I've Been Away Too Long!

I've been away...far away from blogging land for a long time. And I think it has been good for me. I actually accomplished some things I wanted to. But now I am back (for now) to share back to school humor with you...

We just started back to school. I was dealing with a kid who had quite the "I don't want to be here" attitude, so I asked him if he wanted to be on the four or the five year graduation plan.

His response?

"Uh, which one is faster?"

Really.

Job Opening...

Just a word of warning...you all may want to steer clear of the Greater Cincinnati area on Tuesday...you may melt.

A Month...

I haven't blogged in a month. Over a month, actually...and I don't have a good reason. Honestly, I just hadn't felt like it. Things have been stressful off and on here at Rambling Shan's house and I just haven't had the energey to blog...much less come up with something witty to blog about.

So, to let you know, here is (part of) what is going on...

My dogs are in bad shape. They have each had bad allergies since they were about 3. We know that Gizmo is allergic to dust mites (we had him tested a long time ago), but we don't know about Loki. We have tried everything the vet can offer--medication, special shampoo, special food, restrictive diets (which means none of the treats they love because they can't have wheat, beef, chicken, rice, etc...all the normal stuff), expensive trips to the vet, topical treatments, you name it...we've tried it and nothing is working. Even the special diet--which means (thankfully) it isn't a food allergy...but it also means that we don't know what it is. The vet wants me to bring them back this week so we can determine if they need to see a dog dermatologist...can you believe it? I don't even have a dermatologist!

One problem that bother me more than anything is that they have been on Prednisone off and on for over three years...and that is not good for them at all. It actually stopped controlling their itchiness, so I took them off it about three weeks ago. They are still itchy, but I think they feel better (if that makes sense).

My yoga instructor suggested that I try fish oil supplements, so I am going to try that this week (after talking to the vet, of course) to see if that will help at all...at this point, we are willing to try almost anything because they deserve an itch free life--and it is our job to give it to them.

So, what else am I willing to do? Buy a Dyson vacuum. Why? Because we know that Gizmo is allergic to dust mites and Dyson vacuums are certified by the allergy association...which means they eliminate allergens from the home...and I am willing to try. I also figure that the $550 I spend on a Dyson may actually reduce the amount I have to spend on the vet.

If any of you have any natural remedies that I could try to alleviate some suffering, please let me know. We are at the end of our rope and we would really like to not have to medicate them if at all possible...they don't need to live doped up forever.

Noah? Can You Hear Me?

So far in 2008 we've had a blizzard, and earthquake, numerous tornado warnings and now a flood. Yes, a real honest to goodness flood.

We had another round of bad storms roll through this evening. So bad, in fact, that Hubby and I enjoyed our dinner in our unfinished basement (what else can you do when there is a tornado warning during dinner?) We didn't get a tornado (thank goodness...what would happen to all my landscaping?), but we did get a TON of rain. And I mean a ton. As in, on average, 4 inches and hour. As a result of this torrential rain, the creek in front of our house flooded and covered the road.

Here is what the road used to look like:

Here is what it looks like right now.

See the difference?

(And, yes, that is a car in the last photo...he didn't make it far because the road is closed in all directions....wait a minute...that means I am trapped in my house. Anyone have a boat I can borrow?)

I am Loved!

Nothing makes me happier than to know that I am loved :-), and Crystal over at Memoirs of a Mommy shared some bloggy love with me and many others last week in the form of the "Sharing the Love" award. I am thrilled to know my blog and my random thoughts have touched someone else. So, thanks Crystal for your thoughtfulness. I will be adding you to my "People to See" sidebar.

In the meantime, everyone should check out Crystal's blog and see the pictures of her adorable kids.

Thanks, Crystal...I will display my award with pride. And I will pass the love on to others soon.

Landscaping. Ugh.

One of the reasons I haven't blogged regularly is because I have been busy with end of the school year stuff. Lucky for me, Friday was our last day with kids and today is our last work day...and it is only a half day at that. Hooray!

The other reason I have not been blogging has to do with the tiny home improvement project my husband decided we should take on: landascaping.

We have lived here for almost 2 and a half years and we had no landscaping. Sad, I know, but in the grand scheme of everything, it didn't seem that important, so we kept putting it off. Suddenly he decided that this was the year to do it. And he picked Memorial Day weekend to start. Normally I wouldn't care about doing work over Memorial day weekend, but I had lots of things planned for that weekend, so I was a little miffed that we had landscaping. (Okay, so I lied...I had BIG FAT NOTHING planned for that weekend...I just didn't want to landscape).

Hubby started working on the Friday before the long holiday weekend. We worked all day Saturday, all day Sunday and some on Monday (it rained and he golfed.) We still weren't finished. We worked every spare minute we had last week. We still weren't done. We worked Saturday...and we were darn close to being finished. We slept great knowing that we would most likely be finished early Sunday...

That is until Hubby decided he had one more flowerbed he wanted to build...so off we went to Lowe's. And then Natorp's. And then home again we came. He worked on getting the bed ready and by last night, we were finished (for the most part). Sure, we still have more plants to buy, but we look at this as a process...a process that caused us to nearly kill each other at times, but a process nonetheless.
So, enjoy the before and afters. Hopefully I can blog more now that I have a little less dirt under my nails and a little more time on my hands.