Critter Carols

'Tis Winter Solstice Eve

It's Winter Solstice tomorrow, and there's a total lunar eclipse tonight, and it's a full moon! It's the first time since 1378 that there will be a lunar eclipse for the Winter Solstice.

I'm thinking of getting up to see it. Shouldn't be too hard. The dogs wake me up between midnight and 4 am every morning anyway. Now if there will only be clear skies tonight!

Maybe that accounts for the Congress repealing DADT. Still can't quite believe they did that; especially with the Reps gaining more "power" come January.

Maybe it was part of a backroom deal to get the '01 and '03 tax cuts and unemployment continued, and that ridiculous payroll tax reduction (what were they thinking?). Not to mention the inheritance tax break. Gimme a break.

warning - political rant ahead

I really do wish someone would stand up and say "Hey. We know it bites big time, but we are going to have to go back to the tax levels before 2001. We know the economy is still fragile. That's why we are going to do this slowly over time."

They could have done that and saved face for all. Except maybe the Reps with the highest earners. But they could have negotiated it to extend the income tax cuts for everyone making less than $500k, instead of $250k, etc. And gradually lowered that to get us back to 2001 tax levels. But nooooo. We have to keep it going, and add stuff to decrease the money coming in even more!

It boggles my mind how they can cut the payroll tax 2% for the next year. Isn't social security hamstrung already? For Pete's Sake.

And this one Rep. I heard on the news. OMG. He brought up the usual talking point that the extension of uneployment benefits should be paid for first (fully funded), but when asked if that should apply to the continuation of the tax cuts, he said "No, it's not the same thing." Really? Then what the hell is it?

You're still reducing money the government has to function. Front end or back end, it is the same thing. And arguably the cuts of  '01 and '03 helped place us in the current mess we are in. Reducing income while increasing or maintaining spending never leads to a positive cash flow. I can tell you that from personal experience. And don't give me that "It's not money the govt has anyway". Well, it is money the government used to have, until they gave it away without funding it.

I'm also tired of all the whining that comes when anyone tries to close loopholes for those making millions and so on. Let's face facts. The rich have a lot more opportunity to take advantage of tax shelters and loopholes than the average person. I can't hire Suz.e Or.man or her like to give me tax advice. But the rich can. There are so many ways to set up your money and estate to avoid taxes upon your death. Give me a break. They don't need that inheritance tax exemption for up to $5 million and a reduced rate!!!! They should have kept it at $1m and just reduced the rate to 35%.

I should stop now. I can feel myself tensing up. Which is why I haven't posted for awhile. Too much going on that I'm thinking about but makes me mad. On a local political level as well.

Repubs here gained advantages in our state legislature riding on the "economic woes" ticket. Their first stated agenda item? Eliminate ab.or.tio.n in this state. For the third session in a row, they're going to try to get a bill passed stating conception begins at birth. Even though the people of this state, by fairly decent margins, have voted no on two constitutional initiatives that tried the same thing. What the hell are they doing? The people of this state have said no twice already. Yet they are going to waste precious time and money on this issue, instead of facing the budget shortfall and economy. I'm going to pull my hair out.

Anyway. It all just drives me crazy. I'm going to stop now and think about the eclipse tonight, Solstice tomorrow, and the 3-day weekend coming up.

DADT Repealed Finally!

It being Saturday I just now got around to checking the headlines. It's about damn time "Don't Ask Don't Tell" was repealed. It actually gives me hope for the future of this country. Now let's see how they implement it.

Gobble Gobble

It has been awhile, hasn't it? Need to get back to posting here. I've been distracted by Fa.ce.book, but really. I just can't condense my thoughts to the small postings they allow. I like this much better. Whether it's read or not!

Had a successful Turkey day this year. Mom & Dad flew in the Monday before, and left for home yesterday. I think they were secretly a little glad to head out as the weather has been a bit chilly. Below zero, snowy, windy. Not normal Thanksgiving weather. At least, not in the past 10 years I've lived here.

Cooked my first turkey ever, with Mom's expert guidance. Tried a new recipe that left me a bit disappointed. Put an orange, onion, celery, and thyme in the turkey cavity instead of stuffing. We made that separately. Rubbed butter all over turkey, sprinkled with salt & pepper, then roasted in oven bag. It was good, but I was expecting more of an orange flavor. I'm still in search of that recipe my Aunt N cooked one year. She said it was from Em.eril, but when I asked her about it several years later, she didn't remember it. It's the best turkey I've ever had.

Anyway. Hosted my little sis' family and a few friends. About 14 of us total. It was fun, and a good day. But exhausting. Shanni stayed the night at the last minute, because we were going shopping in the morning. Hit the stores around 9 or 10 am, which got us past the madness. Except Macy's and Joann Fabrics. But those 2 were bearable. Worst was the cash register line at Joann's. Small store w/only 2 cashiers. But got yarn at half price plus so it was worth it. We were home by 3pm, and I got half my Xmas shopping done. The rest online over the weekend. So just a few little items to finish up and I'm all set.

With Mom & Dad here we managed to finish a few house projects. Nothing major. Dad and I got my adjustable shelves installed upstairs. Love them.Two shelves 6 feet long and 12 inches deep each. Adjustable to whatever height I want. Now to get the books on them and the boxes emptied and papers sorted.

The Two Rs

Today is all about the Two R's - Ranting and Raving.

What is it with people? Aggghhhh. I could just pull my hair out. My one remaining coworker was out for a week, in last week, and out from noon yesterday to 1:30 today. All on business, but still out of the office. Since our other coworker left over a week ago, I am the one that has been helping train our new admin on the mail & on all sorts of stuff pertaining to her position as assistant to my coworker, and taking all phone calls. All this while helping my boss with this week's governance board meeting, a 2-day in house seminar I put together for a major carrier and partner of ours, helping with accounting functions, and my regular job. Which just so happens to include one of our week long seminars next week, where I have 90+ people attending.

My coworker is pissed because I asked her to take her phone off of mute/do-not-disturb. She has "too much to do" and has "renewals". Tough. S%*@. I told her I'm busy too, and am not going to field her calls for her. I've been taking them for the last 2 weeks. I told her if she didn't want to take her phone off do not disturb, I'd just forward the front desk extension directly to her instead of me, because I'm not going to deal with her cranky clients. (Justifiably cranky because she is never here and never takes phone calls when she is!)  Then she could sort through the resulting voice mails. She got all pissy, but took her phone off DND. Hah.

I am just too cranky and tired and over-worked to deal with her you-know-what. It has been an insane 4 months for me at work and I am just out of all patience!!

Math in the Real World

My worst classes in school were math. I hated it, struggled with it, never saw the point. Really, I'm only half-joking when I say I did okay in math until we hit fractions. And percentages. I still shiver internally a little when I see that percentage symbol or have to figure out a percentage. (At least now I can use my cell phone when at the store and people think I'm just texting, not trying to figure out if that discount is really worth it.)

I'm sure in my day I complained bitterly about math having no use in my daily life. Well, I learned an object lesson today that it does. And I'm glad I muddled through somehow.

I finally got Lo.we.s to give me a final quote on the windows I want replaced on the house. I've decided to do all five. Well, the whole thing has been going on since the beginning of September. They keep losing my paperwork, and then never got back to me with the final price of the labor. I went to the department manager and told him since it was apparent they didn't want my business, I was just going to go somewhere else. That got them moving. Hah.

So today at lunch I went in to get the final estimate and place the order on the windows. Well, because they took so long to get back to me, the 15% sale on the Pe.l.la windows was long over. Luckily I had a printed estimate with the sale price. They honored it because they never called me back with the final cost so I could place the order.

All we were waiting on was the contractors charge for finishing out the window install. He hadn't submitted it because I wasn't sure how many windows I was going to replace. They charge $139 to install the actual window, then it's so much per linear foot to finish it out.  (FYI, this does not mean the square footage). Their installation price is $139 per window. So really, it should have just been a few hundred dollars more, right?  Wrong. More like $800!

Thinking Too Hard

A few weeks ago while on the road for work, I stumbled across a new show on TLC. I'd seen previews for it, but hadn't particularly decided to watch or not to watch. I had some time to kill before taking our national faculty out for dinner, and seeing as how the hotel cable channel lineup was limited, I decided to watch. And have been watching ever since.

It's called Sis.ter W.i.ves, and follows a polygamist family in Utah. Up until now, I had assumed that all FLDS believers lived on compounds and kept out of the mainstream. You know, those weirdos that marry 12 year olds, and subjugate the women. Well, you know what they say about "assume". It makes an "a$$" of "u" and "me". I know better.

