Spring in My Step...

Golly Geebers, I needed a good day today and so far I've been blessed. Today has been wonderfully Springy down here: 70's, partly sunny, not too much wind. The hum of lawn mowers and trimmers has been constant. Usually I abhor that, but I cannot be mad at anything today.

Sorry I've been so long between posts, but this past week has been a bad one for me healthwise. Last week was my intravenous therapy week for my arthritii, and I always feel like warmed over crap for about 7-10 days afterwards. I have night sweats, the runs, and I am sick to my stomach more often than not. It is in fact a bit like chemotherapy, except thank goodness no hair loss. It's all about forcing toxins and bad stuff out. I really ought to be feeling poorly, but on the Spring Equinox with cooperative weather, how can I feel other than great? Mind over matter for one day! winkwink

Today I took good care of our Reggie Dog. It had been 1 month and 10 days since his last bath, I am ashamed to say. So, I corrected that. Then, I washed and dried his dog bed, his blanket and the curtain covering his dog house door. (He lives right outside our back door on the covered porta cache, in a Little Tykes Playhouse, with a space heater inside, and it would have a window unit air conditioner if it were up to me, winkwink.)

While his bedding was in the wash, Reggie got to spend the afternoon on top of a soft cushiony blanket and watch Animal Planet. Hubster came home from work and Reggie got to go sit with him and watch TV a little longer. Then, we all went outside and helped Hubs shop-vac the inside of the doghouse. I picked up and threw out all of the remnants of steak bones that were hidden in corners, along with some nasty little stuffed animals that were beyond saving.

King Reginald's castle is once again clean and refreshed. I've made a promise to give him a bath every Saturday and to wash his bedding. He's such a sweet obedient doxie and loves his baths and his clean digs. I know 2009 is officially the year of the ox according to the Chinese, but around here it might just be the year of the dog. winkwink

the day before the day before...

a random photo of Reggie getting his occasional treat -- salisbury steak!:

he is such a sucker for anything with gravy, lol.

and, sometimes he does eat the carrots if i butter them.

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here is one of our new recliners:

i got down on the floor for the first shot, trying to make the photo more interesting. can i just say...not worth the pain that caused!
and, another "normal" shot, more close-up:


i could only fit one of them into my honda crv, so hubs is picking the other one up in the morning...because he is off work, yay! well, yay for now. he doesn't go back until jan. 5th and i will be climbing the walls having him under foot by next week, trust me. but anyway, back to the recliners. this is a champaigne gold color, i think that's what they called it. i arrived there this afternoon at 5:15 by the car clock, and i was back onto the highway at 5:27. yep, that's gotta be a record for choosing a piece of furniture AND getting it loaded into your car, huh? that's why i shop there, cuz if i can't choose and be done with it, i end up not being able to make a decision at all.

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and, a shot of our bare white christmas tree...nothing but lights this year:

basically, i first decided to go "bare" because with hubs working so much and me dependent upon him getting the decorations down from the attic, i didn't even ask him to do it. of course, this meant that i had to improvise a skirt (a leopard print throw) and live without a tree topper, so i decided to treat the tree as just another light source in the room. it has added an understated and unexpectedly elegant touch. we're enjoying it.

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ok, so i had a few rough moments today giving in to my real feelings about being with the relatives on christmas day. trepidation, mostly. i will be trying to hide some not-so-nice feelings, so i figured i needed some kind of gameplan with at least a few specifics. maybe reading an advice column could help, so I googled and got this:http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-12-23/how-to-uh-talk-to-people/2/
it was mainly advice on how to chit chat effectively at holiday parties, but would have been great help. except that when i read the comments to the article, i found myself agreeing to them more. and then i realized that i really don't much care about convincing anyone of my sincerity...i'm really looking for a way to sort of diss a few folks, but in a way that leaves them confused until 3 hours later after i'm long gone and they realize it.

hehe. no small order. guess i'm out of luck of making that happen, since the most i can come up with is to act disinterested yet pleasant. like, if one of them talks to me, act like i'm hard of hearing, make them repeat it, answer really ambiguously, that kind of thing. yeah, leave them wondering.

meh. i am not good at faking stuff. i would much rather address the issue head on and let the facts stand in my defense, maybe even resolve something, but manipulators don't play that game, so i would have to force the issue and create a scene in order to have that opportunity. and i am trying not to do that, as that just plays into the manipulator's hands, so Thursday should be interesting.
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finally uploaded my photos from the snowfall we had a couple weeks ago, and i will try to show those tomorrow. every time i look at them, it puts me in a wonderment mood.

