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YARD WORK

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MUDDLED MESS

I don't know what to say tonight... my head is just muddled with a hundred different thoughts. I'm glad to have some time tomorrow at home - captive - with no car to take me anywhere. I can't move in here - the walls are closing in on me... clothes, papers, boxes, stuff... I don't even know where my mail is. It's too much. I need to get organized.

It was doctors all day today for some minor pre-op stuff for the dad next week. Why it couldn't all be done in one place instead of three I don't know. ;-) I'm tired and want to go to sleep... I'm doing everything left handed because I can't move my right arm/elbow... I'm sure hauling in a truckload of groceries I'm not really sure we can eat didn't help much. Even typing this hurts. I think I'm going to have to go to some rehab for this or maybe go see Dr. Tighe again.

Hoping to clean up some of this mess and get these clothes put away somewhere... uugghh. The thought of it is making me sick. I think I may attempt three pills tonight. If you don't hear from me tomorrow it was too many. ;-)

Anyway, if I could actually get to my closet - these are some things I would want to put in it!

I don't have a photo for today but here's one of something Lizzie and I caught on the turnpike when we went to move her in to her new place...I don't think I ever posted it (check out Letter C) It's even like that on the coin. ;-)

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TOT - Ten on Tuesday

1. It has been all about food here... we met with the nutritionist over the weekend. I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out what to eat and feed the Dad. He's no help either. She asked him what he has been eating and he rattled off everything that was on his old list - half the stuff we haven't even had in the house lately. She called him on it and said that was bullshit but he insisted it was true. I told her I ate half a wheel of brie and almost a whole box of nut thins for lunch one day and I wasn't lying. ;-) She was really strict in her plan for him and said that he will more than likely be on dialysis soon. The nephrologist wasn't as doomsday as her. I don't get it. I need to get in touch with her and try to work out some meals... I'm really feeling lost in all of this.

2. I went to my therapist's office today with a little kid notebook... it had trees and colorful birds on it. Before I sat down I asked him if there was some sort of psychological reason for that. ;-) He laughed and said it didn't surprise him... I would be buying this stuff for my kids. He asked me how I felt when I saw strollers and other things. I told him to sit down - I had a story about some raccoons to tell him about!

3. Silly old bear

4. WOW.

5. I wonder how many times we got food off those poor kids.

6. Seems like Lily is feeling better... I think she was just tired. I hope she perks up soon - we have a lot to do! Does anyone else tip toe around in the dark so they don't wake their sleeping dog?!? I've been late for a lot of appointments because this little pup likes to sleep in. She also gets mad at me for having a light or book light on. I think she needs her own room. ;-)

7. I had to pick up a prescription for Glo today - I got to her house to drop it off and she seemed like she wanted to do something so I suggested we go to Target - I swear it took me about three hours to get through the store... then we had to eat and then we went to Glen's for ice cream - I wanted to scream but she was having so much fun and kept saying it was such a good day. You know how I hate kids with dirty faces and hands? Turns out I hate grown ups with dirty faces and hands just as much! It couldn't be helped - it was so hot outside. I can't even post the picture of the mess. I planned accordingly and got a milk shake - and had to go get wet wipes out of the car.

8. Perfect fit.

9. This commercial cracks me up every time I see it.

10. This girl was in Giant Eagle today picking up a prescription for one of her kids - I don't know which one - the one in the baby carrier or the one in the cart with the bags or the little boy next to the cart... she was holding up the line because she couldn't remember the one kid's birthday in order to pick up the prescription... all I could think of was that I wished I had that problem. ;-(

Here's a picture of the bud feeling a little better - she brought her piggy ball outside with her tonight. ;-)

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BED TIME

I've been paranoid all day... waiting for the puppy dog to start coughing. ;-( She hasn't. She threw up this morning but was fine later - played frisbee in the yard and everything - I think she's ok - just a little tired - like me. I think I'm just going to sleep. This book has gotten a lot of press lately... so if you need a little bed time story you can download it for free from audible or listen to Samuel L. Jackson's reading of it here. Good night.

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"CALL ME WHEN YOU HAVE NO CLASS"

Remember Rodney Dangerfield? That was his line. My Dad used to say that to Denise all the time and she would repeat it over and over... that and MC Hammer's "you can't touch this." She's been on my mind lately - I woke up laughing one night last week... I was dreaming of her at KDR. ;-)

Anyway, back to class... I decided today (like I told people to stop me from buying marshmallows) I'm telling everyone to stop me from taking another online art class if they hear me mention it... I still haven't gotten to the most recent one. I can't seem to get it together enough to do it. There's no room for me to work - I can't find any of my supplies - it's just too chaotic and frustrating here. From now on virtual classes are out and I'm going to stick with real ones! We met a woman today who does mosaic work. We played in her back yard for a couple hours underneath the trees...

