Change of Perspective

 

All my life I’ve loved the 4th of July holiday.  The warm summer weather.  The picnics.  The fireworks.  Oh, yea, my birthday is July 3 so that might have something to do with it. 

 

The best part of the holiday was always the fireworks.  The drive-in near the house I grew up in always had fireworks on the 3rd and the 4th of July.  When I was a little kid, I thought they were for my birthday.  We would be outside in our jammies watching the fireworks from our driveway. 

 

But that all changed when I became a mom to my four legged babies.  Our first dog, Sheba, never really minded the fireworks so it ws never really an issue with her.  But it was different with Goldie and Blacky.  Goldie and Blacky both hated them.  Goldie would run in circles and bark if she heard fireworks when she was outside.  She could still hear them if she was in the house but she wouldn’t bark at them.  She just had this terrified look on her face and she wouldn’t leave my side.  Blacky is terrified of the fireworks and will pant really hard and pace throughout the house whenever they start up.  I’ve tried leaving the TV on or leaving a fan on to drown the noise, but that doesn’t really help.  It got to the point that I had to give both Blacky and Goldie medicine to knock them out so they wouldn’t get so upset.  That works really well but I feel bad that I had to resort to drugs.

 

Last summer was Luci’s first exposure to fireworks and she didn’t seem to mind the noise – she liked to watch the pretty colors.  Yes, we have people in our neighborhood that set off the kind of fireworks that are similar to what the pros use.  But I think that’s going to change this year.  She might still like the pretty colors, but I know she’s definately not happy about the noise.  We went for a walk tonight and there were some boys setting off bottle rockets.  She didn’t like that noise at all.  A little further along in our walk somebody set off a M80 and I thought the poor little dog was going to poop right there on the spot.  She tucked her tail in between her legs and stuck right by my side for the rest of the walk.  I’ve never had her be so well behaved on a walk before.  The neighbors are setting off bottle rockets and firecrackers and she can hear them when she’s outside.  Poor little thing will hardly go off the deck now unless I go with her.  

 

The next few days (nights) are going to be a little nerve-wracking for me, Hubby, and the doggies.  Luci and Blacky will be clinging to me because of the noise, and Hubby gets upset because these "yahoos" (his word) are upsetting the dogs.  Hubby was actually hoping for rain for the next few days to cut down on the noise. 

 

I still love fireworks . . . the professional kind.  It’s the never ending amature ones that will be getting on my nerves for the next week. 

 

 

Friday Night

 

I’ve spent the evening trying to get into my MSN space . . . it’s taken a while, but I’m here.  I was able to get into everybody else’s space, but not my own.  

 

Now that I’m finally here, I forgot what I wanted to write about.

 

Hubby is doing okay with the dizzy spells and the blood pressure.  It’s still a little on the high side, though.  I wonder what the doc is going to say about that.  At least he’s using the monitor and I don’t have to hear "you’re not doing it right!" 

 

We finally got some much needed rain.  The yard is perking up and my impatiens are really taking off.  The bad news is that Hubby’s tomatoes are rotting on the vine.  Turns out we were over watering them. . . .

 

Today I discovered a benefit to having a semi-retired hubby.  Bless his heart, he took my car to get new tires put on it while I was at work.  I had to drive his truck, which always makes me nervous, but it was worth it to know that I now have new tires and I didn’t have to haggle with the tire guy. 

 

I found out why I’ve been so tired lately.  I thought it was the new job but found out I’m a little anemic.  Going to get me some Geritol.  First bifocals, then hormone patches . . . now Geritol.  Did I mention my 44th birthday is next week?  

 

 

I Told You So

 

Hubby went to the family doc last week as a follow-up to the trip to the ER and to find out more about his inner ear infection and the dizziness.  We’ll just have to wait out the inner ear infection and the dizziness is starting to get better.  Doc was concerned about Hubby’s blood pressure – it’s a little on the high side – and told Hubby to double up on the blood pressure meds he’s been taking and for us to monitor his blood pressure on a daily basis for the next two weeks.  Hubby has another follow up appointment to let the doc know if the dizziness is gone and to see if the blood pressure has come back down. 

