Friday 25 February 2005

thats MY job !!!

i had one of those things happen today that bring a smile to my face .. considering the drama of the past few days, it was a welcomed smile  

my son (the one attending college in hawaii) is having medical issues again .. it started on 9-11-2001, after an injury to his throat from his helmet, within a couple of hours of the injury his neck and throat swelled up so much he had difficulty breathing .. we rushed him to the emergency room

things returned to normal within a few days, so we didn't pursue it any further
 

the following year, on 9-11-2002, he ended up in the hospital again, another football injury, same results .. this time we ran the full gamut of medical tests .. several weeks later we learned that he had a thyroid duct cyst .. the doc recommended surgery but my son decided against it since it would interfere with his football schedule
 

my son called yesterday, this time its worse than before .. he said this time he has a large bruise on his neck in addition to the swelling ..  

i can't think of a worse nightmare for a mother .. he's way over there in hawaii and there wasn't much i could do from here except try to locate a (hopefully) competent physician to check him out and recommend a surgeon  

i managed to find a doctor within a couple of miles of his apartment and scheduled an appointment for him this afternoon .. which turns out to be perfect since he has no classes scheduled for friday  

i considered calling him today an hour before his appointment to remind him .. but i reconsidered .. he's an adult now right? .. well almost and certainly close enough for him to want me to treat him like an adult !!! :)  

but when his appointment time rolled around you can bet he was on my mind .. hoping he remembered the appointment, woke up in time and found a ride to the doctors office  

i was more than a bit surprised when my son called me this afternoon just to let me know he arrived at the doctors office and would call me after the appointment .. i wonder if he knew that a simple little phone call from my son could make me so proud and bring such a smile to my face  

(as a sidenote .. if i can get his CT scan to the doctors office next week he'll be scheduled for surgery next friday .. i'm wishing i lived closer so i could take care of him .. i know he has friends there that would be more than willing to help him out, but honestly, i've always considered that MY job)

Saturday 19 February 2005

humane society update

i feel like its been awhile since i've done a humane society update
this morning we healthchecked at least 20 cats and rabbits .. we had only one kitten to healthcheck and he was absolutely adorable .. a longhair mix of black and the most beautiful gray i've even seen in a kitten .. people will be fighting for this little guy once he gets out of the spay and neuter clinic early next week
we had one very large studly male cat that had the friendliest nature despite his feral appearance (missing ear tips and numerous scars from fights)  sadly he tested positive for FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) .. even though my experience with cats testing positive for FIV is far and few between, it is still extremely difficult especially when they are as loving as this boy was

usually my experience with rabbits is fairly limited .. although we do get quite a few of them surrendered at the shelter, i can't say i know enough about bunnies to be able to perform a behavior assessment
  today i was assigned to moving one of the bunnies into adoption .. as i opened his kennel door, he quickly moved to the back of the kennel .. a sure fire sign that he wasn't too happy too see me .. as i do with the cats, i called him to the front of the kennel .. this silly little bunny actually charged at me .. which was probably the last thing i was expecting from normally docile bunnies !!  it ended up taking me several minutes to realize he wasn't attempting to attack me .. but still !!
we had just started healthchecking dogs when 2 puppies were surrendered by their owner .. with strays we have a mandatory 5 day hold time to give owners sufficient time to locate their lost pets .. with owner surrenders, the pets are available immediately for healthcheck and adoption if they pass ..
these 2 puppies immediately got to me .. they were so scared .. the little girl was finally coaxed into crawling up into my lap where she sat, head hidden, for 20 minutes .. the boy, although a bit braver, ended up laying next to his sister in my lap

even though i had planned on going home at 12:00, i ended up staying at the shelter until 1:30, playing with the puppies
even though they would have NO problem being adopted, we felt these little guys were just too timid and would probably suffer being held in the adoption kennels with the other larger, noisy dogs .. a quick check with Special Needs assured us that they would be found a temporary foster home until they were better socialized
they are going to be scheduled for spaying and neutering tomorrow so they will be kenneled in the much quieter clinic, then off to a foster home for a bit of socialization .. since they will already be altered, by the time they are ready for the "general population" at the shelter, their holding time will be reduced since they will be available for immediate adoption
some days like today, working at the shelter feels like a pretty good way to spend my free time

can you see how absolutely adorable these puppies are ?!? (i'm hoping that the pictures turned out but my FTP space is acting kinda screwy tonight !!)





