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Update on Me...

again... so now I've gone back to the dr. had x-rays she heard something on my right side and the xrays while looking clear for the most part had something on the right side. She thinks it maybe inflammation from coughing for 2 weeks straight but she's sending them to a radiologist to have them inspected. I'll hear more later - but she gave me a new cough medicine that has already started to work its magic -knock on wood I'm not coughing as much.

A special thanks to the man I love who went in late this morning in order for me to go get the x rays done.

Welcome to Union City

Union City has redesigned the city's website and its so much nicer and easier to use than before - make it look like such a wonderful place to live.

I get a chuckle out of how the city puts "Gateway to Silicon Valley" on all the Union City signs and the yet the Crowne Plaza Hotel has the slogan "Oakland South" - ok Guess you have to know the area to see the humor in this contradiction.

Earth's Shadow...

I hear Cat singing... this is so cool.

check out our shadow

Update on Update

If I don't move I don't cough. Sorry Megan - mommy can't play again today - NOT!

Update on Me...

Well I went back to the Dr yesterday, had another breathing treatment and this time she gave me another inhaler, a shot of steroid (in the butt!) and a prescription for the steroid for the rest of the week. I'm still coughing but its definitely better- some how calmer. She called it "Bronchitis induced Asthma" what ever that means. I guess the respiratory infection has given my something akin to Asthma. - oh joy. If I'm not better by friday she wants be back in early morning for a full work-up.

OSO!

He's oh so cuddly and oh so wonderful... He's Oso Herrington!

OSO

We went up today after Megan's little gym class and picked up Oso for a weekend visit. He's a very sweet boy and has already climbed into my lap and given Jack belly for scratches. He and Sadie explored the back yard together and now we are all watching Elmo Dogs with Megan before her nap.

He's sweet and smaller, and thinks he's a lap dog at 45 lbs. He's all black with some brown marks.

We'll keep you posted.

NOW I'll stick my foot in it

One of the many blogs I read on a daily basis, is of a woman who is trying to have a child. Recently she was pregnant with twin boys and lost one, then was told by her doctor that if she didn't terminate the other she would lose her life, the other had no chance to live. That's about the point I stumbled onto her blog, when she so honestly and openly told her story and then was attacked by a "troll" - a right to lifer that seemed to think she knew more than Cecily's Doctors. Anyway that's about the time I started Reading "And I wasted all that birth control..."

Today she has an passionate post on a woman's right to choose. She's a very articulate writer and makes very good points.

It is an interesting statistic to note that the abortion rate went down during Clinton's presidency and has been going up during Bush's - why - because Woman say the number one reason to get an abortion as inability to afford the child. With four years of job losses and cuts to so many social services its no wonder woman feel they can't afford a child.

The women I've known through the years that had an abortion didn't decide to lightly. They were wracked with guilt. I've never known a woman who used abortion as a simple form of birth control. Its a big decision, and a medical procedure that leaves scares inside and out. Its a mistake to think that abortion is an easy answer for a woman, and another mistake to think that making it illegal will make it go away. It will go back to dark alley's and fake doctors, with out the medical expertise to guarantee a woman's safety.

Oh the joys

To have a gag reflex so sensitive that if I cough to hard and too much I might throw up. At least when I threw up while pregnant I had a great purpose!

The best part was though Megan patting my leg as I puked in the kitchen sink saying "mommy OK? Mommy coughing? OK?" She's been a trouper today since I feel so yucky. I haven't wanted to do much but she's cuddled and watched a Nova Special on the Mars rovers and Shrek. Tomorrow - Cough or not - we're going to the park.

coughing coughing coughing

this respiratory infection means that I am now coughing all the time. I'm hot and my head feels like is going to implode.

Actually in the grand scheme of things, I feel OK. And Megan and I will be off to music class shortly.

Well Duh!

Nation divided on whether or not the President is a uniter or divider

I don't feel united. I'm mad as hell and have to tolerate 4 more years of a man who can't even pronounce inaugural.

What I am thankful for...

I am so thankful Jack is home from work early and is playing with Megan so i can go back to bed and let my body be sick.

My simple cold from a week or so ago has migrated to my chest and now thanks to a trip to the dr on monday am on an inhaler, cough syrup of the go to sleep and never get up variety, and an antibiotic.

I've never had breathing difficulties this bad and now I have new found awe for people who deal with this on a regular basis - like Jack who has asthma. Not being able to breath is perhaps the scariest thing I've ever experienced.

it pays to bitch!

Our Bosch Oven Convection unit sparked last night and then flamed up and went out. This happened once before and after 4 months and damaged cabinet it was finally fixed.

