Wednesday, January 30, 2013

SO VERY SAD

It is a very sad day on our block. The dog across the street passed away. The same day that Happi won 1st place in the dog show, we found out our neighbor's dog, "B", had lymphoma. B was given 6 weeks to live. We were happy that B lived longer than 6 weeks because that would have been Christmas. We watched B move slower and slower. I saw B just two days ago and he was unable to get into the car anymore. He just stood across the street and looked a tree.

I was walking Happi and Lucky two days ago and Lucky began barking when she saw B. Lucky barks at everything these days! Happi, on the other hand, laid down, with her head in her paws and just looked at him. This was quite unusual behavior. Usually when Happi sees this dog, she jumps and runs across the street. She loved playing with B. They would wrestle together. Although they are the same age, Happi seems much younger. But who knows how long B has been ill.

Brenda's nickname for the dog was Madonna. Why? You ask. Because he was such a diva. He was so standoff-ish. He always seem to size you up and then make you come to him. He would not come to you like other dogs. My dogs run to people and jump on them to get a treat or get a pet. Not Madonna. He would look at you through his bangs and then stand there until you came to pet him. He was funny.

So, it is a sad day for their family and friends. B will be missed. RIP B.

Until tomorrow...

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

PAIN IN THE NECK

For months now I have had a pain in the neck. I can't turn my head without getting a twinge of pain. I told my physical therapist and she did some sort of chiropractic thing that hurt like a mother... I won't be doing that again.

I also get migraines so I wonder if the pain in my brain is not a migraine but a pain from a problem in my spine. I have no idea how I would figure this out.

I know my migraines are usually from not eating at regular hours and not getting enough sleep. I also seem to get them if I grind my teeth in my sleep. I also clench my jaw. As you can see I keep all my stress in my jaw, neck, back, head.

I think I am going to schedule a massage. Try to work off these sore muscles.

I am so tired. I am practically falling asleep at my computer.

Until tomorrow...

READING BOOKS

I love reading a good book. Then there are some times that I don't feel ilke reading a book at all. Maybe I feel like reading a magazine instead. Sometimes People Magazine is just my speed.

Right now I feel really overwhelmed with tax season arriving, invoicing for work, all the work I have to do and an impending trip. Too much to do to open a book and get into a story. I just want to watch a movie or a TV show.

An intellectual book right now is too much for me. I just want a mindless story that engrossed me. Unfortunately book club chose an intellectual book, Sex, Time and Power. I may or may not read it. I may read the book we didn't choose. The book we didn't choose is called a "Must Read". The book is Cowboys, Armaggedon and the Truth by Scott Terry. It sounds really interesting.

Oops. Battery dying.

Until tomorrow..

Sunday, January 27, 2013

ANOTHER DAY OF COOKING

Now that I am spending time walking and riding the stationary bike, I am trying to spend time making meals on Sunday that last through the week. Last week I made the awesome soup.

Today I made Vegetables Wellington, Roasted Green Beans & Mushrooms With Walnuts, and Israeli Couscous With Pine Nuts And Parsley.

Vegetables Wellington is a great main dish. I was very apprehensive at first but once it came out of the oven, I knew I made the right choice. It really looks like those Wellingtons I see on Chef Ramsay's shows, only with vegetables! It is so delicious and not as difficult as it seemed from the recipe. The hardest part was getting the puff pastry in the loaf pan.

Then I made Israeli Couscous with Pine Nuts and Parsley. You talk about tasty! Sometimes couscous can be bland. Well, this is the exact opposite of bland. This is so vibrant and has so many different textures with the couscous and the nuts and the lemon. Yum!

To round out the meal I made Roasted Green Beans & Mushrooms with Walnuts. The beans were crunchier than I like (and I like then crunchy). So next time I would cook them a little longer. The mushrooms seemed like they were done so I took it out of the oven. The couscous and the beans are really good together.

The whole meal is really good together. It really sings. I just wanted to keep eating dinner.

Until tomorrow...






