LOL, no problem RTG, next time I can afford a holiday, you put me up in Finland (?) and I will organize your life to death!!!  I have had many friends say I should quite my job and contract myself for organizing homes, bills, files, offices (personal ones that is) etc.  I love organization and routine.  I am kinda fanatical about it.  I couldn't do it for a living though...not enough stimulation for this scientific brain.

Went to the hospital today.   Doc is pleased with my health.  He says I am doing all the right things and seem strong and sure of myself.  I will feel better once I am not a round ball!!!  Good news is that I don't have to go to the hospital for a month.  This is much better than every 2 weeks.

My hair is still funky.  Now it is frizzy.  Lord.  I will have to think up something to do with it this weekend in an attempt to fix it.  I just have no clue what!!!

Oh I mentioned about the Thurs. swim.  It would not be nearly enough to do a triathlon after...but it is a start to get my feet wet so to speak.  I have not swam in about 5 years and then it was only a leisurely breast stroke without submerging the head.  Maybe I will do the Master course next year if I feel good.  I might be making an assumption here, do people outside of North America call it the Master program or should I find and supply a definition?

Day 3 of 4 done (back at work 4 days a week instead of 3 this week) and going okay.  I am a little tired...but not a big surprise since I am not used to being on the go so many days in a row and today was a long day.  Enjoying work and am glad to be back.

JD

I think it's galadriel that's in finland, where she has that pretty garden and all.

Hello All,

Tired again today.  I did a lot of house cleaning last night so I have a quiet weekend ahead of me which makes it worth it!!!  Sooo, I will not be reading journals tonight...need to work out a budget tonight.

Hair:  Psoriasis is bugging me and since I cannot do the oily medication treatment when I am working (makes hair super greasy and no time to shower in the morning...get up at 4 am as it is!!!) I have been using the tar shampoo at night.  Last night I didn't use any conditioner after since Pantene seems to be bugging me...hair was good today.  Tomorrow I will get my old conditioner when I get to the hair dresser.  That will help and I can treat the psoriasis Thurs night thru to Sat night (3 days) with the oil stuff since I only have to take the dogs to be groomed on Friday and I will just shove a baseball cap on or tie my hair up and put a bandana over it all!!!

The Good:  I have mentioned a friend with whom I used to leave my bike and then we could bike to and fro work but she was on French training so I have not been able to do that this year.  She showed up in my office today to tell me she finally got her Level C (God the testing is tough!!!) and she will be back to work on Sept 3rd.  So after she has had a week to adjust to working again...we will start biking and we will run together at lunch (great motivation for me!!!).  Ok extra 40 lbs...we are now officially getting the motivation to get rid of you!!!!!

Also, I got a disability check yesterday which seemed to me was double what I should get.  I phoned and questioned it and it seems it is right.  A whole bunch of rules changed when I went back to work part time.  This is great since it will help me get rid of some of the debt I accumulated during my 8 months on disability.  YAHOO!!!  All being well, I really will have got rid of all the debt by the end of March and will hopefully have lost about...28 of the extra 40 lbs.  Now I just have to pray my car lasts at least 2 years (frankly not likely I am afraid) and I will be okay!!!

The Bad:  Well, I still have not lost any weight, the real Joey has what appears to be an abcess on his foot so that will cost me about $100 to get fixed...assuming it is only an abcess...not something worse, having gained 40 lbs since I left work...I have no fall clothes so I have to go buy a minimal wardrobe for the fall/winter, winter is coming (which is when my health really suffers and I have no sick leave or vacation time until April...pray I do not get so much as a cold...much less my big health problem), I have several $100 extra (as in not bills, mortgage and food) expences coming up in the next 2 weeks (about 5) and that does not include Joey and I am finding the 4 days of work very tiring (sp?) so I am worried about going to 5  in just 2 weeks!!!  Tell me that was not a run on sentence!!!!!!!

Of interest (at least to me):  Saw a woman today with beautiful blonde classic length hair today.  She was a lollipop (sp) woman...oh sorry, that is very English.  She was a flag peron...you know...the people who have the "stop/slow" sign when road construction is going on.  Three things came to mind for me with this:  i) her hair must need washing every day with the dirty from the road construction, ii) sun damage and most importantly iii) the damage to the hair with the construction hat!!!.  I dunno if you have every looked at one but they have a really hard, often rough plastic thingy inside to make the hat adjust to your head size!!  I would be putting it up in a bun and wearing a bandana.

Ugh...I have the TV on right now and an Australian Sheep Dog just died in the show...too close to home for me right now as I watch my beautiful Joey age in body but stay so young and sweet in mind...Not much time left...Gotta go, must do something to take my mind off it.
LOL...one sign I am not doing well emotionally is that I rock like a child when I am upset....and I just started rocking.  

Later folks.

JD

*hug* I hope everything works out well for you. Cherish the months/years you still have with your Joey and let that comfort you, as well as the knowledge that you do have good friends behind you.

Hang in there!  We are all rooting for ya.

