Day 148: January 22, 2010

 Quote of the Day: "A husband should tell his wife everything that he is sure she will find out, and before anyone else does." – Thomas Robert Dewar

HAHAHA Cody picked out today's Quote... he was sitting next to me in my office when I opened up my file with all my quotes in it, and I told him "Pick a number", and this is the quote labeled with the number he chose.  He got a great laugh out of it, though I'm sure he won't feel quite so happy about it when HE is older and married and has to tell his wife something he'd rather not.  Ron, you'd better have a chat with that boy! Just tell him to ALWAYS tell the truth, immediately, and quickly. You know... like you've been struggling with for YEARS! hehehe  You know... all the times you'll be talking about something, and my elephant brain gets triggered and I say "But ten years ago you said ______, not _______, so which one is it REALLY?" HEHEHE

Today has been a super busy day. I really deep cleaned the formal living room, the family room, and the dining room, and was working on the kitchen a little but am going to finish it up and the rest of the house tomorrow. I'm too tired to do much of anything else today. Oh yeah.... went and swept up the leaves in the breezeway to try to keep them out of the pool, swept up the leaves on the back patio to try and keep them out of the house, and cleaned the pool.  We had a dust storm the other night right before that thunderstorm hit, so the pool was almost completely a uniform brown color.  I've had the pool vac running all day long and it STILL has some spots in it that just haven't come clean yet. And the jacuzzi... I'm still waiting for it to get a little cleaner. I've gone out there like thirty times today to sweep off all the steps and inside the jacuzzi, but it doesn't seem to be helping. I've even backwashed the filter.

I think tomorrow morning I'll backwash it again, then just vacuum the jacuzzi and the steps by hand. I'll tell you, it is a royal pain to vacuum the jacuzzi because the stupid hose keeps either coming out of the wall or dragging the vacuum up and out of the jacuzzi. We really need to buy one of those vacuums that are self-contained, I saw it at the pool supply and it looks really, really nice. Just the thought of cleaning the jacuzzi without fighting that stupid heavy hose would be a godsend, especially when I am seriously considering draining the stupid thing and getting rid of it because of how much of a pain in the ass it is.  What good is a non-heated jacuzzi, anyways? AND the bubbles turn off after 15 minutes???? What a waste.

I am really looking forward to having the whole house clean, finally. It'll be really nice, I think. Who knows, maybe it'll stay that way for more than a day.   : )

Day 147: January 20, 2010

Quote of the Day: "It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is true of men as of dogs." ~Eric Hoffer

Wow! I actually finally got all the inside Christmas stuff taken down, AND it's all put away where it belongs, too! Well.... almost. There is ONE bin that Cody and I just could not lift into the attic by ourselves, it was just too big, bulky, and heavy. So we'll get that one up there the next time Damien shows up here.  It's just hanging out in the garage right now, so it isn't in the way or anything. I figure it's as good a place for it as anywhere, right?

Had a great drive to Vernon this morning. The girls and I talked and joked a lot about this and that, and tried to avoid a lot of the more serious topics because we were all still half asleep.  When we got to Vernon we were a half hour early, so we decided to go to WalMart for a bit. It was kind of funny, because this older guy in a work truck was broken down in the entrance, and we offered to help, then as we pulled away we realized how absurd that was: a carful of four women offering to help. Just what were we going to be able to do, anyways?

Orientation was pretty good. I can't even begin to describe how excited I am about htis rotation! How fascinating the human mind is, and at the same time how fragile.  They did a very good job of explaining to the group how dangerous your time there can get. I noticed several people's looks of complete astonishment when it was mentioned to avoid hoodies with strings that can be used to strangle you. Not a lot of people think like that, so it was an eye opener. And, the things they can use to make weapons! There is definitely not a lack of creativity in the bunch.

I'm a little worried that because of my background I don't have enough fear like I should have. Why is it that it seems like everyone else is scared of this rotation and I'm excited about it? I'm not a brave person by any means, so is it that I'm stupid? Will I end up making some bonehead mistake due to my lack of fear? Or maybe that's the wrong choice of word, maybe instead of a lack of fear (because I'm always afraid of something), maybe I lack a healthy respect for it.  I just wish the rest of my group was as excited as I am  so that I wouldn't have to feel so isolated by my excitement. Or maybe I'm just a little crazy myself? After all... I AM going to nursing school!   : )

Day 146: January 20, 2010

Quote of the Day:  "I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than attempting to satisfy them."  -John Stuart Mills

Well, day one is done of classes, but I found out today that we have to be back in Vernon tomorrow morning at the State Hospital for our orientation, so it'll be another early-to-rise morning, only earlier than this morning was. The good news is, however, that because of the "nature of our clinical requirements" at the state hospital  we will not have to wear our uniforms. We ARE however, on strict requirements as far as what we can wear, so that we don't trigger an outburst or a breakdown in one of the patients. And we have to wear solid shoes that we can run in if we need to. We have a mile long list, it seems, on how to avoid making the mentally unstable patient even more unstable, and tomorrow's lecture is going to include a long sermon on ways to avoid the aggressive and violent outbursts the patients can and do exhibit. Thankfully, they said that very few of the students have ever been physically attacked on this rotation. I personally am looking forward to it, because the mind is a pretty interesting topic. And let's face it.... you can learn a lot by talking to someone with a mental illness.

