Chin Up and Eyes on the Horizon

I did not get to have my late start at work today. I got called in early since one of the other workers had called in late that she was not coming in. I still don't know if she is working tomorrow or not. It worked out ok for me, since I am really pretty flexible, and I always try to remember that more hours = more money. But it was an absolutely dismal day. We had very very few appointments and the phones were totally quiet.all.day.long. It made the day even more difficult for me, I was off kilter getting called in and also did not sleep well last night, and the slowness just made things worse. Last week when I was having such a hard time I was able to e-mail to my boss and I just let him know that I was missing him and how much I appreciated working with him and am looking forward to him returning. It was very nice to hear back from him and to get his encouragement and so far I am working hard on doing just what I need to do...keep my chin up and my eyes on the horizon.

Riding the Wave

Hormones are a crappy deal and that made today a long day. Work was not terrible, but it was tough. I was very glad to come home tonight. I have gotten a bit of a headache again and am hoping that this week will turn out better than last week. I am still trying to decide what to make for my birthday supper. It will have to be something sort of easy and quick since I won't have a whole lot of time but we have already had tacos, stir fry, spaghetti and meat balls, and boboli pizza recently so those are out. I am sure I will come up with something, hopefully. Tomorrow I don't got in until 9am and somehow that extra little bit of time can make a big difference.

On the Up-Swing

After last week I was very much ready for the weekend. And as it turns out we had a pretty nice one. Friday after work and a quick supper at home Don and I headed out to a local wine bar where a friend was playing. We shared some wine and a wonderful cheese plate and enjoyed the cool, jazzy music. We then headed to the Mc's for some dessert and ended up sharing a table with a couple who were visiting our area. We had a nice chat with them and were able to recommend some great local places to visit. It was a very nice and relaxing night out. We slept in on Saturday and then headed into P-town for a day out. We stopped at the outlet mall and got scored some great deals on work pants for Don and some cute shirts for me. Then we headed out for lunch at Laughing Planet and over to a new cigar bar that Don wanted to visit. It was a nice place I suppose, but since the weather was rainy everyone was staying inside, and it seemed to me not very well ventilated. We drove home with the windows cracked, striped down just inside the house and started laundry right away, and got in the shower! Once the de-stinking was done, we had a yummy supper of tacos and just spent some time hanging out. Today we did a little running around, returned our bottles and cans and got some groceries. Don rode his bike and I finished a book I was reading. We also got a hummingbird feeder! We had been seeing them around and yesterday spotted !6! flitting around in our back yard trees, feeding off the new blossoms. So we decided to get one to entice them to come in closer and also offer them more food, since the butterfly bush is not blooming yet. They are so pretty. We have some green ones and some really pretty red ones too! I was so surprised at how fast they came to the new feeder. It was not even up 1/2 an hour and the little hummers were feeding at it!! We were planning on seeing our friends A and G today, but it didn't work out in the end. So now we are hanging out at home, finishing the last of the laundry and getting ready for PBR and supper. I am planning on going to the grocery midweek, to get what I need for my birthday cake. I will have to make it the day before, since that is when I have a day off and I will need the time to get it done. I am making a pecan praline cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting and pecan praline topping! I make something different every year. I still have not decided what I will cook for my birthday supper, but we will have our friends A and G over for sure. Then we will be off to R-Burg to see my parents, meet with our officiant to talk about vows and ceremony content, and meet up with some friends for a pre-wedding get together. Then we will head home on Sunday and meet up with D and J, who have invited us for a late birthday celebration at their house. It will be a packed weekend no doubt, but a good one if all goes to plan.

Breaking Down

I have been having a rough time just lately. Today I think things just came to a head. At work we had a surgeon come in for a major surgery and while things went well, they did not go perfectly. I really just had the realization that my boss is truly gone...and that he will not be back for a while. It really made me realize how much I really appreciate the structure and planning and knowing just what the expectations are. I just missed him today. I know that these emotions are all normal and that it is part of the "loss" process that happens when someone gets deployed. I guess I just was not fully prepared to live it. The best I can do is keep my head up and keep up to the expectations I know he has of me. I am taking a some mental health time today and tomorrow will be a better day and I will be better able to cope.

