10.05.2009 Happy New Year!

Okay not really the Happy New Year most of you know... but those of you who work for the government (or anywhere actually) that ends their fiscal year on September 30th, you know what I am talking about. I am so glad the fiscal year is over at work. Last year (before my time) it was a rough close-out of the fiscal year. After hearing all the horror stories, I was very anxious to go through my first year-end with the new job. We worked hard with lots of overtime but it was such a smooth close-out. In fact, we basically were done the day before the last day of the fiscal year. Wouldn't you know it, it was one of my transactions that didn't get done last Tuesday and was finally completed on September 30th. Needless to say this past weekend was a nice relaxing weekend without having a worry of work in my head. Granted we are on to fiscal year 2010 which is another set of anxieties to worry about....

Not much new going on. My next hurdle is moving. No it isn't to a new house that I bought... couldn't quite get that worked out. But I will be moving, however, I need to find a rental house first. I have started looking and will be previewing a house this week. I am so tired of my small apartment. I have been feeling clausterphobic (I have no idea how to spell this and really don't want to Google the spelling right now but I am sure you get the gist) and hate my apartment that seems to get smaller by the minute. So I have been looking for a bigger place. Not too much bigger as I don't want to have to clean that much more of a house. Just a place with at least two bedrooms (one for the crap... sorry I mean scrap room) and a backyard for the doggies. I still want to bring Sugar to El Paso... even if she is a pain in the ass of a dog. She is my dog and I love her ugly mug to pieces. (And her mug isn't that ugly, to me anyways!) I have two more months on my lease at my apartment but would like to move ASAP!

I did some crafting over the weekend as well as movie viewing. On Saturday I took a card class at a cute little stamping store I frequent. They were having a big sale and celebration this weekend. We made two cards (Christmas and Thanksgiving) and a faux snow globe from an ornament. Too cute. Needless to say I spent a bundle at this store followed by more spending sprees at Hobby Lobby and Michael's. Seriously did I need to spend a good $100 to make Christmas cards? I only send out a few cards. Do I need to mail a card that is going to cost me about $10? Oh well, this is my one vice and I haven't spent a lot of money on it this year. But after the class and shopping extravaganza, I came home to make a few birthday cards. Some I needed and others I just wanted to use up the scraps. I felt accomplished.

I saw Whip It and Zombieland yesterday. Both movies were too cute. I loved Whip It. Makes me want to find a local roller derby group and join in on the fun... whether in the audience or in the ring. Granted I can't skate for shit but it looks like a hella lot of fun! Zombieland was a fun time as well. Bill Murray's brief cameo is one of the best parts of the movie. Not a big fan of the nerdlinger that is in the movie but he didn't bother me that much that I didn't enjoy the movie. Definitely recommend both movies for your entertainment.

No I don't have any dolls to show... everything is still in a state of half completion. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I finish the two paper clay dolls I have started for Christmas... as they are intended for Christmas gifts. I am so ready to get my crafting station in order at a new place. I do not have any room to comfortably spread out and organize my stuff so I can have it at hand. I have so much of my supplies still packed up in storage. I hope you understand my dilemma.

I am off this weekend... four days as I took Friday off. I cannot wait to do nothing. Well hopefully I do a little something something. But as of right now I don't have anything planned but a trip to TxDOT to request a vehicle title. Yes I know... big plans!!! I hope I can fit it all in. Kidding.

See you later alligator!

10.12.2008 Sugar is hurting....

because I think I ran her over yesterday. Well not really but something happened. I was on my way to town and I usually speed up down the drive to slow the dogs hoping they won't follow me too far. I don't know if Peanut knocked into Sugar or what but I think I heard a little thud against the car and the next thing I know I see Sugar rolling through my side mirror. Poor girl... she took a tumble. I stopped immediately and Sugar was startled. She came right to me and wanted in the car. Of course I race to the warehouse to let my mom look Sugar over and give her diagnosis. In the end, all Sugar got was some scrapes, grass stains, and a sore leg that she is limping on. This lasted a day mind you. Today she is fine. Either she was working it big time yesterday or I read more into it than what it was. That doesn't mean that I wasn't heart broken that I hurt Sugar. Needless to say I babied her yesterday!

07.19.2008 No News Is Good News?

I really don't have anything new to report. But I thought I needed to update my blog since it has been forever...

No news on the job front, still. Interviewed for the position in El Paso. The interview went great. However, there were two gentlemen up for the job that were currently doing the job that were being considered over me. While I am greatly disappointed, I completely understand. However, there looks to be another vacancy coming in El Paso that is really in my line of expertise... so it is a waiting game for it to be announced so I can apply.

Right after I interviewed for the El Paso position, I received another invitation to interview for a position in Winston-Salem, NC. I did a telephone interview for this position this past Thursday. Again, I think the interview went great. The two people interviewing me were really easy to talk to and hopefully I didn't sound too stupid on their end. They said a final decision would be made in the next 2-3 weeks. Definately got my fingers crossed for this one. I have been doing some internet research on Winston-Salem and it really seems like a great place. I don't think I have ever visited that state before so it would be a new adventure to discover. While they do have a state income tax (which I am not used to in Texas) it seems like the rents are extremely reasonable for something I would be interested in.