I haven't gotten that "I finally feel comfortable in knowing what I'm doing and what is expected of me" feeling yet. I would have thought that after today I would be a little bit more in control, but instead I think I'm just more anxious. And, of course, not having known that I have to go be in Vernon so early tomorrow morning, I told Ron that I would be able to be online to talk to him. And now I'll have to cut that talk short so that I can get even a little bit of sleep. Sigh. This semester is really going to be interesting, to say the least. Did you know that we are required to attend either an AA or NA meeting and write up a report on what we see, hear, and how they are organized? Yikes! But the good news is, most of these meetings have smoking at them! LOL

I'm also excited about the mother/baby class and clinicals, to a point. The teacher for that class is really cool. She went over the lecture with us today, and then we watched an episode of House dealing with sick babies. I thoroughly enjoy ANY class that lets you watch something as cool as THAT! LOL And she's the perfect teacher for the class, since if I remember right she has like six children herself. I wish they would have had this semester FIRST in the program, instead of last... although, it may have made it completely unbearable to have our last semester be as boring as some of them were.

I'd better get off here now, though, we're having one HECK of a thunderstorm right now, and the lightning and hail are pretty intense. I'd hate to lose my computer just because I'm being all long-winded. : )

Day 145: January 19, 2010

Quote of the Day: "Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall." -Confucius

Never, ever attempt to make split pea soup in  a crock pot! I had it cooking all day long, and the peas would never get to a good consistency... some of them are mushy, and some of them are still chewy. UGH!!!! At least they taste alright, that means that I figured out the right ingredients to use. NOW I just need to make it on the stove next time.

Today was spent mostly doing laundry and trying to get things in order to go back to school tomorrow. I don't feel like I did a very good job of it, though. I've been so tired all day that it feels like it's hard to keep my eyes open. I don't think I slept very well last night. And it's been really cloudy out, too, so that helps to make me tired as well.  They say we might have thunderstorms tomorrow, but we'll see if that happens or not... it's been sprinkling all afternoon. I guess there's a possibility, but it doesn't really feel like it. Then again, the highs have been in the 60s the last couple of days, which has been a welcome break from the freezing cold.

Incidentally, this happened when I was washing dishes this morning.... I just looked down and there it was. I figured it'd be a good thing to put on here in honor of the upcoming holiday!  Here's to thinking of you, Ron!!!

Day 144: January 18, 2010

Quote of the Day: "If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time." -Edith Wharton

Getting a late start to the blog tonight, I had no idea how late it was! I've been pretty busy today, actually, which felt good for once. All the Christmas lights are down outside now and ready to be put up into the attic. I would have done the inside decorations as well, but I got sidetracked by a sudden urge to put a whole lot of recipes onto 4x6 colored papers to put together my very own cookbook. So I spent most of the time doing that. 

During the day, I put the battery charger on Ron's truck to charge the battery, then drove to Auto Zone down in Wichita Falls by the base and had them test the battery. Twice. End result? The guy said that the battery tested out fine, and it doesn't need replaced. He said that the cold can drain a battery really quick, but that they usually come back from it. Not sure, though. I'll wait until tomorrow morning when I go out to start it to make up my mind on whether he's right or not.

I did put gas in the truck while I was on base, though, and boy was it a shocker to remember how MUCH gas that thing takes! It was close to eighty bucks! Ron, you REALLY need to go get a car to drive to and from work, no buts about it! Something that you can fill up for under $25 would be super nice. And I think I'm changing my mind on wanting an SUV now, although that one is more for being able to drive to the hospital to work when there's icy roads and snow. But if my car can get me there, then there really isn't a need. And I do know now that driving my car on ice, to Wichita Falls, only takes an hour and a half going 5 to 10 mph... so at least if a storm does hit once I am a nurse, as long as they don't close the roads again I'll just have to leave an hour and a half early.  This past Christmas when we had the blizzard they closed the roads, and a lot of the nurses got stuck at the hospital for three days, sleeping there and everything.  Hopefully they had a change of clothes or two in their lockers... I know I will!

Tomorrow is my last day before the first day of semester, and I am VERY anxious to just get it over with and be done. I can't seem to shake the feeling that I will feel so much more prepared once I am OUT of school and don't have that "studying" thing hanging over my head. I've learned in clinicals that it doesn't matter how "smart" you are, you're still going to have to ask other nurses' opinions. I've seen well-seasoned nurses doing just that. The trick is to find the ones you can trust to know the answer you need, and that can take some serious time.  Everything I have heard and read says that it takes at least six months to a year before you really get the hang of being a nurse, so at least I know that going into it.  The biggest phrase at the hospital that nearly every nurse has told me is "Once you get out of nursing school and get a job, you're going to swear that they taught you NOTHING in nursing school!" And they're all so happy when they say it, too... like they're trying to make sure that we don't come out thinking we know it all. I've seen a few of THOSE nurses on the floor, too, and they drive everyone crazy. I'm going to do my absolute best, and then some, not to be THAT nurse.

Day 143: January 17, 2010

Quote of the Day: "I was just thinking, if it is really religion with these nudist colonies, they sure must turn atheists in the wintertime." ~Will Rogers

HAHAHA Okay, I couldn't help it... that quote has absolutely nothing to do with anything, except maybe that it's winter right now and cold as heck outside. I just thought it was totally hilarious! Gotta love that Will Rogers, that man had one helluva head on his shoulders!!! Just to even imagine him thinking about nudist colonies alone, well... heheheheheehheheheehe.

Today's been a good day so far. I got up and weighed in at my lowest to-date so far, which means that I only have to lose around 3 pounds by March. I think I can manage that. HOWEVER, since I'll be eating pizza for lunch today, my weight will be up about a pound or two in the morning, from the water rentention that the high sodium level in pizza causes. Sigh. Oh well... I know it ahead of time, am prepared for it, and could really care less... it's PIZZA, after all... one of the four food groups! You can't avoid pizza just because of its high salt content! How many OTHER foods would you have to avoid if you thought that way??? Pretty much anything Italian, or Greek, or Mexican, or fast food... Hmm. Sounds like you're left with salad. And having to eat nothing but salad the rest of your life? No, thank you.... I'll munch on my pizza and happily accept the temporary weight gain! Without too much complaint, too!

