The BIG 4-0

Yes, ladies and gents, I turned the big FORTY this weekend - ugh..

In my honor, my DH and my friends threw me a John Hughes/80's themed party. It was supposed to be more JH specific, but it was REALLY hard to find costumes that would reflect the genius in his movies.

John was able to score a Red Wings jersey( Cameron from Ferris Bueller) and he's here with DH, pre party:














We had a couple of people show up as Bender( Judd's character from Breakfast Club) but everyone else just got into the 80's spirit.

Here is a picture of Catherine, Wendy and I - again pre party( There are some party pics floating around on FB, I'll let you hunt for those ;) ) :














( you can't see but I am wearing cool pink Converse sneakers!) My hair just didn't want to behave, but I didn't have long hair in the 80's so I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

Our friend Sarah came in a great prom dress she grabbed from a thrift store - it was awesome! I don't have a pic of that though, again see FB.....

We had a great time, some of us drank a bit more than others, and there are some VERY fuzzy moments, but I remember a lot of dancing, laughing and just general fun... oh and Bilijana is never allowed to sing again at a party - that was determined on the spot!

But the dance floor is gone, the only memory that remains is the lone disco ball hanging from the ceiling in the basement, waiting for the next big party. I love having a disco ball in my basement, it's AWESOME!

And A BIG HUGE THANK YOU to my DH - Cat and John( LOVE YOU GUYS!) and all my friends who made it a GREAT birthday.

And a big RASPBERRY to those of you who missed it( but not Susan, since she had to work and couldn't help it. She gets a pass)

What MORE Can I Ask For?

Two weeks post surgery and BOOM - I am feeling like crap all week! What's up? I was supposed to be feeling better? I have nausea, I am achy and just generally feel like crap.

I finally called my dr today and WHAM - drug withdrawal. REALLY? SERIOUSLY? WHY did no one tell me about this post op? Shouldn't this have been included in the little packet I got on what *might* happen after surgery?

UGH! Double UGH! I *WANT* my life back. I am getting tired of this. I want to plant flowers, go to dog shows - hell - I would even like to mow the LAWN!

Grrrr....

Ok, enough whining, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Day 5 Post Surgery

And unfortunatly Day 5 has felt like the past 4 days. But now the increased boredom is setting in.

Cat came over today and watched a movie with me which helped a bit, but then in a fit of crying got Doug to come upstairs and do the crossword puzzle with me.

I can't help it, I am irrational right now. And who WOULDN'T be? Not only am I laid up from surgery which sucks in itself, but I got my "friend" on Monday. Gee thanks God. Just what I needed.... Anything else you want to throw at me? A stomach virus maybe? That would be the great triumvirate. Poo.(literally).

Today I actually did feel like sitting at the computer a bit, and I am really only blogging bc I am afraid to get up out of the chair. I know it's going to hurt and well, I am just procrastinating really.

My friends and family have been great though( thanks for the yummy food Angela!) with flowers, food and company - I really couldn't have asked for more.

But I probably will - and soon.

The need for food is forcing me out of this chair and to venture into the kitchen and see where my DINNER is! :)

Love to all

Prep for Surgery

Had the pre op today. Not my idea of the fun. I am thinking the surgery might be less painful. The poor woman couldn't find a vein and it took 3 tries to get 2 vials of blood. Fun for her - not so much for me. To her credit she was very nice and kept apologizing.

So that's all over with. If it turns out I don't have any jungle diseases then I will be cleared to go on Friday. Good thing - it's a short surgery. Bad thing- it's not till 2:30 or 3 - which means no food for me. But I will probably be too nervous to eat anyway. I did beg my dr to let me have something to drink - he said as long as I have it before 7am. So I'll get up early, chug some water and go back to sleep :). Speaking of water, I have been told to drink GALLONS of it to help with my vein issue( apparently it's MY issue, not the nurse's issue).

I should be up and around in no time. I can drive as soon as I feel like it, but I will probably stay down for at least the first week.

I have plenty to stay busy - Kindle books, laptop and of course tv ;).... I am all set!

Surgery - 4/23

Well a lot has happened since my last post, one if which is that my disc has decided to bulge out( well actually UP not OUT - leave it to me to be abnormal) and so I am going to have to have surgery on the 23rd. I feel bad that I haven't blogged in ages, but truth be told, I just haven't felt up to it. These days it is taking all my energy to get around and act somewhat normal.

I have access to pain meds, but I am taking them sparingly. I don't want to have another hurdle to overcome once the surgery is over.

I am getting around a little better than I was a week or so ago. I don't know if I have just become used to the pain, or if it has gotten a little more tolerable. Either way, I am still not pushing myself. Although, I have been going to agility - more for Reilly than me. He needs to get out of the house every once in awhile. And we have been walking the courses. We have a show this weekend, it's only 3 classes with hours between them and I may still go and just walk around the course with him instead of run. It's not really about qualifiying, but he needs the ring time.

