Update on the Update on Steffi

Well, she's sick again. Not wanting to eat and going out to eat grass. I gave her some pepto bismol so maybe that will help some. She was pretty fiesty when I tried squirting it down her throat with a syringe (no needle).

Mom got her dsl hooked up today. We can get the incredimail to work when sending email, but not when receiving email. I emailed mom two suggestions that she can try to get it to work, but I don't think she's going to try it. I might have to work on it the next time I'm there. In the meantime she can send and receive email from her provider so she isn't without email. I did get onto Youtube and check out some Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal video.

I went shopping this morning. Here's how it went: Walmart - they double charged me for an item (may they lose the lawsuits that have been filed against them); Around the Farm - didn't have the Nature's Miracle stain and odor remover so I had to get some other kind; Post Office - my package was damaged but it was just a couple of books and they weren't hurt; Gas Station - gas was $0.04 cheaper there but the pump ran so fast that I could barely stop it on a round number; Bank - they didn't have any deposit slips to fill out; Krogers - only one lane open and had to wait.

Update on Steffi

Her latest poopy moment was mostly solid and I didn't see any blood in it so she is feeling a bit better right now. She ate a little bit of turkey and bologna tonight. We'll see if that stays down. She's not looking too good right now but she was pretty active and excited for her dinner. I think that's the last food and water she'll get tonight. I don't want to overload her tummy.

I've been researching my crashing laptop on the internet. There's a bunch of people who claim the laptop crashes because of lint and dust that collects within the machine. Some sort of design flaw with Toshibas. So, along with their tip of velcroing blocks on the bottom of the machine to prop it up higher so the vents aren't blocked, they also suggest taking the back off the machine and blowing out the lint and dust with canned air or vaccumming it out. I don't know about taking the back off of the laptop, but I've got canned air I can use to blow into the vents.

Around the House

What's been going on with me lately? Well, I was on the diet for three days. Overnight between Friday night and Saturday morning, Steffi became seriously ill. She has been passing blood so I don't think she's going to be around much longer. She's 15 and a half years old so I imagine this is an age related illness. All day Saturday she was very ill and not even wanting to eat, but last night she started having a bit of an appetite again. I'm only feeding her a little bit at a time. I fed her a whole slice of bologna last night and she threw it up so she's only getting a little bit at a time now. And I'm monitoring her water intake since much of what she threw up last night was water.

Along with cleaning up the house where Steffi's been sick (the house smells like carpet cleaner), I've been trying to collect the last of the Violet Winspear books I need to finish the collection. I just ordered about 6 more last night from Amazon marketplace and I think I'll need about 9 more. Hopefully, over time I can get the rest of them. I also read a golf book Friday night. It's called Heroes All: My Ryder Cup Story 2006, by Darren Clarke. It was pretty good. Plenty of good pictures. Even one of the streaker.

I took the puppies to see mom and dad today. Mom got her installation kit for the high speed internet but she hasn't hooked up yet. She checked some kind of online status and it says she's not 100% yet. I don't know what that is, but I'm going along with it. I have to go out tomorrow to pick up a package at the post office so I think I'll go to the bank too since I got my paycheck on Friday. I might stop by mom and dad's to see how their high speed internet is working out for them.

I dismantled the nursery area yesterday morning. Now the puppies can run a different circle in the house. They will like that.

I've been watching quite a bit of tennis this week. It's Tiger Week on the golf channel so I've had to find something else to watch. Last night I watched Andre Agassi beat Pete Sampras in a semifinal match at the 2000 Australian Open. It's great that these matches are aired more than once so we can see players who don't play anymore.

A New Beginning

I started a new story today. Hopefully it will turn into a book. A good book at that. I had the laptop on all day and it didn't crash once. I'm wondering if it's a graphics card that makes it crash since it seems to happen most often when I'm playing that memory game that comes with Vista. I don't know anything about computers, as you all know. Oh well, as long as I can write my stories on it, that's all that matters.

Tomorrow will start the diet again. I plan to stay on the diet this time. There shouldn't be any more parties or anything to derail me.

There hasn't been much on tv today. I've been watching the Open Access marathon on the Tennis Channel. I actually saw a few things I hadn't seen before. Murphy Jenson did do more episodes than the Roland Garros one and the one with Lindsey Davenport in the boat. Oh, and let's not forget the Las Vegas ones. They play those all the time too. They are doing Tiger Week on the golf channel so I probably won't be watching that this week.

My sister, brother-in-law and the kids went to my brother-in-law's family today for Christmas. My parents took a nap I think. LOL.

Well, I think I will go and do some research for my new story.

Still Stuffed

Well, I'm still stuffed from the christmas food. Ugh!

My sister, brother-in-law and the kids came up to my house to meet Winnie and PJ today. Winnie was scared for a while and growled and barked and whimpered, but she warmed up to them.

There's talk that I might be going to Jacksonville to visit the World Golf Hall of Fame sometime this year. I checked the local airports and they don't fly direct to Jacksonville so I might have to figure something out. I don't see any reason to drive the approximate 12 hours to get there if I'm not going to be driving once I'm there. I wouldn't know where to go. But if it would take the same amount of time to get there by plane if I have to wait for connecting flights and stuff, then I could rent a car and drive down. I wouldn't want to use my car and put the miles on it unless it was hugely expensive to rent a car. There's still time to figure it out. I think they are thinking sometime in the Summer when they will have some vacation time. And I could use mom's garmin map thing if I go and drive myself. LOL

I did some Amazon shopping a little while ago to get some things from my wishlist that I didn't get for Christmas. I should hopefully have the whole series of Alias books now and a few more books to add to the Violet Winspear collection.

And I hear that my mom is going to sign up for Verizon DSL. Then my brother-in-law is going to set her up with a wireless router so I can log on at her house using my lap top. There's nothing on the internet that I need high speed access for. At least, not that I know of. I've gotten along without it this long. Verizon is having this deal - $15.00 a month for life if you sign up for a 2 year contract. I don't trust phone companies and contracts. $15.00 a month is cheaper than what we are paying now for dial up.

Christmas at Mom and Dad's

I went to mom and dad's today for Christmas. I got there around 8 or 8:30am and everyone was already up. I figured they would be sleeping in after the long drive in from Florida. I spent the whole day there. We ordered dinner from the grocery store and found out when we got it that they wanted us to spend 2 hours heating everything up. We could have made it all from scratch in about 3 and a half. So, I don't think we'll be ordering it again. And we sped up the heating process this time with the use of the microwave.

As for the presents, I think everyone was pretty happy with what they got. I'm thrilled with what I got: the 2006 Ryder Cup dvd, a couple of pig things, the pancake puffs pan, and $20.00 cash. I got Mom a Monkees cd and Flannel Sheets and I got dad a rechargeable flashlight and a set of utility knives. The I got them both the Bible on DVD and three jars of specialty jelly. I got my sister a couple of books she wanted and I got my brother-in-law a cd of 1970's music and t-shirt that said "I think, therefore I'm dangerous". I got them both some tea from the Stash Tea company. I got my niece Jasmine dinosaurs. I got her one that walks and roars and a stuffed animal with a cd of music and a dvd of the Land Before Time. I got my nephew a couple of toys that play songs and teach the alphabet and numbers.

Everyone is supposed to come up to my house tomorrow. So, I have to vacuum tomorrow morning. My sister wants to meet the puppies.

I have a bunch of candy to eat now and probably more coming. Dad will find a way to give me more.

Christmas Begins!!!

Well, my sister, brother-in-law and the kids are on their way here. I was able to take the puppies up to see mom and dad today. The puppies really like going there. And Mom hardly ever comes up here so that's the only way she gets to see them. When I got home I took the puppies out for a walk. It was so warm today.

We are going to have our Christmas dinner and fun tomorrow. My sister says that will give the kids two days to play with their toys before going on to my brother-in-law's family's home for their Christmas festivities.

I still haven't vacuumed the house yet. I got home and made the cranberry sauce and the noodles. And watched the Brian Boitano Barry Manilow Skating show on NBC. They needed more Barry but it was a good show nonetheless.

Mom and dad have so much candy at their house. I'm going back on the diet after all the food is gone.

I'm watching Saturday Night Live again tonight. This time it's the best of the 2006-7 season. They started off with Jake whatshisname singing the song from Dreamgirls. What's so funny about that is that he could have gotten to Hollywood Week on American Idol with that performance.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZsssssssssssss

I spent part of today trying to catch up on my sleep. This week at work was horrible and I didn't get much some sleep. I got up this morning and fed the cat and dogs, then went back to bed for about a half an hour. Went to the bank early and walmart, krogers and rite aid and then came home. I ate lunch and then took a nap. Got up and dyed my hair and then did some little things.

My sister, brother-in-law and the kids will be leaving Florida for WV tomorrow morning. So, since they won't be at mom and dad's yet, I'm taking the puppies to see their grandparents tomorrow morning for their weekly visit. I've got to make cranberry sauce and homemade noodles for Christmas dinner that we will be having on Monday. I hope we do presents early on Monday so the kids will have time to play with them. I think they go to my brother-in-law's family on Christmas.

Boy have I eaten too much today. I got one of those 16 inch deli pizzas. There's still some left in the fridge so that's an improvement on how I used to eat. But I also got some peanut clusters and I've been eating those and drinking milk. I need to drink water instead. I'm pretty thirsty.

Whhhoooopppiiiiiiiieeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am off now and the workweek is officially over for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let Christmas begin and last thru Tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I'm going to start Christmas tonight and give the dogs one of their toys I got them.

One More Day

One more day and my Christmas vacation starts. I can't wait. Last night I had about three hours of sleep. I couldn't stop my mind from thinking about work and I had that headache. I ended up taking tylenol at 2am and that didn't do any good. So, I took fake sudafed at 3am and that finally did something for the headache. I was falling back to sleep by around 4:45 am. Too bad I get up at 5am. So, I think I will be going to bed by 9pm tonight.

