Doughnuts and Whales and Diamond Rings, Oh My!

We are officially back from vacation and what a lovely, fantastic, wonderful vacation is was! In fact, it was so great that being back in Kansas kinda sucks and being back at work is a HUGE drag. I've been having a hard time focusing on what needs to be done because life is so exciting right now.

We started off our vacation on Saturday, September 1st by flying into Portland, OR. We spent a lot of our time traveling that day but we were still able to do some sight seeing once we got there. Apparently, Portland has a huge market that goes on downtown every Saturday and that made our downtown visit very crowded. There were lots of interesting vendors and even more interesting people talking with the vendors. I saw more people with dreadlocks in one hour than I had seen in my entire life. It was very interesting to people watch. We walked down to the river and took some pictures of the pretty scenery and then made our way back to the hotel. We were going to go to Voodoo doughnut that evening but there was a line that went around the block and I didn't feel like standing there for 2 hours. I was a little bummed but we were going to try to grab some of the amazing doughnuts when we returned to Portland on Tuesday.

Usually time changes don't affect me too much but for some reason the time difference between KS and OR really screwed with my sleeping schedule. We went to bed around 8 pm our first night of vacation and woke up, voluntarily, at 5:30 am. Cody got up a little bit before me and surprised me with voodoo doughnuts when I woke up. It was a very nice surprise and the doughnuts were everything I thought they would be and more. After we had our fair dose of sugar we went on our way to the coast. Our map made it seem like we were going to be driving along side the ocean the entire day but that was not the case. There are so many trees and it was pretty hard to see anything but once the ocean came into view it was breathtaking. We stopped a few times to take pictures and explore the beach and ventured on to the Tillamook cheese factory where we took a tour and bought some cheese. In case you were curious, Tillamook cheese curds are very tasty...and also incredibly addictive. The rest of the day was spent continuing our beautiful drive along the coast. The pictures that we took really don't do the scenery justice but here are few to keep your interest in what promises to be a very long blog entry.

oh yeah, we also stopped by the Devil's Punchbowl on our first day along the coast and there we saw some whales. Unfortunately, we couldn't get decent pictures of the whales but we did see them and it was fantastic! We also had some kick ass clam chowder and I'm actually craving some of it as I type.

We stopped for the night in Coos Bay, Oregon where we had a nice dinner at a little restaurant that served seafood and German food which was a very odd combination but the meal was tasty and so was their clam chowder. I'm addicted to clam chowder now by the way. That night we looked at a map to plan out our next day along the coast. I really wanted to see some lighthouses because I had never seen one before. (looking back at all of our vacation photos we actually saw 2 lighthouses during our first day but apparently, I didn't pay that much attention). I really wanted to see the Cape Arago lighthouse and so our next day entailed going to the state park to see it.

The next morning, at 5:00 am in our normal elderly couple fashion, we woke up to a foggy, chilly day but decided to do some driving anyway. We drove out to the Cape Arago state park and as soon as we got out of the car we heard what sounded like hundreds of sea lions. It was crazy how loud they all were. We searched for them but only managed to see one that was swimming along the coast. There was also no lighthouse to be seen which was a big bummer. Feeling a little defeated, we got back into the car to find some breakfast. While we were driving I happened to look over at a rock in the distance and saw all sort of sea lions on the rock. We got out and took some pictures. It was so amazing to see all of them in their natural habitat. I was growing more giddy with every picture we took. We got out fill of the sea lions and continued down the road. There was a very pretty viewpoint just off the highway so we decided to stop to take some more pictures. The fog was just starting to burn off and the view was absolutely gorgeous. Once I got out of the car I noticed that the Cape Arago lighthouse was just off in the distance. I was already buzzing from seeing the sea lions but the view of the lighthouse took my happiness over the edge. I skipped down the trail and was in awe of my surroundings. Cody came down the trail to join me and I kept telling him just how happy I was and how amazing our vacation had been. We stood quietly for a bit and my stomach started to rumble so I suggested we go get some breakfast. Cody looked at me and said "There is something I have to do first" and then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! This was the most perfect moment of my life and there is nothing I would have changed. When I was a little girl I always imagined what it would be like to be proposed to and this proposal took my dreams to a whole new level. I said yes, of course and then did a lot of calling and texting family members and friends to tell them the important news.