I questioned whether we were entering into our own final destination when a series of strange accidents started with a couple people in our group... I escaped with only glue on my shirt - which could have been avoided if I had my cute art apron with me. I spent an hour searching for it last night and was laughed at by some mosaic thugs that were going apron free. ;-) Sadly, I realized on the way there that I left it at sharon's house! Apron or not, we all ended up having a really good time - even though some were a little cut and bruised - and glued. I think we'll be visiting her often. You can see some of her work here.

Later tonight we went on a little hike. The puppy dog was exhausted before she even got out of the car. She wore herself out kissing and wagging before she even started on her journey.

I think she needs some training to become a little hiking dog. She only needed to be carried a couple times! That's probably the longest she's ever walked and I think she did okay!

We forgot to check for spiders, though, when we got back in the car!!!

I've been learning what I can and can't live without. I've come to the realization that I'm not going to be happy unless my "office" is under the trees, too. I just need to figure out how to make that happen... And I know that what made that puppy's tail wag - still wags mine... if I had one, that is. I just don't know how to get that wagging to stop!?!

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CUTE BABY ANIMALS

I've said before I'm addicted to school supplies and notebooks and folders. You know those cute folders with kittens and stuff on them... love them. Don't they remind you of 70s and 80s school days? And, since he was fond of baby animals too... has it really been two years today since Michael Jackson died? That's hard to believe.

Anyway, I went back and forth on the Hulton Bridge 6 times today... once to the nutritionist, once to monthly girls lunch and once to Glo's - time management and route planning are not my specialities. 5 times I drove by two dead baby raccoons on Shannon Road. The first thing that entered my mind was - awww... I bet the mother was crossing and they were trailing behind and didn't make it across fast enough. I wondered what the mama did when they were hit - if she looked back or kept walking or if she went over to them to see if they were ok... That's probably a strange thought, I know. What's more strange is that I wanted to stop and take their picture. Is there something wrong with me for wanting to do that? It wouldn't be the first time I posted a dead animal on here! I didn't, though. It's on a pretty bad curve of the road so I was afraid to stop. There's also a dead baby skunk on our road too. It's been an animal filled day. Chrissy called me and said that there was a dove with ankle bracelets on at the storage unit... it came real close to her - she took its picture and someone else called the news because he heard there was a missing dove on the loose... I found the story online. I can go in so many directions with the symbolism on this one so I'm not even going to go there. There has to be some hoarder there with an empty bird cage in their unit to try to capture the poor thing!!! I hope it finds the way home. ;-(

Back to the raccoons - what's even more strange than the whole mama's reaction to her children being hit was my second thought... I'll never get to buy a stroller.

I told you it was strange.

Since I didn't get to take a picture of the baby raccoons I'll post a picture of zebras.

Did you know they lean on each other for support and to keep an eye out for predators? Talk about true companions.

For more cute animals go here. It started off as my pug board and then I ended up adding all kinds of cuteness to it. ;-)

Can't keep my eyes open... going to bed.

175/365

O.P.P (other people's...perspective)

I'm annoyed with people - friends and family - bitching about their husbands all the time or telling me I'm the lucky one. I mean it's different being out with friends and venting about something - it's just outright hatred that I can't stand. I was somewhere once and someone said the only thing men are good for is having babies - other than that there was no reason to be with them. It's annoying to "hear" these comments online too - ranting about stupid shit or the hate one day and love the next. Sometimes it seems like the ones who complain most about the drama in their lives are the ones who create it. I recently told my husband that I remember several occasions where we would be in bed and I would wake up and look at him sleeping and wonder IF I could live without him. The answer was always the same - YES! I knew I could. I just didn't want to be without him. Be careful what you wish for.

174/365

WHAT'S UP, DOC?

We had to go to the vets today... Lily had to go in for xrays because of her recurring urinary tract infections.

We were scheduled to see the new guy and didn't know much about him so we were kind of happy and surprised to see Dr. Kelly walk in - not sure why we got the switch. Lily did scare the heck out of some little kid's shih tzu puppy, Jimmy, but other than that she was a really good girl.

Dr Kelly is so cute - she calls her kiddo all the time. Lily must have spun around a hundred times... it's kind of embarrassing - I can't get her to stop. She gained .2 lbs (21.9) so she's not too bad but I'd like to get her down to 20! She has to start getting out more. I may start taking her to the school at night if it's not too frightening up there. She wasn't crazy about her bladder being pressed and gave the doctor a look that I wish I had my camera out for but she was really good with the ear exam. She even got a mani-pedi while she was there too!

