One store, two store, three store.....FAIL!

So tomorrow is dress like Dr Seuss day at school. I have been VERY excited about this and racking my brain for ideas. Sam didn't have anything in her closet that was red and white striped, nothing even SOLID red! A trip to the store was unavoidable. I think I went to five stores last night with little to no success. I finally scored a turquoise Henley and solid red top for underneath but not a single thread of anything striped. Leaving a little disappointed I went home and immediately called my friend Jess at Drama Girl and asked her to whip me up a tutu.....Dr Seuss style. She is amazing and had it made before the night was over. Score!

Next was to think of a rhyming snack and I had been brainstorming that one for awhile. I finally decided on "fish in a dish"!

So while I should be sitting here excited for tomorrows festivities, I'm not........Sams not going to school Friday.....she has strep. FML.

Lent..............the new diet

With no intentions of offending anyone I have to say I am a teeny bit irritated at all the people giving up things for lent that really don't fall into the category of fasting yourself of something that strengthens your relationship with god.  I don't think lent should be a 40 day crash diet, or a 40 day detox from alcohol or chocolate.  I think lent is giving up something you NEED in your every day life.  Something you NEED.  I also think lent isn't only about giving something up, but gaining something in your life to change who you are. (in a good way) We don't have to give up bad habits to prove to our god that we believe.  Instead of giving something up this year I opted to add something to my life that makes me feel like a better person.  Something entirely selfless, other than being completely and totally rewarding to my soul, and something that shows my god that I am working on becoming the person that I am supposed to be.  I was recently blessed with some new amazing people in my life.  A family that brings so much clarity when I am with them, and so much inspiration just having known them.  I truly believe they were brought into my life to show me what the important things in life really are.  They aren't Coach purses, German vehicles, and designer jeans. This family has opened my eyes to the kind of life that I want to lead and I could not be happier that god has sent them to me.

So I've been tagged............

Thanks Cori Ingram for tagging me in your blogging questionnaire...............I'll give it a go.

1. What is one thing you would change about your physical appearance if you could?
Would it seem conceded if I said nothing?  Ok, I guess if I had to change something I would have been born with straight hair.  I had fought with my naturally curly hair most of my life. It hates humidity, and I hate it.
2. Where was your first date with your significant other?
Jimmy and I were introduced through a mutual friend when I was a senior in high school.  We met at a party at his house.  I dont include this as our first date.  He had me over to his house (his parents had just divorced so he had it to himself in college) and cooked me a Lobster dinner.  I hadnt had time to mention to him I hated seafood.  To make matters worse, the lobster were still alive.  Apparently he thought I would be impressed as he stuffed their screaming bodies into the pot to boil.  I cried.  He had the most amazing flowers waiting there for me but I couldnt take them home because my parents had no idea I was seeing an old man his age.  It was a lovely evening.  He told me several years later that after I had left he invited some of his friends over and they ate the mountains of crab that I refused to eat.  
3. What job do you see yourself doing in 10 years?
I would love to go back to school when my kids are all in school and become a pharmacist.  Chemistry amazes me and I love drugs.  The legal kind.
4. What is your favorite dessert of all time?
Wow.  Probably an amazing home made banana cream pie made by our very own David Angelotti
5. How long have you been blogging, and why did you start? :)
Only a few months.  Primarily because I had so much useless things to say that I was tired of clogging up my Facebook wall with all the nonsense.  I figured people read blogs because they want to hear what you have to say, you shouldn't bog down everyone's news feed updating your status every hour about something funny your kid just did.
6. What is the biggest obstacle you have faced in life so far?
I don't think I have faced a big obstacle in my life yet.  I have been so very blessed my entire life and surrounded by the most amazing family that I don't feel like I have truly suffered.  I guess I am pretty lucky that even though I had my first child at such a young age I was able to stay in school and graduate from college while juggling a family.  That was hard.
7. What is your favorite room in your house?

My living room.  It is covered by the sweet canvas'd faces of my little angels, its warm and inviting.  My living room is not at all formal and I absolutely adore curling up on my sofa wrapped in a blanket and reading a book.

8. Do you follow politics closely?
Not really.  Not as much as I should.
9. Do you like Scentsy? Which scent? (I have recently become a Scentsy nut. I don't sell it, I just adore the products.)
The best Scentsy scent out there is Spring Clean, hands down.  Its discontinued of course, but they just brought it back last month for the Bring Back My Scentsy promotion and I bought a TON of it.

