It's been almost a year to the day that I blogged last and I feel like it's gone by so quickly! I feel like we didn't have a lot happen but here (in a very abbreviated form) is what we did: went to St. Louis several times; fostered a very sweet dog named Joey who was abandoned at my clinic and then adopted him out to Michael's secretary's family (but he got out of the yard right before Halloween and hasn't been seen since); took a mini-vacation to Vegas near our 6th anniversary; our AC broke towards the end of summer so we put in a completely new HVAC system; we had friends move into our neighborhood; I finally got on the Facebook bandwagon (but Michael still hasn't and refuses to do so); our TCU Horned Frogs did AMAZINGLY well during their undefeated season and went to the Fiesta Bowl...but lost; we went to the Fiesta Bowl to watch our Frogs after spending a week in StL for Christmas and celebrating my awesome gma's 92nd birthday (go, Grandma!!); I was diagnosed with acid reflux (again!) after having 3 months of stomach pain and nausea almost every single day and enduring an endooscopy as my first ever anesthetic procedure; we finally have furniture (and plants!) in our front room and our beautiful crystal and china is also on display; we have friends that have gotten married and are getting married and friends who have had babies and are having babies, which brings me to my next thought...
There are babies EVERYWHERE right now!!! I swear, I know about 10 women who are currently pregnant and they're all due between the end of May and the middle of July! I love my friends and I wish them all the best and I want all of them to have healthy babies and safe deliveries...I guess I've entered the baby phase of my life. You know how it goes: first all of your friends get engaged, then all of your friends get married, then all of your friends have babies and so on and so forth. Sometimes I feel like I'm the anamoly because we've been married for almost 7 years and don't have children yet but the honest truth is that I haven't been ready and I don't think it's fair to either you or the baby if you're not ready for such a big, life-changing committment. And it really is a committment, you have to be dedicated mind, body and soul to have/be ready for a baby. I think too many people nowadays just aren't responsible about having a baby and it infuriates me--how can you treat a life so casually? And I'm not talking about anyone in particular, I'm just saying that I think our country, in general, acts this way. Maybe I've been watching too much Teen Mom lately. It's easy to say, "we'd be great parents" but you need to be responsible about it, you know? Anyway, right now I've enjoyed being "us" and I've loved travelling on our schedule and working and playing on our schedule but I think I'm almost, almost ready for that next step in our lives....if nothing else, a child of ours would certainly have a lot of friends to play with a few years down the line and they'd all be about the same age to do so!
So anyway, I'm turning the big 3-0 in t-minus 9 days (on the 26th) and I've been thinking: turning 30 for a guy is a lot different than turning 30 for a girl. For a guy, they're like, oh, who cares, it's not a big deal, 30 isn't a big deal at all. It doesn't even phaze them! Now me, I'm like, oh no, I'm turning 30! My eggs are drying up, I need to lose weight before I can't lose it anymore, is that another wrinkle?, is that another gray hair? I need to have 3 kids in the next 5 years, how am I going to do that? I'm getting so old. But the truth is, it's just a number, that's all it is. It's a number in the book that's the passport of my life. I think I need to focus on the fact that my 20s are over, my 30s are here and I just need to enjoy it. The 30s can be my chance to learn more about myself, to enjoy my time, to make my house a home, to be the mature, responsible adult that I am. So long 20s, hello 30s!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Sunday, January 18, 2009
This One's For You, Billy
So now it's been almost 3 months sincy my last post--AGAIN! So much has happened and I feel like my life has been so crazy lately, though I'm sure an outsider wouldn't see it that way at all. At the end of Oct./beginning of Nov., we went on our first cruise and, I must say, I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone! As I was mentioning to our friend Billy this morning, a cruise is wonderful because you don't have to plan anything, rent a car or find a hotel, you just get on the boat and that's it, it does everything else for you!!! We had a wonderful time on our Holland America boat, The Westerdam: we went to their private island in the Bahamas, to Turks & Caicos for our first foray into the amazing world of snorkeling and to Costa Maya, Mexico for some sightseeing of real Mayan temples. We were also supposed to make a stop in Grand Cayman (and, as it turns out for some more snorkelng since we switched our excursions) but the weather was pretty bad and the captain deemed it dangerous for us to get off the boat. We had a brief hello and farewell to the island, that was it. In Costa Maya, we were actually the very first boat to come back to the port since it was devastated in a hurricane last year--the shop owners were so desperate for us to buy their wares (and pictures with monkeys, which Michael did) that it was sort of sad. But, we did buy several souveneirs and presents there, so I guess we did our part. Oh, and I had my first karaoke experince on the ship, that was interesting. for anyone who wants to know. If anyone wants to see pics of our vacation, let me know and I'll put some up....
In November, we started making some home improvements! We hired a great company to paint the rest of the rooms in our house (9 rooms total that we didn't have to do!) and I love the colors we picked out. I'll do some befores and afters later. We also finally got our fireplace repaired (actually, that migh have been in Dec., I can't really remember right now)!!! We had to get a masonry cap put on and some gaps filled. After that, we had to get a chimney sweep out (insert Mary Poppins music here) to clean everything, there was a lot of debris and we weren't sure when or if it had ever been cleaned out before....it's likely that it hadn't been cleaned in quite some time since the sweeps found a rusty hammer in the chimney during the cleaning. How that got there I'll never know. My parents gave us an early Christmas present in the form of a beautiful new fireplace screen so we (and by "we", I mean Michael) ripped out the horrible old '60s brass one, then we (and by "we", I mean I) painted the exposed brick to match the rest of the surrounding brick and voila! An updated fireplace! Gorgeous!
December was busy, busy, busy! Ever single weekend we were doing something or going somewhere, which explains why we had to get our Christmas tree the Sun. after Thanksgiving and put up our lights the first weekend in Dec. (Michael is awesome for all the hard work he did--the house wouldn't have looked nearly as festive without all of his help!). I hosted (hostessed?) not only my work party but also a smaller PB party. The Banfield party consisted of about 16 people and 10 dogs, while the PB party was about 10 people strong with lots of wine! Both Christmas parties were very fun, each in their own way. For Christmas, we switched our families this year and again went down to Wimberley to be with Michael's family: I always have such a good time down there with good fun, good family time, good games and good pirate-themed murder mystery dinner theatre! And even though I missed being with my family this Christmas, I had so much fun in the Hill Country that I wasn't too sad for too long. New Years Eve was quiet for us this year: I had to work during the day and was so tired at night that I just wanted to sleep. We did end up making it until midnight (I kicked Micahel's butt at Scraable!) and Sam and Max enjoyed drinking some Ballatore Asti. We, on the other hand, hated it.
