Friday, August 4th, 2023
Friday Five
TGIF! How did Friday get here so fast? Well since we’re here, let’s jump right into sharing five random things about our week.
- Monday I took Maggie to her vet and put her through some minor testing. Her urinalysis came back with a bit of struvite crystals but no infection or other signs of stones. Yet she’s having weird accidents, so we have her on a “watch” for the moment. The plan is that if she’s still not quite herself in a bit of time, we’ll do an x-ray for a closer look, and if that’s clear, we’ll put her on some low dose meds to help her. This could just be an aging issue, but it’s upsetting Maggie and so we want to be sure she’s okay. I really appreciate her vet and the staff (they are more than just staff, they are true caregivers in the purest sense of the word) for their careful yet conservative approach. And they tell me they love her because she’s so sweet, even when they’re sticking needles in her. That’s my sweet Maggie — when she’s not out mercilessly hunting lizards and trying to get crickets to hop so she can chase them.
- Maggie is supposed to sit and wait while I answer the door. However some religious women stopped by and Maggie decided she must go out on the porch and wiggle-circle them. I don’t know if it was some kind of religious bonding ceremony or my dog is just nuts. I suspect that latter. For a dog who was scared of everyone, let’s just say that she’s come out of her shell. As for her her breaking command, that is my fault. I wasn’t paying attention as I should have been to stop her. And I let her go out to greet my kids when they come over, so that’s made her think she can.
- I had a really nice birthday, and thanks to all for the lovely birthday wishes! Wizard and I went to dinner where I had a filet mignon with herb butter and blue cheese topping. I paid for it with some indigestion which I knew would happen from the herb butter, but it was totally worth it! That steak was amazing! I also got an air fryer (I wanted it) for my birthday and I’m looking forward to playing with that.
- Yesterday in the late afternoon, I tried making granola again, and this time I used some oil and maple syrup. It smells really good but I haven’t tested it yet. Making the granola necessitated a trip to Trader Joes where several checkout people asked me what I was baking from all the dark chocolate and various nuts in my cart. I sheepishly admitted that I’m just stocking up for when I’m inspired to bake, and that I seriously love their dark, non dairy chocolate chips. They were kind and treated me as if I’m normal, LOL!
- I feel a bit spoiled; today I’m going to lunch with my sister and tomorrow evening we’re going to dinner with Youngest and his beautiful wife. I hardly ever eat out, so three times in a week is pretty amazing.
That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope you all have a great weekend!
August 4th, 2023 at 7:12 am · Link
Good vets are such a blessing! Hope Maggie is back to normal ASAP. She’s such a good girl! Mmm. Steak. Now I want one! Yay for eating out and family time! You’re special enough to celebrate for the entire month! And keep us posted on the air fryer. I’m curious but not enough to actually spend the money on one. LOL Okay, my dull five.
1. Speaking of vets and dogs, Jake went back for his follow-up Monday. They drained his ear flap again (and so far *knocks wood* it’s not getting puffy again!), gave him his vaccines, and trimmed his nails. This is the dog who LG has to lay on full body to keep him pinned long enough for me to trim even one paw! And said dog will not allow either of his to touch his feet. They take him back. Trimmed the back feet with him standing up after which he flopped on the floor and rolled over for bellyrub while they trimmed the front. TOTALLY worth the $19 but dude! Seriously, Jake?!?!
2. Speaking of the weather, we’ve hit triple digits all week with heat indexes in the triple teens. Weather guru promises a not-as-hot front coming in this weekend which might bring rain and is supposed to drop us to the low 90s. I’ll take it!
3. I’ve managed some edits this week. About 5 chapters–two of which I gave up on and just reworked/rewrote. Frustrating but when I’m sitting here reading it, reading it again, and reading it a 3rd time before scratching my head and saying out loud, “WTH was I thinkin’?!?!!”, it’s time for a major overhal. Other than that, the book is actually better than I thought. LOL
4. I get tickled with the “housing” websites (like Realtor(dot)com). When I’m working on characters and settings, I use Google street view to get descriptions and then I go “house hunting” for lodging for the characters. The site’s bots then send me emails ad infinitum of properties in that area. Boston. Gaitlinburg, TN. Kansas City. Currently, I’m getting listing updates for McDounagh, GA because I saw a lake cabin on their weekly newsletter (they do a “compendium” of locations based on a type–island houses, castles, lake houses, etc.) so now they think I want to move to GA. Yeah. That would be a big ol’ nope! Delete.
