Letters for Camp

Wow, I am almost on time. Don't let the shock kill you.  Our topic is to put ourselves in the shoes or paws of another person/beast.  So here we go...

Dear Mac:

I was reading in Wiley's notes that if you cannot keep the animals out of the yard you have to write the letters. I am not entirely sure what that means, but I heard that you wanted me to write you a letter, so I am doing that.

The tall man is home.  He hired me to manage office security, respond to emails and generally help out.  It is pretty boring and all he does all day is blah, blah, blah on the phone and type stuff.  I thought I was supposed to respond to the emails, but he isn't ready to give me that responsibility.  I am doing really well at keeping the kids out of his office though. I rock at that.

It seems that they won't feed me here, so I have to eat the food out of the bowl.  OUT OF THE BOWL!!!  I can't believe the horror, but I am starving, so I have submitted to this travesty.  The notes left by Wiley, said that the people here are sort of eccentric.  I am guessing this is one of those eccentricities.

I am also guessing keeping the rabbits out of the yard is another one of them.  Have you seen the size of the rabbits?  They are bigger than me.  I don't care that I have sharp teeth, I understand those things are mean and have sharp claws. NO way am I chasing one.  I am staying here on the couch where it is comfy.

Your mother keeps threatening to eat me.  Something about roasted dog for dinner and there being a yorkie cook book.  I am thinking that the yorkie cook book talks about how to cook for me, not how to cook me.  She is making me nuts.  I keep trying to push her out of the bed in hopes she will break her neck.

Speaking of the little kids, they keep playing this game called Capture the Dog.  I let them win, they think it is the greatest thing to catch me.  Let me be perfectly clear, if I didn't want them to catch me, they couldn't.  They also throw foxy and my bone, I do enjoy a good game of fetch.  It really is fun.

Other than getting a lot of grief about not keeping the rabbits out of the yard, making me eat out of the bowl and trying to cook me, I guess things are going ok.  I have hope you are having fun!  I am tired now, I need a nap.

Love, 

Bella

Check out the other ladies at:  Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

To Practical

This week's post is about superstitions.  I tend to not be superstitious.  Really, avoiding cracks is going to protect my mother's back?  I don't think that is really the case.

I do think that on some level people are superstitious to protect themselves from things that might happen.  If I do what ever, it will protect me from something harmful.  With the Blackhawks in contention for the Stanley Cup, I am sure that there are lots of folks who have special jerseys or underwear or what ever that they are wearing or doing to ensure that their team wins.

But, conversely, I am sure that there are Bruins fans doing just the same thing.  Who will be stronger?  I don't really know.  I am fairly certain that if you wear a special jersey, it is not going to have an impact on who wins or who doesn't.

I'm going to date myself, but we used to go to Indians games in our youth.  Jim Thome would come up to bat, and he would scratch his crotch, adjust his cup, or do something with his boy parts before he would hit the ball.   It was a long drawn out bat swing, crotch touch dance before each pitch.  I wanted to send him a powder or a cream for that issue.  Sometimes he hit the ball well and sometimes he didn't.  I realize that the whole crotch touch bat swing thing calmed him down and helped him perform better, but I think it was the routine that calmed him.  He could have done anything.  I for one would have preferred to eliminate the whole crotch touch part of the routine.  Really, anyone who touches themselves that much should have that looked at by a physician.

This is my windy way of saying, I am not really superstitious about much.  I  am woefully unaware that one should throw salt over their shoulder or say some prayer when they break a mirror.  

So, tonight while the Hawks play, I will be wearing nothing special and we will do nothing special.  I think that will help them win.

Check out the other ladies at:  Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Found: Puppy

This week's topic is about finding something when you stop looking for it.  It was my topic, because it was well, if you excuse the pun, topical.

About 6 months ago, we put our 16 1/2 year old dog down.  She had lived a good life and we decided to put her down rather than let her suffer for probably the 6 months or so she still had.  She was thin, loosing her eyesight and well, her mind.  She would get lost in the house. She had stopped eating.  It was really a matter of time.  We decided that it was best to end her life rather than board her while we traveled for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.  The worst outcome I could imagine was having her die while being boarded.