MOVIE NIGHT SECOND TIME AROUND

Tonight was movie night! Originally there were five people coming. Then one got sick, another realized she had tickets to a play, and two had last minute guests. It was down to one person and me. But that one person brought her girlfriend. So the three of us watched "Hot Tub Time Machine". How ironic!

We ate Zoku pops and I made chocolate chip cookies. The movie was funny. I know I watched it years ago but I really didn't remember it. I must have fallen asleep or it was that memorable. It was like watching a new movie. Only one little glitch: half way through the movie the audio and video came unsynched. It was a little annoying. I tried pausing but that didn't fix it. It was a little Japanese movie-ish. Mostly I didn't notice it because a lot of the movie is shot from far away and I didn't see the persons lips move.

Anyway it was a fun night. I ran my idea of making movie night a regular thing on the third Saturday of the month and they seemed to like the idea.

Another successful movie night. Tomorrow I will be cooking!

Until tomorrow...

Friday, January 25, 2013

IT IS FRIDAY!

I made a great dinner today. It wasn't anything special but it was good. I warmed up the leftover Brussel sprouts I made yesterday, cooked some couscous with pistachios and craisins all with a square of tofu. (See photo below) Doesn't that look good? It was!

Then I made some Zoku pops. This time I tried making them on an angle with two flavors. The flavors are cranberry/cherry juice and apple/orange/pineapple. It looks really vibrant! (See below) I messed up one of the pops so I only have two of the holes to work with so the pops are taking longer and longer to make. But they look cool!

Tomorrow night is movie night and it might just be me and one other person. One person is sick, another in Hawaii (hate her), another has a commitment, another has tickets to an event. I may end up watching the movie by myself! These things happen.

Until tomorrow...



Thursday, January 24, 2013

HARD DECISION

One of my clients is having to make one of the hardest decisions ever. Her 91 year old mom is in the hospital and is extremely frail and has denentia. Her mother has a medical issue that, if left alone will cause her to pass away. The only medical option is to perform surgery. Due to her age, she is unlikely to make it through the surgery. What a horrible decision.

My client was clear on her decision at lunch time and then her siblings called her. They changed her mind. It must be such a difficult decision when there are other people involved. She had her mind all made up and she was emotionally ready and then her family decided that surgery was the way to go.

I know when it comes to my decisions I have made it clear to everyone what I want. I have a medical directive and someone to make the decisions.

I don't look forward to the day when I have to make those decisions for someone. My heart goes out to her.

Until tomorrow...

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS

Ever have one of those moments when the hair on the back of your neck stood up? I did tonight. I was walking the dogs and this guy walked toward me. It was dark, not pitch dark but dark enough that I could see he was big and tall.

My dogs are not big. One only weighs 10 pounds! But they are noisy. Usually people walk in a big circle around us. They don't want to get too close to my crazy dogs. I kind of like that in a way. Especially in the dark. I don't want people too close. The other dog is 27 pounds and she is a sneak lunger. She will stand and look at you and then just when you least expect it, she lunges at you so you will pet her. Unfortunately people don't understand and they jump back thinking she is going to, I don't know, bite them. So I usually keep her leash tight so she can't lunge at folks. She is a lover not a fighter. She would lick you to death. But it is good to keep that piece of information under wraps when walking a dog at night. She has a fierce bark which is good when scaring off folks.

Anyway, back to the story. We are walking on the narrow sidewalk and this guy is walking toward us. Instead of crossing the street or walking in the street to get by us, he walks on the sidewalk past us. He practically brushed my arm getting by me. I had to restrain the dogs. They were involved with sniffing the community garden and didn't really notice too much. The little one started to bark but she barks at EVERY THING. I had that moment where you think uh, oh and you check behind you as the guy passes. He walked past and the big dog noticed he walked past and started to pull on her leash to lunge at him.

I got the dogs attention and used my night time command that means "let's move fast". No sniffing and no stopping. We got to get a move on. I looked back and he was on his way back down the street (it is a short street.) We moved fast, got to the end of the street and there were two guys walking our way. We followed closely with them and the big guy turned the other way at the end of the block. We got rid of him.

