Water in Motion Fun

Linda and Connie at the Water in Motion Quarterly Workshop

No visitors tonight.  Chimmie was stuck in his den for over 4 hours.  Linda left the bathroom window open since the weather was divine, so at least he had some fresh air and could hear outside sounds. Linda's classes were big fun tonight.  Combat was great and Water in Motion was a blast.  There were 18 people in WIM, which for the pool is really crowded.  Her friend Matt the Lifeguard bought his guitar and sang a song for the cool down.  He has an amazing voice.  Everyone cheered when he was done and asked for an encore.  After classes, Linda had to meet Tierney to give her the material to make the invitations for Sarah's baby shower.  Since she was still wearing her swimsuit, she pulled  up to the front of the church and had Tier run down from her skit practice to get them from Linda.  Walking into church wearing your bathing suit (even if you have a pair of shorts and a tee shirt over it) just seemed weird.  We all ate some dinner and now Linda is considering another walk in the neighborhood since the weather is still so warm.  Tomorrow is a super busy day for her, so she might just take a shower and hop into bed early.  The last two Wednesdays she has been sick, so she is praying that she'll wake up feeling fine. 

Deer Management?

What a beautiful day!  We just got home from the trail.  Linda got a late start because she was busy this morning.  She also wanted to wait for it to warm-up a bit.  While we were walking, Linda noticed this new yellow sign.  The county sign has been there forever.  She always giggles about the No Golfing or Swimming rule.  She's been on the trail 100's of times and has yet to see a swimming hole or golf course. 

What does deer management mean?  I hope it's not what I think it is.  If the park rangers are killing deer on purpose, I would be very sad. There aren't so many deer that they are getting run over or bothering anyone. The winter hasn't been bad, so they aren't starving.  Part of the fun of walking on the trail for Linda is that we always see deer in the early morning and at dusk.  Maybe deer management just means they are putting out deer chow and clearing out all the downed limbs so the deer can make their beds more comfortable.  

Linda went out for breakfast to Panara this morning.  She was hoping the fireplace would be going since it was still chilly out.  It wasn't turned on, so she had to sit inside.  She was only disappointed for about 30 seconds because when she got in line, she saw this behind the glass case.

YUM!  A carrot cake muffin!  Since it was a muffin and not a slice of cake, Linda talked herself into getting it since it is healthier, right?  Plus, she planed to get a bagel with a side of cream cheese, which would have probably had the same calories as the muffin.  She was super excited and even more so when she broke it open.

The inside was filled with cream cheese frosting!  This will be a once or twice a month treat.  She could see herself eating one every single day. 

Hanging Up Her Geek Hat

The rest of the numbers are dv7-6b63us

Linda has been tested with all sorts of technical problems lately.  If it's one thing she hates, it's having to deal with computers, phones, cable TV, Xboxes, DVD players and the like.  She feels so helpless when a problem happens and she can't fix it.  All her life she has relied on someone else in the house to do it.  If she could not figure out how to watch a DVD, Taylor was there to show her.  If she was confused on a setting on her camera, Tier could pick it up and figure it out in seconds even if she'd never seen the camera.  Jerry was always the computer guru.  Now, she's stuck with having to either a) call for help! b) try to figure it out for herself or c) ignore it until it's so annoying she starts getting grumpy.  This morning "C" happened.  For some reason, her cursor on the new laptop keeps freezing up.  A lot, like more then two times in a session.  She had mentioned it to someone and they said it could be her anti-virus software.  A little blue square comes up on the screen with a red line across it xing out the cursor. She can still type, but not move the pointer around.  She has to press the restart button to totally shut down the computer and then restart it.  Could it be a key she keeps hitting by accident and not knowing it?  The symbol looks like she is in charge of turning off the cursor, but she can't image what key she could be hitting.  Does anyone have a solution (pretty please?)  She tried googling it and the answers where way to confusing to even attempt. 

