Happy Little Trees

When you're not eating normal food because you're trying to live the mantra "You are What You Eat," food becomes a fantasy. I'm avoiding sugar, cheese, all dairy, processed foods...things that as an All-American Girl that are my staples.

These are the foods that when I have free reign over food again, I'm going to eat:

1) Port Wine Cheese
2) Chocolate Chip anything - muffins, cookies, bagels, YUM!
3) PIZZA!
4) Triscuits
5) Nutella
6) A glass of milk
7) Candy corn
8) Rice Krispie Treats
9) Starbucks Caramel Macchiato, non-fat
10) Sonic Lemon-Berry Slush

One day, we'll all be together again.

I found this behind Mickey's crate in her journal:

September 28, 2009
Dear Diary,
I woke up early this morning and did my usually yoga move of the Downward Dog. I try to do it three times in a row everytime I get up. Beth wouldn't let me lick her face today. She acts like it's gross when I try to do that, but I just want to taste to see if she had anything good for breakfast still left on there. She's usually a bit salty.

After I did my bidness, we went for a walk. I really love walks. Beth drives me nuts with stopping all the time, so I try to pull her along. She never wants to stop when things are interesting like when I saw that great little tiny chihauhau. I wanted to just attack it, but she kept going the other way. There are so many birds out there that if she'd just let me off that dang leash... ah, well. As they say, it's a dog's life.

My stomach hasn't been feeling so well. If it keeps hurting, I might need to start whimpering in the middle of the night. Maybe Beth will finally come and take me out if I do that. And then I bet I could go for a walk earlier!

Well, I've got a new toy that still has one eye left that I need to chew off.
Later.
Mickey the Dog

She's two! I can't believe this little bundle of girl is the big two! I went to her birthday party and had lots of fun, in spite of not being able to eat the fun cake her mom made, because I'm fungi fighting.

Job 1:8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."

Maybe I'm being considered right now. I wouldn't want to measure myself against Job by his uprightness or the torment he went through, but right now, I'm having some discomforts in life--those little annoyances that throw the game of Life off by a hair making everything feel weird.

Warning: Whine Session about to occur...

About a two months ago, I figured out I had a toe fungus (gross, yes). So, I started taking Lamisil. Then, a week or so ago, I got really achey and had a swollen knee. My mom has arthritis, so any type of aching or swelling gets me a little bit anxious.

With the help of Dr. Google, I believe I'm having a side effect from the Lamisil, so now I am going herbal. My sister told me about an anti-fungal diet which should be more correctly pronouced "anti - fun - gal," because this gal is no fun on this diet! I am not a veggie eater--or a big meat eater. I'm more into the French connection of bread and cheese and flavored teas. I'm going to try it for 10 days and see what happens. I'm hoping my toe will be able to be seen at the market again without frightening other customers.

On Tuesday, I walked out to my car with Mickey the Dog and found my car smooshed in the back. No one left a note or even a smoke signal. So, now I'm in a rental getting $1600 worth of damage repaired on my car. My deductible is $250, so that's not too bad.

Somehow this morning, I woke up with red eyes. I'm hoping it's from Mickey's hair getting in my eye and not from pink eye.

Fun times, people. Fun times.

A note about my whining:
Even as I write out my whines, I am humbled. I just spoke with a friend whose child just had one of multiple surgeries to help him to walk. My whines seem silly now. God, thanks for loving me, whines and all. I'll try to be less of a whiner and more of a thankfuller.

It's kind of bizarre, but Mickey is a lap dog. She likes to sits in laps, but she also likes to do laps at the local dog parks.

The water at the dog park is pretty strange. It looks like blue mouthwash. The white parts of Mickey get a bluish cast after she's been swimming around in it.

She's really funny to watch, because she sees a tennis ball floating and totally acts like she's going to go for it and be a retriever, and then she just leaves it and swims more laps.

Her other favorite activity in the water is running around the edges and splashing like crazy. Afterwards she likes to get near strangers and shake off the gallon or so of water she's soaked up.

I made myself laugh today as I was trying to tell myself to be content. I started saying the word "content" kind of like Napoleon would say "RETREAT!" if he had spoken English. I was thinking about the verse where Paul says that he's learned to be content in all situations.

I have had some minor annoyances happen this week, in the midst of several people around me having some pretty serious things going on. I feel petty being frustrated with these things, and I'm comforted knowing that God wants me to take all things to him--even the little ones.


While I live today...
I will be content with my fungified toenail.
I will be content with a dog that doesn't walk well on a leash.
I will be content with spilling my lunch on my pants.
I will be content with a dead cell phone.
I will be content with a randomly swollen knee.
I'll be content no matter what the circumstance.

I have now been a dog owner for about three and a half weeks. It's been fun (and a challenge at times) getting to know my dog (and myself) better. I've learned a lot in just this short time! Because I'm List Queen, let me express my thoughts today in a list.