The funny videos shows that are on are reruns. But I turned it over to the Croc Hunter and they were showing dead sharks on a beach and I didn't want to see that. So, re-runs it is.

I think winnie's tearing up my kitchen floor. I have to go find her.

Headaches

I have a headache. My eyes got cross-eyed at work today. Too much to do and not enough time to do it in.

So, I did what any reasonable girl would do. I got some ice cream on the way home. LOL. It's fat free, except for the peanuts. I don't know how they can call it fat free if it's got peanuts in it. But, I'll believe them. LOL.

Fritz chewed a hole in the puppies' duck's head. It's a squeaky toy. I had to stuff the stuffing back in and put the duck up so that one day he can have brain surgery and get that hole sewn up.

Speaking about the ice cream. I just ate a bowl and had an audience. Winnie was on my lap the whole time. That took talent for me to eat the ice cream and not let her near any of it.

Well, I'm off to find some jokes to read. There are some supposedly fun websites in the new Family Circle magazine I think. I read about them today in some magazine today and I think it's Family Circle.

Oh great. Fritz is barking now. He barks very loudly. That isn't good for my headache. But at least he's barking to play with the puppies.

Lazy Sunday

I took a nap this morning because it was rainy and windy and dark outside. Then I got up and did some laundry, packed up the Christmas presents into a big box to get them ready to take to Mom and Dad's house. I ate too much, all day long. It was a special day for the puppies - they got a bath. PJ tried to climb out of the baby tub but Winnie, my temperamental biter, just stood there and tolerated it. They climbed onto my lap after we were done and I brushed them. Winnie likes to chew on the brush. So, yeah, I'm a bit soggy and smell like Hartz flea and tick citrus shampoo. I brushed Fritz. He thought he was next for the bath, but I didn't make him get one.

And, to try to get into the Christmas spirit, I made Christmas cookies for the dogs. I found these cute miniature cookie cutters and I made them candy cane shaped and teddy bear shaped cookies. The cookies are cheese, peanut butter cookies. I didn't have any bacon bits to put in them.

As for the snow, we barely got a dusting until about an hour ago. Then we got a good bit. I don't know how much more we are going to get tonight. The snow-loving weatherman on the local news claims one to three inches, but the National Weather Service says less than an inch today and less than an inch tonight, for a total of less than 2 inches. I hope I can drive up the driveway tomorrow evening after work.

Ooh, I'm watching the food network and the Barefoot Contessa is using canned pumpkin in something. I have a can of pumpkin in the cabinet for when the dogs get tummy aches. I could use that in a batch of cookies.

Chris Farley's Lunch Lady

This character reminds me of yet another co-worker. What does that tell you about the people I work with? At least these two workers aren't in my local office, they are stationed in another office and I deal with them mostly through email.

Twins

I'm watching the Chris Farley retrospective on NBC. He did this character - a woman with short brown hair who was reading descriptions of restaurants to Adam Sandler's character. Well, Chris' character looked exactly like this woman I know at work. I don't know how I'm going to keep from laughing when I have to see the co-worker again.

A good, funny evening

I'm watching the Saturday Night Live Christmas show. It's pretty funny. They need more truly funny things on tv. The funny videos shows aren't this funny, which I guess is a good thing since those people aren't trying to be funny.

Birthday Report

I went to mom and dad's today and took the puppies. It is my birthday and Mom had a cake and ice cream for me and I got a present. Mom has always been a little different when it comes to presents. You can give her a list of things you'd like (Christmas wish list for example) and she would buy you things completely unrelated to anything on the list. This time, she got me a can of whole cashews. Strange gift, but they are my favorite nut and I never buy them for myself.

I got pictures of the puppies with my santa hat-wearing dad. I didn't get one of him holding PJ but I was lucky to just get that hat on him. The puppies won't be going to their grandparents' house next weekend. My sister and her family will be there and the house is just too small for the little puppies to be there. I can see everyone tripping over them.

We might be getting some snow later tonight and tomorrow. The national weather map on the Today Show said 1 to 3 inches, but since it's supposed to rain here all day and all night, I wonder if most of that 1 to 3 will fall as rain. I parked my car down at the main road in case we get a bunch of snow. I need to be able to get down my driveway and get to work this week.

After I stuffed myself with cake and ice cream, I came home and made a sort of pizza. I had some leftover cheese and pepperoni from the pizza roll thing I made the other night. So, I mixed up biscuit dough and flattened that out on a 12 inch cookie sheet and pre-baked it. Then I coated it with garlic butter, spaghetti sauce, the cheese, the pepperoni, and then what I had left of the mexican blend shredded cheese that I had in the refrigerator. Baked that for a nother 3 or 4 minutes until the cheese melted. It was pretty good. Unfortunately, I am so stuffed now that I feel miserable. I hope how soon the food eating part of the holidays will be over and I can get back to the diet.

A few posts ago, I commented that everyone has to have ham it seems for any holiday. Well, I was very pleased to see that many people on the food channel and fine living channel make beef roasts for holidays. It's not turkey, but at least it's not ham.

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday Kari! Check out her blog: I Struggle and Emerge.

Shopping and Napping

I got up this morning the regular time, 5am, but after feeding the cat and letting steffi and fritz out and back in, I went back to bed for about an hour. Then I watched some of the Veria channel because nothing else but infomercials and depressing news was on. I fed the dogs and got ready to go shopping. I stopped by Tractor Supply and realized I should have gotten Dad's Christmas presents there instead of Walmart. I bought a couple of toys for the dogs there. Then I went to the bank and to the Around the Farm store - got two more toys for the dogs. Went to Family Dollar - two more toys for the dogs. At Walmart I spent a bunch of money. They have this pendulum thing that swings back and forth and then by force of magnetism stops on one of the Magic 8 Ball like answers on the base of the device - it's supposed to be an executive decision making aid. LOL. I got it to help me with the self hypnosis. I figure the swinging pendulum would help me focus and then looking at the swirls on the base, I think that could help too. After Walmart I went to the Mexican restaurant for lunch. I haven't been there for a long time because they never look like they're open. This time, I looked at the hours posted and saw that they would be open while I was still in town. Then I stopped at Krogers and bought turkey breast for Steffi, a couple of packages of bologna, a half gallon of milk and a tin of popcorn. I normally don't buy the popcorn in a tin but the tin had these really, really cute dogs on it and the dogs were wearing Christmas hats. So now I have a bunch of popcorn to eat.

Came home and dad was here to help me take the dog pen down and move it out of the living room. Remember this was the double decker pen - Dad put my 24 inch pen on top of my 36 inch pen to keep the puppies from jumping out. So, now the puppies are loose in the house all the time. I told dad we might be putting it back up next weekend if the puppies didn't get used to things. I had hoped they would be easy to feed by feeding them mighty dog, but they don't want to eat mighty dog. Winnie wouldn't go near it and PJ would take a piece of the meat if I handed it to her. Then she'd run off with it and wallow it around but not really eat it. Tonight, I put the puppies in the family room and fed Steffi and Fritz. Then I brought the puppies back in.

I had to vacuum where the pen used to be so I went ahead and swept the rest of the house. The puppies didn't mind the vacuum too much. After that, I put the turkey breast on to cook and took a nap. Got up, ate some of the popcorn, drank a bunch of ice water, watched Martha Stewart's show, fed the dogs, ate some poptarts, and I just tried to sew a strap onto a baby bib so Winnie could wear it. I got Winnie a pink one and PJ a blue one and they both say "I Love Mommy". I wasn't having much luck sewing a corduroy strap onto the bib, so I just used red felt. It doesn't need hemming.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm taking the puppies to mom and dad's tomorrow. Usually I go on Sunday but this Sunday we are supposed to get snow so I don't plan on driving then. And tomorrow is good for going to mom and dad's since it's my birthday. Mom's got me a present and I think cake/ice cream, something. Dad asked me if I was off the diet for my birthday and Christmas. I'm bringing my digital camera tomorrow, if I remember, because I also bought a Santa hat and I'm taking that with me. Dad doesn't know it yet, but he's going to wear the hat and hold the puppies and I'm going to get pictures :)

Doing the Dance of Joy!!!!!

Yiipppeeee!!!!!! I'm off from work for three days!!!! I don't want to think about what I'll face when I go back. But right now, everything's wonderful!! And for the last work hour today I actually got some things done. They don't even add up to a drop in a bucket, but I got some things done.

In case you haven't had a flashback - the Dance of Joy is a celebrated dance of Mypos, the fictional native land of innocent Balki, star character of the sitcom Perfect Strangers. I need to see if that's out on DVD. I loved that show. I had to watch it every week when it was on tv.

Well, I'm still eating bad, bad food. I felt like celebrating for having an extra day off so I stopped at walmart and got some pepperoni, cheese, rolled up pizza crust in the dair case and some spaghetti sauce and made a pizza roll. I rolled out the crust, and then I would put down the cheese and the pepperoni and roll it up, then put down more cheese and pepperoni and roll it again, and again until you've rolled up all of the crust. Then once it's baked you cut it into thin slices and dip it in the spaghetti sauce. It was way too salty and didn't really taste good. I wasn't really wanting pizza.

The puppies' dog pen comes down tomorrow. I don't know how they will like doing without it. It will be different for them at night. And when I feed fritz and steffi, the puppies will have to be somewhere else. I guess tomorrow evening they will start eating mighty dog dog food. It's the wet food in a can and I'm thinking they will eat that right up. Currently, they will eat a few pieces of moist and meaty and run and play, then come back and eat a few more pieces

Boy would I like some ice cream right now. Something to combat the salt from that pizza thing. Too bad I don't have any.

Cruel, not Funny

I'm watching funny pet and people videos on tv. They had one of a gerbil who stuffed a big dog bone in his cheek. That was so not funny. The poor thing had to be feeling miserable. And then they had a hamster who stuffed so much paper in his mouth that he couldn't get his mouth closed and he was wiggling like he was in pain and then the person there tried to give him even more paper to eat. Also, not funny. They shouldn't put stuff like that on tv.