Sugar, my white Boxer, has been having some issues. She apparently is leaking juice from her vagina. It doesn't appear to be urine but... So I have already taken her to the vet twice with this issue. And believe me it is a lot of juice, not just a few drops. Both times they have prescribed antibiotics thinking it is an infection of some kind. While the antibiotics did help, it didn't totally cure this issue. So I took Sugar to the vet for a third diagnosis. This time they actually took a urine sample and sent it to Texas A & M for further study. Well it comes back that she indeed has incontinence. Now she has been prescribed a pill that she has to take twice a day for the rest of her life. Sugar is a young dog too... approximately 3 years old. Approximately because as you know she is a found dog... or rather she found us. Anyways, I gave her the first pill last night. Within two hours she had barfed all over the house and I DO MEAN ALL OVER. She completely emptied her stomach. It took a whole roll of paper towels to clean up the mess. I really felt bad for her. I had to give her another pill this morning after calling the vet to see if these two events are related. The vet confirmed it could be with a new medicine. I knew Sugar was sick when she was asleep on the couch with two bones resting by her head. Sugar has a serious dog bone problem. Meaning she is truly addicted. She jones' for them on a regular basis. Luckily she didn't get sick with the second pill. Hopefully it gets better.

Blackie is another dog of ours that has been sick. I let Blackie out of the yard on Sunday for several hours. When I got his yard-mates, Cowboy and Curly Sue, back in the yard I couldn't find Blackie. I called and called with no response. He was still missing on Monday morning. When I got to work, I sent one of the warehouse guys to go look for him. He came back saying Black was in the yard. This means he was in the yard the whole time no responding to me. Monday night still no response. Tuesday I asked my mom to go look at Blackie when she got back from her day-trip. She didn't feel comfortable waiting until she got back that evening so we sent my step-dad over to look at Blackie. After two lectures, he told me that Blackie had a big wound on his side. So I called the vet and took Blackie immediately in. I left him there all day. When I went to pick him up they reported he had been in a fight or attacked by another dog. His wound was gross. Needless to say they cleaned him up and send him home with a drain in his wounds and meds. So now Blackie is a house dog. And he is loving it. I am trying to keep him kind of confined so he can heal without getting dirt and other junk in his wounds. He has a room all to himself with a pallet to lay on. His own food and water as well as a fan. The room doesn't get as much air from the A/C as the rest of the house so I put a fan in there just for him. He is getting better. I took him back for a check-up yesterday and the vet says it is getting better but they didn't take out the drain as expected. Brought home more medicine and will take him back on Tuesday. Now for the fun part... I get to start hydro-therapy. This is where you take the garden house and attempt to wash out the wound. I haven't tried this on a couple other dogs of ours and they did not like it. I definately to not feel like attempting this with Black. Hopefully it goes well.

Tomorrow Nikki is coming through town on her way to Houston. Our plan is to see Mamma Mia. At first I totally wasn't in to seeing this movie but the more (and more and more and more... I know you have seen the overkill on the trailers) I see the trailers the more I want to see the movie. I will let you know my review.

03.11.2008

I know it has been awhile since I blogged last.... especially since I was on a roll and posting daily. Frankly I haven't had much to say let alone report in the last couple of weeks. My dream job didn't come to fruition but that hasn't stopped me. I am still submitting applications... already submitted another four, I believe. And I am working on several more. This will consume me until I get a Federal job!

I am considering applying for another Design Team. I resigned from my DTs at the end of the year to focus of myself and get my life in order. Not much has changed... still working at getting my life in order. Baby steps. Really baby steps. But I have noticed that I miss scrapping. Without deadlines, I really don't do anything. I just haven't been motivated. But I am feeling the itch... we'll see. Of course I will keep you posted.

Haven't gone to the movies in awhile. Might try to go see something this weekend since E will be in town. As you may or may not know, every other week (payday weekend) E goes to Shreveport to visit his kids. Well basically to visit his youngest, who is now 15. I hate it because I do miss him terribly even if just for the weekend. But it is good for him and his kids. At first, I really bitched and moaned to him about it. Then I realized I only made myself miserable because E wasn't going to change. So now I just deal with it. When I need him to stay home, I ask him. Most times he does stay home when I ask but that is not very often that I ask.

I will try to post some pictures tomorrow of Pearl. I got my camera in an attempt to take a picture of Sugar because she was on the couch sleeping like the slacker she is with her tongue hanging out a good three inches. Of course by the time I got the camera ready because I had to get the battery off the charger and install it, Sugar was off the couch looking at me like I was the crazy one. Well Pearl was relaxed and sat perfect for some pictures. She didn't always look at me since Sugar was right there. But I finally got some pictures of Pearl where she wasn't running around like a kid with ADHD! Seriously!

So since I don't have any pictures of Pearl or Sugar to post right now, I will introduce you to another family member. Meet Peanut.
Peanut is another stray that we adopted. She is of the Lab family. She has a beautiful honey colored coat and the hyperness of a Lab. She has yet to settle down. Peanut showed up at the Pleasanton (TX) warehouse one day. I was in the office and all the dogs started barking. This wasn't necessarily not normal but they wouldn't settle down. So I went outside to see what the ruckus was... and there was Peanut wagging her tail on the other side of the fence. Peanut was about 6 months old with a collar. She was the only female in a world of males. So I brought her inside the fence to see how the other dogs would act. The other dogs being Convict, Blackie, Cowboy, and Buddy. They were fine with her... didn't really even bother with her. So she became another member of the family after trying to find her owners with an ad in the local paper. Nobody claimed her. Peanut is now probably 2.5 years old. She is a pretty good dog. She is definately Type-A, Alpha Dog. She races the other dogs and has to win. She is also pretty aggressive when she wants to be and is usually in the middle of a fight, if they are fighting. But all-in-all she is a good dog. I took her to the vet a couple weeks ago for a regular annual exam and shorts. The doctor told her she was a little on the heavy side even though she runs at least four miles a day with our commute - runs two miles to work and two miles home. I stopped a long time ago giving her a ride since she has to bark all the way with this loud and piercing bark. My hearing has to be affected by that somehow!