Jen’s Blog

This weekend is Frontier Days in Charlotte.  Tonight we went to the saloon.  Last year when we got there it was completely packed,  so this year we went early to get a table.  It was a good time!  You can’t beat 1/2 gallons of beer for $9.  It packed up eventually, just like last year…crazy busy!

You have never seen a more interesting group of people.  It is kind of like the fair with beer!  Somebody collapsed on the dance floor and an ambulance had to come check him out.  The bathroom situation was ridiculous.  But, all in all it was an interesting evening.

Did you all know that gorilla glue expands once it hits moisture?  Dog’s love the taste of gorilla glue, apparently!!!  I have read many journal articles talking about this amazing phenomenon that occurs when gorilla glue hits a dog’s stomach, but have never seen it in person…until today.  The day before Labor Day, after lunch (well, after the lunch hour…I didn’t actually get to eat today!), I get a case of a dog that ate glue.  I asked what kind and the receptionist said, “you know, glue glue.”  Hmmm, when the dog arrived I saw the words GORILLA GLUE on the package and knew immediately what was going to happen!  The glue-eater in question will be having surgery (by me!) tomorrow morning (yes, this will be one of my “holiday treatments”).  Here is a really good pic I found of another case on my message board.  Check out how the glue molded to the stomach!

I don’t know how some people can live without a dog.  I love my dog.  This morning she pushed her way up between me and Pete because she wanted to snuggle.  She was laying on my arm and made an awful groan everytime my alarm went off.  This ultimately ended with me leaving late for work without time to make my lunch, but who can be mad at a dog that likes to sleep in? 

Work was busy as always, so I wasn’t looking forward to coming home to an empty (sans Pete that is) house.  BUT, Sam was excited to see me and she didn’t judge me for eating an entire Tombstone pizza for dinner!  Really, I deserved judgment on two levels:  one because I ate an ENTIRE pizza and two because I am an adult that can’t cook for shit and had to eat a Tombstone pizza for dinner. 

Right now she is giving me a dirty look because I haven’t gone to bed yet.  She loves her sleep just like her momma!

So the nasty blog demon has again reared its ugly head.  This time I will not delete the blog and apologize.  I will redirect all current readers to the disclaimer from Fall of 2006 where I let know that I am a sarcastic writer, aiming to get a laugh from my FRIENDS.  If you are not my friend, you may not understand when I am being a bit over the top to get a laugh. 

Here is my further commentary on the reunion…

I never claimed to have done everything completely by myself.  I only got most of the addresses, bought/sent all invitations, collected money, organized the food, purchased all plates/cups/tablecloths/etc, made jello shots/food items, set up tables/chairs/tablecloths, and cleaned up some things the night of (oh, and I take credit for the grilling of burgers since my husband did that and he is an extension of me because the church says so…hehe, we became one!).  I didn’t do the rest of the stuff (for example get the tables/chairs, buy burgers, get beer, etc) nor did I stay to clean up the day after because I was so god-awful hungover.  All I’m saying is I did a lot and I was doing a lot of other stuff that month, so I was slightly busy (hence the “I was really busy this month” theme of the blog).  And it was really hot out that Saturday…really hot.  Thanks to everyone else that helped that day…I didn’t mean to slight you, but really who reads my blog anyways…I haven’t had a comment in like a year.

About the drama that night.  I was very upset and it almost ruined my entire evening.  Mostly it was just stupid shit that ignorant people spout off because their life is boring.  If this makes you mad then you must have been the one who started all the shit.  If that is the case, I hope you are mad because I am, too.  At this point, most people should be wondering what the fuck is going on…that is because you are not the person that started the shit (psst, that is a good thing!).  Maybe I should go on just in case this isn’t clear enough…I’m mad at the person who began all the rumors not the person who relayed the rumors to me. 

In closing I would like to say…if you don’t like what I blog about then DON’T READ IT!!!  I hope my actual friends like to read my blog and are entertained by it.  And if you don’t like it, I would really like to get a comment on here about it.  Grow some balls…you can even do the neutered comment thing and claim anonymous.  Now I will go on with life and worry about important things like bills, work, and my family (not necessarily in that order!).

I have a few blogs in mind that I want to write, but I figured I should get on here and let everyone know what I’ve been up to before I get into all of that.  We’ve been very busy this month!  Nora, my co-worker at Dickman, stayed here for 2 weeks before moving to Chicago.  She was a fabulous house guest and I am already missing her dearly at work since she left on Monday.  Pete likes to refer to her as a “low maintenance Jen”.  We had a good time. 

My reunion was last weekend.  I basically planned most of the thing by myself.  I don’t recommend planning something like that without a committee, while you live in another town, while putting up your own money hoping to get paid back.  It started out fun after the setup process.  It was mostly hot as fuck and the tables didn’t get there until late.  I ended up having to put my beautiful new haircut/color (done just for the reunion) up into a pony tail with pins because I was all hot and gross from rushing around setting up at the last minute when the tables finally arrived.  We had a mediocre turnout, then a bunch of other non-invited, non-paying guests showed up.  Then I got to hear about people talking shit about stuff they know nothing about (not concerning me, but concerning my family…which is a worse offense).  Then I wanted to get in a fight.  Then some migrant workers we didn’t know came over and I had to stay up all night waiting for them to leave so they didn’t steal stuff.  It was good to see my classmates, though, too bad it couldn’t have been just about that.

