Another Weekend Gone

Fritz is doing better today. He's actually played around with the puppies and has been outside several times with an alertness that he wasn't showing earlier in the week.

I spent a bunch of money today doing some online shopping. I bought a couple of things for my niece's birthday, I bought a couple of things from QVC - one for me and one for mom, and I bought some things for dad.

QVC has a way of making you think you need everything they sell. They've almost talked me into buying a Dell Netbook. Like I need that. But it would be a nice backup in case my laptop crashes. That isn't something that should be an impulse buy though.

Long Week

It's been a long week this week. Especially for Fritz. He's having issues with his medicine - he doesn't want to take it. I had been putting it in ice cream but he found out and stopped eating the ice cream. So, then I had to resort to putting the pill in his mouth, closing his mouth and turning up his head to encourage him to swallow the pill. He hates that because I have to open his mouth. I also have to shoot the liquid antibiotic in his mouth. He hates that too. As for his condition, up until this morning, he's been having a rough time. Labored breathing and discomfort. The first day or so after he got the shots from the vet, he acted like he had never been sick. But then he started having these other symptoms. It could be a reaction to the medicine. This morning, he started acting a little better. Which is good because if I hadn't seen an improvement, he would have gone back to the vet today. I was concerned that he wasn't showing any improvement after having been on the medicine for a few days, but after reading the box the antibiotic came in, I figured out that Fritz is only getting half of what he's supposed to get. The vet prescribed one dropper full twice a day and the box says for Fritz's weight, it should be two twice a day. So, Fritz wouldn't be showing any improvement for a while with such a low dosage. I'm not going to disregard the vet's instructions. I'm assuming he has a reason for the low dosage. It could be stomach irritation issues or something. Fritz also won't eat much. Dad and I think it's a sore throat. I first thought Fritz just didn't trust me to eat the food I give him because he knew I was the one giving him medicine and suspected it could be in the food. So, I had dad come up today to try to feed him. Fritz didn't do much better with Dad. So we think it's a sore throat from all of the coughing and maybe stomach acids/irritation that comes up when he burps/belches - it could be burning his throat.

It was also a long week for me at work. You know how it is, different rules for different people - some people get away with everything. Same old crap in the workplace. I have to try to get rid of work thoughts this weekend.

Walmart has a wireless printer on sale for $50.00. I'm thinking of getting it for the laptop. I have a regular printer that I could hook up to the laptop, but I don't want to have a bunch of cords attached to something that's supposed to be portable. I did buy a humidifier today for Fritz. It's supposed to help with his coughing and it should help with winnie and pj's dandruff/itching and my itchy skin. I now have two of them running in the house. I had the one mom and dad left behind when they moved out and now I have the new one too. This way, if mom and dad ever need theirs back, they can have it and I'll still have one.

I cleaned the inside of my car today and let me tell you, the best thing I have found to clean the cloth seats is this Pledge Fabric Sweeper I got today at Walmart. It doesn't get in the cracks of the seats, but it does take up all of the fine pet hair and my hair and the lint that comes off of my clothes. I covered my seat with a twin sized sheet. But I don't know how long it will stay. I have a feeling it will be sliding around and falling down off the seat all the time. The bad thing about the Fabric Sweeper is that it's disposable. You have to buy a new one once you fill it up with pet hair etc. They need to make one that you can clean out and re-use. I would pay up to $14.99 for one of those.

