Isabella Maria

Isabella Maria
Her 3 week pictures... such an angel!

Friday, February 27, 2009

Seriously?

Since last Monday I have been having shitty luck. It is starting to piss me off... bad. Here's the details.

I like to think of myself as an optimist. Really I do. I know I am a very lucky person in the grand scheme of things.

Last Monday- my filling falls out of my tooth and I have to have an emergency tooth extraction. The silver lining: at least I found a dentist near my house that I really like that took me that day. So OK, at least I am trying to look at the bright side.
Last Wednesday- I get a sore throat, which turns into a cold. I have to call in Thursday because I am sick. The silver lining: I was feeling back to my old self by this Tuesday, and thank God I have a job where I can call in sick. I accrue 16 hours of PTO a month. So OK, at least I am trying to look at the bright side.
Last Saturday- I was at a party, feeling like crap, when it finally hit me. *I AM PROBABLY MOVING ACROSS THE COUNTRY. I AM LEAVING ALL THESE PEOPLE THAT I LOVE.* I proceed to spend the rest of the time I am there crying uncontrollably and leave without saying goodbye, which is SO not my style. The silver lining: I won't be leaving until I sell the house, so I am practically guaranteed more time with these awesome friends of mine. AND, thank God we have the opportunity to find a better job for my husband when thousands of people are losing theirs. Yes, we are lucky. So OK, at least I am trying to look at the bright side.
Last Sunday- Our washing machine starts banging loudly and acting possessed in our basement. It is broken in the middle of a load. We have tons of laundry to do. The silver lining: My sister in law lives 8 miles away and she graciously lets us use her washer and dryer when we need it. AND we have a warranty on our washer until October 2010, so it will be fixed at no charge to us. OK, at least I am trying to look at the bright side.
This Tuesday- I am on my way to work, and I start my car to heat it up... my tire is flat. Motherf*cker. I have to call AAA to get them to put my spare on (no, I don't know how to do it myself and as long as I have a husband or a AAA membership I have no intention on learning. And no you can't talk me out of it...) then I sit in Discount Tire for 1 1/2 hours waiting for my tire to get fixed. And I shit you not, as I get out of my car I stand up and almost scream in pain because I pulled a muscle I didn't know I had in my nether-regions. My God I didn't know you could have a pain like that and not be on your period or crowning. It was horrible. Thank God it subsided after 600mg of motrin and a Coke. The silver lining: Discount Tire patched the 2 holes in my tire for free, and I was not in trouble for coming in to work 2 1/2 hours late. I am still trying to look at the bright side.
Wednesday-Today- My husband tells me that he is reenlisting for 6 years in the National Guard, which sucks. But, on the bright side, he is going to get a 15K bonus if he passes the PT test... by March 1. Thanks to President Obama there will be no more reenlistment bonuses after March 1, 2009. But I am thinking to myself, WOW- we can pay off our credit cards and be in a MUCH better financial situation! AWESOME!!!!! Alas, he was not able to run the 2 miles in less than 17 minutes. That sucked. I feel bad for him though because he tried as hard as he could. I am not at all disappointed in him, I am proud of him for trying. In his defense he had NO warning. The same day he found out about the test he went and did it. The silver lining: Well, at least no one took 15K away from us, right?? There has GOT to be a bright side, right?
Today- We got our tax return info back today and we're not getting half of what we expected. Son of a BITCH. Now we can't buy the treadmill we wanted OR pay off the small (ha) credit card. The silver lining: Our good friend Jessica is going to redo our taxes and see if she can find something was missed last time. I think at this point the bright side is a bad, bad place.


So... today I played the lottery. LOL. I figured hey, what the hell? What's the worst that could happen? NOT WIN? LMAO after this week who gives a shit. But on the bright side, if my luck turns around this would be a GREAT pay back for all the bullshit I went through these last couple weeks. And I would LOVE to help out my family and friends by paying off their mortgages, cars, whatever else they needed. Oh and PS I would go to England and live it up. :)
Hey, dreams are free...

