I've been so busy focusing on the negative, that I forgot to tell you about the most wonderful gift I received from a certain Aging Hipster... Our tenth wedding anniversary is in a couple of weeks and I have already received my gift: A beautiful 1/2 carat anniversary band! I have always wanted a ring exactly like it!
Thanks, pooh!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
So much, so much…
Bird has (again) been out of commission for a while now. So much has happened since my last post. First of all, a friend of mine died in a terrible plant explosion down in Mississippi. I went down for the funeral. This is the same family that lost both the mother and the father. Actually, my young friend who is now a widow (with 4 year-old twin daughters) lost both grandparents in the past year. I just don't know how much more this family can take. The guy who died was only 27 years old, too. I could not believe he was dead. I think if I hadn't seen him in that casket, I would have difficulty believing it's true. The girls really couldn't comprehend what was happening. They just said things like, "my daddy got hurt" and they seemed to know he "couldn't come home" anymore. It is just a tragedy. He was a good person, a great dad.
Also, I handed in my resignation at work. It was difficult to do, but it was something I had to do. I think one of the reasons I haven't written much is because I haven't been able to think about much else besides work, and I didn't feel like writing about that. It sucks. I can't even tell you how bad it is. BUT, there are only two weeks left and then I'm done. I am terrified beyond measure that I won't find another position and will end up making foot-longs down at the Subway with Bird, Jr. but when I really think about it, I would rather flip burgers than continue in the job I had. So it goes. I am spending most of my time holed up in my classroom, boxing up my things.
What else?? Onyx… He's a terrific little bright spot for me right now. He's becoming more tame, but he still runs when I go to pick him up. He will probably always do that, because it is very hard for them to overcome their survival instincts. He's still running around, playing, popcorning, giving me tons of kisses (which I happen to need right now, thank you very much!)
I am trying not to pay too much attention to politics. I'm an Obama supporter and had my mind made up about that since Edwards dropped out. Hilldog needs to head home.
Also, I handed in my resignation at work. It was difficult to do, but it was something I had to do. I think one of the reasons I haven't written much is because I haven't been able to think about much else besides work, and I didn't feel like writing about that. It sucks. I can't even tell you how bad it is. BUT, there are only two weeks left and then I'm done. I am terrified beyond measure that I won't find another position and will end up making foot-longs down at the Subway with Bird, Jr. but when I really think about it, I would rather flip burgers than continue in the job I had. So it goes. I am spending most of my time holed up in my classroom, boxing up my things.
What else?? Onyx… He's a terrific little bright spot for me right now. He's becoming more tame, but he still runs when I go to pick him up. He will probably always do that, because it is very hard for them to overcome their survival instincts. He's still running around, playing, popcorning, giving me tons of kisses (which I happen to need right now, thank you very much!)
I am trying not to pay too much attention to politics. I'm an Obama supporter and had my mind made up about that since Edwards dropped out. Hilldog needs to head home.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Much ado about popcorning
I have made recent reference to Onyx "popcorning." Popcorning is a strange little thing that guinea pigs do when they are happy. It's kind of hard to describe, so I thought it would be good to show you what it is. This is not a clip of Onyx but one I found of a very happy and cute baby pig. It's only about a minute and a half and will probably make you smile.
Onyx makes his debut at school tomorrow. He will accompany me to visit with some sweet children.
Onyx makes his debut at school tomorrow. He will accompany me to visit with some sweet children.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
I Heart Cheering
We recently had our athletic banquet to celebrate our basketball season. This included my cheerleaders. I got to give out spirit awards and give plaques to my graduating seniors. I really didn't want to go. So much has happened with me at work that it is hard to give an extra moment of my time while simultaneously being booted out the door. The bad situations have nothing to do with the cheering or anything like that. I decided it would be pretty selfish of me to not attend, because it meant something to my girls who, honestly, had worked hard all season.
I could not believe the way that these girls honored me in front of everyone there. I was presented with a beautiful bouquet of irises (a personal favorite!), some girlee lotion type stuff, a bag FULL of Dove dark chocolate candies and a beautiful little necklace that says, "I heart Cheering." And you know what? I do.
Meanwhile, this has been a house of illness lately. I brought home a wonderful stomach virus last weekend, which traveled first, through Bird, Jr. and then to Steve, who presently is lying in bed feeling mighty low.
Sweet Onyx, on the other hand, seems to be thriving. I had to go by the vet's to pick up some medicine for our dog, so I grabbed Onyx and took him with me to see if he'd gained any weight in the three weeks since his vet visit. Indeed, he has! It doesn't sound like much but he's gone from 1.8 lbs to 2.1 lbs in 3 weeks. It's a pretty good gain and I'm proud of my piggie!
TGIF!!!!
I could not believe the way that these girls honored me in front of everyone there. I was presented with a beautiful bouquet of irises (a personal favorite!), some girlee lotion type stuff, a bag FULL of Dove dark chocolate candies and a beautiful little necklace that says, "I heart Cheering." And you know what? I do.
Meanwhile, this has been a house of illness lately. I brought home a wonderful stomach virus last weekend, which traveled first, through Bird, Jr. and then to Steve, who presently is lying in bed feeling mighty low.
Sweet Onyx, on the other hand, seems to be thriving. I had to go by the vet's to pick up some medicine for our dog, so I grabbed Onyx and took him with me to see if he'd gained any weight in the three weeks since his vet visit. Indeed, he has! It doesn't sound like much but he's gone from 1.8 lbs to 2.1 lbs in 3 weeks. It's a pretty good gain and I'm proud of my piggie!
