I was was feeling a bit depressed lately, and when I went shopping to get out of the house for a bit, I saw this butterfly ring and it spoke to me. Maybe my creative outlet was stuck, maybe the recent emotional encounters made me blue, somehow I needed a little up lifting and this little cheap ring did the trick. I felt freer and not as stuck. Whatever the reason, it helped and I am glad.
The big trip is finally here. Leaving in a couple of days. Leo is excited and anxious and nervous, I can tell. When we had breakfast at Eddy’s, he got unusually adamant about only using the tram and no, absolutely not, we are not taking the Taxis at all in Helsinki. I didn’t get argumentative about it but it did worry me a bit. What if I am exhausted and want to take a Taxi back to the hotel? Last time we went to Taiwan and we took the bus to Taipei 101 from our hotel, it was such an ordeal physically for me, I don’t think I want to go through that again. I have no confidence in my endurance after the stent any more. But we will see. Maybe I will be able to handle it this time. If not, I will do what I have to do.
Benny got a haircut today. He is still making noise when he breathes, sometimes better sometimes worse. The doctor never found out what the problem is. Maybe we need to see a different doctor next time when we get back.
Got DIYFISH personal LM 2.1 life mapping system and printed and cut the pages for my daytimer. They fit just fine. And the hole punch I bought for the Filofax works great. Saved lots of time with it today. I now have the calendar and paper to jot down the places we go and tidbits of information along the way.
Since I had the conflict with the studio’s receptionist, I have been in a funky mood. Not able to get out of it. When I stay home, I get really tired and stayed in the bedroom all day. No motivation to do anything. So I went out after breakfast by myself and did a bit of shopping. Hobby Lobby, Dollar Store, Office Max, Kohl. My mind wasn’t dwelling on the negatives that way and I actually was in a creative mood. Wonder if working out does the same thing to your brain.
Cant decide whether to take the backpack or the wheeled one. I never liked to use the backpack because of the weight. Even though it is much easier to get around, I’m afraid my back will not be happy. Still can’t decide yet. Tomorrow, we will get it together, tomorrow.
Took Benny to the vet again today to follow up on his gagging cough issue. The doctor still doesn’t have a definite answer just expensive tests. $430 dollars later, we are waiting to hear from her about the Xray, blood work and urine test. She suspected collapsing trachea but after looking at the x-ray she didn’t confirm, just said she will send it to the radiologist to look at it with a trained eye. Not really trusting this doctor. We have been back for the same issue for 3 times now and still just more tests and no diagnosis.
We do know however that we should put him on a diet and lose some weight. He is 22 lbs and overweight being a bichon. She suggested vegetables for treats. I just gave Benny some apple slices and he seems to accept it. We’ll have to see. Definitely need to reduce or stop the begging strip treat. I made some quinoa and soybeans for dinner, maybe some for Benny later as a treat.
The finland trip is coming up in 2 weeks. Whatever is happening to Benny, we won’t be able to do anything major till we come back early June.
There is a couple of geese that are protecting their eggs by the lake in the back. We saw a confrontation between the lone swan and the parent geese. One tried to lead the swan away from the eggs through the other side of the lake, but when he came back, the swan was still at his heels. The last thing we saw was the swan patrolling the edge in the lake while the geese looked on on the shore by their eggs. Nature’s war… The other swan that got injured a few weeks ago and taken away to be taken care of is not coming back because they said it’s not safe for it. So the lone swan now is really alone now. Poor guy or girl.
We decided to go to Saffron Patch in the Valley for lunch today. I had a good experience last time, it was the first time we went after they moved across the parking lot to a bigger facility. And I found quite a few things that I liked. So when Leo asked if I want to go this morning, I gladly said yes.
So after we went to Bestbuy and got a 2 TB internal drive for his UBUNTU system, which is a long story, we drove to the valley. The first thing we saw when we reached the door is a piece of paper taped to the door that says “Coupon is not accepted for lunch buffet”. We looked at each other and wondered if GROUPON is considered a coupon. So when we went in we asked the receptionist about it, she wasn’t sure. A guy that looked like he’s in charge of something was busy talking on the phone and signaled to us to wait. We waited. After a few minutes, a third person was signaled in to confirm that as the note on the door says, coupon is not accepted for the buffet and that means GROUPON also. By this time, I just wanted to be seated and don’t really care whether we can use the GROUPON or not. I guess there were people that left when it was turned down maybe and that’s why they wanted to clear that before they seat us.
We were seated on the side at a two person table by the aisle. Went and got our food and sat down to eat. During which time there were people up and down the aisle like they were workers for some project in the restaurant. They did not carry tools, but they were in and out the restaurant constantly. There were also 3 serving staff that are busy waiting tables. By this time, I was getting a bit rattled by the number of people walking by, whether it was the customer going to the buffet table or the servers wandering around or the workers coming in and out taking people to the back. If I expected a relatively quiet lunch, it wasn’t going to be. I have been there before though, and it was not like this. Maybe it was where we were seated, which is right by the aisle that everybody seemed to use.
