Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Tender Moment

One thing that touched my heart through the whole thing was the tenderness of the staff at the vet. They had to put a catheter/IV in for the drugs and it was wrapped with that sticky, stretchy tape...it had a heart on it. They also made an imprint of Frankie's paw in some clay for us. I wasn't expecting that at all, it will be a nice momento to treasure.
By far, the sweetest thing was this: After the process was over they allowed us to have some alone time with Frankie. We cuddled and loved him for a few minutes and then called the nurse to come get him. The nurse who came in (who was a guy in his late 20's) gently took him from my arms and then kissed Frank on the top of the head. Gets me all teary just thinking about it.

Monday, September 28, 2009

I will remember you

Our sweet little Frank passed from this life late this evening. He was deteriorating so quickly, and we knew he was suffering. We chose to have him put to sleep, and I can honestly say that was the HARDEST decision of my life.
Nathan was gone the majority of today on a gig and I took the opportunity to spend the day with Frank; snuggling, napping...getting in every last second I could. As the the day wound to a close I knew what was coming and my heart started to ache.
The staff at the vet were fantastic. They were so understanding and supportive. They made a sweet little paw impression for us.
I count myself lucky that I got the last two days to spend with him and make sure he knew he was loved. I got a chance to say goodbye.
Thank you for all of the prayers offered on his behalf.




Saturday, September 26, 2009

I need your help

I know it seems as though as of late I have been asking for that a lot. Today has been a bad day and it is only 2 in the afternoon. Many tears have already been shed.

Our little Frank is very sick. The vet believes it to be renal failure (which is odd considering that he is only two years old). We are treating him aggressively over the weekend and hoping for improvement by our appointment on Tuesday. If he doesn't show any improvement, he will never get better. We will then be forced to make the choice that every pet lover dreads.

I know there are those of you who have pets and understand just how much a part of your family they are. Our fur kids are our kids. In the absence of children these sweet little guys have filled the holes in our hearts left by that aching desire. They have shared good times with us and have cuddled us through the bad.

I know there is a God, and that He does hear our prayers. I am asking that any of you who have faith in a supreme being, please pray for us. Pray that our Frankie will get well. His chances are very slim so we need all the divine intervention we can get on this. I know it seems trivial to pray for an animal, but I just don't think...no...I KNOW that I cannot lose another baby. We've lost two kitties already, along with our three human babies. My heart is just not strong enough to take it.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Mood lifter

I have been in a bit of a funk since Sunday and I just couldn't lift it. Then I got an email from a friend, laughed and decided to check out a website. Fundamentally I understand it is wrong for me to find the images on this site as funny, er, no, hilarious. HILARIOUS I TELL YOU. To make myself feel better, I am passing the website along to you. So you can laugh at others too.

Ready for it?




Are you??



Ok, it is People of Walmart. The premise behind the site is that you get (er, sneak?) pics of people/cars at Walmart that transcend into the realm of ODD and send them to the site and they are posted for all the world to laugh at, er, I mean see.

Those of you who have shopped at Wally World have probably noticed that among the ranks of 'normal' humans searching for the best deal on mayo and diapers there is the occasional, um...ABNORMAL one. (Is that PC?) Not a Walmart shopper? Let me illustrate by showing you a few of my faves:

(Pink pants? check Green jacket? check Cowboy boots? check...oh, and ya, it's a dude)

(Yes, that is a flashlight being used as a headlight)

(Funny story...I did this to my mom once. She was shopping at Mervyns and had me and all three boys with her. The twins were 5 months old and crammed together in the front seat of a double stroller. Mitch was 18 months old and in the back seat of the stroller. I was 3 and leashed. I apparently thought it would be funny to get on all fours and act like a dog. Complete with barking. Yep. Barking. My poor mother)

Monday, September 14, 2009

More creative genious-ness

We got this cute little thing a few years back from a friend of Nathan's. I like having it in the house, but I phased out the lighthouses a while back so I wanted to re-hab it.

First thing I did was beat it up. With a wrench. Then a screwdriver. Seriously. It felt so good to whack at it for a while. I don't have a problem, I swear. :)

Then I sanded it so the paint would stick and I painted it with a brownish-greensih color and let it dry. Then I took a light avocado green and painted over all the nicks...then wiped off the excess.

The masterpiece:

Ok, I don't love it yet...what is it missing....hmm...Oh, I know. One little star painted the color Metallic Champagne!


(I swear it is centered and straight...come on, you know my OCD could NEVER EVER leave it if alone it wasn't...the beautiful shadows are skewing it to make it look crooked. I'm not obsessed. Really)
Do you love it?

More Mosaic-ing

(To see my other mosaic table go HERE

We were in desperate need of some table of some sort for our entryway...you know, something for wallets, etc. I found this stool at Goodwill for a whopping $3.99. Big Spender. (Oh, I felt like sharing the greatness of my Goodwill so I introduced my friends Sara and Nadia...who will now undoubtedly be Goodwill Addicts too... to it. You know you're my true friend when I introduce you to Goodwill. I got this stool on their maiden voyage.)


On the way home from Goodwill I made Sara and Nadia swing by Home Depot to get some more paint chips. :)


After making the squares (3/4" this time...and I tell you what, that 1/4" made SUCH a difference!):


I put a tiny bit of Mod Podge on the table, then laid the squares down...then once the whole table was covered I used a mini roller to roll on the Mod Podge.


