boo boo

what r the odds a vegetarian would require 8 stitches in their finger from slicing it while cutting meat? go figure.

shout out to all my email buds...

give me 2 weeks to type much again, yall...I will be unfriendly and quiet for the most part with answering anything coming into my inbox or posted here.

i cant bend the dang thing. my 100wpm just went down to about 10.

but BOTH my new contacts are in now so I don't care, I'm happy. I can see great!!!

and, if you ever need ER for anything...skip the usual hospitals and head to the heart hospital of Austin. Never a wait...and it's full ER, not just for cardiology so you get fixed up and outta there instantly...most patients come in with heart issues so they go straight to being admitted so it frees up the ER for things like vegetarians with meat cutting wounds. :-)

retail

anyone wants to see the pdf of the shopping center going in at the corner of MLK and 183, email me.

It lists some of the tenants. I can't upload the file here but I have the picture (which is updated from their website)

(they list the tenants they already have contracts for.)

Moving ahead now that they finally have the docs from the city

There has been a bite regarding retail on the entrance to the neighborhood as well..but it's not official yet so...just wait on that

On another note, it is joyous thing to work all day with one's puppy under one's desk. There is no water cooler break as lovely as playing fetch, I'll tell ya that much! Alex usually gets this...today I did.

we have successfully mastered fetching a tiny ball, and learning to pee only on the potty pad all at 7 weeks. However, there have been a few pee accidents admittedly (but it's a long way to walk for a small dog when they haven't even mastered the bladder yet so I'll give her that) and we haven't mastered the poo yet, although we often do find it on the potty pad...it's not there yet.

When one's dog is going to be 3.5 lbs full grown and there are slats in the fence and coyotes behind ones house and big stairs...

one litter trains one's dog rather than the alternative. Which, turns out, is a wonderful thing on cold nights when the alarm is set.

but dang, fetch and potty training at 7 weeks...genius puppy.

I knew it.

It's the cod liver oil in her diet. Grows more brain cells at development. :-)

Working! Just sayin...

That, of course, is all totally off subject but we are rather obsessed parents at this time because our puppy is cutest in the world so...ya know.

The reason dog labor laws need to be enforced

Exhaustion!

Alex is toting the new babe to work...

Seen here, she was supposed to be inspecting the bottle of Alex's Rancho Adobo House Dressing that you can see there on the left of the photo prior to the palette being shipped out. Alex, instead, caught her napping on the job. Just a disclaimer as to why we cannot be responsible for quality control of some of the products being manufactured this week.

Just can't find good help nowadays.
p.s. On the back foot, that's white fur growing out from the bottom of her foot; not light colored pads. The pads on her paws are actually black.

I kiss that white goatie off every day.

hell we can probably fit both smart cars in the garage anyway

We've decided to just leave the carport as-is.


**insert evil snicker here**

that'll teach em!

buuuahahahahaha!!!

Revenge is mine!

:-)

I'm in love

& so is Alex

It's a girl!

The new puppy, Kismet, is home and has been since Sunday. We adopted her a few weeks ago but she still had a bit of growin' to do before we could nab her.

She is sweet and hysterical. After a good meal she starts bouncing straight up in the air on all fours as if someone put springs on her feet, and goes backwards. Never seen anything like it.

Alex asked me if I feed her coffee beans.

She was all quiet and meek until she started partaking of her new food now she's all energy...well, not all energy. She's quite the lap puppy. Prefers to be held at all times for the most part.

I'm so in love with that little girl. She sleeps right beside my face...totally melts me.

After spending a tiny portion on dog toys, however...she prefers my hair above all else

Alex sent me an email today that said "Kismet's first letter"

I opened it up and it was an Excel spread sheet with random letters and numbers on it...Kismet was apparently walking the keyboard while Alex worked.

We put her right to work, yes we did.

people are interesting

Apparently someone who is very bored called the city to inquire if our carport posts meet the setback requirements.

This is what's funny to me.

Having the posts makes it an attractive carport. Especially once we did the stucoo surrounds on the posts, the ivy planters on one side, and the metal roof--all in the original plan.

