Trying to not stress out tonight.  Unexpected changes to the norm.  Trying to toss the worry aside.  I really don't want to own a house w/ a rental unit anymore.

Guess what I had for dinner tonight?  Yep... and it was delightful.  I'm a bit tired today as this young man is a pleasure to chat with, so I was up a bit later than normal last evening and up early this morning to make sure he had a hardy breakfast before taking back to the road.

My church (Oakland United Methodist) had a single, unified service this morning at 10am.  While the service was a bit shorter than normal we then had a congregation meeting regarding our building project.  I'm excited to say that as I drove there I thought I knew what option I was voting for but I and seemingly quite a few others shifted our views and we decided to take a deeper leap of faith.  We are growing and if you are here in Johnstown and seeking a place to call home, we want you to come grow with us.  I know it's creepy that I'm advertising us, and I probably don't need to as we just seem to have people crawling out of the woodwork week after week, but I do believe in the presence we have and the blessing that is coming and would love to share that with more of my friends.  After the vote we had a ground breaking under a beautiful bright sun.

Later in the afternoon I realized I needed to get on top of a Mother's Day gift as it is approaching quickly.  I know what I wanted to do, so I had to hit TJ Maxx/Ross and see if I could find part of it or if I needed to order (and pay more) online.  I did find exactly what I had in mind, which I wasn't seeing on Amazon in a cursory search, and I loved the price.  Now to get the last components and put'r together.

After I headed to the theatre to see Heaven is for Real.  I think they did a pretty good job following along with the book, which I really enjoyed a year and a half ago while on a cruise.  I'm choosing to believe it just so I can hold on to the idea of all of those animals being there.  I do plan on seeing my girls again!

Both parents of friends are out of the hospital and sound like they're doing well on their recovery.  Continued prayers, please!

Last evening I was able to get out of work a bit early, and had the brilliant idea (despite the rain) to call my Uncle L and Aunt D, whom I met for a bite of Mexican grub.

The weather is a bit cool and quite windy today, but at least the sun is out.  I did get a couple things in the ground, but I cannot find the motivation to go spread mulch.  Maybe next weekend.  I did do some cleaning today in preparation for a house guest this evening, again a friend from NC's son is traveling through, this time on his way back to Canada.  I hear rumors of him traveling with some NC bbq for me, so I am doubly-anticipating his arrival.

Troubled for friends w/ parents in the hospital - one a return to the hospital in a short period of time the other after a joint replacement surgery.  The good news is that a diagnosis for the first one might have solved the overall problem (prayers for that, please).  In the grand scheme of things, my own personal meh feelings from the results of some recent blood work seems small, but it still weighs.

The annoying dreams are back too.  That never helps.  I suspect some are a twisted association my mind has made w/ the test results.  The others where I can see a huge wave getting ready to come down on the cruise ship that I'm in and other similar oddities... I just don't know where they're coming from.  Maybe I'll go to bed early tonight.

We had a very pleasant weekend, but I did not get more done outside.  That's okay though, it's Easter weekend, a good excuse to just relax and enjoy the sunshine, even if it is still a little too cool to crank open the windows.  I did visit with mom today and we had a good spread and a heck of an afternoon nap (it was very necessary after heading to the 6:30 sunrise service before heading to Altoona).  Happy Easter everyone!

As the predictions said it did indeed drop from 80 to the teens in a matter of 30 hours.  There was a dusting of snow and there was much gnashing of teeth.  Fortunately, I volunteered to stuff Easter eggs for a hunt on Saturday last night, rather than to help with the blitz build of a house that is going on.  You'll find me over here, where it is warm.  That is all.  Now get warm again, please.

So yesterday I was in such a rush to post that I neglected to post something very important.  I decided to get (re)baptized in the Methodist church.  I agree with the thought that my baptism as a baby wasn't my choice and that this was my opportunity to say to the world that _I_ choose it.  How ironic then that I'd neglect to post this here.  I am also very blessed in that T and D from my small group this past winter were eager to come and be there with/for me.  For that I am grateful.
 
Today we celebrate another large event in my life - 4 years since Pete left this world.  We still miss you terribly.

I definitely got my share of both exercise and vitamin D this weekend.  Saturday I headed out to make a drive to Central City and then back 160 to stop and get more photos at St Anthony's of Padua cemetery.  The weather was so agreeable that I ended up walking the remainder of the cemetery, so I have another 900 photos to process as time allows.

Back to the house and it was time to get started outside in preparation for some assistance I received from Prince Jacob today.  There was quite a few more bags of dog poo removed and easily 15 more big bags of raked up leaves and small branches.  Jacob also helped to turn over the garden and to pull the gravel back from the yard out front while I swept the small rocks from along the road (again).  I'm super pleased with the progress this weekend, it looks like summer (including a few daffodils that opened already) and the yard doesn't make me twitch anymore.  Now, I still have more to do, like mulch, but it looks tidy, there is much to be said for that.

Now to accomplish some of the online tasks on my to do list.  If I am not too sore to move after two days working outside I guess I'll do some of the housework in the evenings this week.

When you start to screw up stupid little things it is time to go to sleep.  That is where I was last night.  I'm tired, my head has a low thud, it's been a hectic week.  Work has me in one meeting and discussion after the next.  Don't get me wrong, it makes the days go fast, but the lighting in conference rooms combined with our shifting weather has my head under pressure.
 