I have got the dishes soaking right now in the sink so that I can "pre-scrub" them and put them in the dishwasher, since I've found that no matter WHAT an appliance company's claim is, you can buy a four thousand dollar dishwasher and it STILL won't remove all the food from the dishes. I just don't trust them. So I scrub them ahead of time, and it works for me.  Obsessive, yes, but I won't get an infection from eating off my dishes. I guess my mama raised me right! LOL Although, come to think of it.... SHE said that because they got so hot inside and then the water just sits on the dishes until you put them away, that dishwashers grow a LOT of bacteria on your dishes and are unhealthy. Hmm. Still... there's something about being able to leave them in there until you're READY to put them away, out of sight and out of mind.  Wonder what those rich people do that spend the money on those cabinets where your dish storage actually doubles as a dishwasher? THEIR dishes go into the cabinet dirty, and come out clean. THAT seems a little much for me, considering that if it were in MY house, I just know that someone would put away their dirty dish and forget to run it, so the next person would pull out a plate full of dried on, caked on food that's been in there who knows how long. GROSS! I think I'll stick to conventional cabinets, thank you very much!

Sometime today I have to take out the trash, vacuum the office, sweep and mop the kitchen floor, bleach the countertops, and re-organize the tupperware cabinet... Damien's been just putting them in there any old way, as usual. Also, I'm going to have to plan to have a marathon cooking spree tomorrow or Tuesday, since school starts up again on Wednesday and the kids have nearly flown through all the chowder and lasagna I made. Sigh.  I guess it'll never end. But I have to come up with some new ideas for freezer meals, so I'm going to do some Sheppard Pie, maybe some chili and cornbread, and I have no idea what else. A roast or a stew would be good. I really wish I had the money to buy those sectioned tupperware things, I'd make a full meal for everyone so that they could just pull out a plate, microwave it, and eat. Easy peasy, and not a lot of mess! But, alas.... those are expensive, and I'm not sure if they turn brittle in the freezer. So..... I have to stick with what I know works. Got any ideas for things to cook, PLEASE email them to me! Or call me... or whatever you can do! LOL


Okay, I have gone to Wichita Falls and have returned. All in all it was a really fun day. I decided that since we were doing lunch at Cici's Pizza I would resign myself to the fact that my weight will be up tomorrow, and have as much as I wanted.  Even though that only turned out to be a salad, 4 pieces of pizza, a brownie, and an apple crisp pizza slice, I still was satisfied with it. Usually I can eat twice that without blinking an eye.  Afterward we went on the "great journal search", which took us first to Office Depot, where we walked in and were shocked to find that they did not have anything we could use, or that we liked.  And their prices on the Post-It flags were outrageous! So onward we went to Books-A-Million, where there were so many journals to choose from that we had a hard time deciding which one would best suit our class assignment. It had to be the right size, and acceptable for a teacher to look at, so it was a rough decision. Eventually, however, we finally picked one and went to the counter, where I proceeded to completely and totally embarass myself by accidentally saying "Harry Potty" instead of "Harry Potter" to Laurie and the cashier. I MUST have turned at least ten shades of red.... it was mortifying and funny at the same time.... by the time I left the store I could barely walk I was laughing so hard, and I had tears pouring out of my eyes.  Been a long time since THAT has happened... I thought I was going to pee my pants I was laughing so hard!  And the biggest reason that I WAS laughing so hard??? The whole way I had this mental image going on in my head of this big, giant, hairy toilet! LMAO And people say it couldn't possibly be fun to be me! LOL

After I was able to breathe again and not laugh my ass off we were off to the Goodwill store, where I found a BUNCH of really cute things on sale. If I keep it up I may not HAVE to go spend boo-coo bucks on brand new clothes. There are some really great things to be had at Goodwill.  AND, I was also able to score a couple of bags of fabric scraps.... maybe a new crazy quilt in my future! THAT would be great, wouldn't it??? Not sure what I'll do with the computers, and the printer, because the only place I'll be able to sew when Ron is home is in my office.  Doing it in the living room won't quite work when I set up right in front of his normal spot on the couch.   At least it will contain the mess, though!

Tonight is going to be all about going to bed early, so that I can get up and outside early to take down Christmas lights. I brought Damien and Cody both home tonight, and told them that they will both be out there helping me tomorrow.  So hopefully it will go really quick, and it will stay somewhat organized still. We'll see... first we have to get down all the boxes and bins out of the attic to put the stuff into.  AND once I'm done with the outside, I still have all the inside stuff to put away... dangit. I was SOOOO close to being done quick! LOL

Day 142: January 16, 2010

Quote of the Day: "Sleeping alone, except under doctor's orders, does much harm. Children will tell you how lonely it is sleeping alone. If possible, you should always sleep with someone you love. You both recharge your mutual batteries free of charge. "-Marlene Dietrich

All I can say about today is that I finished the office.  It's funny, it doesn't really look any different than when I started working on it, when you just glance in there.  All my paints are still suspended from their board. All my school books are still on the shelves.  The computer, laptop and printer are where they belong.  The biggest change is that everything is now organized, the cabinets are a lot emptier, and there is much less clutter in the closet.  True, it may look like there's more in the closet now - because there is.  The file cabinet that was underneath my desk is now in there, as are my canvases and all the other things which are boxed up. So when school starts up next week, I am READY FOR IT. Finally. Well, at least my office is. I still have to power-clean the rest of the house and take down Christmas stuff between now and Wednesday, otherwise I will have to start school and THEN work on it all. And heaven knows I don't want to do THAT!

