Pictures as promised



Christmas Day!

April!

Here they are!  Just got done with a very emotionally draining weekend.  It got to the point where I gave up time with my Sweet Baby James to come home and get away from mean remarks and awkward environment.  To make things even better, Phoebe's incontinence reared it's ugly head, in my car, on my console.  Maybe it was a gentle reminder that she should be in the back seat and not riding on my console.  Well played universe, way to kick me when I am down.

Dusting off the keyboard

Yeah, yeah, I get it,  I have been beyond horrible in keeping up with my blog.  Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and past and we are now into Spring!  So what? you ask, has compelled me to write a blog right now?  I am wide awake in my  parents house while everyone sleeps.  See the joy of working the night shift.  If I were in my own house, I could be cleaning, or watching my DVR'd shows, or generally puttering around the house but since I am, instead, stuck in a bedroom with my three dogs THINKING of all the things I could be doing, I decided to update my blog.  And to vent as well, since this visit is far from enjoyable (except for seeing the baby).  Yep Baby! I got a nephew for Christmas! I will post pics later but since I am typing this on a bed, sans mouse, and my laptop hates me anyways, I will refrain from photos and the end result cursing and no blog at all. 
Visiting other peoples houses always suck.  I miss my bed, my thermostat, my schedule.  When you throw in a person who works the night shift, things tend to get even worse.  I can't sleep, even with some pharmaceutical assistance (please kick in soon), my stomach wakes me up at random times for meals (which induce snide remarks), and I can pretty much eat anything at anytime.  Pizza at 7am?  Sure! And no I haven't been drinking nor am I still drunk.  Then come morning I have very little sleep on board because when my body eventually decides it wants to REM, well, everyone else is up and about.  Introduce grumpiness and ya know what doesn't help?  Lecturing me.  Just an FYI.  So yes, me visiting others just doesn't end well.  My dogs tend to handle it better than me because they are okay to sleep or play whenever, which is why I have a snoring lump in my covers and two black shaggy carpets.  Well since I could go on and on at how annoyed I am, maybe I can finally get some rest.   I will end with my Top Ten List of Stuff:
1. I have a perfect nephew
2. I recently had my first adventure at IKEA and am officially hooked.
3. Hunger games! Love Lenny as Cinna
4. Pinterest!
5. I am still a Coach addict (admitting is step 1 correct?)
6. I have had my 1 year anniversary at ER/ICU. 
7. I am contemplating a new tattoo.
8. I am still bitter about my firing (especially as more and more emerges about c-diff) and I probably always will be, but as long as it doesn't overcome my sweetness I guess it is okay.  I read that sweetness part somewhere and though when people look at me, they don't see sweet, I hope they don't see bitter.
9. I need a vacation
10.  May 10th!!! I am sad that in the next couple of months I will not only lose the wonderful students from the last year but a few months later, the interns as well.  May 10th is Medicine Ball and I am a little excited to get together with these people that I have come to know and love over the last year and hang out somewhere other than the vet school.

I am ready for summer and though I unfortunately I don't see a vacation in my future, I do see some afternoons spent at my favorite resort. 

Zombies and my Christmas list?

So the new fad? Zombies? I was intrigued. So one night whilst on a break I decided to start watching "the Walking Dead." Even more intriguing. Except I started with the first episode of season 2 and it didn't make a whole lot of sense. Like "how did people become zombies?" "how do you kill a zombie?" "why are some people just dead and not zombies?" So after much confusion I needed to start from the beginning. Well after preparing for a trip to Missouri, I downloaded the first season onto my Ipod, anticipating sleepless nights (not from the zombies but by working the night shift) and we were on our way. I still don't think my grandparents understand why I am up most of the night and then sleep in and take long naps. I watched the first two episodes the first night, I had to pace myself because there were only 6 episodes and no internet to get the rest of season 2. I had to spread these 6 episodes out over 3 nights. The first two left me with even more questions. " Where exactly did the zombies come from or start?" "Again why are some people just dead in their cars and not zombies?" and " how can that one zombie make noise when she has no torso and an open chest cavity (a valid point from my dad when I was impersonating the zombie noise to him.)?" Now that I am officially caught up, I am still intrigued, slightly confused, and wide awake at 5am (not because of zombies). I will always be a vampire fan (not the ones that sparkle!), they make much more sense.

I have been trying to do small changes around the house, thus inspires my christmas list with a few random things thrown in there:

I want a fireplace, not only to decorate the mantel but because it is darn cold!

