Dear Weekend of Mine

Just when I thought I was going to catch a break, a moment.of.rest at work, all hell breaks loose…again…and the race is on…again.  I really did think I had this case I am working on all summed up, but I think it’s that attitude that jinxed me, and now I’m starting over from square one.  Nothing I did, not my fault, but still…argh!  Let’s just say that, when you step out for 30 minutes to chainsmoke get some fresh air and clear your head, and they STILL call you on your cell phone, and have security trying to track you down, there are issues. 

But that’s ok, because I only have today, and then there’s the weekend.  The beauty of working at the prison is that, after the day is done, there’s not a lot to fret about because, let’s face it, they’re still locked up and it really becomes not-my-problem. 

Dr. Love worked on the rock patio last night.  It’s not completely done, but it will need to be before tonight, save from putting in the polymer sand.  That’s per the Big Dog, who let me know in no uncertain terms that we were going to have hard rains this weekend and all of that work would be for naught if the few stones left did not get laid and sand put between the cracks.  I’m tempted to wake Dr. Love up to inform him of such, but I think I’ll just call him constantly starting at 9:00 a.m. until he wakes up, answers the phone, and gets to hear all about it.

Kizzer Wizzer finally had her bath last night.  I really don’t know how she gets so dirty, other than perhaps rolling in dirt/mud/sand/grass all of the time and jumping in QoB and Big Dog’s pond anytime she gets the chance.  She is looking much better and seems to be less itchy.  Giving her a bath used to be a huge T/D for me, but now Dr. Love helps and she is very calm.  I think it’s because he watches the Dog Whisperer all the time, really do.  She has turned from an all-the-time rebellious dog into a dog that is somewhat manageable, as long as Dr. Love is around.  Really, she even acts better with me, but she’ll do anything (almost anything) for him.

We don’t have any big weekend plans and I would like to keep it that way.  My dad wants me to go by and feed his cat because they will be out of town on Friday and Saturday.  My thinking — it’s a friggin’ cat…put down some extra food and move on!  I still need to call him back and let him know my thought-process on that, however, and hopefully he doesn’t learn of my feelings by reading this during the morning hours today.  Hi, Dad!  🙂

Other than doing some family visiting, namely drinking mojitos and daquiris in the backyard at QoB’s, I plan to not do much this weekend other than rest.  The past few weeks at work have been really stressful and draining, and we have also stayed really busy on the weeknights.  I think it’s time to take a hint from my dear buddy buddy from high school, Adriana @ From KS to PA (a lady who sometimes does not take her own advice) 😉 and sit on my butt a little bit.

DVR-list, here I come!

Working for the Weekend, Loverboy

A.M. Musings

I hit a brick wall last night.  Not literally, but the T/D of the last few weeks at work, plus not sleeping well, had me beat.  I don’t usually come home and drop dead, but last night I came home and almost immediately fell asleep.  My plan was to just lie down for a minute and close my eyes — staring at a computer screen all day, something I’ve never had to do in a job before but now do to the nth degree, really kills my baby blues.  So, I ended up falling asleep.  Surprisingly, I did get a bit of sleep last night as well, so I’m feeling fairly refreshed.  Could be that pot of coffee that created that, however.

Last night Dr. Love went (without me, as I was really snoozing) to Home Depot and bought sand.  Sand, oh glorious sand, for the rock patio, so it can be finished off.  We plan on laying the rest of it tonight.  The next step is to buy oh-so-expensive polymer sand that goes between the cracks, then is wetted and dries into a kind of hardened cement.  He also picked up the stand for my fire pit from QoB…just one step closer to starting fires and drinking margaritas right in my own backyard!

As follow-up to yesterday’s blog, Kizzer Wizzer is feeling better, I think.  She is not itching and scratching and biting so much, but she still is to a greater degree than I would like.  It’s been 48 hours now since I put flea/tick stuff on her, so she will be getting a bath tonight, like it or not.  I am just crossing my fingers that I still have some doggy shampoo and that Dr. Love will be up to helping with that task after laying the patio. 

I have really been slacking, as I’d mentioned before, about reading and commenting on blogs that I follow lately.  I’ve been doing all of my blogging in the morning, and then don’t have time to read any.  Then, when I get home from work, I don’t want to sit and stare at a computer, not to mention the fact that most days I’m kind of brain-dead at the end of the day and would much rather be outside on the porch, running around town, or visiting at QoB’s.  I need to figure out a way to get it into my schedule, though, because I miss keeping up on how everyone is doing!

About a year ago, Big Dog recommended a movie, Broken Bridges, for me to watch, which is oh-so-rare, because it is usually the other way around.  I don’t know if it was made for TV, but it has been running a lot lately on CMT and, since we have a DVR, I finally found an airing to record.  It’s sitting on my DVR list, just waiting for me to watch it.  I’m hoping I’ll get around to it this weekend.  QoB burned me the soundtrack right after Big Dog had watched it last year, and it’s amazing. 

I find this song particularly inspiring and totally “me.”  LOVE IT!

Broken, Lindsey Haun from the movie Broken Bridges

Scratchin’ the Kizzer

Had an awesome Labor Day weekend.  So awesome, in fact, that I didn’t have one spare second to blog, because I was just so involved in the gloriousness of it all.  We visited all parents, went to a shrimp fry, and hosted a BBQ, where I made the most amazing BBQ’d chicken and, with the help of QoB and Big Dog, nearly finished the rock patio.  Absolute gloriousness.  🙂

Things have really been clicking along for me at work.  I’ve been working non-stop on a really difficult case and, after about one week with working on nothing else, running around like a crazy woman, phone and email blowing up all day long, I have it all wrapped up in a pretty package.  The powers-that-be are super-happy with that, going up as far as Regional and DOC higher-ups.  That’s right, I’m the bomb.  Bonus — I still love my job!

In other news, Kizzer is recovering from some very severe insect bites and a huge batch of stickers (from camping) stuck to a very sensitive spot.  She has been itching like CRAZY the last few days and I just could not figure out what was wrong.  I put flea/tick stuff on her yesterday morning, and when I came home, it seemed like she had gotten progressively worse.  There was nothing I could do to ease her pain, short of giving her some good luvin’ scratches where it seemed to itch.  To make matters worse, she has very sensitive skin, so any little thing really makes her have problems.  So I was lying in bed and Kizzer was making all sorts of horrible noises, biting herself and whatnot.  I flipped her on her back to take a look at her belly…and found a huge mat of stickers right on her hoo-hoo.  Poor doggy!!  The whole area had been licked/bitten raw, to the point it was bloody.  I felt like such a neglectful parent, but I called Dr. Love into the room and he removed them and I rubbed some hydrocortisone cream on her.

I really think, as well as staying current with flea/tick and being more mindful of if she has stickers or not, I need to switch dog foods.  I really don’t think her skin is as healthy as it could be.  Right now I feed Science Diet Sensitive Skin and QoB, a long-time Science Diet user, has recently switched.  I don’t remember what to, but my sister has also switched.  Apparently Science Diet is not the bomb that it was made out to be — that, and it’s hella expensive.  I still have a bunch of Science Diet left, but I’m thinking that maybe I should start weaning her off of it and put her on something else, since she is having such problems.  I don’t want to go through any more guilt and trauma brought on by my doggie’s itchy skin.  And I’m sure she doesn’t either.

Quick shout-out to my momma, QoB, aka QueenOfDaNile — check out her new gravatar…I’m way jealous!  It’s about time I updated mine, so I’m thinking of possibilities to sum myself up.  Suggestions are welcome.  🙂

It’s a Dog’s Life, Kirk Olsen