The kitties seem to finally be mostly back to normal, amazingly. Tiger and Mika are now both curled up together on my bed. I have no idea where Tiny the troublemaker is right now, but since I haven't heard any roaring, screaming, or hissing since early this morning I assume that the trouble should be over.  I know he has been walking around LOOKING for Tiger, I just don't think he has been bothering with attacking him.  Besides that, he seems to be a happy camper. He's sure being clingy still... they all are! I can't wait until Ron can come home and help give these guys a little attention, so that I don't ALWAYS have to be the one that does it.

I think I'm going to go ahead and go to bed early tonight, since I have so much to do tomorrow. I have plans not only to try and clean the house and tear down Christmas stuff, I'll also be meeting Laurie and we're going to be going to Office Depot to pick up a journal for our Mental Health Nursing class, and some minor school supplies. I have looked a little bit at some of the required work for the semester that comes in the course manual, and can't decide if it looks like it will be an extremely easy semester, or if looks are deceiving and even though there is minimal homework in there it will be the super-tough kind.  It doesn't have any instructions on what you're supposed to do with it, so I'm assuming they'll let us know in class whether it will take an hour, a day, or a week to do. Sigh.  I wish they gave instructions at the beginning of the nursing program. You know, like those really great "What to Expect When You're Expecting" books I read when I was pregnant.  Step-by-step, organized, and simple. Let us be PREPARED to learn, and you'd be amazed what people can do. I ALWAYS do better when I know what is expected of me.

But enough ranting for one night, my exhaustion is showing.

Day 141: Evening Post

Okay, since I totally blew it and had to write yesterday's blog this morning, I still have to write tonight's. So....

Things are running pretty crazy here right now. I've been in my office all day trying to sort through the junk and put away all the things from prior semesters to get ready for this semester, and MAN, WHAT A MESS!!!!  As you can see, in typical Carmen fashion, I had to tear everything out in order to put it back where it goes.  Sigh. One of these days you'd think I'd learn that the best way to do things is to plan ahead and KEEP things organized! Believe it or not, though, there IS a system to the way I'm doing things.  I have different piles set up for different things, like piles of "Ron needs to go through", piles of "House stuff", piles of "School stuff"... you get the idea. I'm hoping that I can get a lot of this gone through and taken care of by the end of tomorrow. You know, like shredding all my old Wells Fargo employee stuff. And the cell phone statements from 2004, which I'm not sure why I still had. I did most of that today. I had a shred pile built up that was about a foot high, and I wasn't even through yet! UGH!!! I didn't realize that I had become such a pack rat again... I thought I had that old habit under control, but I guess I didn't. So at the end of the night tonight I am left with about half of what you see in these pictures taken care of, with hopes of NOT waking up in the morning and being overwhelmed with the things that are left. You know how it is when you take care of all the things that you can pigeonhole, categorize and group, and then you sit there looking at the rest of it thinking to yourself that you have no idea what to do with all the stuff that's left? That's where I'm at right now. That's why I'm quitting for the night, before I pull out ALL my hair.

3-ring binders actually make up a lot of the mess.... well, that, and the miscellanoes piles have gotten close enough that they look like one giant pile.

 

I really do k now what every single pile is. Wouldn't you?

 

To me, it's organized... to the casual observer, it's chaos in the making!

How funny is it that the one clean place in the whole room is the closet?

Still haven't moved my desktop back into the office now that the heater is fixed, because I've been waiting to get the office cleaned out. It'll probably be back in its home tomorrow.

Too cute to pass up..... wish I could hold MY foot and look comfortable sleeping!!!

Day 141: January 15, 2010

Quote of the Day: "I never think of the future - it comes soon enough." -Albert Einstein

I completely blew it yesterday on writing the blog. I know it, I admit it. And the really horrible part of that is that yesterday was our 15 year wedding anniversary!  I did get to tell Ron happy anniversary through email, over Yahoo messenger, and also on the phone, but that's beside the point.  I had this big plan to put "Happy Anniversary" on here in big, bold letters. I was going to take a trip down memory lane with everyone. Instead, things were so crazy yesterday that it didn't get done.

Tiger came home from the vet's office yesterday. It was so sweet, because the vet's assistant carried him out to me where I was waiting in the office, and I had just started taking him out of her hands when I said hello to him, and as soon as he heard my voice he started purring like crazy. I couldn't even leave the parking lot for an extra minute because he had to meet-and-greet me and give me forehead rubs.  He purred the whole time.  Ever since he got home he has been pretty much his same old self, with the exception of the fact that both the other cats are hissing and growling at him now, I guess because of the strange smells.  Tiny has actually been initiating fights with him, which had been going on since a little before Tiger got sick, but had stopped  when Tiger started to not feel good and did nothing but lay there.  I have read up on it, and having two male cats in the house usually ends up with fighting, not so much if they are fixed, but it will still happen.  And the vet told me that I have to keep his environment as stress-free as possible, because stress can lead to his bladder problems. Great... tell me that repeatedly fighting isn't stressful? I honestly think I'm going to have to get rid of Tiny if he keeps it up.  We'll see... when Mika stops hissing at Tiger I'll know that the vet smell has worn off of him, and if Tiny is still attacking him at that point, it's off to the animal shelter for him.

