If I were a...

I "borrowed" this idea from Fat Bridesmaid who "borrowed" it from someone she knows. I've added a couple of my own for good measure.

If I were a month, I'd be...December.

If I were a day, I'd be...Sunday.

If I were a time of day, I'd be...9:00 p.m.

If I were a font, I'd be...wingdings.

If I were a sea animal, I'd be a...penguin (does that count?)

If I were a direction, I'd be...north.

If I were a piece of furniture, I'd be a...chaise lounge.

If I were a drink, I'd be a...mango margarita.

If I were a gemstone, I'd be...tanzanite.

If I were a tree, I'd be a...magnolia tree.

If I were a tool, I'd be a...Garmin Forerunner 305.

If I were a flower, I'd be a...hibiscus.

If I were an element of weather, I'd be...lightening.

If I were a musical instrument, I'd be a...banjo.

If I were a color, I'd be...sage.

If I were an emotion, I'd be...hope.

If I were a fruit, I'd be a...blueberry.

If I were an element, I'd be...Calcium.

If I were a car, I'd be a...Smart Car.

If I were a food, I'd be a...pizza.

If I were a movie, I'd be...a dramedy.

If I were a place, I'd be an...all inclusive resort.

If I were a material, I'd be...dri-fit.

If I were a taste, I'd be...sweet.

If I were a scent, I'd be...vanilla amber.

If I were a room in a house, I'd be a...bedroom.

If I were a dessert, I'd be a...chocolate souffle.

If I were a body part, I'd be...lips.

If I were a song, I'd be sung by...Adele.

If I were a bird, I'd be a...flamingo.

If I were a gift, I'd be...wrapped in pretty paper.

If I were a city, I'd be...Paris.

If I were a door, I'd be...open.

If I were a pair of shoes, I'd be...flip flops.

If I were a season, I'd be...autumn.

If I were art, I'd be a...scenic painting.

What would you be?

Training

I've decided to train with a running group for the Chevron Houston FULL Marathon. I feel it is a very smart decision considering several different factors. Let's take a look at them, shall we???

1 - The heat and humidity are going to be huge hurdles to leap this summer. I already caught a glimpse of what is to come this past weekend and...well...it wasn't pretty. I sweat more than I ever had before and I didn't even make it my full 7, though that wasn't because of the heat or humidity (it was due to a nagging knee issue). I can only imagine what a few more months down the line will offer. I can only start soooo early by myself and not compromise my safety. A running group gives me power in numbers with a designated early start time. It's also accountability when sometimes dedication, determination, and discipline aren't enough!

2 - Though I love running in Meyer Park because is is beautiful and relatively peaceful, the course is already starting to get monotonous. A running group means pre-determined new running courses each week. Ones that I do not need to plan and ones where water will be provided for me.

3 - I am a novice in this sport. I feel I can handle the half marathon distance training by myself, but the full marathon's time limit is a bit daunting and with proper training and guidance, I feel I can conquer it.

4 - What a great way to meet new people who are involved in the same activity!!!

5 - It's only $120 and conveniently located at the YMCA near my house through a well known company called USA Fit. It's starts on July 17th and there are different levels depending on one's skill level. Oh and this is nationwide and they do half marathon training, too.

Penelope

I noticed on Wednesday or Thursday that Penelope's "good eye", her right eye, was red around the edges. This concerned me because that was how the rapid decline of her left eye began in early September of last year. The red wasn't quite as ferocious, so I was praying it was allergies.

On Easter Sunday, I returned to my house after celebrating at my parent's home and Penelope's eye just didn't look right. I called my mom and started crying. She offered for me to bring over my babies and come spend the night, but I declined. We agreed I should call Eye Care for Animals in the morning to make an appointment.

On Monday morning, I thought Penelope had lost her eyesight all together. I went to give her a treat and she appeared to sniff it out instead of seeing it to take it from my hand. All I could think about was how I was going to end up with a blind dog on my hands and whether or not that was fair to Penelope. I cried all morning long, not knowing what I was supposed to do. Is it selfish to put her through another surgery and let her live a sightless life so that I don't lose my one true love? She is only 9. If you recall, I just posted a birthday blog for her back on February 5th. She is so full of energy and spunk. Just on Thursday, we went for a family dog walk and Penelope did this full charge ahead run because she was ready to Go, Dog Go! It would be one thing if she was sickly, but this is not the case.

Throughout the day on Monday, everytime I thought about making a decision regarding Penelope's life, I just broke down and cried. My mom works at a women's abuse crisis center on Mondays. She was telling one of her co-workers about Penelope and her co-worker, Bertha, told my mom to have me call her and she would reassure me that Penelope could live a fulfilled life being blind. Later that afternoon, I called Bertha and she told me about her 14 year old dog who went blind and lived to be 17 running up and down stairs. This gave me hope!

