Man Save's Drowning Dog

This is a sweet story.  It's the first I've seen it.  It's from 2009.

http://www.bigredkev.com/2009/08/man-jumps-off-pier-to-save-drowning-dog.html

I created these two photos using my photo editor (the pictures were originally in black and white from the web that I grabbed, edited and added my own words to them).  I'll probably be doing a lot more of these.  It helps to keep me motivated with my workouts plus it fuels my creative side.  Eventually I'll use my own model (I'm trying to talk my daughter into it :) ) so we'll see...
I've been fairly consistent with my workouts and I have lost weight which makes me even more determined to carry on.  :)

I Hope I Can Keep This Up

I haven't been on my blog for a while, I know, I know, terrible of me.  Unfortunately I'm suffering from a really bad case of allergies again this year and the eczema has tried to pop it's nasty little head again but I managed to get it under control within a few days by using my handy dandy Red LED Light treatments.  I am so glad I discovered it, if you haven't read my previous blogs on the Red LED Light treatments and you are interested please refer to my older posts.  I wouldn't know what to do without it!  In deep do-do probably.

I'm back on the fitness kick.  I'm such a yo-yo, not dieter, but when it comes to working out and keeping in shape.  I'll start something get really pumped up and then the excitement fizzles and I'm back to lounging around reading and basically doing nothing.  I love reading there's no way I'm stopping that but I need to be more physically active.  This isn't good for me or for anybody.  This time I'm really back though.  I've been finding ways to motivate myself every day whether through inspiring pictures, quotes or music, every day I'm searching for inspiration to keep me on track.  It's a daily struggle but I'm going to keep at it.  Woohoo!!!

--

*Allene Angelica*

       =^_^=

A Murder In My Past

You couldn't believe my surprise when while surfing the web I found something...a portion of a court transcript.  A case that is a part of my past.  A past I don't recall, a murder of a woman I don't remember but related to by blood....

It's strange to see it in print.  Of course I've heard the stories and rumors but to see it in black and white for the whole world to see gives it a very surreal feeling...  I wonder now how she must have felt.  A tiny little thing.  She couldn't protect herself from the violence visited on her.  The children she left behind.  Some of whom have at least some memory of her, a smile, a look...  Some who can't recall her at all no matter how hard they try.  I've attached what I've found I've blacked out names and dates to protect the families, my family...

Please Don't Come in Here

She sat on her bed, her short pixie hair sticking up in places they shouldn't be, chewing on her already ragged nails. She recalled yesterday's events. She was walking down First Street doing some window shopping. The streets were lined with shops, restaurants and cafes. She liked coming here on her days off. She couldn't really afford to buy anything but walking here and looking in shop windows relaxed her, helped her think. Sometimes after a day on First Street she would drive home with a feeling of hope. But yesterday was different. She was walking along, her mind a thousand miles away, just present enough to navigate through the throngs of people that day. The last thought on her mind was "Is there some sort of sale today or something?" before she saw him. He looked exactly the same tall, well proportioned slim muscular body, his dark brown wavy hair cut short and he was looking down smiling at a cute petite woman listening intently to what she was saying, holding her hand. She was frozen staring, her heart thundering in her chest and perspiration layered her forehead. Someone bumped her and woke her out of her stupor. She looked around for an escape and ran through the nearest store entrance. Please don't come in here. Please don't come in here. Please don't come in here. She repeated over and over her palms sweating, lungs heaving but felt they weren't actually getting any oxygen. She stared out the store window watching them walk by. No one else in their world existed but them was the sense she got as they passed. She waited until she felt the coast was completely clear, left the shop and walked gingerly to her car looking in all directions paranoid she would bump into the happy couple. Once in her car she felt safe, cacooned in her private sanctuary, she started it up and drove home tears flowing freely.

*Allene Angelica*
=^_^=
Sent from my iPad

Sunday Morning

I woke up to sounds of my boyfriend in the shower getting ready for work and the song "Like A G6" playing on the radio. I jumped up on my bed and started dancing, pretending I was "Alex" from Flashdance and my dog Talon was Grunt watching me with his head cocked in a questioning angle. What a way to start my day...my blood pumping and a slight sheen of perspiration on my forehead.

