OMG looong time no update.

A few things have changed in my life.

1. My sweet Mugsy passed away in October.  He was home and I was with him when he seemed to have a heart attack and pass.  I held him and let him know that we loved him and it was ok to go and he was good boy.  
2. I recently joined the ranks of the unemployed.  I know I am supposed to bemoan this, but in all truthfulness, I haven't had any time off in about 3 years, so right now I am enjoying this.  Spring has finally arrived here, the trees are green, the grass is growing (except in some spots on my lawn) and I am looking forward to spending some time on my deck enjoying it.
3. I attended my first Comic Con! AND in CosPlay! 

I went as Amy Pond from Doctor Who from The Silence episodes....

This handsome man is Colin Baker, the 6th Doctor from Doctor Who.  

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I loved this little girl! Weeping Angel

My first pic, Casper Van Dien

Eddie McClintock (nicest guy)

Nicholas Brendon

Norman Reedus

Sadly I wasn't able to meet Norman, I waited in line 2x.  The first time after 2 hrs I had to leave to go see a concert we had prior tickets for.  The second time, they shut down the line before me so he could fly out for shooting.  I was happy he was wearing a Detroit Tigers hat at least, but I brought him a Detroit Red Wings hat, :-(

I had the BEST time.  Little kids loved me and asked to take their pictures with me, people yelled out "AMY!" at me, and when I would pass by other Doctor lovers we would give each other knowing nods.  I do think the funniest moment was when Marina Sirtis said to me "you have lovely hair" and I said "its a wig" HAHA.

I can't wait till next year, I'm already thinking of my costume!

Bipolar.....walking on egg shells

I have talked before about my husband's bipolar.  He has been doing very well on his current medications.  Stable, "sane" as I like to say.  He is happy, makes jokes, lively, and at the same time, is a normal person, can hold a normal conversation and not in the depths of depression.  I'm very very happy to have "him" back.  We are a normal married couple, we have our ups and downs, our arguments, our fights, our struggles.   But with his added illness, I walk on egg shells, there are things I can't say, things that will set him off.

Years ago, when he was in a bad place, he did something that really made me angry.  It was the middle of the night, he woke me up and told me he spent our rent money.  His mother was having surgery the next day, he was overly stressed, and when he is stressed, he spends money. In my anger, I said "I wish I had never married you."  Such a benign statement, something said in anger, something said in passing.   But for him, it was like I took a gun and shot him through the heart.  About 30 minutes after I said it, he came in the bedroom and said "I just took a bottle of valium." 

Let me be clear, he was not trying to kill himself, he was punishing me for saying something that hurt him.  It was over 5 years ago and to this day, he still blames me for this incident. 

I forced him to go to the hospital.  We had a trip planned in 4 days, our 10 year wedding anniversery, and we were traveling for a week.  Instead I had to drag him to the hospital to get his stomach pumped.  He resisted it, said he "felt fine" and would "just sleep it off."  His mother was having surgery and we were supposed to be driving her, but instead I was taking him to the hospital and letting her down.  I called her sister and lied and told her he had strep throat and could she take Mom instead?  I didn't want them to know what had happened and to be worried about him. 

The hosptial was wonderful, very kind to him and myself, but firm.  He wasn't going home but going "upstairs" and locked up for 72 hrs.  They stuck a tube up his nose and into his stomach, my favorite part because I thought "good! you deserve this for all the crap you are putting me through!!!"  At the end of all this he was escorted upstairs, calmly, and I walked out the ER doors, and sat down on the curb outside and bawled my eyes out.  I had held it all together for 5 hrs and now I lost it. 

The first day, he called me collect and screamed at me "YOU DID THIS TO ME!!!!" 

He was let out in about 48 hrs after they determined he wasn't really a danger to himself.  His family was told what really happened.  They all felt sorry for me.

No one, unless they live with someone who is bipolar, knows what it is like to be mentally abused by them.

This is why I am so happy that the meds he is on are working so well now.  This is the best he has been in the whole time since he has been diagnosised.  He regrets his behavior when he was in his dark places and doesn't even remember some of it.  Sadly I do.  This is why we call it the "walking on egg shells" because we are always worried about what may be coming next.

Health?

I have been suffering with my migraines for quite awhile and recently saw my neuro dr.  I call him the "brain dr." 

This last visit wasn't very good.  I should have been doing better, we increased my meds to double the dose but I wasn't feeling any relief, I'm still popping Vicadin way too often.  He doesn't feel I am addicted as I can go for days without it and don't "need" it, but at the same time, I shouldn't be needing it like I should. 

