a day at work for me

Some days my job is very rewarding. Yesterday was one of those days. It started off as a routine surgery day but then we had some odd ball stuff come in and we were incredibly busy for the 10.5 hours I was there. I usually work in surgery 2 days a week. The other days of the week I work I'm either the lab technician or in management working on scheduling, ordering & inventory and misc. other junk.

We had a walk in emergency come in yesterday. We don't get those too often as we are not an emergency hospital & most of our patients are scheduled appointments or scheduled surgeries. Yesterday this little dog named GiGi came in with all her intestines hanging from her little body. She had been spayed at another clinic and then had went home and removed her own stitches, then preceded to eat some of her own guts. Gross, I know. She will be lucky if she makes it to be perfectly honest. I felt really good that we were able to get an IV catheter going and got her prepped and ready for surgery in under 5 minutes. What a great team I work with. The doctor that did her repair was done within an hour. That is a good surgeon there, amazing!! By 4 o'clock she was wagging her tail at us and responsive when we talked to her. All of this going on while little Stevie here barked and whined ALL live long day! He was too cute to get mad at though, don't you agree? GiGi will have to really fight for her life now for the next 5 days or so. He body will have tons of infection to fight off. I really hope she makes it and it felt good to get her this far. In the meantime, while GiGi was undergoing emergency surgery another doctor was doing a shoulder luxation surgical repair on ANOTHER dog named GiGi. (it's not usually a common name...) She is an 11 year old poodle. Here is her picture post-op. I ended up carrying her around some in the afternoon as she is a total lap dog and cries when she is in the kennel. Plus her morphine was starting to wear off and she couldn't have more for a another hour so it seemed to calm her to be held.

We also had Sophie who came in to be spayed. She really started the whole photo session because she was so comfortable snoring off her anesthesia. Here she is all laid out on her back sleeping away. Her owners say she lays like that all the time at home. We thought it was adorable.

This is a photo of me on the job. This schnauzer is under anesthesia and ready to be moved into the surgery room for an upper GI. It can be pretty busy but most days I do enjoy my job. I love the animals and feel they have a special bond with me. I can go to a very anxious animal that is trying to bite someone else and it will relax around me. The neat thing is I can just feel them completely relax into me as I hold to restrain them. It's like they know I'm okay and not there to harm them even though some of the stuff we do causes pain. If I talk soothingly to them they seem to stay calm and let me do whatever needs to be done. I have even drawn blood samples before without anyone else holding the patient for me. I also do have to brag that the only time I was ever bitten was when I had a puppy under anesthesia and while I was intubating her, she sneezed and her sharp puppy tooth came down in the center of my finger. Ouch! Otherwise, just scratches and one torn ligament from a wrestling match with a Rottweiler. My thumb got caught in his collar wrenching it backwards. I had to have surgery on that a couple of years ago. & it still bothers me most day.

So, it will be 16 years on the job in June and I won't lie~sometimes I'm burnt out, sometimes I'm sick of the politics and the people, sometimes I'm tired of the meetings and especially the test. I'm tried of the long hours on my feet and how sore my body gets lifting and carrying. I get really tired of the cleaning and all the hair...but where else can I work and get hugs and kisses, purrs and tail wags? I can be a major factor in how well that pet is taken care of while they experience something they totally don't understand.

Just alittle "ART" for my friend

Here is some computer art:

original photo, watercolor, old time, and oil

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. Annie Dillard

Those of you that know me know I love animals. I'm lucky enough to be an RVT but I'm also fortunate enough to capture on camera some of the best moments of true wonder. The sleepy cat that doesn't concern it's self with tourist. Paige, the black lab that is dying of kidney disease and conveys the sadness. The wild calico that is enjoying the sunny day and pondering the pond, I wonder what she could be thinking about...

The deer that is strolling casually around just being so peaceful and of course Valentine who is the joy of all joys, how could I possibly leave her out?

Morel time

Early Spring is the time that everyone in Missouri gets excited about going mushroom hunting. They are all looking for these little beauts called Morels. I personally don't eat them but I've been told I'm finicky. I love to go mushroom hunting, especially because my Dad and husband love them. It's really funny because I'll look and look and never see one but then ONCE you see one your eye becomes trained to spot them and you will find all the others you overlooked....

So far this year I have only found this one. Actually my hubby found it- I'm really not that great at this! ha. It's warmed up quickly so there may not be many to find. I'm curious if they have morels in your neck of the woods?

Each day our Missouri weather is getting warmer & warmer. Spring is here and I have Spring Fever! Friday I went I took some dog photos for a good friend of mine and caught these 2 girls watching the ducks. I love the backs of children. I have some really cute photos of my own kids as they were growing up and when you only see their backside I think it puts it into more perspective how tiny they really are. I am anxious to get some time and maybe Photoshop this one some. I have a new Photoshop tutorial that I have tried to watch a few times and always have to turn it off for one reason or another! I will post my "after" product if I ever get it done.

