Adventures in Portlandia!

We had a visit from my parents this last weekend and had a great time. We always do, but we planned an absolutely packed Saturday to maximize our time. Mom and Da arrived on Friday and we had a nice dinner out and made a HUGE ( I am not kidding around....we made it in a lasagna pan!) strawberry rhubarb pie. Saturday we got up, ate and headed out. We first went to a classic car show in a neighboring town and got to see a really old steam engine called the 4449. It was really massive and very neat to be so close to it. It was also very cool to see the workings. Pretty neat stuff! While we were there we did a little geocaching thanks to Da's GPS. One was very easy and took little effort. The other, well, lets just say that when the GPS asks if you want "street" directions or "off road", it really does mean "off road". So we took the hard way and after a bit of bushwhacking, bramble ducking and water crossing we did manage to make the find. Unfortunately, all that nature kicked allergies in to high gear. Ah, summer!
We then headed off to "an address" that my Mom had collected. It was a surprise destination that only she knew what it was. Along the way we were guessing, trying to figure it out...
"is it a store? yes. does it have to do with entertainment? sort of yes. Mom, is this an adult thing? would you take my sister there? laughing, no and she took me first! do they sell kitchen stuff? ummm, kind of.
Dad gets it and says "I know what it is." Don and I are stumped, how can he know? "Because I live with her." he says. Finally we arrive at....Pensey's Spices!!!! We were super excited. My sister had taken our parents to one on the east coast after finding them online. What a cool place! All the spices you can imagine and more! 5 different types of cinnamon, no kidding! So we bought some spices and then divided them up later to share the spoils!
After all the good spice smells we were more than ready for lunch so off we headed to a new brew pub call Hopworks. It was neat and the beer was good. The decor is very bike oriented and the whole ceiling off the bar is covered in hanging bike frames. Pretty neat to look at.
Once we were all full and happy we headed up to the Japanese garden to look around. It was beautiful. There are all different types of classical Japanese gardening styles. It was so peaceful and quiet there. My favorite part was the zig-zag bridge over a huge koi pond with tons of fish swimming all around and under the bridge. From there we headed to the International Rose Test Garden and took in the sights and smells of a gazillion different roses. There are so many different colors, sizes, shapes, smells...it is truly amazing.
After that we headed back in to town to check out a Bike event called Cirque du Cycle. It was the first year for the event and it featured a Criterium race. Basically the cyclists have a short rectangle course that they go around and around on at really fast speeds! It is always pretty neat, although a little repetitive. After a tasty diner at Laughing Planet we headed home. It was a full day and everyone was beat.
Sunday Mom and Da headed off after breakfast and Don and I had a lazy day. Neither one of us just could get motivated to do much. I am finally getting pictures posted to flikr that I had intended to do then.
All in all it was a great weekend. I love spending time with my family and just wish we all lived closer so we could do stuff like this ALL the time! I am looking forward to a visit from my sister and her family later this Summer and many more weekends like this!

Progress!

Well, the big news is that finally progress has been made on the wedding front...we have secured a venue and date!!!! I am so excited. It is all finally becoming real, like really for real! I feel a huge sense of relief too. The venue is a local Hotel/Pub that we go to a lot and just always thought would be too expensive to do. It turns out it is not as much as we had thought and includes the space, tables, chairs, linens, set up and break down, silverware, plates, etc., service....pretty much everything! We still have to decide the menu, but they have tons of options and are flexible if you want something that is not on the menus already. We also know a lot of the people who work there and it is a friendly and comfortable place for us. WhooHoooo!!

Other news of note: We spent Friday night with friends who live outside of Seattle and had a decent time with them. They have 2 boys, the older is 4 the younger is 18 months. The older boy has decided that I am just about the coolest thing ever and spent most of our visit near me...."Hey, hey heewahwee.." It is funny how littles say my name all kind of the same! He is also very creative in making up songs. The current favorite is called "Donny way up it the tree" and it goes like this : Donny way up in the tree, Donny way up in the tree, he climbed up and he won't come down, so heewahwee tells him 'Donny come down here right now'!...There are occasional variations, some times its his mom that calls him down, sometimes "heewahwee" makes his jump down. It is amusing in any form.
Then we came home and have had a relaxed rest of the weekend. Currently Don is out riding and I just did my Yoga routine. Laundry and a shower await me! Then tomorrow back to work. Refreshed and ready for another week.

