My puppy is 11 Months!!

GRAPE AND PILLAGE!

(Huge Update Post)

Bike Ride

Oh the fun of freedom on three wheels.. Like the ladybug? That's my bell. Today I went on a long (long for me) bike ride by the Ottawa river. I want to get as much bike time as possible before the damnable snow puts a stop to my peddalry. Then I want snowshoes, so I can get wicked photos of beasts at their most winterized. Fluffy. This photo was taken halfway thru my ride.

Weight Loss progress

Yay I lost two pounds this week! Right now I'm doing behavioral conditioning to get me in touch with my non-pill-induced appetite. Harder than it sounds. Although I think this will be The Way to losing weight permanently. I can see myself doing this method every single day of my life and not getting tired of it.. Most diets are a huge pain in the ass.. but this isn't a diet. It's like you're using a computer and you don't know about a core utility program.. like specialized alarms.. this diet-changing method teaches you about the appetite alarm in your stomach... the one which many people (including myself) have learned to ignore. Now I actually FEEL hungry, and can tell the difference between psychological and physical hunger. Huge diff. So now, instead of relying on writing down all calories and all foods - this neat little notification program tells me when to start and stop eating to maintain a proper weight. Nifty. Some people are born knowing where this program is, of course.

Grape and Pill-age

Speaking of pills, I am having a party this weekend with some close friends - and of course I had to run out of painkillers. I have the hardcore twice-a-day controlled release pills, but not the "I NEED RELIEF NOW" pills. I have to stay away from alcohol, my normal method of replacing painkillers.. so basically I'm trying to use my TENS machine more and trying to meditate (I practice Raja Yoga routine, because one fuck up and I'm in big trouble. Emergency clinics don't prescribe Em-Strength painkillers. They prescribe crap like Codeine sometimes, low dose and high itch factor, just like straight Morphine. meditation) as much as possible. I'm paying more attention to my regular HathaOooh but I still like Morphine. Codeine metabolises into Morphine, but for some reason, it doesn't really tickle my fancy. Hurts my tummy more than Morphine. I'm on different pills that I'd rather not broadcast. They are the freedom givers. They free up some RAM for me, which is taken up by randomized pain-to-psyche distraction. A very temporary defrag.. but worth it.

People and Pain

Certain people lower pain... just by talking to them or being around them (etc). Mainly my Mom, my 2 close girlfriends, and a new Manfriend of mine is really quite good at it! - but one cannot rely on others... for a few good reasons... A) they can die B) they can decide they don't want you in their life C) they might get sick of being around you.. hehehe. I don't see my girlfriends as often as I'd like.. and my platonic guy friends.. wink wink.. come on guys, take me out!!!

Doggy and Pain

Of course Gordon helps a lot. Just looking at him and being around him makes me swoon with puppy love!! I groom him, train him, and play with him every day... and in my pain database, which I enter data in daily to track pain and other issues, I refer to my time with him as "PT" - puppy therapy.

Database and Research - Almost reaching the year mark!!

Yup, I have a database for my ails. Right now it's just a shitty spreadsheet, but I'm working on making a better database. I've had it for almost a year, so soon I will be able to work with the data and do something constructive with it. I've already tracked some very important patterns, which I will submit to various research organizations for Fibro, Endo, and CFS. New data, I think, as I am usually up to date on the latest published research in those fields. You can't rely on doctors to help you, Fibrofolks, Endofolks, and CFSfolks.. nope. Get researching, get reading.. I know it's hard at times, but it's worth it. BTW, I also like to make graphs.. hehehe pie charts, bar charts.. 3D even.. of course this takes me a shit load of time since I'm foggy in the head. I'll publish some here when I'm done sending it to the proper research institutes.

Electro-Goodness

My TENS machine was finally approved to be covered by the red-tape-beauties at Essential Health Services!! I was paying 51$ a month for the other one.. Hard decisions had to be made in my budget to incorporate this expense. Now I can go back to massages, and daily vitamins. Frigg, vitamins and supplements seem to be rising in price. I have a 1/2 cup of pills to take each day, including vitamins, painkillers, other supplements, etc. Isn't that funky? For the past two months I've cut on the vitamins and other supplements, so it comes to a 1/4 cup... but I've been feelings like crapola in certain areas. Some of the supplements I take: Spirulina, Multivitamin, extra Chromium, extra B vitamins, MSM, Omega 3-6-9, extra Calcium, etc. Why the extra? Well two main reasons 1) some of the pills I take eat essential nutrients 2) some experts call for more than the norm in terms of nutrients.

