Take care

Right now Casey and I call ourselves parents, but only to furry little things, no real people things. This past week our younger dog has started picking fights with our older dog who happens to be the first animal I ever owned by myself. I've had her since college and I will be the first to admit I probably did not treat her as a dog as much as I should have, so now she's 7 1/2 years old and kinda spoiled. She gets to sleep on the bed with me and both animals are allowed on the furniture as long as no people are occupying those spaces. It's never been a problem before, but last week Gremlin the younger one started picking major fights with Cinnamon my older one. At first we thought it was just over food but then she could not even be in his sight line and he would start growling and then attack. Granted Cinnamon outweighs him by about 20lbs and could totally take him, but that's not really what I want my dogs to be doing, especially when Casey and I start having little people. Well after an entire week of at least one fight a day and random growling all day long they finally seemed to be getting along. They hadn't had a fight that morning and were playing well together and with the neighbor kids. Should have known it was to good to be true, one minute they were playing chase with each other and going after the same ball next thing gremlin growls and lunges at cinnamon again. Only this time I couldn't get to him so I pulled her away and he was able to get to the soft under skin of her leg and when Casey pulled gremlin away it left cinnamon with a cut that required a visit to the vet. So, now hundreds of dollars later and a week of separation I'm reevaluating how I trained my dogs. Cinnamon is staying with my mom and gremlin is here and I'm working really hard with him to get him to listen and understand I'm the boss not him. I've also started running with him as well as going on walks with him multiple times a day. It's funny how most people get in shape for themselves, yet I might wind up getting in shape so that my dogs can get along for the rest of their lives. I know some people would choose to just give one dog away, I can't do that it would bother me to think what might happen, because it would be gremlin that would be given away. I've had cinnamon to long and right now gremlin is the instigator. So, now I just keep thinking what is he gonna do when we take him up to mom's and he has to play nice with cinnamon again. Hopefully all these extras walks and runs will run down some of his energy and he'll be nicer. We're also going to be looking into doggy obedience classes too.

Disrespect

So, exciting things are going on in the world of decor at the stokes houe!! But more on that later today I just need to vent for just one moment, because I get tired of being that last straw and seems to happen to me a lot. Maybe it's because I'm not someone to hold it in, I either choose to let it go or just go ahead and get it off my chest. However it seems some women hold on to things and let them build and build and somehow I always wind up smack dab in the middle of the word bomb when it happens, and I've got to tell you it's a little hurtful. I work very hard to be as easy going as possible because I know I AM NOT a confrontational person, never have been I hate arguments, yelling, all of it. It gets my adrenaline going worse then when you hear those sirens going on the radio and they're calling your unit emergency. So yesterday I got word bombed bad, in the middle of craziness at work by someone that consider myself somewhat friends with. All because I was the last straw and what I did didn't even make her mad! So now I'm frustrated because for one she never apologized which means deep down she thinks she had a right to do what she did, which hurts, and two I'm frustrated because yet again I did not stand up for myself. I can't come up with snappy comebacks in the heat of an argument, I come up with them like twenty minutes later. O well like Casey says over and done with, put it aside and enjoy the new day, and this is going to be a GREAT day. I get to hang out with my mom and aunt Helen ( well technically great aunt but nobody cares). So yippee for a good Monday!!

Gloomy days

Gloomy days always make me feel soo lazy. Like today for instance it stays dark in my room cause it's so gloomy so very time I open my eyes I think it's not time to get up. I don't ever roll over to actually look at the clock because then gremlin and cinnamon think it really is time to get up and start running around like mad dogs. So this morning it's like 9:45 and the phone is ringing and that's when I finally get up. Crazy I know, but I really didn't think it was that late. So needless to say my day was automatically behind schedule, but on the plus side I got the important errands done with only minor to major faux pas some of which could have been avoided if people would actually pass on my messages for Casey to call me. Biggest booboo was taking something back to home depot and asking for store credit, but instead he lady tdecided to put it back on the credit card. Which would have been ok had she put it on the credit card and not one of the gift cards we used :/. O well try again tomorrow. On the upside I made it to kickboxing tonight!! Very proud of myself, and I attempted a little jogging, and by little I men it took ten minutes to go half a mile. But baby steps right?? On the downside I need an elf to follow me around and smack my snacking hand. Today would have been a good day food wise otherwise. Ah but tomorrow is a new day.

Day one done!

So I did it day one of new exercise regimen accomplished, and I must have done something right cause I'm sore today. However today life and my husband are throwing a wrench in day two's gym time fun. It's a pretty day outside and he wants to take down Christmas which of course needs to be done. But since hes just now getting home from his bike ride/come to Jesus meeting with his brother we'll be taking down lights while my classes are going on. Challenge to myself make it to the gym this evening and work out by myself as opposed to with th instruction of professsionals. Here's hoping I can keep my own promises to myself. On the upper hand I'm trying really hard to avoid snacking on sweets and junk and grabbing fruit and usually a cheese stick instead. Update I'm going to the gym!!! Best hubby in the world says he'll take down lights all by his lonesome. Which he really won't though because I'll help till time to leave. In other news Casey and I are gearing up for operation paint the living room. It sounds easy I know but nothing having anything to do with DIY is easy for us. Biggest thing is Casey has to learn how to cut molding because we plan on doing a chair rail around the room. Hopefully I'll have pictures for you soon.

Happy new year, happy new me!