 

Hubby started having blood pressure problems about 10 years ago.  We did the change the diet thing for 6 months (life without salt is way too boring!) and when that didn’t bring the blood pressure down, we resorted to meds.  Meds worked perfectly and that’s when the docs discovered that Hubby’s problem is hereditary and not dietary.  That just means that dietary changes wouldn’t fix Hubby’s problem, his metabolism is such that he needs some extra help regulating his blood pressure.  So Hubby takes the pills daily and the blood pressure has never been a problem.  But now we have this little glitch and we need to take a daily blood pressure reading.  I learned how to take a blood pressure reading when Hubby started having problems years ago.  Bought a blood pressure kit with an old fashioned blood pressure cuff and a stethescope.  I got pretty good at taking blood pressure readings even though Hubby hated the daily readings.  He said I "squished" his arm too hard.  

 

Even though I haven’t used them in a while, I’m still pretty confident in my blood pressure reading skills.  I took readings for three days and each day the reading was the same.  Still a little on the high side.  Now I have to admit that my hearing has isn’t exactly what it used to be.  I have some moderate hearing loss and I have a hard time heard high pitched tones and low pitched tones.  (Okay, Mom was right when she told me that listening to loud rock music would damage my ears.  But back in the 70′s who knew?)  Hubby was convinced that my hearing wasn’t good enough anymore to take a reliable blood pressure reading.  Since my hearing isn’t what it used to be and this is too important to leave up to my slightly damaged ears I agreed that we should invest in a blood pressure monitor.  So I did some research to find a good one and went out to buy one for Hubby.  Man those things aren’t cheap.  Brought it home and had Hubby take his blood pressure with the new digital, totally automatic monitor. 

 

The reading was exactly the same as the readings I took the last three days. 

 

I didn’t say "I told you so."  But I sure did think it.

Wonderful World of Luci

 

To say that life here has been a little hectic lately would be a horrible understatement.  Unfortunately for Blacky and Luci that means they’ve not gotten a lot of Mommy time.  I’ve been trying to fix that this week. 

 

Last night I was outside with Luci playing fetch and just hanging out in the back yard.  She loves watching the lightning bugs come out each night.  She’s also discovered June bugs, Japanese beetles, and the bunnies that live under the shed in the backyard.  She’s a very busy girl checking out all of these things.  I love watching her discover all of these things.  Luci was sniffing at the lightning bugs and trying to figure out where they were going when she suddenly stopped what she was doing and stared up at the pine tree.  I could tell that she was checking out something because she was sniffing the air and was really focused on something.  I followed her gaze up the tree and tried to figure out what she was looking at.  When I finally discovered what she was looking at I could hardly believe it.  There was a baby owl of some sort up in the tree.  I stood really still for a while to make sure I saw what I thought I saw.  I stared at the owl and the owl stared at me.  Luci had lost interest in the owl and had gone back to chasing lightning bugs.  

 

I never would have seen the owl if I hadn’t been watching Luci chasing bugs.  It’s amazing the things you see when slow down a little. 

Going Straight to You-Know-Where

 

Hubby is doing better.  Dizzy spells are much less serious and not as frequent.  Mom is doing well.  They moved her to the rehab facility today.  Things are looking up. 

 

I don’t know if it’s because I’m slap happy due to the stress and exhaustion I’ve endured this week or if it’s because I really do have a sick sense of humor.  You be the judge . . .

 

Walking to the parking garage last night after work, I noticed a blind man walking across the street with his friend.  The blind guy was using his cane and hanging onto his friends arm.  Wow, what a heartwarming scene.  I looked a little closer and noticed that the friend had a cane, too, and was also blind.  Two blind guys walking across the street.  Made the scene even more heartwarming.  But then a thought popped into my head and before I could stop the impulse I started to giggle.  There it was in front of me . . . a true example of the blind leading the blind. 

 

Yes, I know, I’m going straight to you-know-where . . .

This Isn’t Funny Anymore

 

Okay, I’ve been a good sport about all the stuff that’s been going on with my life lately.  But there’s a point when the drama starts to be not funny anymore and becomes a major pain in the butt.

