Garden

Today I started getting things ready for my garden. I actually bought the garden frame (4 ft by 6 ft) that we will put in the back yard and I planted some of my seeds in starter pots. I planted Roma tomatoes, snow peas, hot peppers, green beans, and an assortment of herbs. I would still like to do some bell peppers, but didn't have more pots or any seeds for those. I enjoyed being out there and putting everything together. Nash was my little helper unfortunately, his idea of helping meant running off with my seed packets.

Back to Work

Today I go back to work. I have been home sick for a couple of days, and today I need to go back. I am not completely well, but I am feeling somewhat better. Unfortunately, I think I am losing my voice now. Hubby seems thrilled at the possibility, but I am not.

Olympics

We have been watching the Olympics off and on this year, but I haven't been as glued to them as much as we have in the past. The one event that we watched the most was speed skating. I am really impressed with J.R. Celski and how he came back from such a horrible injury; however, I didn't think he should have been disqualified in his last race.

What have you been watching most on the Olympics?

Vibram FiveFingers Footwear

I have been hearing and reading that walking barefoot is a persons most natural walking posture and is therefore not as harsh on your body (knees and back specifically). There is a company out there that makes shoes that replicate the feeling of walking barefoot; they are called Vibram FiveFingers Footwear. Having knees that ache all the time and my back that gets spasms really easy, I thought I would give them a try. It said on line that a few stores in Austin carried them, so I went looking for a pair. They are apparently very popular even though they are somewhat expensive (starting at $75). No stores in Austin had any in stock in my size and had no idea when they would be getting more. In fact, they had very little inventory of these shoes and are having a hard time getting and keeping them since they are so popular. I could order them online, but if I have the sizing wrong then I have the problem of returning and guessing at the size again. I would prefer to try them on in a store so I am sure to get the right size.

Since that was a bust, at least for now, I decided to do my own experiment to see if walking barefoot really would make a difference. Every day for 2 weeks as soon as I got home I took off my shoes and walked barefoot. I used a pair of socks, but no shoes of any kind including house shoes. I was somewhat skeptical, thinking that I would not be able to tell a difference, but I could definitely tell a difference. At work I wear shoes, if course, and by the end of the work day my knees and back are really bothering me. Within a couple of hours of being at home and walking without shoes, I can feel the pain begin to ease. Taking in to consideration that the pain could also be from the stress of work, I tried this on the weekends as well. We typically go out running errands on Saturday's which usually takes around 3-5 hours. By the time we come home, my back and knees are really hurting. After walking around barefoot for a couple of hours, the pain begins to ease.

Having completed my own very informal and unscientific experiment, I am convinced that walking barefoot is not as harsh on your knees and back. Now I just need to find a pair of size 39 women's "sprint" shoe and I am set.

Dryer Buzzer

Buzzers and door bells drive Riley crazy. When she hears one, even if on TV, she starts barking and it takes forever to get her to calm down. It is so bad that our friends know to knock on the door and not use the door bell and I have turned the buzzer on the dryer off. We have tried various training techniques with her and it only works while you are doing the training. Today, I decided to turn the buzzer back on to the dryer. Because the buzzer doesn't go off on the dryer, I get sidetracked and forget that I have stuff in there to be folded. The first load is drying now, so I hope she doesn't go nuts when the timer goes off.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone is having the kind of Valentine's Day they wanted. I am having a really good day. I got to sleep until 7:30 which normally doesn't happen. I got up to let the dogs out to potty and then went back to bed until 10. We watched a movie, The Couples Retreat, while we ate breakfast and then we did some yard work since the weather was so beautiful. Now, I plan to just relax for the rest of the day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dogtown