*Allene Angelica*
=^_^=
Sent from my iPad

Trying To Get Back On Track

Here I sit a dripping sweaty mess, gulping down Gatorade and trying to stretch this body that no longer wants to cooperate. I jogged/walked, well mostly walked if truth be known, a little over a mile and a half tonight. It is a warm night...whew! A lot of people in the neighborhood are taking advantage of the weather and are out and about strolling here and there and basically getting in my way. It's time for me to get back on the working out bandwagon. Being hospitalized twice within six months of each other is no longer a feasible excuse to lay around on my rotund derrière and then there is the Summer season quickly approaching. Enough said. I do have the tendency to be my own worst enemy. I can derail myself from my goals so easily. I need focus. Focus Allene Focus!

*Allene Angelica*
=^_^=
Sent from my iPad

A Song I've Been Humming Since Sunday...

For some reason I woke up Sunday morning with this song swimming around in my head.  I hadn't heard this song in years so I looked it up on You Tube and watched the video and I've been humming this song ever since...it's so sexy.  Watching the video I was surprised to see a very young JLo.  I had forgotten she was in this video.

Caffeine Overdose

Thanks to the amount of caffeine I've had today, I am up at 2:08 am revising yet again the first chapter of my book. Ughhhh...when will it ever end!!!

*Allene Angelica*
=^_^=
Sent from my iPad

Parking Space Thief

There is nothing more irritating than coming home after a long day at work and finding someone else parked in your parking space. All the way home after work I was imagining my nice warm bed and my cozy flannel pj's but no I'm at a coffee shop down the street trying to calm myself because all I want to do is throw a fucking boulder through the damn windshield of that stupid car!!!

*Allene Angelica*
=^_^=
Sent from my iPad

iPad FYI...

For all of you who aren't aware...this happened to me this week and of course typical of me, I freaked out.  I have the iPad2 3G and earlier this week my iPad could no longer read my SIM card.  On the top left hand corner where it should be showing the signal bars and AT&T it showed "NO SIM".  That's it "NO SIM".  So I went into my settings and tried to access cellular data but it was grayed out, no longer in bold black letters.  Access Denied!    So what's a girl to do?  Well this girl called her brother freaking out...and he calmly told me to go to the Apple Store and have them check it, they will either repair it or replace it, it's still under warranty.  Off I went last night to the next nearest Apple Store because the nearest is closed for remodel.  Today I woke up with the sun shining and the birds singing a beautiful song, with my brand spanking new iPad tucked safely in my purse as I went off to work humming a happy tune.  The End.

--

*Allene Angelica*

       =^_^=

In The Middle Of A Set Of Chemical Peels

 Ok, I'm in the middle of a set of chemical peels. This weekend is my fourth weekend of peels. I've upped the ante. Now I'm doing a 35% Glycolic peel and I'm alternating with a Glycolic-Lactic acid combo peel with a 35% total combination. I've decided to do 5 weeks total this set. You're probably thinking I'm obsessed but hey when you get to be my age you need all the help you can get...hehehe... Doing them myself I feel I have control of the procedure and I don't feel like I'm throwing money down the drain. If I were to go to a medspa (which I've done by the way) it would cost $100 a pop, for 5 weeks that's $500 friggin' dollars. The medspas are raking in the dough. Cha ching...suckuh! I'm doing the peels myself for the total cost of less than $50. If you do decide to do these at home procedures please be careful and use a percentage that your skin can handle.

*Allene Angelica*
       =^_^=
Sent from my iPad

John Carter - IMAX 3D

This past weekend I watched "John Carter".  I watched it in IMAX 3D.  It was worth it.  There were so many things going on in the movie that I didn't have a second to be bored.  It is a fun entertaining movie and I'd like to watch it 2 - 3 more times to catch more of the details, as it was, I was busy concentrating on the characters and following the story line.  The beginning of the movie starts with a narration of Mars (Barsoom) and the conflicts of it's inhabitants, then off to New York to a millionaire, John Carter, who is being followed by a small nondescript man who John tries to shake off his trail in order to send a message to his nephew to come see him at his estate, then off to Arizona to a broke civil war vet, John Carter, who is prospecting for gold and finds himself in trouble with the law and then to Mars (Barsoom) where his life starts to become very interesting.  The background and scenery looked and felt authentic enough.  I imagine Mars to look very similar to how it was represented in the movie.  During one scene when the Princess of Mars, Dejah Thoris, was making her escape from an unwanted arranged marriage, or wait, maybe it was the fight scene when the evil bad guy was gifted with the power of the eight rays or whatever it was called, I can't recall at the moment, I had a feeling of deja vu.  Do you remember "Flash Gordon"?  A sci-fi movie from the 80's.  I must have watched that movie a hundred times when I was a kid ("the bore worms" although they never showed us the bore worms, the way the princess said it in "Flash Gordon", I didn't need to see them...I can just imagine the torture they can cause.  Ok, I've gone off on a tangent...back to the main topic).  Of course the technology and special effects has advanced since then but at that first moment in the flying ship I got the sense of having scene the vibrant colors, lighting, background, camera angles, I don't know how to put it, I don't know enough of movie making to place an exact finger on it but that feeling was there nonetheless.  Yes, I loved the movie.  It was thoroughly enjoyable and wouldn't mind watching it several more times.