Fritz Went to the Vet

Dad and I took Fritz to the vet this evening. His coughing wasn't getting better. So, here's how that went:

I got the leash on Fritz and walked him down around the driveway to the Lumina. I opened up the door and said "Let's go Fritz," and he jumped into the car, ready for a car ride. He hasn't been for a car ride since I first got him about 7 years ago. Dad drove us to the vet. We got inside and sat down and in came a Siberian Husky. It was huge. Then came a Chocolate Lab named Hershey. It was big and fat. Fritz was afraid of them and the Lab just had to meet and greet every dog that came in. Fritz didn't like that. He kept trying to go outside. Then when they called us to go back to the exam room, Fritz's collar came off and Dad had to carry him back to the room. As for the exam, the vet seemed to think it is allergies, being cooped up in the house with the heat on, and a heart murmur that's causing Fritz's cough. I hope he's right. The vet said that it isn't unusual for a dog that's 70 in human years to develop a cough. I don't tend to think of Fritz as an old dog. He's really active. The vet gave Fritz two shots and some antibiotics and antihistimines to take. I hope they will work mixed up in ice cream. When we got back to the house, we let Fritz off the leash and he beat us to the door. He wanted in the house. He wouldn't even eat the catfood Dad offered him. But after Dad left and everyone settled down, I gave Fritz some ice cream and he ate that.

Late Night

I stayed up until 11pm last night reading a book. My eyes weren't drooping or anything. But today I'm pretty tired. I went out early this morning to buy a couple of plastic storage containers to put my books in. I also spent too much money on stuffed animals. I got one for Winnie and PJ and Winnie wouldn't leave it. It was so cute.

We had snow this morning. That was a surprise. But it's all melted off by now. Someone must have wrecked on the interstate this morning. I saw a line of traffic backed up and some emergency vehicles. There wasn't enough snow to cause a wreck as long as you're driving smart.

Not as Tired

I wasn't as tired today as I have been. But then I didn't do a lot in the way of exercise today either. I dyed my hair (a lot of sitting and waiting), I gave Winne and PJ a bath, I read two romance novels, parts of other books, played with my Laptop (I found that I do have a program for copying dvds but it still won't work with my MP3 player that plays video. The mp3 player will only use WMA format), and drove down to the mailbox to get my mail. I was going to walk but it was spitting ice/snow and I didn't want to risk getting caught in bad weather. So, I drove and then it stopped precipitating (snowing, icing, whatever it was.)

I've been taking the herbal thyroid stuff so maybe that's helping.

The two books I read today are two Diana Palmer stories I haven't read before. They were pretty good. Not tied into any other of her books. I'd never heard of these characters before.

My butt and legs are a bit sore though from sitting around with dogs on my lap for hours. First, PJ, then Winnie, the PJ again, then Winnie, then PJ .... you get the idea.

Shopping

I went shopping today. Went to all of the stores I can't go to at 7am on Saturday mornings when I usually do my shopping. Found a dime on one parking lot. Found two Diana Palmer books I didn't have at the GoodWill store. Got some candy I didn't need at about three different stores. I also bought another Cat cube - a foam rubber padded cube that cats sleep and play in. I have a feeling I might be saving the lives of some of my parents future kittens (if the mama cat has them) by taking a few of them home with me when they are old enough. So, I thought I would get another bed for them to sleep in so they would have to share with Lapcat. And if I don't get the kittens, then I've got a backup for Lapcat in case anything happens to her cube. They will of course be outside cats. Maybe they will be mole-catchers. Lapcat sure isn't.

I tried to clean my dining room carpet today and my machine won't even spit out water now. It stopped spitting out soap a long time ago but it was spitting out water the last time I used it. So, I ended up wringing out a wet towel over the floor and then sucking the water up with my machine.

I've been pretty exhausted lately. Along with some other suspicious symptoms. So, after some reading on the web, I've diagnosed myself with thyroid issues. I got some herbal supplements to see if that might help.

Fritz is still coughing some. Not as often or as bad as he used to. He was due for a second round of worm medicine in a couple of days but I started giving it to him tonight instead. It's a little early but it can't really hurt.

Four Days Off

I'm taking tomorrow off from work and I have Monday off, so it's a 4 day weekend for me! Yay!!!