Last night, I went with my friend Sherrie to a craft group and made a Valentine's Day block.  It turned out okay, and was pretty cute. I'll actually be able to keep it up year-round, if I have a room with pink and brown in it. Or if I just feel like leaving it up even in  a room that it doesn't match.  It was a lot of fun, though, and I really wish that I could go to more of them, but since school starts up next week I know I'll be pressed for time to do anything.  I'm glad that I had fun with it, though.  But the problem is that I was so tired by the time I got home, and busy trying to separate the cats and feed the cats, that I forgot all about the blogging. 

Soooooo...... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY FOR YESTERDAY, RON!!!!

 
Hopefully this doesn't start happening more often now that I'm about to start school and get super-busy again.

Day 139: January 13th, 2010

Quote of the Day:  "Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans a fire." ~Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld, translated from French

I HAVE HEAT!!!!!!! Finally, the guy came this afternoon around 4 and fixed the heater. I was up in the attic with him while he did it, and if you've never seen what old heater coils look like, you'll have no idea what I am talking about when I say NO WONDER WE HAVEN'T HAD REAL GOOD HEAT!!!! The coils, which are essentially little springs, were deteriorating into dust they had been so burned up. One was completely disintegrated into small little pieces, and the other two were only a tad behind them.  Maybe having this fixed will not only allow the house to get warmer more efficiently, but also lower the electric bills because the heater won't be trying quite so hard to cool the house.  The guy did say that our unit is only supposed to heat and cool up to a 2000 square foot house, though. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but if he's correct we have a serious problem, because we're pushing three thousand square feet. THAT could be a problem as well. Maybe we should work on figuring out how to close off the bathrooms, and the office, and see if that will help any with the temps in the house?  Nah. Why bother. Too bad we didn't have that money that Cody spent on the cell phone bills, though, because he said that the home warranty people would pay to replace the unit and we would only have to pay whatever the cost is for bringing it up to present-day code.... which would only be around a thousand dollars. DANGIT!!!  Sigh. Oh, well. Lord knows it's going to break again, either the heat or the AC one...  this is the fourth time we've had it worked on since we bought the house... two years ago.  Cody and I are just happy as clams tonight, because we get to finally sleep in our own beds. HALLELUJAH!!!



I got to watch my show last night, finally. One of my absolute favorite love-to-hate characters is now deceased, and his wife was keeping him in the freezer! UGH!!! Not that I blame her for wanting to keep dear hubby around a little longer, but... eeew! How could you??? All in all, though, I suppose I should have watched the last few episodes of last season first, before watching this time, because I went through half the show trying to remember who did what and why this and that were happening, and all that. I had a hard time getting into it, but I'm sure a lot of that is sleep deprivation mixed with freezing my butt off for a week. Sigh. Maybe I'll have better luck on Sunday when I watch the next episode. I sure hope so, because I'd hate for it to go bad now, after three years straight of watching it.

Tiger is doing well at the vet's office.  She said that his urine is looking much better now, and she took the catheter out today.  She has to keep him overnight again just to make sure that he is able to urinate, and then he should come home tomorrow with his medications and the food she wants me to give him short-term.  I sure hope she has a list ready of all the can-and-cant's for us to feed him, because I don't want him to go through this again. We'll see what she recommends, though.  Oh, yeah... I asked her if she ran a BUN and Creatinine on him but she didn't because of the cost and she knew we were having a hard time of it right now.  She did, however, do a stick test and said it was within normal limits, so it looks like his kidneys weren't hurt too badly if at all. Still, better safe than sorry... looks like our spoiled kitties will be even more spoiled once we start feeding them the canned foods. Sigh... I really hate the way that stuff smells, too.  Not only going in, but also on the way out!!!!

GHETTO WAR-ZONE FRISBEE GOLF!!!

Updated House Images

It took forever to load all these pictures onto here, so I just left it uploading images overnight and got up this morning to finish the post.  I don't think I'll be putting any more images onto here, unless it's of the exterior because it IS very time consuming and Ron only wants images of the kitchen, master bath, and the living room. So, without further ado, here they are:

Here is the updated kitchen: I added a stone backsplash and did just a few small modifications, mostly to the island and the breakfast bar.

Looking into the kitchen from the living room.

The view of the kitchen from the breakfast nook.

The kitchen as if just entering it from the living room or the garage.

The master bedroom: I figured out how to do recessed ceilings on the program!

The view when entering the bedroom.

From the far corner, looking at the entry to the master bathroom.

A cutout view that shows the master closet. You enter the closet from the bathroom.

The master bathroom!

As seen when entering from the bedroom.  The black tile walls behind the tub are the walk-in shower.

The view when leaving the shower from the right-hand side, looking toward the toilet closet.

What you see when standing in the shower.  There is a sheet of glass in between the two pillars to protect the rest of the bathroom from the shower water.

The view when leaving the shower from the left-hand side, looking toward the master closet.

Another view of walking out of the shower on the right-hand side.

A cutout view of the master bathroom from the backyard.

A close-up of the shower area.

Well, that's it... hope they make sense to you! :)

Day 138: January 12, 2010

Quote of the Day: "Love is sharing all the wonderful things life has to offer with the person you care most about." – author unknown

I had to go to Vernon today to pick up my books for this semester, and I have to say that I was looking forward to it. If only just because it means that I'm one step closer to graduating!  Laurie and I were going to carpool together to save on gas, like we do during class times, so I met her at Kohl's to pick her up.  While I was there, wearing my "skinny jeans" that are now saggy on me, I thought "Why not see what size I am now?" So I picked out some jeans and went to the dressing room, where I proceeded to get a really great rush. I AM NOW A SIZE 5 IN JUNIORS!!!! I was like, "okay... maybe their sizing is different than it used to be. Let me try on some of the women's sizes in a different brand."  And guess what? I tried on a size 3 in women's... and it fit!!!! HOLY COW! I wanted to jump and scream right there in the middle of the store, but I didn't... I'm much too refined for that. I just walked around with this big, dumb goofy look on my face the whole rest of the time.

