Happy Birthday to Chester!

It's April 10th.
That means that "Lil' Nell's Chester Alan Arthur III" turns 2 years old today!
Go HERE to read about the person our puppy is named for.  Quite an interesting fellow he was.
I am related to Ellen Lewis "Nell" Herndon Arthur(Chester A Arthur III's grandmother).

Here is Chester's puppy photo from the breeder for the pet shop where we found him........

And here is Chester on the ride home when we picked him up just after he turned 6 months old..........

And Chester this morning trying to get a photo of him but he does't hold still for very long these days........

And a few seconds later rolling on his back like a nut, trying to get Cinnamon to play with him..........

Happy Birthday little man!
You are a most excellent dog and add so much to our family.

A nice piece of meat is on the menu for your Birthday dinner. 8-)))

Sluggy

Aggrafretted & Blah

"Aggrafretted" is a made-up word my mother's boyfriend use to use.  Yes, he was an old country boy who never finished high school and he had a habit of making up his own vocabulary.  I believe it's a combinations of aggravation and being frustrated.....at least it seems to me to be that.

So again, I have been feeling aggrafretted lately!

*  Dealing with high school cashiers at Weis(PMITA)Markets.  I should know better than to set food into Weis on a weekend, when these young part time job cashiers are working.  They generally don't know the store policies and are likely more than not to screw something up.  I just should avoid the grocery store on weekends and save myself the aggravation!

*  Again, with the cashier incompetence......bought some items at Ollie's end of the week.

These Country Time sparkling lemonade packs were 75% off, reg. $1.99 each, on sale for .50¢ a pack of 8 cans.
So I checked my receipt after checking out and the cashier had rung up 5 packs instead of the 4 packs I had bought.
I got back in line(no CS desk at Ollie's)to get this corrected and that's when the wheels fell off of that bus!lolz
Cashier seemed to know what she was doing in general but since it was a clearance return she didn't seem to know what to do to credit me .50¢ back on my c/c.  After what seemed like hours, she arrived at a return of $1.58.  $1.49 + tax of .09¢(even though being food there was no tax charged on this item to begin with).  I wasn't about to stand there another half hour while the line grew behind me(only cashier open)and the sighing got louder and louder so I just signed the danged receipt and left, paying a total of .42¢ for ALL 4 packs of lemonade.  8-)))

*  I have been off the crazy pills almost a month now after weaning off them slowly over 2 weeks time.  The good news is I haven't killed anyone(though the voice in my head does yell, "Off With Your Head!" at certain people, in certain situations....but then again, isn't that normal?!?).  I also don't go off on manic or depressive jags. 
I do however suddenly get teary at unexpected times.  I am not one to cry at sad movies, etc. but I began to blubber while watching "The Voice" last night at one moment.  This happens infrequently and isn't a big deal but now I am wondering if I have PBA(pseudobulbar affect)and I had a brain injury or stroke I don't know about.
Yes, it's always something around here. lolz
The bad news with going off the crazy pills is that I am still experiencing shaking.  I just have a suspicion that the shaking is neurological so I've got testing in my future.
FUN.

*  I can not WAIT for my daughter to graduate and LEAVE!  I love her but.......
She's 26 years old.
She's highly opinionated(gee, where does she get that from!?!?)
She's a smart ass(ditto the last comment).
She's got Senioritis.
She's been a big old PITA lately.

Hubs and I are constantly looking at each other when she leaves the room and commenting, "When is she leaving?!".

She has been difficult to live with lately and I am already making plans in my head for making changes in the house once she has left the building.


*  I gave Hubs a gift card to Dickey's BBQ at Christmas.  Hubs went out earlier today to run some of his errands and I mentioned it would be a good thing for him to take that gift card and pick us up some 'cue for lunch to bring home.
So I go online to see what I want him to bring me and dadgummit!! our Dickey's has closed up!!!
BBQ places just don't have a chance around here as they all go the way of the dinosaurs.  The only place here is Smoky Bones(a Darden chain)and I don't consider that either bbq or a good deal for the price.
sigh. Now we have to save that gift card to use on a trip.
 So aggrefretting..........

Thank goodness I am a woman of simple needs so I can balance out what aggrafrets me with simple joys like sleeping in, finding change, playing with Chester, keeping track of our spending(math geek!), blogging, etc. and a good stiff drink now and again.