That original $7,000 addition to our own home increases other's property values. That's how neighboring home values work, afterall, in appraisals.

Now, should the inspector have us redo it, it is still going up...we need a carport...but won't be nearly as pretty. Probably just an overhang. Hey...cheaper to build though!

I honestly can't think of one good reason anyone wouldn't want the attractive addition that would RAISE their values...but you just never know with people.

Either way, it's going up. We have two cars and need a carport. It was approved by the HOA because it was a really handsome carport. Chris knows the situation for the review so we'll just have to do what we can.

I'll just hang a tarp on one side. :-)

I'm more amused than mad. People are funny.

buy it in bulk

I'm about to pick Alex up at the airport after a fruitful meeting with Sam's Wholesale Club corporate.

She got her food lines in to Sam's...

props to you, babe!!

Some of her pasta sauces and her best selling dressing

Looks like we may be submitting more house additions to the HOA review committee...hopefully...sooner that we originally thought.

**crosses fingers**

Just kidding. We need more landscaping first.

park it!

The new carport beside the garage will be done next week.
It will be a dark grey with a hint of brown, same grey metal roof as the rest of the house.

We will repaint some of the other house accents to match, such as the trim around the wooden garage door and I'm toying with repainting the front door, or at least the trim around it.

The house looks better already...less cubist.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

dog food experiment

At the beginning of Bindi's life I had read how making dog food was better...that coyotes and wolves don't lose their teeth in their senior years or need brushing like our dogs do, have bad breath, have health problems like we do and how it's due to diet, even if you use the premium foods.

So I fed Bindi a truly nutritional homemade dog diet

Then we got the house, got busy, and I decided for awhile we'd go to organic, super premium food

Bindi's coat, that once was so bizarrely shiny that strangers commented on it all the time...developed a regular "dog" fur. coarse, not shiny...

With the new puppy I decided it's time to step it up again. I drug out the dog food bible and the way to cure all ails really, naturally: Dr. Pitcairn's Book of Natural Animal Health, 3rd ed.

I started putting the recipes together again and reading about the comparison between what happens when you cook the hell out of food for pets vs when you dont

Bindi sprung back to life...as did her fur. Almost magically.

And the fleas went away on their own...as promised.

I often tell the story of when I worked for a physician recruiting firm and I had to travel to Hereford Texas...where they raise more cattle for human consumption than anywhere else in the U.S. The diseased cattle that died in the field or had cancer were being bulldozed to one corner.

The largest pet food manufacturer in the US was in Hereford for a reason.

I got to tour that factory...and that's where all those cows not fit for human consumption went...for dog food. They were PROUD to tell me this. How brilliant that business model was.

It changed my mind about things.

When I've just seen the difference myself in Bindi's coat and energy and health...I just can't go back to bagged food; too many studies show the difference in health from pre-dog food days to what happened after bagged dog food came available.

So...Kismet arrives home from the breeder for good next week. Her food will be waiting..in the fridge, not the pantry.

It's the least I can do.

Trees have LEAVES?

After:
-1 botched lasik
-6 months of complete and total blindness
-being told by a specialist that I am the "one tenth of one percent where something goes horribly wrong" and he's sorry, but I "shouldn't expect to ever use my eyes again"
-having friends drive me, read to me, etc
-5 surgeries after that
-corneal implants
-hundreds of contacts every time they invented something they thought would work

I finally saw normally again in my left eye a few years ago. However, for the last 6 years I regained some vision but remained legally blind in my right eye.

My left eye took over and my right eye actually started to "die" from non-use recently

THEN...

the corneal specialist in Dallas called and said they had a new glass lens they wanted to try...

and Alex and I went to Dallas (he's the best in the country) on Friday, had a lunch date and...

...guess what?!

IT WORKED!!! I can see out of my right eye again! After 6 years of being blind in it!

This lens suctions down onto my eye and has to be removed daily with a plunger, but it's not painful and it actually works this time.

Seriously, I cried when I saw bricks. I've missed out on detail for a long time.

