In an instant....

.....I guess I am being emotional because of Barkley....he's only 6 for pete's sake. Anyway. Isn't it amazing how quickly life can change in an instant? Think of the person driving home from work....and gets in a car accident and is paralysed for life. I can't stop thinking about how upset our cat Sasha was last night while Barkley was at the vet. She kept looking for him and crying out. Life. Blech. And if you are thinking..."he's just a dog" I want to punch you in the face.

The dude

Months ago....I had given our dog Barkley the nickname of "the dude". He's one cool character. A dude. Ha. Barkley has been diagnosed with skin cancer.....a very aggressive form. He is one big scab.....that overcame his body in 2 weeks. Amazingly...he is in good spirits. We are going to bring him up to the mountains this weekend and give him our undivided attention. Feed him his favorite foods. Make him comfortable. Please pray for me for the strength to get through this.

Guess who came to dinner

This fawn followed home a sweet Beagle dog. Ahhhhh. What a cute story. Fear not....the fawn was returned to her momma.

That's good advice

I was on a sales call yesterday and the client said something to me that gave me pause. He said, "You have to be your own doctor. Keep in mind that half of all doctors graduated in the bottom 1/2 of their class." Holy crap.....he's right. That's good advice.

RETIREMENT PLANNING FOR 2008

If you had purchased $1000 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.

With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1000.

With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5 left.

If you had purchased $1000 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have$36 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.00. Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle. It's called the 401-Keg Plan.

Emergency Room Part 2

Monday night I get home from work to discover that Barkley the Dog cannot get up. I roll him over to see what is up with him. He moans. He has this huge tumor looking thing on his chest. Todd is home about 5 mins after me and we make trip #2 in 1 week to the 24-hour emergency vet office. Sweet. They test the tumor....its a fatty tumor and it's not necessary to remove it today. We will only have to remove it if it causes him pain or makes it tough to walk. So why is he having trouble walking? He has hip dysplasia which we medicate when he flares up. After a myriad of tests and x-rays (can you hear the cash register knocking up the bill?) they diagnose that he must have taken some sort of fall to irritate his hip issues. They send us home with some pain pills and anti inflammatory meds.....and a bill of over $500. For those keeping track that's over $650 in the last week between Barkley and Sasha. Gulp. We give Barkley his meds and we all fall into bed. The next day Barkley is not eating and still won't get up. We call the vet. This continues all week. Keep giving him the medicine and he will get better. By Wednesday, Barkley won't climb the stairs and has to be carried outside to go pee. Yesterday Todd took the day off to see if we need to take Barkley back into the vet. He decided slept in a little. Barkley didn't get his normal pain meds first thing in the morning yesterday....and wouldn't you know it? Barkley comes running up the stairs to see Todd. WTF? We figured out that the PAIN MEDS were knocking him out so much that he was afraid to walk or climb stairs. We have pretty much eliminated the pain meds except for 1/2 a dose when he sleeps now. Our boy is back to being a full time tail-wagger and face licker. Whew.

Deck-a-licious

We used our wedding gift money to buy new dining room chairs and completely landscaped our backyard. We added So Real Lawn for our lawn. It's synthetic grass that is installed on a filtration system. Barkley the dog's pee killed any grass we could grow. This solves that problem. You scoop the poop and spray it down once a week with vingar and water....just like a douche! Ha. And part 2 of the backyard remodel was adding a deck. It's 15' x 8' and we freaking LOVE LOVE it. We bought a table that doubles as a fire pit for a fun fire on cooler evenings. It's awesome. Here's some pics. It's a glorious and rare rainy day today....bliss. Here are some before, mid-way and after pics. It's deck-a-licious.