I stopped in McDonald's shortly after and was so happy that I had to tell the girl behind the cash register that I had just gotten engaged. She looked at the ring, got really happy and decided to share the news with the entire restaurant. I got lots of congratulations as I walked out the door with my sausage mcmuffiin. The proposal was definitely the highlight of our vacation. I couldn't help but stare down at the ring the entire day. We stopped at the Coquille lighthouse and the Cape Blanco that morning on our drive along the coast and even though they were pretty they didn't beat the Cape Arago, proposal lighthouse. We also stopped at the historic Hughes house which was neat. I was so happy and giddy that day that I don't really remember all that we did. I know that there was a lot of driving involved and a lot of "hey Cody, guess what...we're engaged!!!" on my part. Our destination that evening was Crescent City, CA and we arrived there around 3 and checked into our hotel. We got a food at local restaurant and then drove around the town for a little bit. By the time we finished eating and driving around the sunlight had started to fade. Cody wanted to find the road that we would need in the  morning to get to the redwoods and thus started our first major adventure as an engaged couple.

The redwoods are enormous, I'm sure you all know this and therefore the forest gets incredibly dark even on a cloudy day. The fog was getting worse and as I said before, the sun was going down. We entered the state park and proceeded to drive along the winding roads around the biggest trees in the world. The roads were very narrow and there was no place for us to turn around so we continued to drive and drive and drive. Due to the fact that we didn't want to get stuck in the big, dark, scary forest at night Cody decided to speed up a little. Those of you who know me well should know that I tend to be a bit of a wuss in the car. High speeds and winding roads freak me out and the combination of the two is a panic attack waiting to happen. I didn't want to get trapped in the forest at night but I also didn't want to meet my untimely death while speeding along the curves of the redwood forest so I chose to remain silent and just hold on for dear life. Cody assumed I was afraid of being in the forest at night and so he sped up a little more. We managed to get out of the forest in one piece with a little sliver of sunlight in the sky. Once we started breathing again we both talked about why we were concerned. Cody had no idea that his fast driving almost made me soil myself and it was very entertaining to talk about our night with the enormous trees. We had purchased some wine at the little winery the day before and decided to drink it as a celebratory "We got engaged" and "We didn't die in the forest" drink. It was delicious but all I wanted to do was go to sleep because it was 9:00pm and deep down I am 90 years old.

Good news, in the daylight the redwoods are very beautiful and majestic. We toured the park the next morning and we drove to Klamath, CA to see the tour through tree which is literally a tree that you can drive through. It was pretty cool but the scary forest of the night before was probably my favorite (in the daytime). It is almost overwhelming to be surrounded by all of the trees, some of which were 16 feet in diameter. 

Our trip was nearing it's end after the visit to the redwoods. If you have stuck around long enough to read all of this I give you major props and also, thank you for being so interested in what I have to say :) So anyway, we drove back to Portland via the interstate which was a lot more boring than our drive along the coast. We did find out that is it illegal in the state of Oregon to pump your own gas. There is always an attendant to help you put the nozzle in the car. It is a very stupid law and kind of an inconvenience. We stopped in Eugene, OR to buy some doughnuts the Voodoo doughnut there. It was pretty awesome and we ate some more delicious, incredibly unhealthy doughnuts. We spent that night hanging out in the hotel because we both were very tired. The next morning we got on our flight back home and our amazing vacation was over.

We got back to KS and a few days after we did we went to the Chiefs home opener. We showed up at 7:00am and started drinking. I managed to drink about 12 beers in 4 hours and was not in a good place. My poor fiance is a very patient man even when his wife to be is an emotional, drunken mess. Love you Cody! :)

My body is still recovering from drinking like I was in college again. 28 year bodies do not come back from a hangover quite as well as a 21 year old body.

I have started the planning process and I'm really excited for our wedding next fall. I have also started to try to lose some weight (minus all of the beer and crap that I ate yesterday). I have a reason to lose weight now and I'm determined to shave off some of this flubber.

Ok, I'm done now. Thank you for reading my novel and have a good night all. 

My Life as of Late

Well hello there kids! It has been awhile! How's life?