But anyway. This family is really interesting. It's one husband and three "wives", and among them they have 13 children. From teenagers to a newborn. (OMG! Can you imagine the chaos?) They all live in the same "house" but have separate apartments. So it's more like a three-plex. The husband is about to marry a fourth wife (at the instigation of the first).

Bits N Pieces

Exercise Status: 30 minutes Zum.ba, 20 minutes Treadmill

Okay, it's official. I make lousy coffee. If you're ever at my house & want coffee, I advise you to make it yourself or go out and buy it. Ughh. I bought a mocha on the way in to work today. McD's, which isn't the best, but it's cheaper. And right now they're playing mono.pol.y, so...I was going to buy anyway from one of the coffee shacks, so why not get McD's and play the game? Anyway. It isn't the best, but I finished it fast, and wanted more. So I poured a cup of the stuff I made this morning, and it's awful. I think I need to take some lessons.

Had a good evening yesterday. On the way to the gym I managed to talk to my sister's oldest, G. On the way home from the gym I got to talk to all 3 of my brother's kids. Only niece I didn't get to talk to was the one year old because, well, she's one. But I heard her babbling in the background. I had a lot of fun. And am thrilled my nephew N even talked to me a bit. He usually doesn't.

And inbetween all that I managed to survive Zu.mba. Well, 30 minutes of it. Then I escaped and did another 20 minutes on the treadmill.

Now I just need to get my sister, brother and sister-in-law on the phone! :) Not adding my parents to that list, because I talk to them weekly. It's the others that are hit and miss!

Pumpkins Growing in Trees? It must be Global Warming. ;)

Due to lots of rain, this pumpkin vine in Iowa spread up into a tree and is sprouting pumpkins.

Check out the bottom right corner.

At least they don't have to worry about the bottoms flattening out and getting mushy!

Wonder how big they can grow before they'll drop?

I found another story about one that grew up into an apple tree and was sprouting next to apples. What a hoot. You could even see them in the pictures.

I want one of these. Of course, I'd actually have to have a tree in my yard. Which I don't. Bummer.

Side note: This reminds me of the PS2 game I have for "The Nigh.tm.are Bef.ore Xmas". In particular, the spot in the game where you have to get to the giant tree and use the branches to get to the top and collect all the items in it. I swear they're pumpkins or something. I should get that out this weekend. Seems like a good time of year for this game. ;)

Ahh, Autumn. What a glorious time of year!

Halloween Howlings

This has to be one of my most favorite months of the year. Halloween is, hands down, the funnest, least stressful holiday for me. What's not to like? It's all about fun and food and dressing up.

And October feels like such a powerful month. Especially here, where the air is rich with the changing season. There's a feeling of power in the air, of change, of expectation...It lends itself to a magical spooky holiday so well.

It's funny that I do love Halloween so much, considering I really do not like to be scared. As little sis' older sibling found out when she scared me a few years back and I nearly clocked her. Actually, I think they have all figured that out. The hard way. [g]

Several years back (okay, over a decade ago!) I went to Ha.llow.een Hor.ro.r Nig.hts with a friend of mine. Talk about stressful. For those of you not from the central Flor.ida area, it's a special event Uni.ver.sal Studios theme park does at night during the month of October. When I went, they had mist/fog machines, haunted houses galore and I don't know what else. I pretty much went through the haunted houses clutching my friend in front of me for guidance as I buried my face in her back. You want scary, go there. OMG do they know how to do scary. (And this year is special - it's the 20th year they've been doing this!)

All the employees wore costumes too. And some of them just wandered around the park. You'd be standing there and some monster or ghoul or axe murderer would walk up behind you. When not burying my face in my friend's back, I walked in circles. Seriously. With each step I would spin as I moved. So no-one could creep up on me. Ackkk.

But when all is said and done, I did have fun that night. Especially once we realized some of the regular rides were open and there were no lines. Although I'm not sure my friend N did! She probably had no clue what a chicken I am until that night. LOL.

This year should be less fear-filled. No big plans. Shanni is old enough I doubt we'll trick or treat. She's probably going to a party with friends now that she's in high school. So I have no costume picked out. And I won't be buying candy since there aren't a lot of kids in my area. Maybe I'll have a party for us "adults" at my house. Without scary movies. Or I'll never get to sleep. ;)

Reaping the Whirlwind

What a month. What a summer. Where in the heck did it go? Because it is officially fall now. Sheesh. I had a wonderful time in SF with my sister the last week. Of the 10 days gone, I had to give 2.5 to a work conference (which paid for my ticket out there!!!). That was additionally beneficial because I WON AN IP.AD.

Yes, you read that right! One of the conference vendors donated a 32GB WiFi iPa.d. Not 3G capable, but who cares? No 3G phone service where I live anyway! So it's basically a larger iP.od touch, but oh, so much cooler! Also at the conference I got to meet up with Janet W for dinner. That was a lot of fun! She even brought me some books! Whoo-hoo!

I can't believe how much my nieces have grown! Especially G, the oldest. What a young lady she is. It's wonderful! We had so much fun playing, even if I had a few headaches while I was there. She was extremely understanding. She is a really good kid. Especially with her 1 year old sister. Very patient, and more gentle/tolerant than you might expect a 7 year old to be!

S, my 1 yo niece, is hilarious. Shy at first, but once she warmed up to me it was great. She walks holding on to just one of your fingers. Actually, it's not really a walk, more like a full-speed-ahead charge! When you give her that finger to hold onto you'd better be ready to move! She's chattering up a storm, and is a great eater. Particularly loves bananas. Her favorite person is her big sister G. Wants to have and do everything her big sister does. It's so cute. Gonna be interesting when she gets a little older. [g]

I even got to spend some one-on-one time with my sister, which was fabulous. Those moments are too few and far between. She is such a good mom, both kids are wonderful. She is also amazingly patient, although she doesn't think so!!!!

My bil was on work travel the last half of the week, and we couldn't have timed our flights any better. His flight had landed at the same terminal I was leaving from right before my sis was dropping me off. He walked up just as I was starting the goodbyes. Which was fortuitous because I hate saying goodbye in the first place, and saying goodbye to niece G is much worse! She was just starting the "I don't want Tia to go" and the "Why does Tia have to go" bit when she spotted her daddy walking up. :) A great distraction!!!

(Please pardon the exclamation points. I blame it on excessive tiredness and coffee)

Other People's Words

Found an interesting link on BBC today, about the difference between religious tolerance and freedom that I think is worth sharing:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11200987

From there I found another link about the meaning of the word "liberal" that I thought fun. And confusing in a light-hearted sort of way.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-10658070

Just some things I'm thinking about lately. Especially the first one. It amazes me how people can believe in religious freedom so fervently, yet show very little tolerance. For me, they should be one and the same. I've been reading up on Is.la.m, and am finding (duh!) that the basic beliefs are extremely similar to Chri.sti.ani.ty (gasp!), J.ud.ais.m, and other religions. If people would just take the time to shut their mouths and use their brains to learn about what they don't know, instead of blindly following the loudest pack leader...

When Your Feet Hurt, It's Hard to Sleep

Apparently two days of painting makes my feet hurt really, really badly. And just as apparently, I have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep when my feet do hurt this bad. I'm sitting down right now and they hurt without any pressure on them. Yikes.

Shani, her mom (M), and her sister-in-law (A) came over Sunday and yesterday to help me paint the laundry room and kitchen. Oh, what a chore. But it really needed doing. I had taken Friday off, and really wanted to start that day and go through Sunday. I knew it was a big job. But I couldn't convince the others. Mostly M.

Traveling Tales

Finally, finally made the drive over to Pburg that I've been wanting to do for a long time.

Last weekend was the weekend I was supposed to go to K with my little sister and her family. I even had Friday off. Except we just couldn't see paying the high prices to stay two nights up there. It's prime tourist season, so...

We decided instead to head over to DL to see the old territory prison and museum. It's about an hour or so to get there, and is a nice drive. They were having a free-admission day, so it seemed a good day to go. Shani was doing some volunteer work earlier on Saturday, so we didn't leave until about 2pm. Which was plenty of time to get there and see the prison and the attached car museum, as well as the toy/doll museum across the street.

The prison was suitably creepy, having been built in the 1800's and subsequently added on to. The car museum was suitably cool. They literally started with the horse and buggy and moved up to the present day. Well, up to the 80's, I think. I had no idea it was so big. Every time I turned a corner, there was another room! They had some pretty nifty cars.

I must admit, I have never been all that into cars. But I was wandering through the room with the cars from the 50s-70s, and came upon the original Mustang. Now that is a very nice car. But it was the one just down from it that made my hear skip a beat when I saw it. Seriously. I have never reacted to a car like that. It wasn't even an original, but a replica Shelby Cobra. Blue and white just like the one in the picture I linked to.