So I started to pay attention to those that passed us. The workers probably went in and out at least 10 times and at last I saw them going to the buffet to get food. hmmm. One of the servers just seemed to be wandering around mindlessly. She may be new there, she was trying to pay attention to the customers at the tables, but she would walk up and down several times before she brought a water pitcher out, go back, come out and wander a while before she noticed the empty plate at the table. In the end, she passed our table several times when we were done and the plates were gone and we just sat there and she walked on without asking or bringing our check. We waited at least 5 minutes and asked for the check and waited another 5 minutes before someone else brought our check.
All in all, it was not a good experience there for me. I don’t usually complain a lot at the restaurant. And I didn’t either when we were there. But it just was too hectic there today. I don’t mind if other customers were going for the food, but it was the workers and servers that are distracting the dining experience. This is the first time I realized that a well run restaurant and its staff can give you a very well taken care of feeling without looking ‘busy’. But a not so efficiently run restaurant makes you feel busy and hectic just sitting there trying to eat.
Hopefully, it was just a one time experience. Otherwise, I will have to think twice about going again.
Signed on to do more work for the studio for more private lessons. Spent a few days and nights there to observe and learn their business workflow last week. A bit overwhelmed. Lots of things to absorb and need to learn Mindbody quickly too in order to make educated reports and troubleshoot problems. This is well within my skills set as I have dealt with these things before when I was working, but to learn it and be functional in a week is a bit stressful.
This keeps me busy and my mind occupied, as I have been constantly thinking about the practices and how they can be improved. And also the Mindbody software is new to the staff and information isn’t 100% accurate yet. That creates some additional problems in troubleshooting. But things will settle down and reach a reasonable pace. Just wish it’s there already.
Once in a while, Leo and Tido would get into a bit of a stand-off. Here is one example. I had to grab the iphone real quick and Tido was on the move, so the quality is not good but hey the picture itself says it all.
Hosted this blog at home for a couple of years. Unfortunately, the hard drive failed and the backup didn’t have the mySQL databases. So I lost about two year’s worth of postings. Decided to come back to wordpress.com for the blogging part of it anyway. Like the freedom of hosting at home, but don’t want the hassle of keeping up with the updates and backups for the blog. This may be a good compromise.
Spent a few days knitting and watching the olympics. Admiring the expertise and skills these athletes have in their sports and their dedication to obtain perfection. Also feeling so sorry when they fall and thus ended their dream of winning a medal as the best of their field.
The two new homes are built next door. It is not going very fast due to the weather I assume. Can’t blame them though, who would want to work in this near zero weather. This completes the building of this development, the last two lots and soon the sidewalk will be all connected all around our neighborhood. That would be a good thing.
The only thing is it’s so close to our building, I wonder what the wind tunnel effect would be. I guess we’ll have to find out later.
This morning Tido was doing his usual thing bugging Leo. He has chosen Leo to be his ‘person’. And he follows him around the house and wouldn’t leave him alone all day. The only time that Tido would be with me is at night when I allow him to sleep next to me under the cover to be warm. Other than that, he is relentless and wouldn’t leave Leo alone. So here he is, resting comfortably on Leo being stroked and held by his ‘person’.
Yesterday we went to Vasili’s in Akron to try their Greek food. We passed it on our way to Summit Mall so many times, and every time we said to each other, we should try it. And we did. Leo needed to go to sign some paper at the medical center off of White Pond and he made it a surprise for me and drove to Vasili’s for lunch.
The place has a little 50’s flavor with tile counter right when you get in. The waitress was very friendly and we can see the cook/owner? behind the counter cooking the kitchen. I picked the appetizer sampler from the entry menu, and Leo picked Musaka, and chicken rice soup and bean soup. The sampler was good but a bit salty for me, and Leo offered to switch. So we did. I liked the musaka, and Leo liked the sampler. So we were both happy. I asked them about the small coffee mugs displayed. And she explained that it’s like the Turkish Coffee, boiled on the stove and strong. I decided to try it with Tiramasu. I like the coffee but the tiramasu was still half frozen. All in all, it was a pleasant meal. The parking lot was a different story. We almost slipped and lots of people did too as we sat by the window and watched them slipped and slid on the walk way and the parking lot.
After we got home, I felt pretty good and decided to go and get a trash can from Bed Bath and Beyond, get an inside and out carwash for Leo’s car and visit Joann for some stamping inspiration. I managed to do all of them and came home when it was almost dark.
All in all a pretty productive day.