So, it's officially 2012 and like everyone else I'm making resolutions. In the past I've been horrible at keeping resolutions, but maybe putting into cyberspace will help me stay on task. My main resolution this year is to get healthy. Casey and I are talking about starting a family this year, and I want our future little person to be housed in the healthiest body possible. Right now I don't feel very healthy, and most days don't even really feel that cute. I call this my woes me I'm fat stage. It's happens periodically, my goal is to get healthier so it happens less. Plus there's no reason for me to not be healthy, I'm under thirty and have the time on my hands to be extremely healthy. If I could read books and be healthy I'd be set, but being healthy takes work and I need to push myself to do the work. Next big resolution is to dedicate myself into getting as involved as possible in a church, I love our current church but I've never felt very connected to the people in the church. So, Casey and I are on the search for a church closer to our current home and one where feel more connected to the people in the church. We have one that we've heard a ton of good things about and when we visited we got a good feel about the church, but its so hard to know when we work weekends and can only stay for half sermons or half Sunday school lessons. One thing about this church though they offer a ton of weekday bible studies that we could get involved in. Casey and I are also really getting into finally putting those homey touches on our home, mainly painting and finally nailing down our decorating style. So far we've painted the dining room and the kitchen/breakfast area. If I can figure out how to upload pictures from an iPad I'll post them other wise there will hopefully be a future post of home improvements if I can keep up with the thing. And there is my last resolution to utilize all these technological tools that just fall into my lap. Having a blog is like having an online diary something I tried desperately to keep as a child, npbut much like this blog failed miserably at. Most of the time it was because everyone seemed to have such amazing things to discuss on a daily basis, not so much for me. So I've decided to just write the things I have to tell instead of just trying to keep up a steady stream of posts, which means you'll probably get sporadic long posts like this, but hey who cares, right now I'm the only one who actually realizes this still exists. Which also means this blog can be whatever I want whether it be DIY, thoughtful musings, or funny stories from work. Ah the new year what a great way to start

There are days

So my husband and I are nurses. He does adults and I do peds, and for the most part it's run of the mill kinda stuff. The area where are hospital is, is kind of a poor part of town, so everyone uses the ER as their primary care physician. But somedays, someday we get some neat things in and on those days I absolutely love my job. This weekend was one of those times. Patient comes in wrist jacked up to hell and back and we get to make him loopy and yank it back in place. Now I realize the words I'm using are verbally harsh, but they really give the best depiction of what we do. Now as the nurse my job is counter weight, the doctor pulls and I push so we can get those wrist bones back up in place. All doctors have different ways of achieving the same effect,but the one thing that remains the same is you gotta pull those bones, and sometimes it's really hard, this was one of those times. Are doctor was pulling for all she was worth and I was pushing for all I was worth and we thought we got it back in place it felt pretty good, but a second xray said nope not so much, we needed to get those bones closer together. So we try again and I mean our doctor is pushing and pulling and bending and she just can't get it. Here comes the I love my job part, she told me to give it a try. She explains how to hold and at what angle I need to pull and she will provide counter balance. We get into position I give that patients wrist one good yank and "pop" you hear that bone slide back into place. It's a great feeling knowing you're able to help in that way. This will actually be the second bone I've pulled back into place. The first was when one of our other doctors was extremely pregnant and hauling on an arm could cause baby to pop out. She told me to pull straight up on the hand and then she would manipulate the bones. So I pulled straight up and one resounding "pop" later bones were back in place and there was no manipulating needed from the physician. It's nice to know I was placed in the right field of work, cause there are days I wonder, but this weekend God let me know he knew where I belonged.

Catch all phase

Okay so I decided that I'm not that good at blogging and this whole slowly catching people up with what's going on in life not happening so much. So, we are going to try getting all caught up in one fell sweep. January was a fun month for the citizens of Georgia we were snowed in for three days and nobody knew what to do. I must admit I was quite proud of myself in that I felt I had a good grasp on what to do in general in a snow storm seeing that I lived in Denver CO, and they get a lot of snow. Granted I was like ten and couldn't drive, but that didn't stop people from giving me pointers on how to drive in the snow. The night that it all started I was at work and everyone was getting called in and being told they needed to pack to stay. I was determined to go home, it took me two hours one sliding episode, and a conversation with a woman who kept asking me the same question, but I made it. It was glorious that first night all soft and fluffy and fun. The dogs had a blast dashing through it and snuffling it, and eating the bits we threw at them. The next two day were a different story the top layer of snow was hard and slick, Gremlin and Cinnamon would walk on it and then crash through. Gremlin though was the best he would try to hike his leg to pee and slide down the hill that is our backyard, he finally just gave up and squatted like a girl. We also got a new pet in the form of Mr. Boo who was a cat that showed up on my mom's doorstep but wound up living at mine. My brother was apparently suffering from allergies which kicked his asthma into high gear. February the excitement of that month was losing Boo and then by the Grace of God finding him a week later sitting on a neighbors porch in a completely different neighborhood meowing pitifully. Needless to say we think he's going to be permanently grounded whether he wants to be or not. End of March beginning of April was when we went on our first cruise, it was for Casey's birthday. We had friends that were going to go with us but had to back out at the last minute because of morning sickness. The cruise was great!! Lots of stuff to do and Casey and I even managed to work out a bit while on the ship. We went of the Allure of the Seas currently the biggest cruise ship, which is cool, but that means a lot of the ports can't handle that ship. Our ports wound up not being super cool, but they did provide us with relaxation and fun and some new experiences. My favorite of which was the 30 foot long bamboo raft in Jamaica that took us down the Martha Brae river. Our guide was fantastic told us the folklore behind the Martha Brae (she was a witch) and was full of interesting tid bits about the island itself. I don't think Martha liked me laughing at the story though cause she stole my sunglasses! We also learned that you need to go out in the sun in the afternoon, both of us wound up with some heat rashes. Also, our server for dinner every night was great and his helper was from the Philippeans and so cute.