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.

Sadness

Sorry about the blogless title. I was trying to type while sitting in a cage with a very sad mastiff who wouldn't sleep unless on top of someone. He obviously slept in his owners bed and wasn't going to relax unless he got some comfort, he kept laying across me thus me unable to type.
I love my job.

25 things you didn't know about me....

25. I love tattoos and I secretly would love to have a sleeve but since I only want tattoos where I can choose for people to see them it might have to be on my back and sides.
24. I love the smell of new shower curtains.
23. My dogs feet smell like fritos.
22. I wish I was as artistic now as I use to be in high school.
21. I sometimes regret ending up with Tess and sometimes she melts my heart.
20. I don't own nice things because I know they will ultimately end up broken by either me or my pets....except for Coach purses.
19. I am quickly approaching my scary age.
18. My scary age is 35.
17. Right now I really need to clean my house but instead am watching tv and blogging.
16. I don't let go of things, though I really really want to.
15. I suffer from depression, and sometimes I feel like I am drowning but I push through.
14. In the last year I have learned to trust in God with my life, because he really does have a plan.
13. I am addicted to reality shows, maybe because I don't have a life of my own.
12. Sometimes I really don't know how to say no and end up getting used by people.
11. As much as I didn't want Sam and Deli at the time, I miss them with all my heart.
10. I am terrified of not having kids.
9. I am terrified of having kids.
8. I desperately need a vacation, but that costs money.
7. Some nights I feel like I am loosing faith in mankind.
6. I love my job and I can't remember the last time I said that.
5. I am scared that I will never find someone who loves me for me.
4. I am scared that if I do find that someone I won't be able to trust them because of my past experiences.
3. I am extremely sarcastic.
2. I have a BFF that is considered part of the family.
1. I can't wait to become an aunt!

My life is a sit-com?

Not really. My dad always accuses me and my brother of watching too much tv, quoting too many movie/tv quotes, and speaking our own language. All of which may be a little bit true. We do speak our own language and we do know how to finish a lot of lines. Like if I were to say "harses, harses, harses, harses" he would be sure to sing Jingle Bells. Why? If you don't know then you really, I mean really need to watch Sleepless in Seattle.
One of my all time favorite shows is Scrubs. Sometimes I feel like I am in it. I work nights so things tend to be a little more......crazy. Goofy. Random. And I think to myself (in a totally JD head tilting way) that this scenario should totally be on an episode of Scrubs. I even have a group of friends (that do watch it) and our meetings are referred to as the Brain Trust. There is no evil Janitor, no rambling mean resident, *at least not rambling and no chief who has two thumbs and doesn't give a crap, but most of the time, amongst the chaos, there is laughs and shenanigans. Friendships are built that are hard to explain. In fact, this whole blog seems a little obsolete. Maybe there is too much in my head that hasn't come out. I guess I would rather my life be more like Scrubs then Sex and the City these days. I may continue to use random quotes that confuse people like "why does an hen need a banjo?" and "isn't that the giant pickle on the crap sandwhich that is my day." I may continue to think in my head and overanalyze every situation. And I will continue to speak our language with my brother. In fact, I do plan on passing this language down to little Bootsy or Jaco.
So to answer the question of this blog title....is my life a sit-com? No, but sometimes all you can do is laugh because if you don't, the next option is crying. In high stress situations, sometimes those are the only two emotions you got.

A full moon, a heat wave, and a bit of a soul search

I have just come off of one of the longest work weeks of my life. And by week I mean 4 "ten" hour days. I put the ten in quotations because I never left on time....or got a lunch....or sat down really in the last 4 days. I do believe the the full moon is 90% responsible for the madness and anybody who works in a medical field will know that full moon is not a myth. It really brings out the weirdos and crazies. Not that we really had a lot of that, just A LOT in general. But as I got home just in time to get the garbage out before the garbage man arrived, I tried to catch some zzzs before I headed to the fair with Leah, Stephanie, and the kids. Now I am sure you all have had the moments when you know you have just a small amount of time to catch some much needed rest so you just lay there with your eyes wide open and not sleep at all. Insert me in that scenario this morning. After a 10minute nap I head out to the fair.

