Allison - funny crazy lady pic! I saw your bruised foot pic too - weird... I don't get that side effect from asparagus, but I do from broccoli...
Just found out that the infection DH had last week seems to have popped back up, or at least the painful symptoms have. It was gone pretty much all weekend and the beginning of this week, came back yesterday. So now we both have doctor's appointments this afternoon to see if we are passing some bacteria back and forth... I haven't had any weird symptoms other than what was probably an undiagnosed yeast infection a few weeks ago, but we'll see. Hopefully I will be eliminated as a cause.
Allison-- thanks for the chuckle!! What were you doing? Looks like you were amazed about the wheat thins!!!
Lily-- it does sound to me like you may have 3 more dogs, but I understand you not wanting 5 dogs.
A long dog story...
We've always, always had 2 dogs. I worked for vets for years and notoriously rescued dogs, cats, etc. so we always had a multitude of pets. About 12 years ago (can't believe it was that long ago now!!), we had a Boston Terrier named Bubba and a Dachshund named Samantha (rescued from certain death as the pet store owner brought her into the vet when she was a puppy and told the vet to put her to sleep because she had hair loss and he couldn't sell her!!). Samantha at that time was aging.... I found two dogs roaming my neighborhood when I was out with a neighbor. One was a purebred Doberman and the other was a purebred Malamute though they were both skin and bones and filthy and looked like they had traveled for a long time. I fell in love with the Doberman and took her home. I could just tell she was a sweetie. My dh just about died when I brought this dog into the house and my then 1.5 year old dd ran up to her and put her arms around her neck and kissed her face! He had visions of this scary dog attacking her but I could tell she was a gentle soul. I took her to the vet and she had heartworms and BB's in her where she had been shot. We treated her heartworms, named her Annie (Orphan Annie!) and took her in. We didn't want 3 dogs but we couldn't pass her up. Samantha died about a year later bringing our count back down to 2. Annie was the best dog we have ever had (and we've had a lot), but unfortunately she developed bone cancer only a few years after we adopted her. There is no cure for bone cancer in dogs and it is painful. Your options are to put the dog to sleep or to amputate the limb which takes away the pain and holds the cancer at bay for awhile. We chose to amputate her front leg and she did amazingly well. Imagine how afraid neighbors and solicitors were when they rung the doorbell and a scary 3-legged Doberman ran and barked at the door!! She lived less than a year longer before the cancer spread to her lungs and we had to put her to sleep. We still miss and mourn Annie. We now have Ozzie (a Doberman) and Jozi (a Great Dane). While Ozzie is a sweetheart, he is the dumbest and least brave dog I've ever seen!!
So, a long story to say that you never know how/why pets enter our lives. Lily-- if you decide to keep the dogs, I'm sure they will bring much into your lives. If you find them homes, I'm sure they will enrich the lives of those who adopt them.
That's a nice story about your fur babies, Michele. I, too, am someone who has (since age 17) always had at least one animal. Right now it is the two Labs and I know soon we'll be down to only one. It'll be sad, but I've already started looking into rescuing another lab.
And what was I doing in the photo? I think I was just acting crazy because DD kept taking picture of everything! If I remember, I was just kind of screaming "aaaaahhhh!" Here's a good photo of my back yard with the party goers: backyard. DH is on the ground because he is turning on the propane for the firepit in the middle of the table. Here's another of the view east from my backyard: view.
And what was I doing in the photo? I think I was just acting crazy because DD kept taking picture of everything! If I remember, I was just kind of screaming "aaaaahhhh!" Here's a good photo of my back yard with the party goers: backyard. DH is on the ground because he is turning on the propane for the firepit in the middle of the table. Here's another of the view east from my backyard: view.
I love your backyard Allison! I'm jealous, too! My backyard overlooks the poured pads and empty lots on the road behind us... But, there are some nice trees on the other side of that road that I get a good view of with no houses there... silver lining.
This house is a huge step up from our old place. When we moved into the old place, we had a cement pad in the back yard and a couple of trees. No lawn. After 4 years we managed to put in sprinklers and sod which sure helped with the dust situation (but then we found out our Golden Retriever was allergic to grass).
And guess what? We have two fire pits! One is a permanent in-ground one on a patio off the living room. The photo of the table is on the patio off the family room/kitchen. You can kind of see the edge of the pit in this photo--it is in front of the couch in the back--right behind the blonde lady: other patio.
Michele - my parents' last dog was also the best dog they ever had, and died from bone cancer. It went untreated for a long time because they (and the vet) thought it was just arthritis -- he was a large dog and was 10 years old. Now I am super-paranoid and I'm always watching my dog to make sure he's not limping! Although he, like all dogs, sometimes does stupid things, like the other day when he ran up the stairs without paying attention and whacked his foot on the stair. At least I saw him do it so I knew why he was holding his foot up!
Allison, your yard is gorgeous! Our backyard is just grass with one tree. DH has been digging more garden beds in it though. We have a "deck" (about 4 feet square) which we plan to replace with a stone patio when it rots.
Since we are sharing pics, here are a couple of my fur-baby! From any of these links you can get to an album full of pictures of him.
