Update on Jake, our Maltipoo

I'm so sad tonight for our little guy. He had his knee surgery this morning (Wed). He is hurting SO much. The inscision is about 8 inches long. So much longer than I thought it would be. The Vet said he should be up walking around tomorrow (Thurs). He did limp around a couple times. Richard carried outside & it was raining very lightly. After a while, Jake just laid down in the grass. I don't know if the damp,cool grass felt good or if he was just too worn out to get up and go back to the house. Rich had to carry him in. I had to bring his water dish to him. Bless his heart he was SO thirsty. I'm praying so hard for a speedy recovery for him. He also has been put on diet. I KNOW that feeling. And he is NOT going to like it. He lost 3 lbs since he hurt his knee, so I have a feeling he will lose some more in the next week, easily. He hasn't touched his food bowl. He wouldn't even take his pills with bits of hot dog.
Speaking of cool and rainy days. The past 3 days have been hot, then at night thunderstorms with nice rain. Last night it started raining in the middle of the night and it has been raining off and on all day. Wonderful slow 70 day with gentle, steady rains that this part of the country needs oh so desperately. Thank you God. Please get well, little buddy.

July Birthdays & Summer Fun

Well, July is well over half gone. We've had a few birthdays to celebrate and wish Happy Ones to. Let's see, our nephew Andy (Richard's sister's son) had a birthday on the 4th!! What a day to have a birthday to celebrate!

Richard's other sister, Pauline (Polly) had her birthday on the 6th. HAPPY BIRTHDAY POLLY! She lives in Missouri but she will be out her (TX) in August. We're anxious to see her.

Our #3 granddaugher (Tom's middle girl) turned 6 on the 11th. Our little 7-11 girl born at 1:11p.m. They were living in Colorado when she was born. They called about 6am to let us know that Morgan (ex daughter in law) was in labor. We drove like crazy people hoping to get there in time. I think we missed it by about an hour & 1/2. I was just getting over a foot surgery of course. But I got to stay a week with the kids. Shelby was just about 22 mos at the time. I was thrilled to be there that week. Though I think I drove Morgan nuts. We had a luau this year for Kenzie's birthday. Tommy did all the work. I did make her tiki hut cake (but I had to let him try out making some of the icing "leaves" on the roof. He did fantastic! I believe he'd be a natural at cake decorating! He made chicken & beef kabobs on the grill. There was fruit kabobs along with the other food, cake & ice cream. He even saved sparklers for the kids to do after dark. On a sad note, our almost 6 yr old maltipoo, Jake jumped off our daughter's lap that night & injured his left hind leg. It was a weekend & our vet refers weekend patients to the Emergency Animal Clinic. One of the very reasons that I am thinking seriously about changings Vets. They didn't even xray Jake's leg. I didn't go, but I should have. Rich should have insisted they xray the leg. They diagnosed it as a bad pull or tear of a ligament. Said there is an expensive operation to repair it but was only 50/50 that it would be a success. So what, he is supposed to limp all his life. We delayed taking him to the regular Vet as he seemed to really be iproving over the next couple of days. Then Wed. the trash truck came down the alley. HIS alley (he thinks-LOL). Jake HAS to run out and bark at him, which he did & I KNOW aggrivated his leg again. He is putting weight on it when he walks now & you can touch the leg without him crying or jerking away, so he is better. I still want to take him to Vet though for a REAL diagnosis.

Our #5 granddaughter, Hailey Rae (Chad & Malizza's daughter) had her 2nd birthday, July 17th. They had her birthday at Chuck E Cheese Pizza. The kids had a blast. Hailey seemed to really enjoy herself. We got her a tricycle, though I haven't gotten to see it in action. LOL I also got her an outfit & 2 pair of earrings. I love the pizza there & I don't know why I never think to get one from there. So the only time I get it is at a birthday party! LOL Her birthday party theme was Blues Clues and her cake (from a bakery) was a very cute one with "Blue" (a dog for those of you who don't watch Blues Clues) on it. And tasted SO good. Malizza, if you're reading this---Have Chad send me some birthday party pics. I know the ones I took with my phone aren't the greatest. I'm not even sure I know how to get them on the computer, though I'm sure one of my kids does. LOL

Last of the birthdays this month, will be mine. Big Whoop. I'll be (cough cough) 55 on the 29th. Rich will be on vacation and I hope the hell we'll be out this town. I haven't had a vacation in 3 years and I BETTER get one. I want to go to San Diego. He wants to go to Vegas. I HATE Vegas in the summer. The LAST time we were there was one of the hottest summers on record - of COURSE! I got so sick from the heat, walking around. I told him, a stopover in Vegas wouldn't be out of the question as long as I get to park my ass in front of a slot machine or Pai Gow poker table. LOL There's some show going on out there he wants to see. IF we can even get tix. I don't know.

