Mud - Too Much of a Good Thing

Well it rained over the weekend; I can almost see the trees grinning.
So yesterday I notice that the pool is getting a little full (after I pulled the lawn chair and the cushion out of the pool. So I do my non-techy solution of sticking a hose in the pool and sucking the other end so the water runs out. I said, "Now Vici, don't forget to pull the hose out before you go to bed." Did I? Nooooooo! Pool is down over 12 inches. ... too much of a good thing.
Finny and Maddie wanted outside so I let them out. I checked on them after about 10 minutes and they were wrestling on the deck (so cute). I let them in after about 20 minutes and failed to notice (because they are black) that they were COVERED in mud. Evidently after the wrestle they went out into the mud and did a little digging. Too much of a good thing.
The Oscars - too much of a good thing.
Reality TV - Bruno vs Carrie Ann - not a good thing...just plain BADDDD.

Ok, so rain is great, rain is good, april showers and all that. But why does it have to rain only on the weekend! WAY too much of a good thing.

It's raining

Well I thought I had gone with a good insurance company. (Health). Here I sit with "tennis elbow" and yet, I don't play tennis...go figure. Doctor prescribes a drug for pain. Simple right? Go to the pharmacy, get the meds, see if they help. Nope.

The insurance company MUST APPROVE the drug. What this means is that even though the doctor who has had I don't know how many years of education has made the determination that I need something, the insurance company must review his notes to ensure that his decision is accurate and I truly need the meds. Who wants to be a doctor nowadays?

I believe it is a conspiracy by the insurance companies to make it difficult for doctors to prescribe meds that are expensive. The doctor is less inclined to give you the medicine he believes should work for you because he doesn't want the hassle. Insurance company makes money. Human being suffers.

I spend over $700 a month on insurance. I hardly EVER go to the doctor (unless a horse dumps me into a fence and I need emergency care, or I slip and fall and break my toe, or I think I'm having a heart attack, or I never play tennis but get tennis elbow - but other than that, I never go).

I think that they should take this into account and just approve me. In the meantime, I have tennis elbow. I can't work out on my upper body. I learned Wed night that I shouldn't grab a 90 pound lab by the collar (cause that really hurts), and picking up my tea reminds me that I have tennis elbow. Doctor says time will heal (isn't that what my mom said everytime my heart was broken as a kid). Time may heal, but for goodness sake, drugs sure help.

The Holidays are Here

Tommorrow will be the shortest day of the year.
Why do they say that Dec. 21 is the shortest day of the year? Doesn't it have 24 hours just like the rest of the days. Still, it does feel shorter doesn't it? Today it gets dark at 5:00pm and by 6:30-7:00 I feel like I need to go to bed. Self motivation is a wistful dream while heavy eyelids pull my mind to slowness and lethargy. Comfort food is demanded by my body while dieting is the one thing I should do.
I always look forward to December 21st. Starting December 22 the days get longer, warmer, and the outside is more inviting. Today, even though the sun is out, wind is blowing cold air and demanding hot coco, warm blankets, and a family movie.
I have many things that need to be done this weekend in preparation for the holidays. Wrap presents, prepare food, clean house, and of course brush pups (maybe a few baths are in order as well). I feel confident that these things will be difficult as I really just want to shut my eyes and open them sometime in March....do you think I'll still get paychecks if I don't work? ha!
Since I'm not too inspired to write today, I'll end this entry with a pledge to go exercise. Perhaps with a little exercise, I'll wake up and face the day with a greater enthusiasum. :)

Memories

When I was seven, I fancied myself a hair stylist. My sister Trish was 2 (you know where this is going, I'm sure). Trish was the most beautiful child. She had this cute pixie hair cut with bangs and everywhere we went people fawned over her saying she looked like a little doll. I was a wee bit jealous with my wild hair and crooked eyes. I was supposed to be the star and I had been until this little bit of a girl entered our lives.

I got it into my head that I should cut off Trishs bangs. Now to convince her. Even then she'd do anything for me so convincing wasn't too hard. I cut the bangs right off. When I saw what I had done, I was horrified. When Trish saw what I had done she started screaming.

Parents intervened, punishments were handed out and many years later we still laugh. Best of all, Trish forgave me for my bad behavior...but strangly has never let me cut her hair since.

A Big Shout Out to CoreMark!

Ok, so I've been lax in getting my Blog updated. It's been busy. Between weight training, dog training, putting up with my sister trish and just plain getting ready for the holidays, I'm not feeling inspired to write.

But write I will. Hmmm....I'm feeling nostalgic, perhaps I'll write a story about Trish when she was a youngster...something to do with an embarrassing moment? :)

Focus

I define it as: the ability to perform while distracted.

Take me for example. Here I sit with four dogs at my feet (and let's just say it is garbage day - it is BTW). Also, I took two days off of work this week so the amount of work I need to do on this day is high. Add to that, lack of sleep. This is a good test of my ability to focus. However, I am failing miserably.

I have attempted to make it better by drinking caffeinated beverages, putting the dogs in their respective kennels, telling my coworkers to stop calling me, giving all the dogs a bone to chew, taking headache meds, and in general trying to redouble my efforts on focus, yet focus elludes me.

I think about what I ask my little Tazzy to do on an agility field. I ask him to follow my lead while correctly moving over and through obstacles while dogs are barking, flags are waving, there are things moving fast all around him, strange people standing around staring at him, food being cooked nearby, and a treats waiting for him at the end of the run. And I ask myself, how does he do it? How does he tune it out?

Focus is a really important thing that we as humans need. Think of that steriotypical image of a husband watching TV. Kids are killing each other, the dog is pooping on the carpet, the doorbel is ringing, the pipe in the kitchen just broke, the wife is yelling for help, yet that man can focus on that game and not realize ANYTHING is happening around him and when the woman finally throws something at him and hits him in the head he says, "What was that for?". How does he do it and why can't I?

I gues this is the question of the ages. I'm going to go back to work now and focus.

Inspiration

Well not everyone knows, but the agility worlds has just ended. The US did well. We didn't win gold, but a number of other precious metals were won by team and individuals. The worlds were held in Norway. A friend went over and video'd all of the runs and had them posted each evening. It was incredible to be able to see friends of mine competing. Course maps were posted so you could imagine how you would walk the course and then you could watch the greatest agility competitors in the world run these courses.

Today in my class, my trainer set up one of the courses. We walked the course and then ran it. I pretented I was in the worlds.

I had a good time. We came in 2nd place, right behind "Havoc" who I don't think any dog can beat.

This weekend we are off to Dixon. Tazz and I will pretent we are at the worlds and work hard on our standard courses. Hopefully the Teeter will not be our downfall this weekend.