Friday Smiles in The Long and Winding Road

I find myself smiling a lot this morning, not for any particular reason so I guess it's just the Friday mood. It's been a busy week -- didn't mean to go all week without writing (though I did try a few nights ago and lost the entry). So, where to start.

Bing has been on the Prozac for almost 3 weeks now, with mixed results. He does seem more calm and I don't hear as much crying or barking when I walk out the door, which is good. He is more relaxed -- behaving like a "normal" dog at times, like laying on the floor with his head between his paws while he watches me cook (he has never been a "lay on the floor and relax" dog). He doesn't jerk his head up instantly whenever I leave the room or get up out of bed, in a panic to see where I'm going. The down side though, appeared this week. He started acting fearful and paranoid. I would put his leash on him and we would walk out the door to go outside and he would cower away from the door as if he was afraid it would hit him. Walking down the interior hallway of the apartment building towards the elevator, he would cling to the wall and walk along the wall instead of bouncing down the hall. I would reach down to pick him up and he would cringe and cower away from me as if he expected to be hit. And this dog has NEVER been hit or abused in any way. So I called the vet and we decided to cut his dose in half to see if we can keep some of the positive effects and get rid of the negative. So we'll see how it goes.

Since moving into the apartment almost 4 weeks ago (hard to believe it's been that long) I've been concerned about him out on the balcony. He's so small (6 lbs.) that he can get his head and body through the bars of the balcony. I wasn't quite so worried at first because he would just barely poke his face through the bars but over time, he got more confident and if he saw another dog being walked on the street 5 floors below he would put his whole upper body through the rails. (I keep referring to having a 4th floor apartment because I'm on the 4th floor but it's really the 5th floor of the building, the first floor is called "Lobby level" then the next floor up is called the 1st floor). So I started to have a vision of him getting excited and just thrusting himself through the bars and taking a flying leap to the sidewalk below. I did a little research and found this sturdy plastic netting at Lowe's which comes in a roll, and you can cut it to the height and length you want. I attached it with cable ties and it's perfect!

As an example of his fear and paranoia, when I got home the other night and started putting up the netting, he was afraid to come out on the balcony. And he LOVES that balcony. He was actually sitting in the corner of the living room up against a wall, watching me. After I got done, I brought him out on the balcony with me, where I planned to sit at the table with my laptop. I moved the other chair next to mine, put his bed on the chair, and put him in the bed. He curled up in the bed and watched the world go by from there for awhile, and then suddenly he saw a dog being walked and he got excited and finally he felt comfortable getting down on the ground and going up to the railing, when I took the picture above.

Ok, guess I've rambled on enough about Bing. So, what else?

I got my acrylic nails removed the other day. I'm going to need them removed before my shoulder surgery anyway, plus I won't be able to get a manicure for awhile after the surgery since I won't be able to hold my arm out. So now my fingers feel naked but typing sure is easier.

I bought a new chair for my living room this week. I fell in love with it when I bought the new couch for the apartment, but I didn't want to buy it until I was actually in the apartment and could get a better feel for the space I would have. As soon as I moved in, it was obvious that there's room for the chair, plus I really kinda need it (in the way we think we "need" things like that) because the couch is a smaller scale couch and technically can seat three (or even 4, if someone sits on the "leg" of the chaise) but if I had friends over in a casual atmosphere, probably only 2 people would sit on it. Leaving just the dining room chairs for additional seating. I decided to wait until the furniture store had another sale though, and today their Labor Day sale started. I called a sales person the other day and asked if I bought the chair over the phone that day, would they give me Friday's sale price and they said yes. I had hoped that by ordering it a few days earlier than today, it would make it onto their truck for delivery tomorrow but alas, it was too late already, so delivery will be next Saturday. And that will be the end of what has been a very fun shopping and decorating spree this summer.

Now I'm moving into budget mode. I have one big debt I want to get paid off by early next year so I'm having to save big time to do that. On top of my vacation on the Oregon coast in a couple of weeks (but fortunately the beach house rental is already paid for and I have my spending money already set aside) and then Christmas will be coming.... but I am determined to get that debt paid off, so I am trying hard to stick to my budget, which I've never been very good at, but it's never too late, right?

I've been waiting almost a month for a date for my shoulder surgery. Since it's an L&I claim, it moves slowly -- once my surgeon and I decided it's time to set a date, it has to go through L&I for approval. Apparently, L&I then requested more information from the doctor, which took time. The other day, the doctor's surgery scheduling person called me on my cell phone, but I usually have my cell phone turned off while I'm at work and I only get the call if I happen to have my phone nearby and see the call coming in, which I didn't. So I returned the call, got her voice mail, and left a message 2 days in a row and I'm still waiting for a call back (I told her to call my work number). It's a little frustrating. On the one hand, I'm not really in any hurry for this surgery so I'm not pushing it, but on the other hand, if it's going to happen, I need to get it on the calendar and plan for it, and I want it done around the end of September or early October so that I get the worst of the recovery out of the way before the holidays.

I've been watching "Orange is the New Black" on Netflix and really liking it. Also I got a Paint by Number kit! I haven't done one of those in many years, and really never thought I'd do another one, but Sarah mentioned a few weeks ago that for some reason, she had started doing one (totally out of character for her, she's actually a pretty good artist in her own right, not to mention the fact that they are on the go so much, I don't know how she finds the time to work on it) and said she was so surprised by how much she was enjoying it, and I started thinking I might give it a go. I used to cross stitch and I can't do that anymore because it's too much of an eye strain, and my fingers start going numb if I do a repetitive motion like that for too long. So we'll see how Paint by Number goes. Sounds like fun, anyway.

Not much else to write about at the moment. Now to go off and get caught up with some of you!