One Happy Dog Speaks

Wow. My husband went to work and I am home with the kids. I have been doing laundry, helping with homework, running them to Martial Arts, working with the dog, helping the kids work with the dog, doing bills and more. I see why people start doing drugs or alcohol. I ‘do’ tea and chocolate. Those are my downfalls… when I’m stressed, I can eat them without being hungry. Sadly they don’t have drug rehab treatment centers for chocoholics… Actually what I need is a center for learning better self-control when stressed. I have been trying to change the way I eat and have done… ok. But some weeks are much harder than others. Particularly when I’m tired. Ahhh… we all have something. Life is still good… I have a roof, an education, a job and a wonderful family (well most of the time). Yep, life is still good.

Some weeks I look forward to the weekend where I can get some sleep. No boys waking up from school stress, friend stress… and some weekends I’m wrong. My son was up for over an 1 1/2 hours last night. I could scream. Though I could see me having this sense of humor today:

Yaa, I am ready to drop on the floor and fall asleep… but at my age, I wouldn’t be able to get back up when I woke up. Never realized how much arthritis could bring you down and keep you there… GRIN. Yaa, I’m careful if I get on the floor for any length of time.

Every so often we walk the dog at night and go down a particular road that has lighting down the driveway. It makes me crazy. Why? Because one of the lights blink. And it varies. No rhyme or reason. Ugh. I think my neighbor needs to go get some fx luminaire landscape path lights that last longer and won’t randomly blink. I certainly would appreciate it. Then again, it might not bother the neighbor… I remember as I kid I loved some christmas lights that blinked randomly. I look back now and wonder why I loved it so much. Just how life changes as we evolve… the question is which way are we evolving?

If stress wasn’t enough… I went over the handlebars of my youngest’s bike last night. I was biking with the dog and needed to slow down. The problem was that it went from slowing down to a complete stop… and the stop happened with the FRONT breaks not the back. In fact, I noticed this morning that his water bottle holder had gotten bent back towards the bike:

Yep, that black u-shaped object is suppose to be upright. oh well… My arm, neck and head are hurting this morning. My arm and head more than the neck. I think a good massage would fix the neck and head. Might have to call my neighbor and schedule one for next week. Seriously too old for this kind of stuff.

I have been going through bouts of the blues because I have been stressed about losing my job. They want someone full time and I am not ready for that yet. My boys are still in elementary school. Understand, I work because I can and I need the mental stimulation. Still, when I went through my divorce 15 years ago, I was doing Tai Chi and yoga and it cut down on my stress greatly. I am wondering if I should go get a yoga blanket… I saw this site http://www.yogaaccessories.com yoga blanket had some. Get one and then start going outside and learn to stretch and meditate again. Between the para-menopausal and the stress… I need something.

After talking to the breeder, I decided to break down and buy the training DVD they suggested. It has certainly helped stop him pulling on his leash on a walk. Sooooo, I decided to go to the next level, and teach him down. Some background may be necessary… he knows the commands: down, sit, stay and come. He is not good at them but he knows them… I put on the leash and collar. Got him set up in the living room to work with him and he grabbed the leash. Sigh. Just for fun, I told him down. He went straight down. Never hesitated. Gave him lots of praise and pets and then tried it again. Got him to drop the leash… as soon as I walked him a foot… I turned around to give the command and … yep… he had the leash again. Sigh. ‘Down’, I said… and he went. Again, no hesitation. ARGHHHHHHHHHh. Three times in a row. I had a harder time getting him to drop the leash!!!! But on walks, he loves to have a stick in his mouth. Or a water bottle. Or a leaf. He is going to make me CRAZY! Looks like we can go to phase two now… trying to get him to go into a down position while the kids are running around and being obnoxious. If I can just get him to let go of that blasted leash!

I was looking through a dog catalog and it reminded me of making catalogs for a company called Tab Sales Company. (It is no longer in business.) I used word and had to print it out carefully, then take it to the printers. They had to print it on 11 x 17 and the cover was ‘in color’! We had a special stapler and I had to stable them all. Ugh. Now you can do catalog printing online. Which is nice to know if I ever decide to run a business again… while that was not my business, I actually owned my own business for two years. And yes, I made catalog’s. The hard way. Some things certainly get easier with technology age at this point.

What a morning. I took the dog out for his morning stroll. When I got back, the boys were fighting and trying to get each other into trouble. Yaaa Monday morning (that is sarcasm). The worse part… Dad was home. Yep, they waited for me. Dad was right there in the bed and could have handled it. Nope, they didn’t call on dad. Now both are in trouble because both have been telling lies. They are NOT happy. I can’t trust either one… hence they both lose. Hopefully they will catch on that even little lies will end up causing issues like this. Sigh.

It is now rainy season in South Florida. It is also the time you want to have a car cover on your car to keep it from getting to be 110F inside it… Ugh… I have used car covers before, though I had never seen waterproof car covers. I also had a smaller car back then. I’m not going to get a cover for my station wagon… even if it is a small version of a station wagon. I have my old windshield shades… but they don’t quite fit. Guess I’m going to have to break down and get some new ones. Sucks because I have had those shades for over 12 years. Yes, I keep stuff until I can’t use it anymore. And if it doesn’t fit and is difficult to get to use, it is time to replace. Anyone know where is the best place to get cheap windshield shades?

My sister had to send me THIS LINK… and here is the beginning of it:

Any day now, billions of cicadas with bulging red eyes will crawl out of the earth after 17 years underground and overrun the East Coast. They will arrive in such numbers that people from North Carolina to Connecticut will be outnumbered roughly 600-to-1. Maybe more.

But ominous as that sounds – along with scientists’ horror-movie name for the infestation, Brood II – they’re harmless. These insects won’t hurt you or other animals. At worst, they might damage a few saplings or young shrubs. Mostly they will blanket certain pockets of the region, though lots of people won’t ever see them.

“It’s not like these hordes of cicadas suck blood or zombify people,” says May Berenbaum, a University of Illinois entomologist.

Wish my kids could actually see it. I think it would be awesome!