Chinks in the Armor

It has been a long couple of days, weeks, whatever. Work has been ok but stressful, home has been the same. The Boss got back just fine and we have made the transition back to having him again. Our coworker who was out for surgery is back, but not nearly 100% and may be just working half days this week. We have been very busy...liver masses, possible broken jaws, ear infections...I am just one day away from 4 days off in a row and I am really ready. I can feel myself getting pushed more and more. I am working hard to manage my stress...exercising, some compartmentalizing, some sharing...but I can feel it getting to me. It is really hard not to take it out on my partner, either by being down, crying at nothing, or just being short. Sometimes I don't think he really realizes how stressful it can be. I know his job is not all fun and games, but there is something different about the work that I do. I know that the time off will be good for me to recoup and get my psyche healed up again. I hope it will give us both some time to reconnect as well. I am very much looking forward to that.

One new skill and the same Old Goal

Today was a pretty up-and-down day, or maybe the other way around. I always know something will happen when it is just me and M working. It's just something that happens, like some crazy planetary alignment that makes strange, sad, tough, things happen...First thing of the day one of our really great clients, like A-list people, calls to let us know that their deeply loved lab passed away in the night, and did they need to keep the previously scheduled appointment to have us take care of her remains? We assured them that, no they could bring her whenever they were ready...only to realize that the lab is too large for one person to pick up and the spouse is in a wheel chair. They were unable to get her into a vehicle and were going to call a neighbor to help them. M and I asked, would they just prefer if we came and picked her up and took care of her? They were very thankful and appreciative. So the only 2 employees put up a sign (will return in 20 min due to emergency house call, we apologize for any inconvenience), left the relief Dr with instructions not to answer the phone (just let it to go to the message), and headed off. When we arrived we were greeted by the owners, crying and very upset. It never gets any easier, and this pet was special not only to the owners but to all of the clinic staff too. Hugs all around, followed by the double check that she really was gone. Then a gentle and respectful load up and off we went again. Just because these folks are so special and they had had a tough year (another pet had passed away very recently) we sent a bouquet, just because...I hope it helped them feel better. I know it helped us.
Back at the clinic our weekly infusion patient was waiting, ready for his jugular catheter to be placed so he could get started. Back up 3 weeks to just before my boss went on vacation...."I really want you to get proficient at this." he says to me (meaning placing jugular catheters)...!!!!!!!..Aaaaaaahhh, is what I was thinking, what?Me?....Fast forward to now...For the past two weeks I have attempted to place the jugular catheter on this dog four times (two times for every visit) and have not been able to do it. The tricky part is once the needle is under the skin, getting the huge, rolly, bouncy vein to hold still long enough to get the needle in and the catheter advanced.....all while keeping the patient completely still! Today we try a slightly different technique that basically has me hold off/press the vein in two separate places and holy heck it worked! I got it set on my first try! I was pretty stoked and felt very proud. There was lots of kudos all around and it is a great new skill to have. I need to do it a few more times before I will say mastered, but still, pretty good.
After that long day I went to the library to look for some beginner Yoga DVDs. I have been noticing for a while that, while I am not overweight, I am out of shape and I don't like it. I want to be fit, not just for the wedding but for life. I have an exercise ball and DVD, and while I enjoy doing it, I have had trouble sticking to a routine and exercising regularly. I guess I am sort of just feeling around in the dark for something that I really like and can stick to...even if it is just trying different things all the time! Tonight I tried out one of the Yoga work outs and I did like it. I am a little sore tonight, but I guess that means its working. This is day 2 of exercise after work and so far so good. I sure did sleep well last night :-) !