Another Christmas Luncheon

Yes, I ate today at work. Bad, bad things. All carbs except the nuts on the brownies and the peanut butter in the peanut butter balls. Again, there was ham. Why do people have to have ham for Christmas? I think I read that in some country, the family would sell their hog at Christmas time so they obviously wouldn't be eating ham.

I'm getting nothing done at work. I pick something up and have to put it down because something else comes along that's more important. I have about 5 somethings half-done on my desk. I might as well give up for the rest of the year. I've got this Friday off, next Friday off, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off and New Year's Eve and New Year's Day off. Yep, a month of complete unproductivity.

I got home tonight and wrestled with the dogs - all four of them. It makes Fritz so happy when I play with him. Steffi has run out of turkey breast so I've been feeding her Fritz's bologna. She begs a lot, like she's still hungry. So, I gave them some of the puppies' Moist and Meaty dog food.

I need to start thinking about things to write about. Not for blog writing. But for book writing. I've got my laptop and I haven't written anything yet.

And why does the local news have to be all bad news? I was planning to watch the weather tonight, but all they wanted to talk about was how this poor old man who can't walk or use his arms was scammed by his 'caregiver' - the caregiver stole the man's specially equipped van. I feel really bad for people with Seasonal Affective Disorder - they are already depressed and then they have to suffer with all the bad news on the news. I've personally seen so many funny video shows that I think I'm now watching reruns. Although, I don't think some of the supposed funny videos are all that funny. Some are serious with possible injuries. That's not funny.

La La La

Winnie sang for the first time this morning. It warmed her mother's heart to hear it, it was so cute. I think she's learning from watching the funny videos shows.

There was a cute long haired chihuahua in a car in the walmart parking lot this evening. I hope Winnie gets hair that long.

I bought some fabric today that was in the remnant bin at walmart. I will need to get to sewing or buy more storage things.

Today at the Christmas meeting, I ate some scalloped potatoes ( a weakness of mine) and a cold hot roll, a couple of carrots and celery sticks, and about three or four no-bake cookies. Luckily I have enough cookies for tomorrow's other christmas party so I don't have to make another batch tonight. And since I ate the cookies I decided to go off the diet for supper - I ate a calzone thing from walmart. And I'll be eating a pop-tart tonight. This man who does some work in our office about once a week came by to see me today and said I looked great. He's one of those harmless flirtatious kind of men, not afraid to say things that might not be politically correct. He always says "this isn't harassment..." before telling me how great I look. LOL.

Headache

I have one. I think I'm get them now because I'm going against my hypnosis and thinking about work at home. LOL. I am being sent miles and miles away on the 20th to attend another region's meeting because I'm such a great worker. Never, never, never be anything more than average. That is the one lesson I have learned in my life. I'm sure God is so pleased.

Tomorrow is our meeting and I made cookies for it. I was going to stick to the diet, but I'm so ticked with how work's going lately, I might just eat something. Probably not a lot. They are having ham and I'm not a fan of ham. Then Wednesday we have the office Christmas luncheon. I don't know if I'm eating then or not.

Right now I'm watching Funny Pets and People and everytime there's an animal on tv, Winnie barks. She really barks when the dogs on tv are barking and singing.

I saw a commercial for Alvin and the Chipmunks, the movie. It looks almost like it's worth watching.

Fed Ex Sucks

I ordered some dog worm medicine from dog.com and used fed ex to ship it because they deliver faster than dog.com's other shipping method. well, according to the tracking info - fed ex claims they delivered it and left it at the front door on december 1. Well I never got it. And I know what happened. The same thing that always happens with fed ex - they left it at the neighbor's house. Only this time the neighbor didn't tell me about it. They have dogs too. I don't know why Fed Ex thinks close is good enough when it comes to delivering packages but they just don't seem to care if they actually deliver the package to the right address. Well, I sent an email to dog.com telling them I didn't get my order and urged them to contact fed ex about their poor quality of service. I also asked for a refund, but I doubt I'll get it.

I've been Sewing........

Winnie has a new little outfit to wear. Isn't she cute?

And of course, PJ also has a new outfit to wear. She's cute too.

Laptop News

I bought that cooling thing for the laptop today. So, I had the laptop sitting on it and on for about 4 to 5 hours and the screen never went blank. I also didn't push the screen back very far. It was at a severe 90 degree angle. I don't know what the deal is with the blank screen.

I'm in the mood to watch cooking shows. I watched a Christmas thing on the Food Network this afternoon and I think there are Christmas shows on tonight. The Christmas edition of the Paula Deen magazine is pretty good. A few really good recipes in there I might write down. I'll have to read some of the articles.

I've stuck to the diet today. Of course, it's pretty easy to do that when you lay down for naps and just avoid the kitchen. LOL. There are two, count them two, Christmas luncheons at work this week - Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm bringing cookies to them, but I'm not eating. I'll stick to my slimfast bars.

Late Start

I got a late start to shopping today. I woke up at 5am and it was pouring down the rain. So, I decided to go back to bed after letting the dogs back in from their potty time. I didn't want to go to the store in the dark and in the rain. Once I did start shopping I spent a bunch of money. I bought a storage thing to hold my fabric and ribbon and stuff. And I bought a cooling mat thing for my laptop. And I bought a bunch of little stuff that added up.

I also bought baby spoons to eat with. I figure a baby spoon will help me take smaller bites and eat slower which means I should actually taste what I'm eating and will need less of it. It's a variation of the eat with chopsticks diet suggestion.

The costliest purchase today was my 1 year tracfone card. Now I just have to remember to activate it on the 18th or 19th. I have to renew by the 20th and I want to make sure I do it after my birthday. I'm trying to use my birthday as a reminder to buy the cards since I always forget.

I saw on tv that they have the microwave brownie bowl things with just 150 calories, so I bought a few today. They can take the place of poptarts a few nights a week. I'm eating one now for my midmorning snack. And thanks to the baby spoon, I'm tasting it and it's taking about 20 minutes or so to eat it. I think the baby spoon will come in real handy when I start eating ice cream again. It's too cold for ice cream right now.

Well, I bought three magazines this morning so I think I'll go and read about the "lose 8 pounds dieting just three days a week" fallacy.

Friday - Whoohooo!!!!!

I am so happy that it's Friday. I really need the weekend.

Well, tonight, I sort of went off the diet. I ate two lean pocket pizza subs. And I think I'm going to get a pop tart in a minute. At least it's not donuts and a whole deli pizza from walmart, so I'm still doing good. And I've read that changing up the number of calories I eat will keep my metabolism from getting stuck at a point that won't help me lose weight. So, I'm sure tonight is fine for the diet.

Even after downloading updates from windows, my laptop screen went blank again. I reset the power options so the display will never sleep or whatever. So, maybe that will help. But I had it set on 4 hours and it stopped sooner than that. I wonder if setting the laptop in front of the desktop monitor would have anything to do with it.

I had funny videos on tv tonight and there was a baby throwing a tantrum on there. Well, Winnie started barking at the baby and she wouldn't stop. And then Fritz started barking. I have a headache. At least Fritz and Winnie are thinking alike. Fritz actually played with the puppies tonight. I was thrilled to see that.

Well, Samantha Brown's First Cruise is on the Travel Channel right now, so I think I'll go and watch that. And get that pop tart.

Almost Friday!!

I can't wait for the weekend. I don't know yet what I'm going to do with my weekend. But I can't wait for it to get here.

Just an FYI - Staples and PayPal are horrible. Staples claimed a dollar on my prepaid credit card and it took forever for them to give it back. And now paypal has claimed a dollar and they haven't done anything yet and it's been since 11/29/07. Just like the amount of payment made via paypal, it's stuck in pending transactions and hasn't been deducted from my card yet. I wonder if the business who was supposed to get my payment ever got my payment? I really plan to avoid both Staples and Paypal from now on.

Still working on the hypnosis. I think I need a lot more practice.

I have a heated ice scraper. I tried it this morning but it didn't do any good. I don't know if I didn't let it heat up enough or if it's just not a good product. I was Freezing with a capital F this morning. I don't like winter.

I just read this thing on fark.com that said that the Associated Press is wanting people to pay for putting their news stories on their blogs. I guess if someone wrote a paper in high school then the Associated Press won't let them quote any of their articles. And Heaven help Matt Lauer the next time he says, "Senator, a recent report by the Associated Press claims..." NBC will be paying a price for that, I'm sure.

I've lost a pound since Monday. I'm feeling an urge to go off my diet this weekend. I really shouldn't. I'm doing so well. I am going to try to stick to it. Of course, watching the food channel isn't helping, but sometimes there just isn't anything else to watch.

Since Monday

Well, I downloaded some windows updates for the laptop so maybe the screen thing won't happen again.

I got some fabric today in the mail. It's very pretty. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet.

We're getting snow today. I had to park the car down at the main road and walk up to the house. It's supposed to warm up so the snow shouldn't stick around too long. I took a couple of pictures earlier.

I missed my mid-afternoon snack today. I might have to eat something extra later. I haven't even had my pop-tart yet tonight.

Well, darn.....

My brand new laptop has a glitch. I was playing a game when suddenly, the screen went blank. I couldn't do anything. So, I pushed in the power button until the laptop turned off and then restarted the machine. I don't know why it did that. I even have this little slanted thing for the laptop to sit on now that is supposed to increase airflow so the laptop won't overheat. Just in case it was the 20 minute turn off the display setting, I changed it to 4 hours. I figure if I'm on the power cord instead of the battery I can let it stay on for longer than 20 minutes. But it shouldn't have turned off if I was doing something. But maybe it does. I don't know much about laptops or windows vista. Except that everyone says Vista sucks.

Still Practicing

I'm still practicing with the hypnosis. I think I will need more practice and the tape. I might record the script this evening.

I've reorganized the desk area so I can put the laptop here and not have it in the way. It's now resting on top of my printer. By reorganizing, I mean I shoved a bunch of crap in a hidey-hole. Now I can really concentrate on writing because I have the laptop that can be completely dedicated to it. Except for that fun new Memory game that came with Vista. I have a feeling I'll be playing that a lot.

