thank you thank you for all of your wonderful comments. bonnie is back to her old self now. she's still on steroids and has bouts of 'roid rage' where she runs around and around and has all this energy and doesn't know what to do with it. she is also hungry all the time and is drinking a lot of water. which leads to accidents in the house- we take her out all the time, but sometimes she just well, has to go. this isn't behavoir that she exhibited before her episodes, so hopefully when we start weaning her off the meds, this will improve. till then, we keep plenty of paper towels on hand and let her out every hour- oh and lots of baths too... we take her back to the neurologist at the begining of february and then we'll decide if she needs the surgery or not.
champ is still a champ and they are both snuggled up with me right now.
i am busily planning the wedding, getting ready to go to brazil, preparing for the kitchen installation, taking acting classes, temping, auditioning and going a little bit crazy.
we're trying to get the save the date cards out and it is just taking forever. we're meeting with vendors this week and next, but feel like we're behind in the planning. i told kpr i didn't want to do any of this big wedding planning- i am all for eloping or the destination wedding where someone does all the work for you- but we're having a big event anyway. i know it will all be worth it- but i haven't gotten to the point where all this planning is fun- i still just see it as work. oh and we're going to be horribly, horribly over budget. ridiculously over budget. but it will be worth it, right? yes, of course. i'll feel better once we nail down the vendors- we're meeting with florists and photographers this weekend. i have no idea about the reception music- that's something i haven't looked into yet. we have a date and a place, and i have my dress- i have some ideas on the flowers, and the ceremony- but there is still a lot up in the air.
i want to hear your opinion on a woman taking a man's name. i'm torn- it's not that i don't want to take kpr's name, it's just that i don't want to lose my name- i'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences. thanks!
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
bonnie- redefining the definition of supercute
hi, my name is bonnie and i need brain surgery.
my mom and dad wish this were a joke, but it's not. you see, not only was i born with a heart murmur, two luxating patellas (bad knees), no natural instinct to drink water, and the cutest face on the... well, face of the earth, i was also born with what neurologists call "a malformation at the back of the skull."
everything was fine with my new mom and dad, they rescued me at thanksgiving and promptly fell in love with me, i was teaching champ who was really the boss of the house, i charmed both sets of grandparents when they came for a visit, i knocked the socks off my aunt alicia and aunt laura over christmas, and i just loved giving my granpa kisses all over his beardy face and sniffing lovingly at his ears.
yes, yes, everything was fine until the thursday before new year's eve, when all of the sudden, i didn't feel like myself any more. i couldn't stop shaking, and i was making these weird little panting faces. mom and dad were set to go out to a party (mom looked good) they had been looking forward to all month, but mom realized she should probably stay home to make sure i was ok. she thought that i was shaking because, i'm a naturally anxious little dog, but then my legs weren't working too well, so mom made dad go get dr. jp next door. we're lucky to live next door to an awesome vet who works at a vet er. he came over promptly and said to keep an eye on me and make an appointment to see an internist soon, like tomorrow.
so mom stayed home with me and was only a little bit resentful that dad got to go and get wasted with all of their friends, but she made up for it by ordering fried chicken, goat cheese salad and a brownie sundae- hey, it wasn't new years yet.
dad came home very, very intoxicated, which was funny until it got to be annoying because, hello? couldn't he see that i was still shaking and not my pretty, little self any more? mom let me sleep in the bed that night, things were pretty bad and she won't admit this to me, but i think she was afraid to wake up and find me dead in my crate the next morning. i kept shaking all night, unless she held me really tight, only then would i relax, but then after about five minutes i would thrash about and try to get up, only i didn't know where i was going and my legs, they didn't work so good.
the next morning we all woke up and mom and dad's friends had stayed the night and they all ordered breakfast. i seemed a little bit better, but then as dad went out to pick up the food, i started tremoring really bad, and my eyes drifted up, my mouth opened and i was panting weirdly and then i started foaming at the mouth. mom freaked out! i mean, freaked the heck out! thank goodness mom's friend sue was there and was like, lets go to the animal hospital and mom was like yeah- but i still have my pajamas on and i'm not wearing any underwear (her hair? atrocious!). mom scrambled around the house, getting ready and mom and sue were going to take a cab, but dad came home and drove us to the hospital, leaving all the food for sue and her boyfriend.
