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About three or so months ago Jacksonville held the biggest adoption event ever for cats and dogs. Over 850 cats and dogs were adopted in a single weekend. As some of you know I am a big advocate for abused animals and rescue overly abused iguanas. Every year over 8 million dogs and cats are euthanized because people refuse to spay or neuter their pets. That is 8 million too many. I vowed this year I was going to put some kind of happenings in to action regarding euthanasia and abuse to animals and began writing my senators and congress men and women. Of course they nix things like this off because after all it is just an animal. An animal that has no voice. We can house rapist and murderers, feed them, clothe them, provide shelter but can't save a helpless animal from being put to death because an owner just didn't want them anymore, refused to feed them, or like with pit bulls chose to fight them until they died. The first congressional hearing is going to happen. I am taking my voice to be their voice to Washington D.C. in April to stand before our law makers and make them accountable to make harsher punishments for people who abuse animals, to provide aide to shelters so that these animals can live until they are adopted, to make owners who surrender pets just because they don't want them anymore to have to pay fines besides just a surrender fee. With the help of three attorneys here in Jacksonville, our Mayor, and several SPCA members from this area along with law enforcement, we are all going to make our voices heard. Every cities shelters need help. If you can donate some of your time please do, if you have old blankets, can donate some food please do. These animals do not deserve to die because people throw them away like garbage. I am also urging any of you to write your senators and congressmen and women to provide the funds needed so that shelters won't have to euthanize animals. I know I am only one person but by God I am doing something to try to help save these babies. When you adopt an animal it is part of your family. I don't think any good parent would surrender a child because they didn't want them anymore. A pet is for life. Also if you want to adopt an animal go to a shelter. Most of the time you pay only 20 bucks and the animals are already fixed and if you already have an animal please get them spayed or neutered. We owe it to animals and children to make sure they get the best care they deserve.

Well, this is embarrassing to admit, but for the past 2 years I've had to sit down to pee. At some point my gut and the fat pooch above my junk got too big and it was a real hassle (and messy) to use the urinals. So it was just easier and cleaner to sit on the toilet. So it was a happy surprise when I realized yesterday that I could use the urinals again. My job requires a dress shirt. I hated having to drop trou, tuck my shirt tale back in, and fight with my belt every time I went to the bathroom. Now I can go back to hosing down the back of the urinal and destroying the cigarette butts at the bottom. :-P P.S. They must think guys are pretty dumb around here. I saw a sign above the urinal that read, "Please don't eat the big white mint!"

Visiting the psychiatrist was on of my pre-requs for getting Sleeve surgery. I was pretty nervous about the interview. Who wouldn't be? Knowing that the whole approval process could come to a screeching halt based on the opinion of one guy who only spends 15 - 20 minutes with me. From talking to a fellow sleever, I knew that there was going to be a 500 question multiple choice questionnaire. I could tell right off that it was a personality test. The questions covered the whole gambit - from how did you feel about childhood, how do you feel about being an adult, do you have depressed thoughts, have you ever stolen anything, how do you feel about being in crowded situations ... ect. The kicker is that each type of question is repeated 4 or more times throughout the questionnaire - only it's asked in a different way each time. I can only assume the point is to see if you answer the same way each time - to get your true feelings. It took over an hour to complete everything. The most annoying part was - THERE WERE NO TABLES! Maybe it is part of the test to see how you react, but have you ever tried to hold a clipboard and mark answers with one hand and hold a list of test questions in the other???????????? Now this wasn't their first rodeo. They do these tests for $400 a pop. You'd think they would be a little more considerate. I felt like I was Will Smith in the 1st "Men in Black." The part where all the candidates were sitting in the egg chairs trying to take a test. And Will is the only one smart or brave enough to pull the table over to his chair. So I pulled the same thing. I spun one of the other chairs sideways and used the arm to hold the clip board. The other 2 poor schmucks in the room doggedly mustered on, trying to finish their questions the hard way.

I love food, I mean really love food (which is why I hit 247). I have always been a foodie. While sweets were never a huge pull for me, I find myself wanting them more now, but I have managed to stay away from them except special occassions. I am and always have been a protein / carb girl. I am mildly adventurous, willing to try new foods and such. Since being banded I have found I like: Greek Yogurt, couscous, beans. I eat a lot more fish (talapia, salmon, mackeral). Being that I love to cook I am always researching new things and new ways of cooking. I still, however, do enjoy going out to eat. What I like best is having someone else clean the kitchen! Last night, Valentines, the hub wanted to go to the 1st resturant we ever went to. That resturant is On the Border, which serves southwest style food. I love southwest/mexi, but it is loaded with salt and calories. I downloaded the nutrition and was shocked the my southwest chicken taco's were 1200 calories- ouch. I found that the fajita mix was a better choice, I was able to order the chicken with grilled onion, pepper, zuchini, with no sides (beans, rice, tortillas). I ate just the meat and veggie and ask for sauce on the side (which I only used a bit of). Since I hadn't been there since surgery this really showed how my eating has changes. Before surgery I would eat the meat, veggies, rice, beans, tortillas and a dessert. Last night I wasn't even able to get down all of the meat and veggies. Wow, what a change. My husband said he was so proud of me. I went home feeling good and not over stuffed. Yes, this morning my weight was up by a pound, the salt really worked on me. So today I am drinking my water like a made woman and cutting the salt back. I guess this is what life should be like, not giving up the food we love, just cutting back on the amount and making adjustment for the bad stuff. What in the heck did I learn this years ago??

I dont have a nick name for mine but I jokingly call it a port baby sometimes lol

Great post Cheryl. We only have shelter animals at our house. Have for years. Good luck with the lawmakers!

Awesome!! All 4 of my fur babies are rescues. Chloe the Greyhound was rescued from the track- she is such a sweetheart!! Molly our Bassett German Shepard was about to be put done in a shelter. Macy and Rocky the cats were also rescue from kill shelters. Whenever we want to adopt a new pet I just can't go get one from a breeder, I want to get a pet love who hasn't ever had it before. I love my precious babies!!

LOL. Its the small blessing that make the difference huh?