This is the second time in a few weeks I have had that "hair go up on the back of my neck" kind of situation while walking the dogs. The last time the guy made eye contact about half a block away and he didn't break the eye contact. You know what I mean. Normal people look at you, size you up, and then look away. They don't want to seem like they are staring. People who are looking to rob you or who are unstable look at you and keep looking at you to see if you are paying attention. This guy kept looking at me. So I turned around with the dogs (the big dog had started growling) and saw a group of guys in front of my neighbors house. I walked up to them and explained the situation. The guy walked off. The guys said it was too bad he wasn't closer they would have had a talk with him. They were very chivalrous.

Just to be on the safe side, I have stopped carrying anything valuable with me. No cellphone either. I know you are thinking but you might need it to call the police. OR I could get mugged for carrying it. If I have nothing to steal, they have nothing to steal.

Brenda and I have talked about what we think the dogs would do if someone came up to me. I think the little dog would bark incessantly. I think the big dog would protect me. A few weeks ago I walked her in the dark and a jogger came up on us and she didn't see him. She actually lunged at him and growled. I had never seen her do that before. Usually she wants to run with the joggers! I think she just got startled in the dark and was protecting me. I have no doubt she would protect me if she was able.

I have such good dogs.



Until tomorrow...

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

MY HEALTH

I thought I would write about my health today. It is weird because usually I am writing about some weird health thing that has gone on. Some weird growth or infection or god knows what.

Today I thought I would talk about feeling pretty good. I am actually surprised by this. This time last year I was well on my way to racking up $4,000 in medical bills. So far this year I have been feeling pretty good. I have been afraid to say it because I have been afraid to jinx it. I am feeling so good that I began decreasing my prednisone dose. I have been taking 10 mg of prednisone forever. It has been hard for me to decrease my dose because every time I think about decreasing my dose, I have something happen.

This week I decreased my dose for one day and so far I have had no ill effects. I hope it stays this way. I was worried that it would effect my energy but not so far.

A few weeks at one day at 9.5 mg once a week and then I go to two days at 9.5. Then three days. And on and on. Until I am at 9.5 mg all the time. Then I decrease to 9 mg. Hopefully this weight will drop off too!

Until tomorrow...

Monday, January 21, 2013

FINISHED!

I finally finished the Christmas puzzle! It took a few weeks, probably longer than it should have, but I took my time. It had 550 pieces and it was harder than I thought.

But it was a good way to keep my mind active. I have memory problems stemming from my medication so I try to do things to help me keep what little memory I have. Doing puzzles is one ways the doctors have suggested to stretch my mind. Remembering the sizes and shapes of those littles pieces is hard. But I really worked at it.

It was a great accomplishment when I finished. I looked at it, took a photo and tore it up and put it back in the box. Yay! (See photo below)

I have the next puzzle already picked out. It is the skyline of New York City. I have to measure and make sure it fits on the table. It is wide and narrow.

Not sure I have mentioned that I have been consistently riding the stationary bike daily for 30 minutes after walking the dogs. As long as I have something to watch that is interesting I am good to go. I have been taping shows at night so I have something to watch while I cycle. Today I watched a PBS show about the Abolitionists. I know it doesn't sound gripping but it is surprisingly good. Very interesting.

Until tomorrow...

Sunday, January 20, 2013

FOOTBALL, COOKING AND PUZZLE

Today was a day of football, cooking and working on my puzzle.

First, I went to the supermarket. That was an experience. Last week when I went shopping, I noticed that some of the tofu packages were very expired. Like very expired. One had an expiration date of Nov. 24, 2012. Another Dec. 22, 2012. I gave them to an employee and told them they were expired and told her someone needed to go through the packages. Today I went to buy tofu again and I found more tofu packages expired and the same two packages that expired in Nov. and Dec. This time I found a manager and told her about the expired tofu. I explained to her that this could make an unsuspecting person quite ill. She immediately summoned the employees in that section and spoke to them. I received an apology and they said they would fix it. I will see next time.