Lazy Day Review

Despite my being hopelessly lazy today (much to the annoyance of my partner) it has been a decent enough weekend. I worked Saturday morning and it was a little bit of a tough day. I got done late since I had so many animals to care for. After a quick stop at the grocery I came home and got started on some supper prep. We had our friends A and G over. We had a good time and good conversation even though I had to bug out for a while for kennels. I made spaghetti and homemade meatballs with homemade oat-beer bread. Then for dessert we had strawberry shortcakes with homemade shortcake biscuits. It was all super yummy. We are planning to have them over again in a few weeks for my birthday. I know what cake I am baking for myself, but I am still trying to decide what to have for supper. Today I got up early to go do kennels and then came home and had no desire to do anything. Don rode on the trainer and I took a nap, then after a while I went back and did kennels again. Now I am done with work until tomorrow. My finger seems to be healing ok, we did have to cut off the separated nail, but since it was all on the joint side (rather than the outside where one would normal trim their fingernail), I now have a big hole in my nail where the quick is exposed. It is not too hurty mostly but every now and then I will get it just wrong and it is really hurty. We have had a lot of interesting bird visitors this weekend too. Don spotted a little red hummingbird, I think it is a rufous sided hummingbird, and a little while ago I saw a warbler. The little hummingbird is really pretty, but tough to see since it is so quick. It was zipping all over the new buds on the trees. I am feeling pretty worn out tonight, silly I know since I didn't really do much today, but I think I will head to bed pretty early and try for a good start to the week.

Fleh.

Today was a rough day. I didn't sleep well last night at all so I was a bit off my game today. I am just feeling off. We also had a few tough cases today that were pretty sad. I don't know what my deal is. I have a super busy weekend with work so I should most likely just pack it in for the night.

The Final Closet

I had a very productive day today. I started and completed the organization of the hall coat closet. Previously it would have been better described as the hall box closet and we had been avoiding working with it. There was barely any room for coats in there! Now the boxes are condensed, the floor cleaned off, all the hats, gloves, scarves and winter wear are organized. There are even coats in there! and extra hangers for guest coats! I also made another trip to the goodwill for a few more donations and got some house chores like vacuuming and laundry done. I even vacuumed under our bed, which is tough since our bed is short to the floor. I even had time this afternoon for a little tv and a nap. I have talked to my sister about wedding flowers and she had an idea that I really liked. I am glad to be able to tell her I like it and leave the details to her. She is really good at style and fashion. I am getting very excited as the wedding gets closer. Things are falling into place and coming together well so far. Leftovers are planned for supper tonight, then an early night for working tomorrow and the weekend.

Half-Day

So far this week has been pretty good. Work has been going ok and it has been sunny so that helps. We are also going to be having a new employee soon (she starts on Monday) to replace one who has needed to be gone for a while. I am excited about the new person and am really looking forward to working with and learning from her. She has been a tech for a lot of years and has lots of experience with critical and ER care. She seems like a nice person and a good team member too. My injured nail continues to be kaka and is causing a little trouble. It has turned loose from the nail bed, but only on 1/2 of it. It is also coming off...but it has started coming off under the cuticle and is still firmly attached near the top...so it was able to get caught on things...not good. I tried taping it down, just to keep it from getting caught and wrenched, and discovered that was a good idea as long as I didn't need to take the tape off for any reason (like it getting wet, or soiled...eww). Ouch. It was a hard lesson and I was glad no one else was around for it. I guess I didn't realize how sticky the tape would be. In the end I decided it might be better to use skin glue to stick it down and that seems to be working for now. It is still pretty sore and I know it will most likely take a long time for the whole thing to be ready to come off and it might not be done until the current nail grows out completely. Yuck. I had a half day today as I am working the whole weekend, so I headed to a nearby town to look for wedding shoes. I had seen some while visiting my parents this past weekend, but the store didn't have (what I thought was) my size. It turns out that the size I thought I would need was too snug after being on my foot for a few minutes so I ended up getting a size that the store near my parents did have. Oh well. I really like them, plus they were on super clearance so that made it even better! Once I got home and started some laundry and just hung out with the kitties and enjoyed the sunshine. I have tomorrow off too and am really looking forward to not many tasks and just some time. I hope it is nice weather again tomorrow, maybe I will take a walk.

Busy Bees

We had a jam-packed weekend this weekend. Friday night right after work we headed to a local wine tasting event. We had a great time, tasted lots of wines, bought none, and headed home around 10:30p. Saturday we went down south to visit both of our families. Don's mom celebrated her 60th today, so we were there to help celebrate early. We met up with the family in the evening time at a local pizza place, had presents, cake and lots of visiting. We had gotten into town earlier in the day and spent the afternoon with my parents. We had lunch at a wonderful bagel place and did some wedding shopping. We looked at shoes and got a good idea of what I want. Now I just have to find and buy them. It was great to visit with my parents and shopping with them is always fun. I love our chaos. After we met with Don's family we headed up to my parents house and had dessert and learned to play gin. We played and ate and talked until late. We went to bed rather than stay up later since we needed to get a somewhat early start home since we had another stop to make and had already made arrangements to go to a friends house for dinner. We made it home this afternoon, got unloaded, took care of our kitties and started laundry before going to our friends D and J's house for supper. It was nice to relax and talk with them, sip some wine and not have to worry about making supper. Now we are home again, working on laundry and I am feeling ready for bed. Tomorrow is the start of another work week and I do not feel ready at all.