5. Nothing else of note this week so looking ahead–First Saturday. Siren test (unless the rain actually moves in tomorrow) followed by family lunch at Earl’s BBQ. Not as special as Alvarado’s but it’s a tasty substitute. Stormy may be coming over next week. Baseball Boy has back-to-school prep (they both go back to class the follwoing week) so he may drop Stormy off here. Works for us.
That’s it for me. I hope to hit a smooth spot in the edits where I’m only finding typos instead of major uh-ohs. Bur first, more coffee! Have a great weekend all!!
August 4th, 2023 at 3:12 pm · Link
1. Maggie is a champ!
2. It’s so nice to see when the pet parent doesn’t blame the pet for stepping out of line. You are a great pet parent!
3. Your birthday dinner sounds so good. You didn’t say what dessert was, maybe lave cake? Sorry you paid for the herb butter.
4. The granola sounds good. I would have lots of dark chocolate in mine. Around here the clerics know we all stock up on just abut everything.
5. Don’t feel spoiled. Feel well loved. You only do the meeting out for dinner a few times a year. I hppy you are getting to enjoy yourself.
1a. The stucco is repaired and looks pretty good. With the extra work he had to do we were charged more. I’m not complaining at all. It was only $425) more than the original quote.
2a. Because everyone is super busy, we’ve opted to have my birthday dinner tomorrow instead of the 14th.
3a. My brother ended up at the hospital again last night. The blood thinners are making him bleed severely out his nose. They’ve packed his nose again. Looks like they may fix his deviated septum before any other surgeries.
4a. I have these boots in my cart. I really want them but don’t need them. I keep looking at them.
5a. I saw the Dr. this morning and all went well.
I hope you have a great weekend!
August 5th, 2023 at 12:30 pm · Link
Silver, thanks on my birthday! Maggie is doing pretty well, and when I’m home, I’m going outside with her regularly to remind her to potty, in the hopes that that will help with accidents. I’ll keep you updated on the air fryer, but so far, I’m really liking it and wondering why I waited so long :-).
1) Definitely worth the $19.00 and save you, LG and Jake all the stress. It’s funny but not all that unusual that he’ll let the vet staff do it and while pitching a doggy tantrum when you guys do it. My daughter in law says it happens all the time with dogs. She had a totally different experience with cats, LOL. And I’m so happy to hear his ears are healing! Crossing my fingers that’s the last draining you need to do.
2) Hope you get the lower temps. We are heading back into the 100s today.
3) I can relate to all your editing!! It’s always a relief to see it’s better than you thought on that read thru edit.
4) Same with Relator.com! I use a couple sites, but Relator is always my first go to, and that site gets real hopeful they can turn my browsing into purchases. Cracks me up. I don’t see us on a huge cattle ranch or castle or luxurious beach home any time soon.
5) Hope the rain didn’t ruin the siren test, you all had great food and whoa…back to school prep already?? Time sure flies!
Hope you’re having a great weekend and flying through edit!
August 5th, 2023 at 12:42 pm · Link
Viki, thanks, especially on the pet parent thing. Maggie’s such an easy dog, I can’t get away with blaming her. It really is my fault. Some things we’re letting slide due to her age (she’s not sleeping in her kennel after getting so sick in there and I don’t have the energy to get her past that). But otherwise, my blaming her is a cop out.
I didn’t mention dessert because the restaurant brought us a commentary big dish of ice cream for my birthday. I took a couple bites, but can’t eat much of that dairy, so Wizard finished it. It felt weird to order another dessert, and I told myself since I was eating out a lot that week it might be better. But yesterday with Biker Witch I got a special latte and a cookie, and I was happy with that. It was probably best that way. I can make a cake any time if I want it.
1) So glad the stucco is done and you’re happy with it. I’m with you, I’d rather pay the money and get it done right. It’s paying for bad or needless work that aggravates us!
2) I hope you enjoy your early birthday dinner! We often move birthday celebrations around like that too. As our families grow and change, it gets more complicated.
3) Oh no, your poor brother! He’s just going though so much right now. Plus that kind of thing is very unsettling even if it has a totally rational explanation. Hope it’s under control now.
4) Buy the boots! Call it a birthday gift to yourself, you deserve it! I know we live in budgets, but once in a while, we need to treat ourselves.
5) Yay for a good doctor appointment!
I hope you have a delicious and fun birthday dinner, and an all around good weekend. Let us know if you do buy the boots!