Updates

I haven't blogged in a while, possibly because it's been hard to put a coherent thought together. There's so much going on, though! I figured I'd do little snippets of all the random things.

• First, and the most exciting to me because it makes day to day life much happier: Lily is a grown up dog now! She's started exhibiting much more mature behavior, and she is more interested in loves than in things like play and running around. I'm pretty sure food is still more important to her than loves, but with her that seems forever hardwired. She is being much more sensitive to the people in the house, and when I let her out of her crate in the morning she asks for attention for a few minutes before she goes outside. From a dog that has incontinence issues, that's a big deal! She also runs out into the yard and herds Marcy/Bunny in when she is going too slow or gets lost, which is really nice for me at night when I don't want to do it myself. Oh yeah, and she's filled out! Now I can take her out of the house without getting those sideways glances from people who assume she is not being fed because her little ribs are sticking out.
  
• Cosmo is a MENACE. He has decided to take after his mother and be the uber watch dog! He's so vigilant it is almost driving me nuts. He barks when he sees his reflection in the windows, he barks when Jeff comes in the house, he barks when we have our friends over (the same friends we have over every... single... weekend... and he gets mouthy with me when he wants something. Yes, he has learned to make grumbly mouth noises. There is also a squirrel in our backyard who has figured out what fun it is to run back and forth past the floor to ceiling windows and torment the Corgi. He's still my boy (OK, make that Quinn's boy so I don't get in trouble) but sometimes I want to pick him up and shake him a bit :) Once he's going I just have to try to out yell him to get him to stop. Oh, and he has also become very much the herding breed. He likes to have us all together, or at least be able to see everyone. Otherwise he mopes. Jeff has been spending a lot of time working out of town, and Cosmo gets thrilled when he comes home and lays on his feet. It's so cute.
• I went to the ER after my car accident and decided that nobody will do anything for you when you're pregnant. The doctor didn't even examine me, even though I was complaining of horrible back pain and headaches. She pretty much said "Sucks for you, take some tylenol" and then asked me to buckle my shoes faster because they needed my room. I did get to hear the baby's heartbeat, though, which was awesome! It is really good that the baby is first when it comes to medical care, but seriously, I have real pain, and constant headaches that border on migraines with ear aches on the side are not OK. Anyway, after hearing the heartbeat for the first time, I can't wait for my first doctor appt. We should be able to hear it more, and also find out of it's a boy or girl. That will be a whole blog of its own once I know.
• So, my back still hurts horribly, as does my head. I've been going to a chiropractor and that gives me pretty instant relief once they adjust me, but as the day wears on it just gets bad again. My headache comes back, my ears are in pain. My back feels like it's burning. I really hope it starts to go away. I like to lay on the couch a lot because it conforms to my back and my back will pop all over the place after I've been laying there a while. It feels really good to have it pop. It also feels great to ice it. Heat, not so much. I wasn't a big fan of the chiropractor idea when I got referred there originally, but they gave me a very thorough examination and wrote up a report on my injuries, which I thought was very important in the case of an accident. Plus that seems to be the only place I can get treatment while pregnant. My hippy side somewhat enjoys going there. The docs are very cool and realistic about things. I even got a referral to the OB that the chiropractor couple who runs the clinic used. I guess she does things all naturally, doesn't induce, and tries to keep medical interventions out unless they are totally needed. All in a hospital setting. That's exactly what I was wanting, but was unsure how to find it in such a procedure happy city, so I am going to call her in the next couple days and see if I can get in for an appointment. So even if my back bothers me horribly all day every day, something good may have come from the accident.

That's about it for now. Time to get back to work.

Oops, I Did It Again (got rear ended, that is)

The car really doesn't look bad, which is nice. I am going to take it to the body shop and make sure, though, because the last time I got rear ended it looked fine like this, but the cushy accident buffer thing inside the bumper had been damaged and needed replacement. I think it is really hard to dent the bumper of a Focus.

