It’s been a pretty tough six months – between the Sous Pug’s multiple diagnoses, switching to a new (and fabulous vet) who finally figured out what was wrong, to major surgery for both his bladder stones and pancreatitis, and now we’re prepping for Surgery No. 2.
After many months of wrangling, arguing and dealing with the domain brokers from hell (more on that another day – I’d need too much Cruzan to write about that mess), CookingInStilettos.org finally graduated to CookingInStilettos.com. I never thought I would see the day but it is one that must be celebrated. Granted there were some other changes behind the scenes, but I had to share.
Transitioning this monstrous blogbeast over to a new domain was a whole comedy of errors and, if it wasn’t for the amazing people at Hostgator, especially their technical support rep, Cory, you wouldn’t be reading this because, if you hadn’t guessed from earlier, the blonde broke the blog. Cory’s swift action and furious coding work behind the scenes restored Cooking In Stilettos to its former glory – just with a shiny new .com. On a personal note, I can’t recommend Hostgator enough – they host all of my sites, they are quick to respond to a damsel in distress and they are quite reasonable in terms of cost. Love love LOVE them!
So, if you would be so kind as to spread the word, update your bloglinks and bookmark CookingInStilettos.com, I would be eternally grateful. This is going to be one hell of a ride!
For some time now, I’ve been wrestling with a big purchase decision. See, when it comes to stilettos or a Le Creuset purchase, the inner shopping dialogue is pretty easy – mainly “Is it a good deal? Will you use it? Is it stunning? Will the purchase make you regret it at all?” and I either purchase or I don’t. For really major purchases, I employ a 24/48 hour waiting period and go from there.
Recently, I have been torn between two major purchases.
I have been lusting after the Crate & Barrel French Marble Kitchen Island for quite some time. I think that Crate & Barrel might put a restraining order in place if I keep visiting it as often as I do but it’s stunning. I could use it for some serious baking projects and, when needed, pull up a stool to use it as a desk. Could you imagine the recipes and photos that could be created on that beautiful surface? It’s not only beautiful but functional. I don’t have to stress how little counter space I have at the moment and I could store some of my heavier appliances beneath. One drawback – it’s 152 lbs. in an apartment kitchen and I have no idea what it will do to the linoleum.
I have also been fondling the iPad 2. I’m not a gadget girl per se, but I do love things that are functional and will stop me from carrying around my notebooks and give me freedom to focus here on Cooking In Stilettos and some other projects. I could use it at the gym, write whenever I have a spare moment, research articles, etc. Plus – the cases are gorgeous and would have come in pretty handy for a recent trip to NYC.
Obviously, I can’t choose both and, of course, there are drawbacks. The iPad 2 has a monthly fee and, with my luck a new iPad will be on the horizon soon. The French Marble Island won’t be available until August and, of course, I have that nagging fear that I will damage the apartment floor.
So, I ask you – if you had to choose, what would you go with?
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An interesting thing happened to me recently when I dropped by the local Whole Paychex. During the summer, I often buy a bunch or two of fresh mint to make my fave watermelon salad. On this trip, I threw a small bunch of mint into the basket along with a host of other goodies. When it comes to checking out, I don’t know about you but when I put things on the belt, I keep an eye on the screen to make sure everything comes through correctly. Well, this day I did not and happened to notice a big oops when I looked at the screen towards the end – namely in the tune of over $14k!
Frankly, I bought ONE bunch of mint – not 4915 bunches. What do I look like – a buyer for the Food Network 
(tho – I would LOVE to see what their grocery bills look like – yowza!)
Lesson learned: ALWAYS check the receipt (or grocery scanner screens!)
Finally – the Sous Pug has returned home after his week at the Vet Hospital. The long and the short of it was my thought of what might have brought on his acute pancreatitis was correct, I learned that I don’t care HOW many initials are after your name, I will tell you to check again – regardless of one’s puffing their chest declaring how much of an expert they are and, I learned one must lift with the knees bent even if it was a 20 lb. pug that knocked my hip muscle out of whack. Yup – you read that right – she who is terrified of doctors had to pay a visit to the ER last night because, quite frankly, I couldn’t walk, sit or, even worse, stand. So, 4 hours later, I came home to a recovering pug with myself feeling like I had been to hell and back. So, as I hobble along the house while making loads of chicken and rice for the pug (he’s on a bland diet and FAR from happy about it), I am grateful because it could have been much worse. *sigh* And – to cap off an already unpleasant day – today is tax day for Philly. Can we start this week over again please? I promise to lift with the knees from hereon out.
Apologizing in advance as I’m about to go off topic for a hot minute.