I bought the ingredients I needed to make an awesome soup. Chard, lentil & potato slow cooker soup. It is really good and super easy. I cut up the ingredients sautéed them for short time and then threw them in the slow cooker with the lentils and potatoes. At the end of 8 hours throw in the chard. It is really hearty.

While cooking I was watching the playoff football games. It looks like a West Coast/East Coast playoff. I am rooting for the West Coast. Go Niners!

I also worked on my puzzle. I have to have it finished by Saturday because Saturday is movie night! I will need the space. Looks like a bunch of folks are coming. This puzzle is complicated not because it is big or 3D but because it has a bunch of little animal type creatures that have similar costumes. The animal faces are difficult. Anyway, I have to work on it during the day light because the light at night is not good enough for me to see the pieces well enough. Tomorrow is another day to work on it.

Until tomorrow...





Saturday, January 19, 2013

TIRES, MOVIE AND ZOKU

This morning we got up and went to get tires for my car. They needed them badly. I have been trying to decide whether I am buying a new car or keeping it a bit longer. Since I just put in a new clutch, I am keeping it a bit longer. I love my car but it is 10 years old. It only has 56,000 miles on it and it is in really good condition. So today I put new tires on it. I did not buy the most expensive or longest lasting. Not sure I need 60,000 miles of tread. At the rate I drive that would be 2023!

We went to a place that is next to a movie theater and timed it so we would be finishing up ordering the tires just in time to see Broken City. It was an action packed movie with Mark Wahlberg. I thought it was really good. I know it got mixed reviews but I liked it. When the movie was done the car was done.

Just one little bump, I forgot to give the service guy my lug nut key so I had to call him and have him search the car to look for it. For those of you who don't know what a lug nut key is, it locks the lug nuts on your tires so someone can't steal the tires off your car. Once I took the car in and didn't have the key and they could not take the tire off.

When we got home I decided to make Zoku pops! This time I made pineapple with blueberries. I took a small amount of sugar and water and boiled them to dissolve the sugar. Then I took cut up fresh pineapple and put the sugar water and pineapple in the blender. I made a frothy mix. I put a few half pieces of blueberry in the Zoku and then poured in the pineapple. I put some more pieces of blueberry half way through. I had one stick that went in crooked and I could not get it out. I had to let it defrost to get the stick out. Lesson learned: the stick must be in the Zoku level. The pop is delicious. Lovin the Zoku!

Until tomorrow...

Friday, January 18, 2013

FREE PRESCRIPTIONS

Today I went to pick up my prescriptions. I took out my credit card and the guy handed me my purchase. It was free. WHAT?! How could it be free? My insurance deductible reset on January 1. I should have paid a couple of hundred dollars.

So I am sure you asked what I did. I said thank you and got the heck out of there quick. Before they realized it was a mistake!

Once again this year the plan is for my Enbrel costs to pay for my deductible. Two Enbrel payments will almost be the whole $4,000 deductible. My Enbrel payments are paid for by Enbrel Assist. I get a certain amount each year and I have not used my allotment for the year. Last year this didn't work out since I had all sorts of MRIs, emergency room visits and spinal taps. $4,000 was a drop in the bucket with all that.

Until tomorrow...

Thursday, January 17, 2013

HOW WE ARE BROUGHT UP

I was thinking this morning that what our parents lived through makes a mark on how we are brought up. Not always but sometimes.

Suppose your parents were brought up just post depression such as mine. That might make them parents who are very savings conscience, sales rack shoppers and coupon clippers.

But then suppose your parents were brought up by a single, two job working mom in the South in the 1920s. That might make your parent want to give you the things and opportunities they didn't get when they were a child.

I wonder what kind of parent I would be. It is easy to think I would be a certain type of parent but I know that if I had a child the reality might be quite different. I think I would be a parent who would not give her child lots of expensive things like cellphones, iPads, etc. at a young age. I would want to give my kids opportunities but not to push them. I would teach them about saving money when they were old enough. Any money they were given, a portion would go into savings. They would have chores to do to get an allowance.

