Denver Aquarium

Cameron just hates sharks, but we saw a lot of them!
Cameron looking scared b/c we were getting close to the shark exhibit! PS I made that scarf!

Dorie and her friends.

I love love love this purple fish, I named him Morado the sea-man!

Cam has always wanted to see this since he learned about it when he was small. It's a Japanese Spider Crab, and boy was it scary and mean looking. It decorates his shell with stuff from the ocean, this one didn't as much...just with moss.

My fav the seahorse... this is a pot-bellied one... and he was sooooo cute, moving his tail all around seaweed and such. His snout is my fav part!

We had fun with Laura-Beth and Steve, and then we went and the girls stomped the boys in pool!

Ash Wednesday

Lent is about mortality and transformation. We begin the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday with the sign of the cross smeared on our foreheads with ashes as the words are spoken over us, "Dust thou art, and to dust thou wilt return." We begin this season of Lent not only reminded of our death, but also marked for death.
The Lenten journey, with its climax in Holy Week and Good Friday and Easter, is about participating in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Put somewhat abstractly, this means dying to an old identity—the identity conferred by culture, by tradition, by parents, perhaps—and being born into a new identity—an identity centered in the Spirit of God. It means dying to an old way of being, and being born into a new way of being, a way of being centered once again in God.

Happy Ash Wednesday People!

For more info, google Lent or Ash Wednesday.

Good weather

This is our friend Chris who asked Emily to marry him!!! They are getting married in Norman June 2! We will be there! This pic is while they decided to "steal" aluminum cans and take then to the can bank. They made $30 somthing and bought pipes with them.... oh boys.

I need to take advantage of the good weather. It won't stay for long. It feels like it's 60, but it's really just been so cold that 45 apparently feels awesome! I worked out, walked the dog, washed the car, and now i am gonna take Schnooze to the dog park! She'll love it!



My friends Michael and Lisa love Harry P as much as I do! But it made me sad when we started talking about the new book and movie coming out in July, and I don't remember a single thing from books 5 and 6. So, this morning while I rode the stationary bike... I started to re-read Harry P 5. I am starting to remember it again... but it will make me super excited for the movie!



Cam has been real sick. This morning he even thought he was going to have to stay home from school (which he NEVER misses school)... but after some good ole drugs, he was on his way to Den Sem.



Schnooze is still recovering from Habib, but I think it did her good to live with him for 4 days!

She is much stronger.



Don't forget people that tomorrow starts Lent with Ash Wednesday. What are you going to give up to become closer to God. My friend that will remain nameless and some other girls... decided to go along with me several years ago and give something up. They all messed up but pretended like they were still going on with the giving something up..... until I caught them. You know who you are, and I know where you live :).



So today is fat tuesday and at the Y they were making free smoothies for people. While I was reading on the bike.... there was a little girl with a nursery staff member, and they were looking for her mom. They called her overhead like 3 times, and they looked everywhere... even the bathroom and showers. Where was she? It made me nervous, but there was nothing I could do. I told the girl I had a puppy and she could hang out with me, but I think she just wanted her mom. I will try and follow up with that when I work out next.



Now I am going to take advantage of the nice day!

Habib the silkie

Habib is a teeny little poot eating my foot!
This is his little bottom... he could take a bath in the water bowl he's so small!

I am smiling, but let me tell ya... that freaking bite kills. I swear my ear was bleeding.

He looks so innocent.

Schnooze finally started playing with Habib, and I think they had fun.

Habib Gungor is a silkie terrier. We babysat him for our friends while they went on a trip to Cali. He is only 2#s and 3 months. The plane ticket was gonna be $180 and the kennel won't take him til he's 4 months. So we were the best choice! He is soooooo cute and sooooo sweet! I just love him. Besides him peeing in the house and biting my face off... i love him!

