random stuff

I got an email today from Canon saying that our camera was all fixed and on its way home. Yea! Hopefully we'll get it back by the end of the week. When it does get here, I'm going to take some pics of our kids to include in a future blog.

Speaking of pictures...I've been working, slowly, on the scrapbook. I'm trying to get somewhat caught up before school starts again. Right now I'm at June '06, when my friend Jeannine came up for a visit from Pensacola. We went to a Tigers~Yankees game (she's a big Yankees fan). And coincidentally, the Tigers are playing the Yankees tonight! The Tigers won the first game! (Sorry Jeannine.)

It's been a week since my follow-up mammogram and still no word. I'm going to give it another day and then I'm going to call my doctor. I think if it was serious enough for them to take a second look, then it's serious enought to be letting me in on the results.

Just 3 more weekends until our trip North. I think Vic & I are both very excited to be going anywhere. It looks like Shannon will be making the trip with us, because we couldn't find anyone to housesit and we don't want to leave her home alone. I'm still not exactly sure if we'll be taking her on Mackinac Island itself, but I know she'll love the car rides!

Speaking of vacations...our friends from Alabama will be coming for a visit in August to attend the Celtic Fesival with us again this year! We had a blast last year, so I'm really looking forward to seeing them and listening to some great music! The festival is held every year in a little town called Goderich in Ontario, about an hour from Detroit. It's nice being international travelers!

Gordon is still hanging in there. He seems pretty weak, but he's still moving around in his aquarium and Vic says he's had some "big poops." It seems like our medical health is based on how well we poop, so he's at least got that going for him.

Shannon visits the vet tomorrow for her yearly check-up. They want a poop sample, too ~ see, it's all about the poop! She usually does pretty well, but that's because I lay down on the floor with her and hold her hand thru the whole thing. I always come away with my back hurting!

gordon, the yard & stupid-heads

Gordon, our gecko, has been feeling a little under the weather lately. We took him to the vet and he said some vet stuff that was mostly over my head and then gave us some anitbiotics for him to take. We also redecorated his aquarium in the hopes that a new atmosphere would perk him up. He's about 8 years old, which is makes him a senior citizen, and we think that maybe it might be getting close to "that time." We just want to try to make him as comfortable as possible ~ except I don't think he likes the antibiotics very much!

This past weekend was "yard weekend." Vic & I cleaned out the garage, finally got around to hanging a shop light that I bought her for her birthday (in September!) and did a lot yard-y stuff. I cut the grass again because it was supposed to rain today (and it did) and Vic planted a small Japanese Maple tree (I call him ChopSticks) and some flowers & veggies. I made her promise that we wouldn't do any major flower planting until after we get back from our trip up north (the middle of next month). It's really a good idea to wait to plant until after Mother's Day because you never know when the frost is going to creep up on you.

I picked up my application package to apply for the Surg Tech program today. I thought it was going to be some hefty paperwork that I was going to have to fill out in triplicate and write a 3000 word essay on how I'm going to single-handedly save a nation one surgical instrument at at time. Nope. It's just one form that I fill out with my name and student ID number. And I can't turn it in until the first week in June! I'll find out if I'm selected for the program the second week and classes start the fourth week! They don't give you a lot of time to work around your work schedule. Stupid-heads!

Spring Has Sprung

Today's afternoon fun including assembling our newly purchased Toro lawnmower. Red. I like when tools and lawn stuff comes in red. (Green is good, too.) I also hosed off the patio and put out our Adirondack chairs (green) and our big umbrella (also green!). And I wheeled out the grill (black), so Summer is sure to come to our backyard soon.

I would've liked to include a photo of our first dandelion of the season, but alas, our camera has pooped out on us. I called the Canon tech support guy and he said it's a "CCD interface sensor problem." Blah, blah, blah. All I know is that our beloved camera is no-workie and is now on a trip to the lovely Elk Grove Village, IL where the Canon doctors live. Canon guy Kevin said they will either fix our silver baby or send us one of her cousins. Either way, I hope we have a camera for our trip north in a few weeks.