Wiley, was if anything a difficult dog.  She barked all the time.  The kids the neighborhood were afraid of her.  While she was good to my kids and our family, she didn't "do" other people.  We managed her behavior for the entirety of her life.   So, while we missed her when she passed, there was also a sense of relief. We no longer had to manage her.

Of course a few weeks after her death, I began to look at Petfinder.com with a consistency that lead my family to call it dog porn.  I was forever looking at one dog or another that would be "perfect"for our family.  But, in the back of my mind, I was always scared it would be another Wiley.  Bob said, NO MORE DOGS.

I finally stopped looking.

2 weeks ago, while at the gym, one of my gym buddies lamented that she needed to find a new home for her daughters dog.  I asked a few questions, is she good with kids, does she bark, etc.  All the answers were right.  I said I would talk to Bob.  I figured he would put the kibosh on it.  NO MORE DOGS!!  EVER!! was a pretty clear edict.

Mac and I presented him with some pretty strong arguments on why we should take the dog.  He weaken just enough to ask what kind of dog it was.  I told him it was a small dog. Figuring that would end things. He said, oh really, I like Yorkies!  My husband and I have been together for almost 20 years, I never knew he liked Yorkies.

Guess what family has a new dog?  And she is perfect.

Check out the other ladies at:  Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Keeping the faith

A bit out of order, as this is the last topic I have missed, but we are to share a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" story that either happened to you personally or you witnessed. (If you've never read the CSftS books, they're these sweet, heartwarming stories.)

I haven't talked much about the situation with Sam's soccer in this forum.  I didn't really have anything appropriate to say about it.  Sam's coach is a world class jerk. He is belittling to the kids, and as a result we have ended up changing soccer clubs.  Yes, we would have another coach.  But, Sam was done.

The one bright spot was keeper training.  Sam's keeper coach (KC) showed Sam enough kindness to make up for the lack of kindness that the other coach showed him.  In the end it wasn't enough to make him stay.

KC, brought Sam little treats, which he would dole out at the end of practice.  He always had a kind word to say to Sam.  He expected a lot, but he taught Sam with a gentle patience that was perfect. Sam is a gentle soul, and yelling at him and treating him poorly is not likely to get you the result you want.

I complained about the mean coach, and this was when I learned that KC's favorite kid was Sam.  KC had always told me that he liked my son.  From the very beginning he would tell me that Sam was a really great kid and he really liked having him at practice. 

Over this year, our bond with KC grew.  Seeing him was the highlight of Sam's week. Of course, because Sam loved him so much, how could the rest of us not fall in line?  After winter break when we went to our first keeper practice, Sam said he sort of wanted to give KC a hug because he had missed him so much.  Sam was so excited to see him.

So you can imagine leaving the club brought with it a sadness because we were leaving this man that we had become incredibly attached.  We gave him a gift and tried to express how important he was to us.  I am pretty sure we didn't do a very good job.  In the end, I cried.  It was so embarrassing.  But, with his calm and patient way, KC ignored me.  

As we were leaving, broken hearted, KC told us that we were welcome to practice with him anytime we wanted.  No matter that we were no longer affiliated with the club, or the other clubs he trained.  We could come any where he was.  I looked at him in disbelief, and said, are you sure?  He said, yes, so emphatically that there was no question in my mind that he would tell anyone who had an issue with it to pound salt.

So while we are leaving the club, we are not loosing KC.  We hope that this materializes, because we really don't want to loose him, he is our favorite too.

Check out the other ladies at:  Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Technology

Sorry about the radio silence.  It has been a long time without connectivity.  It is hard.... Where did we stop?   Oh yeah, on things you love to hate or hate to love.  Fits my story to a "T", so here we go!

I hate technology... or perhaps I love it.  Yikes!  Anyway, my computer bit the big one.  It dropped a deuce, it failed to work.  In any event, it no longer provided me with a reliable means to communicate with the world wide web.  Yup, I was unplugged.

Well, not exactly.  I have a smart phone.  Here's the thing, if I could put a key board on that puppy I would probably be fine.  I survived for 2 almost 3 weeks without a computer.  It is amazing what you can do on a smart phone if properly motivated.  I bought the computer I am typing on right now on my smart phone.  That seems wrong to me.  I applied for a credit card, got approved for 12 months financing, chose a computer, purchased it and then tracked it's progress to my house, all on my smart phone.  I read emails, face booked, and otherwise communicated with the world on my smart phone.