Change of Plans

Linda had plans to go to the Basket Ball games tonight.  She was going to rush home from her class, change clothes and then go back out to the game.  Things don't always work out as planned and you have to be able to roll with the punches.  One of her TKD parents did not come to pick up their son.  Linda had to stay with him since obviously she would not leave a little child in front of the building while he waited.. and waited... and waited.  The little boy was very smart and knew his Mom's work number, so Linda called.  "OH.. I'm sorry, a friend was supposed to pick him up.  She should be there any minute."  OK, sometimes people run a few minutes late.  So they waited... and waited some more.  Finally, after 2 more phone calls, the person comes to pick him up 30 minutes late (it's only a 45 minute TKD class).  OK, change of plans.  Instead of BB, she decided to make some dinner.  Since she just bought a giant Costco size bag of frozen Talipa, she was going to try and cook some of that. Her friend told her to be careful of fish raised in China because it was gross. Of course when she looked at her bag, that is where the fish is from.  Once she gets something in her head, she has to make a new rule. (Her no cow, pig, chicken eating rule has lasted over 30 years.)  Linda is going to do some more research on it, but she's thinking most fish out in restaurants come from China since it's cheaper.  There is a good possibility she'll go back to being a lacto-ovo vegetarian.  She does not want to be stressing about having to read every single package of fish. Being total vegetarian is tough since she has a hard time getting protein, but she'll just have to do her best.   The good news for the pets, we got to have Talipa mixed in our food tonight!  All of us gobbled up our dinner in record time.

Linda was a vegan for years.  It shouldn't be too hard.

p.s.  Linda just googled some photos of tilapa. OK, that is the end of fish for her. YUCK! 

Early Spring?

We were best buddies.  I miss him still. 

The weather is supposed to be in the  mid to high 60's tomorrow!  Yay for us!! And it's Tuesday!  That means that Linda has the morning and early afternoon open to walk us.  She is thinking of taking us on a different trail walk.  There is a National Park called Great Falls just 15 minutes from our house.  It's just amazing, but kind of overkill for Chim and I.  Snickers L O V E D it there.  She knows it wasn't legal, but sometimes Linda used to let Snickers off-leash and he would go tearing through the woods chasing deer.  The minute she called for him, he would come bounding back to her.  Man, he had the time of his life at that park.  Linda would never let us off leash in any woods.  A big hawk or fox could get me in a split second.  Chimmie would probably flatten himself into a pancake if Linda took him off leash.  He's literally afraid of everything new.  She could also take us to White's Trail.  That's nearby and much, much smaller. 

Mojito Applesauce

I don't ever remember doing a recipe post, and I'm not going to start now.  Linda likes to cook, but she usually just throws a bunch of stuff together and it turns out tasting OK.  She isn't one to find a recipe, go buy special ingredients and then make it.  Last night after she had her oatmeal for dinner, she was looking for a snack.  It was one of the those times that she kept opening and closing the fridge and food cabinets not finding anything she wanted.  Each time she reopened them, her expectations went down.  Finally she spied a jar of applesauce.  Not perfect, but OK.  Then the canister of Crystal Light Mojito.

Best Crystal Light EVER!

 

What if she sprinkled a little tiny bit of the Crystal Light Mojito powder right into the applesauce?  Worth a try, she could always just throw it out and have plain applesauce.  What!  It was amazing, delicious and is her new favorite treat.  Just use a tiny bit of the powder though, it's very strong.  Also you have to watch the sugar grams in the applesauce.  One serving can have 25 grams of sugar.  She likes it so much that she is going to get some apples and make her own homemade applesauce tomorrow.  It's super easy and she can control the added sugar content.  For some real recipes, go read Megan's blog    www.theredspoonblog.com

Philippians

I know Tierney told me months ago that it was bad blog form to post about how many readers you have and the number of hits you get a month.  Every since I found that out, I've totally stopped writing about it.  I still check every morning though to see how many hits I've had.  Maybe it's due to Linda's past teensy-weensy counting obsession she used to have, but it is very interesting.  The strangest stat is always 5:00 a.m.  There are peaks at 8:00 a.m., Noon and then around 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.  The 5:00 a.m. stat is always strangely the same, withing 2 or 3 hits.  And it's one of the heaviest hours of the entire day.  This always puzzles me.  According to the stats, the majority of the readers are from the USA, followed by the UK; Canada; Russia then the Philippians.  (Spell check changed her spelling to Philippians, so she is keeping it that way.  It would be great if they had blogs in Jesus time.  Can you imagine if there was a blog about Jesus as he went about his way?  Oh wait, there kind of is. )

Linda once read somewhere that bookstores report the Bible is the most stolen book off their shelves.

