The Big Chill

Brrrrr. I was talking earlier this week about how cold it was going to be in Minneapolis this weekend, totally ignoring out weather. Silly me. It's supposed to be below 0 tonight, and a couple nights this coming week. At least Steve's home to keep the woodstove going. After he gets back from his stupid radio show in St. Joe tomorrow, that is.

I got up early this morning to go to a doctor's appointment in Fremont and it was snowing like crazy. Bleah. I wasn't really looking forward to driving so far in the snow, but luckily by the time I got highway 275 (not even halfway) the snow had stopped and it was just blowing around. I think that's the worst part of the cold - the wind. It's not so bad when it's just cold, but when it's cold and windy, the cold just cuts through you and makes your bones ache. As if mine needed any encouragement! We're supposed to have more snow on Sunday and Monday. I invited my brother to come back this weekend for another visit so we could build snowmen and make snow angels, but he "respectfully" declined. Imagine that!

Congrats are in order to my brother and Rick, who reached level 40 on WoW yesterday! Way to go guys! I've never been a great one for video games, other than Scrabble and Mah Jong, I have to give credit to someone who can stay with it for so long, especially now that they got their "craws" - apparently that is a Big Thing! Yay for you guys!

So, the trip to the new doctor went very well today. I didn't know doctors still actually sat down with their patients and listened to what they had to say. I told him what the ER doctor told me a couple weeks ago, about how I was sick because it was my body reacting to all the medication I take. Dr. S. sat down, discussed all my past diagnoses and what medication I was taking for what and we decided together (hard to believe, isn't it?) that I really can't cut anything except probably the Ambien. We're going to work on weaning off that and try using melatonin. I'm also going to try to switch antidepressants to something that will work more with anxiety and possibly even pain management, like Cymbalta - although he says usually secondary uses for those medications isn't very effective. At least he's willing to talk to me and let me have a choice in my treatment. I know that always supposed to be an option, but I think finding a doctor that doesn't zoom in and out of the room with white coat flapping is a rare occurrence.

I've also decided to take the bull by the horns so to speak and try some therapy for anxiety. I'm really finding it harder and harder to deal with the older I get. I spent totally too much time worrying about nothing. I know that, but I can't stop it. That's annoying - to say the very least. Hey, at least it will get me out of the house for an hour or so a month!

Toby was very glad to see Steve come home. I'm a little worried about him though, I'm pretty sure that for some reason he's losing his eye sight. That's all we need a blind, paralyzed dog. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. He's always nipped our hands when we give him treats, but that isn't too odd when dogs are as zealous about treats as he is, but a couple weeks ago I noticed he wasn't jumping off the sofa anymore. That's really not as bad as it sounds, we always kept cushions on the floor in front of the sofa when he was on there alone, in case he took a flying leap, we sure didn't want him to break a leg or something, but he would hear a noise and off he'd go. Even if we were sitting right beside him, he was so quick that half the time we couldn't catch him in time. I know, I know, why would we put a paralyzed dog on the sofa to begin with... Let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've listened to a dog progress from a quiet whine to a full-fledged howl when he wants to get on the sofa with you - and he wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted. Worse than a 3 year old in a candy store! I thought he quit doing it because he finally figured out he'd get hurt - stupid me. Anyway, tonight I heard him whining and I thought he was in the hallway, so I stopped work to see what was wrong with him. Turns out he wasn't in the hallway - the door to my office wasn't open all the way and somehow he had gotten behind the door, between the wall and the door, and couldn't figure out how to get out! I've also noticed that he has to sniff around for his food bowl when we put it down on the floor, as if he can't quite tell where it is. I just took him to the vet on Monday for his rabies shot and he got a clean bill of health, this is really bugging me. Poor guy, no wonder he's so crabby, I'd be crabby too. It's bad enough to be so dependent on someone, he can't even pee by himself, can't walk, and now he can't see. I'll have to call the vet tomorrow and see what he says. It couldn't be caused by the rabies vaccine, could it? That sounds a little far fetched to me, besides I think it started a couple weeks ago at least. If it's not one thing... I swear.

I guess that's my novella for today! More from the frozen tundra later!

Soon to be new nephew update

Amber went to the doctor today but baby Vlad (short for Vladimir - hee hee) isn't quite ready to make his appearance yet. Things are started to work toward baby time, but just not quite yet. Poor Amber is feeling the 8th month stretch too, I can barely remember what it felt like, but I feel sorry for her! Come on, Vlad, we're anxious to meet you!