Observations about Mickey the Dog:
1) Mickey is a happy dog.
2) Mickey has no concerns of strangling herself on the leash when she sees the following: another dog, another person, or a bird.
3) I still have no idea what kind of dog Mickey is, and probably need to stop trying to put her into a "breed box" of sorts.
4) Mickey only likes to play with the toys that have been recently touched by a human.
5) When visiting other peoples houses, Mickey may forget she is potty trained and decide to dump a load off on the fancy rug.
6) When eating at the table, Mickey likes to pace around making sad faces.
7) Her favorite toy is now the donkey what is missing stuffing and a head.
8) Mickey doesn't do so well with agressive dogs since she's a bit of a wimpy dog. She prefers happy chasing, not attack chasing.
9) Mickey has moments of leash walking greatness that are followed by leash walking disasters.
10) Mickey is smart, but has selective hearing.

All in all, she's a great dog. She's not a barker which is something that saves my nerves. I only heard her bark once this whole week and that was a half-bark at the vaccuum cleaner.

If you don't mind being covered in dog hair and kisses, come by and visit us!

I really like my new camera. I used my little new toy to take some shots of my niece, Katie. I've been editing some in different ways, and having probably too much fun doing it.

Here are some of my favs so far:

I always love black and white photos.



I tried to copy my friend, Leslee, here. She takes amazing photos. She gave me a quick photo lesson the day before.




Leslee showed me a website where a guy did shots like this. I loved it.

Since I'm now a pet owner, I'm also a pet hair owner. I am finding pet hair in places that I didn't know pet hair would travel. It's pretty gross.

Yesterday, I was almost having a pet hair breakdown, so I did a little google searching. After work, I went immediately to PetCo and bought The Furminator. It works pretty well, and people I know that have it swear that it will cut down on the hair in my house.

I also read a tip that I didn't believe would work, but it's my favorite one: the yellow rubber glove. Yellow rubber gloves aren't just for dishes anymore.

Somewhere in my life, I had purchased yellow rubber gloves previously, so I only had to dig under my kitchen sink to pull out the miracle pet hair cure. With one swipe, all the hair that was stuck to my couch balled together in a long ribbon.

Thank God, for yellow rubber gloves.

I got a new camera. And I love it. I wanted to buy an SLR, but then realized that with my old SLR, I never bought additional lenses, so I decided on SLR-wannabe (and much less expensive) Canon Powershot. It has functions that an SLR has, but the pictures don't snap quit as quickly as an SLR, but it's still a great camera.

When I purchased my old SLR about 11 years ago, I started taking lots and LOTS of pictures of my nieces and nephews. I loved the way the pictures looked so sharp. And because I lived away from my precious nieces and nephews, the pictures were great to have as a souvenir. I quickly became the official photographer of the family.

When the digital age came to town, I felt a bit lost. I missed film. My once awesome camera had lost its mystique.

I saw my friend, Leslee, make the transition. She made the transition so well, that she's now a professional photographer!

I was blessed this past weekend with getting to see my nieces and nephews who are now all growing up, and I was also blessed with seeing Leslee who helped me figure out some cool functions on my new camera and helped me edit a great pic of my precious ones.

I'm leaving on a jetplane this evening. I'm taking a quick trip to visit family and the friends I can catch.

My main goal is to be in the airport early so I can sip a Starbucks and read my bible, but I don't know if traffic will create such a luxurious situation.

On the way back, I'll be bringing two suitcases since I left my bag at my mom's house last time I was home.

It's hard living away from family sometimes. The worst part is how quickly the kids you leave behind grow. I try to go home about four times a year. If I had a learjet, I would go home once a month--to better chart the kids growth.

I always fly because the trip is 15 hours. It's not a fun trip to drive. Flying takes about two hours. It's kind of ironic that my mom's driving time to pick me up is the same as my flying time.

Anyway, thank God for airplanes.

I found a website that reviews frozen foods. I'm in love with it. I love how all the foods can easily be searched by brand or rating.

I don't eat frozen foods all the time, but in case I do, I like having this info.

Click here.

My favorite frozen foods (and not all of them are nutritional gold mines):
1. Totino's Pizza Rolls
2. Bagel Bites
3. Lean Cuisine Breaded Tilapia and Pasta
4. Wang's Chinese Dumplings
5. Bertolli anything

I just saw a lady in my building wearing a long sleeve sweater, plaid skirt, and tall black boots. Yes, it is September 2nd. And yes, this is Houston, Texas. The City of Houston should make a law that fall fashion cannot show its face until at least October 1st.

In this corner, Bunny Foo-Foo, weighing in at .1 pounds.

In the other corner, Mickey the Dog, weighing in at 41 pounds.

The match begins with Mickey the Dog making a quick move to pin down Foo-Foo.

Mickey the Dog appears to be using a technique that has only been used on fierce opponents.

Bunny Foo-Foo is clearly not the winner today.

No animals were harmed during this photoshoot, and Bunny Foo-Foo currently remains intact.