I bet all those 5:00 a.m. readers are in the same office.  They probably all get into work around the same time, get their coffee and check my blog.  Then they go into the conference room and discuss all the latest updates.  If it's in another part of the US or a different country, I guess it wouldn't be weird at all.  It's just that its always the same number that makes me think it's one group checking the same time.  If you are one of the 5:00 a.m. readers, would you email me and tell me the story. 

chalupa@live.com

Hello? Hello?

Linda was actually second-guessing her decision to buy a new iPhone 4s.  Her contract was up and the old phone was starting to have fits, but she could have just gotten a free phone when she signed the new contract.  At church this morning, she was using the new phone to take notes during the teaching.  By accident, she kept hitting the middle button.  The phone has a feature that talks to you called Siri.  It has real conversations with you.  Like this....  Me:  I'm thinking about Tacos for dinner.  Phone: What about Taco Bell?  Me: No, I want a sit-down restaurant where I can get chips and salsa.  Phone:  Well then go to Don Pablos. (It doesn't matter where you are, the phone has GPS so it knows all the area restaurants.)   OR   Me:  Darn, I forgot to get dog food while I was at Target.  Phone:  I will send you a reminder, anything else you need?   Anyway, during the teaching her thumb kept hitting the button that activates the voice.  It happened not once, but twice!  Tierney eventually grabbed the phone from Linda and turned off the feature.  When she got home from lunch this afternoon, Linda did an online tutorial to learn how to use the phone so it won't happen again.  Wow, the thing
is amazing.  Linda can take my picture with the built in camera and it will automatically show up on her laptop.  She downloaded an app and heard it upload to her phone at once.. and the phone was in another room!  There is even a whole website devoted to crazy Siri questions.

Freezing Fat

Linda was just about to go to bed when she came upon a very interesting internet article on CNN about a brand new way to lose fat.  A chilling new scientific procedure actually freezes the fat off your body.  I don't want to get my hopes up because it's not for pets, just people.  The video shows this suction type of tool that the "Dr." runs on top of your skin.  Some freezing cold water? air? ice? (it didn't specify what was freezing cold) starts blasting away at the fat pockets. You have to let the vacuum thing suck at your fat for a whole hour.  After three treatments, your fat cells are permanently gone. This is actually a quote in the article from the Dr. "Your body gets rid of the dead fat cells naturally without causing any extra bowel movements."  Linda had to reread it three times to make sure it said what she thought it said. Since when do you get rid of fat cells in a bowel movement.  That's news to her.  Anyway, if you want to plunk down $3,600 in cold-hard-cash for the procedure, email me and let me know first hand how it worked.

It would be way cheaper to just pile on some bags of 7-11 ice

Sunday Recap

I want to kiss him RIGHT NOW

It's been a great day at our house. Here is our Sunday recap:  Chimmie and I got to have an adventure with Paul Walker. There were lots of people and dogs on the trail today.  Linda was blessed to hear two amazing teachings at church that spoke to some heart issues shes been having. (OK Linda, whatcha gonna do about it?  Just acknowledge or obey??)   Taylor, Sarah, Christina (Sarah's lil' sister) and Linda all went to lunch together at Olive Garden. A friend gave Linda a $25 gift card, so our bill wasn't even that expensive!  After lunch, Linda bought us each a delicious bone at Target that we've been gnawing on all afternoon.  You know she loves us when she buys real animal ribs for us.  It makes her feel yucky just looking at us chewing them.  She also found the perfect footstool on the clearance aisle at Target.  It is a storage ottoman that has a soft comfy side for her feet and then you flip it over and the other side of the lid is a tray.  She was looking at ones that cost $100's of dollars and this was just $34 on sale.  What else?  (You already know about her mad iPhone skills from the earlier post.)   Lastly, we got a nice email from one of my readers named Jean.  She sounds like a wonderful lady.  Her dog is named Chester.  He is a rescue that was in pretty bad shape when she adopted him, but now he's a happy, healthy 20 lb Dachshund.  Jean loves Chester just like Linda loves me.  Jean didn't have a picture on her computer to send of Chester, so instead.... here is one Sarah took of Noah after their walk on Friday. 

