Procrastination

It's the middle of August already.  Where has the time gone?  I hate this "being a grown up" thing.  All you do is wake up, go to work, come home and repeat.  It is the same thing everyday.  I miss my younger years when I use to have summer break and could do the things that I wanted to do such as sleep in, watch day time TV, go swimming, etc.  Plus, now that I'm a grown up I have to deal with "grown up issues"... divorce, money problems, work, gaining weight :)  It's just not all that fun really and quite depressing.  Anyways... as August draws to a close and September will be here before I know it... I find myself procrastinating MUCH more than usual. Maybe I feel like I can slow down time if I go slower on the things that need to be done.  Who knows.

My main concern at this point is Phonathon.  The months of August/September and December/January are my "I'm about ready to lose my mind" months.  There is just so much to do to get ready for the hiring of new students and the training process.  I have to do all my scripts, put together manuals, write up email reminders... and the list goes on and on.  Even with all these things on my "to do" list, I find myself trying to do anything but what I should be doing.  Uhhhhgggg.... I know, I had better change my attitude or the big day will be upon me and I'll not be prepared... better get crackin'!

And the Paw Pad Saga Continues....

So after going to the vet and getting some meds for our Remi Bear... we thought that we were in the clear.  He had been running around and playing with toys so we knew he was feeling soooo much better than before.  However, last night we noticed that he was limping badly again.  So, we laid him down and started to inspect his pads again.  Unfortunately, we discovered that his pads have gone from ripped skin to cracks down the middle of his pads.  It is kind of like when human skin gets really dry and then your skin cracks, only his is MUCH bigger.  He is hardly walking on his front paw.  It is hard to watch.  I think that for some reason his pads have just dried out and that is where all these problems are steming from.  All I know is that I'm on a mission to find some stuff to put on them that will take the dryness away and replace it with smooth paw pad skin :)  If you have any suggestions out there I would really appreciate it!

My sweet Bear is not feeling well.....

Vet Trip!

As you know, Sunday night we discovered that Remington's paw pads were torn up after a play date he had over the weekend.  After reading up on the subject, I found out that this is not at all uncommon in Retrievers.  I guess they will play and play even though they are in pain and you would never know that there was an issue.  That is the Retriever side coming out in him I suppose.  The situation was pretty bad on Monday morning and I was not real sure how to help him.  He was hardly able to walk at that point... and you can imagine what we were going through getting him up and down the stairs.  So Dan and I made a 5 o'clock appointment to see the vet because we were worried that his pads would get infected and then we would have a real mess on our hands.  I know some people probably think we're crazy... but better safe than sorry I always say.

When we got to the vet they said that they weren't all that concerned.  They had seen a lot worse, so that made me feel a lot better.  They gave us some pain medications so that he would be able to walk a little bit more normally.  They also just told us to keep the area clean but not to wrap it up.  I guess it needs air to breathe and heal faster.  However, when we got Remi home two of his pads started bleeding so I had to wrap them up for a little bit so it didn't get all over the place.

Right now he is walking a little better and he even played with his toys a little bit, so I can tell he is feeling more like himself.  Hopefully in the next few days he will be back to his old self.  I think we will just have to watch him carefully when playing because I guess some dogs are just prone to ripping their pads.  I definitely don't want him to go through this again.

Get well soon my sweet Bear :)

A fun filled weekend...

Dan and I had a very fun weekend :)  Not saying that every weekend is not fun, but we actually did fun stuff this weekend :)  So.... be prepared for a loooonnnnggg post today.

Friday... was a good day for me.  When I got into work I found out that I had won free admissions tickets to the Indiana State Fair that our VP was raffling off!  I was pretty excited about this since Dan and I had planned on taking a day trip there. HOORAY! Remington had his hair cut Friday... so when I got home from work I was looking forward to seeing Remington's new trim.  The groomer did a very nice job on him and I think he was enjoying his new summer cut.  He won't be groomed again until the end of Fall.

"Look at my stylist bandanna Mom!"

"I'm feeling pretty handsome!"

I had found a recipe on smittenkitchen.com that I thought Dan would love. So I passed it onto him so he could work his magic.  The recipe was for sweet and smokey oven spare ribs.  I know that I'm doing the vegetarian thing, but I had to indulge on these a little bit.  If I didn't, it would have hurt Dan's feelings... or so I tell myself.  They were amazing by the way!

Dan's dinner plate :)

After dinner, the weather was so nice outside so we took Remington on a long walk for the first time in weeks!  He enjoyed it of course.  Being stuck inside the house because of the heat is not his idea of fun.

I have been dying to get a picture in front of this sign by our housing addition.  The flowers are so pretty right now, so I took advantage of our walk by getting this shot :)

Saturday... was a much busier day than usual for me.  I was up at 6:30 and went on a 2 mile run around the neighborhood.  I have to get my runs in early in the morning or late at night because if I don't it is just too hot outside for anything.  Once home I got my stuff together and went over to my friend Chanelle's apartment to go swimming in the pool there.  It was such a nice day for it.  We sat at the pool from 9-11:30 just chatting about things.  It was nice to be with her since we don't get to see each other like we use to.

