I GOT A B!

A B in my stats class! BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not the efe menos I was desperately fearing (maybe desperately is too strong a word here but still) but a B!!!!!!

And it's all thanks to that wonderful husband of mine. Love you!

Good news for Ohio!!!

This is so freaking awesome for those of us stuck in, I mean, who live in, Ohio. Good news (for the most part) all around. Keep your fingers crossed for the race between Dr. Vic Wulsin and that crazy bee-och (whose name I can barely force myself to type here) Je@n Schm!dt.

Resignation

Well, there you have it. And I am breaking my "no-blogging-at-work" rule. Because, hey, it's 8:15 on a Saturday morning and here I sit since 7:30 doing work so nanny-nanny-boo-boo.

Anyway, I turned in my resignation on Wednesday and let's just say the rest of this week hasn't been so great. I didn't expect to feel so emotional about it. I didn't expect to feel this sad. I didn't expect that I would second-guess myself and my career goals. And, yet, here I am feeling all of those things. I've been so excited about this since I made the decision that I want to go to nursing school and have felt so sure all this time. And now I find myself thinking "Is this the right thing to do? What if I suck at it? What if we go broke in the process? What the HELL have I just done?!?!" So, this moment that I thought would be so satisfying and wonderful...feels anything but.

No more making fun...

Of fantasy football. Long have I openly mocked fantasy football and now...I must stop. Well, at least for a little while.

See, Michael is the "Commissioner" of his very own FF league and I have been mercilous in my disdain for it. Until last night. I was stuck at the office on a Saturday afternoon desperately trying to format an excel sheet for a meeting on Monday morning and it looked like it was going to take hours upon hours to get through. So I called Michael and asked him to meet me at my office and see if he could help me out with my spreadsheet and he came and worked a little magic and , voila!, saved me hours of work with just a few key strokes. That husband of mine is brilliant, I tell you.

Later on in the evening when I am singing Michael's praises for saving me hours and hours of work he tells me "You know that function I used? I learned how to do it when I put together the draft pick program for fantasy football." Stunned silence ensued followed by me yelling about how upset I am that I can never make fun of FF again because it totally saved my ass! Now what will I have to make fun of? #$)(%$*%^)$(%&_)%$(%^_!!!!!

Oh, the irony! The irony!

Brace Face

Well, here I am...staring down my 29th birthday...and instead I feel like I'm just prolonging my teenage years because I chose NOW to get braces. What the hell was I thinking? I had them tightened for the first time 2 weeks ago and it seems that the remaining year and a half of treatment is going to take FOREVER. For. Ever.

And they're so inconvenient. Yeah, I know that this is going to be so worth it when I'm done but in the meantime, what a pain in the ass. Or, rather, pain in the mouth. So, I've pretty much given up on eating salad because I have to cut it up in teeny little bits and then it gets stuck in my braces. And I'm not even about to touch pesto unless I am eating it in the privacy of my own home. Alone. Everything I eat gets stuck somewhere in my braces. And I think I might have to cut up all my food for the rest of my life. I can't eat anything by just biting into it--no, I have to have a fork and freaking knife at every meal. Well, except breakfast but only if I eat oatmeal. It isn't so bad that I have to cut up my oatmeal.

Even still, I am compusively checking my teeth for food bits and/or running to the bathroom to brush all day long. I probably only work 7 hours out of 8-9 a day because I spend so much time in the bathroom with my toothbrush. I know I shouldn't complain but these things are a pain! I feel like a giant dork all the time and I can tell when people are trying to decide if, yes, that woman is wearing braces. Yes! Yes I am, dammit! Now stop staring at me!

Life Recap Part 2

Let's see...where were we when I last posted...? Anyway, Michael and I took our long-awaited honeymoon (okay, it was only 6 months post-wedding) to CA and had a great time. Someday we'll upload the photos and I'll be sure to post a link. We had a great time and my only complaint is that we couldn't stay longer than a week. Before we left we started a list of other things we want to see next time we're in CA and hopefully that will be sometime in the near future.

Did I mention I just got my very own laptop? I am using it right now and I LOVE it! It's my very first laptop and you cannot imagine how excited I am! Whee!

But I digress. So, what else have I been up to? Well, we took a short trip to Lanky-town for July 4th weekend. We got to see BANG! and Joel and see the fireworks at L0ng's Park. I still cannot believe that they played the 1812 Overture and did the cannons BEFORE the fireworks. That was part of the reason for coming the Lancaster!!!!! There are fireworks in Dayton, folks. No need to drive 8.5 hours to go see them in another state. Anyway, we got to see Gwen, too, and Mrs. P. and we got to show off Asia. Isn't she pretty? Thanks to BANG for taking such awesome shots of my new baby!