Runaway, Tattletale

So I was sitting here last night, half-heartedly reading a book after catching the end of a truly disturbing documentary on the Green channel. (More about that later.) We're going through a cold front, so I'd had the back door closed all evening. I'd just openened it maybe 10 minutes prior, and the dogs were outside. Leia has this habit of running back inside like she's being chased, making a circuit of the living room, and then going back out. It's as if she's checking on me or letting me know she's still around.

Anyway. She ran back inside after being out only a few minutes, stopped just in front of the sofa, stared at me, then ran off. Except she came back within seconds and stared at me again. It really was as if she wanted me to follow her. So I did. She was soooo excited I was following her she twirled in place a few times. Then alternately led/followed me outside.

I called for Max because he is usually the one that sticks close, and Leia's behavior made me a little nervous. She was definitely acting like something was wrong out there. No Max. I called again. And then heard a little jingle from a dog collar, and saw a tiny shape running up to the fence...on the neighbor's side.

The front gate had gotten unlatched somehow (it's been a bit breezy shall we say?) and he went exploring. Leia apparently didn't like this. I've been practicing training them to stay in the yard when the gate is opened. I guess it's taking with her. (Too bad she doesn't understand this includes going under the fence!) She came to get me because Max had gotten out of the yard. Who knew?

When I brought Max back in the house and put him down, she jumped all over him, sniffing him, etc, making sure he was okay. LOL. Too funny. I still can't believe she tattled on him. :)

It's A Conspiracy

Sitrep: Perfect Cardio 1 - warmup, abs, stretches (~20min)

Stopped at Wallyworld last night to pick up some freezer bags, and lo and behold, they've moved the pasta and tomato sauce aisle front and center. [Sob]

The main aisle on the grocery side entrance runs straight to the back of the store, with the groceries on the right, clothes and rest of the store on the left. The recent reorganization puts all the pasta and pasta sauces right along this aisle. The whole length of the grocery section.

OMG. What am I going to do? It was so much easier to avoid when it was an aisle I could skip. Out of sight, out of mind, you know? I have no impulse control. No will power. Not when it comes to tomato sauce. Now I have to pass it to get to anything in the grocery section.

I should sue. ;)

Almost a month already?

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. Things have obviously been crazy busy here. We held our annual convention for work last week. It was a great success, but the weeks leading up to it were insane. I hate having the convention so close to a major holiday. Getting off early on a Friday and having a Monday off should be fun, not stress-inducing!

The 4th of July weekend was fun. On Saturday I cleaned like a madwoman, including renting one of those steam cleaners for my sofa. Little Sis' family came over to watch the fireworks, and we barbecued. Actually, I think it was the first barbecue of the season. That's how late summer has come to us! We had a lot of fun, especially Shanni's SIL. We introduced her to Sin.gs.tar for the PS2. I had no idea she loves karaoke so much.

Anyway. Fireworks were spectacular. No fires set by any neighbors, no runaway dogs...I was in bed by midnight and sleeping. A first for the 4th since moving into my house. It made me miss Scully, though. She hated fireworks and would bark all night long. Max and Leia aren't fazed in the least by the noise. A blessing!

That week a virus got let loose on our network (thankfully only affecting my laptop meaning I downloaded it! oops!) but it was a nightmare to clean up. Took three different antivirus/spam programs. The following weekend Shanni and I went rafting on the Missouri with a neighbor of mine. But that's a story best left to its own post.

Then the convention, which meant a week out of town working 15 hour days. Ughh. Last weekend I was pretty much a slug. Went on a puppy hunt (for someone else!) that Saturday, and mowed and grocery shopped on Sunday. This week has been all about playing catch-up both at home and at work!

Awesome Weekend

Sitrep: Gaining weight and not happy about it! But do you think I can make myself exercise? Nope.

Do you ever have one of those weekends where everything just seems to fall together? I just did. And it was wonderful.

Saturday I had a "free" day. Slept in, then headed down to the bookstore. Then I hit the used bookstore, then the independent bookstore downtown, and the library. After that I went home and read the whole afternoon. It was a beautiful day, sunshiny and breezy, temps in the 80's.

Have You Ever...

tried to take a pee sample from a skittish miniature poodle? I don't recommend it. Unless you like pee all over your hand and nothing in the jar. Except dirt. Did manage to get dirt. [sigh]

Leia has a bladder infection; doc gave her an antibiotic shot last week Monday, but she started licking herself again this weekend, and not in the usual dog-licking-themself kind of way. The vet had given me a sterile sample jar in case she got worse, not better. He wants to do a urinalysis. (Thank goodness I got that pet health insurance!)

She won't pee if I'm bending or squatting next to her, and it's hard to walk her in that position anyway. [g] And even as short as I am, by the time I bend down to stick the jar's cap under her (vet tech suggestion), she jumps away. I think I'll bring her in and let them get the sample. They offered to do that if I had problems. For some reason I don't like starting my day by getting peed on.

Nothing Doing

Didn't do much over the weekend. Was rather lazy. Didn't help that the lilacs are blooming. Ugh. It's pretty miserable the few weeks they are in bloom. Darn allergies. This year it's affecting my eyes/head. Minor tension type headache and sore/blurry eyes. Keep wanting to rub them which a) makes it worse and b) messes up my contacts.

Took Leia Saturday morning to the local "Strutt Your Mutt" fundraiser for the Humane Society. Didn't sign up for the walk because I'd forgotten about it until the week before, and with all the rain, wasn't sure I'd want to go. And let's face it. It keeps getting pricier each year. No wonder the turn out is smaller and smaller. Minimum $35 pledge to enter, and they want you to get additional pledges. And that's per person/dog. Not per family. Ughh. Knocks me and Shannon out of the running. I know it's a fundraiser, but I think it knocks a lot of people out of the running.

Anyway. The pet fair was free and I figured it would be good for Leia. Then we went to the farmer's market. She did beautifully with all the people and other dogs. Especially the farmer's market. It was packed. Turned out to be a beautiful morning. Even if the lady with the fantabulous banana nut bread wasn't there.

Sunday afternoon we had quite the storm. Dime sized hail. It even spawned a tornado in the eastern side of the state. Right in downtown Billings. Yikes. No one hurt, thankfully, but definitely some damage!

Last night my two oldest nieces called. Only got to talk for a few minutes, but I really liked that. :)

When Life Becomes Fiction, or Vice Versa

So I'm listening to one of my favs in the car, "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee and read by Sissy Spacek. Really a fabulous rendering of the book on CD.

Anyway. Apparently it has seeped into my consciousness because last night I dreamt I was in the middle of a race riot. Ackkk. No wonder I'm tired this morning.

But the most startling thing is the revelation I had the other day while listening to the book. OMG, I think I'm "Miss Maudie". Except for the flowers! (Give me another decade, though.) LOL. Not that that's anything terrible. It's just really funny.

If you haven't read the book, you should. It's timeless.

I wanted to name Leia "Scout" after the little girl, but it sounds like "out" and that would be too confusing to the dog. Jean Louise was too formal, and "jean" or "louise" wouldn't work because I know a) a person or b) another pet with those names. Ah well. Leia works. Although I end up calling her Lei Lei a lot. ;)

I'm still chuckling over the Miss Maudie thing, though.

New Look

So they've got some new template and customization options available. Which is why I haven't blogged. Keep spending my free time "designing".

I'm not sure I really like this one. The light green background makes me squint. Maybe. It's very gray/cloudy out right now so I'm depending on just the flourescent lights overhead, and have been staring at different color options and layouts for way too long. My eyes may just be worn out.

Did a major project with Shanni over the weekend. Added a 4' deep x 8' wide patio in front of the house, to the right of the door as you enter. It's basically where the flower bed used to be. Bought these stones from Hom.e Dep.ot (they're more a whitish gray in person)

It was quite a challenge. Took us about 4 hours, and 3 trips to the store. That includes the original trip, a second trip for the remainder of the stones (couldn't take them all in one trip - too heavy) and a third trip because we needed another bag of sand.

Shanni and I did squabble, both of us being so hard-headed, sure of ourselves and stubborn. ;) But surprisingly it wasn't as bad as some projects we've done.

She thought I was being too "anal" about leveling the stones. Especially when it meant the last three stones of the last two rows had to be re done. It was slanted backwards toward the house. Which would have caused water to pool in the middle. Just not something I wanted to deal with. Better to fix it now than later!

Another Book, Another Day

Read an interesting book yesterday. Interesting enough that I stayed up an hour past bedtime to finish it.

