DOT post: Why?!

2008-10-02T03:16:00.014-05:00

(There are no Zeus and Kitty photos today...when I tried to take their photos, they kept moving, so I gave up. Maybe they're a little tired of the camera! They can have a break for now.)

Dogs can be wonderful creatures...but sometimes do gross things!

For three days in a row during this past week, I came home and found a trail of kitty litter from the kitchen to a spot on the carpet. One of those days, a little present was still there, still covered in litter - so I am sure Kitty didn't leave it there. By no coincidence, Zeus had some pretty nasty breath. On another day, I caught him sniffing at the litter box and stopped him before he dug into it. I found this whole discovery thoroughly disgusting. I was also a little bewildered, because I've never seen him do it before...and haven't for the last couple of days. I guess he's stopped, or he's just been sneaky. YUCK. Rich said all dogs do it, and Zeus did it before when he had another cat.

I saw something in a catalog (Doctors Foster and Smith) where we could feed it to Kitty so his "waste" would taste bad to the animal eating it, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea, or even necessary.

According to their site,
"If your Dog Eats From the Cat's Litter Box. . .
Sprinkle some For-Bid over your cat's food to make her stool less appealing to the family dog.
Consider getting your cat a litter box with a built-in cover like the Hooded Litter Pan or Catty Corner Litter Box to limit your dog's access to the litter.
As vile as you may view this behavior, our veterinarians emphasize you should never punish your dog for stool eating. To curb the habit, try the recommendations listed above, and if your dog continues, consult with your veterinarian. "

If it happens again I might put a hooded box in the kitchen. Kitty has a hooded box in the dining area corner and doesn't seem to use it as often as the open one, so I'm not sure if Kitty likes it.

All of that will be monitored and hopefully the problem is over. I think we've been pretty good about keeping the box scooped. Maybe this would be a good excuse to buy one of those automatic scoop boxes.

On a completely unrelated note, I saw a bumper sticker at school on someone's back windshield that I thought Thursday's dog mommies would find funny: "My poodle is smarter than your honor student."

And if anyone is bored and looking for something to read, follow my surfing lead! I was looking for nutritional content about McDonald's new coffees, and ended up reading about that lawsuit in the early 90s where the woman sued for spilling coffee on herself. Then I read this article ("I'm Being Sued for WHAT?"), and after that decided I better use my time to accomplish something. I have an exam and quiz due today, plus that lovely 15 page paper due next week - that I should start. Today.

Have a good week!

The long way home, and longest post to date!

2008-09-26T20:06:00.038-05:00

(Photos do show up a little later in this post, after a quite lengthy ramble! I had alot on my mind this evening. Putting this whole post together was pretty therapeutic. If anyone actually reads this, skip down to the photos if you want...but they might make more sense if you read everything before it).

Are you settled in, blog reader? Grab your popcorn, or hot tea, whatever floats your boat...and read on!

Today was Friday, which means it is my busiest day of the week. I work until 8am-ish, then go to school until 2pm or a little later, and go home and crash at some point. Friday nights I don't go out and do alot of fun stuff; I try to make up for that during the rest of the weekend (which contributes to my procrastination...which continues the stress of catching up during the week!). Added to the mix was a work meeting that I had to go all the way across town for, and I was late to that, so only caught the last half hour. *rolling eyes* At least I made it to part of it.

I was all over the place today. Physically, I was all over town running the above listed things, and I also went home between work and my first class. That has proven to NOT be a good idea, because it's so much harder to get going again. I have to stop doing that. I need to go to campus early and stay there until I'm done...I have no excuse for being late to these classes, and if I don't pull my s--- together my grades are really going to suffer.

This morning I stopped at Starbucks and got a caramel Frappucino. I drank maybe a third of it and put it in the fridge because it didn't seem to settle with me too well. After school and during the work meeting, I drank the rest of it and didn't feel so great the second time. I don't think I'm getting that one again. It could be related to some other reason, but I wonder if it spiked my blood sugar to the point of making me feel like crap, and I'm not even diabetic. That wasn't the kind of boost I had in mind when I bought it. I'll stick with the drinks I like. it probably couldn't hurt to make an effort to find lower calorie/lower sugar versions of those drinks either.

It's probably because I'm a little run down, but emotionally I was kind of all over the place today too. A little bit of the blahs lingered, but the rest of it came from observing other people and it made me feel kind of sad. Here is what happened:

On the way home from work, I decided I really wanted to rent this movie that popped into my mind a few days ago. I have seen "The Family Stone" before and tried to find clips of it on YouTube, but couldn't find the scene I was thinking of. I headed in the direction of the video store and got stuck by a train. A very LONG train, in a not very good part of town. It wasn't a horrible ghetto, and not the worst part of town, just not great either.

I was the first car in line and got a front row seat to the scenery. I watched as a couple of young teenage boys waited to cross the tracks. Then one of them decided to jump on the train and climb down the other side. His friend followed. My jaw dropped, despite the fact that the train was going slow. I am sure it only looked slow. Stupid kids. I glanced at the car to my right and the driver was a woman that may have been a decade or two older than me. She was shaking her head. I rolled my window down and told her I was tempted to yell at those kids that I should tell their mother. (Not that I know their mother.) She said she wanted to say something but was afraid she'd get cussed out, and added how dangerous their actions were.

I was dying to do something about it. What if I didn't do something about it and they got hurt? What if I got hurt trying to help "educate" them? It isn't my responsibility, but whose is it? I thought about calling the police and seeing if there was an officer to talk to them about the dangers of playing by with trains, but wondered if the police could/would do it. It felt like we would be sitting there long enough for an officer to show up. I looked at my cell phone and it was dead. Then I heard/saw police and an ambulance turn down a street on the other side of the tracks. They had emergencies to take care of.