Next Task: Learning the Remote

Lots of cool buttons

Linda tackled another high-tech geek kind of task all by herself today.  Yesterday, she was able to get the contacts moved onto her phone without someone doing it for her. She did have Apple Man walk her though it, but she still had to press the right keys and do all the steps herself.  Today, she noticed that her iPhone 4 and Kia Soul were not friends.  The last phone and the car were best buddies.  You just pressed a button on the steering wheel and said "Call Tierney" and the phone automatically dials.  Then Linda could just talk in the air and hear Tierney just like she was sitting in the car next to her.  She could also answer calls and listen to her music on the iPhone just using the steering wheel.  The Soul was not synced with her new phone and since the car salesman did it at the time she purchased the vehicle, she had no idea what to do.  Linda got out the car owners book and walked through all the steps.  At first, the car kept talking to her in French and Linda had no idea what to do since she speaks zero French.  Then Linda figured out how to switch to English (but only after it got stuck on Spanish) and followed the voice prompts.  Shazam!  The new phone now works perfect with the Kia.  Before long Linda is going to be able to get a part-time job at The Geek Squad.

"Lets see... the red wire goes here, no wait.. I mean the blue wire"

Jean Hall, the first Woman Computer Nerd

He's Sorry

Chimmie is now even more neurotic and weird than usual.  Linda is really hoping its temporary or else he is going to have to go to a doggy psychologist and go on Prozac.   You all know how even blowing leaves or random little kids can shut him down.  If Linda drops a plastic cup on the kitchen floor, he acts like it's a hand grenade about to blow him to smithereens.  The other day a plastic grocery bag was blowing around in the backyard and he would not go off the deck steps.  Now, he is so scared that he won't come out of his bathroom den and when Linda makes him, he is sticking to her side like he's crazy glued and licking her arm without ceasing.  It all started with Linda's bra.

 She has been letting him run free inside the house for short periods of time while she isn't watching him.  Yesterday while she was getting ready to go bowling, she laid her outfit on the bed and went to get in the shower.  When she came out, her bra was on the carpet.  Hmmm, that was strange.  Then she looked up and saw Chimmie on the bed with his ears down, eyes full of fear and he was quivering all over.  She picked up the bra and saw he had chewed it up.  There was even a little blood on the fabric, so the under-wire must have cut his mouth.  She did the Cesar "stare" and pointed her finger at him, but did not even say any words.  He could tell by her body language that Linda was upset.  (It was an expensive VS bra!) She put the bra in his face and said NO.  That is when things really took a turn for the worse.  She put him outside in the doghouse (literally) and finished getting dressed.  When she went to let him inside so she could leave, he would not budge from the very back of the dog house.  (The house is giant Snicker sized and she did not want to crawl on her hands and knees to get him out.) She had to slightly tip the igloo to get him to slide forward.  Can you guess his reaction?  He scrambled to get back inside the doghouse and it made things 100 times worse.  This morning he is still a wreck about the whole incident.  Maybe when Paul Walker comes today he'll snap out if it and be back to his normal neurotic self.   I don't think he'll be chewing anymore bras though. 

"I'm sooooooooo sorry"

Bowling and Burritos

The bowling balls reminded Linda of giant gumballs

Linda had fun with her friends tonight at the bowling ally. She ended up just watching, since her back might have not liked it.  The first game everyone was just warming-up so the scores were pretty low.  By the second game, people were throwing strikes.  After bowling, they went to dinner at one of the local Mexican restaurants.

Steve, Connie, Tasha

Amy, Erin

Tom

Janet

and Linda

Everybody Jump!

This is probably Linda's favorite photo ever taken of Tierney and her friends.  The girls even had random Asian photographers following them all over New York City taking pictures of them during their weekend trip.  I wonder if they will end up on a billboard in Tokyo advertising a new perfume or car.  Linda is going to get it made into an 8x10 and buy a frame.  

