TODAY'S WORKOUT: Cathe Friedrich's Basic Step & Stability Ball Abdominal Workout

It's been a long while since I last worked out. My depression has been raging and I just couldn't do it. The clouds are starting to lift a bit, so I'm giving it another whirl. Good thing, too, since my weight's been creeping up again. Not good, Moo. Not good. I don't know how I did it, but I convinced Mr Moo to work out with me today. He did really well considering he's only done it once or twice before ages ago. Yes, Mr Moo did step aerobics today, but shhhhhhh! Don't tell him I told you.

Yesterday, I finalized some plans and finished making reservations for our trip to Utah in May. Piece of advice from me to you: If you're going on vacation anywhere near a national park around Memorial Day, book your hotel room early. Unless, of course, you enjoy sleeping in your car. Trust me on this one.

Basic itinerary is shaping up like this:
May 14 - Fly from Portland to Las Vegas. Drive to Moab.
May 15 - Arches National Park.
May 16 - Arches National Park.
May 17 - Arches National Park.
May 18 - Drive from Moab to Torrey early. Capitol Reef National Park.
May 19 - Capitol Reef National Park.
May 20 - Drive from Torrey to Bryce early. Bryce Canyon National Park.
May 21 - Bryce Canyon National Park.
May 22 - Bryce Canyon National Park. Drive from Bryce to Springdale late.
May 23 - Zion National Park.
May 24 - Zion National Park.
May 25 - Zion National Park. Drive from Springdale to Las Vegas. Late flight home.

Josie had another focal seizure this afternoon. Her previous one was in May of last year. Doesn't seem like it was all that long ago, but it was. She was heading out of the bonus room today and her left rear leg just stopped working. She tapped it on the floor a few times, then wouldn't put weight on it at all and walked in a circle several times. It only lasted about 45 seconds, but when you're right next to her watching it all happen and knowing there isn't a damn thing you can do about it, it seems like about seven hours. I held her for a few minutes afterwards to calm her down, then she was completely fine. Within a few minutes, she was playing with her toys and jumping up on the window seat. They're going to be the death of me these two. I swear.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 122

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"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 120



Click here for the entry form.

Did you think I had given up on the Movie Contest? Fear not. Round 120 is still open.

I received a wonderful surprise package from an online friend over the weekend.

Cow stuff! Squee! It's a handbag, a bandana and two small figurines. Thanks, C!

I've spent the last couple days taking care of a sick kitty. We were given some plants (primroses) last weekend as a gift. Miss Zoe decided a few days ago they made for a better salad buffet than decoration. Unfortunately, as we've since learned, primroses are poisonous to cats. We're not sure how much she ate, but it was enough to make her quite ill. She was throwing up like Linda Blair in The Exorcist and barely moved off her blankie for an entire day. I called the vet this morning. He said to watch her closely for another 24 hours and, if there wasn't marked improvement, to bring her in. Given her history and near death experience last fall, he doesn't want to take any chances since we know how quickly she can go downhill. Fortunately, she's doing much, much better today. She's kept all her food down and has walked around a bit. Heck, just the fact that she's awake for more than five minutes is a big improvement from yesterday. I'll continue to watch her, but I think we've survived the Great Plant Poisoning of 2008.

The pieces parts of our bench before everything went completely to crap and we made a giant hole in the top.

And disaster has struck. Arrrrgh!

I was hoping to post a photo of our fabulous brand new hallway bench. However, in the process of inserting one of the dowels on the underside of the seat, Mr Moo accidentally hammered it completely through the seat. Our lovely new bench now has a giant erupting volcano hole right in the middle of it. Needless to say, we're both a bit frazzled with the whole thing, so we're calling it a night on the furniture assembly. We're going to call the company on Monday to see if there is some way we can get a replacement piece.

Score another one for the UPS lady today. The bench and coat rack thingee we ordered earlier this week were delivered today... to the wrong house. Our neighbor stopped by this afternoon to let me know the packages were on her front porch. Thank goodness I have such great neighbors. Methinks it's time to call UPS and ream someone a new one.

I'm still plugging away at my "Birth of Christ" cross stitch project.

Progress is slow, but I'm determined to get this one finished up by the end of this year. Older pics of this project can be found in my photo catalog under "Crafts & Hobbies - Cross Stitch - Birth of Christ".

Dear UPS Lady:

I hate to break it to you, but this...

...really does not render my packages invisible to passers-by. As a matter of fact, it probably draws more attention to them than if you just left them uncovered. All that's missing is a giant "STEAL ME!" sign. I've watched you kick my packages out of the truck, drag them to the door, mess with my Christmas decorations and you never ring the doorbell to let me know when you've been by. Could you please just quit already so the previous guy can come back?

In case anyone is puzzled, that's my upside down doormat leaning against the packages.

Feesh Death Watch 2008

He's gone. :-(

Caption this.

Mr Moo and I ordered these online tonight:

We currently have a small bench and a console table in our front entryway, but there's no place to hang your coat and we never have much on the table besides a lamp. These new items will be much more practical, the bench will be bigger and we'll end up with more floor space when all is said and done. And, on top of all that, they were on sale and shipping was free. Woot!

