If it feels good, it's worth it.

This past week has really taken it outta me.
I haven't cleaned.
I haven't dared cooking.
Nothing.
Just work, pot, knit/embroider, sleep. Eating sometimes.

But then came Saturday. A perfectly relaxing Saturday with Mike and the dog. Took her for a walk. Got gelatto (Budgie really liked the Green Apple I chose) and had a beer. She was a little lady all day, very rare. She didn't jump on people, didn't chase anything. Perfect. I was very happy. Now if we could just get her to act this way at home. She's really good, don't get me wrong. She sits when told to, lets us know when she needs to potty, plays nicely with the kitties, amuses herself with toys and bimples, sleeps a lot, etc... She just gets so damned excited when people come over. After a few jumps and a few minutes of showing off she usually just accepts that they're there. She's still a puppy, I know. She WILL grow out of it, but only if we are consistent with her training. She's learning her "lifetime" behaviors right now. No biting, jumping or chasing. Wait at the curb and sit until it's time to go. No eating the cat food. No chewing on things other than treats, toys and chewies.

All good doggy behaviors.

Oh, and she's getting her big girl teeth. She has all of her incisors on the bottom and the two middle incisors on top. No big girl canines yet, but we can see her molars in the back cutting through. And you'll have to excuse the poor quality of photography in the toothy shot, as it is very hard to take a picture of a 4 1/2 month old puppy's underbite without the shot being out of focus. She's embarassed of her underbite I think.

I bought myself another cheesy cross stitch kit. My house is going to be so granny chic. Just you wait.

* the last three days of work have been 12 hour days.
* the new girl at work, we'll call her baby mama drama, BMD for short, couldn't work today.
* yesterday BMD:
1. was late getting to work. her "bus broke down."
2. left for lunch before I did, which isn't the way it works. I get there at 7,
I go to lunch at 12. She is scheduled in at 8 and she was supposed to go to lunch at 1.
3. had to leave at 4 (supposed to work until 5)to "prepare for her case." Bitch please,
I worked Monday BY MYSELF. FOR 12 HOURS. If you leave at 4 today, that means I'll have to
be here until close. AGAIN. BMD said: "Oh, I hope my schedule isn't interferring with yours.
To which I responded: "Actually it is. I leave at 4. Your leaving early is forcing me to stay
and close. That's a 12 hour shift." To which BMD responds: "Oh, and I won't be here tomorrow
either. I have a child support hearing tomorrow." Great. That means...

Three 12 hour days in a row. I don't get a day off until Sunday. I will probably have to work 12 hour days the rest of this week. Dr. N (the awesome one) told me today that I need to sit down with BMD and figure our schedules out. I told her mine is already figured out, 7-4 Mon-Fri with occasional Saturdays resulting in a half day during the week of said Saturday to prevent overtime. She totally agreed with me and understands how taxing these past few days have been on me and told me that she, BMD, should be the one working around my schedule and that it's her new job, not mine, and she needs to work accordingly. I love Dr. N. She is an awesome woman. (She's married to a band teacher! Loves it.)

I found a dead bat in my back yard. I hope the neighbor cat didn't chew on it. They can carry rabies, you know.

I'm super stoned, super exhausted, over-worked and dead-dog tired. (excuse the pun)

*above, pictured: yours truly at 19 years of age. Providence, RI.

A lot has happened recently and I've neglected to update. Budgie is still getting bigger by the day. She's learning the rules nicely and I can't wait until she's all big-girl and grown up. (Pictured to the right, Lucy our friend's daughter and Budgie).

I've also started embroidering and cross stitching. Below, my first attempt at X-stitching. It's tiny and simple, but fun and a cute birthday present.

Ever hear that story about the guy that never bathed? The way I heard it was that this guy in the early 1900's or so worked in a coal mine or something and came home every day covered in soot, grime, sweat and dirt. The man never bathed. He refused. He never got sick. Ever. Then I guess in his old age and senility, he decided to bathe. There were inches and inches of dirt and it took several baths to get it all off. The old man died a day later of exposure and illness.

That is how I felt just now. I haven't had the chance to shower in forever. New puppy, work, life. It just didn't happen. Oh yeah, our gas was shut off for a few days, so that helped. I did wash my hair about a week ago in ice cold water. But that doesn't count.

Today? Today counted. Hot hot hot shower with tons of good smelling shampoo. Thourough face cleaning and exfoliating. The works. I believe shaving was involved. I feel like a new woman. A some-what disgusted new woman, but new none the less.

Remember that kid in your highschool that wore a helmet? You knew they needed it, but weren't quite sure why. That's how I felt about Budgie yesterday. I felt like she was one step away from going to special-pup class on the special-pup short bus.

Budgie's big day started at Bull Creek. Jeremey, Dalyce, Mike, myself, Budgie, Smudgie and Gilbert thought it was too pretty a day to just sit at home, so we went to the creek. Gilbert and Smudge knew where we were going and barked happily all the way there. Budgie slept. We got there and Gilbert and Smudgie were allowed to run around without a leash, being there before and all, but Budgie had to stay on hers. Hence, kid in helmet. She was THE ONLY dog there on a leash.

And here's why... (1.) she hasn't had all her shots yet, including rabies and we didn't want to risk a not-so-nice encounter with another dog (2.) she had never been there and doesn't quite know her name well enough to trust her coming when we call her and (3.) she's never had contact with other pups/big dogs and I didn't know what to expect. She still got soaked and played in the water and with the other puppies. Just at mommy's pace. And under control.