And so we move on to the heat wave. Going to the fair at 9:30 in the morning would some like a pleasant time or at least semi-pleasant temperature. Well when the high is going to be 125 degrees, it just doesn't cool off....ever.....but we made it work, had a great time and went to Old McDonalds for lunch in the AC. They didn't have any deep fried goodness at the fair anyways, plus we can make our own oreos now.

We did have the pleasure of running into a friend and old co-worker at the fair. Her kids are showing pigs so she was able to give Kate, Owen, Nami, and Kai an up close look and pet of one of the pigs......hence the soul searching part...

Yes, I loved pigs and I loved sheep and maybe there was a twinge of sadness seeing all of them rooting around and being pigs in there smart/ pain-in-the-butt kind of way. Maybe it was multiplied by the severe lack of sleep and emotional drain as well but it made me think...Do I miss my old job? In a way, I do. I miss the uniqueness of working with the pigs and the freedom of being a technician in research. But I think the nostalgia stops there. I don't miss the endings, I don't miss 75% of my co-workers (25% is the Medi peeps), I don't miss being horribly, miserably, sick ALL. THE. TIME. and I definitely don't miss the multiple stabs in the back. It was a good time for majority of the time. I got to work with the amazing late Dr. Geddes. But I have moved on and I do love my job now. I love the freedom, the support, the crazy-Scrubs like atmosphere (complete with a Todd), the time off, the variety, and the new people that come and go. Though as the new people show up and we said farewell to the old it is hard not to realize that these kids will be gone in a mere 12 months too. I guess we need to enjoy the time we have with them.

Heat wave? all you can do is try to stay cool. The dogs' tactics? Phoebe hogs the pool so Dudley steals the hose. Typical brother and sister.

Stay cool!

Project complete!

This blog will probably be more photos than actually blog but I am proud to say that I finally got the basement room painted and put back together. I must say it looks pretty darn good. Here are some pre-paint photos:

Some mid photos:

Phoebe's foot after she stepped in the paint, you can see that she is very stressed.

And after photos:

I have a place to sit and wait for the tornado warnings to pass by plus the treadmill folds up easily in the weirdly angled corner.

The closet door took up so much room because it opened the wrong way, so I took it down and use an old cloth shower curtain instead. It brightened up the room and now I can easily access my craft supplies.

There was some concern that it would make the room darker and smaller but I think it actually livened it up a bit. It is now my official shot glass, work out, sewing, tornado bunker room. Basically a catch all but I am in love with it now.

90 days.....

Today not only did I participate in a Wet lab to teach new interns but I also had my 90 day evaluation. Both of which went extremely well. It is nice having co-workers who actually like me, or at least pretend to like me. Though I at least need to remember to dial the sarcasm down a little bit with this new group of interns.
As I am getting use to the new job, new students, new interns, I am still struggling with keeping in touch with my friends. We all know I love sleep and working nights is just a perfect excuse to do it as much as possible. A friend of mine recently posted a blog on depression and though hers is due to post partum, I have to watch myself and that I am sleeping because I am tired and not because it is sneaking in again. Depression can affect everyone in different ways and it is not necessarly considered to be because I am "sad." Sometimes it is a lack of interest in human interaction, a lack of motivation, and a surplus of sleep and pain. It usually sneaks up on me in the winter when the days last just about as long as a Lifetime Movie. In the winters, one of my big deterents to keep it away is to go tanning. That is why I try to spend much of my time outside with my pups in the sunshine. Though sunshine is a scarce commoditiy lately as well.
So,to all of my neglected friends, let's make plans to enjoy the rest of this summer!!

Oh the joy of procrastination, no money, and long summers

Well from my last post things have looked up. I am slowly working on getting things right with dad which includes a special savings account. But that is another long story that may never be told. Let's just say, I am on the right track.

Now as I am on the right track and currently procrastinating in doing my bills, and cleaning my kitchen, and getting ready for work, I realize that my summer is going to be filled with extra shifts and "projects."

One of my main projects is that I do believe I want to have a yard sale by the end of the summer, I have a ton of stuff that needs weeded out (I learned from switching winter to summer clothes). That is my goal before the end of this summer. But the quickly approaching holiday makes me realize how much things have changed.