That brings me up to January! We just finished another big home project: replacing our old, sliding glass patio doors. As Michael jokes, you could predict the weather just by standing near the doors, they were that drafty! So, we had 2 sets of french doors installed this week: one from the den to the patio and the other set from the office to the patio. They look so nice and they're just the kind I wanted. Plus, we have screens now so we can open the doors whenever we want--somehow I'm the only one of the four of us who hasn't run into a screen yet...
My New Years resolutions are pretty simple this year: I'm trying to be more healthy this year by eating better, cooking at home, eating more fruits and veggies and drinking more water. I wouldn't mind losing some weight but mostly I just want to be healthier. I also would like to get my back in better condition so I'm not constantly in pain. Oh, and I'd like to make my house more of a home, maybe with another little addition later this year but that's a long way away and I still need to do a lot of mental preparation before I'm even willing to discuss that. So here's to 2009: may it be a healthy, happy year for all my friends and family and we'll see where this year takes us! Cheers!
In November, we started making some home improvements! We hired a great company to paint the rest of the rooms in our house (9 rooms total that we didn't have to do!) and I love the colors we picked out. I'll do some befores and afters later. We also finally got our fireplace repaired (actually, that migh have been in Dec., I can't really remember right now)!!! We had to get a masonry cap put on and some gaps filled. After that, we had to get a chimney sweep out (insert Mary Poppins music here) to clean everything, there was a lot of debris and we weren't sure when or if it had ever been cleaned out before....it's likely that it hadn't been cleaned in quite some time since the sweeps found a rusty hammer in the chimney during the cleaning. How that got there I'll never know. My parents gave us an early Christmas present in the form of a beautiful new fireplace screen so we (and by "we", I mean Michael) ripped out the horrible old '60s brass one, then we (and by "we", I mean I) painted the exposed brick to match the rest of the surrounding brick and voila! An updated fireplace! Gorgeous!
December was busy, busy, busy! Ever single weekend we were doing something or going somewhere, which explains why we had to get our Christmas tree the Sun. after Thanksgiving and put up our lights the first weekend in Dec. (Michael is awesome for all the hard work he did--the house wouldn't have looked nearly as festive without all of his help!). I hosted (hostessed?) not only my work party but also a smaller PB party. The Banfield party consisted of about 16 people and 10 dogs, while the PB party was about 10 people strong with lots of wine! Both Christmas parties were very fun, each in their own way. For Christmas, we switched our families this year and again went down to Wimberley to be with Michael's family: I always have such a good time down there with good fun, good family time, good games and good pirate-themed murder mystery dinner theatre! And even though I missed being with my family this Christmas, I had so much fun in the Hill Country that I wasn't too sad for too long. New Years Eve was quiet for us this year: I had to work during the day and was so tired at night that I just wanted to sleep. We did end up making it until midnight (I kicked Micahel's butt at Scraable!) and Sam and Max enjoyed drinking some Ballatore Asti. We, on the other hand, hated it.
That brings me up to January! We just finished another big home project: replacing our old, sliding glass patio doors. As Michael jokes, you could predict the weather just by standing near the doors, they were that drafty! So, we had 2 sets of french doors installed this week: one from the den to the patio and the other set from the office to the patio. They look so nice and they're just the kind I wanted. Plus, we have screens now so we can open the doors whenever we want--somehow I'm the only one of the four of us who hasn't run into a screen yet...
My New Years resolutions are pretty simple this year: I'm trying to be more healthy this year by eating better, cooking at home, eating more fruits and veggies and drinking more water. I wouldn't mind losing some weight but mostly I just want to be healthier. I also would like to get my back in better condition so I'm not constantly in pain. Oh, and I'd like to make my house more of a home, maybe with another little addition later this year but that's a long way away and I still need to do a lot of mental preparation before I'm even willing to discuss that. So here's to 2009: may it be a healthy, happy year for all my friends and family and we'll see where this year takes us! Cheers!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Ridiculous
I realize that it's been absolutely ridiculous that I haven't blogged for almost 3 months! So, I'm sorry for that, I didn't mean to miss most of autumn! The weather is finally starting to cool off here, it actually got into the 40s last night! Cooler weather means windows open and nights underneath the warming blanket--I love it!!! Of course, cooler weather also means that we'll finally get to use our new (well, new to us) fireplace...once we get it fixed. *sigh* everything has a price. Autumn also means it's Fair time!! Techincally, the Fair ended last weekend (with perfect weather!), but I'm going to be lazy and copy a comment onto my blog that I hope you'll enjoy. I was commenting on another blog (Homesick Texan) who was maing corny dogs and since we were going to the Fair that very same day, I felt compelled to comment. Plus, if you know me even in the slightest, you know my feelings about the Fair. Without further ado:
"First of all, I'll admit it: I'm not a native Texan. I grew up in St. Louis but I met my husband at TCU right before freshman year began, we married 5 years after we met and I've considered myself a Texan since then (2003). Thing is, I had NO idea what a state fair really was until I went to TCU. I think my husband-to-be (Michael) and I went almost every year we were in school. After we got married, we moved to Austin so he could go to UT Law but we still managed to make the drive and come to the Fair once a year. Now we live in Dallas and we buy season passes for the Fair at Kroger (it pays for itself if you go 2 times, plus you get a free AMC movie ticket AND a ticket to Holiday in the Park--that's when our Six Flags is open during our not-too-cool "winters"). We're actually going today for the last time this year, as the Fair closes again tomorrow. This year I've had the CFB (chicken friend bacon) which made me nauseous when I first heard about it but didn't taste too bad, fried grilled cheese (delicious!) and a Fletcher's corny dog smothered in mustard. Today I think I'll have some or all of the following: fried pickles with spicy ranch dipping sauce (can only be found over by the Cotton Bowl, alllll the way over on the right side, next to the entrance to the CB on the Midway side--look for Ruth's Tamales and keep heading back), fried s'mores, fried truffles, funnel cake and another ubiquitous corny dog. Don't worry, I'll be sharing with my husband. When August rolls around, I go to www.bigtex.com to see how many days are left on the countdown! Then my sister-in-law (who also lives in Dallas) and I squeal with delight and get excited that another Fair adventure is right around the corner.
