Oh wait. It's because I almost DID get hit by a bus.

So, on Tuesday morning, Adrian and Ben were walking me to work like they almost always do. Ben was being a neurotic idiot like he always is. If I haven't mentioned it, he has picked up several new bad habits since the move - namely jumping on the walls chasing lights and reflections, and barking and lunging at buses.

Living in the city, buses are a fact of daily life. On Tuesday morning, Ben saw one such bus and went crazy - to the point of tripping me as we all walked through a construction area. I thought I would catch myself but....I didn't. I hit the concrete. Hard. I hit the concrete hard right next to the bus that Ben had gone crazy after. Adrian said I was maybe a foot away from being hit by it as it turned the corner and as I rolled (unintentionally) the wrong direction toward it. I ended up with a swollen, bloody knee and scraped-up palms. Oh and tears. Lots of tears.

That was Tuesday morning. After work Tuesday, in addition to being sore, a migraine began. I ate Ramen noodles and drank a glass of wine and called it a night, hopeful that the much-predicted snow would hit and that the much-guaranteed migraine would not.

Wednesday I woke up to a snowy day and a splitting migraine. Back to bed I went for a few hours to sleep and ice it off.

Thursday, the migraine was gone and the knee was feeling better but I realized my ribs hurt pretty stinking bad from when I fell. They were tender to the touch and PAINFUL when I sneezed.

Friday night, as we were getting ready to go hang out with our refugee family, my back suddenly spasmed up and brought me to tears. A couple hours later, we were fed some traditional Nepali foods in honor of Deepawali - a big Hindu celebration they were having. Although tasty, it. was. freaking. spicy. I'm ashamed to say that though I consider myself semi-cultured and well-traveled, I most certainly was not prepared for the heat or the amount of food they offered, and well....I hid some in my napkin. That junk was screwing up my mouth, my stomach, my body's natural heating and cooling system....

Fast forward to a couple hours later and as I'm trying to, *ahem* get rid of the spicy food, my back spasmed up even more and left me hobbling from the bathroom into bed where I cried over the miserable state of my human flesh. My body is a temple that feels like it had a wrecking ball taken to it every day this week.

So, here I sit in Adrian's chair. I have the computer on my lap, a heating pad on my back, indigestion in my stomach, a throbbing knee and sore ribs. I'm feeling peachy.

Did I mention that on Wednesday, Ben jumped on Adrian's face while he was working out and scratched his eye? Needless to say, the dog has not been enjoying lots of praise and cuddles this week. Why should he, when we both suffered at the hands (paws?) of his neurosis?

So there you have it - THAT'S how my body feels this week.

My disciplined husband has been doing P90X faithfully for a month now. Each time he does it, he makes sure Ben is on the porch before starting, because Benny is a little bit...uh.....helpful.....anytime one of us is on the floor doing something that looks like it could be a fun game. He is both curious and overly playful.

The other night, I was cooking dinner while A was doing P90X stretching, so I left Benny in, figuring I could keep him out of A's way. I underestimated Ben's desire to be in the middle.of.everything. As soon as A got on the floor to do one of the exercises, Ben was there. I grabbed the camera to try and capture what it looks like when both of my boys do P90X together.

Exercise: Through Ben's eyes:

"Hey, wouldn't this be more effective if I provided a little toothy motivation?"

"You think you're flexible? Look at ME! I can stretch and balance at the same time!"

"I'll show you how to turn stretching into playtime!"

"No? Not helping?"

"You do your stretches. I'm going to sleep - what a workout."

 So there you have it. P90X - it's for the whole family!

Yesterday, I stayed home with a migraine.

Today is our sixteen month anniversary AND Benny's 4th birthday! We've been planning all week on celebrating Ben's birthday together (the first time as a family - A would never admit before how much he loves our little mongrel, and therefore wouldn't agree to any celebrations) and on having a good date night out. Also? It FINALLY feels like beautiful weather and I wanted to go out and enjoy it!

Instead, I have what feels to be the beginnings of a yucky sickness, complete with a headache, super-sore throat and mild fever. And Ben....poor Benny. He woke up with a spider bite, one eye swollen shut, a swollen nose and itchies all over.

So today looks like this:  
Beautiful weather + anniversary + Ben's birthday = a great day
Beautiful weather + anniversary + Ben's birthday + me sick (again) + Ben sick + an unexpected trip to the vet = a disappointing, wish-I-wasn't-always-sick-on-fun-days day.

On the bright side - Ben has pills to pop and I can find some for me too. I'm going to salvage this promising day if it kills me. Which it might. It really, really might.

In the absence of any babies or otherwise cute subjects in the house (kidding, my husband is cute, just not happy about being constantly photographed), you can expect to see one furry little model A LOT as I play with my new Canon T2i camera!

So, without further ado, a few of the first few pictures on my newest little gadget :)

I'm not feeling very eloquent or funny or witty today. At the moment, I just feel like I have a headache and I want to be home with my husband, making dinner, watching a movie, cleaning the apartment and playing house.