Since my last entry I have officially been hired on as a full time loan closing assistant at National American Savings Bank. This is the place where I was working as a temp for 3 months. Apparently I was good enough to get hired on full time. I still doubt my abilities at work but I must be doing something right...I guess. I definitely don't have any close friends at work. Some of the loan closers have quite the attitude problem which tends to piss me off a great deal. My job is to help them and try to make sure that their loans don't get suspended (bank lingo...I won't go into detail. Suspensions are a bad thing in the world of mortgages). There are certain people I work with that just don't care about what I do and to them I say "screw off!" while giving a middle finger salute. I'm slowly learning to tolerate them and let things roll off my shoulders....very slowly. I guess there are worse things I could be doing and as a whole my job isn't THAT terrible. I'm slowly chipping away at my student loans with each pay check and it is a good thing that I have a job. I also have health insurance now which is a wonderful thing.

I've been feeling better recently. I still have issues with my gallbladder from time to time and I should probably go back to the doctor just to make sure that I'm most definitely not dying. The hypochondriac side of me has settled down for the time being but it is only a matter of time before a mere stomach ache turns into a stomach tumor which  turns into cancer which turns into a brain tumor and so on and so forth. It is exhausting to live with this brain of mine sometimes. 

Not that I'm planning on dying soon but I did recently cross something off of my bucket list. My mom, sister and I went to see James Taylor in concert and it was frickin' phenomenal. I've always loved his music and being at one of his concerts was a great experience. James Taylor is a very good story teller and he makes the audience feel like they're all his best friends by the end of the evening. Also, the guy is like 69 years old and still performs like a 20 year old. The concert was a truly amazing experience and, even though it was an outdoor concert and that day the high happened to be a million degrees, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. It was also very nice to spend the weekend with my mom and my sister. I don't get to see them enough and I miss all of my family quite a bit. 

Life in Shawnee is pretty great. We've been discovering different restaurants recently and I'm ashamed to say that we've been living here for over a year and just recently visited downtown Shawnee. I think we will be making more trips in that direction in the future. My little furry son is doing well. He had a UTI for awhile and some S.O. crystals in his urine ( I still don't know S.O. crystals are but the doctor says they are not a good thing). I had to give Fezzik medicine for two weeks and he was on a different (more expensive) prescription diet. I'm very proud to say that after Fezzik's last vet visit he had a clean bill of health. It's been a tough year for my little bastard child healthwise but now I'm hoping that the trips to the doctor will be few and far between. I'm going to stop talking about this now because I don't want to jinx things.

Cody and I are headed on vacation this coming weekend and I am super excited! We're going to the pacific northwest and we leave on Saturday morning. We'll be in Portland on Saturday evening and then we're going to make our way to the redwoods with a few stops along the way. We're also going to be hitting up VooDoo donut in Portland. I've been wanting to go there since I saw it advertised on the travel channel a few years ago. I hope it is everything that I'm imagining it will be. The next few days of work need to go by very quickly because I'm growing very impatient. 

After our vacation I am going on a diet. I've been saving money out of each paycheck and my plan is to buy an elliptical trainer. I'm growing very tired of my jeans leaving judgemental little pink teeth marks around my Thanksgiving belly (as Marshall Erikson would say). I'm hoping to continually blog about my weight loss and hopefully that will keep me on track. I think that losing weight may be very difficult because tailgate..ummm...I mean...football season is coming up and we have Chiefs season tickets. Our seats are ridiculously close to the Jack Stack BBQ concession stand and I LOVE me some cheesy corn bake. If you have never had Jack Stack's cheesy corn bake you should drop everything you are doing right now, drive to KC, head to Jack Stack and order some because it is pretty much the best thing ever. At the Chiefs game the give you the cheesy corn bake in a lovely little portable container...did I mention it goes great with a cold Bud light? Alright, enough with the food talk. I'm getting hungry.

Well, I believe it is time to bid you all a sleepy farewell. I had a restless night of sleep last night and I am in need of some serious ZZZZ's. Goodnight all. It was a pleasure talking about myself for awhile :)

Yep...it's Monday

It's 8:45 and I am very tempted to go to bed because deep down I am an 80 year old woman. As a means to keep myself awake until, at least, 9:30 I decided to write an entry for your reading pleasure. 

Life has been pretty calm as of late. I am still not feeling the greatest and intend to return the damn doctor soon to figure out why I have this stupid abdominal pain. I am much better than I was before so that is a good sign. I'm still not completely convinced that I'm not dying but that's probably just the extreme hypochondriac in me talking.

