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Improv
Game
Boobah zone
Kaboom!
Rock Paper Scissors
Make a puppet in your own likeness
Virtual Stapler

I saw some photo booths on the lower level of the Sears Tower the other day. Where the top floor tours come out of.
I checked it out today.
No curtain, and also they both had big TV screens outside the booth showing your photo until it printed out (2 minutes later)
I went ahead and thought I take one for fun.
All the backgrounds were cheesy.
"Princess", "Wanted", "Best Friends"......
I picked the one that said "Kiss Me", and was framed in a bunch of smoochy lips, and then just made a goofy face.
As I am sitting there, a tour comes out...everyone is stopping by and looking at me and the big screen of my retarded face.
Awkward silence.
They move on.
I stand around and wait for it to print to give to Brad since I am on my way to meeting him for lunch at the generic chinese place across the street.
He liked it, made him smile.
AND...he kissed me.

Felt a bit better today.
I think my social weekend and being around people helped.

Brad is still sick, stayed home today to rest up and finish a school paper for tomorrow.

Had lunch with Navin at Ed Debevic's. They are more busy on the weekends then weekdays. So we got GREAT service. The waitress pretty much sat with us the whole time, even gave us grill hats! :)

Brad and I are coming up this weekend on our 7 year anniversary!
I was thinking about us going to Blue Man Group and dinner at Spago (we have a gift certificate for Spago) Blue Man only had crappy seats left and Spago is closed for a private party. So I called around and finally got things settled. We are gonna go see Puppetry of the Penis, and have dinner at The Pump Room.

Brad & I had our 6 month check ups at the dentist today.
We both got good reports. I think that SonicCare toothbrush we use helps.

Just got back in a little bit ago.
Had a good time.
I like being around people.
Didn't have much to say, so just hung out and listened.
Watched The Transporter.
Asian salad was a hit! :)

I have been super tired lately.
So I went to bed extra early like an old fart last night.
It felt good.

I went to Pilsen and hung out with Josi.
She's the sweet chick that crocheted Goli the blanky, and also sent us a scarf and doily.
I met her husband Bob and roommate Nicki too.
Had lunch at Nuevo Leon. She had the chicken mole and I had the asada de puerco, and of course we saved room to have flan for dessert!

I am gonna have her make an afghan for me to buy from her. I never seen this before, but one afghan she had, had a foot pocket! A COZY FOR FEET!! I'm always asking Brad to tuck in my feet for me. I can't believe how fast she can whip those things together.
She is really sweet and talkative, which is cool, since I was on the laid back side, and just wanting to enjoy company.

Now Im home for a bit, putting together an Asian salad and going out to James's house to hang out with him and Gonzo & Jessica. Brad isn't going with me, he is coming down with a bad cold and has a paper to work on.

Goli is on an upswing now.
Day to day it all is.
He didn't eat much for Brad yesterday, but when I got home I opened a can of stinky dog food and put it on a plate and he ate it with me holding the plate.
He had some broth too.
Then this morning, he ate an entire can of dog food on a plate that I put on the floor.
PROGRESS!!
Baby steps......
Next chemo in 2 weeks.

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Will the real Hussein please stand up?!
Office Space soundboard
Cute piggy game
Bilbo Baggins!
The Final Cut

I stayed home today.
Got up in the middle of the night to let out the dog.
Then got up at 6am to get Brad up and to let dog out again and give him his pills and food.
He ate 1/4 can on his own...well with me hand feeding it to him. But thats still really good. So when he stopped, I left him alone.
Then we went back up and back to bed until 10.
Let him out, fed him again, ate another 1/4 can.

Went out got more dog food from the vet, and grocery store.
And got stuff to make him a broth for his food to make it more edible.
I got ham hocks, some meat, parsley, onions and garlic.
It's stewing now. The butcher asked me if my vet told me I was crazy. "No."
She said it in a way like she was letting me in on a secret, something obvious that I had overlooked.
Like when you tuck the entire back of your dress into your pantyhose.

Watching American Idol in the background now.
KIMBERLY KICKED ASS!!!
Just got out of the shower, got my hair up in a towel.