I'm seriously having an eventful week. I was on my way to a meeting yesterday, and while sitting at a stop sign waiting to turn, I got rear ended! At first it felt like someone hit me REALLY hard with a baseball bat right on my lower back/upper butt area, and after that my car moved and the crunch registered in my brain. Then you have that "Uuuuuuuuuugh, I just got hit" moment. Of course I looked back, and it's never the little old man in the Lexus that hits you... it has to be a nasty stripped down Uhaul truck with a driver and passengers of questionable US residency. I would say welcome to Texas, but something similar happened to me in Washington. It just seems to be my luck.

I feel fine minus the horribly sore upper back and arm I woke up with this morning. My back is actually burning. I'll be heading to the doctor here soon to get things checked out. My mom had chronic back pain her whole life due to an auto accident, so I never mess around with back pain now. It didn't register that they hit me very hard, but they must have because I got an insta-headache after the accident, and their whole front end was bashed in and fluids were leaking out. My lovely little Focus did really well, as they always seem to do in crashes. I'm sure it's cool bumper impact thingy probably needs to be replaced like it did last time I got rear ended, but that thing seriously takes a beating for you.

For those who think I am a bad driver... again, just sitting at a stop sign. I swear I have magnetic bumpers. Every time this happens to me it's my reminder that instead of coveting a cute little sports car, I probably really do need a Subaru Forester with a 5 star crash rating. I might also want to see if I can get customized armor plating put on the car.

Drip Drop, the Horrible Leak

My water spot: when I woke up it was the size of a nickel, and this is what happened over the course of 2 hours!

Yesterday morning I woke up to two things. The first was a dog puking Styrofoam. Yuck. The second was a great rain and thunderstorm, then a fast water dropping sound immediately over my head. The sound was so loud it was easy to spot the action, where a small discoloration was rapidly forming on the ceiling.

Even coming from one of the wettest of all the United States, I had never experienced a leaky roof before. Having seen lots of water damage in pictures of Houston homes while we were looking through the real estate listings, however, this was my first suspicion. I got up on the arm of the couch to feel the spot, and sure enough, my growing spot was wet. Arg!

I sent Jeff a text at work and told him about my dilemma, and he told me to go up in the attic and put a bucket under the spot. Now, I don't do attics, crawl spaces, or anything out of the immediate living area of the house. In Texas I don't even do garages, because that is where the bugs live. So I was absolutely horrified by this idea. The spot was getting really big, though (and Jeff was getting kind of annoyed that I was willing to let our ceiling cave in rather than gut up and brave the attic while he was way too far out of town to come home and deal with it) so I got my arse up there with a flashlight, and Quinn followed me, probably afraid I was going to fall through the ceiling because I am so clumsy.

We didn't find the water source we were looking for, but Quinn did spot another leak just above the garage. A BIG one! We kept looking and looking for a drip coming over our spot in the living room, though, and could not find it to save our lives. It might have also had something to do with the fact that we only got about 5 feet into the attic and then didn't know where to walk because all the supposed beams you are supposed to walk on were covered with insulation. So we were kind of perched in the middle with the flashlight trying to check it out, while our lungs slowly closed because insulation is totally TOXIC! The baby is probably going to be born with respiratory disease now.

Anyway, feeling fairly useless I came back down to check out my ever growing water spot in the living room, and remembered that Jeff's dad had the week off work. Jeff called the house and within a few minutes Howard was on his way over. Howard to the rescue! He's pretty handy at everything, so I was really glad he was able and willing to come out at 8am on his day off work!

Howard showed up with a couple ladders, a bunch of buckets and some roof putty stuff. Side note- this is why guy relatives who are dad/grandpa age are absolutely the best... who else would have things like roof putty on hand, seriously? Certainly not most of the guys my age, who would show up and stand in the middle of the attic as baffled as I am. It reminds me of the time I moved into my old house and the bathtub wasn't draining properly, and my Uncle Jerry showed up with his tools, took my bathtub apart, and fixed it. How they learn to do this stuff, I have no clue, but they have so many darned tricks up their sleeves it's amazing. Now back to our story...