we went to the animal medical center in new york city. this is a fancy schmancy animal hospital where people can take their pets in an emergency. mom and dad are very thankful it exists. they are also very thankful that mom made an appointment for later in the afternoon that they just bumped up when we got there, because an emergency visit is damned expensive ($500 to walk in the door). dr jp was there, and visited with mom while they were taking care of me in the back. mom was a little embarrassed because she hadn't brushed her teeth, or her hair, or applied makeup and oh, she was crying.
the doctor's took very good care of me and told mom and dad that i needed an mri (yup, they have those things for dogs too). they also wanted to do an ekg on me because of my heart murmur, to make sure i could take the anesthesia ok. the ekg was normal and the doctor was so nice that he didn't charge us for it. i think he felt guilty because he had to send us all the way out to long island to get the mri, because their mri machine was busted. mom and dad drove me to long island vet specialists where i met a lot of very nice doctors and nurses. my neurologist was dr. dewey, who (mom likes to say), literally wrote the book on canine neurology (dr. jp gave it to mom to go through the other day, it's his text book from cornell). dr. dewey was very nice and answered all of mom's questions and was very honest with mom and dad.
they did an ultrasound to rule out a liver shunt, when that came out normal, they did the mri. while i was out, they shaved my back and did and spinal tap as well, to test for inflammation of the brain and spine.
let's count that, ekg, ultrasound, mri and a spinal tap all in one day. did i mention that i weigh about 10 pounds and am only 15 months old? they found the malformation at the back of the skull in the mri and gave me some steroids, to help with the pressure on my brain. dr. dewey told mom and dad that some dogs respond well to drug treatment and some dogs need to have surgery to remove the malformation to ease the pressure on the brain. we go back in a month to see if i will need the surgery, and for now, i'm almost back to my old self. mom is worried about the steroids though, she doesn't want me to start growing more facial hair and have my voice deepen like champ's.
mom and dad think its a good thing i'm so darn cute.
my mom and dad wish this were a joke, but it's not. you see, not only was i born with a heart murmur, two luxating patellas (bad knees), no natural instinct to drink water, and the cutest face on the... well, face of the earth, i was also born with what neurologists call "a malformation at the back of the skull."
everything was fine with my new mom and dad, they rescued me at thanksgiving and promptly fell in love with me, i was teaching champ who was really the boss of the house, i charmed both sets of grandparents when they came for a visit, i knocked the socks off my aunt alicia and aunt laura over christmas, and i just loved giving my granpa kisses all over his beardy face and sniffing lovingly at his ears.
yes, yes, everything was fine until the thursday before new year's eve, when all of the sudden, i didn't feel like myself any more. i couldn't stop shaking, and i was making these weird little panting faces. mom and dad were set to go out to a party (mom looked good) they had been looking forward to all month, but mom realized she should probably stay home to make sure i was ok. she thought that i was shaking because, i'm a naturally anxious little dog, but then my legs weren't working too well, so mom made dad go get dr. jp next door. we're lucky to live next door to an awesome vet who works at a vet er. he came over promptly and said to keep an eye on me and make an appointment to see an internist soon, like tomorrow.
so mom stayed home with me and was only a little bit resentful that dad got to go and get wasted with all of their friends, but she made up for it by ordering fried chicken, goat cheese salad and a brownie sundae- hey, it wasn't new years yet.
dad came home very, very intoxicated, which was funny until it got to be annoying because, hello? couldn't he see that i was still shaking and not my pretty, little self any more? mom let me sleep in the bed that night, things were pretty bad and she won't admit this to me, but i think she was afraid to wake up and find me dead in my crate the next morning. i kept shaking all night, unless she held me really tight, only then would i relax, but then after about five minutes i would thrash about and try to get up, only i didn't know where i was going and my legs, they didn't work so good.
the next morning we all woke up and mom and dad's friends had stayed the night and they all ordered breakfast. i seemed a little bit better, but then as dad went out to pick up the food, i started tremoring really bad, and my eyes drifted up, my mouth opened and i was panting weirdly and then i started foaming at the mouth. mom freaked out! i mean, freaked the heck out! thank goodness mom's friend sue was there and was like, lets go to the animal hospital and mom was like yeah- but i still have my pajamas on and i'm not wearing any underwear (her hair? atrocious!). mom scrambled around the house, getting ready and mom and sue were going to take a cab, but dad came home and drove us to the hospital, leaving all the food for sue and her boyfriend.