I use to live next door to people who thought 4th of July was the Best. Holiday. Ever. and celebrated it for 2-3 days non-stop. That was great when I had two deafish dogs and one who loved fireworks. Now I have a jack/rat terrified of loud noises and one who I have not owned near the 4th of July. My plan? Probably put the thundershirt on Phoebe and paint my basement. Yep, I lead an exciting life. Maybe I will see if I can coax any of my friends who own pools to let me lounge in theirs during the day. (Hint hint if you are reading this.) I was invited to go to Indy and do that exact thing with Mandy but I have horrible visions of chasing Tess around Indianapolis in the middle of the 4th of July madness. I am not that brave. I need to see if she is fearless like Dud or a wuss like Phoebe. This is Phoebe's 4th of July outfit:

Also known as the thundershirt. As a dog who tries to actively run out of any clothes put on her, she will come up to me to put this on at the first hint of thunder. Of course as soon as the storm is gone, she is trying to run out of it. As long as it works.

I have many "projects" that I hope to get done this summer, most which involve stuff I already have and just actually doing it. I will keep you posted on the progress, but let's not forget my blog title. So don't hold your breath.

We are quickly approaching the end of our time with our current interns. I love them. Here is a pic of them, along with Dr. Johnsons' (Momma and Poppa). I stole it off Stich's facebook page. :)

You guys are great and we will miss you!!

How to fail at life without really trying.

Here I go, laying it all out:
About the time I got fired, I realized that I couldn't afford my credit card payments. I came across a debt consolidation program that is very legit and started working with them to help out my situation. My goal was to get things under control without putting more stress on my family, as you can read by the past blogs, we had/still have plenty of stress. My main goal was to let my dad continue to plan his retirement with a smile on his face and a beer in his hand. Well, several months later, I find myself in a big'ol mess which in turn does the exact opposite of my plan to begin with. I do have a meeting with a financial advisor on thursday who agrees with me that what I did was the best option at the time, and agrees with me on the decisions I made. Hopefully now, I can make better decisions and actually make my family proud again, because at this point I am a giant FAIL. Just another disappointing day in the life of me. What am I going to do? I think I am going to curl up with Phoebe in her "I'm in trouble spot." She designated this as her"time out" spot all by herself. It started with the incontinence issues, now I often find her there and then search the house for whatever she did.

BRATs!

This past weekend I got the pleasure to spend some time with my brother and SIL. This included going to a BRAT convention. What is a BRAT convention? It stands for Basenji Rescue and Transport. It was an interesting experience and also qualified for some CE (woohoo!) The main reason we went is because they have a rescue basenji from the infamous Wimauma pack. I got some cool pics and had a great time with them.

This is quite possibly a family photo.A group shot of the rescued basenjis that made the conference:

I have never been to a convention were animals were allowed AT the convention and one would think since it was basenjis it would be quiet, not the case. Every so often you would hear what I can only describe as a tasmanian devil outburst. Sometimes I think barking would be better. But everyone got along for the most part, but I think I will stick with my barking dogs...except when Phoebe and the corgis fight.

Everything else seems to be cruising right along, it is about time to say good-bye to our fabulous interns and get a new group in. I have to laugh because one of the interns I have worked with for the last two weeks just now realized I am a sarcastic person. Woopsie. Maybe I should turn off my sarcastic charm when working around new people. Working nights is still hard to get use to, I have a hard time keeping in touch with my friends. So if any of you are reading this, I am sorry, I am trying!!

Now I suppose I must go mow the lawn so I can get to my next item on my to-do list which is bring up the summer clothes. I know, I am a slacker but today I realized I couldn't find my good bathing suit because it was still packed (at least that is what I am hoping). I am happy though because I am now sporting my first sun-burn of the season, kinda nice and it was a great time spending the day with Nicole and her kids at their fabulous pool. Happy Summer everyone!

Yes, that really did happen.

I said I would keep you updated on my quest and dilemma for a chihuahua, well things took a interesting and colorful turn.