Weekend Happenings

Well, we've had a good and productive weekend. Saturday I worked in the morning and my other half, DonT, took a long bike ride. Then he got home and went to the home improvement store for some bricks and then bark mulch. I got home and took a little time to rest as I was still feeling pretty bad, and made some wine glass charms for our visiting friends. After a bit, I moved mulch while DonT worked on the back yard steps. They are nearly done, we only need 2 more bricks and some solar lights and its good to go! We are very excited to finally have easy access to our lower deck. Sunday we did some wine tasting after morning kennel duty and getting the house ready for guests. Then we met our friends at a local pub for lunch. We headed back to our place after going to the grocery for dinner stuff and I made a totally delicious strawberry pie with an oreo crust from scratch. I always think its funny at how people think making stuff from scratch is sooooooooo hard, and then they see it done and say "that's not so hard at all!" Today it was breakfast here, french toast made with cinnamon chip bread...so good..., then our friends had to hit the road to pick up their kids. We headed out to the outlet mall to check out the holiday sales. DonT got a smoking deal on some pants for work and I got 2(!) pair of new shoes at a buy one get one 1/2 off sale. Now I have some new shoes for exercising (once we finish setting up the smith machine) and also a nice pair for hiking. The rest of the day was spent napping (me) and working on setting up the smith machine (DonT). Then off to kennels again and back home to make dinner. All in all a pretty decent weekend. The best part?......I am finally feeling much better!

Again???!!!????

I am just miffed. I just got over a nasty flu bug last week, working through vomiting and taking turns in the bathroom with the other workers at my job (EVERYONE was sick!). Yesterday I had a scratchy throat. Today....red, raw, gaggy, and hurty. Nice. The stinky part is for the next week there will only be 2 (!!!!) of us working (one worker out for surgery, one just...out....if you know what I mean.) and it will be challenging to get time to go for a Dr visit if I need one. On top of that, today is my last day off, including weekends until June 5th. I am just hoping that tons of fluids and rest (when I can get it) will get me back on track. And just to make things more interesting we have company coming to stay over part of the holiday weekend. Hopefully I can get some good rest between work times on Saturday (i.e. take it easy on the planned yard work) so I can be a good hostess Sun and Mon.
I did make some progress on the wedding front and got the info I needed about our #1 venue option. Cost wise it is right in our range and the facility is very nice. There is a wonderful patio and park area that is included and really meets our needs. the only down side is very very very limited "alcohol service". Total "alcohol service time" is limited to 2 hours!!! Unfortunately for us this could be a deal breaker and we could be right back at square one. Not that we are a bunch of lushes, but we do plan on and want plenty of great beer and wine. And we want people to be able to enjoy them as they see fit (safely of course!). I am just not sure what to do at this point. Good thing I have a few more days :-) to work things out.

First Post

Well, this is my first post. This will be sort of an experiment, detailing my daily routine and what goes on in my life. It may take some getting used to, but *shrug* we'll see won't we!

The end of the month is fast approaching and so is my personal deadline of getting a venue booked for the wedding. My fiance and I have been together 5 years, engaged since February, and are planning our wedding for next spring. I am feeling a little panic-y about finding someplace. It is so hard not to get ahead of myself. I am already trying to plan things so everything will be "perfect". HaHaHa. The truth is nothing is ever perfect and I just want the day to be enjoyed by all, not least of all me and my partner! The idea is to have indoor and outdoor access (as we love the outdoors and have a mix of young, middle, old, handicapped, smokers and non) and I do have a good option that gives me both. I just need more information. There sure is lot to do. I am so glad to have my family behind me and helping me out. My sister (even though she is already a super (mom)woman) has agreed to be my "wedding coordinator"...even though she lives across the country! That is true sister love!

Aside from wedding planning, I spend a lot of time at work. Right now things are a little stressful, but I know that better times are on the way. In the mean time, I get to enjoy working with animals and working on some interesting cases. This week we had a dog who needed surgery for bladder stones and in the end had to get referred to a specialist. This was made even more complicated by the fact that my boss is out of town and we are working with relief doctors. Urethral blockage in female dogs is pretty rare and can be difficult to correct. Better off at the specialist at this point. We also had a chronic treatment patient who suffers from Heptaocutaneous Syndrome, in for his weekly amino acid infusion today. The syndrome has a laundry list of issues associated with it including being linked with diabetes and a terrible skin complication (basically his skin just makes sores and rots). So far after 5 weeks of treatment our patient seems to be turning around. The diabetes is now under control and we deal with the skin problems as they flare up. Still it is a rough road for this guy. He sure is a trooper.
Well, I think that about does it. Tomorrow is my day off and I plan to take full advantage as I work the weekend. I do have some tasks to complete but I think some R&R is in order!

"Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it."
-K. Gibran