 I am still working for the bank and they have yet to fully hire me since I am still technically working for a temp firm. I'm not as excited about the job as I was before. I guess you could say that the job and I have passed our honeymoon phase and now we're onto the "you annoy the hell out of me, I'm tired of you, I need a vacation" phase. I will be the first to admit that I have very little knowledge about loans. I realize that that is a little silly since I'm a loan closing assistant. All that I know (and all that I need to know for this job) is what signatures need to go where and which documents are really important. The loan closers like to remind me on daily basis just how little I know about working in the loan department. If I have a question the answer is explained to me as if I were a 5 year old girl asking "why is the sky blue?". There have been a few times that I have almost thrown some music knowledge at them just to show them that I know something that they don't and that I do have a degree. It is very frustrating to know that you are an intelligent person but are made to feel stupid on a regular basis. I realize that I may be blowing all of this out of proportion as I usual do but seriously, in the long run who the hell cares about your damn FHA streamline loan?!? Despite my bitching, this job is alright and much better than my previous place of employment. The other loan closing assistants (or LCA's as we are known as in the bank world) are very nice and like to listen to the stupid stories that I have to tell. I referred to my dog as a "little penis" the other day and they both laughed uncontrollably. Who knew I was so funny :)

Speaking of my furry son, he is doing well and hasn't had a visit to the vet since March which crazy since he was making it a habit of getting sick every two weeks for the past year. I don't want to celebrate too much because I'm sure that he will end up at the vet soon but it has been nice to not take the stressful trips to the doctor. Cody and I are doing really well. He left for Denver again this morning and I know that the travelling is a necessary evil but it gets old. I find myself impatiently waiting for Thursday to arrive every week because that is when he comes back home. We just returned from a trip to Lyons, KS to see my beautiful friend, Katie Pretz (Steinert), get married. Overall, it was a great weekend and it was wonderful to see some of my college friends. There was a lot of beer and dancing involved and Katie and I got to sing together again which is always a wonderful experience. It made me miss my college days. I wish that all of my friends lived closer.

The next few weekends are going to be a little busy. We have some friends coming to visit and also in less than a month I will be seeing James Taylor in concert! Woot! Our trip to the pacific northwest is also on the horizon and I can't wait! We've got a few months to go but I'm definitely counting down the days.

Well look at the time! I guess I made it to 9:30 afterall. With that said, I am now going to bed. Fezzik has been snoring for the last hour and it is time to join him. Monday is almost over...yay!

The Little Gallbladder that Couldn't and Other Anatomical Tales

Well ladies and gents, my medical mystery continues and I can't say that I'm pleased. I've officially been sick for two months and counting and still no doctor can really tell me what is wrong. I went in for a PIPIDA scan the day after my last entry and I had no idea what to expect. I made the mistake of googling the procedure right before the nurse came to get me. I discovered that I would be injected with radioactive material that would make my liver and gallbladder glow in the dark (kind of) and these injections involved an IV. The nurse dug around in each of my arms for awhile until she was able to get the needle in my vein. I still have a bruise from this. I laid on a table for an hour and half while a machine hovered above me and took picture of my glowing liver and gallbladder. After the radioactive stuff had worked its way out of my system I was injected with a natural enzyme that would cause my gallbladder to go into action. I spent some more time laying on the incredibly uncomfortable table while more pictures were taken and then was told to head back to work (I have a pretty cool temp job right now but I'll discuss this later) I sat up from the table and immediately felt nauseated and spent the rest of my day trying focus and not barf all over my desk. A few days after the scan I got a call from the nurse telling me that my gallbladder isn't functioning properly and the doctor would call me to discuss the next step. The next step involved an upper endoscopy to see if it was just my gallbladder that was causing issues.

