"What Shadow?"

Once again, we have no idea which groundhog to listen too. The PA groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow; the Staten Island groundhog, Charles G. Hogg, did not. Now Phil has been around longer, but Charles bit the mayor. Who to believe...tradition or one that takes no crap from the government?!? Since there's two inches of fresh snow outside, I should believe Phil, BUT it's supposed to go up to 54 degrees this Saturday. What a quandry!

Speaking of shadows, my Shadow is not doing so well. His original bad leg is really pretty bad. I now only let him out on a 15 foot lead that I hook to the clothesline when he steps out the back door. This has limited his racing away or jumping at the squirrels and neighboring dogs. I took him off his pain killers (not the anti-inflammatories which he needs from now on.) I may start him on them again, but I'm not sure if they take away pain and then he misuses the leg. I'm torn. Silly dog has also got into the habit of going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. He sits by my bed and stares at my head as he quietly whines. He's too cute & pathetic to ignore, so we do a nightly traipse outside. Ugh! Good thing I love to go back to bed for a couple of hours. Which brings me back to an old memory...

When I was dating Bill about 18 years ago (gulp! I'm old!), I had gone to Germany for the weekend. Bill was staying at my apartment taking care of my dog Buster. When I called him one evening, he asked me "Why the _ _ _ _ does your alarm clock go off at 4:00 am?" To me it made perfect sense. My reply "So I can get a couple extra hours sleep in the morning before I HAVE to get up." He should have known then what he was getting into.

Life is busy as I write this. Work is slow but I am becoming a W2 employee for ML's third party vendor. It seems all these years as an Independent Contractor was not a proper category for me since my duties and time were dictated by the office. All this means is that I will now get my taxes taken out of my check and -- good news -- I would be entitled to some important benefits such as 401K, life insurance, and I believe disability and unemployment if things got rough down the line.

Logan is busy too. He spends a bit too much time texting his friends, but I'm hoping this is the honeymoon period of popularity. Ironically enough this Casanova spends most times texting between Katie, Hannah, Julianna, and I believe Ashley still texts occasionally. Valentine's Day is coming up in less then two weeks. His school is selling "Be Mine" bracelets similar to the famous Lance Armstrong bracelets that were very popular years ago. Logan will get one and maybe by then, know who to give it too. Ahh! The problems of young love!

I'm doing well with my exercising. Really enjoying the Jane Fonda Workout that I do from a book from the 80s. It is a well-rounded work out. The Latin dancing is a bit too complicated but we still try to stab at that since walking is becoming a bit difficult this time of year between ice, darkness, and cold air. Hoping to hit the 60 lb mark before my big birthday next week. It will be my eleventh anniversary of my 30th birthday.

That's it for now folks. Be sure to add a comment so I can see who is keeping tabs of me.