Some puppy stories: yesterday morning I got up and found Winnie laying on the couch being very quiet. Unusual, since they are often running through the house barking at each other. I went over and checked her out and she had a sticker from my pilates machine between her paws. She started chewing on it and I thought, "okay, that's not so bad. but I'll trade it for some catfood." So, I gave her a few pieces of catfood and then tried to get the sticker. It was stuck to her paw. I mean, really stuck. I had to yank it pretty strongly to get it off her food and then she yipped. Well, she was mad the rest of the day and I think probably still mad tonight. She bit me 4 times yesterday morning before I left for work.

Also yesterday morning, I finished washing my hair and left the bathroom to check on the puppies. I looked down the hall and saw PJ just standing there, acting very innocently, next to a cloud of quilt batting. She had pulled it out of the plastic bag it was in and dragged it over to the doorway.

Winnie and PJ finished up their second round of worm medicine last night. Winnie left some of her last dose behind but hopefully she got all of it that she needed. I'm having a hard time getting her to eat. I switched her back to bologna and she's eating a little bit of that.

Fritz has been getting some herbal worm medicine with his food every morning. Until this morning. He wouldn't eat it. I think he gets food up his nose when he eats the Mighty Dog canned food and I think it bothers him. He has another round of three doses of over the counter medicine coming up. Hopefully I can get him to eat that. I'll have to mix it into some ice cream.

We had some really strong winds last night and today. A metal lawn chair blew over last night and I had some tree limbs around the yard and the driveway. Tonight when I came home I saw some kind of cable (power or phone probably) laying in the neighbor's yard and it looked like it had actually cut a tree in half - it was in between the half of the tree that was laying in the yard and the half that was still standing. I don't remember if I drove over the cable or under it. I didn't notice it until I had passed by it. I was keeping an eye on the neighbor's dog instead - it was chasing my car like it always does.

I now have all of the stuff I've ordered lately on the web. I know I said that spending season was over after I bought the pilates machine. But that was before I needed puppy pads which Walmart wasn't selling, and before I wanted to buy the Cesar Milan book from Lakeside, before I had to buy the worm medicine for the dogs, before I had to buy hairball treats for Fritz.

Hopefully, I'm done buying now.

Wonderfully Sunny Day

It's a beautiful day today - blue sky, warm sun. I washed my car - the LaCrosse, not the Lumina. When I was done, I just sat down in the sun and soaked up the sun. The whole week will be warm, yay!!!

Finally Driving to the House

I finally drove up to the house Thursday evening. I decided that since we weren't going to get any more snow, I would drive up to the house. I slid around some and as usual, the neighbor's dogs chased me, but I made it. It's nice driving to and from the house for a change. And it's really nice to have warm temperatures. We were in the 40s I think yesterday and today we were in the 50s. We are going to have 50s and 60s this week. Yay!!!

I ate way too much today. But I'm getting back on the diet and exercise plan either tomorrow or Monday.

I made a little quilt today for Winnie and PJ. It has little dog bones on one side and Care Bears on the other. I broke my sewing machine while making this quilt. It won't sew in reverse now. Winnie doesn't know if she likes it or not. I put it in her little hidey-hole and she wouldn't lay there. So, I had to get it back out and put it back on the couch. She'll get used to it.

Fritz was coughing a little bit today. I gave him over the counter worm medicine and after the third treatment, he was doing very well. This morning he coughed some (during the dogs' 3am play time while I was trying to sleep) so I gave him some herbal worm medicine I have. Not the first kind that really gave him a bad cough, but the second kind I got in the mail. He hasn't had any bad reactions from that yet. But I didn't give him a second dose tonight. I thought I would only do one dose a day for a while and see how his cough gets.

Tomorrow the puppies get to visit their grandparents. They missed their trip last week because of the weather. They will be so excited when I start sacking everything up to go tomorrow.