I was not looking forward to calling and getting this fixed once again, but we have a service contract on it, so it should be relatively painless. However when I called, they suddenly had a problem with the fact that on agreement form the double oven was listed as a range, and then wanted me to have the people I bought it from fax them a new sales contract with the proper listing of the unit. This is the 3 service call I've had to do on this oven and its never been a big deal before. Bosch even has it listed as an electric range on the serial number sticker on the side of the oven. The man said " for quality Assurance, I'm sorry your having difficulty with this request" - what the hell did that mean. I blew up and then hung up and tried to reach the store I bought the unit from.

No Answer. I gave up and Called the service contract people back. Got a new woman, explained it all again, and she said "let me talk to my supervisor" She disappeared for all of 10 seconds before saying I'd have to get the original store to fax them the right info. I lost it - I was really crazed. And then I asked to talk to her supervisor. She said sure, put me on hold. 10 mins later she came back, apologized for the delay and said it was all corrected. She would arrange for a service call.

Then I got to inform her that I didn't want the same company that came out before damaged my cabinet and took 4 months between ordering the part and installing it - because they got the wrong part twice. Not a problem she said. Suddenly my every wish was being granted.

decisions, decisions, decisions

Jack and I have a tough decision to make. I went up today and picked up Roscoe the great Dane mix for a visit with us and to see how he and Sadie got on. He's a great dog, a very laid back personality and very sweet disposition. What he has going against him is he is big, and drools. He is 80lbs just like Ripley only its all height. He stand about table height so his head rest comfortably on any horizontal surface. He isn't a drool machine like some dogs breeds I know, but he does have a pretty good amount that occasionally drips off or gets left on pant legs and furniture.

He was pretty stinky, so I already gave him a bath and he just stood there and let me scrub him. He cuddled with Jack, but definitely follows me around. He is really gentle with Megan and allows her to do just about anything. He loves to clean up all fallen crumbs which since Sadie went blind we haven't had the pleasure of a floor cleaner.

Oh yeah - he gets car sick - he threw up 6 times on the 2 hour drive. Course he also just climbed in and laid down and waiting till we stopped, except to throw up. He hasn't barked yet and when we tried to get him to howl (with Sadie, Jack and myself) he just looked at us like we were all dumb. He just barked for Jack telling him to stay out when Jack tried to come in the garage door. I think he might not be totally in love with men.

So then there is Oso, a sweet yet slightly older, more high strung dog that loved Jack on sight. He's the same size as Sadie, so size is not an issue. I just called and asked that Oso get a chance to spend the night too. That way we'll get to know him after the trainer has left and after he calms down alittle.

How I sleep at night...

The ACLU is why I sleep at night and can blog about things other than politics. This organizations sole purpose is to defend our rights. I recently joined them and am now a proud card carrying member.

I signed a petition for them that I think everyone should sign, but rather than give out peoples emails which pisses me off when its done to me ... I figured I'd blog about it and leave it all to your own conscience. Here's the note I could have emailed you. I urge you to go to the ACLU

Message:

Dear Friend, Today some of the most powerful politicians in America are determined to undermine our fundamental freedoms and the basic constitutional principles that define our democracy. Only a large, bold movement of people like us – people who refuse to surrender our freedoms -- can protect our civil liberties. Please stand up and defend the values that are at the very heart of America. Join this movement for freedom by clicking on the postcard above to sign the pledge and proclaiming "I REFUSE TO SURRENDER MY FREEDOM." I took the pledge, I hope you will too - just goto the link above

Freaky

won't even tell you how close we are to this one

more here

Music Scraps

Megan slept in today till 11, so she when she got up, I made her breakfast and we played till about 12 when we headed to BabiesRUs for hopefully the last time, to buy potty training supplies (ie potty seat) and then we headed to music class which was alot of fun. Then a quick trip to the grocery store before coming home and watching Ice Age (while I cleaned the back bedrooms). We ended the day with a walk around the neighborhood at dusk.

Tonight after Megan went down I headed over to a friends house for 3 hours of scrapbooking and gossip. I managed to scrapbook all of our trip to florida last summer - a total of 11 pages.

Safe Google

So Megan's favorite computer activity as previously reported is to use the Google image search and pull up pictures of fish, turtles etc. She come up to us on our lap top and says "google Fish" etc

Yesterday we Googled Fish, Turtle, Elephant, Duck Rabbit, Lion, Giraffe and Zebra.. .then she moved on to Colours Purple, blue, green yellow red. These all worked fine.. . Then she moved onto Farm animals Baa Baa, Cow, Horse... then she said Pig... who would have thought it but Googling Pig turned out to be x rated. ok maybe R but still not Megan appropriate.

All the others in safe mode are completely safe for small children.

What I'm currently laughing at....

Megan is playing her harmonica and Sadie is Howling along... its is too funny!

Stupid Lori Tricks

The other day, Megan and I were rushing to get out of the house to get to Gym on time. As we got to the garage door I smelled the immediate need to clean a diaper so we headed back in and I put my wallet and cell phone and keys down on the kitchen table. We changed the diaper, and then on the way to the door I grabbed my things.