Let's Do This to Chip

I'd rather have a melon body than a melon head

Jerry took us out on the longest trail walk today.  It turned out to be even longer than he wanted because parts of the trail were underwater and he had to keep making detours.  I walked just about the entire time.  I'll get these stubborn ounces off by Spring.  Once the weather gets nice and I get my super-short haircut, my slim new body will look amazing.  If I got groomed now, I would look like a melon on four legs.

Best case ever!  It's been dropped 50 times and her phone still looks brand new!

 After classes, Linda had to get a new phone since her screen was freezing and it was doing strange things with the voice mail.  Besides, it was totally full of her work videos and music and she would not have been able to fit the new releases onto it.  Of course nothing went as planned when she tried to merge the stuff from the 3g to the 4s iPhone.  She called a number for Apple support and a wonderful guy walked her through every step.  It was just like he was sitting on the couch with her at her side.  It worked perfectly!  Now she has all her numbers, emails, music and videos on her new phone plus has space for lots more.  She has been researching what iPhone case is best.  Linda has been a huge Ottorbox fan and LOVED her old case.  There are better ones on the market now, so she might buy a cheap-o case in the meantime while she decides which model she'll get.  

Over 30 Pounds of Pets

I am the pack leader.  You will obey me.

The other day Linda weighed herself to see how much she lost during her 24-hour sickness.   Can you really lose 5 pounds in one day?  The second she started drinking and eating, it came back on.  She was so dehydrated, it was just a false-OH MY GOSH I ONLY WISH- kind of weight.  (Don't tell me you never weighed yourself after you've been sick and been a little bit gleeful?)  Since the scale was out of hiding, she decided that all the pets needed to have their weights checked.  I went first.  I'm trusting you not to judge me when I tell you my weight.  Linda thought I was feeling a little tubby of late and she was right.... I am 6.4 pounds!  I need more exercise and less cookies.  Next up, Chimmie.  He acts like Linda is putting him on the rack when she sets him on the scale.  He does not move because he is scared it will do something horrible to him.  He actually lost a pound!  He weighed in at 14.2.  That is still huge for a full blooded Chihuahua with zero percent body fat.  That is so not fair!  Guys always lose weight without trying.  Lastly, Chip Cat had her turn.  She only lets two people in the world pick her up, Linda and Tierney.  When Linda carried her down the hallway, she made these gurgling squeaks in the back of her throat.  It's impossible, but Chip Cat lost weight too!  She was only 9.8 pounds.  At one time she was over 12.  How is it that I'm the only one who got fatter?  

Strong Women and Tired Chihuahuas

I guess Linda isn't as strong as she thinks she is

The decaf coffee Linda had last night just had to be full strength grow-hair-on-your-chest kind of coffee.  Only Cris and Linda got the decaf, and they actually sent the first pot back.  It was so strong that it made the back of Linda's throat dial 911.  The replacement pot was drinkable, but still tasted like a triple-espresso red-eye. (She has no idea what red-eye coffee is, she just hears men who look like they drive 100 miles an hour with one hand on the steering wheel order it at Starbucks.)  Anyway, Linda slept in 10 minute spurts all night.  Combine all the spurts together, and you don't even get a full nap.  The second she would relax enough to start to drift off, her heart would pound and her body jangle (that is the first time I've ever typed that word... jangle..jangle..jangle.)   Since the pets don't always (OK, never) cooperate with Linda's sleep wishes, she had to get up oh-dark-30 to let us outside and feed the almost starved to death Chip Cat.  I've already fallen back to sleep once, Chim is dead asleep now on her lap and Chip Cat is in a food induced coma sleeping it off.  All in all, it's going to be a hard day for Linda to teach her 3 classes (including one where she has to TKD spar with 5-year olds without breaking their little noses. You have to be super alert and have amazing control to do that!) Then she has dinner with Tier and the bowling outing with her friends.  At least Jerry is coming after she leaves to take us on an adventure walk.  When she gets home this afternoon, she might be able to squeeze in a nap. 

"Would you please stop taking my picture when I'm trying to sleep?!"