I should also mention that the Fair holds a special place in my heart: it's where Michael asked my dad for permission to marry me. In the car pavillion. We still tease him about it to this day. He claims it was the only time he had to get my dad alone to ask him. And it was my parent's first trip to the Fair. How much more of a Fair lover could I be?"
P.S. I have to add to this that we did NOT end up eating all those foods! We had: corny dogs (regular for me, jalapeno/cheese for Michael, both smothered in mustard), fried s'mores (delicious!!), fried pickles with spicy ranch and fried waffle balls (which, in essence, is a fried chocolate covered strawbery). And then we had some caramel-nut covered apple wedges. You know, to break up the monotony of the fried stuff. :)
P.P.S. AND The Killdares were at the Fair this year!!! We discovered them at the Fair many, many moons ago but, sadly, they've been absent from the Fair these past few years (which is a shame and I expressed my disapproval to the State Fair higher ups via a letter). Thank goodness they're back! The Killdares are a Dallas based celtic rock group and they're amazing! Michael, Steph and I saw them at a St. Patrick's Day concert this year and we all had so much fun! If you live in the Dallas are and get a chance to hear them, take it!
P.P.P.S. I swear, this is my last postscript of the night: we're leaving for vacation on Sunday! We're going on a (much needed) week-long Caribbean cruise and I probably won't be blogging during that time period. The lovely Stephanie will be staying at our house, taking care of things and watching all the sweet puppies (both hers and ours). Hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween!
"First of all, I'll admit it: I'm not a native Texan. I grew up in St. Louis but I met my husband at TCU right before freshman year began, we married 5 years after we met and I've considered myself a Texan since then (2003). Thing is, I had NO idea what a state fair really was until I went to TCU. I think my husband-to-be (Michael) and I went almost every year we were in school. After we got married, we moved to Austin so he could go to UT Law but we still managed to make the drive and come to the Fair once a year. Now we live in Dallas and we buy season passes for the Fair at Kroger (it pays for itself if you go 2 times, plus you get a free AMC movie ticket AND a ticket to Holiday in the Park--that's when our Six Flags is open during our not-too-cool "winters"). We're actually going today for the last time this year, as the Fair closes again tomorrow. This year I've had the CFB (chicken friend bacon) which made me nauseous when I first heard about it but didn't taste too bad, fried grilled cheese (delicious!) and a Fletcher's corny dog smothered in mustard. Today I think I'll have some or all of the following: fried pickles with spicy ranch dipping sauce (can only be found over by the Cotton Bowl, alllll the way over on the right side, next to the entrance to the CB on the Midway side--look for Ruth's Tamales and keep heading back), fried s'mores, fried truffles, funnel cake and another ubiquitous corny dog. Don't worry, I'll be sharing with my husband. When August rolls around, I go to www.bigtex.com to see how many days are left on the countdown! Then my sister-in-law (who also lives in Dallas) and I squeal with delight and get excited that another Fair adventure is right around the corner.
I should also mention that the Fair holds a special place in my heart: it's where Michael asked my dad for permission to marry me. In the car pavillion. We still tease him about it to this day. He claims it was the only time he had to get my dad alone to ask him. And it was my parent's first trip to the Fair. How much more of a Fair lover could I be?"
P.S. I have to add to this that we did NOT end up eating all those foods! We had: corny dogs (regular for me, jalapeno/cheese for Michael, both smothered in mustard), fried s'mores (delicious!!), fried pickles with spicy ranch and fried waffle balls (which, in essence, is a fried chocolate covered strawbery). And then we had some caramel-nut covered apple wedges. You know, to break up the monotony of the fried stuff. :)
P.P.S. AND The Killdares were at the Fair this year!!! We discovered them at the Fair many, many moons ago but, sadly, they've been absent from the Fair these past few years (which is a shame and I expressed my disapproval to the State Fair higher ups via a letter). Thank goodness they're back! The Killdares are a Dallas based celtic rock group and they're amazing! Michael, Steph and I saw them at a St. Patrick's Day concert this year and we all had so much fun! If you live in the Dallas are and get a chance to hear them, take it!
P.P.P.S. I swear, this is my last postscript of the night: we're leaving for vacation on Sunday! We're going on a (much needed) week-long Caribbean cruise and I probably won't be blogging during that time period. The lovely Stephanie will be staying at our house, taking care of things and watching all the sweet puppies (both hers and ours). Hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween!
Monday, August 04, 2008
Books, Books, BOOKS!!!
The story is that apparently the National Endowment for the Arts estimates that the average adult has only read six of these books. Here are the markup guidelines:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Mark in red the books you LOVE. I marked in PINK--red doesn't show up too well on my blog!
4) Reprint this list in your blog
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (1-4, then I lost interest)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. The Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen (I have it but I've never read it!)
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (part of it)
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan (part of it)
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel (I have it)
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray (I think I have it)
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (part of it)
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Wow, so I've read 43 on this list!!! Then again, I did major in English (and History) so this isn't too surprising! Interestingly enough, this list made me realize how many of these books I own but have never read (or have only read part of them and then got distracted, probably by life)--I need to get cracking!
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Mark in red the books you LOVE. I marked in PINK--red doesn't show up too well on my blog!
4) Reprint this list in your blog
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (1-4, then I lost interest)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. The Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen (I have it but I've never read it!)
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (part of it)
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan (part of it)
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel (I have it)
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray (I think I have it)
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (part of it)
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Wow, so I've read 43 on this list!!! Then again, I did major in English (and History) so this isn't too surprising! Interestingly enough, this list made me realize how many of these books I own but have never read (or have only read part of them and then got distracted, probably by life)--I need to get cracking!
Monday, July 28, 2008
A Picture Extravaganza!
We Did It!!! 