I’ve also been getting my patience tested pretty much daily with the aftermath of the hailstorm.  The insurance company is a bunch of ignorant assholes.  They have even taken to insulting our AC company now.  Our roofing project has started.  And apparently they only work 4-6 hour days.  They don’t start before 9 and they are always done by 5 (usually are MIA by 3pm).  I can’t park in my garage because all their shit is piled in front of it.  One of the workers likes to stand on my roof and smoke cigarettes.  And they like to throw their empty coffee cups in my yard.  AHHHH!

Okay, now I can move on to other blogs…

On my third day back to work, I finally decided to write a blog about my recent vacation.  Work became crazy right away upon my return, so I just got a chance to post.  Today I had a particularly hard day with my 3 hours of work, lunchtime doctor’s meeting (aka potential for implosion at any minute) and then 6 hours of more work without a real break.  The day culminated with me getting attacked by a KITTEN!  This kitten needed its front paws rechecked because the owner thought a nail was left behind after a declaw…of course it was some glue in the hair…even the daughter of the owner knew this before bringing it in, but she persisted.  So instead of warning me about the kitten’s personality this very old owner let me stick my hand inside the carrier to pull it out.  I proceeded to have claws raked down both wrists/forearms.  Then I was bitten on my middle finger, next to my nail so the whole finger swells up.  As I returned the kitten to the carrier, I was bleeding from both arms, a finger, and the other hand.  Son of a bitch!!!

Anyways, my vacation was very refreshing!  Hurrican Dolly managed to flood Ruidoso where I supposed to go horseback riding and camp.  Excellent!  It reminds me of Jamaica on our honeymoon!  If you didn’t hear, Ruidoso was flooded horribly, including the Ruidoso downs where we were supposed to bet on horse races…no horses were racing after the flood.

Despite being beautiful, we left Ruidoso after a day to go to the lake.  That is the only location we could talk most people into going to hang out after the flood despite the gorgeous scenery in Ruidoso even after the flood…

The lake was fun…lots of sun, drinking and water.  I spent most of my time floating in the lake with a life jacket upside down like a diaper, so I could float in the water like a bobber.  Floating, beer in hand, new sunglasses on…I ended up with sunburned shoulders with a stripe of red on my forehead and a dot on my nose.  If not for the HUGE sunglasses, I may have had an entire red face!  I think this picture is classic for the lake. Uncle Phil in the pic was the driver of our boat.  He really exemplifies the image we all hope to show at the lake…

My brother even jumped off a cliff.  This is a feat my Dad has done on multiple occasions, yet I cannot complete because of my intense fear of heights.  I always said that I would do it if I got drunk enough…meaning drunk enough to pass out and someone could throw me off a cliff.  That wouldn’t be a GOOD idea, I just think it would be the only way I’d get off that damn cliff…

So, my vacation was good for my soul.  I did get the term “high maintenance” thrown in my direction once.  I must say I deserved it, given the scenario.  It is funny to think of me as completely high maintenance.  I do like schedules and knowing what I am doing, but this was a new one for me.  I just keep thinking of manicured prissy girls that are afraid to get dirty and can’t carry their own bags.  I would kick that girl’s ass!  Maybe my normal self would have kicked vacation Jen’s ass, too.  That I can’t deny.  A weird thing came over me in NM, part of which I think can be contributed to the elevation.  I was soooo uncomfortable down there because my legs and ankles swelled a lot.  I now know that the elevation here is 900 feet above sea level versus 4000 plus down in NM.  AHHHH, makes sense. I just think it is sad that even though vacation makes me feel great when I get home, I can’t completely appreciate it when I am there…I did appreciate seeing all my family.  It has been a long time, even before my wedding for some (those that didn’t come to my wedding…grrrr!). 

I’ll leave you with this.  My Uncle Bubba has kept something special for me for 26 years…my firetruck he built me when I was 2 years old.  He has never let any other child sit in it and nobody had been allowed to buy it or touch it.  I loved this thing when I was younger and it has been saved for my future children only…

On that note, I am out…my finger is staring to hurt!

The entire reason I get vacation time is to prevent burn out.  Unfortunately, one vacation a year doesn’t quite do it.  It has been 7 months since my last vacation and I can barely make it through my last week.  I don’t know if it is because I know my break is coming up or if it is lucky that I seem to be reaching the end of my rope right before my scheduled vacation, but I am right at that point! 