Puppy size

i've always adored this since i first read it several years ago
She keeps repeating it over and over again. We've been back to this shelter at least five times. It has been weeks now since we started all of this, the woman told the volunteer. "What is it she keeps asking for? " she asked. "Puppy size!"

 "We have plenty of puppies, if that's what she's looking for." "I know. We have seen most of them," she said in frustration. Just then the young child came walking in the office. "Well, did you find one?" "No, not this time," she said with sadness in her voice. "Can we come back on the weekend?" The two women looked at each other, shook their heads and laughed. "You never know when we will get more dogs. Unfortunately, there's always a supply," the volunteer said.

 The young child took her Mother by the hand and headed to the door. "Don't worry, I bet we'll find one this weekend," the child said. Over the next few days both mom and dad had long conversations with her. They both felt she was being too particular. "It's this weekend or we're not looking any more," Dad finally said in frustration.

 "We don't want to hear anything more about puppy size either," mom added. Sure enough they were the first ones in the shelter on Saturday morning. By now the young child knew her way around, so she ran right for the section that housed the smaller dogs.

 Tired of the routine, mom sat in the small waiting room at the end of the first row of cages. There was an observation window so you could see the animals during times when visitors weren't permitted. The young girl walked slowly from cage to cage, kneeling periodically to take a closer look. One by one the dogs were brought out and she held each one. One by one she said, "Sorry, you're not the one." It was the last cage on this last day in search of the perfect pup. The volunteer opened the cage door and the child carefully picked up the dog and held it loosely. This time she it took a little longer.

 "Mom, that's it! I found the right puppy! He's the one! I know it!" she screamed with joy. Mom, startled by all the commotion, came running. "What? Are you sure? How do you know?" she asked. "It's the puppy sighs!"

 "Yes, it the same size as all the other puppies you held the last weeks," mom said. "No, not size -- sighs. When I held him in my arms he sighed," she said. "So? Don't you remember? When I asked you one day what love is, you told me love depends on the sighs of your heart. The more you love, the bigger the sighs!"

 The two women looked at each other for a moment. Mom didn't know whether to laugh or cry. As she stooped down to hug her child she did a little of both. "Mom every time you hold me I sigh. When you and Daddy come home from work and hug each other you both sigh. I knew I would find the right puppy if it sighed when I held it in my arms," she said. Then holding the puppy up close to her face she said, "Mom, he loves me. I heard the sighs of his heart."

employment rules

i found this floating around the internet and got a chuckle out of it .. i wonder if my boss would laugh if i posted it in the office :)

SICK DAYS---We will no longer accept a doctor's statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.

PERSONAL DAYS---Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year. They are called Saturday and Sunday.

LUNCH BREAK---Skinny people get 30 minutes for lunch as they need to eat more, so that they can look healthy. Normal size people get 15 minutes for lunch to get balanced meal to maintain their average figure. Fat people get 5 minutes for lunch, because that's all the time needed to drink a Slim Fast.

DRESS CODE---It is advised that you come to work dressed according to your salary. If we see you wearing $350 Prada sneakers, and carrying a $600 Gucci Bag, we assume you are doing well financially and therefore you do not need a raise. If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your money better, so that you may buy nicer clothes, and therefore you do not need a raise. If you dress in-between, you are right where you need to be and therefore you do not need a raise.

BEREAVEMENT LEAVE---This is no excuse for missing work. There is nothing you can do for dead friends, relatives, or coworkers. Every effort should be made to have no employees attend to the arrangements. In rare cases where employee involvement is necessary funeral should be schedule in the late afternoon. We will be glad to allow you to work through your lunch hour and subsequently leave that much earlier.

RESTROOM USE---Entirely too much time is being spent in the restroom. There is now a strict three-minute time-limit in the stalls. At the end of three minutes, an alarm will sound, the toilet paper roll will retract, the stall door will open, and a picture will be taken. After your second offense, your picture will be posted on the company bulletin board under "Chronic Offenders."