Guest Room Transformed

Almost. I got an early start this morning, toting stuff to the goodwill store and making a quick trip to the mart. While I was at the goodwill I found a really cool floor lamp, brand name, still in the original box for about $10. It was also a !25% off item! so it ended up being about $7.50. I was feeling so proud of my bargain find and couldn't wait to get home to set it up. I unpacked it, all the parts still in the original plastic and all the hardware accounted for. I got most of the way through putting it together before I realized what was missing. The shade. This is where it gets a little complex because it is not a standard floor lamp. It is square, and needs a square, box-like shade. Arrgh. I went ahead a finished putting it together, checked to make sure it worked and did a little more work in the guest room before looking around on-line (no luck) and then heading out to the hardware store to see if they might have a replacement shade. No luck, but while I was there I saw some beautiful glass pendant lamps that can be bought just as the glass shade. I found one that I thought would look really neat and headed home again. Once again pretty excited to have made my bargain find flop a super unique success. Only to discover that I had not measured the important part. The stalk of the bulb socket. Yep, it was way taller than the glass shade. Once again, back to the hardware store to return it. Then back home to brain storm some more. In the mean time I did laundry and did more organizing in the guest room. It is really starting to come together and looks like a real guest room now. I am still not sure of how to create a shade for the lamp, but I know that Don and I can come up with something that will make it super unique and beautiful. We have managed to get nearly all of the projects we started over the weekend finished. I have just a few more things to take to recycle and goodwill. It is nice to have things more organized and tidy. I feel good about having accomplished my tasks today. Tonight I am hoping for some relaxing with my honey and a good nights sleep. Tomorrow is back to work and then the weekend.

RSVP

Horray!!! RSVP's are rolling in! I am getting pretty excited! It is a little scary knowing we don't have a lot of time left to get the final things done, but exciting none the less. Work was ok today, not much to report there. Our little clinic kitty learned how to jump up to the treatment table today...not so good to do when we are already working with someone. So we are going to have to work with him on that. He is sure growing fast, almost 5 pounds now. Tomorrow is my day off and I am very much looking forward to sleeping in a little bit. I do have a few tasks to complete, but nothing too terrible. I do hope my over the top water intake and absurd amounts of udder cream will start to work. The sudden turn to cold weather plus constant hand washing has gotten me into a little trouble. My hands are like mincemeat. TERRIBLE. Oh well. More water, then bed.

Sore and Dry

Work did not suck today, even though the missing worker was back with not a word of thanks. It all went well. I am just a little dehydrated tonight and my hands are a wreck after too many times getting washed. My knuckles have all cracked and are bloodied. Yuck. Now it is time for supper, then a ton of udder cream and bed.

Snowy Time Change

We have had some crazy weather. Today it snowed, rained, was sunny, off and all on day long. It stayed pretty cold all day, but just couldn't seem to decide what it was going to do. Work was pretty good, we were steady-busy, so that was nice. Everything came together well at the end of the day and I was able to get home pretty well on time. I was not really ready for working today, the time change messed with me a little bit and I am still feeling really tired. I also got the third bookshelf built tonight and will get it filled tomorrow. Progress is being made. I am just feeling pretty worn ot lately. I will be heading off to bed soon. More work tomorrow.

Projects

I just can not seem to get caught up. I ended up falling asleep shortly after 8 last night and slept on the couch until Don came and got me to get in bed. I slept in until almost 10 this morning, and would have slept longer. Instead I got up and we started working on re-doing the guest room. Only in true familial fashion this turned into re-doing the guest room, re-doing the guest room closet, re-doing the weight/bike room closet, re-doing our walk in closet, re-doing the laundry area and turning the linen cabinet into a pantry. Needless to say, despite getting shelves put up in all the closet areas, putting together and filling two bookshelves, and sorting through some stuff, we are nowhere near done and there is still stuff everywhere. I had to make a run to another town about an hour away to pick up another bookshelf since I had more books than would fit on the two we already bought. So that burned a bit of work time, but these particular shelves are not always available and are a good deal, so it had to be done.I know it will all be worth it in the end, but as the interim is a bit of an annoyance. Tonight we headed over to our friends D and J's house for a delicious Mexican chicken crock pot dish and good conversation. J had also made a wonderful carrot cake and now that she has her sense of taste back it was the perfect time to have it! Now we are home, watching some cycling (Don) and thinking about bed (me). Back to the grind tomorrow, it sure seems like the weekend was very short!

