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Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Naptus Interruptus
Needed a nap today. Badly. It's been a while since I've taken the luxury of a nap. So Pete and I snuggled up together in bed and prepared to sleep...
After about 20 minutes of warm cozy bliss I was awakened by a loud cracking noise, like a gunshot. I got up to investigate and discovered the gate had fallen.
As I've mentioned, we recently got a cat from the shelter. And we have 2 dogs: Pharaoh is an oversized minpin, and Bing is an elderly but spry - if a little demented - yorkie/pom. And they both love, er, "tootsie rolls" from the cat box. So to keep them out, I had devised a little maze. The cat box sits on the floor of the utility room cupboard. In front of it I put a small window screen for the cat to jump over, and in front of that is a baby gate at an angle across the opening. So the lithe little cat can maneuver around the dryer to the opening, then proceed into the cupboard, then jump over the screen, then walk into his box.
I underestimated the determination of the dogs who have been managing SOMEHOW to get their faces into the box ever since the first few days. And today it was Pharaoh who clumsily knocked the baby gate SMACK! onto the floor and woke me up. He was standing at the opening to the cupboard when I reached the utility room, and I yelled at him. He dropped his "tootsie roll" out of his mouth and ran into our bed where Pete was still laying (albeit now awake), and Pete chased him out of the bed, then rolled over...yeah...part of Pharaoh's snack was now smeared onto our sheets and Pete's shoulder. So Pete went to wash up and get clean sheets, saw the rest of the "snack" on the floor, reached for some TP to pick it up, but wasn't fast enough - it was gone and Bing was licking her lips.
This is nauseating to me. Severely nauseating. Dog breath is bad enough but cat crap breath is so much worse. I don't even allow the dogs on my lap anymore and don't want them anywhere near me...
So Pete put the dogs up in the front of the house and closed the door that separates the living area from the bedrooms/bathroom/utility room. We changed the bed, and tried again. But Bing had other plans. If she couldn't be with us she was going to yap and yap and yap and scratch at the door until we either let her in with us or killed her. You know which one I would have chosen...
When we had Bruce, Pharaoh proved to us that a cat box cover isn't enough to stop him, so that's not the answer...but I don't know what is.
We HAVE to find a solution to this. We HAVE to make the cat box accessible to the big fat 14# cat but not to a 10# yorkie/pom. How we're going to do THAT, I can't imagine. But we have to. Because this IS NOT working out. And I am literally getting sick to my stomach (and remember, I can't throw up anymore) when it happens. Every day. Several times. And I've had ENOUGH.
Any and all suggestions welcome.
After about 20 minutes of warm cozy bliss I was awakened by a loud cracking noise, like a gunshot. I got up to investigate and discovered the gate had fallen.
As I've mentioned, we recently got a cat from the shelter. And we have 2 dogs: Pharaoh is an oversized minpin, and Bing is an elderly but spry - if a little demented - yorkie/pom. And they both love, er, "tootsie rolls" from the cat box. So to keep them out, I had devised a little maze. The cat box sits on the floor of the utility room cupboard. In front of it I put a small window screen for the cat to jump over, and in front of that is a baby gate at an angle across the opening. So the lithe little cat can maneuver around the dryer to the opening, then proceed into the cupboard, then jump over the screen, then walk into his box.
I underestimated the determination of the dogs who have been managing SOMEHOW to get their faces into the box ever since the first few days. And today it was Pharaoh who clumsily knocked the baby gate SMACK! onto the floor and woke me up. He was standing at the opening to the cupboard when I reached the utility room, and I yelled at him. He dropped his "tootsie roll" out of his mouth and ran into our bed where Pete was still laying (albeit now awake), and Pete chased him out of the bed, then rolled over...yeah...part of Pharaoh's snack was now smeared onto our sheets and Pete's shoulder. So Pete went to wash up and get clean sheets, saw the rest of the "snack" on the floor, reached for some TP to pick it up, but wasn't fast enough - it was gone and Bing was licking her lips.
This is nauseating to me. Severely nauseating. Dog breath is bad enough but cat crap breath is so much worse. I don't even allow the dogs on my lap anymore and don't want them anywhere near me...
So Pete put the dogs up in the front of the house and closed the door that separates the living area from the bedrooms/bathroom/utility room. We changed the bed, and tried again. But Bing had other plans. If she couldn't be with us she was going to yap and yap and yap and scratch at the door until we either let her in with us or killed her. You know which one I would have chosen...
When we had Bruce, Pharaoh proved to us that a cat box cover isn't enough to stop him, so that's not the answer...but I don't know what is.
We HAVE to find a solution to this. We HAVE to make the cat box accessible to the big fat 14# cat but not to a 10# yorkie/pom. How we're going to do THAT, I can't imagine. But we have to. Because this IS NOT working out. And I am literally getting sick to my stomach (and remember, I can't throw up anymore) when it happens. Every day. Several times. And I've had ENOUGH.
Any and all suggestions welcome.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
A REAL Blog Post! (Update)
Just thought I'd post an update since I haven't done so in a while...
Healing continues. I'm able to eat just about anything now - including bread if it is toasted - but haven't done raw vegetables yet. Probably will be a very long time before I try those, other than cole slaw which the doc said I shouldn't have a problem with. But I'm eating most vegetables cooked now, even cabbage! I take anti-gas pills first to try and prevent bloating. No problems.