Thank you for your loyalty to our great state. We are here to provide a positive employment experience.

Tuesday 15 February 2005

do blondes really have more fun?

today is going to be a short work day for me today .. at noon i'm taking my 14 year old daughter to get her hair done .. some color and a trim .. and when i say "some" color, i mean just the back section of her hair

for some reason the girl has decided that she wants to be blonde .. but only in one section of her hair .. not that i'm crazy about the idea but i've always encouraged my children to exercise their freedom of personal expression with their appearance .. hopefully it will keep them from going off the deep end when they gain full adult independence

at least blonde is better than say .. green .. or orange i suppose

i've been trying to discourage her from getting her nose pierced .. its too "permanent" for my taste .. but i finally relented this week, figuring the sooner she gets it pierced, the sooner she'll tire of the maintenance and the sooner it will be removed .. then she decided to perform a little "experiment" to see how much pain her little nose could take .. "MOM !! its gonna hurt !!" .. the piercing has been put on the back burner for now .. thankfully

i'm giving it my best effort to spoil her a little bit this week .. she's off school for the week and was supposed to be going with her daddy to hawaii .. till he changed his mind, stating he couldn't afford it .. she IS keeping track .. this is the 3rd time her daddy was supposed to take her on vacation to hawaii and ended up flaking out on her .. so instead he's in hawaii with his wife for the week .. and his sister .. and his niece

so if i can balance her disappointment with a bit of blonde hair .. i guess thats not such a bad thing

Sunday 13 February 2005

something about the smell of freshly baked bread !!

its a quiet day on the homefront today .. my daughter is shopping with her dad and plans on getting her hair colored later this afternoon

me?  i'm being a lazy mom today .. i put in my 6 hours at the humane society healthchecking cats and dogs yesterday so at least the entire weekend isn't one big haze of laziness

we were scheduled to healthcheck 2 tiny little Chihuahuas yesterday, but they were just too nervous to be good adoption candidates .. so instead we signed them up for the headstart program so the volunteers know that these 2 little girls need a LOT of socialization in the next few days

both were too scared to approach us unless we were safely on the other side of the gate .. something about having that gate between us made the dogs feel it was safe to approach .. towards the end of my shift yesterday i decided to spend a little time with them and brought along some chopped up hotdogs .. i slowly made my way inside their kennel and within a few minutes, with food as the motivation, they felt it was safe to climb up into my lap to receive more treats .. we made sure and made a note in the computer that both babies were highly motivated by food so it should make it easier to socialize them in the next few days

did i mention that i received a raise from my employeer on January 1st?  its not a lot, but every little bit helps .. i have made an executive decision that i personally am going to benefit from this extra income (as opposed to my children or the bill collectors) so the first thing i did was ordered a breadmaker to replace the one i sold for extra income to help pay the rent after my divorce 12 years ago ..

friday i made my first loaf of whole wheat bread since my daughter is on this healthy food kick .. the bread was a bit too heavy for my preference so today while the daughter is out of the house i'm making a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread !!

the dough is rising right now but in a little less than an hour our little cottage is going to be filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread

confessing my love of sweet hot cinnamon bread, there will probably be no evidence of my indulgence by the time my daughter returns home this evening

the breadmaker was a great deal .. i ordered it from ChefsCatalog.com .. the Breadman Ultimate in stainless steel .. and it was listed as $150 off the regular price .. i couldn't resist !!


the rest of my raise this year should probably be set aside for me to purchase a larger size of clothes for myself eh !!!