Yesterday was the day of the endoscopy and I was rather terrified of what was going to go on. I knew that the procedure involved needles and a sedative and that alone scared the crap out of me. I was also scared of what the doctor might find lurking around my stomach. Before the procedure the nurse asked me the usually health questions and hooked me up to some machine to monitor my vitals. I found out that I'm slightly allergic to medical tape and now I have some red welts were the monitors were placed on my chest and abdomen. After the medical questions the nurse talked to me about the sedative that they would be using. She told me that Michael Jackson made this sedative (propofol) famous because he died from overdosing on it and also mixing it with other drugs. She then started talking about all the things that could go wrong while I was under the influence and made me sign a waiver saying that it was ok for all of these things to go wrong while I was knocked out. The nurse reassured me that it was a rare occasion that anything bad would happen during the endoscopy but I, being the extreme hypochondriac that I am, was convinced that I was not only allergic to propofol but also somehow something would go terribly wrong while I was asleep... and then I started to cry. Not knowing exactly what she had done, the nurse apologized and then stuck me with the IV needle which made me cry more. Cody was able to come sit with me before I went in to the endoscopy room. I saw him and then started crying more. From the amount of tears that I shed you would have assumed I was going in for some major surgery and had a possibly of not waking up. Luckily, Cody was able to calm me down a little and before I knew I was being rolled away. I was so terrified of the propofol that once it was injected into my veins my blood pressure increased drastically and almost made me have a panic attack but I was knocked out before anything major happened. The next thing I knew I was waking up as I was being rolled into the recovery room. I was asleep for such a short period of time that I was convinced I had awakened before the doctor was finished. I saw the anesthesiologist next to me and said, rather forcefully " I'm awake, you guys can't carry on with the procedure until I'm asleep again!". He looked down at me and said " We're already done". I responded with a sheepish "oh" and then fell back asleep.

I woke up to Cody sitting next to me and another nurse offering me a bottle of juice. I accepted graciously because I hadn't been able to have anything to drink since the day prior. The doctor came into the recovery room and talked about what he found. He said that everything looked good. There are a few faint spots on my stomach that he took a biopsy of. He said that the spots were pretty normal but he wanted to make sure that  it wasn't anything major. Then he gave me a printout of the picture that had been taken of my insides and sent me on my way. The pictures are currently hanging on our fridge. :) He also said that he didn't think I needed my gallbladder out right now. So basically, I wait and see what else happens with my symptoms and proceed from there. I'm delighted that nothing was found during the endoscopy but I am so flippin frustrated because I am still sick and no one knows what is wrong. My muscles are weak, I have heart palpatations, my heartburn is still a little out of control, I've been kinda twitchy and above all of these symptoms I have been stressed...which is probably causing things to be a lot worse. I guess it's a good thing that I'm going to let things sit for awhile since I'm not insured. Cody and I have spent over $3000 trying to figure out what is wrong with me and that hasn't been fun. I'm looking into getting health insurance through the temp agency.

The temp job that I have right now is at National American Savings Bank. I am a loan closing assistant. Although I know nothing about loans I am in charge of auditing files and making sure that everything is in working order so that the loans can get disbursed. It gets a little monotonous but my co workers are really nice and complimentary and there has been talk about hiring me on as a full time employee. We'll see what happens.

Cody is off having a manly fishing weekend with his dad, brother and cousin so the Fez and I are hanging alone for the next few days. I plan on cleaning a bit and probably going shopping for some new clothes at some point tomorrow. I've been a bit spoiled these last two weeks because Cody has been working from home. It's weird not to have him here this evening.I'm sure that I will have a nice weekend alone watching chick flicks and painting my toenails.

Well... I guess that it is time to end this novel of an entry. Have a lovely weekend, dear blog readers! Happy Mother's day to all of the wonderful mothers out there...including my fantastic mama, Andrea Johnson!

And So It Goes...

       There was a time in my life when I wasn't too fond of living. I had just graduated from college and had no idea what to do with myself. I felt very lost and I remember thinking that things would never get better so what's the point? I drank a lot and ate far too many bags a chocolate by myself and then I would obsessively exercise to make up for the calories I consumed. My life seemed very lackluster and, selfishly, I considered ending it. Luckily, when I was at my lowest point I made a drunken, 3AM phone call to my sister who got the ball rolling on getting me the help that I desperately needed. Through lots of therapy and pep talks from family and friends I was able to get better and here I am, writing this thought provoking entry just for you :)

I don't really like talking about that time in my life because it make me sad. Also, I can't remember what it was like to be that person. All I know is that that was a very dark time in my life and I'm glad that it's over. I didn't tell you that story for any words of sympathy or advice. It was important to relay that information to write about the epiphany I had the other day.