"I'll bury my head in your robe so I can't see the flash"

Is There a National Carrot Cake Day?

The worlds most perfect dessert. Carrot Cake Cheesecake!

Bummer, no chocolate cake for Linda today.  It's really OK, since it's not her absolute favorite cake. (That would be carrot cake.)  A restaurant Tier went to in NYC has carrot cake cheesecake. If they do go to NYC for a mini-vacation, she will definitely have to include that in one of their stops.  She did meet some of her friends tonight after she watched the babies in the nursery, but it was at Friendly's.  Linda wasn't in an ice cream kind of mood, so she just had decaf coffee.  After she meets Tierney for dinner on Saturday, she might go bowling with the group.  (Or watch bowling depending on how her back feels.)  We love having her home all the time with us, but totally understand that she might want to go out with her friends once in awhile.

(Chimmie is sitting on the love seat crying as he sucks on flat fox.  I think he is whining for his Mommy.  It's the most pitiful, sad sound imaginable.  It kind of breaks Linda's heart when she sees and hears him doing that.  For the World's Biggest Chihuahua, he certainly acts like a newborn puppy.)

Kate Spade... Contact Ruby Woo Immediately

Linda just loves Tierney's blog www.rubywoolovesyou.com.  She is such a better writer than we will ever be.  Some of Linda's guy friends don't read it because it's about fashion.  Men, you want to help your wives or girlfriends pick out their dresses right?  Or you might want ideas for Christmas shopping.  I promise that if you comment on the post and leave your email, she'd be glad to help you with any style tips or gift ideas.  Today's post about Kate Spade was so funny.  If Kate Spade read it, she would probably send Tierney every single dress she mentioned PLUS the little navy ocean liner clutch.  When Tierney writes, it feels like she is in the room with your talking right into your ear.  Plus, she makes Linda just long for the clothes that she writes about.  She makes the dresses come alive and have emotion. The dress somehow makes you irresistible.  You know when you wear that nipped waist, navy and white dress with the full skirt and sweetheart neckline, George Clooney will come running up to you on the street and just have to kiss you!  Tierney needs to be a full time writer for online retailers writing about their clothes for sale. 

Linda wants to empty her savings account so she can buy this for Tierney

Happy National Chocolate Cake Day!

This is a peanut butter chocolate cake she shared with her friend Laura and son Emmitt.  There were no leftovers. Look at the fork Em is holding next to the cake.  It was GIANT.

I know chocolate is very toxic to pets, but not to Linda!  Since today is National Chocolate Cake Day, she is going to eat a big, fat, gooey slice of chocolate cake as a treat.  If she is going to spend that many calories on eating such a rich dessert, it's got to be the best!  A friend of hers owns a restaurant called The Don's.  They get their cakes straight from some famous place in NYC. She's had their cake before and it taste awesome.  That will definitely be an option.  Chili's also has a chocolate lava cake that would be a great choice.  The cake in the above photo is from a place called Champs. I told her since it's a national holiday, the calories won't count so just eat up guilt free!!

Crazy Wind

Tier got worried when she read my post this morning.  Don't worry, Linda will not throw away your poster.  It's been hanging there for years waiting for you, a few more weeks won't drive her crazy. Although now that she is using your old room for the den, the big faces staring at her does kind of scare her when she first walks in. She named the boy Tristin and the girl Zoe.  

It is so incredibly windy right now.  The flag pole across the street from our house is bending over.  Linda took a picture of it, but you really can't tell how windy it is.  The wind actually made her car alarm go off a little while ago!  We can't take our walk now because I will be blown away.  I've already played Toto once, I don't need to do it again! 

 Linda was sitting in the living room a few minutes ago talking on the phone.  She looked across the room at her brown chair.  It's a nice chair, it even reclines.  No pets are allowed up on the living room furniture.  There is a loud can full of coins that she shakes at us if we get near it.  As she sat there a little longer, she noticed something else.

 The missing baby giraffe! (1/24/12)  Noah must have stuck it in the chair before he left last time he was here!  I guess she did not see it while she was cleaning since it was kind of camouflaged until you got close.  All this time she thought it was chewed up and in Chimmie's belly (or backyard in piles at this point!) I guess Noah was putting it to bed.  

