Another Year Older

Hey, Everyone

Sorry I haven't been writing here much lately. I've been sick (flu/cold) and in pain (rib injury). Haven't really been feeling social. Plus, "sick and in pain" doesn't really make for an entertaining blog entry for you guys either. At least, that's what I'd assume. Maybe you're into that kind of thing. Who knows.

At the moment, Champions of Champions Elite is off the air which means that I'm on "hiatus" for an indefinite amount of time. In the meantime, I've reopened my Textbroker and Fiverr accounts (links can be found on my Official Webpage). If you have a writing project that needs a writer and wish to discuss it with me, feel free to write to me at littlezotz@gmail.com

I've also been hired by US Combat Sports as a reporter. I should be turning in my first article for them fairly soon.

So...that's pretty much what's been going on with me lately.

Also, my parents got Ramiro and me year passes for Descanso Gardens as a birthday gift.
That's a pic of the bridge in the Japanese Gardens section. Can't wait to go! I love it there. It's one of my all-time favourite places to go. Also, my mom thought it might be therapeutic for me to visit the gardens...

Hope things are going well with everyone else.

Until next time...

--Lauren*
http://littlezotz.webs.com

Sick Ziggy

Ziggy got beat up pretty badly by something the other day. When she came in Friday night for dinner, she was all sorts of messed up. Her eye, especially, was pretty gross, but she also had bloody spots all over her ear as well... She wasn't acting herself and didn't want to eat. And she wasn't yelling at any of us (very not herself!).

We think it may have been a "Mockingbird" that attacked her, but we're not sure. Ziggy likes to climb trees and there have been a lot of those birds around lately (and they've been making nests). Those birds have been known to be pretty vicious to cats in the past, especially when their nests are threatened, so it seems fairly likely. Also, we interrogated the other cats in the area about the incident and since none of them were scuffed up, we think they're in the clear. If Ziggy had been in a fight with another cat, she would have messed them up too, you know?

We've been trying to treat Ziggy's eye with an antibacterial cat eye ointment that we got. We think it's helping a little. The swelling has gone down and she's no longer pussing green out her eye. We've been trying our best to keep the area clean. It's still very sore-looking and she's still very squinty (as you can see from the pic above) and it's still leaky (but clear fluids now!), but it isn't all swollen and totally nasty any more.

However, her appetite is still down (though she did eat a little more today than she did Friday or Saturday) and she's been very cold. She's also been making a burbling sound and has a very "wet" cough. We weren't sure she was going to make it through the night last night. We've been keeping her inside and have been trying our best to make sure she gets a little water & wet food into her and we even wrapped her in a towel to try to keep her body-heat up.

Our vet is closed on the weekends, so we've been having to wait it out a bit. We're going to call tomorrow and see if they can squeeze her in. They were very helpful when Robert was ill last October. Fortunately, my parents were kind enough to give me an advance on the money I earn from fixing their bathroom (which is looking great, by the way; Ramiro saw it in person for the first time today and was impressed). I just hope it's enough. :( I accept PayPal donations...

Please pray for our baby girl.
Hopefully I'll have happy updates soon.

--Lauren*

Not Feeling Well

First of all, many thanks to those of you who have written and/or called me to wish me well. It's true: I haven't been feeling well lately. I've been in and out of the hospital with a string of "illnesses."

Early last month, I had a bit of a cold, but continued to go to work anyway. I was getting more hours and needed the money and I forced myself to keep going even though I kept getting progressively worse. The day before Thanksgiving, Ramiro ended up taking me to the hospital. My cold had turned into Pneumonia. I was forced to take some time off from work. (I haven't been back to work since November 23rd).

And, just as I was starting to feel all the way better (except for a lingering cough--which I've been told could stick around for another two weeks!), poor Ramiro ended up having to take me to the hospital again. With my zero immunity from the Pneumonia, I ended up catching a very bad flu virus that mainly affected the "violently throwing up" and "non-stop diarrhea" parts of my anatomy. NOT PLEASANT AT ALL! Ugh.