Okay, so...

...I guess I'm back, sheesh. I must confess, I took a little staycay away from the blog, the computer, the TV. I got outa the blog habit and into some health-oriented habits. I've been rockin' them lately and really kind of hesitaant to go back to devoting all the time I do to this writing and posting and reading.

Then, I got emails wondering if I was okay, (and thanks for thinking of me!). Turns out the blog entry I thought I'd posted almost 3 weeks ago to say I was taking a little time away is still sitting there saved but not posted. My bad! So, guess I should get back into blogging. Some stuff's gonna be different this time, though. I've closed blog comments. If you feel a genuine desire to comment or talk to me, please email me! I'll go into why I've done this later. It's all part of a bigger philosophy change on my part toward a lot of things.

First things first, though: thanks so much to Shirley for the blog candy she sent me! Such a gorgeous little notebook!

I love it, Shirley...thanks again!

So, anyway, to the (first - hehe) million dollar question: yes, I mourned Hillary's concession for a little under a week, but I got a heads up on it just a tad ahead of most (having volunteered on the campaign and still working the research with some of my old crew). So the first stage of my mourning ended right about the time she actually conceded. There was a little anger before and after, but then, finally, a calming whatever. I now can truthfully say I am open to both Obama and McCain, but there's no Kool-Aid drinking in my house. It's all about the issues with me now, and voting for either one is going to take some nose-holding. I pretty much think of them as McBama: Let the pandering to the center begin! Ya know?

And so now a second wave of just real sadness has hit me and it's still there behind the edges, in the shadows, under the bed, so to speak. I'm not sure that all of it is the campaign. I think some of it is the gloomy situations we as a nation and people are in, or at least many of us. The gas prices, natural disasters, the economy, the suckie states of medical care even with insurance, and hey, it's hotter than sizzle on a steak down here. There are solutions but I cannot see a clear choice as to who is going to choose the right answers and then get it bull-dozed into law. Oh, yeah, and I am finding that I can't enjoy any of the cable news channels now that I know how much some of them were in the tank and not objective and independent. I have absolutely no idea really what's happened in the world for the last 10 days or so, and for me, that is weird. I've enjoyed some good movies and a couple of those stupid Bravo reality shows.

Then, there is all the email I'm getting to join like 100 groups in the rapidly growing Nobama movement. People are pissed off, but I just want to get over being sad for the time being, LOL.

One decision I did make was that I got myself a life coach about 10 days ago. Okay, like, I wasn't looking for one, she kinda fell into my lap. We are bartering services with each other, cuz ain't no way I'm paying what she charges (and she probably thinks the same thing about me, lol). I set up her DH's payroll system for his company as my part of the barter.

Anyway, her name is Jenn and she has truly changed my life for the better. She hooked me up with an easy-to-follow nutrition-based diet and a physical therapy routine. It's all totally geared to what I will actually reach for and actually do.

The diet is calorie-based, and with my hatred of counting those buggers, this was a big challenge. She asked me a ton of questions about how I eat, what I reach for and why and when. She also recruited Hubs to help out by cooking more low-calorie fare when he gets to going in the kitchen on his days off. Basically, we decided I needed something similar to NutriSystem, but grocery store bought. I chose healthy foods that are easy to reach for and eat them over and over. So far it works pretty good most days.

I choose among Lean Cuisines, Slimfast Choc shakes, Nature Valley health bars, fresh fruits, salad greens, cereal, skim milk, and saltine crackers. None of these require me to cook them or spend a lot of time prepping them to eat. I just record what I eat and the calories, and most days I'm having trouble reaching my minimum target intake!