I have been extra tired for the last month since the surgery.
Really tired, like I feel like I could sleep anywhere at anytime.
Tired as in lazy too. Not wanting to do things around the house and putting things off more so than I usually do. But of course when I got home I could have just gone to bed instead of watching TV and playing on the computer...but anyway! :P

At first I just told myself I had a cold.
Then I said I just need a vacation.
I've got a vacation planned in August with a lot of my family that I am really looking forward to in Florida. Looking forward to the warmth, the beach and I LOVE swimming, and relaxing and good talks with family.
BUT I NEED ONE NOW!!! I dont wanna wait!!

I dont think this has anything to do with my anti-depressants or thyroid meds either, just feel like something aint right.
I talked to Brad today about it, I mentioned stuff to him before but tried piecing it all together today. Trying to figure what my deal was.

I think its been a lot of the dog, since it was a month ago at the time of my surgery I found out about him.
We have been force feeding Goli since this weekend. It hasnt been fun.
He wasnt eating. Not even the stinky canned dog food. I was feeding him anything out of the fridge, carrots, slices of bread...peanut butter. It worked for a day but then he didnt even want that. So Saturday Brad scrambled an egg, added salt, pepper and garlic powder to it. Dog didnt want it, so we all sat down. Brad grabbed his snout and forced his mouth open while I shoved it in, and then Brad would hold his mouth shut until he swallowed.
Pretty traumatic for the dog, but he seemed torn, as if he was hungry but just didnt want to eat. He fought by keeping his mouth shut, but didnt try to run away from us.
We followed up with some carrots and peanut butter.
Then we read online to chill the dog food and cut in slices to force feed them, its makes it a little easier.
So we did that too. Sat night Sunday and this morning, we got up extra early to force feed the dog. Shove what we could into his mouth, and then follow up with peanut butter and some carrots if he felt up to eating them.
Brad called the vet today and told him what was going on, and now we have pills to give him twice a day which might help him eat, and he also told us to give him cimitedine twice a day for stomach acid. AND they gave us this pate (like custard) dog food for cancer dogs, high in protein and fat, and low in salt and carbs with a syringe thing to shoot it down his throat. They said this is common in cancer dogs. This new stuff worked good. Less traumatic on us and the dog. We dont have to hold his mouth open, we can just stick the plastic syringe in between his side teeth and shoot it in, he doesnt have to chew, its very liquidy. It still takes work to get him to take the pills..and a lot of patience....but he has a lot of patience too...so its a game of who gets tired first.
I found a neat trick of sprinkling water on his nose which gets his tongue going and makes him swallow. That is until he comes out with his latest trick too.

Just stressed, and feeling it physically, but handling it all ok.

Brad has always dug that song in the "Crazy Legs" Levi's commercial.
Where the latino guy looks like he has rubber legs.

I finally found it AND got it without paying import prices.
I have been really digging on international music lately, cuban, indian, mexican...

Anyway they are called Control Machete the album was released in '99.
and the song is called Si Senor, and you can hear it here!
it will play in your windows media

Goliath is doing ok.
He has diarrhea, probably from the chemo.
He hasn't played with his balls or squeaky toys in the last month.
We have gotten to play with a practice fishing lure he likes.

Brad has this heavy hard orange plastic thing as a practice lure on his fishing rod.
Goli likes to chase it. So the game is to throw the cast out, and slowly bring it in teasing Goli with it. Goli sometimes catches it and shakes it around his mouth.

We want to tape him playing this game sometime this weekend.
He doesnt run after it quite as much just recently. More slow.
Since the last chemo on Tues, he is still eating, but not all his stinky canned dog food. It might be cause of the diarrhea though.

He doesnt jump up on the bed with the ease he used to, its too much work now.
He still wags his tails for a pat on the head.
If and when I think its near the end, I want to take a few days off of work and spend a couple of days with him before, and I will probably need a few days after to pull it together.