The fact that I was sitting in my car and worrying about this made me feel like an old biddy. I could just hear it..."These kids today..." as if I never did anything stupid myself.

Two of their friends lingered on our side of the tracks. My windows were still down and these guys seemed to be pretty mellow, strolling slowly and waiting around for the train to pass. One of them turned around and I caught his eye, and I had a split second to decide if I should talk to him. I waved at him and said he should tell his friends how dangerous that was, because they could have really gotten hurt. He nodded and replied "I tried to tell 'em... They slow." I told him I was glad he didn't join them. So, I didn't do anything to save the world...it wasn't a huge step toward anything, but I felt better that I at least gave my opinion about it. I guess what helped even more was that the remaining two had enough brains not to do it.

As I continued to wait, I shut my car off and decided I could use the opportunity to take a few photos. Part of me knew it wasn't real smart to play with my digital camera when I was sitting there with my windows open. The other part of me assumed that with all of the other people waiting around with me in broad daylight, I wasn't going to get carjacked at 5:30pm. I don't think I've ever heard of carjacking happening in this town/county anyway.

I started snapping photos from inside my car, and didn't care that the driver behind me looked at me like I was nuts. Notice I didn't say "photographs" because I still believe film takes better photographs.

Graffiti is illegal. Still, I appreciate the artistry of it, to an extent. It's too bad whoever did it can't put it on a canvas instead. Originally I included the top of my driver side mirror at the bottom of this photo, on purpose, but decided to crop it. It didn't have the artsy look I was attempting and looked more like someone didn't know how to aim a camera.

Yet another car with graffiti. This image is a little too dark. Shooting into the sun will do that.

Here was the artsy attempt. I like how it turned out.

My photo happy mood began to kick in and I wanted to take more pictures of my long trip home - regardless of how silly they were.

This is the Kraft plant across the street from the video store. There are some funky smells cranking out of that building sometimes.

Faithful, affordable Family Video. I can't estimate how many DVDs I've rented from their various locations over the last few years, although not probably in the last 6 months or more. I found "The Family Stone" DVD right away, and there was a "buy it for $4.95" sticker on it. I debated it, and then once I realized I had not even a dollar in cash, and it would be stupid to write a check for a dollar, that I would watch it enough to make it worth the bargain price. I found two other rental DVDs - on the 2 for $1 racks - and picked them up. I don't know when I'm going to watch them, but I have a few days.

"Ambulance Girl" starring Kathy Bates looks like it could be funny. "The Gods Must Be Crazy" is something I watched in either late 1989 or early 1990. At the time I thought it was funny. We'll see if I think so this time. I went to the check out and learned I had a big fat late fee from my last round of new release rentals. Between the fee, the $4.95 movie, and the two rentals, I spent $16. *Sigh* Well, I wasn't planning on any shopping sprees for a while, so I guess this won't hurt too much. If I could just get the movies back on time, it really is a cheap place to rent from.

One more stop to go. Feta cheese was calling and we didn't have any (to join with eggs and spinach for a nice omelet breakfast).

My favorite cheap grocery store. I should shop here more often. The other store we frequent is open 24 hours though, which is also highly convenient.

How many times has this happened? One item was on the list, and 10 more came out to the car. Still, all this added up to only $13.01 which isn't bad at all. (Between that, the video store, and Starbucks, I spent enough for a day and decided no more shopping for anything.)

Everything was normal as could be at home. We have managed to clutter up the place again, and have another prospective renter coming next week, so have more cleaning to do. It never ends.

Kitty found a spot to sit on the carpet.

And Zeus kept on eye things while hanging around the home.

That brings an end to my blogging for the night - and most likely for the next few days! I have a huge exam on Monday, homework due on Monday, a quiz on Tuesday, and a huge assignment also due on Tuesday. Sometime this weekend we'll get a little hang time with friends either on Saturday or Sunday. There are many tasks to accomplish.

I am past the point now of needing a nap. It will be better if I just go to bed early and call it a night; no work this weekend!!! There is "only" studying, cleaning, socializing, studying, cleaning...did I say studying and cleaning???

DOT post: Comfort Spots and Comfort Food

2008-09-25T09:09:00.013-05:00

Rich got to be the photographer and videographer for this week's Dogs on Thursday post.

If anyone has read my non-DOT posts, you'll see I procrastinate all the time when it comes to getting my school work done. On Monday night (I think it was Monday), I was actually reading through some of the stuff for my online class. Zeus snuggled up next to me...and then ON me.

I must have made a comfy pillow and decided not to make him move; I could still reach over him to use the computer. Then he buried his nose under the laptop and took a nap!

Babbling on here: I am reminded by looking through these photos that we have a lot of beige and neutral tones going on at home - everywhere. Even my outfit here is beige and grey, which is just a coincidence because they were comfy clothes. Zeus's color matches all the neutrals too. I love color...but neutral tones seem to work better for decorating: better resale value, easier to match stuff with. If I had a dream house, it would have a few extra bedrooms that I could paint and decorate with bold colors and/or themes. But, simple can be nice too. I guess our bathrooms are colorful (one is yellow, the other is green), and the master bedroom has one dark wall. See the painting in progress here on a previous blog post).

Anyway, we all moved on to the guest room/office later in the evening. Zeus got to try out some new treats this week: peanut butter doggy pops. He liked them, all right.