This was just me pondering about parenthood. I guess I should not have watched the show Parenthood before I went to sleep!

Hot Tub Update: another $500 and it will be fixed. Hopefully it won't take too long to order the parts.

Until tomorrow...

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

AM I IN A HOT TUB TIME MACHINE?

The technician showed up today to fix the leak from the hot tub. Turns out it was not a hose. It was so many things. First he found a cap that had a bad washer. But that was not the leak. Then he checked the spa light. The bulb was fine but the switch was bad. Need to order a new switch. Then he filled the spa with water and the leak was in full force. A plastic ring was cracked that went to the pump or motor. That was leaking on wires and that was why the spa was shutting off. Need to order a new plastic ring. I told him to check everything before he left because I didn't want him to come back next week and find three more things wrong. So he checked the thermostat and it was not working. Need to order a thermostat. Then he looked at some thing that was leading to the bad washer and that piece screwed down. It needed a washer or a new piece to keep it tight. Need to order that. Four things to order. At least a week.

Then the guys came back to install the top lifter and the door. Of course the vermin had made another smaller home in the motor. So the guy made another big deal about it. He asked me how to install the door. I said, you are the installer. I could have installed it myself. The cover lifter is so great.

No, I didn't get an apology.

So, we wait again and watch more water drip out.

Meanwhile, I downloaded (we actually upload but everyone calls it download, don't know why) two books from the library today. Last week with my old DSL it would have taken me almost an hour. Today it took less than 10 minutes. Loving my new ISP.

Until tomorrow...

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

SO PROUD

I am so proud of Brenda. "You have trained me well Sensei."

Today the hot tub company called to say they were coming tomorrow afternoon. Brenda asked who was coming. They told her it was going to be the same guys who moved the hot tub and were so obnoxious. She said those guys were the only guys who can come to put the lifter on the hot tub.

Brenda told the woman that those guys are not to step foot in our house until they apologize to me. The woman said they would most definitely apologize to me. Brenda also told her that we would not be paying for the extra visit. The woman assured her that no extra charges would be incurred.

Yay! I will give an update tomorrow.

Meanwhile the new wireless is GREAT!

Until tomorrow...

Monday, January 14, 2013

ZOOM

I had the new wireless ISP installed today. I am SO happy. The upload and download speeds are so fast. We put on two Netflix movies, my iPad and the digital photo frame and everything was still working! Yay!

The whole process was so painless. The two women showed up and climbed up on the roof and installed the antennae. Then they ran a wire down the side of the house. Then in the house and connected it to my computer. 45 minutes later I am a faster blogger!

This is such a happy day. Now I am switching over all my email addresses. This is a month long activity. All accounts, newsletters, friends, contacts, business associates, etc.

I am so happy!

Until tomorrow...

Sunday, January 13, 2013

A DAY OF COOKING

After going to Costco, I decided to do some cooking. First I wanted to try a new Zoku Popsicle. This time I took fresh blueberries and put them in the blender. Then I took some Limeade and put the crushed blueberries in it. I put the mixture in the Zoku. I still had some of the cranberry-lemonade pops left so I could only make four of the blueberry-limeade pops.

When I was done making the pops, I started dinner. I made "Scalloped Russet and Sweet Potatoes" and "Mustardy Kale and Butternut Squash". Then I made a square of tofu to round out the meal. The scalloped potatoes are very rich and delicious. The sweet potatoes made the dish more delicious. I got the kale recipe from Real Simple. It is really tasty. Only like five ingredients. Now I have leftovers for at least three days.

I also went on this vegetarian blog and got some new recipes. I needed some. I was getting tired of the same food all the time.

When I have food prepared I am less stressed, healthier, and I eat better. I also rode 30 minutes on the bike.

Until tomorrow...

Saturday, January 12, 2013

BOOK. FOR CHRISTMAS

I got this book for Christmas called F My Life. It has all this little stories about things that happened to people where something went wrong. Here is an example:

After spending over $2,000 and two half days off work to get the hot tub to work, on the day it gets filled it begins to leak. They can't fix it until Wednesday and now all the water has leaked out. FML.