I called the vet this morning, and Tiger is doing much better today.  She said that he is more alert and drank some water, and that they were getting ready to give him some food and see how he does with it.  She also said that his urine is getting clearer, which is a good sign. I think I may be able to bring him home tomorrow if he's still doing as well tomorrow. HOORAY! Another reason to be happy about today. However, I am super, super tired today after all this not sleeping well the past five days, so it's hard to actually get excited about much of anything.  I think I'm giong to get the pictures ready of the house and upload them on here, then spend some time putting Ron's frisbee golf pictures into an album.  And after that, my show starts, so I'll be happily entertained after that!

Day 137: January 11, 2010

Quote of the Day: "We will either find a way or make one." - Hannibal

Tiger made it to the vet's office okay, but he is now hospitalized for the next two days so that the vet can insert a catheter to drain his bladder, which was completely blocked with crystallized minerals, otherwise known as bladder stones.  She said that the urine she was able to drain was full of blood, and that it is not a good sign because it indicates kidney damage. She's just not sure how bad the damage is, and told me to call in tomorrow and check up on him. She didn't sound very optimistic about it, but I got to thinking, and blood in his urine could also be caused by the crystals digging into his bladder wall, too. Only time will tell. I'm just glad because he made it through the night last night, and is now at the vet's office where he is being treated with something to help him with his pain. My poor baby!!!! Please, God, please help him recover and get through this and be back to his normal, happy-go-lucky self again!

Here's a picture I forgot to put on the blog the other night, yet ANOTHER time I caught the three of them all snuggled up... the group mentality thing at work. I'm almost having a mental flashback of a scene from "Without A Paddle"

Today has gone by so fast that I don't even know what happened to it. One minute I was waking up, and the next minute it's time to do the blog. I can't even remember what all I did today, which mostly means that I sat at the computer engrossed in my housebuilding.  I've been so busy making changes to it that I forgot to make more high-res screenshots, so here are the two I do have. I'm hoping to do a bunch tomorrow, because I think I figured out a way to get it to work faster. We'll see.

Another kitchen picture, but it's already outdated because I've made some changes... will post the new pictures when I can.  This is taken from the viewpoint where you have just walked through the door from the garage, or got up from the couch to go get a snack. This room will be VERY different in the next pictures, and I think MUCH BETTER!

Here is a cutaway view of the breakfast nook just off the kitchen. This is as if you were standing outside the house looking in. The kitchen is to the right.  Through the doorway is the living room area, and the back patio.

Once again, here's Tiny in front of his new favorite spot... anywhere the space heater is!

Day 136: January 10, 2010

Quote of the Day:  

"Ever absent, ever near; Still I see thee, still I hear;

Yet I cannot reach thee, dear!"  ~Francis Kazinczy

Hey, what do ya know... today is computer code!  01-10-10.  You know, the way all computer data is transferred using just zeros and ones. I know, just a weird random thought for the day's end. I can't help it, so I am just going to blame it on sleep deprivation. Can I do that? I don't see why not.

Today has been a really up and down sort of day.  Woke up to the freezing cold, bad.  Got to get the house cleaned up a little bit, good.  Sgt Guillory and his wife stopped by to drop off a Christmas present from the squadron, good.  Had just finished mopping the floor by the front entry with vinegar, bad.  Got a lot of very detailed work done on the kitchen in the houseplans, good.  But the most important and horrible occurrence of the day is Tiger, my favorite and most precious kitty. 

He is very, very sick, and that is the worst thing of the entire day. Even worse than having people come over and the house reeking of vinegar (which I find mortifying) and not having heat during the coldest part of the year.  I have been noticing that he has been taking more and more frequent trips to the litterbox over the last week or two, and have chalked it up to him "marking his territory" or something. No big deal, right? Well, last night when I went to change the litterbox I noticed all these little tiny spots of pinkish-orange urine on the tile in front of it.  Okay, so at that point I knew that one of the kitties was sick, but not WHICH kitty. Well, this morning Tiger is walking around real slow, in pain, crying out, growling, and the only time he can get any decent amount of pee out is when he lays down on his side on the tile and tries to pee.

I called the vet and left a message to have her contact me, but she never did answer me back. So I'm going to call up there first thing in the morning and take him in.  The poor thing can barely stand to move, and even though he is the most sweetest, most loveable cat I've ever seen in my entire life, he now growls when you try to pick him up. He is completely the opposite of his usual self. Poor little guy hasn't eaten or drank anything all day long that I've seen. And anyone who knows this cat, they know how rare an occurrence that is. Usually he's bullying the other cats away from the food dish and eating as often as five or six times a day. He's not a fat-cat-approaching-Garfield-status for nothing.  That boy LOVES to eat!  I am sooooo upset that he is in pain and there is nothing I can do about it!!!

Tomorrow morning can't come nearly fast enough for me, so that I can take him in to the vet and get him looked at. Maybe she can give him something to stop the pain. My heart is breaking just watching him go through this!  And all while having no heat, adding insult to injury. I'm trying to keep him comfortable, but I really doubt that anything is helping him at this point. All I can do is lay there and pet him and pray that he makes it through this. And you can tell that I'm upset about it, because tonight was the SEASON PREMIERE of my favorite show EVER, the show I've never missed an episode of... and I forgot all about it until after it was over! Come on 7am!!!