For some reason, he decided that chewing the pop by the rawhide handle first was the way to go. Kitty was there to observe. Kitty has plenty of treats too, but eats them in the kitchen.

He had little chunks of the peanut butter stuff in his nails while he was eating. There weren't any bits leftover in the carpet though; he must have found a way to eat it all.

There is a busy weekend coming up and beginning of next week too, which means I don't know if I'll have time to get any good material for the next DOT post. I suspect the "kids" will give us something to use.

DOT post under construction

2008-09-25T03:02:00.002-05:00

I am having problems with the computer right now. For some reason the computer won't recognize the USB connection to the digital camera.

I actually have a couple of photos and a video to share this week for Dogs on Thursday, and will have that up sometime late morning today (when I get to a different computer).

Stay tuned!

Blah on Monday

2008-09-22T20:17:00.004-05:00

My day in a nutshell:

I put off my school work more than I should have, and flunked my A&P exam. I guess the good news is we get a chance to retake it, so I am definitely doing some studying for that one. I also didn't get my algebra work done and postponed my meeting with my teacher until Wednesday. It's good I did that, because then I had time while I was on campus to go into the lab and get some extra time in looking at slides under microscopes and attempting to draw them like we're supposed to be doing. What I'm drawing doesn't look anything like what I'm looking at. Now it's done anyway. I have a quiz for my online class due tomorrow, which means even more to study for.

I was able to eat "lunch" at go to bed shortly after I got home, and woke up before my alarm that I had set just in time to watch one of my favorite TV shows. I was really looking forward to tonight's first episode of season 4 - How I Met Your Mother. And I'm sad to say it wasn't what I expected. I couldn't wait to find out to happened between Barney and Robin. I understand why the show went in the direction it did, but I was so disappointed that I actually wanted to BOO the television. I hope that as the season progresses, Robin actually gives Barney a serious chance. If Ted decides to marry Stella, great, if not, I'm sure he'll find someone else. Being this far into the show, maybe she's the one.

My pity party ended when my guy got home and gave me a hello hug. He had good news that someone might want to buy his truck, and we have yet another person/people interested in looking at the condo.

Tomorrow will be better. Today wasn't even that awful, I'm just in a blah mood. We're all entitled to that every now and then.

DOT post: Re-run

2008-09-18T11:17:00.014-05:00

I don't have any new Zeus photos today, but will post a favorite from earlier this year. I had to really search my blog because I knew just the photo I wanted to use, but had no idea when I took it. That search sent me on a longer trip down memory lane than I intended to take. I was reminded of a lot of good things, a few annoying moments, and some stuff that made me laugh. I browsed through the last two years or so of my life just now, and decided to stop before I read through yet another (I have alot of other things I should be taking care of today). The blog became more interesting (at least, to me) once I learned how to upload photos to Blogger in September 2006. (Thanks, Paula!)

Anyway...I finally found the photo back in the archives from January; he fell asleep while I was petting him and I got stuck covering his eyes for a bit. See here for the original post. While I have been typing this, Zeus has been taking a snooze and pooting little silent stink bombs my way. He just turned over so they will point the other way now. I am not too worried about it, it is about normal for him.

Well, back to the responsible stuff for the day. I have an exam to study for and then take it this afternoon. Happy Dogs on Thursday!

Playing around with a purpose

2008-09-18T06:59:00.011-05:00

Wii is now in the house. More specifically, the Wii Fit game is in the house as of this week. And it is awesome!

It's a pretty interesting game, and if you like playing games at all, it's a good way to start exercising. It's kind of hard to stop playing it once you start, unless you just get worn out.

Rich started the program a day before I did, so he has already earned more points than I have. The more progress you make, the more points you earn, which unlocks another game.

First you create your own "Mii" character by browsing through different menus of features - such as picking face shape, hairstyles and colors, and so on - to make it look like you.

The controls are a combination of the hand-held remote and a balance board that you stand on. The balance board kind of looks like a bathroom scale. It actually can weigh you, then the program calculates your BMI (Body Mass Index) based on other information you enter.

I got some video of Rich playing the hula hoop game. I made sure I only got the TV, because he threatened that if he showed up in it, he would tape me playing and put it on YouTube! I think he was joking, put wasn't going to chance it! So this is a screen shot only.

To play this one, you have to move your body like you really have a hula hoop on it. When the characters on screen throw you another hula hoop, you physically lean in that direction to catch it! The board measures the shift in your balance and adjusts the game to it. I missed a hoop when I played, and the hoop bounced of my (mii's) head.

I played it myself and it wears you out more than you would think. It was also hard for me because I was laughing too hard to concentrate, and is hard to concentrate when someone else can see you doing it because it looks pretty wierd!

Kitty likes to sit on the board when he gets a chance. Zeus just hangs out on the couch to watch or strolls back to the bedroom.

I have tried some of the yoga exercises and balance games, have only done a little of the cardio, mainly because I am getting into the game at the wrong time of day and shouldn't be revving up my heart rate at bed time. The cardio has games for running, step aerobics, and other stuff. According to the program, I have to lose 17 pounds to get my BMI within a normal range for my height. (It showed that my BMI put me in the overweight category. Well, duh. I knew that.) My immediate goal is to lose 7 pounds this month, then go from there. Rich also has a goal to get his BMI down a little bit. Now we're in a friendly competition; but really are just using the buddy system.

Let the games begin!!!

Double dog DOT post!

2008-09-11T11:59:00.028-05:00

Happy Dogs on Thursday!

I have lots of pet pictures. Zeus and Kitty gave me plenty of photo ops, but yesterday I visited Paula and Elise, so I have photos of Elise too!

