From Huskies To Husbands

I thought that the saying for March weather wise was “In like a lion, out like a lamb.”  Well apparently that is not how it works here in the wilds of Wyoming.  In the last 10 days we have had more Winter Weather Advisories, Blizzard Warnings, and the like than we had all of Winter combined!!  Today it is COLD and WINDY and it has snowed some and could snow more.  I swear I am so ready for Winter to end that it isn’t even funny!  The poor dogs are ready for Winter to end too.  When we had that string of nice days that were above normal in temperature their bodies thought that was the clue to start blowing their winter coats… Poor Suzy is blowing hers the worst so far and she already hates the cold so now it is even worse for her

Have you read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer?  It begins with the book Twilight then continues on with New Moon followed by Eclipse and completing with Breaking Dawn.  So far Twilight has been made into a movie which was just recently released on DVD, but there is a deal to bring the rest of the series to the big screen as well.

I know that the series is supposed to be targeted at teens, but I admit to loving the series!  I didn’t find out about the series until the 4th book was already released.   I bought Twilight and New Moon on the way down to Denver for a few days of medical testing this fall.  Well I read them so fast that we had to go out and find somewhere to get me Breaking Dawn and Eclipse too!  I drive DH nuts with how fast I read.  I just get so into what I am reading that I can’t help myself and basically can’t put it down.

My mother-in-law was with me on that trip to Denver and remembered me reading the series.  So, when they were preparing to leave for their vacation this week my father-in-law came over to borrow  Twilight for the trip.  As a suprise they had bought Twilight the movie on DVD for me :)  Such a nice suprise!  DH and I had went and saw Twilight the movie at the theater when it was out.  DH hasn’t read any of the series but he still liked the movie which shocked him!  He isn’t a big reader anymore because he just doesn’t have the time with everything he has going on.

Currently I am in a place where I can’t seem to find anything to read that just lures me in and keeps my attention.  Anyone have any suggestions??

As if last week didn’t grace us with enough of the white stuff and knuckle whitening driving conditions, more snow is being forecast for this week too.  I just hope that the roads remain open this time unlike last week.  I had to call for permission for DH to go to work and come home from work more times that I really cared for, and he had to stay in town one night due to the storms as well.  The crazy part is that we made it through the entire Winter and he didn’t have to stay over in town a single night, but we get to Spring and then he does!  Wyoming is crazy like that though and March and April are typically some of the worse weather months for us.  I swear that we don’t get Spring here like most of the country and instead we go straight from Winter to Summer.

I hope that the weather tomorrow isn’t too bad since I really need to go into town with DH to do some grocery shopping!!  The cupboards and freezer are getting bare!  LOL

Oh and Rebel chimed in about how he feels about all the snow over at Rebel & Suzy Speak!

I posted a recipe for The Best Low Fat Steak Fries Ever over at The Dairy-Free Diva if you are interested.

Rebel & Suzy Speak! has launched!!  Check out Rebel’s first post :)  Oh and Suzy got in on the action too with her first post!

Also, I wanted to let all of you know that I got The Dairy-Free Diva set up with Entrecard just in case you want to look me up :)   I also will get Entrecard set up on Rebel & Suzy Speak! just as  soon as I get the 5 post minimum completed.

With all the changes and upheaval going on with Entrecard and Today.com I guess I forgot to update all of you about what is going on with me health wise this week.

Monday - I was scheduled to have some blood work drawn to check my white blood cell counts.  I was unable to have this done on Monday due to the blizzard closing most of the main highways and mail not being able to get out from where we live.

Tuesday - I was on standby awaiting a call from the PA that we would be able to draw the blood and get it sent off.  Tuesday afternoon the highways started reopening and we moved ahead with the blood draw.  I also mentioned that it was painful to urinate to the PA when he was doing the blood draw so off I went to give them a specimen.  The clinic staff did some preliminary testing and oddly enough that testing came back almost identically to the results from the first week of February when my OBGYN had brushed it off and sent me along my way.  The PA however did not brush off the high white blood cell count in my urine and immediately began me on antibiotics.  In fact one of the primary causes of sacroiliitis which I have been recently diagnosed with is untreated urinary tract infection.  I have allergies to most antibiotics some more serious than others so we put me on Amoxicillin at the very high dose of 2,000 mg twice a day for 10 days.  The urine sample was also shipped off along with the blood for further testing.  Also, while the PA was checking me over he started pushing on some weird spots that really hurt when he did push.  I asked him what he was doing and he was sort of closed off about it and kept checking different locations.  After he had finished torturing me he asked me if I knew what he was doing and I of course told him no.  It turns out he was checking the points for fibromyalgia.  It looks as if that could be more of a possiblity than previously thought, but we agree that we need to get this urinary tract infection cleared up before we try to move forward with that.

Wednesday - The initial results for both the blood work and the urine test were in and the PA called to update me.  I know shocking right?  Someone in the medical field that actually cares and lets you know what is going on!!  Anyhow, my white blood cell counts were greatly reduced (maybe due to the high doses of vitamin C that I have been taking) but are still at the very very top of normal - mine were 10.8 and the top of the range is 10.9.  So that is something that we are going to have to keep an eye on still and check again when I am finished with the course of antibiotics.  The urine had some abnormalities and was high in nitrates which is a primary indicator of infection.  The lab was going to culture it which takes at least 3 days.  The PA said that he would let me know the outcome of that on Tuesday when he got back into the office.