Have you had any F My Life situations you would like to share?

I went on a long walk today. I would love to say it was only because I wanted to be healthy but I wanted to get my Netflix. The post office is about 5 blocks away so I took the little dog for a walk to go get it. Exercise and a movie. So far no pain. If it nice tomorrow I will go for another walk.

I bought a bunch of groceries. I am going back to cooking some big dishes for the week. I am making scalloped sweet and regular potatoes and kale and butternut squash thing. Should be a few meals.

Until tomorrow...

Friday, January 11, 2013

LOSING SLEEP

I am really tired. Why, you ask? My little dog Lucky, has decided to wake up really early. So early some mornings it is 3am. This morning it was 6 am. She sleeps all night but sometime in the morning she decides she wants to get in bed with me. I refuse but she continues to cry. She is so annoying.

Now I am exhausted.

The hot tub has lost 1/2 of its water. It will be empty by Wednesday when they come to fix it.

I better get to sleep.

Until tomorrow...

Thursday, January 10, 2013

IT COULD NOT BE THAT EASY

The man came to clean the hot tub. I wish I had taken a before photo. It would have made the after photo look so great. Just imagine a REALLY dirty hot tub. One that looked like it could never get cleaned. It had dirty water and decomposing leaves in the bottom. It had black stuff on all the walls, bottom, and cover.

The man came and used some special stuff and now it sparkles. He flushed it and filled it with water. Then he gave me a quick tutorial on how to maintain it. Then we found the leak...

It looks like a hose is leaking. Ergh... I have a hot tub full of water that is slowly leaking out and because of the leak, the hot tub keeps shutting off. So we can't use it yet.

So we wait. Until Wednesday.

I asked my neighbor to assist me in putting rat bait under the hot tub platform where the rat family was found.

Meanwhile my car is fixed. It cost about $300 less than expected. Yay! But I was told my tires need to be replaced like NOW.


Until tomorrow...

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

Now I am usually an upbeat, silver lining kind of person. But today just got me down. I kept trying to find the silver lining.

The day started out okay. I won a court case, I had to get a car towed that was parked in my driveway and the towing company came in record time and was polite. Maybe that should have been a sign. A sign that the day would go a little downhill from there.

The guys came to move and install the parts on my hot tub. I have been waiting all week. The guys show up and immediately begin telling me "no, it can't be moved to that spot." "it is filled with bacteria and you could get sick from it", "I would not use it." "You should buy a new hot tub", "Your platform is rotted", "Your hot tub wood is rotted". And on and on.

I finally got them to move the hot tub to the desired location and it is barely an inch off center. He was telling me it would be so tilted the water would run out. I had them rinse it out and it wasn't as bad looking once it got rinsed out. The platform was another story. They lifted it and there were live animals under it (they said). I had them put it back down and I will deal with that later. He didn't install any of the new equipment since it was so dirty. I was really upset and called the company. They assured me that he is a delivery guy and doesn't know what he is talking about and that they clean them and disinfect them thoroughly.

Then they called about my car. A new clutch! Of course the car is 10 years old and has 52,000 miles on it so I guess it is time for a new clutch. But that hurt. I can get my car tomorrow.

Then I took something to a client's office and they told me to park in their white zone. I came out and there was a ticket for $98. Their own people called parking enforcement on me! Geez!

At that point I went home and told Brenda we were getting take out food. I didn't want to be near an open flame!

I guess it is just one of those days where a bunch goes wrong. I guess I could look at it like this:

At least I have a hot tub and they can clean it out.

At least I wasn't driving when the clutch went out and I didn't get stranded somewhere. Last time I had a clutch go out on me it was on the Long Island Expressway in traffic in the summer and I could not change gears. I kept it in first and just went real slow. I got it to my Dad's house and then the next day I drove it to my uncle's garage very early in the morning in order to miss the traffic on the Island. My Uncle fixed it for me. That was my old Ford Mustang II. I loved that car!

At least they didn't tow the rental car. That would have been hard to explain.

See silver lining!

