Yuck Saef but glad you can tolerate it until you see the doctor. I know that I have a very high tolerance for pain which makes things tricky. Sometimes I let things go way too long before I address them. Then when you do finally go to the doctor you have to let them know that you really are in pain....

Saef, I hope you can get some relief soon! I've never had shingles and I barely remember chicken pox (had it when I was 5) but after A&C were born I got post-partum PUPPS. It was a huge rash and it itched and hurt so badly that I basically put ice packs on my skin to numb it.

DH reports that the girls had fun at the library! I'm looking forward to hearing more details when I get home tonight. Side note that is kind of funny and unfortunate at the same time -- the girls have suddenly become very interested in the moles on my chest and neck. Interested in attempting to pluck them off my skin, anyway. Whenever I pick one of them up out comes a tiny finger to go scratch scratch scratch at my moles! Last night C scratched me until it bled. I've starting grabbing their hand and saying, "Don't do that, that hurts mommy" when they start but as soon as I let go they are right back scratching again. Since they are too young to understand "no" I'm not really sure that there's anything to do other than consider putting bandaids over all my moles! Anyway I just thought it was kind of funny and you would get a laugh at the mental image of babies trying to scratch off mommy's moles.

Okay, so I've been to the doctor, who was impressed by the luridness and extent of the rash when I lowered my pants to show him. (Yeah, I had to moon my doctor, basically. An hour-long wait and then I mooned him and he asked a few questions. Done and done.) I've got an antiviral medication and three expensive tubes of ointment with steroids in it. We'll see what that does.

Babies are like curious little animals, aren't they? I never wanted one, but I still think they're interesting, at least as interesting as all of the dogs that inhabit this thread.

re your comment about babies and dogs. Glad YOU said it. How about it Jessica - are the girls more interesting than Carter or is it about the same? My money is on the girls.

Dagmar

Shingles is so awfully and painful. It was hard enough to deal with as a healthy adult, my heart just goes out to all the elderly who deal with flare ups. I had some neuropathy leftover from the infection for a few weeks after it was mostly resolved.

My solution for grabbing babies is either flicking their hand or screeching. It doesn't hurt but startles them enough that they pause. When the kiddos are actually looking at my face I'll give a firm 'no' and rinse and repeat that cycle a few times. Even with my most stubborn baby it's only taking a few days of consistent and firm verbal correction for them to get the idea. If only that worked so well on the preschooler and grade schoolers!

We flicked DSS when he grabbed things he wasn't supposed to grab, like Taryl is worked pretty well after a couple of day.

My Dad's shingles was agonizing, so my doctor gave me a shingles vaccine a month before my 60th birthday. She says it's good for life now.

I stayed focused pretty well this past week but had three public all-you-can-eat events. Ate more than I would have wanted, but am still maintaining at least. On to kext week!

I actually love babies and kids, in an Uncle kind of way. They love me too. We were never able to have a child and that was OK by us. I get to have all the fun but never have to do hardly any disciplining. And we love our cat!

Jessica, I started as a software engineer but then I left that job to teach. Been teaching 15 years. Started doing it because I had to travel quite a bit and wanted to be off when my kids were off, and I wanted to teach! So I teach Java mainly and animation, and of course it changes each year. I thought when my kids got out of HS I might go back to working as a programmer but I love having summers off. I only teach 3-4 classes and I do all kinds do database/software for the school too, so it's a perfect fit. I have the best students too!

Saef, wow you must have a high pain tolerance. Get better soon!

I hate this spring forward day. Especially tomorrow when I get up at 4:30 to exercise which will really be 3:30! Oh well, at least it will be light later. In Florida it already is staying light till at least seven so now it will be eight.

I wonder what my son will do when he graduates. He's in Computer Science--first year. His best friend, who is arguably better in computer than he is, was in CS and after his first quarter in school changed to Political Science. He wants to be an ambassador to Iran (he's of Iranian descent). While a nice thing to aspire to, there are only a very SMALL amount of people who get that kind of job. Meanwhile, he has a job doing IT work at UCLA. My son is trying to get a job doing IT at UCIrvine.

I found an injured hummingbird in my back yard this afternoon. I made it some sugar water and moved it from the lawn to my counter near my grill so it's safe from ground predators. I feel so bad. It's chirping off and on like it's trying to get help. His tail looks mangled (I sincerely hope it wasn't from one of my dogs although they had no idea he was there on the lawn until I started paying attention to it). I think he can't fly--his tail is like gone. So sad.

I met with a dog trainer on Friday and was stupendiously amazed at what he did with Bogey in just a few moves. I signed him on and our first lesson is this Friday and I can't wait. Even with the short "lesson" Bogey is 100% sitting for his dinner and will allow Louie cat to weave within his legs. I am stupefied. I think this dog will be amazing in a week or so!!!!

Wow Allison. Do you have free-lance dog trainers where you live? How did you find this one? I'm pretty upset. Our adopted cock-a-poo, who's lived with us for 15 months now and had seemingly stopped most of his resource-guarding and neurotic behavior, bit my oldest DS (15) hard enough to draw blood last week while I was away on vacation. Apparently, DS did nothing more to provoke him than approach quickly and reach out to pet him while the dog was lying on one of "his" couches in the living room. Every time I think he's finally getting over his neurotic anxiety behaviors, something happens. DS is now afraid to go near him/pick him up. In addition, Loki has started barking at any sign of commotion again, and (at least briefly) at anyone who walks through the front door, including family members. I really have to question my sanity at bringing a dog into our already-complicated and stressful lives.

Thanks for the info, I have had both and am in chemo now.

Hi all, I'm sorry to report that I am not really feeling in control of my weight. I keep trying and falling off the wagon, with gradual weight creep really adding up. I think I'm going to poke around the forum here and see if there is a thread that directly addresses this! I'll keep dropping by with my old friends here tho. Good luck and best wishes to all.

Good luck Chris. Please do come and visit whenever you want.

Dagmar