 

Hubby wanted to try semi-retirement so we did a major overhaul of the family finances to make the dream a reality.  Part of making the dream a reality meant I had to leave a job I love and facing the great unknown of a new job.  Sure the new job is cool and it all worked out just fine but still . . . . 

 

The hysterectomy came totally out of the blue and scared the living daylights out of me.  I thought for sure that there had to be something seriously wrong for me to have a sizeable mass that needed to removed immediately when I was perfectly fine the year before.  I’m very very very grateful that I have a clean bill of health with no complications.  The hot flashes and the night sweats aren’t a problem anymore and the hormonal mood swings can actually be kind of funny.  The raving lunatic that emerges when I have a mood swing is so totally not me that it makes me wonder where the heck that woman has been all my life. 

 

I’ve taken all of this in stride and kept my faith in a higher power through of this.  There’s an old saying that if God brings it to you, He’ll bring you through it.  I lit a lot of candles, said a lot of prayers and took everything one day at a time.  But the last couple of weeks have been a little rough and I’m starting to wonder when it’s going to stop . . .

 

My mom had hip replacement surgery on June 4.  She’s got some other health issues so she had to undergo a very rigorous testing process to make sure she was healthy enough to have the surgery.  At one point she had 5 different doctors checking her out.  You’d think the woman would have sailed through surgery with a hitch.  She did get through the surgery but she developed some other complications.  Nothing life threatening – just very annoying – and something that all the tests in the world couldn’t have predicted.  So a 3 day hospital stay and 6 days in a rehab facility has turned into 10 day hospital stay with an additional 6 days in the rehab facility.  Everything is fine now and she’s progressing like she’s supposed to . . . just a week later than we all anticipated.  If nothing else, it’s brought the family a lot closer than we’ve been in a while . . .

 

And the topper of it all . . . Hubby started his semi-retirement this week . . . by taking a trip to the ER in an ambulance.  We both thought it was a heart attack.  Or worse.  They tested him for everything under the sun and it turned out to be a severe inner ear infection and a wicked case of vertigo.  He spent four hours in the ER and two days zonked out on the couch thanks to the anti-dizziness meds we got from the ER.  Did you know that if you go to Walgreen’s at 2 a.m., you can get your prescription right away?  Today is the first day that he’s been able to stand upright without weaving like he’s been on a two day drunk (his words) . . . 

 

Like I said before . . . it’s nothing horrible . . . just majorly annoying . . . and not funny anymore . . .

 

I’m grateful that I’m healthy, that my mom is recovering from her surgery, that Hubby doesn’t have some terrible disease, that I’m enjoying the new job, and that we were able to finance Hubby’s semi-retirement.  I’m just ready to go back to my boringly normal life. 

And I used to think that nothing exciting ever happened here . . .

Hey, Wait A Minute

 

Hubby is starting his semi-retirement work schedule tomorrow.  He’ll be working 8 a.m to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.  He’ll be off on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  It’s the first time ever in his working life that he’s had weekends off.  He is very excited about having three days off a week to do whatever he wants/needs to do.  

 

At first I was also very excited about him being home three days a week.  Perhaps it was his promise to help more with the housework.  Perhaps it was the thought of us spending more time together.  But then I realized that he’s going to be home three days a week. . . and he’s now going to be home all day on Saturday.  That’s going to put a serious crimp in my Saturday routine.  No more going back to bed after he leaves for work and sleeping until 9 a.m.  He’s going to be here under foot while I’m trying to get stuff done and I’ll be hearing "Hey, Honey, can you come here and help me for a minute?" a few dozen times a day.  Listening to his snarky comments when I’m watching chick flicks or the Bridezilla’s marathon while I’m cleaning the house. 

 

Suddenly Hubby’s semi-retirement doesn’t quite sound like such a great idea to me . . .

 

 

 

 

Totally Random

 

I’ve got all sorts of things running through my head. . . . 

 

I saw a guy the other day when I was driving home from work.  He was drinking a beer and talking on his cell phone . . . while he was driving.  Yes, I got away from him as fast as I could.  

