For My Friend…
Here is today's post....as promised to a good friend of mine.... 
Verb the noun!
That is all. 
Zombie Dogs
A quick disclosure: this has absolutely nothing to do with Ashley and my dogs.
I am not entirely sure what to think about this. Apparently, scientists at the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh have succeeded in re-animated clinically dead dogs. You can read more about it in this Fox News story, but the gist of the story is that they drain the blood from the dogs and replace it with a very cold saline solution that chills the tissue down to near freezing. The dogs can be kept technically dead like this for somewhere around 3 hours, at which point the saline solution is replaced by extremely oxygenated and glucosed blood, with little to no side effects in the good cases (although the bad cases have severe physical and mental problems).
At first I thought this to be a hoax, but after some more research, I found the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research website that seems to vaguely describe the program. Looks like the research is being partially funded by the Navy.
The Wonderful World of Socks!
Socks are great! In fact, they are better than great....they are fabulous!! Today, I am wearing socks #30 and #5...and no, they don't match (BTW, the socks were prenumbered. I did NOT number my crazy socks!!) Today the socks I'm wearing have big blue stars on one and light blue little stars on the other. For those of you who were not at movie night last night, I received two sets of the mismatching socks that are the craze these days. So, I now have 14 new socks and no two socks are the same. They are absolutely wonderful 
These socks rank up in the "Best Gifts I've Gotten this Year" category. But the story I got with these socks is priceless as well.
So, I was checking out the socks and the cashier held them up and smiled. Then she asked, "And how old is the person you are getting these for?" At this point, I'm sure a deliciously wicked smile slowly spread across Amy's face as she replied, "Oh, she's in her mid-twenties!" I can only imagine what the cashier's face looked like!
Isn't that just great? In case you didn't notice, I have a sock fetish. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's because of the pressures to conform to the expectations and rigid dress code set down by society for working women that drives me to act out in any way I can, with socks being an acceptable medium. Maybe it's because I got tired of wearing boring old white socks. Maybe it's because I simply like the feeling of soft, comfy material between my toes (toe socks of course!). Or maybe it's simply that I'm a crazy woman and my socks are the door to my strange personality.
For as long as I can remember, I have been rebelling against what people have told me I had to wear. I'm sure my mother would wholeheartedly agree that this was indeed the case in my childhood. Over the years, as I have grown up and become a mature adult**lol**, I have managed to tone down the wardrobe a bit. This coming from the child who has been picking out her wardrobe since Kindergarten. Apparently, there were many days that I simply chose to stay in my pajamas or wear completely mismatched outfits to school. I guess that was just not a battle my mom was willing to fight....maybe that's because she knew she would lose. However, there must have been days that she put her foot down because the wardrobe did get toned down....otherwise I'd probably still look like Punky Brewster with her crazy hair-dos and bandannas. 
Yes, in my infinite wisdom, I have come to the conclusion that crazy socks are okay....and if I can, I will try my best to influence those around me and bring out the sock fetish they never knew they had. After all, there are worse addictions than crazy socks!
Thanks for the socks Amy!!!!
You’ll be seeing less of me!
But that's a good thing, I promise! You see, I had a doctor's appoitnment this morning, and just so you know...I didn't have any problems getting the door to open Anyway, my doctor informed me that I had lost a total of 11 pounds since April! I almost fell out of my chair. For those of you who don't know, I was recently diagnosed as glucose intolerant, or as having pre-diabetes. So, as you can probably guess, this is a really big deal for me.
Over the past few months, I have been watching close friends on their own journeys to weight loss. I must admit, for one in particular (you know who you are) I have been extremely envious. There were many talks and sharing of tips, and I finally got off my butt and hired their personal trainer. It was very frustrating and things seemed to be headed no where. My frustrations came to a head when I started seeing my doctor on a monthly basis. Especially since during one of those months I managed to gain 6 lbs. It was horrible. That was about the time we found out about the pre-diabetes. However, instead of letting this news devastate me and totally control my life, I have turned a lot of things around. And I have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself. Not only did I lose those 6lbs, but I lost an additional 5! Sorry if it sounds like I'm bragging a little much, but this is an exceptionally important part in making sure that I don't develop full-blown type II diabetes.
This transition would have been a lot harder if I had not had the support of my wonderful husband, great friends, and loving family. So, thank you guys for being so supportive, especially to my husband. Poor Jonathan has really been tested on this for better or worse, sickness and in health thing! Everyday, he came home, not knowing whether I was going to bite his head off or be passed out on the couch because I was so sick that I couldn't do anything else. I'm not sure how he managed to come home everyday to that, but he did and I'm very grateful. I truly couldn't ask for a better husband. And a special thanks goes to my parents who have been full of great advice and many much needed diabetic cookbooks and recipes To my friends, thanks for caring and looking out for me. Now the group has a pre-diabetic and a hypoglycemic, we'll be the ones sticking together at the food table debating on what we can and shouldn't eat I look forward to it! Strangely enough, I feel on my part at least, that commonality between the two of us has created an instant bond of understanding and friendship. Hope they feel it to! By the way, I have some recipes you might be interested in trying
Okay, I'm through with the sappy thanks you's and wishy-washiness! You can all dry your eyes now and get back to whatever it was you were doing prior to being sucked into what was meant to be a rather short post discussing my weight loss