10. Name one thing you wish you could change about your high school years?
I wasnt really involved as I would have liked to have been in high school.  The activities I was involved in really didnt connect me with school.  I was at horse shows every weekend and spending my afternoons with my horse at the barn.  It I could do it all over again I would have played more sports and really enjoyed my high school years.
11. Name one splurge you would not want to live without.

Well my one splurge was my Volvo SUV we purchased after the birth of our second child.  Thanks to child #3 I lost my dream car to a minivan because we had a 3 kid minivan rule.  I'll get her back some day though............some day very soon ;)

I Dont Wanna Grow Up!

Whew! What a week! We have had so much illness over the past 10 days, I am just exhausted.  It seems just as one child seems to getting over it there is another one waiting to break with a disease.  We received a letter home from school that informed us Samantha's class had been exposed to pink eye.......keeping our fingers crossed we dont end up with that crud.  When the note came home, it listed several communicable diseases, and it highlighted the illness your child was exposed to.  Sam and I had to chuckle because her dad has been throwing a royal hissy fit over the lice "problem" at the elementary school.  He warned her that she should steer clear of any children in the affected class, and that if she brought lice home, the only way to cure it would be to shave her head.  As impressionable as she is.............she has been terrified ever since.  I never knew my husband had such a lice phobia.  When news broke that a child had been identified with lice he was up all night on his ipad researching ways to prevent/treat this apparent killer bug.  When we got the note Sam and I came up with a little practical joke, and we highlighted lice on the list along with pink eye, and posted it on the refrigerator.  As we pretended to do laundry and mind our own business we watched and waited for dad to see the note and flip his lid.  He caught on rather quickly to our scheme and preceded to lecture us about the serious nature of this little mite.  I guess I should grow up and be the adult here but it is just oh so much fun tormenting my husband.

On another note..........speaking of not wanting to grow up............I realized this week that I guess I have to.  As much fun as it is to pretend to be youthful and carefree, I must remind myself I am a 31 year old mother of  three and that the decisions I make DO affect others.  I try to live a pretty drama free life, as my husband reads this he will instantly call my bluff, but I've just gotten too busy for the drama that comes with life.  I would much rather avoid it like the plague than get myself wrapped up into it, but sometimes its unavoidable.  I made some questionable decisions recently and they weren't decisions that I feel represent my true character. I've learned to base everything I do now on whether or not I would approve of the decision if it was made by one of my children.  Basically I have just updated the "golden" rule.  I am teaching myself to treat others as I would expect them to treat my children, my mother, or my sisters..........basically...........just treat everyone with respect.  It sounds pretty simple but adding to that some peoples......"charismatic" personalities........its harder than it sounds.  I ask myself the same question whenever I am having trouble judging the best course of action.........would I want my son or daughter to have a friend like me.  If I answer that honestly, the answer is not always yes.  I would be one disappointed mother if I raised a child that knowingly and maliciously treated people poorly, as I am sure my own mother would feel the same.  I'm not on some mission to conquer bullying, I am just on a mission to do my best to raise good people that will make a positive difference in someones life. 

Some things just aren't funny

I dont make new years resolutions.  I decided some time ago that resolutions arent for me.......maybe it was the fifth year of trying to quit smoking, stop drinking Coke, or just the way it made me feel like a giant piece of crap when I failed again and again.  I started making new years GOALS.  This year I had an oddly diverse list of goals for 2012.  I realized just how oddly diverse they were as I was sitting on the couch watching a youtube video teaching me to crochet (my first goal) and also talking to my husband about signing up for a conceal and carry course at Cabellas (my second goal).  He found it odd. I am happy to announce I am now a crocheter(is that a word?) and the proud owner of a new gun.  ( haven't taken that conceal and carry course yet so watch out!)  Other goals on my list were pretty generic and random; learn to say no to more people other than my kids, stand up for myself more, be a better wife (still working on that one) and to find something I am passionate about (outside of my family) and pursue it.  In other words, I need to quit living to impress others and make them happy and just get a life of my own.