As for the physical therapy (which is also plain old exercise), I learned how to do tons of isometric routines in the pool, and it's very effective. I'm in there a minimum of 4 days a week and alternate that with my yoga tape and my exercise ball tape. I just added swimming laps full out today...just a few to start and build up gradually. I got Reggie some cute little Air Kong pool fetch toys that float and are made of rugged tennis ball material so that I can get him away from me when I'm swimming (he loves to zig and zag right in front of me, the little show-off, plus he accidentally scratches me sometimes as he's kicking, not fun). Reggie loves his toys and is worn out swimming and fetching by the time I'm finished.

Adventures in Springtime

"Is it time for our walk, Mom?"



"How about you, Dad? Feel like a walk?"



"You're kidding! It's my turn again?"



"I'm free! Finally, FREE!"



"I'm making a break for it!"



"I have to reach my spot before someone calls me back!"



"Ahhhh! The smells of other pet life...Heaven!"



"I don't know what I'd do without my daily walk..."

Will It Be This Week?

...that it snows here?

LOL, just kidding. I know it won't, and I really don't want it to, as people just go wacko whenever it snows. That's a photo of the eastern sky this morning, taken on my back porch. Tres cloudy. The sun is usually blinding me, but not today. Hovering around 40 degrees, and I'm feeling very lucky. My heart goes out to you all enduring the below freezing weather, ugh!

Ok, back to what my title meant..."Will It Be This Week?"
...that I do everything I've planned for it?

I highly doubt it. Seeing as I plan way more than I realistically can do, that is. So, another new, fresh week for me to screw up, LOL. Dangit, why do I do that to myself?

I was thinking about that this weekend. Little things that set our moods, expectations, ways we judge ourselves (fairly or not so much) when we're not even looking. And ways we react without even fully ingesting what we are reacting to.

Heavy stuff. But here's my case in point before your eyes glaze over in utter confusion, lol. When Hubs and I got married, he already owned a home. He'd bought it with his first wife and kept it in the divorce.

And, it did not have a dishwasher, which I noticed right off the bat because I'd never lived without one. Even when I was a baby, we had one that rolled out and hooked up to the kitchen sink. No way was I gonna start living with one now, right? It was 1987, after all.

The week before our wedding, he took me to Conn's, had me pick one out, and then bought it, remarking, "Here's your wedding present."

Well, I thought he was trying to be funny. That was a joke, right? Uh, no, it wasn't. I decided to not make any drama over it, but I remember being a little insulted and just wrote it off to eccentric behavior on his part.

Now, from my first visit to Hub's parents' house, I knew his mom did not have a built-in dishwasher. She had the kind we had when I was a freakin' baby, except that her machine was not as old as I was by a long shot. I refrained from asking any questions as I didn't want to appear rude.

All these years go by, and I'm still just writing it off to eccentric behavior being genetic, okay? Cuz to my mind, no one in their right mind lives without a nice dishwasher, a built-in dishwasher.

This weekend, Hubs and I are talking about our new dishwasher and how I forget it's new and more modern and improved than the one we had for 10 years prior (the one after my wedding present one, which stayed in the house when we sold it in 1998). How I just automatically treat it like the old one, even though the new one is lots more powerful, yadayada.

Well, I make a quip about it being my third wedding present, and that hurts Hubs' feelings. I'm like, confused and ask him to explain.

Turns out, he had bought that first dishwasher for me as a sincere gesture of bigheartedness, because he was raised to be dead-set against them as a general rule.

"After all," he said, "my mom had to wait 20 years to get one."

Well, that just floored me. Not only did Hubs genuinely believe he was giving me more than his dad had given his mom, and a heckuva lot sooner, but I'd never even realised it! And, he'd never even realised that being against having a dishwasher wasn't even a belief he really wanted to own at all.

