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The Daily Digest
Healthy Puppy
by Tricia
Fri, Jul 18 2008, 11:11 AM
So it turns out that what we saw as scary weight loss and possible health problems is really just what our dog looks like at a healthy weight. The vet found nothing wrong, and actually praised us for getting him back to the weight he was when we got him six years ago (wow, almost to the day - I think we got him on July 17). She did say we should switch his food, as it's possible that the stuff he's on now just isn't doing it for him. She also suggested that it is probably time to get him on Senior food. Our dog is an old man, and should be fed as such.
We decided that perhaps having Plato around two weeks ago (we were dog-sitting him) made Brodie look more gaunt than he actually is, as Plato is... let's say... husky.
Now we just need to try to keep him at this weight, which happens to be 24.5 pounds. In November he was 28 pounds, and we certainly haven't gone out of our way to help him lose those 3.5 pounds, so how he did it is a mystery. We're boarding him in August for a weekend, so if he's lost any more weight by then, the Vet will get concerned, but for now she's pleased by his slender, muscular physique.
Maybe I need to have Brodie be my diet and exercise guru - obviously, he's got the system down pat.
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Skinny Puppy
by Tricia
Wed, Jul 16 2008, 10:15 AM
Today we are taking Brodie to the vet to have him looked at. Last weekend we noticed that he has lost a considerable amount of weight. We can feel his ribs through his fur, and that point just north of his hips and south of his ribcage has gotten so narrow. It's one of those things where you just don't notice because you see him every day, so you're oblivious to gradual change. Now that it's been pointed out to me, though, he looks positively gaunt. He's been acting totally fine otherwise, which leads me to hypochondriate (I don't care if I made it up) that he's got a tapeworm or something similar. Scott is convinced it's because of the change in food we made a few months back, but since we are still feeding him the same amount each day, I don't see how that could make a difference. We haven't switched him to diet food or anything.
He's also shedding more than I have ever seen him (or any other dog, for that matter) shed before. I gave him a bath Monday night and afterwards took him outside to brush him (which he HATES) and succeeded in building a whole second dog out of fur I removed from him. Then later we were on the couch snuggling and every time I ran my hand down his back I would get a tumbleweed of fur. Just doesn't seem right.
Anyway, just like always, we are more concerned than Brodie is. He'll probably get his annual checkup today, too - which means shots and blood tests, so he'll be sufficiently cranky by the time we're done. We've already decided that there will be a trip made to Sheridan's this evening to get him a special treat, and to use our Royals tickets to get a free sundae!
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Summer = Busy
by Tricia
Thu, Jul 03 2008, 4:47 PM
It's been too long. We've had so much going on and I just haven't had anything to write about. Or, at least, by the time I get a chance to write, I have forgotten the funny things I intended to write about. So is the life of a procrastinator. Right now we are getting ready to run out to get my hair cut and then go to dinner and a movie - the first time we'll have set foot inside a movie theatre since I saw Penelope a long time ago. I think we're either seeing Wanted or the new Indiana Jones. I'm worried that Wanted might be a little too violent/graphic for my tastes, but I suppose I'm willing to put up with that in order to stare at James McAvoy for 100 minutes.
So far this summer we have been trying to go to the gym (I went three days this week, and would have gone today if it weren't for my hair cut appointment). I am already showing improvement in my distance on the elliptical, which is encouraging. We also had a kickball tournament last weekend, which left us sore and sunburned. My nose peeled off yesterday. It wasn't like that thin, silky layer of skin that usually comes off after a sunburn (though my forehead did do that). My nose skin came off in leathery, thick strips. It's very red and blotchy now, so I look a little freaky. We got third place in the tournament, which won us a fancy trophy - made of a kid's soccer cleat mounted on a piece of wood and spray-painted bronze. After receiving our prize, one of our teammates, Kristy, said "So, who's got some gold spray-paint?" So true. It was a pretty controversial tourney, one that we all felt we could have won, but there was one team that unfairly thwarted us. We still had a kick-ass time, though, and that's what really matters. It was a full day - 10 am to 4pm of non-stop kickball. For everyone else. I took photos, and acted as team "Mom", making sure everyone else was hydrated, sunblocked (obviously, I didn't worry about myself too much) and happy. No major injuries on our team, which was a first - only some skinned knees and elbows. We did successfully (and totally accidentally) fracture a girl's ankle in the first game of the day. Oops!
