Karen : Thank you :), I really took what you said about putting the mind effort elsewhere and went with it. Ah yes, my roomie.. he's a pretty big guy (the same one who lost his home to fire on V-day eve), so I think I'm in good hands there. Poor man doesn't know what I'm like when in a tizzy though. Bless him! LOL The way I am now with just DH flying away, I KNOW I wouldn't make it if a whole bunch of my people got up and left. LOL I never do vignettes as I'm just not to good at grouping items together but it struck me that I could use that little space for something. Anndd when you mentioned berries , I just remembered , I have some! LOL I think they are out in the shed so I will have to go find them and try it out. Bless you woman! Jeanne: Thank you! Coming from someone who creates such absolutly beautiful vignettes that means allot (maybe I can be taught, I hope..lol). BOTP is "back of the potty" coined by I believe OA (and please forgive me if I have the wrong person , I don't mean to). In my case though , it could well be "bottom of the toilet paper" though as I have the white cabinet over the potty and the TP is above the vignette. LOL I really like the saying you have on your keyboard. I'll have to remember that, TFS it with me.

Hi Rudo, hope you are doing ok. Yes, you really need to get up every now and then, even to just go to restroom and take a stretch. I work with a computer a lot and my shoulders get so tense they hurt if i forget to stretch. Once I get home I have to do a little bit of tai Chi and that helps a lot. Any slow, measured movement will do, you dont have to know Tai Chi. But on the other hand, it sounds like you have something else going on, do you use a lot of salt in your diet? Seems your body is retaining water a lot, which can be normal if you sit a lot but I see you also have elevated BP, so that could be the culprit, is BP under control?. Lay off caffeine and try herbal teas. I know you said you walk a lot but don't overdo it, take a break sometimes and do different kind of exercise, like bike (recumbent one is great for leg circulation and nice cardio, plus saves your back). Key word is moderation. :) With our messed up metabolism its very easy to overdo and I find that is never a good thing. Strenuous exercise is as easy to bring on anxiety attack as any other kind of stress so we have to find a way to mellow. :) let me know if I can help with anythign else. Have a wonderful day, hugs :)

'hard wired for fear' The phrase brings back a sad memory. I once worked with a Rottweiler-loving gal (does it seem like the big girls like the little dogs & the little girls like the big ones? Jane was a willowy blonde & all her dogs outweighed her.) Her dogs truly were gentle giants; they were house dogs who washed their feet in the kiddie pool after they'd been outside & slept on the couch & rode in the car; they lived with several cats- & were terrified of one of them, a bossy tortoiseshell... Jane lost her beloved Rosie when Rose was about 7 years old. From what I understood, Rotts are susceptible to or have a genetic predisposition to develop a kind of blood cancer. It was a long hard journey, & Jane was heartbroken at the end. About 2 months afterward, she went, on a whim, to look at a litter of Rotts. She said she'd had no intention of getting a puppy, but she wanted to see them. The 'breeder' had the mother & father dogs chained to doghouses, there was no grass in the yard, the water was dirty, it was awful... & Jane felt sorry for the pups & bought one. *She raised that dog in exactly the same way she'd raised the other*. He too, should have been a 'gentle giant', but he became more & more aggressive, snapping at the cats, growlilng at the other 2 dogs, etc. The cats were afraid of him, the dogs were afraid of him, & eventually Jane was afraid of him. One day when Jane tried to get past him to go into her kitchen, he growled & raised his hackles & bared his teeth. She said she'd never been afraid in her own house before. Yet, like so many of you, she kept trying. She tried everything under the sun. She finally had him euthanized, & the vet tried to comfort her, tellng her that it was a genetic or inborn irregularity, using the phrase "bad wiring". You cannot overcome bad wiring.

I've watched a bunch of Cesar Milan shows recently. I think he makes a ton of sense. He says: Exercise, Discipline, Affection in that order. By discipline he does not mean hitting, being mean or yelling. He means giving the dog firm rules of what you as the leader of the pack require. Dogs are dogs, not people. Wolf packs have clearly defined leaders, they go first in everything. There are strict rules to wolf society. They are very social animals but very quick to discipline. Wolf packs cover many miles in a day, together. Dogs are genetically very very close to wolves. The thousands of years they have been domesticated are nothing on the evolutionary scale of time. Cesar helps people be the leaders. Even simple things like the dog going through the door after the person reinforces who is the leader. Making sure the dog is calm before greeting it or giving affection is another one of his views. So many people walk their dogs by letting the dogs pull and roam all over the place, sniffing/marking etc. Cesar shows how to have the dog focused on you as the leader. Dog breeds have traits exaggerated by man for different uses. Dog breeds are not interchangeable, you should research a breed before getting one. Cute isn't a good reason to buy. For example, Jack Russell Terriors were bred to hunt, to cover miles of territory either following hunters on horseback or ranging in a pack. They need a ton of exercise and "jobs" to do to keep them busy and mentally stimulated. Otherwise they get bored, neurotic, hyper and destructive. Many other breeds are the same way.