Holy Cow!!!  Gee ladies...I am so touched that you all read this and responded to me.  Thank you so much for your support!!!  It is nice you will all be here when it comes to be...  Tonight I went out and spent a tonne of money buying him the best dog food for him...he has always had that as has Tatty (my other baby dog or 'Puppy as I call her...who is 14) but I didn't just buy the hard food, I bought the soft too so he will eat better (Tatty has always been a grazer but Joey was always a vacuum but isn't anymore).  Of course I had to run out of cat food too and my 3 cats get the best of everything (but no soft food...just a teaspoon of tuna in the morning because that is the only way I can get the potassium I need into Adam and what you do for one you must do for all).  So, the animal shopping cost me $107 today.  Ouch...but they are so worth it.

Tomorrow is a busy day.  I have to have the dogs in to the groomers by 8.  I used to do it myself but with Joey being so arthritic and me not having proper tubs and stuff...I am afraid of him falling in my tub so I send him to be done at a vet clinic.  I could do Tatty myself but I worry about separating the dogs.  Tatty never takes it well but if I was bathing her she wouldn't have time to think about it...but I worry Joey might stress so I am sending them both.  $120 dropped there.  Unfortunately Joey is unsteady on his feet but Tatty still jumps on him...when he is peeing and pooing and he falls into his own pee and poo.  I wipe him down and he does not smell or look bad...but it worries me so he needs to be done.

Naturally, it never rains but pours.  I have a himalayan named Yoda who is impossible to brush.  When hubby was here, we would pin the poor little guy down once a week and give him a quick brush but there is no way I can do it alone...at least not his belly.  So I had phoned an old colleague from my vet years and asked if she could help me clip the matts on his tummy.  Naturally she called tonight and said tomorrow at 11:30.  Oh great.  Oh well, the other two kitties are domestic short hairs so they don't need anything doing.  They both enjoy a little brush and don't need much to get the job done.

Oh, of course this will involve over 100 km of driving for me since I live in the boonies!!  Still, I could never leave here.  I love it.

Hair:  I went and got my roots touched up tonight at my hairdresser's.  I bought my favorite conditioner again...will be so glad to have it again...pantene did not fair me well.  Actually, it was interesting...I mentioned to my hairdresser that I had bought Pantene but did not like what it did for me and also asked her how bad my psoriasis looked.  She said the psoriasis wasn't too bad, why did I ask.   I told her that my scalp was itching so badly that I was waking up at night.  She told me some clients with sensitive scalps have told her pantene does that to them after using it for about 3 weeks.  True?  I dunno.  Frankly it does not matter because I don't like what pantene does to my hair.

I told my hairdresser only to trim the ends if their were split ends...she did not cut anything off the length.  I have bangs so she did those for me.  She also respects that I do not want my hair blow dried.  She just blow dries the bangs to make sure they are cut right...and that is ok since they literally double in length between visits so I know that it is all new hair (once cut) that can take one blow dry.

She did a good job of the color.  While I was there I bought some shampoo for my hair too.  Again, my favorite commercial poo but I bought a small bottle because I only use it after I do the oily psoriasis medication.  Usually I use my Ida of Chagrin poo and of course the tar poo.  Anyway...the conditioner will last me a year (2L bottle) but the whole venture was $128.  Ugh again about money. 

You all probably think I have money right now.  Nope.  I do not.  Still, the babies get what they need.  So does the hair.  I see a lot of eggs and toast in the next month or so for meals.  Good thing I cooked and frozen other dinners and avocado that I can make soup with (intended for hair recipes)...and I have frozen veggies.  Oh, and I have about 10 meals worth of frozen chicken.  I might have about 10 meals of frozen cheap fish, which is freezer burned...but wont make me sick.  So, really...keeping it down I just need milk, decaf coffee and gas...to bad I need so much gas!!!  House renovations will have to wait for a while I guess. 

I never measured my hair this month.  I need someone to do it for me and I didn't see the point in having Mum do it tonight when I might not have all that length after being there (going to hair dresser and all.  I will wait until September now.  I can have one of the women at work do it for me.

This weekend is a 'treat psoriasis' weekend.  That means oily, icky hair for the next couple of days.  Oh well.

Again, thanx everyone for your support and being here.  You folks are the best.  Tomorrow I will get to all your journals...just to wrapped up in me and tired tonight...sorry.

JD

Hello All,

Thought I would drop a quick note to let you all know I am still alive.

Saturday I decided on a quite day without the computer.  I do that all day every day at work now.  Then Sunday I sank into the new Harry Potter book.  Wow, I loved it.  You should have seen me trying to make lunches and care for the animals while still reading!!!  Monday I worked and then came home and read the last 100 pages of Harry Potter.  Then, with my house cleaning 3 days behind I got a call from my cousin asking if he and his family (wife plus a 2 year and an 8 month old) could come and stay with me this weekend.  I have 3 days to prepare.  Yahoo!!!  It will be fun...but what an awful weekend for him to chose.  It is my last before I go full time, I am behind on my house cleaning and now I have to make the cleaning better than usual, prepare meals AND change my office into a bedroom for me so that the children and parents can stay in my bedroom (big bedroom with ensuite).

Anyway, as you can tell I will be busy the next few days so I am sorry I will be very behind on your journals and wont be around for 5 - 10 days (but all is well).

Oh, btw the owner of the groomers called me to apologize for the staffs behavior and is doing my dogs for free in December.  Since I had never had trouble there before (and the owner was away due to an emergency surgery this last time) I decided it should be ok.

Hair, nothing to tell that is new.

JD