My garden is doing well, though we had a rough, nasty storm come through last night that I think may have taken out my red bell pepper plant. I noticed this morning that it was lying on it's side - I need to go check on it. I've got two baby orange bell peppers that get bigger every day, plus my roma and cherry tomatoes are both showing blooms. Very exciting. I also have Rosemary, Sage, Basil and Cilantro, so I am Jason's hookup for herbs.
We have been keeping up with the CSA dinners, and this week we had gotten a bison chuck roast, which Jason turned into a delicious stew.
It's been very odd not having to do loads of Alpha Phi stuff this summer. It's nice, but also has left a little bit of an empty spot in my life. Though I'm sure I'll get over that once school starts and I don't have to drive out every week! I'm hoping to take that spare time and put it toward some other volunteer things like the Parkville animal shelter or something similar.
Off to get my hair cut! Photos should be posted soon from kickball tourney, as well as our other adventures in the last few months.
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CSA Meal Club
by Tricia
Mon, Jun 09 2008, 8:54 PM
This summer Scott and I are participating in the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program offered by Hen House, the grocery store down the street from our house. Each week we pick up a big bag full of fresh, locally grown/produced food. This week we got:
-1/2 gallon chocolate milk (scott immediately had a big glass full, as I looked on making gagging noises)
-2lb Ground Bison
-1 loaf of Sourdough bread
-1 head green leaf lettuce
-1 bunch Spring green onions (which were HUGE)
-1 bunch Sage (which I turned in for an extra loaf of bread because I have sage growing on my deck!)
-1 box alfalfa sprouts (mmm!)
-1 big jar of jam (it's called Traffic Jam and has cherries and rhubharb in it - it's really tasty)
So, the Thompsons are doing the CSA as well, and last week I mentioned that we ought to institute a "CSA meal" that we fix together each week out of the goodies that we get. Jason is an excellent cook, and much more creative and experimental with ingredients than we tend to be. Tonight we had our first CSA meal, and it was delicious! J made amazing burgers out of the ground Bison, and we put some locally produced, hormone-free cheddar cheese on them. I put alfalfa sprouts on mine, and everyone else made fun of me (but it was GOOD!). We used the leaf lettuce for a big salad with orange bell peppers, carrots, cherry tomatoes and cilantro (what a great idea to put that in - it gave it a great kick). I took our spring green onions and sliced them up with red potatoes, added some butter and lemon pepper and threw them on the grill. It was all fantastic. The best part was the giant bows of ice cream we had for dessert. Kind of threw the health-concsious meal all to hell, but it was worth it.
Next week we get all beef hot dogs, broccoli, cabbage (which I will be trading for something else), Italian bread, red potatoes (yum!), zucchini bread, swiss chard (I'm not sure what to do with this, or if we'll even like it - mom, expect a phone call from me!) and a soy candle. It doesn't get much better than walking a couple houses down with a bag full of groceries to put together a fun meal with friends. Especially when Jason does most of the work! =)
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If I Slept More, I Could Write Screenplays and Be A Millionaire
by Tricia
Sat, Jun 07 2008, 1:19 PM
Oh my god, I have to tell you about this dream I had!
Don't you hate it when people say that? You basically know you're about to be forced to listen to some weird story that won't have any meaning to you. We always seem so in awe of the things our own brains come up with, but other people's dreams never seem as interesting. My guess is, this is mostly because our own dreams are rooted in our own subconscious, so even if we know it or not, there are underlying reasons as to why we dream what we dream. So our own dreams are interesting to ourselves because we, at some level, understand the underlying meaning behind them. We don't care so much about other people's dreams because their subconcious is of no concern to us.
So, having said that, I have to tell you about my dream! Well, not the whole thing, because that would be boring, but the underlying reason as to the main part of the dream are pretty funny (I think).
This morning I was lying in bed, had this epic, Will Smith screenplay style dream, somewhat similar in storyline to War of the Worlds. When I woke up I yelled for Scott because I could remember the whole thing (which doesn't happen often) and I wanted to get it out and I knew he would think it was kind of an interesting dream (because he was in it, and it was a very action-adventure, run-from-aliens type dream). The main plotline was that I was driving to work, saw this HUGE weird alien ship in the sky, went to Scott's office to find him because I was scared. Once I found him, we found out that the "aliens" (I never saw anything but the ships, no actual aliens, so who knows if that's what they actually were) were using this awful bright light to basically fry humans. They would find you and shoot this light through the windows and if you let it touch you directly or looked at it, you fried.