Day 135: January 9th, 2010

Quote of the Day:  [A] final comfort that is small, but not cold: The heart is the only broken instrument that works. ~T.E. Kalem

Man, I just can't get used to this! It's 2010! That's twenty-ten!

OHMYGOSHCANITHAVEBEENTHATLONG? Really?  And I just barely started to get used to writing '09 on paperwork and checks. Sigh... I guess I'll get used to it again, but hopefully a lot faster than I did last year. Or the year before. Although, I have to admit, a couple months ago I accidentally wrote '08.  I mean, seriously... does Alzheimer's hit in your thirties? Or is this an entirely different type of dementia?  I wonder if that is considered a handicap.

The guy came and looked at the heater today. It turns out that all the heat strips have gone bad.  And my worst fears have come true, because he doesn't have the part and has to order it. On Monday, because he didn't show up until three-thirty and the manufacturer closes at 11 on Saturdays.  He says he's going to try and order it to ship overnight, but that means the absolute soonest it can be fixed is Tuesday. HE says, anyways. If it's coming overnight, it will still be the afternoon before it's delivered, which probably means he'll come out and fix it on Wednesday. Sigh.  I ran out of firewood around 2pm, and turned on the little electric spaceheater we have. The room was 68 when I ran out of firewood, but now it's at 63 degrees in here, and it's supposed to get down to 14 tonight for a low.  Not a chance of the heater keeping up, not when the rest of the house is fricking freezing. I just hope the pipes don't freeze up. THAT would be so typical of my luck ever since Ron left!  But let's think for a second.... The air conditioner lost a condenser, the water heater caught on fire, various kid problems, and now the heater goes down... What else is there LEFT but the plumbing that could possibly have issues? Oh, wait... maybe I'd better not tempt fate and ask that question.

I did take the time to do my weight loss pictures this morning, which was no picnic at ALL with the house this cold.  I was pretty happy with my results so far, and am very happy that I have almost reached my goal.  And I have a whole two months before the love of my life is due to come home again! WOOHOO!!!!  Plenty of time to get all my muscles firmed up, right? If I do it right, anyways.  I'm going to have to sit down and write up a workout plan so that I can get started on it.  No sense putting it off, just in case I might need that extra time.  And it's going to get really hectic once school starts, too, so I'll have to really try hard to find the time, and fit it in around the monstrous study sessions we have to have.  And for the past two semesters we only had one class and a clinical to study for. THIS semester, we have TWO clinical days a week, and three classes! And then at the end of the semester, we'll have an additional clinical day, making THREE clinical days a week. Plus the extra studying for the HESI exam, the test we have to pass in order to graduate.  They've been pounding THAT one into our heads since the first day of the very first semester: NO pass, NO graduate. 

I'm going to be a busy, busy girl... I just hope I can keep my head above water!  I'm really glad that no one warned me about how bad nursing school really is BEFORE I was accepted, or I might have never even gotten started. I'd still just be doing some boring, dead-end job somewhere for poor man's wages. Not that I have a job right now, but at least after May I'll have the potential to GET a good job.  That's what's keeping me going through all this, the fact that there's an end in sight, and now it's within reach.

Preliminary House Pictures

Here are the pictures I managed to get this  monstrous program to create, in about 45 minutes per picture. Needless to say, they're going to be few and far between at THIS quality! Regular 3-D (not enhanced for realism) is much faster.

To start with... the floorplan as it currently is now...

Living Room, view 1

Living Room, view 2

Kitchen, view 1

Day 134: January 8, 2010

Quote of the Day: "Happiness is not a matter of events, it depends upon the tides of the mind." -Alice Meynell

Can you believe this? The damn heater is broken now! What ELSE could we possibly have go wrong while Ron is gone? I knew it was getting cold in the house lately, but since I had just adjusted the thermostat down to save money on the electricity I thought it was because of that.  But I turned the heat up last night before going to bed, and when I got up this morning it was 55 degrees in the house. 55!!!! And the heater was blowing full force! So I got up onto a chair and stuck my hand next to a vent, and the air coming out was ice cold. As in REAL cold. Go figure. So I lit a fire, hung a sheet over the living room door, and moved my desktop and laptop into the living room and have been in here ever since. And ran the self-clean feature on the oven. And did some laundry.  I now have proof that we desperately need new windows asap, though... I could stand in the middle of every room in the house and feel a cold breeze on me, with the air completely off and no ceiling fans going.  These windows are useless, which is why our electric bills are so outrageous here. 

I called the heater in to our home warranty program, but everyone was booked for today, so tomorrow is the earliest that anyone can come out to fix it. I'm really hoping it's something  they don't have to order a part for, or anything, because it is flipping COLD.  Of course it had to break during the absolute coldest days of the year. Go figure, again.  Oh, but it does do ONE good thing... it makes it to where I was able to take the picture of the three kitties all bundled up together on a blanket on the couch. A sight you very rarely see.

As a result of my seclusion, I've gotten a lot done on the computer program. I think it's turning out really well, but then again... I've had to try a lot harder because of the fact that my fingers were getting so cold that they didn't really want to work. It's turning out really great, if you ask me. I'm saving my favorite part of the house for later, but in a few minutes I will post some pictures of what I have done so far. They will be of the great room, kitchen, and dining area. The program doesn't have the best choices for materials or furniture, but it's enough to give you a general idea of the place, right? Who knows, maybe someday I can see it or something similar with real furniture in it... something in my own taste, perhaps!