we went to the animal medical center in new york city. this is a fancy schmancy animal hospital where people can take their pets in an emergency. mom and dad are very thankful it exists. they are also very thankful that mom made an appointment for later in the afternoon that they just bumped up when we got there, because an emergency visit is damned expensive ($500 to walk in the door). dr jp was there, and visited with mom while they were taking care of me in the back. mom was a little embarrassed because she hadn't brushed her teeth, or her hair, or applied makeup and oh, she was crying.
the doctor's took very good care of me and told mom and dad that i needed an mri (yup, they have those things for dogs too). they also wanted to do an ekg on me because of my heart murmur, to make sure i could take the anesthesia ok. the ekg was normal and the doctor was so nice that he didn't charge us for it. i think he felt guilty because he had to send us all the way out to long island to get the mri, because their mri machine was busted. mom and dad drove me to long island vet specialists where i met a lot of very nice doctors and nurses. my neurologist was dr. dewey, who (mom likes to say), literally wrote the book on canine neurology (dr. jp gave it to mom to go through the other day, it's his text book from cornell). dr. dewey was very nice and answered all of mom's questions and was very honest with mom and dad.
they did an ultrasound to rule out a liver shunt, when that came out normal, they did the mri. while i was out, they shaved my back and did and spinal tap as well, to test for inflammation of the brain and spine.
let's count that, ekg, ultrasound, mri and a spinal tap all in one day. did i mention that i weigh about 10 pounds and am only 15 months old? they found the malformation at the back of the skull in the mri and gave me some steroids, to help with the pressure on my brain. dr. dewey told mom and dad that some dogs respond well to drug treatment and some dogs need to have surgery to remove the malformation to ease the pressure on the brain. we go back in a month to see if i will need the surgery, and for now, i'm almost back to my old self. mom is worried about the steroids though, she doesn't want me to start growing more facial hair and have my voice deepen like champ's.
mom and dad think its a good thing i'm so darn cute.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
i heart new york
so, in case you haven't heard- the transit union workers are on strike. i'm torn- part of me hates this because hello? inconvenience and possible chaos is not that fun- the other part of me is supportive, because it must be kindof a sucky job where you don't get much respect and spend most of your day underground, seeing more rats than sunlight. but then again- most everyone is paying for part of their health insurance in some way or another and no one is getting 6% raises a year. i'm just hoping that this is not long and drawn out because people can't sit at a table and properly negotiate. i hate the mta, as i've posted before, i don't want to hate the transit workers as well- and if this thing goes on much longer its gonna be hard to keep on being sympathetic. and i don't even have it that bad. it takes about an hour to walk to work, which sucks in the freezing cold, but is doable. although yesterday i was exhausted when i got in- walking in the cold, with all the layers and breathing in that cold air, really makes me tired. but i certainly don't have it as bad as most people who live in the boroughs or surrounding area.
kpr drove me to work today, because i am a very lucky girl and we picked up a hitchhiker! sooo exciting. ok- so the guy wasn't a hitchhiker, he was just someone standing on the corner looking for a cab and he looked pretty normal, and non serial killer like (i know, i know, serial killers look just like you and me), so i told kpr we should pick him up. i rolled down my window and asked him where he was going and he said 'grand central' i said 'get in!' it was so weird and random, but seemed perfectly natural. we chatted about the strike, and traffic and such, and then when we got close to grand central he and i hopped out and he insisted on giving kpr a twenty- although it was no skin off our nose- so wine money!! hooray!
so many people are riding bikes, roller blading/skating, walking, carpooling- it's like an environmentalist's dream come true. i know its a huge hassle with all of this going on, but i think it would be interesting if the city passed legislature that limited the number of cars on the road, encouraged people to carpool, especially in midtown. we'll see what comes out of this.
