A woman’s husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she had stayed by his bedside every single day.  One day, he motioned for her to come nearer.  As she sat by him, he whispered, eyes full of tears, “You know what?  You have been with me all through the bad times.  When I got fired, you were there to support me.  When my business failed, you were there.  When I got shot, you were by my side.  When we lost the house, you stayed right here.  When my health started failing, you were still by my side…  ……  “You know what?” “What dear?” she gently asked, smiling as her heart began to fill with warmth.  “I think you’re bad luck, get the fuck away from me.”

Work was “okay”. It’s just going to be weird. I feel like I’m really out of the loop in the very program in which I helped get up and running. You’d think that a 26 year old woman with a 4 year old child would want to move out of her parents home, and get a “real” job. In our jobs, with the limited amount of hours we put in, we don’t make much money. While it’s been perfect for me as a secondary income in the house, I can’t imagine her not having more ambition than that! If she lived on her own, she would not be able to survive on this wage. She has a SLPA certificate, but isn’t using it. Wish she would, then she could get out of my space! Hmpph! Going to be a long year I fear!

Happy Birthday to Sue-Ellen and Lisa!!

Well I’m just sitting here drinking coffee and surfing blogs, but in about 2 minutes I’m going to head upstairs to get dressed and go off to work.  I’m less than thrilled!  As you may remember, my boss totally futzed me over last fall, and messed with my assignment for this year, with no cause, other than a misconception she has about a young employeed.  For this reason, I’m not looking forward to this year at all!  I think everything about my schedule and duties is going to change, and none of it will be for the better.

I’m also not happy about having to leave the pups crated all day!  At least it’s only for today, as tomorrow, hubby gets off early, and then he’s off for 2 weeks.  He’s going to be at home to look after the pups, and give them another 2 weeks to mature.  After that, he’s hoping to be transferred to a store that’s only 15 minutes from home, so he’ll come home on his lunch hours and free them for a bit!

Details to follow……

Heh! This photo makes me laugh every time I see it! We’re just starting to get some of the black and white photos that her girlfriend took. Some of them are amazing!
It doesn’t seem that considering I only have one more day left before going back to work, that I’m busting my butt getting things done around here! Why start now?! That’s my thought! For the first year in MANY, I am not looking forward to going back to work. I’m just not enthused with my assignment.
Sarah is down at the farm again. She’s going to work at the hospital there, and spend a few days with Jay. Good thing! She was getting rather cranky!
I’m anxiously awaiting BB8! Although I don’t know why. I think I’m more excited about seeing Waahhhmber on Power of 10 with her “pretty body” and lack of “vocabulary”.

I had a fairly busy week (for me). I was of course very busy with the pups. We finally have the yard escape proof (it seems), after them escaping 4 times yesterday, leaving me a nervous WRECK! Hubby took care of the fence this morning. Wednesday, I went for a manicure and a haircut. After that, I went and met Rayla for lunch. She’s due in 2 weeks. So exciting! Yesterday my brother came out, and we went out for lunch. After that I pretty much spent the day herding puppies.

Today I finished up my new web site Shih Tzu Zoo. I’m going to do most of my posting about my puppies over there, so as not to bore the spit out of people.

Pardon me, as I take a few proud moments to be a bragging Mother! Sarah just got word that she has been chosen to be part of a team of volunteers. She will be going to ECUADOR to do pediatric orthopedic surgery on underprivileged children. She is excited beyond words, and I couldn’t be more proud! They fly out on the 22 of February and will be gone for one week. Two of her best friends, were also chosen, so it should be a wonderful experience!

While I’m bragging, I might also mention that they are training her to be the charge nurse when she works the evening shift in the OR.

Stay tuned, because I will be begging for funds later, as she has to raise $2000 for the cost of her trip. She loses a weeks pay, but can handle that, but the extra 2 grand is a bit much. It’s tax deductible, so stay tuned for further details!

Teebo did, that’s who!

It is NOT a good day in Doggy Daycare!

First of all they got me up at 3:00 AM to go to the bathroom. After they did that, ate, had some water, they were up for about half an hour, and then went back in their crate until 6:00 am.

We did the usual, went outside, came back in. They were eating. Somehow with me sitting practically right there, one of them (I’m blaming Teebo) peed on the floor! Grrrr Not 2 minutes later, someone pooped on the floor!!

I got myself dressed and ready to run to Walmart to print a bunch of wedding photos. It was taking so long, I looked at my watch I saw that I’d be gone 3 hours by the time I got home, so I thought I best get booting home. I was pleased to hear no barking when I got home. When I opened the door, I found out why. They had broken out of their crate, and peed on the floor 3 times!