Penelope's appointment was for 3:30pm. By the time we got there, the pressure had dropped significantly in her eye to normal range again. Dr. Millichamp said he could see evidence of lost vision and deterioration of the eye since our last visit...in other words...the glaucoma we were hoping to hold off as long as possible is beginning to rear its ugly head and it is just a matter of time before it attacks. I am left with two options. I can have the doctor perform a laser surgical procedure which is exorbitantly expensive in the hopes of maintaining her vision. Though it is a relatively common procedure in humans, it has only been performed on pets for the past 2 or 3 years. This means there is really not a proper case study on it. Post surgery, she would most likely still be on lifetime meds. Option #2 is to keep her on meds trying to maintain the vision as long as possible and to keep the pressure low as long as possible - in other words, we are treating the symptoms more aggressively than we were before when we were only treating the pressure issue. Once the meds no longer work and the glaucoma takes over leaving her completely blind and, unfortunately, in pain, we will have to do the same surgery that was done to her left eye. Though this procedure is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, it is still $1600 less expensive than Option #1. Post surgery, she would be on antibiotic meds just until the eye heals and then she would be off of meds entirely.

While Dr. Millichamp took Penelope to the back to run his tests, I was leafing through a book that was in the examination room. It was about learning to live with your blind dog and it gave me some awesome suggestions like putting bells on the collar of other pets in your home to help your blind dog identify the location of the other pet(s). Different kinds of bells or different quantities of bells would mean distinguishing sounds to help your pet differentiate the different beasts roaming around. When we all gather at my parent's house, there are as many as 6 dogs, so I thought I could assign specific bell arrangements to specific dogs while we are all together to help my little love muffin adjust when the time comes.

So, for now Penelope is on one oral medication and three different eye drops ultimately waiting for the inevitable. It appears her eyesight is the worst in the mornings, but thankfully she doesn't seem to be in pain right now other than irritation when I put in the eye drops.

This is all just so very emotional for me. I love this little girl as if she were my child...let's face it...for the past 9 years, she has been my cuddly little kiddo.

So, I ask that you please pray that the disease holds off as long as possible, that Penelope's pain is minimal, and that we all adapt to what the future holds gracefully.

***UPDATE***

It's now Wednesday, 4/7, and Penelope is completely blind. I think what gets me the most is how rapidly it happened. She is very gingerly walking around the house with her nose to the ground. I'm, of course, acting like an over-protective mama. It's funny how things you never thought about all of the sudden become a concern. For example...the bed. Penelope sleeps with me. I never worried about her falling off the bed until last night. I know we will just have to go through an adjustment period while she feels, smells, and hears her way through the rest of her years here on this Earth, but it's just weird. I'm going to buy jingle bells today to help Penelli identify Delilah before Delilah has a chance to trample over her. I suppose it wouldn't hurt for me to make a jingle bell bracelet for myself, either. We can handle this, I know we can. At least for now, she is not in pain. Oh...and getting the eye drops in her this morning was a breeze because she literally didn't see them coming. There...that's the glass-half-full spin you've all been waiting for.

Easter Weekend

It has been a fun-filled week of family and I have loved it! My parents flew my brother and sister-in-law in from Washington D.C. to spend Easter with us (and with my sister-in-law's family). Though I talk to Eddie practically every day regarding work, family gossip, and other shenanigans, we had not seen him since Thanksgiving.

Eddie and April are pretty independent when they get to Houston. This translates to April usually goes off to hang out with her mom and sisters and Eddie hangs out with us. There are, of course, times when Eddie joins them and other times when April joins us. Then there is Easter Sunday when we all joined together!

On Tuesday night, my mom cooked dinner for just herself, my dad, brother, and I. It was so fun and reminiscent of old times - minus the bickering and the chaos since our two sisters weren't there. Not to say that they were the ones to cause the problems...haha!

On Wednesday night, same scenario only older sister Cathy, and her husband Jay joined the mix.

On Thursday night, same scenario only Cathy and Jay were replaced with younger sister Linda and her husband Craig.

Apparently, I was a meal moocher taking full advantage of my mother's cooking all 3 nights!

On Friday night, April and her youngest sister CeeCee were throwing a baby shower for middle sister, Carol Ann. My mom, two sisters, and I were attending, so once again my mother made dinner for everyone and it was kind of a grab some and eat it when you arrived kinda deal. It appears I was a meal moocher then, too. haha!