Until tomorrow...

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

CAR IN THE SHOP

My poor baby. My car is in the shop. It was doing this weird thing so I took it in and in an entire day they had a hard time figuring out what was wrong. Hopefully tomorrow it will all be solved and won't cost me an arm and a leg. I am driving this gigantic rental car. An Avenger by Dodge. Compared to my car I feel like I am driving a tank. It almost didn't fit in the garage.

Last night once again The Sentinel seemed to work. No raccoons.

My soreness is decreasing. I decided to get on the stationary bike today. I pedaled for 25 minutes while I watched Castle.

Two days until I can soak in a hot tub!

Until tomorrow...

Monday, January 7, 2013

TWO EYES STARING BACK AT ME

At 3am I woke up to the dogs barking. I went out on the deck and there was a giant raccoon staring back at me. He didn't even blink that a human was 25 feet from him. I banged on the deck and he didn't even move. Didn't even blink. I banged again and yelled at him to move. He then jumped up on the hot tub and over the fence. He gave me once last look before he went over the fence to say "I'll be back" (with an Arnold Schwatzenager accent)

Then of course I could not go back to sleep. About an hour later Rocky Raccoon came back and set of the Sentinel. The dogs went crazy again. I went out on the deck and Rocky was no where to be seen. I guess Rocky doesn't like the ultrasound noise. Today we still had five fish in the pond.

I on the other hand had a very difficult day. I am walking like a 60 year old. I am sore all over. I definitely over did it. That along with being exhausted from a night with Rocky made this a rough day.

Tomorrow is another busy day so I better get to sleep.

Until tomorrow...

Sunday, January 6, 2013

GETTING READY TO SOAK

Today we spent more than 2 hours outside getting the backyard ready for the hot tub move. The hot tub is being moved from an area that is up against the foliage to an area near the deck. We are hoping it will decrease the vermin problem in the motor. The further from the ivy the better.

We weeded and raked. I cleared out some pots with dead plants. We moved the live planters and the grill. We also had to shovel some dirt out of the area to make it level. The backyard looks great.

Now I can hardly walk and type. I didn't think I did that much but I guess I did. Man, I could really use that hot tub now! I am going to do my Enbrel shot but I don't think even that is going to help. Tomorrow may not be a good day for me. Luckily I am working from home.

Last night no raccoon problems mostly because it rained but I can tell they don't like the Sentinel. The dogs certainly don't like the ear piercing ultrasound.

Until tomorrow...

RACCOON ABATEMENT

It seems that the raccoon device is working. We didn't seem to have any night time visitors last night eating any fish and so far tonight things are calm in the rain. The device is called The Sentinel. It emits an ultrasonic sound that animals don't like. I should have used it during the rat problem but I didn't think of it. It also means the dogs won't go out back when it is turned on so I have to walk them at night. Anything that will keep the animals from eating our animals is good for me.

We went to a party tonight. It was fun. We spent most of the time speaking with this one girl. She seemed nice. I think I will invite her to movie night. She seems to enjoy movies a lot.

Unfortunately I had heartburn and that made me uncomfortable. Then when we came home I had a few cookies because I was starving and then I had HEARTBURN. This was probably the second worst heartburn I ever had. It hurt so bad it took my breath away, made me sweat, almost faint and feel nauseated. I was striping off clothes and not in a good or sexy way. I felt like if I didn't get my sweatshirt off I would faint on the floor. I couldn't even call for Brenda. It took about 1.5 hours to subside after taking my second generic heartburn pill of the evening.

I need to go back on the sucrafate and figure out what to do about when I am starving and I have heartburn. That is probably one of the worst things I am dealing with now. My chest is "burning" and my stomach is growling. Sucks. Sucks even worse than when my chest is burning and I am so exhausted I want to fall asleep but I can't sitting up.

Well tomorrow is another day to start fresh. Take my sucrafate and check on my fish.

Until tomorrow...



