look, ma--two hands
November 06, 2005, 8:15 A.M.

Oh, what loveliness, to sit here with my toast and jam (the last, alas, of the Farmer�s Market Berry Basket jam), my big cup of wonderful coffee, and my diary. It�s Sunday morning, Spouse has left for work, and I�m savoring the moment.

The lowdown on Raji is as follows: Shots are now all up to date, she still could stand to lose another 5-8 pounds (this really surprised me!), her heart, lungs, and joints are all quite sound, her teeth are good, her eyes are clear, and overall, she�s quite the vital dog for her age. The sebaceous cysts and the �age warts� are nothing to worry about, unless they present a rapid change. Just a manifestation of her age.

But.
Her tummy, on the other hand...well, my dog is now on Pepcid. She may have to go on a special,low-residue diet. And she is under doctors orders that she feels are tantamount to a death sentence.

Absolutely, positively NO people food. She had her last hurrah when we got home from the vet�s office--a piece of cheddar. That�s it, though. No more toast, potatoes, pasta (she�s a total starch-head), bacon, pancakes, sour cream, cheese, pork chops, butter cookies, or any other bits from Daddy�s hand. She just can�t tolerate it.

But treating a dog�s stomach the way it should be treated, and treating the dog the way she FEELS she should be treated, are two completely different things. We are in for a painful period of adjustment, I�m afraid.

Shopping was nothing special--I continued to scope out coffeemakers to replace my much-beloved B&D Versa-Brew, which is slowly dying. I think I�m going to go with this one. But Wal-Mart has it in white, which I prefer. And for under forty bucks, which I really prefer.

Spouse bought �Revenge of the Sith�, but I�m no Star Wars fan, so meh. The contraption Lucas had Padmé strapped into during childbirth makes me wonder if that über-dweeb even understands the, uh...mechanics of shootin� out babies.

After we got home from shopping, Spouse settled in on the couch to watch his new DVD, and I put away the groceries, then happily puttered the afternoon away on the computer, and reading.
We had a lot of rolling thunder, heavy rain, and high winds all afternoon and night, so the pooch was stressing. I was glad I could just be home with her and give her whatever small comfort possible. Thunderstorms upset her so.

After the movie, Spouse hit the rack for some much-needed rest, and I spent a pleasant couple of hours in the kitchen, being all cozy and domestic. By way of making lasagna, tossed salad, and garlic bread, and then cleaning up the resulting mess.

My last cross-stitch project, abandoned when my hands could no longer cope with the work. I knew I couldn�t do it anymore, but still couldn�t bring myself to get rid of it. I always thought that someday, maybe...

Well, why not try now? See how it goes. I popped in an old MST 3K (A �Joel�, of course-�Catalina Caper�), sat down, proceeded to stitch for one and a half hours.

Have I said how truly grateful I am to have my hands back? What a gift it is to have them restored to me? Because I should. I should say it every day. Every time I open a jar or thread a needle or wake up without the pain or do anything with them, I should remember what a precious and wonderful thing this is. When I realized I�d been stitching happily away for 90 minutes, I nearly cried. And I�d have kept going, except this time it was my sore shoulder that let me down.

After the restlessness of Friday night, I was really starting to drag tail, so I took Raji out for a quick pee, and then came in and hit the bed about ten.

1. De-cluttering the living room and dining room


2. Vacuuming, sweeping, and dusting


3. Cleaning the bathroom


4. Cleaning out the refrigerator


5. A whole bunch of laundry

Because, you know--I don�t want to do too much.