Anderson Cooper Gets the Giggles

Birthday Girls

Our two pups have birthdays within 2 weeks of each other. Since we were home (and not on vacation) for both birthdays this year, we decided to celebrate! Peanut Butter Frosty Paws was the dessert of choice.

Trudy turned 11 on July 26th

Lily turned 7 on August 8th

1 Year Vegetarian

As many of you already know I suffer from an affliction called Diverticulitis. This ailment forces me to be on a fairly strict diet. It also causes me to think about everything I eat and pay attention to how it makes me feel. Most of the time I won't know how a food will affect me until after I have already eaten it. Over a year ago this led me to cut red meat from my diet. Exactly a year ago I cut all meat from my diet. The first couple of months were a little rough, but I cannot express how happy I am to not eat meat! Don't get me wrong, after 31 years of being a carnivore there are times where I want/desire/stare longingly at a chicken finger or hamburger, but my body has responded positively to this new dietary lifestyle and I feel so much better! In addition, my reasons for vegetarianism have shifted over the year from a healthy choice to a moral one.

Next on the list to cut:

bleached white flour

high fructose corn syrup

palm oil

Mass Effect 2...

I have beat you!!!

Happy Anniversary!!

Six years happily married to the most wonderful man in the world! I am blessed beyond words! I love you sweetheart!!

Lily

For over a year now we have been taking Lily to the veterinarian periodically to have her urine checked. (This all stems from a bladder/kidney infection she had when we were in San Diego a year ago). This test usually results in either extremely high or extremely low pH and some variation of crystal formation. The remedy is to switch her food. We have done this probably 8 times in the last year. Nothing has helped. We had her checked again last week and the results are troubling. The calcium levels are very high and she may be producing stones in her bladder or kidneys. An x-ray will be performed next week to determine if the stones have formed. If so, she will need surgery. Either way, stones or not, she is being put on a very special diet which includes only drinking distilled water. Her doctor is confident we will get to the bottom of this but we have a two month window of opportunity now before permanent, long-term damage becomes likely.

Dear Neighbor,

Thank you for throwing your dog's poop in our trash can after the garbage had already been picked up. Nothing makes me happier than smelling your dog's excrement in my garage for the next week.

Best Regards,

-- K

Cushing Street Ground Breaking

The Cushing Street Bridge is a project hubby has been working on for approximately 4 years. He has been to endless meetings, sat through tiresome phone conversations, and answered thousands of emails regarding this project. Yet, some how, his company was only given 2 seconds of recognition and hubby wasn't acknowledged at all. I am so disappointed! Instead the Congress people, city council members, and board of directors congratulated themselves on a job well done. How hard they all worked to get this project to groundbreaking...it certainly wasn't the engineers or architects! I despise you Tucson elected officials!

I am proud of you baby! This was a long haul and you made it!!! Congratulations!

Here are all the folks who absolutely had nothing to do with the bridge on a daily basis. They simply are in a position of power and therefore must feel important.

The artists rendered of what the bridge will look like 1 year from now.

My Hubby's plan set.

Silly Schnauzers!!

Mount Lemmon Hike

Hubby and I decided to enjoy the beautiful, cool summer air up on Mount Lemmon and took the puppies with us. Oh my, did they have a great time! So much to smell!!! Both girls were troopers and didn't start to poop out until about 1.5 hours. I was exhausted much sooner. :)

Happy 30th Birthday!!

To My Gorgeous Husband --

Happy 30th Birthday!!! Welcome to the club, you are now one of us!!

Volunteership

At the beginning of the month I was promoted from repository duty to archaeological collections at the Arizona State Museum. Part of my new "job" is to reorganize the archaeological collection due to "The Great Move" which caused a tremendous amount of disruption and nothing is where it is supposed to be. Today I found a box of artifacts whose numbers were partially rubbed off, my job was to try to decipher the number and find its home. In an effort to help me, my boss gave me a giant magnifying microscope for my desk. This microscope is the very same one that sat on the desk of Emil Haury, a very famous archaeologist who worked at the U of A. Haury is a hugely prestigious figure among my co-workers and I am honored to have been bestowed such a relic!

It is all official...

Got my diploma today aaaaand my paperwork for student loans. I guess college is now officially over! It seems more real now that I have my highly overpriced piece of paper. :)