Weekend Fun

I'm hoping to get some fun in this weekend. Although I've had a couple nights out of fun this week, I still feel the need for fun. I'm hoping that my pencilled in date tonight works out. This will be the third Friday in a row that I've had plans to go out with a friend and for some reason or other, the plans always fell through. Fingers crossed for fun!

Then maybe I'll have time to tackle some of my to-dos Saturday morning before my folks arrive from the cheese state. I think we'll have just enough time to grill out some Wisconsin brats (with real brat buns from Wisconsin) and maybe bake some cookies. Oh, and I've got a project list for Daddy.

Peanut is very much looking forward to the visit from the grandparents. He is off his muscle relaxer and I can tell he is much less lethargic. He is pretty mellow without drugs! He also has stepped down his dose of steroid by half, but is still taking pain killers. He is back to eating regular food on a regular schedule and having outside trips at regular times (not three times a night!). He still yelps out in pain occasionally if he moves wrong. So, I hope once the round of drugs is over that he will actually be better. Again... fingers crossed.

New Lonely Girl Recipe!

I am always trying to make salad exciting. For lunch today I put together a tasty salad that I thought was acceptable for the recipe column on my blog. It is a mix of tomatoes, peppers, and chicken over baby spring mix and is pretty tasty if you ask me.

I did miss the cheese and tortilla, but you could add those if you're so inclined. Check out the recipe in the right column. Enjoy.

Tuesday? Really?

I can't believe it is only Tuesday. Maybe it is partly due to the fact that I haven't done anything fun in a really long time. I am craving the weekend because I associate fun with weekend. Of course that hasn't really been the case lately. My fun time and money have been dedicated to Peanut.

Speaking of which, he has been a great eater and I plan to go all dry dog food tomorrow morning. I just decreased his dose of prednisone (steroid) by half and he is all out of the muscle relaxers. He has been crying out off and on this evening, so I hope he is handling the change okay. The night will surely be our gauge.

Fantastic Day!

Peanut slept through the night last night after gobbling down some boiled chicken and rice for dinner. I got to sleep through the night too! Add to that...no accidents to clean up today!

Peanut has done fantastically today. He gobbled down more chicken and rice for dinner. Some cottage cheese with his meds embedded in it, and a side of dry dog food nuggets. With the strength of all those nutrients, he should start healing up in no time!

Snoozin'

All Quiet

Despite a miner accident this morning, today was a fairly good day on the western front.

I began my day spoon-feeding Peanut soggy dog food with a little canned dog food to entice him to actually eat it. Since he has discovered that the pill pockets make him sick, he is less likely to take them, so I have to shove them down his throat. I feel like such a mean mommy. But I'm SO glad he's eating and keeping the pills down.

After eating a little last night, almost a full bowl of food this morning, and a half bowl tonight, Peanut seems to be regaining his strength. He is still pretty mellowed out, though. I tried his toe-pinching test and he seemed to react for the front legs, but not so much the one I could reach in the back. I've decided I should try before I give him his meds in the morning. After all, that is how I would want to begin my weekend...

A Hard Day's Night

Peanut apparently had a hard day today, which led to a hard night for me.

Peanut was pretty shakey at lunch today when I took him outside. He hadn't eaten since breakfast yesterday, but had taken his meds. So I guess that makes a poor puppy's tummy upset.

He had an accident in the bathroom and also threw up. I had two blankets and a rug that needed washing. I had to wash the floor and his food and water bowls.

Meanwhile I set him up with a temporary bed in the entryway to the bathroom. I force fed him a little soft food and shoved the pill pockets he refused to eat down his throat.

When the bathroom was all cleaned, I cleaned up Peanut the best I could. He is acting pretty lethargic and hasn't yet got up to move back into his bathroom suite.

I started the drug we had been holding off on, so maybe we can expect a miracle recovery any time now.

Day 2

I took a sick day today to stay home with Peanut. I started my day with a 630 am trip to Menards to buy a piece of plywood to use as a ramp. It was tricky getting it into the Vue, but I got it home and stapled some old rugs to it for Peanut's nails to grip.

He went down it (fast) but without much hesitation. Going back up is another story all together. He was still nervous on our last trip in for the night.

The toe pinch revealed he still has feeling in all four of his legs today. However his legs have been shaking. I'm not sure if that is from the drugs or weakness. He did eat breakfast today, but still hasn't touched suppertime.

Right away I knew I wouldn't be able to just hide his pills in his food, so I was thankful for pill pockets. He still loves their meaty goodness. I ran out tonight to pick up some more. Fingers crossed it keeps working. The second dose today he threw on the floor a couple times.

Peanut is less trippy today, but fairly mellow from his drugs. I spent some time on the bathroom floor petting him. It was quality bathroom time.

Pathetic Peanut

My poor baby. He is feeling better now that he is all drugged up. He is still crying occasionally, but it's not so bad. He is, however, also trying to stick his head through the gate keeping him in the bathroom.

I feel so bad locking him up. I was never much for kennel training. The only time Peanut was restricted was during the seizure years for his own safety and cleaning purposes. But the vet told me we have to restrict his movement.

It is possible he has a spine disease that will end up putting pressure on the spine and causing paralysis. I have to pinch his toes every day to make sure he is still feeling pain. He is going to be taking three different drugs to ease the pain and relax his muscles. Best case scenario is pretty much that he just slept on his neck funny and it is out of alignment.

They've given me a two-four week recovery window where Peanut will be residing in the bathroom... doped up. My biggest concern right now is getting him in and outside. I have been instructed to carry him or build a ramp...no stairs. If anyone out there knows of a ramp store, please let me know!