But about a week ago I started having some belly discomfort. I wondered if it was from the yerba mate but after 2 days without it, no improvement. It was worse after eating, and has progressively worsened day by day. I don't have a sense that there is anything wrong with my wrap itself, however, as it is still doing its job very well. So I backed off on my food portions (even though I don't overeat, or eat until I'm really full), and ate less more often...still no relief.
Last night I realized that I've gotten out of the habit of taking Protonix every morning. It's probably been a couple of weeks since I've taken it. Just because I don't have constant reminders of the acid in my stomach via the GERD, doesn't mean it isn't there, I'm guessing? So this morning I started back up on the Protonix, in the event that it's irritation from too much acid.
On the other hand - my activities are back up to normal levels (I cleaned all 8 bird cages today and vacuumed, moved some furniture, for example) and, even though others do everything within a few weeks of their surgery, my doctor gave me that 100-day thing, to go easy. Probably those other people were in better physical shape going into their surgery than I was...who knows?
So I still have a bit of "ruling out" to do before I'd have to call the doctor.
I may have mentioned that I stopped biting my nails? I've bitten them for half a century - yes, since I was a toddler - and now I am cutting them twice a week to keep them shorter than my fingertips. I don't like how they feel but I like how they look and they are turning out to be rather useful too! Having fingernails wasn't a side effect of the surgery that I had anticipated, but nail bits weren't part of my liquid and soft food diets after surgery - lol.
I continue to lose weight. I don't know how much exactly since my home scale isn't too accurate (but the needle keeps going lower), it was 27# when I was at my family doctor a couple of weeks ago. I can stop in there anytime to check, I'm sure. I know that this is a side effect that won't last forever :) but I'm back on my lowcarb diet that I've followed since April 3, 2004 - nearly 7 years - and, well, I'll write more about that in my Cheap'n'Easy Low Carb blog...
So all is well! I'm just loving being able to sleep laying down in my bed instead of up in my recliner, no waking with reflux in my ear canals or nose in the middle of the, no more worrying about every bite that goes into my mouth (although the reflux was there whether or not I ate anything, and no matter what it was)...just normal life. I can't stop being thankful for this, or for the opportunity to have it done. I just feel so normal now, I had forgotten what that felt like!
And that is my 8-week post-op update :).
Healing continues. I'm able to eat just about anything now - including bread if it is toasted - but haven't done raw vegetables yet. Probably will be a very long time before I try those, other than cole slaw which the doc said I shouldn't have a problem with. But I'm eating most vegetables cooked now, even cabbage! I take anti-gas pills first to try and prevent bloating. No problems.
But about a week ago I started having some belly discomfort. I wondered if it was from the yerba mate but after 2 days without it, no improvement. It was worse after eating, and has progressively worsened day by day. I don't have a sense that there is anything wrong with my wrap itself, however, as it is still doing its job very well. So I backed off on my food portions (even though I don't overeat, or eat until I'm really full), and ate less more often...still no relief.
Last night I realized that I've gotten out of the habit of taking Protonix every morning. It's probably been a couple of weeks since I've taken it. Just because I don't have constant reminders of the acid in my stomach via the GERD, doesn't mean it isn't there, I'm guessing? So this morning I started back up on the Protonix, in the event that it's irritation from too much acid.
On the other hand - my activities are back up to normal levels (I cleaned all 8 bird cages today and vacuumed, moved some furniture, for example) and, even though others do everything within a few weeks of their surgery, my doctor gave me that 100-day thing, to go easy. Probably those other people were in better physical shape going into their surgery than I was...who knows?
So I still have a bit of "ruling out" to do before I'd have to call the doctor.
I may have mentioned that I stopped biting my nails? I've bitten them for half a century - yes, since I was a toddler - and now I am cutting them twice a week to keep them shorter than my fingertips. I don't like how they feel but I like how they look and they are turning out to be rather useful too! Having fingernails wasn't a side effect of the surgery that I had anticipated, but nail bits weren't part of my liquid and soft food diets after surgery - lol.
I continue to lose weight. I don't know how much exactly since my home scale isn't too accurate (but the needle keeps going lower), it was 27# when I was at my family doctor a couple of weeks ago. I can stop in there anytime to check, I'm sure. I know that this is a side effect that won't last forever :) but I'm back on my lowcarb diet that I've followed since April 3, 2004 - nearly 7 years - and, well, I'll write more about that in my Cheap'n'Easy Low Carb blog...
So all is well! I'm just loving being able to sleep laying down in my bed instead of up in my recliner, no waking with reflux in my ear canals or nose in the middle of the, no more worrying about every bite that goes into my mouth (although the reflux was there whether or not I ate anything, and no matter what it was)...just normal life. I can't stop being thankful for this, or for the opportunity to have it done. I just feel so normal now, I had forgotten what that felt like!
And that is my 8-week post-op update :).
Inspirational #Bible Verses By Topic For Every Occasion
I find pages like this to be valuable as a starting point...but verses are so often taken out of context and can thus be misleading on their own, so I feel this "caution" is necessary: Find a verse to suit your situation using this - or other - online lists, then read the verses surrounding it. To use the Word to mislead people isn't the intended use :).
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Monday, January 24, 2011
Your Ultimate Guide to the Best of the Web: Cooking Shows | the TV addict
As a web-based cooking video addict, I was thrilled to find this site suggested by @FeedMeBubbe on Facebook !
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