I have been faced with a very emotional and heartbreaking situation at work.  There is no way to be funny about this situation.  Someone I care very deeply for, and respect.....or used to respect , has shown me she is losing her battle being an addict.  I dont have experience with addicts of any kind (other than listening to Dr. Drew) so I knew very little about what my role as a friend would be.  I have tried being a friend, being supportive and suggesting said person seeks help.  I failed miserably.  I have come to the devastating conclusion that the only way I can help her........is to stop helping her.  I am enabling her.  I have been enabling her for more than five years.  Making excuses, expressing my sympathy and understanding and making her believe it is okay.  Its not okay.  Last week was my breaking point.  As hard as it was to do, I told her our friendship was over.  I am tired of caring so much for someone who expects me to just sit aside and watch her die. The only way she is going to change is to have consequences for her actions, and I wasn't giving her any consequences.  I was reinforcing her lifestyle because I felt sorry for her.  It doesn't matter what kind of a life you were dealt, a healthy person seeks help.  She is not healthy.  I wait.......every day...........for that phone call that confirms my worst fears.  The only way for me to help her.......is to watch her hit rock bottom and help her back up to face a life of sobriety.  Tomorrow will be the first day I face the person who has been my mentor and friend for a decade.  Tomorrow I face a new person, someone who is no longer my friend, someone who is an addict.

When good pet owners go bad

I guess I started this blog, really, to have a place to vent and document the ridiculous stuff I deal with working at a veterinary ER.  Some of the stories will not be my own, only legends of events that have happened during the days of the week when I was not present.  We (the staff at the ER) have said some pretty ridiculously funny things of our own, usually because we are dealing with some really 'special' people.  One of my favorites has to be the night my fellow coworker, Mandy, answered the phone to a distressed individual that had found an orphaned rabbit in their backyard.  We'll call this individual Panicked Patty, or PP for short.  PP didn't know what she should do, she couldn't believe a mother rabbit would leave her young so defenseless and alone in her backyard.  Why would she do such a thing? When could we come out and pick up this tiny little creature in an ambulance and get him the help he needs? Of course she couldn't bring him in!  Its just a rabbit! She isn't driving that far just to save a rabbit!  What do you mean you wont come over and help this poor creature?  What I am supposed to do, sit here and watch it DIE?! How horrible! How is she supposed to just sit there and watch this innocent furry little animal (whom she wouldn't donate 4 gallons of unleaded gasoline to) DIE?! Thirty minutes later Mandy calmly and straight faced told her if she didn't want to watch the rabbit die......then she should put it under a bush and go inside.  When I heard the story I did that laugh.  You know the one, where you clap like a mentally handicapped seal and no sound comes out. (Thanks Max for that perfect description of the laugh we all know we do but have no words to explain it.) Sure it sounds cold and heartless, but when you have three other phone lines ringing in your ear, dogs dying all around you and more pouring through the door every minute you are on the phone with PP.....I think it was a reasonable resolution to all of our problems.

Last night someone called me at the ER because her dog was sick.  She used to work at a veterinary hospital so she knew what to do.  She had given the dog a peroxide enema (duh!) but now the dog was vomiting.  I don't know what makes owners think they have the right to stick something up their dogs ass.  I don't care how sick your dog is, if your only collective thought tells you to put something up his butt I would drop the dog off at a the nearest shelter and seek professional help.

Later that night the above mentioned couple arrived at the ER.  The peroxide enemas weren't helping and the dog was still vomiting and now had diarrhea that was bloody and fizzing like a soda. (from the peroxide enema) I couldn't get over how normal they looked.  The same person standing before me in her Ugg boots, perfect mascara and Kathy Van Zeeland handbag had just committed the most ridiculous act I had ever heard of.  (well thats not true, people have done worse.)  She was distraught, Fluffy was her baby and she could NOT lose him.  We were instructed to do everything we needed to do to make her dog well again.  After a few routine tests and some supportive care, her dog was close to walking out of our clinic good as new.  Ready to put the entire enema incident behind him knowing he could have done worse for owners.  The only thing left to do was settle up with me up front and pay for their services.  When I presented them with their $250 bill I noticed immediately no one went to reach for a wallet or really even acknowledged I had spoken.  When they met my eyes they looked shocked that I was requesting payment for saving Fluffys life and asked to have their charges billed to them.  I calmly explained we don't finance their pets care, and that payment was due at the time the services were rendered.  (I may have also pointed to the 20X30 inch signthat was hanging on the wall that reiterated my statement .)  In other words, pay me now and leave so I (along with Fluffy) could forget this ever happened.  Needless to say they walked out of my clinic with a dog on the mend and having not paid a cent for all of our hard work.  Sigh.  This isn't a new phenomenon in the ER business but this chick took it to an all new level.  Not only was the phone number she called from not her own, the address she wrote on the paperwork was incorrect as well.  The only thing I can hope for at the end of the day is that this dog had explosive bloody diarrhea all over her Chevy Tahoe and that she has cloth, not leather.