--

*Allene Angelica*

       =^_^=

Consumed With Thoughts of the Past

So here I sit consumed with thoughts of the past.  I'm on the third 'Sara Woodbury" novel.  Her time travel series!  I love how she takes a part of history and incorporates it and transforms it into a fantasy fiction sci-fi type of story.  I'd never in my life been interested in the country of Wales.  I knew that it's a part of England but that was the extent of my knowledge.  When I read "Daughter of Time" it started a curiosity in me and I looked online for Cymry (Wales) and Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, the last Prince of Wales.  Reading her books brought Llewelyn back to life and turned him into a hero of Wales, a unifier of Wales.  Someone who I rooted for, not only for him but his descendants and trusted allies, as well.  He was someone who in reality was betrayed by everyone around him but in her books he had family and trusted allies who loved and cared for him.  Rather than just the cold hard facts of a history book, her books took the facts, read between lines and imagined a different life for our tragic hero.  Where in reality he was betrayed, beheaded and his head set up over the gate at the Tower of London for over 15 years without a son to carry his vision into the next generation, the hope of Wales as an independent country died with him, in her stories he lived, he loved and begot an heir.  What can I say, there is something compelling about sword fights, battles and intrigue with a splash of romance thrown in, not too much but just enough.

--

*Allene Angelica*

       =^_^=

Me and My Gallbladder

One Thursday evening, after a nice birthday dinner for one of my brothers, I was getting ready to go to bed when a dull pain started to develop in my diaphragm area. I thought it was just a case of heartburn so I proceeded to take a couple of Tums. An hour later the pain had not dissipated and had risen in intensity so I took a chug of the pink stuff, Pepto Bismol. When another hour had passed and I was still squirming uncomfortably I decided to try Tylenol and sure enough about four tablets later I was pain free enough to get some sleep. The occurrence did not repeat again until Sunday evening. I was wriggling around in pain for most of the night. Monday morning was rough with only a few short hours of sleep but I managed to make it through the day. After eating dinner Monday evening the pain started again and by now I was frustrated about what could be causing the issue. I decided to go to Urgent Care. The decision made I grabbed my keys and headed out the door.
Once I was in Urgent Care and my vitals were taken I felt like I was experiencing deja vu. I was led to the same room I was taken to the last time I was hospitalized. The same Urgent Care doctor walked in and told me that an ambulance was on it's way to take me to the hospital because once again my bp had skyrocketed. Great!
When I arrived at the hospital I was bombarded by questions and given blessed multiple pain meds thru an IV. The relief was heavenly. I told one of the nurses the pain is comparable to the contractions I felt when I was in labor with my children which means... IT FUCKIN' HURTS!
I was poked and prodded until they found out after an ultrasound that it was the gallstones in my gallbladder that were causing the issues and an infection had developed. Lovely! Surgery was immediately scheduled for the next day. Valentine's Day! Happy Valentine's Day to me! My gallbladder will be removed for me. No breakfast in bed, no luncheon instead, no dinner, no vino but chicken broth and jello...Happy Valentine's Day to me!!!
Although my Valentine's Day sucked it made me so happy to see my honey's face as I was wheeled out of the recovery room after the surgery.
So here I sit in my brother's and sis-in-law's guesthouse recovering nicely watching "Midsomer Murders" back to back completely gallbladder and pain free. Thank you to my family and friends who have been so supportive. Love you guys! I also have to thank the hospital staff for being so wonderful to me.
*Allene Angelica*
=^_^=
Sent from my iPad