I'm out of the hospital now and on the road to recovery from all my various troubles. Except my wallet is a bit worse for wear. I've ended up having to spend much MUCH more than I made when I forced myself to go to work with a cold. And my dream of having a Saving's Account? Well... Maybe next year. I was only a few dollars away, but now I'm pretty much down to the "lucky" two-dollar bill I started out with. I'm trying very, very hard not to be extremely bummed about this and remain optimistic that 2010 will be better money-wise. *smiles*

On the bright side, my Thanksgiving went pretty well... I had Pneumonia and couldn't taste anything (and my diet restrictions meant I couldn't eat a lot of the "good stuff"--it was basically just an ordinary meal for me), but Ramiro came over and my mom's brother and his ex-wife. So that was nice.

And I'm very thankful for all the wonderful people in my life. Especially Ramiro. And my parents. And Ramiro's parents & sister. There are many many AWESOME people in my life, but those are the ones that I'm the most grateful for at this moment. You know that people really REALLY love you when they'll still sit with you when you're horrifically throwing up. Thanks, guys. I love you all so much. <3

Anyway, that's pretty much what I've been up to lately. Just...being sick. You haven't missed much! haha.

Hopefully my next entry will be something more fun!

Later.

--Lauren*

For Dummies

Okay, so I'm a bit sick right now. Haven't been feeling my Smurfy best for the past couple days. Not sick enough to stay home from work mind you (threw up, but no fever = usually not contagious to others), but sick enough where I feel pretty darn crummy by the time I get home from work.

On the other hand, not feeling well always has the advantage of slowing me down enough to catch up on my reading. Here's a list of what I have read or am currently reading as of late:

• THE LOW BLOOD SUGAR HANDBOOK by Edward and Patricia Krimmel
• HYPOGLYCEMIA THE CLASSIC HEALTHCARE HANDBOOK by Jeraldine Saunders and Dr. Harvey M. Ross
• THE DO'S AND DON'TS OF HYPOGLYCEMIA by Roberta Ruggiero (she's super nice--she sent me an e-mail not too long ago!)
  
• SUGAR SHOCK! How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life-- and How YouCan Get Back on Track by Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C, with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D.
• HYPOGLYCEMIA FOR DUMMIES by Cheryl Chow and James Chow, M.D.

Okay, I'm going to stop for a minute. That last book is by far the best in that list. I was very skeptical about the "For Dummies" series of books, but they are honestly fantastic (or at least the ones I've read so far have been!). They have good information and are written in a way that can usually make me laugh, or at least stay in a relatively good mood. This is important since most of the books I've gotten from them are about very "serious"/hard-to-deal-with subject matters (which some books make relatively depressing). In fact, the "For Dummies" book on Hypoglycemia is so good that's it's actually referenced in a couple of the other books on that reading list of mine!

I also have/read:

• BIPOLAR DISORDER FOR DUMMIES by Candida Fink and Joe Kraynak
  
• SPANISH FOR DUMMIES by Susana Wald
• SPANISH FOR DUMMIES AUDIO SET by Jessica Langemeier
  
• INTERMEDIATE SPANISH FOR DUMMIES by Gail Stein, M.A.
• STRESS MANAGEMENT FOR DUMMIES by Allen Elkin, Ph.D.
• BACK PAIN REMEDIES FOR DUMMIES by Michael S. Sinel, M.D. and William W. Deardorff, Ph.D.

Those last two came in the mail just earlier today. I read a few pages into each of them and so far they're both pretty good. I have high hopes.

Speaking of back pain, I treated myself to an early Christmas (maybe birthday?...since my family isn't exchanging Christmas gifts again this year) gift: A back massager for my chair. With heat!

As I write to you, I currently have a ThermaCare heat wrap on my back. Which is fantastic. But, I got to thinking: with all the money I spend on disposable heat packs, I may as well invest in something a tad more permanent. And, hey, bonus!--Maaaaaaaaassssssssssaaaaaaaaaage. I can't wait.

Ever since my back sprain last summer, my back hasn't quite been the same. I try to be vigilant about the exercises the Physical Therapists gave me, but it's hard. They're so time-consuming! But I try to at least do the twisty one for sure and maybe one or two of the other ones before I head off to work each day. But, lately, I've been having a lot of back pain in spite of things. So much so that it wakes me up at night. Hurts.

In other news, I'm working on a short black & white comic. It's going to be only about 4 or 5 pages long. It's "creepy." It may be for something or it may not. I don't know yet. But I'm having a lot of fun doing it and I'm sure that you'll get to see it either way. (Though don't expect it any time soon since they've increased my work hours and I don't have a lot of free time anymore...and what free time I do have, I'd rather spend with Ramiro).

Until next time...

--Lauren*