Well, it’s been a nightmare three + weeks of trying to find out Wiggy’s mystery illness and, hopefully, I think his new doc has found it. Yes, you heard me right – NEW doctor because, quite frankly, I don’t have the patience to let vets use my dog as a pincushion or an experiment. Wiggy has the best foster mom and she had made a suggestion three weeks ago that Wiggs might have a urinary tract infection, crystals or kidney stones. The vet – they pretty much poo-poo’d the idea. Well, they are experts, I thought as I let them treat him for some sort of “infection” but there was no change and he still was having problems. So, last week after many tests, x-rays, etc. they gave me the diagnosis of degenerative disc disease and Lyme disease with bed rest for 30 days. OK – again, they are experts, I thought – however, now my spidey senses were tingling. I looked at everything that was told to me and, in my legal eagle way, researched the hell out of it. I found out that Wiggy’s meds were not a favorite of the FDA, were the subject of a class action lawsuit and, for a pug with a sensitive stomach and the tendency to be od’d by a vet with the wrong dosage amount, that set off alarms.
So, on Sunday when my dog gave Linda Blair’s character in the Exorcist a run for her money with his projectile gacking everywhere, well, there was a serious problem. Nothing would stay down – not food, water, meds, even his favorite – applesauce. “OK” I thought, “this is not good at all!” I spoke with the doc and he told me to wait to bring Wiggy in on Monday. Wiggs was back at that vet office and there was yet another doc who was brought in on the case and I was told that my dog was a “Puzzle” – so not good to hear. They took yet more X-rays, had him on an IV, gave him something to stop him from vomiting and all was quiet. I was told to take him home and take him to the ER if there was a problem overnight. I pulled his file, just in case I did have to go to a different doctor, all while making a mental note to possibly find a new vet.
Tuesday morning – same thing. He couldn’t eat, drink and was just miserable. I spoke with a tech who made mention of a notation by the consulting doctor of pancreatitis testing that might be needed and this was the FIRST I was hearing of that. I brought Wiggy back in for a new ultrasound and was hopeful for a positive outcome – oh, and I wanted him to have that daggone test for pancreatitis. I researched it online and, don’t you know – I found that his symptoms were almost exact! I get a call and was told that my dog had “growths and tumors” in his liver with fluid and I was being sent to another doctor at a different hospital to confirm the diagnosis and I needed to to be open to options (basically my dog needed to be put down) oh, and to bring my credit card. Nice, huh?
Well, Wiggy is staying at the new vet hospital for a few days and, guess what, he’s got severe pancreatitis and – wait for it – wait for it – BLADDER STONES. Apparently, my original thought was right all along. Hopefully the pug will make it through with flying colors – he’s pretty critical right now. As for me, well, someone pass the Cruzan – this gal needs a cocktail!
It’s been a week that, quite frankly, has zapped the energy out of me. Thankfully, this morning I headed to a fab brunch organized by La Phemme Phoodie for some seriously amazing Philly food bloggers at this South Street hot spot, Supper. I’ll write more about that later (with some great pics), but it was so needed after the week from hell.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been in and out of the vet’s office with the Sous Pug and what we thought was one diagnosis was quickly moved to a whole different one in the span of a week. Earlier in the week, Wiggy got very sick and I rushed him to the vet as soon as they opened. Thankfully, his vet kept him for the whole day running test after test and, after what one might deem the cost of a pair of Louboutin Wedges or Dior Pumps, the pug was sent home and the culprit has been located – well, two of them. Sadly, Wiggs not only contracted Lyme disease somewhere, but the poor little guy also has Degenerative Disk Disease in his back. I panicked when I heard that news over the phone and Google was not my friend. I was imagining the worst case scenario so, when the vet told me that they had caught it early and it’s mild and treatable, I breathed a sigh of relief. I’m sure that many more vet visits are in the near future but, for now, I’ve got him resting comfortably with his new Eeyore that his Uncle Kevin so kindly surprised him with (thanks Kevin!) and the promise of short ribs for dinner tomorrow.
Now – how to keep a pug on basically bed rest for 30 days – yeah, somehow I think that it would be easier to convert the Pope to a different religion. Have they seen how badly the cat gets him riled up? Let’s not even talk about what happens when I’m cooking. Even worse, the pug is on a strict “no dairy” diet for the duration and that also isn’t going over well when he is nursing a quasi-cheese addiction. The lesson was learned though – if you think there is something wrong with the furballs, bring them to the vet – don’t assume they have a bug and will “be okay” in a few days. I have been kicking myself for days now going “What if” and, while he’ll be okay, I still wish I had a time machine and could make it all better for him.
So – if I seem a bit distant – I apologize in advance. As I joked with my friends, my “travel wings” have been clipped for a spell, but in a weird way that just means I’ll be cooking more often. And, of course, writing about it here. Now, let’s hope the pug doesn’t try to take his revenge on my stilettos.
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