What's next for me

This spring and summer are turning out to be a time of change for me.  Life as it was is going to be making some big turns in the upcoming months. 

I turned in my notice at work a week ago so have one left of my 2, which isn't bad because it translates into only 3 working days.  I am glad I did it when the boss and I were not at a tense point in our relationship.  There wasn't any guilt trips or fits I was half expecting.  I am going to miss some of my regular clients but this is best for me. 

I'm still going to be doing my house call kitties so I won't be completely unemployed but I still only do that on a very part time basis, 2-8 cats a month.  On the other hand, I may be a fitness instructor before the summer is out.  Depending on the demand, I may have my own pole class.  

The kids will be home with me this summer and when school starts in the fall, Ayla will be joining Ben at the elementary school.  It kind of seems like all of a sudden I don't' have and little ones anymore.   

 

Two years, really?

I saw the dates and thought really?  It's been almost 2 years?  But then again time gets away from everyone every now and again.  Though with Facebook being as big as it is, I can see how blogs can get neglected.  It's just as easy to post pictures on the fly from your phone or send them to Instagram. 

For a quick overview of my last two years, I'll try to keep it in some sort of order. 

-I hit 2 years smoke free on Aug. 16th.  Not as bad as expecting but still have these random thoughts/cravings out of the blue every once in a while.

-I am still at the same place though on an even less full time basis than I was.  I leave to make sure I'm home for school bus because

-Ben is in first grade now and loving it.  Ayla is enjoying Pre-K and will be joining him at school next year. 

- I started an exercise class that I love and am going on 1 year straight.  Though it's not mainstream like Zumba or pilates, I'm advancing well in my abilities.  

Guess I'll need to call this done for now since I'm meeting Nick for lunch.  Here's hoping it's not another 2 years before I get back. 

After a few months

It has been a while since I last posted.  I've gotten out of the habit of this really bad.  I can add a few things.  

I went to South Carolina in October and I did finish my certification.  I can now claim the title of Certified Feline Master Groomer, the first one in Indiana.  Of course this has led to the observation that I cannot stay where I am because I know I can do better than I am able to there with the products provided and the environment has become almost toxic.  So I will most likely be starting my own thing shortly.  We have to meet with some people so we have an idea where we are headed.  

On another note, it has been 90 days as a non smoker.  I know and realize that that is a huge thing but sometimes I just with for ONE.  But it'll never be just one, gotta think about it like an alcoholic does, one is one too many.  

 

How's this for a day?

Yesterday was what I would classify as a bad day and the kids had very little to do with it.

It started at work as I discovered two of my grooming blades are missing, making a total of three. One went missing last week. So now I have no 30's and my 3/4 is gone, a total of about 75 dollars, give or take, of work tools. I haven't had time to ask everyone I work with if they may have misplaced them but it looks like I'm going to be unable to allow people to use my stuff when I'm not there anymore since it's not getting returned.

After work, everything was pretty good for a while, but then Ayla took a tumble off the couch. She worked herself up so bad that she vomited on me, twice. Yeah, I got puked on again.

THEN fast forward to bedtime. I'm calling the day done and going to climb into bed and enjoy sleep. Only to discover that somehow a needle had gotten stuck in the bed, which I found while sliding in. Nick, meanwhile, is wondering what the hell is wrong now.

So after removing the offending needle, I crawled into bed and pulled the covers over my head and prayed that nothing else would go awry.

National Cat Groomers Institute

I joined the National Cat Groomers Institute this past August at the All American Grooming Expo, I refer to it as the groomers prom for this area. To get to the title of Certified Feline Master Groomer I have to take 4 written tests and five practical. So I ordered the study materials so I could get started on this journey.

My study materials arrived today. Now I'm in a state of ohmygod I'm really gonna do this?! There is a packet for each written test and an IRS book like thing to study. Now I just have to study them and schedule the tests. For the practicals I don't know what I'm going to do yet. I could go to the 2 week school in South Carolina, take a weekend long seminar in Michigan or wait until the All American next year, depending on when I feel ready.

So what do you get with 2 kids, a dog, and two partial quarts of ice cream? Give up? One big mess.

To explain, I had gotten up with Ayla around 3 or so. Since she was sick for almost two weeks her sleep schedule has gotten all wacky, but back to the story. So I had gone back to sleep on the couch in the living room. The problem came when Ben got up, Nick assumed I was already up so went back to sleep. See the problem here?

I woke up to Nick bringing Ayla to me saying this one is all yours. She was wet, had something in her hair and a pretty full diaper. He then went on to explain slash show me what he had discovered. The best we can figure is Ben got the ice cream out of the freezer (which is getting a permanent combo lock if I have anything to say about it) and taken it, his sister, and the dog into his room. Where he proceeded to eat some, throw some around (yes, it was on the walls, dresser, bed, everywhere), I'm pretty sure he was a big reason Ayla was covered in it and Simba too. Nick woke up to Ben trying to give Ayla a bath in the spare bathroom, by splashing water on her from the running sink.