On Saturday, my family usually has family lunch, but my parents offered up to us to forgo family lunch in lieu of seeing an afternoon movie and going out to dinner. We went to see Hot Tub Time Machine. I had zero expectation because I hadn't even seen a preview. It was decent and I laughed a few times. After the movie, we went to a local mom and pop placed called Clementine's. Both Cathy & Jay and Linda & Craig had their rehearsal dinners there. Sadly, it appears the place has gone completely downhill in the past year. None of our food was seasoned. After dinner, we stopped at Brewster's Ice Cream for a couple of ice cream pies (I, of course, did not partake) and then went back to my parent's house and just hung out. It was so fun. I am so blessed to have such a close family and that my siblings married such great spouses and that we all love hanging out together.

Easter Sunday, we all (sans Cathy & Jay who flew out to Vegas for some vacation time) gathered at my parent's house for some great grub (courtesy of my mama)!

I love spending time with my family - especially because it is so rare that we are all together. Next stop for such an event will be Labor Day weekend when we all gather together in Chicago in celebration of my grandmother's 80th birthday!

General sucks.

Is it time for my vacation yet? Amy and I have been planning it for quite some time. It seems like it's never gonna get here and I feel like I've earned it like I've never ever earned a vacation before. Work has me all kinds of stressed out, y'all. 5 1/2 more weeks and it's mine...

The term general manager...let's take a look at it, shall we?

To quote Wikipedia.org, "A General Manager has broad, overall responsibility for a business or organization. Whereas a manager may be responsible for one functional area, the General Manager is responsible for all areas." Yep, that there is my problem. It's the umbrella of EVERYTHING that is so very overwhelming. General sucks.

I mean, I am responsible for 21 drivers, 23 helpers, a warehouse manager, a surveyor, and an office admin. While managing that workforce, I am also trying to add on a minimum of 2 more drivers and at least 6 more helpers. This means I am placing Craig's List Ads, scanning through applications, interviewing, badgering my HR department on status updates for the applicants, processing new hire paperwork, and all that jazz. General sucks.

In addition to this, I have to deal with the maintenance department, the safety department, the move coordinators, the operations department, the claims department, the payroll department, the billing & invoicing department, the customers, the vendors, and anyone and everyone else who wants a piece of me. General sucks.

On top of all that, I have a 1-800 # tagged to my cell and everyone in the company has access to it and can call me 24/7. I get calls during the work day, which I don't mind, sure enough. It's the calls when I'm at home during the evenings and on the weekends that drive me bonkers especially considering most of them are not even necessary calls. What's worse is when I go home thinking everything is settled and established...that everyone knows where they are supposed to be and everyone will be there just for it all to blow up in my face. It's a never ending wicked web of cuckoo crazy malarkey. General sucks.

On Monday night, I got awakened about an hour after I had gone to bed by an Ohio driver wanting to know the gate code to our Dallas warehouse. Why he hadn't called earlier in the day to ask is beyond me. Why he hadn't called the Dallas manager to ask him is beyond me, as well. On Tuesday morning, before my alarm went off, I got awakened by a Georgia driver wanting to know the gate code to my warehouse. He was supposed to be in San Antonio. Frustration, frustration, frustration....there is not enough Calgon boxes on the shelf at any given store to take it all away. I am, however, convinced that 5 days and 4 nights in tropical paradise in Playa del Carmen with no cell phone will help to calm the beast raging inside me....even if temporarily.

Do you know what it's like for a girl with A.D.D. to never get anything done? I mean as soon as I start one project, I am being interrupted with another. While getting acclimated onto that new project, still fretting about not finishing the first, a third task appears, etc.... It's like that all day long every day. Just once I would like to know what it feels like to finish something I've started....to have that sense of...fulfillment versus chaos. The sad thing here is that summer is my busy season and I'm already feeling stressed out, beat up, and spit on and out. How am I ever going to make it through the end of August?

So...yeah...general totally sucks. I'd much rather be a specific manager over a specific something...anything...ugh.

Deep breaths...running...vacation...music...massages...and I guess Calgon, too....TAKE ME AWAY!

7 Miles Successful and other News

So, attempt #1 at 7 miles was a fail. I was quite disappointed. I mean I felt mentally prepared for the challenge. Previously, my furthest mileage had been 6.35, so 7 was completely do-able, without a question. Around mile 2, I noticed my left knee started bothering me. Around mile 4, it was bothering me pretty badly. At mile 4.5, I decided to be a grown-up and call it quits. You see, I have had ACL surgery on both knees and something I promised myself when I first started this running journey was that I would not push knee pain unless I was in a race (think half or full marathon).