Our House
Getting Ready to Paint Color for the First Time Together!
Pretty Yellow! (Sorry, "Honey Moth")
Formal Living Room
Den and Kitchen
Den
Fireplace in Den
1/2 Bath off Kitchen
My Beautiful Kitchen!
So, Michael finally hooked up the printer which means I get to post new pics of the house! These are the beautiful, newly-painted house and newly-shorn gigantic bushes in the backyard (they're completely gone now but I haven't taken pictures of those yet...I guess I'll have to later!)! The pics at the bottom are of Michael and our newest purchase, the kinda cute lawn mower (and thank goodness, our lawn desperately needed to be cut!)!! I never thought I'd get so excited about a lawnmower. Enjoy!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Interesting....
I stole this from a friend of a friend...the 100 words I use most on here. Enjoy!
P.S. New house pics coming soon, as soon as Michael gets his office set up. Cross your fingers!
P.S. New house pics coming soon, as soon as Michael gets his office set up. Cross your fingers!
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Ever Have One Of Those Days?
I sure did today. Today was awful, just awful. I had my whole day planned out and it was going to be a productive one and then...WHAMMO! I got sucked into my own personal blackhole that is work. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my job: I love the clients, love my vet, love the people but I detest being at work when I'm not supposed to be and I REALLY hate it when someone leaves 4 hours before they're supposed to b/c they have to get their car recall taken care of (which could, and should, be done on their day off!) and everything else is secondary to their spoiled, selfish ways. And so, instead of doing my very tardy computer training and packing today, I was at work for 7 hours. Plus, it was one of those days where we were insanely busy and 2 receptionists were truly needed--I'm only one person and I can only check in and out so many people at one time, while 3 phone lines are ringing and I'm taking payments and filling meds. Oh, and did I mention today was a Wellness Hours day? Yeah, that's when we open up our clinic for 2 hours in the afternoon and anyone who wants (usually new clients with new pets) to come in, can. And that means more paperwork and longer checking-in times. At one point, Dr. P ordered me to sit down and eat while he answered the phones for me! 10 min. for lunch for me and I was still doing work the whole time. Woo hoo. The silver lining was that when I talked to Dr. P at the end of the day, he thanked me for coming in and helping out. I wanted to cry. What a day.
Friday, May 30, 2008
So Much To Say....
So much has happened since my last post that I don't even know where to begin....
After much house hunting, time, tears, stress and loads of support from our friends and family, we finally found a house!!! It's in a great area of Dallas, much closer to work for Michael but not so much closer for me....soooo....I'm transferring to a different Banfield! I'm a little nervous, just because it's a new hospital with new nurses, new CSCs, new doctors (they'll have 2 about the time I start), new clients and new pets. The good news is that it's only 4-5 min. from the house, the bad news is that it's only 4-5 min. from the house so I won't have an excuse to bring Max to work with me anymore. :( I'm really sad to be leaving my Banfield, I've made such great friends and I love my coworkers, Dr. P, clients and pets--I've been telling my favorite clients that I'm going to be leaving and pretty much all of them have said the same thing, "No! You can't leave!" It makes me feel loved and today even Dr. P told me that I'm welcome to come back and work there anytime, it was really sweet of him to say that and it meant a lot to me. I think I'm going to keep Sam and Max there, mostly because I don't know if I could ever find a vet that I like and trust as much as him. So, next Sat. will be my last scheduled day and then I'll go the following week off and on to work on my training stuff on the computer.
What else...we went to Chicago for a few days of vacation, which was great! We were so crazy busy going to all the museums and seeing all the sites but, honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Plus, I got to see my very best friend, Kristy, whom I haven't seen since her wedding 3 years ago. After Chicago, we drove over to Notre Dame to see my youngest brother, Joe, graduate. We got to see my whole immediate family, which was nice because I haven't seen them since Thanksgiving. After spending 3 days in South Bend, we headed back to Chicago and spent our last few hours of vacation going to the Hancock Observatory, eating deep dish pizza and getting some ice cream at the Ghiradelli shop. By the way, I haven't yet mentioned how COLD it was in Chicago!! We would wake up to about 45 degree weather and it might, just might, hit 60 during the day, if we were lucky--it was a big shock for this Texas girl, let me tell you! And coming back to 90 degree weather was an even bigger shock--I had to cut my hair off!
That's it for now. I'll go and post the new house pics! Bye!
After much house hunting, time, tears, stress and loads of support from our friends and family, we finally found a house!!! It's in a great area of Dallas, much closer to work for Michael but not so much closer for me....soooo....I'm transferring to a different Banfield! I'm a little nervous, just because it's a new hospital with new nurses, new CSCs, new doctors (they'll have 2 about the time I start), new clients and new pets. The good news is that it's only 4-5 min. from the house, the bad news is that it's only 4-5 min. from the house so I won't have an excuse to bring Max to work with me anymore. :( I'm really sad to be leaving my Banfield, I've made such great friends and I love my coworkers, Dr. P, clients and pets--I've been telling my favorite clients that I'm going to be leaving and pretty much all of them have said the same thing, "No! You can't leave!" It makes me feel loved and today even Dr. P told me that I'm welcome to come back and work there anytime, it was really sweet of him to say that and it meant a lot to me. I think I'm going to keep Sam and Max there, mostly because I don't know if I could ever find a vet that I like and trust as much as him. So, next Sat. will be my last scheduled day and then I'll go the following week off and on to work on my training stuff on the computer.
What else...we went to Chicago for a few days of vacation, which was great! We were so crazy busy going to all the museums and seeing all the sites but, honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Plus, I got to see my very best friend, Kristy, whom I haven't seen since her wedding 3 years ago. After Chicago, we drove over to Notre Dame to see my youngest brother, Joe, graduate. We got to see my whole immediate family, which was nice because I haven't seen them since Thanksgiving. After spending 3 days in South Bend, we headed back to Chicago and spent our last few hours of vacation going to the Hancock Observatory, eating deep dish pizza and getting some ice cream at the Ghiradelli shop. By the way, I haven't yet mentioned how COLD it was in Chicago!! We would wake up to about 45 degree weather and it might, just might, hit 60 during the day, if we were lucky--it was a big shock for this Texas girl, let me tell you! And coming back to 90 degree weather was an even bigger shock--I had to cut my hair off!
