First thing this morning it was time to get singing - Happy Birthday that is.  Miss Vixie Lynn is 15 today!  I had to sing while readying her breakfast because she was mighty vocal about her hunger today for some reason.

I had my yearly doctor's appointment today and I'm pleased to report that the review she took of my records from the past two years indicate the report of an abnormal lipid metabolism that was showing on my healthcare website was wrong wrong wrong.  *shrug*  The bad news is, that for the first time ever I had a slightly elevated blood pressure - 132/82.  I would say I am hopeful that this will help encourage me to get my butt in gear when the weather breaks as I know taking off a few pounds and getting some activity in will quickly remedy this... but then I promptly stopped at Five Guys for dinner.

My excuse?  I decided to step it up since I'd say 15 is a monumental birthday and Vixen got her very own burger for pre-dinner.  She, unlike Dani and Saffy, was very pleased this evening.  I am pretty sure her post dinner nap is filled with happy dreams.  We'll do the rest of the normal birthday celebration tomorrow.

I also had a massage late today, so the odds of me taking to the realm of nap land too is pretty high.  The arm/shoulder pain from early this week had dissipated, but there was still a little bit of a knot there worse is the knot that was in my left butt cheek, it actually felt all out of whack on the drive home.  Meh.  Getting old sucks.

Robins!!!  We saw robins at lunch time today.  They were all huddled up in the trees outside of the lunch room windows.  Poor buggers, it's too cold out there.  Can I convince them all to come in and have some bread?

If they don't get you one way they get you another...

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/02/my-university-got-hacked-and-i-lived-to-tell-about-it/

 

All I can say is, at least this guy got notified.  I got my MS there in 2007 and had I not read this article I wouldn't have know.

Today I was reminded of the one and only bad thing associated with the snow melting and going away... the muddy back yard.  Shockingly it wasn't Saffy, it was Vixen.  What a butthead.  Most of her face and her feet were coated.  Saffy eventually did go to see what the big deal was and got some on her nose.  Face washings all around!  Notice I said the only bad thing, I am still not happy to see flakes flying again (which is happening right now).

I figured I should do something to keep the ball rolling since I wasn't sore from chipping at ice at mom's yesterday, so I swept up all of the salt residue and rocks along the frontage of my property.  How it irritates me to see that mess out there.  Saffy and I also went for a short walk today, so we'll call this my first walk of the year.

My mom is pretty awesome.  I went to visit today and when I arrive she tells me we're having "Thanksgiving".  This in her world means an obscene amount of food.  While I love that woman's cooking, and I am grateful that she made me this awesome meal, I am more grateful that she's feeling well enough to even tackle something like this.  So yes, I ate turkey breast, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, brussels sprouts, carrots, and stuffing... and double yes I have leftovers here with me.

I did some grocery shopping for her while there and then as the sun warmed the day I went out and chipped away the ice along the back sidewalk.  At least now she'll have safe passage to get herself off to church, at least until more of the mess comes our way.

On the way out of town I stopped at Old Navy, expecting that I probably wouldn't find anything.  I was in heaven, everything has anchors/anchor print on it!  Maybe 6 months ago I hunted everywhere online for a shirt w/ an anchor and came up empty (on something that would fit and wasn't more than I was willing to spend).  So, now I have a skirt, a tee shirt, and a button down.  I'm set, so I guess I need to book another cruise, right?

My long weekend was rather uneventful, but I guess that's okay.  I spent lots of time moving snow, knocking down icicles, and watching the girls enjoy frolicking in the snow the slightly warmer temps.
 
Tuesday I met with someone who became my new tenant!  This is most definitely a blessing and right on time. Beyond the tax return coming I was to the crunch of how do I keep my payments on the house where they are without running liquid funds too low.  With the apartment being filled back up for at least 6 months I am back on track to kick this thing, I'm hoping, by my birthday, but that will require me to pull a chunk from my slush fund.  It's not like that wouldn't build back up again quickly, but it would make me nervous to deplete it that far.  I guess we'll see how confident I am come summer.
 
Danika makes her return trip to the vet tonight.  She was due for her rabies shot two weeks ago and he doesn't like to combine that w/ the others if he doesn't have to, so back we go.

A long weekend - thank you!  Now, if it could be without the huge pile of snow out there, heck just if it were all off of the roads.  I had scheduled to get my taxes done Thursday night, but called and rescheduled after I drove home that day in a mess knowing that they were calling for another 6-10 that night.  Well, we only got a dusting more that night (judging by the amount of snow that was on the Durango), but I still stayed home on Friday because the street was still solid white.

Richland does a terrible job of tending to their roads.  You'd think since the temps are up in a decent range that they could make some progress with them, but no, kids aren't in school, so why would we do that?  It's warm enough that the snow on the roof is melting off... and forming icicles that I get to knock down a couple times a day.  I understand why stupid people light their own homes on fire with blow torches.  I'll give myself a little credit, I know to discount the idea after it passes through my mind.

Today I did head to the tax appointment, so as soon as I get two envelopes in the mail that is done - woohoo!  I should soon have some additional fundage to cushion my ongoing increased payments on the mortgage without a tenant, so that's a blessing, but I'd still like to find a new tenant soon.