Sunshine!

Yesterday felt like it was about two weeks long, it was so gloomy and dark with the snow coming down. Plus, since it was so cold, I was aching pretty bad and the neighbors had their thumpa-thumpa-thump (music) going from about 1 in the afternoon until 8 last night. I tell ya what - I only had one nerve left and they were standing on it! After awhile the noise turns into an ache in my head and I just about want to smack somebody! I heard it over the sound of my docs dictating and it's really distracting. I was so relieved when they finally quit!

I worked until a little after 1 this morning. My line count isn't the best when I'm stopping constantly to do something for or to the dogs. I had to stop once yesterday to clean up a mess on the carpet in my office - what a fiasco that turned out to be! I have such a terrible time with this stupid carpet cleaner we have, I could not for the life of me get the attachment hooked onto the water tank. It was driving me nuts! Steve even sent directions by e-mail and I still couldn't get it to work. Thank goodness Meg came over later, between me, her, and another phone call to Steve, we finally got it figured out and I got the spot taken care of, but that was annoying as well!

To top it all off the warning to my coworker didn't seem to have much effect at all - she was back to her usual stuff last night. We had tons of work and we're pretty far behind on some reports, but she just takes hours off and disappears. That's frustrating too, but I just have to work around it, I guess. She has to live with herself. Unfortunately the rest of us have to live with her lack of work ethics. She's most irritating to listen to at our meetings, you'd think she's expecting the award for transcriptionist of the year because of her dedication to her job. Oh rubbish!

Anyway! It's a new day, the sun is shining! Toby hasn't taken a shot at my hands yet today, so all my fingers are still operational, Steve will be home tomorrow, and I go see the new doc - things are definitely looking up! Oh yeah, and the thing I'm most grateful for - I'm not related to Britney Spears! lol!

You're kidding, right?

I love to read People magazine, I admit it, I'm a junkie. I feel so normal after reading about people with lots of money and fame who are crazier than I am, but today takes the cake. Britney Spears was shopping for a pregnancy test. Wait, it gets better. One of her friends is quoted as saying that it's been a hard time for her, losing custody of her kids and everything, which she didn't expect. Are ya kidding? She didn't expect to lose her kids? Does she have a brain in her head or has it been reduced to mush from all the peroxide she's subjected it to? Even before her much touted "breakdown" did she really think she was going to keep those kids? She shows up late for court constantly, doesn't go to court ordered drug/alcohol testing, is shown partying constantly, drives like a mad woman with her kids in the car, nearly drops one on his head, has her "meltdown", shows up late for the custody hearing and then doesn't think she's going to lose the kids? There's more wrong with Brit than can be cured with a lifetime of therapy. I feel so sorry for those kids. And heaven help us if there's another one on the way!

Cold and snow

We finally have some more snow coming. I know my brother thinks I'm nuts, but as long as it's winter, it might as well be snowing. If you have to be cold, it's good to have snow.

I think it finally dawned on the powers that be that I've basically been working by myself for months. The person I work with at night signed on, usually late, but would never actually start to work until midnight or after. It was very frustrating to have a turnaround time on jobs and work like a crazy person to try to meet that TAT while the other person who was supposed to be working was off doing whatever. She's been warned and warned and warned. Apparently she was warned again, but this time they're monitoring her activity. We've got a lead transcriptionist too now, so maybe that will make a difference. I hope so.

My day didn't start off too well actually, I was reading a book at bedtime last night, so when I got sleepy I put my glasses on the night stand, shut off the light, and went to sleep. That's what I remember anyway. I got up this morning - no glasses. My vision without my glasses is bad, like 20/200 bad. I can't see a darn thing and I sure can't drive. I can work, but it's not easy and I get a terrific headache. I tore the bedroom apart. No glasses. Finally I found an old pair, but they're "only" bifocals, so they're still not great for working, but better than nothing.

It went from bad to worse, I decided to clean the shower door. Yuck. I've tried and tried to get Steve to use liquid soap to help decrease soap scum, but that plea has fallen on deaf ears. Maybe I should make him clean the shower! I have to say I love those Mr. Clean eraser things, they can get soap scum off a glass door better than anything else I've found. It still took me nearly 45 minutes to get the door as clean as I'd like - and totally destroyed a brand new eraser. Now I have to get some new ones to work on the rest of the shower. Blech. I also am going to try to use Turtle Wax on the door and the walls. I've heard that works pretty well keeping the shower clean. Should be fun. Anyone care to join me cleaning the shower? Steve can't figure out why I'd rather take a bath. Easy, the bathtub is cleaner! lol! And when it's dirty, it's easier to clean.