Smoldering Looks

Wow, did it pour rain last night!  We are so glad it wasn't cold enough for it to be snow or we would be shut-in most of the day until Linda could shovel us out.  She was worried how she was going to get us to go outside for our morning ritual since we hate getting wet.  It seemed the very minute Chimmie started whining to go out, the rain eased up.  By the time Linda got her slippers and robe on, the rain stopped!  She made me get up too just in case it started up again and I would have been stuck using an inside pad (which I'm proud to announce I don't need to ever use anymore!) 

Ignore the smoldering poster (and pink walls.)  Tierney used to work there and they were throwing it out. Linda is waiting for her to come and pick it up. 

I forgot to mention that we added a new piece to the new den.  It's a really soft, comfy chair that Linda bought almost 30 years ago.  While they were moving it, the price tag was still under the cushion.  It was $250 which at the time was probably a whole weeks pay!  The print is ugly (what was she thinking?) so she is going to buy a slipcover at Target this weekend.  It has been downstairs the entire time she's lived in this house.  Honestly, it's probably been sat on less than 30 times in it's whole life, so it's practically new.  Now with our new awesome TV, we can have 2 people over to watch a movie, or even a few more if they don't mind sitting on the floor.  The little Noah loveseat is in the old den.  She is fixing that up as his new playroom.  She is going to look for a nice toy box.  Right now, all his toys are in laundry baskets or cardboard boxes and it looks tacky. 

It's Thursday

Linda can't remember what he was swinging around, but it was making him scream in glee!

 

Reaching for things he probably shouldn't be

Chimmie trying to get him to play

Sorry there weren't any Noah photos earlier today.  Just to be on the safe side in case Linda might have been contagious, Gretel took Noah somewhere else.  Instead, these are shots from a few weeks ago.  More people visit my blog on Thursday than any other day of the week. I know it's only because of the new Noah photos.  Linda is convinced now that she must have had food poisoning yesterday and not the flu.  She has never been so sick and recovered so fast.  By noon today, she felt amazing and was hungry for real food.  Linda was even able to teach her Body Pump class this evening without feeling woozy or shaky.  After class she visited a friend from church who had surgery.  She didn't have time to make a dinner for Chrissy's family since she was coming right from the gym, so instead Boston Market did the cooking, complete with a dozen brownies.  I hope her family likes it.  Tomorrow is a busy day for Linda, but she promised us we would get back on our walking schedule before she leaves for her first class.  Hopefully this weekend we will have time to go to a new restaurant near us. There is a Panera Bread that just opened.  Linda was so excited to see they had outside seating with comfy chairs AND a fireplace!  She loves being able to bring me to places that have nice outside seating. The fireplace is a huge bonus. 

You'll have to use your imagination that Linda and I sitting are sitting by the fire. When we go, she is going to ask someone to take our picture.

When Moose Attack

There have been a few times over the years that Linda has had to protect me during our walks from a scary dog running free.  There is one particular dog about 8 houses away that comes busting out of the unlocked screen door to get me.  Linda used her mad-dog controlling skills and flipped him on his side and held him down until the owner came running out.  This has happened more than once.  Another time, a big Pit Bull mix actually came after her and Sheba when she was a newborn.  That time she lifted the pup over her head and the crazy dog grabbed on to the back of her jeans.  (Good thing they were baggy!)  Strangers came to her rescue that time.  None of her rescue attempts compare with what a 100 pound, 85 year-old woman did to save her husband.  She was waiting in the pickup truck as her husband was rounding up their dogs after their run.  She heard all the dogs barking like crazy, and got out of the truck to see what was going on.  A giant moose looked like it was stamping to death one of the dogs.  She grabbed a shovel from the truck and ran to save the animal.  As she got closer, she saw it was her husband being killed.  That 85-year old lady whacked the heck out of the moose and even one of the dogs jumped in to help.  Her husband survived, and will be fine, but he got pretty banged up.  I love this story and don't even feel a little bad for the moose. 