I Got It

Well, I got the laptop at walmart this morning. It keeps wanting me to connect to the internet. I will either have to find another phone cord or move this huge desk and get the cord off my desktop pc. The computer I bought is a Toshiba and it has an AMD Athlon 64X2 dual core processor tk-53, 15.4 in widescreen display, 2048 mb ddr2 sdram, 120 GB hard drive, dvd supermulti drive, something about wireless and expresscard slot. Here's what I know about it: it's loud and it took a really long time to boot up when I first turned it on. I think it might be faster now that all the preliminary stuff has been selected. Right now I'm charging the battery so I have the laptop in front of my desktop monitor. Who knew I'd be computer rich one day, given how much I dislike computers. I tried typing on the keyboard of the laptop and it's weird. I'm going to have to get used to typing flat. All my regular keyboards I have propped up at an angle. And I will need to find a place to put this thing. I have no desk space in the house. I've got stuff piled up everywhere. And this isn't the ideal place for the laptop right now. I keep reaching for my desktop mouse to control the laptop. LOL.

I took the puppies to see mom and dad this morning. They dogsat while I went to walmart and then we visited when I got done. While there, I chewed on gum instead of trying to snack. I ended up missing my mid-morning snack altogether. So, that's good. We'll see how hungry I get this afternoon. I really should eat my mid-morning snack to keep my metabolism up.

Pledge Drive

Public Television is having a pledge drive and they are showing all kinds of music programs. Right now I'm watching Barry Manilow's Songs of the Seventies and later the Celtic Woman's Christmas Special is on.

Fritz ate part of a new squeaky toy I bought this morning. I got it from Walmart and it's painted so it might be a Chinese lead paint special. There haven't been any recalls on painted squeaky toys that I know of, but you never know. I had to take the toy away from Fritz. It isn't healthy to begin with to eat plastic of any kind, painted or not.

So far I've stuck to the diet today. I tried this new drink, well new for me, it's Fuze Slenderize. I read about it in a magazine. It's supposed to help you lose weight, but you'd have to drink it all the time I think. And walmart sells it for something like $1.78 a bottle, not cheap enough to drink all the time. It was okay though.

Dad went to an auction and bought two and a half office desks and some tables and something else I didn't hear about. He brought the desks up here to store. The one big wooden desk is in good shape and I wouldn't mind having it for a sewing desk. But I have no where in the house to put it. It has a big and wide top. The dogs were very happy to see Dad. They like seeing anyone, but Dad feeds them catfood.

I practiced the hypnosis again this afternoon and was rudely brought out of whatever it was I was in by the phone ringing. Whoever called didn't even leave a message.

Practicing

I've been practicing with the hypnosis book. It's hard to stay focused on it when the dogs are making noise that would distract me. I think I've been partially successful. With more practice I should get better at it. I did buy a mini-cassette recorder so I could record all of the suggestions and stuff. Once I get everything worded the way I want it, I'll record it.

I wrapped the last two Christmas presents today. Winnie jumped on the paper, not trying to help me.

I spent way too much at walmart this morning. I had to use my credit card because I was $5.00 short on cash. I hope Walmart will still have the laptops on sale tomorrow when I get there. The sale starts tomorrow but as I posted after Thanksgiving, those employees buy up everything before the customers get a chance. I thought Walmart was supposed to be a bad employer who doesn't give its employees decent wages and breaks and insurance and stuff. How can these employees even afford to buy things there? The laptop I'm considering buying is the more expensive of the two on sale. So, maybe there will be one left when I get there. Maybe Walmart sold out of the ones on Black Friday because they were Dells. Maybe people won't be in a hurry to buy a Compaq or a Toshiba.

One of the 'spent way too much' purchases this morning was a Michael Buble cd. I really like him and this cd is really good. It's the self-titled one from I think 2003? That's the date on the cd cover.

I'm still good with my diet. I haven't worked out on the treadmill, but I am doing pilates and walking in place.

Look Into My Eyes

I've read some of the hypnosis book. I don't know if it's going to work but I bet I'll at least be more relaxed.

And I've identified other things, other than diet/exercise, that I could use this self-hypnosis for. I'll have to work on this.

The book says I can make audio tapes to play so I might get a tape recorder or some other type of voice recorder.

TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm very glad it's Friday.

Last night, I went to bed and I was hungry. So, I added up all the calories I had eaten yesterday and they totaled about 1100 calories. That's 100 short of the 1200 I should be getting while I'm on a diet. But I didn't get up and eat anything. I just went to sleep. Since I didn't work out I didn't think it was too important that I ate a few too less calories yesterday. And I'm not working out tonight. Work ticked me off and if I tie myself to the treadmill I'll feel stuck there with work stuff running through my head. I might do pilates though. I can do that in front of the tv in here.

The puppies are no where near their puppy pads when they poopy while I'm at work. I think I will need to reposition the puppy pads to try to get them on track. I think maybe one of them is trying and the other one pounces on her because she wants to play.

I got the hypnosis book today in the mail. Did I tell you about that? I ordered it thinking I could hypnotize myself into thinking 1400 calories a day is soooooo filling that I just can't eat another bite. LOLOL.

I also bought this really cute penguin christmas decoration today at Rite Aid. It's acrylic and it lights up.

Well, I need to feed the dogs and get the puppies back in their pen.

Puppies Day Out

Well, today I had to go to work and I left the puppies out with Fritz and Steffi. I was worried that Fritz might eat them because he still growls and snaps at them, but when dad came over to check on them today, he said they were all sleeping. Winnie had appropriated the spare bed and had it all to herself. PJ was asleep on a pillow on the floor next to Steffi's chair. I got home and all four of them were prancing around happy to see me :)

I got the rest of the Christmas presents today in the mail, so now all I have to do is wrap them. I've hidden Mom and Dad's but my sister's I've left out. It's not likely she will see it since she's in Florida and I'm hundreds of miles away.

I've been 2 days now back on the diet and exercise program. It was hard to get on that treadmill tonight because I couldn't get work out of my head. Evil worker ticked me off today. But that was a worker from a different office. At least the workers in my office were happy to see me.

Well, I've got some work to do before bedtime. Wash the dogs' water dishes, put down new puppy pads.

Oh Happy Day!!!

I just read that Billie Piper will be returning to Dr. Who for at least one episode in 2008. I'm so excited. I'll have to keep an eye out for her episodes. Maybe she will finally get to hear the Doctor tell her he loves her.

Good News

I just read that NBC has ordered a full season of Chuck. Yay!!! Last night's episode was really good. It left off with a cliffhanger - does Sarah go with Bryce or does she stay with Chuck? Not sure what's going on in next week's episode. I'll have to watch it and see.

And an addendum to the Staples story from yesterday - they took a dollar extra off of my credit card. They had better put it back on there. Otherwise I will have to brand them thieves.

Chuck, Chuck, Chuck

Tonight's the night. Bryce is alive and Chuck may or may not find out why Bryce sent him the Intersect. Of course, I'm talking about the NBC show, Chuck. I can't wait until it comes on. The previews looked really good.

Other happenings: Winnie and PJ spent another day outside the pen. Fritz snapped at Winnie and she yipped today. He didn't hurt her though. Well, he hurt her feelings. I took advantage of cyber monday and ordered a ink/paper kit for my new digital camera printer from Staples. There was no easy button - it took me an hour to buy the one little thing. They made me sign up for an online account and jump through all kinds of hoops. And it took forever with my dial up connection. I'm not sure free shipping was worth that.

I still have another day off! Yay!!!!!! I like taking these long vacations.

Sewing Project

I made a pillow for the puppies today for their box. I used the two-toned denim fabric I ordered some time ago for it. The blue side is showing. I didn't want the red showing, it's too much of an excitable color, I don't care if dogs are supposed to be color blind. The end result of the pillow project works. Winnie's sleeping in the box now, despite listening to American Idol Rewind which is highlighting all the bad auditions.

I took the puppies to Grandma's and Grandpa's today and they spent quite a bit of time sleeping on my lap. They are supposed to be paying attention to their grandparents, not me.

And the puppies have been out in the house today too. They spent an extra hour out today because I was watching golf and didn't want to miss any of it to feed Steffi and Fritz.

I think Fritz is doing better with his hair ball issue. I've been feeding him butter and dad went out to tractor supply this morning and I had him buy anything he could find that was formulated for hairballs. He came back with Science Diet catfood. But Fritz eats it too. He coughs a bit now but I think it might just be a sore throat issue.

Billy Ray's New Show

I found Billy Ray Cyrus' new show today and watched it. I was abhorred when I saw that Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey are producers on the show. They were responsible for some of the most insulting, disgusting parts of WCW wrestling. I certainly hope Billy Ray is taking all the necessary steps to protect himself and his family in this new venture.

Not Quite the Plan I Had

I had planned to get back on the diet and treadmill today, but my foot hurts. It's from standing around in walmart yesterday. And I had to go back today for grocery shopping. Plus, I have a headache - I think it's either a cold or sinuses. I tried to nap today and I think that made it worse.

The puppies were out of the pen today. More of the same with them. Fritz has a hairball I think. He coughed up one the other day and now he's coughing again. I gave him some butter so maybe that will help.

I saw a deer in the backyard today. So, one has survived deer season so far.

Money, Money, Money

I spent a lot today shopping. I got up at 3am to get ready for the 5am sale at walmart. Dad wanted to get there by 4am to find out where everything was and to get in line. They 'sold out' of the laptops within minutes (that's in quotes because there were three just sitting there on a counter but the employee said they were sold out. Obviously the employees bought those - not fair that the employees get theirs first, rather than the customers.) Speaking of the employees, they were running through the store with box cutters this morning. The blades were extended. What did we buy? At 5am, we got the SD cards that were on sale, the Garmin Travel unit, the portable dvd player, the $4.00 appliances, and the $29.00 sheets. I went back to Walmart around 7:30am, because as you know I had to go to town again anyway to get my package at the post office. This trip to walmart resulted in me spending about $435.00. I did Christmas shopping and shopping for me. I got my niece and nephew presents, my brother in law a present, mom and dad two presents each, I got Winnie and PJ a pet carrier (and they fit in this one), I bought another Kodak digital camera and printer bundle. I have a camera and printer, but I dropped the camera a while back and figured I should just buy one to have as a back up. I also bought the digital picture frame that was on sale and the new Bo Bice cd and a George Strait cd.