We are usually not allowed to post pictures of clients but since this client was indeed relinquished to us....er....to me to be exact, I feel I have the authority to post some. It was mine for a brief time, approximately 6 hours, but a lovely vet student took the responsibility on. For one, I was a little concerned to have another female dog in the house. I still come home to find an awkward air and realize that the girls have been duking it out for top dog so a third would have been too much, but I couldn't let the poor girl be put down without a chance at treatment. I figured if she responded to treatment I could give her to the guys across the street, it seemed appropriate. But like I said, a vet student took her and is working her up today (and probably shaving her). Well enough suspense....her she is.

Yep, ladies and gentleman. That is a pink dog. After the 5th hour of realizing I was in the possesion of a pink dog, it got a little hilarious ( and it had nothing to do with my 3rd day working with zero sleep).

Here is a much happier picture of me with her because I realized I no longer had a pink dog or perhaps the delirium of working nights. Hope she gets better soon!

A fine line......

Between me and a hoarder. Yes, I really REALLY want a chihuahua. I know I don't need one and it will probably be killed by the others, but I have encountered so many lovely ones lately that I am itching to get one. In fact I have found several rescues that have some....all I hear in my mind is my brother threatening to call Animal Hoarders......
The difference between me and them is that all mine are taken care of. Hell, one even wears a diaper and a thundershirt, if that isn't love, I don't know what is.
To be continued......

Sorry All...and overdue blog.

It has been awhile since I have been on here, things are just too darn crazy! I am still adjusting to the sleep schedule and then I was sick which moved my sleep schedule to sleeping ALL.THE.TIME. Thankfully my doc didn't stick me on any antibiotics but that caused a huge delay in recovery. I am over the worst of it but still lethargic as can be. Luckily the rain and the storms have made for the dogs avoiding outside too.
There has been a lot going on recently and let's see if I can sum it up while I wait for my nails to dry (I blame Tami on my new found obsession for nail polish).
I have had a lot on my mind recently. It has ranged from "can I handle working another job?" to "Can I get rid of Miss Tess?" I know that leaves a lot of questions.
Well I had offered to work part-time awhile ago at the Clinic that I left to go to Purdue. I figured I could do the same as I did before, the equivalent of working a saturday albeit on my "weekend" which is the days off I have during the week. I failed to take into consideration my inability to say no to picking up extra shifts and over-working myself. I did my first shift a couple of days ago and it was great to be back in the saddle again, especially doing dentals, which I LOVE! But I was exhausted, luckily my dogs were too since they spent the day at day care. I know it will take some getting use to, but hopefully this is something I can swing. Fingers crossed.
In the process of all the job shuffling I still have the inevitable lack of confidence. I guess when you are "honorably discharged due to Medical conditions" that seems to take a huge chunk out of your professional ego. I am ALWAYS paranoid. I over analyze everything I hear, I make myself sick everytime I have an evaluation, and I am always looking over my shoulder, feeling like I am in some type of competetion. I know I am not because I am not trying to compete with anyone, and I know none of this is justified....(or is it?) but rational thinking, when it comes to this, is just not a strength of mine. How long will it take me to get over this?? Probably never. But I am hoping my confidence will start to increase as soon as I quit listening to other people, especially ones that I can't always trust to have my best interest in mind. As I am writing this out, I realize how completely stupid this all sounds, but there is no one in my mind to tell me that.
Finally my sweet Tess. I have newish neighbors (I just met them but they have been there awhile). One of them use to be a dog trainer so I employed his skills to see what he could do with Tess. Tess took up with him faster than I have ever seen her with a stranger. I was thoroughly impressed. Later on he brought his partner over to see what he thought of Tess, well it was AMAZING. They were all in the backyard and Tess went right up to him and sat down and nudged to be petted. Never met this guy before in her life. Now I am thinking, well....they can give her more attention and discipline then I can and they were willing to take her so we set up a trial run this past tuesday night for her to spend the night with her possible new dads. Needless to say my door bell rang 30minutes later with him standing there and my poor sweet Tess shaking like a leaf. I guess I am stuck with the girl, apparently she sat in the corner and shook like a leaf and cried. It was worth a try, granted I was having mixed emotions on getting rid of her, but all in all, I guess the decision was ultimately made for me. Dad will have to take her when he retires.
Well that is some quick rambling of all that has been going on recently. It does feel good to have it all out in writing. I hope everyone is safe after these last rounds of storms and my prayers are with those that were hit the hardest....Joplin, Minneapolis, Texas and right here in Indiana.