So as I am telling all of this to Scott, I realize in a rush WHY the aliens used light. Our bedroom keeps randomly lighting up and going dark as the sunshine goes in and out behind the clouds outside. I'm guessing that my brain incorporated that (somehow!) into my dream, and that's why the aliens were using light to kill people.
Human brains are so freaking crazy. Sort of like when you're having a dream and a phone rings, and you wake up and your phone is actually ringing.
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Frostin'
by Tricia
Tue, Jun 03 2008, 6:50 PM
I'm making my Orange Blossom cupcakes again, with a little modification. I not only used the zest of an orange in the frosting, I also sliced the orange in half and used a small squeeze of the juice. Hopefully that will give it a more vibrant orange flavor. After doing so, I had to add in a little more powdered sugar because the juice thinned the consistency out a little too much. Once again, Kelli & Jason will be my guinea pigs. I gotta say, living up the street from us has its perks. =)
oops - got powdered sugar all over the keyboard. Perhaps I shouldn't blog while baking.
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Painful Gardening
by Tricia
Mon, May 26 2008, 6:17 PM
Yesterday we planned to have an Indiana Jones movie marathon (as preparation for eventually seeing the new one - it's been a VERY long time since I've seen any of the old ones). In between movies we were going to get the gardening done that I've been holding off on because of crappy weather. After Raiders of the Lost Ark we changed into grubbies, sprayed on the sunblock and headed outside to get to work.
I put together my tomato success kit, which takes a little while because you have to moisten the potting mix, which would be easy to do in a wheelbarrow, but since we keep the thing on our deck and I can't very well get the wheelbarrow up there, I do the dirt in shifts in a large bucket. We also planted some cherry tomatoes in an upside-down planter Scott's mom got me for my birthday. I'm excited to see how that works - though Scott is not, as he will probably have to water it as it is hung above my head. Once that stuff was done, I headed down into the backyard to till up my veggie garden bed so I could plant the red and orange peppers I got for Scott. I got about three quarters of the way through with tilling and was feeling pretty good about it when I had a horrible stabbing pain in my lower left back. I think I may have broken myself. I asked Scott to finish tilling for me and headed upstairs to do something "easier". At this point I was in denial that I had hurt msyelf. I started putting a basil plant into a container and pouring some dirt over it. I guess I was whimpering as I was working, because Scott came up and sternly told me to go inside and lay down.
I pretty much spent the next 26 hours horizontal, either on the couch or in bed. At one point last night I was feeling a little better and got up to get some of the yummy fruit salad Scott made for dessert. When I leaned over to put the big bowl back in the fridge, the knife stabbed and twisted into my back again and I almost fell to the ground. Scott had to help me to the couch and I just laid there in pain and cried for a while, which I'm sure made him uncomfortable. He was mad at me for not asking him to get the fruit salad for me. So, despite the sticky, muggy hot weather, I had to spend the evening with a hot pad on my back and a cold pack on my head/chest (to counteract the hot pad's heat). This evening it's feeling better, but still very sore and tight. I can't lift anything for fear of it seizing up again.
So, it pretty much took all the joy out all my hard work yesterday. And we're still not even done, as none of the peppers got planted, and I'm not sure when we'll get a chance to get them in the ground. Stupid old lady back pain.
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Madras Summer
by Tricia
Sun, May 25 2008, 2:56 PM
We're having a really nice weekend, and Scott keeps commenting on how great a day yesterday was. We got some shopping done in the morning, had a walk through the new Power & Light disctrict downtown and then went to the They Might Be Giants concert at Crown Center. Then, we met up with Ken and his sister, Kim to see the current show at AHT, Perfect Wedding. Our friend John-Michael is in it, and it's a really funny show. And I'm not just saying that because I work there. I have never seen Scott laugh as hard and for as long as he did during the show. Ken said he thought Scott peed a little. =)
During our shopping trip yesterday, Scott came upon a madras hat that he liked. He put it on and I sort of liked it, but it also made him look like a little old man. An eccentric little old man, for that matter. Nonetheless, he was totally excited about the hat and decided to get it. From the moment we walked out of the store and he put it on, his personality changed. He acted goofy the rest of the day, but not in a bad way. It's obvious that the hat makes him feel like a new haircut makes me feel - sort of like a new, different person. It was fun to watch him throughout the day.