Sandy
Sandy was my first dog.
I got him for my birthday.
I picked him out from the Humane Society.
He was a small dog, a weird poodle and sheepdog mix.
I named him Sandy because of his color, but everyone assumed I named him Sandy after the dog in Annie, since we had just gone to that show recently.
Sandy was a good sport.
I put him in a basket on my bike and go riding.
I put him in a baby stroller with a bonnet on and pushed him around.
He pulled me along when I went rollerskating.
He slept with me.
When he got loose, it was tough getting him back. He would stop till you got close and then run right when you think you had him. It was a game to him...but just really pissed us off.
So usually when he got loose, I had to get in the car and drive slowly with the door open because he loved car rides, and would hop in.
He had a very disgusting habit of scooting his shit covered ass across the carpet to clean it off.
His fur grew in messy curls, We cut him short every summer, he would look like a wet rat. His fur made him look so much bigger.
Once when visiting Brad at his apt, Sandy and I walked up the steps to the 2nd floor apt. We got to the top, but Sandy kept walking even though there was no floor left to walk on and walked right off the porch and fell down into some shrubbery.
Luckily the shrubs cushioned him, and he was fine just shaken.
Brad wasnt scared that the dog got hurt as much as he was scared he would have an upset girlfriend to deal with if her dog was hurt.
Sandy wasn't the brightest dog.
As he got older his sight and hearing started to go a little bit.
He was too old to get put under to get his teeth cleaned, and started to get a super nasty yuck mouth.
He also liked to lick himself....A LOT.
So he would lick his yuck mouth stench all over his little stinky body.
I no longer wanted kisses from him, or him breathing to close to my face...it really was foul.
Brad & I got a house a few years before we got married. Whenever I brought Sandy over, he walked into walls since he didn't know the layout and peed where ever he pleased.
Sandy never tried to get on Brad's good side, and pissing all over the place didn't help.
So Sandy stayed with my mom. His territory that he was used to.
Just a few months after we got married, Sandy started to really go downhill. Not eating, peeing everywhere, etc. Not even wanting to really move. He was like 15 years old. We decided it was time to put him down, more like he decided and just let us know. You could tell he decided to die. My mom and I couldnt take Sandy to the vet to do it. Brad did it for us. We had him take his blanket. The vet said he would bury him at a pet cemetery and bury him with his blanket for us.
I cried for 2 weeks, I couldnt even talk about it.
I loved Sandy, but I also felt really guilty. I felt bad I didn't spend more time with him. That I was so put off by his stink that he didn't get more love that he deserved. I felt like he decided to leave when I got married, and moved out.
I kept a picture out of him with his collar laid out right in front of it for a few years. I let Goli smell my stinky little dogs collar, to see if he remembered him. They met a few times, but Sandy was scarred of Goli.
When we moved here to Chicago, I finally got rid of his collar.
There is a framed picture in our family room of Sandy in my lap, and Goli in Brad's lap sitting on a sofa at my mothers house.

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Duck and cover
Alcohol & Ammo
Happy Easter

Goliath is at the vet today.
Getting a chemo IV drip.
I pick him up after work.
I expect him to be perked up like last time.
This last week, he's been more tired.
Low wags, muffled barks, more labored breathing.

I'm eating dried mango today.
I bought it at Whole Foods last night.

Brad & I are such old farts. We got invited to a birthday party for this girl, Sam, on Saturday. Our first thought is "Can we stay awake that long?!?" Since you arent really supposed show up until 10ish.... But I really want to go, and see Sam. Maybe we will take an afternoon nap.

The canned dog food worked!
HOORAY!!
I bought some cans of Iams dog food.
Tonight I opened the liver & chicken one and mixed in a few handfuls of his chunky dog food and mixed it together.
He ate it all up.
Licked his bowl clean!!!
YAY!
So I will continue to do this for a few days and see if he continues loving it or if he expects me to surprise him with new food every few days.....

Today is nice.
Week started out busy and a blur.
Calming down now.
Beautiful outside.
Want to rent Secretary tonight.

Got worried about the dog this morning.
He hasnt eaten in a couple of days again.
I tried last night, throwing out his old food, and putting fresh out.
Nope.
Tried giving him his old brand of dog food.
Nope.
So we let him pick last night on some hummus and carrots that we had with dinner.

This morning he didnt even want his Scooby snack.
He caught it and dropped it on the floor and just looked at it.
So then I tried some carrots (he LOVES carrots).
He dropped that on the floor too.
Which really upset me.
So then I opened the loaf of bread.
Fed him 3 slices of bread.
He wagged his tail the whole time too.
Then he ate the carrot.
So I gave him 2 more, and he hesitated, but finally ate them too.
So before I left this morning, I left a HUGE pile of Scooby snacks on his rug for him, and he was eating them as we left.
I am gonna buy him some extra stinky canned dog food.
He likes stinky things.
Maybe I might even try mixing his regular dog food in it.