Valentine's Day/Night

I had an interesting day yesterday. I actually got up and worked out! I cleaned the house. Then I called my friend (whose jeep got stolen out of their driveway in a nice part of Denver) and told her I was on my way over tot ake her to Whole Foods (since she had no way to grocery shop before her fam got here from PA I offered). I love Whole Foods. I bought Cam seom fresh ground honey nut peanut butter. Anyway on our excursion, Matt (em's fiance) called and said they found the jeep!!! So, I took her to the impiund lot (very ghetto I might add, not as nice as the ones on CSI). Em and I stayed in the car until matt got there. Keep in mind it was crazy snowing and traffic was about the get mondo bad (rush hour in denver is from like 2:00-7:00). Anyway, so we get to the counter and they say... oh too bad, they called you all the way down here, and there is a hold on your vehicle for fingerprints. WHAT!?!?!? Why didn't they tell us that before? So, em gets in matt's car, and I drive out of the ghetto behind them. Don't worry, It only takes me AN HOUR to get home. Boo.

So, I was supposed to be kicked out of the house so cam could set up for vday, and this was his chance. I got home at 5:30 and was sent straight to the office. I got his stuff ready while he was in the kitchen. I come out to see the Melting Pot in my living room!!!! I LOVE THE MELTING POT!!! We had some fancy cheese fondue with veggies and bread to dip in. then the kicker... turtle chocolate with fruit and cheesecake to dip in! Cam also got some very nice pinot grigio and had roses at the table! He had the foot bath all set up and rubbed my feet, and let me pick a girly movie from on demand! Way to go Cam! I am in the works of making homemade vanilla icecream with (his fav) crumbled up thin mints in it!!!! YUMM-O!

The night was amazing! Even though cam thinks he is getting a sinus infection...boo.

Yeah for husbands!

The FW Zoo

This is a pic in front of the Cannon house before we left for the airport sunday morning.

This was our trip to Plano the first week of Feb. L to R: Alec 11, Cameron 23, Liz 25, LeaAnn 25, Blake 26, David is taking the pic! We were at the Zoo in Ft. Worth and it was a little nippy (hence all our outerwear).

We got to see lots of very cute animals, and a weird crocidile looking thing that i thought was a statue, but was real, with very sharp pointy teeth.

oh my husband

This pic is after he jumped, and he is in the shower.
This is during the jump into the 30 degree water in the pool at the Cannon house.
As you can see he is all geared up with very facy gear: tights that wick away water, socks, shorts, a thermal undershirt, and a dryfit tshirt, not to mention the gloves and bike helmet!

He ran straight from the pool to the shower and jumpe din with all his clothes on.

He said he was numb for awhile. Hmmm?

That's my husband.

Thank goodness for the handy man

I put this pic, b/c I want to send a shout out to these peeps. I miss them.
Our hot water heater was making weird noises Thursday morning, but the office ignored us. Then when we got home, the pilot light was out in our heater (and it was cold outside) + the noises. Normally a pilot light wouldn't be a big deal, but we need some new part. I slept with 100 blankets. Then the office people sent someone out yesterday morning, and he took one look at the hwh and said we needed a new one. Thank goodness we live in an apt and dont have to pay for it!



I am also a big dork and bought some brillo pad like things so I could scrub the things under the burners on the stove. they were encrusted with black hard caked on baked on boiled over food. they are now silver and shiney! I am now working on some pans that are the same way! Boy I am exciting!



Cameron FINALLY got to turn in his 17 page paper. So he is done with his january intersession class and can focus on his normal 13 hours. He is currently mountain biking with his friend, the extreme (steve)...cameron is pancake.



I hung out with my friend Lisa yesterday. She is cool. I think she must be famous b/c she writes songs and is in a band and all that cool stuff. But the most famous part about her, is when she goes and sings, she actually gets a Green Room!!!! She's so cool. If you wanna see something really gross that might make you throw up (this is what we saw yesterday online) go to: ebaumsworld.com and search butt pimple. Then Lisa, Cam, and I went to Noodles and Company. Their mac and cheese was outa this world!



It is supposed to snow monday and tuesday. Boo. They said on the news there has been snow cover for 53 days... the record is 62 days in '83-'84. I think we'll beat that sissy record.



I think the Synthroid is starting to take effect!!! I want to call it the 'roid... but then it sounds like I am talking about hemmorhoids... which I most certainly am not.

