Thursday Rambles

Here's some of the bad and good stuff that's been going on lately ...

• I'm sad to report that we are now dog-less. We had to put our 11 year old dog, Jasmine, down on Friday (3/19/10). She was not in the best of health and she spent that day having continual seizures. It was a hard day for all of us. We've decided not to get another dog, at least for the present. Jasmine's death comes two years after the death of our other dog, Dopey, from cancer at age 9. This is the first time Hubby and I haven't had a dog together since we've been married, and Kiddo has never been without one. (And is it just me, or has there been a spate of bloggers losing dogs lately?)
  
  
• Kiddo had another endoscopy on Tuesday (3/23/10). The procedure went well, no complications. We'll get the results late next week - that will let us know whether he can continue to eat eggs or whether they are causing problems in his esophagus. (For those who are new here, you can get overview of Kiddo's disease at this link.)
  
  
• Kiddo's doctor did find a problem though - he has a stomach ulcer. This makes no sense (to us or to the dr) because he is already on such a high dose of antacid - more than most adults are prescribed - that there is no way an ulcer should develop. So they did a biopsy of that as well, and we'll get those results along with the others late next week.
  
  
• On a lighter note, I am ridiculously excited by the box that arrived today - in it is my copy of 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, the revised edition, which just came out this month. The book is more than 3 inches thick and has almost 1,000 pages. I can't wait to browse around inside and see why specific books are included on the list. My first task is to read the segments that pertain to all the books I've already read, then I'll check out books that I should read in the future.
  
  
• In other bookish news, I started reading Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show last night and I really like it. I only read a few chapters before I forced myself to turn off the light, but I can tell already that it will be a struggle to put it down each evening.
  
  
• I'm still struggling through Black Hills. I put this book aside for over three weeks but I do want to finish it so I can discuss it via Skype with a few bloggy buddies. There are parts of the book that are amazingly beautiful and (more) parts that are incredibly tedious. I'm trying to read a few pages each day but it doesn't seem like I'm getting any closer to the end.
  
  
• Yesterday was Grandparents Day at Kiddo's school. All four of his grandparents were able to attend - they sort of overwhelmed the classroom, considering that most of the kids didn't have any grandparents with them, and the others only had one each. Luckily Kiddo's grandparents don't mind being shared. They all had a great time!
  
  
• I found a spare calendar in my office that has a "tea" theme. Each day there is a tidbit of info about tea and I'm finding it fascinating. If you follow me on Twitter (I'm @Age30Books) or Facebook you may have noticed that I've been posting some of these tidbits there.
  
  
• Several TV shows I watch are coming back from their mid-season break soon. What does it say about these shows when I can't seem to care whether or not they come back at all? Sad.
  
  
• Next month my book club is meeting at a tea house to discuss Three Cups of Tea. I've heard mixed reviews about the book so I'm not sure what to expect but I'm REALLY excited about the place we're meeting.
  
  
• Why is is that blogger.com's spellcheck tool doesn't recognize "blogger" as a word?
  
  

That's about it for my update. How is life treating all of you, my lovely readers?