Oh, and of course I'll be on pins and needles for the next month watching to make sure Peanut isn't showing signs of paralysis. Because, short of surgery, that will be the end of the line for my main man.

I'm trying to overlook the ironic circle of life that would be considering it took him losing the use of his legs in order for the vet to finally find a drug to stop the seizures when he was just a wee pup. I will say it was a lot easier carrying him outside and holding him up when he was only about 15 pounds. His current weigh-in at 80 makes my back hurt just thinking about it.

My Baby Peanut

My baby is at the vet because he woke me up crying in the middle of the night. They've determined that the pain is coming from his neck and they are going to do some x-rays. I'm waiting to hear what they discover.

Peanut with grandpa.

With a toy for Xmas.

With an empty water bowl at grandma and grandpa's.

Looking out the old front window in W.S.

When I came home from a trip to Cancun.

My Main Man

Peanut loves to snuggle up TO his pet bed especially now that he is lounging on the floor more often. Now if only we could get him to lay ON his pet bed. That would be fantastic. I plan to conduct a pet bed boot camp this weekend. Just Peanut and me hanging out on the pet bed. He'll be reformed by Monday.

15-Day Week

It feels like I've already been through about ten days this week back from vacation and have another five to go tomorrow. Why is it so challenging to get back in the swing of things?  Let me tell you this... I cannot wait to sleep in this weekend. I've been looking forward to it all week.

Things are starting to come back to me at work. And with Rock The Dock over, I'm getting back to thinking about updating and organizing. I'm finishing up the theatre work. The show opens tomorrow, so I hope so! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a little girly going out time tomorrow. By next week everything will be back to normal, right?

Happy Catfish!

Wednesday evening found me having way too much fun in Minneapolis and Thursday I recovered in Trempealeau before the big Catfish Festival descended upon us tonight.

I had a fantastic Friday at the Catfishestival after seeing my dad's play practice at the Holmen Theatre.  One more evening and one more morning before my departure from Wisconsin. I'm going to try to make the most of that time.

A Walk In The Park

I took advantage of the partly sunny skies today to venture out for a walk along the river. My goal was to make it to the park, but seriously thought I'd do a 30-minute walk. When I got to the park, I just had to start down the River View trail that I ventured down so many times when I had friends working at Sullivans. And once I was on the trail I figured I could make it to the parking lot with the water pump.  An hour and a half later I dragged myself back up the steps of the Hotel Sherman and collapsed onto the couch with a bottle of water.

NOTES: That water pump does not exist anymore. Why doesn't the park have water fountains? Tomorrow I will bring a bottle of water....and some bug spray. Once I worked up a good stink, I had a hard time shaking the bugs buzzing around my head. Nothing feels more glorious than a shower after an all-over, down to your panties sweat. (TMI?)

Still, I can't really complain. It was a glorious way to spend an hour and a half of my early afternoon. Next up... drinking outdoors at the Logger's game. What a perfect day.

Low Key Holiday

I enjoyed a low-key holiday weekend in Wisconsin. I arrived Saturday and spent the night in. On Sunday my family gathered at my sister's house for our annual picnic (held indoors this year due to rain). My brother's family was unable to attend, but the two little girls in attendance still managed to wear me out. As the afternoon wound down into evening, I got in a much needed snooze. My parent's and I topped off the night with a few movies and popcorn.

I was a little disappointed that I was too tired and it was too rainy to attend the big Riverfest fireworks and have a few beverages under the stars along the banks of the Mississippi. I'll have to make up for it at Catfish Days next weekend. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that the Logger's game goes on as planned tomorrow. I haven't been to a game since last summer about this time, so it is LONG overdue. I can hardly wait! I'm ready for some fun vacation action.

Lake Springfield Marina

At 5:30 in the morning.

This fellow Springfield blogger has great pictures of the fireworks!

Oooh! And this is amazing!

Made It!

I made it through the big fireworks extravaganza at the marina on Friday (just barely). After a few hours of sleep and a long, sunny, hot, tiring day, I crashed hard. I put in a good eight hours of deep, deep sleep and woke up to finally turn my attention to vacation!

I packed my bags, did a few things around the house that had been neglected during my busy week, and got on the road by early afternoon. As the sun was sliding out of the sky, I rolled into Holmen to pay a quick visit to my sister before heading further north to settle in with Peanut and wait for his grandparents to get home. He can hardly wait to see them. Ah... vacation.

Who Said Estimates Are Accurate?

So I took my car in for an early oil change yesterday because I wanted to get the tires rotated and everything checked out before my long trip to Wisconsin this weekend. My brakes have been causing the car to shudder and I didn't trust them for another 1,000 miles on the open road either, so I asked them to check the brakes.

They checked them an told me they were fine. Apparently that means they look at them and if they don't see anything wrong, they are fine. When I picked up the vehicle and told them that I asked to have them checked because of the shudder, they told me that the problem that causes that isn't detected by viewing the brakes alone. And in fact my brakes are probably bad and I should bring the vehicle back in.

So, the Vue is on day two with its buddies at Midtown Tire. It wasn't too long after I dropped it off this morning that I got the call with the estimate. I think my heart stopped a little when they told me it would be $385. Yesterday we discussed a $150-$300 range. And today we discussed me getting the brake special they are currently offering. Yeah, that estimate is with the discount. Ouch.

I hope for some reason I win a million dollars before my week-long vacation in Wisconsin. The good news is I will probably make it to Wisconsin safely with my shiny new brakes. So there is that, I guess.