Now the problem is that he has taken to purchasing madras shorts, but the hat is too much when paired with madras shorts - especially when the two madrases (is that a word? madri?) are completely different. He's a little bit of a fashion fail, but if it makes him happy, I'm fine with it.
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Zoot Suit
by Tricia
Fri, May 23 2008, 10:45 PM
Scott has only ever owned one suit. His mom and I helped him pick it out back in '98 or '99 as he was preparing to interview for "big kid" jobs. It was olive green and not very well cut for a guy his size (he looked like a kid swimming around in his dad's sports jacket - he was way to narrow for the width of it). It lasted through many weddings and funerals - I'd say at least 20 weddings and 6 or 7 funerals. He wore it to two or three job interviews before starting at DST. He wore it twice last September to two different weddings, and on the second one realized that a huge hole had appeared in one of the pockets in the pants. He decided it was time for a new suit, despite all the celebratin' and mournin' this one had gotten him through. How, with both Glenda and I there to help, he ended up with an olive green suit in the first place, I'll never know. I wish I could go back and witness the discussion and decision making. What were we thinking. I would also like to point out that he only owned one shirt and one tie that went with the suit - Not that this is abnormal for a guy these days, I just think it's kind of funny. So many people saw him wear that suit over and over (especially family) but if I had worn the same dress to every wedding, people would have noticed.
With another wedding looming next weekend, he figured we should probably go looking for a replacement, despite my encouragement that he would be just fine wearing khakis with a shirt and tie. Let me interject here and say that there is not much that I hate more in life than a department store. They are awful. I can never find what I'm looking for. It's frustrating. So, off we went to dive into every department store in the greater Kansas City area trying to find an appropriate suit.
We had quite a few rules:
-Must be "Athletic Cut" so he doesn't look like he's swimming in the jacket
-A nice charcoal would be best, as black would be too much with his fair coloring
-NO NAVY BLUE. Navy suits make me think of yacht clubs and Andy from The Office. I think they're awful
-Preferably flat-front pants (this proved to be most difficult. WHY do men like pleated pants? They look stupid!
-Preferably no pin-stripes. Too corporate
-Must not rape our bank account.
We looked and looked and he tried a few on, and we narrowed down what we did and didn't like, and what we were willing to give up (pin-stripes, as long as they weren't too blatant, would be acceptable). After the guy at JC Penneys referred to Scott more than once as "beautiful" we were sufficiently creeped out (though slightly flattered). Finally, we found two at Dillard's that looked really great on him. One actually happened to have flat front pants (the woman at Dillard's said that only 3% of their suits have flat-front pants, we just happened to pull one out that fit most of the criteria AND were flat-front). The other was pleated, but only had one pleat as opposed to the two or three most of the others were blessed with.
So, he put one on, and I liked it - it looked really good. Then he put the other one on, and I liked it too. It looked just as good. They were the same price, so I left the final decision up to him between the two.
I think I'll have to fend the ladies off my handsome husband all night at the wedding.
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Couched
by Tricia
Thu, May 22 2008, 8:13 PM
Scott and Brodie are out on a walk, enjoying the nice weather (though, as I peek out the window I see that it is pretty windy out). I went with on Monday and on Wednesday, but tonight I'm feeling a twinge in my dodgy knee and don't want to push it. It's been bothering me for a few weeks now, and last week I went to the doctor to have him check it out. He said it felt like it had a little fluid on it, but not enough to be concerned about. They took a few x-rays, which the doc said looked normal. He offered to give me a shot and I quickly turned it down. I asked if it was cortizone and he explained that cortizone isn't really used anymore - they use a synthetic version, the name of which I can't remember. Something with four syllables. So, he wrote me a prescription for some heavy-duty naproxen (Aleve) and told me to stay off it and ice it for a few days. If it wasn't feeling better by the end of the week, I should come in (with husband in tow) for the shot.
By the end of the week it felt much better (perhaps my subconscious healed me psychosomatically in order to not get the shot in the knee), so I went about my business. I have been staying away from the gym as I didn't want to exacerbate the problem, so we went on a walk with Brodie on Monday, trying to take it easy. When we got home I put my leg up and relaxed. Didn't really bother me the next day. Last night when we walked, though, it started to ache, and by the time we got home I was hobbling a little. I iced it, but today it was a little tender, so I'm back on the naproxen. I really want to be able to get back to the gym. Especially since we have cupcakes in the house. =)
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