NYC Recap

Tier, Lindsay and Dawn

Courtney, Brook and Tier

Tierney had a wonderful trip to NYC for her 25th birthday.  As I've stated before, every single one of Tierney's friends is beautiful or handsome.  Whenever they go anywhere, I'm sure strangers think it's a group of supermodels.  When they did her birthday dinner last year in a private room at a fancy restaurant (check out the post on 1/23/11), people must have thought it was a business meeting of the next cast of 90210. (I don't know that show, except that everyone on it is stunning in the commercials.)  The best thing about Tier's friends is that they are even more beautiful on the inside.  

It's really inexpensive to take the train to New York.  Now that Tierney is a pro at getting around and knows the cool places to go, Linda wants to plan a mother-daughter trip in the spring!  UPDATE:  To read Tier's version of the trip and see more photos, go to her blog www.rubywoolovesyou.com

Back in the Land of the Living

He's been "killing" his toys since the day he came to live with us.

The thing about being so super sick is that when you are better, you realize just how much you take your health for granted.  Linda pushes her body day in and day out, hardly resting and expecting it to function perfectly without any slowdown.  Yesterday, she was forced to rest.  She slept almost 20 hours total, only getting out of bed for necessities.  Towards the evening hours, she felt well enough to finally eat something and take a hot bath.  This morning, she feels 99%.  Her back is aching from being in bed so much, but that should fade as she starts moving more. Also, she wants to apologize for all the missed calls and texts from friends seeing how she was feeling.  She is thankful for the offers of food and ginger ale (and prayer!).  She turned off her phone ringer and text alerts so she would not be woken up.  Hopefully, Gretel will still be bringing Noah, but she might have found someone else since Linda wasn't sure she would be up to running after him today.  Chimmie is jumping out of his fur from not being walked for over 2 days.  Linda lost her temper with him yesterday when he kept shoving wet, sloppy toys up in her face when she was trying to sip her ginger ale without getting sick.  She did the Cesar "bite" to his neck (a firm bite using your hand on their neck, simulating a pack-leaders correction) a little too hard.  He yipped and went flying off the couch like she tasered him.  It's not too cold to walk today, but it does look like rain.  He needs to be exercised big time.

Getting Better

Yes, Please.

Things have settled down in Linda's insides and she is just feeling weak, tired (What?  She has been in bed dozing all day long) and achy.  Getting up to walk down the hall to let us in the house is a trial.  Her wonderful friend Carol bought over a case of ginger ale and left it on the front stoop.  It's the only thing that Linda has been able to drink that has not come back up.  She is actually feeling hungry now, but fish.. veggies.. cheese...are not sounding good.  I'm sure much of the shakiness she is feeling is from lack of nutrition.  For some reason, a plain dry bagel toasted is the only thing she can think of.  Does she dare get in the car and try to drive to Dunkin' Donuts to get a bagel from the drive-thru?  UPDATE: Since Linda could not walk around the house without bumping into things, she didn't think driving was such a good idea.  Instead, a bowl of plain oatmeal was perfect.  She is praying she is totally well tomorrow for Noah Day!

This Better be a 24 Hour Flu

Linda has been in bed all day super sick.  From 12-5 a.m. last night, she curled up on the floor of the bathroom so she would not make a mess if she missed the bucket or did not make it in time.  She finally fell asleep around 7:30 am, but had to keep waking up to see if all her classes were covered by subs.  The worst is not being able to eat or drink.  She's got a headache, is dizzy and is seeing little floaters in front of her eyes. Plus her body aches like someone beat her with a barbell.  Thankfully, it's a nice enough day that we have been able to stay in the backyard.  When she lets us in for little breaks, Chimmie is all up in her face, trying to lick her and whining.  I know better and just stay on the floor or end of the bed. 

Time for Bed

Noah LOVES the Eureka!

We didn't get a walk tonight because Jerry got stuck in a late meeting.  Linda was just too tired to walk us after her classes.  She warmed up a slice of leftover pizza for dinner and is now about to get in the bath to soak her sore muscles then go right to bed.  The hardest part  of her work week is from 4:30 Tuesday until 4:30 Wednesday.  She teaches 8 classes in just 24 hours.  It's a good thing Thursday is an easy day, only 1 class and she gets to recover with some Noah time.  Only one more day until he comes over!