4 weeks of Physical Therapy I feel almost human again not tentative about reaching for anything or lifting anything more than 5 pounds. Nice to be almost pain free!

I LOVE the Dog Whisperer!!!! He has also made my life better. I have two horses in rehab - one for a tendon injury, one for a ligament injury and I can safely walk and control two horses AND my dog together for our daily exercise walk thanks to Cesar. It's amazing.

Going to turn on the TV and see if there's a new episode airing. Thanks for the idea!

Cheers,
Michelle

The doctor scaring the begeebers out of my wife.Told her she was a borderline diabetic,had high blood pressure and high c------------ .She has become a fanatic about healthy lifestyle living.I have gone along with her in that regard and feel so good people think I am a nut case-Whistling and/or singing as I go awandering all over the place.

For you, hoovb, it's the Dog Whisperer who made your life a bit better lately.

For me---it's simply: "my dog!"

I have been so down about the weather that today when I saw the weather clip of a man on his roof shoveling the snow, I felt a little better. Oh, Mexico, New York!!!!!How Awful!!! Are any of you caught up in that?

I do like the Dog Whisperer too.

Sammy

Yesterday, the high temperature was actually above freezing and the wind was moderate. I was able to go outside for a while.

On Saturday a film crew arrived and shot a commercial at our house. They were great. It's for one of those Learning Channels "Life Lessons" promos (you know, like the one with the woman drinking wine and typing at her computer maniacally "life lesson number # : don't write emails when you are drinking"). So we'll be seeing our living room, dining room and entry hall on TV.

The crew was really fun. They took bets about various aspects of our house, then asked us to see who won. They gave us unlimited access to their craft service, and were meticulous about caring for our house and putting things back where they belonged. They had to remove our artwork from the walls, and hung their own (to avoid clearance problems), but took good care of our stuff. The location manager was very cool.

They filmed in two locations over two days. They wanted to use my daughter's room, too, but were worried about not being able to get the necessary equipment in the room. So they used another location, but loved her room so much, they literally copied everything in the room just the way we have it, or so they told us. I'm looking forward to seeing that one!

You don't pay any income tax on up to 14 days' of location fee income. Only 13 days left for this tax year!!! So, how shall I spend the extra cash?

Paris, anyone?

Hiring a laywer to help finish up with my grandmother's estate. Tension is leaving my neck and I'm sleeping much better now.

And having friends who travel and are willing to have me tag along as a family member.

Hail Cesar! I have a huge crush on that dude, and I'm the Alpha Queen here with goofy longing aren't-you-awesome looks from my pack since trying his techniques. Furbabies are seriously a huge huge bright spot always for me; thanks for asking :)

School is nice. I'm using those grey cells and feeling that nerdy rush of a challenge, things to solve - my mom and her puzzles always comes to mind. And a trip to Europe is required... what's cooler?! Except for being away from the afore-mentioned furbabies.

My thumb doc is awesome and funny and brilliant. I think I'll ask if he's married ;]

I bought a bunch of pretty seeds too, and my zone-eighter plants are all doing fine this winter. Ah, now for spring!

I love the Dog Whisperer. At first I thought it was just a gimic but then I watched a few episodes and was amazed. It gives me such hope to see him work with dogs that have much worse problems than my own dogs. I miss watching it since we had to cancel cable.

That's so cool about the commercial Debra. How did you get in touch with them? You must be a great decorator. I don't think my home would look like much without the artwork on the walls.

As for me, I've been playing online computer games. The expansion for World of Warcraft just came out and I'm addicted again. I just hope I'll be able to break away from it again this summer to take care of my garden properly. But it's awfully nice to have it right now since it is too cold to do anything outside and thinking about gardening makes me want to order more roses which is something I can not do right now.

Athena, my brother is addicted to that! He had to warn my sister to never get started, lol. He has a seasonal job at a river, with a little snowboarding instruction on the side in winter, so he's cooped up in the Baltimore chill most days this season.

He's not a gardener but definitely the outdoors sort. It is interesting how many folks have to change their interests over winter.

I do usually cook a lot in winter. Cookies sound great. But I made a huge cassoulet that took 3 days to make at Christmas, and I don't believe I've turned on the oven since, lol.

Hoov, your post made me think about the good things that are happening in my life. I would have to say my weekly band practice is making things better. I get to hang out with 5 nice guys, play loud music on my electric mando, challenge my brain to write and play and remember songs and get away from my regular life every week. Makes me forget about the rain for a few hours.

Joe, glad to hear you are feeling better in time for spring.

And I also love my furbabies. The are a constant amusement.
Kathy

Some of the fruit trees up here are starting to bloom which is nice.

One in particular, right along I-80 in the greenspace between Vacaville and Fairfield, has caught my eye for the past week. It's a small tree surrounded by much larger ones.

It's covered with purple/pink blossoms and it makes for a beautiful contrast to the other trees, which are still gray and barren.

I look for it everyday.

MichaelAT

Winter time - This time of year I don't know about making life better, but I do try to appreciate the little things that can make a day better, and say Thank You (maybe not out loud)

The silly chickadee bringing a smile with it's antics in a shrub by my carport I would have missed if I hadn't chosen just that moment to take out the garbage- that baby in the back of a grocery cart who makes eye contact and gives a big grin for no reason other than wanting a smile back...all thank yous.

Today, a bigger one. I've been arguing (negotiating) with the IRS since last May over what they said was a deficit in our 2003 taxes. Audit by mail, which meant countless phone calls, faxes, copies mailed, letters of explanation, and about every 6 weeks I'd get another bill where they were still unconvinced, penalties and interest accruing to about $4000 total. This morning, finally, a letter - "We are pleased to tell you we did not make any changes to the tax reported on your return."

I almost feel like my honor has been restored, I'm not a deadbeat or a cheat. And for all my effort, I may just buy myself some extravagant little thing :)

The ignornet coverage of my home town, after my southern wanderings, Mexico, NY. Why is it in the news? Must be a slow news day. Seems like a normal snow fall for a town in the snowbelt.

Now, I remember the storm of 1950 something etc-----. Blah! Blah! Blah! I do remember having to climb out of our second story window to get out of the house. Part of our house had a flat roof. Easier to shovel snow off of it.

Blah! Blah! Blah! That will teach my DW to laugh at our 4' corn, indeed!

My aunt who still lives in Oswego, NY is always sending us boring newspaper clippings of how awful the snow fall is. Now this year I can get even and send clippings to her from our newspaper. Hee! Hee!

In the same vane as silpat is parchment paper. Great for cookies, cakes and brownies and yes no cleanup when you are done. My kind of cooking!

The scrubbing bubbles shower cleaner which actually works, I must admit I was a sceptic, but I hate cleaning and scrubbing grout just sucks so now I don't have too.

An additional cat tree for the threesome. Furniture is no longer an object of affection. :)

Now if it would only warm up a hair.

I finally found someone who would rebuild my carbeurator for my 20+ little car. There it sat for almost a year.... People said "why don't you just junk it?" But I love my little car and it still looks very nice. The engine is in good shape, I didn't want to give up on it. Now its happy again and runs great. I drive it all over. People say " You never see these anymore" to me all the time. Just because it isn't a 'classic' everybody thinks I should have dumped it. Maybe that's why you don't see them around anymore.

My daughter getting well has made my life better. It's so stressful when your kids are sick, or anyone you care about being sick.

Carla

All the flower catalogues that I get in the mail this time of year always make me so happy. My dogs - Pickle, Pookie and Tiger - make me happy too. Oh, and watching movies on my iPod makes my long daily train ride enjoyable and this makes me, you guessed it, happy.