Haha, I head a great joke tonight. What did the 0 say to the 8??? Scroll down



Scroll down some more.....



Scroll downs some more....



"Nice belt"! Heh heh! That had me laughing so hard I was in danger of spewing Dr. Pepper through the old nose holes! Guess you had to be there, But it was funny, you gotta admit that!

Poor CBG is moving up to Minneapolis this weekend, Saturday night is supposed to be -15 - just the air temperature. I think I'll go visit in the sunmmer. I hope she finds everything she's looking for there. What a great Town to make a new start in! She has the guts I wish I had and I admire her greatly! You GO girl!!! Okay, this keyboard is about to give me a stroke and I'm trying very hard to not hurl this computer out the window!

Oh, when I found the spare of glasses, I evetually found my real glasses under the bed on my side... I always sleep on Steve's side when he's gone. I have no idea how they got under the bed on the other side from the nigtstand on my side! Dogs, I just know it... Later!

Have a good night everybody! Glad you made it back home safely from Minneapolis with all your parts still attached, baby brother! LOL

Goodbye goose egg...

Straight out of Counciltucky folks.

How to increase graduation rates and improve achievement in the classroom is the goal of every school district. With that in mind, a Council Bluffs administrator is behind a controversial plan to eliminate the grade of zero.
"I just try to make it a good experience," says Thomas Jefferson psychology teacher Mary Beth Runge. "If they can be engaged or if they can be excited or even mildly amused what they're doing, then what they end up with is more learning taking place and that's always the goal."
Sometimes assignments don't get turned in which can result in a grade of zero and the possibility students will give up and drop out of school.
"If you get a zero on three assignments since maybe the first two weeks, you don't want to come to school, you are mad at the world, you wish it were still summertime,” says Council Bluffs Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Martha Bruckner.
“Three zeros, unless I hold you accountable for making these up, those three zeros pretty much means you are not going to pass."
Dr. Bruckner says students should get half of the points for a missed assignment. It's still a failing grade, but an incentive for students to stay in school and complete those assignments.
"What we're trying to do is don't let those zeroes get in the way of helping kids have a chance to learn. What we want teachers to do is not to let kids off the hook by saying you didn't have that in and I’m going to give you a zero, you don't have to do the work because I've already given you a zero."
"What we want you to say is we want you to do the work because what we're doing in here is important."
It's controversial, but Dr. Bruckner believes if it keeps kids coming to class, it's worth it. "The goal is to keep kids on the hook, but to keep them believing that I have a reason to keep working in here." And attaining success in the classroom.
Superintendent Bruckner says her idea corrects an imbalance in the grading scale. Students will still have to prove their proficiency by passing state standardized tests.

Heaven forbid we teach or kids to persevere and work hard... It's no fun when your kids don't turn in homework. I know that. I had a child like that. Hasn't everybody who has more than one child had a child like that? Seriously, "We're not going to fail you so you won't quit school"? What's going to happen when they grow up and have a job they don't like?

You know what? Life isn't always fun. School isn't always fun. It's an educational experience. You're supposed to learn. How about grading the parents for awhile?

Blue bells....

I just got off the phone with my brother - who hails from San Diego. Poor guy is in Minneapolis. It's 4 degrees. As in 1, 2, 3, 4. I have to laugh, I'm sorry. He was born and raised in Omaha, I can't believe his blood has thinned that bad! Target is attached to his hotel by a skywalk, I suggested he might at least want to buy a hat, although by tomorrow night he'll be back in San Diego. I mean Minneapolis has so much fun stuff to do, it would be a pity to have to just sit in a hotel all night...

I told him not to feel bad, our temperatures weren't supposed to get "really cold" until later this week. It was supposed to be 31 today, but when I came home from the vet at 1:30 it was only 16. Something tells me 31 was a bit of an exaggeration. Which makes me wonder about the rest of the week when they're telling us to expect weather in the mid-teens for highs. Brrrr.