The Disappearance of Irene Dos Santos by Margaret Mascarenhas

It was a good book. Although there were some things that bothered me. The setting is in Venezuela, and the characters are constantly dropping Spanish words throughout the book. In the middle of sentences. Not a huge deal for me, I speak/read Spanish. But jarring enough. I mean, if the book was set in the US, it wouldn't bother me so much. But these people are in Venezuela and, I assume, speaking Spanish. So dropping Spanish words into conversation...doesn't fit for me. I dunno. Maybe I'm too particular. But at times it felt forced, as if the author wanted to remind you this is set outside the US. But I totally got that just from the style of writing and setting. Duh.

Definite flavor of South America. For me, anyway. Felt familiar, a little like being home, in Paraguay. The Spanish/South American culture is different. There's a different flow, way of being, speaking seeing. The premise of the story, the way it was written, all interesting.

Laugh Out Loud Moments

So last night I flip onto one of the news shows just as they are showing St.ev.e Jo.bs and his presentation of the latest iP.h.one. If you haven't heard already, they had some technical difficulties getting online. The suggestions from the audience were fun, and mostly in jest. The best, though, was when Jo.bs asked someone (his IT people, I presume) for a suggestion on how to fix the WiFi issue, and someone hollered out "V.er.izon!".

Total laugh out loud moment for me. Followed by a cringe. Laugh out loud because I've been griping for forever about these exclusive deals w/AT.T that A.pple sparked (no A.TT out here). Even the eReaders are doing this and it's extremely frustrating!

Cringe, because WiFi does not equal Cell Phone Provider/3G Wireless. Sigh. It's your local area network using a wireless router and a wired ethernet connection. Limited in distance. Internet access through your cell phone uses their cell towers. Which is why it's slower, but accesible wherever you have coverage.

But still a LOL moment for me. ;)

Book-a-holic Haze

I managed to read 2 books last weekend, even with a trip to B. tossed in. Good thing it was a long weekend!

Went to B w/Little Sis because car needed 80k mile service. I like to have the big service jobs done at the dealership, just in case. Costs a pretty penny, but oh well. They dropped Shanni and I off at the mall, which just so happens to have a Barn.es & N.o.ble attached. Oh, what hardship. We did some clothes shopping, and I didn't get cranky!!! Imagine that. A little tired, but no noticeable impatience. Shanni did well with her money, checking all the sales before settling on what she wanted. She got a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that look too good on her. Sigh. When did she grow up?

We "had" to spend several hours at the bookstore until the car was ready. Oh, the horror. Shanni was laughing at the stack of books I sat down with to give a "test read". But only 2 into the pile I was fascinated by the book I ended up buying:

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

The premise is what had me looking at it in the first place. It's about a woman named Libby Day, who survived a brutal attack on her family that left her mother and two sisters dead. She was 7 at the time, and became the star witness that sent her then 15 year old brother to jail for the murders.

Twenty-five years later, unable to really function in society and needing money, she's agreed to help a group that believes her brother is innocent. But they have to pay her for everything she does. A bit of a twisted concept. Most survivor stories are about truth and justice. This one is about survival.

The book is told from Libby's point of view in the present day, but has flashbacks of the twenty-four hours leading up to the murders. Those flashbacks are told from various family members' points of view. Mostly Libby, her mother, and her brother.

It's a pretty grim and unremitting look at a life of poverty. Both when she was young and now. Depression, anger, community biases, prejudices, all those things. "Dark Places" doesn't just refer to where she goes mentally when remembering what happened. Or the dark place her brother was in to have supposedly committed the murders.

The style of writing was captivating. It made me want to know.  It was very hard for me not to flip to the end and see who the murderer was. Maddening. That's not something I usually have problems with! But at some points I had to mentally "sit" on my hands to avoid flipping to the last few pages. The pacing of the book was great, I just wanted to know. [g]

The book is bleak, disturbing at times, but mostly just plain enthralling. Extremely well written. Lots of imagery (At one point Libby describes herself: "Draw a picture of my soul, and it’d be a scribble with fangs.")
 
One little development toward the end was too much too much, if that makes any sense. But I don't want to give anything away. The end, while fitting with the overall story, left me wanting a little more. Probably because I'm used to happy-ever-after endings, and with this kind of story there really isn't one. Can't be one.

The final truth was as startling as it was horrifying. But a strong ending to a riveting book. I'd definitely recommend it. I have the author's first book on reserve at the library. I'd buy it, but have already blown through my book budget and don't want to wait to read it.

Questions

I haven't blogged in a bit because I've been watching the mess in the Gulf. I've had the live feed of the underwater spill up on my second monitor for days now.

One thing that is driving me crazy is the comparison of the spill to Katrina. We're talking two different situations, here. I'm not quite sure what people are expecting the government to be able to do in this situation. I doubt they have the people or equipment on staff to stop the leak. Maybe more people on the ground to clean up the oil? But how many ships are there out there to skim the oil? So I did some research:

22,000: Personnel working to protect shoreline and wildlife (Department of the Interior)
1,200: Skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels being used in cleanup (Interior)
3.1 million: Feet of boom deployed to contain the spill (Interior)
840,000: Gallons of chemical dispersants used (Interior)
11.1 million: Gallons of oily water recovered (Interior)
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/27/gulf-oil-spill-by-the-numbers/

I just don't know. There probably should be more people on the ground to try to clean up. But frankly, I just don't see how they could have kept the oil out of the marshes. The weather didn't cooperate in the beginning (remember the storms, wind, waves that pushed oil over the booms?) There's just a lot of territory to cover and try to protect.

21st Century History?

I've been watching the History Channel's new series "America the Story of Us" the last three weeks. I have to say, I am very very disappointed. Usually the History Channel does a better job presenting things, even when they are covering a lot of history in a short amount of TV time.

But this series, well, this series seemed more to me an aggrandizement of the USA. It totally glossed over a lot of info. I realize it's not meant to be an in depth presentation of US history. But seriously. I think the total amount of time dealing with the Native Americans, especially during the Westward expansion, amounts to maybe a half hour! It's ludicrous. The role played by Native Americans was important from the first moments the white man arrived here. The US government's and people's role in the decimation of the Native Americans is part of our history that should have had more discussion than what was shown. The move of the Indians to the reservations was maybe a 3-5 minute segment. Lightly glossed over.

The way the series jumped over things and ran things together seemed to suggest one thing led to another when it really didn't. I also didn't like how the presentation of the Civil War made it sound like everyone in the South wanted to keep slavery and that's why they fought. It came to a head over the issue of slavery, but what prompted the secession of many of the states, and many of the men to fight, was that of States rights versus Federal rights. Do the individual states get to make the laws or does the Federal government? It's an important aspect. Something that is still at issue today.

Case in point: The Underground Railroad. No explanation as to what it was, simply that it existed and Harriet Tubman rescued slaves at her own peril. Images shown? Tubman leading slaves through a swamp and being chased by white men with dogs. Nothing about how extensive it was, the number of people involved, including many whites. Made it seem like it was pretty much Harriet Tubman alone and consisted of running through swamps.

Or the part on the Donner party. Made it seem like they perished on the shortcut they took. They didn't. They'd made it back to the main trail. Also, the number in the party, what happened, and the fact that the cannibalism hasn't been proven. In fact, in the last four years or so, researchers at the campsites didn't find any human bones. Dog, cattle, horses, deer, etc, but no human bones. Anyway. Not even a mention that the cannibalism aspect might be pure sensationalism after the fact. (Discovery Channel did a great documentary on this that I saw a year or so ago.)

Maybe it seems like little things. But I was uneasy from the first. Can't really explain it other than the "glossing over" of things. And a general feeling of "Wait a minute. That's not quite right."

And then the people they chose to interview. Actors? Musicians? Reporters? Authors? Huh? Where are all the historians? Oh, yeah. They were all out filming the Ba.nk of Am.er.ica commercials! Very bizarre.

All in all, a poor offering from the History Channel. From whom I expected more! I can only hope this doesn't become a school resource. Wouldn't that be a pity. I'm not sure I can bear to watch the rest of the series.

Curiosity Killed the Cat

Okay, more like knocked her over or something.

This insatiable drive I have to learn has finally caught up with me. Sometimes I wonder if it's just better not to know things, especially things you have no way of changing.

1) Food Inc: If you haven't seen this documentary, and like eating meat, don't watch it.  Okay, it's about a lot more than just meat. It's got some good info on how we get our food, and how the process has been changed. But disheartening overall. Did you know that something like 80% of the processed foods on the US market have genetically modified ingredients in them? It's just very depressing. And listening to what Mo.nsa.nto (for one example) is doing to the farm industry/individual farmers. You can't fight. No one has the money the corporations do.