I swear, if O. Henry'd been sittin' there, he'd have had a new story line. It's just funny, we really do learn something new every day. LOL

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Hey, I have another layout on Scrap the Girls. I say this because you can, too. It just has to be a girl layout. It can be your child, but it can also be you or your mom or sister or friend. They want their readers to send them layouts. It's more like a reader's gallery than submitting and competing and all that crap that I avoid. So, if you visit that blog and believe in spreading your scrap love around, send them a few of your fave layouts about girls. You need to read the post to see what file size and where to send them, so check it out!
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Doesn't that look delish? Don't worry - it was. Food by Hubs, presentation by me. Another funny story here: he told me we were having mahi mahi. Now, call it a sixth sense, but something told me to ask him how he was cooking it. He was going to blacken it. I don't care for his blackened foods, but I'd never told him that. Now I was going to have to fess up, which I did. He got a little ticked, but begrudgingly said, well, I'll fry it in batter then.

Later, I go to make my plate for dinner, and what do I find? Pan-fried blackened fish. {Sigh}. He's just lucky it was delish, that's all I'm sayin...
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Now, what about this dish? It's called Simple Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. You can get the recipe HERE. This is a fave dish at Hub's workplace, and their food rivals any fire house, okay? If you are in the mood for gumbo, this is it.
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Did you ever know a dog that watched football? Our Reggie does. Here he is, catching the games yesterday with Hubs. I don't think Reggie knows how to yell at the refs, but when Hubs does, Reg starts howling. So, maybe I'm wrong...
Anyway, we've been trying to pay a lot of attention to Reggie and he's been lapping it up. I might pay a hefty sum to know what he's thinking. If he's missing Sheila, or even wonders where the heck she is. I know I'll never know this, but still, intriguing questions.

I do notice that he spends a LOT more time in the doghouse now. Granted, it's winter and cold, and that's where the space heater is. I will be curious to see if he continues once the weather warms. We always wondered if Sheila kicked him out of there, since we'd often find him outside when he was supposed to be sleeping...
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The 2peas blogger challenge for today asks: "If you set a New Years Resolutions, how are you doing with it?"

Well, I did not make any per se, but my WordQuad (Dare-->Bare-->Share-->CARE) implies my resolutions, since I'm trying to do more of those 4 things. And so far, I have:
1)dared to go through my "nice" dressy clothes and part with some outfits that I frankly looked silly in but had to have because the model looked great in it. I bared and tried them on first and looked in the mirror, I suppose to hope in vain that I didn't look silly, LOL. Anyway, I shared by donating them to charity when they called for home pickups. Gonna try to do that every time they call, til I get rid of all the silly stuff, and because I care.
2)Yeah, not gonna go thru the words in each case...that one above was just to show the process...I sent my layouts to Scrap the Girls, cuz they asked for them.
3) I've been keeping in touch with my IRL girlfriends more, as well as our couple friends.

Each of these have been conscious efforts, where my first response was not to bother. So, it's a beginning.

Half a Month Gone

Yikes! The realization of that hit me last night as I was doing email maintenance and trying to make myself come over here and post. Don't get me wrong, I have an almost continuous conversation with you guys, just in my head. The day they invent a think-it-keyboard that I can afford, I'm blogging 24/7/365! Til then, though, my poor readers must deal with my pain-killer-induced ADD and patiently wait for me to finally blog the old fashioned way, LOL.

Anyway, today is the 16th. Hard to believe, huh? There's just under a month until Valentine's Day. Double yikes! I really wanted to make lots of Valentine cards this year, but I have so many things artsy and non-artsy on my plate begging for service that I am wondering if that's possible now. OH, well, such are the ups and downs of Life. We'll see....

Thanks again to all of you who took the time and care to express such loving comments to me. I've been laying low the past few days, spending lots of extra with Reggie and just basically flitting from one chore to the next when I'm not sleeping. The weather down here is typical January wet cold, just miserable.And, looks like we are going to have an entire week of it, too.

I've been keeping a list of stuff to blog about, so I'd better get to it!

