Ab Workout

Well, I had my first real physical therapy appointment today and I am sore.  First, I did an ab workout that consisted of the tens machine stimulating my abs and back while I contracted my abs.  Then I pumped it up by doing the same thing while holding a ball.  After I did some leg stretches to length my hamstrings.  Then the guy said he wanted me to do ten minutes on the treadmill and I said, "Uh, how about the elliptical machine because ten minutes on the treadmill ain't even worth me changing my bra."  Ten minutes, schwen minutes.   I was doing that six months ago.  He asked what would happen if I did ten minutes.  I thought, "Duh, I'd be bored."  I'll do an hour.  No problem.  So I got on the elliptical machine for 10 minutes and I got tired.  And now I'm sore.  But a good sore- I think.  In any case, I'm trying Sara's homemade remedy for muscle soreness:  red wine.

The Hallway Paranoia

It is true that I've had the camera nearby for the past week, because I had noticed an increase in the frequency in which the hallway menaced Earl- particularly in the early morning and was trying desperately to get it on tape.  Because this is what happens when your dog smokes too much pot.  Paranoia.

First, Brave Earl goes between the bedroom and the bathroom.

Then, he attempts to make it across the long divide, into the sanctuary of the living room.  He's pretty sure it can be done because Clark, Randi and myself are in the living room, unharmed, having already crossed the treacherous Bermuda Triangle made up of the wall heater and two sides of the wall.  He is able to make it, despite the invisible hands of death reaching out and trying to grasp him.  

PT

Well, today was my long awaited physical therapy appointment!  It was pretty exciting, particularly since I was so sore and tired today that I could hardly move at school and had to have kids erase the boards for me.  The physical therapist asked me a lot of questions and did a bunch of assessments and said that my hamstrings are very tight and my thighs are very tight and my sides are very tight and none o that is good for my back, but that overall I was doing good.   He asked what would happen if I walked for an hour and I looked at him and said, "Uh, duh, nothing.  An hour's nothing.  I'll walk 3.62 miles on the treadmill in an hour; but not today.  Today I'm going to take a pain pill."  I have to go to physical therapy twice a week for four weeks and then I will be limber and svelte.

Until then, I'm going to take a pain pill because I really am sore.

Big Cats

I was perusing National Geographic Interactive when I got to the article about Big Cats.  Randi didn't mind the lion or leopard, but she was not having it once I got to the snow leopard.  If you listen closely you can hear Earl finally get up.  I guess the good thing is I don't have to ever worry about being attacked by a snow leopard.

Same old...

It's been a rough morning here at the Saratoga Animal Shelter.  The Quick Wash cycle that should take 28 minutes took over an hour.  The dryer seems to be equally slow;  like I'm not sure my clothes are going to be dry for my walk.  Additionally, it seems that the hallway has been particularly agressive and Earl has been wallowing in a self-quarantine in the bedroom for over an hour after the second time the hallway nearly ate him alive.

Proof that I am not as smart as my pot-smoking dog, Earl:

1.  Thursday, Earl at a half a tub of sour cream off the counter.  I had only walked into the other room to turn the radio down.

2.  Friday, Earl ate a tupperware container full of red sauce.  Not only did he take it off the counter, splashing red sauce all over the kitchen floor, counters and baseboards, but then he took the container into the living room and put it on the couch so he could have better access.

Randi helps me clean sauce off of the counters and baseboards.

Wrong Number

I had to cancel my long sought after physical therapy appointment today because every time I bend my head starts pounding.  Then I called my dad.  Voici our conversation:

Me: Dad? Dad?
Line:
Me:  Dad?  Geez, will you stop letting the baby answer the phone?
(calling back)
Me:  How are you?
Dad:  Uh, ok.  How are you?
Me:  Well I had to cancel my physical therapy appointment and I'm working right now then I'm going to take a nap.  What are you doing?
Dad:  I'm sitting here with the baby, but I think you might have the wrong number.  Who are you trying to reach?
Me:  DAD!!!

This guy didn't know who I was because of my voice.  He said at first he thought I was Giovanni, then he thought that I was some old lady that had dialed the wrong number.  He wasn't sure, but he was confusèd.

Yep, my voice sounds so shitty even my own father didn't know who I was.

Fun with Photos

There's not much going on here today except I got a cold and so I couldn't spend the afternoon with the baby since I am full of infectious mucus, so I spent most of the day laying on the couch and working on trying to figure out my camera.  I dutifully kept the instruction manual in Spanish, so that's been super helpful.  This week's photo challenge is "macro" so I used the dogs as subjects because they were sleeping and still.  Clark's not in them because he never came out of the bedroom, while these two wanted to be in the living room with me and the fire.  Incidentally, I got a letter from the Town of Apple Valley saying that their licenses were due to be renewed and a post card from the vet reminding me that they needed to come in for their rabies shots.  Yesterday I said to the Big Guy, "Dad, I need you to help me with two activities."  When I explained about the vet, he sighed and said, "That's not an activity, that's an event."  Semantics, because I surely can't get these two to the vet solo.

Randi- sleeping upside down as she likes

Concerned Earl

High as a Kite

Ms. Not Responding to the "If You Fly, You Die" campaign.

Crossed hands

There were two days at work this week where I wanted to burst into violent tears and cry until I exploded as a speck of dehydrated dust all over my classroom, leaving it empty and students to wonder why there was dirt on their desks.  So Friday, the second day, when my dad asked if I would watch Max so they could go to dinner I said, "YES!  Bring him over!"  I was pretty sure Max wasn't going to ask me to do anything other than play with him and change his diaper.  Then Jessica wanted to watch my TV and Sara wasn't busy so the three of us watched Max.   Max was not his normal happy self and was a bit fussy until Grandma came back and then he was all smiles.   Sometimes, I'm jealous.  He is 19 lbs and the doctor said that he looks like a normal 8 month old baby.  (Because he's awesome.)  Yesterday when I was over there I finally got a glimpse of his two bottom teeth because he was being pretty shy about showing them off.

The Big Guy, the Little Guy and Jessica