But this definitely made me want to cut meat out of my diet (too bad that leaves me nothing else to eat, since I don't like most veggies).  The feed lots of the cows were ugly, ugly, ugly. And I thought I was going to puke when they showed the cow where someone had made an opening into her upper stomach (rudiment?) and kept it open with a plastic tube and cap. We're talking large enough for a man to scoop some of the food out that she was "digesting". OMG. Want to puke just thinking about it. And the chickens. Horrible, horrible, horrible.

I'm going to have to look up several of the books referred to in the documentary.

2) The Immortal Life of Herietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

This one is a little harder for me to pinpoint. It's an astonishing tale on how one woman's cells made an impact on science. It's extremely easy to read, especially considering the science involved. But it's pretty light on that aspect. Enough to give an idea of what is going on, but no so much your eyes glaze over.

There's a suprising amount of interest for this book. At least at my library. I was number 5 on the waiting list, and there are 4 more people waiting for it. Considering it's the author's first book and was just released in February, I'm a bit surprised.

I'm not sure where I stand on the issues this book brings up. Ethical or unethical to use someone's cells without their consent? What about the commercial aspects? Shoudl they be able to make money off it? Off the top, my gut says "Hell, no, that's not ethical". But then I wonder where would science be? Medicine? It might be my cell, yet they're doing the work. But then there's the fact that it's my DNA. Pretty scary stuff to have out there for "all the world to see". So to speak. Tricky topic.

What definitely bothers me is learning that as of 2005

 "...the U.S. government had issued patents relating to the use of about 20 percent of known human genes, including genes for Alzheimer's, asthma, colon cancer, and, most famously, breast cancer. This means pharmaceutical companies, scientists, and universities control what research can be done on those genes, and how much resulting therapies and diagnostic tests will cost." [page 323]

One company owns the rights to the breast cancer and ovarian cancer genes, and charges $3000 to test for those genes. Insane!

"One survey found that 53 percent of laboratories had stopped offering or developing at least one genetic test because of patent enforcement, and 67 percent felt patents interfered with medical research. Because of patent licensing fees, it costs $25,000 for an academic institute to license the gene for researching a common blood disorer...and up to $250,000 to license the same gene for commercial testing." [page 324-325]

That's just to get permission to access the gene. Forget about the costs of the actual research! What the hell is going on here? How can a company be allowed to control our genes? Shouldn't this be open access for researchers and scientists and doctors? So everyone has access to the tests and cures affordably? And how has this happened with none of us knowing about it?

Miscellany

On the road again for work. Last few weeks have been busy. Worked 9 hours last Saturday on our server; OS drive running out of space. What I thought would work as a fix didn't due to our configuration. If only we had 2008 vs 2003. But alas, if we had 2008, we most likely wouldn't have this problem to start with as it would mean a new server for us. Not anywhere needed, so not going to happen. But I know of a software program - relatively affordable - that will solve my problem.

Anyway. Because of those 9 hours, I got off work early on Monday, and had most of Tuesday off. Then headed to where I am now for one of our 3.5 day seminars. That's going very well. New instructor started the institute. So far so good. He's doing really well.

I think I made a mistake, though. This hotel has a chocolate lover's break package, and it included chocolate covered strawberries. That was a huge hit. I think I might have gotten myself into trouble. They'll riot if I don't do that again. But so far it looks like it will be cheaper than if we did everything a la carte like before. We'll see. This is the test run.

Went to a "See 'Em Dead" restaurant for dinner. One of those places with big game animal heads all over the walls. But the steaks are to die for. (Like we ever go some place where they aren't!) And the atmosphere is very much like the stereotype/romanticized atmosphere of the West. Exactly what our instructor (from FL) wanted. His fiance came with him, and they are a hoot. So is the next instructor, who flew in yesterday afternoon and joined us. I can't remember ever laughing so hard or so much at a work function. We shut the place down! But it was fun. Three times a year I get to eat steak three nights in a row. All on someone else's dime. ;)

Papers, Please

I'm baffled, horrified, and yes, a little bit frightened by the new Arizona immigration law. Not that it will affect me all that much where I live. But the concept of the police being able to stop me because I "look" Hispanic and I would have to have papers on me to prove I'm a citizen. In Arizona. A US state. It's surreal.

Odds are I wouldn't get stopped, as I don't look extremely Spanish. But what about my mother? A legal immigrant and a US citizen for umpteen years? She looks Spanish. Very fluent in English, yet speaks with a Spanish accent.

In Arizona, she would have to carry proof that she is an American citizen. What the hell is going on with this country? And does anyone think that this is going to stop illegal immigration? Do you think these people are going to be scared of this? With the risks and dangers they face just to get here in the first place?

And what about those people of Hispanic origin, like my sister in law, or some friends of mine in CA, that are American born, American citizens? What about their kids, who look Hispanic? My nieces, nephew? They'll have to carry proof they're legal citizens if they're in Arizona or go there? WTF? And what is the proof? Social security cards? Birth certificates? Passports? All items we're not supposed to carry on us because of identity theft.

And those ID thieves will have a hey-dey. Anyone of Hispanic origin in Arizona will now become a target for mugging and theft, just for their identity papers. And isn't that a scary phrase "identity papers."  Hate to trot out the trite comparison with Nazi Germany. But there it is.

Are the cops even going to have the time or the will to implement this? I just can't see how this will be effective. Maybe it'll just be used on people that have been stopped for other crimes, serious crimes, not just traffic misdemeanors. I can hope, can't I?

If we are serious about immigration reform, we need to change our guest worker policy and the way we grant visas. Stop the "family first" and create a policy that responds quickly and efficiently to our economy and its needs first. Then we'll get in the workers we need, people will stand a better chance of getting in, therefore cutting down on need to come here illegally. Our current system and quotas are inefficient and dumb.

And personally, having been stopped by armed police in South America who demanded to see my passport and visa, it's a horrible feeling. Not something I'd want my mother, sil, nieces, nephew, friends or anyone else subjected to.

If Wishes Were Horses

Today I wish I was motivated enough to blog about my reactions to the movie "Food, Inc." (of which I've only seen the last 30 minutes. Just enough to make me wanna cry.). Or about the impacts of opening our waters closer to shore for drilling, in light of the oil rig blast and current underwater oil leak threatening the Gulf Coast. Or the financial reform bill, or a whole host of other things.

But my mind is completely and utterly consumed with my battle against the foxtail grass taking over my yard. (post 1, post 2). Yes, I know. Weighty matters. Can we just say I'm focused on the little things to avoid going nuts over the big ones?

It's April 26th - APRIL - and I've mowed twice. Seriously. That stuff is growing 3-4 inches a week in the backyard. So. The Battle Begins. First mowing weekend before last got raked up. Mowed this weekend, too lazy to rake it up. Then I sprayed weed killer - the kind that specifically mentions crab grass, foxtail, etc. I decided to be smart and buy the large container instead of the smaller ones I've been using. Turned out to be not so smart. The small ones connect to the hose and you spray them that way. The large container has it's own hand nozzle. So I had to spray the yard by hand. My god that was fun. Not.

But it's done. Supposed to do 2nd spraying in two weeks. Tempted to do it again this weekend but it's supposed to snow. After that I'm putting down grass seed/fertilizer mix. Hopefully this will work. Fingers crossed!

Pressure & Progress

Everyone handles pressure in different ways. Me, I eat. I eat when stressed, when happy, when sad, when excited, when celebrating, when bored. Anything and everything is a reason for eating. No wonder I've put on weight again. It's been especially bad since Scully died last September.

I've known for a very long time that I do this. It's not new. It's just that a few times in the last couple of months I've consciously caught myself doing this and been able to stop before I started. Which is definitely progress, for me.

One incident happened while visiting my sister in March. I'd gone with my BIL & niece G (six years old) to his hockey game. Sis had stayed home with the baby. While waiting for the game to start, we saw a player on another team get hurt. Nothing too serious, he was winded and then got up and walked off the ice. But this time G made the connection that hockey players get hurt, her dad is a hockey player, therefore her dad could get hurt. She promptly fell apart. In a big way.

We tried calling my sister on the cell phone, but no answer. BIL was in one of the locker rooms. Niece G was falling apart. I frantically racked my brain for something to distract her and my mind went immediately to food. But I caught myself and said no way was I going to use food to deal with this! So instead I decided we were going to go outside and try to call my sister again. We were just getting to the door when she called us back.

Long story shorter, we got my BIL out of the locker room, and my sis came to get us. But I was a bit horrified at how quickly my thoughts turned to food as a means of solving a problem. It is that ingrained in me!!!

The other most recent experiences where I realized what I was doing before hand were with my little sister. What with one disappointment or another lately she's been pretty down. I've had to restrain myself from "treating" her to lunch/dinner/ice cream, etc. to "cheer" her up. Instead I've tried to focus on extra time together, just the two of us. Maybe just taking the dogs for a walk, going to the library. Anything but food.

