Todd the Dog

When I was a kid, we always had dogs.  Living out in the country, we went through dogs fairly quickly.  Either our dog would get hit by a car (most common) or picked off by a hawk.  Ok, the hawk thing never happened but I always wondered if it would...

We had St. Bernard, schnauzers, poodles, terriers, mutts, not all at the same time, but over the years that's what we had.  When I was in Jr. High (I'm guessing about 13), we needed another dog.  The last one had died of something or other.  My brother really wanted a dachshund.  I think he just liked that he could call it a "wiener dog".  What is it with boys and the word "wiener"???  Crazy.  Anyway, my mom found a listing in the paper for a dachshund and it became ours.  His name, Shiloh's Hot Toddy.  Dumb, but we shortened it to Todd.  Over the years, Todd became my dog.  He slept with me, came to me whenever I called, followed me.  He was mine.  Of course, Todd was also the biggest annoyance ever!  He barked at absolutely everything.  If a leaf blew, he barked.  If someone sneezed, he barked.

As I went through high school, Todd became more and more annoying.  He'd bark in his sleep!  We joked that of all the dogs we'd had die over the years, Todd was the one that wouldn't die!!  By the time I left for college, he was getting up there in age.  I think he was 13?  In doggy years that's pretty old!  I went to college in Ohio for a year and of course, Todd stayed behind.  In October of that year, I remember my mom calling me to break the news that Todd had to be put down.  After I left he got sicker and sicker.  He was starting to have kidney problems and the vet was recommending all sorts of medication.  My parents are good people but a dog is a dog.  They're not going to spend hundreds of dollars on a dog.  So my mom told me Todd had been put to sleep.  Of course I was sad for a time but what can you do?  He was old.  Dogs get sick and die.  It was bound to happen sometime.

Fast forward to a few years ago.  My family was having a big get-together.  The Cowell family tends to get loud and boisterous at our functions.  We are super competitive to we'll play kickball, Catch Phrase, Rock Band, whatever we can do to challenge each other.  For some reason on this day, we started talking about dogs.  By this time, I had been married for years.  Salli and her husband were there.  Shawn and his wife was there too.  My cousins were there.  We all had stories to tell.  Most recently Salli had had to put a dog down.  But Salli being the big softy that she is didn't want her dog to suffer.  She was fearful that the dog would feel the needle go in his paw and be in pain, even though 10 seconds later he'd be dead.  Still, those 10 seconds shouldn't hurt, right?  So she did what any loving pet owner would do.  She had a friend take the dog into the woods and shoot it in the head.  Problem solved.  No pain, no suffering.  Just BAM!  Dead.

As we were all laughing at how bizarre this story was, my uncle asked "isn't that how Todd died?"

You could hear a pin drop.

WHAT?????!!!!!


Slowly all heads turned toward me.  I'm pretty sure my face had drained of blood because I remember seeing mouths moving but no sound was entering my head.  MY DOG HAD BEEN SHOT IN THE HEAD???  As I stared at my uncle, his reply had lost most of it's gusto.  He said "uh, you didn't know that?"  Nope!  Sure didn't!  My mom was quick to jump in and explain that yes, Todd was sick.  He wasn't going to live too much longer anyway and they were about to leave for Europe for a few weeks.  Who would watch Todd?  It was doubtful he'd make it to Christmas and why spend the money on a kennel when he was just going to die?  It was a mercy killing.  Truly...really...a mercy killing.

Somehow I was able to see their point.  Todd was old.  He wasn't going to last forever.  The fact that my family kept it a secret from me for almost 10 years was quite surprising.

And that is how Todd the dog shall always be remembered.  He just wouldn't die...until he was shot in the head with a .22

My hatred of Strawberry Shortcake

When I was younger, I shared a bed with my big sister Salli.  It was a double bed and since we were all of 5 and 7-years-old, the bed was plenty big for the two of us.  Many nights Salli and I would snuggle under our Strawberry Shortcake canopy bed and fall asleep.  Everything in our room as Strawberry Shortcake.  The bedding, the curtains, even the garbage can.  We loved Strawberry Shortcake with her pretty red curls and big smile.  And she loved us too, we just knew it!