***************************
i was interviewed recently by a writer from the charlotte observer. he read my post regarding us air (they suck monkey balls) last year at christmas time.
names have been changed to protect my identity- teehee! you can go to the actual article here
Never again-- well, at least not for a while
so, apparently, i'm a crybaby (what can i say, airports make me cry), i use language unsuitable for a family paper (yes!), and i'm not very eloquent (see last quote, uggh, please, couldn't i think of anything better to say? gah.). but i'm happy to join the club of people who have been interviewed because of their blog- imagine how blogging has made journalists jobs that much easier. no longer do they have to search for people who have had certain experiences or hold certain opinions- they just have to google the idea and bam! the interview subjects just line up for ya!
kpr drove me to work today, because i am a very lucky girl and we picked up a hitchhiker! sooo exciting. ok- so the guy wasn't a hitchhiker, he was just someone standing on the corner looking for a cab and he looked pretty normal, and non serial killer like (i know, i know, serial killers look just like you and me), so i told kpr we should pick him up. i rolled down my window and asked him where he was going and he said 'grand central' i said 'get in!' it was so weird and random, but seemed perfectly natural. we chatted about the strike, and traffic and such, and then when we got close to grand central he and i hopped out and he insisted on giving kpr a twenty- although it was no skin off our nose- so wine money!! hooray!
so many people are riding bikes, roller blading/skating, walking, carpooling- it's like an environmentalist's dream come true. i know its a huge hassle with all of this going on, but i think it would be interesting if the city passed legislature that limited the number of cars on the road, encouraged people to carpool, especially in midtown. we'll see what comes out of this.
***************************
i was interviewed recently by a writer from the charlotte observer. he read my post regarding us air (they suck monkey balls) last year at christmas time.
names have been changed to protect my identity- teehee! you can go to the actual article here
Never again-- well, at least not for a while
TONY MECIA
tmecia@charlotteobserver.com
Last year, Tanya Churchill, Drew Bendler and divinemissk publicly stated they'd never fly US Airways again.
This year, all three say they're still steamed at the airline for last year's travel fiasco, and that they avoid it when they can. But in 2005, they've all flown US Airways again, or plan to.
Airline experts say they're not surprised, because leisure travelers tend to buy tickets based on price, not service.
"If it's a duck with a chair on its back and it's cheap, they'll take the duck," said aviation consultant Mike Boyd.
Here are the three travelers' stories:
• Steve and Tanya Churchill of Holly Springs, outside Raleigh, told the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle they'd never fly US Airways again after the airline lost their luggage for three days -- including a car seat for their 9-month-old daughter.
Tanya Churchill says she threw away the couple's Dividend Miles cards.
This year, though, she booked on US Airways because its tickets to Rochester were $100 cheaper than on rival carriers. She's planning to check as few bags as possible.
"It was either I go US Air, or I don't go," she said.
• Mailman Drew Bendler of Pennsauken, N.J., told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last year: "I'm done. I won't fly US Air again." He had waited at the Philadelphia airport from Christmas Eve until 7:30 a.m. Christmas Day to try in vain to find his teenage daughter's luggage.
This year, his daughter is flying in from Missouri on Delta Air Lines, and Bendler says he didn't even look at US Airways' fare.
Earlier this year, he did fly US Airways to Miami on a "quick weekend trip" -- with only a carry-on bag -- but only because his brother made the travel arrangements.
• Last year, New York actor divinemissk wrote a blog entry, which recounted her frustrations when the airline canceled three flights to Columbus, Ohio, where her parents live. She says mean employees made her cry at the airport, and she never made it to Ohio, though her bags did.
"i hate them i hate them i hate them," she wrote. Other entries are unprintable in a family newspaper. (this is possibly the greatest quote i could ask for!)
divinemissk, 20something, says she wound up on a US Airways flight to Las Vegas this fall, though, after a previously booked flight on America West was discontinued, and it moved her to one operated by US Airways. She hadn't heard that the airlines had merged, but she says she has no plans to fly the airline again if she can avoid it.
"You lose trust like that, it's hard to gain that back," she said.
**************************so, apparently, i'm a crybaby (what can i say, airports make me cry), i use language unsuitable for a family paper (yes!), and i'm not very eloquent (see last quote, uggh, please, couldn't i think of anything better to say? gah.). but i'm happy to join the club of people who have been interviewed because of their blog- imagine how blogging has made journalists jobs that much easier. no longer do they have to search for people who have had certain experiences or hold certain opinions- they just have to google the idea and bam! the interview subjects just line up for ya!
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