Warm Today, But I Still Have Snow

My driveway didn't completely melt off today. I still went to the store. I walked down to my car and then after I got finished with Walmart I called mom and asked if dad would drive me up the hill when I got finished with the other shopping I had to do. Mom said 'of course dad would love to do that.' LOL. So, I picked up dad and he drove me up the hill. The neighbors' dogs chased us and we slid all the way up the hill. Before we got there dad said repeatedly, "you can drive up the hill." Hah! So, I gathered up the mail and stuff that I had to take to mom and dad's and dad and I left and went back to his house. Dad made over Winnie, PJ and Fritz while I put some groceries away and changed into comfortable sweats. They just love it when he comes to visit.

I parked the car back down at the road when I came home tonight and walked up. Dad said, "it should be melted off, you can drive up tonight." But I was concerned about all of the ice I might have to deal with tomorrow morning. So, I'm walking.

Dad says Fritz has hairballs. He might. These are the most sheddingist dogs. I'm running out of hairball remedy cat treats so I had to order some from the internet. I tried to find them in town and no one had them. I also ordered some puppy pads from the web since walmart isn't carrying the really good quilted ones.

Yay it's the Weekend

Well, I made it to work on Thursday and Friday. That's about all to say there. Today, it warmed up to about 34 degrees with plenty of sun, but it isn't melting a lot out there. Hopefully it will melt tomorrow and I can get to the store.

By 9:30am today I had washed my dishes, done a load of laundry and vacuumed in the living room. Later I took a nap. I've also eaten way too much. I am completely off any kind of schedule and hopefully, once the weather straightens up, I can get back to a good eating and workout schedule.

Fritz has been sick lately. Coughing. It was a dry, hacking cough. And with the addition of garlic powder to his food, the cough went away mostly. Then I got some herbal worm medicine and gave to him. Two doses and his cough was horrible. Like how it sounds when a human taks some medicine and his or her cough breaks up and they start coughing up stuff. Fritz was really bad yesterday morning and I contemplated taking him to the vet. But I stopped giving him that worm medicine and by the time I got home last night, his cough was nearly gone again. And he's been doing well today too. So, I think the vet visit can wait for better weather.

I did have to carry a bag of frozen chicken breasts up the hill last night because I was running out of food for the dogs. That was a workout. It really makes you aware of how much weight you lose when you add the pounds back on like that. I didn't notice how bad the walk was when I was that many pounds heavier.

Walmart is not carriying my favorite brand of puppy pads. I'm very unhappy about that. They are the Hartz brand and they are quilted. Quilted puppy pads are the best. I will probably have to buy them from Amazon now. Good thing I stock up on those for this exact reason - I know walmart has a habit of getting you hooked on a product and then not selling it anymore.

I've been watching the Australian Open tennis tournament. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are in the final. The Nadal-Verdasco semi-final was classic. It was good to see Fernando Verdasco play so well. As for the final, I don't know who to cheer for. I would like to see Roger eclipse Sampras' record and eventually get more majors than Tiger Woods has in golf. But I would also like to see Nadal win a major on a hard court. I don't think he could be considered a true #1 player unless he wins majors on all surfaces. Just like I don't think Federer can be considered better than everyone who ever played unless he wins the French Open.

A Half Day of Work

Well, I got to work on time this morning. But by 1pm I was headed out the door to come home. We were getting pounded with a fast, heavy snow storm at my workplace. Oddly enough, we weren't getting anything just 5 miles away. Skipping over the aggravations of the day (tailgaters on bad roads, idiot neighbors, idiot employees I have to deal with at work), I prefer to think of happier things. I continued reading "As You Do" by Richard Hammond of the tv show Top Gear this evening. I played with the dogs today. And it looks like I might get to go to work tomorrow too. Okay, so that isn't especially happy. But as I have something else to mail out tomorrow, it will be nice to get out. And maybe I can shop a bit at Walmart - Just window shop. I can't very well carry a bunch of stuff up my driveway.