That's it for now. I'll go and post the new house pics! Bye!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Please Vote For My Dog!
Well, after a few scary days, everything is right in my world! Thanks so much to everyone (especially you, Miss C!) for their loving thoughts and prayers and support--it means the world to me that I have you as my backbone. On another note...
I've entered my oldest rescue dog, Sam, in the Bissell Contest! If you would go and vote for him, I would love you even more than I do now! You can vote at: http://www.bissell.com/Products_by_Lifestyle/Pet_Products/MVP_Pet_Photo_Contest/Vote_on_Photos/Voting_Period_6/Page_id/47076/Default.aspx?ImageUrl=http%3a%2f%2fimages.bissell.com%2fimages%2fIncludeContent%2fMVP2fPeriod6%2f8008.jpg
Or at: http://www.bissell.com/Products_by_Lifestyle/Pet_Products/MVP_Pet_Photo_Contest/Vote_on_Photos.aspx
On the 2nd URL, click the contest that runs Feb. 12th-19th and vote on #8008 (currently he's 5th from the top on the right-hand side). PLEASE vote from now until the 19th!! THANKS!
Love, me
I've entered my oldest rescue dog, Sam, in the Bissell Contest! If you would go and vote for him, I would love you even more than I do now! You can vote at: http://www.bissell.com/Products_by_Lifestyle/Pet_Products/MVP_Pet_Photo_Contest/Vote_on_Photos/Voting_Period_6/Page_id/47076/Default.aspx?ImageUrl=http%3a%2f%2fimages.bissell.com%2fimages%2fIncludeContent%2fMVP2fPeriod6%2f8008.jpg
Or at: http://www.bissell.com/Products_by_Lifestyle/Pet_Products/MVP_Pet_Photo_Contest/Vote_on_Photos.aspx
On the 2nd URL, click the contest that runs Feb. 12th-19th and vote on #8008 (currently he's 5th from the top on the right-hand side). PLEASE vote from now until the 19th!! THANKS!
Love, me
Monday, February 04, 2008
Prayers Needed
To Anyone Who Reads This:
Please pray for my family--we're going through a really, really tough time right now and I could really use some prayers for strength, understanding and compassion. And please don't ask me what this is about, I'm not allowed to talk about it (sorry), just know that any and all prayers are greatly appreciated.
Please pray for my family--we're going through a really, really tough time right now and I could really use some prayers for strength, understanding and compassion. And please don't ask me what this is about, I'm not allowed to talk about it (sorry), just know that any and all prayers are greatly appreciated.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Goodbye to 27
So, it's the day before my birthday and tomorrow I will be 28. It's a typical January day for me: cold, rainy, dreary but I'm excited because tomorrow it's supposed to be sunnier and warmer--hooray for January birthdays in Texas! I've been thinking today about how different my life is at this point in time than I imagined it when I was younger and how much my life has changed in the past year.
When I was younger, I thought I would be married by 26 and have my first baby when I was 27 or 28; I had no thoughts of my living situation or anything pet-wise, since I didn't really grow up with pets (unless you count fish, a bird and a hamster that was my brother's--I count none of the above, really). Let's see: I was married when I was 23, I have no baby (or babies) as of yet but I do have 2 wonderfully amazing dogs and, hopefully, we will be buying a house in the next several months, with, perhaps (!!), a baby on the way afterwards (and notice that I am NOT saying how long afterwards either!).
I left my job at Williams-Sonoma in Oct. and started with Banfield in July, which just sort of happened, but for which I am extremely grateful and blessed--I love pretty much everything about my job. I was able to go to D.C. again in Feb. and then we travelled to Carmel and San Francisco in Aug./Sept., a place I had never been before. (Well, technically that's not true: we dipped our feet in the ocean outside of SF on a family trip once but that was at least 14 years ago and that was the only time "spent" there.) I've lost friends and gained some new ones and my husband has always stayed by my side, loving me, supporting me and giving me flowers for no apparent reason (case in point: 2 days ago I received flowers at work from him because I had been sick for so long and they were to cheer me up--what an amazing husband I have!). And, of course, how could I fail to mention that my fine, furry friend, Max, joined our family in May!
So I'll be 28 tomorrow, so what? I considered myself to be in my late-twenties last year and I'll consider myself in the same category again this year. 28 is just a number, just an age, and hopefully I'll have many more years ahead. It's 30 that freaks me out.
When I was younger, I thought I would be married by 26 and have my first baby when I was 27 or 28; I had no thoughts of my living situation or anything pet-wise, since I didn't really grow up with pets (unless you count fish, a bird and a hamster that was my brother's--I count none of the above, really). Let's see: I was married when I was 23, I have no baby (or babies) as of yet but I do have 2 wonderfully amazing dogs and, hopefully, we will be buying a house in the next several months, with, perhaps (!!), a baby on the way afterwards (and notice that I am NOT saying how long afterwards either!).
I left my job at Williams-Sonoma in Oct. and started with Banfield in July, which just sort of happened, but for which I am extremely grateful and blessed--I love pretty much everything about my job. I was able to go to D.C. again in Feb. and then we travelled to Carmel and San Francisco in Aug./Sept., a place I had never been before. (Well, technically that's not true: we dipped our feet in the ocean outside of SF on a family trip once but that was at least 14 years ago and that was the only time "spent" there.) I've lost friends and gained some new ones and my husband has always stayed by my side, loving me, supporting me and giving me flowers for no apparent reason (case in point: 2 days ago I received flowers at work from him because I had been sick for so long and they were to cheer me up--what an amazing husband I have!). And, of course, how could I fail to mention that my fine, furry friend, Max, joined our family in May!
So I'll be 28 tomorrow, so what? I considered myself to be in my late-twenties last year and I'll consider myself in the same category again this year. 28 is just a number, just an age, and hopefully I'll have many more years ahead. It's 30 that freaks me out.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Sorry I'm so late but Merry Christmas to all!! We've had a wonderful, semi-lazy Christmas thus far and both of us are off until Jan. 2nd, a Christmas miracle, to be sure!
