Adventure: Sick Puppy this Week.

We know that Zed always starts itching whenever we are traveling.  I don't know if it's just the environment change that messes with his system or what.  Usually, I give him some anti-fungal medicine and it keeps the itching at bay.

At the end of July, we went to NY to see family and Z started itching up there.  Unfortunately, we were running low on the med so we had to wait until we got home to get a refill.  So that following Thursday(we got back on Monday), I started the medicine daily.  He was itching but not too bad - maybe a couple times a day. 

This last Tuesday, his itching got out of control.  So much so that he was whining and wasn't able to relax to fall asleep.  So, we took him to the emergency vet.  We just assumed he was having some sort of allergic.  The vet assumed so too.

She ended up giving him a steroid, benadryl, pain medicine, and a sedative.  Needless to say, he was out of it by the time we left the medical center.  Unfortunately, he woke up at 4:40 AM and immediately started scatching.  So I called the emergency vet and the vet tech said to give him a benadryl a little early since the medicine was still in his system.  He ended up sleeping a little.

Our vet (who is a good friend of ours), called and said that if the steroid isn't working then obviously it was probably mites.  So Wednesday afternoon, she stopped by with the medicine and checked him out.  He was so red all over his belly and he was whining so much in pain.  

I gave him his first dose and changed from his daily Benadryl to Zyrtec.  Yesterday he was a little better.  He stopped itching as much, but his belly wasn't that good.  So our vet told me to cook some rice and chicken.  

Today, Zed is so much better!  His belly isn't red and he is almost back to his normal self.  We were able to go for a mile walk this afternoon and his tummy is better.

He'll continue his parasite treatment for about 6 weeks.  Hopefully that doesn't come back.

Something "clicked on" in my brain.

I have shared this with my close friends and family and now an update. 

About 2 months ago, something "clicked" in my brain after a week of tummy issues.  I got off of the 6 pack of diet coke a day (ok, close to that amount) and now drink maybe 1 or 2 cans a day.  I am drinking water like crazy.  I no longer have cravings for food.  Seriously – not even Chipotle.  I eat when I am hungry and now my stomach tells me when to stop.  I also can’t stand how my mouth feels after I eat and have to brush my teeth within the hour.

If you really know me, you know I have the “Clark Stomach.”  You put food in front of me and I will eat it (maybe it has something with being Italian too).  I have struggled all my life with cravings (mostly carbs like potato chips, nachos, etc, but ice cream too) and can’t keep those trigger foods in the house.  They will be GONE.

So the last 2 months have been crazy – that’s the only way I can describe it.  Trigger foods are in the house.  I eat them, but it’s like a NORMAL portion size (WHAT?!), and they last in the house (like weeks instead of a couple of days).

This has been hard for me to comprehend, but maybe even harder for Dan since he’s used to me saying “I want (fill in the blank with my favorite restaurants)” or “I had a craving for_____” or even not finishing my plate or going back for 2nds.  I used to starting thinking of dinner at 9 am in the morning.  Now I struggle with even getting a taste for anything.  Crazy.

Anyway, about 3 weeks ago I went into the doctors for a prescription renewal and told her about my week of not feeling well and how my taste buds have changed, etc.  She did a complete blood workup and a urine test.  She was worried that maybe I was having a kidney, liver, pancreas issue.  The worst thing I could think of is maybe I have diabetes (since it runs in our family).  Yesterday I went in for my lab results.

Let me just say – I am a medial miracle.  The doctor has no explanation on what has happened.  All my results came back with no organ issues.  All of my lab results have improved since they were last taken in March.

My cholesterol has gone down from 226 to 176.  My risk for diabetes was at increased risk and now is normal.

Her only response was to keep it up, start exercising, no soda, and no health/herbal supplements (sorry to my Youngevity, Body by Vi and Isagenix friends).  Follow-up in three months. 

I am taking this day by day and hopefully this will last.  

Book Review: An Average Joe’s Pursuit for Financial Freedom

I don’t usually read financial “self-help” books.  And it was obvious with this book also since it took me so long to read and to write a review for it (sorry Advertisewithbloggers.com).