And, other than that, this summer has been spent working way too damned much and finally making the decision to go to nursing school. It took me a while to get there but now that I've made my decision and I've already started the process by taking one prereq. this fall, I feel much better about things. I like knowing that I only have to be at this job for a few more months before I can start working toward my new goal. It is a shame that this job that I was so excited to take has been such an abysmal and heartbreaking experience. But, the silver lining to all of this is that it forced me to think about what I want to do next and I know that was a good thing. And this going back to school thing? God, it makes me feel old. The class I'm in now is all freshman except me. I was hoping there would be some older students there who were in the MBA program or something but not so much. It's just me and 40 students who are 10 years my junior. Weird.

So that's about all there is to share at the moment. I'm counting down the days until I can quit this job and hoping to see all of you at Thanksgiving (I think we're coming to Lanky-town but haven't figured out the logistics yet). 3 months and 19 days to go!

Life Recap...

So, I realize it has been ages since I wrote a decent entry and I'm sorry I suck.

Now that that's out of the way, let's begin:

• Bathroom remodeling insanity is all but over. Our contractor is coming over to install the kickplate/register cover thingy and we're still waiting on the shelves we ordered for the bathtub to come in so the tile guys can install them and then seal all the tile. I will post a picture as soon as I upload them to the computer. At least we don't make the final payment to the contractor until everything is finished and we are happy with the final product. I say we should drag this out as long as possible! Just kidding. I am just tired of people being in my house and making a big mess everywhere.
• Work sucks ass. Seriously. But some things are getting better while this whole fundraising event that is planned for next week is dragging me into the 9th level of hell. Why don't people bother to send back RSVPs anymore? Is it that fucking hard? You say "Yes, I'm coming" and write a check or your credit card number on the card or you say "No, I am unable to attend." And, you know what? You don't even have to write anything! You check a little box! And then you slide the card into the envelope and you stick a stamp on it and mail it! Why is this so hard?!?! I swear I'm getting more gray hair by the day. I have 100 RSVPs and the event is 10 days away! I need to see 175 to 200 RSVPs for this event. I hate everyone. Blarg. I HATE, HATE, HATE events planning! HATE IT! I want to kill myself it's that horrible.
• Okay, the good news is that I'm making some real headway on the whole grad school thing and I'm leaning toward nursing school. I haven't made any decisions yet but I plan to do some more research after I'm done with this godforsaken event! Stay tuned for updates.
• Let's see...well, Asia is doing really well. She's been living with us for 2 months now and has lost about 6-7 lbs and a TON of fur. All I can say is thank goodness we bought a Dys0n. Asia's definitely a different dog now than when we brought her home. She has shown more interest in play, enjoys getting us up before the alarm goes off at 6 am and tries to eat birds. Okay, she only tried to eat a bird once and that was today. And she almost got to eat it but somehow Michael got her to drop it. Anyway, she's very sweet and has learned to sit, stay and come. She isn't always consistent about it but I know she knows what those commands mean. Even though not a day goes by that I don't miss Shana, Asia has been a wonderful addition to our family and I can't imagine life without her.
• What else? Michael and I have been married for 6 months and we couldn't be happier. With each other, that is. I wouldn't mind winning the lottery and quitting my job but that's a topic for another time.

So, that's pretty much it. It's not very exciting but that's all I've got for the moment. I promise to post "after" pictures of the bathroom and in a couple of weeks I'll have pictures from our honeymoon (finally, a real honeymoon!) in C@lifornia. Stay tuned!

The bad blogger...

Yep. That's me. And I'm not even going to apologize for it. Why? Because it's already past my bedtime and I need to get up at 6 am. I *promise* to post something this weekend. Hopefully there will be pictures of the finished bathroom renovation from hell to share with you. Whee!

Feeling conflicted...

So, here I am, about to do some work from home and instead I'll blog about how conflicted I feel about my employer. Said employer shall remain nameless as I cannot afford to be "dooced" what with $18,000 in a home equity line of credit hanging over our heads.

My problem is that I work for an organization that is uber-feminist and is all about helping people make good decisions about their sexual health and whether and when to bring children into this world. In practice, my particular agency is the exact opposite. We do help the people we serve in the ways I mentioned above, but the company treats those of us who work there like shit. SHIT. Seriously. I think the fact that I wanted this job so badly makes it feel so much worse that we're treated with so little respect.

