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.

Moo and Layla, a picture perfect shot.  I just wish Mugsy would have joined them and I would have had my Christmas card for this year.

Ford is Back Baby!

Its a long holiday weekend for the States, Memorial Day, the day we honor those who have fought for the rights in our country.  I lost a great Uncle in WWII, my dad's brother during Vietnam, my husband's grandfather was a vet from WWII and was stationed in Japan, and my father is vet of the Lebanon Conflict in the 60's (even though he was in Italy and did nothing but watch the planes fly over and think "thank god its not me," seriously, that is what he tells us!).

This week, Ford got back their logo!  What does that mean? Well in 2006, Ford mortgaged all their assets, including their logo, to get about 26 billion bucks, when they did that, it allowed them to NOT take the Government bailout in 2008.  Well 7 years to the month, they were able to pay off the mortgages and get back their logo, in celebration, about 900 employees came out to their east lawn and stood in the shape of the logo in blue and white shirts.  I am in the end of the F!   I lost my job in 2009 and in 2010 I got a job at Ford, I am proud to work there, I love what I do, and I love being part of the Ford Family.

So this is the offical picture!

And the picture below shows me and a red box around me.

The Daily Life of Supporting a Bipolar

So one thing any "real" doctor will tell you is there is thing to the "Full Moon" and the "crazies" that happens. 

We actually warn each other on the support group when the full moon is coming.  For us, signs of an upcoming full moon are....hypomania, unusual happiness, increased sex drive, increased spending, decreased need for sleep.  In my case, these changes start about 4 days before the moon, the day of the moon can either happen two ways, he can be either be in full mania, or he can crash. 







Crashing is a whole nother story. 

Crashing means he will sleep all day, for about 3 days straight.  He will get up to go to the bathroom, maybe eat a yogurt, and take his meds, have a smoke, and go back to bed.  If I am lucky he will let the dogs out, but not usually.  

The hardest thing about this cycle is he will complain he hates it and wants to stop it, but he doesn't recognize the cycle.  I can write it on a calendar and show him when it will happen or when it happened last, predict the next time it will happen, but he won't believe me. 

When we were looking for his new psychitrist, I asked the dr "do you believe in the full moon?" he replied "I am supposed to tell you no." which made me smile and laugh.  We both really like his currrent dr.  It's important to a good dr, one your trust, who will work with you and listen to you when you have issues with the meds.  When he needed to make a change to his meds, the dr was more the willing to work with us.