I haven't listened to the music yet. I put pictures on an sd card and hooked up the digital picture frame, then took a nap.

Winnie and PJ are out with the dogs again today. Fritz is still grouchy. Sometimes he's friendly and that confuses the puppies because they then think he's happy all the time.

My package at the post office? It was the sewing basket I ordered from Joann. I wasn't allowed to pick the pattern on the basket, but the one they sent me has cats on it, so it's not so bad.

Turkey Day

Well, Mom and Dad came up early and I let the puppies out. They've been out all day and Fritz is still growling and snapping. Hopefully after a few more days, he will settle down. For dinner, we had turkey, home made mashed potatoes, home made noodles, home made cranberry sauce, stove top stuffing, canned sweet potatoes, canned green beans, heinz gravy, and hot rolls. For dessert, dad made a chocolate cake and brought up some chocolate ice cream. After dinner, we all took naps. Dad had the spare bed, poor mom sat in the chair, and I got the couch with Winnie and PJ. Then Dad and I put plastic up on the windows in the family room to keep some of the cold air from blowing in, I got out my pre-lit Christmas tree for mom to use this year and sacked up their share of the leftovers and they went home.

We are planning to be at walmart by around 4am tomorrow morning to get dad's $4.00 coffee pot. LOL. There will be other things bought. But I think it's funnier to say we are going for the coffee pot. And yes, I know the sale doesn't start until 5am. Dad wants to get there early to find out where everything is going to be so we can get what we want before they sell out. I was hoping I would get to come home and stay home, but no. I have to go back out when the post office opens to pick up a package. So, while I'm out, I'll stop at the bank and then put more money on my prepaid credit card.

There were only two cooking related injuries today: I cut off a nail with my vegetable peeler and then I poked my hand with a knife while I was cutting up the potatoes. And a small matter of pride: the turkey was supposed to take 3 hours and 20 minutes to cook and the pop up timer thing popped up at exactly 3 hours and 20 minutes.

6 Days off - Now That's Something to Give Thanks For

Well, I'm off from work until Wednesday next week. Yay!! I've started with the Thanksgiving Dinner already. I made the cranberry sauce. The only problem is that I didn't have mandarin oranges to go in it. Mom is supposed to bring some up tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to turn the puppies loose in the house while Mom and Dad are here so they can watch Fritz. Maybe after being out for most of the day, the puppies will learn to ignore Fritz and Fritz will learn to not eat the puppies. Tonight I took them all outside, but had to bring them in early. The neighbor's new dog was up here at the house. Fritz chased it down the drive way, then Steffi followed. I had to go get them.

I've got a lot of cooking to do. I have to make the homemade noodles early tomorrow and then set out the rolls. The turkey breast is between 9 and 10 pounds so it will have to cook about 3 hours and 20 minutes I think (20 minutes a pound). It might have to go longer, it's still frozen, even though I set it down in the refrigerator Tuesday morning. I told mom and dad that we only needed some ice cream for dessert. I wasn't interested in eating cake or candy or cookies or anything. But mom said dad was making a cake for dessert. And I saw mom and dad at walmart tonight after work and they were buying ice cream for me. Yay!

Back Home

Well, Monday through Thursday I was at a work conference, far, far away from home. I got home Thursday and was so very happy to be home with my dogs, my cat, my bed and my pillow. Friday I went to work and then stopped at the bank and did a bit of shopping. I had to get money to put on my prepaid credit card so I could start Christmas Shopping. That's what I've been doing this weekend. I bought some things for Mom and Dad and for my sister and brother in law. I haven't started on their kids yet. I figure I can get some of those things locally.

Dad dogsat for me this week and he took the puppies out for their walks and kept up with the puppy pads and even took Fritz out for a walk all his own.

Today, dad said he was going to the day after thanksgiving sale at walmart so he could get a $4.00 coffee pot to keep here at my house. I wasn't going to go to the sale, but I figure since Dad is going, I can go with him. I have to figure out what I'm going to buy. If I wanted to spend a lot of money, I could. I've been wanting a laptop and they have one that I would buy. But, I've heard that with Vista, you pretty much have to get a new printer and other new stuff. Not to mention that with a laptop, you have to buy things like batteries and other accessories. I don't know if I want to go down that road of having to keep buying stuff.

As Requested

I was tagged by Kari to compile a list of courses I would take to fix my life. Here are the rules:
"Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. It's more fun to be in classes with friends, so include one class from the person who tagged you that you'd also like to take. Tag five."

So my list would be:
1. Classical Mythology - This is from Kari's list and I would take this class only if real life male models were used for illustrative purposes. LOL. Not sure how this would fix my life, but I wouldn't be bored.

2. Donald Trump's Guide to Making Money - I have a nice nest egg put aside but I would like to turn it into Millions. Well, I'd settle for just one measly Million.

3. Denise Austin's How to Get Fit and Stay There - I was there once and I'd really like to go back.

4. The Lazy Owner's Guide to Training Your Canine Pets - Winnie and PJ need to learn to come when they are called. And Fritz needs to learn to get along with the puppies. Techniques would also work on the human male variety.

5. Self-Hypnosis and You - If Denise Austin's class doesn't stick with me, I can hypnotize myself into working out every day and not overeating.

6. Learn to Speak Spanish - I really need a class to be able to learn Spanish. It will come in handy for the next class.......

7. Spain on $100 a Day - I keep saying that some day I will move to Spain. So, it would be smart to take a class to get me prepared. And if I meet a really handsome and successful Spaniard, I can use hypnosis techniques learned in my Self-hypnosis class on him :)

8. Shy Away From Shyness - If I ever want to actually say something to guys like Sergio Garcia when I'm at a tournament, then I would need to get rid of my shyness and speak out. Those who read my blogs are no doubt stunned that I am not this outspoken in my other life.

Now, I have no idea who I would tag to keep this going. I'll have to think on that.......

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Winnie and PJ are getting into the Christmas Spirit. They have already given me their Christmas Wish list. It includes doggie treats and the Official 2006 Ryder Cup DVD (they have to watch their honorary daddies win).

Golf Day

Well, today I spent much of the day watching or listening to golf on tv. I dyed my hair this morning and then worked on some sewing. I made the puppies Christmas outfits. I just need to sew on some velcro and then I'll take some pictures. I made Winnie a harness out of blue corduroy. I sewed a strip of yellow ribbon down the center. The blue and yellow theme is supposed to be for the European Ryder Cup team, but I'm sure those poeple here locally will believe Winnie is a WVU fan. Not. We don't like WVU in this house. I also took the puppies out for a walk. PJ got away from me but luckily she was chasing after Fritz so I was able to call Fritz to me and snag PJ's leash as she ran by. It was cold today. I'm glad PJ had her coat.

I've been chatting with Scarlett about dieting. I told her that I might have to give up cooking for Lent and start Lent early, like January 1. I've been watching the LPGA tour and some of those golfers look really fit. I think I need to find a Paula Creamer poster to hang up for inspiration.

I went through my box of unread romance novels and picked out 6 to take with me to the conference this week. I don't think I'll be able to read all of them, but at least I'll be prepared.

Yiippeeee It's Friday!!!!!

I had a busy day off today. I had to travel to another county to get my drivers license renewed - better picture now but I still hate having my picture taken. Then I came home and helped dad take the big air conditioner out of the window on the porch. It's closed off all the time so it didn't matter to me if he took the a/c out or not. I never used it. After that, I went to the bank, shopped at a couple of stores, ate at the Pizza Hut buffet, did the walmart thing, stopped by Krogers and then came home. After I put away the groceries, I started playing with the fabric I ordered. Dad brought it up today and I set out to make the steering wheel cover for my car. It turned out really well. I could have gotten the elastic a little tighter but it works so I'm happy.

One thing I am not happy about is my weight. I weighed myself this morning because of getting my license renewed. I weigh entirely too much. I will have to rededicate myself to working out and dieting come January. I will try to limit the damage until January but this coming week is the conference for work - there's no diet food at the resort, then the following week is Thanksgiving - no diet food there. I'll have a few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas so hopefully I can do something about my weight during those weeks.

On tap for tomorrow - dying my hair, watching golf, playing with more of my fabric and with the puppies. Sunday is the trip to mom and dad's and monday evening I head out for the conference. Sometime this weekend I need to type up the care instructions for the dogs. I wrote them for mom and dad for when they dogsit for me this coming week.

Brrrr...............

Well, they're talking snow on the news. Just flurries and some light snow in the mountains. Why can't it just be 70 mildly warm degrees all year around?

The puppies have not liked it that I've gone back to work this week. They have taken great pains to shred puppy pads these last couple of days.

I watched Chuck last night. Found out that Bryce got Chuck kicked out of Stanford to save him from a career in the CIA - Chuck was too nice of a guy and Bryce didn't want to see him get hurt. At the end of the show, Chuck said that maybe they would find out why Bryce sent the Intersect to him. I think that's pretty obvious - the Intersect in the wrong hands could hurt many, many people. But the intersect in Chuck's brain will only be used by Chuck and his humanity. Chuck has ethics whereas the government types controlling the Intersect probably don't. I hope this show comes out on dvd so I can get it.

I guess the writers' strike will be affecting tv viewing for millions. I tend to have the tv on the golf channel, tennis channel, or the history channel - something like that. I did see a joke somewhere - it said something like "the writers are picketing and holding up their signs, but shouldn't the signs be blank?" Heehee.