Who knew it would be so hard to find things to do that didn't involve eating?

An Excellent Weekend

The weather was wonderful this weekend. Up in the high sixties, just a little rain Saturday afternoon/early evening.

Did a little grocery shopping Saturday morning, got some things to fix up the yard, and then spent the rest of the day until dinner crashed on the sofa. Started on a head cold last week. In an effort to head it off I took some cold meds that clogged up my ears. Nothing is working. Not Sud.a.fed (the real stuff you get from behind the counter), not the Mullein Garlic drops. My head hurts from doing the "fish" face trying to get my ears to clear. So this pm I'm off to the doc for stronger meds. Four days is long enough!!!

Little Sis and her family came over Saturday for dinner and cake. All of which they cooked. Including the cake in my brand new 9" spring form pan. (Thanks Sis!). That was awesome. No struggling to get the cake out of the pan. Then they came back on Sunday for my birthday present. This year they gave me, drum roll please, free labor. Yep. They spent about 3 hours working on my yard. Doing that wonderful spring cleanup stuff. Raking, mowing the weeds (hate hate hate Foxtail), and raking that up. Amazing how much stuff gets piled up against the fence on the inside of my yard. Especially considering I don't have any trees! Edging got done, too.

Along the west side of the house, where it's only 3 feet between house and fence, Little Sis and I got the weed blocker put down. At each end I put up decorative border. Now just need to get the pea gravel/rocks to lay down in there and it'll be done! No more weeding, no meters blocked. Love it.

Spent a considerable amount of time blocking holes so Leia will stop escaping. Bad thing is most of the chain link fence bottom is just against the ground. So she can dig a little and then push her way out. Sigh. But we got the worst of it blocked off, I think. Also got the gazillion rocks (former flower bed border) picked up. Now just need to get someone with a truck to take them to the dump. Going to call a landscaper/sod company about extending the yard along the garage. Hopefully it's within my budget. Otherwise, it won't be happening this year!

Only thing left to do is the front flower beds, and creating my patio out back.

Oh, and used the clippers I got for my bday (thanks Mom & Dad!) to cut the hair on Little Sis' Westie. The grubby little thing. Worked great. It was like a knife through butter. Amazing. And this dog has a LOT of coarse hair. :) All in all, it was a good weekend.

Doesn't it just figure???

I put a few items on my am.a.zon wish list for my upcoming birthday. Apparently they are now no longer on sale. (Saw this not because I'm checking to see if something's been bought, but because I use the wish list to save books I'm interested in and needed the title of one!)

Blast it all. I knew I should have just bought them myself. Sigh. The one that really gets me is the dog clipper. It was at $99, and now it's at $115.00. Can't decide what to do. Only one more week, so I guess I can wait. But it just irks. If I'd bought when I saw it, it could have gotten the comb attachments as well for almost what it'll cost to buy just the clipper now. Figures! Oh well.

Apparently I'm a bit cranky today. [g]  At some point yesterday I had a very good blog post formulated in my mind. Probably while trying to go to sleep. I really need to write this stuff down at the time. Because I can't remember it now. Or maybe I just dreamt it. My dreams are so vivid it's hard sometimes. Especially if the dream is about work or family or something like a blog post. Frustrating.

Anyway. Good news. My Little Sister became an aunt yesterday. Her brother's first child was born a healthy 7 lbs 1 oz. Very fast labor & delivery. Too fast, says the new Mom, because she didn't have time to get any drugs!!! I've seen pics, she's very cute in that wrinkly little newborn way!

Quirks

Sitrep: Walk - 15 minutes. Very brisk.

That's quirks, not quarks. The one I have, the other has to do with physics (I think).

Whenever I buy a coffee or hot chocolate in one of those disposable cups with lids, I always make sure the opening to drink from is opposite the seam that runs down the side of the cup. Dunno why, but it drives me batty if I don't. I like to feel the ridge under my fingers as I pick the cup up to drink. Maybe it's because this assures me I've got the opening aimed in the right direction. Since usually I am only drinking from this type of cup in the car or at work, where I'm highly distracted, this could explain it.

But it's odd. Like the fact that putting the little and big spoons together and the little and big forks together in the silverware drawer drives me batty.

Another quirk I've noticed is that I. Read. Everything.

Even the backs of cereal boxes or milk cartons (every single morning, even though they never change!) If it's got letters, I'm subconsciously trying to figure it out. It's kinda like my Little Sister's mom and numbers. She counts steps, etc.

But the big thing that made me realize that I read everything has to do with work. I organize adult ed classes. Because someone complained about an extra fee once to a state regulatory official, I have to go out of my way to clarify some pretty basic stuff. So I attach to the front of each manual on BRIGHT PINK PAPER the requirements to get their certificate. It's pretty simple. Goes something like this:

1) It takes XX amount of weeks to get your certificate. After XXX weeks, go to xxxxxx to download your certificate.
2) You can get it quicker for $XX.
3) Make the check payable to XXXX. or Put your credit card info on the form.
4) TELL THE INSTRUCTOR.

The instructor even goes over this at the begining of class. Yet a large majority just don't get this. I think it's because they don't read the announcement.

It boggles me, because I read everything. When I'm driving, walking, whatever. If it has letters/words, I'm reading it. I've also noticed my dreams contain alot of words. Very verbal. That'a fairly new realization for me. Last night I was dreaming in Spanish.

All About the Ds

Exercise Sitrep: beyond depressing.
Weekly goal: Gym 2x, PerfectCardio workout 1x

So I went to the movies Saturday to see "Alice in Wonderland" in 3-D. I have to admit, I probably would have enjoyed the movie more in 2-D. Had a minor tension-type headache by the time it was over. Not sure if that was because I had a migraine most of the week (love those coworkers that marinate in perfume!), or if it was the 3-D. It didn't seem to add much to the story line to me. But I'm used to 2-D movies. And perhaps this wasn't the best picture for 3-D. The affects seemed to me to be added just because, not to move the storyline along. I guess I should also mention I'm not big on huge special effects. I prefer things to be very subtle and realistic. Not overwhelming and punching out at me from the screen. Found the glasses to be fuzzy around the edges. That could just be my eyesite and the fact I wear contacts.

The movie itself was enjoyable. A nice trip back to "Wonderland". Although I have to admit I remember it as more cheerful and colorful. But then again, the original Alice movie by Disn.e.y wasn't one of my favorites as a child. So my memories are pretty sparse and faded.

Which brings me to my second "D" of this post. Which I'm afraid I've forgotten. I had it all planned out on the drive to work this morning, and thought it was rather clever of me to connect two topics with the "D". Oh well. Let's just call it a Monday, and leave it at that!

Back Home Again

So I've been missing in action a bit...Been visiting my sister and her family since the 12th, and had a fabulous time. It was hard to leave and come home. If I didn't dislike where they live so much and love where I live so much, I'd have to move there. ;) The girls are fabulous, loving, fun. Just like all my nieces/nephew. :) What can I say. My siblings have great kids. :)

I'll try to blog more later, but am at work and have tons to catch up on. First thing to report about trip:

My sister surprised me with tickets to see the musical "Wicked". FABULOUS. I've been wanting to see this since it originally came out. Definitely worth it. Run, don't walk to this musical if you have a chance. It was funny as all get out, and very well done. We actually got a performance with no understudies and it was flawless. To my ears, anyway. I'm thrilled to have seen it, and been able to spend that time with my sister. We used to go to shows all the time before "growing up" and getting out of school, working, etc. :)

Here we go

Philadelphia's mayor is proposing a 2cent per ounce tax on sweetened drinks to fill their budget gap and combat obesity. Think on it. That's 32 cents for a 16 ounce soda. Almost a dollar and a half for a 2-liter bottle. Yikes. And it applies to all drinks that have sugar added - not just soda. Sports drinks, chocolate milk... Yet they don't want to tax artifically sweetened drinks? Give me a break. I think artificial sweeteners are worse for us than sugar.

Did you know that Chicago already has this kind of tax? I didn't until just now. I wonder if anyone has actually studied what impact that has had on obesity & spending on beverages. Their tax includes artificially sweetened drinks as well.

If this spreads (and you know it will) they're going to start taxing anything considered not healthy. Watch out. The power of the dollar is going to buy even less. :(

Another Good Book Weekend

Exercise Sitrep: Don't make me laugh. ;)

Read another good book last weekend. Picked it up on Friday, but didn't really get a chance to start on it until Saturday. Little Sis and her cousin ended up staying overnight Saturday, and I pretty much read through their visit. Only surfaced to separate them when the computer squabling managed to get through to me. :) Share and share alike when it comes to computer time. After 3 hours I kicked them off it. Enough is enough. Then they played the Wii for a bit.