Later that night we went to our friends' house for a BBQ. They recently adopted a blue heeler/austrailian shepherd mix.
Crickett is about the same size as Budgie and the
same age so we thought they should meet.
Budgie thought it was pretty cool to jump and bark at Crickett, but she didn't find it so amusing. I kept Budge on her leash until Crickett initiated the playtime and it went "swimmingly" from there. I loved seeing her play with another puppy and run full speed around their yard. It was great. Luckily my camera decided it didn't want to work, so no pics of that unfortunately. Maybe next time.

Well, I'm not going back to Holland after all. I had it all planned out, I would work part-time at both places until they found a new technician at the vet hospital. The second half of the day would be spent at Holland. I guess my current boss didn't like this idea...

Yesterday Dr. B called Dr. N and asked her about me. I told her earlier that day if he offered me a raise I would stay. Dr. B came in (on his day off), took me to lunch, told me what a great job I've been doing and how he really didn't want to see me leave. He also told me that my least favorite person at the clinic was "not going to have her job for long." He proceeded to ask me how much it would take to make me want to stay. I told him the truth, that I'm having trouble making ends meet and paying for gas at the same time. He offered me a $.75/hr raise and I couldn't say no.

I really do enjoy working in the photographic field, but if it comes down to choosing between getting cheap developing and paying my bills, well, I'm going to pay my bills AND have extra to do whatever. Like get my frosty little friends out of their buttery hiding hole.

So, I'm staying at the clinic. And I'm ok with it. Actually a bit relieved about it. I never knew what they thought of me and now I know they like the way I work and really want me to be there. That's really important to me. I'm not going to spend 9+ hours a day somewhere I'm not appreciated.

I put in my two weeks notice today. It was a little sad, and I guess pretty unexpected, but far in coming. I've had my foot out the door there once I realized it was a pretty not-good place to work.

Working with animals definitely has it's highlights. For example, the stray pitbull found in one our client's front yards that had a badly broken leg that he had picked up by animal control. In hindsight, the owner realized that that probably wasn't the best of ideas, her being a pitbull and all. They have about 1 day in the shelter before they are euthanized. It's really sad. But I digress. He called the shelter and "Stray" was delivered to us, covered in poop, not walking and miserable. Vomitting, explosive diarrhea, and a five day old compound fracture in her hind leg. Not to mention she was severely emaciated. Girlfriend needed some cornbread.

After working a hellacious 11 hour day ending with her leg surgery, we got pretty close. I mean, I actually drilled the pin into her bone. Me. A technician. I did it. After the doctor couldn't. Three-times-in-a-row couldn't. I had to stay late that Saturday to cut off her cast and re-wrap because it was soaked in urine. She had a small hairline fracture in her pelvis that hadn't quite started to mend itself. Things weren't looking good for her.

Yesterday, she walked down the hall wagging her tail towards me. My heart melted. She's doing great now. Amazingly great. Her owner is coming to take her home with him. He's in love, too. This is the happy, waggy, lovely ending I was hoping for. It's really too bad that this doesn't happen more often.

But, I'm leaving this animal hospital to work at something altogether inspiring and fufilling and $.50 less than I'm making now. I finally got my foot back into Holland Photo's door. The old owner decided that he was done, sold the business to Austin Prints for Publication and is going to retire. Finally. I was pretty close with two of the old employees there and they told the new owner about me and he called to offer me a job. How can I pass that up? I have rolls of film in my fridge that are months old. Rolls that I've forgotten where they were shot, what's on them, who's hanging out. I know two of them are from Mike's first two shows. Those I know. But they are mixed into all the shivering little rolls of black and white, hiding behind that spring loaded butter compartment door, waiting to see the light of day. (Not really though, that's film suicide.)

I start on Saturday. They aren't technically open as "the new Holland" yet and I get to help with the remodel. I GET TO BUILD THINGS!!!!

I gave my current boss my letter of resignation today, he read it, then had nothing to say. I don't know what to do about that. I hate quitting jobs. I hate feeling like I'm going to screw them. But, I have to do what's right for me. I have to do what's going to make ME happy. Right?

**Pictured: "Natasha" Norman. Our friends' mutt. She's gorgeous.

Last Sunday we adopted Budgie from Blue Dog Rescue. Someone didn't want her? C'mon. Look at that face!

Budgie is a 13wk old Boston Terrier/Pitbull Mix. She only weighs about 12lbs now but the doctors seem to think she'll be about 35-40. I want her to get big, Mike does not. He likes little dogs, and I think this is hilarious. Big guys and little dogs. That's cute.

She's doing pretty good in the potty-training department. (she's had like 4 accidents) The cats love her, what more could a mommy ask for?

Now, as a long time user of livejournal, I've come across people's personal blogs. They seem so much more...personal. No ugly baby ratings, no meme's, no "which OC character are you" things. This is mine. I will try to stay current with it and try not to bore you in the process.

I'm mainly using this as a means to motivate me to knit more. I've done my share of scarves and hats. I've made the baby blanket. I even started a sweater. We'll see if that'll ever surface. But the thing that I'm really excited about? Toys. And quilts. I'm really into quilts.


It is yet to be seen whether this will just be a knitting blog or if I dare delve into my boring daily routine and frequent use of marijuana. (hey I'm being honest here.) If any of this bothers you, move along. And quietly.

So, here goes nothin'.