Because I needed to be out of the house for a little while, I then did a little (mostly window) shopping (I spent $7.50), despite the still hit or miss roads in the area.  I celebrated my return with a meal out as well.

So far today I've received (spam) emails for the following (not all inclusive):
- Black People Meet
- Indian Dating
- Dating over 50
- Ashley Madison "life is short, have an affair" *at least 5 of these*
There is really something to be said for the age old marketing wisdom of know your audience.  While most of them amuse me because if you had "white people meet.com" someone would call the people who would want to exclude all non-crackers from their dating 'shopping' racist.
The last one just disgusts me.  There isn't enough people in the world this slimy that you need to encourage them?  If you had a loved one that WORKED for this company what would your opinion of them be?  Would you trust them?

Label this as the demonstrated distrust of human beings in general:  Last night after I stepped into the kitchen to make myself a bite for dinner someone started knocking rather forcefully on the front door.
 
One thing you need to know about me is that if I'm not expecting you chances are I'm not coming to the door, especially after dark.  Now, had I been in the bedroom I could have snuck a peek out the front window to determine who it was, but from anywhere else I'm unable to see without being seen through the sidelight at the front door.
 
The real distrust is that my thought processes are:
1).  Dang, I'd need to pass where I could be seen to get to the bedroom in order to protect myself.
2).  (A while later) Is it okay to leave the dogs out back?
 
Lesson learned, I just gave myself an excuse to make the other purchase I've wanted in the relatively near term, then I can access a safety tool in the living room too.

This past week was one cancellation after another, so it's been a lot of lonely evenings at home w/ the fuzzy ones and little to do other than play Candy Crush or clean.  Guess which option won out?  Friday at work was just a nightmare fighting with the computer at work that reminded me of how inept I feel all too often.

I want more, I want different, I want to have a life - some type of enthusiasm for each day rather than just wishing the weekdays away to get to another weekend  only to realize that I'm bored on the weekends too.  I just don't know how to make things change.  If I can't garner the confidence in my skills to think I can even apply for another job, how do you escape?  There is always 3 or 4 somethings on their required list that I do not have in my quiver.

I'm still pressing forward w/ the java class, which is going well enough, but there is a huge leap and bound from syntax and understanding what you need to do to accomplish a function versus being able to pull a ton of files together, understanding branching, make files, and the other assorted insanity.  Most of my frustration at work wasn't even code, it was just getting an environment back to square one - the moments that make me think computers just hate me.

Today the youth group was to go snow tubing, which was a stretch for me, but I was going to give it a go.  Get this, the snow (of course) started coming down too hard for us to go.  Re-read that and think about it.  I hate Johnstown all too often.  Instead we ended up bowling, which I enjoyed even though I stink.  I am probably going to be sore tomorrow (yes, from bowling two games).  It's probably a good thing that I can call this outing the highlight of my weekend, but it's just sad that it was the highlight of my weekend because outside of the new episode of The Walking Dead tonight, that's all I really had going on.

With the evil holiday coming up, my hopes for my mood elevating aren't high, so I apologize now for any grumpy posts later in the week.  In advance I'll say I want a dislike button on facebook for every single one of you that post pictures of "what my sweetheart sent me!"  gag.

Today was the primary yearly trip to the vet for the girls.  I say primary because heaven knows we end up back there for something at some point in the year.  Since Danika was due for her rabies shot as well as other routine vaccines she'll need to go back in two weeks to get the other vaccines.  She and Vixen put on a little weight where Saffy lost a pound (go figure, the skinny one lost weight).

I was also pleasantly surprised to collect stool samples from all three after work so I don't need to stink up my car again this year.  With the ice across the snow it's been entertaining to see the dogs trying to walk on eggs as to not pop through the ice-shell.  Me on the other hand, not so fun to crunch down through in the pursuit of said specimens, carefully placed by three dogs in three separate parts of the yard.  Thanks guys.

Vixen is doing great for her age, but we do have a sore on her "growth" that I need to tend to.  I say growth because we're not sure if it's just a fatty tumor or if it is a result of her spay incision opening back up.  Regardless it doesn't seem to bother her, so it's just a matter of keeping things healthy and uninfected.  In this case I need to go find some vitamin e, the ones that you can snip open or pure liquid to put the 'oil' on the spot.  If she licks it off, unlike neosporin, it might still do her some good.  We're hoping that it's simply from the dry weather combined with the rough icy-snow outside causing the abrasion as I've not witnessed her licking or chewing at it.

I keep getting advertisements on pages to click to sign a petition to "tell Hillary to run for president".  Where's the petition to "tell Hillary to go pound sand?"

It was in the 40's today (thank God for the small break).  While all of the snow is not melted off I still decided to go trudge through St Anthony's of Padua's cemetery to take a few photos.  I didn't last long as the drifts there on the hill made it feel like nothing had melted off and covered many of the dates, requiring me to turn my gloves to a mushy wet mess.  I still left with entertainment for a few hours.

Tonight I feast on a batch of the frozen meatballs and sauce on angel hair.  The girls in the mean time, well, at least Saffy and Dani have been going after the new flavor of food as first choice.  You're prb feeling bad for Vix right now.  If you recall, she's a food addict like her mummy, so she is stuck with the diet food.