We left on Sun. morning to drive to Grandma IveLene's house (Michael's maternal grandma) down in the Hill Country. Since her house is only about an hour and a half from Austin, we stopped in our old hometown to eat the most delicious fajitas ever at Serranos, followed by pumpkin ice cream at Amy's in the Arboretum. We also made a brif stop into my old Williams-Sonoma, admired the wonderful and new renovation and expansion of that store and saw some old friends. We then continued onto Grandma's and arrived in the afternoon, just in time to make tapas, which I think is going t be a new Christmas tradition: each person/couple makes 2 tapas that we've never had before and then each person puts $5 into the pot. The tapas are rated based on taste, originality and presentation and the tapa with the highest score wins the pot! This year it was Cory and Sylisha, Michael's cousin and his wife--congrats! Christmas Eve dinner was the traditional fondue and Christmas Day dinner was delicious, as always! On Christmas Day, we all open our presents, one at a time, in order from oldest to youngest. I was the youngest this year and it's always so hard to wait! Plus, there were 7 of us, so it took about 3 1/2 - 4 hours. Usually there are somewhere between 9 - 13 of us so this was a short year! I received some absolutely wonderful gifts from everyone but my favorite gift would have to be my beautiful caramel colored hobo Coach purse with burnished gold hardware from my amazing husband. I might have to put a picture on here at some later date.
Currently we're in Houston and will be for the next couple of days. Michael is in a wedding on Sat. night (it's our best man that's getting married) and he's actually at the bachelor party right now. Mom, Dad and I are getting ready to eat dinner (veggie lasagna, yum!) and then who know what the night will bring? :) We'll be back in town on Sun. afternoon/evening, if anyone needs anything!
Hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful holiday season!!!
We left on Sun. morning to drive to Grandma IveLene's house (Michael's maternal grandma) down in the Hill Country. Since her house is only about an hour and a half from Austin, we stopped in our old hometown to eat the most delicious fajitas ever at Serranos, followed by pumpkin ice cream at Amy's in the Arboretum. We also made a brif stop into my old Williams-Sonoma, admired the wonderful and new renovation and expansion of that store and saw some old friends. We then continued onto Grandma's and arrived in the afternoon, just in time to make tapas, which I think is going t be a new Christmas tradition: each person/couple makes 2 tapas that we've never had before and then each person puts $5 into the pot. The tapas are rated based on taste, originality and presentation and the tapa with the highest score wins the pot! This year it was Cory and Sylisha, Michael's cousin and his wife--congrats! Christmas Eve dinner was the traditional fondue and Christmas Day dinner was delicious, as always! On Christmas Day, we all open our presents, one at a time, in order from oldest to youngest. I was the youngest this year and it's always so hard to wait! Plus, there were 7 of us, so it took about 3 1/2 - 4 hours. Usually there are somewhere between 9 - 13 of us so this was a short year! I received some absolutely wonderful gifts from everyone but my favorite gift would have to be my beautiful caramel colored hobo Coach purse with burnished gold hardware from my amazing husband. I might have to put a picture on here at some later date.
Currently we're in Houston and will be for the next couple of days. Michael is in a wedding on Sat. night (it's our best man that's getting married) and he's actually at the bachelor party right now. Mom, Dad and I are getting ready to eat dinner (veggie lasagna, yum!) and then who know what the night will bring? :) We'll be back in town on Sun. afternoon/evening, if anyone needs anything!
Hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful holiday season!!!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Countdown to T-Day!
So, I looked at my calendar today and realized that it's only 10 days (counting today) until Thanksgiving!! YAY! I love Thanksgiving, not just for the food (though it does play a big part!) but being with family and friends for a whole day is nice. I like helping Mom and Grandma in the kitchen, it's a wonderful, homey feeling just chatting and cooking. Thanksgiving makes me realize how blessed I am: I have my own wonderful family, full of dogs and our love for each other, lots of supportive, loving friends and a pantry full of food; I have no reason to complain about my life when there are others who are so much worse off. Michael's firm is having a food drive at work and he signed up to bring potatoes and rice--4-5lb. bags of potatoes and 4-2lb. bags of rice! At first, I was like, "WHY did you have to sign up for so much stuff?" But then when I was shopping today, I realized how much these items are going to help some families and I wished there was MORE I could buy for them! Every year, Christmas seems to creep up more and more (this year I saw decorations up before Halloween!) and I always feel like Thanksgiving is the forgotten holiday and I wish it wasn't: Thanksgiving isn't a day for families, it's a day for all humankind. It's a day where we count our blessings and thank God for the gift of life. I just wish we could help all the ones out there who need it...
Ok, enough rambling.
I can't believe I didn't even blog last month! I guess a lot has happened. For one thing, I'm not going to be Office Manager, which is fine with me. My other co-worker only temporarily stepped down from the OM position (which I didn't know at the time) and she's planning on stepping back up very soon. Plus, she has 5 kids, 4 dogs and other assorted animals so goodness knows she needs the money more than I do (not that I couldn't use it, but still)! We haven't sorted out if I'm going full-time or not, mostly because we hired another receptionist and payroll was tight before that, much less now. I don't say this to be mean but I really don't know how much longer the new girl is going to last. I was hoping things would work out but she's not really picking up some of the simplest tasks and it's been over a month now. I guess I'll have to wait and see. My boss, who hired me and whom I loved, decided to get back together with her ex-girlfriend and move to Kansas City, MO. It was a huge shock and hard for me to bear, at first, but I wish her luck and love and hope she's made the right decision. I'll stand by her if she ever chooses to come back, I really miss her.
What else? I got over my sinus infection and then got a cold a week ago. I've been trying to lay low and get lots of rest and drink my liquids since then and I'm happy to say that my cold is almost gone now! I also started physical therapy on my back today. Ever since I randomly hurt it waaaay back in April, it's been bothering me off and on and more so these past few days. So, I'm supposed to do therapy twice a week, for now, and my back exercises twice a day. Keep your fingers crossed!
Sam and Max are great and are making the journey to St. Louis with us next week! Sam's been to StL once (and my Grandma LOVES him!!) but Max has never been--it'll be his first road trip with us (and I'll have the Benadryl on hand, believe me!)! Hopefully all will go well!