Another Day Off

Well, I had to take another day off because of snow. This time, we got about 4 more inches on top of the inch we had yesterday. I did get ready for work and walk all the way down to the car but after surveying the two roads I would have to drive on, I decided to stay home. This afternoon I dug out the car and a turn around area in the driveway so I can hopefully get to work tomorrow. And mail out my mail. And hopefully get some stuff I ordered last week - it's supposed to be delivered to mom and dad's. I have a feeling I will be walking to and from the house until at least Sunday. Maybe longer. It depends on the forecast.

So, today I went out with Fritz and played a bit with him. And I carved out some pathways for Fritz and Lapcat so they wouldn't have it so hard roaming around the yard.

A little Haha moment - the new laxzy neighbor just had to go out today and drive on the 5 plus inches of snow in the driveway. He has a big truck with big tires. The haha moment - he backed out of his driveway and came within an inch or so of backing down into his big ditch. Heehee.

An Unplanned Day Off

Well, we got about an inch and a half of snow last night so I called off today. I swept out two tracks of the driveway all the way from the house to the road and by the time I took my car down at 3pm to park it alongside the main road, the tracks had melted out and the driveway looked pretty good. Just in time for 1 to 3 inches of snow tonight and 2 to 4 more tomorrow. I will be walking the rest of the week probably. I think Thursday it's supposed to be above 32 but then it will be cold again Friday and Saturday. Sunday, it's supposed to be above 32 again and I may be able to shovel that day. I know the part of the driveway used by the lazy neighbors will be solid ice for several days to come. They don't know what physical work is so I don't expect them to shovel.

The substitute mail carrier must have been working today. All the mail in my mailbox belonged to someone on down the road. How hard can it be to match up the address on the envelope to the number on the mailbox? 168 doesn't look anything like 170B.

I've been trying to watch tennis today but they keep showing the Tsonga/Blake match. I've seen it something like 4 times now. Enough already. I did manage to see the Murray/Verdasco match. That was a good one.

A Lot of Mail

I have a very unusual amount of mail to mail out tomorrow. Four envelopes. Usually I don't have any mail to go out but tomorrow I have two tax returns (state and federal), a subscription renewal to Dog Fancy magazine, and an order from The Lakeside Collection.

I did my taxes this morning at Mom and Dad's. I tried filling out copies of the forms on the couch and Winnie and PJ kept walking all over me and the forms. But eventually I got the copies filled out and then went into the other room to fill out the real forms and make the copies of everything before sealing the returns up in their envelopes.

I still have to wash out the bathtub from where I gave Fritz a bath yesterday. And I might get around to updating my checkbook. I try to put off the number crunching stuff since I do that at work.

Your Stomach Does Not Taste

I just heard this statement from a winemaker on the Rick Steves travel show. I thought this was a profound comment for us big eaters. If we can separate the great taste of the food we eat from the size of our stomachs and remember both are equally important when eating, then we might be able to cut down on what we eat, knowing that while our taste buds would love to have more of that really great ice cream or pizza, our stomachs are only food containers like that Tupperware, Lock & Lock, or Gladware container you have in the cabinet. (Or any brand of food storage containers-no endorsement is intended). This is why one of the four rules of the I Can Make You Thin system is "eat consciously and enjoy every bite". Give your taste buds what they want. Leave the food on your tongue long enough for your body to realize that you've actually eaten a piece of pizza, or a serving of ice cream.

I've taken a bit of a break from working out. And I ate a bit more last night and today. But still healthy - I bought a sub sandwich from walmart last night and threw away half of the bread. Then this morning I bought another one because I still had half of a tomato to eat and I've made this sandwich last all day. When I'm next hungry, I'm going for ice cream. I bought some low calorie/low fat cookies and cream ice cream this morning.

I have to start working on my tax returns this weekend. And there's some ordering I would like to do from a catalog. I know I said spending season was over, but these are good deals on things I either would really like to have or would get but have been putting off because I wasn't going to spend 'that much' money on them. I also need to update my checkbook. Hopefully I'll get my credit card bill today so I can get that payment in the mail.