Today will be a gruelling day at work. We have a meeting from 10am-4pm on customer service. I hope it is interesting enough to keep my eyelids from drooping and my mind from wondering. After 16 years on the job I often feel like I've heard it all........how sad it that?! I should pray for a renewed spirit. I would love to climb into this photo right now and just be one of these girls without an agenda and the only goal to giggle and enjoy the day.

Miss Frenchie's April in Paris

There was great weather last night for us to attend the show. We arrived 30 minutes early and good thing too because the line was very, very long and we were one of the 1st one's in. I was surprised the prices on most things were very reasonable. It really was a good time. Smaller than I thought but still worth going too!I don't have a picture of Robin since she is the one that took this with her cute little camera phone. This is my friends Donna & Brenda, I'm in the middle.This photo is blurred but you can see all the "stuff" in the back ground. Of course, it was all right up my ally! I forgot my camera but I did take some photos with my friend's. I wish I had them to upload!

The girls bought me this really neat tin. I'm going to go home and try to find some neat branches or twigs to go in it. I can't decide it I want to put it outside or inside.
I did find a few treasures to play with. These optometrist lenses and crystals and I found this chain for my soldered charms. I was very inspired from some of the art I saw. Too bad I have to work today~guess it all can't be play time! I did feel great all day today.

Drama on Thursday!

I had a very upsetting day today! I thought I was having back pain and then about 20 minutes later full fledged chest pain. Very scary! I didn't think "heart attack" since I had a full heart workup in October and it was perfect. I have GERD and assumed it was reflux from that but I was in so much pain. Way more than usual and it just wouldn't go away with my acid medication. Well after 4 hours and an afternoon doctor's visit they are thinking I have gall bladder issues. Tomorrow morning it's off to an ultrasound to check it out. Feeling better tonight, still have some nausea and small amount of discomfort but not like this morning. I'm drained from all the drama! The girls I work with were so good to me today...I think I scared them all. Hopefully, I'll have some answers in the morning and I also hope nothing messes up my evening plans with my girlfriends. Wow, have a birthday and your body just falls apart! ha.

I had a wonderful birthday but it's not over yet. Friday night my girlfriends are taking me to Miss Frenchie's April in Paris Antique Show. Here is a link to the blog: http://www.missfrenchies.blogspot.com/ I'm very excited. We will go to dinner first and we always laugh ourselves silly. I'll take lots of pictures to post!

Life is Good!

This is a photo of my Dad & my older sister Debbie and me. I was only a few months old here-I'm the chubby, bald baby! What a crack up!
Today is my Birthday. I have always loved my birthday because there is no other day of the year that makes me feel so special and loved by so many.

I have a few memorable ones but they pretty much have all been wonderful. I've been very blessed through out my whole life.

My parents always made a cake and got a gift for starters. My Grandma would always send a card with a $3 check in it. She did that clear up until she went into a nursing home & then I think my Grandpa tried to do it a couple of years but with so many grand children he couldn't keep up. My Mrs. Rice would always send me a card with $20 in it- even when I was in grade school that is what she would do! There was the time my Aunt Georgia called me to wish me a happy birthday. That was out of the blue and I had not seen or heard from her in years so that will always stick out as very special to me. She is gone now. My sisters always remember and call me and sometimes my little sister Shannon would make me cupcakes. My husband almost always tries to make it very special. The grandest was the surprise cruise for my 40th but that one will be hard to top for years to come. I share my birthday with my youngest son (step) and so that has been very cool. When I was a single mother and had my own apartment Cory's grandma would leave me a little gift on my car as a surprise. My 21st birthday the whole plant I worked at decorated the street with signs all the way into work! I was the youngest person working there so they had a big "Do not enter unless your 21 or over" sign on all the doors. That was a very fun time. We of course had to go clubbing that evening to celebrate!

This year my cousin who lives in California has sent me a surprise letter and 4 handmade bracelets so I'm feeling spoiled already! I will work for a few hours this morning. My husband has taken the day off to be with me so we will try to do something together for the afternoon and then dinner tonight with our son for his birthday. It will be a good day. Life is Good!

Reflections

I learned to paint when I was in my early 20's and I have never looked at the sky the same way since. It's magical how many shades of color & intensities can be all thrown together to make an amazing sky. Our sun sets this week have been beautiful. These things always draw me closer to God & make me reflect on life. I read a daily devotion called Our Daily Bread. (They are free to everyone by going to http://www.rbc.org/ ) Although I am not good about reading them daily- I love to read a few stories at a time. The one I read today says:

"When we try to imagine the immensity of God's heavens, our problems indeed seem trivial. Yet God doesn't think so! With all the galaxies He has to attend to, God is mindful of us. And not only are we on His mind, He cares for us."


If you ever watched Superman- (I think it was the first one with Christopher Reeves) there is a part in the movie where he flies into outer space & he kind of just "gets comfortable" up there and you see him listening to what all he hears from earth- the smallest of voices, people asking him for help, etc. That part of the movie really made me think of God and how it must be for Him. It's hard for us little bitty humans to think He hears our prayers and request but He does.