Thanks to Paula for nominating me for the Dog Lover Blog award!

And thanks to Nichole for creating it!

(Correction: I was wrong...Nichole didn't create it...but she did help keep it going on to other dog bloggers!)

Kitty has been given the dewormer and we have not seen any more evidence of a tapeworm. (Whew! I'm glad that crisis is over.)

He's always been a little piggy when it comes to food (now we know why he wasn't gaining any weight). He was particularly messy the other day, which warranted me pulling out the camera.

He even ended up with a piece of food on his tail, but kept on eating.

Zeus came in and offered to help clean up. "I'll eat it, no problem! Can I have it?"

Happily fed, Kitty crawls toward the camera in hopes of getting some attention.

Zeus hung around on the couch and kept an eye the living room.

Zeus and Kitty both received the Frontline meds. There should be no unwanted critters in this household now! It was funny to see Zeus hanging around without a collar on (while the medicine dried).

He never has the collar off unless he just had a bath.

A day later and somewhere halfway across the state, Elise was hanging out with Paula, Mr. Bassettknitter, and the zoo.

Elise obviously likes being a lap dog. Or she thinks she is a lap dog.

Look at that face! Isn't she sweet?

Mr. Bassettknitter goofed off with her.

Then the humans had our treats.

Paula made me an iced coffee. I love this sign in her kitchen.

We ate some yummy dessert. See the end of this post for the recipe to Chocolate-Cherry Cake, with a few of my own comments thrown in. It's so easy, and is from one of my favorite cookbooks: "The Ultimate Cooking with 4 Ingredients." You can find the book on Amazon.com but here is the link. That book has some good chicken recipes too.

So we would be able to share easier, we made the cake in disposable pans for two 8 inch cakes (instead of one 9x13). One for them, and one for me take back home to share with Rich. They said I could have a piece of their cake, and it was still warm from the oven. We put a good dent in it!

Here is the recipe. Enjoy! And have a good week until the next Dogs on Thursday.

Chocolate-Cherry Cake
(but I usually make them as cupcakes instead. I have also added chocolate chips to the recipe sometimes too, it's good with or without them)

1 milk chocolate cake mix (I have used devils food before too, any chocolate works!)

1 (20 ounce) can cherry pie filling

3 eggs

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix by hand.
Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 inch baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Test with toothpick for doneness.

Here is the frosting recipe, but I've never made it - the cake is delicious enough and I don't think it needs any frosting.

Chocolate-Cherry Cake Frosting

5 Tablespoons margarine
1 and 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 (6 ounce) package chocolate chips

When cake is done, combine margarine, sugar and milk and in a medium saucepan. Boil one minute, stirring constantly. Add chocolate chips and stir until chips are melted. Pour over hot cake.

Now it's week 4.

2008-09-11T11:30:00.004-05:00

This has been the 4th week of the fall semester. All at the same time it feels like it hasn't been long enough to be a month, and feels alot longer than a month!

There has been some catch up to do last week and this week. With no school on Labor Day, that gave me one less day to be on campus to get some of my independent study time clocked in. This week (yesterday) I missed a day of school to go out of town for work for a conference/training. That was a matter of balancing priorities: if I don't keep up my CEUs for work, I can lose my certification...and I do still need it, because I don't want to take that test again!!! I have hardly been at trainings this year since I have gone back to school. I need to add up my CEUs to see if I have enough. I need 30 (for a 2 year time span) by February and I think I am close to that but not quite.

Since I am playing catch up, I spent extra time on campus on Friday last week and Monday this week - after working a shift all night. Monday I went to bed around 8:30 for the night and when I woke up briefly (when Rich was going to bed) there was a huge puddle of drool on my pillow. I slept until 8am. And today, since I missed class yesterday, I have to go to campus and meet my instructor to go over the lecture. Then I have to put in an hour or two on the Algebra stuff, otherwise I'll be there too much tomorrow like I was last Friday, and Fridays are long enough as it is.

The good news is I got a B on my Bio/A&P quiz (Yay!) and I think my class grade is a B now, but depends on what grade I got on some stuff that hasn't been returned to me. And I got an A on my nutrition paper so that brought my class grade up to a B. I have an online quiz due today though, and the last one was hard...hopefully that doesn't hurt too much. As for Algebra, I don't think I'll have a grade until midterm, but as of now I am behind already...have until Monday to get two more sections done. I will be sure to get that done.

The plan for today: make my DOT post (yeah, that should be first on my list!), then study for the BIO retake (deadline is today) to see if I can beat my B; do stuff on campus; then come home, study for nutrition, take the quiz, and get back to bed. I slept this morning but still have the headache left over from last night, so I'm going to pop some Advil... I work tonight but after that I am off for the weekend. And I do have some R&R time plotted out for the weekend!!!

DOT post: Ups and Downs

2008-09-04T04:21:00.008-05:00

This post is just for Zeus (and a little for Kitty). I wrote a long post prior to this one, with tons of photos, so check those out if you have time!

I was able to get a photo of Zeus and really zoomed in without getting the yellow flash freaky eyes. I think this will be one of my new favorite Zeus photos.

If I can get around to it, I still want to paint a portrait of Zeus in time for the DOT representation contest. It all depends on whether I have time. If Ido it, I think I might use that photo and see if I can come even close to it in acrylic.

Rich was goofing off with Zeus and got him to jump over the back of the couch. Of course, I only saw the last second of it, so I asked to see an encore. I recorded it, but I was thinking of photography mode instead of video mode when I tilted the camera for a "portrait" angle instead of "landscape" angle...so the video is completely cock-eyed. Anyway, Zeus still has some jump in him for an 11 year old dog!