This past weekend my Banfield participated in the 2nd annual City Wide Pet Day and it was a HUGE success! We did microchipping for only $15 (normally $29.95) and it made me feel good to see how many people were willing to pay to keep their pets safe--what good pet owners! Stephanie got Oliver chipped and he was SUCH a good boy!! It always nice to see a friendly face at these kinds of functions!
Hope everyone out there is doing well. Love to all and have a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving!!!
Ok, enough rambling.
I can't believe I didn't even blog last month! I guess a lot has happened. For one thing, I'm not going to be Office Manager, which is fine with me. My other co-worker only temporarily stepped down from the OM position (which I didn't know at the time) and she's planning on stepping back up very soon. Plus, she has 5 kids, 4 dogs and other assorted animals so goodness knows she needs the money more than I do (not that I couldn't use it, but still)! We haven't sorted out if I'm going full-time or not, mostly because we hired another receptionist and payroll was tight before that, much less now. I don't say this to be mean but I really don't know how much longer the new girl is going to last. I was hoping things would work out but she's not really picking up some of the simplest tasks and it's been over a month now. I guess I'll have to wait and see. My boss, who hired me and whom I loved, decided to get back together with her ex-girlfriend and move to Kansas City, MO. It was a huge shock and hard for me to bear, at first, but I wish her luck and love and hope she's made the right decision. I'll stand by her if she ever chooses to come back, I really miss her.
What else? I got over my sinus infection and then got a cold a week ago. I've been trying to lay low and get lots of rest and drink my liquids since then and I'm happy to say that my cold is almost gone now! I also started physical therapy on my back today. Ever since I randomly hurt it waaaay back in April, it's been bothering me off and on and more so these past few days. So, I'm supposed to do therapy twice a week, for now, and my back exercises twice a day. Keep your fingers crossed!
Sam and Max are great and are making the journey to St. Louis with us next week! Sam's been to StL once (and my Grandma LOVES him!!) but Max has never been--it'll be his first road trip with us (and I'll have the Benadryl on hand, believe me!)! Hopefully all will go well!
This past weekend my Banfield participated in the 2nd annual City Wide Pet Day and it was a HUGE success! We did microchipping for only $15 (normally $29.95) and it made me feel good to see how many people were willing to pay to keep their pets safe--what good pet owners! Stephanie got Oliver chipped and he was SUCH a good boy!! It always nice to see a friendly face at these kinds of functions!
Hope everyone out there is doing well. Love to all and have a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving!!!
Monday, September 24, 2007
Updates
Here are some updates in my life!
1. I talked to my grandma last week. She had been to see both the Pacemaker expert as well as her cardiologist and both gave her a clean bill of health! Hooray! She said she was going to move back to her own apt. this past weekend--I'll have to talk to my mom tonight to see how that went.
2. I'm sick. :( At first, I thought it was just my allergies acting up (which it probably was) but now I think it's developed into a sinus infection/cold. Michael also had a cold last week and I'm hoping I didn't catch what he had--it was a really bad chest cold that didn't sound like any fun at all!
3. Say some prayers for Max, please: I saw some bright red blood in his stool this morning. I called my Banfield and talked to one of the nurses and it could just be some constipation (since he's acting fine, eating and drinking normally and doesn't have any vomiting or diarrhea) but it's still really scary to see blood on the carpet, especially when I'm already not feeling well anyway.
4. My boss wants me to become the Office Manager at my Banfield! It's a really big honor just to be asked (since I've only been working there for about 2 months) and both my boss and Dr. P want me to take the job! I'd get another $1.50/hour plus benefits, vacation time and sick time and I'd only have to work 1 extra day. The only thing that's holding me back (which is quite selfish, I know!) is that I like having my 4 day weekends. I'll probably take the position but first I need to find out what all it entails!
Ok, my tea's ready so I'm going to go enjoy that--here's hoping I can taste it!
1. I talked to my grandma last week. She had been to see both the Pacemaker expert as well as her cardiologist and both gave her a clean bill of health! Hooray! She said she was going to move back to her own apt. this past weekend--I'll have to talk to my mom tonight to see how that went.
2. I'm sick. :( At first, I thought it was just my allergies acting up (which it probably was) but now I think it's developed into a sinus infection/cold. Michael also had a cold last week and I'm hoping I didn't catch what he had--it was a really bad chest cold that didn't sound like any fun at all!
3. Say some prayers for Max, please: I saw some bright red blood in his stool this morning. I called my Banfield and talked to one of the nurses and it could just be some constipation (since he's acting fine, eating and drinking normally and doesn't have any vomiting or diarrhea) but it's still really scary to see blood on the carpet, especially when I'm already not feeling well anyway.
4. My boss wants me to become the Office Manager at my Banfield! It's a really big honor just to be asked (since I've only been working there for about 2 months) and both my boss and Dr. P want me to take the job! I'd get another $1.50/hour plus benefits, vacation time and sick time and I'd only have to work 1 extra day. The only thing that's holding me back (which is quite selfish, I know!) is that I like having my 4 day weekends. I'll probably take the position but first I need to find out what all it entails!
Ok, my tea's ready so I'm going to go enjoy that--here's hoping I can taste it!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Going Home!
Well, I'm leaving for home in about 45 min.! It's always bittersweet leaving but knowing that I get to see Michael and the boys this afternoon makes me so very, very happy. Grandma seems to be doing well: she had her first in-house physical therapy session yesterday where she had to walk and the caregiver also checked how strong her resistance is (i.e. having Gma push and pull on her, etc.); when she found out Gma's age, she was very pleased with the results! Grandma has to remember to walk every hour, at least for a little bit, so I'm going to try and call her to remind her to do that when I can. Like I said before, I'm SO glad that I came here. What with everyone else's lives going crazy, sometimes I was the only one who was free to spend time with her and I'd much rather her have someone to talk to instead of watching tv all day. Everyone keeps thanking me for coming and, honestly, it's a little embarassing. I mean, who wouldn't come knowing that their grandma was sick? I'm just fortunate that I had the employment and financial abilities to do so. So anyway, I'll try to keep blogging about how Grandma is doing but it might be a little while. Just say some prayers that she gets stronger and stronger each day, without overdoing it. Love to all and many, many thanks.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
More Grandma Stuff
Grandma's home!!! Grandma was discharged today from St. John's and she'll be staying with my parents for probably a month or so. The stent surgery and recovery went well and she'll be having physical therapy 3 times a week for her to get stronger. We met a whole slew of people today (I was there for about 7 hours today) and got tons of information, it's just going take a while to process. The home health caregiver (i.e. physical therapist) will be coming for the first time on Sat., so I'm going to stay at least until then to help out wherever I can. I still don't have a place to sleep right now--hopefully we'll figure out something pretty soon! Later taters!