One night Salli didn't feel so well.  Our mom took her temperature, gave her some medicine and sent her to bed.  I crawled into bed with her and promptly fell asleep, dreaming of strawberries and shortcake.  Later that night Salli woke up.  She knew she was going to be sick.  She must have wanted to leave everyone else sleeping so she figured she'd just roll over and throw up.  Quite logical to a 7-year-old.  In her feverish delirium, she failed to realize which side was what.  Out came the barf...right on my head.  Yep, my wonderful sister threw up on top of me then immediately rolled over and fell back to sleep.  My mother heard the retching and came running into our room.  Imagine her dismay when Salli is fast asleep and I'm covered in vomit.  So in the middle of night, I had to have a bath and the sheets needed to be changed.  Suddenly Strawberry Shortcake didn't look so great.  Every time I looked at her, visions of vomit came rushing back.  I was scarred.  

And that's how I ended up with vomit in my hair and my hatred of all things Strawberry Shortcake.  

Things that make me go "huh"....

SO I was thinking the other day of all the weirdness in the world.  There are all sorts of oddities that just make me curious.  Who thought these things up?  Who thought it was a good idea?  Why is this taking up my time?

Here is a sampling:
1.  Why is it a crime to impersonate an officer or a doctor but not to impersonate a decorated war veteran?  If I pretend to be a doctor I could be arrested.  If I pretend that I was in a war and won all sorts of awards, I'm protected by the 1st amendment.  Really?

2.  Why do some mothers talk to their child like they're idiots?  Seriously, do you think the baby is going to understand "goo goo ga ga" any more than they understand the dictionary?  They are babies.  Let them grow up a bit before they realize they've been birthed by a moron.

3.  Cloth Diapers.  Who in the world thought this was a good idea?  Now I realize that years ago, this was the only option.  Mr. Huggy and Mr. Pamper hadn't yet invented their diapers.  Still, in this day and age, cloth diapers?  What in the world?  I understand the whole "global warming" thing, I really do.  Here's my problem with cloth diapers.  You have to wash them!  Pee and poop filled grossness mixed in with my towels?  All I can think of is poopy and pee-y water swishing around spreading the nastiness to all other clothes in the machine.  I realize you could wash these by themselves.  Well, then I'd be thinking of the leftover particles stuck in there.  Kinda like when someone leaves a present in the toilet and it's all disintegrated and gross.  Not planning on washing my clothes in that water.  Ewww.  Almost everyone I know who has used cloth diapers quickly switch to disposable.  When my brother used them on his child, he said they had to scrape the poop off in the toilet before washing the diapers.  Excuse me?  Scrape the poop off?????  That's just wrong.

4.  *I'm going to get on a Medicaid rant for a moment*  Why is it that some people on Medicaid have a sense of entitlement?  I mean really, you can't afford your own healthcare, your own food, your own gas but I'm supposed to pay for you to have fake nails and a really nice cell phone?  I get so irritated when a patient walks in with Medicaid insurance, flashing her fake nails, pulling out her Blackberry, acting like I'm a huge nuisance to her, then after the exam asking if I'll sign her gas voucher so she can be reimbursed for mileage.  Really?  How about you don't get your nails filled this week.  Then you could afford gas.

5.  Dr. Oz.  I love how he gives an incredibly vague symptom then says anyone experiencing this may have cancer, or a heart condition, or gangrene.  What in the world?  You have a hangnail?  Quick, go to your doctor because you may have necrotizing fasciitis.  Bloated?  It's ovarian cancer.   It's amazing that one man with MD after his name can diagnose the entire world without ever evaluating a patient.  Equally amazing is that doctors will order an exam for a patient simply because the patient complains that "Dr. Oz told me to go to my doctor".  Wow.  Makes me wonder what else you'd do just because Dr. Oz says so.

Ok, I'll get off my soap box.  Don't send me hate mail.  These are just my opinions of things that just boggle my mind.  If you feel differently, fine.  Write you own blog :)

Zumba...

I keep hearing about Zumba.  Zumba, Zumba, Zumba.  It's the new thing.  A few years ago it was Pilates.  Then Yoga.  Then Yogalates.  Now it's Zumba.  I had never heard of this until a few years ago.  Hannah and Noah were in a Kindermusik class and one of the other moms happened to be a Zumba instructor.  As I talked to Megan (the mom/instructor) my first thought was "huh?  Latin type dancing?  Really?"  I truly had no clue what it was.

Fast forward to now.