First up, not a toot, but a little artfart maybe. LOL One of my layouts is on the Scrap the Girls blog. One of the things I love about these kind of sites is the collective display of readers layouts. Challenge sites that have the guest designers and the design teams all the time get old after awhile. The readers gallery follows no set theme, so you never know what you are gonna see. I like that!

Next, congrats to AMC's Mad Men and its star, Jon Hamm. Hamm, who plays Don Draper, won best dramatic actor at the Golden Globes, and the show won Best TV Drama. Another of my shows won too: Glen Close won Best dramatic actress for Damages on Fx. I cannot wait for both shows to return for another season.

Next, I have a product review of a new item I just received yesteray: the second generation Crop-A-Dile, called The Big Bite! I love it! This is how it came shipped to me from HSN. I never watch the shows, I just get the email promos. HSN's shipping and service is top-notch, by the way. This is my third order since Thanksgiving, the first two being the Bind_It-All and then a card-scorer and box maker.

Right off, I encounter probably my only problem with this product: getting into the package. Boo! This is ridiculous. Took me 7 minutes with my utility scissors. I timed it. The entire perimeter of the packaging had to be cut away on the seam.

After that, it was all sweetness and light. This is all that was included in the package HSN was offering. That's over 350 gromments. I've not used a grommet yet, but I plan to compare this tool with my MM Grommet Tool real soon, for another blog review. I wanted the Big Bite, so I had to buy the grommets since they came with the tool. For now, I'll just assume it grommets nicely, too.

To test the hole-punch power (which is why I got the dang thing), I used a popsicle stick.
My guess is that the pop stick is like 3 mm thick, cuz it looks about the thickness of .03 cm on my ruler. Never could get the hand of the metric system!

Anyway, on one end of the stick is a hole made with the original CAD, and on the other end, the Big Bite. No diff. Both went thru like butta. Vundabarrrrrr!

The Big Bite is awesome because it now gives you a 6-inch reach into the page to punch holes and set metal. It has removeable feet that keep it standing upright and anchor the tool for when you press down on the handle to punch or set. It sets the same size eyelets, too, plus the grommet sizes. And we get slightly better instructions on this one. WRMK has sucky directions. They are too small and hard to read. The Big Bite's could be better, but I'm glad it's an improvement, much like how I feel about the Big Bite overall. I give it an A-, and I am very glad I took the plunge and went ahead and got one now. Lots of places are now out-of-stock. Mine only took 5 days to get to me, so I am doubly lucky.

Well, that's it for today. Have a great Hump Day and evening!

Just Need to Blog Some More...

Yup, two entries in one day. I'm back, and Sheila passed so peacefully. This'll be the last time I blather about her and it, but I needed to get it out.

So much emotion running through me, but not on the surface, more like it's an underground stream. On the surface is a little numbness, but I'm good. There's a heavy sadness is all. But I was so afraid of feeling regret, guilt, doubt, and I do not, not at all. I'm letting myself just be right now. And part of that is wanting to talk to my cyber-friends.

Ok, funny thing. You see, this French website, Crescenet or something like that had posted 2 comments the other day on my blog. They've commented before, but I seriously have no clue who they are. I remember clicking on the link in that first comment and my computer froze up, so I wanted to delete the comments they left the other day and not have another freeze-up happen.

I go to my blog settings and enable comment moderation so I can then go in and delete them, which I did. But, I forgot to disable it back (I now realize). <---- Emphasis on "now", as opposed to then.

Life went on and I posted twice. Fast forward to this morning. It begins to worry me a bit that I have zero comments on my last 2 posts. I'm like, what did I do? Does my cyber-breath stink or something? (I seriously was thinking that, LOL) But, because of my more pressing stress, I told myself, I'd go visit every one's blogs when I got back and things would all even out in the wash and nothing is wrong.

So, I shower and dress, get a fresh towel from the dog cabinet, grab my purse and keys. It's time to take Sheila. Walk out to the back porch and there she is, laying on the grass in the sun, doing what she's loved so much to do all her life. Had to go back inside and grab the camera, take one last shot. She looked so peaceful there.