Unscheduled Saturday

I ended up going to bed about a half hour after I posted last night. I was just too tired. Today at work went well. No doctor, since my boss is gone, so I was on my own. I got some cleaning done from earlier in the week and took in two boarders. I ended up getting home a bit late since I had to walk everyone. It turned out that I did have to do kennels tonight, but not tomorrow. My manager is having the other worker do them, since the missing co-worker will be out of town on my scheduled weekend on and won't be able to "trade" with me. It will be nice to not have to go in tomorrow, but stinky that I will have to work another weekend this month. The silver lining is the pay at the end of the month, but it is still sort of sucky in the moment. One of our clients wrote a really nice letter about my boss and our clinic and it was in the local paper today. They recently had to euthanize their beloved Great Dane and we helped them through it all. They talked about how we helped them to have an easy procedure and how supporting we were. It was nice to hear the good feedback and to have someone be so kind and sharing with our community. Tonight I plan on just hanging out and relaxing. I am hoping that tomorrow turns out to be sort of a low key day. I could use a little more rest before the work week starts again.

Fatigued Friday

Wow. Today was a long day. It all seems like a big blur and seemed like several days packed into one. The missing co-worker is still out "sick" so we were very short staffed today. I worked with my manager and two "volunteers" who have job shadowed before. It actually went pretty well, it was just long. I like our new relief doctor. She is very nice and practices similar medicine to what we are used to. I got home an hour late after helping out with the cleaning. Our cleaning person has quit, so starting next week we will be responsible for all the cleaning anyway. I am working tomorrow also, and possibly the weekend kennels too. I don't know quite yet. My manager told me I could take a 1/2 day off on Monday and give my hours to the missing co-worker. I politely declined. I would much rather keep my own hours for myself. She can work it out on her own. She effectively screwed the rest of us over and I have no sympathy for her. My manager totally understood, which was nice. So now I will get an extra half day of pay for tomorrow and maybe more if I end up doing kennels. I would rather not have kennels, but overtime is good too. Tonight I am just wiped out. I feel like I am ready to fall asleep right now. At least tomorrow is just a half day.

Moon Lodge Day

Not much to report today. Got a hair cut, did some laundry, took a nap. I talked to my co-worker, so I know somewhat to expect tomorrow. I am going to be working on my own I guess. I will just see what happens when I get there. I am pretty worn out still today and am headed to bed before too long. I hope tomorrow goes ok.

Hell Week

What a tough week. I am still dealing with some GI issues, but am fully functional at work. No more vomiting, just a little punky. Unfortunately we have not been so lucky with one of our other co-workers (who is a chronic offender). She has not been in all week, and it sounds like she will not be in the rest of the week. This means much much much more work for the two of us who are working. If said worker does not come in, my other co-worker will work alone all day tomorrow, I will work all day by myself on Friday, then also Saturday and the weekend kennel duty. To make things even better, it is my period week and my last day working with my boss for about 6 months. He is leaving for Baghdad. I am feeling nervous and scared but I am keeping positive. Tonight I am exhausted, I still need to eat and I am ready for bed right now. I think I will have a day off tomorrow...maybe more posting tomorrow.

Funny, She Doesn't Look Flu-sih

Bleugh. I still feel terrible today. I made it through most of the day. I took a later lunch, ran two errands, came home for a little bit and threw up. Nice. I was home the rest of the afternoon and threw up again. I feel asleep for a little while and am up again now. Still queasy. I am working on getting the last part of the invites taken care of (a tres cool map, thanks Dadam!) so I can get them out tomorrow. We are having a little compatibility issue just at the moment, and are working cross country to make it so my computer can print it out. I am sure hoping I can eat some supper tonight, head to bed for a good sleep, and feel better tomorrow.

Flu-ish??

Despite feeling blecky today, I managed to get a fair amount done. I got all the invites printed, all the envelopes printed (including the RSVP ones), got all the invites in envelopes and the RSVPs set and ready. I also typed up the extra info sheet. All that is left is the map, stuffing the envelopes, and stamps. A special thanks to everyone who helped me out today, on numerous phone calls with many questions. As usual, you are all invaluable! It will feel good to get that done. We are rapidly approaching the two month mark and getting the last few items checked off the list. We also got a tiny bit of our redecorating started. It is a pretty overwhelming task and neither one of us really felt up to dealing with it today. I have just been feeling not good today. Just really queasy and blegh. I do hope I feel better tomorrow. It will be a long long day otherwise.