I felt some discouragement today as I got the mail and my son got a letter from the fire station. It simply said they thanked him for his participation in their interview process and they were placing his name on an eligibility list which will be utilized to fill future vacancies for a period of 1 year. I know he was disappointed and will have to figure out what next. It was not the news I wanted either but I was thankful that they didn't seem to totally write him off. I'm sure the Lord has something good in mind for him and this was just a step on the ladder towards whatever that may be.
"If God sees the sparrow's fall, paints the lilies short & tall, Gives the skies their azure hue, will He not care for you?"

Photos of Spring in Missouri, USA

My front door creation for spring. And the Pear Tree has blossomed.


Heron is back for more fish this year. Little purple flowers sprout.

Old dogs still run! A Dandelion-my favorite "weed"

Even though it's been cold here in Missouri the signs of Spring are slowly making progress!

Feeling creative

Every once in a while my hubby and I will go see a movie. We like to pick the late one's so we can go next door and spend an hour or more in Barnes & Nobel. Then we look through the books. He usually looks at the Home stuff and I will roam the whole store but usually end up in the crafts.

Last night I found this really neat magazine. I would of liked to have bought it but I had already picked out another book. We don't even usually buy any books-we just look. Besides, if I can have a few extra computer minutes I may be able to find some really outstanding blogs on my own; like I already have! I read a few blogs that Somerset had printed in this issue. One in particular was really nice and I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the blog but it talked about how woman are connecting from all over the world with their blogs and how most women love to check the comments. I know I do. Friendships are forming across the miles that are very meaningful to most. If you get a chance to look through this magazine I really think you will like it & some of the points it has picked up on in other's blogs. We are a creative species with some wonderful thoughts and ideas at times.

This is the book I found & had to have. I don't so much like the odd & curious as the beautiful. This has a bit of everything & really good detailed instructions. I really like this line that North Light Books has come up with. All of them are good quality books with great photos and the artist seem to be "people like me". Just self taught, making this and that and unlike me, actually learning to make a living at it. They have another book on the shelf that I wanted and will try to save for. I can't remember the name of it (guess I need to start jotting this stuff down if I'm going to get anywhere!) My first book from this publisher was: I have used it so much and made a few really beautiful things for gifts from the ideas I have gotten from this book. They all just seem to tie in with my love of auctions and old things~to making something that can be worn or displayed with the treasures I find. I really need to get a few more tools so I can do more of the projects in these 2 books and come up with some of my own ideas as well. Today will be a good day to "play" indoors. Even though it is spring they are talking about another winter storm due to arrive in a couple of hours. I have plenty to do indoors, and not all of it will be housework. :)

Marriage

Sometimes it's very difficult to be married. I don't think very many people realize that until they are in a marriage and watching it fall apart. I would not say mine is falling apart but I could see how it or anyone's could, as things just seem to spiral out of control at times. I have a great husband but at times I struggle with feelings that are not all that positive. The past couple of weeks we have definitely been in a RUT. We often do not agree on kid issues. You would think that with 3 grown children those things would go away. I think it's even more difficult as 1 child is mine and the other 2 are his. Step parenting is really, really hard. I was reading some past journals of mine and noticed a lot of the same problems we argue about have never changed even though the kids are not KIDS anymore. Really, one of the biggest issues with us is communication. We will get in a disagreement and we never REACH an agreement but we will stop arguing (probably because we both know we are not getting anywhere!) and then he can just act like we never had a negative conversation at all about "whatever" we were just disagreeing about until it comes up again and then it's just the same argument all over again. Big vicious circle. Sometimes we go "round & round" just over communication. :) "you said, "bla bla"...no I didn't I said, "bla bla bla". It's really pretty funny if anyone could listen in. I could probably come up with some stand up comedy on some of our conversations and be the next one to have my own TV show! ha ha.

I noticed on my Facebook page that quite a few of my high school friends that I have reconnected with after 20 some years are either divorced or going through a divorce now. I would really hate that. I don't want to let my marriage get to that point ever. I think that feeling of throwing in the towel can sometimes be that little devil sitting on our shoulder. I feel it sometimes over the smallest of things and I don't have to deal with the big stuff like drinking, drugs, affairs, gambling, etc. It just seems it would be easier and I know that is so totally not true. I know God has been really good to me and I guess sometimes I just wish my husband would feel toward me a little more like I think I feel towards him (when it's the positive stuff OF COURSE!) The other night I was really happy and telling him a story and before I could even finish he interrupted about part of my story that he totally took the wrong way. Those communication issues again. Anyway, I just walked out of the room & quit talking. It really kind of hurt my feelings. He bought me a flower yesterday so he must of realized he was being a dummy. ;) At least he is still willing to keep working with me, on this road trip we are on, called marriage. It is work, and sometimes there is fun and passion and good times and good communication and sometimes there is the rut that we have to come up out of....at least when one of us makes it to the top we are still willing to pull the other out too.

Therefore we also,

since we are surrounded by

so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us lay aside every

weight, and the sin which

so easily ensnares us, and let

us run with endurance the race that

is set before us.

-Hebrews 12:1