 

Yesterday when I left the parking garage I noticed a guy in a tuxedo waiting to cross the street.  It was 5:00 p.m. on a Friday night.  Wonder where he was going?

 

It’s not very often that I see a Mercedes parked next to the dog mobile . . . but that’s exactly what I found when I went to get my car last night. 

 

When I was for the elevator during one of my many trips to one of the other floors, I noticed this very nicely dressed woman getting off the elevator.  Suit with a skirt, hose, nice shoes.  It’s about 90 degrees and very humid here today and I thought this poor woman must be burning up wearing a suit jacket and panty hose . . . and then I noticed the tattoo that she had circling her ankle.  Oooohhhh, I’d love to hear the story about that!!

 

Speaking of tattoos, I noticed another lady today had a tattoo of a butterfly on the top of her foot.  All I can say about that is she must be one strong lady to endure somebody putting a tattoo on the top of her foot.

 

The company picnic was on Wednesday.  It was held at the local minor league baseball park.  We’ve had a minor league team for about 6 years and I’ve never been to the stadium.  (I’m not much of a baseball fan.)  It was very cool to take a tour of the stadium.  I got to sit on the home team’s bench in the dugout and stood in the "on deck" circle.  Even met the team mascot.  I might have to think about going to a game . . .

 

There’s been a hummingbird visiting the hanging basket I have on the front porch.  Luci will sit at the front door and stare at the basket just waiting for the bird to stop by. 

 

And that’s what my week’s been like . . .

Cubicleland

 

Some time before my surgery, I think I might have mentioned that I was looking for a new job.  With all the excitement (if that’s the right word to use) of my surgery and recovery, I never got a chance to update everyone on my job search.  Well, I found a job.  Actually, I found out about my new job the day before my surgery.  Whew.  What a load off my mind.  Now all I had to worry about was getting through the surgery and recovery period so I could start the new job. 

 

When I went back to work on May 15, it was to do a little more training on my old job with the person who was going to replace me.  That all went well and I left the old job confident that I had done everything I could to make sure the girl who was replacing me had all the info she needed to do the job to the same "Pam" standards.  But leaving was a little strange because I’ve never willingly left a job I loved as much as I loved this job. 

 

I had been at that job for 5-1/2 years and I loved every minute of it.  I called it my dream job.  The work I did was interesting.  It was a very small law office – just me and the boss – he did the legal stuff and I did everything else.  Payroll, purchasing, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, you name it and I did it.  When Hubby said he wanted to do the semi-retirement thing  leaving became one of those "ya gotta do what ya gotta do" kind of things.  Hubby carried the health insurance for us and he was going to lose that insurance when he went to part-time status.  My boss wasn’t in a position to offer health insurance for me and private policies were just too expensive.  The alternative was to find a job with benefits.  I got really lucky and found a job without having to try really hard.  The good part is that I’m working with a good friend of mine, it’s a little more than what I was making at the old job, and it has benefits.  I’m doing stuff like planning sales meetings, preparing monthly sales reports, planning the annual holiday party (gulp!), maintaining the office equipment, stuff like that.  Basically all the stuff I did at my old job – just on a much larger scale.  The new job is with a rather large firm.  We’re talking 110 people . . . and I met 100 of them the first day!  

 

To say that I’ve been a little busy this week would be a major understatement.  I’m just really grateful that I had two weeks at the old job to build up my stamina for the new job.  There are 1001 little details with the new job and my brain is a little scattered at the prospect of trying to keep track of them all.  All I can say is thank heavens for the Outlook Task list and my new Palm Tungsten E2 (hubby bought it for me as an early birthday present).  

 

The biggest adjustment, though, will be going from a small office with two people to an office with 110 people that is scattered on three floors.  With the old job, I was lucky if I talked to 5 people a day.  It was a little strange at first, but I gradually grew to like the peace and quiet and the slow pace.  But with the new job, I talk to 5 people before I get to my desk in the morning.  Yikes!  Talk about culture shock.  

 

So that’s where I was last week . . . adjusting to the new job . . . and playing with Luci.  She still hasn’t adjusted to Mommy not being home all day . . . but that’s a whole blog by itself!