That's about all I know for now. I'll try to add some photos to this entry. My computer crahsed while I was uploading the ones from my camera. Ahhhh technology. LOL Have a good week!!

(I think if you hold your cursor over the photo it tells who or what's in the photo)

"These Dreams Go On When I Close My Eyes"

I have to write about These Dreams. I am a vivid dreamer. If I were only a writer I could write volumes of short stories because none of them are really related. Or ARE they? I think they prove my insanity.LOL Only an insane person could dream up such wild things. Or maybe they are a release for me to KEEP my sanity. I've always walked the razor's edge. A psychology teacher told me once, if you think you're insane you're not for the insane do NOT know they are. I don't know about that. Of course that was what seems like a hundred years ago. There has been hundred of advances in the advance of the diaganosis & treatment of mental illnesses.

I've always had a vivid imagination. I had to. I had to escape the 2a.m. nightmares of my Dad coming home drunk. If I successfully feigned sleep I could escape the belt for some real or imagined transgression. My dreams a child were not bad ones. Just "flights of fancy." I think they were my escape from the nightmares I endured during the day. Besides my Dad I had to deal with the brother from Hilarity Hell. He lived to torture me. Thought it was all in good fun. Nothing like waking up at 11 or 12 o'clock at night with your brother's hands squeezing around your neck with just enough pressure to feel it. And acting like he's gone crazy enough to kill you. He did THAT one more than once even though I knew it was an "act" how was I to know if he'd really snapped? I don't know how many times I had to become hysterical before he would laugh & let me go. Other of his many "gags" were taking one of my dad's souvenir WWII bayonettes sheathed sometimes, sometimes not & awake me pretending he'd been stabbed with the bayonette run through his shirt and blood or paint running from the wound. I was about 10 or 12 yrs old. It's easy to terrorize a deeply sleeping child when you awaken them suddenly acting a crazed fool. Did my brother get punished? Not really. No one ever saw what he did to me. For years I panicked if anyone touched my neck or woke me suddenly. Still my dreams were not bad ones.


It is only in the middle of my life when the bad and weird and absolutely crazy dreams began. I don't know when exactly that they changed. They just did. From happy field of wildflowers, to fires and floods, murder and monsters. Blood and rape, frenzy and terror. Being chased. Running. A lot of running. The insanity. The absolute way they make no sense at all. I have given up trying to analyze them. I used to try to write them down, but they are always so long (or so it seems) & SO detailed. One person would be a star in the dream & change into someone else. I would awake, go back to sleep & the dream picks back up where it left off. Or have the same dream every night with a chapter added to it. It just amazes me. Sometime, i know what influenced a certain dream. I watched the movie Beowulf the other night and of course that night I dreamed of monsters like Grendel. Those dreams seems to make sense. A few nights ago I dreamed of finding a magic water. My DH, myself & a 3rd party invented a new soda. This water renewed itself so we could make endless amounts of this "new soda." Trouble was, besides this very flavorful, addicting soda, it did amazing things to people. Different things. Explicit things, graphic things, incredible things, terrible things. It could only be sold in very small amounts or the effects would be dramatically better-or worse. Before the dream was over all kinds of hell had broken loose. I could go on & on with more boring but chaotic dreams. I just wish someone could crawl in my head & make sense of some of the shit. Anyway...I'm off to dream again.
Thank you Missie (chat2missie) for the wonderful Bee siggy tags. She is the best!

These Dreams
Heart
Spare a little candle
Save some light for me
Figures up ahead
Moving in the trees
White skin in linen
Perfume on my wrist
And the full moon that hangs over these dreams in the mist

[[[[[[[[note that this paragraph was not in the version that I liked the most]]]]]]]]
Darkness on the edgeShadows where I stand
I search for the time On a watch with no hands
I want to see you clearly
Come closer than this
But all I remember are the dreams in the mist

These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away
Is it cloak 'n dagger
Could it be spring or fall
I walk without a cutThrough a stained glass wall
Weaker in my eyesight
The candle in my grip
And words that have no form
Are falling from my lips

These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away

There's something out there
I can't resist
I need to hide away from the pain
There's something out there
I can't resist
The sweetest song is silence
That I've ever heard
Funny how your feet
In dreams never touch the earth
In a wood full of princes
Freedom is a kiss
But the prince hides his face
From dreams in the mist

These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away
These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away

Happy Independence Day - Please make it a safe one.

