AmandaBB.com

Since last night Chewie’s tail is suddenly hanging limb and he’s been in a lot of pain so I called the vet this morning as soon as I could and luckily I could drop by at 11.20.
The vet confimed what Raymond and I had already researched on the internet and that was that he has Limber Tail, also known as Cold Water Tail.
This is often caused by swimming in cold water (which he never does) or by strenuous activity. My sister and I did take him for a long walk in the forest last Tuesday and yesterday morning I washed him and when I went out with him at 4 PM he wasn’t totally dry yet and it has been around freezing outside so we suspect that that combination caused it.
He got painkillers, and a new chip since American ones can’t be read in Europe, and he’s doing a lot better already. Within a few days his tail should be back to normal again too so that’s a relief. He really had me worried.

Since last week we have 3 new pets. I’m taking care of Raymond’s old hamster who turned out to be so agressive that my sister has taken care of her for the last 6 months. The hamster has calmed down a lot and since I like hamsters and my sisters husband doesn’t, I’m taking care of her now.

Raymond has gotten 2 rats which are really cute and which you can watch here.
Now if only they’d sit still.
Chewie is fascinated by all of them (probably wondering how they taste) and it’s a lot of fun watching him watch them.

I’ve gone premium on the online game Second life so I can have my own small piece of land and have my Poster store there. I sell all my 3D art there as posters (for only 100L a piece) and I want to add my photography to it too. I have no idea whether it will be profitable but it’s always worth a try.
My main Zazzle store is linked to it too so it will at least give me more exposure.
My ingame name is Aingeala Melody and I’d love to hook up with fellow SL-ers.

This is my latest picture Wistaria :

It’s really simple but I love how it turned out.

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We zijn nu wel aardig “gesettled” dus we willen ons house-warming party over 2 weken houden. Ik kan het beter hebben over “parties” want het lijkt ons makkelijker om die voor familie en vrienden apart te houden.
Vrienden zijn welkom op zaterdag de 30ste vanaf een uur of 7 ‘s avonds en familie zondag middag de 31ste vanaf een uur of 1.
Als die dagen niet uitkomen dan kan je natuurlijk altijd nog eens gezellig op een andere dag komen zodat we ons huis kunnen “showen”.

The above was a invitation to our Dutch friends and family to come to our house-warming parties that we will hold the 30th and 31st. If you’re a online friend and happen to be in the area then you’re welcome to drop by too.

Besides getting settled in I’ve been quite busy with working on myself. I’ve been to the gym twice now, upped my walking time with Chewie to 1.5 hour a day and called about going to a painclinic. I’m glad I made the call since I can already go to the one that’s in my hospital this Tuesday.
Hopefully they can do something about my scartissue since I really hate the days I have trouble walking and I don’t want to have to put my walking stick to use anymore…

I’ve had a pretty tough week mentally and really haven’t felt like chatting much which is why I haven’t been online or have done anything else on my pc then watch shows. The news that my (ex-)mother-in-law has had a heart attack and is going through all kind of tests isn’t helping much either. She’s been doing pretty bad and I really hope that they’ll find something that can help her.

I love my new car by the way and I’ve already been able to put it too good use.
I’ll have to use it again tomorrow morning since Raymonds scooter broke down and it’s a real pain for him to get to work using the bus.
Next Saturdays use will be more fun since Ray is getting 3 rats and we’re going to pick them up then.

Hmm, it’s already way past my bedtime so I better stop writing this post after I do a little venting about dog-owners who just can’t take responsibility.
I walked Chewie earlier and in front of us there was a man with 2 dogs. I couldn’t see which dogs so I kept Chewie on a leash just in case. I know I can trust Chewie but you never know about the other dogs.
It was a good thing I kept him on a leash since at one point the man turned around and told me to better walk around him since 1 of his dogs might grab (=bite) Chewie. Sighing (this happens quite a lot), I asked him why he didn’t put a muzzle on that dog then. To which he replied that his dog wasn’t aggressive. To this I could respond sarcastictly : “So a dog who grabs another dog unprovoked isn’t aggresive?”
I get so tired of people like this…

P.s. : incase you’re wondering what my problem is with people like that then I can give you a simple answer : “Why do you want others people to be beware of YOUR dog when it’s YOUR responsibility that others don’t get hurt.”

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I just got back from the hospital so right now seems like a good time to update my blog while all the information is still fresh in my head.

The neurologist found out that the pain in my neck, arms and hands is “simply” caused by stress. The muscles are extremely tight there so it’s only logical that it causes pain, stiffness and puts pressure on the nerves and thereby cause numbness and strengthloss.
It started shortly after I started to get depressed nearly 6 years ago so that sounds logical. At least now I know for sure it’s not carpal tunnel or RSI.
In my back the main reason of my pain is the scartissue that I got from my operation nearly 7 years ago. It is also the reason why I get strengthloss in my leftleg when I do to much. Last Sunday I had to use my hiking stick just to walk around because it was so bad.
The herniated disc has gotten bigger too but it’s not bothering me that much so they’re not going to do anything with that. They currently can’t do a lot about scar tissue yet so there is basically nothing that will fully help me out.
In a few weeks I’m going to visit a manuel therapist and (s)he should be able to help me a little by making me more mobile.

Yesterday I went to the gym and started with some really basic fitness exercises. The neurologist agrees that getting physically in better shape is the only real thing I can do so for the time being I’ll focus on that.
I’m planning on going 2x a week and if possible go more often. It’s just across the street so that’s nice. The 22.50 euro monthly fee isn’t bad either, especially since my finances are really bad.

Tomorrow I’m going to pick up this cute little car :

It’s a 1998 automatic Suzuki Alto and as simple as a car can be.
It is going to take a while before I can pay my parents back but at least I’ll be able to go places without having to rely on others.

The first week in our new place has gone very smoothly. We haven’t had any arguments and my brother seems to be getting used to it. He’s still a bit to used to having someone else take care of the household and doesn’t really “see” when something needs to be done but so far he’s done the things I asked him to. We do the evening dishes together, he vacuumcleans and takes care of the other heavy things and I pretty much do everything else. I’m sure that we’ll figure out a good way to divide everthing better when I start doing charity work and/or get a parttime job but right now I only have spots reserved on my calender concerning my mental and physical health so I have plenty of time to take care of the household.
Right now I’m assuming that I will only be able to work parttime since there is no good “fix” for my back problems and it’s extremely doubtfull that I’ll ever be painfree. The things I’m doing right now will hopefully at least make it more manageable.

We don’t have a date for the house-warming party yet because of the extreme weather but we’re still hoping that it will be this month.

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