Tomorrow my whole plan is to wait for the people who are going to come and fix my heater. I'm going to have to keep putting wood on the fire tonight if I want it to stay warm in this room, so I don't know how much sleep I'll actually get tonight. Unless I just let it go and try to play catch-up in the morning. I am really tired, so I'm not sure that I'm willing to get up every hour and put more wood on... I think if I just try and put a couple of big logs on there I may be able to stretch it out a little bit. Maybe? I sure hope so, because I am really, really tired from staying up super late the past couple nights at the computer. I'll have to set an alarm to even get up, as a matter of fact. It's not good for my weight loss to not sleep, either, because every time I start to get a messed up sleep pattern my weight loss plateaus. Sigh.  Oh, well, I'm still getting there, even with all the setbacks. Just have to learn some more patience.  And tomorrow is picture day... that should be interesting with all this cold air in here! EVERYONE wants to be in a bikini in this cold, right? :)

Look who decided to go lay in front of the fireplace for warmth!

Day 133: January 7, 2010

Quote of the Day: "We only part to meet again." ~John Gay

What a darn cold day!!! BRR!!! My house has been staying between 59 and 61 degrees.  The boys were complaining tonight about being cold and their "hands being frozen", so I turned the heater up to 70.  And it's still cold as heck in here! It just will not get warm. Then again, I only turned it up an hour ago. I should have lit a fire, but no one was in the living room, and I've been cooped up in my office on the desktop working with my home design program.  What's really funny is that yesterday, when I installed the program, I kept getting mad at myself wondering how I could have forgotten how to do all the really cool options and such that I know are in the program somewhere, but could not find them under any of the tabs.  So today, as I'm trying to do a curved wall, it hits me.... I installed the Old-Old version, and not my New-Old version!  What a dunce!!! Oh, well... installed the new-old version and have been going at it like a pro ever since.  It's a great program, and it makes it so easy to plan things out.  It's the one we used when we built our add-on to the Westwood house to plan out the add-on.  It lets you figure out where to put doors, windows, floor joists... you're basically building a house from the ground up, including plumbing, electric, A/C, water heaters, and anything you can imagine. I LOVE IT!!!! And it's highly addicting, so time passes almost without your even realizing it!

Ron sent me some pictures of some house designs to put into the program and see how they turn out, which is what I have been working on for the last two days. It's really great how well he can draw using Paint, because me personally... I have never been able to make it do some of the great things he does with it. He's like a pro... it's sickening! LOL  Anyways, here are his house drawings for future reference...

I'm still working on the first house, and haven't even started on the second one yet.  The hard part is that I have to try and get everything to work out so that they will look good as a flat-roof adobe-style house, which is what we have been talking about.  That means figuring out what wall heights will work where, and all SORTS of stuff! UGH! I made some changes to it, so that's why it's taking so long. But in the grand scheme of things, I think they're good changes.  Tomorrow I'm going to put some living room/kitchen pictures on here to get started. I should be able to put some more on there once I get some more rooms a little more done. I haven't added very much to it yet, but you'll get the idea.

I'm hoping the house doesn't get TOO cold overnight, but we'll see. Even cranking the heat up didn't help, the house is still at 60 degrees, three hours after I turned it up. So.... on with the electric blanket! The mornings are awful when it comes time to weigh myself now, I absolutely hate it.  But it's a necessary evil, and sometimes my weight is even down, which makes it worthwhile!  HA! HA! HA!  Anyways, I'm going to do just a little more on the computer, and then it's off to bed I go.

Day 132: January 6, 2010

Quote of the Day: "I need a hug from you – and only the way you can give it." – Gayle Lapekas

I guess I'd better sit down and write the blog, because it's almost eleven and I didn't even realize it. That's okay, though, that's what I have my dearest hubby for... to email and ask me if I'm still up or whether I forgot the blog again.  Gee, am I getting a reputation here, or is it just me? HAHAHA  Nah, it's all good... I know he just misses picking on me on my everyday blond moments. Like tonight, I left my car keys on the counter at the 7-11 without realizing it, and had to go back in and get them- after searching all my pockets and my  purse... three times.  You just can't get more entertaining than ME, let me tell you.  And if I'm not doing something really stupid, then I'm getting all tongue-tied because my mouth can't move as fast as my brain thinks, so there's always that to laugh at.  I guess I'm just a barrel of fun!

I got myself all wrapped up in my 3-D home design program making this house that Ron drew up. It's a very time-consuming  project, so it's really good on the days when you are super-bored and have nothing to do.  Unfortunately, though, I think it measures square footage wrong or something, because it keeps saying that the house is over 5,000 sq feet, not even including the basement. Ron said he estimated it should be right around 3,000. So I have no idea what else I can do to fix it, but I'm going to keep trying.  If I can't fix it, it can't be fixed. Or I'll just ask Ron for help. What can I say, it keeps me sane.


Both the kids are home tonight, amazingly. Which is good, because they're expecting us to have a low of 13 tonight, and I don't want to have to worry about where Damien is and what he's doing, whether he has eaten anything, is warm, etc.  He'll be right here where the house may not be as warm as I'd like it to be, but he has a roof over his head, his own bed, and lots and lots of blankets. FINALLY, I might sleep good tonight! HAHAHA  Cody went straight to Josh's house today after school so that he could go to church tonight, then I had to go pick him up at 9, and of course he came straight home and raided the fridge.  He has some chocolate pudding in there that he decided he wanted to buy with his birthday money, so he has been eating it a little here and there. I've warned him several times not to eat so much that he makes himself sick, so we'll see what happens.  It was a BIG can of it, too... one of those restaurant size cans... should take a normal person a month to eat. I give it less than a week!