21. May 2010 by Bex.

This post is mainly about beer.  I talk about tapering off beer so as to whittle my waist but who am I kidding?  I love beer!  And you know what?  Beer loves me too.  So why fight nature?  Beer is here to stay.

Last weekend we finally enjoyed our tour of the Boulevard Brewery in downtown Kansas City.  They had a few short videos throughout the brewery so you could learn more about the brewing process.  The old building is the ca. 1888 Muehlebach Brewery building.  The new building uses recycled pine for the floors, big windows to let in light, a “green” roof to use water and recycled building materials.  It was interesting to see and of course, there were samples.  I love samples.  I’ll take samples of anything please.

The beautiful, pine flooring.

One of the uhhh brewery things.

I liked these illuminated bottles in the wall.

A very strong beer that is brewed in old Jack Daniels barrels.

The new building, bottling area.

I had a lot of samples of this.  It’s absolutely lovely, if you like strong, heavy-tasting ales.

In news other than beer….Patton is still in training.  His awesome trainer was over last week helping us continue towards our goal of therapy dog status.  He still has a ways to go but he’s a good doggie.  He doesn’t seem to want me to go in front of him up or down the stairs.  He races ahead of me, gets to the top and wags his tail at me.  Meanwhile I’m almost screaming “PAAAAATTON!!!” to get him to wait.  We’ll get there.  I can only go up and down the stairs so much before I wear out, so this might take a while.

When it’s not raining, I have the deck door open so the dogs can go in and out.  This is all good until the mosquitoes figure it out.  Patton loves to hang out here and chill:

Maybe it will quit raining finally.

Rowdy went out there earlier and took a giant whiz, which promptly drained to the patio below.  Oh well.  At least it wasn’t on the carpet.

Even the rats like it.  This is our female pair, Samus and Ash.

Other then that, I’ve had a couple doctor check ups.  Like 3 or 4….I lose count easily.  The rheumatologist said to keep giving myself monthly shots of immuno-suppressants and to keep working out.  My gyno said my pain could be related to a bladder disorder so check that out with a urologist.  The urologist put a camera up into my bladder and took a peek.  He said it’s fine.  By the way, that test fucking hurts.  Try having anything shoved up your urethra when you are still awake.  So now I’m having horrible abdominal pain and bleeding, which I know to be the endometriosis.  I’m sure it’s about time for surgery again, which by the way, the last I talked to the ear, nose and throat guy, he recommended surgery for my sinuses and my rheumatologist agrees.  Can they laser your gut and drill holes in your sinuses at the same time?  That would be ideal.  I would like to just ignore everything and be free of medical bills and doctors for a while.  But then everything hurts worse and I quit functioning.  So I guess I better deal with this shit.  Ugh.  I think I have to figure out which one is more important right now, how much work can I take off before being fired and then go from there.

Oh by the way?  I’m sick of people who are younger then me, don’t have fertility issues and/or already have kids bitching about how they may not have anymore children in the future.  Know what?  Fuck you.  That’s all I have to say about that.

Aaaand I just finished another delightful stitch which I will post after it reaches England.  I think it’s time for some Pale Ale and a heating pad.  Thank god I have today off.

Tschus!

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10. May 2010 by Bex.

I have a lot of unimportant, mental diarrhea aka updates to post.

Stitching:

I’ve participated in some swaps again and am currently embroidering for one with a Zen theme.  I’ll post more information later when the swapee receives the completed piece.  I did get some of my mojo back when I whipped together another Bruce Campbell piece which I’m quite in love with:

I may be doing some variations on this one and putting them in my Etsy, which has been bare and collecting dust for several months.

Photography:

I haven’t been doing much on this because I can only take so many pictures of my animals and weeds in the back yard.  I am trying to do more things with the manual settings.  I think my weekends are going to get busier soon so there will be more chance to practice with a little variety.

Pinups and Pit Bulls:

Volunteering is still going well.  I want to get back and hang with the dogs soon though.  There are a couple of them that I’m really in love with and I want them adopted out soon!  My Pinups for Pit Bulls photo shoot is in roughly thirty days.  I would like to drop one more dress size so I need to really push the working out thing.  Oh yeah, and the eating and beer thing.  That needs to taper down quite a bit too.  But I did order most of my underclothing so that is done.  Check out www.whatkatiedid.com for hosiery and www.gojane.com for shoes.  The shoes put me over 6″tall and I can hardly walk.  But I don’t need to walk much in them, just pose.  If I can do that without killing myself, I’m good!  Oh yeah and 4 3/4″ heels really piss off the arthritis.  Eeeeep.

Patton:

Patton graduated over a week ago from his Petsmart basic obedience class.  He seemed to really love being out in public with people and dogs all over the place.  He really blooms when he’s socialized so now that it’s over, I have to find ways to keep that going.  Kind of hard to do when the owner is a recluse.

Get this damn thing off my head!

Fine.  I’ll pose.

Ice cream?  Seriously?  I can have it???

Now that he’s done, I’d like to continue him on lessons, maybe private ones since his trainer left Petsmart.  We’ll see how that goes.  I’m also taking him to the dog parks to keep him used to the other dogs.  There are some real snobs at the park though.  I guess the rich people in Johnson County snub their noses at a dingo lookin’ dog who is built like a barrel-chested Pit.

Sadie:

Sadie is Sadie.  She’s grumpy and stubborn.  She steals Rowdy’s food and growls at him.  And she finds any bit of mud at the park and lays in it.  *sigh*

Notice the feet.

Above mentioned mud puddle.

People are afraid of Patton because of what he looks like and the fact his ears are always pinned back.  But Sadie is the one they need to worry about.  Here she is stalking people and dogs.  She’s getting ready to spring up and run at them.

Rowdy:

Rowdy had another bad seizure about 2 AM on Saturday.  He was foaming at the mouth, urinated, paddled his feet and then as he came out of it, he howled and barked.  I’m sure our duplex neighbors didn’t get any sleep.  After the seizure he drinks a lot of water and then paces the house for about 3-4 hours before he goes to sleep.  Ron got about 3 hours of sleep because he had to help him get out of corners and from behind furniture.  We were ready to take him to the E-vet and having him put down but just couldn’t do it.  I know it’s kinda silly but I want to keep his ashes and we don’t have anything set up for his remains to be cared for.  Just when we are wondering wtf to do, Rowdy comes out of it and by the end of the morning, he’s back to his old self.  And he’s bouncing around and eating and happy to be alive.  *sigh*

He hates the camera flash.

So that morning after the seizure, I was off to the KC Arthritis Foundation charity walk.  I had raised some money and committed to doing it.  So no matter how tired, drained and shitty I felt, I had to go.  So I put Patton in the car and off to KCMO we went.  We walked three miles in the cold 45+ degree weather.  (Cold and wind really suck for arthritis by the way.)  It felt good to get through it but Patton was not happy.  From full-time couch to 3 mile trail….not so appreciated.

This is the scratch he gave me down my thigh after I tried to assist him into the back of the car.  OUCH.

And finally, Ron won the gold during the Corporate Challenge for individual men’s bowling:

Hehehehee, he’s so goofy.  So even after only 3 hours of sleep and emotionally draining things, he still gets gold.

That is about all I can think of for now.  Work is work and it has become only a peripheral part of my life.  I go to get a check to cover our bills and insurance and that’s about it.  I think my career aspirations are done and abandoned.  Now that I’m ok with that conclusion, life is less stressful.  That’s a good thing!

Well time to get to the doctor.  I better eat something quick or I’ll pass out or puke when they take my blood.  Have a great day!

Tschus!

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