So that's the update. I have lots more to say.. but some of it is private and will only be shared with the proper females in my life!! And other stuff is still to come. I'm doing well, getting better inch by inch, am more happy than usual, and that's that! :) Thanks for reading this huge update ;)

Gordon Update!

As asked for, MORE GORDON!!!

Age: 4.2 months.

Weight: 9.75 lbs.

Level of Sass: 9/10.

Language:
Sit, Lay Down, Stay, Come, Leash, Roll Over, Shake a Paw, (toys) Mr. Sock, Mr. Celery, Mr. Moo, Walk, Brush, Training Time, Sit on your Pillow, PP outside, Snout (to clean his eyes we must hold onto his snout, he hates things getting close to his eyes), Car Ride, the Boys (he loves my nephews), Jump, Dance (a variable of Jump), good boy, bad boy, bedtime, Up, Down.. I am sure there is more, but I am sleepy. All training sessions are meant to give him more grip on what we are saying, he's a Gemini doggy and likes to get in on the conversations we have. Also, he knows many of these terms in French instead of English, as we are a bilingual family. And, well, he's a Bichon Frisé!!

He's pretty skinny, when we put his little coat on, you can really tell the skinniness. I want to send in the photo of him in his sweater to magazines, so I am not going to put it here. I am also going to enter the photos into calendars :) I don't want to enter him into physical competition, as I have seen dog shows and don't want him to ever go near those things. Not that they are evil, but Gordon is a family man, not a show man. We don't intend on breeding him or making him look like a froo froo girly dog! HE IS MACHO! hehe.

He loves to lick and cuddle, he actually gives hugs - he puts his front paws on either side of my neck and squeezes, licks, and then gets down. I understand this is a domination thing, but I just love it too much. I'm his equal in this house I think, but my Parents surely are good at showing him they are the bosses. To Gordie, I am his teacher, his sister maybe, and his playmate.

Favorite Games:
Hide and Seek, Fetch, Tag, and Tug.

Pet Peeves (heehee!):
People who bother him when he's taking a nap, having anything close to his eyes, having his ear hairs plucked (a must-do for Bichon ears, as they tend to get long inner hairs that mat and wax, and then plug), Squirrels, Lemons, not playing when he wants to play, barking dogs, too much light when he's trying to nap.. what a diva.., people taking off his sweater when he's cold, the Vet, that People Food isn't for Doggies (we don't feed him human food), okay he has lots of Peeves, but I'm getting sleepy.

More to come on Gord, and thanks for your comment, Colleen!!

Melding..

My Fibro site, Invisible Thorns, is now in this weblog. I just didn't have time to have many online projects, so I am thinning out things, and merging. So I'll just be posting more subjects on this weblog. As well as more of GORDON!

The picture to the left is from the Tulip Festival a few months ago, which I took whilst swooning as I was surrounded by so many more beautiful blooms. :)

My Photo of a Bee

This was a great little bumble. What an exhibitionist! She stayed there for a good five minutes, turning around and around for a photoshoot. I have a rather large file of it on my background, you can see all her little unshaved leg hairs.
I love this flower too, looks like someone sprayed yellow silly string on it.. okay that's not very sophisticated of my critical eye - but cuteness often brings levity to my often crushing mental gravity. It's nice not to think of harsh things, and just enjoy the gems of nature.
Click on the photo to visit my Flickr.

What I'm Doing Now

I'm not doing much. Taking care of Gordie, as he is taking care of me (my heart strings especially). Apart from that, I'm really delving into my art. Photography, Sketches, Painting ideas..
I have some really cute pictures of Gordon that I have to resize before uploading.. so darned darling he sometimes makes my eyes tear with the sight of his loveliness. What a fluffy pile of sweet perfection! I can't wait to share the photos with you :)

(I call this photo "Alien" - I took it of a moth who was waiting to have her portrait taken on my front door)

GORDIE!!!!!

Meet Gordie, my family's new puppy! He's sweet beyond belief!

He's six weeks old (rounded down)

Loves to play, kiss me, follow me, and snuggle while we take a nap.. and I've only known him a day!! It was hard to pick him from his brothers and sister, as they were all super cute and playful.
So far I've cleaned up a few accidents, taken him outside and twisted my ankle on a squirell hole in the ground.. also spraining my wrist in the process of stopping my fall.. but I'm still very happy!!!! He's already showing how much he loves me with all his kisses.. especially his ear kisses!!

More to come :)