Feesh Death Watch 2008

I've had several emails and a couple phone calls asking for an update on Feesh. Amazingly, he's still alive. Barely. He spends most of his days lately lying on the bottom of the tank, but he does manage to swim around a bit when I go in to check on him. Granted, he swims upside down and sideways a lot, but he is getting around. Mr Moo keeps joking that Feesh is just too stubborn to die and he's going to live another 10 years upside down. Boy, I hope not.

Working hard or hardly working?

It's official. We're going to Utah in May. I just bought the plane tickets. We're going to fly to Las Vegas, rent a car and drive to the national parks in southern Utah. We haven't decided which parks just yet, but you can bet at least Zion, Bryce and Arches will be on the list. We'll be gone for our usual 12 days. We haven't decided if we'll visit as many parks as possible while we're there, which means very limited time in each, or reduce the number and increase the length of each stay. That's the next big decision. Considering it took us weeks just to sort the dates, it's not going to be easy to decide.

Have you ever come across a greeting card that is absolutely perfect?

Mr Moo gave me this one for Valentine's Day. Add the phrase "for dinner" at the end of each sentence and it's a daily occurrence.

It's been a long miserable week already and it's only Wednesday. I won't bore you with the minutiae. I'll just say that I'm full-on in the middle of my annual winter doldrums and everything sucks ass at the moment. I'm doing my best to keep busy with work and not dwell on things or spend days on end in bed with the covers pulled up over my head. While the kitties would be thrilled with the latter, it really won't solve any of my problems. I can't wait for spring to get here and for it to be warm enough to open some windows.

Feesh Death Watch 2008

Well, he's still alive. Barely. Mr Moo and I wanted to euthanize him yesterday, but the only way to quickly kill a fish (short of taking him to a vet, which aren't open on the weekend anyway) is to cut off his head and neither Mr Moo nor I could bear to do it. So, we wait. And wait. And wait. I'm feeling horrible about it, too. My head knows that his brain is smaller than a pinhead and he is incapable of feeling much. However, my heart feels terrible that we're not able to end his suffering humanely or quickly. Considering he's managed to live almost four times longer than average, we shouldn't be surprised that he's still managing to hang in there. He's a tough little fish. I keep telling him it's okay, but he doesn't seem ready to give up the fight.

EDIT: Yes, we're fully aware there are other ways to euthanize fish, but we do not feel comfortable freezing, poisoning or suffocating him.

Feesh is dying. :-(

He is a tiny rummy-nosed tetra and the last of all of our fish. He was only supposed to live for 2-3, but he's getting close to 10 years old now. I went to check on him late last night and saw that he was having trouble staying upright and his swim bladder was starting to fail. I checked on him again a little while ago and I can tell the end is very near. Since his swim bladder is failing, he's spending every ounce of energy trying to stay near the bottom of the tank. He's exhausted and running out of strength to even right himself. I'm worried he's suffering and may ask Mr Moo to euthanize him soon. As Mr Moo said, "You've had a good long run, Feesh. We're going to miss you."

I seem to have spontaneously grown a tail.

Earlier today, I was attempting to walk and chew gum tie my hair up in a bandanna at the same time, which, as you probably are already guessing, was a bad idea. I whacked my left elbow full force into a door frame and almost fainted from the pain. It was like hitting my funny bone with a sledgehammer. Yeah, not fun. Once I stopped seeing stars, I thought I was okay and just going to end up with the mother of all bruises. Unfortunately, the soreness is now settling in. For those of you with your fingers poised on the "Leave Comment" button waiting to say "OMGZ! UR ARMZ IZ BROKEZ!", you can relax. My arm is working just fine. Nothing is broken. I just gave myself a serious bruise. The suckage is that I have a ton of sewing to finish up today, which requires much use of said arm and elbow. Oh, it's going to be a long one.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 121

Click here for the entry form.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 120


Click here for the entry form.

Round 120 is still open. I hope someone guesses this one soon because I don't know if I have another usable image to add a third one. Guess away, Merrill!

We're finally getting a new kitchen faucet. We ordered this one last night:

It's a Delta 174-WHWF. Our current faucet is the tiny cheap-o crappy one that came with the house and it's been needing to go for a long time. It's so short that it barely reaches into the larger of the two basins of our sink. Since Mr Moo changed the faucet at my aunt and uncle's house while we were visiting them over Christmas, I asked about updating ours, too, after we got back. At first he made a disapproving face so I let it drop at the time, but he brought it up again on his own last night and I wasn't going to turn down the chance to get a new faucet. Hopefully, it will be here on Thursday and we can get it installed over the weekend. Yay!

Today is the day!

Go, Patriots!!!

A jigsaw puzzle I did a couple weeks ago.

I was worried it was going to be difficult because it's round, but it ended up being a lot easier than I thought. I put the whole thing together in one evening.

From this year's Chick-fil-A calendar, One-Hit Wonder Cows:

In his prime, this beefy baritone was known as the corooner with a cause. Easily recognizable with his cow-chop sideburns and the evert-present hairy chest, Veal had no problem getting his "burgers are't for you, babe" message through to his female fans. Not only with his music but also through the endless buffet of chicken sandwiches he offered them backstage.