I hate people that are always on their phones, but I have become one of them.  I love my phone.  I love it I say.  I hate that I love it.  Seriously, take the kids, but touch my iPhone and I'm coming for ya.  So, that is how I survived.

During my period of being somewhat unplugged, I realized that I rely way to much on my computer.  I sit down at it on a fairly regular basis to send off some missive or another.  I use it to manage our finances.  I store pictures and knitting patterns.  All of this is gone now. Some quirk in Microsoft Windows stopped working and my computer is a doorstop.  Even with the resurrection provided by the manufacturer, it is still unstable.

At this point, I have decided that I am done with Microsoft.  I am done with the lack of stability, and the over all lack of service.  I bought an Apple.  Yeah, I know I said I would NEVER do that after they way they treated me at Christmas, but the awesome staff at the local store restored my faith.  So, here I am finally communicating with my one reader on my new computer.  It is pretty nice, thanks for asking.  It turns on and works, so that is a big improvement!

I hate technology.  I hate the hold it has on me.  I hate that without it I am sad and curled in a corner whimpering.  I think this is an issue.  But, at the end of the day, those that don't know how to use technology will be left behind.  Ok, I just really like to use a keyboard rather than a touch screen.  I type like the freakin' wind!

Even though it is super late, check out what the other ladies have to say:  Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Pain in the ...

This weeks topic is about injuries, and how they can derail your plans.

It is topical for me, and that is why I chose it... See I was out for a light jog.  Just a quick 3 miler to blow the stink off after my 10 miler the day before.  I was feeling good and then all of a sudden I was on my face sliding forward on path, into poop.  Yup, I fell face first into shit.  I can not begin to tell you how awesome that felt. 

But the insult to the injury is that now it looks like I can not do the 10 mile race at the end of the month.  I have been training for quite some time do be able to do this.  I have run up hills and down hills for 8 miles.  I have run in the heat.  I have run when I thought I might puke.  I have run in the cold where I thought my toes might freeze off.  I have run with pneumonia.  Now my ankle is going to sideline me?

I kills me to not be able to do this, but the reality is that I can not run 10 miles with the kind of pain my ankle produces with every step.  My Dr. said I could do it.  That even if it was broken (he thinks it might be) the worst that would happen is that I would break it more and have to have it casted.  If it was sprained as long as I didn't roll my ankle I would be fine.  The only thing he said, was if it hurts a lot, don't run on it.  What he didn't say is that if it is injured enough to make me not be able to run the race, it will be because I can't stand the pain.

After running 4 miles, I couldn't stand the pain.  There was no way in the world I would be able to run 10 miles.  The Dr. was right.  This injury would tell me what to do. 

Now I have to deal with the sadness of not being able to do it.  It isn't cuz I can't run the 10 miles it is because my injury won't allow me.  But, I want to prove to myself and the world, I can run 10 miles.  Now I can't.  I am letting my running partner down.  I am letting myself down.  I am disappointed.

Yes, there will be other races.  Yes, my running partner is cool about it and is already planning my return to 10 miles training schedule.  Yes, I will eventually run the 10.  For now, I am going to curl up in a ball and whimper a little, while I curse my bad luck.

Want to see what the other ladies have to say?  Check them out at:  Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

 

Rags

I'm late again... I feel like a broken record with an excuse.  But I'm going to do a two-fer and then be all caught up.  Summer can not come soon enough.

The missed topic, is magazines. 

I only take a few magazines.  I take Cooking Light, which I have subscribed to for almost 20 years.  I can't believe I have been taking one magazine that long.  I think they need to reward me for my loyalty!  I love Cooking Light.  I feel that at least the recipes are a basic start at being healthy.  They have introduced me to many wonderful ways to prepare veggies, tips to lighten my favorites, and sneaky ways to cut calorie corners without loosing taste!

I also take Real Simple.  My mom gives it to me every year for Christmas.  I like the ideas and tips.  I love the way the magazine is laid out.  The pictures just make me happy.  But, every month it is a little hug from my mom.

My magazine holding area is over flowing.  I need to clean that out.  I think I will... but only after I write my next post.

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Want to see what the other ladies have to say?  Check them out at:  Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl