I've been open for the past two hours. No one has even walked in to browse the entire time. I get up to go to the restroom and a family of eight walk in.
I have a feeling this is how my whole day is going to go.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
How Do They Do It In Canada?
I love my Quebecois customers. Well, most of them. They're the people who are always asking for a discount. On $10 items. But I've recently had a rash of Quebec'ers who hold up two items and ask, "What's the difference of these?"
The answer is always one of two...
"One is bigger than the other."
"One is better quality than the other."
Which makes me wonder how they price items in Canada?
The answer is always one of two...
"One is bigger than the other."
"One is better quality than the other."
Which makes me wonder how they price items in Canada?
Thursday, July 29, 2010
This is my life right now...
In past posts I've never really said what we sell at The Shop. For this I'm going to have to so you can understand the sheer STUPIDITY I deal with on a regular basis. I hate working retail and if it wasn't for The Man and it being his shop, I would never be doing this. But it's for my family and I'll continue for as long as need be.
Anyway. The Shop is a higher end surf shop. We also sell skateboards, long and short, guitars and ukuleles. Also a LOT of beach-y crap just to pay the bills.)
This is what I deal with on a daily basis...
"I'm going to go hang out on the beach. What do I need? Do people buy chairs? Umbrellas?"
Same guy, "How do these umbrellas work? I just stick it in the sand?"
"There's no surf here!" (Idiot. I surf all the time.)
"The other person yesterday told me this surfboard was a hundred dollars cheaper." (I'm the only one there Monday through Friday. This was said on a Thursday.)
"Is it hard to surf?"
"Is it hard to skateboard?"
"Is it hard to play guitar?"
"Is it hard to play ukulele?"
"Is it hard to boogie board?" (I swear someone asked me this. FOUR YEAR OLDS BOOGIE BOARD.)
A guy RUNS into The Shop, RUNS up to me behind the counter and practically shouts, "DO YOU HAVE FLIP FLOPS!?" Stunned, I just point literally two feet behind him to our giant rack of flops he just passed by.
"Are these Oakleys rip offs?"
"Are these Reef Brazils rip offs?" (And even if they were, which they're NOT, we're official dealers, who would answer, "Yep."?)
"Is your dog dangerous?" (Would I have her hanging out in here where babies wander around if my 16 lb Boston Terrier was dangerous?)
While looking straight at my CASH ONLY sign. "Do you take credit cards? No? What about debit cards then?"
"Cash only!? You can't run a business like that!" (Oh yeah? We've been in business since 1987. What do you have to say about that, Slick?)
"Is this your best price?"
"Since I'm paying cash, I don't have to pay the taxes, right?"
"If I buy two of these I'll get a deal, right?" (Usually said when trying to buy two $5 beach toys. Come back and talk to me about getting a deal when you want to buy two $1000 surfboards.)
"These are outrageously expensive!" (Said about above mentioned surfboards. They're hand made in America. Want cheap? Check out some Chinese made shit elsewhere.)
"I can't believe how cold the water is!" (You're in Maine. Put on a wetsuit.)
"This tag says $52 but will you take $20 if I buy it right now?"
"This surfboard says $799 but I'll give you $500 CASH in your HAND right NOW." And usually then he looks all proud of himself. Can't understand when I say, "Nope."
Most of the time I pretend I have no power to change prices and oh bummer, I can't call the owner right now. Or I'll "text" him and oh bummer, he's not replying. Guess that means 'no' to your incredible deal. How will I continue to live?
Why does a Mom & Pop store that actually has to make money to survive bring out everyone's inner bargainer? I'm not running a Bazaar. Just because the price tag is hand written doesn't mean it's negotiable. Do you haggle over your can of peas with the Wal-Mart cashier?
BUGGER OFF.
Anyway. The Shop is a higher end surf shop. We also sell skateboards, long and short, guitars and ukuleles. Also a LOT of beach-y crap just to pay the bills.)
This is what I deal with on a daily basis...
"I'm going to go hang out on the beach. What do I need? Do people buy chairs? Umbrellas?"
Same guy, "How do these umbrellas work? I just stick it in the sand?"
"There's no surf here!" (Idiot. I surf all the time.)
"The other person yesterday told me this surfboard was a hundred dollars cheaper." (I'm the only one there Monday through Friday. This was said on a Thursday.)
"Is it hard to surf?"
"Is it hard to skateboard?"
"Is it hard to play guitar?"
"Is it hard to play ukulele?"
"Is it hard to boogie board?" (I swear someone asked me this. FOUR YEAR OLDS BOOGIE BOARD.)
A guy RUNS into The Shop, RUNS up to me behind the counter and practically shouts, "DO YOU HAVE FLIP FLOPS!?" Stunned, I just point literally two feet behind him to our giant rack of flops he just passed by.
"Are these Oakleys rip offs?"
"Are these Reef Brazils rip offs?" (And even if they were, which they're NOT, we're official dealers, who would answer, "Yep."?)
"Is your dog dangerous?" (Would I have her hanging out in here where babies wander around if my 16 lb Boston Terrier was dangerous?)
While looking straight at my CASH ONLY sign. "Do you take credit cards? No? What about debit cards then?"
"Cash only!? You can't run a business like that!" (Oh yeah? We've been in business since 1987. What do you have to say about that, Slick?)
"Is this your best price?"
"Since I'm paying cash, I don't have to pay the taxes, right?"
"If I buy two of these I'll get a deal, right?" (Usually said when trying to buy two $5 beach toys. Come back and talk to me about getting a deal when you want to buy two $1000 surfboards.)
"These are outrageously expensive!" (Said about above mentioned surfboards. They're hand made in America. Want cheap? Check out some Chinese made shit elsewhere.)
"I can't believe how cold the water is!" (You're in Maine. Put on a wetsuit.)
"This tag says $52 but will you take $20 if I buy it right now?"
"This surfboard says $799 but I'll give you $500 CASH in your HAND right NOW." And usually then he looks all proud of himself. Can't understand when I say, "Nope."
Most of the time I pretend I have no power to change prices and oh bummer, I can't call the owner right now. Or I'll "text" him and oh bummer, he's not replying. Guess that means 'no' to your incredible deal. How will I continue to live?
Why does a Mom & Pop store that actually has to make money to survive bring out everyone's inner bargainer? I'm not running a Bazaar. Just because the price tag is hand written doesn't mean it's negotiable. Do you haggle over your can of peas with the Wal-Mart cashier?
BUGGER OFF.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
He Helps?
Dear The Man,
Did you know that toast crumbs can be swept into your hand and put in the trash can?
LOVE YOU! -Gem-
It's been a month since you've gotten rid of your office in town and starting working out of the house. I appreciate that you want to try to help out more since you're home all the time... But uhm... Yeah. It's really not working for me.
You've started trying to do some of the laundry. I really don't mind doing the laundry, but if it's something you think you can handle...
Did you know that doing the laundry is not just putting dirty clothes into the washer, moving the wet clothes into the dryer and then plopping the entire load unfolded onto the spare bed?
Oh, and the dryer? Throw a sheet in there once in awhile.
When I do the wash, I throw in both of our clothes. I don't go in the hamper and pick out my tee-shirts, socks and undies. I throw yours in there too.
OH. And my nice bras? They don't go in the wash! I'll hand wash them later. The more you mangle them, the more you'll have to buy me. =P
The kitchen. **Sigh**
Have you seen that we have both a trash can AND a recycle bin? Garbage goes in the trash can and recycling (newspapers, magazines, cereal boxes, glass jars, aluminum cans) goes INTO the recycling bin. It's just more work for me when you bring over some stuff for recycling and put it on the floor next to the bin. What is that even about?
Did you know that toast crumbs can be swept into your hand and put in the trash can?
Cereal bowls should be moved from your desk into the kitchen sink.
CDs can be put back in their cases. I KNOW. Amazing.
And lastly, when I get home from The Shop... The dogs ARE going to bark. They're excited. They haven't hung out together all day. I WILL make noise in the kitchen when I'm making dinner. I WILL sometimes open a bottle of wine before you're officially done working.
Need that quiet environment? Go back to town.
LOVE YOU! -Gem-
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Because I So Want To Pack All Our Shit And Move
Update on The Burrow.
We put in offer. They counter-offered. We counter-counter(?)-offered. Also threw in The Man's Harley Davidson as part of the down payment. O_O
SELL US YOUR HOUSE ALREADY PEOPLE.
We put in offer. They counter-offered. We counter-counter(?)-offered. Also threw in The Man's Harley Davidson as part of the down payment. O_O
SELL US YOUR HOUSE ALREADY PEOPLE.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
**Crossed Fingers**
Still in negotiations on The Burrow. That would be the ultimate present though, because...
Today is our three year anniversary! Yay us! Sometimes I didn't feel like we would make it even to here and other times I can't imagine the rest of my life without him.
I got him some fancy, pretty, gold art deco cuff links as a present. Ooo la la!
Today is our three year anniversary! Yay us! Sometimes I didn't feel like we would make it even to here and other times I can't imagine the rest of my life without him.
I got him some fancy, pretty, gold art deco cuff links as a present. Ooo la la!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
When Did It Become Mid-June?
Whew. While I didn't really forget about this blog I kinda would only remember about it right when I was climbing into bed. And for a little while there our internet at The Shop had gone wonky.
Excuses, excuses.
But I remembered today! So much has been going on in the 15 days (!) since I've last posted. Biggest thing? We put in an offer on a house! The house is kinda ghetto and is in really rough shape but it's on a LOT of land. Enough land where we could build a nice home for ourselves, a big barn with maybe an in-law apartment or two, some greenhouses and an orchard. The Man descends from farmers. It's all about the land. I personally would love to be able to grow our own food. I would love to have fresh veggies all winter long. (Oh, and if we get the house I've already decided that I'm naming it The Burrow. Because I'm a total Harry Potter geek and I'm positive there will be a lot of people coming and going since we'll now have the room for them.)
Not so cool lately, Little Girl has been battling some kind of crazy allergies. She's been REALLY REALLY itchy and her fur started thinning. She even developed hives one day... =( She's on antibiotics and I've switched her food. Some dogs can be allergic to grains and since The Man insisted that the dawgs were vegetarians (much to my chagrin) their food had A LOT of grains. I've switched them over to the Natural Balance L.I.D. Sweet Potato & Fish formula (grain-free). They've been on it two weeks tomorrow. She seems less itchy and I think her fur may be growing back in (since I see her all day everyday it's hard to tell if I'm seeing a difference or not...).
Uhm, what else. I haven't lost any weight. That makes me sad. I've been kinda trying. But in the past I've been like, "I wanna lose weight. I'll cut out soda." And BAM. I'd be 10 pounds lighter in a week or two. That's not working now. And I still don't have any energy. I've read somewhere that even if your thyroid blood tests come back as "normal" (which mine are on the low side of normal) you might still need to have your meds upped. I think I'm going to need to break down an go to the doctor to talk to him face to face about it. =/
Anyway. I think that's it for now. OH. I did promise you guys pictures from the Boston Terrier play group! There were 5 Bostons there besides us. It was a blast. =)
Stinky is on the left and Little Girl is on the right.
Four of the other five cuties.
Excuses, excuses.
But I remembered today! So much has been going on in the 15 days (!) since I've last posted. Biggest thing? We put in an offer on a house! The house is kinda ghetto and is in really rough shape but it's on a LOT of land. Enough land where we could build a nice home for ourselves, a big barn with maybe an in-law apartment or two, some greenhouses and an orchard. The Man descends from farmers. It's all about the land. I personally would love to be able to grow our own food. I would love to have fresh veggies all winter long. (Oh, and if we get the house I've already decided that I'm naming it The Burrow. Because I'm a total Harry Potter geek and I'm positive there will be a lot of people coming and going since we'll now have the room for them.)
Not so cool lately, Little Girl has been battling some kind of crazy allergies. She's been REALLY REALLY itchy and her fur started thinning. She even developed hives one day... =( She's on antibiotics and I've switched her food. Some dogs can be allergic to grains and since The Man insisted that the dawgs were vegetarians (much to my chagrin) their food had A LOT of grains. I've switched them over to the Natural Balance L.I.D. Sweet Potato & Fish formula (grain-free). They've been on it two weeks tomorrow. She seems less itchy and I think her fur may be growing back in (since I see her all day everyday it's hard to tell if I'm seeing a difference or not...).
Uhm, what else. I haven't lost any weight. That makes me sad. I've been kinda trying. But in the past I've been like, "I wanna lose weight. I'll cut out soda." And BAM. I'd be 10 pounds lighter in a week or two. That's not working now. And I still don't have any energy. I've read somewhere that even if your thyroid blood tests come back as "normal" (which mine are on the low side of normal) you might still need to have your meds upped. I think I'm going to need to break down an go to the doctor to talk to him face to face about it. =/
Anyway. I think that's it for now. OH. I did promise you guys pictures from the Boston Terrier play group! There were 5 Bostons there besides us. It was a blast. =)
Stinky is on the left and Little Girl is on the right.
Four of the other five cuties.Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Stinky, Sweaty, Yay!
Hey Hot Weather. What's up?
It's currently 91 degrees.
It's May.
WTF?
On a side note, the first Boston Terrier play group of the area is meeting this evening for fun at the doggie park. I'm wicked excited! Hopefully I'll have some cute pics. =)
It's currently 91 degrees.
It's May.
WTF?
On a side note, the first Boston Terrier play group of the area is meeting this evening for fun at the doggie park. I'm wicked excited! Hopefully I'll have some cute pics. =)
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Why The Man And I Will Probably Have Our Dogs Taken Away At Some Point
The Man is on the west coast for some business training. I had to talk him into going because he doesn't really like to travel but is always glad he goes to these things. This is a convo we had by text. (All The Man typos were totally him. I'm a great speeler.)
The Man - Thanks for being such a bizatch of a girlfriend and making me come out here. I'm am going to full on crush the Portland market like a straving Rottie after a porkchop!
Me - Whoop whoop! I need monies! I checked to see how much to get Stinky's teeth cleaned under sedation. From $400-$650! I was like, WTF? So instead I'm just going to slip him an Oxy and scrape any shit off with a kitchen knife...
TM - Do eeet!
Me - I have to wait until you get home. I wouldn't know where to get Oxys. You have people though... Right...? You're like popular and shit, right? At least you're cute. You could totally get some desperate bitch to buy some for you. I can't do anything on my own. =(
TM - Inorite!? Just give him some scotch bunzz.
Please don't call Doggie Social Services on us. We were only kidding. (Or were we?)
Yes. We totally were. (I think.)
The Man - Thanks for being such a bizatch of a girlfriend and making me come out here. I'm am going to full on crush the Portland market like a straving Rottie after a porkchop!
Me - Whoop whoop! I need monies! I checked to see how much to get Stinky's teeth cleaned under sedation. From $400-$650! I was like, WTF? So instead I'm just going to slip him an Oxy and scrape any shit off with a kitchen knife...
TM - Do eeet!
Me - I have to wait until you get home. I wouldn't know where to get Oxys. You have people though... Right...? You're like popular and shit, right? At least you're cute. You could totally get some desperate bitch to buy some for you. I can't do anything on my own. =(
TM - Inorite!? Just give him some scotch bunzz.
Please don't call Doggie Social Services on us. We were only kidding. (Or were we?)
Yes. We totally were. (I think.)
My Man Crushes
The Man is out of town until tomorrow night. Midnight tomorrow night. Which means since he'll be all tired and jet-lagged and has to WORK on Saturday (like a stupid head) that I'm not getting any until at least Monday. **Insert Frowny Face Here**
Somehow through thinking of all this I started thinking about my celebrity man crushes. And then I was all like, "Hey! I should do a blog with pictures of all my favorite sexiness!"
I don't know why.
Don't even bother asking.
In no particular order...
Richard Gere
Jason Lee
Ewan McGregor
Cesar Millan (He's already cute, but any man with dogs is automatically 97% hotter)
George Clooney
and of course
DENZEL FUCKING WASHINGTON BITCHES
I've threatened The Man that his first born son is going to be named Denzel Washington (The Mans last name). Yep.
Oh Denzel!
Somehow through thinking of all this I started thinking about my celebrity man crushes. And then I was all like, "Hey! I should do a blog with pictures of all my favorite sexiness!"
I don't know why.
Don't even bother asking.
In no particular order...
Richard Gere
Jason Lee
Ewan McGregor
Cesar Millan (He's already cute, but any man with dogs is automatically 97% hotter)
George Clooney
and of course
DENZEL FUCKING WASHINGTON BITCHES
I've threatened The Man that his first born son is going to be named Denzel Washington (The Mans last name). Yep.
Oh Denzel!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Good Thing They're Cute
Oh my wonderful balls of fluff...
I had to bring the pups to the vet this morning. Stinky needed a heartworm test so I can restart their meds. Since it's so freakin' cold here in the winter and all the bugs die, I don't keep them on the heartworm and flea and tick meds throughout the winter. That shit is EXPENSIVE. But every spring I get them tested before restarting just in case.
So anyway. He got his blood drawn and it all came back negative. Sweet. Then I asked if they had a quick minute to check Little Girl's butt. All dogs have anal glands that usually empty when they poo. Yet another way for them to be all like, "This land be MINE YO!". Anyway, some breeds have trouble getting their icky fluid out sometimes and Bostons are definitely known for it. Both Stinky and Little Girl have been squeezed since I've had them. I figured since we were already at the vet and she had been doing the oh so attractive butt-scoot that I'd get them to do a quick squeeze.
So of course, for some reason, Little Girl's glands are swollen and one was very difficult to express. The vet put her on prednisone to hopefully bring down the swelling. They also suggest she gets a bit more fiber in her diet. Giving her things such as broccoli, carrots and pumpkin can really sometimes help.
The vet also noticed how itchy the little beast is. She thinks she has allergies but we're not sure if they're environmental or food related. We're trying a medicated shampoo first. Which means that I now get to bathe Little Girl 2-3 times a week. Score! Like I have nothing better to do. Luckily she's a petite pup so the $20 (!) bottle of shampoo should last awhile. If that doesn't work I get to start the adventure of trying different dog foods. I'm sure she'll need the most expensive food out there...
Oh well. She's worth it.
I had to bring the pups to the vet this morning. Stinky needed a heartworm test so I can restart their meds. Since it's so freakin' cold here in the winter and all the bugs die, I don't keep them on the heartworm and flea and tick meds throughout the winter. That shit is EXPENSIVE. But every spring I get them tested before restarting just in case.
So anyway. He got his blood drawn and it all came back negative. Sweet. Then I asked if they had a quick minute to check Little Girl's butt. All dogs have anal glands that usually empty when they poo. Yet another way for them to be all like, "This land be MINE YO!". Anyway, some breeds have trouble getting their icky fluid out sometimes and Bostons are definitely known for it. Both Stinky and Little Girl have been squeezed since I've had them. I figured since we were already at the vet and she had been doing the oh so attractive butt-scoot that I'd get them to do a quick squeeze.
So of course, for some reason, Little Girl's glands are swollen and one was very difficult to express. The vet put her on prednisone to hopefully bring down the swelling. They also suggest she gets a bit more fiber in her diet. Giving her things such as broccoli, carrots and pumpkin can really sometimes help.
The vet also noticed how itchy the little beast is. She thinks she has allergies but we're not sure if they're environmental or food related. We're trying a medicated shampoo first. Which means that I now get to bathe Little Girl 2-3 times a week. Score! Like I have nothing better to do. Luckily she's a petite pup so the $20 (!) bottle of shampoo should last awhile. If that doesn't work I get to start the adventure of trying different dog foods. I'm sure she'll need the most expensive food out there...
Oh well. She's worth it.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
I Think She Can, I Think She CAN!
The Man is out of town. PARTAY TIME!
Not.
TRYING TO MOTIVATE MYSELF TO CLEAN THE HOUSE NOW THAT THERE'S NOT SOMEONE AROUND TO DEMOLISH IT AGAIN WITHIN 10 MINUTES OF HIM COMING HOME TIME! (Ackwardly long FTW)
Gonna try the online list again. I'm picking The Man up at midnight on Friday. Let's see if I can get my cleaning and organizing on!
1) Put away the laundry that's been folded and sitting in baskets for days.
2) Iron ALL of The Man's clean shirts. The ones hanging in the spare room AND the ones piled on the rocker.
3) Wash the dog bed that Little Girl decided to whiz on at The Shop.
4) Take care of the recycling including all of the cardboard The Man strew all over the front room.
5) Sweep and mop the kitchen, hallway and bathroom.
6) Vacuum the living room.
7) Wash the bathroom rugs and the shower curtain.
8) Gather up all of the papers and mail that The Man's strewn all over the living room. Figure out where the hell to put them all.
So that's what I'm aiming for... I have three days. Granted I'm at The Shop 11am-6pm but there's still the mornings and evenings. I CAN DO THIS! =)
Update: It's Friday afternoon. I've only completed two of the eight tasks on my list. Yay procrastination! (Although I did go to the grocery store this morning which I should have put on the list so that I could scratch it out. I love scratching them out! Did that sound wrong?) Anyway, I got a text saying The Man might miss his connector because the first flight had to be diverted because of bad weather in the mid-west. (FU mid-west). But even if he catches it, I have at least 5 hours this evening to accomplish things. I'm gonna fuckin' do it ya'll.
Not.
TRYING TO MOTIVATE MYSELF TO CLEAN THE HOUSE NOW THAT THERE'S NOT SOMEONE AROUND TO DEMOLISH IT AGAIN WITHIN 10 MINUTES OF HIM COMING HOME TIME! (Ackwardly long FTW)
Gonna try the online list again. I'm picking The Man up at midnight on Friday. Let's see if I can get my cleaning and organizing on!
4) Take care of the recycling including all of the cardboard The Man strew all over the front room.
5) Sweep and mop the kitchen, hallway and bathroom.
6) Vacuum the living room.
So that's what I'm aiming for... I have three days. Granted I'm at The Shop 11am-6pm but there's still the mornings and evenings. I CAN DO THIS! =)
Update: It's Friday afternoon. I've only completed two of the eight tasks on my list. Yay procrastination! (Although I did go to the grocery store this morning which I should have put on the list so that I could scratch it out. I love scratching them out! Did that sound wrong?) Anyway, I got a text saying The Man might miss his connector because the first flight had to be diverted because of bad weather in the mid-west. (FU mid-west). But even if he catches it, I have at least 5 hours this evening to accomplish things. I'm gonna fuckin' do it ya'll.
Monday, May 17, 2010
WARNING: Excessive Hormones Ahead
I have become a raging bundle of Oh-My-Goodness-I'm-Getting-So-Old-I-Need-To-Have-Babies-Like-Totally-Right-Now...
Le sigh.
I'm only 26 and I feel the biological clock like NO BODY'S business. I'm the oldest in two generations that's gone without having a kid. My father was only 19 when I was born! I wasn't about to do the whole teenage pregnancy thing (I realized how not cool that was when my sister was born when I was 12 and my brother when I was 16) but I thought I'd have at least a two year old by the time I hit 26. Frick. It's been even worse now that I'm with a guy I actually LIKE.
Speaking of him. I had never thought that I'd actually want a wedding before I met him. I wanted to get married per sey, but I never wanted the actual wedding ceremony. I still don't want a traditional wedding but we would have one KICK ASS rockabilly shin-dig!
My wedding porn; Offbeat Bride. Don't go there if you don't want to ever get married. It will convince you that you can do whatever you want for your day. And it will be fabulous!
But yeah. Babies. Little snuggly, pukey, poopy, crying bundles of awesome.
Offbeat Brides sister site; Offbeat Mama.
The only thing that keeps me from stealing a child off the street...
Le sigh.
I'm only 26 and I feel the biological clock like NO BODY'S business. I'm the oldest in two generations that's gone without having a kid. My father was only 19 when I was born! I wasn't about to do the whole teenage pregnancy thing (I realized how not cool that was when my sister was born when I was 12 and my brother when I was 16) but I thought I'd have at least a two year old by the time I hit 26. Frick. It's been even worse now that I'm with a guy I actually LIKE.
Speaking of him. I had never thought that I'd actually want a wedding before I met him. I wanted to get married per sey, but I never wanted the actual wedding ceremony. I still don't want a traditional wedding but we would have one KICK ASS rockabilly shin-dig!
My wedding porn; Offbeat Bride. Don't go there if you don't want to ever get married. It will convince you that you can do whatever you want for your day. And it will be fabulous!
But yeah. Babies. Little snuggly, pukey, poopy, crying bundles of awesome.
Offbeat Brides sister site; Offbeat Mama.
The only thing that keeps me from stealing a child off the street...
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Happy Dance Time!
HOLY CRAP.
So apparently I CAN catch a break! My cars break down the other day was due to an air hose popping off. My mechanic's awesome and isn't charging us!
Whoop whoop!
So apparently I CAN catch a break! My cars break down the other day was due to an air hose popping off. My mechanic's awesome and isn't charging us!
Whoop whoop!
And I'll Get Discount Pup Care!
When I was younger I always wanted to be a veterinarian. Unfortunately I had issues with my financial aid after my first year of college. One thing led to another and I never went back for my degree. I have a certificate in Surgical Technology but that was SO not the job for me.
I decided today that I want to try to become a veterinary tech. The closest program that I can find is an hour away from me. It's unfortunately out of state so it's a bit on the expensive side. I was talking to a friend of mine on the west coast who is a vet tech and said that some places that will do experience-trained techs; basically on the job training. With my background in surgical tech I'm hoping I can find someone to take me on in that way...
Stay tuned for Gem's Veterinary Adventures!
I decided today that I want to try to become a veterinary tech. The closest program that I can find is an hour away from me. It's unfortunately out of state so it's a bit on the expensive side. I was talking to a friend of mine on the west coast who is a vet tech and said that some places that will do experience-trained techs; basically on the job training. With my background in surgical tech I'm hoping I can find someone to take me on in that way...
Stay tuned for Gem's Veterinary Adventures!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
It's Officially Gem-Can't-Catch-A-Break Year
I was starting to think that things were looking up. Instead, one step forward, two steps back.
We got The Man's car back from the shop this morning. I was excited because that meant that even if he was still working I could still go to the get-together this evening with my family. After we got his car I ran to the pet store to grab some foods for the fuzzies. On the way back I hopped on the highway to get to The Shop a little faster. About 10 miles from my exit my car started acting funny. It started jerking a little bit and having trouble accelerating. It got to the point where I'd have to floor it to get it to accelerate. My MPG went from around 23 to 8. As I was getting off the highway I noticed black smoke coming out the back of my car when I was on the gas. The acceleration problems started getting more severe. Finally, about 3-4 miles from The Shop, my car broke down completely. I was thankfully able to get it off the main road. I called and told The Man. He's working but will be able to get to it at some point this afternoon to call AAA. I tried calling a couple of people I knew for a lift to the shop but they either didn't answer or had their others using their vehicles. So Little Girl and I got to walk to The Shop. Did I mention that it's gotten cold again? Oh yeah, and it's raining. Of freakin' course.
So I'm about to give up on making it to see my family tonight. And my grandmother's going to be there! She lives almost 2 hours away from my folks, who live about an hour and 15 from me.
**Grr**
We got The Man's car back from the shop this morning. I was excited because that meant that even if he was still working I could still go to the get-together this evening with my family. After we got his car I ran to the pet store to grab some foods for the fuzzies. On the way back I hopped on the highway to get to The Shop a little faster. About 10 miles from my exit my car started acting funny. It started jerking a little bit and having trouble accelerating. It got to the point where I'd have to floor it to get it to accelerate. My MPG went from around 23 to 8. As I was getting off the highway I noticed black smoke coming out the back of my car when I was on the gas. The acceleration problems started getting more severe. Finally, about 3-4 miles from The Shop, my car broke down completely. I was thankfully able to get it off the main road. I called and told The Man. He's working but will be able to get to it at some point this afternoon to call AAA. I tried calling a couple of people I knew for a lift to the shop but they either didn't answer or had their others using their vehicles. So Little Girl and I got to walk to The Shop. Did I mention that it's gotten cold again? Oh yeah, and it's raining. Of freakin' course.
So I'm about to give up on making it to see my family tonight. And my grandmother's going to be there! She lives almost 2 hours away from my folks, who live about an hour and 15 from me.
**Grr**
Friday, May 7, 2010
Do They Have Doggie Welfare?
Guess who's significant others car is making scary clunking noises and is now in the shop? Aw cheah, this girl right here.
The Man hit a bump or something last night and his car is making too many nasty grind-y noises for him to drive it today (or tomorrow or the next day, maybe we'll get it back Monday?). That means since he has to work he's apprehended my car from me. =(
Text from The Man : "I like this car. U don't get back.
Text from Moi : "Noooooooooooooooooooo (and continuing on for the whole 160 character message)
He that is Him : "."
Me : "OH, my tax check is on the center console thing. Help a sistah out and tuck it in the glove compartment for me plz?"
He : "No. Cashed already. I'm at the bar."
Me : "**Sob** You damn drunk! That money was to feed the babies (i.e. dogs)! What am I going to do? Guess I'll finally go fill out that Welfare application. =("
He : "Sorry, to dkrun to read."
Yep. We're classy.
But really, this whole one car thing blows. Of course it had to happen this weekend. My younger sister is turning 14 next Wednesday. The family is having a joint Birthday/Mother's Day dinner tomorrow night an hour away from here. The Man is going to have to use my car for work tomorrow so I'll miss the dinner (at a great restaurant...). I have a call in to my step-mom to see if something is going on after at someone's house. Hopefully I can get to that. =/
When will I catch a break?
The Man hit a bump or something last night and his car is making too many nasty grind-y noises for him to drive it today (or tomorrow or the next day, maybe we'll get it back Monday?). That means since he has to work he's apprehended my car from me. =(
Text from The Man : "I like this car. U don't get back.
Text from Moi : "Noooooooooooooooooooo (and continuing on for the whole 160 character message)
He that is Him : "."
Me : "OH, my tax check is on the center console thing. Help a sistah out and tuck it in the glove compartment for me plz?"
He : "No. Cashed already. I'm at the bar."
Me : "**Sob** You damn drunk! That money was to feed the babies (i.e. dogs)! What am I going to do? Guess I'll finally go fill out that Welfare application. =("
He : "Sorry, to dkrun to read."
Yep. We're classy.
But really, this whole one car thing blows. Of course it had to happen this weekend. My younger sister is turning 14 next Wednesday. The family is having a joint Birthday/Mother's Day dinner tomorrow night an hour away from here. The Man is going to have to use my car for work tomorrow so I'll miss the dinner (at a great restaurant...). I have a call in to my step-mom to see if something is going on after at someone's house. Hopefully I can get to that. =/
When will I catch a break?
Thursday, May 6, 2010
The Worst Good News I Could Have Gotten
About an hour ago I called to dr's office to check on my thyroid results since I hadn't heard anything yet. Of course they came back as normal. I almost burst into tears on the phone with the nurse. I was so counting on my thyroid being off, getting my meds adjusted and starting to feel human again. I told the nurse that I had been feeling like it was off and now she wants me to come in to the office to talk to the doctor. There are other things that can make me feel as crappy, she said. Vitamin D maybe? I have a feeling that he'll bring up fibromyalgia again. I'm almost ready to try the anti-depressants. I just want to feel awake. I want to stop feeling like I'm in pain all the time. I want to have enough energy to even freakin' vacuum my living room.
The Man and I had a fight about money this morning. That makes me even more upset about going home and telling him that my thyroid's fine and the doctor wants to see me. We don't have the money for that and it's going to stress him out more which will in turn stress me out more. Of course.
All I want to do right now is close up The Shop, go home and curl up with the sheets over my head. I want to not deal with responsibility for like, at least a week. No dogs, no making dinner, no laundry, no Shop. Geeze. How immature am I being?
It's not like I'm just looking for an easy way out. It's hard to explain how I feel all the time. I wake up in the morning already tired. My whole body aches. My hands and feet almost always feel like I'm wearing gloves and shoes that are a half a size too small. I hurt and that makes me cranky. I have a short fuse more times than not. I get irritated and yell at freakin' inanimate objects for heavens sake!
**SIGH**
So much for Thankful freakin' Thursday. Doesn't exist this week. Oh, and to top off my marvelous day, we lost the power at the house this morning. It better be back on by the time I get home or I may just have a breakdown.
The Man and I had a fight about money this morning. That makes me even more upset about going home and telling him that my thyroid's fine and the doctor wants to see me. We don't have the money for that and it's going to stress him out more which will in turn stress me out more. Of course.
All I want to do right now is close up The Shop, go home and curl up with the sheets over my head. I want to not deal with responsibility for like, at least a week. No dogs, no making dinner, no laundry, no Shop. Geeze. How immature am I being?
It's not like I'm just looking for an easy way out. It's hard to explain how I feel all the time. I wake up in the morning already tired. My whole body aches. My hands and feet almost always feel like I'm wearing gloves and shoes that are a half a size too small. I hurt and that makes me cranky. I have a short fuse more times than not. I get irritated and yell at freakin' inanimate objects for heavens sake!
**SIGH**
So much for Thankful freakin' Thursday. Doesn't exist this week. Oh, and to top off my marvelous day, we lost the power at the house this morning. It better be back on by the time I get home or I may just have a breakdown.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Holy Crap! SUPER CRAZY BUSY TIME
I'm starting to finally recover over my **Cough*Cough*Hack*Wheeze** cold that I've been suffering for the past few days. It hasn't helped that I've been going to bed ENTIRELY too late lately. I figured out that I need to go to bed at about 9pm to get a full nights sleep... That is so unrealistic that I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The Man hasn't been getting home from work until at least 8:30 lately. And I'm all like, "HEY! You're home! I like you and I like that you're home! Lets snuggle and watch multiple hours of True Blood on HBO On Demand!" (We're watching the season 1 finale tonight then starting season 2. Good times!)
But yeah, he gets home late because spring time = SUPER CRAZY BUSY TIME in Newer Business. That extends into the summer which is when The Shop hits SUPER CRAZY BUSY TIME. You know, essentially 14 hour days for approximately 6-10 weeks. That doesn't seem like a long time when you think that there are 52 weeks in the year but yeah... 7 days a week for up to 10 WEEKS STRAIGHT I will need to be in or around The Shop for around 14 hours a day. It gets so crazy that you get numb and just want the tourists to stop trying to hand you money so you can just SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. (If I could only train the tourist to get what they want, write up receipts and take the correct change WHILE I sleep... Hmm...)
Right now is Get Ready Time. Stuff is starting to come out of storage, new displays are being set up (which we're having to find room for) and plans of attack are being written up (what to order and when because The Shop has verrrrrry little reserves left over from this past winter). This is when The Man is most needed at The Shop and of course, he can't really be available because Newer Business has exploded. And Newer Business is what REALLY makes the money. And Newer Business will hopefully be able to support us super comfortably within the next 5-10 years without having The Man even have to participate daily. But that means he has to work his buns off on that business now and I have to try to get The Shop up and running basically alone.
Did I ever mention that in all of the history of me that I'd never worked in retail before? Nope. I worked at a horse barn, a dog kennel, a sub shop, a convenience store and an operating room. Yep. I used to assist in cutting open folks. That was the job I had when I met The Man. I was making decent money but I was miserable. I did love the actual cases. There's some fascinating shite that those crazy Dr's can do but man oh man it's tough. Tough physically and sometimes mentally. Nothing like trying to put a suicide patient back together or having to treat a man who had been taken down by the police for hurting others. ANYway. That's how I found myself at The Shop. The Man wanted to take care of me. I wish that meant that I could just sit back and eat bon bons but alas... I'm now running a store (clueless), a home (have a clue but not a lot of drive) and kinda a family (built in kids/grandkids can be fuuuuuun).
Now that I think about it... I think this new life may be more stressful and demanding than the old one! If I hadn't hated it SO much I might think about going and getting a "real" job again. But then I wouldn't be able to spend the day with my mutts. And the house would be in even more of a mess. And The Man and I wouldn't be able to just pick up and take off for the day if we wanted to. We don't often, but dammit, we COULD if we wanted to. So I guess I'll try to lay off the bitchin' and I'll try not to moan about turning into a zombie for the summer. Hey at least there's a bar easy stumbling distance from the shop! And I get to hang out with these two...
There's mah babies! Stinky and Little Girl chillaxin' at The Shop.
SPEAKING OF ME BEING CRAZY BUSY AND INSANE. So I adopted Stinky and Little Girl from a Boston Terrier rescue. When I was looking for Little Girl I was doing a lot of petfinder searching. There was one 8 year old boy who caught my attention. He has cushings disease and no one wants him. =( Of course that means that now I do. I've been working on The Man. "What's the difference between two dogs and three? It's just a bit more food and a bit more poo!" I've been in contact with the new one's foster mom. He's a couple states away but I still want to try to meet him. If I can get a picture of Stinky, Little Girl and the new boy all playing and enjoying themselves together The Man CAN'T say no. (He's kinda a sucker like that).
Are there any meds to get the adoption bug to stop frikkin' itchin'?
I just read back over my post and holy cow, ADD much? I'm gonna knock this off before it gets worse. Or someone get's hurt.
But yeah, he gets home late because spring time = SUPER CRAZY BUSY TIME in Newer Business. That extends into the summer which is when The Shop hits SUPER CRAZY BUSY TIME. You know, essentially 14 hour days for approximately 6-10 weeks. That doesn't seem like a long time when you think that there are 52 weeks in the year but yeah... 7 days a week for up to 10 WEEKS STRAIGHT I will need to be in or around The Shop for around 14 hours a day. It gets so crazy that you get numb and just want the tourists to stop trying to hand you money so you can just SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. (If I could only train the tourist to get what they want, write up receipts and take the correct change WHILE I sleep... Hmm...)
Right now is Get Ready Time. Stuff is starting to come out of storage, new displays are being set up (which we're having to find room for) and plans of attack are being written up (what to order and when because The Shop has verrrrrry little reserves left over from this past winter). This is when The Man is most needed at The Shop and of course, he can't really be available because Newer Business has exploded. And Newer Business is what REALLY makes the money. And Newer Business will hopefully be able to support us super comfortably within the next 5-10 years without having The Man even have to participate daily. But that means he has to work his buns off on that business now and I have to try to get The Shop up and running basically alone.
Did I ever mention that in all of the history of me that I'd never worked in retail before? Nope. I worked at a horse barn, a dog kennel, a sub shop, a convenience store and an operating room. Yep. I used to assist in cutting open folks. That was the job I had when I met The Man. I was making decent money but I was miserable. I did love the actual cases. There's some fascinating shite that those crazy Dr's can do but man oh man it's tough. Tough physically and sometimes mentally. Nothing like trying to put a suicide patient back together or having to treat a man who had been taken down by the police for hurting others. ANYway. That's how I found myself at The Shop. The Man wanted to take care of me. I wish that meant that I could just sit back and eat bon bons but alas... I'm now running a store (clueless), a home (have a clue but not a lot of drive) and kinda a family (built in kids/grandkids can be fuuuuuun).
Now that I think about it... I think this new life may be more stressful and demanding than the old one! If I hadn't hated it SO much I might think about going and getting a "real" job again. But then I wouldn't be able to spend the day with my mutts. And the house would be in even more of a mess. And The Man and I wouldn't be able to just pick up and take off for the day if we wanted to. We don't often, but dammit, we COULD if we wanted to. So I guess I'll try to lay off the bitchin' and I'll try not to moan about turning into a zombie for the summer. Hey at least there's a bar easy stumbling distance from the shop! And I get to hang out with these two...
There's mah babies! Stinky and Little Girl chillaxin' at The Shop.
SPEAKING OF ME BEING CRAZY BUSY AND INSANE. So I adopted Stinky and Little Girl from a Boston Terrier rescue. When I was looking for Little Girl I was doing a lot of petfinder searching. There was one 8 year old boy who caught my attention. He has cushings disease and no one wants him. =( Of course that means that now I do. I've been working on The Man. "What's the difference between two dogs and three? It's just a bit more food and a bit more poo!" I've been in contact with the new one's foster mom. He's a couple states away but I still want to try to meet him. If I can get a picture of Stinky, Little Girl and the new boy all playing and enjoying themselves together The Man CAN'T say no. (He's kinda a sucker like that).
Are there any meds to get the adoption bug to stop frikkin' itchin'?
I just read back over my post and holy cow, ADD much? I'm gonna knock this off before it gets worse. Or someone get's hurt.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Why Does It Taste So Yummy?
How come no one called me last night and said, "Hey Gem, having a fourth, fifth and however many more glasses of wine is probably not a good idea. Stick with three. Three's good."
Jerks. =P
I'm just now starting to feel human again. I spent all morning snuggled on the couch with the dogs. It's days like this that make me SO grateful that I no longer have a "real" job. I can totally zone all day today at The Shop if I need. Little Girl will bark to let me know if anyone walks in. Thanks kid.
Jerks. =P
I'm just now starting to feel human again. I spent all morning snuggled on the couch with the dogs. It's days like this that make me SO grateful that I no longer have a "real" job. I can totally zone all day today at The Shop if I need. Little Girl will bark to let me know if anyone walks in. Thanks kid.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Happiness is a Warm Stream (of music, people! ew!)
I was SO not prepared for the cold that hit today. Freakin' yuck.
But somehow I'm holding on to my happy feelings. I hadn't yet put my space heater in storage so I'm fairly warm while working on The Shop's website. I splurged at the supermarket yesterday and got myself some brown rice sushi, yay veggie rolls! I've also got WFNX streaming. THE BEST radio station. It's out of Boston and it's one of the top things I miss about living there. That and the ability to get chinese food after closing the baahs. And public transpo home. =)
ANYWAYS. So that's it. The weather's crappy but it hasn't affected my mood. That makes me even happier.
EDIT: I was just thinking about it... Part of my good mood today may be the giant bottle of chardonnay that's waiting for me at home. =P
But somehow I'm holding on to my happy feelings. I hadn't yet put my space heater in storage so I'm fairly warm while working on The Shop's website. I splurged at the supermarket yesterday and got myself some brown rice sushi, yay veggie rolls! I've also got WFNX streaming. THE BEST radio station. It's out of Boston and it's one of the top things I miss about living there. That and the ability to get chinese food after closing the baahs. And public transpo home. =)
ANYWAYS. So that's it. The weather's crappy but it hasn't affected my mood. That makes me even happier.
EDIT: I was just thinking about it... Part of my good mood today may be the giant bottle of chardonnay that's waiting for me at home. =P
Friday, April 16, 2010
='(
I haven't been blogging and I wasn't going to anytime soon because I feel like I might just end up too bitchy. Nothing has been going smoothly lately and I'm exhausted with it all.
I tried to get to the free clinic to get blood work done on Monday. I found the place (wasn't easy) and got there an hour early to actually be in time to be one of the 12 people accepted a day. I was turned away though. Of course. Apparently to get blood work done through them I have to have seen one of their doctors. But I already have a slip for the blood work from my doctor so I can't see theirs? I don't really understand. All I know is that I'm screwed. I have to just go to the hospital and pay for it out of pocket. Oh well. When we get a spare couple hundred I guess that's what I'll be doing.
Middle still doesn't have a car. She's currently going through a divorce. She has NO money and NO credit. We bought her her last car, the one that just had the transmission go. We paid for it in full. Her mother, The Man's ex, had been paying her insurance. Apparently Middle hadn't really been taking very good care of the car, no oil changes and the like. She also put 100,000 miles on it in two years. What!? I guess she drives her friends around a lot? Anyway, The Man has finally stood up to a kid and refuses to buy her another one. She has to figure this one out herself. Of course, she can't. I don't think she's working with a full deck. The Man's been sick (I believe from stress) so she's been using his car but that's not stopping her from whining about how she doesn't have her own.
I totaled a car New Years Eve of '09. I went THREE DAYMN MONTHS without a car. She's been bitching because she's been three weeks. She doesn't even have anything to fruckin' complain about! We've been driving her around and/or lending her one of our cars for the whole freakin' time!
I'm losing it.
Oh great. I just got a call from my garage. I dropped my car off because it was having some issues starting. The starter is busted. We replaced that starter a year ago! Arrrrrg! I can't take it... At least $250 to replace that. And now we're down to one car for me, The Man and Middle Kid? This freakin' sucks. And there goes my blood work...
I tried to get to the free clinic to get blood work done on Monday. I found the place (wasn't easy) and got there an hour early to actually be in time to be one of the 12 people accepted a day. I was turned away though. Of course. Apparently to get blood work done through them I have to have seen one of their doctors. But I already have a slip for the blood work from my doctor so I can't see theirs? I don't really understand. All I know is that I'm screwed. I have to just go to the hospital and pay for it out of pocket. Oh well. When we get a spare couple hundred I guess that's what I'll be doing.
Middle still doesn't have a car. She's currently going through a divorce. She has NO money and NO credit. We bought her her last car, the one that just had the transmission go. We paid for it in full. Her mother, The Man's ex, had been paying her insurance. Apparently Middle hadn't really been taking very good care of the car, no oil changes and the like. She also put 100,000 miles on it in two years. What!? I guess she drives her friends around a lot? Anyway, The Man has finally stood up to a kid and refuses to buy her another one. She has to figure this one out herself. Of course, she can't. I don't think she's working with a full deck. The Man's been sick (I believe from stress) so she's been using his car but that's not stopping her from whining about how she doesn't have her own.
I totaled a car New Years Eve of '09. I went THREE DAYMN MONTHS without a car. She's been bitching because she's been three weeks. She doesn't even have anything to fruckin' complain about! We've been driving her around and/or lending her one of our cars for the whole freakin' time!
I'm losing it.
Oh great. I just got a call from my garage. I dropped my car off because it was having some issues starting. The starter is busted. We replaced that starter a year ago! Arrrrrg! I can't take it... At least $250 to replace that. And now we're down to one car for me, The Man and Middle Kid? This freakin' sucks. And there goes my blood work...
Thursday, April 8, 2010
It's ALIVE!
Hey ya'll. I'm back.
It's been mad crazy around here.
March 30th. Middle kid's car's transmission blew. Guess who got to drive her to work, pick her up from work, then back to where she works to switch cars with The Man so she could use his when we were on vacation? Oh, and her work is 45 minutes away. I didn't get STARTED on packing until 8pm that night. And my back was killing me from all the time spent in the driver seat. Oi.
March 31st. Up at 4am. Catch the bus at 5am. 7am arrive at airport. Airplane supposed to take off at 9:30am. Didn't take off until 10am. Still arrived in St. Louis with enough time to catch our flight to Vegas. (!) Despite that small bit of awesome, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES SUCKS BALLS. I will never fly Southwest again even if they give me free tickets for life. A) Families/couples want to sit TOGETHER. Your system of loading (A-1-30, A-31-60, B-1-30, B-31-60) might seem like a good idea, but when a couple gets loaded onto a 4 hour flight as numbers B45 and B46 they will not be able to sit together because you don't have assigned seats! All those people who are traveling alone and load beforehand all snatch up the window and aisle seats leaving only middle seats for the last people to board. Yeah, The Man and I sat 10 aisles apart for a 4 hour flight! And he had all the food! Needless to say that SUCKED. B) When you have people that have to catch a connecting flight within 30 minutes of landing, it would be cool if you would could make an announcement to let them off first. We almost missed our connector flight because of the anarchy of people trying to shove over their neighbors and get off the flight as fast as humanly possible. Most of those people are just rushing to go stand at the baggage carosel and wait 30-45 minutes for their bags to show up anyway. LET US GET TO OUR DAMN FLIGHTS. Don't even tell me you didn't know we were on there or that we had the connector. You knew you bastards... You knew. C) We're grown ass adults. Think we could have an entire can of soda? Please?
That all said, we will only fly JetBlue from here on out. Movies, whole cans of soda, more snacks if we ask, thoughtfulness to let us catch connectors; TOTALLY worth the extra $.
April 1-4. Vegas! Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend was awesome! We met a lot of new awesome cool people. Saw a lot of hot-rods, tattoos and boobies. =) Bought waaaaay to much cool stuff for both ourselves and The Shop. I got a metal flake gold purse! The casinos on the other hand, not cool. The Man and I decided that Hell is sitting at a slot machine next to a decrepid old person, being forced to listen to all the bings and whistles and having to breathe in second hand smoke for all of eternity. At least there'll be beer. PBR's for $2! We were surprised that we ate pretty well out there though. TGIFriday's were more than happy to make us pasta dishes sans meat. They make a mean Tuscan Spinach Dip. Oh, and grilled cheeses with tomato! We found veggie burgers at Fuddruckers. Tofu and stir-fried veggies at a noodle house. Salads every time we turned around! And room service had cream of wheat and fresh fruit for breakfast. Mmm... All in all a good time in Vegas. Not in any way, shape or form a RELAXING vacation, but fun.
April 5. Spent all day traveling home. Landed on the east coast at 10pm. Our bus didn't leave until 11:30pm. Arrived back at the car at 1:30am. Drove home, showered and hit the sack at 3am.
April 6. The Man's birthday! A big one this year. He turned 50! I got him a leopard print silk smoking jacket that I gave him before we left for Vegas so he could bring with. He loved it and it's freakin' hysterical! On his birthday I gave him the PBS special on the history of India and a Fenway magnet. Not big deal stuff but he loved them! He always says he has everything and he pretty much does. He loves tiki's, art, music and beer. Any of those make good gifts. =) Middle kid showed up with The Man's car at 7am and I had to get up to bring her to work by 8am. Read it, 4 HOURS of sleep! Sucked so bad. Picked up the dogs and headed over to The Shop.
April 7. Again, drove Middle Kid to work by 8. At The Shop the rest of the day.
April 8. First Born Kid's birthday. She's in NYC, so we didn't get to spend any time. But there were phone calls and texts and Facebook. Drove Middle Kid to work by 8. Out at 1 and needed to get back to where The Grandbaby is so I had to shut down The Shop, pick up Middle, drive another 45 minutes to where Grandbaby was, pick her up, drop them off at Middle's mothers house and then drive the hour and a half back to The Shop. Fell asleep trying to watch Shurlock Holmes with The Man.
Finally reached today... Whew.
First off. I don't think my vacation refreshed me at all. I feel more exhausted than before we left! I do not doubt that that is in part because of the whole stupid car situation. Middle's all freaked out because she doesn't have a car. I don't know that I have the energy to get into her story right now... That'll be another post some other day I think.
Speaking of no energy... I think my thyroid's off. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism when I was 16. Whoa. 10 years ago. Daymn. Just realized that. Anyway. My levels have been pretty steady for that whole time. Last summer however, I gained a lot of weight. It was a really really stressful summer. We had to move in June, which is right when The Shop starts picking up for the summer, not to mention the fact that it rained that entire month. I didn't get time to unpack much because in the summer I'm at The Shop every single day. August was when First Girl started getting sick. She died in late September. Needless to say, there were quite a few months that I was VERY stressed. I admit it. I'm a horrible stress eater. I am, right now, about 40-50 pounds overweight. I'm not proud of the fact. I hate it. I can't really seem to do much about it however. I am SO exhausted ALL the time. I believe that my med's might be off. Too low because of all the weight gain. However, because we're self-employed, we also have no health insurance. To try to keep from spending hundreds of dollars to get blood work done I've been trying to get to the free clinic near here. They don't make that easy however. They're open Mondays and Thursdays, 6pm-8pm. They only accept 12 people a night and they do not do appointments. So basically you have to show up an hour before they open to try to be one of the 12 people they take in. Holy cow. Not easy.
So I don't feel good energy wise. I want to be sleeping all the time. The Man doesn't really understands and hassles me because I don't exercise much anymore. Which makes me more stressed and causes me to eat and nap even more. Talk about exasperation! Oh, and on top of all of that... A doctor friend of ours recently told me he believes that I may have fibromyalgia. It's the over-activity of pain receptors. That would definitely explain why things that I know SHOULDN'T hurt me DO actually hurt me. The Man says I over react because honestly, a playful poke in the thigh SHOULDN'T ellicit such a painful reaction... But most things do hurt me more than they should and it just exasperates the exhaustion and the stress.
Okay. Well I've been at this blog post for ENTIRELY way too long. It's way too long. If you've read the whole thing, you've awed me. I love you for it. And to show my appreciation, I give you this...
After going back and forth on whether I wanted to share pictures of myself, I've finally decided to go for it. Here is me in all my exhausted and overweight glory! I'm bummed that I wasn't showcasing my fabulous gold purse in this picture but I do have on my marvelous new tortoise shell framed sunglasses! And that's my favorite dress. It has postcards from Hawaii all over it. Huzzah!
It's been mad crazy around here.
March 30th. Middle kid's car's transmission blew. Guess who got to drive her to work, pick her up from work, then back to where she works to switch cars with The Man so she could use his when we were on vacation? Oh, and her work is 45 minutes away. I didn't get STARTED on packing until 8pm that night. And my back was killing me from all the time spent in the driver seat. Oi.
March 31st. Up at 4am. Catch the bus at 5am. 7am arrive at airport. Airplane supposed to take off at 9:30am. Didn't take off until 10am. Still arrived in St. Louis with enough time to catch our flight to Vegas. (!) Despite that small bit of awesome, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES SUCKS BALLS. I will never fly Southwest again even if they give me free tickets for life. A) Families/couples want to sit TOGETHER. Your system of loading (A-1-30, A-31-60, B-1-30, B-31-60) might seem like a good idea, but when a couple gets loaded onto a 4 hour flight as numbers B45 and B46 they will not be able to sit together because you don't have assigned seats! All those people who are traveling alone and load beforehand all snatch up the window and aisle seats leaving only middle seats for the last people to board. Yeah, The Man and I sat 10 aisles apart for a 4 hour flight! And he had all the food! Needless to say that SUCKED. B) When you have people that have to catch a connecting flight within 30 minutes of landing, it would be cool if you would could make an announcement to let them off first. We almost missed our connector flight because of the anarchy of people trying to shove over their neighbors and get off the flight as fast as humanly possible. Most of those people are just rushing to go stand at the baggage carosel and wait 30-45 minutes for their bags to show up anyway. LET US GET TO OUR DAMN FLIGHTS. Don't even tell me you didn't know we were on there or that we had the connector. You knew you bastards... You knew. C) We're grown ass adults. Think we could have an entire can of soda? Please?
That all said, we will only fly JetBlue from here on out. Movies, whole cans of soda, more snacks if we ask, thoughtfulness to let us catch connectors; TOTALLY worth the extra $.
April 1-4. Vegas! Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend was awesome! We met a lot of new awesome cool people. Saw a lot of hot-rods, tattoos and boobies. =) Bought waaaaay to much cool stuff for both ourselves and The Shop. I got a metal flake gold purse! The casinos on the other hand, not cool. The Man and I decided that Hell is sitting at a slot machine next to a decrepid old person, being forced to listen to all the bings and whistles and having to breathe in second hand smoke for all of eternity. At least there'll be beer. PBR's for $2! We were surprised that we ate pretty well out there though. TGIFriday's were more than happy to make us pasta dishes sans meat. They make a mean Tuscan Spinach Dip. Oh, and grilled cheeses with tomato! We found veggie burgers at Fuddruckers. Tofu and stir-fried veggies at a noodle house. Salads every time we turned around! And room service had cream of wheat and fresh fruit for breakfast. Mmm... All in all a good time in Vegas. Not in any way, shape or form a RELAXING vacation, but fun.
April 5. Spent all day traveling home. Landed on the east coast at 10pm. Our bus didn't leave until 11:30pm. Arrived back at the car at 1:30am. Drove home, showered and hit the sack at 3am.
April 6. The Man's birthday! A big one this year. He turned 50! I got him a leopard print silk smoking jacket that I gave him before we left for Vegas so he could bring with. He loved it and it's freakin' hysterical! On his birthday I gave him the PBS special on the history of India and a Fenway magnet. Not big deal stuff but he loved them! He always says he has everything and he pretty much does. He loves tiki's, art, music and beer. Any of those make good gifts. =) Middle kid showed up with The Man's car at 7am and I had to get up to bring her to work by 8am. Read it, 4 HOURS of sleep! Sucked so bad. Picked up the dogs and headed over to The Shop.
April 7. Again, drove Middle Kid to work by 8. At The Shop the rest of the day.
April 8. First Born Kid's birthday. She's in NYC, so we didn't get to spend any time. But there were phone calls and texts and Facebook. Drove Middle Kid to work by 8. Out at 1 and needed to get back to where The Grandbaby is so I had to shut down The Shop, pick up Middle, drive another 45 minutes to where Grandbaby was, pick her up, drop them off at Middle's mothers house and then drive the hour and a half back to The Shop. Fell asleep trying to watch Shurlock Holmes with The Man.
Finally reached today... Whew.
First off. I don't think my vacation refreshed me at all. I feel more exhausted than before we left! I do not doubt that that is in part because of the whole stupid car situation. Middle's all freaked out because she doesn't have a car. I don't know that I have the energy to get into her story right now... That'll be another post some other day I think.
Speaking of no energy... I think my thyroid's off. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism when I was 16. Whoa. 10 years ago. Daymn. Just realized that. Anyway. My levels have been pretty steady for that whole time. Last summer however, I gained a lot of weight. It was a really really stressful summer. We had to move in June, which is right when The Shop starts picking up for the summer, not to mention the fact that it rained that entire month. I didn't get time to unpack much because in the summer I'm at The Shop every single day. August was when First Girl started getting sick. She died in late September. Needless to say, there were quite a few months that I was VERY stressed. I admit it. I'm a horrible stress eater. I am, right now, about 40-50 pounds overweight. I'm not proud of the fact. I hate it. I can't really seem to do much about it however. I am SO exhausted ALL the time. I believe that my med's might be off. Too low because of all the weight gain. However, because we're self-employed, we also have no health insurance. To try to keep from spending hundreds of dollars to get blood work done I've been trying to get to the free clinic near here. They don't make that easy however. They're open Mondays and Thursdays, 6pm-8pm. They only accept 12 people a night and they do not do appointments. So basically you have to show up an hour before they open to try to be one of the 12 people they take in. Holy cow. Not easy.
So I don't feel good energy wise. I want to be sleeping all the time. The Man doesn't really understands and hassles me because I don't exercise much anymore. Which makes me more stressed and causes me to eat and nap even more. Talk about exasperation! Oh, and on top of all of that... A doctor friend of ours recently told me he believes that I may have fibromyalgia. It's the over-activity of pain receptors. That would definitely explain why things that I know SHOULDN'T hurt me DO actually hurt me. The Man says I over react because honestly, a playful poke in the thigh SHOULDN'T ellicit such a painful reaction... But most things do hurt me more than they should and it just exasperates the exhaustion and the stress.
Okay. Well I've been at this blog post for ENTIRELY way too long. It's way too long. If you've read the whole thing, you've awed me. I love you for it. And to show my appreciation, I give you this...
After going back and forth on whether I wanted to share pictures of myself, I've finally decided to go for it. Here is me in all my exhausted and overweight glory! I'm bummed that I wasn't showcasing my fabulous gold purse in this picture but I do have on my marvelous new tortoise shell framed sunglasses! And that's my favorite dress. It has postcards from Hawaii all over it. Huzzah!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Evening of Happy
The Man and I went out to raise a glass for my cousin.
When we were out I looked at him and said, "It's kinda amazing that I still like hanging out with you."
He smiled. I was happy.
The end.
When we were out I looked at him and said, "It's kinda amazing that I still like hanging out with you."
He smiled. I was happy.
The end.
Beautiful Pain and Thankful Thursday
My new tattoo(s) came out AWESOME! I am so ecstatically happy with them!
I say tattoo(s) because I started a sleeve. Right now I have four items that kind of stand alone on my left upper arm. I'm going with an old skool sailor theme. I have a hula girl, a ship, an anchor and a Sailor Jerry butterfly. There is still room for me to put more on there, such as a nautical star and/or maybe a swallow. Eventually we'll fill in the rest of the negative space with stars and such to make it one continuous tattoo sleeve.
SO GORGEOUS.
But let me tell you, it really really freakin' hurt! It took 5 1/2 hours from start to finish. Anyone out there who's been tattoo'd will know what that means... We completely finished them all, so there was the outline, black shading and then coloring. Essentially going over the same area three different times with sharp pointy things. **Groan** But I did it! I'm bad ass. My artist was stoked I was able to handle it and I've already talked to one guy this morning who was uber impressed that I did it all at one sitting.
I also got an unrelated tattoo on the lower part of my left arm. It's a memorial tattoo for my cousin who passed away a year ago today. I've been planning this tattoo for months and I'm glad that I was able to get it done before the anniversary. I try to keep him in my thoughts and remember but it does get hard with life getting in the way. Now with this tattoo I'll have a visual reminder everyday to live life to the fullest and love my family.
And that brings me to this week's Thankful Thursday. My family. I have a phenomenal family. My father raised us with the idea that it was "Us against The World". We all love each other even when we eff up. That's the most important thing in the world. Family, family, family. Nothing comes before that.
So this Coke Zero is getting raised to my family and to JMG. We miss you and we love you.
I say tattoo(s) because I started a sleeve. Right now I have four items that kind of stand alone on my left upper arm. I'm going with an old skool sailor theme. I have a hula girl, a ship, an anchor and a Sailor Jerry butterfly. There is still room for me to put more on there, such as a nautical star and/or maybe a swallow. Eventually we'll fill in the rest of the negative space with stars and such to make it one continuous tattoo sleeve.
SO GORGEOUS.
But let me tell you, it really really freakin' hurt! It took 5 1/2 hours from start to finish. Anyone out there who's been tattoo'd will know what that means... We completely finished them all, so there was the outline, black shading and then coloring. Essentially going over the same area three different times with sharp pointy things. **Groan** But I did it! I'm bad ass. My artist was stoked I was able to handle it and I've already talked to one guy this morning who was uber impressed that I did it all at one sitting.
I also got an unrelated tattoo on the lower part of my left arm. It's a memorial tattoo for my cousin who passed away a year ago today. I've been planning this tattoo for months and I'm glad that I was able to get it done before the anniversary. I try to keep him in my thoughts and remember but it does get hard with life getting in the way. Now with this tattoo I'll have a visual reminder everyday to live life to the fullest and love my family.
And that brings me to this week's Thankful Thursday. My family. I have a phenomenal family. My father raised us with the idea that it was "Us against The World". We all love each other even when we eff up. That's the most important thing in the world. Family, family, family. Nothing comes before that.
So this Coke Zero is getting raised to my family and to JMG. We miss you and we love you.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Foosh
Someday I shall figure out how to manage my time. Until then I will do woefully short blogs about things that are fantastico.
* I made TWO sets of curtains! One awesome brown and tan, Hawaiian style ones for the living room and one gaudy green and bright pink sparkly flower one for the grandbaby's room. Go me!
* Little Girl passed her evaluation for the doggie daycare/kennel so now I can go on vacation guilt free! Yay! (Though I didn't really have any doubts)
* Tomorrow I'm getting my late birthday present from The Man, a tattoo! I'm starting a half-sleeve. Oooo...
* Part of my tattoo is going to be in memory of my cousin. He died a year ago Thursday. He was 24 and got into a freak motorcycle accident which wasn't his fault and if he had crashed anywhere else he wouldn't have died. =(
* I leave A WEEK from tomorrow for Las Vegas!!! First time ever there and I am STOKED.
* I am now going to bed.
NITE
* I made TWO sets of curtains! One awesome brown and tan, Hawaiian style ones for the living room and one gaudy green and bright pink sparkly flower one for the grandbaby's room. Go me!
* Little Girl passed her evaluation for the doggie daycare/kennel so now I can go on vacation guilt free! Yay! (Though I didn't really have any doubts)
* Tomorrow I'm getting my late birthday present from The Man, a tattoo! I'm starting a half-sleeve. Oooo...
* Part of my tattoo is going to be in memory of my cousin. He died a year ago Thursday. He was 24 and got into a freak motorcycle accident which wasn't his fault and if he had crashed anywhere else he wouldn't have died. =(
* I leave A WEEK from tomorrow for Las Vegas!!! First time ever there and I am STOKED.
* I am now going to bed.
NITE
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Potatoes and Beer
Happy freakin' St. Pat's day ya'll (I can say 'ya'll' because I lived in North Carolina for two years). I figured today would be like any other day, only with more drinking. I was right, only it is MORE SO.
The day started off with an argument with The Man. Nothing new there. I arrived at The Shop a little bit late. Nothing new there either. I was all working on the website and being awesome until noon showed up and brought with it my friend, Sargent.
Sargent is a really awesome guy. He became a friend when he became a client of The Man. He's fantastic. One of the only friends we have who doesn't just 'take'.
ANYwhooooo... He showed up at The Shop at noon. "Pack your shit up. We're going for lunch."
After a lot of hemming and hawing I finally agreed. I promised not to tell his gf that he was buying me lunch if he promised not to tell The Man that I closed The Shop for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. I left a note on The Shop's door with my cell number and we went on our happy way.
The bar we went to is one of my favorites. The only kinda crappy thing is that they have a rotating menu and more often then not they don't have anything veggie on there. Sargent got a Cajun halibut sandwich thing. I got potato skins with cheese and broccoli. Not the best ever, but potatoes (on St. Pat's day!) and cheese are BOTH awesome.
We had some beers and talked with the other bar goers. Turns out the dude at the end of the bar was an old The Shop customer! We talked with him for awhile and then went on our merry way. Not an hour after I was back at The Shop, the old customer showed up! I was stoked. I fed him beer and we talked for many hours. He wants to get back into the sport that The Shop supplies. If it wasn't for me slacking off, we wouldn't have pulled him back in as a customer!
Yay me!
The day started off with an argument with The Man. Nothing new there. I arrived at The Shop a little bit late. Nothing new there either. I was all working on the website and being awesome until noon showed up and brought with it my friend, Sargent.
Sargent is a really awesome guy. He became a friend when he became a client of The Man. He's fantastic. One of the only friends we have who doesn't just 'take'.
ANYwhooooo... He showed up at The Shop at noon. "Pack your shit up. We're going for lunch."
After a lot of hemming and hawing I finally agreed. I promised not to tell his gf that he was buying me lunch if he promised not to tell The Man that I closed The Shop for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. I left a note on The Shop's door with my cell number and we went on our happy way.
The bar we went to is one of my favorites. The only kinda crappy thing is that they have a rotating menu and more often then not they don't have anything veggie on there. Sargent got a Cajun halibut sandwich thing. I got potato skins with cheese and broccoli. Not the best ever, but potatoes (on St. Pat's day!) and cheese are BOTH awesome.
We had some beers and talked with the other bar goers. Turns out the dude at the end of the bar was an old The Shop customer! We talked with him for awhile and then went on our merry way. Not an hour after I was back at The Shop, the old customer showed up! I was stoked. I fed him beer and we talked for many hours. He wants to get back into the sport that The Shop supplies. If it wasn't for me slacking off, we wouldn't have pulled him back in as a customer!
Yay me!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Just Along For the Ride?
I feel like I'm on a freakin' tornado.
I love that The Man is home. I do not love his manic energies. I can't catch up and I can't catch my breath.
I'm late for an evening meeting.
Maybe tomorrow will be better?
I love that The Man is home. I do not love his manic energies. I can't catch up and I can't catch my breath.
I'm late for an evening meeting.
Maybe tomorrow will be better?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Time to turn off Adult Swim and GO TO BED
Here I am NOT asleep. Why is that?
I think I'm excited for The Man to be back home tomorrow (later today). Not so happy that I didn't get more accomplished though. Maybe I should make shorter lists so I don't feel so accomplished after completing a few menial tasks and then get sidetracked by HBO On Demand?
ANYWAYS. I'm starting to get curious about what cool things The Man will bring me. He's really great about bringing things home after trips. I usually get at least one item of jewelry (because he's also, kinda awesome). His favorite thing to give me seems to be broaches. I had never really given much thought to broaches. I'm liking them now. The Man seems to bring out the happy little old lady in me (I now know how to darn socks). Since he forgot his camera I was able to get a picture of the nifty ones that he's given me so far.
He has, uhm, interesting taste. Even if I don't like something I can never tell him. He gets so damn excited. The look on his face when I open them! He's so cute.
He gave me the thistle broach(top right) for my birthday last week. He is very proud of his half-Scottish heritage. Apparently thistle is the national emblem of Scotland. Ahh, I see now. I was confused as to why he gave me an ugly flower broach until I figured that out a few days later. ("It's THISTLE honey!" Yeah, uhm, nice. Thanks?)
...The more I look at that photo, the more I hate it. I NEED A GOOD CAMERA. **Sob** I guess a new broach with do.
I think I'm excited for The Man to be back home tomorrow (later today). Not so happy that I didn't get more accomplished though. Maybe I should make shorter lists so I don't feel so accomplished after completing a few menial tasks and then get sidetracked by HBO On Demand?
ANYWAYS. I'm starting to get curious about what cool things The Man will bring me. He's really great about bringing things home after trips. I usually get at least one item of jewelry (because he's also, kinda awesome). His favorite thing to give me seems to be broaches. I had never really given much thought to broaches. I'm liking them now. The Man seems to bring out the happy little old lady in me (I now know how to darn socks). Since he forgot his camera I was able to get a picture of the nifty ones that he's given me so far.
He has, uhm, interesting taste. Even if I don't like something I can never tell him. He gets so damn excited. The look on his face when I open them! He's so cute.
He gave me the thistle broach(top right) for my birthday last week. He is very proud of his half-Scottish heritage. Apparently thistle is the national emblem of Scotland. Ahh, I see now. I was confused as to why he gave me an ugly flower broach until I figured that out a few days later. ("It's THISTLE honey!" Yeah, uhm, nice. Thanks?)
...The more I look at that photo, the more I hate it. I NEED A GOOD CAMERA. **Sob** I guess a new broach with do.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
March 12 To Do List
I HAD AN IDEA
I make lists. Lots of lists. I use them to try to battle my horribly crippling procrastination problem. My problem is, I'll make the list, set the list down and then go online. POOF. Six hours gone in an eye blink.
I need to put my list on here! I'm going to write out all the crap that have to accomplish tomorrow before The Man gets home. (I pick him up Saturday night but I won't be home during the day Sat). I will cross them off as I go because that will be WAY more satisfying than just crossing them off on a paper list. Yay internet celebrations!
1 -Exercise (because you haven't the whole time The Man's been gone. You fuckin' slacker face.)
2 -Shower/dress
2.5 - (Shave legs! Yeah. He's been gone for over a week. Clear that shit off.) Edit: I chose to wash my hair over leg-shavage. I'll do that tomorrow morning. =P
3 -Walk dogs
4 -Do Craigslist postings for The Shop
5 -Wash dishes
6 -Recycle cardboard
7 - Make deposit for The Shop Edit: Do on my way out of town tomorrow.
7.5 - (Probably go to Taco Bell. Because seriously, it's right across the street from the bank...) Edit: I stopped at a deli while walking the dogs and got a veggie wrap with hummus, romaine lettuce, red onions, green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, kalamata olives and sprouts on a garlic & herb tortilla. Healthier AND yummier!!)
8 - Clean under kitchen table (and stop storing shit there)
9 - Sweep kitchen & hallway
10 - Clean bathroom (sink, shower, toilet)
11 -Straighten up living room (all those Coke Zero cans have got to go)
12 - Vacuum living room
13 -Fold/Put away laundry
14 - Iron The Man's shirts
15 - Wash dog beds
16 - Rip new cds
17 - Clean car (ONLY if it's warm out. Eff that if it's even remotely cold.) Edit: It's cold out. OH WELL.
18 -Try really really hard to not eat the half gallon of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.
HOLY CRAP THAT A LOT OF SHIT TO DO. I'm going to go to bed like, now. O_O
(If I accomplish even just half of these things tomorrow I think The Man will TOTALLY owe me because I'm awesome and do these things for him. Because I'm awesome. Did I mention I do crap for him? Yeah, 'cause I'm awesome.)
Yeah, I seem to have accomplished only the not-so-invasive tasks. The Fifth Element sidetracked me for awhile. And Google. Fuck Google. But at least I exercised. And DIDN'T eat the ice cream. Those both make me happy.
I make lists. Lots of lists. I use them to try to battle my horribly crippling procrastination problem. My problem is, I'll make the list, set the list down and then go online. POOF. Six hours gone in an eye blink.
I need to put my list on here! I'm going to write out all the crap that have to accomplish tomorrow before The Man gets home. (I pick him up Saturday night but I won't be home during the day Sat). I will cross them off as I go because that will be WAY more satisfying than just crossing them off on a paper list. Yay internet celebrations!
1 -
2 -
2.5 - (Shave legs! Yeah. He's been gone for over a week. Clear that shit off.) Edit: I chose to wash my hair over leg-shavage. I'll do that tomorrow morning. =P
3 -
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 - Make deposit for The Shop Edit: Do on my way out of town tomorrow.
7.5 - (Probably go to Taco Bell. Because seriously, it's right across the street from the bank...) Edit: I stopped at a deli while walking the dogs and got a veggie wrap with hummus, romaine lettuce, red onions, green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, kalamata olives and sprouts on a garlic & herb tortilla. Healthier AND yummier!!)
8 - Clean under kitchen table (and stop storing shit there)
9 - Sweep kitchen & hallway
10 - Clean bathroom (sink, shower, toilet)
11 -
12 - Vacuum living room
13 -
14 - Iron The Man's shirts
15 - Wash dog beds
16 - Rip new cds
17 - Clean car (ONLY if it's warm out. Eff that if it's even remotely cold.) Edit: It's cold out. OH WELL.
18 -
HOLY CRAP THAT A LOT OF SHIT TO DO. I'm going to go to bed like, now. O_O
(If I accomplish even just half of these things tomorrow I think The Man will TOTALLY owe me because I'm awesome and do these things for him. Because I'm awesome. Did I mention I do crap for him? Yeah, 'cause I'm awesome.)
Yeah, I seem to have accomplished only the not-so-invasive tasks. The Fifth Element sidetracked me for awhile. And Google. Fuck Google. But at least I exercised. And DIDN'T eat the ice cream. Those both make me happy.
Thankful Thursday - My Dawgs
With the post I did earlier, I hope that I can help Lebron, however I am VERY thankful that within the past two years I have been able to rescue and give good homes to three different dogs.
Stinky was the first dog I rescued. I already knew that I was getting First Girl in June. I was getting a tattoo in February (it was our first Valentines day together and The Man got me the tattoo <3). My tattoo lasted for 3 hours. We talked about this and that and the other thing. I mentioned how I was going to be getting First Girl in June and wouldn't mind finding her a playmate. I knew she had never been a single dog, I thought that she'd do a bit better. Well surprise of surprises, my tattooist is also a doggie-foster-mommy!
She had Stinky. He was 9 years old. He had been saved from a shelter in Arkansas and brought up to Maine. She had had him for 3 or 4 months and he had been adopted. Apparently he's very, uhm, strong willed. The woman that adopted him didn't know how to be a leader and got snapped at. She returned him. My tattooist then had him for almost 6 months before I showed up! Poor beast. No one wanted him... My heart bled. I WANT HIM! My tattooist ended up just going on a tattoo tour in Europe and it was a couple of months before we were able to meet up again. In April of 2008, Stinky came home to stay. He is definitely a handful. I was a little insane to think that it'd be cool for my first dog ever to be a dominant alpha but after a couple of rocky months we've got each other figured out. =)
So in June, First Girl came to us. She had been living with family of The Man's. Unfortunatly, First Girl had pretty bad separation anxiety. It was impossible to leave her unattended without her destroying, defecating and urinating all over the place. When the family was at work and school, First Girl was tied up in the back yard. It took awhile, but we convinced the remaining 'kid' that when she went to college, First Girl would do better at our home rather than tied up all the time. She was a wonderful dog. Very obedient and snuggily. I just could never leave her at home. I'd leave her in her crate but she'd always urinate if left for more than 3 hours and would paw and chew at the metal bars, injuring the crate and herself. She was wonderful at the shop. I wouldn't even have to tie her up. She just wanted to be near me.
I first started noticing something odd with her in behavior/health when we moved in July. She was a little shaky but thought that it was nerves from the move. The first vet visit was on a Friday in August. I noticed that there was some green goop coming from her eyes. The vet gave me drops, thinking that she had an eye infection. By the next afternoon however she was shaking violently at the shop. She wasn't interested in food (VERY odd) and grunted any time I picked her up. I was upset because I was going to have to wait until Monday to bring her back to the vets. (The emergency vet is MAD CRAZY expensive.) To my amazement (and relief) my vet happened into The Shop on Sunday afternoon! She took a look at First Girl and told me to bring her in first thing the next morning. She'd make room for her. That's how bad First Girl was looking. I couldn't get her to stand up. I had to carry her home from The Shop that night (1.5 miles).
That Monday morning we did blood work and a urinalysis which all came back normal. We started her on antibiotics anyway to see if it would help. I suggested that maybe her shaking was from pain of some sort? We started her on pain meds. With the pain meds we saw a bit of an improvement but it didn't last long. Her legs started swelling so we thought maybe kidney problems? During the next couple of weeks we did more blood work (fine, no kidney problems), tried different meds and taking x-rays. The vet thought that there might be something on the x-ray of First Girls abdomin. We were referred to internal med specialists for an ultrasound. By this point The Man was starting to get a bit irritated at the sheer amount of vet bills that were coming his way but I wanted hardcore to know what was wrong. The ultrasound ended up being clear. DAMMIT! The internal med vet then decided to take an x-ray of First Girl's legs to see if the swelling was soft tissue or joint. WHOA. Something the doctor had not seen since vet school. First Girl had a condition called Hypertrophic Osteopathy. Essentially her bones were growing out from where they should be. This is usually a secondary condition caused by a lung tumor. We already knew from x-rays that her lungs were clear. We were left to guess that her tumor was in her brain. Huh. That would explain the random seizures she used to have in her old home (she never had one with me).
While this wasn't the answer that I really wanted, I was relived that we at least had an answer. We knew what was wrong and while we couldn't do anything to cure her, we could sure as hell load her up with outrageous amounts of pain meds. She was a brave little girl but it eventually got to the point where she couldn't stand, she couldn't walk, she couldn't even go to the bathroom on her own. At the end of September we made the decision to put her down. It was horrible. We only had her living with us for 15 months but in those few months she almost never left my side. I was in a rough spot.
The hardest thing after losing First Girl was going to The Shop without her. After she joined us, I had never once been at The Shop without her. I tried bringing Stinky but he is just not good there. He whines and barks and is not easily calmed. I started what I wanted to be a very slow process of looking for a new pup. I perused petfinder and craigslist. I didn't want to jump into a dog that wouldn't be right for either myself or for Stinky. I let my tattooist know that I had started looking. Almost instantly she found us Little Girl. Within a few days we had Stinky and Little Girl meet and it was love at first sight! They were even more perfectly matched than Stinky and First Girl had. Since Little Girl hadn't actually made it into the rescue she wasn't fixed but I was able to convince The Man to bring her on because we weren't paying a rescue fee for her. Yeah, that didn't work out quite the way I was planning; her $350 fixing turned into a $600 fixing and hernia repair.
So there's my painfully long Thankful Thursday. Whew.
Stinky was the first dog I rescued. I already knew that I was getting First Girl in June. I was getting a tattoo in February (it was our first Valentines day together and The Man got me the tattoo <3). My tattoo lasted for 3 hours. We talked about this and that and the other thing. I mentioned how I was going to be getting First Girl in June and wouldn't mind finding her a playmate. I knew she had never been a single dog, I thought that she'd do a bit better. Well surprise of surprises, my tattooist is also a doggie-foster-mommy!
She had Stinky. He was 9 years old. He had been saved from a shelter in Arkansas and brought up to Maine. She had had him for 3 or 4 months and he had been adopted. Apparently he's very, uhm, strong willed. The woman that adopted him didn't know how to be a leader and got snapped at. She returned him. My tattooist then had him for almost 6 months before I showed up! Poor beast. No one wanted him... My heart bled. I WANT HIM! My tattooist ended up just going on a tattoo tour in Europe and it was a couple of months before we were able to meet up again. In April of 2008, Stinky came home to stay. He is definitely a handful. I was a little insane to think that it'd be cool for my first dog ever to be a dominant alpha but after a couple of rocky months we've got each other figured out. =)
So in June, First Girl came to us. She had been living with family of The Man's. Unfortunatly, First Girl had pretty bad separation anxiety. It was impossible to leave her unattended without her destroying, defecating and urinating all over the place. When the family was at work and school, First Girl was tied up in the back yard. It took awhile, but we convinced the remaining 'kid' that when she went to college, First Girl would do better at our home rather than tied up all the time. She was a wonderful dog. Very obedient and snuggily. I just could never leave her at home. I'd leave her in her crate but she'd always urinate if left for more than 3 hours and would paw and chew at the metal bars, injuring the crate and herself. She was wonderful at the shop. I wouldn't even have to tie her up. She just wanted to be near me.
I first started noticing something odd with her in behavior/health when we moved in July. She was a little shaky but thought that it was nerves from the move. The first vet visit was on a Friday in August. I noticed that there was some green goop coming from her eyes. The vet gave me drops, thinking that she had an eye infection. By the next afternoon however she was shaking violently at the shop. She wasn't interested in food (VERY odd) and grunted any time I picked her up. I was upset because I was going to have to wait until Monday to bring her back to the vets. (The emergency vet is MAD CRAZY expensive.) To my amazement (and relief) my vet happened into The Shop on Sunday afternoon! She took a look at First Girl and told me to bring her in first thing the next morning. She'd make room for her. That's how bad First Girl was looking. I couldn't get her to stand up. I had to carry her home from The Shop that night (1.5 miles).
That Monday morning we did blood work and a urinalysis which all came back normal. We started her on antibiotics anyway to see if it would help. I suggested that maybe her shaking was from pain of some sort? We started her on pain meds. With the pain meds we saw a bit of an improvement but it didn't last long. Her legs started swelling so we thought maybe kidney problems? During the next couple of weeks we did more blood work (fine, no kidney problems), tried different meds and taking x-rays. The vet thought that there might be something on the x-ray of First Girls abdomin. We were referred to internal med specialists for an ultrasound. By this point The Man was starting to get a bit irritated at the sheer amount of vet bills that were coming his way but I wanted hardcore to know what was wrong. The ultrasound ended up being clear. DAMMIT! The internal med vet then decided to take an x-ray of First Girl's legs to see if the swelling was soft tissue or joint. WHOA. Something the doctor had not seen since vet school. First Girl had a condition called Hypertrophic Osteopathy. Essentially her bones were growing out from where they should be. This is usually a secondary condition caused by a lung tumor. We already knew from x-rays that her lungs were clear. We were left to guess that her tumor was in her brain. Huh. That would explain the random seizures she used to have in her old home (she never had one with me).
While this wasn't the answer that I really wanted, I was relived that we at least had an answer. We knew what was wrong and while we couldn't do anything to cure her, we could sure as hell load her up with outrageous amounts of pain meds. She was a brave little girl but it eventually got to the point where she couldn't stand, she couldn't walk, she couldn't even go to the bathroom on her own. At the end of September we made the decision to put her down. It was horrible. We only had her living with us for 15 months but in those few months she almost never left my side. I was in a rough spot.
The hardest thing after losing First Girl was going to The Shop without her. After she joined us, I had never once been at The Shop without her. I tried bringing Stinky but he is just not good there. He whines and barks and is not easily calmed. I started what I wanted to be a very slow process of looking for a new pup. I perused petfinder and craigslist. I didn't want to jump into a dog that wouldn't be right for either myself or for Stinky. I let my tattooist know that I had started looking. Almost instantly she found us Little Girl. Within a few days we had Stinky and Little Girl meet and it was love at first sight! They were even more perfectly matched than Stinky and First Girl had. Since Little Girl hadn't actually made it into the rescue she wasn't fixed but I was able to convince The Man to bring her on because we weren't paying a rescue fee for her. Yeah, that didn't work out quite the way I was planning; her $350 fixing turned into a $600 fixing and hernia repair.
So there's my painfully long Thankful Thursday. Whew.
Lebron (You know, as in James...)
I'm going to throttle my sister.
She has brought to my attention a neglected dog who needs help. Dammit me and my friends/families knowledge of my bleeding heart.
Her - "Any way you'd wanna adopt a 3 year old chocolate lab whose owner can't afford to feed him? :( I was going to but my landlord said unfortunetly his insurance doesn't allow dogs... *Sad face sigh*"
Moi - "I wish I could. Little Girl's surgery cost $600. It's going to be awhile before I can talk The Man into another dawg... Forward me a picture and I'll pass it on to my rescue folks."
Her - "Oh.. Well he IS free to a good home. But I definitely will send you a pic. I want him. He's a good pup. :("
Moi - "Little Girl was "free" too... There's always things that come up. Plus, going from feeding 2 small dogs to adding in a large one would significantly increase the food budget. But I'll run it past The Man. What's his name?"
Her - "His name is Lebron. (I know, I didn't like it either...) And I'd have to agree it would be more expensive for food. I just feel so bad for him, cause literally his owner can only afford to feed her toddler daughter, not him. He's so skinny (as you'll see in his picture). My landlord was willing to buy him a huge bag of food every few weeks for me to give them, but they live an hour and 15 minutes away from me. It wouldn't be worth the gas money. Anyways I'll send you the pic, he just needs a home ASAP. ♥ , Me"
FREAKING **SIGH**
I really want to help this dog but I also kind of want The Man to say no. It will be a lot of extra work for me, our place is way too small for three dogs and we're going on vacation soon! I'd hate to bring in a possibly scarred pup and then go away and have to put him in our kennel (not to mention the added $$ that would cost!).
I have a voice mail into The Man, as well as the rescue that we got Stinky from and one other women I know who's involved with rescues.
Would anyone in the Massachusetts/New Hampshire/Maine area like to foster/adopt a lab?
She has brought to my attention a neglected dog who needs help. Dammit me and my friends/families knowledge of my bleeding heart.
Her - "Any way you'd wanna adopt a 3 year old chocolate lab whose owner can't afford to feed him? :( I was going to but my landlord said unfortunetly his insurance doesn't allow dogs... *Sad face sigh*"
Moi - "I wish I could. Little Girl's surgery cost $600. It's going to be awhile before I can talk The Man into another dawg... Forward me a picture and I'll pass it on to my rescue folks."
Her - "Oh.. Well he IS free to a good home. But I definitely will send you a pic. I want him. He's a good pup. :("
Moi - "Little Girl was "free" too... There's always things that come up. Plus, going from feeding 2 small dogs to adding in a large one would significantly increase the food budget. But I'll run it past The Man. What's his name?"
Her - "His name is Lebron. (I know, I didn't like it either...) And I'd have to agree it would be more expensive for food. I just feel so bad for him, cause literally his owner can only afford to feed her toddler daughter, not him. He's so skinny (as you'll see in his picture). My landlord was willing to buy him a huge bag of food every few weeks for me to give them, but they live an hour and 15 minutes away from me. It wouldn't be worth the gas money. Anyways I'll send you the pic, he just needs a home ASAP. ♥ , Me"
FREAKING **SIGH**
I really want to help this dog but I also kind of want The Man to say no. It will be a lot of extra work for me, our place is way too small for three dogs and we're going on vacation soon! I'd hate to bring in a possibly scarred pup and then go away and have to put him in our kennel (not to mention the added $$ that would cost!).
I have a voice mail into The Man, as well as the rescue that we got Stinky from and one other women I know who's involved with rescues.
Would anyone in the Massachusetts/New Hampshire/Maine area like to foster/adopt a lab?
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
That's What She Said
I have an urge to blog. But I don't have a topic in mind. And it's actually time to close up The Shop. I need to head home to feed the dogs before running over to a meeting I have at 6:30. I also have to pick someone up on the way to said meeting.
This was entirely pointless. I'm okay with that.
-Gem-
This was entirely pointless. I'm okay with that.
-Gem-
Monday, March 8, 2010
When The Cat's Away...
You would think, since I haven't posted in 4 days that something exciting has happened, or at least that I've been busy. Big ol' nope on both accounts. The Man left Thursday morning. I'm not picking him up until 5pm on this upcoming Saturday. 9 Days of no high energy, demanding man. I've shut down. Come Thursday I'll start freaking out about the messy house and unwashed laundry, but I can't get myself to care right now.
Case in point... It's nearing midnight and I'm still awake. I kind of pride myself on the fact that I've turned into a little old lady in the past couple years. I bake bread, own broaches and try to go to bed early. I'm not naturally inclined for that. I would love to sleep until 10 or 11 every morning and stay up accordingly. Life with The Man doesn't work like that however. The earlier we're up in the morning, the better. The dogs also enjoy that lifestyle. I'm the only one who doesn't.
(As I type, Little Girl is starting at me as if to say, "Stop all this foolishness and get yo ass to bed. My 6:30am whining for breakfast is going to come awfully soon there killah."
So when The Man is gone, I enjoy my late night television, ice cream for lunch and not washing my hair for 3 days at a time. It's almost like recharging my relationship-tolerance-battery by pretending I'm single for a few days. So while I miss The Man when he's gone, it's kinda alright.
-Gem-
PS: I also enjoy spending WAY too much time online when The Man is gone. I re-arrange the living room so that I can mess around online and watch TV at the same time (pathetic, I know, but there's nothing better than playing Farmville and watching Clean House at once without craning my neck...) ANYWAYS. I have a new hetero-crush. Amy from An Apple a Day. I'm so in lust with her beautiful lacy clothing, her family's New Hampshire home and her florist job. Want! Her blog does make me ache so badly for a nice camera, however it doesn't make me love her any less. Amy, if you ever come across this here little bloggo and want to take a trip up to Maine, I'll bring you to my favorite antique shop (a good hour+ from where I am, but sooooo worth the trip! OH, and I've totally gotten a rocking straw hat there before!)
Case in point... It's nearing midnight and I'm still awake. I kind of pride myself on the fact that I've turned into a little old lady in the past couple years. I bake bread, own broaches and try to go to bed early. I'm not naturally inclined for that. I would love to sleep until 10 or 11 every morning and stay up accordingly. Life with The Man doesn't work like that however. The earlier we're up in the morning, the better. The dogs also enjoy that lifestyle. I'm the only one who doesn't.
(As I type, Little Girl is starting at me as if to say, "Stop all this foolishness and get yo ass to bed. My 6:30am whining for breakfast is going to come awfully soon there killah."
So when The Man is gone, I enjoy my late night television, ice cream for lunch and not washing my hair for 3 days at a time. It's almost like recharging my relationship-tolerance-battery by pretending I'm single for a few days. So while I miss The Man when he's gone, it's kinda alright.
-Gem-
PS: I also enjoy spending WAY too much time online when The Man is gone. I re-arrange the living room so that I can mess around online and watch TV at the same time (pathetic, I know, but there's nothing better than playing Farmville and watching Clean House at once without craning my neck...) ANYWAYS. I have a new hetero-crush. Amy from An Apple a Day. I'm so in lust with her beautiful lacy clothing, her family's New Hampshire home and her florist job. Want! Her blog does make me ache so badly for a nice camera, however it doesn't make me love her any less. Amy, if you ever come across this here little bloggo and want to take a trip up to Maine, I'll bring you to my favorite antique shop (a good hour+ from where I am, but sooooo worth the trip! OH, and I've totally gotten a rocking straw hat there before!)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Tired ramblings and the first Thankful Thursday
I'm back. I'm sure you were all angsty that I wouldn't be. =(
I now "Whatever" myself.
The past week has been mad crazy busy. I've been working on instituting an online store for The Shop (confusing). The Man was trying to catch up on work from the last trip before his next trip (left this morning). My birthday happened (not really much of anything happened that day however)... Oi.
One awesome awesome thing? The Man revealed that my birthday present is a new tattoo! I'm going to start a sleeve. SAWEET. Of course he announced this two nights before my birthday, wanting me to get it ON my birthday. Uhm, yeah. Doesn't work like that. My artist is freakin' phenomenal. She travels the world and tattoo's with the best of the best. She of course was already booked up for my birthday but I went in and talked to her about what I'm looking to get on the day however. We have the 24th set up. I have her all day! We're going to just go for it until I can't take anymore pain. =)
Okay, I'm too tired for anything more. Dropping The Man off at the airport at 4am totally threw off the rest of the day. Night!
Oh snap! Almost forgot. I want to try to do Thankful Thursday every week. I need to start taking more time looking at what's awesome in my life and stop being so damn negative all the time.
Thankful Thursday: Little Girl's Health
I'm very thankful for the fact that Little Girl is almost 100% back to normal. She's all over Stinky again. Jumping all over the place and crazy demanding. =) Love it.
I now "Whatever" myself.
The past week has been mad crazy busy. I've been working on instituting an online store for The Shop (confusing). The Man was trying to catch up on work from the last trip before his next trip (left this morning). My birthday happened (not really much of anything happened that day however)... Oi.
One awesome awesome thing? The Man revealed that my birthday present is a new tattoo! I'm going to start a sleeve. SAWEET. Of course he announced this two nights before my birthday, wanting me to get it ON my birthday. Uhm, yeah. Doesn't work like that. My artist is freakin' phenomenal. She travels the world and tattoo's with the best of the best. She of course was already booked up for my birthday but I went in and talked to her about what I'm looking to get on the day however. We have the 24th set up. I have her all day! We're going to just go for it until I can't take anymore pain. =)
Okay, I'm too tired for anything more. Dropping The Man off at the airport at 4am totally threw off the rest of the day. Night!
Oh snap! Almost forgot. I want to try to do Thankful Thursday every week. I need to start taking more time looking at what's awesome in my life and stop being so damn negative all the time.
Thankful Thursday: Little Girl's Health
I'm very thankful for the fact that Little Girl is almost 100% back to normal. She's all over Stinky again. Jumping all over the place and crazy demanding. =) Love it.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Here I Am, Rock You Like A Hurricane
Alas, no "date night" last night. The Man ended up working on his laptop while I watched Mooseport (funny!). It was basically like every other night. Except we drank PBR. We only drink on the weekends and when we go out. Since we almost went out, beer!
However last night was crazy in the fact that we got hit with a wicked storm. We've been in this weird warm weather pattern lately. I can't quite remember the last time I had to put on my winter jacket when I went out during the day. And this is NEW ENGLAND in FEBRUARY. The storm last night was still just rain but we also got almost-hurricane-force winds. I was quite nervous.
It's odd. Before the dogs I could have cared less about nasty weather. Thunder, lightening, crazy winds? Whatever. Since I've adopted them however, I seem to have developed some weird energy bond with them. Stinky gets really really nervous during thunder storms. Now I do as well. He hates fireworks. Hey, I do too now! Scary wind? Creep me right the heck out. I had a really hard time falling asleep last night which wasn't helped by Stinky standing outside the bedroom door and whining for, approximately, ever. (The Man refuses to let Stinky in the bedroom because he will whine if kept in a crate, won't stay on a dog bed and tries to push The Man off the bed to share it strictly with me. Booger.)
The storm was just downright narsty. Our neighbor knocked on our door when he was leaving for work (at almost 6am...) to inform us that our fence blew down overnight. While I wasn't too thrilled that I was awoken so early I was actually grateful; four sections of our fence blew down. All of which I can't see from our back door. I don't tend to step outside to go around the corner and scan the perimiter before letting the dogs out, so I would have totally missed the massive gaping holes and Stinky at least, would have been looooooong gone before I noticed anything amiss.
I wonder if/when The Man will be able to fix the fence. It's not the biggest deal ever, but having to bring the dogs out on leashes every time they have to whiz is not something I'm looking forward to long term.
OH. Little Girl update.
We had an appointment to bring her in this morning for a follow up visit. The vet's office had lost it's power because of the storm. Luckily they were able to remove her drain by flashlight regardless. =) They're so good to us there.
Okay, well I think that's it for now. I wonder if I'll get a Date Night tonight?
However last night was crazy in the fact that we got hit with a wicked storm. We've been in this weird warm weather pattern lately. I can't quite remember the last time I had to put on my winter jacket when I went out during the day. And this is NEW ENGLAND in FEBRUARY. The storm last night was still just rain but we also got almost-hurricane-force winds. I was quite nervous.
It's odd. Before the dogs I could have cared less about nasty weather. Thunder, lightening, crazy winds? Whatever. Since I've adopted them however, I seem to have developed some weird energy bond with them. Stinky gets really really nervous during thunder storms. Now I do as well. He hates fireworks. Hey, I do too now! Scary wind? Creep me right the heck out. I had a really hard time falling asleep last night which wasn't helped by Stinky standing outside the bedroom door and whining for, approximately, ever. (The Man refuses to let Stinky in the bedroom because he will whine if kept in a crate, won't stay on a dog bed and tries to push The Man off the bed to share it strictly with me. Booger.)
The storm was just downright narsty. Our neighbor knocked on our door when he was leaving for work (at almost 6am...) to inform us that our fence blew down overnight. While I wasn't too thrilled that I was awoken so early I was actually grateful; four sections of our fence blew down. All of which I can't see from our back door. I don't tend to step outside to go around the corner and scan the perimiter before letting the dogs out, so I would have totally missed the massive gaping holes and Stinky at least, would have been looooooong gone before I noticed anything amiss.
I wonder if/when The Man will be able to fix the fence. It's not the biggest deal ever, but having to bring the dogs out on leashes every time they have to whiz is not something I'm looking forward to long term.
OH. Little Girl update.
We had an appointment to bring her in this morning for a follow up visit. The vet's office had lost it's power because of the storm. Luckily they were able to remove her drain by flashlight regardless. =) They're so good to us there.
Okay, well I think that's it for now. I wonder if I'll get a Date Night tonight?
Thursday, February 25, 2010
My Life the Yo-Yo
Okay. So. Things are kinda back to normal... Ish.
The Man got home last night basically acting like nothing had happened. A little bit of tippy-toeing around some issues, but acting like he does on any other regular night. I asked for some music and he put on the Conway Twitty album, Someone To Hold Her. The first song's lyrics?
"And she needs someone to hold her when she cries
Someone who really understands the way she feels inside
When her heart breaks the tears won't stop, no matter how she tries
And she needs someone to hold her when she cries"
He didn't pick that album on purpose but I sure as hell pointed out his unconscious choice.
Another breakthrough? Since day 1 he has had me get up in the morning to get him coffee. He said he needs help getting up and going so that he can make money. That's part of my job, get him up and out of the house. The coffee thing has always been an issue for me. I don't even drink it myself. I am NOT a morning person. There's also not a hell of a lot of reason for me to be up before him because I get in his way. When I go to shower, he's trying to get in there for something or vice versa. This morning was the first time he's EVER gotten up to get his own coffee. I was able to stay in bed for an extra half hour (which made a HUGE difference for me). By the time I got up he was already showered and eating breakfast. I packed him lunch, we talked about business a little bit and then he left for the office. This was the first time he's been out of the house before 8 in so long. It was bliss. I was able to finish packing up the final eBay packages I had to send out for The Shop, go to the post office, go to the pet store and hit Sam's Club all before I had to open The Shop at 11. Ridiculous amounts of accomplishment.
And this morning he asked me what tonight was.
"Thursday night?"
"Nope! It's Date Night!"
"Really? Sweet! Oh, wait. I'd don't want to leave Little Girl alone until after her drain is out."
"Okay then. Buy beer and we'll stay in and have a board game night."
=)
I'm not going to worry right now about when the other shoe is going to fall.
The Man got home last night basically acting like nothing had happened. A little bit of tippy-toeing around some issues, but acting like he does on any other regular night. I asked for some music and he put on the Conway Twitty album, Someone To Hold Her. The first song's lyrics?
"And she needs someone to hold her when she cries
Someone who really understands the way she feels inside
When her heart breaks the tears won't stop, no matter how she tries
And she needs someone to hold her when she cries"
He didn't pick that album on purpose but I sure as hell pointed out his unconscious choice.
Another breakthrough? Since day 1 he has had me get up in the morning to get him coffee. He said he needs help getting up and going so that he can make money. That's part of my job, get him up and out of the house. The coffee thing has always been an issue for me. I don't even drink it myself. I am NOT a morning person. There's also not a hell of a lot of reason for me to be up before him because I get in his way. When I go to shower, he's trying to get in there for something or vice versa. This morning was the first time he's EVER gotten up to get his own coffee. I was able to stay in bed for an extra half hour (which made a HUGE difference for me). By the time I got up he was already showered and eating breakfast. I packed him lunch, we talked about business a little bit and then he left for the office. This was the first time he's been out of the house before 8 in so long. It was bliss. I was able to finish packing up the final eBay packages I had to send out for The Shop, go to the post office, go to the pet store and hit Sam's Club all before I had to open The Shop at 11. Ridiculous amounts of accomplishment.
And this morning he asked me what tonight was.
"Thursday night?"
"Nope! It's Date Night!"
"Really? Sweet! Oh, wait. I'd don't want to leave Little Girl alone until after her drain is out."
"Okay then. Buy beer and we'll stay in and have a board game night."
=)
I'm not going to worry right now about when the other shoe is going to fall.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Good Thoughts Needed to Get Through Today
Of course as soon as I start a blog I get a wicked head cold and had no energy to post for days. I did nothing but lay on the couch with the dogs, watching movies. I should have bought stock in decongestants and tissues.
Feeling a bit better today, which is good. I have too much other things to worry about than the fact that I can't breathe.
Little Girl is under the knife as I type. I'm not nervous of her surgery going bad but I am worried about what her lump is going to end up being. When the vet first looked at her she thought it could be a hernia or a fatty tumor. In the two months since then it's almost doubled in size. I'm terrified that it's a breast tumor.
In September I lost a dog. I had adopted her and knew that she was already 10 years old but I figured that since she was small that she'd be around for at least a couple more years. I was aiming for 14 or so. Just over a year later she started getting sick. It took us two (very expensive) months to find out that she had a brain tumor and there was nothing we could do. We kept her drugged up and comfortable but it got to the point where she couldn't walk or go to the bathroom on her own, so we made the decision to put her to sleep. Two months after that was when Little Girl joined us.
I'm hoping beyond hope that her lump is something benign and/or easily fixable. I don't know that The Man is the kind of guy to go for chemo for a dog. Especially since the last girl cost us so much just a few months ago. He's a champ just for letting me get these unwanted fluff balls in the first place. He keeps saying "Nothing else until we buy a home." and then, "Aw, look Honey! Look how adorable! He/She neeeeeeds a home and a faaaaaamily!"
And heaven forbid if I evoke the name of the grandbaby. "Junior would LOVE him/her!" I'm bad. >=)
Speaking of The Man. His flight arrives at 2pm. I feel guilty. Because of my sickness the house is TRASHED. I'm working on getting up my energy to clean a bit, I'm doing laundry at least. I know how much it sucks to come home to a nasty house but I have a legitimate excuse! In fact, I would call him to leave sniffily, coughy, gravely messages whining that I had no one to make me tea.
Serves him right for going away on business.
Okay, well... Talking about The Man coming home to a nastay house has actually motivated me a bit. Off to do the dishes and... Hmmm... Maybe vacuum? I think I can handle that.
** 5:30pm Update **
Little Girl just arrived home after her "adventure". What's the verdict? The lump was just a massive inguinal hernia! This is the best possibly outcome that could have happened today! That NEVER happens to me. She's obviously way out of it. Between the spaying and the hernia repair she was under anesthesia for 3 hours! That's a lot for a 17 pound critter. The hernia repair left such a large subcutaneous wound that she had to end up with a drain, which we weren't expecting. That should be fun. She'll be getting it out on Friday but until then I get to try to keep her off anything stain-able... OH, and I also had asked them to take a quick look at her teeth because her breath was RANK. Surprise of surprises they found a fractured and rotting tooth in the back of her mouth. They said they probably wouldn't have found it unless she had been asleep. It would have caused some problems later on so it was awesome that we found it today.
So anyways. Good news all around. She's on pain med and antibiotics. Another vet visit on Friday. Need to keep her from moving around much, which won't be easy when all these meds wear off!
Feeling a bit better today, which is good. I have too much other things to worry about than the fact that I can't breathe.
Little Girl is under the knife as I type. I'm not nervous of her surgery going bad but I am worried about what her lump is going to end up being. When the vet first looked at her she thought it could be a hernia or a fatty tumor. In the two months since then it's almost doubled in size. I'm terrified that it's a breast tumor.
In September I lost a dog. I had adopted her and knew that she was already 10 years old but I figured that since she was small that she'd be around for at least a couple more years. I was aiming for 14 or so. Just over a year later she started getting sick. It took us two (very expensive) months to find out that she had a brain tumor and there was nothing we could do. We kept her drugged up and comfortable but it got to the point where she couldn't walk or go to the bathroom on her own, so we made the decision to put her to sleep. Two months after that was when Little Girl joined us.
I'm hoping beyond hope that her lump is something benign and/or easily fixable. I don't know that The Man is the kind of guy to go for chemo for a dog. Especially since the last girl cost us so much just a few months ago. He's a champ just for letting me get these unwanted fluff balls in the first place. He keeps saying "Nothing else until we buy a home." and then, "Aw, look Honey! Look how adorable! He/She neeeeeeds a home and a faaaaaamily!"
And heaven forbid if I evoke the name of the grandbaby. "Junior would LOVE him/her!" I'm bad. >=)
Speaking of The Man. His flight arrives at 2pm. I feel guilty. Because of my sickness the house is TRASHED. I'm working on getting up my energy to clean a bit, I'm doing laundry at least. I know how much it sucks to come home to a nasty house but I have a legitimate excuse! In fact, I would call him to leave sniffily, coughy, gravely messages whining that I had no one to make me tea.
Serves him right for going away on business.
Okay, well... Talking about The Man coming home to a nastay house has actually motivated me a bit. Off to do the dishes and... Hmmm... Maybe vacuum? I think I can handle that.
** 5:30pm Update **
Little Girl just arrived home after her "adventure". What's the verdict? The lump was just a massive inguinal hernia! This is the best possibly outcome that could have happened today! That NEVER happens to me. She's obviously way out of it. Between the spaying and the hernia repair she was under anesthesia for 3 hours! That's a lot for a 17 pound critter. The hernia repair left such a large subcutaneous wound that she had to end up with a drain, which we weren't expecting. That should be fun. She'll be getting it out on Friday but until then I get to try to keep her off anything stain-able... OH, and I also had asked them to take a quick look at her teeth because her breath was RANK. Surprise of surprises they found a fractured and rotting tooth in the back of her mouth. They said they probably wouldn't have found it unless she had been asleep. It would have caused some problems later on so it was awesome that we found it today.
So anyways. Good news all around. She's on pain med and antibiotics. Another vet visit on Friday. Need to keep her from moving around much, which won't be easy when all these meds wear off!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
It's weak and despicable to go on wanting things and not trying to get them. - Joanna Field
Whoa, two post one day.
I was bored and spent a good part of today surfing through random blogs. That said, I really really REALLY want a new camera. The Man throws a customer appreciation luau every November. I got ridiculously sauced at the first one that I attended. The combination of an open bar and his outrageous lawyer friends were too much for my fun-loving 23 year old self. At some point in the night my little Kodak (which took awesome pictures!) got dropped. Insert frowny face here. He promised to get me a new one. Then December arrived and he talked me into quitting my job 'Working For The (Faceless) Man' and working for HIM, The Man, instead. So began my time as housewife/self-employed. Without a paycheck arriving in my name I have to ask The Man for every dime. Not fun or easy for me. I tend to only ask for money for grocery shopping, stuff for the dogs or stuff for his grandbaby (yes, I'm an almost 26 year old pseudo-step-grandma!).
I spend a lot of time pining over things I love/want but don't really NEED. A new camera has been at the top of my list for, well, since the last one broke. I hold off especially since I'd love to have a fancy-shmancy Canon. I want to take breathtaking pictures like are on all the other (quite possibly better, though I'm still new so give me a few weeks) blogs.
My birthday is in two weeks. I would ask for a camera but I also really really want fabric to start my sewing adventures as well as some fantastically awesome shoes that I found on eBay. We're going to Las Vegas in April for the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend. I have only 2 dresses and exactly NO shoes for the trip. Paired with the fact that I can't walk in high heels yet (let alone the 5" ones that I pine for hard core) I keep trying to talk him into getting at least the shoes for me NOW so that I can break them in/train my feet to not self-implode after 10 minutes. And THAT'S all on top of the fact that we have to get Little Girl fixed and a mysterious mass removed on this upcoming Monday.
How'd I pick a sugar daddy who's lacking so much in the sugar?
I kid. He works VERY hard and many many exterior forces come together to keep our budget tight every month. If things go the way he plans however, we won't want for anything within the next few years.
That is, if we don't kill each other first. =P
I was bored and spent a good part of today surfing through random blogs. That said, I really really REALLY want a new camera. The Man throws a customer appreciation luau every November. I got ridiculously sauced at the first one that I attended. The combination of an open bar and his outrageous lawyer friends were too much for my fun-loving 23 year old self. At some point in the night my little Kodak (which took awesome pictures!) got dropped. Insert frowny face here. He promised to get me a new one. Then December arrived and he talked me into quitting my job 'Working For The (Faceless) Man' and working for HIM, The Man, instead. So began my time as housewife/self-employed. Without a paycheck arriving in my name I have to ask The Man for every dime. Not fun or easy for me. I tend to only ask for money for grocery shopping, stuff for the dogs or stuff for his grandbaby (yes, I'm an almost 26 year old pseudo-step-grandma!).
I spend a lot of time pining over things I love/want but don't really NEED. A new camera has been at the top of my list for, well, since the last one broke. I hold off especially since I'd love to have a fancy-shmancy Canon. I want to take breathtaking pictures like are on all the other (quite possibly better, though I'm still new so give me a few weeks) blogs.
My birthday is in two weeks. I would ask for a camera but I also really really want fabric to start my sewing adventures as well as some fantastically awesome shoes that I found on eBay. We're going to Las Vegas in April for the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend. I have only 2 dresses and exactly NO shoes for the trip. Paired with the fact that I can't walk in high heels yet (let alone the 5" ones that I pine for hard core) I keep trying to talk him into getting at least the shoes for me NOW so that I can break them in/train my feet to not self-implode after 10 minutes. And THAT'S all on top of the fact that we have to get Little Girl fixed and a mysterious mass removed on this upcoming Monday.
How'd I pick a sugar daddy who's lacking so much in the sugar?
I kid. He works VERY hard and many many exterior forces come together to keep our budget tight every month. If things go the way he plans however, we won't want for anything within the next few years.
That is, if we don't kill each other first. =P
Beginnings
The Olympics are killing me.
I can't take these late nights. We've been getting so little sleep lately. Normally we're in bed, reading, by 10:30 AT THE LATEST. Because we've been going to bed around midnight, we've been trying to catch up on our sleep in the mornings. Of course this really throws the rest of the day out of whack, not to mention the poor dogs. They're used to breakfast no later than 7am. Now I'm TRYING to wake up at 8, 8:30.
It's only every two years though, so it's worth it, right?!
Today is going to be even tougher. We stayed up watching the Olympics and packing The Man's bags for a business trip. In bed at midnight. The alarm came early at 4:30. Drove him to the airport. By the time I got home I was AWAKE. I think I dozed off at around 8 for an hour or so.
I'm so tired my eyes feel fuzzy.
Then, in a moment of weakness and guilt I decided to bring both the dogs with me to The Shop. Normally I only bring Little Girl and leave Stinkinstien at home. He's a grumpy old bastard and whines the whole day. I usually forget this about once a month and bring him in. It makes for a very very long day. He's better in the summertime because he likes to lay outside in the sun but I still haven't broken him of his habit of barking at everything that moves.
Oh the joy of rescue dogs.
Alright. Well I'm sure this wasn't the most stimulating post you've ever read. But again... Brain. Hurt.
And also, that's how I roll.
2pm Update:
A friend came to the shop which enabled me to take Stinky home. Also gave me the chance to run to Subway for a Deluxe Veggie and some chocolate milk. Word.
I can't take these late nights. We've been getting so little sleep lately. Normally we're in bed, reading, by 10:30 AT THE LATEST. Because we've been going to bed around midnight, we've been trying to catch up on our sleep in the mornings. Of course this really throws the rest of the day out of whack, not to mention the poor dogs. They're used to breakfast no later than 7am. Now I'm TRYING to wake up at 8, 8:30.
It's only every two years though, so it's worth it, right?!
Today is going to be even tougher. We stayed up watching the Olympics and packing The Man's bags for a business trip. In bed at midnight. The alarm came early at 4:30. Drove him to the airport. By the time I got home I was AWAKE. I think I dozed off at around 8 for an hour or so.
I'm so tired my eyes feel fuzzy.
Then, in a moment of weakness and guilt I decided to bring both the dogs with me to The Shop. Normally I only bring Little Girl and leave Stinkinstien at home. He's a grumpy old bastard and whines the whole day. I usually forget this about once a month and bring him in. It makes for a very very long day. He's better in the summertime because he likes to lay outside in the sun but I still haven't broken him of his habit of barking at everything that moves.
Oh the joy of rescue dogs.
Alright. Well I'm sure this wasn't the most stimulating post you've ever read. But again... Brain. Hurt.
And also, that's how I roll.
2pm Update:
A friend came to the shop which enabled me to take Stinky home. Also gave me the chance to run to Subway for a Deluxe Veggie and some chocolate milk. Word.
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