Alex asked the doctor (apparently amazed I haven't died driving for the last 6 years--(although I came close via no fault of my own)--: "How bad is she on the chart without the lens?" The doctor said (I love this)"You see that huge E that's the biggest letter on the chart?" Alex says "wow! yes" and the doc replies: "Well she can't see that because she can't even see a chart, or the wall for that matter, even if it was five inches from her face"

(true)

Turns out Alex thought I was faking all these years to try to get outta drivng at night and whenever else possible and she thought I had "bad vision" but never bought the "I was totally blinded by lasik" story.

She denies this...but I could tell...LOL...I don't complain much...but it's true. I haven't used my right eye for 6 years. (glasses dont work because of the ridges on my cornea)

And, when I was totally blind and everyone told me I needed to sue I said "I'll take the high road. I just want to be able to see again more than I want money. Something tells me that the karma I put out there staying positive will one day bring it back..."

It did. I can now say that I can officially see...But, dang it, I was a guinea pig along the way for every corneal operation out there for years.

p.s. turns out I've aged a little in the last 5 years

p.s. again with a shout out: Dr Tylock took my vision away; Dr. Bowman (corneal specialist) restored my left eye surgically and corrected the right eye enough to be able to wear a lens but one wasn't invented that would work until last month. Dr. Scott McGregor (corneal lens specialist) is the one who then found it for me and fitted the lens.

Kudos. Except to you, Dr. Tylock (who should have told me I wasn't a candidate for lasik but failed to do so and left me blind)...but kudos to Dr. Hayes, your business partner, for ensuring he did all he could to help me even when you didn't want to pay for one of the surgeries that, otherwise, would have made your mistake permanent.

Here's my baby girl!!

This is what she looked like the day I saw her last weekend. I didn't know my pic would be snapped or I would have thrown on some makeup...but I'm so grateful the breeder loves her doggies enough to capture the moment.

She says Kismet is totally addicted to people and she can't snap pictures of her because she's always on her leg...she jumped on a couch to take a picture and hit but as soon as Kismet hears the camera focus she comes running to find her. She never wants to be put down...

which she never will be!!

this is Kismet's dog mommy.

Isn't she pretty?

aw, nothin' much goin on...ha ha

1. Headed to work Friday and a lab/chow puppy was in the road sorting our recycling
2. got him, poor baby
3. put out a note trying to find his parents and put him in our house
4. computer broke at work
5. came home and the puppy became my magnet...just adored me. Fell in love
6. His paws indicated he would grow to the size of Marmaduke
7. Noticed he was literally RIDDLED with fleas and miserable. Later found out he had horridly filthy ears and ear mites. So we began looking for a new owner who wouldn't dump him in Agave (we get dumped dogs here) or leave the tiny guy outside and filthy. (He was horribly dirty)
8. Alex found him a home and he didn't want to leave our sides. We paid for his vet bill.
9. We missed him.
10. My buds from Dallas arrived
11. Uncorked wine bar, Halloween costume contest bottle of wine win, HRC Halloween bash
12. Shopping, cocktails, look for new Pomeranian puppy, Private party for LStyle GStyle (yeah, seriously on the puppy thing.)
13. In an oddly roundabout way, discovered the pup I'd looked for throughout the US was...in Wimberley. And that's a long story as to what I looked for.
14. Big breakfast, lunch at Shady Grove with more friends, go to Wimberley
15. Fall madly in love.

And, because, we personally believe in the term via the way the universe and Guardian Angels work: Her name is Kismet. (meaning "fate" or "serendipity") which came to me on my drive to work yesterday, where my computer still doesn't work. And she comes home around the 20th. She will only grow to 3.5 to 4 lbs but size wasn't important to me.

And what did she do? left all the other puppies and ran to be AND PUT HER PAWS UP IN THE AIR TO ME...like "pick me up" oH, talk about melting.

She has a white goatie and white back paws but she's black. Roxie isn't fairing well lately...she's 15...so we are realistic that our hearts may break soon with losing Roxie.

And nothing heals like the realization that there is Kismet in your very own home!

p.s. I am reading training books now. This dog is going to be the star of the home as far as behavior. Although it would be pretty tough to top Roxie's good girl qualities to be honest.