I left work early this afternoon because I had to go for an ultrasound as a follow-up for a mammogram I had a couple weeks ago. They found something "suspicious" on the first film, so today's fun was more in-depth so that the radiologist can get a better look at the evil that may be lurking in my mammary member (booby evil?). It'll take about a week before I'll find out the results and I'm sure Vic will be a Worry Wilma the entire time. I'm just trying to think positive thoughts and not worry until there's something to worry about. I'll keep you posted.

At This Moment

I recently read Julie's blog titled At This Moment and thought that was a unique way to get to know a little bit more about somebody I really don't know. So I thought I'd try it, too. Here goes...

Most of my blogging takes place when the house is empty, except for me and the "kids" and a little classical music. For some reason hearing voices is very distracting and it makes it difficult for me to form thoughts (probably a good thing I don't have human kids!). My newish computer is sitting on a very old and broken-down desk. It's not an antique by any stretch of the imagination. I bought it at WalMart about 12 years ago and put it together with a Phillips screwdriver in my living room. It's cracked on the top where I used it as a ladder to clean the top of the bookcase (that's what I get for cleaning!) and it's pretty much just an eyesore. But it's functional and I just can't see spending money on a new desk when we could use the cash for something else.

The desk & computer sit in my very "lived-in" living room. I think that's just a nice way of saying cluttered. Right now, Shannon, the best dog in the world, is napping soundly in front of the biggish-screen TV that Vickie insisted on buying a few years ago. When we met, I didn't have much more than a regular-sized TV and bunny rabbit ears ~ no cable. I watched a lot PBS in the pre-Vickie days. We are listening to the Soundscapes music channel ~ lots of soothing music.

My days lately have been pretty relaxed. I don't have to worry about school or babysitting Mom or anything pressing or stressful...yet. The Surg Tech program starts in June (if I make it into the program!) and lasts for a full 12 months. School will be full time for a good part of the year which means I'll have to work part-time for a while. The thought of working less sounds very appealing. The thought of having less money sounds decidedly less appealing. I'm trying not to think about that, though. Everyone has money problems, so I'm sure we'll be no different. I can't wait till we have more money than we know what to do with! Actually, I'm just looking forward to days without stress. That's my motivation ~ Stress-free days.

Now that's it's nice out, I'm really looking forward to doing a lot of outside-type stuff. I want to ride bikes in the park and explore different parts of Michigan with Vic and Shannon. Michigan has a ton of lighthouses and I'd like to discover at least a couple of new ones this year. I'm also looking forward to sitting in the back yard on my adirondack chair, listening to Tigers games. And maybe all the screaming kids that live on our street will go to Wyoming for the Summer!

So that's me ~ or at least part of me, anyway. It's funny how you read the same blogs every day and each time you do, you learn a little more about the person writing it. Just little insights in to how that person thinks or feels.

The Week In Review

Red Garden Cart
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265

This has been an interesting week for me. Lots of ups and downs.

Monday night I stayed overnight at Mom's when what I really wanted to do was curl up on the couch at my house & get over a headache.

Tuesday night I was determined to do something productive, so I put together our new red garden cart. It looks just like the one in the picture (but that's not our backyard). The directions said all I would need was a screwdriver and a wrench. They left out the part about how it would take me FOUR HOURS to finish. This was definitely a two-women job.

Wednesday night I was back to feeling icky. I just felt like the flu was gonna hit me any second. When I got home from work it was a bright and sunny day, but I spent the remainder of the evening under a blanket on the couch.

Thursday and Friday nothing exciting happened. I washed clothes. Boring.

Saturday night Vic & I brought out our queen-sized air mattress, plopped in on the living room floor and watched TV most of the day. It was the perfect day to stay inside and veg. Rain and wind almost the whole day and bitterly cold. When we woke up Sunday, it was snowing!

So my week wasn't really interesting in that spectacular things happened; it was more the "not the same kinda stuff every day" interesting.