If you turn your head, you can see it. *Sigh* It's enough to present the idea, anyway.

Later on, Kitty poked his head around the corner to see what I was up to while I was in the stairwell. I think he wanted to keep an eye on the door. Sometimes he will hover at the top of the stairs, but he won't make a beeline for the door like he used to. Maybe he is finally adjusting to being inside.

Something that affects both animals this week: I discovered on Wednesday that Kitty has a tapeworm. I won't elaborate on how I discovered it, but let's just say it was not a pleasant situation. I repeatedly screamed "Ew!" and then I called the vet. Rich was at work at the time. I told him about it later and he joked that he was going to buy me a bag of gummy worms. He has a good sense of humor, but of course is also concerned about it. After I finish work and then go to my PT appointment his morning, I am taking Kitty to the vet for a weight check so they know how much medicine to give him. Kitty and Zeus are also going to get flea meds, suggested by the vet's office. I haven't seen any fleas on Zeus or in the home at all, and only on Kitty that day he reappeared after escaping the garage - and he got a bath when we brought him upstairs for good. But I was told Kitty most likely got it from ingesting a flea, and just to be on the safe side we'll get Frontline (is that the name of it?) for Zeus and whatever they have for Kitty.

Pets bring all kinds of joys and dramas to a household, don't they?

A few little changes, A really long blog post!

2008-09-04T02:34:00.027-05:00

I was super picture-happy this week!

The theme of the week seemed to be "small changes can make a difference." I'm not talking about solving big problems like global warming or world hunger, I'm only referring to the environment of our little Home Sweet Home.

Here come the pictures, most of them with sequences of before, during, and after shots.

I finally got another pedicure. The color in the photo looks much more orange than it really is. In reality it's more of a reddish pink, or a pinkish red, depending on the lighting and how you look at it. The color is called "Cajun Shrimp."

We did some crafty updating. There is a table at the end of the hallway that had been covered in a yellow/maize colored tablecloth. Since Kitty refused to leave the tablecloth alone (meaning he liked to spray on it, and I think was the last spraying spot he had), it was time to remove the tablecloth. That left a plain table that needed some TLC. It was a bargain find at a second hand store that I bought a couple of years ago when I had my apartment. Rich and I talked before about painting it and never got around to it. Hence, our project! As it turned out, I supplied the table and bought the paint. Rich did the rest of the work.

The "before" photo:

A few "during" photos:

There was some adhesive still left from the price stickers that I never bothered to completely remove. Some paint thinner took care of that in a flash.

And the first coat begins! It was agreed that a high gloss spray paint would probably work well.

Then it was done for the most part. I had some mango-peach salsa candles (very yummy smelling Yankee candles) on the table before. I returned them to their location.

Rich changed the candles to a pair of dark red, heart-shaped tea light holders (another bargain find from the going-out-of-business sale when our World Market store closed). I think they look pretty good there!

As the saying goes, Home is where the heart is!

The kitchen housed some creativity too. I was hungry and didn't want to go grocery shopping. We also had some veggies that needed to be used up. I put a bunch of stuff out on the counter and got busy.

I started with a skillet and a little bit of olive oil, and threw in some minced garlic and baby spinach leaves. The next step was to dice the yellow tomatoes from Rich's parents' garden and include those. Some leftover grilled eggplant and zucchini from a previous dinner found its way into the skillet too. I let that simmer until the tomatoes were running just enough to make it more like a sauce without turning into total mush. It probably could have used a minute or two less on the stove; I'll keep that in mind for future reference.

Once it was cooked, I stirred in some balsamic vinegar and topped it off with parmesan cheese. I would have loved to use the shredded kind, but we only had the "dust in a can" (as I heard a chef call it once), so that would have to do.

The canister of whole wheat rotini hadn't been touched in a while, so that also got used for dinner.

And voila! We have a meal. It actually turned out tasty. That was a surprise, because I never even measured any of it. Rich liked it too. Wednesday night was his turn to cook. He grilled steaks and made homemade garlic mashed potatoes. Mmmm. The rest of the leftover yellow squash went with that. (This is the meal I brought to work today for my "lunch.")

Last of all, Kitty got to test out a series of boxes in an attempt to find a comfy bed. It started when we found him hanging out in a ramen noodle soup box that was supposed to be going to the trash bin.

He loved this box, but it appeared that a bigger box might be more comfortable than this.

Eventually he went to the bigger box. Rich bought a rectangular pet bed to put in the box, but then it was too small. That led to Kitty box 3rd edition:

Kitty hasn't hung out much in this one yet, so we will see if he likes it. I might save the ramen noodle box just as a backup.

Zeus hasn't made an appearance in this post... I guess he doesn't feel the need for change! He likes things the way they are. He's happy with the fame he gets every week with Dogs on Thursday.

DOT post: Happy doggie

2008-08-28T03:12:00.007-05:00

It doesn't matter what the temperature is, Zeus still loves to sleep under the covers. Tuesday morning I was able to sneak out of the bedroom to get my camera and catch a shot of him.

He was even too comfy to be bothered by the flash (or by my lifting up the covers to get the photo).

Kitty stood guard at the bedroom door and waited for the day's activities to start.

Later in the week I was able to get some video of Zeus enjoying the sunshine and grass.

He took a quick roll and then continued to lay there thumping his tail, content as could be!

Weekend in Review, late August 08

2008-08-28T02:33:00.008-05:00

Everything over the weekend went pretty much as planned.