Oh PS- while all these things are happening I am having another medicine induced period which makes me feel like ASS. AND the big test is Thursday. I am terrified to think of what the result could be. If I am infertile I will find out that day at the meeting afterward with the doctor. I was told at my last appointment to bring someone with me, because I could potentially get really bad news, and that the test is humiliating because you're sitting on a table, spread eagle, with saline leaking out of you and it feels like you're peeing on the table. Yay, I can't wait. :/

Randomness: Aaron is sitting next to me as I type this and he is playing the guitar and singing for Harvey. He has played most of his regulars... but Bob Marley's Redemption Song is having a tranquilizing effect on Harvey. He actually had to lie down in the middle of the song because he literally could not hold his eyes open any longer. Before Harvey was sitting intently right in front of Aaron watching him play. It was sweet. We have to get a video camera and tape Harvey and Aaron and their Daddy-Doggy bonding time. :)

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Arizona or Bust?

Disclaimer: I do not feel good at all. I am on lots of meds, including half a vicodin for the unrelenting sore throat and general muscle soreness that is accompanying this cold from hell. Oh yeah, AND I had a tooth pulled this week too. This week has been kinda crappy. At least right now it doesn't feel too bad. I am getting a little sleepy though. So if blog is goofy, it is because I am blogging on meds.

Last May Aaron applied for a position with the Border Patrol. With his background we figured hey, great job, good pay, no worries of layoffs, we can't go wrong?
Last week Aaron got a phone call from someone in Washington DC that said his application was completely processed and it looked good, now we are just waiting for the final/official offer. HOLY SHIT. This job will definitely move us out of state, to the Mexican Border. He put his preference in for Tucson Arizona. The man from DC is talking to the hiring center about our house, he will hopefully find a way for us to get out of our mortgage so we can move. We simply can't afford to go to AZ and pay for our mortgage here too.
I know virtually nothing about Arizona. I just googled different stores I go to, and yes, they have a Target, Kmart and 13 Walmarts. However, no Meijer or Kroger. Where will I buy food? I talked to the lady from the Chamber of Commerce there, and I think she thought I was a dumbass. I asked her if there were scorpions. Heh, she was like, "Yes, honey, we live in the desert." I act cool like, oh, OK... but inside I am freaking out. DESERT? People really live in deserts? I used to live in New Mexico when I was a young child but 1. I lived on an Air Force Base, and 2, I moved to Michigan before my 6th birthday and I have been here ever since. I remember having grass in New Mexico. All the pictures of houses for rent I see in Tucson just have dirt, bushes, gravel... no grass. I guess that is cool for someone who doesn't like to mow the lawn (i.e. Aaron and I). But if I see a scorpion I will definitely, without a doubt in my mind either shit myself or scream. I am leaning toward a little of both. I don't like creepy crawlies. Oh and PS- she said they have Black Widows there too. Great. Fan-f*cking-tastic. Every time I have been bitten by a spider in the past I end up in the ER due to the swelling of the area that gets bitten. So why don't we add a spider with poisonous venom into the mix. Awesome. Will I need an epi-pen? :/
On the bright side when I was looking for houses for rent, they have a WHOLE lot of new houses for rent, bigger than our current house, well kept (at least it appears that way on the 'net...) for hundreds less than we pay for our mortgage now. I mean sure, we could get one that costs more, but that would just be stupid. Plus, I like the thought of making more money than we do now and spending less to live than we do now. It won't make up for being essentially alone in a strange place, but at least maybe we can get in a better place financially, which sounds great.
The thought of being without my families (my own and Aaron's...) and our friends is depressing as hell. I don't want to miss my sister grow up, or Sadie and Juniper (that's what I will call her until I know what her real name is). I love my job, I like my house, I have great friends that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world... and there's a really good chance I am going to leave it all. Sounds horrible. But at the same time, with the economy the way it is, passing up a job in the Border Patrol could very well prove to be the biggest mistake we ever made. AND, if we have the opportunity to get out of our mortgage and just rent again and not have all the worries home-ownership entails, that would also be a huge blessing. I just hope all our friends and family keep that in mind and instead of making us feel guilty for leaving they wish us well instead. :( And I hope they all move with us too.
Don't you all want to live in the desert with me? Cue in Sam Kinison's stand up comedy "YOU LIVE IN THE FUCKING DESERT! IT'S SAND!" LOL.
So, can anyone tell me anything about Tucson? Have you ever been there? Would you live there? What parts should I avoid? Which hospital should I try to work in? Are they nice there? Will I be a minority being non-Hispanic? (better known as pasty white girl) Fill me in!
OK, I think it's about time for me to flop on the bed and get some much needed rest. So friends, please consider moving with us. It'll be fun! It'll be an adventure! Please don't make us do it alone!! :(