Mini-rant/vent: I am so annoyed that our office (and my section in particular) are the dumping grounds for people's leftover sweets. One of my co-workers boyfriends loves brownies, so he will make a batch, eat 1 or 2, and send the rest to work w/ his GF even though he knows that two people have given up sweets for Lent, I won't eat them, and just about everyone else is trying to watch what they eat. He does this 1-2 times each month. So they sit by the coffeemaker (in front of my desk where I have a really good view) for a few days. Tempting me. Taunting me. Then my former boss's wife gave some cookies she made to our co-worker to bring in "for us" but it's the same deal. She wanted something but didn't want a lot to sit around her house. She used to send in stuff with her DH when he was our boss. Then there's always the leftover monthly staff meeting food (and our admin section complains every time if there aren't donuts provided - why don't they take them then?), other random baked goods, birthday cakes, Christmas cookies - there is food all the time!
I remember Jessica mentioning a dessert cookbook full of single or double-serving recipes once. Would it be wrong of me to get it for these people? Would they get the hint? It's not even just me, as I said, several people have cut out sweets.
I'll stop whining now.
Jessica, your dog is so cute in his rain coat!
Allison, I agree, your yard is beautiful and looks like a great place to relax.
Oh yeah, the asparagus smell is weird. But asparagus is so yummy!
I'm being hit with the afternoon slumps. Maybe I'll have half a cup of iced coffee before hitting the gym.
Morning. I had a 90 min dental appt and I'm sitting here 90 min later still quite numb! I am getting a new crown and this was the prep work. THe crown itself will take only about 30 minute in a couple of weeks. But the numbness is limiting my food choices - I'm trying really hard not to bite the inside of my cheek.
Jessica - I'm always cold too. In fact I usually have on several layers at work. We keep the library fairly cool as the people using it usually have on coats, and the staff out in the public area are moving around a lot. Those of us who spend most of our time being sedentary in front of our computers just dress in more layers. And we keep our house cool as our natural gas prices just went up another 20% - after a 13% increase last year. In the colder part of the winter (Nov - mid-March) we use a wood stove and can then have it as warm as we like. Last night I was at a friend's house, and like all good Alaskans, had my shoes off. While the rest of me was reasonably comfortable, by the time I went home my feet were freezing! Must remember to bring slippers next time.
Pat - isn't it scary to find a moose in your yard?
It can be startling! Usually they're as startled as I am and run the other way. There was one in our side yard this morning eating bark off a large willow tree that I attach my clothesline to. When I left for work she was lying down - probably settling in for the day.
Yesterday was INSANE at work and I didn't even get a chance to pop in. Today, I just had to get caught up, but now that I've spent so much time reading, I don't have time to reply to everyone.
I got my eyes checked yesterday and ordered new glasses. I'll have to post some pics of the old glasses and new glasses when I get them.
I don't drink alcohol, anymore - in my 20's I had a great "diet plan" that consisted mostly of large quantities of alcohol with occasional snacks to keep people from noticing that I didn't eat.... kept me thin, but not so great on the health... but anywho... I do keep snacks in the house. There are things that I absolutely can't resist, and those I try to keep out of the house, but it's DH's house too and he's not willing to give up his snacks (yet).
If I find that I'm regularly having something in the evening that puts me over calories (usually ice cream) I just make myself plan in the calories - when I plan my meals, I'll start by adding up my breakfast, AM snack, lunch, & afternoon snack, then add in the evening "treat" that I say I'm not going to have but know that I'm going to give in and eat anyhow. At that point, I can see that I have, what, maybe 200 calories left for dinner - that's not going to work. When I make myself be honest with myself about it, then I can face the fact that I only have a couple of choices: 1) I can cut my meals/snacks down further in order to make room for the "extra", 2) I can cut down the amount or freqency of the "extra" or 3) I can gain weight. Pretty simple.
Alison, beautiful yard!! I love Southern Cali! I was born there and lived there as a young child, and then again for a year when I was 18. I'd move there if I could just get my entire (extended) family to go with me.
Pat, wow - beautiful! I've never been to alaska, but I'd like to visit! My cousin lived up there for a while and had a little girl while living there. The little girl was used to (elk? moose? maybe both) passing through the yard, but while visiting Spokane (when she was 3 yrs old tops) she saw a squirrel for the first time and was terrified. It was SO funny!
At my highest weight, I still was fitting (barely) into a C cup. At my current weight I can find B cups that fit, but if I lose that last 10 lbs, well, it gets too sad to talk about.....
I also have a long weekend - tomorrow we're leaving around 8 am for the maiden voyage in our RV - from Seattle to Eugene, OR. It should be entertaining anyhow. Hope we don't get stranded somewhere in mid-Oregon!
I won't have access to a computer again until Sunday night, so could you all please slow down with your posts a bit so I don't have quite so much to read when I get back? Sheez! It's like you don't even know the world revolves around me.
It went untreated for a long time because they (and the vet) thought it was just arthritis -- he was a large dog and was 10 years old. Now I am super-paranoid and I'm always watching my dog to make sure he's not limping! Although he, like all dogs, sometimes does stupid things, like the other day when he ran up the stairs without paying attention and whacked his foot on the stair. At least I saw him do it so I knew why he was holding his foot up!
And we keep our house cool as our natural gas prices just went up another 20% - after a 13% increase last year. In the colder part of the winter (Nov - mid-March) we use a wood stove and can then have it as warm as we like. 