            Chester with his "girlfriend" in his bed.

What keeps you sane in this crazy world?

Sluggy, who is counting the days until Graduation

Random Stuff Lately at Chez Sluggy

* I haven't been feeling well lately.  I had my semi-annual primary doc visit last week and all my bloodwork/tests are great!   I am in good health for a woman of my age in my condition......besides my symptoms of aging(shaking of my right hand, arthritis and pain in my neck/shoulders/hands)and on top of my chronic HS symptoms which ebb and flow in no predictable manner.

But lately, I've been battling anxiety as well.  So after a long talk with my M.D. he put me on an anti-anxiety med and it's knocked me for a loop.  Fatigue, dizziness and muscle pain and soreness have kept me from getting much done for the last week.  I went to the grocery store a few days ago and it wore me out and I had to take to my bed for the rest of the day. ugh.
Hopefully these side effects will go away with time....if not, I'll talk to the doc and try a different medication.
A different doc put me on Prozac years ago when I was having a really rough patch and it about made me crazier than I felt so maybe these mood changing meds aren't for me and my body chemistry?
I am not ready to dismiss this new drug out of hand though because it seems to be helping some of the arthritis/shooting pains I get.
Like I've been told, "Getting old isn't for sissies!".  Truer words were never spoken! ;-)
So if I miss a day or two posting it's just that I'm feeling poorly here and there.

* I think I won't be buying anymore diapers to resell locally.  Not having a problem selling them but MAN!....the assholes you have to suffer along the way to the actual buyers!  People flaking out and not communicating well with you and then not showing up(those get reported to the moderators).

And then there are the down right creepy ones.  I had a guy message me about diapers a couple times and then he said he was at a party(this was a Sat. night)and he wanted to meet me at midnight after he left this party to do the deal. WTF?!?  We worked it out and met in the afternoon at the Weis parking lot(lots of people around)but I did take Hubs with me in the car just in case.  It was a youngish guy(well of course if he has a baby in diapers)but he still gave off a creepy vibe. lolz
And then there are the messages I get that go like, "I want diapers, are they available?"  Ok....what size/type do you want? Give me a CLUE so I can tell you if I still have that size!  And when you respond they either don't answer or they ask you 300 questions about the diapers like they have never bought diapers before.
Maybe this is feeding into my anxiety, dealing with these nimrods. 8-)
What I have left I think I'll put away until Summer is over and then sell them in the Fall.

* I was all out of Dill Weed so I told the Daughter to write a note on the erasable calendar on the fridge that I needed to buy some.
Here's the note she wrote.......

Yeah, she's a smart ass.....

*  Speaking of weed....hehehe.....I had a strange looking plant pop up amongst the tomato plants in the garden.
Anybody know what this is?

It's a vining plant  and the leaves are sticky.

*  Back in May, after Daughter put the window a/c unit in her room she noticed banging behind the screen that accordion's across the window, attached to the sides of the a/c.
Seems a birdie built a nest on the windowsill next to the unit.  You can see part of it in this shot I took....

 The eggs hatched and daughter got this shot of the almost grown babies in the nest before they flew away.

I encountered one of those baby birds the day they left the nest.  I was out in the garage doing something and had the door open when I heard a chirp chirp in the garage.  One of the babies was standing on a might unsteady pair of  legs at the front of the garage.  I shooed him out and he hopped under the evergreen tree out front before trying his wings again and he flit up onto the branch of a maple tree and disappeared.

*  The night we had steaks I gave Chester a bone to see what he'd do with it.

Well let me tell you, after sniffing it a bit and poking it, he thought that was the best thing since sliced bread! lolz

I watched him of course to make sure he didn't chew off a fragment and swallow it(he's got tiny teeth so little chance like the Shepherd/Husky who would have chewed it up lickety-split).

After he had pretty much stripped it the Daughter tried to take it from him and he actually GROWLED at her!  It's the first time Chester has threatened anyone like that.
So we let him take it outside, where he promptly found a hiding spot for it under a pile of leaves next to the side of the house and left it there for later.  After he went inside I retrieved it.  Yeah, I spoil all his fun......

I'll be over here working on closing out June's financials, working on my To-Do List some more and getting the July giveaway ready to launch.

Sluggy