I am also in love with these! They are close to a fainting couch, which I have always been obsessed with. I even bought a fainting couch for my dollhouse, not something I can use though.

And I am quickly realizing I am a Coach addict. I rarely own nice things but purses are something that I can easily try to keep from getting destroyed. I found their perfume and jewelry in an ad and love both!

And a Keurig was originally on my list, but they don't make peppermint mocha coffee, therefore not so sure I would want one now.

These are all a "wish list" knowing that they are too expensive to actually get but isn't that what wish lists are for?

October and November!!!

I guess it is time for thanksgiving, I don't know what happened to October and most of November but geesh it has gone fast. So here are some pics to sum it up:

I am thankful for a wonderful sister-in-law and that the shower went off without a hitch!!

I am thankful for all the wonderful people who came out for my birthday (old and new!)

Tami got married!!

I raked leaves! I am thankful for the leaf blower my parents got me!

Then I got to go to Missouri and visit the grandparents. I am very thankful for my wonderful family. And this pic of dad on the Jazzy. It isn't an old guy on a rascal though.

That is it for now, I have so much to be thankful for this year!!! It has been a pretty darn good year.

Stereotypes....and other stuff on my mind

I worked at a Humane Society throughout High School. My experience there was that Pit Bulls, though rarely adopted never were really an unknown threat. By an unknown threat, I mean that they definitely warned you when they were angry or aggressive, same with Rottis, Dobermans, and other so-called aggressive breeds. In fact, a Rotti mix, who I knew for a short period of time, saved me from a dangerous predicament one day. Thankfully that girl got adopted and went to protect the children in her family. Not the same with all breeds. So in high school my mind was made up, I would never own a chow, or terrier, or small dog in general and all I really wanted was a Bernese Mountain dog (this was post shar-pei phase). I first ended up with a hound dog, who I loved dearly and lost too soon, which segwayed into me getting two small dogs who really needed me. I was initially dead-set on no small dogs, I was a big dog girl. But those two dogs, loved me unconditionally and were the best dogs ever. I eventually got my big dog, Dudley, from a shelter, again, another wonderful dog. This is where things start to go awry. After losing my precious little dogs Sam and a year later, Deli, I knew Dudley needed a new friend.....enter Phoebe a Jack Russel/Rat Terrier. Some days I still wonder "what the heck was I thinking??? I hate this breed!" But I love her, she is a comedian and a lover. And she was brought to my attention at a moment of weakness, you could say she was a rebound dog when one isn't thinking clearly. Alright now I own one of my "never own breeds." Now enter Tess. Sigh. She is obviously chow. No doubt in my mind, which makes me concerned about her fearfulness leading to fear biting, which I have yet to see. But I am hesitant with her being cornered by small children. What happened to my dreams of a Bernese Mountain dog? After working with them (and their ridiculous price!) I realize that they are neurotic, high strung, and not exactly what I am looking for. I prefer a specific breed....called rescues.

Now the stereotypes....for some reason (thanks to Vick) Pit Bulls have gotten a horrible rap sheet. But read the book about the rehab of his pits, a high percentage of them have gotten Canine Good Citizenship Awards, which is much better than a Red Cross Mascot. They are in loving homes across the country. People see these dogs as vicious fighters, and yes, they are born to fight, but when raised right, they are nothing but lovable babies. As a dog owner, everyone has to realize what their breed of dog was bred to do. Phoebe will kill a rabbit in 0.2 secs, she is a terrier. Whereas Dudley will retrieve it to me, where the biggest trauma the rabbit will receive is the drop from his mouth. I understand this. True Pit Owners, know their dogs ability and strength. I am also aware of Tess's flightiness. I always will be.

My recent months working in the ER I have come across how stupid people are about Pit Bulls. We have sooo many that come in that have been beaten or hurt somehow because they were supposedly being aggressive, but these dogs always seem to be wagging their tail and ready to forgive and get some loven, regardless of how much pain they are in. I have seen many other breeds of dogs that are horrible at the littlest amount of restraint. Huh, makes you wonder. Stupid people and misunderstood dogs, horrible combination.

Now that I step down from that soapbox, I come to many other thoughts in my life. One is that there is an end in sight where I can happily resume my SSB. Though I still have yet to see any rent. Different battle for a different day.