So, yeah, I realize that the world of work is hard and there isn't a single company out there that doesn't suffer from at least one of the following: assholes, bureaucracy, lack of leadership, lack of communitcation, etc. My agency happens to suffer from all of the above. And I'm not in a position to quit my job and take another. For one thing, I couldn't leave before executing the special events that are planned for the next couple of months. And I know my work is important. I like my job and hate the people who run the company. The job market here is total crap. For anyone following the news about Gm and Delph!, both of those companies have plants here and have already done massive lay-offs. I know autoworkers will hardly be competing for the same type of jobs I might look for but still.... But this job is taking a toll on my health and my well-being and affects my relationships with those around me. It's really unfortunate. To make matters worse, my agency is needed by the American public now more than ever. As the states continue to introduce and pass legislation infringing on a woman's right to privacy, the work we do become all the more important.

So what to do? The bright spot in all of this is that we're about to get a new executive director. The current one is retiring and I've been hearing some good things about the final candidates. I don't want to have to leave this job but if things don't get better soon, I'll have to start looking. Is it too much to ask for a job you enjoy with leadership you can trust and provides good health insurance benefits?

This is the "after" picture. For the next two weeks, we will be showering at the gym or at my in-laws' house.

I realized that I did not take pictures of the finished product. I'll post one soon.

In the meantime, here is a "before" picture of our existing bathroom. The one and only place to bathe ourselves.

It looks like a bathroom...except, um, without the fixtures.

About a third of the way there!

Stupid fcking blogger....

5 and a half days without a bathtub or shower...

As promised, here are some pictures of the bathroom renovations:

This is the "before" pitcure of the half bath we installed. And by we, I mean our contractors. We're very happy with them:>

The Internets...

Never fail to surprise me. I found this the other day. Now, let me tell you how I found this (and it was totally by accident).

Michael and I were looking online for a corner medicine cabinet that had a built-in light. And I'm on the L0wesDep0t website and and the link to their bidet selection caught my eye. Don't ask me why, but it did. So I thought I would check it out. The only house I've ever been in that had one is...well, I'm sure you know whose house had the bidet. Anyway, since bidets aren't all that common - at least not in the places where I hang out on a regular basis - I decided to do a web search of bidets. And the first link I found was, well, the Poop Report. And, hell, it's just fun to say "Poop Report." Hee. I said poop. Check it out--I think you'll like it.

Breakin' the law...

Well, not really but I haven't been blogging while at work because big brother, I mean my employer, is watching. But today I say fuck it. I will be brief, however, because I really do need to do work while at work.

Thanks to all of you for your kind words and support as we go through the grieving process. You know, it's odd....I've identified myself as a crazy dog lady for so long now and I feel like I've lost that part of myself when Shana died. I mean, mentally I'm still a crazy dog lady but in actuality I'm not anymore. That's hard. Admittedly I've been lurking here. We're not ready yet for another dog but maybe we will be in a couple of months.

Other than that, they've started construction on our soon-to-be half bath on the first floor. They've already torn out the stairs and tile and today the plumber is coming to do whatever it is he needs to do. Probably something gross like installing the pipe for the toilet. I'll post some pictures shortly. Until then...

To My Sweet Baby Girl:

I remember the day I brought you home from the Humane League as a 3-month-old puppy and every time you sat down on the carpet I made you stand up because I couldn't tell if you were about to pee on the floor or just sitting.

I remember coming home from Thanksgiving at the G House to find that you had stolen the remnants of our turkey and to this day I still wonder how you were able to reach it.

I remember worrying that you wouldn't graduate from obedience school because you hated going through the obstacle course.

I remember how much you liked to chase squirrels in the backyard and would always get your lead tangled up in the bushes.

I remember sharing my bed with you and falling asleep with my arm around you with my face burried in your fur.

I remember how you loved to go for walks--especially at L's Park because you liked to mooch the bread we had brought to feed the ducks.

I remember how you liked to chase the cats that lived at the vet's office.

I remember how much I loved to come home from work to find you waiting at the door for me.

I remember how much you loved treats and that time you almost took the vet's fingers off in your effort to take the treat he offered you.

I remember every single time I had to call the animal poison control line and/or go to the emergency vet because you ate something you shouldn't have.

I remember how you were always there for me through all the good and bad times.

I remember that you stayed by my side the entire week I slept on the couch after my sinus surgery.

I remember what a good girl you were and all the joy you brought into my life in the last 10 and a half years. Having you in my life has been one of the most rewarding, difficult, fun, wonderful and amazing things I've ever experienced. You will be dearly missed.