I can't deal with the woodstove by myself either. Can you see me hauling in logs from outside multiple times during the evening and night, the way my back feels lately? Nope, me neither. So I guess I'm not going to have a nice warm basement to go to either until Steve gets home. This sucks.

Tell me Dr. Freud...

I used to loved to be by myself. I could do what I wanted, when I wanted, yada, yada, yada. I'd read, scrapbook, work on genealogy, and time would just fly by. Not any more. I hate being by myself now days. I absolutely detest it! I'm not afraid, it's not that kind of not liking to be alone, I just hate to be alone. Even if Steve is home, he's usually in the basement tinkering with his radio or something when I'm working, and I'm home alone all day doing whatever while he's at work (since our work schedules overlap), so it's not like I have someone with me most of the time. But when I know he's not here, I absolutely hate being here. Even though I'm not truly alone, one can never be truly alone with 6 dogs - one of them always wants/needs something...
;-) Part of it might be the fact that I work from home and don't have any interaction with anyone, even when I'm working. All I do is sit and listen and type. I rarely have to answer the phone for work and when I do it's just somebody who wants a STAT report, it's not like they're calling to chat. Nobody to talk to unless the phone rings or I call someone, eating meals alone, going to bed alone and not having someone to snore next to me... I don't know. I used to love time like this and now it's a burden. Can you explain that to me, Dr. Freud?

Dreams and stuff

I had the most bizarre dream and experience today. I'm losing it. As if anyone doesn't know, we had to put our Charlie Brown to sleep in 2006, just a few days before Christmas. I was quite attached to little Charlie and I miss him very much. Well, more than very much, however much that is! He was such a personality and even all my other dogs just don't quite fill the void that Charlie left.

Steve has to be out of town this week and had to be at the airport by 5 a.m. this morning, so I took my Ambien at 8 last night. By midnight I was still wide awake. It doesn't look good, does it? Especially since I didn't sleep at all Friday night for whatever reason... We got up at 4 this morning, I got him to the airport by 5, I was home by 5:45 and put my pj's on and went back to bed. I woke up at 9:30 when Jojo wanted out of his kennel, and back to sleep I went. I got up at 10:30 and remember thinking I had to get up pretty soon because I had an appointment at the vet at noon....

Of course I fell asleep again. I dreamed that my old roommate, Gene, had come to visit me and Steve and we had been visiting awhile when for some reason I opened the back door and all the dogs got out. We were chasing them all over the place, but when we got them all back to the house, Charlie Brown wasn't there. Gene said they had tried to catch him, but he just wouldn't come to them and kept running farther and farther away.. Oh my gosh, in my dream, I was just crying, and crying because Charlie was gone and I was sure he was going to get hit by a car. Steve went out and couldn't find him either. I was just so sad. Then, like dreams do, we were in a different house and I was going to go out to the backyard and when I opened the door, there was Charlie! I was so happy to see him - and he was so happy to see us! His little stubby tail was wagging about a hundred miles an hour and he was running back and forth between Steve and me, just like a dog who has been gone from home and is happy to be back. I was picking him up and petting him and he'd want to get down and run to Steve. As soon as Steve would pick him up and pet him, he'd want to get down and run to me... I can't tell you how happy I was to see him!

The next thing I knew I woke up again and it was 11:35. Holy crap! The vet is about 20 minutes away and my appointment was in 25 minutes! I jumped up, let the dogs out, got dressed, let the dogs in, changed Toby's belly band and off to the vet we went. We had quite a long visit with Dr. K, and Toby got his shots, everything is good... I left the exam room where we were and went to stand by the desk when I heard dog footsteps coming from down the hallway where we had just been, which incidentally is the same hallway where the room is where Charlie was put to sleep. There was no dog there. No one was there, as a matter of fact, but I heard a dog walking down that hallway, a light dog, not like a lab. Something like Charlie. It was a little freaky, but what really freaked me out was the leaves of the plant on top of the armoire next to the room where we had Charlie was PTS were moving like there was air blowing on them. But there isn't an air vent near the armoire. I even mentioned to the tech at the counter who also thought it was pretty strange. She couldn't hear the footsteps though, I asked her, and she said no, although I could still hear them. I know she probably thinks I'm nuts now, but I really think it was Charlie. I really do. The dream was so real, and so were those footsteps. I just feel like maybe that was Charlie just letting me know he's still here. I still think he is anyway, but I guess he wanted to make sure. For what it's worth, I got the message Charlie. I know you're still here!