7 Quick Takes (vol6)

Yahoo!! It is Friday and time for some Quick Takes. Thank you Jen at Conversion Diary for this idea. I missed doing this last week but someone had to be tasked with going to Florida and enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. It just happened to be me.

-1-

I love my dog Maxwell. He is the absolutely best dog EVER! Who couldn't love this face?
However, for all his perfectness he still drives me crazy with all the going in and out. Alert, alert deer in the yard!! Has to go out. Alert, alert, a leaf fell somewhere in China!! Has to go out. Alert, alert there is another dog who has entered the neighborhood three streets over!! Has to go out. In and out all day.
He does have one other tiny habit that he just can't help. He gets into the garbage when we are gone and takes out candy wrappers and used kleenex. He takes his finds back to his crate to enjoy them. He always looks so guilty afterwards but he just can't seem to stop.

-2-

In the "dog" vein. It probably says something bad about my basic nature that I think it is funny to see what happens when Max forgets that he has his "zappy" collar on. I am bad, I know. You see, we have lots of woods and lots of wild things that live in those woods. Things that a dog would love to explore and follow. So, when we got a dog we also decided that we would get an invisible fence. This has been an excellent investment and Max was extremely easy to train. It only took one "correction" and he had his boundaries all figured out. Now you have to know that when he has his collar on and he enters the "no go zone" that he gets a series of audible signals that tell him, "You had better move buddy and quickly!" However, we will often go long stretches of time where I don't have his collar on. He is so smart that he stays within his yard limit, even when the UPS man is at the end of the driveway. He LOVES the UPS man. But, even though he doesn't actually violate the line he gets closer and closer. So, today he has his collar on. I sat at my desk and watched as he went closer and closer to the "no go zone" and sure enough, he was sniffing intently at a certain spot and all of a sudden he jumps two feet (OK I am making that up) and runs back onto the driveway. I laughed. I am bad. We have to get our daily humor wherever we can.

-3-

It is so cold outside this morning that my nose hairs froze. Too much information? Sorry. You see, that is how I can tell that it is below 10F. When I would go to the grocery store with my mom I would stick my head down into the freezer section and feel my nose hairs freeze. That is strange I know and it probably says too much about the inner workings of my mind but it is what it is. I still do that on occasion when I get something out of the freezer section at the store, I am just more discreet about it. Anyways, the old nasal cilium squeeled in horror and clumped together this morning. It is cold.

-4-

I am debating how much of the Inauguration hoopla that I will be watching next week. I find it a tad ironic that the Bush Administration was so criticized for their "Inauguration Extravaganza" in 2004 but there has been none of that from the MSM for all that is being done this time. I didn't vote for Obama but I am not willing to condemn him right off the bat. I am waiting to see what will happen. I will give him the respect that is due him for the office that he holds. That being said, I am not about to turn on any of the major networks and subject myself to all the gushing of the talking heads for the day. I think I will watch the main proceedings on CSPAN. That way I get just the essentials and not someone talking over what I want to see and hear. I do want to listen to the Inaugural address.

-5-

I am on an "organization spree" around here. Now some may say, "Is there anything in your house that actually NEEDS to be organized?" Well yes, there is. I am going to be moving in a year or so and I don't want to transport anything that I don't actually need (a lofty goal I know). There are lots of boxes in the basement that need to be gone through and sorted. Also, I want to empty out the pantry and get all that reorganized, it drives me crazy going in there. So, that is what I will be doing this winter. I will keep you posted on how I do. I love to organize.

-6-

This is my "year of the sweater". Yes, this year I am going to knit a sweater for the first time. Right now that sounds really good so perhaps I should start it soon. I don't think that sweaters are something that you want to be knitting in the middle of the summer time. I know that I can do this, heck I conquered my fear of knitting socks and taught myself how to do that. Knitting a sweater shouldn't be difficult right? I hope.

-7-

Well, I am stumped for a number 7 at the moment so I will go and eat my oatmeal, which is a good source of iron, which I am in need of at the moment. You know how sometimes there are signs that something isn't quite right but you just don't put them together, even though you might have a degree in nursing. For 6 months I had an all consuming urge to eat ice all day long. I just couldn't get enough of it. Also, I just didn't have the usual energy when I worked out, I just had real trouble with the machines at Curves. Didn't think anything of it until after a routine blood test. The doc calls and says, "Well, you are moderately anemic and I want you to take supplimental iron for a while." Yes, a hemaglobin of 8.4 is moderately anemic (but not the lowest that I have ever had) so I am taking A LOT of iron. If it was summer I would be rusting in the rain and making metalic noises when I walked. But, once my iron levels started to go up the eating of ice (which is called pagophagia by the way) has diminished and my energy level in general is better. So it is off to eat oatmeal (which I love). See you next week.