It's been crazy busy with little down time, it seems, since we got home from SBC. We were dog-sitting last week for friends of ours (who watched Benny boy for us while we were in Florida). It was fun having him there, but exhausting trying to corral two dogs! I'm thankful the Lord worked it out so that I didn't go get another dog a couple years ago when I wanted to have two! I got a couple pictures and videos of them playing, but unfortunately the one time they laid down together (literally: ONE TIME) I only had my phone and it's crappy camera to capture it.

The other night, I suggested that A trying petting Ben, our dog, while he was eating. Ben has lately gotten quite psycho about his food - something he hadn't ever been before. His attitude toward food used to be a "take it or leave it" mentality. Notsomuch anymore. Lately, he's really fixated on you when it comes time to fill up his bowl, will sit and wait perfectly for you to release him to eat, but will whine and warble if you make him wait too long.

So anyways, a couple of days ago, A tried to pet him, and Ben got growly at him. He became stern with him and popped him a little, and Ben calmed down, but continued wolfing his food. Last night, as A was walking a movie back to the store, I was feeding Ben and decided to try to pet him.

Just like the night before, he got growly at me. I told him 'no' and continued to pet him as he ate, and he got even worse. I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and he went nutty on me. After throwing him to the ground, and grabbing all four of his legs, he snapped at me. I picked up his food and made him "sit" and "watch me." Once he started to behave, I put his food back down and tried again. Again, he got snarly at me - worse than I have ever seen him before. Enough so that he scared me. I put him in the dark bathroom and waited for A to get home (not without a slightly-hysterical phone call that left my husband really afraid we had a rabid dog that would have to be put down).

After a stern talking-to, A let Ben out and gave him the rest of his food and tried to pet him some. Ben got a little vocal again, but A just told him "No" and he seemed to stop. Later, so I could go to bed and not be afraid of the dog I have had for 3 years, I hand-fed Ben another scoop of food and worked mightily on obedience with him between every bite. We both did OK with that :)

So....any thoughts? Have any of you had a food-aggressive dog that you had to deal with? Other than hand-feeding and re-establishing my "alpha-ness," any suggestions? Ben needs to know I'm the alpha (he understands that A is....but I think he thinks I'm lower in the "pack pecking order" than he is), so I try to assert that all the time with him.

Other than this, and some on-leash anxiety about seeing other dogs, Ben's turning out to be a decent dog. Last night's little episode just really scared me. So, any suggestions, other than continually messing with him while eating, establishing my dominance and hand-feeding for a while, what can you recommend?

I don't want to live with a crazy dog! Especially this week - It will be just me and Benny for a few days as A has a job at a tennis tournament. Meanwhile, I'll be running around like crazy, covering all the fun events happening at SEBTS this week - BOV/BOT meetings, special chapel services and global missions week activities, to name a few. Then, Lord willing, I'll be heading to the beach for the day on Saturday with a couple of girlfriends to enjoy some sunshine and seafood! Hello spring :) You're crazy, but I love you.

Yesterday was the first day of March, so you know what that means - more snow....Yup. Instead of balmy spring weather, the forecast for our area is for snow tonight. I know it makes my Wyoming boy happy to see weather like this, so I'm okay with the snow, but I'm sure looking forward to spring time.

I can't wait to be able to walk barefoot and be comfortable, to sit outside on the deck and soak up the sunshine. I'm looking forward to family days where we can take Benny to the lake or the river and enjoy being outside together. I'm looking forward to being semi-tan and having someone to go to the pool with me.

Speaking of pool and the outside, Ben loves to be on the deck, and the only time he fusses is if he sees A walking to the weight room. Apparently that was the case this morning, when he sang a sad little song from his lookout, prompting the leasing agent to call me and tell me Ben wasn't allowed to be on the deck unsupervised, and she noticed he was because he was howling... What is it with my dog and decks? First I get threatened to have animal control called on me about him, and now he's not allowed to stay outside at all?! Ridiculous.

Also in the vein of the outdoors and weather - I've been thinking lately about how treacherous the weather is in February. 2 years ago, my alma mater Union was hit by a horrible tornado that, miraculously, didn't kill anyone. This year, we have seen the devastation in Haiti and Chile, caused by earthquakes. I know the Lord is sovereign and he is good, so is it possible these are tools to call people unto Himself, or are they only the result of living in a fallen world, riddled with sin?

Sorry my thoughts are so random and scattered. This is more "stream of consciousness" than I usually like to do, but honestly, I'm not feeling so great and it's hard for me to think logically and completely coherently at the moment. If you want, you can blame it on me being blond. I don't mind.

Speaking of being blond, I've been wanting to dye my hair dark but need someone to do it for me. Anyone with any experience care to tackle my mane? Maybe that will help the thoughts flow better - who knows?