Last night we watched a show called Dogtown. Sometimes this show gets sad because of the way some of the animals are treated before they are rescued by Dogtown, but last nights show made me really angry. This episode was about several of the dogs that were rescued from Michael Vick's home after the dog fighting ring was discovered. These were some of the dogs that had more extensive behavior problems. One dog, Cherry, was so shy and timid that he constantly walked in a crouched position. They believed he may have been used as a bait dog for the other dogs to "practice" on. But the one that really got to me was a female named Georgia. She seemed to have a really good demeanor around people, but was dog and food aggressive. They noticed that all of her teeth were missing and they believed they had broken off during fights. When they took x-rays of her mouth, they realized that they had not been broken off, but had actually been professionally removed. The work was so clean, they believe that the teeth could only have been removed by vet. Apparently this is done in some of the "champion" females so they can force breed them and the removal of the teeth prevents them from hurting the male dogs. I was so infuriated by this. How can someone do this to a dog - or any animal? Especially a vet! After being taken out of that environment, she was happy, loved snuggling with stuffed animals, and just wanted someone to show her affection. I don't believe there is any punishment severe enough for people who participate in dog fighting.

Allergies

Today my allergies are in overdrive. I woke up at 2:30am coughing, so I drank some water and put a cough drop in my mouth to sleep. About an hour later I woke up and my mouth was so dry the cough drop was stuck to the roof of my mouth. I went ahead and headed to work, but felt like crap. I only lasted 1/2 day before I started running a fever and headed home. I have been struggling with allergies for about 3 weeks now, but just as I start to feel better, something happens and they get out of control again. Today my ears really started hurting and that combined with the fever usually means an ear infection is coming. I hope not, I hate those. I am being good and using my ear drops regularly to try and prevent an ear infection, but right now I really just want to curl up in a ball and sleep.

Seizures

My oldest dog, Abbie, takes medication twice a day for seizures. This morning I woke up to one of our other dogs, Riley, barking in an unusual bark. When I got to the room where they were, Abbie was having one of her seizures. It was a small one, thankfully, but it was followed by 3 more small ones within about an hour and a half period of time. I feel so badly for her when she has them; she has a look on her face that is heartbreaking. She looks lost and scared. When she has them, we just hold her and talk to her until she comes out of it. Some people say that dogs don't remember the seizures after they have them. I don't know if it is true or not, but I hope it is.

Filing

My filing at home is out of control. I have a nice filing system for bills, etc, but I really dislike filing and it shows. I am about 2 months behind and the stack on my desk is taking over - thankfully I have 2 desks. I need to go through all of it before I can get stuff ready to file my taxes. My goal is to get it done by this weekend.

Blah

Today I had the day off and between a sinus headache and the weather, I really feel blah. I have had a sinus headache for several days now. The weather has been keeping my allergies all stirred up. The today it has been very overcast and rainy all day, so my energy level is at rock bottom.

Red Robin

Today we went in to town in hopes to find me some Vibram Five Fingers shoes and to have some lunch. The shoes were a bust. The store only had one pair left and they weren't my size. We did a couple of other things and then headed to Red Robin for a juicy burger. As we were pulling in to the strip center, we noticed that their parking lot looked really empty. That isn't normal as they always seem to be busy unless you are the first customer there. As we pulled around front, we noticed there were absolutely no cars in the parking lot and there was a note on the door. The note said that due to their closing, the private party that had been booked there has moved to a new location. Our favorite burger place closed? Are you kidding me? Hubby and I just sat there saying "wow" to each other for a few minutes before it really sank in. Our Red Robin location actually closed it's doors. Boo hoo.

Back Spasms

I have been having back spasms for several days now. I usually get them when I am really tired or stressed, but I am not any more tired or stressed than usual. I noticed my neck was sore after laying wrong on the sofa over the weekend and then my back started having spasms after that. They are not bad enough that they are preventing me from doing anything, but they are just annoying.

Ingrown Toenail

I took hubby to the doctor today to have an ingrown toenail removed. They let me stay in the room and watch. It was really fast and I had no idea how much nail grows under the skin. When I saw him pull out the pieces (about 1/2 the size of a dime on each side), I was amazed. Then they put this stuff inside his toe to kill the root of the nail. Watching them put that stuff in was wild. Thankfully hubby's toe was numb because it was giving me goosebumps watching that part. He has a list of post op instructions and the biggest one is staying off of the foot for a day and not letting it get bumped or banged for a couple of weeks. Our lab mix likes to walk on your feet, so we are definitely going to have to keep an eye on her.