I had my monthly waxing appt today.
I LOVE ELAINE!!! (my waxist)
She just always makes me feel better.
Besides ripping the hairs outta me! :)

I hadn't seen her since my surgery, and told her I was fine but worried about my dog.
Told her what was going on, and then started crying during my appt. But I love her and feel comfortable around her so I just went with it and cried as I continued to talk to her.
She told me she has lost 3 pets herself, and we talked about how much we love them.
Then poor thing! She starts crying too, and has to stop and turn away. So I told her its ok, we can cry together, so we did.
But then I get into my humor mode (I felt bad for making her cry) and we start laughing as we are still crying.
I was telling her all about how jealous I get over women that can wear "delicate" shoes. And how I wanted her to tell me they all had stinky feet.
She then tells me about watching Mother Angelica on the TV. I know Mother Angelica cause she is in Alabama, where my mothers family is from, and we went to her TV station once.
Mother Angelica is pretty cool, funny, sweet, nice lady.
Humor makes me feel good, and Mother Angelica makes Elaine feel good.

She told me how much she likes me, and how she has a connection with some of her clients, and I am one of them. We hugged right before I left. I cant help but be close to someone that rips hairs off of me...but besides all that...she really is a great and wonderful person.

So now I am back at work.
Feeling better.
Relaxed after a good cry and some good hair ripping pain.

Happy Birthday Sunny!
Love you!

Neat Baghdad map, click city markers

Website Wednesday

Weird Japanese flash
When Pigs Fly
Papercraft models
Cloudbursting
Make your own Fanta movies

Im good.
Except tired.
Very tired.

Brad has class tonight, so we celebrated his birthday last night.
I had to go to the grocery store to get stuff to make his bday dinner.
Dinner wasnt ready until about 8:30. (commuting!) I made spinach pies with feta cheese.
He opened gifts from me and his family.
It was a good night.

I bought Goli a new dog food, since he is scared, yes scared, of his old dog food now. It's over priced, but it had carrots, and green beans, brewers yeast, lots of vitamins and minerals, and fiber. HE LIKED IT! YEA!
Before that he hadn't really eaten in 2 days.

Im tired.
I already said that.
But I still am.

I called Brad and sang "happy birthday"

Lately:
I call a few people and sing a different song every night into the answering machines or work voice mails.
I have sung: "You are my sunshine", Come dancing - the kinks, nick lowe - cruel to be kind, louis prima - angelina zooma zooma, everyone knows its windy, and maybe a few others....
Its my new project of sorts.

I go through these phases, like taking pictures of strangers and paint brush art. So this is my latest. I wont sing to anyone that actually picks up. I would be too self conscious and not get into my songs quite as much.
I really get into them too! :)

Brad just laughs at me.
Im up late, and tired...but no....I MUST DO MY SINGING PHONE CALLS....CANT GO TO BED UNTIL I SING!!

Happy birthday Brad.
I love you so very much!

After the vet appt.
Went back home to pick up my sister, and take her to breakfast.
Went to Granny's Pancake House.
It was super filling!
I like the food, and the atmosphere there. Always neat people around to watch and cute kids.

We dropped Brad off home and went out shopping.
Sunny wanted to go to the mall.
We bought some bras.
Im excited about my new bras, the have little air balloons underneath them for more cleavage! Got a couple of shirts, some soaps and a moisture stick from Bath & Body Shop with a coupon and gift card I had.
We walked to the middle of the mall and looked down at the floor beneath us, and the dancing fountain. Then some cute little girls all dressed up from a birthday party at Libby Lu's came out and did some singing and dancing. SO CUTE!! They had sun glasses on, hair done up, and cute little flashy outfits on.


At another part in the mall, they had a remote control car race. We watched that for awhile. Cars going everywhere!
And at another area, they had a baseball section.
Little kids were lined up to put on a helmet, and swing at a ball held in place with ropes.
A little 5 year old looking girl did it. Mostly hitting the ropes, but when she was done she was screaming all over the place "I DID IT!! I DID IT!!!" Adorable.
I love watching people at the mall.