I let my Tracfone go dead again by forgetting to buy the stupid year long card of minutes. This time, I got a card that would bring my renewal date to 12/20/07. Surely to goodness I will remember to buy a stupid tracfone card on my birthday every year and not let the phone go dead. At least I didn't lose any of my minutes/units. And I didn't lose my phone number. I could have done with a better phone number. It's not mathematically harmonious. I probably wouldn't forget to buy these cards if I actually used my cell phone.

A quiet Sunday

Not too much is going on today. I took the puppies to see their Grandma and Grandpa this morning. Cleaned their pen and nursery this morning. Did a load of laundry. Ate a pan of brownies. Re-read parts of Winter Roses. Researched sewing machines online. Took the puppies for their walk this afternoon. Fritz threw up again this evening. He's been eating dirt and grass and leaves and stuff. I think I'm going to have to give him some vitamins or something. I got my car insurance bill from the AARP-related insurance that dad signed my car up for. Mine is $1008.00 for a year for one vehicle. Dad's is $1169.00 for two vehicles. How fair is that? And his vehicles are newer than mine. It's all because I drive more than he does. I drive 10 miles a day and he doesn't. I cleaned off the dining room table and dusted it to get ready for Thanksgiving Dinner. We are doing Thanksgiving at my house, and Christmas at Mom and Dad's.

I know it seems like I'm wishing my life away, but I only work 4 days this week and then I'll have about 4 days off. I am really looking forward to those 4 days off. Unfortunately, the fourth day will be ruined because of work. I have to go to a conference that starts Tuesday the 13th. Well, my ride is going to the conference site the night before so that means part of my day off Monday will be ruined because that evening will be spent traveling to the conference site. I bought a book light and I'm bringing a stack of romance novels to read. I can read in the car on the way to the conference.

Garden of Eden

On History International there was a show about the search for the Garden of Eden. One scholar suggested that the Garden of Eden was flooded by the melting ice from the end of the ice age. Another said that when the Bible said Adam and Eve could never return, it was really a metaphor for the evolution of the hunter-gatherer society which had learned agriculture and left their nomadic ways behind.

So, in essence, it could be surmised that the Adam and Eve story in the Bible could be a prophetic-type warning about the dangers of global warming.

Winter Roses

I just finished reading the new Diana Palmer book, Winter Roses. I'm going to have to read it again because it's so unexpected. Usually, her male leads are mean to the female leads for most of the book. But this guy was in love with her the whole time. It was so refreshing.

Ugh, Depressing

A commercial just pointed out that 1987 was 20 years ago! My sister graduated in 1986! I was a freshman in high school! This is too depressing.

I went to the store this morning. This wait another week for daylight saving time to end sucks. It was pitch dark at 7am this morning. I wonder how many kids got hit by cars while waiting for school buses because some lobbyist somewhere paid off Congress to change the dates of Daylight Savings Time.

At walmart, I bought this Singer QuickSew thing. It's a hand held sewing machine. I've broken two needles so far. I think if I want a sewing machine, I will have to get a real one. Winnie and PJ would like for their mommy to make them pretty things to wear :)

I got the new Diana Palmer book today in the mail. I'm going to read it. I just don't know when. Probably tonight and I'll end up staying up late.

I took the puppies out for a walk today. They spent a lot of time out there sniffing around and finding things to chew on. PJ had runny poo last night so I did what people on the internet suggested - withhold food for 12 hours and then feed her bland food, like boiled chicken. I had boiled turkey so she got that. I think she's better today. I did get up at 1am last night to check on her.

I still haven't gotten the credit report I requested back at the beginning of September. They said the agency had 3 weeks to process the request. Well, it's been about 8. Bunch of lazy people.

Money, Money

My prepaid credit card has been confusing for the last few days. There for a while, the daily balance email matched my records. Then the other day, it stopped matching. So, I finally went back through three months worth of transaction history online and found what I think happened. I have a pre-order with Amazon that hasn't shipped yet. So, that purchase amount should not have been taken off the card. But apparently it was for a while since the online account's balance matched my own records. Now I think they added that pre-order purchase amount back onto the card.

Speaking of my card, I ordered some fabric online the other day. Some to make harnesses and coats for Winnie and PJ and a small piece to try to make a steering wheel cover for my car. I can't find maroon colored steering wheel covers anywhere here in town so I bought some burgundy (close to maroon) corduroy and plan to try to make a cover. I got some elastic this morning at walmart to use with it. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

I also found a dog carrier that's bigger than the one I currently have. It's nylon, like those pop-up cat cubes and laundry baskets so I don't know how good it will be, but I ordered it. Winnie and PJ would like a little more room than they currently have in their carrier.

I've let PJ out into the living room for the past few evenings so she and Fritz could learn to get along. There are times when he will just kiss her and kiss her :) Then there are times when he will growl and snap at her :( I didn't let her out tonight because Fritz threw up again. He had dirt or something in it tonight. I don't know what he ate but he had to have found it this evening when I let him out after coming home.

Winnie and PJ have also been for walks outside these last couple of days. I figure they should get out as much as they can before it turns really cold.

Tonight is Trick or Treat night in my county. I don't get any Trick or Treaters but Mom and Dad might. They didn't last year but you never know.

Well, I missed Chuck last night because I was watching/listening to tennis on the Tennis Channel. I may just have to get the season dvd of Chuck.

A Funny Winnie Story

Yesterday morning, I had the tv on ESPN and the Kianna's Workout show. Well, there was a muscular man on there using some exercise equipment. Winnie looked at the tv and just started barking and barking. She did not like that man. I had to change the channel to get her to stop barking. At least she knows what's important at my house - the TV. LOL

Justice League

I've been reading the spoilers about the upcoming Justice League movie and it looks like this is going to be a pretty good movie. It's supposed to have Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in it. I would think this should be bigger than Spiderman.

Dreary Day

Well, it's chilly and wet and dreary out there today. I've done very little around the house. I hand-washed some clothes, cleaned the puppies' pen area, ate too much, didn't work out. I had to take the puppies outside. They saw me with my shoes on and just went nuts, jumping and crying, wanting to go out. So, I took them out. They jumped all over fritz and he growled and snapped at them. Why didn't he run away from the puppies? That's a good question. I don't have the answer to it. PJ rolled and rolled in the yard and got her pretty coat dirty. I've got it soaking in laundry detergent now. I also sewed the velcro on her coat. It was coming off today. And I sewed the other Spanish flag on Winnie's harness.

I watched a couple episodes of the new season of Digging for the Truth, with that Hunter Ellis guy hosting. Took a couple of naps.

Big Day

Well, I went shopping. I finally found a few shirts and a set of sweat pants at walmart. And a pair of boots that will undoubtedly break my neck until I get used to them. I have never been so tall as I am in those boots.

I ate at Subway while I was out so my diet is still good. But I didn't work out today. Instead, when I got home I went straight to bed and took about a 3 hour nap. I bet you I'll still go to bed at 9m tonight too. I'm hoping all the walking around I did while I was shopping will serve as my workout for today.

Interesting bit: The sales clerk at Fashion Bug greeted me as I entered the store and pointed me to the skinny clothes :)

#1 Rule of Email Etiquette

Do not send a large attachment without first asking for the recipient's permission!!!!!!!!

Someone I know tied up my computer for over a half an hour trying to send me video of the Tim Conway Dentist sketch. I have a freakin' dial up connection! I can't do video.

I went to my email provider's main site and deleted the email from there so it would no longer try to be sent to me.

My computer has been slow all evening so I think I'm going to have to run all the scans, ad ware and virus scans.

Worked out, but kinda didn't

Tonight instead of the treadmill, I did my pilates dvd. My calf muscle was sore - like after you have a charley horse. So, I thought stretching with pilates would be better for me than walking pretty fast on the treadmill. I don't think I burned very many calories, but pilates does tone and build a little muscle so it will help overall.

I'm very happy to have a three day weekend. I'm looking forward to shopping, even though shopping for me usually means "I'm not paying $15.00 for a pair of pants."

After I got home tonight, I remembered that I had to do something at work. I wonder if I will remember it on Monday.

I don't know what I'm going to do with my weekend, other than the shopping. I made a list while I was at work, but who knows if I'll follow it. This extra day off is supposed to be in celebration of the end of jury duty. Chores don't equate to a celebration in my book.

Yet Another Day

Yet another day on the diet and treadmill. I'm a little hungry tonight though. I think I'm about 100 calories or more short on my supper. I ate a can of condensed chicken noodle soup. It's in no way 350 calories.

One more day at work and then I get three days off. I'm taking Friday off. I was planning to go shopping that day even though they say it's going to rain. Walmart has a roof so the rain shouldn't be a problem - LOL.

. . . . . . . . . .

Well, I just checked the label on the soup can. 175 calories. I need to eat a little more tonight.

Keeping Up

I got back on the diet and treadmill yesterday and kept up with it today too.

It's finally raining here after months of little rain.

Fritz has been keeping his food down so I think whatever was wrong with him is over. I do try to slow him down when he's eating.

I got the newest issue of the Paula Deen magazine in the mail today. She's got a recipe in there for gumdrop cookies. Somehow I don't think gumdrops and cookies go together.

Sunday Too Short

What have I done today? Laundry, went to mom and dad's with Winnie and PJ, made PJ's coat, took the puppies for a walk, watched a little tennis and a little golf, finished up my christmas wish list and emailed it to mom and my sister. What's missing? Working out. I didn't do that today. Soon, I'll be going to clean my bathtub. Fritz has managed to keep some food down today. I read on the internet that it could be due to eating too fast. So, I only fed him a little bit this morning, a little bit more around 11am, and then a little bit tonight for supper. Hopefully, he isn't sick, just speedy.

Big sports news: David Nalbandian beat Roger Federer in Madrid. I'll have to watch that tonight. They have the re-air at 8pm on the Tennis Channel.

PJ's New Coat

PJ loves to show her pride in her honorary daddy's (Jose Maria Olazabal) Spanish heritage and legendary role on the European Ryder Cup Team. I made this coat today with my own very sore fingers, except for the flag - I bought that from a company online.