Still Working Out

I've been working out some this week. Either the treadmill or the pilates machine. So, that's a good thing for me :)

I've been sticking to my eating plan and not even wanting to stray, even with all kinds of desserts at work this week. Another good thing for me :)

I've been tricking Fritz into drinking water. He hasn't been drinking any water because he won't drink in the house and the water outside has been frozen. But I've been mixing up some chicken broth and pouring it over some cooked chicken. He will eat it and drink the broth if it's not in a bowl. Sometimes I can use a Lean Cuisine container and sometimes it's just a paper plate.

Winnie and PJ got into my room tonight while I was changing clothes. Winnie helped me out a lot by going under the bed and retrieving one of my ponytail holders. I should tie a dustrag to her and send her under there once a week. LOL.

Sunny Day

The sun came out today and helped to melt some snow. Yay! I went out and swept the snow off of most of the driveway today anyway. It was good exercise. I didn't go as far down the driveway as I usually do because I have new lazy neighbors who drove in and out twice today before noon and I decided I wasn't going to try to clean off the driveway from their house down to the road. They must be related to the old neighbor woman's lazy relatives.

The Australian Open tennis coverage has started on tv. I hope to watch quite a bit of it. If I can pull myself away from QVC. I can watch it tonight since Top Gear won't be on. For some reason, BBC America thinks the Inauguration is a big deal. What they don't realize is that we're going to be seeing Obama for the next four years practically every single day we turn on our tvs, we don't really need extra coverage on the big day tomorrow.

I've been doing the I Can Make You Thin plan for about 22 days. Yay!! Some people say that you form a habit in 21 days. So, maybe I have formed a new eating habit. I have been cheating a bit though - I've been eating Lean Cuisines which are portion controlled. I'm technically supposed to fix a big meal and then not eat it all. So, I've been doing that on the weekends. Today I fixed some Kraft Mac and Cheese and put two thirds of it in the freezer. And I still have most of the hard candy left that I made in December.

One More Day

I've got one more day off and I am so happy! Today it warmed up and we didn't get all the snow that was predicted, but we still could get about an inch. It's coming down now.

I got on the treadmill today and on the pilates machine. I needed to get on the treadmill since I lazed around with naps a couple of times today.

I took some measurements of my driver's seat of the LaCrosse. I'm thinking of trying to make a seat cover for it. I thought it might be cheaper than buying one.

Weekend and a Holiday

I have a three day weekend thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Yay.

I took Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off from the pilates machine. Wednesday and Thursday I had to walk up the driveway because of the weather and that made me late with everything else I had to do in the evenings so I skipped the machine. I still walked in place so I still got some exercise. Friday, they had Lock and Lock on QVC when I got home so I skipped the machine to watch it. But I got back on the machine tonight. I tried to do every exercise slowly instead of fast.

I went to the store this morning and then took the puppies to see their grandparents this afternoon. We are supposed to get snow tonight and tomorrow so I thought I would go today to avoid the weather.

It's been very, very cold here these last few days. My car registered -4 at work on Friday morning. Brrr... Lapcat somehow is keeping warm outside. I think she's staying under the old chicken house out by the garden.

Fritz finally got a drink of water today. He won't drink in the house and all the water outside is frozen. I put some out this morning and he got a little bit of it and then I broke through the layer of ice that was covering it later on today and he got a better drink that time.

Mom and dad say that Ralph, their little kitten, hasn't been seen in a couple of days. I hope he's okay. He's an outside cat. His mommy has been to their house for some food.

I picked up the Elvis cds I ordered from QVC today at mom and dad's. I played them when I got home and the songs are very good. Someday I need to put them on my mp3 player to listen to when I'm on the treadmill. Someday, I have to get back on the treadmill. I can't just do the pilates machine only.