Friday night was the piano bar: food, cocktails/beer, and of course music. The bar was very busy and it's nice to see such a good turnout for a relatively new business. The musicians take requests and play just about anything. The first time we were there, one of them played "Baby Got Back" and it was hilarious. I requested it this time, and it was a different musician who did a good job, but didn't seem to have his heart in it...just played to get it over with. I filmed it on my cell phone anyway, in hopes I could get a good shot of it. Dark lighting and low tech video don't make great videos on cell phones, apparently...but here is a clip of it.

Saturday got off to a bad start when our computer crashed. I was trying to find a good graphic to leave on a friend's Myspace page, went to a website (that I hadn't used before) to see what they had, and then came the pop ups. Then the computer locked up and pop ups were frozen on the desk top. Rebooting it didn't make them go away. Eventually we ended up with a blue screen with a bunch of text on it. Now it's a "brick." Someone is looking at it, but it's messed up pretty good. Luckily we both have other access to the internet, but hopefully the 'puter isn't ka-put.

We dropped Zeus off at a friend's and got to the birthday party. The night went well until the mosquitos came out. Everyone whipped out the bug spray, but I'm too prissy to use it (don't want to get all sticky and smelly) so I didn't. My ankles my are now covered in bug bites, and days later I'm still scratching them and smothering them in cortizone. So I think next time I'll opt for the bug spray and just deal with it until I can take a shower and change clothes.

After spending the night with Rich's family we headed toward home. We attempted to take the scenic route by avoiding highways and by making random decisions. Turn left or right? Ah, turn left and see where that goes. We should have used a few more country roads because we ended up turning into Joliet and taking that through town(s) until we hit the Interstate. That wasn't really the scenic route! We'll try it again another time.

When we picked up Zeus, he was a tuckered out little doggie. He was awake when he got to the car, and then after I took this photo he wound down and fell asleep.

And just like that, the weekend was over. Then it was back to the hustle and bustle of the weekdays. Is it Friday yet?

Equal time for Kitty

2008-08-28T02:24:00.005-05:00

My blog has seen many photos and some video clips of Zeus. Kitty has had some mention here and there.

Here is a little clip of Kitty to give him some more blog time.

This was maybe a week or so after we brought him back inside. It was raining pretty hard outside so you can hear that (and the fish tank running) in the background. He was checking out his environment by the couch. Since then, he's checked out every other part of home he can get into!

I am out of creative titles today.

2008-08-22T16:07:00.016-05:00

Here was my day in review, brought to you in my favorite outline/listing form:

Branching out: Instead of getting my favorite venti mocha frappuccino at Starbucks, I took a huge leap and got a tall java chip frap. What can I say, I was feeling adventurous! (Ha ha.) I spent about 30 bucks a month at Starbucks over the summer, so I am limiting myself to once a week now, most likely on Friday mornings. I don't need those extra calories anyway, even if I do omit the whipped cream.

Here is an image I got from a Google image search on Starbucks Frappuccino. Click on the photo to see an article that posted it, and a copycat recipe on GourmetSleuth's website. I might have to try making this at home.

Confused people: My next trip was to McDonalds so I could get a McGriddle. It's not the healthiest breakfast by any means, and is only an occasional meal. The speaker in the drive thru didn't work too well and the people working there didn't seem to know their butt from a hole in the ground. My sandwich turned out okay, and that's good, because that's all I ate until 3pm.

Nice people: Avoiding the parking mess from Monday, I arrived at campus an hour before my class started. I found the perfect parking spot - at the exact same time a guy in a white SUV did. I waved him ahead so he could take it, but he gave me a "no, you get it" wave. Yay! It was in the front row of the lot.

And...insane person - me!: Today I added two more credit hours to my load this semester. I decided to go ahead and take the Intermediate Algebra - but I am doing the learning center version of it. It's a 5 credit hour class but is broken up into 5 one-credit-hour modules...so I am taking 2 modules this semester and 3 next semester; all the same material but at a slower pace. I don't even need it for the LPN program, but I figure if I ever do need it, I better take it now while the previous algebra class is still in my memory. Then I'll have the credit out of the way too...it will have a different department/course number but if I need it at the same school it will show up on my transcript as equivalent to the regular class. Math classes at this school are good for a whopping two years before you have to take a profiency test...but I can keep my notes and always review them later.

So that gives me 9 credit hours this semester. And I think 11 next semester (3 of which need to be an elective, so I'm going to look for the easiest elective I can get away with), but that is not something I need to worry about yet.

Once I was in my A&P lab this afternoon, I internally started to freak out a little and managed to get that under control. Maybe I made a mistake taking all this on...but I'm going to do it anyway. Lab was something else...The other two in my group whizzed through it and I was trying to keep up with them. I have all the answers to our lab notes but don't think I understand how we (they) got those answers. Once I look it over on my own I think it will make sense. I am also a little worried that my clumsy self will spill or drop something and I'll end up with hydrochloric acid in my face or similar. Today it wasn't me...a girl in my group knocked over a bottle. Fortunately it was only a bottle of distilled water.

This weekend: We are going to a piano bar. I'm going to enjoy a drink or two and sing along if I know the words (only if my friends are singing).

Here is a photo I took the last time we were there.

We are also going to Chicago for a birthday party, and then coming back on Sunday. Zeus is going to a doggie sitter (the same friend that watched him on July 4th weekend). Somewhere between all that I need to get some studying done - most likely on the highway if Rich will drive- and then it's back to work already.

For now, I think I'll finally take a nap.

TGIF!!!

DOT: Same Old Zeus

2008-08-21T12:36:00.008-05:00

Today is another quickie DOT post. Last night I realized I had no new photos or video clips of Zeus.