Odds and Ends

Well, I started making another coat for PJ today. This one is a bit bigger than her other one. I didn't finish it because I wanted to see the golf course the European PGA Tour is playing this week in Portugal, because I needed a nap, because I had to work out, because I took the dogs out for a walk.

Fritz has been throwing up his food lately. I think he keeps doing it because he eats what he's thrown up - probably keeping the illness in his tummy. When I'm home I pick up what he throws up. He might get some chicken soup tomorrow. maybe if I feed him in small quantities he won't throw up.

I've been working on my Christmas Wish List. I added a bunch of stuff tonight to it. I try to have a wide price range and this time it's taken a bit of an effort to find a variety of items to add to the list. There isn't much that I desperately want this year. Well, except for the 2006 Ryder Cup dvd - how can I not have a dvd of Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal's shining moments? I would like a 2007 Rafael Nadal calendar if they are making them. I found the 2006 calendar I think on his website.

It's Friday!!!!!!!

Yay!!! Next week I have friday off so it's only a four day week. It's about time for a break. I worked out again and stuck to my diet today :)

I got the books I ordered from Harlequin today and apparently dad was up to the house when I was at work. He brought me a piece of plywood so I could block the hole the puppies have chewed into the baby gate. And he picked the pods from the Hummingbird vine I have out back. He wants a vine for his house. I googled the pods to see what I had to do with them. Dry them, remove the seeds, put the seeds in an airtight bag, put the bag in an airtight container, put the container in the fridge and leave it there for a minimum of three months. Then plant the seeds in the spring.

I got the Spanish flag patches I ordered for the puppies' coat and harness today. I'll have to figure out what I'm going to do with them. I don't know if a needle will go through them to sew them on and I would hate to iron them on and then find out I don't want them on that harness or that coat. I wouldn't be able to remove them.

Another Day ...

Another day on the diet and treadmill. yay for me.

I apparently finally got the harassing calls to stop. The better business bureau received a response from the company after they had closed the complaint, so they opened it back up and sent me the response. An attorney for the company says the company won't call me again regarding any 'alleged debt i may owe' and it 'apologizes for any misunderstanding' - I think that's legal talk for "I'm saying alleged debt so you can't say the company harassed an innocent person, but I'm also saying we screwed up and called you by mistake."

I still haven't gotten my credit report that I requested over a month ago. I'd hate to have to complain about them too.

Day Three

Yep, I made it another day on the diet and treamill. But I think I need either more iron or more protein. I've taken some deli thin sliced turkey breast out of the freezer and put it in the fridge so I can snack on it in the evenings.

I've been watching tennis this week. Thanks to the tennis channel, I can watch it in the mornings before I go to work and in the evenings too. But tomorrow I think there's a golf thing on that I want to watch.

Two Perfect Days

Yesterday I stuck to a diet and worked out. Today I stuck to a diet and worked out. So, I call those two perfect days. Is the diet perfect? No. I still eat a ton of gobstoppers candy at work which adds a bunch of calories. But, I'm not snacking a bunch in the evenings, not making home made brownies, not eating that deli pizza from walmart. I'm going to try to cut down on the gobstoppers.

As for the working out, I think I'm walking too fast on the treadmill. My goal has been 400 calories/workout. I exceeded it yesterday but didn't quite make it today. My knees are feeling the workouts. My left knee has had problems for months because of the way I sit at work, with the left foot propped up on the right knee. And my feet are hurting a bit too. They aren't used to the workouts and they are flat feet to boot. I do have insoles in my shoes but I think they are worn out.

The puppies went out for a walk yesterday but not today. It was sprinkling today and I didn't want to stand around in the rain while they sniffed dirt for ten minutes. I let them out into the living room tonight for a while. They tormented Fritz and he growled and snarled. Both puppies at one time is just too much for Fritz. The puppies did get to run circles so I'm sure they will sleep pretty soundly tonight.

I noticed tonight that Amazon.com has finally taken the money for my September order off my prepaid credit card. I'm going to have to check to see if that means they are shipping my order out. They aren't supposed to ship until mid-November but the book that's holding the order up is already out. So, I don't see why they can't go ahead and send me my order.

Too Little Time

Weekends need to be three days long, not two. I would really like to have another day to just lay around the house. But we are coming up on vacation and holiday seasons so I'll have some extra time off in November and December.

Winnie and PJ went to their grandparents' house today. They played and ate treats and slept. It was cold at grandma's and grandpa's. They haven't lit the pilot light on their furnace yet. And they had a bathroom window open. It was only probably 40 degrees outside this morning.

I had to help dad load that freezer this morning and then unload it at his house. And mom sewed on PJ's coat today. I think sewing machines are more trouble than they are worth. It took mom an hour. She kept breaking the thread, her bobbins wouldn't work. I would have said "to heck with this, I'll sew it by hand" after just a couple of minutes. Then when mom tried to sew down the velcro (by hand) she bent one needle and broke another.

I've been watching tennis and golf this weekend. Tennis - a russian woman beat Serena Williams to win the event, and in golf Angel Cabrera nearly won the HSBC World Matchplay event in England. Good thing I have the tennis channel. Every time the golf announcers mentioned Tiger Woods, I would change the channel. On my tv, the tennis channel is just one notch down from the golf channel so it was an easy press of the button to escape TigerFest.

Gotcha

Those funny pranksters at the courthouse pulled a little joke on me it seems. Friday, I got a letter telling me to report to magistrate court jury duty on the 18th. Well, I checked my phone messages on Friday when I got in the house, and the prosecutor's office called and said I didn't have to report on the 18th. I will be very glad when this is completely over. I have not been impressed with the competency level of the people involved in running the jury duty.

Today I made a little coat for PJ. She was getting cold when we would go out for our walks. The coat is a little small so the next one I or Mom makes will have to be made a bit larger.

I went to the store this morning. It was cold and foggy, but I got home by 8am. Dad made me go to an estate auction this evening. He wanted me to help him load a freezer he bought. Well, I sat there for about an hour in the truck. He went back to the auction and waited until they were done and bought more stuff! We didn't even get the freezer. We have to go back tomorrow morning and get it. I really don't like how his auction hobby is stealing my time. I don't make him read my romance novels.

Lapcat got into some kind of fight this morning. Her ear was bleeding. The poor thing. It stopped bleeding after a while. The neighbors should keep their pets at home.

Winnie is trying my patience. She is tearing up puppy pads all over the floor. Brand new ones that I just put down. It's getting pretty frustrating. There is puppy pad cotton dust all over the floor now. It looks like snow. Of course, this isn't anything compared to the puppies tearing up the carpet. They are pulling it up by the mouthfuls. If I ever buy a house, it will have hardwood or tile floors, even if I have to put them in before I move in.

Here's the Harness I Sewed for Winnie

She doesn't growl or snap at me when I put it on her or take it off of her so I say this was successful, even though my fingers are sore from pushing the sewing needle through the fabric and sticking myself with the needle. I took it to Mom and Dad's this morning and showed Mom. She was impressed and cut a pattern for a harness out of newspaper. I think she might try to make one too. Her's will probably look a bit better since she'll probably use the sewing machine.

By the way, do you see how much hair Winnie has grown? I can't wait until she gets all of her hair.

Saturday in Town

Well, I went to the Tractor Supply store. They are cheaper on some things than the other farm store in town. And they had some cute toys. I think they were still in the process of stocking some things. I went to the other farm store too. Bought another kind of harness for Winnie - didn't do any good. She didn't like that one either. Ate lunch at Ponderosa and then went to Walmart. Couldn't get near the free sample table of the adopt a pet thing. Apparently, the friends and family of the people who were doing the adopt a pet event stopped by to chit-chat. The dogs and cats were cute, but I have four dogs and a cat. I don't need any more. I got home and spent the rest of the day making a harness for Winnie. I actually sewed it by hand. Not that I would have used a machine, don't have one and don't know how to use one. It turned out pretty good and it worked. I got it on Winnie and we went out. She did growl when I tried to take it off of her. I hope that doesn't mean she's boycotting it now. It's a velcro harness like her old one. I made it out of a pair of my old fat jeans. I think she liked that it smelled like me. I'll have to take a picture of it to post on here. Hopefully, she will be wearing it in the picture. The sewing itself wasn't too great, but it should hold together. I'm going to take it to show mom tomorrow. Then she will have no excuse for not making me more of them if I should want them. If I can do it by hand, she should be able to whip one up in mere minutes on her sewing machine. I gave Winnie and PJ a bath tonight. They've been needing one I think. And mom said she wanted to take pictures of them tomorrow because they were getting so big.

I have a feeling I'm going to develop a big-time headache. I had diet pop today at Ponderosa, not caffeine free diet.

An Extra Day Off, but ......

Well, I get Monday off from work - yay!! BUT, I got a call from the jury duty folks - I have to report to jury duty on Tuesday. I will be so glad when that's over.

The Better Business Bureau closed my complaint today because the harassing phone call people wouldn't respond to them. Proof, I think, that these people are nothing but crooks. Certainly not legitimate businesspeople who are trying to make an honest buck - if they were legitimate then they would be trying to resolve complaints, not ignore them.

Winnie threw a fit over her harness, so she didn't get to go out tonight with PJ. PJ and I went out and left Winnie in the pen. I hated to do it, but maybe Winnie will learn to let me put the harness on her. I think PJ prefers to do #2 outside.

I think I'm going to go to town late tomorrow and check out the new Tractor Supply store. Also, tomorrow at Walmart they are having an adopt a pet day starting at 11 am. I think I want to check that out. I can't adopt a pet, but they are giving away free samples of stuff.

Another Episode Watched

I watched Chuck again last night. I gave up the re-air of the Jennifer Garner episode of the Martha Stewart Show to watch Chuck. I don't know if the holes in the story are going to bother me. One hole - I'm sure most ISPs or Email providers have copies of email stored on their servers for a period of time (I figure there's some supersecret section of the Patriot Act that probably demands they do this) so the government could have gone to Chuck's email provider and gotten a copy of the email that Bryce sent to him. I also wonder if we are ever going to find out why Bryce allegedly turned. I don't think he did.