I took the book to my bedroom intending to read, but decided it was better to sleep as I'd already stopped to get ready for bed. Stayed up to 12:30am, which is rare for me! When I woke up (early, thanks to the dogs who must eat by 7am), instead of going back to sleep (my usual tendency) I started reading again. Read the rest of the day after stopping for a shower and breakfast. Kicked the girls out - made them take Leia to the park. Didn't even turn the tv on.

So what's the book? The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan. Very well written for her first novel. It's general fiction, I guess you'd say. Or historical fiction? I enjoyed it though, and will keep an eye out for her future books. Normally I don't like first person viewpoint, but the last two books have been that way, and I've enjoyed them immensely. The writing styles couldn't be more different. This one wasn't as lyrical, but still captivating. She very skillfully wove historical fact about the place with fiction and folklore.

I really liked how the first person view really was first person. You don't get into the heads of the other characters at all, unless it's through the observations of Bess, the narrator/main character. It makes it more narrow, but as an outsider, you observe beyond her narrow interpretations. If that makes any sense. I like how the book dealt with the issues of war/grief/depression/shell shock/faith. Not what I was expecting, but I liked it. Don't read on if you don't like spoilers.

Alice I Have Been

Weekly Goal: Exercise 30 minutes 2x
Sitrep: 20 minute training walk w/Leia

Had a nice weekend. Got to talk with my oldest niece for the second week in a row. I always like that; don't know why I don't call more often. :) I feel bad I got her birthday present to her too late. And just in time for her cell phone to break, making the present moot...Ah well.

Read a good book this weekend. "Alice I Have Been" by Melanie Benjamin. I saw it at the bookstore, and was pleasantly surprised to see it at our library. Picked it up Friday after work and finished it by Saturday evening. When I finished it, I thought to myself "I need to read that again." It was a moving book.

The story is a fictionalized account of the real-life girl that inspired the Lewis Carroll "Alice" books. I usually don't like this type, prefering biographies. But I thought it was a totally fictional book until I got to the afterword. There really was an "Alice" that inspired Carroll. Benjamin took the few known facts of the real Alice's life and spun a pretty good tale. The writing was great, kept me enthralled. It flowed really well. Dare I say it was almost poetic? And the parts of the story that were from the seven and then ten and eleven year old's point of view were crafted nicely. It read like the voice of a child at that age. Thinking, actions, etc.

Note: There are some parts that, while merely alluded too, can be very disturbing. Especially, I would think, to parents.

Overall, I recommend this book. Extremely well written for her first time in historical fiction. I give it an A. I'm planning to look for the contemporary fiction she wrote under another name.

Don't Tread On Me

Goal: Exercise 2x (30 min each)
Sitrep: Sun - 30 min swimming, Tues - 40 min treadmill, 20 min abs/thighs. Thurs - 30 min treadmill.

While a great slogan from the revolutionary war, "Don't Tread On Me" was the perfect motto for me last night at the gym.

There's a rule at my gym that you sign up for the treadmills and cross trainers, and limit yourself to 30 minutes, during the busiest times of the day. Well, 7pm at my gym is not the busy time. There's usually a handful of people working out. If that.

Last night I was about fifteen minutes into my planned 30, and I noticed this couple come upstairs. I paid them no mind. Until about five minutes had passed and I realized the guy was standing nearby staring at me. Then he walked up to me. So I took off one of my ear pieces. He asked if I was almost through. I said no, I was doing 30 minutes and had 10 more to go. He then said he had that treadmill reserved for 7:30pm. Well, I hadn't signed up when I got there, because there was nobody using any of the treadmills. Now there were 2 others in use. But there were 5 free treadmills. I looked around to be sure, and then said to the guy that there were five others free. He just looked at me like I was nuts. And said "This one is faster." Excuse me? There were three other treadmills the exact same model not being used. I just said I would be done in a few minutes, and put my headphones back on.

After a minute, he walked away and got on one of the bicycles. Five minutes after that he was back, wanting to know how much longer I was going to be. Becaue he had that treadmill reserved. Now, if there were no other treadmills available, I would have gotten off at 7:30pm. Granted, if it had been that busy I would have signed up on the log to start with. But seriously. I told him I just had 2 minutes left and I'd be done. He then said I could finish on one of the other treadmills. To which I replied he could start on one of the other treadmills. Then I repeated I'd be done in 2 minutes, and went back to listening to my iPod. He walked off and then stood there staring at me. He walked back and stood there for the last 30 seconds of my workout. Wouldn't even let me wipe down the machine when I was through. What an idiot. The whole time I was watching my heart rate keep climbing and climbing...

Anyway. Totally spoiled the good vibe I usually have after working out. Jerk. Little Sis picked up on that fact when we were in the locker room changing to leave. I told her what happened and this other lady that had come in as we were talking spoke up and said he never would have done that to a man. Which is probably true. She told me she was glad I'd stood up to the guy. Anyway. Little Sis and I had a good laugh over it. Even her mom thought it was funny. Said he sounds like her clients (she manages a group home for developmentally disabled adults!) who can't handle change. Have to sit in same chair, etc., or they freak out. But this guy seriously didn't know what to do when I wouldn't get off that particular treadmill. His girlfriend, on the other hand, had hopped onto one of the other treadmills as soon as she got there. [rolling my eyes].

Moral of the story: don't interrupt my time on the treadmill if there are other treadmills free!

Finally Cool

Weekly goal: exercise 2x (30 min each)
Sitrep: 1x Gym (40 min treadmill, 20 min Abs/Thighs); 1x Gym (30 min swimming)

I got my fancy new iP.od last week. I've never been a fan of touch screens. Until now. The Bla.ck.berr.y my boss has sucks, big time. I never could get it to work. Very frustrating. But this. This is a work of art.

Little Sis approves whole-heartedly. The first time she played with it, we were on the way to the gym. She was flipping through the menus, etc, and she made this sound I have never heard her make before. You know the feeling. The one where you've just discovered something so cool, so unexpected, so wonderful, so unusual, so indescribable, the wonder escapes in sound.

Kinda reminded me of that xmas several years ago when my brother was playing a new game on the W.i.i, one of those first-person shooters, and discovered he could switch weapons. He was so thrilled I thought he might pee himself. [g] (Sorry if I'm sharing too much, bro!)

But that noise my little sis made. Ahh, yes. I am definitely sitting with the "cool" people. ;) Especially when I pointed out to her that she can earn enough to buy one of these gadgets with 4 baby-sitting jobs. (She watches several kids on Saturdays, all day, out at the fair-grounds during some roping classes for the parents).

Yawn.

Weekly Goal: Exercise 2x (30 mins each)
Sitrep:  Sun - Swimming (30 min, treading water mostly)
            Tues - Treadmill (40 min, 2 mi), Abs & Inner/Outer thighs (20 mins)

I'm exhausted today. Partly the workout, partly the weather, mostly Max. Just about every night he sneaks up onto my pillow. Normally I don't realize it until the alarm goes off in the morning. Except for the nights he and Leia decide they both want my pillow, and the "silent battle" forces me off the pillow - and awake. And yes, I put an extra pillow on the bed. They don't want that one. It has to be the one my head is currently on.]

Unfortunately for Max (and me), he is wearing the "cone of shame" for the next two weeks. So when he tries to sneak onto my pillow, that darn cone smacks into me and wakes me up. Fun. I tried getting the inflatable donut collar. Yeah, that didn't work too well. He needs a small, which they didn't have in stock. The medium is actually the perfect width to keep him from his back legs, but it's super heavy. And awkward for him to lay down in. Too much "pillow" under his chin. So. Back it goes. The small will most likely be too narrow to keep him from the back legs. Which many reviewers of the product pointed out, which is why I went with medium. Oh well. The plastic cone from the vet it is.

Max is doing well. He pulled out one staple right before the bandages came off. Vet put that back in. He walks funnier now than before, because he doesn't know to bend his knees. So having the knee caps staying in place is causing him to walk stiff-legged. And side-ways. (But that last might be the cone around his head. Hard to see through.) No physical therapy for two weeks. Staples come out Thursday next week. He looks pretty funny. My scrawny-chicken-legged-naked-butt dog. ;) I definitely need to get some pics.

Too Far?

Last Week's Exercise Report: 1x Perfect Cardio (warmup, abs), 1x Treadmill (60 mins, 4 running - ok. Running for me. And not all 4 minutes together.)

It was bad enough when they came out with a report recently that exercising might not do anything...for a select few because of genetics. (Gotta read that fine print. But that's not what they led with, and probably not what everyone heard. I had to go looking for the details.)