It seems like everyone is doing it.  So, because I tend to follow the crowd, I thought I'd try it out.  One of the perks of Y membership is that there's a variety of classes and Zumba happens to be one of them.  Downside?  Megan happens to be in the instructor!  She's super full of energy.  I had been taking a kickboxing class directly after Megan's Zumba class so I'd always see the last few minutes of her class.  First of all, she's insane.  She jumps around and whoops it up a lot.  High energy just doesn't even tell the whole story.  Every time she'd see me she'd try to get me to come to a class.  So I did.  Buuuuttt...I cheated a bit.  On Saturdays there is an instructor's choice class.  The instructor's rotate who leads the class.  This particular Saturday was...any guesses?...Yep, Zumba!  Megan was not the instructor but I figured it'd be best to work myself up to her.

So I went.  Luckily it was a pretty small class and most of the women had never done Zumba before.  I stood in the back like a normal person and waited for class to start.  As I looked around at the other women I thought "man I'm going to look like a fool".  Let me just say this...I went to a private, very conservative school.  Dancing was not allowed.  We didn't have Prom or Homecoming in the traditional sense.  We had banquets.  We'd get all dressed up and go somewhere to eat and have a program of some sort.  At the time we didn't really know any better but now I look back and think "WOW, that was lame!"

So these are the thoughts going through my head as class is starting.  Amazingly I somehow kept up with the instructor!  My hips did not move quite as nicely as hers but I got the footwork down!  As the song would end there'd always be a few seconds of downtime before the next song would begin.  In that few seconds of silence I'd realize I was sweating like a pig but really didn't notice because I was having fun!  I had the goofiest grin on my face the whole time.  All I could think of was that I looked like a complete idiot and I just didn't care!  Most of the other women in the class looked as ridiculous as me!  It was a nice feeling.

So tomorrow night will be my first class with Megan.  Her classes are always super packed so LOTS of sweating.  As I've observed her classes in the past there's always a few women who think they are good.  I will avoid standing next to them.  I may get annoyed and pull out a kickboxing move just to knock them over.  It'd be on purpose a complete accident though.  Truly.  :)  Wish me luck!  I'm sure I'll have much more to say about Zumba after tomorrow night.

Heavy Heart

I posted a few weeks ago about a mom awaiting the birth of her very abnormal baby boy.  This story gripped me.  Click here to go the their blog.  I followed along as Lisa and Josh (the parents) struggled to understand why they were chosen to parent this boy, Jaxton.  He overcame many odds and survived the birth!  Many of the abnormalities they thought he would have weren't as bad as initially thought.  Instead of Trisomy 13, he was found to have Trisomy 18.

So fast forward to a couple days ago.  The doctors did a test on Jaxton to see if he could breath on his own, without the ventilator.  It did not go well.  They repeated the test a few days later just to confirm but bottom line, Jaxton could not survive without a ventilator.  So they made the horrific decision to unplug the vent.  They asked for prayers that God would perform a miracle for little Jaxton.  Then at the exact moment he had been born 2 weeks prior, the vent was turned off.

30 minutes later Jaxton died.

I can not imagine watching your baby die.  Even though the odds were stacked against them, to actually turn off the one device keeping your child alive?  I'd like to think I'd be strong enough but I just don't think I could.  

Bleh

I'm having one of those days months.  Seriously, it feels like I can't get into the swing of things.  Why?  I have ideas but I don't know for sure.  NO, I'm not pregnant!  :)


I can't seem to lose weight and it's driving me nuts!  I go to the gym 4-5 times per week.  I watch what I eat (although I'm the first to admit that my willpower it seriously lacking).  So why the heck won't the weight come off?  On the flip side, I can tell how much stronger I am.  I have a couple herniated disks in my lower back so my amazing chiropractor  has said core strength is very important for me.  While my 6-pack is tucked clear in the back of the fridge, I can tell I do have more abd muscles.  And my arms and legs aren't nearly as wimpy anymore.  Between kickboxing and the elliptical, I'm burning some serious calories.  


I know muscle weighs more than fat.  I totally get that.  But there is no way in the world that I have that much muscle!  *sigh*  So what am I doing wrong?  Is it just because I have no will power when it comes to sweets?  Really?  Cuz that really sucks.  Is it because Diet Mountain Dew is the sweetest nectar on earth and I drink it constantly?  But it's diet!!  If I have to give up my diet dew, I may have to go away while I'm detoxing.  I will not be a pretty person for a few days. 


Any ideas or advice is completely welcome!  I know I'm not the only person who struggles with losing weight!