I started the video just to see what he'd do. He didn't do anything until I tried to zoom in and then he thought that was his cue..."Im outta here."

Very shortly after that he hopped up into his favorite chair and settled in for a while. "Whew! I'm glad she's done capturing my images for the moment."

I started to catch up on everyone else's DOT posts from last week but I am behind on that...still have some reading to do. Thanks to those of you who continue to leave me and Zeus comments. I/we appreciate it!

Turning it around

2008-08-20T01:58:00.008-05:00

On Tuesday I had what I will call a "yucky" afternoon. I went to a couple of meetings for work and wasn't really feeling much enthusiasm for it. On the way out of there, I thought I should stop at the grocery store to pick up something for dinner and my shift. I decided a rotisserie chicken from the deli section sounded good and I wouldn't have to cook.

I didn't grab a cart because I figured I'd only buy what I can carry. Almost every time I try that, I get one too many things and it's hard to carry it all but I usually pull it off. So this time I picked up the chicken and two more containers from the deli counter, a couple of frozen dinners, a jug of tea, and a box of granola bars. I almost made it to the register, started to lose the balance of how everything was stacked up in my arms, and then dropped everything right at the checkout aisles. There were five lanes with people in them, and not one person stopped to ask if I needed any help. That didn't make me feel any better. I guess it could have been worse. The chicken could have come out of the container and slid across the store. At least that didn't happen.

Maybe next time I should try using a basket.

At that point chocolate also seemed like a good idea. I added a Nestle's crunch bar to my stuff at the register. Then I noticed the person coming into the line behind me was wearing scrubs. Curiosity got the better of me, and I started a conversation with a complete stranger.

This is where my mood improved a little because I got some insight into why I'm messing around with this back to school stuff. I told her that I wasn't trying to be nosy, but explained I am taking pre-reqs for an LPN program and asked her what position she works. She's an RN and said she loves it. She was an LPN and then went for her RN, has gotten to do a lot of different things in the work. It took her seven years to finish school after starting it in her thirties, but she did it. I still can't make up my mind if I want to go the LPN route or go straight for RN. I looked at my school's website again tonight and I could do the RN part time but it would take 3 years once I got accepted. I might still be able to work full time or part time and do that. But I'd have to take Algebra II before applying, and microbiology once I am accepted. The good news is I've already completed the required english and psych classes. I'll have to keep thinking it over.

The cashier informed me I now had enough points on my store card that I could cash them in for a $10 gift card. It only took me a year to earn that many points, and I've probably spent hundreds of dollars in groceries to get that $10 card - but hey, it's ten bucks.

Even though my trip ended up okay, I was eager to get home. Zeus was happy to see me and Kitty wanted some attention too. I had some veggie noodle soup and listened to some tunes. Rich got home from work so I visited with him for a little bit, we finished off the Nestle's crunch bar, and then I took my nap. I must have slept hard too. He said I came out to the living room and then went back to bed. I don't remember doing that at all. My brain wasn't with me until I got to work either. When I was in the shower I washed my hair twice, because I didn't realize until the shampoo was already in my hair the second time that I had meant to grab for conditioner but grabbed the wrong bottle.

I think I need a vacation.

First day of Fall 08 semester

2008-08-18T13:43:00.017-05:00

There are all kinds of things I've told myself about this semester. For example "I'm going to be more organized, make more of an effort..." and so on. Realistically, I'm going to do what I end up doing.

Here is what I will need to be wearing until December:

(Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com)
(Their website is at www.Discoveryschool.com )

I have gotten a somewhat better start than I did over the summer. Even though classes didn't start until today, for some reason we had online access to our courses starting on Friday - mostly the syllabus for each course and a few other things and links. That means that over the weekend I obsessively wrote into my calendar every lecture and lab, what the topics were, when deadlines for exams and assignments are due. I even programmed little reminders (thanks to Yahoo) that will email me and text my cell phone for the important stuff. And, even though one of the classes is online, I scheduled it into my calendar during the same block of time that I was going to attend on campus, to give me a visual reminder that I need to set time aside for it.

My online class (Nutrition) has a small assignment that is due this Friday. I did it on Saturday and turned it in this morning. I'm ahead of the game there.

Not a bad start. I am still short one of my A&P textbooks because I haven't received it in the mail yet. I am trying not to panic...and hope I have it really soon. It's on the way, according to delivery confirmation.

There was one huge difference between the fall and summer semesters. There are alot more students now! I'm lucky I got to the campus when I did, because I couldn't decide where to park. Then when I did figure out which lot to choose (both were too far away), I had to go through a sea of cars to find a spot. OMG - as the teen generation would say.

I took this photo after class when I returned to my car. Here's where I had to park! There is a ton of parking; it just might not be close parking.

Somehow I actually made it to my A&P class on time: from my car to my seat in 4 minutes. (Yes, I timed it.) I was walking at a much faster pace than usual! I wasn't even sure where my classroom was, I just knew which wing it was in and then go to the second floor. I didn't get the seat I would have liked, but it's good enough. My instructor seems pretty cool too, so that always helps to make a class seem worthwhile.

On Wednesday I'm going to try to get there earlier...and maybe park on the other side of campus to see if it's any closer.

DOT: Fun with remote control

2008-08-14T06:30:00.009-05:00

I found two videos on my cell phone that I forgot about until yesterday. Or, as good as my memory is, I could have posted these at some point and then forgotten about that.

They are only 15 second clips and the quality is bad. Like I mentioned, these were filmed on my cell phone. In order to hear anything you'll have to crank up the volume on your computer.