Then it was you can be obese at your natural weight.

Now it's babies at 3 or 4 months old. Really. Really?

How insane is this? I knew as a culture we were totally obsessed with body image and weight. But seriously. I was skinny my entire life. All the way to college. My issues with weight didn't start until second/third year of college. And even that wasn't too bad. It got worse when I returned from the Peace Corps and had access to all this food I didn't for two years. The readjustment period sparked self-esteem and body image issues that I'd already had. But we ate well growing up. I was active, so to speak, until junior high. Until playing tag and riding bikes, etc, became a not-cool thing to do. Actually, until I learned to drive.

Most doctors would now classify me as obese. Not morbidly (like the images we see on tv when discussing this.) But obese. I'm 40 pounds heavier than I think I should be. Sixty heavier than the docs prefer. (I've been that weight and looked like crap.) I think our views of what is healthy are seriously skewed. But it was my lifestyle and mentality and personality as an adult on my own that caused my weight issues. Not what my parents fed me at 3 months. Sheesh.

Yes, being overweight and obese is an issue. But looking at chubby 3 and 4 month old babies and thinking "obese" is insane.

Why don't we just try making our lifestyles as a whole for all ages healthier? Try making eating green, fresh, more affordable. Because seriously. I've tried eating healthy. Buying from the health food store or even shopping only the "perimeter" of the grocery store (ie, where the freshest foods are) is too expensive. It doubles my food budget. And I make a pretty decent living for where I work. Not poor, but I'm not middle class, either. And then there is the factor of time. I'm single with no kids. And it's still time-consuming to eat this way; to always be preparing meals. Doable, though, if the money was there.

What about nobody knowing how to cook anymore? How many people actually, honest-to-goodness, could do the kind of shopping and cooking needed to eat "healthy"? Not very many, I don't think. I grew up eating fairly decently. Although I've never like veggies. Well, not since I was a toddler. Up until then my mom says I ate anything. Learned to cook early on. But my recipes are limited.

But who has the money or time to take cooking classes? Not very many of us. I think these are some valuable life skills we just don't have anymore. Why not teach this in school? Make nutrition part of English, Math, Science curriculums, through all the grades. Link it all together. Make it easy. Make it part of every day life. Make it so natural it's like breathing.

How about dealing with those food packaging issues? You know, like realistic portion sizes and understandable labels. Although if we can tie in food and what it's made of into school, we'd know what those ingredients are. Or be able to figure it out. We'd realize that ingredients ending in "ose" just might be sugar. We'd get the fact that high fructose corn syrup might be okay in moderation, but we can't get it in moderation because it's in everything!!!!! Even bread. Has anyone ever taken a look at the ingredient list for, oh, say, yogurt? Supposedly healthy. Yeah, right. What about all those juices that are "better" than soda. Absolutely ridiculous.

And there's hardly any Phys Ed in school any more. No time, no money. Not that I was a fan of Phys Ed growing up. I suck at all sports. No exaggeration. I so dreaded those classes. It's hard to come up with free activities to keep moving and healthy. Especially in winter. I try with my little sister. It costs money. Everything costs money. It's hard when you don't have any, which is where I see her family at. Granted, they can do alot better with what they have. But who ever taught them? No one. They are clueless about food, money, budgets. The parents too. The kids, not so much now due to my lecturing. The 22 year old is very overweight and bounces from fad diet to fad diet. The 19 year old has decided to become a vegetarian, and thinks all she has to do is just eat veggies.

It's a struggle for my 14 yr old Little because in spite of the fact that she has some phys ed at school, and we are back to rock-climbing 2x week, her mom still does fast food for most dinners (cheap & easy). Even when they cook at home, it's not low cal, low fat by any means. Because the lean, healthy foods cost twice as much.

Frankly, it isn't going away. We have a mobile, fast-paced, instant-gratification, think now not later mentality. And I don't see how that will really change. Not until enough of us have died. Really. We don't change easily.

But starting to look at babies that young and think in terms of obesity...I can see how we're going to have a generation of kids with self-esteem issues tied to body image and weight by the time they're in kindergarten. Not to mention the health issues from being underfed, undernourished. Too many parents don't know how to eat healthy for themselves, much less for their young kids. Give me a break. This is why we have this problem to begin with in my opinion!

"Mighty" Max Surgery Update

Weekly goal: exercise 2x
Status: 1x Perfect Cardio - warm up & abs

Max went in for his knee surgery today. He is out of surgery and doing well. Dr. T says the knees had definitely gotten worse since I first brought him in in November. The knee caps wouldn't stay in place at all. Which I was suspecting. That's why I moved up the surgery date. Poor little Max. No wonder he would refuse to walk during obedience training.

So they had to do more during the operation than planned. I was half expecting that from some of the research I've done on Luxating Patella. In addition to the Trochleoplasty, Dr T performed a Tibial Crest Transposition (see 3rd set of pictures here http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/patella.htm):

...The groove at the base of the femur may be surgically deepened to better contain the knee cap. This procedure is known as a trochlear modification [or Trochleoplasty]...The bony protuberance at the site of the attachment of the quadriceps tendon on the tibia may be cut off and then re-attached in a more lateral position. This is termed a tibial crest transposition. (http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1569&aid=457)

I'm relieved he's doing well. Bummed he has to stay overnight at the vet. I get to pick him up tomorrow morning at 11:30. The vet will explain everything needed then as far as what Max can and can't do. They didn't do post-op x-rays today because Max' body temp was getting too low from the anesthesia. They're going to do those in the morning before I come pick him up.

I wonder how Leia is going to do tonight without Max. She's been alone for the day before, but I've always come back with Max. Wonder how she's going to act? Hopefully better than Tuesday (with Max in the house!). She finished off a bag of dog treats and nibbled on the corner of a paperback book I just bought. I hope Max was able to get a few of the treats...Ahhh, the joys of puppyhood!

Monday Morning

Oh boy, it's only 10:30 am and I'm ready for bed. Did not sleep well last night. Woke up about 3 or 4 am singing "John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith". I so do not want to know what I was dreaming about. Went back to a fitful sleep where I dreamed a combo of "Emma" (watched last hour on PBS before bed) and a hurricane and a crime show. Holy smokes. So should not have had that ice cream last night. :(

Have a board meeting this afternoon. It's via conference call, which I hate because I have a hard time hearing and making out voices. Makes it difficult to take proper notes. Although maybe I can get our new secretary/treasurer to do this. Last one wouldn't....I'm nervous about it because while we did okay overall, we did lose money on a few classes. I've stream-lined the classes we were losing money on, but we're packing so many new things into the schedule (at the demand of the boss) I'm worried about the impact on attendance. It's a tough economy, agencies are being stricter on what they'll pay for, and so on. There're also a few areas I just can't seem to make progress on and it's frustrating. But overall I think the meeting should be positive.

Max goes in for surgery on Thursday. Trochlear Modification is what he's having done:

The patella rides in a groove at the bottom of the femur (thigh bone). In toy breed dogs this groove is shallow, which allows the patella to slip. If the groove is deepened, the patella stays where it belongs. The normal groove in the femur is lined by slippery lubricated cartilage, called hyaline cartilage. This cartilage is peeled or cut away, the bone underneath is sliced out to form a deeper groove, and the cartilage is replaced. Techniques that do not preserve the original cartilage are no longer recommended. (http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=2448)

The quoted cost is about $1200 total for having both legs done at same time. It includes the surgery & miscellaneous stuff surgeries require, pre- post- surgery x-rays, follow up/recheck visit, rehab evaluation and visit, post-op meds, stitches removal, etc. Not too bad.

I moved the surgery up after talking to the doc, because Max seems to be having more weakness in the hind legs. I've removed the box spring and frame from my bed, and now sleep on a mattress on the floor. Less stress on his legs. He's fast, and just so darn hard to keep from jumping on/off things. He's also walking a bit more bow-legged to my eyes. So I talked to the vet. I'll just have to be very careful to keep his bandages and the incision as dry as possible. (Easier said than done...still have 6+ inches of snow on the ground, more in forecast!) Rehab exercises can be done indoors as he is so small.

Of course, this means he won't get to finish obedience training. But we've made it to the halfway point (this week), and I'll finish with Leia so at least I can continue his training on my own later.

Leia is doing great with training. We walked to the post office on Saturday and she did fabulous heeling and ignored some big barking dogs that we passed. Ones that used to make her refuse to walk further. She does "sit" and "down" like a pro. We're still working on her understanding of "stand". And she doesn't like to have me stand too close to her. It's hard to get her to sit right next to my leg and look forward. She wants to sit angled so she can keep an eye on me. We're working on that...