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My Flatulant Friend

Dude. Our dog has serious issues. And lately? We've had the pleasure of adding doggie-gas to the list. Shudder.

Seriously, this dog has more issues than I can even name. She has always struggled with ear infections, yeast infections of the toe nails, skin infections on her back, the WORST bad breath you can ever imagine and many, many more problems I won't bore you with. Several years ago, out of desperation, our vet referred us to a dog dermatologist. Yep, that's right. They have those. So, being tired of all the vet bills and daily medication administrations, we decided to bite the bullet and go in with hopes that the doggie-derm could give us some sort of final solution.

Turns out? Allergies were the culprit to all of her symptoms. They actually did the skin-prick test on her that regular dermatologists do to their human patients. They shaved her side and gave her 30 different mini-shots of common allergens to see what she'd react to and you know what? She reacted to ALL BUT TWO OF THEM!!! Good grief. Our dog is even allergic to our cats. Sigh.

So we were given a vial of medicine and instructed to give her allergy shots every 10 days. Sigh, again. That was no fun, and to tell the truth, it didn't make much difference.

So here we are 4 years later in a new town with an entirely new set of allergens to deal with. Our current vet suggested a food trial. Maybe the problem is in her food? What a simple solution. So we bought the $55 bag-o-food and began said trial. So far? All the former symptoms remain with the new added one of doggie-flatulence. Ugh.

Poor Claire is sick and tired of me constantly checking her diaper for poop only to find it empty. Then we both glance over at the dog to see her sleeping peacefully now free of the offending gas.

Is it just me or are dog farts way more offensive than human ones? This food trial better not work, because I don't think I can bear to continue giving her food that will knowingly produce such an offensive problem.

Oops, time to escape. I sense yet another wave of foul aroma permeating the premises.

A Sauce Packet With Serious Self-Esteem Issues

Sonic

Here is a question for you. Do you tip at Sonic?

I was there the other day and it reminded me of the major complex I have every time I go. I know you're dying for me to explain, so I shall.

I was a waitress while in college. I know how hard the work can be and I also know full well how low your hourly wage is thus forcing you to rely on the tips to make any decent money. Because of this, I tend to be an over-tipper at restaurants. Even when I have pizza delivered, I tend to over-do it a bit.

NOTE: I am also not afraid to under-tip when it is obvious the waiter in question is lazy and not doing his/her job. But I digress.

So Sonic. What is the deal there? I mean, they DO bring your food to you, but how much work was that really? I don't want to offer up a tip to someone who spent 30 seconds bringing me food with no other service attached. Maybe if I sat there and ate, and they came by regularly to refill my drink or get me extra napkins or something, but no. I am just going to say thank you and drive away. Not a huge time commitment for these lovely employees.

Usually, out of my guilt, I just round the dollar amount up to an even amount so they don't have to go through all the trouble of pushing change out of their handy little belt-changer-thingys. But that only creates more dilemma when the dollar amount is like say . . . $4.89. Does it really do them any good for me to say, "keep the change" from a five-dollar bill? Isn't it more insulting to receive $.11 as a tip than to receive nothing? At least with nothing you can assume ignorance on the patron's part, but $.11? Now that's just rude.

And I know that many Sonic's now have a drive-thru window. You'd think that would clear up my complex. And while it does help a little, I can't help but wonder if the hourly wage is different for those working the window and those working the . . . er. . . . street. (for lack of a better way to put it). Does the window guy get more per hour because tips aren't expected?

If my poor Sonic employee is getting paid $2.00 per hour, then I DEFINITELY want to tip. But if he/she is getting regular minimum wage and tips are just icing to them, then I see no need.

So what are your thoughts? Do you tip at Sonic? Do you know whether they get paid minimum wage or less? I really want to know.

Please put my obsessive mind at ease.

**UPDATE** Too Old to Enjoy Bare Chests and Pelvic Thrusts

**UPDATE** Heather took some pics and sent them to me. None of the lovely crowd, but plenty of the guys. We actually had serious "nosebleed" seats, but they shut down our section for lack of ticket sales and reseated us in a much better place. There is virtually no zoom on these pictures. We were actually that close. See pics at the bottom.

Yes, I did it. I went to the New Kids on the Block concert last night. Can you believe it? How cool did I look "Hangin' Tough" with my girlfriends and a big pregnant belly. I am proud to at least say that we didn't dress the part as so many of the other ladies did.

I saw WAY too many middle-aged women in black stirrup pants, pink mini skirts and crimped hair. I was surprised by how many of them still had their old 6" in diameter buttons. You know the ones that stretch your shirt out of proportion? Yeah, there were plenty of those.

It was a fun night though. They did a good job of performing all the old favorites with a few of their new ones added to the mix. I will say that certain aspects of the performance did not appeal to my adult mind like they did when I was a pre-teen. I don't really care to see 5 guys doing pelvic thrusts. Then Jordan sang a solo Michael Jackson style. You know? Standing in front of a fan with a white button down shirt completely open so that the shirt billows in the breeze? SO not necessary.

The thing I regret most about the evening was not having my camera there. I completely forgot to take it with me. Otherwise, I'd have some great shots of the audience members to show you. It was great people watching, I tell ya. But before I get too judgemental, I have to remember that I was there too . . . . and had a blast!

Lovely

Do I really need another reason to avoid mushrooms?

Here's one my mom found in the container as she was preparing the veggies to go into a batch of spaghetti. She opted not to include this one.

Long-Overdue-Random Update

So we've been back from Vegas for over a week now. For some reason, when returning from a trip, I can never get myself caught up enough to get back to blogging. Good news is that there are no trips planned anytime between now and when the baby arrives in January, so I will TRULY have no excuse for blogging slackerdom. Sure, let's call that an actual term. Why not?

So we had a great time, but I forgot how much walking is required to see everything along the Vegas strip. Not a big deal to most people, but when you are great with child, walking 5 miles or more a day puts quite a strain on your body. But we survived it and even learned how to play Craps. I have always been curious about that game and Michael took it upon himself to learn the rules and then teach me. What a blast!

Claire did well while home with MiMi. I think she had a little too much fun though. I am still getting requests from her to play all the fun games that MiMi taught her and then relentlessly played with her. I do my best, but I can tell I don't do any of it up to par. Between funny hats made out of coloring book pages, bubble baths and endless story times, Claire has managed to fall in love with yet another grandparent. I am sure she wonders why we live so far away from all of these wonderful people!



As for me, my last doctor's appointment showed that my rogue placenta has indeed migrated north and is now safely position for zero complications. Good right? Let's all breathe a sigh of relief and plan an easy remainder of the pregnancy . . . . . but you know me better than that. They have now discovered that the baby is compressing one of the tubes that lead from my kidney to my bladder. This is causing fluid to build up in the kidney. This was the cause of my wonderful kidney infection while we were in Dallas. So I get to go see a urologist tomorrow so they can do a sonogram of my kidney and assess the problem and decide what to do from here. Ahhhhh . . . . drama. It's so fun. If I've learned anything from Claire's pregnancy and this one, it's that I just have to go with the flow. Who knows how many surprises are in store so I just sit back and trust that God has me and my baby firmly in His grasp and all will be fine one way or the other.