So, anyway, I wrapped her up in the towel and off we went. She reminded me again on the drive there, she's not the same dog. Did not even try to set her front paws up on the driver's side door and spend the time looking out the window, like she did her whole life. Cuz she can't see anymore. That was strange.

When we got there, I stayed in the car for a few minutes and talked to her. I told what was fixing to happen and how much I loved her and didn't want her to suffer anymore. That Missy and Hubs loved her. That we all thanked her for being our first family pet and such a good dog. And how we'd remember her and wanted her to have a wonderful time in Doggie Heaven. I kissed her and we went in.

The staff was top-notch, we were both perfectly treated. I had to sign one form and then the vet and Janie, the nurse, took us to a little room. I laid Sheila in her towel on the table and they gave her a quick check-up. Both of them noted how she'd aged in the few months since they'd seen her last. When they finished the check-up, they both reassured me that she was so close to passing naturally and that strong-minded dogs such as doxies often lingered on through a painful end life with suffering. I am sooo thankful to hear that. I really needed to hear that. And my vet does not euthanize as a rule, so I appreciate that she trusted us in this decision. She and Janie were Sheila's vet all her life, and they told her goodbye, too.

It was over quickly. Janie held her snout while the vet gave her the shot so she wouldn't bite at us, and I stroked her between the eyes on her forehead like I've always done. And, she just went to sleep. I kept on talking to her and, after what seemed like forever but was only about 30 seconds, I asked the vet how much longer. She told me she'd gone almost instantly, another sign that was normal for her advanced age. Her little tongue was kind of hanging loose at her lips, but otherwise she just looked and felt like she was napping. It was just so peaceful and nice.

I hugged both women and thanked them for making it so nice for us both, then left. As I was pulling out onto the road to go home, my cell rang and it was Missy. Missy, who did not know we were doing this today. The last couple of times she's been home, we've talked about it, and she'd made it clear she did not want to be here or know about it ahead of time. So, now I was unsure, do I tell her what just happened or wait?

I decided to tell her. I reminded her she'd said repeatedly she wanted it done this way. She cried a little, then asked me to tell her how it went, and I did. I think Missy was feeling okay about it when we hung up. She'll be sad, but she said she was going to pray for her and that will give her some comfort. The only bad thing about this plan, we both agreed, was not being together to give each other a hug.

I'm left with the belief that Missy calling was such a blessing and such a sign, like Sheila's passed and she is fine. I might be full of it but I don't care. It was one of those miracle-like timing thingies I just cannot deny. I was given what my soul needed.

Hubs is still not wanting to talk about it, just choking out it was for the best. But I did insist on telling him how painlessly and peacefully she went.

So, anyway, back to my "funny thing" part of the story. My IRL girlfriend Vanny had wanted to take me to lunch or a coffee or something afterwards, but I'd called her and begged off. Just wanted to be at home. Sat down to visit blogs and felt the strong urge to blog another post first. I go to do that and Blogger makes me look at a screen that says I have 17 comments to moderate. I'm like, what? Remember, I still do not realize that I forgot to disable comment moderation back.

So, what a blessing to see all of your sweet comments! Again, another sign, another one of those miracle-like timing thingies I just cannot deny. I was given what my soul needed.

So, I probably wanted to say a few more things, but this is the important parts. I've become motivated to hold a little Sheila Memorial Creativity Weekend Retreat for myself. I've had a creative block of some sort for a while and now it's fading. This has weighed on me directly for awhile, I knew that, especially more and more as it's become apparent that I was going to have to be the lone one to go through with it. I'm just now realizing how indirectly it's been weighing on me, too. So, Lord help me, I mean this in the best way, but it's a weight lifted or lifting. I'm so thankful today. And I love you all for being here for me.

Degrees of Time: The week that was

Seems like this week's been juxtaposed against my life -- sorta like in the photo, where the clock hangs ironically next to my college diploma, as if to remind me, it's been a long time since I did that (1978). This past week's felt like it's taken almost as long, LOL.