I've been sick for about a month and half now. The abdominal pain is still here and I'm pretty weak and tired. My muscles ache and I can't seem to quit thinking about what the hell is wrong with me. I was really hoping that I would be able to entitled this entry "Medical Mystery Resolved!" but that is not the case. I went to the GI doctor on Friday and after 20 minutes of discussing my symptoms and 5 minutes of a rather uncomfortable examination of my bum the PA still had no idea what could be making me sick. I have a PIPIDA scan tomorrow which is supposed to test my gallbladder and see if anything is wrong in that area. I don't really have high hopes for this test because I'm beginning to think that maybe there is something wrong with my muscles and that is why everything is hurting. Ever since this crap started, I have been incredibly worried that I am going to die. I know that there are a million things that could be wrong with me but I am still terrified that something horrible is going on inside of me. I've had numerous mental break downs in the last few weeks and I really want to figure out what is wrong with me. (Cue epiphany) In the midst of an evening of crying with my dog nestled quietly on my lap I realized just how much I want to live. I never really wanted to die four years ago either; I was just lost and very lonely. I cried for quite awhile and my sobs were loud enough to wake up the sleeping dog on my lap. He looked up at me and licked all of my tears away and then when I wouldn't stop crying he started attacking my ears ( I think it was his goal to make me laugh). I laughed, hugged Fezzik and then shortly made him stop because the slobber in my ears was a little too much. I started thinking about all of the things that I would have missed out on had things taken a different turn a few years ago.

I would have never met the love of my life ( I guess "re-met" would be the better way to put that), my life would have ended before it even started. I wouldn't have met the little dog that licks my ears when I'm sad and I would have left my family and friends whom I love and adore. I don't think that my life was ever really that bad; I was just too self centered and dramatic to realize that even the little things make life great. I want to be around for a long time and I'm hoping and praying that this illness goes away very soon. I'm tired of being scared and I really want to feel better. I'm sure there will be more mental break downs to come and my poor boyfriend deserves a medal for holding me and calming me down when the break down storm comes. My sister and mother also have been wonderful with calming me down when things get bad. I really wish I could learn to calm myself down but that hasn't happened so far.

At the end of the day I am still scared and will be until I figure out why I'm sick. If you guys could send some extra prayers and/or good vibes my way I'd appreciate it. I'll let you know how things go.

On a side note, a person from my hometown died today. I didn't really know him well but I am very fond of his step mother and can't imagine how hard this day has been for her. Susan, if you read this, I'm thinking of you and your family and wish I lived closer to give you a hug!

Down with the Sickness

Shortly after I posted my last entry, I started to feel under the weather. I had a bit of abdominal pain that I had originally associated with hormonal issues but after a few days the pain started to worsen. After diagnosing myself through the internet and discovering that I had cancer, appendicitis, a failing liver and bleeding ulcers I decided to let an actual doctor assess my situation. It turns out that I have none of these ailments (at least that I'm aware of). However, I haven't had much success in finding what I do have besides a large non-diseased liver and a fiberous tumor on my uterus which is pretty common. There are some good days where I feel alright with mild heartburn and abdominal pain and there are bad days where it feels like I've been run over by a truck numerous times. As this illness continues I am growing increasingly frustrated because it's been a little over a month since I have felt like myself. Also, not having health insurance when you really need it gets pretty damn expensive. Word to the wise, sonograms are not cheap and also not very pleasant. I'm lucky that my boyfriend is so down to earth because if he was as high strung as I am we would've been to the ER numerous times by now. It's nice having someone talk some sense into me when I'm feeling panicky. It is also nice to have a nurse for a sister, thanks for talking me off the ledge numerous time, Amber! I am headed back to the doctor on Monday to hopefully figure out what the hell is going on inside of me. I haven't had a beer, wine or any other alcoholic beverage in over a month and mama needs her sugar (so to speak).

I am still an unemployed schmuck. Right now I'm working with a temp agency that has set me up with a couple random, bitchwork jobs. I have spent the last week scanning documents into a computer and it has been incredibly rewarding and stimulating in the most sarcastic kind of way. I have literally be standing in front of a scanner for three days straight and it has been very monotonous. I think it would help if I was able to listen to music while scanning but that is not allowed either. I'm almost done with the project and I hope that the staffing agency can hook me up with something a little less tedious next time. I've been tossing around the idea of going back to school to become an english teacher. I am still not sure about it but if I do want to go back to school now would be the time to do it. I really want to make myself more marketable. You would think that after five years in college I would be a very marketable person but that is not the case. I haven't quite decided if that's what I want to do but it's a thought. I seem to have a lot of good thoughts while going through this quarter life crisis but none of them seem to come into fruition. We'll see what the future holds.