Good Afternoon everyone & a fine hot day/weekeknd it will be. I feel very strongly about the right to celebrate this country's freedom. It'S NOt just not supposed to be a long weekend to run off & grill burgers, take a long weekend & watch some magnificent fireworks. Few of us think about what those rocket's red glare mean to this country's past. How many lives were lost to lay down this freedom? How many won't be home this weekend manning the grill because they are out there laying the groundwork for more freedom in this world for those who don't have it? Thank you America. Thank you fighters of freedom. Thank you all who help every day to make my life so easy. Yes, yes, yes. Go out.Fire up your grills, take that 4 day trip, and when you're watching those glorious fireworks from wherever you are, say a prayer for the safety of those protecting our freedom, fighting for someone else's. And here comes my obliglatory, PLEASE PLEASE for God's sake. Stay sober. Or have a designated driver.AND mind your city/town's fireworks laws. LOL (My civil service for the weekend.)

I am sure my fireworks celebration will dull as unbuttered toast. DH usually has to work. Well, he doesn't HAVE to - he could take the day off but woul not get the Holiday Pay. The have to work the day before & the day after a Holiday to get holiday pay. Tom usually takes the girls out to a friend's house that have a 4th party. They live out of the city limits where it is legal to set off fireworks. They aren't this year though as they have a new baby.


More than likely Rich (DH) will be at work. Tom has plans all weekend. They DO include the girls. There is a parade & street fair downtown. I would LOVE to go. I haven't been in several years. it is usually wicked hot ; at least there you can get a HOTdog. We shall see.


ORTHO doc visit Thursday went far differently than I thought it would. The night before those two toes that have been giving me hell and my whole foot were swollen. I had been up a little longer than I probably should have. I mean, my God, it's been over a month. I SHOULD be able to be up on my feet all day if I want. Apparently it was too long. When I went to the DR, he thought it was doing great. I said, "What??" I said look at the redness, the swelling of the two toes. He went on to give me the DR babble pep talk which I took with a grain of salt. Yeah, he's supposed to be the best there is at what he does & I, nothing but a patient with my own ideas. Guess that is why HE gets paid the big bucks. So the report was good. He said I can try to wear a regular tennis shoe this weekend and go swimming whenever I want. YAY! He DID prescribe another round of antibiotics and a pack methylPREDNISolone-6 days worth. Fibromyalgia was brought up. I didn't bring it up, Richard did. All my painful points everywhere on my body. Doc said he's suspected I had it but I have been on several drugs that are used to treat it for my other pain symptoms, and they haven't helped. My trigger points seem to be getting worse and so Doc decided to Rx'd a new drug for firbromyalgia, Savelle. It just came out in March so he is excited for me to try it. Of course, my pharmacy doesn't even have it in, so I have to wait until Monday. Enough of that. All I can do is trust him at his word.



My sainted son, Tom, just fixed fab supper. Grilled chicken with pineapple. Alligator bites: opened & seeded jalapenos filled w/cream cheese, cheddar, or mexican blend (or your fav), a bit of chicken (make sure you cook throuroughly if using raw bits as we do). U put the top back on the jalapeno(we slice lengthwise) and wrap with a stip of bacon; secure w/toothpick & grill till it's done. OMG.These are the best ever. To me they aren't spicy at all because it's the seed & membrane that give jalapenos their heat. I LOVE them. I love bacon on anything too. T had 2 extra slices of bacon and grilled them alone for the girls. I took a bite & told him that I think this is the ONLY way bacon should be cooked. LOL Can you imagine firing up the grill every morning for breakfast. (Shows how much I go camping.)
Grilled some slices of fresh pineapple. By the way after he cored & sliced the pineapple with our handy dandy tool that does it that I got from QVC, he put the boneless skinless breasts in the pineapple "skin" and let it marinate in there till he cooked it. OMG that chicken was sooo juicy and tender!! I go on don't I? Anyway we had a yummy lite summer dinner and the girls ate like they hadn't eaten all day.

I woke up with a summer cold. It was almost funny if it weren't so annoying. I sneezed all day-in 3s. Every time I sneezed, I sneezed 3 times. I'm not usually a multiple sneezer. And EVERY time-3 sneezes. Until after dinner. I'm down 1 sneeze at a time & a head stuffed with cotton & a nose running like a leaky faucet. Joy. Not.

Well, again, I'm outta here. Have a safe and fun weekend and wave a sparkler for me!!