Overall the antibiotics are making me really uncomfortable with itching, minor rashes, headache, and stomach issues but it isn’t anything so far that I can’t push through.  I keep holding on to the idea that the antibiotic will make me better in the long run so a little more discomfort in the short term is something I can handle.  Hopefully that turns out to be the case!!  I am still having the hip and lower back pain that is likely due to the sacroiliitis and I am still having major body aches and pains too possibly related to fibromyalgia.  These seem to be one of the biggest contributers to my difficulties sleeping which I am sure is only adding to my constant fatigue.  Anyhow, I keep pushing through and trying to rest as much as possible while still working as much as possible too on my freelance writing and such.

So, that is the update…

I have been thinking that instead of starting Rebel & Suzy Speaks! as my second blog here at Today.com that I might instead start it over at blogger.com where my The Dairy-Free Diva blog already is at (I really need to start working at updating and marketing that one anyhow).  I think that if I do that instead I can hopefully get some help from my fellow bloggy buddies that use blogger as how to best market and get the most bang for the buck so to speak.  I mean bang for the buck is why I decided to put From Huskies to Husbands here at Today.com after all for the pay per post when I got laid off from my job as a way to help earn some extra cash to help offset things.  I might also start Entrecard accounts for them as well.  I know that I wouldn’t be able to do 300 drops for each of them each day due to our current internet provider but at least I wouldn’t lose all the Entrecard Credits that I have built up.  I probably could do the drops for the two blogs on a rotating basis so that might work out as a way to help build readership initially at least.  I might still give some credits away to a few well deserving blogs too though.  I guess you could say that I am diversifying - LOL!

Today.com has decided that they are going to ban the use of the Entrecard service by their bloggers due to the changes being implemented by Entrecard.  They are providing a grace period for those of us that have ads pending to run on our blogs to leave them up to fulfill these obligations.  However, this is why my status has changed to not accepting new ads on Entrecard and also why I have pretty much stopped dropping on other blogs.

I have met a lot of really great fellow bloggers through using Entrecard.  I appreciate all the comments and dialog that we have enjoyed.  I hope that we can continue to do so.  If any of you would like to exchange links on a blogroll or what have you please let me know!  I am currently working to add all of my consitant droppers and commenters to my bookmarks so that I can continue visiting your sites, but I could miss someone for whatever reason.  So, if I stop visiting you for some reason come poke me so I can rectify the situation.

I still don’t know what I am going to do with all the Entrecard credits that I have built up.  I keep hoping that I will find something wonderful to spend some of them on over in the Entrecard Marketplace!!  In the end I will probably give the vast majority of them away…

I am really quite sad over the change in policy to ban Entrecard, but since I want to continue with Today.com presently I guess I have no choice in the matter.

So, my satellite internet provider hates me.  It seems that just the updating of our virus protection software was too much for it and the FAP (fair access policy) was exceeded.  What that means for me you might ask?  Well that means that they turn my internet completely off for 24 or more hours because in their opinion I have been a bad monkey and used more than my fair share of their precious resources.  *rolls eyes*  They don’t care that this means that I don’t get to work on my freelance writing projects.  They don’t care that this means I can read my e-mail or update my blog.  They just flat out don’t care.  So here I sit at 3 am writing a blog post during my free usage period… Oh the joys of small town life where you have no options other than crappy satellite internet or even crappier *shudder* dial up.

I can not believe that I have reached this magic number already!  That means that I had enough to “say” to be able to blog 100 times in just over 3 months.  Wow!!  I want to thank everyone who stops by to read and especially those who take the time to comment.  Without all of you there would be no blog!!

For a while now I have been able to start a second blog here on Today.com but haven’t been able to figure out what that blog should be about.  I still don’t know for sure but I have come up with a two ideas so far that I am kicking around.  I am going to share those ideas with all of you - my wonderful readers - and ask for feedback as to whether you all think any of them sound like a good idea.

• Eating for Health - Food Can Make You Sick! (not sure about the by-line on this one yet)  But it would cover eating dairy free and possibly dairy and wheat free.  It would include recipes as well as other information about the health benefits of different foods.
• Rebel & Suzy Speak - Life in Wyoming from a Husky Point of View (requires a digital camera since mine is dead).  This one would be written from the dogs perspective and in the dogs voice.

I don’t know if I want to do one of these two options or just continue to wait until I think of something else.  I don’t want to do something just to do it and then be inspired and be stuck I guess…  Having said that I do like both of these ideas.

So, what do you all think?

I signed up a while ago for a free sample of Starbucks new instant coffee Starbucks VIA Ready Brew .  It came in the mail today and since it is cold and snowing here I thought - Coffee sounds good, let’s try it!  OMG it is probably the very best instant coffee I have ever tasted!  Usually I think that instant coffee is vile tasting and shouldn’t even be considered coffee.  It doesn’t taste like instant coffee at all to me.  My samples were of the Columbia variety and was greatly enjoyed.  I wish that this stuff was available at a store near here, but sadly it appears only to be available on-line or in Chicago and Seattle currently.  The stuff is a little pricey at $9.95 for 12 packets which each make one cup of coffee.  But I guess that is cheaper than buying a cup of coffee at a Starbucks or other specialty coffee shop even if you use 2 packets to make a nice BIG cup.

In other news it is snowing here.  Not just a little either!  Click here for some photos of the snow parts of Wyoming are getting!  Laramie - the town where DH works - is supposed to get 20 to 25 inches of the white stuff.  Since DH doesn’t have any vacation time to waste due to our trip to Florida for my parents 40th wedding anniversary, we got him a hotel room for the night.   I guess me and the furbabies are going to have to rough it alone tonight :(  Also, due to the weather no blood draw.  The PA didn’t think that the samples would make it out in the mail and didn’t want them sitting around.  So, that is postponed until the weather clears… Hopefully that is tomorrow!