I started off this lovely week by spilling gas in my car.  Not just normal gas, chainsaw gas.  This means gas mixed with oil.  I was taking it back to work in my trunk when I saw a cop at the crossroad of the light.  I was about to run the yellow and had to slam on my brakes to avoid the ticket.  I heard the thump and realized the can fell over.  Thinking there was a cap on it AND since I couldn’t pull over on the bridge, I had to proceed the next 2-3 minute drive to work before I could dive out and pick up the can.  As I grabbed it, I could see it was pouring the gas into the front section of the trunk.  This happened to go right under my back seat.  FABULOUS.  I put all my windows down and pulled out my trunk lining to let it air out.  Then it started pouring down rain at lunch and soaked the lining and the car seats as I rushed out to put up the windows.  I ended up with a gas-fumed car and wet socks and shoes.  I did surgery in my sandals and continued work the rest of the day with partially wet socks.  My car still smells like gas, though it does get better each day.  There goes the new car smell…

Wednesday I started off the day by trying to air out my car before work…which immediately caused the rain to start and I had to pull my car back into the garage.  Then I saw the ants…the winged ants (supposedly the swarmed queens?) that were crowded around the door and apparently half inside since I let them in on my way out.  I then had to spray Raid all over to kill the damn things, before realizing the dog would lick it up and get sick…so I had to mop it up.  As I drove to work in the rain with the windows down, I wondered how I would ever get to the end of the week!

Today I get to work to meet my 4 parvo dogs.  The day continued to get worse and worse.  Without mentioning all the details I will say:

-MSU referrals are impossible since the elitist teaching hospital is too good to return phone calls (at least dermatology, when I ended up needing ortho they called back at least 2 hours later when they promised 40 minutes).  Luckily I had a dog that needed dermatology (not to mention internal medicine) and then decided to blow out her knee in the middle of my referral, now needing orthopedics, dermatology and internal medicine.
-When I took in my 6th parvo dog, everyone yelled at me because we were “full”.  I’m sorry if I want to save the animals by giving them care.  Maybe I should take into consideration that it might be hard to find room for them and take more time to treat them.  I must be a horrible person to not take into consideration the feelings of the kennel staff when I try to save lives. 
-Courtney had to shuffle things around to go to lunch with me because she was worried I was reaching the end of my patience.  She was also having a bad day and all we needed was one hour off.  Our Quizno’s cashier actually came out onto the patio to ask us about our clinic and to make sure we knew what we were doing because she knew someone who’s dog was there…REALLY???

I actually spent the day wearing my “bitch sign” up on my forehead.  This pretty much resulted in me yelling at a few people for good reason.  Note that I usually don’t yell, so this was not taken well even if it was deserved.  Then I may have said bad things loudly when I probably shouldn’t have said them.  Then I got into an argument that was probably warranted, but I should have been the better person.  Then I came home and drank some wine…much better now…one more day to go…I think I can make it.

I will drive my gassy car to work tomorrow with the windows down, freezing my ass off or sweating my ass off, however the weather may go.  Then I will greet my 6 parvo cases with open arms, hoping not to get screamed at by anyone angry at me for treating all the sick animals that needed medicine.  Then I will eat my crappy take-out lunch during our doctor meeting that sucks away my lunch hour.  With only 5 hours to go I will smile and curtsy at all the crazy, demanding people of the world until I can sneak away and take off for my much-needed vacation!!!

I’ve been missing for a bit, mostly because I’ve been stuck at work!  I planned to blog at work this weekend, but I didn’t even have time to check my email.  Too many actual emergencies and/or crazy people to talk to.  I did, however, manage to throw my diet into the toilet this weekend while I was caring for all the sick animals in Calhoun County. 

In other news, it appears we will be getting a new roof, new siding, and maybe a new air conditioner after the crazy Charlotte hail storm ravaged our house.  I don’t know any of the details yet, so hopefully everything will work out okay and not suck our savings dry.  I’d be pretty pissed if the storm took everything the government managed to leave behind. 

Now back to work.  We are losing two people in the next 2 months and have no replacements.  I would like everyone to keep this in mind if I seem distant, grumpy, or hard to get a hold of.  The word is that it shouldn’t effect our hours, but I have a feeling it will effect the “non-scheduled” hours that I end up working.  I’m just thankful I get my vacation before all this begins!

Now I am off to sleep for like 15 hours!!!

We kicked off our weekend with our Friday night softball “double header.”  After sneaking out of work a few minutes early and speeding over for my first game through the stupid Battle Creek construction, the other team didn’t show up.  So we “won” our first game and then proceeded to get mercy ruled in the next game in 3.5 innings.  My favorite part of that embarrassment was the ump who was obviously rooting for the other team.  And for what?  They were totally kicking our ass and he felt he needed to make calls in their favor anyways.  I especially enjoyed when Pete got so mad that he started shaking the fence by the dugout and knocked all our bats down.   We at least had a good showing at the bar after the game! 

Saturday we got to watch an awesome Tiger’s game.  It was a great night (despite the downpour in the 9th inning) and an exciting ending…down to the bottom of the 9th!!! 

Is anyone else annoyed with the various fruity beers that are coming on the market?  What part of don’t fruit the beer (from the Man Laws) do you not understand.  First Miller Chill (gay), then Bud Light Lime (why did Bud Light sell out?), now fruit-infused beer by Michelob Ultra?  Raspberry pomegranite, are you frickin kidding me?  If you want to drink some pussy drink, go get a Sex on the Beach or have a wine cooler.  Don’t ruin beer.