Howard looked at the spot, then checked the other side of the wall (not something I had thought to do) and there was another spot where it was coming through there, as well. He went up in the attic while I banged on the area he was looking for with a curtain rod, and he found it. Turns out the challenged former owners (probably the same people who put up 3 layers of wallpaper and then painted over it, thus destroying the kitchen walls) had nailed up a board over the spot that was leaking. He thought it looked like it had leaked before, and apparently this was part of their solution to fix it. So water was coming in at the top of the board and then dripping down to the bottom (it's slanted since it's at the top of the roof) and into our living room! It was impossible to fix without going on the roof, and it was way too wet to try that, so he got a bucket under it and our ceiling was saved. Thank goodness! Now Jeff and I just have to go up on the roof and patch our couple of leaky spots.

I am slightly irritated with our home inspector. Why he did not notice the leaks, particularly when there was a weird board nailed to the roof of the house, I have no idea.

Belly Rubbins, Birthdays and Fluff

Thank goodness my friend Rachell has two arms, because she had 2 tummies begging for rubbins last night! Look at the face Bunny is making! I wish I had a larger picture, but my cell phone was the only camera close by.

We had Jeff's birthday party last night, which was a lumpia/cheesecake party. I think he had a good time- all his guy friends came over and within about 10 minutes they had gun parts all over the kitchen table and were tinkering. I swear I married an old man sometimes, because I am pretty sure only old men "tinker." I forgot to put the lid on the Bosche mixer and when I turned it on carrots and celery from the lumpia mix exploded all over us and the kitchen. Bunny and Cosmo helped with the cleanup on that until they got sick of veggies and told me the broom and I were on our own. Jeff had party poppers on his cheesecake so there were some other explosives, as well (which he always enjoys). Nobody left until 1am, so all in all I think it was a good night (except for those of us who were really tired).

I swear I am going to lose either Lily or Lucky to their own stupidity. Bunny gets a pillow at night to sleep on (because the other dogs ate her bed) and I leave her, Cosmo and Bud out for the night while crating Lily and Lucky. Well, this morning I forgot to pick up the pillow before letting Lily and Lucky out (still delerious from last night apparently) and woke up at 3pm to Lucky coughing and hacking on pillow inards. Last time they ate a pillow one of them puked up the pillow fuzz and it was covered in bile. Don't most normal dogs just destroy the pillow, but not actually consume it? Why can't these dogs have a learning curve?! Apparently I just have to perfectly train myself not to EVER forget the pillow even when I am delerious, because I cannot afford the vet bill for having foam extracted from some idiot's pipes.

The Lucky Turtle

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/32894066/ns/today-today_pets/?GT1=43001

Sometimes I just love stories that are in the news. What a great vet to be so industrious and care enough to figure out a solution for this turtle, and what awesome owners to recognize an animal with a will to survive and have it done!

Do I Look Like a Corgi?

So Quinn just asked me if I need him to brush out my "undercoat" because my hair is getting a little gray.

He says he can tell, because I am also "a little short."

Do I look like a Corgi!?

Bah. Teenagers.

Great Recipe!

Everyone who knows me knows that I cannot cook. Sometimes I feel inspired to seek out new recipes, though- usually when I am craving something or when Jeff is out of town (or both). So tonight I found the recipe for Olive garden's Five Cheese Ziti Al Forno, which I looooooooove. It came out Ah-maaaaaaaaay-zing! Here is the link:

www.recipelink.com/mf/14/21891

Just so you know, though, a pound of pasta makes A LOT. We're going to be eating baked ziti for the next 2 weeks if it keeps that long.

Now if only I could get the breadstick recipe I'd be set.

I'd take a picture but Quinn says that is past ridiculous and won't let me. I tried to convince him that blogs are nothing without pictures. He's such a teenager. All about image, and sadly, I am NOT cool. I have guilt and remorse over my teenager years almost every day now... my poor mom. I seem to recall her being stupid until I was about 21. Please tell me boys grow out of it sooner.