Zeus gets yet another few seconds of video fame on my blog.

Here is Rich playing with a little toy that I think was called a PTU - Personal Transport Unit. It's a styrofoam man with a jet helicopter pack on it. You fly it with a remote control unit. I tried it once and crashed it. He's had a lot of practice with it. A couple of times he flew it over my head to wake me up before work.

Zeus watched...and didn't care much for it! It was more the noise he didn't like, rather than seeing something fly around. Bear with this next video clip. The first 5 seconds is a mess, and the lighting is too dark. But 5 seconds into it, you can see Zeus watching. And then right at the end of the clip, he's ready to make his get away into the kitchen.

Eventually the PTU broke. It had been crashed too many times, and was pretty fragile to begin with. There are plenty of other toys around to take its place. I wouldn't mind trying to fly something like that, but want to start with something little so I don't crash something expensive.

I wonder if they make remote control ants? Ha.

Looking ahead and reflecting back

2008-08-14T01:59:00.010-05:00

I made it through the end of my summer classes. I ended up with a B in Algebra and a C in Chemistry. I totally nailed the algebra final (102%, thanks to doing all of the review the night before/morning of, and there were two extra credit questions). I am happy about that, but my final grade was an 88 - just that close to 90 which would have been an A, so I know if I had just gotten all of the homework done instead of most of it (and not forgotten to take two of the online quizzes!) , I could have gotten that A. As for Chemistry, I feel I'm lucky I got that C. I got a 77%, where as 80% would have been a B. I had a hard time comprehending that stuff, and it's still something I have to work on because I'll need that background for this fall.

I am almost ready for the fall semester, which will consist of two classes: Anatomy & Physiology, and Nutrition & Diet Therapy. The nutrition class is online, which I am very happy about, because I can access it whenever I want and that's less time I have to be on campus. I have the textbook already and used the same textbook rental service, Chegg.com, that I did over the summer (for the algebra book), and that saved me about $50 this term. The textbook I need for A&P is in transit. I bought that on eBay and also saved a chunk of money. The bookstore on campus sells the used book for $154 (new is over $200!) and I got it for $80. The CDs that we're supposed to have - that come bundled with the book if you buy it on campus - I got those for another $10, also on eBay.

Today involved one more trip to the bookstore, because I needed the lab manual and can't get that anywhere else. Another $14. I flipped through it on the way to my car, and I am NOT looking forward to this one. Once we get past the chemistry stuff in the first couple weeks, I think I'll be okay. I took A&P back in '93 (or was it '95? Somewhere between there) and I was one point short of a C at that time. That was taking A&P II without ever taking the prerequisite A&P I, so I should be able to pull it off this time. When the tuition is coming straight out of my pocket, rather than added on to student loans, I have been taking school a little more seriously!

Yesterday I was talking with my brother, who is just finishing up his Masters degree, about how much effort needs to go into school. I told him I was wondering how I did it the first time around, and then remembered, oh yeah - most semesters I only had a part time job. We both agreed that just a "few" classes is plenty and that IS your job; that trying to work as an adult (where you have more financial responsibilities) and go to school is much harder. I'm sure hearing someone say that back when I was away at college would have ticked me off...it wasn't really easy then either, because I didn't have other things. I didn't have a car when I was at the university (the junkers I had in community college died). I always had at least 2 or 3 roommates, which means I didn't have much privacy or space of my own. I only worked part time, so hardly had any money. And I took out student loans and racked up tons of credit card debt (one of many stupid mistakes I made during my 20s!).

Everything is a trade off.

I am so proud of my brother. I was the first in my immediate family to finish a Bachelors degree, but he is the first to get a Masters degree. My niece has pretty much grown up on a college campus, and I think it has been a wonderful influence on her. She's a smart kid. She's going to start second grade this fall. *Sniff* I remember picking her up from Kindergarten when I went to visit. (See my blog entries about it here and then here. The second post has photos). That was already two years ago!

My week of no school is already half way over. I had all kinds of ideas for back burner projects that I wanted to do, and of course those haven't happened. I did get one thing for work finished that I'd been putting off, so I guess that's something.

Once again we have a possible renter coming to look at the condo. There have been a few couples or people come to look, and then never pursue it, so I'll be surprised if this one happens. I like the condo...but if someone rents it and we live elsewhere, that would be a big financial opportunity.

Enough rambling for now. I need to grab a snack, get some work done, and then come up with a Dogs on Thursday post. So I will return to Blogger shortly.

DOT post: Quickie

2008-08-07T16:49:00.009-05:00

I don't have any new photos to post today. I've been dog sitting for Hossie, and haven't seen much of Zeus this week except when I stop by home for a few minutes. Zeus is happy to see me (and just about everbody) as usual. Hossie is keeping me busy because she needs alot of trips outside!

If you are new to seeing my blog, you can see photos here from the last time they were together.

Kitty has been inside for almost a week now and his behavior has been pretty good...for the most part. We accidentally left one of the bedroom doors open, and apparently Kitty thought the big potted plant in the corner was a litter box because he left a present in it. He's using the box in the kitchen consistently, but doesn't seem to like the other one with a hood on it.

Kitty's fur is starting to grow back in the bare spots, slowly, so he must be getting a little healthier. I haven't attempted to put him back in that harness yet so I can try to walk him, but plan to give it another try once I am back at home.

As of this morning I can finally put most of my weight on my right foot. It's taken a couple of days to heal from my mishap in the dark!

I think my final exam today went pretty well. One down, one to go.

But now...time to go nap. I work tonight and have some chemistry to cram for.