No Soothing Kitties At Mom's

Today at work, I developed a screaming headache. All I could think about the whole rest of the day was how much I was looking forward to coming home and laying on the couch with a soothing kitty or two and a cool wash cloth over my forehead. That was at 11:00.

At 3:00 Vic called to tell me that I had to go to Mom's tonight because she had some pain management procedure done this morning and was feeling puny and wanted someone to spend the night "just in case."

I'm now headed out to the "House of the Screaming TV."

Shit.

Feasting

I see I haven't done the Friday Feast in a while, so I thought I'd catch up with the last few. Vic & I don't really have anything special planned for the weekend. I have to go to some really lame class Saturday morning, but then after that I'll be free to do whatever. I kinda hope we can get the tub caulked. Sounds like fun, huh?



Feast One Hundred & Eighty Six April 4th, 2008
Appetizer Invent a new flower; give it a name and describe it.
Black-eyed Caseys. They would look similar to Susans, but they'd be Caseys.

Soup Name someone whom you think has a wonderful voice.
Carly Simon. And Shannon.

Salad On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how clean do you keep your car?
Very clean ~ probably 9.5.

Main Course How do you feel about poetry?
I don't really understand most of it. I'm a prose kinda girl.

Dessert What was the last person/place/thing you took a picture of?
Shannon in the snow. I don't take enough pictures ~ I'm going to really try to take more this Summer.

Feast One Hundred & Eighty Five March 28th, 2008
Appetizer What does the color dark green make you think of?
Leaves, trees, my bike.

Soup How many cousins do you have?
Twelve.

Salad On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how honest are you?
Hmmm, probably about 8 or 9.

Main Course Name something that is truly free.
The love of a good dog.

Dessert Using the letters in the word SPRING, write a sentence.
Some people really irk naughty gnus. I know that's lame, but I just don't feel inspired right now.

Feast One Hundred & Eighty Four March 21st, 2008

Appetizer Given the choice, would you prefer to live in the country or in the city?

City. I hate being stuck in the middle of nowhere with everything a million miles away.

Soup Who is the cutest kid you know?
I don't know any kids, cute or otherwise.

Salad Fill in the blank: I couldn’t believe it when I heard ___________.
...the Tigers lost again! WTF!! Detroit is the only team in baseball to have lost all 4 of their games! I realize there are about 160 more games left, but geez! It's almost like they're afraid to win! I even wore my Tigers jersey to work today.

Main Course If you could star in a commercial for one of your favorite products, which one would you want to advertise?
The Office. I really like that show. I'd like to maybe do a little rap or something with Dwight.


Dessert What type(s) of vitamins and/or supplements do you take on a regular basis?
Flintstones chewables.

A Smallish Victory for the Little Guy

I don't remember if I wrote about my 90-day evaluation at work or not (and I'm too lazy to look at past bloggings!), but I had it a few weeks ago at about the 150 day mark. It was the usual uneventful drool that I'm sure every new employee has heard before at their first evaluation...You do a really good job at this and need improvement with that, you're a good team player, you keep your work area tidy, you play well with others, blah blah blah.

What I found interesting about this particular assessment of my performance is that at the time of the the eval I had now been trained in 3 different areas of the company and was actually performing 2 different jobs simultaneously ~ pretty damn good for a newbie. Seems I was the only person in the room that felt that way, however.

So when no incentive raise was offered, I questioned it and was told "nobody ever gets a raise after just 90 days." I probably would've let it go, but I felt that if I didn't at least voice my displeasure and toot my horn just a little that I was only going to be mad at myself. So I tooted and my manager stared at me like a deer in headlights. Apparently nobody has ever challenged her in this area before! So when I finished, she stammered something about "I'll see what I can do" and I went back to being uberemployee.

Anyways...today I was given a raise! Okay, so it's only .50, but it's the victory of getting my way that I'm most proud of! I like that I was able to successfully argue a point and in the process enrich the lives of me and mine by a hefty $40 every two weeks. That's almost a tank of gas!

Yea for the little guy!