So both kids got tossed into a bath and washed down. Nick got a bucket and started cleaning Ben's room and I took the dog to the salon and gave him a quick bath. Of course my co workers, knowing I wasn't working today, were wondering what happened when I showed up with Simba. This isn't the first time I've had to take Simba to work with me because Ben decided that food is good for a dog's fur.

That was my morning. Now it's a lot calmer because Nick took Ben to a monster truck show so it just me and Ayla for tonight.

Until the next episode..........

Very active blogging day. I don't think I've ever done 3 posts in one before. In going through the camera to look at some pictures we took tonight, I remembered I had it at work the other day and got a before and after of one of my dogs.

Before.
I had already started working on him a little but it was on the other side so you do get a pretty good idea of how he looked coming in.

After.
Again, I forgot until after I had got him down. However you can still see the difference.

Another view.
He was a very good and patient dog.

First thing, what do you think of the new lay out? Took some time to figure out how to get what I wanted but I got there. Just figured I'd give a little update on what's going on over here.

I had to groom Simba pretty severely (for him) since I found some skin problems and hot spots on him. So now instead of his fluffy feet (normally clipped off), and the long butt feathers, think golden retriever, he now has more of a Labrador look and one semi bald patch at the base of his tail. Everyone is getting a dose of flea prevention so that'll be a fun exercise later today. It's going to take both myself and Nick to get them done.

Ben and Ayla are going along and growing nicely. Ben used to be just a little too short to reach the light switch in the bathroom, now he can reach it without a stool. Ayla is starting to fill out the 0-3 month onesies.

To update on the post I made about the Pampers Dry Max, I did contact the company using the number provided in the comments (after googling it to see if it was a legitimate number) and it is apparently a number they set up to deal with the current issues. Although a little thick on the Pampers rhetoric, I was satisfied with my dealings with them. They asked for details about what Ayla has going on and offered a refund for the last box of Pampers we bought.

I've restarted the search for a church. We were looking back around when Ben was born, but life kinda got in the way and fell into routine. When it came time for his baptism, Nick's Grandmother's church did it, more for her than for us, since she is a member of the same religion. Call it pride or what you will, but I don't want to have to ask again. I did find one that was ok, but Nick wants one with more people around our age. So the next one up is one in the next town that also has a school. I figure that should have a fair amount of people around our age and/or stage of life. The only concern I have is that is part of the Missouri Synod and I was brought up in a church that part of the ELCA. So I'm not sure what the practical differences are, but I'm just going to have to see.

So that's about it for now, Ayla's waking up and is probably going to let me know her stomach is empty soon.

Brainfart of the year

I had the brainfart of the year on Friday. To explain a little, I forgot it was Good Friday and my daycare is in a church (see where this is going?).

Since it is a few days before a holiday we are really busy at work, at the beginning of the day I knew we had at least fifteen dogs on the books for Friday. I arrive at the day care and it seems to be taking a while for them to answer the bell, I figure I'll call to see in case the bell is broken. As I'm getting my phone out I suddenly realized what day it was and that I think the handbook said they were closed. So I sent a text message and yup, they're closed. My first thought outside of something not exactly kosher to write was "Co workers are gonna kill me"



Fortunatly for me, the twins we use for baby sitting were on spring break and one was available. I was able to call my co workers and let them know I WOULD be in, I would just be a bit late since I had to wait for the baby sitter to get up and ready. Then called Nick so that in case he got off work before me he wasn't surprised to find her and Ben at the house and also so if he was the first one home, he knew to stop and get money to pay her. He got a laugh out of my oops.



At work we ended up doing 21 dogs on Friday and I did thank the baby sitter profusely, and gave her a little bonus for the extreme short notice and hauling her out of bed.

Just thought I'd drop a line to check in. Since this whole thing with my hands got bad, I haven't been feeling up to a whole lot. But as it's improving, and the dermatoligist appointment comes closer, I've been getting back into a better frame of mind.

Ben is learning at an alarming rate. He has already figured out what he is not supposed to do and if you catch him in the act, he will quickly put everything away and scramble down and look at you like "what? I wasn't doing anything"

I have simply decided that he is basically bored. So we got him one of those interactive games for the TV and that at least helped last night. Along with a specific chair for time outs, though we haven't had to use it yet since we just got it last night. I know from the day care ladies that he understands time outs.

Other wise it's kinda SSDD. Nick is looking forward to going to a friend's bachelor party in August and I have a grooming expo that month too. The only question with the expo is if I will go for one day or go for two and participate in an all day seminar. Biggest hold back is it's 99 dollars to attend the all day one.

The death of Super Cow

At work we usually let the dogs run around in two gated areas. The salon is long and we have 2 rows of gates, so we'll let a dog run around (we do not let dogs mingle). This was from friday and we had three dogs come in together, Cowboy is the yorkie, he just came in for a bath and touch up. I guess I should add that Super Cow is the toy he has, it's a favorite of the dogs.

I just had to include one of the Great OZ. Ozzie is a Shiloh Shepard and HUGE, and my favorite. It takes about 4 hours to bathe, brush, and groom him but he's a great dog.

(His ears are as big as my hands.)