As I approached the door the phone started ringing. "Ring"Megan I said "lets get the phone!" Having no phone in the kitchen we headed to the living room. "Ring" No phone in charger "damn" i mumbled under breath "ring" and rushed back to the office for the other phone "ring" answering machine picks up... I grab phone. "Hello" hello I hear, Hello Hello I hear... it sounds like me saying hello to me.. what the heck? and then I notice the cell in my hand, squashed under my wallet and in the hustle ... I'd called myself!

Quarters

I was collecting the state quarters but when Megan was born I put away the folder and forgot about them. Just found it again with all this cleaning we're up to here.. and well I guess i'm back to collecting.

Cross stitch

Cross Stitch for a new generation

*Dad - don't go don't do it- -- they use the F word

Megan shots

I love the shots Jack took this weekend of Megan (and me) playing the bed. She's has such a wonderful spirit.

rainy drive

I drove to West Sacramento this morning. After the 2 hour drive in and out of rain bands, I meet Roscoe a very sweet boy - he's a lab great dane mix with the head of a dane and the body of a lab. His bigger than a lab but not as big as a dane. Anyway he gave me a kiss and enjoyed getting scratched. He seems like a great catch - have to wonder how he ended up needing to be rescued.

So tomorrow we're to meet one more possibility and then we'll decide on one of them or keep looking.

cuteness and stuff

Megan and I spent the entire day at home. In the house too since it rained all day. We had a friend and his mom over for lunch and then Megan napped, His mom offered to finish the baby blankets I bought material and stuff for back when I was pregnant, I of course jumped on the chance. She didn't look for a trip out until evening when she resisted a bath for Jack. She was especially adorable tonight when she was trying to stay up later. For our first song she cuddled, at the beginning of the second she popped her head up and started talking up a storm.. with a few words I actually got. It was like she was telling me about her day or some other pleasant experience. I started rocking her and shhhing her and she laid back down on my shoulder. Then she said very softly in a whisper "mommy" "mommy" ... "Piggies" .. she felt around for my hand and placed it in on her feet - (wanted me to do this little piggy) I cuddled and shhh'd, said not now, and bit my lip to keep from laughing.

Tonight we played card games. First up was Xactica which is a little like Spades with alot more cards and while some would say no strategy .. I think the strategy develops as you become aware of how your opponents play and I think it probably takes a few games to really figure it out. It wasn't enjoyed by all so we stopped that and started playing muchkin a roll playing game that was a hoot. took us most of the game to figure it out though. I'm sure we'll play it again.

Tomorrow I head to Sacramento to meet a dog. Will let you know how it goes... later

Lies and misrepresentations

A nicely organized catalog of lies

new show -

Watched the pilot for Medium tonight - and really enjoyed it. Glad to see Patricia Arquette working. I've loved her every time I've seen her in something.

Anyway - I hope it last long enough to really get into it. I liked that Oliver Platt Judge show that died in a few shows a couple of years ago and the Sally Field Supreme Court drama, oh and Josh Brolin show the freshman senator from California show - all show's I enjoyed that just disappeared. And yet CSI Miami lives... I just don't get it.

Bra luck

I strolled in to my favorite clothing store today in search of a couple more bra's since living with just two is starting to drive me batty. They are having a sale on the style I like but in odd colors So now I'm a colorful person, inside and out... Purple, light green and orange. I'll be sure to wear the orange one next time the canes play - in August.

soundtracks for living

I have found that throughout my life different music speaks to me and becomes such a part of me, that that music will always make me think of those experiences.

In college I discovered Indigo Girls. At a time that I was questioning everything I believed, they spoke to me, of possibilities, of following my instincts, and believing in myself. I still listen to them often, Galileo is a still a favorite. Their music makes me nostalgic for college and all the discoveries there.

In Australia I became enamored with Sting and his voice reminds me of life there. Foreign yet familiar sums both up well. Rhythms so erotic and yet so relaxing.

When my mother died I was understandably depressed. I felt as though I was isolated, until I heard Melissa Ehterage's CD Breakdown. In this music of anger and anguish I found solace. I sang and cried along with Melissa for at least a year as it was all that was in my cd player in my car. Now ... I hardly listen to it, though I did pop it in last december 8th, to have a good cry. When someone I knew was going through a tough time, I sent her that CD, because in its music I also found empowerment.

Now I'm currently addicted to the sound track to Garden State. The tag line for the soundtrack was "Music for what ever state your in." Its just perfect background music. Not to imposing and fits our current rainy cold weather.

BlogAid

We've added ads to my blog and are pledging that all profits will goto American Red Cross, Not just for the month of January but from now on.
So my 6 readers - go and support these advertisers.