Anyway, try to recipe! It's GOOD!

Doing Stuff

I'm on a quest to be a little more active, since I figure my 16-17 hours of sleep per day are probably not doing me as much good as I feel like they are. I'm really well rested when I wake up, but I'm getting really out of shape, and have been having tons of trouble breathing. I'll wake up in the middle of the night extremely short of breath, and if I don't sleep with my head on 2 pillows I will stop breathing (ok this is probably an exaggeration, but it FEELS like it and it wakes me up in a panic) altogether.

Last night I decided to mow the lawn, after about 3 months of letting it go because it was too hot. I'm sure the neighbors are thrilled, and I know the dogs are, because they really frolicked last night and this morning. It feels really good to actually get something accomplished! In case anyone is wondering, yes,... I do have a husband... but mowing the lawn is my job because I love it. It's totally theraputic. I like to sing show tunes and think deep thoughts while I mow :) I'll mow the lawn until I can't anymore, or until I am so pregnant that Jeff starts looking like a jerk to the rest of the neighborhood for letting his pregnant wife mow the lawn! Then I will let him mow the front, and I will probably still mow the back.

My other goal is to take a walk each morning, rather than coming home from dropping Quinn at school and going straight back to bed for a nap. When I take walks I like to get the dogs out with me for a little bonding time. Bud is my usual partner of choice, because he is a good walker, and he also doesn't get as much time with us because Lucky tries to eat him (the boys alternate crate time vs. family time because they can't get along). So it's something special I can do for him. Well, I must be in worse shape than I thought, because Bud was way too fast for me this morning! We went about 4 blocks and I circled home to grab Cosmo. Cosmo is much more my speed! Of course the fact that I took Cosmo made Bunny mope. So I will have to put her in the car and take her to pick up Quinn from school today. She doesn't really understand that she would never be able to make it a block walking on pavement (but she is NOT satisfied when I take her 10 feet down the sidewalk and then turn back, either). I wonder how she would feel about a wagon- it would probably piss her off.

Spying on the Neighbors

I don't typically spy on my neighbors, but today it could not be helped. There in the middle of the driveway across the street, our neighbor was covering his entire minivan with brown paper and packing tape.

I tried to speculate on what he might be doing.

Shipping his car via the USPS?

Just got a new job with Fedex and needed practice wrapping LARGE objects?

One of those crazy spirit things for his kids' school (though once I saw he was also taping the windows and license plate I realized he wasn't driving it anywhere)?

I almost went out to ask, but then the neighbor who thinks I am weird got out the door before me.

So I watched.

And (shamefully) snapped a picture!

Then I did what anyone would do and went outside to tinker on the lawn mower so I could get a closer look.

Turns out he was touching up his paint job with a can of spray paint.

So my neighbor has earned a spot on the blog.

Weird Texans!!!

My Interior Design Bug

Yesterday I had to go get a tire for my car, and decided to take advantage of the cute shopping center right across from the tire store rather than sit and inhale rubber fumes while waiting for my car. Oh yeah, not to mention I was totally Texas-ed out sitting there. I was in line behind a skanky blond with a hideous accent, waiting for a Dodge RAM bigger than her hairdo (if that is possible) and an orange self tanner wanna be body builder 40 something with shorts cinched up so tight by his Texas belt that I could see his panty line (and we are talking only 3/4 cheek coverage, friends). Not pretty!

Back to the market...

I went to this store called Kirkland's and they have a ton of cool stuff. I stumbled on cool metal animal thingies that hang on the wall! At first I thought they would be awesome for the entry, and then I instantly decided no... baby room! I didn't buy them, but they are on my list. They have a zebra, a giraffe, a lion and an elephant. The baby's room is going to be a kiddie jungle theme. Either tan walls with light green accents or light green walls with tan accents. I might even stencil the names of the animals underneath so that the baby can get smart and learn to read (am I getting ahead of myself?).

I've been really upset about parting with my blood red workout/music room, but this will be a design I can live with. Of course the kid has to love animals, so what better way to start?