Design

New Design

I changed my template.  You like?  No matter.  I like it, so I don't have to do a survey to make myself feel OK with it.  Which leads to the house ... I think we're going to leave it as is.  I actually like it in many lights, just not the glaring sunlight.  We definitely need to darken the deck a lot, but after that's done, the landscaping is in, the architectural features are up, and the new garage doors are installed, I think it'll look nice enough.  

Busy Week

D is in Denver for business through Tuesday.  Then Wednesday through Friday I'll be watching Avery, Elise, and Nolan (including travel time) 11:00 - 4:30. Friday our friends from Denver are coming into town.  Saturday night we'll go out to dinner with them; Sunday we're heading out to do wine tasting with them; Monday I shop for my elimination diet. 

Elimination Diet

In order to reduce my fatigue, the NP wants me to do an elimination diet wherein I eliminate all categories of food that represent the bulk majority of food allergies for three weeks, then slowly bring them back to see if I have a reaction to any particular category.  What can't I eat for the first three weeks, you ask?
- Gluten grains
- Dairy
- Soy
- Corn
- Eggs
- Nightshades (potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers)
- Red meat
- Peanuts
- Coffee & all other caffeinated beverages
- Alcohol
- Sugar (added sugar and honey; sugar in fruit is OK)
Of those, the following will be easy to do without: alcohol, coffee, peanuts, and all the nightshades.  Everything else will be difficult, either because I like it so much, or because it's just in things that are easy/quick to eat.

My preparation as of tonight has been to eat a massive number of Whoppers since I won't be able to do that soon.  My stomach feels like it's about to burst.  It doesn't help that I washed them down with about 24 oz of milk.  Egads.  Stupid. 

Dogs

Eddie's hanging in there.  He had a bout of accidents in the house that brought me to the edge several days ago, but he's been doing better since then.  He's accepted the dog run as a pooping place.  I decided that we needed to shell out the money for an additional crate so we have one inside and one in the garage.  I was hoping to get away with not buying another since it's doubtful Eddie will be with us more another year at the most.  However, in the end, I know that I will grow to resent him if I don't make him sleep in the garage (Turtle gets banished as well to keep him company) to avoid most in-house poop accidents. 

I am constantly muttering to myself how I'm done with dogs.  Of course, I love Turtle and Eddie, but the constant hair in the house and feeling of having them underfoot gets to me.  That, however, does not stop me from wanting to bring home other dogs.  I was at PetSmart getting Eddie's second crate.  They had a bunch of rescue dogs there.  One was a chihuahua/beagle mix.  Sounds like a nightmare, but she was the calmest, sweetest, cutest little girl.  She just wanted love and was so sweet.  Since I don't normally like small dogs all that much, I was surprised that I had to mentally talk myself out of taking her home.  I was never in serious danger, of course, but so sweet!  Which reaffirms that I do love dogs dearly.  I'm just ready for a break from the hair and the mess and the responsibility of it all.  Turtle and Eddie are such good dogs most of the time.  I shouldn't complain.