Saturday 12 February 2005

going too far?

my teenage daughter came home last week and relayed an incident at her school that has me wondering how far a school representative is allowed to go ...
her school has a zero tolerance for students having cell phones at school .. and i agree completely with the enforcement of the rule .. any cell phones are confiscated and will be returned to the student at the end of the day
students can receive permission to have cell phones on their person, but the phones are never to be turned on during school hours
one of the students was caught by the vice principal checking for messages on her cell phone
the phone was confiscated by the vice principal
when the student went to retrieve the phone at the end of the day, she was surprised to find that the secretary was in the process of reading all of her text messages .. the vice principal had also read all of her text messages, and upset with the content of the messages (being rather flirty with a boy) proceeded to call the students mother and inform her of the content of the text messages he found
perhaps i could understand their "need to know" if the student had been using the text messages during class or during a test, but this wasn't the case, the phone was used between classes
as a parent who believes that even teenagers have a right to privacy, i am astounded at the vice principals behavior .. it just doesn't feel right
i have checked the school districts policy on confiscation of cell phones and nothing i found gives any school representative the right to invade a students privacy
had it been my daughter you would find me down at the school board insisting that the vice principal be reprimanded
i realize i'm probably in the minority in my thinking, but i feel that if anybody is going to invade my childs privacy, its going to be ME

Wednesday 9 February 2005

thats my boy

its been over a week since my daughter revealed to me that her and her daddy are considering having her live with him over on the islands for the next year (read more about it here ...http://journals.aol.com/his1desire/GirlsHeadNoise/entries/1100)

although i've been riding a roller coaster of emotions, i feel i'm much better prepared to deal with this big "what if" than i was a week ago
negative aspect .. 5 years ago, when my ex invited my son to live with him several hours away, i felt like i'd lost 2 years of my sons life .. even though i swore i'd never let the same thing happen with my daughter, now that i'm faced with the identical situation, i still refuse to stand in her way
positive aspect .. i've basically raised my daughter single handedly since the divorce 12 years ago .. my ex has NO idea of our struggles .. perhaps if he was faced with living with her day to day, he might come away with a better understanding of what it takes to raise such a strong willed child and perhaps even learn to have more respect for me
my daughter and i have battled for the top dog position in the household since she was 18 months old .. sometimes i win .. and sometimes i don't .. this little girl has left me weary and exhausted .. the battles are less frequent .. starting out at literally dozens of struggles a day to maybe just one "good one" every month or so .. i feel she's finally learning that good old mom really does know a thing or two about life and she's learned to trust my decisions and my experience .. i still insist that she make her own mistakes and live with the consequences of her decisions .. every so often she still tries to push the blame for some god awful decision she made over to good old mom but all in all, she's learned to be responsible for her decisions
i really wouldn't mind having a break .. some time to catch my breath in time for her "teenage years" which i've heard can be traumatic for both parent and child
how on earth i ended up with 2 children on such opposite ends of the spectrum is beyond me .. i feel like my son was born feeling his mom was the coolest thing since sliced bread (hey mom !!  even all my friends tell me that you're the best) to my daughter who feels i was put on this earth to make her life miserable and to make her suffer (i don't care what my friends say about you mom, they don't know anything either)
a year of peace and quiet?  letting daddy see first hand how emotional and dramatic our little girl is? hmmmmm
i have tried to prepare myself for this "empty nest syndrome" that i've heard so much about .. i even got a taste of it when my son moved over to the islands to attend college there .. i kept my tears and my broken heart to myself .. i knew my son needed to grow up away from home without having to deal with any guilt i could have so easily tried to place on his young shoulders
so i bit my tongue when he left .. i wanted to grab him and beg him to be safe .. to beg him to come back home again when he was done with this stupid college in hawaii thing .. i wanted to beg him not to forget about me
so instead, as he boarded the plane to hawaii 2 years ago, i hugged him, smiled and reminded him to eat his vegetables
and every once in awhile he'll call me, like on thanksgiving .. "hey mom? how do you make those mashed potatoes?" .. and my heart soars, knowing he's really not all grown up yet and he sometimes still needs his mom
i got one of those calls from him last night .. the ones that moms across the world probably long for .. those "hi mom .. i just wanted to call and find out how you're doing" kind of calls .. he didn't need money, he didn't need one of our family recipes, and thankfully he didn't need me to bail him out of jail or some other tramatic event that parents dread
so i told him about the latest development between his sister and his dad ... "your sister might be going to live with dad over in hawaii during her freshman year in high school"
his response wasn't what i expected .. "great mom !!  so then you can come live with me"
i laughed .. like i haven't laughed in so long
he became quiet and then told me "i wish you'd think seriously about it mom .. you'd see that its a really good idea and not a joke"
"i'm serious mom .. i could never live with dad but i could live with you"
"yea hon, i understand .. i couldn't live with your dad either"
we both laughed
i was finally able to catch my breath enough to explain to him that i wasn't laughing because it i felt it was a joke .. but because his invitation couldn't have come at a better time .. how cool would it be for all of us to be living in hawaii !!!
"really mom .. i could even get you a job on the beach"
"oh? and what kind of jobs are there on the beach for old ladies?"
"you could rent surf boards mom !!"
thats my boy
1985
2005