In the evening a bunch of us girls got together for our friend Myla's birthday.  We all went downtown and had drinks and appetizers at P.F. Changs and then dinner at Weber Grill.  I think that we all had a really good time eating, drinking, and laughing :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYLA!

Myla, Casey, and I at P.F. Chang's

Myla opening her present from a bunch of us... a bracelet and necklace.

Myla's awesome cake at P.F. Chang's!  I think they called it the Great Wall of Chocolate!

And here is the whole group!

And here's Val and I at Weber Grill :)

Sunday... was kind of a day spent resting up from the night before.  I swear I napped all day long.  Dan and I were however going over to Debbie's house for dinner and to meet their new dog Belle, so I managed to make a dessert to take over there.

 

Red, White and Blue Brownie... very patriotic on a not so patriotic day... but it was still good :)

We brought Remington with us to meet Belle.  Let's just say that they didn't really hit it off.  I think that Belle was just kind of scared so we didn't push their friendship too much.  Remington just played in the back yard while Belle was inside.  I felt kind of bad though, because we took over Belle's area while we were there :( Remington did have a blast though running around in a fenced in yard.  That is a luxury he doesn't get very often. :)

When we got home from Debbie's we did notice that Remington was limping quite badly.  This worried me.  I automatically thought maybe he had hurt his leg or his hips were bothering him.  I laid him down and started examining him.  I was upset to find that all of the skin on his paw pads were ripped and they looked like a giant blister on each foot.  UHHHHGGGG!  About a month ago I had this happen to him with one of his pads... and I think it was from a walk I had taken him on earlier in the week.  We figure that the long walk we took on Friday started the process of them ripping and then all the running around at Debbie's that he did probably made them worse.  I felt awful and of course was crying... :( We disinfected all the areas and then put antibotics on all the blisters and then covered them up with his footies.  He is very uncomfortable and is not getting around very well.  This is probably something that we should have picked up on earlier... but it isn't something you think about happening.  We will just try to nurse his feet back to health the best we can.  Poor boy.

Anyways, we had a very fun filled weekend as you can see.  I would expect next weekend to be a little bit more low key :)

Letter from Hannah :)

It has been a very long time since Dan last saw Hannah (our niece).  I believe it was March.  And the last time I got to see her was May when I went to a conference in Arizona.  We miss all our nieces and nephews so much... so little things we get from them always mean a lot.

Hannah and I when I was in Arizona at my conference :)

Everyday when I get home from work the first thing I do is go outside and get the mail.  Today was special because we got something other than newspapers full of ads and coupons or a mailbox full of bills.  We actually had a letter in there!!!  When I got inside and opened it up I couldn't help but smile.  It was a letter from Hannah telling us all about her new sister and brother, about her going swimming, and about how she wishes we would come visit her!  Included was a beautiful picture she had colored for me and Dan.

This touched my heart.  We miss our nieces and nephews so much.  It is so hard to not live close by to them.  We miss out on so much of their lives because of this.  We sometimes worry that Hannah will forget about who we are because we hardly ever get to see her, but moments like these make us feel so special and loved :)

Hannah, your picture went front and center on our fridge :)  Thank you!  We love you so much!

Remington's mortal enemy gets a haircut!

Oh my goodness! It has been so hot in Indy for these past two months!  There has been no relief what so ever from the humidity.  It really wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for that!  I mean you can't even step outside without your glasses fogging over!  YUCK!  Yesterday the heat index here reached 105 degrees! AWFUL!

Well, not only is the heat hard on us humans, but our furry friends suffer as well.  Poor Remington has not been on a walk in ages because even at 9:00 at night the heat is just to much for him.  I feel awful about it, but I'm sure he is much happier lounging around in the house.....

Also, our neighbors across the pond have a Chow.  She really is a beautiful thing, but she is soooo hairy!  Remington hates her.  Every time she is outside he goes crazy... barking and running around the house or yard.  We have been talking about how miserable she must be feeling in this heat (not to mention how much she must be shedding in the house)!  Well yesterday, when I was making dinner, I did a double take when I saw the Chow outside!  I was expecting the big hairy dog I always see....

But instead I was shocked to see this dog shaved to the skin!  WOWZERS!  She looked so funny.  Dan had to laugh as well!  Now she looks like this....

Well... maybe not quite :)

Linguine in Lemon Cream Sauce

I found an easy recipe in this months edition of Vegetarian Times that I had to try... Linguine in Lemon Cream Sauce.  UMMMM :)

Ingredients

8 oz dry linguine
1/2 cup light cream cheese
2 Tbs olive oil
1 lemon, juiced and 1 Tbs. zest grated
1/2 cup chopped parsley

1. Cook linguine according to package directions in pot of boiling salted water.

2. Warm cream cheese, oil, and 2 Tbs lemon juice in saucepan over low heat.

3. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water.  Stir reserved cooking water into cream cheese mixture.  Add pasta, lemon zest, and parsley, toss to coat.  Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Per 1 serving: 343 calories

In my opinion this was a fast and simple recipe.  It also had that hint of summertime in it with the lemons :)

And don't forget your special helpers when making it :)