The Dressage Ring

well, abbie survived being alone while me and roomie were at work better than i did.  i was worried about her all day. of course, she was fine.  didn't move too much, which is to be expected, but she had gotten up enough to lumber off her bed in the living room and onto the wood floor.  she wouldn't wear the cone of shame, so before he left (roomie leaves a lot later than i), i had roomie put one of my pillows over her front legs so her head could rest on it.  since a lot of her licking is anxiety-based, i figured a strong smell of 'mom' would help.  Roomie said it helped right away - she obviously recognized it and was happy to sleep with it.

i feel like the swelling is down in her ankle and paw, and it isn't hot to the touch, but not cool, either.  the skin looks pink and healthy.  her skin is naturally mottled under her hair, so it can be a little difficult to tell bruising from normal skin.  but she was feeling good enough to bark at the little dogs when roomie took them out to pee. So that's good.  The big issue now will be to get her to pee outside tonight - she doesn't like storms, and it's raining intermittently and her paw hurts, so she may not really want to go out.  And I can't carry her, although I can help her stand up. 

Overall, things going well.  But I think if I hadn't bleached my hair 2 saturdays ago, it would have turned white 2 days ago anyway. >.>

-boogieshoes, overly worried dog-mom

this is more an update list than a post-post, but it's time to let people know i'm still alive.  i think.  *checks pulse* yup, still alive.

so here we go:

*in Feb, at my routine dr's appointment, i was dx'd hypothyroid - the gland isn't making enough hormone.  the good thing about this is that now i understand why i was so *completely and utterly* dragged out at the end of last year.  also, now that i'm on synthroid, my body isn't fighting losing weight, and 4 mos later, my chemical soup seems to be just about completely in balance.  the bad news is... i'm not going to be 'cured' from this - taking pills forever.  don't get me wrong, there are FAR worse things in the world, but my health goal has always been to minimize the pills i'm on... this is one step away from that.  It does make me very thankful for modern medicine, though.

*2 weeks after my dr's appt, Gulf Wars happened  - it's a pretty amazing event when you're not too sick or too glazed over too appreciate it.  Otoh, I forgot that last year, the things in my 'Accessories' box had gotten quite damp.  I took a few things with me, but decided to clean the rest later... which happened only a couple-3 weeks ago.  I lost a couple things to mold - just couldn't kill it, or in the case the belly dance scarf, the jingles were just too rusted to save - but I did save the majority of the items.  Since I am trying to streamline my SCA closet, a number of things are going to wind up getting donated, but I'm not entirely sure when.

*more recently, i sewed slipcovers for the couch cushions.  this is because in less that 2 years, my dog pretty much shredded the original fabric.  Cotton duck is much more resistant to Great Dane claws that the original what-ever-it-is.  I'm thinking of going back and sewing slipcovers for the back-cushions, too, so the entire couch is a bright cheerful yellow.  it'll match the curtains that way.

*speaking of the great goofus - she gained 10lbs in the past few months.  Oops... guess I was a little too enthusiastic about giving her treats.  Abbie and I are both on a diet now.

*my diet consists of continuing good food choices, and counting calories and recording non-caffeinated intake.  the last two are mostly to keep me honest.  My progress this week supports my theory that I'm 95% there, but I needed one last puzzle piece to make it stick... apparently, that's keeping myself accountable. 

Abbie's diet consists of limiting her to 1 or 2 treats a day. 

*Abbie got a new blankie today - it's Wonder Woman.  I thought about giving her Darth Vader to chew on, but then I decided I'd rather she ingested the power of a strong woman than the Dark Side of the Force.  She won't miss the cookies.  I promise. *hides cookies from Abbie.*

*today, i'm going to start organizing the personal papers in the office.  This should cut down on even more clutter, though right now it's mostly clutter limited to the closet.

*I paid off my truck on Thursday!  next up: the CC.

*I am 3/4 done of the dual embroidery piece: 'this is your flame... this is your flame on O2'.  I will find a way to get and post pictures, because while I love Mary Corbett's needlework site, and the piece would not have happened without the blogs very encouraging tone, I'd like to show her what happens when you let a nerd work stumpwork, lol.

That's all from chez boogie *brushes off dog-hair* you may now go about your business...

-boogieshoes

So it’s mostly good news at Chez Boogs. Abbie and I had our vet appointments recently, and health ratings are up.

Abs gained 15 lbs, I lost 2 lbs from the last visit, for a total of 10 lbs weight loss – slow and steady wins the race. I also realized I lost two pants sizes, from size 24 (US) to 20 (also US). First time I’ve enjoyed shopping in a long time.

I have a heart rate of 78 BPM; Abbie’s is ‘hey, wait, I’m not finished taking your pulse yet!’.

My Blood Pressure is 123/81, Abbie’s is ‘yeah, whatever.’ (It’s so hard being a dog).

And I don’t have heart worms, and am up on my rabies, shots, and Abbie’s had her flu shots, so that’s all good, too.

I’ve been trying to focus on sticking a little better to my low-carb high-fat diet, and I can see and feel a difference.

( tmi part )

( house goes and woes )

( the garden giveth... surprisingly well! )

-bs, free and easy on the road I go

1) i had a routine doctor's appt today - grand total of 18lbs less than last year at this time.  it would have been more, but my attempt to re-start the LCHF diet stutter-started.  this is mostly because i went to the podiatrist about a heel thing, and was given prednisone to be followed by indomethacin, neither of which i could take with any other painkillers, like advil - so i immediately started my period.  ok, trying to LCHF during period cramps which i could not relieve with midol while experiencing horrible headaches probably due to said indomethacin.... yeah, not happening.  also, anecdotally, and a side effect probably not particularly usual - the indomethacin combined with vitamin B pills made me dizzy.  not unbearably so, but noticeably enough that i went home sick the first day because i couldn't concentrate.  this was probably a 1 in a million reaction, but for those of you on indomethacin, keep a weather eye out.

2) i love my doggie, but when i look at my queen sized bed - which is 5ftx6ft = 30sqft - and realize i'm squeezed into the 6in on the edge of the bed, and she's refusing to move, laying cross-ways on the bed, and only taking up about 7sq ft, i have to whimper.  because there's 20 sq ft of comfortable bed no one is accessing, that can't be accessed because of the way the dog is laying, i have to say Miss Code Knows is extremely lucky she's cute when she snores. *grin*

3) no, i haven't gotten to that last batch of cookies - see the indomethacin headaches.  and also, last weekend was a perfect weekend to prep the garden for planting.  which i did, so now there are 4 2ftx2ft boxes out there full of dirt, and also an easy-grow square bag and two potato 'tubs' of the same green vynel full of dirt just waiting to be planted.   and it's off and on sleeting out there.  in coastal alabama.  because of global warming....

4) ok, i ran out of things to say - but abbie hasn't stopped whapping me with her tail.... ah, life....

-bs

Well, we had a good holiday, Abbie and I.  As is traditional, I planned for about 600 cookies, overbooked myself, and have only made about 350 to date.  I have one more batch to go to finish Christmas cards and gifts.  Then I need to send thank-you notes, and Christmas will be done.

( My yearly Christmas Season begins with Christmas Revel... )
( And there's After-Revel Revel... )

( Then I go to the lake house )

( And then long journey home again... )

And that was my holiday, pretty good overall.  Look for a few more longish posts in the near future: especially the 2013 To-Do wrap-up and the 2014 To-Do Post.  I’m hoping to get a few other posts done as well, since I’ve got the time and energy while work gains speed again.

-bs, wishing everyone a happy new year!

( Notes upon the post )