I was thinking of changing vets to somewhere closer but I don't think I can. We really like everyone there. Dr. Mann still has our Christmas card with RoseBud's portrait taped in Lily's file. ;-) They brought me back to see the xrays and it looked like everything was ok!!! Turns out she doesn't take after her grandpa with this at least. $260 later we found NO bladder stones - at least no big ones - she may have small ones (her bladder wasn't full so it was hard to tell) but she would be able to pass them... that brought about a slightly too long conversation regarding dog vulvas. ;-)

We left the office, went to Sonic for iced tea and on our way home we were happy to see a familiar someone on the side of the road walking with none other than KOKO!

Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture. ;-( We couldn't get out to play because I had to get back to meet The Dad at his doctors appointment so they had to say their hellos in the car. They were so excited to see one another - they were squealing with delight! She and RoseBud were BFFs too. There's a picture of them here. Poor koko is so gray now. ;-(

The puppy was pooped from her big day out and was happy to get home to take a nap.

Those little hanging legs crack me up!

Love the Bud. ♥

173/365

OVERDOSE

My neurologist suggested I double up on my meds and see what happens... looks like I fell asleep without posting anything for last night so that "tiredness" side effect thing must have kicked in! ;-) That and being up pretty much the last two days didn't help... Anyway, I've been seeing a lot of these lately - saw four today on the parkway. I think I would have a hard time deciding b/w this and the Jeep truck or another Xterra. I still think these are so cute. And I just found this conversion online too.

Have to go meet The Dad... I'll be back later for today's post on Lily - if they gave lollipops to dogs for being good at the doctors she would get one! ;-)

172/365

TOT - Ten On Tuesday (random thoughts)

1. I've said it before - I can't resist buying marshmallows. I don't even like them so much... the last couple times I went out, though, what did I do? I bought more marshmallows - the CARS ones and the GIANT ones. I think I still have the HEARTS down there. I couldn't resist these, though. Someone pinned them a couple months ago and I thought it was the cutest thing ever but I couldn't find them here until recently... Stacker Mallows!

The DeLuca's made their own circle of chairs on saturday night - sans fire pit - so we came up with where it should go in the yard. The boys are going to start one soon. I may have to stock up on these things for nightly smore sessions! While I'm thinking about it... where the hell is the TOP to the tent???

2. I used to get flowers a lot. To this day my most favorite are some metal ones I got. I saw this the other day up at Mt. Lebanon Floral. Not too long ago a certain someone would have walked up for coffee and came home with this. ;-( I couldn't bring myself to buy it. I wanted to but I didn't. Be still, my beating heart!!! So damn cute!

3. I was listening to the audio from the 911 calls on the news yesterday from the case for the police officer shootings. "Tell my wife and my kids I love them..." - what would your dying words be?

4. The only time age played a part for me was for fertility reasons... maybe because I always looked younger than I was and never really cared how old I was... it hit me last week when I went to see a new doctor with my dad and she asked him if he was still driving and he said yes and she made a big deal about it. I looked at her funny and thought he's only 70 and then I was like wow - he's 70! Have you seen this commercial? This is the extended version. I love this lady.

5. I want to get in the car and drive somewhere and just stop wherever I want to. No planned trip - just go and pick some random place to stay... get take out, go back to the room and read magazines all night while snuggled under the covers. I love the colors of travel... does that make sense? The green of the trees and the blue and white of the sky and the gray of the road.

It truly make me happy and sad at the same time... road signs and mile markers and all kinds of other strange little things can send me into the worst feeling ever. I thought I was having a heart attack the other day. I actually pulled the car over to the side of the road.

6. "Hey, Daddy... I want a baby elephant NOW" - said in my best Veruca Salt persona.

7. Katherine said I was a good temporary single mother the other day - getting her to her grad party she needed to go to... running my errands all over the backroads of Murrysville... giving the "kids" snacks in the car. I take my duties and responsibilities seriously. ;-) My love of snacks usually comes into play somehow. We had to stop four times on Crowfoot to let very slow walking deer cross the road. It was like the Shenandoah Mountains or the Safari in Animal Kingdom - we were waiting for deer to come around every corner.

8. I may have to live forever.

9. We had 15 cars for the birthday party the other night and our driveway only holds three - luckily the neighbors aren't around... I had two cars packed with stuff that was just laying around and had no place to go. I learned that little trick from Chrissy - thank god. The neighbor across the street screamed from her porch - "are you moving?" - which was annoying and kind of funny - that's how much stuff I needed to hide!!!

10. She's trying to use her powers for good... not evil. ;-) It's proving to be very difficult.

.

(I just have to add - I started this post on 6/21/11 and posted it at 12:16 am... it's still following me around.)

171/365

FREAK ON A LEASH

Poor Lily Bud... I think she forgot how to walk on a leash! I put her collar on and attached her leash and she kept looking back like what are you doing? She's not used to a collar anymore.