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Update on Grandma
Well, after I got done with work last night (at the lovely hour of 8pm, nothing to do with my amazing coworkers, don't worry!), I talked to my mom who told me that grandma was going to be getting a cardiac cath done today (which is where they put something up through the leg, to the heart to see how much blockage there is). If there was only a little blockage, there were going to do either an angioplasty (balloon) or stent (to hold the vein/artery open and widen it, from what I understand) (I think I blogged about this before--and if I did, sorry for repeating myself) and if there was too much blockage, they wouldn't be able to do anything and grandma would basically be a walking time bomb b/c they wouldn't be able to do another bypass due to her age. So, after I cried (again), I bought a ticket and wonderful Michael and I left for the airport at 4:50am. I got in around 8am, dad picked me up, and we were in the hospital room by about 8:45am.
Grandma was SO surprised to see me (they didn't tell her I was coming in so she worry about that--she always worries when I fly) and she actually said, and I quote, "If I had known you were coming I would have baked a cake!" That's my grandma for you!!! I laughed so hard and it was nice to be happy again. I'm really glad I came up here, it's been good for my heart and soul just to be with everybody and not worry (so much that I wasn't eating) about the phone ringing with bad news and to be able to see grandma face to face has really put my mind at ease, at least a little. Grandma and I got to talk for a while (about 2 hours) before they took her to get her cardiac cath done and when she came back, they said they had put 2 stents in already too (vein and main artery)! We were so happy b/c if something had to be done, we had been hoping that it would be a stent and not an angioplasty, since that's supposed to be better.
Now grandma has to rest for a while and needs peace and quiet while she's recovering. This is a critical time for her so most of us left the hospital, except for Mom and Uncle John. We'll probably go up again tonight to see her. I still don't know how long I'm going to be here--I bought a one way ticket since I was (and still am) unsure of the prognosis. Grandma will be staying at my parents' house when she's released which means I should leave shortly after that since we're running out of beds! (This is also due to the fact that both Joe and his girlfriend, Rose, are here right now--she's sweet, I've never met her before--taking up 2 of the 5 beds available). That's where I am right now. Please say some more prayers that grandma stays healthy and recovers well--prayers really do work! Later!
Grandma was SO surprised to see me (they didn't tell her I was coming in so she worry about that--she always worries when I fly) and she actually said, and I quote, "If I had known you were coming I would have baked a cake!" That's my grandma for you!!! I laughed so hard and it was nice to be happy again. I'm really glad I came up here, it's been good for my heart and soul just to be with everybody and not worry (so much that I wasn't eating) about the phone ringing with bad news and to be able to see grandma face to face has really put my mind at ease, at least a little. Grandma and I got to talk for a while (about 2 hours) before they took her to get her cardiac cath done and when she came back, they said they had put 2 stents in already too (vein and main artery)! We were so happy b/c if something had to be done, we had been hoping that it would be a stent and not an angioplasty, since that's supposed to be better.
Now grandma has to rest for a while and needs peace and quiet while she's recovering. This is a critical time for her so most of us left the hospital, except for Mom and Uncle John. We'll probably go up again tonight to see her. I still don't know how long I'm going to be here--I bought a one way ticket since I was (and still am) unsure of the prognosis. Grandma will be staying at my parents' house when she's released which means I should leave shortly after that since we're running out of beds! (This is also due to the fact that both Joe and his girlfriend, Rose, are here right now--she's sweet, I've never met her before--taking up 2 of the 5 beds available). That's where I am right now. Please say some more prayers that grandma stays healthy and recovers well--prayers really do work! Later!
Monday, August 13, 2007
Say Some Prayers
My grandma (mom's mom) was taken to the cardiac ICU last night: she'd been feeling very, very weak and no wonder, her pulse was at 38! (I don't know what a normal pulse is supposed to be but I'm sure it's higher than that!!) Apparently, her atrium and her ventricles weren't "talking" to each other so her heart was beating all out of whack. She had surgery this morning and they put a pacemaker in her--so far, so good. The scary part is in the next day or so: tomorrow they're going to do a chemical stress test where they'll see if anything in her heart is blocked. If it is, she'll probably have to go through another bypass (like she did about 15 years ago) or angioplasty or they'll have to insert a stint. None of these are good options because her body probably won't be able to handle it (she is turning 90 this year!) and there's a good chance she won't make it. And if one of these options has to happen, we'll probably fly to StL immediately to be with my family. So please say some prayers that tomorrow will go well and she'll be able to go home soon. My grandma's had a good, long life but I'd hate to lose her in a hospital room. Grandma, you're an amazing, good woman and I love you. We all love you.
On another note, today's our 1 year anniversary of living in Dallas--I can't believe it, this year has flown by and we love Dallas (so much better than Austin!). Whoopee.
On another note, today's our 1 year anniversary of living in Dallas--I can't believe it, this year has flown by and we love Dallas (so much better than Austin!). Whoopee.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Dog Park Time!
Well, the dog park finally dried out enough for us to take the boys! I was a bit apprehensive since Max is a little unpredictable sometimes but we were that at 9am before a whole lot of people got there (and before it got too hot though I was sweating after about 45 min. in the sun) and we walked him around on his leash for a few minutes before we released the hounds! Max LOVED it!!! He was whining and yipping when we first got there but I think as soon as he saw that Sam was fine then he was fine too! It was actually pretty sweet because he followed Sam around for about 10 min. or so and then he realized he could play on his own with the other dogs!! He ran around and then bounded back to us, all the while being very sweet to the other dogs. What a good boy!!! We did have to leave because the boys were getting overheated (thank goodness they're getting groomed next week!) but we'll be back!
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