So we discussed a few things.  One of the things he noticed was about a year ago, my celebrax consumption decreased but my Vicadin increased.  I am taking the Celebrax for my psoriatic arthritis, mainly my back pain.  So he made a change, added Cymbalta, doubled my Celebrax (as before) and see me in 3 months. 

Its been a week and for the first time in months, I don't feel exhausted when the weekend hits.  I look forward to doing some yard work, to getting up and moving.   Is this from the Cymbalta? From the relief in the pain?  Since my head hasn't hurt in 2 days straight?

I'm counting my blessings.

Bored.....reading

I'm sitting here at work trying with all my might to read a book on my job. I work in IT specifically with EDMS/Documentum.  I am trying.....TRYING to improve my techniques and read a technical workbook on it. 

Can you say BORED!  So far I have managed to answer 4 emails, read 2 pages, wrote 2 more emails, read 1 paragraph, wrote another email, read 4 more pages, and now I'm blogging. 

Today is International Left Hander's Day!  Being that I am Left Handed, I am right brained.  I do not learn by reading a book.  I learn by doing....I really don't know how I am going to do this.

I have plugged in my ears to a favorite local radio station 107.1 Ann Arbor, http://annarbors107one.com/ to block my brain out and concentrate.   Another favorite station, out of NC, http://www.991thesound.com/index.html, both have mellow, adult/alternative music that I enjoy. 

Ok, enough of this, wish me luck....

Great stuff for dogs!

Oh goodness its been toooo long!

Things have been busy in my world.  I have been ill and in bed for 2 weeks.  My basement sewer pipe backed up and ruined some dog beds and required me to rewash a lot of things.  My personal laptop hard drive died, so had to have that replaced. 

And let me tell you, I love my Pink laptop!

My beautiful niece graduated high school with honors, now on to college. So proud of her. 

But the real reason of my post today to talk about some great ideas and place to shop for the pooches.

As someone who is on a limited budget I am always on the look out for cheap toys, great deals and new dog beds for the kids.

Recently at Meijer (http://www.meijer.com/) I was able to get two "crate" dog beds on clearance for $22 each.  The beds were large, washable, and nice and fuzzy for the kids.  These are to replace 2 of the ruined dog beds from the sewer back up.

They also had "buy one toy, get the second for $1" and I was able to get 2 of Moo's favorites toys.  Bulldogs are known to suckle on toys, and these are her favorites to do that to:

Whenever I can find these sheep I have to by them! Moo will suck on them till they are soaked through wet and just destroyed.  Here she is sleeping with her pink sheep, so adorable isn't she?

My next FAVORITE shopping for a deal is doggyloot.com

This is like groupon for dogs.  Every day is something new, the items stay up for a few days or until sold out.

This is a screen grab of their site.  You can find them on twitter @doggyloot or the web

http://www.doggyloot.com/   and to the right is just one of  the awesome things I have ordered from them.  I order 2 braided Kong toys, a CASE of rice dog treats, Buddy Biscuits (fav's of my kids), a dog bed, wubba Kong toys, 4 - Tuff Enuff toys, and in all probably spent $165 total.  For all that!!! 

IT'S AWESOME!

This AWESOME guy is a Tuffy toy, http://www.amazon.com/Tuffys-Red-Alien-Lieutenant-Splock/dp/B0037LR7IW/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1344888638&sr=8-27&keywords=tuffy+toys+for+dogs  These aren't cheap but they are "tough" and last a long time, given you don't have a dog who sucks on everything.  My Moo sucked on his arms till they were destroyed. 

Another company that I  haven't tried yet but I hear is awesome (I love that word don't I?) is https://barkbox.com/  the cost varies and can be a monthly, 3 months, or 6 month plan.  Below are two pictures that are examples of what a box may contain.



Well it;s now hot in July and I'm sick!  Nothing like being sick for your birthday.  I have been off of work for a week and won't be going back till Thursday.  I have a sinus, ear, and throat infection along with bronchitis.  When I get sick, I get sick!

But my nurses have been at my side, on the left is Moo, the right is Mugsy with me in the middle.

Then Moo moved and cuddled up right by my side.

 Then, one morning Layla was a bad girl and attacked Moo because Moo looked at her while Mugsy was eating, Layla really has issues with food.  So Layla was put into a timeout for about an hour.  After that Layla would stand in my doorway, afraid to come in but wanting oh so badly to be close to me.  Well I feel asleep, and when I woke up, she was right next to me like this.   Could you still be mad at that face?  Nope, me neither.

Moo, the crazy child, decided one night, to sleep on my pillow, right up against me.  This was the shot.  She is such a silly girl.