**oh, note to file: I'm playing around with taking a photo daily if possible, like that one up there, but I'll be danged if I call that activity anything. Not yet, anyway. That'd make too many things I'm trying to do differently, then. And that sets me up for failure.*** I am just playing...

Last Friday, I was sitting around, piddling and out of NewYear focus, but happy and optimistic. I began to sharpen my focus on Saturday, 7 days ago. Monday has probably been my most optimistic day, but it's pretty much gone downhill since then.

Monday night, Hillary misted up and the media was in full-tilt nasty by Tuesday morning. Well, I guess I'm one of those women over 40 who were extremely offended by her treatment. My God, you know, I finally got it. The problem with Hillary is that she is threatening. And that's because she's so capable. And that's something I have seen happen to women all my life. And hello, move over racism, there's a new game in town. Now we are going to be dealing with a healthy bitter dose of both of them for the next year, like Battle of the Sexes Meets the Scourge of Racism. Godzilla himself would probably run screaming in fear.

If it plays out that way, then that means the generational history theory I'm such a huge fan of is going to come true 100%, and then it really is the Big One, Elizabeth. (Sigh, guess that one was lost on most...guess you have no idea who Samford & Son were, eh? Make that a 3-way and add in the Generation Gap, or whatever it's called today.)

On the home front, this was the week I was supposed to call the vet for the appointment to put Sheila down. I'd successfully managed to conveniently forget about it every single day until about 5:05 pm (and they close at 5), until today. So, Friday (today) at 2, I have to drive her there and hold her while she passes on, hopefully in peace.

Hubs wants nothing to do with it, and he's already got that on his plate with his dad. (The cancer in his lungs is Stage 4, by the way. And he never smoked.)

So I am giving Hubs a pass on Sheila. So for about the last 24 hours, I've been hoping against hope she dies during the night in her sleep, but that won't happen. I'm at least glad I have no doubt this is the best thing for her. I wish it made it a little easier.

Also this week, I've made a few hearty attempts at Sharing to Care. And wouldn't you know it? I managed to screw both up, somehow, LOL. No harm done, but still. Dang.

And I just know this has something to do with it: Hubs up and bought a widescreen digital tv, which promptly played a fuzzy picture back in his tv room. It replaced an analog set, so maybe it had some bearing. Anyway, Hubs brings the new set and sits it on our kitchen table in front of the little white set that's already there, and there it's sat until today. Hubs has watched the family room tv all week, which means he's hung out and slept in that room, too. Yup, the same couch I've used to do much of my sleeping the moment his snoring becomes unbearable.

Oy, it's just been a Twilight Zone episode all the way around. God Bless My Little Sheila. She's lived a good life. May she continue in Afterlife. Amen.

It's A Not-Want-To-Blog Day

I'm just not that into it today, but I am into trying to write every day, so I am making myself do it. Don't you have those kind of days? I do, not that often, I admit. I usually love to write, so why is today different?

I've been creating today! Oops, I am breaking my October rule, I know. Just couldn't help myself, I suppose. Playing in my art journal. Nothing finished, of course. Of course. But, I am closer. Promise.

And you are not going to believe one of the pages when I finally upload them all. A hint: it defies everything we've been taught to not do anymore.

It's way too cutesy.

It's pink.

It's "little girl-y".

Part of me keeps lobbying to just lie and say I made it for my little 7-y.o. niece, hehe. You know me, though. Too honest and open for my own good, so I will be owning it as my art. And, you know what? I likey. I am really into the Who-Gives-A-Crap School of Art: in other words, don't try to dictate to me what is and isn't art. I'll do my own thing, thank you. I might even do more. Eegads!

And you thought I was exxagerating about being a nonconformist last week? HA!

Lord, What I Do For My Friends...

Heather has tagged me, with the same challenge that Gina tagged me with last week. It's not Heather's fault, though, and I loves me some Heather and Gina both, so I'll play. Actually, it's not a bad tag challenge, and one that could be done every week if ya had to. Last time, I refused to tag other people (I wasn 't in the mood, ya know), but today I'm a gonna. So, look out, some of you will be tagged, but it's pretty fun to do, so do it, ok?