Today the strangest thing happened. After a night of random dreams involving fully catered baby showers in a mall parking lot, where I forgot to do anything besides hire the cater, I woke up to pet-sit. Now the first cat I am pet-sitting hates me. Not ignores me but HATES ME. Funny when I took mom there the first day of pet-sitting when I was warned he was a little grumpy, mom swooped him up and he immediately loved on her and purred. ???? Not to me, he continually cusses me out and attacks me when I move. Good thing he only has three legs to attack me with. But I feed him and love on him anyways (in between hisses). I get home and look in the mirror and notice I am wearing a Bridges BBQ shirt. A shirt I purchased on a trip to see my Great Aunt. As I looked in the mirror, I thought about Ernestine, about her giggle and the way she could zip around with her wheelie walker (and her wonderful Arkansas cookin). I wondered if I would ever see her again since she was put in Hospice a few months ago and I knew I had no vacation on the horizon. Later this afternoon I got a call from dad saying he had bad news, and I knew immediately that she had passed. Coincidence? I will never know. But I will miss her as I know everyone will and my prayers go out to them and my grandma.

SSB

I know a lot of my blogs refer to some episode of Sex and the City. Maybe it is because I love that show, maybe because a real woman wrote it and it speaks the truth or maybe because I have zero life. Anyhoo, this blog compares to the episode where they discuss SSB. Secret Single Behavior. Now they are referring to hiding things they do from their significant others, while mine is hiding them from my newly acquired roommate. Now before any of your minds go in the gutter, I will clarify. For instance if I am working my 4, 10 hour night shifts, my house turns into a complete disaster zone. No laundry, dishes for vaccuuming is done. With two black long hair dogs....my carpet can get a little.....hairy. Not to mention that all 8000 dog toys are drug out across the living room. I also rarely shut my bathroom door. This comes in handy when I shower, I can hear the dogs and make sure the girls aren't really fighting. Now I have had to change my ways and it confuses the heck out of the dogs. Everytime I open the door they look at me like "that room has a door?," "whatcha doin mom?," and "nope, it wasn't me." It has also put a lot of stress on animals. They have to get locked up at night because otherwise they would attack the roommate when she returns from work. So this is how it goes....
4am: door unlocks
4:01am: Tess barks furiously, Dudley leans over the gate, and Phoebe barks from underneath the covers.
4:02-4:08; I yell at Tess to shut up which may include throwing pillows at her.
4:09: I give up and shut my door.
4:10: I start to fall back asleep
4:15: Craplin digs at the door to get either in or out of the bedroom
4:16: I let him out or in
4:17: Dudley jumps on the bed since whoever came in isn't going to say HI to him
4:20: I start to fall back asleep
4:35: Lola digs at the door to get in or out.
4:45: If I let Lola in, she immediately gets on the bed and tries to use my side as a balance beam. She is NOT light.
4:50: Phoebe grumbles from underneath the covers because somehow Lola has started to knead on her head.
4:55: I throw Lola off the bed.
4:56: Lola tries to get into the closet to rub her white body all over my black scrubs
5:00: I throw Lola out the room
5:05: Dudley sighs loudly and gets off the bed because HE is trying to sleep.
And scene.
My other SSB includes anyones bad habits. Leaving dirty laundry in the bathroom, shoes where-ever you took them off, and not washing the toothpaste out of the sink. It is bad habits to break and probably harder than most since I have done it for so long. I will continue to watch myself and try to hide the animals weirdness but at the same time I am ready to get back to normal...at least normal to me.

A few updates

I have been out of the blogosphere lately, I have had a lot going on. With the recent holiday weekend and the beginning of a shift switch I ended up working more than usual. Now I am sitting on the couch, blogging, and waiting for a roommate. Yep folks, I said roommate. It has been many moons since I have co-habitated with something other than 4-legged creatures. I am very nervous about the new said arrangement, but I know it is only temporary and I will be helping a friend out. I have had a fabulous evening so far, which included a True Blood season finale party with some friends. It was full of drama (show related) and lots of laughs (mostly at me or my animals expense). Apparently most sane people don't have a plethora of professional photos of their animals on display at their house. Who knew. In my defense, I believe that everytime I had a photo taken of Sam and Deli I thought it would be the last one, which in turn produced many photos since Sam was a dying dog for over 5 years.
This all comes down to the fact that I love my job. I have not even been at this position even one year but I have met so many great new people and friends. It is just another perk that came from something that I didn't realize I needed.
Now I must get back to searching for baby shower ideas that aren't going to be sickening sweet and make my SIL want to kill us.