I saw on Fark.com that the Cavemen show is supposed to be on tonight. I don't think I'm going to watch that. But it depends on what else is on.

Winnie fought me over her really good harness tonight. I had to put the velcro harness on her. She's going to have to get over her temper.

Weekend is Just Too Short

I took the puppies to mom and dad's today. They got to cuddle and lay on laps. The puppies, not my parents. I woke up with a headache. I took some sinus medication, then some tylenol and it didn't help. I napped at mom and dad's and ate some of their chocolate candy and the headache went away. It shouldn't have been a caffeine headache since my multi-vitamin has caffeine in it. But who knows. I got home and did some work outside the house while the puppies slept. Then I watched some of the Presidents Cup coverage and some Women's Tennis, and went and took a nap. I finally got on the treadmill and tried out my workout cd I made. It works really well, I ended up on the treadmill for an hour and only got off the treadmill when I heard the dogs making noise. I thought maybe Winnie had escaped the pen, but it was just Steffi coughing. I fed the dogs and then did my pilates dvd. An interesting note about the pilates: mom cut my hair today and she said that either I was growing or she was shrinking. The pilates has stretched me out and improved my posture.

I could really use about a week off. I'm still all blah from last week's work. It's hard to take time off when I don't know from one week to the next if I'll be forced to attend jury duty. At least we have Columbus Day coming up and I'll get a three day weekend.

I did it

Well, I updated the sidebar links a bit. Though I did a bit of tweaking, I tried to leave the blogs alone, even the ones that lead to nowhere now. I think it's a tribute to those friends I've made since starting this blog. Maybe someday they will come back for a visit and send me a quick email to let me know how they are doing.

Way Too Much

I ate way too much tonight for supper. I ate pizza and a couple of donuts. Someone put a lemon filled jelly donut in with the raspberry ones. Guess who got the yucky lemon one - yep, me. Well, I ate so much because I am very happy that it's Friday. Work was aggravating this week. Not bad, just aggravating. One week out of the year, everyone tries to get a year's worth of work done, and that was this week. We have a big audit coming up and the audit period ends at the end of September.

The Secretary of State for WV sent me a little postcard alleging that the information I submitted with my voter's registration application was incomplete - I haven't voted since 1992. I want them to lose my registration, not renew it. They want me to supply the information but I don't think I will. This must be how I ended up on jury duty. Those idiots over the voters registration records aren't following the law and marking my registration inactive like they are supposed to. It's also how WV became known for its dead voting population.

Speaking of jury duty, next week there was supposed to be a murder trial (yes another one) in my sleepy little town, but it got postponed to November. My time on jury duty ends at the end of October. Yay. I don't know if there will be another trial next week taking the place of the murder trial, so I'm not celebrating or anything.

I watched one of the new tv shows on the networks this week. Chuck on NBC. It's a good concept, not as funny as you might think it would be. I'll watch it again just to see what happens to Chuck. Moonlight is on tonight. If I can stay up past 9pm, I might watch it.

I have been completely derailed from writing my next novel. I started reading Diana Palmer's novels again and now I fear I will have to go through my whole collection before getting back to the romance novel I started writing.

Puppy Update - Fritz and Winnie are actually playing with each other tonight. There was one really bad episode of vicious growling from Fritz but they seemed to get over it.

There is too much golf on this weekend. I know, why would I say something like that. But, there's the Presidents Cup, the Seve Trophy, LPGA golf, and a PGA Tour event. I don't know what I'm going to do. I do know I'l be missing some of something tomorrow while I dye my hair. It's that time again.

And I've played my pilates dvd twice this week. Yes, I followed along and did the pilates too. The pizza and donuts tonight didn't do anything good for me there.

I think I'm going to have to review all the links over in the sidebar. I think some of them are dead. And they say what you put on the web lasts forever. LOL

Troubles

Winnie is now an expert at escaping the pen and getting loose in the house. Fritz growls and snarls and I swear he would bite her. I was afraid to leave them this morning. I put them in the nursery and folded up the pen so Winnie wouldn't have the opportunity to get out but it still worried me. I was on the way to work when I turned around and came home. I put Winnie and PJ in the bathroom and then called mom and dad and asked if they would come up and check on the puppies today. I don't know what I'm going to do with Fritz. I guess this weekend when I'm home all day, I'll have to work on his hostility. I'm thinking of taking him and the puppies to mom and dad's house and putting them together there - on neutral territory.

I'm still getting the harrassing calls. Now I'm getting a live person who just keeps saying "hello" over and over again. I guess these people don't think anyone in America works - that we all just sit at home not answering our phones. Quite a few people have filed complaints with the FCC so obviously the FCC doesn't do anything to help consumers. They are too busy protecting us from naked singers on TV.

bad news, maybe good news

Bad news: the first editor I chose to send book #2 to rejected it. But there are other people to submit the book to so I'll have to look into that this weekend.

Maybe good news: I haven't had the annoying phone calls in three days. Maybe the Better Business Bureau thing worked.

I bought new harnesses for Winnie and PJ today. PJ let me put hers on her, but Winnie threw a fit so she got her velcro harness. Took them outside and winnie came out of her velcro harness again. I told mom she might have to sew a snap on it.

The puppies have been allowed access to their indoor pen during the work days. winnie was escaping anyway so I let her in there and then after a couple of days, I decided pj could join her. I think I might have to tape down puppy pads in the indoor pen for the overnight hours. Winnie escaped the nursery to the pen early this morning. I hard her barking and had to get up early to check on her.

This weekend I will be on a mouse hunting mission. For some reason the mouse I have isn't tempted by the mouse traps. I will have to try harder with the traps.

I recorded another cd of music, this time in mp3 format, and it still won't play in my portable cd player. I haven't tried it in the dvd player - I've got my pilates dvd in there.

I did the pilates dvd twice this week. Then on wednesday we had an appreciation day dinner at work and tonight I stopped at walmart and got a couple of cheese and pepperoni rolls for supper. But for the most part, my diet's been pretty decent this week.

A Fine Line, or Thread

I was in Walmart the other evening and a girl ran past me. She had to be late teens early twenties in age. The first thing I noticed was her cranberry red silk underwear. Then I noticed her sweatpants hanging about 5 inches too low off her butt. To solve the problem of draftiness, the girl tried to pull her shirt down. I understand hiphugging pants are fashionable, but these weren't made for that. If they had been, there wouldn't have been such a gap between her crotch area and the seam of the pants. Her pants were falling off of her. I'm sure the employees will get a kick out of watching her on the surveillance camera tapes. I bet that's what the walmart employees do at their christmas party - a blooper reel of customers from the surveillance tapes.

Free As A Bird!

I took Winnie and PJ out for a walk today. Winnie saw Fritz and wiggled out of her harness and ran after him. Luckily he just stood there and growled at her and when he did finally run, it was to the house. I put PJ in the outside pen and then started after Winnie but by that time she had come to us - checking out PJ in the pen. So, Winnie got put in the pen and I climbed in and put the harness back on her. Then we continued on our walk.

They have been undergoing remedial puppy pad training. They use the puppy pads when they are in their nursery and when they are at their Grandma's and Grandpa's. But when they are in the indoor pen, they prefer the carpet, and then the shower curtain I used to cover the carpet. So, now I'm bribing them with treats. It works some. PJ will now come and look at me when she does something on the puppy pad because she knows she will get a treat.

I had to order the next size up in harnesses for Winnie. Grandpa feeds her way too many treats and she's growing out of the harness she has. I guess I'll give PJ Winnie's old one. It's maybe a few centimeters larger than PJ's though they are supposed to be the same size.

I ordered about 5 or 6 romance novels today from Amazon. All of them but one I could have gotten from Eharlequin.com so I had to go to Amazon and do the $25.00/free shipping thing. Unfortunately, that means I won't get my books until late November. And one of them is the next Diana Palmer book. It's going to be hard waiting that long to read her new book, especially when people on her website already have it and have read it.

I finally got around to playing with the cd burner on my computer. I've only had my computer for 2 years. I got all my cds and downloaded fast, up-tempo country songs, then burned some of them onto a rw cd I have to make a workout cd. The cd won't play in my cd/radio/cassette player, but it will play on my dvd player, so I can turn my tv and dvd player on while I'm on the treadmill and play this cd. Hopefully, I'll actually get ON the treadmill someday and play this cd. I'm so lazy anymore. I blame the puppies and the remedial training. I have to stick close to them in the evenings. In the Lakeside Collection catalog, they have an mp3 player and docking station for $49.95 and they claim it will hold up to 127 songs. It's 512 MB. Well, the cd I used today says it's 650 MB and it doesn't hold 127 songs. I think it might have something to do with compressing files. I haven't fooled around with that yet.

The saga of the harassing phone calls continues. The Better Business Bureau forwarded my complaint to the head company and they have 22 days to respond. Hopefully, they will realize that I'm not the person they want and they will stop calling me.

The people in control of jury duty cheated me out of some money. I'm supposed to get mileage from home to the courthouse, round trip. Well, the last time I had to report, the judge sent us away and told us to come back at 2pm. That would mean another trip to and from the courthouse. I should have gotten two trips of mileage. But they only paid me for one. I knew they would because they weren't making any effort to note who was told to leave and come back. I'm not impressed with the people who work at the courthouse. Well, except for my friend Jenny. She works part time in the assessor's office.

My third romance novel that I'm writing isn't coming along very well. It's pretty slow in fact. I think I'm taking a break after working on the other two. But I need to get this one done because I have a good idea for another book. Again, I blame remedial puppy pad training. I figure I can blame the puppy pad training on a lot of things. LOL. But, on the positive side, I'm getting to watch tv when I would otherwise be ignoring the TV and playing on the internet or working out on the treadmill. And I won't go into all the scratches I've got from the puppies playing on me. If only they would let me cut their nails.......