Red Neck Weddings

Have you ever seen that reality show Red Neck Weddings? I can't say I have had the pleasure of seeing an episode of this train wreck but I have heard of it. After I started planning my own wedding I swore I would never rip on anyone's wedding ever again. Sorry. I have to comment on this one. First let me say that I know the groom. He was married to my best friend. When they were married I considered him a close friend. They were together for 10 years. He loved music, alt rock, techno and had a huge love for Elvis. He is a good looking man who dressed to a "T". He looked like he walked out of a hip Ralph Lauren magazine. Sometime after they divorced he freaking flipped out. Lost his f-ing mind. He became a freaking cowboy. I mean a COWboy....10-gallon hat, tight ass Wranglers, boots and all. I don't even recognize him anymore. He got remarried this past weekend. Good for him. But the pictures from his wedding DEMANDED a post from me with my comments....I just could NOT resist. OK. I don't need to say anything more but....hello...red neck wedding casting director....you missed a good episode. OH and.....If your wedding cake is a bad remake of a Jack Daniels bottle....you just MIGHT be a red neck.

Brilliant

I just heard something that I think is a brilliant idea. Tim Russert's family played his iPod for the music at his memorial service. How perfect is that? A perfect tribute to someone. I love going through people's iPod to see what they listen to. It's like looking through someones check book to see where they spend their money. Really tells you about someone. Brilliant!

Honeymoon

I have been slowly but surely writing the post of the honeymoon. I just finished Sunday - Tuesday....but it posted to early July. Scroll down to read about those days if you wish. More to come soon! xooxox

Emergency room

So on Friday night Todd and I are rushing around to get ready to head to a friend's house for dinner. I am in the spare room (where I have taken over that closet too) putting together my outfit for the evening. I notice that our cat Sasha has been in her litter box for a long time. She looks to be straining. I holler out to Todd that something is up with Sasha. I stop getting ready and watch her and start talking to her. She finishes and slowly walks out of the room. I realize something is not right. I follow her. She jumps up on our bed next to Todd. He rolls her over to give her belly some rubs and see what's up. Sasha's little body gets super rigid and shaky and her eyes are huge and look to be in shock. I FLIP! "We are going to the Vet. Call them and see if they are still open." Sasha continues to lay in the same position on her back and looks to be in the most pain of her life. I realize that I failed to do something very important when I moved into Todd's house.....come up with an emergency plan for our pets. Where do you take your pet when the vet's office is closed? At my condo I had a plan. I had a list of 4-5 24-hour vet emergency rooms....with phone numbers....vet's names (that had been researched)....and directions on how to get there. Let's keep in mind folks.....we now live in the MIDDLE of NOWHERE. I have to drive freaking 20 minutes for a freaking grocery store. I start getting really upset....saying something to the tune of, "When a person is hurt you call 911. What do you do for a pet when you live in the middle of nowhere? She is gonna die on this bed because I didn't make a plan." Todd...being the level headed one tells me to go get her carrier out of the garage and he will find a place for us to go. We hop in the car. I drive. Fast. To the emergency room vet. Sasha normally cries the whole time she is in the car. The car means 2 things to her. The vet or I am dropping her off somewhere to be watched. Both bad news for wee kitties. Her cries are getting really faint and I keep saying to Todd, "What is she doing? Are her eyes open?" "She's just laying here. Her eyes are open," he said. We get to the vet and the doctor takes a look at her. Now she is just really quiet and acting like she is ok with her head on my shoulder. Whew. The vet works her over and determines that Sasha has a bad bladder infection. The pain is overwhelming for her so that is why she had the shock episode. She gives me antibiotics & pain pills (where are the pain pills for the mamma?) and a $150 bill (I would have paid $500) and off we go. Now if you have ever had a bladder infection...the pain IS overwhelming. Feels like you have to pee 24 hours a day and when you DO pee.....oh boy....like glass is shooting out of you. Poor little girl. She is feeling better today. I have been putting some extra water in her tuna to help rehydrate her and have been giving her the medicine. She is back to bossing Barkley around and doesn't seem to be living in the litter box. They are right about what they say about pets being good training for parenthood. I will always have a plan.

Birthday

My dear hubby gave me the coolest birthday present. A black and gray TREK 4300 ASL mountain bike. It is sweeeeeet! I absolutely love it. I have been riding a crappy bike that I got from Sears 15 plus years ago that was painful to see and ride. The gears skipped and would make a nasty grinding noise. No more!

My birthday isn't for a couple more weeks....but he couldn't wait to give it to me. Plus, a bike is hard to hide.

Woo hoo! And the beauty of this is....I will probably get ANOTHER gift ON my birthday. All around...it's works out for me! :)