Other than my current sickness, there hasn't been much going on around our house. It seems as if the dog has more energy than ever and that is all fine and good except for the fact that I really just want to veg out and not go outside millions of time during the night. Cody is wonderful, as always, and I'm quite sure I don't deserve him. I'm not saying that just to get brownie points either. It is very true and, as cheesy and cliche as this sounds, I am very lucky to have him. He makes me happy. I'm done with the cheese now.

Hopefully I will be back to myself soon and that all of this sickness isn't anything serious. Send good vibes my way! Bye for now

Yeast...and other fun things

I was really going to make it a point to blog every week but, obviously, that hasn't happened. My life has been pretty boring and I haven't had much to write about. I am still unemployed and I'm getting a little tired of life as a "homemaker". I am still certain that the self inflicted unemployment was a good decision but I could use a decent job right about now. I've had a few interviews but that is about it. Life as an un-employee isn't all bad. Our apartment has never been so clean, I've managed to read a few good books, the dog and I have had a lot of quality time together and I've been able to spend more time with Cody when he's home. I still need to find a job though because I'm tired of telling those who ask that I am "in between jobs".

Today has been a rather eventful day. I went to a career fair in Overland Park and was able to spread my resume around a little bit. I also had a job interview with the VFW for an administrative assistant position. I'm not sure how the interview went but I should know within a few weeks. I am definitely not putting all of my eggs into that basket though.

Once I got home from my interviewing adventures I took the family hound to the vet. He has been scratching at his chin and ears a lot and has broken out into a lot of bumps all over his mouth. An hour and half and $151 later I found out that our vagina of a dog is a walking yeast infection. He has a yeast infection in both ears and upon further inspection they found out that his paws are also full of yeast causing the extra bumps all over his mouth and perpetuating the situation in his ears. Fezzik has smelled like corn chips for a few weeks (which is actually a little amusing) and the vet informed me that that is also a sign of a yeast infection. So...how do I rid my dog of all of this yeast? I'm glad you asked! Every morning I have to give the dog an antibiotic. Twice a day I have to wipe his paws with disinfecting wipes to get rid of the yeast. Also, twice a day I have to put four drops of ointment in each of his ears and once a day i have to cleanse his ears with a special solution. Also, I have to give him a special "anti-yeast" bath twice a week.

The directions on the ear drops are fairly simple: Pour solution in ears, massage bottom of ear, allow pet to shake off excess solution, clean ear with a cotton ball. I am under the firm belief that the person who wrote those directions has never owned and/or seen a dog before. Fezzik took his pill with no problem, he wasn't fond of the wipes but we got through it, the drops were a different story. My dog weighs 14 lbs and he is also a little weak because of his bum leg. I swear he gained some strength from a higher power and fought me off with his hulk-like legs. He ran into his kennel and I followed him with the bottle in my hand. I attempted to grab his ear and he backed away from me like I had a grenade in my hand. He had contorted his body in such a way that it was impossible to get to his ears. As soon as I let me guard down he flew out of his kennel and hid beside the couch. I grabbed him and he hit me in the head with his steel jaw. This went on and on for thirty minutes. I broke out in sweat, spilled ear cleaning solution on my shirt, had scratch marks all over my arms and i swear that a bit of hair was ripped out. I managed to clean one of his ears due to my powers of diversion. The other ear has yet to be cleaned and the special ointment has yet to be opened. I am now drinking a beer in the living room and Fezzik is hiding under some blankets in our bedroom probably trembling like a little wuss. The next few weeks are going to be so much fun! I can hardly stand it! Tomorrow I have to give him a bath with the special shampoo and let it sit on his fur for 15 minutes. I'm sure there will be more drama involved there. I'm also sure that he will shiver in our bathtub and look at me as if I have stolen his favorite toy. I know it sounds as if I am speaking badly about my canine companion and that is good because I am. I love him but, holy hell, we have spent a lot of time together and my bank account can't handle many more of these crazy visits to the vet. I plan on cuddling with him once this entry is through so, no I am not a heartless bitch.

That is about all that has happened recently. I have been able to see a few Hays friends within the last few weeks and that has been wonderful. Overall, life has been pretty nice except for whole job thing. I am hopeful that I will find something soon and in the mean time I will dedicate my days to medicating my poor little dog. I actually do feel for him. I hope he feels better soon. I'm sleepy so I'm going to call it a night. I realize that it is only 8:41 p.m. but I barely slept last night due some crazy nightmares involving serial killers and vampires...maybe I should change my reading material...