Now, I’m not saying that financial books are boring.  You can ALWAYS find new ideas on how to save money/build wealth in them and this book provided that.  I got some recommendations on two other financial books “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Richard Kiyosaki and “The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas J. Stanley.  Both helped the author changed his perception on how to build wealth.  I’ll admit it-the latter has been sitting on my bookshelf for YEARS and has never been opened. 

“The Average Joe’s Pursuit for Financial Freedom” provides the author’s approach for how to (eventually) live without a full time job using passive income streams.  His approach is real estate and the book focuses on this.  Unfortunately, real estate isn’t for everyone.  The author lists a couple of different passive income, but never recommends information about or where to find out more about these other ways of generating passive income.  Just a spot I thought was missing from the book.

The author also reminisces on how he got to his point in his life.  I think this was a great story.  He and his wife were willing to take a chance and move away from family to get to where they wanted in life.  This resonated with me as I moved over 300 miles from my family, alone, when I was 20 because of a job opportunity that I knew would never happen in my hometown area.

There were points in the book I agreed with and some I didn’t.  One was using a financial planner.  I disagree that a person should not use a financial planner.  I agreed with the statement that you should use a good one if you do and learn about investing.  My husband and I use a financial planner.  Luckily, in our opinion, he’s a good one.  We make money on our financial investments and we are “the millionaire next door” because of the “old fashion way” of earning a paycheck and saving money.

I also agree with the goals portion of the book.  One of the biggest goals that my husband and I had was to pay down debt.  We are now (and have been) debt free besides our mortgage for many years.  “The Average Joe’s Pursuit to Financial Freedom” provides a great layout for setting financial goals; whatever they may be.

I would love to have more passive income, but like the author mentioned.  If you and your spouse are not on the same page with goals, it won’t happen.  We agree on the “old fashion” way, so that is our financial plan until retirement.  Our house is an asset (our home as appreciated since we’ve had it), our spending is under control and our credit scores are in the high 700s.  With that being said, half of the book didn’t pertain to me.

HOWEVER, that’s not to say that it’s not a good book.  It’s just not the book for me.  If someone is looking to learn from an average guy how he is achieving his financial goals through real estate (and if you watch HGTV’s Income Property), you would like this book.  It gives you the basic structure on what you need to create that “team” who supports you with your properties.

I was a landlord/property manager for my childhood home for 11 years after moving away.  What a pain in the butt – and I had the support system I needed (handyman, plumber, etc.).  Word to the wise:  If you do get into real estate, either have the houses close by or use a full service property management company.

As I first mentioned, there is ALWAYS something that can be learned.  So even if you aren’t into using real estate as a passive income, I would still read it.  It might give you some ideas that you haven’t thought about yet – or maybe you will get into the real estate game!

The above review is my opinion.  I was not paid for this review, but was given a copy of the book.

From back of book cover:

An Average Joe’s Pursuit for Financial Freedom offers a different perspective on money than what is traditionally taught by our parents and in our school systems. The reason there is such a discrepancy between the wealthy and the poor is due to the difference in the way money is perceived. We are not born with the ability to maintain wealth: it is something that is learned. The knowledge of knowing how to make money work to generate passive income is something that anyone can learn as long as they are disciplined. An Average Joe’s Pursuit for Financial Freedom is based on practical concepts and discusses the problems that the majority of us face with our personal finance.  The concepts in this book are based on theory by an author that practices what he writes about.

AUTHOR BIO:

Michael Munsey works in the oil industry and resides in Houston, Texas. He received his undergraduate degree from Murray State University in May of 1995. While working to climb the corporate ladder within Halliburton Energy Services, Michael enrolled in the EMBA program at Rice University in 2005. After earning his MBA, he had a major change in the way he perceives money which he is sharing in this book.



Website  http://www.freeaveragejoe.com/

ExLibris URL  http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-000777812/An-Average-Joes-Pursuit-For-Financial-Freedom.aspx

Amazon URL  (Kindle)  http://www.amazon.com/Average-Joes-Pursuit-Financial-Freedom-ebook/dp/B00JRW4CTM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398720284&sr=1-1&keywords=Michael+Munsey

Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8161838.Michael_Warren_Munsey

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/FreeAverageJoe

Twitter  https://twitter.com/FreeAverageJoe

Google +  https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MichaelMunseyFreeAverageJoe/posts