Here are the rules for it:
1. Link to the person that tagged you (that's me) and post these rules on your blog (like I'm doing right here).
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself (on your blog, we all want to know them).
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Okay, to begin (and I'm desperately trying to think up 7 new things):
1. You probably know that I have a list of fall season TV shows that I watch (ya think? With a TV show calendar just for that at the bottom of this blog? Nahhhhhh). Well, the voting's been close, very close, in my head, but my 2 favorite shows are probably "Damages" and "Mad Men", and BOTH are in ratings trouble and will probably be cancelled! I just cannot get a break from Hollywood.....
2. I happen to think it's important on some level to shower at the same time every day, so I try to do that. I fail miserably, but I do try.
3. I live with a man who abhors leftovers. I, on the other hand, have it ingrained in me to eat them so as not to be wasteful. So, guess who ends up having to eat them? Me, but I finally snapped to recruiting Reggie-Dog as my assistant on this. And I'm delegating more and more, getting more off my plate and onto his, so to speak, hehe.
4. Although I will occasionally sleep on my back, I'm mostly a side-sleeper. And, I rotate, too. (Okay, not continually.) I start out on my right side, then when I get up for my first bathroom trip, I swtich to my left side. I do this with any other bathroom trips (that varies). If I do not do this, I will wake up the next morning with all kinds of arthritic skeletal problems. My pelvis will feel bruised badly.
5. Our mail is delivered late in the afternoons, at the same time in which our neighborhood is the most active (walkers, people driving home). So, I wait until dusk to go out to my mailbox, because I don't like everyone looking at me (might have something to do with the clothes I wear on days I stay in).
6. I read my local newspaper online every day instead of subscribing. I subscribed for decades until a couple of years ago. The paper build-up and the cost caused me to just put my foot down, and I frankly have not missed it much.
7. During the time I was really ill with my 5 arthritii, I got out of the habit of following the local gossip and staying tuned into my community. When I got lots better, I decided to stay gossip-free. When my friends try to draw me back into it, I balk. I like being clueless.

Okay, that's it. Now, I'm going to post this entry, go around and find 7 other people to tag, then I will edit this post to add who I tagged.
Edited to add: Here are the girlies I have tagged!
1. Chris
2. Gail
3. Kacy
4. Kim
5. Mackey
6. Vicki
7. Sandee

And that's gonna do it for me today, because I'm not that into it, remember? {Eyeroll}

Just a quickie today

Just posting a quick entry today, and I'm late at that. LOL It's 2 p.m. here. Here's a recent photo of my fur babies, taken Monday, I think. I've had to spend a chunk of unscheduled time babysitting my dogs. This is so not in the plan. And it really frustrates me, but they both can break my heart with one look, so I become their sucker.

Hubs was supposed to clean out their house on his last day off (Sunday, the 14th) and get it ready for cold-weather inhabitance. Yesterday, under questioning, he admitted he did not do that and then copped an attitude about it. He's into his let's-bring-all-my-job-problems-home-and-kick-the-dog-and-bitch-at-the-wifey mood, and I am looking at this from a responsibility standpoint. As in, you cannot ignore your pets just because you don't feel like dealing with it. I am physically unable to do it. (Well, I could do it, but if I did, I would irritate my pinched nerve in my neck and be in agony for days. However, I'm mulling over doing it, because it needs to be done. Oh, the joys of marriage! Not.)

My head hit the pillow last night around 1 a.m. and I slept like a hibernating bear. Woke up around 10 a.m., pretty refreshed. A few aches and pains, but a morning stretch helped me work a few of the kinks out. I will have skeletal pains due to the cold weather, but I love cold weather so much. It's very very cool here. Last night I know it got down to 39F and may have dipped lower after I fell asleep. Sheila, the smaller dog, eventually went to their house to sleep, but Reggie stayed in his chair, on top of his towels. This morning they were both up and fine, so I guess neither froze to death.

Well, I've got to run some errands and take care of some extraneous crap that's come up, so this is it for today. Hope everyone has a great Hump day!