My dear friend the pet rescuer

I feel like I am becoming just like my dear friend susanne. Which most of the time isnt a bad thing. She used to live in a place where stray dogs were magnitized to her. She would take them in, name them, and then cry when she had to take them to the pound/dog rescue place. We always had to reassure her that they were going to find a great home, and NO pounds killed the unwanted dogs. I remember a specific dog named Barney, and even I was sad when Barney had to go. So, back to the story at hand. yesterday I was at work when the wound care nurse shows up with the cutest puppy that you ever did see. It was a Yorkie and she found it in her neighborhood, and no one claimed it for 2 weeks. it was a little boy and he was using his puppy face to win me over. apparently he had been to someone else's house and didn't work out with their dog, so he was back looking for a mom. well, cameron happened to be dropping a starbucks drink off for me at that time, and saw the little booger. We will call him Snickerdoodle. Snicker won cameron's heart over, and cam said we could have him for a TRIAL RUN. Well, snicker and schnooze DID not like each other. I don't know the full story, but cam called several hours later, and we had to bring Snicker back to the hospital. A wonderful family (of a respiratory therapist) took him. Snicker now gets to play with a 7 year old boy!!! I loved Snicker and he was soooo sweet. This is a pic of what he looks like. More like the one on the right than the left. He has real floppy ears!

Anyway, the synthroid has not kicked in yet, and I am anxiously awaiting the day that I have full Liz energy again.

It is 58 degrees outside today (a miracle in itself) and all the snow is melting away. I almost died when I saw someone riding their bike along the river. There's a river in Englewood leading to Cam's school..... I almost forgot! But the bad news is that it's supposed to start snowing again this weekend. But the highs are in the 40's... so maybe it wont stick?!?!?!?

Schnooze spent the weekend at Uncle Steve's and behaved until she peed and pooped on Scott's rug. But she's feeling a lot better, and was very excited this morning when I took her out and she could see the grass and walk on it! It is much softer than that nasty hard packed snow she's been walking on for forevers.

Hashimoto's Disease

This is Hakaru Hashimoto. In 1912 (Fig. 8-1) Hashimoto described four patients with a chronic disorder of the thyroid, which he termed struma lymphomatosa. The thyroid glands of these patients were characterized by diffuse lymphocytic infiltration, fibrosis, parenchymal atrophy, and an eosinophilic change in some of the acinar cells.(1) Clinical and pathologic studies of this disease have appeared frequently since Hashimoto's original description. The disease has been called Hashimoto's thyroiditis, chronic thyroiditis, lymphocytic thyroiditis, lymphadenoid goiter, and recently autoimmune thyroiditis. Classically, the disease occurs as a painless, diffuse enlargement of the thyroid gland in a young or middle-aged woman. It is often associated with hypothyroidism. The disease was thought to be uncommon for many years, and the diagnosis was usually made by the surgeon at the time of operation or by the pathologist after thyroidectomy. The increasing use of the needle biopsy and serologic tests for antibodies have led to much more frequent recognition, and there is reason to believe that it may be increasing in frequency.(2) It is now one of the most common thyroid disorders.

Hashimoto's is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks the thyroid.

Today I went to the Endocrinologist. And I found out I have Hashimoto's. Apparently my parents gave it to me, since it is an autoimmune disease. Boo for genes sometimes. Anyway thank the Good Lord it can be treated with hormone replacement therapy (Synthroid). Just 1 pill a day at bedtime. She did another ultrasound to make sure she knew exactly what was going on. It was not multi-nodular like the other doc said. It was what Dr. Panzer called "moth eaten". Basically it had some pits all over because my body is eating my thyroid. And she did say I have a goiter, but it will get better with the meds. It is not a big goiter...don't be alarmed. And no it's not big enough to dress up or put bows on it.

The doc was really cute. She asked where I got my hair cut b/c she needed one. And she moved here from Boston about a year ago with her husband who is a Cardiologist. He cracks open chests and does implants. Anyway... she said he was looking for nurses... and I said, hey give him my name! How cool would that be? Anyway, come to find out, she has a mini schnauzer too, and his name is something like schnoopy :). They are from germany and did their schooling there. Then they went to Cleveland Clinic for Residency, then Boston for Fellowship, then moved here because of his job! Anyway, she has Hashimoto's too, and I really like her. We might even set up a play date for our dogs!

So, also I forgot to tell you that Schnooze got sick like before AGAIN on sunday. It was another $650. Boo. I brought home 24g IV's and IV fluids in case it happens again. Also we finally got to take our car in to get fixed and have been driving a rental car... a Mazda 5. It makes us want a new car soooo bad.

We go to Plano tomorrow for Lea Ann's birthday!!! Yeah for home!