Friday, January 4, 2013

PUZZLES

I have always loved puzzles. When I was a kid I did puzzles all the time. I think I got this from my dad. He is puzzle crazy. He often has a puzzle going on a table in his family room. He seems to like it when we gather round to help him finish a puzzle. Or maybe he is just being polite!

I don't like really complicated puzzles like those 3D puzzles. I like my puzzles to be some sort of picture that is a little complicated but nice and flat. You know what I mean, those puzzles that are a bunch of giraffes in a grassy field or a bunch of trains. Difficult but not impossible. I find puzzles soothing. I like to do them while watching TV.

This puzzle is a Christmas puzzle. The picture is of animals dressed in Christmas garb. It is mostly rodents like mice and moles. It is more of a drawing/painting than a photo. It is a cute puzzle and I wanted to do it over Christmas break. I have had the puzzle for a few years and finally wanted to work on it.

On another note, our pond has been under attack by a raccoon. The raccoon has been jumping in and fishing. This is the first time since we have lived here that a raccoon has actually jumped in the pond to fish or maybe he fell in. Whatever happened, we set up our machine to chase away animals. It sets off a piercing noise when the sensor senses an animal is nearby. It s supposed to scare the animal off. We will see tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

Thursday, January 3, 2013

CONTINUING INTERNET ISSUES

Okay so I made the decision to change internet providers. It was a hard decision and it has required a lot of work. I got a domain name and new email addresses. That required at least 30 minutes with tech support. For some reason my new email will not send emails to any gmail account. Since so many of my friends have gmail accounts I find this disturbing. I have no idea what is happening. The new email will send emails to other email addresses but not to gmails. I see many hours on the phone with tech support in my future.

I now have spent about 1.5 hours setting up my iPad and phone to collect my emails. I am really excited about this transition.

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We took the Christmas ornaments off the tree this evening. It is always a sad time. The tree recyclers come on Saturday morning so we have to have the tree on the curb and ready to be turned into compost or wood chips. In some ways I am ready to move on with this year. We have our ski trip to plan for and maybe a trip to see my Aunt in Yosemite. Plus the hot tub is being fixed/moved/cleaned next week! That will make everything all better!

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We have had a death. It is sad. I think a raccoon or an egret caught a fish in our pond. I went out back today and the pond looked like someone had fallen in. The plants were all torn up and a rock was disturbed. There were fish scales on the slate. Someone was a snack. So sad. The fish were hiding so I could not count them. When it is cold they hide to keep warm.

Until tomorrow...

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

INTERNET ISSUES

I am sure I have written about my Internet issues before. In the past six months my Internet speed has dropped significantly. We can't have two things on at the same time. Like our digital photo frame and an iPad uploading a Netflix movie simultaneously.

Last week I put a plan in place. First I needed to find a new Internet provider. I found a small company that has a fast speed. I didn't want to switch to cable. I don't like to have all my services with the same company. Plus cable Internet is notoriously expensive and sometimes slow. I found what seems like a good company.

Second, I want to switch my email addresses to a new domain. I am buying my own domain name so I never have to switch emails again. I know I could use a gmail or hotmail but those have problems and I want an email that is my own. I have had my current emails addresses for more than 20 years. I had to figure out a domain I liked. Still in process...

After all that I have to switch over my email address. This is the most daunting task. If you are like me, you have a hundred website accounts: iTunes, amazon, Target, the bank, Costco, etc. Then notifying all my friends and family about an email change. I doubt there is some sort of email forwarding if you change emails!

I know this has nothing to do about my health but making this, change will alleviate my stress when I do blog postings and Brenda is watching a movie!

Until tomorrow...

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND FREEDOM FROM THE FISCAL CLIFF

The movie marathon has continued. We watched Trouble with the Curve. I really liked it. Amy Adams is really good in this movie.

Last night we went to a neighbors party. We have attended her New Years Eve dance party for a few years. This year I am not sure who chose the music but it was not too danceable. I think I danced to two songs. Many of the songs I didn't recognize. I had a good time hanging out with my neighbors. I was home by 12:15.

I didn't make a resolution this year. Did you?

Until tomorrow...

Tuesday, January 1, 2013