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Hello there! Sorry I haven’t posted in a week. It’s been pretty busy here … I’ve been to a writing workshop at church, Color Me Mine to paint pottery, therapy, and a marathon 2 1/2 hour session with Safari Sally. OK, it doesn’t sound THAT busy, but for me, it is.

Today, though, Ben and I went on a date. We started off by going to lunch at Benihana. Man, it tasted SO good :) Then we went to the mall. It was pretty crowded in the shops and noisy in the food court, so we didn’t stay that long. We went to a movie, though; we saw “Reign Over Me”. I recommend it! Ben pointed out that the 9/11 reference was a cheap shot at gaining the empathy of the viewers, and I agree, but I’ll forgive them that. And then we came home at 7:30 and there WASN’T any poo on the floor! Yay!!! :)

It’s been a good day.

Ben turned 28 yesterday! (You’re hearing about it belatedly because winter came back and gave us six inches of snow, some of which leached into our microwave antenna and killed our wireless.) Anyway, here’s a rundown of how we spent our day …

We started off with BBQ, fresh from South Carolina! (Thanks, Mom!) It was very tasty.

Then, we moved on to dessert. I made a Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake for the occasion, and Ben seemed pretty happy with it ;)

Ben got several presents from our families — in addition to BBQ! — and had fun opening them, too …

… and then he got to open the ones from me! :) I tried to make this birthday a really special one, because last year I had no energy and got Ben a pair of gators and a mountain biking book and that’s it. Sorry, Ben! Here he is opening his new ice skates …

… and then his whole outfit! Thanks for the shopping help, Dad! (He and Mom took me shopping when they came to visit.)

Now, the dogs. Chaco likes to help open presents:

But he also really, really likes to lick our wood stove. I don’t know why. He just started this past month, and lately he’ll start licking it whenever he’s bored in the living room. ????

Bonzo is a whole ‘nother SOMETHING. He’s got major housebreaking issues (house*breaking* as in he pees inside so much he’s “breaking” our floors), but yesterday and the day before he did something *really* bad. Ben and I had fondue (yum!) and soaked in the hot tub, and when we came in I went downstairs to get ready for bed and Ben went into Bertha’s room to do some fish-tending. He heard a “weird noise”, and decided he better come check on Bonzo … he was STANDING on the dining room table, licking the chocolate out of our fondue bowl! Dark chocolate! The kind that’s poisonous to dogs! It didn’t seem to have any effect on him, though … no puking or diaherra-ing in his crate. He was fine. (Can’t you tell I’m thrilled? I don’t want him to die, but I’d appreciate it if he got the message that eating our dessert isn’t OK!) The next morning, we did our usual routine plus the housebreaking stuff that Sally recommended, and I let him off the leash while I worked on Ben’s cake. When I heard a weird noise … he was doing it AGAIN! Four paws on our dining room table, snout in our fondue bowl! At this point, I was rather frustrated that Ben hadn’t removed the bowl from the table, but it was his birthday, so I let him off the hook. Bonzo, however …

It is really warm here! March is the month *before* “mud season”, which lasts two months; in April and May, the snow melts and everything is gucky. But now, it’s SO warm here and it’s only March! I like it now, but I’m worried about what the summer’s going to be like if this weather keeps up.

And strawberries must be in season, because you can now get them at the supermarket for $2/pound. Mmmm. Fondue, here we come! :)

Safari Sally came yesterday; she was very nice (as usual), but when she heard my stories about Bonzo, she decided we better revert to “housebreaking”. Sigh. Bonzo, what is the matter with you!?!? I told her my story about Chaco barking at the TV, Bonzo peeing on the stairs, and Chaco taking Ben’s sandwich, but I left out a part on my blog; Bonzo peed four more times after that! Inside! Grr! We’re working on it. If you happen to know where I can buy some more patience, though, please let me know; I’m running low! :(

So, tonight Ben and I settled in to watch a little Cops before bed. (Yes, we watch Cops. I rather enjoy it; it’s not the most sophisticated show, but it’s exciting.) Chaco really likes it, too; tonight’s episode took place in Florida, and the perp (the bad guy) was swimming away into the ocean when a K9 unit came to the rescue. The K9 swam out into the water and got him.

Which is when Chaco jumped at the TV. Which is verboten/disallowed/just plain old bad! Ben yelled at him and he slunk back to the couch.

Which is when *I* noticed Bonzo peeing on the stairs. The railing, actually. Which is REALLY bad! He’s not allowed to do that! I yelled at him and sent him right outside to do his business elsewhere.

After I’d cleaned up the pee and Ben let Bonzo back in, Ben went to get his grilled cheese sandwich. He had a late dinner, and was enjoying it in front of the TV. It wasn’t there! CHACO!!! I ran out of dog food yesterday and he’s been hankering for anything he can get his paws on, despite the bowl of Kibbles ‘N Chunks I fed him this morning.

Argh.

MY SUR-PRISE

Ben returned early from Las Vegas on Sunday; it wasn’t quite as profitable as he’d hoped. On Friday, he went to PMA (I don’t know what it stands for), a photography convention held at the convention center next to the Renaissance hotel where we stayed two trips ago. He told me on the phone that he’d gotten me a surprise from a printer with a $34,000 printer.

“Does it print in 3 dimensions?” I asked. “I’ve read about those!”

“No,” he replied. “It’s cooler than that.” Well, he was right …

I can’t believe they make these! COOL! :)

WITHDRAWING FROM CLASSES

Not much to say here, but yesterday I went to CU and officially withdrew. :( Sad, but for now, it’s the right thing to do.

ART CLASS

Safari Sally got into a car wreck and couldn’t come today, so instead I went to Naropa University in Boulder to check out their art class for aphasics. :) It was fun! It’s totally free, there are tons of real artists around to help you out, and other stroke and brain injury patients dabbling in painting and sculpture. I made a painting (and left it there to dry :( ) … maybe I can scan it for you next time so you can see my artistic talents. Just kidding :)

Greetings from the Land of the Frozen! Much of the town of Nederland (and Boulder! ;) showed up for the Frozen Dead Guy festival yesterday. Brr, was it cold! We took a break from our 50-degree days, and it snowed. We only got about 2 – 3″, but it all fell while we stood outside watching the events.

My friend Rebecca joined me, and we first watched the parade. It’s a Nederland-sized parade; it goes up First Street and that’s it. It took longer for the parade participants to assemble than it did for them to process down the street. No matter, though; it was pretty neat! There was a hearse “train”, which I imagine is the highlight of the year for the hearse drivers. The coffin race teams also marched; these are my favorites. They’re a team from Manitou Springs, CO, which is the only other town in the nation to have a coffin race. They celebrate somebody whose coffin exhumed itself from the ground and slid down the mountain into town.

After lunch at the pizza store (which was incredibly busy … geez louise), we headed to the site of the coffin race. Six people carry one person in a coffin. Two teams go head-to-head on the course, which features a bar that they must navigate underneath, a Chinese-fire-drill (which is when they put the coffin down and all change places), a trip down the slide by the Dead Person, and a flight over some handmade snow “bumps”. The Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event, did a good job — the event was well-organized, safe (to my knowledge), and fun!

In this article, Scientific American describes the first clinical trial using stem cells to treat stroke.

Unfortunately, I presume they’re not actively looking for volunteers, and even if they were, my strokes occured in the center of my brain — not an easy place to get to with a needle to inject the cells. Also, I suspect that they want folks who are permanently paralyzed or the like so that it’s easy to spot improvement. (Although I do suspect that you could easily spot improvement in me if you could return me to my pre-stroke state!)

Yay for stem cell research!