I put them outside to play while I cleaned up the mess. Then I joined them outside to do some yard work. Including picking up dog shit.  Of course they can’t be outside alone right now, because the little bastards behind us, stand at the fence, and call the pups to come and crawl into their yard again. Double Grrr!

We were back in the house, and I was just doing some things, and all of a sudden I couldn’t see the dogs! They’re only allowed in the kitchen/family room so far. I finally opened the laundry room door, and there was Teebo… sitting in the cat’s covered litter box. Sadly he had no idea why!

Right now, as I type, I’m watching a dog agility show on the big screen, and Teebo is sitting right in front of the TV barking at the dogs!

That’s why they’re in JAIL in the photo.

In good news, they know the command SIT! (and apparently SHIT).

We’ve had Sarah’s cat, Miles staying with us for the whole summer, while she was living on the farm. During about the second week that we had him, one night, I had gone to bed, and hubby had fallen asleep in his recliner (not wearing a wife beater). He woke up and reached behind him to shut the sliding glass door, and to his shock, the screen door was open. Stanley, the little bastard had opened it, and ALL the cats were gone! It was midnight! Hubby woke me up, and was in a panic. We found Ice right away, and Smudge was just sitting out in the yard, but Stanley and Miles were no where to be seen! Hubby drove around (as if he could see a cat in the dark!) I went up to the balcony to see if I could see anything in the neighbor’s yards. Then I went out in the back yard with the container of treats and started calling them and shaking the treat can. Finally Stanley came wandering home. We were really worried about Miles. He lives in a condo, so he never goes outside, and we had no idea if he’d find his wy back home! He did! I heard a faint little meow, and there he was, sitting up on his hind legs, looking in the front door. Whew!

Today, the pups were playing out in the backyard. I was on the phone with my Mom in the family room which overlooks the backyard. While I was talking, my doorbell rang. I ignored it, because it was likely Jehovah Witnesses or someone peddling something. When I got off the phone, I looked in the yard, and called the pups. They were nowhere to be seen! Gah!!! Then “ding” it occurred to me that someone had likely tried to return my pooches to me when I didn’t answer the door! I went in the back yard and heard someone saying, “Come on!” I climbed up to look over the fence, and sure enough it was 4 kids, carrying Teebo. I asked if they had 2 extra dogs, and they did, so I walked around to get them. The kids said they crawled right through the boards of the fence. We were sure that we had the whole yard doggy proofed, but apparently we were mistaken. Hubby put garden trimming all along the bottom of the fence where we knew they would be able to crawl under, but we sure didn’t think they’d be able to wiggle through the boards!

We spoil all our herd of pets, so I don’t know why they keep finding it necessary to run away from home! Pfffft

Things are going very well for Ben these days. He had his first on-air remote last Thursday. The Dairy Queens in the city were donating money for every blizzard sold, so he went to 4 different DQ’s and did a promo, ate a blizzard, and went to the next one. I want a job like that!! ha!
He was super stoked about it all, and his bosses were very pleased with the job he did, indicating he’d get more work like it in the future.

Then he went and had a talk with his carpentry boss, and discussed his future there. He ended up getting a raise, with discussion of him being a crew chief, doing framing in the summer, and doing finishing carpentry in the winter. He’s quite excited about that, and very grateful to get a raise too!

Now here is the scary part, Ben approached me and he’s going to propose to Jess very likely at Christmas (gawd she better not read this journal!!). He has no plans of getting married for 2-3 years though, so that was the thing that kept me from spazzing out! I think he’s thinking it will be more “respectful” to live with her, if she’s his fiancee. He never wanted to live with her, but the economy makes it impossible for young people to have their own place any more. He talked to my Mom, and he wants to give her my Mom’s engagement ring when the time comes. Mom was extremely honoured by the sentiment, and is going to get it refurbished for him.

PS - Don’t tell Jess!!!!

Meet the 2 newest members of our family! Wicket and Teebo (can you guess where we got the names from)? They are 2, 4 month old Shih Tzus. They are brothers. Once I heard there were only 2 left, I knew I was going to take both! I just think it makes it so much easier for them when we’re gone for work, and to adjust to a new place when you’ve got your companion with you. They’re adorable! They were kept in an outdoor kennel at a Boston Terrier breeders. They had not been socialized much, and of course, house training had not begun! When they let them out, they were ripping around all over the place. They wouldn’t really come and see me, so I had to kind of chase them down. The little black one, Teebo, settled quietly in my arms as soon as I held him. Wicket is a lot smaller, and he’s more hyper.

When we got them home, we had to give them a bath, cause they were STINKY! They behaved really well during the bath though. They also slept well through the night in their crate. Today they’re doing great! They are social, and loving, and excited to see us! They even seem to understand “come” already. The cats are traumatized, but they’ll get over it!