Well, my hands are improving nicely. The women at work have been great and I haven't had to wash a dog in quite some time. For grooming them I've worn moisture gloves with latex ones on top to keep the little hair slivers out of the wonds.

So now I've moved into the healing/peeling stage. The hand with the infection now looks like a burn victims' hand and the other one is just really dry and cracked. So hopefully we're almost done and then I can hope for it to never happen again.

What I did today

I talk about work every now and then and I thought I'd share one with you.





This fluffy over grown cotton ball is a Great Pyrenees. He's in for his annual shave down, yup you'll see. Oh, and for a dog his size I had to put 2 grooming tables together to have enough room for him to stand on.

It takes a while to do a dog like this, especially since he's soooo fluffy. So you have to pre shave them before the bath. No point in washing and drying (that's the big one) all this hair your just going to shave off, the only issue is that is sometimes hard to get through the hair because of dirt or an undercoat. Then the bath, after a nice wrestling match, me head to toe soaked, and the floor won't need to be mopped, you spend at least an hour drying him. After that I put him in a crate with a non-heated dryer. A few hours later, a lot of manuvering (grooming while kneeling, squatting, sitting on the floor, etc) you have this.



Not that great of a pic, but you get the idea.

Part of the package

On of the things that comes with using daycare is the possibillity that you'll have to leave work to pick up your child if he's sick. We just had our first one today, outside of the fact that is was "discovery" day at work (Found a few things on/in the dogs at work), this just kinda fit with the whole day.

I get a call because Ben is just not feeling well, but he fell asleep while she was on the phone with me, so far so good. Usually a nap is the perfect solution for a fussy toddler. But after he wakes up, he's just miserable. So I leave work and pick him up and he's just not wanting to be awake. After a short discussion I decide it's best to take him to the doctor and see what's going on.

Ben got sick at the doctors office, nailed himself, me and the nurse. So they decide to send us to the hospital to get some tests to see if he's dehydrated. At this point, I call and leave a message for Nick letting him know what's going on up to this point. I'm worrying about having to leave a message that basically says "Hi, Baby's sick, going to hospital for tests". Ben didn't even cry when they took his blood, only whimpered a little. We go home to wait for the results.

Nick gets home after we have a little nap and I tell him we haven't heard anything yet. His response "heard about what?", yup he never checked his messages. **headpalm**

Ben is a little dehydrated, but still in the normal range and they put him on an anti biotic. I've already talk to work so they know I won't be in tomorrow. They were really good about me having to go. Since it was literally I got off the phone, turned around and said gotta go.

Welcome Simba

We have a new member to our family. This is Simba, he's about 2 years old and a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever mix. Man, that's a mouthfull. This is a picture from the Humane Society, not our house.

We filled out an application for him yesterday and we actually didn't have a lot of hope since there was already one application for him. But since they have so many adoptions fall through for whatever reason, they take up to 2 application for each dog. So apparently about an hour after I went to work today Nick gets a call saying Simba is ours and we can pick him up today or Tuesday. So I was surprised to get home and Nick and Ben were gone then they come in with a dog!

So far the cats have taken one look at him and refused to leave our bedroom. Ben and Simba seen to be getting along. He is proving to be a real cuddle bum.

First order of business tomorrow is make an appointment with the vet and then see if I can get Ben into daycare for a few hours so I can take Simba to work and give him a bath and a trim.

I'll try to have more pictures up for Monday. We've taken some and Nick can't remember where he put the camera down at.

The first day at my new job went well. Got a lot of the rust shaken off and getting back into the groove of things. I had a yorkie and 2 cockers, so fairly common dogs with no special needs.

The last day at my old one went well too. We were really slow so it seemed to drag on and on. Better than Saturday which was one of those days that just makes it soooo much easier to leave.

Ben's taking daycare real well. He's been chattering a lot more than he used to and actually using words. But I guess I should try and figure something out for dinner.

YEAHH!!!!

I GOT IT! I applied at two different salons and got good vibes from both. The one I wanted more just called today and offered me the position! I go in late monday to groom a dog so that she knows where I stand.

Luckily I also found a daycare that I like today. I like it because it leaves more room for maneuvering. They do hourly, part time up to 29 hours, and full time. So until I start my job I could do half days or something. It just leaves a lot more room for possibilities. Unlike most of the others which are your either here all day everyday or your not. Sorry he's only one, he doesn't need to be in school yet.

So I need to get his enrollment papers filled out and my grooming gear up to snuff. AND we have his first birthday coming up.

Here we go

We have decided to put Ben in daycare part time since he's at an age where it can do him good to be with other kids. So since we made that decision I started thinking about getting back into grooming. I do like my job and the people but ultimately it is just a job and dead end one at that. Since I have no interest in going into management. I have it easy now, I can pretty much dictate my hours. I'd probably have to something pretty stupid to get fired or even in trouble. But as I said, it's just a job and one that won't go anywhere.

I have two interviews lined up for this weekend. One in town and the other in a neighboring town. Don't have a preference at this point. Hopefully they both go well. Of course, being me, the fear of failure is pretty big. In other words, I'm scared s#%@less. I'll just have to bite the bullet and see what happens.