I retrieved my sister on Tuesday night so that I could drop her at the airport on Wednesday morning, headed for a doctor's appointment on Wednesday afternoon, need to get the car inspected today, and - gratefully - will go to a massage appointment on Friday.  Fortunately there are reminders for activities as I somehow managed to enter the wrong times for two of these items into my calendars (work and cell phone).  Since they were entered weeks ago I can't even blame my current bout of tired on those errors.
 
Tonight I will also relax and go see God is Not Dead with a couple of coworkers/friends and perhaps if others decided to join us.  I think I got enough sleep last night to make sure I won't be yawning and fighting to stay focused during the movie.  I guess we'll see.
 
Vixen came down the deck stairs this morning after the potty trip all by herself and without protest and then ran to the back door.  If you've been reading along you know that is an update.  She is still a bit wobbly and taking medicine but we're doing okay for now.

So adding to the emotional concerns this week, mum wasn't feeling well, so much so that my sister decided to extend her visit a bit.  I did still drive down there on Friday, unaware of just how not well she was feeling, so I got to spend a little time with them both, which was worth the rainy and foggy drive back up the mountain.  The weather took another big topple towards cold on Saturday, which dried up the back yard faster than I would have guessed, so at least it isn't a muddy mess.  We're back to reasonable temps today.  It's a bit cool, but I still opened a door and a couple of windows just to get some fresh air in the house.

Since it was way too cold for me to spend quality time in the yard yesterday I decided to do some shopping.  I stopped at the mall where I fed my Vicki's addiction and stopped into the AT&T store.  Turns out, as noted by a friend, they've changed some of their plans and I could get a better plan for less without giving up my phone upgrade (which I am way overdue for).  I dropped the bill by a few bucks upping us to unlimited voice (which was never an issue with my previous limits) and made the both the leap from 200mb of data to 1gb and from 200 texts to unlimited.  Will I use the data?  Maybe after I do some research and upgrade my phone, perhaps to a Galaxy, but not so much right now.  Unlimited texts alleviates past issues for sure.  TJ Maxx and Ross meant a few things for me were purchased that I definitely didn't need, but I also got a few gifts for upcoming birthdays.

Today after church I enjoyed some El Jalisco with good folks from my winter bible study and then headed to hit Ollie's and Big Lots.  Because I didn't have a coupon for either I ended up finding plenty in both.  With Vixen having not felt well she ended up with one of Danika's beds, so a new one for her was in order.  She's not ready to try it out just yet however.  Both stores also had more dog food at awesome pricing, so I brought back another 125lbs.

I've made me to do list for outside and started a to do list for inside.  I wish I was as motivated as the FB friends that are excitedly doing their spring cleaning already, but I'm just not there yet.  Instead I at least decided to tackle some laundry, including the comforter, but I am not sure I am ready to swap out for the summer comforter.

No Walking Dead for quite a while, so maybe I'll get some online research done tonight.  I am prb three weeks behind on my online java class too, so I should take some time there.  I need longer weekends.

Well that was fun.  I think I need a bubble this morning.  I was out of the house extra early so I was going to stop and have breakfast at Denny's on my way to work, until I realized outside of there that I didn't grab my purse.  How does that manage to happen?!
 
So I came to work and made oatmeal.  The spoon melted in the oatmeal on the way back to my cube.  I try to shift my coffee mug to put the spoon on a napkin and dang near dump a big full cup of coffee across my desk (near miss).  Gah.
 
Take my normal vitamins before the oatmeal, eat the oatmeal, take the heart health pills that I was to start today (phytosterol complex and niacin) and am ready to dig into my day.  Quickly I start to feel warm, then almost burny from the inside out, I know my face is flushed, oy... allergic reaction?  I went to the first aid kit and no antihistamine, so I went to the front desk hoping they had additional medications that aren't in the kits to no avail.  By the time I got down there I must have been quite the lovely blotchy shades of red.
 
Fortunately, one of the guys I've worked with was just coming in and was willing to run to Sheetz to find me some antihistamines (Benadryl).  By the time he came back I was pretty warm, having mild dizziness, and a bit of nausea.  Two benadryls down and I started to feel better pretty fast.  I'm back in my cube and freezing cold again (back to normal).
 
I know there is what is referred to as a "Niacin flush" but I am telling you if that redness and burning sensation can be dumbed down to call it a 'flush' ya'll are crazy.

A quick update on Vixen:
My research aligned with what the vet believes to be going on with Vixen, so we left there last evening with steroids, antibiotics, and an anti-nausea medicine.  She did eat the previous night's dinner at some point yesterday, so that's good.  I bought some moist food to get her enticed and to aid in getting all of these pills down quickly.  She polished her breakfast this morning after eagerly following me with the bowl, that's an excellent sign.
 
She was pushing her luck on wobbly feet yesterday trying to lift her front paws on the seats at the vet office to get a sniff of the fresh air (yes, it was finally nice enough to open a few windows yesterday afternoon) and she got ahead of me on the deck and attempted to go down the stairs, tumbling off of the last one but fortunately didn't hurt herself.  She seems to be moving fairly well until she gets excited and moves a bit too fast, but I'm hoping to see steady improvement.  More prayers and warm thoughts welcome and appreciated!