Then I went back and pushed down some of the tiles that wanted to peel up a bit.

The finished product: (I took everything off for the picture...normally it has a coin jar, Nathan's wallet and glasses, etc on it)


Sunday of Labor Day weekend I thought I would get a jump start on this project and paint the legs. I planned on finishing the table Monday morning. Well, it seems that once I start a project that involves Mod Podge I just cannot stop. When 3:30am rolled around I was rolling on the last coat of Mod Podge, maybe I should be going to Mod Podgers Anonymous.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

FANTASTIC News!!

The buyers accepted the counter offer on the house and as of today we are officially UNDER CONTRACT!! If all goes well we will close on Oct 19th.

Wahoo!

Monday, September 07, 2009

Sorry mom...

I snapped this at the dog beach last week. I wonder who scratched the mom off?

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Need some belly laughs?

My friend Bethany had this on her blog...I got a few deep belly laughs out of it so I wanted to share. I thought it was a good way to start a long weekend.
  • I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
  • More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.
  • Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
  • Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
  • That's enough, Nickelback.
  • I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
  • Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?
  • Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.
  • There is a great need for sarcasm font.
  • Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what was going on when I first saw it.
  • I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.
  • How are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
  • I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
  • I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
  • The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.
  • Was learning cursive really necessary?
  • Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".
  • I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
  • Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
  • My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.
  • Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart.”
  • How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?
  • I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent an idiot from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!
  • Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"
  • What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?
  • While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.
  • MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
  • Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
  • I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
  • Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
  • I would like to officially coin the phrase 'catching the swine flu' to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: "Dave caught the swine flu last night."
  • I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
  • Bad decisions make good stories.
  • Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!
  • Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?
  • If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.
  • Why is it that during an ice- breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....
  • You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
  • Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.
  • There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
  • I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
  • "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.
  • I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'
  • I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dang it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
  • I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
  • When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.
  • I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
  • Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...
  • As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
  • Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
  • It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.
  • I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
  • Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.
  • Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey- but I'd bet everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...
  • My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How do I respond to that?
  • It really ticks me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.
  • I wonder if cops ever get ticked off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
  • I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
  • The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fatty before dinner.

Friday, September 04, 2009

A Week in the Life

I started my job on Tuesday and I am not exaggerating in the least when I say it was an AWFUL day. It all started in the morning. I woke up and took a shower and only realized when I was getting dressed that I forgot to to shave my legs and I was wearing a skirt. Good thing I had stockings! Then I tried to peel my hard boiled egg for breakfast and the shell WOULD NOT come off. It messed up my egg (which by itself isn't bad, but just keep reading...) I had to be to work at 8:30 and MapQuest said it would take 25 mins. I wanted to make sure I was ontime so I left at 7:30. I figured it would be better to be early than late. Well, its a good thing I left early because I hit tons of traffic. I pulled into the parking lot at 8:25. I get upstairs and tell the receptionist I'm starting today. I got a perplexed look, she made a quick call and then asked me if I was in the right place...no one was expecting me. So I sat in the lobby for an hour while they straightened it out. Once I got where I needed to be it just got worse. The room where I work is a large closet (not really a closet, but pretty close) with no windows. There was a major crisis that morning so tensions were high and people were too busy catching up to really start training. I sat on a chair off to the side for an hour or so. I got to go to lunch, but not until way late and my blood sugar dropped pretty far...those of you who don't hang out with me on a regular basis need to know that when my blood sugar drops too low I get mean. Being in a new situation, I had to keep all that hostility bottled in. Let me tell you, that is healthy for the soul...not. After a day of feeling so lost and socially-restricted (did I mention I work in a closet?) I left. I hit even worse traffic going home. I left work at 5:00 and didn't get home until after 6:00. (commute count: 2 hours...yuck!) I get home and we have to take the dog out (which is my ...favorite... thing to do. ever.) and as we walk into the hall I ask Nathan "You got keys?" Ya, you know where this is going. I just broke. I fell to the floor (a.k.a. two year old tantrum) in the hallway of our building and started sobbing. Big, old aligator tears were streaming down my face. I immediately think that well have to call a locksmith to come unlock the door, and that will cost us a pretty penny. Nathan thinks to himself that he has a better idea...he decides to be SpiderMan and climb up our downstairs neighbor's balcony up onto our balcony and come in the apartment that way. Yep you read that right. Just for reference, here's a pic of our place, just so you can see the scene of insanity.


I couldn't watch him do it, because I knew I couldn't watch him fall to his death. I stayed in the hallway, crying when suddenly the door opened from the INSIDE...SpiderNathan's mission was successful!! I couldn't believe it!

We had a quick dinner, went to bed early so I couldn't use staying up late as an excuse to bag out on the job. Wednesday I went back, against my better judgment and I liked it. Today was even better! I have started getting to actually do the processes, which helps my time pass faster and helps me feel like I should be there. Working in the cave is taking some getting use to...not sure I'll ever fully enjoy it, but for now it's ok.

In other news, we got an offer on our house. It came only a couple days after we dropped the price AGAIN. The offer was another $5K below the new price AND they want us to pay their closing costs...we countered and hopefully we'll hear back soon.

My mom was here visiting last weekend that it was really nice having her around. In completely un-Holly form, I took no pictures. But much fun was had. I showed my mom that Sushi can be yummy, I helped her spoil me, we loved the fur kids, took Besta to the dog beach and just enjoyed spending some time together.

Well, I gotta head off to bed. I'm a working woman now. :)