I know I did the right thing. I listened to my body. BUT still...I wanted that 7 miles under my belt. So what did I do? I iced both knees. I Bio-Freezed them. I Tiger Balm menthol patched them. I rested them and tried again on Sunday. This time I added Linda, my younger sister to the mix. Linda, as you may recall, ran the Houston Half Marathon in January. She is awesome! She is faster than me, but told me she would run with me because while I needed to get the distance down, she just wanted to put in the exercise. It worked out quite well. Might I also add what a gorgeous day it was?!

It is so awesome having my Garmin Forerunner, too. I am able to explore areas beyond the normal 1.27 path I have been running for the past 2 months now. I discovered a pond and that lengthened the path to 1.91 miles. Linda and I met an older gentleman who had just completed 9 miles when we were finishing our last 1.4 miles and he told us about an extension off the pond that would lead us to some softball fields and some good running over in that area. We decided to check that out next week.

Also, I checked my watch right when I had completed 6.2 miles (a 10K) and was delighted to discover I had taken 5 minutes off the time I clocked in the H.E.B. Bayou City Classic 10K just 2 weeks ago. My hip is doing that much better!

Oh...and I have officially graduated from 3/1s to 4/1s as Linda and I maintained 4/1s the entire 7 mile distance.

And then in other news...I passed the 90 lb weight loss mark!!! Since January, my weight loss has slowed dramatically. I blame the running. It's like my body was all, "Whoa...what are you doing to me? I'm not sure I like this...I'm checking out and I'll get back to you later." I had some weeks with no weight loss. I had other weeks with under a pound and a few scattered in there with slightly over a pound. It has been very frustrating because I (obviously) increased the intensity of my workouts (running) and I am very careful with my diet. The only thing I changed was adding more whole grain carbs in because my body needed the added fuel for the running. This should have been more than okay given the exercise regimen.

Something must have clicked last week because out of nowhere, BAM!, a 3 lb. weight loss and that was with eating out all week long in celebration of my birthday. Then this past week, BAM!, a 5.6 lb. weight loss. This is exciting because only 9.6 more pounds until I reach an even 100. I would really like to hit this milestone before I leave for my vacation on May 8th.

Lessons learned - patience is a virtue and hard work pays off (eventually).

meet my new friend, Meineke.

I came home from a date (yes, I actually had a date) on Sunday, stopped in my driveway to retrieve Saturday's mail, and noticed an awful rat-a-tat-tat-tat noise coming from beneath my beloved Gideon (Tahoe). Oh no! This meant he would need to go to the dealership on Monday for a check-up and consequently...an oil change since I get $9.95 life time oil changes and he was past due.

On Monday, I got crazy busy and time escaped me. I didn't even get a chance to call Lonestar Chevy until after lunch to try to make an appointment. My regular service guy, Mike, told me it would be best to bring it in on Tuesday morning and that as long as the "check engine light" didn't come on, it should be okay until then.

On Tuesday, I had one of my employees follow me over to Lonestar and I bade Gideon farewell. Later that afternoon, good ol' Mike called me to tell me the oil change was done and that the noise was because the catalytic converter was coming apart and that it needed to be replaced. He told me that I had two options. I could have them replace it with the manufacturer's catalytic converter which would run me $1085 PLUS tax (holy rusted metal, Batman). I quickly asked what might be my second option. He said I could take it to someplace like Meineke and that they would use a generic catalytic converter, cut it to fit my vehicle, and charge me about half the price. Um....so let me get this straight...you have possession of a vehicle needing to be fixed. You have a willing/paying customer. You don't want to try to make the sale. Do I have this right?! This goes against everything I know about business. I was sooooo confused. I kinda still am, for that matter. I had one of my employees take me back over there to pick up poor Gideon and decided I would take care of him the next day. Why can't anything just be easy???

So, once I got back to work, I made a couple of phone calls and I was told approximately $800 to $1000 by a couple of other places. I finally called Meineke and nice guy Bill told me $275 or something like that. I thought he meant for the part plus labor and tax. It still sounded a whole heck of a lot better than Lonestar's price, so I asked if I could bring it to them in the morning and he said sure!

Wednesday morning, I brought Gideon to Meineke. I called to check on him around 3pm and they told me he was good as new. Went to pay my bill and it was $287.30. Whoa! Are you freakin' kidding me?! That's like 1/4 of the price of the dealership. So was Mike at Lonestar just being nice in telling me to take it to Meineke? Well...regardless, I am thankful and I totally made a new friend this week, and its name is Meineke.

I did ask what else they do there and was told, by Bill, that they are a full service shop and can do anything. I feel like I'm spreading the word by blogging about it. If you need something done...you might just want to consider Meineke...friendly, fast service for a very fair price! =)