Then we went to Portillo's for iced tea and chocolate cake, I was really thirsty and love their fresh iced tea. I told her how the vet appt went, and how I got a little upset and gave myself a headache. She got mad at the vet for not being more positive, but I told her I liked the vet and want someone that will tell me the truth. But it made me feel good that she got mad for me. :)
We were talking about things from growing up, and how we were.
I told her a story she forgot about.
When I was in 1st grade I wasn't allowed to cross the street but could go around the block. I had a big wheel. Some bullies always scared me. They would stop me and demand a toll and say they wouldnt let me pass. They were a lot older then me, about 5 or 6 of them looming over me on their bikes. One time I was trying to sell lemonade on the edge of my driveway and they came by and hassled me, so I went crying and hiding to my backyard. My sister kept giving the boy next door nickels to buy lemonade from me so I could sell some lemonade and feel better. It was so cute.

Then went the video store to return the movies and pick out a new one.
We rented Roger Dodger.

Went home, got in our pj's. Picked on guacamole that Brad made. She had never had it before and loved it! :) It was really good!

Sat around a bit, and then watched Rodger Dodger. We liked it. Brad had a little trouble staying focused in the beginning, but then got into it.
Ate some of my eclair cake during an intermission.
But were too full to really get into the hummus and tabouli.

Had a 10:30 vet appt.
I ended up crying during the visit.
I tried not to, I didn't want to make the vet feel bad.
I did it real quietly, Brad didnt even know until I told him later.

I was hoping the vet would be more positive than he was.
I expected him to look at Goli in awe and wonderment at how good he looked and say he has a few more years in him.
He didn't.
I cried.
He still is saying 6 months to 1 1/2 years.
We can do up to 5 chemo treatments.
After that its too toxic.
It could put him in remission.
We can only tell by how he acts and looks, and by how much he drinks and pees.
He is still peeing a lot, but a lot less since his first chemo shot.
High calcium levels will make him drink and pee more.
High calcium levels is from cancer.
The chemo wont fix that, just make it a bit better.
So the high level will always be a factor, even in remission.
He said male dogs with high calcium levels don't tend to last longer then 6 to 18 months.
So thats is what he is going on.
I sat there, petting Goli, not blinking trying to stop the tears, and be discreet.
Got his stitches snipped out.
His incisions look pretty good.
Healed up nice.
Made an appt in 2 weeks for his next chemo treatment.
We will have to leave him over night, they will do an IV drip this time.
Then 3 more to go.

Had a great day.
Picked Sunny up from O'Hare.
Plane was running late, so we just had enough time for a hamburger at Tony's Snack Shop on the Chicago stop from the blue line.
Excellent burger!
I love a small place like that with just one grill and one guy running the place!

Then grabbed a cab to Elizabeth Arden Red Door on Michigan.
I had never been there before, so floundered a bit.
They have a changing room, and gave us robes and slippers.
The robes were so comfortable and over-sized.
Put our stuff in lockers.
Sunny got a facial while I got a hot rock massage.
We both loved it, and thought it was over too fast.
And I couldnt have taken the rocks a little hotter, but it was still great, and very relaxing.
I was so comfy in my robe, when they said I could change for our pedicure I decided to stay in my robe and panties instead.
Sipping my water.
Flip flop flip flop.
A sexy older russian woman named Aysa did my pedicure.
She had the most gorgeous eyes, and super long lashes.
I loved her.
She even hugged me afterward walking me back to the "relaxation room".
I gotta go back and have her do my nails next time! :)

Everyone there was super nice, no snottiness at all.
They made us feel very comfortable and relaxed.
We hated to leave.....

Met Brad up at Union Station to go home.
He left early and went home with us.
We had pizza delivered for dinner and watched Ghost Ship and Red Dragon.
I made an eclair cake for tomorrow night.

Tomorrow Goli has a vet appt at 10:30 to get his stitches taken out.

Then we will swing back by home and pick up my sister and take her to Granny's for breakfast.

I had a package when I got home from Josi, a local friend of mine.
She seriously went overboard, and did TOO MUCH!!

She sent me a spider web lace doily (about 2' in diameter) in a blue gray.
Goliath got a blanket. Which is really cool, cause I was just thinking about buying him one, something to snuggle with. (about 3'x3') Very thick and heavy too!
And Brad got a gorgeous scarf.

Check out her site and catalog at Weird Mirror
She hand dyes her yarns.

This is Goli's blanket, draped over him.


Here is a close up of the blanket


Here is the scarf


and a close up


Here is the spider web doily


and a close up

Website Weds

Beercan sculptures
Air hockey
Andrew WK game
17 min movie...very funny!
Flying Viking Kitties wanna take you to a gay bar
Dress your gay dog game
Warm your kitten game