TGIF!!!!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
The good, the bad and the downright ugly
I haven't spent much time on the computer this weekend. First of all, I spent Saturday volunteering with an event at work. I had a nice time and it only took a few hours of my time. That was good. It would be better if I were in a better working situation. It's bad. I expect to tender my resignation sometime this week and begin the "please hire me" thing again. It's downright ugly.
At least I have a wonderful new pig to take up my time and keep my mind on good things. He's gaining weight and becoming less timid. He pretty much never runs when I pick him up from his cage. He gets a little more skittish when he's out running around on the living room floor. We lock up the cat when he's out and he has a "you stay on your side of the pen, I'll stay on mine" relationship with the dog. The dog has sniffed him a time or two and wagged her tail. But, we've seen this dog tear shrieking shrews out of the ground and gut them in about 5 seconds flat. That was back in her "killer dog nasty" times. She's a kinder, gentler dog now. Onyx does not seem to know that he's really tiny. He puts his front feet up on whatever toy plaything he's got at the time and "weeeeks weeeeks" at the dog. He even acted like he wanted to charge the dog a time or two, bounding in her direction in a bouncy kind of way. The dog just walks away. They could not actually get to each other before we would be there to break up the fracas. We never leave them together without someone in the room, of course!
Tonight, the cat pulled a Houdini and escaped while Onyx was out. She was very, very interested and had her tail puffed out a little. I quickly grabbed him and put him back into his cage in my room. Floor time was definitely over.
I've had an interesting time just getting to know his personality and winning his confidence. I've also been experimenting with different vegetables to try and get a good idea of what his preferences are. He LOVES cilantro and would eat it non-stop if I would let him. He needs a variety for his best health (just like us!) and I have discovered that he likes romaine lettuce, carrots and dandelion. He does not like any kind of bell pepper and he liked apples for about 2 days, then changed his fickle little mind about that.
He loves to snuggle and explore. He seems happy and healthy and I am so glad to have him. When I feel stressed, I just grab my pig! It's good for both of us. Oh, and he's only tinkled on me once. That's not uncommon for young ones, especially when they are out for a while. He'll learn, like my other pigs did, that I'm doing to get him out for a while, so he should go before I grab him. I've heard that you can litter train them and I am planning to spend next weekend getting started with that. It certainly would be much cleaner and Onyx does seem to be pretty bright. I know, I know...I'm a little biased.
I want very much to take some pictures and post them. I can take good pictures and load them onto my computer but I can't for the life of me figure out how to make them smaller!
Tomorrow it's back to hell! How many more days until Spring Break?!?
At least I have a wonderful new pig to take up my time and keep my mind on good things. He's gaining weight and becoming less timid. He pretty much never runs when I pick him up from his cage. He gets a little more skittish when he's out running around on the living room floor. We lock up the cat when he's out and he has a "you stay on your side of the pen, I'll stay on mine" relationship with the dog. The dog has sniffed him a time or two and wagged her tail. But, we've seen this dog tear shrieking shrews out of the ground and gut them in about 5 seconds flat. That was back in her "killer dog nasty" times. She's a kinder, gentler dog now. Onyx does not seem to know that he's really tiny. He puts his front feet up on whatever toy plaything he's got at the time and "weeeeks weeeeks" at the dog. He even acted like he wanted to charge the dog a time or two, bounding in her direction in a bouncy kind of way. The dog just walks away. They could not actually get to each other before we would be there to break up the fracas. We never leave them together without someone in the room, of course!
Tonight, the cat pulled a Houdini and escaped while Onyx was out. She was very, very interested and had her tail puffed out a little. I quickly grabbed him and put him back into his cage in my room. Floor time was definitely over.
I've had an interesting time just getting to know his personality and winning his confidence. I've also been experimenting with different vegetables to try and get a good idea of what his preferences are. He LOVES cilantro and would eat it non-stop if I would let him. He needs a variety for his best health (just like us!) and I have discovered that he likes romaine lettuce, carrots and dandelion. He does not like any kind of bell pepper and he liked apples for about 2 days, then changed his fickle little mind about that.
He loves to snuggle and explore. He seems happy and healthy and I am so glad to have him. When I feel stressed, I just grab my pig! It's good for both of us. Oh, and he's only tinkled on me once. That's not uncommon for young ones, especially when they are out for a while. He'll learn, like my other pigs did, that I'm doing to get him out for a while, so he should go before I grab him. I've heard that you can litter train them and I am planning to spend next weekend getting started with that. It certainly would be much cleaner and Onyx does seem to be pretty bright. I know, I know...I'm a little biased.
I want very much to take some pictures and post them. I can take good pictures and load them onto my computer but I can't for the life of me figure out how to make them smaller!
Tomorrow it's back to hell! How many more days until Spring Break?!?
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
I'm tired...
I know I just had a week off of work, but I feel like I worked 2 jobs in the last week. Like Madeline Kahn, I'm just TIRED! Something about that long drive to and from Mississippi just wears me out. It was nice to be able to be with my mom for a while, but I wished that I could have stayed even longer. When I left, we really felt like she could stay alone. Even though she still isn't driving, she was able to take care of herself, etc. Today she had a bad day, so my brother went to get her to stay with him for a night or two.
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