Staff meetings, what a novel idea!

I have worked three jobs in my adult life. Two out of the three jobs have had monthly staff meetings. Funny how the one job I spent the longest at never had a formal monthly staff meeting. It is amazing how a group of co-workers can sit down, talk about problems, schedules, and each person is allowed to voice their concerns. Concerns about co-workers, situations, and a chance to defend themselves/ourselves in any conflict. I wonder that if the job I was at for seven years had done the same thing would have had the same outcome? I figure it would have went one of two ways: I would either still be there or I would have left a lot sooner. Either way, I can say that I am happy and healthier now. It must be a sign when you get a prescription filled and on the bottle it says "Needs a recheck appointment." You know what that means???? It means that I haven't been in to see my doctor in so long that they would like to check on me, either that or they are wanting more money out of me. I am taking it as a good sign, a very good sign! I still have the occasional stomach issue that one with IBS is prone to. I still have the occassional cold that one can only avoid by living in a bubble. My back, well it was doing great until I fell down the stairs last night. Mental note: no matter how many times you walk down the stairs, ALWAYS turn on the basement light. And it still isn't major back problems, just a little tweak here and there. Not the bed/couch ridden-ice pack packing-major analgesic pain. The moral of this story, albeit kinda a rambling one, is that even though I got "honorably discharged" from my longest running job, it is turning out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me. I guess I owe a big thanks to the Big Guy upstairs. While on the subject of said Big Guy, I have been observing Lent this season. As in usual fashion, I gave up one of my big loves of online shopping. I do love it but unfortunately I have had to break that twice now. I only deem these breaks in online shopping to be of major importancy and completely essential. One is to buy a repair kit for the honking big tv and the other is to buy a new computer cord since someone, who should remain nameless (PHOEBE), chewed through my other one. Usually my online shopping consists of music, movies, dvds, books, anything Nightmare, and clothes, and unfortunately online shopping became even more convenient with the addition of the laptop. Maybe Phoebe was just trying to help me to continue to observe my sacrifice for Lent......I doubt it though. But I have found a way to occupy my time from mindless surfing of the internet for useless crap. Mom and Dad gave me a Daily Bible. It is to help someone read the Bible in a year. I started a little late (not my fault....ahem), but I find myself enjoying it immensely. It can be a struggle but the good thing about this one is that it gives you a summary to help you understand the verses to which you are about to read. I guess it is just another great step in improving and strengthening my faith. I know the power of prayer will always continue to amaze me but now I am understanding it a little more day by day.

A life with Tess

Two blogs in one night?!?!? Can you believe it?? Well for one, I am waiting on my clothes to dry so I can go to bed and for two, I was posting pics of this weekend and ran across some funny pics to post. As you all know, I have been dealing with Tess and her fearfulness and other neurosis for about 9months now. Just an insight to her life in pictures:

As my SIL can agree, having a rescue dog is all about routine. Well the cats REALLY like to mess with Tess's routine. Like Chaplin sitting in her kennel. Confuses the heck out of Tess.Or Lola sitting under the doggie steps Tess uses to look out the window. This involved some barking.I don't know the meaning of this but this occurs on a nightly basis.....the toys are supposed to be IN the crate. But Tess spends most of the evening taking them out.It may look like a bunch of black fur but if you look closely, Tess is grooming Dudley's face. A new gesture by her that melts my heart.She hardly ever strays far from her older brother.....

Funny looking dog that she is, she has really changed from when I got her.

Tess has taught me a lot in these last few months....mostly patience......and if there is quiet in the house, find out what the girls are up to. I hope that I will not let her down as an owner. My goal this summer, besides fill in the potholes in my yard, is to work on general manners with her. I feel like since she trusts me now, it is time to take that next step. I can't say that three dogs is a good idea, but she needed me.

It's been awhile...

Sorry it has been awhile since i have last blogged. I have been busy getting into the swing of things at work, sleeping, working, cleaning up after the tiny tornado, and general laziness. So a quick update.

I got my TV fixed.... YAY. A big thanks to Jeremy and Nicole Byrd.

Grandma got her new bionic leg and is now recuperating in the rehab facility.

I am still loving my job and still super surprised at how many people remember me and tell me how happy they are that I am there.

I had a great weekend visiting Gina and the new Baby Lex. See pics below!

Hope everyone is doing well, I will post more this week!

Unfamiliar territory...yet so familiar

Well I started my new job today. It was sad to say good bye to the family that I know and love at the clinic and the familiarity of a place i worked at so long. But it is time to take on a new challenge, a new adventure, and one that I needed to take. It was weird to be walking the halls of a place that I spent 18months of my life and that I had spent numerous years working above. I have to admit that I got that sinking feeling in my stomach when I pulled up, afraid I was going to dissappoint everyone, running into people that I am afraid I would curse out, and just being a general failure. But it went well, a lot of people came and welcomed me and recognized me from school or my years volunteering in onco. I have to say that it was nice being in a place that had so many familiar faces yet realizing that everyday is going to be an adventure. I am near some of my close friends there too, nice to know they are just around the corner. I am completely exhausted though. It was a normal 8-5 day but a new environment really does take it out of you. So I have successfully justified this lazy evening since i can say that I was incredibly productive this weekend. I washed curtains, replaced curtains, did tons of laundry and put it away, washed dog beds (which now tess won't sleep on), sewed curtains, hung out with some great friends, and realized how incredibly patient my great Dudley is after being completely harrassed all day on saturday. Poor guy even took one for the team to save Tess. He should be sainted. I think I got a pretty big jump start on spring cleaning.
Now it is time to sit and wait, and hope, my tv can be fixed. I was watching the soup on friday night when the tv turned off. Not just any tv, but the BIG tv, my pride and joy, the monstrosity that is maybe just a wee too big for my living room. My first thought was "AHHHH my dvr'd shows are gone!" See logic didn't set it that 1.) dvr separate from tv and 2.) the power didn't go out, the tv did. After a lot of phone calls to my dad, a round of flashlight fun that included Dudleys help and two barking girls, an some frantic internet searching I found a "repair kit" that should fix it. Now the repair kit scares me because it seems quite in depth, comes with an instructional CD, and recommends having a fire extinguisher handy as well as an old priest and a young priest, a stuffed buffalo, and a rubber mallet. Okay, so maybe just the cd part is true, I guess we will just have to wait and see. Until then I will continue to strain my eyes by watching my tiny flat screen set upon the giant tv.

My Week in Pictures

This was a long past week. It started with this ginormous puppy. He is only 9 weeks old and already 22lbs. Big Boy. Then this pretty momma came in. She was five days late on her pregnancy so she went to surgery for an emergency c-section......

And had this little precious boy. Both recovered and are doing well. She is a great momma.

She has very intense eyes that can be a little intimidating but all in all she was very patient with us. I am sure other things happened this past week but I have little recollection of the rest of the week because it was a wee bit hectic and is followed up by me acquiring the crud again. Gotta love working in a petri dish....