We just got back from a fab trip to Lexington and the Bourbon Trail. I will blog about that, with pics, in a different post!

Where Does the Time Go?

Seriously??? Its been an age since I have blogged but I feel like I never have time to sit down and do it -well that and there are just times that I am NOT inspired.

Life's been running pretty much along normal lines right now - work, work out, dinners with friends and sleep. That's it.

We did have our first agility trial of the year a couple of weekends ago and it was nice to get back in the swing of things with the guys from Southeastern Agility club. They are all so nice and friendly, it's great to use their show as a springboard for the rest of the year. Kudos to them!

It was a good show as usual - and I have to say that Reilly has improved SO MUCH over last year. I know it doesn't look like it to the naked eye, but with a dog like Reilly it's all about baby steps. We are ECSTATIC that we can actually complete an entire course now. We might still get the big E, but we can start and finish and get around without me standing in the middle of the ring yelling for him.

All my other agility peeps have gotten qualifying scores and we haven't yet, which is a bit of a bummer, but I know that one day, if we keep working at it, those purple ribbons are going to pile up like you wouldn't believe. It's just taking Reilly a bit to understand it's a TEAM thing, not the Reilly show. He's remembering to look for me and not just run around willy nilly.

So we have another show this weekend - another nice and easy ASCA show. They are usually small shows which is nice, as they run fast and there's not a lot of hanging around waiting, like we have at the USDAA shows.

Ah and we DID buy some bedroom furniture for the other spare room this weekend. So that makes 2 full spare rooms, which is nice to have.

I can't wait for Spring. My fingers are itching to plant and dig at the new house.


Check out the video - this is a run at Reilly's last show. This is Jumpers. You can see we get stuck in the corner bc I keep pulling him off the jump to move to the left. Totally my fault.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=2AcsXDZwzaMWFq

He's home and he's sick( or driving adventures in the snow)

DH got home on Thursday right before the snow started - thank goodness. Here are some snow pics in case you aren't on FB.

My snowy nosed dog.....

Our backyard was a winter wonderland. Too bad we really didn't feel like going out and playing in it.

So we've had a quiet weekend at home, both due to the snow and DH's illness - whatever it is that's plaguing him is a doozy - I don't know if it's super jet lag or if he's really sick. If he's not recovered by tomorrow, I will get him into the dr.

Meanwhile I did venture out briefly with Cat yesterday to go and see Mamma Mia( the musical) at the Fox Theatre. Thankfully we had tickets to the matinee, bc if we had to go out last night and see it, I think we would have passed. The main roads were fine - and we had no incidents till we got into a parking lot. We decided to use one down the street from the theater - it was easy to get into and it was only $10. So we pull in, only to find out that there's no more room at the inn. Fine. Whatever. I was tempted to curse the poor man into the ground, but since I am a Southern lady, I held my tongue.

In order to get out of the parking lot, we had to drive down a hill, and then back up the same hill on the other side. And since the owners of the lot didn't have the foresight to SAND or SALT the lot, this was trickier than it looked. We managed to get down the hill and turn to go back up without taking any lives or parked cars with us. BUT then halfway UP the hill, some MORON was trying to go DOWN the hill on the same side as us, effectively breaking the law of the parking lot.

We were at a standstill, on an incline in total slush. Icy slush at that. After the stare down(which I won by the way) he backed up and proceeded to descend the hill in the correct direction. But it was too late. At that point I was stuck. Not just stuck, but sliding.

Now I am not dumb and I was doing my best, but my car would NOT go forward, but just kept sliding down and sideways ( moving closer to aforementioned parked cars) everytime I tried to go forward. I had to lean out and tell the people walking behind me to please move so they didn't get squashed. And in turn, I had to ask them to tell the woman in the VW bug to PLEASE GET OFF MY A$$ so that I didn't squash her - well like a bug.....

But this NICE NICE NICE NICE NICE (forever my hero) man who MUST be a transplant from the north, helped me get my car unstuck( strike one for front wheel drive) and moving again. He literally risked life and limb - had I started to slide again, he would have been squished into another car. He pushed my driver's side door while telling me the best way to get my traction back. ( and as a side note it was nice to hear that the reason I was stuck was bc there wasn't enough WEIGHT in the front - flattery will get you everywhere!)

As we got moving again, Cat and I both rolled down our windows and screamed THANK YOU! I hope he heard us.

The musical was very entertaining and the ride home much less hair raising than the ride in.

Now, Reilly and I are going to go spend the rest of our Valentine's Day watching the Winter Olympics.....