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!