Things I have learned

First of all, to set matters straight. I do NOT own any Hanson or the like cds, I do however have these songs, but so does Tom since it is on the billboard greatest hits for whatever year that annoying song came out. And despite his moaning, his likes the song "steal my sunshine." Fact.

Well after my first week of flying solo at work not only did I come out beaten and exhausted but I also came out a little smarter. I think I did okay considering that there were a lot of times that I had to lean on others for help, and then we even bribed ourselves with a trip to outlet malls after the next paycheck. That just goes to prove how the last week went. I guess the Seniors had to make their last week a doozy. But I learned a lot, here are just a few tips:
1.) Any vertical writing surface is a bad idea for a left handed person....dry erase, chalk boards,....etc.
2.) Cat bags are not specie specific.
3.) Double and triple check.....everything
4.) When all else fails, wing-it, even if the receptionists may hate you.
5.) At 8am in the morning after a crazy night, everything is funny
6.) At 8am in the morning when everything is funny, you tend to have zero strength left to fight.
7.) Triple XXX makes everything better, the food that is.
8.) A homemade belly band is genius
9.) Bribery will get you anywhere, even if you are just bribing yourself
10.) I work with a great group of people!!

I learned a lot and I learned to enjoy my days off even more. In fact, I treated today (Tuesday is it?) like a Sunday and did absolutely NOTHING. Beside write this blog, and now I am going to clean the bathroom, but nothing was planned for me to do today. My newest project, a fabric baby gate, let's hope my dogs aren't smart enough to figure this one out.

A practice in patience....and keeping my mouth shut

If you have known me for any extended amount of time, you probably have figured out that 1.) Patience is not my virtue and 2.) I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut. Well I have found myself improving greatly on both of these fronts. I do believe that Tess has increased my patience level, because I learned early on with her that if I push her then it will take me twice as long to get back to the same place. I am hoping that I can maintain this new found patience in the weeks to come when the students switch over and we get a bunch of fresh faced newbies. I believe I can....or at least I hope.
Keeping my mouth shut, another Peterson virtue of quick tempers. I do tend to snap quite quickly when people tick me off. But through many years in theater, I have learned to smile and fake it. Of course behind that smile is me thinking " you stupid piece of ......" or "Listen ......." but I don't. I have had to keep my mouth shut a lot lately, I have learned it is best not to stir the pot, poke the bear, or any other weird phrases that basically mean "do not create drama." I guess I am kinda proud of myself because it is a known mathematic equation that as my sleep deprivation increases my filter and patience decrease. Yay for me.
Now for the bunny situation. Well yesterday I felt I was in a frat party dare gone desperately wrong. The milk crate had deterred the dogs despite what you all are thinking until Dudley ran into it and knocked it off the bunny hole. I come outside to find Tess with one in her mouth. I tell her to drop it which apparently translates into "eat faster" therefore she tries to SWALLOW IT WHOLE. (I couldn't help thinking about people swallowing whole goldfish.) I pull the victin out of her gullet by it's back legs. Seriously it was that far down there. I toss the victim aside to wrestle her in. When I come back out I realize that Phoebe has only the hind limbs and some intestines remaining. Joy. Now my concern is whether or not Phoebe's tiny GI system can pass a rabbit skull. Yes it can, at least that is the advice I got from the ever so helpful Momma J. Now there are many jokes of crowning flying around that I will not get into since it involves mental images that will keep you awake at night. The rest of the bunnies got relocated and taken to a wildlife center....or at least i thought the rest of the them but sometime in the evening last night Tess was carrying around another one. Since she apparently didn't like me sticking my hand down her throat she dropped this one fast and he was off. I tried to place him back in his hole with milk crate in place and he jumped through the milk crate openings. After several chases across the backyard (by me not the dogs) I can only assume this guy is not an original group since he can move at a swift speed and the others didn't even have their eyes open. I put him over the fence and hope he found his way, far away from the other 17 dogs on my block. Good riddance little bunnies, and good luck.

Worst animal owner/lover ever.

As a vet tech, I find that some of us (I said some) are the worst animal owners. For instance when I took my precious Lola in to get her vaccines this past week, she urinated and anal glanded (?) in the carrier. What did I do? Beat her senseless? No, of course not. But I did get her 3-yr vaccines hoping that in 3 years we won't have the same problem. Now we recommend to clients, even if they get 3 year vaccines, to still get their annual physicals, probably won't happen with Lola. I can understand her fear, she was thrown out a car window in her early life, she has a fear of cars for good reason.
I also mowed this past week on the one day I didn't work and it wasn't raining. Unfortunately I uncovered a bunny hole that had 7 teeny tiny baby bunnies in it. Yes, they are cute and yes, I felt bad. But the damn bunny had it's babies in MY backyard that always has at least three dogs in it. To make it worse, she even had it in the perimeter of Tess's runner. Really?!?!?! Now I asked around and got many opinions, one was to leash walk my dogs until the bunnies are old enough. Well I have a fenced in backyard for a reason, so NO. I did offer to put a box over the hole with an entrance for momma bunny to come in but I was told that a rabbit would never go into the hole, it would be too scared. Well she had the babies with three dogs, isn't that scary??? My solution? I put an egg crate over it and will uncover it at night. That kept phoebe out of it, however did not keep Dudley peeing on or in the bunny hole. FAIL.
Now my last, most brutal and smelly reminder. I worked late last night, my days are long anyways but this day was 3 extra hours long. I felt horrible for my pups and it sucks that I don't have someone who I can trust to let the dogs out in situations like this. Not that I don't trust the people, I don't trust Tess with the people. There are VERY few people that she will even acknowledge and that is after lots of barking and still various places to run to. I played with them, fed them, loved them and then passed out from exhaustion. I woke up early, thanks to them and the open windows + the garbage truck, and fed them went back to bed only to wake up to find Dudley had peed on various places all over the living room. I think this is his passive agressive (all passive no agressive) way to tell me he is mad. Also as soon as the dogs ate last night, Tess was sure to move out of her kennel taking her rawhide with her saying "no way lady, you left me in there too long." Ugh. I know we will all get on the same page soon, eventually after some carpet cleaning and extra lovin. But it just goes to show that vet techs love our job so much that often when we are busy helping your pets, ours get neglected (at least in their eyes).
And don't even get me started on Phoebe and her pelvic bladder. Can you say sewing project for puppy panties?
I did notice some things that I haven't noticed before. I feel good. Yep I am tired, and sometimes a little congested (but who isn't) but I have not had a bad stomach issue or back issue in a very long time. Of course, I just jinxed myself but it makes me feel good to know that I am back on a good track. I do get the random unexplained injuries from scratches, bites, and those oddly placed bruises but no limiting back pain. Hooray for me, bad for my chiropractor. But hey I kept him in business for a good 2-3 years.
It was a scary step and I do miss my friends that I use to see every day. But all in all I love my job. I will try to be a better pet owner but as far as the bunnies, well, they are on their own.

Happy Easter!

Easter bunny??

It leaves "eggs" in the yard, just ask my dad, he is very good at finding the special easter eggs plus

it eats carrots......

Happy Easter everyone!!!

Nights/days/weeks/weekends

Well I am officially in my second week of working nights. I do love it but I have noticed one thing.....okay many things but the main one is I have NO IDEA what day it is. Not the date but the actually day, monday, thursday, sunday.....Don't have a clue. Score one for DVR not letting me lose any of my precious shows. I have noticed other things, black-out curtains are the BEST. THING. EVER. My dogs are liars, they try to convince me to feed them every chance they get. I caught on this week. Pretty sure they got fed three times a few days last week. Also shopping when you are tired takes twice as long and is half as productive. Other than those minor adjustments, I am handling it pretty well. Now I just need to get my butt motivated and figure out what time I am going to start working out. But I feel the transition is going smoothly.
This week was the first set of severe storms. I toyed with the idea of taking Phoebe to work with me since she has developed a completely irrational fear of storms out of the blue. But the guilt of leaving the other dogs here and a tornado taking my house stomped that one out. After a tornado warning, some rough winds, and severe lightning, I came home to find the house and dogs in one piece. I thought everyone did well but I noticed that after I fed the dogs that Dudley immediately wound up on my bed snoring which is what he did all the next day. Maybe he did spend a lot of the night comforting phoebe. I will never know. Well I am going to end this blog with one of the more depressing things I was told at work. I was leaving and I said "See ya tomorrow" and was corrected with "it is never see ya tomorrow, it is see you later today." Very true when working nights.

Successful stalking!

Happy 100th Blog!

Just what I am feeling tonight. I am happily back on the laptop, watching a little Destination Truth, and laughing at my dogs. My day has not been too shabby considering I started yesterday with a sore throat and ended with a fever. This morning I was still a little medicine-heady but the day went on pretty much without a hitch, thanks to a wonderful Liane who brought me a Den pop after lunch. I decided to be productive when I got home so not only did I start working out again (yep, this fat girl can still run) but I started my latest sewing project...new throw pillows for the couch. This is where things got a little dicey. I went to cut the thread on the the pillow and got my finger tip with it. Since I have been told by many people to designate sewing scissors so I always have good scissors to cut my fabric, these were extra sharp. Now if you know me, I am not a queasy person, I can do just about anything on an animal....but when it comes to myself, I am the wussiest person you will ever meet. I almost passed out when they took the sutures out of my hand after my carpal tunnel surgery. Therefore I called my trusty nurse neighbor and made her check out the injury to decide if sutures were needed.....I still don't know exactly how deep the cut is, but I took her word for it, cleaned it thoroughly and wrapped it up. Out of sight, out of mind = no chance of me passing out and the cats eating my face. Not to be deterred by injury, I brought the pillows upstairs to stuff so I can finish them up. Now hilarity ensued. Phoebe, Tess, and Dudley...but mostly Phoebe didn't understand why I would want to stuff something when they spend their evenings de-stuffing them. Therefore I had plenty of help. This is the point of time when I realize that "I am happy." It might be the Mad Mushroom I had for dinner, it might be the goofy animals of mine or it might be that I really am happy, for the first time in a long time. I loved my old job, but money was always in the back of my mind, the job before that, well I loved it once. Now I am on this new adventure and I feel happy (getting my first paycheck tomorrow helps). I see posts from my old co-workers, my clinic peeps, and I do get this twinge in my stomach. I miss seeing them daily. But I want them to know that I love them and miss them, so clinic peeps, if you are reading this, believe it. I doubt you are reading this though. :) Hopefully the rest of the week goes smoothly because it will end with hopefully a great friday night stalking one of my favorite authors. Oh and FYI, it is only creepy when you stalk alone. In pairs, it is totally NOT creepy.

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....

New steps and hard decisions

I have had to make a lot of hard decisons in my life. Some decisions I should have made before they were made for me. Some decisions I will second guess for the rest of my life. And some decisions are simply a "no brainer." Maybe a no brainer but my heart is definitely involved. I am leaving a place that is like home to me. I love my co-workers and my job but cannot financially afford to stay there. Again I am going to play the single card, I like that card, but being independent, I cannot continue to mooch off my dad for the rest of my life. He hates me, I am sure. I want him to retire and be happy....and take Tess, but that is an argument for a different time. I got offered a new opportunity that has forced me to leave all that is familiar behind and embark on a new adventure which I am excited about, but have to leave those that were there for me during a dark time. I will be eternally thankful for all the times they were there helping me out and showing support. It is not something I want to do, but if I play out the entire deck, it is something I need to do, something I have to do. So yes, I am sick with what I have had to decide but at the same time can't help but be a little bit excited for what is yet to come. And also breathe a sigh of relief that I hopefully won't have to ask for money anymore. Plus when my health insurance kicks in I can go sky-diving, tight rope walking, get pierced at unsanitary establishments, train lions, and do any other things that might require a hospital visit shortly thereafter.

Genes

To continue on my post from yesterday and my snobbiness, I can only credit it to one person. My dad and his side of the family. Whenever we travel, all my dad wants to do is get home to his own bed. We are both home-bodies whereas Mom can sleep anywhere. There are many other things I can credit to my dad's side of the family....
My big ears....yep they are huge
My temper....if you haven't seen it yet, consider yourself lucky
My mean streak...see above
My soft heart...how many pets do I have and what is each one's sob story?
The difference between me and dad is that he likes the movie Dumbo and I hate it, but that is because of a horrible experience thanks to dad and tom, and mom abandoning me in their company.
Also I really hope I get the aging gene from my mom, her hair doesn't gray, it gets darker and she does not look her age at all. My dad doesn't look his age either but unfortunately he has the gray gene.
I tend to think my brother has more of my mom's side of the family genes. He can bargain anyone out of anything, he knows a little bit of useful knowledge about anything, he can pick at you until you want to smack him, and he can control his emotions a lot better than I can. Now both Tom and I have what my mom calls the "peterson walk," which dad claims is from having one leg shorter than the other. We all love music and the crude sense of humor, well I don't know where it comes from but we all have it, which is why I will never, EVER, bring anyone home. All in all I think we are both a good mashup of each side of the family, except my temper gets me to in trouble more than I would like to admit....how many roommates have I had? But I keep in touch with most of them and in my defense, my first one was a little crazy.

I am a snob

Yep, I am a computer snob. I love my own computer. It is like my own bed. I can sleep in other beds but don't get a whole lot of it done. Well my computer is like my bed, I know all the right spots, it is comfy, and I can wear my pjs when using it. And if I have to deal with other's for too long I get grumpy. Of course I am talking about my desktop, I love my laptop for surfing purposes but I still haven't gotten the hang of typing on it though. Pretty soon I will love my laptop just as much as soon as I get this thumb pad thingy under control.
Well I was happy to leave work early to come home and type the Hospital Safety Manual on my computer and not the janky one at work...plus I get to wear my jammies pants. I guess I am a snob about a lot of things....I like my own bed, my own shower, my own house, my own tv (because of cable and my dvr), my own car, my favorite hoodie, plus my own dogs and my own cats. Oh and my own phone....yep it is pretty much about me and MY stuff. Add to the need of MY things and not feeling too well because of stress, I had a rough day. But now that I am comfy in my comfy pants, feeling successful having completing the Manual (except for some minor additions and changes) and waiting for the Community to come on, I am feeling a little more at ease...that is until Phoebe peed on me. Then I had to change into different comfy pants and throw the Snuggie down the laundry shoot. All in all, I am a snob, I love my stuff.

When I can't change things happening around me....

I tend to want to change the inanimate objects around me. For instance, I want these curtains (perhaps a different color)for my bedroom so I can move the colorful curtains from my bedroom into my living room.

I would like some more color in my living room. My bedroom curtains would be a great addition and still semi-match the theme. This would then cause a small change in my bedroom....see I need the following: Sheets that don't attract dog hair (I only have two sets that do so or don't so), a comforter that doesn't show dog hair as bad, and a bed skirt to match the above (do we see a theme, such as dog hair?) The theme of my bedroom is beachy, I am still sticking with that theme, just ready for something new and since I don't have the energy to paint anything or remove wallpaper and I still haven't bribed anyone to help me move the futon upstairs, I have decided to day dream because I can't afford any of it. I have found what I want and none of it is too expensive but since I have zero extra money, maybe I should just move on and focus elsewhere..... The point of all this redecorating mumbo jumbo? One, I am sick of looking at the same gloomy stuff, two, Phoebe is going through her peeing on the sheets stage again and I am sick of washing sheets everynight, and three, there is a lot going on in my head and I tend to deal with it by acting out....acting out by redecorating or cleaning obsessively. Usually cleaning helps but now I need something to make me happy, like when I look at it, I smile. There is so much in my head that I need to get out. So much that I don't want to talk about but need to, so much that I know others need to talk about but don't want to, so much I wish I could help with. So for now I will continue to daydream, clean, and pray for those who need comfort.