Tuesday 8 February 2005

hey Wil !!! you've got mail !!!

yo wil !!! (you old dog hehe) .. good buddy .. ol' friend .. pal-o-mine .. mon ami .. mi amigo .. il mio amico .. mein Freund
fast, furry, fierce freddy (aka big ugly spider) should be arriving on your doorstep in .. oh .. 'bout 3 days or so
i made sure and sent him Priority Mail .. nothing but the best for freddy
please take good care of him ok !!
(PS .. you can keep the bowl .. after hearing from ya how he might be a wolf spider capable of jumping up to 10 feet, i mailed him to you still snuggled inside his captive abode)

Monday 7 February 2005

i hate when this happens

not too many things in this life elicit the infamous F word out of me
... finding things like THIS in my bowl cabinet do
... trust that it may be years before i ever gather enough courage to do something stupid like grab a bowl from the cabinet again
... and NO .. i don't have enough courage to actually get my hand that close to these creatures .. i safely encased him in saran wrap first
... and there he will remain until some dear friend (whom i'll be indebted to for life) frees him from his captive abode

... ps .. i'd like new bowls for Christmas please .. i surely can never use this bowl again !!!



Saturday 5 February 2005

you can't be serious!

there are times that i feel our judicial system is in need of some serious fixing  

this is one of those times ...
AOL News - Gift of Cookies Crumbles; Girls Told to Pay $900

Update .. i found yet another story this morning in the Denver Post .. no matter which way i slice it, the old lady is coming off as sue happy

"
The families had offered to pay Young's medical bills if she would agree to indemnify the families against future claims.
Young wouldn't sign the agreement. She said the families' apologies rang false and weren't delivered in person. The matter went to court."
DenverPost.com - LOCAL NEWS

Thursday 3 February 2005

oh Christmas tree ~

would anyone be interesting in knowing where my Christmas tree is?
hauled away with the recycling sometime between Christmas and New Years you say?
that was the plan
of course, being "rule conscious", i first called the trash hauling company to find out what restrictions, if any, they had .. i was told "as long as the tree is under 6 feett" i can place the tree whole, with the rest of my recycling .. "anything over 6 feet and the tree has to be cut in half"
no problem .. i knew the tree was about the height of my last boyfriend, so i figured it to be 6 foot
but trash day came and went and my tree remained at the curb
then the next trash day came and went and my tree remained at the curb
so i got my tape measure out and attempted to measure the tree .. yea ok .. it was a rough estimate .. measuring a bushy tree just isn't one of my talents .. i swear it still looked to be about 6 foot tall .. but the next trash day came and went and my tree remained, stoically standing at my curb and i realized something was wrong
so i got some wire .. i ran it up the trunk of the tree .. then i got my tape measure out again and measured the wire .. gosh .. i was wrong .. it was a whole 6 foot 4 inches !!!!!so i got out my cute little hack saw .. and when i say cute and little, i mean exactly that .. it took me nearly 30 minutes to saw through the trunk of the tree .. it probably would have been quicker but several neighbors just had to stop to chat with me delaying my progress .. yea ok .. i'll confess .. i had to take a break cause my arm was killing me lol
but now i have 2 - 3 foot 2 inch sections of Christmas tree sitting out at the curb .. i swear it had best be gone when the trash haulers pull away from our street tomorrow
i have a message that i am tempted to tape to the tree .. to my beloved trash hauler who refused to haul away my tree because it was 4 inches too tall ..
i don't care what your girlfriend tells you .. 4 inches really isn't THAT much dude