The other day I brought her in from going potty and had to leave quickly... I said come on I'll give you a treat (like I do when I leave) but for some reason she must have thought she was coming with me because she started crying and ran down the steps. The poor thing thought she was going with me! I was running late for an appointment and had to bring her right back upstairs. I felt bad because it seemed like she really wanted to go for a ride.

She had to go to the vets today... a few days ago she woke me up at 4 am to go potty and she's been doing the same things she did last month with her UTI. It turns out she has another one. They found some crystals in her urine sample now so she has to go back on Thursday for xrays to make sure it's not bladder or kidney stones or something worse. Poor thing was so excited to go out and she didn't even go anywhere fun! She needs to get out more and socialize with other dogs. She really likes people. Here she is "helping" the guy from Metro fix the air conditioner last week...

She's definitely a little more social than RoseBud - she just doesn't get out as much. I'm thinking about joining Venture Outdoors again to do the Doggy Day Treks. I've been hesitating for months now. I just don't know if I will be reminded of RoseBud. The Doggy Day Trek was the last thing we did with her.

I'm just looking at this picture...I should have known from that tail that she was too tired to go on. ;-(

RoseBud was a little more active and loved walking around the neighborhood. We would go on really long walks and she was so good. I'm not so sure Lily could take it but thought she might be ok on something easy. She loves being outside. I may try to get in touch with someone from VO and see if there are easy ones going on. I think she'd get her own membership card now too!

I'm debating on taking her to the Pirates game tomorrow night. I don't know how she would do and if I can handle her so I've been kind of back and forth with the idea. She doesn't really seem sick from her urinary track infection but she's still recovering from the big party so she's been a little tired.

This is her I don't want to get out of bed look from this morning.

FEEL BETTER, PUPPY DOG!

170/365

"SO, WHAT? NO FUCKING ZITI NOW?"

I had daddy's 70th birthday party yesterday... we were trying to keep it very simple. The house was a mess... I've been pulled in all different directions with appointment after appointment... I haven't really had the time to plan a big party. Plus my landscaper was on vacation. I actually cut it myself friday night... I think from the air it may look like crop circles! ;-) Truthfully, I was just going to skip the party altogether. I decided to just do something simple... I asked The Dad what he wanted - first he said picnic food (which I'm not really crazy about) then he wanted all Italian - sauce, meatballs, macaroni, greens and beans, etc... (which I think is easier.) He was back and forth until he decided on PICNIC and then started adding to it... sausage and peppers, eggplant, meatballs and ziti! So, after all that simple talk, we ended up with BOTH. AJ would have been happy.

I've given up trying to have any order to his house right now so that was ok - even though I only had a couple days to prepare I thought I was pretty organized - my post-it notes came back! Unfortunately that's were the organization ended because it was still a little crazy. We ended up with a hodgepodged three table buffet surrounded by the chaos of all things boxes and bins.

Thanks to all my helpers - especially Aunt Joyce and Debbie who know how to jump in and make it happen - and, thanks to Colleen, the kitchen was never cleaner. ;-)

I think it took me the longest time ever to make the layered salad... It was after 1 am, but still... I kind of lost it and didn't know what I was doing. At one point I forgot I was even making it. I think I had the bacon cooking and walked away and came back in the room and realized I just quit. Like I said - I wasn't that prepared. It did rain for a little bit - but no one seemed to care very much. The Dad took cover under a napkin and if you look at that green thing way back there...

...it was crouching tiger hidden Twin - keeping his cookies dry!

At some point the 0 in the 70 disappeared into the heavens without anyone knowing and all that was left was the 7!

Which is pretty much the age the birthday boy prefers to act like. ;-)

I always think one of the best parts of a party is eating again after everyone leaves and, of course, my late night coffee... ;-)

You know it's a good party when you go through 5 pots of coffee...

I'm going to bring back my usual "party's over" photo... There was one pooped pup in the house. She was E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D.

Happy 70th and Happy Father's Day to The Dad. ;-)

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TRAILBLAZER

Good Luck to David on his first Rachel Carson Trail Challenge.

{photo with our "hiking dog" RoseBud}

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I'M BAT PUG

I found this on Pinterest and thought it was funny! Just came in here to take a break... looks like I'm going to be up all night - I have a thousand things to do. I think my little puppy dog is sick again. She got me up at 3 am the other night and today the dad said she peed three times while out. I think we may have to have xrays and all that they wanted to do last time with her UTI. All she wants to do is go to bed right now. He tried to take her in but she came back out and is following me everywhere. Sorry, puppy. ;-(

I came across these the other day so I'm going to add them here. Lily when she was a puppy...

I can't believe she was this little! ;-)

I LOVE this puppy dog!

...and this one too. ;-)

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WONDERLAND

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WOW - Words on Wednesday