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Dentist from Heaven

So, I was at work yesterday training a patient how to administer her own home antibiotics and out of nowhere I feel something big in my tooth. It's huge filling was coming out. Grrreeeeaaattt. This tooth is, believe it or not, a baby tooth. I have two spots in my mouth where adult teeth buds never formed, so after the baby teeth came out, all I have after that is a toothless gap. Yuck.
This filling is GINORMOUS. I basically had no tooth left when it came out. So after teaching patients about antibiotics I go back to the office, google dentists in Livonia (why Livonia I don't know, I just did. However I live in Westland. Whatever.) I find this one called Concord Dental Group, I like their website, they have evening hours 2 days a week, and they're only a few miles from my house. I called them, they can take me that night for an emergency appointment. YAY! Someone can fix my mouth!
I get there, fill out the health questionnaires, and one of the questions was "Are you scared of being at the dentist's office?" or something to that effect. Well this little pebble of a tooth is very sensitive, even if I just touch my tongue to it. In addition, my teeth are very sensitive to cold and hot, so why wouldn't they be sensitive to everything else? Even with cleaning visits my hands are so tight on the armrests that my knuckles are white. So I said yes.
They were SO receptive to that! After we made the decision to pull out the baby tooth, they gave me topical numbing mouth gel, a continuous mask of nitrous oxide (awesome!) and headphones playing music from the 70's. Very trippy with the nitrous, it kept me entertained in my head. Very cool choice. The worst part was the numbing, that hurt bad. Usually, like before a filling they only shoot up your gum on the outside. No, this time I got a shot there AND in my hard palate. Even being squirrely from the nitrous that STILL hurt.
There were, however, thought I had while wearing the nitrous nose piece that made me LOL to myself in the chair. I was the only one in the room. They put big aviator style goggles on me and then the nitrous, which came in a pointy, gray nose piece. When they started to numb me I thought that I probably looked like an aviator mouse who had a stroke and it was all over. I was laughing to myself. What a dork.
I will finish this later when I have more time, I have to get ready for work now!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Haunting Memory

I can't go into too much detail about it because it is about a new patient I have. He's a nice gentleman, and I was in his home a few weeks ago giving him an intravenous infusion as part of my new job as a home infusion nurse. This person has health issues that impair his range of motion.
Just as I was about to give him his medication he said he noticed that his dog was acting strangely. Shortly thereafter his dog started having a grand mal seizure. Drooling, convulsions that sent him in different directions in the room, it was horrible to see. My old dog Cody was epileptic too, so at least I have seen this before or else I wouldn't be able to handle it. Thing is though, seeing a Lab seize is a little more scary than seeing a Beagle seize. Labs are way bigger and can do more damage. I knew he wasn't capable of hurting anyone, but it was just a little frightening regardless.
So here this man is, on his hands and knees, petting this dog, holding his head, comforting him, and he is disabled himself. There's a disabled man on the floor helping his disabled dog. My God it haunts me. He is a very nice guy, the dog is the sweetest thing you'll ever meet. The man was the sweetest, most comforting thing to his dog. It broke my heart because they have each other, they are the only two people (dogs are people too) who live in this house, and they both have health ailments. The man and his dog love each other to pieces, and yet they have to see the other one suffer. It makes me want to cry and wail and stomp my feet. Why does crap like this have to happen? Why does this situation even exist? It's not fair! Talk about kicking you when you're down.
When the whole thing was over, he got back in his chair, kept petting his dog, and began his infusion. In my eyes he was a hero to Rocky. He was there for his dog and what was going on with himself was secondary. The rest of the day we watched a movie while the patient and dog had some snacks and relaxed. I made sure to give Rocky lots of kisses and hugs while I was there.
All I know is despite whatever that man could have possibly done in his life prior to that moment in God's eyes is probably all forgotten now. If God is the wo/man I think/believe s/he is, an action like that is so loving and selfless that he probably just got himself a one way ticket to Heaven.
Ugh. Thinking about it kills me.