The Balence of Power

So first of course, a little update on what’s going on in general.

Saturday, I worked as I have every Saturday this month. I’m looking forward to March and some Saturdays off. I also really need to put in for my vacation time and discuss my AVMA plans in July. Anyway, Saturday I had a really full schedule which included a few add ons (but luckily only a few) including one owner that thought it would be nice to just bring along some extra cats for their various problems. Saturday I ended up euthanizing FOUR animals! It wasn’t a very pleasant day. Another patient that I had seen ended up being euthanized later that afternoon too. I worked for four hours and euthanized four animals. How crazy is that? Also one Friday and one on Thursday. So six in three days. Its was really rough and getting to me on Saturday because I euthanized a super nice dog. Because of my rough day, Joe and I went out for Mexican food which was good. I ordered the wrong thing and was slightly disappointed. I was not however disappointed by the salsa coming to us in a Kraft mac’n’cheese dinosaur bowl, which I kid you not, it did. We had Papa John’s for dinner.

Thursday I was on call and of course since it was my surgery day, had to work till seven. Joe happened to notice that morning that I forgot my work phone at home so he came by and brought it to me. I wasn’t doing surgery yet but was prepping a cat for a spay. I made him stay to watch me start and even though cat spays are virtually bloodless (if they’re not in heat, I can get by with one to two 4x4s), Joe wasn’t feeling so hot. He later said that he was really impressed with how efficient and confident I was even with him watching. He enjoyed how I was able to answer questions when sometimes when at home I end up getting short with him. I luckily got home for a nap and then back to appointments. My appointments went smoothly even though I got behind. I was in the process of euthanizing a dog when I got TWO emergency phone calls. One was a HP client that had a dog that sounded suspiciously like parvo. Then a Newville client with a  constipated cat, luckily the owner was able to solve the problem. Then our lab guy that picks up our samples called frantically freaking out about his cat that he was going to die. I was at this time trying to make it out of the clinic while the techs finished with the dog I had just euthanized so I could get to HP. I got up there, called my tech in and dealt with my TWO emergencies. Luckily, the dog didn’t have parvo and the cat wasn’t blocked. Both sets of owners proclaimed me a miracle worker the next day as both animals had dramatically improved. (SQ fluids, I’m telling you.) I got home just after 10 and to bed about 12:30 only to be woken up at 4am for a milk fever at our biggest large animal client’s farm. That taken care, I got another hour of sleep before going to work. Friday was quiet save the dog client from the night before that wanted to tell me how happy she was.

I still haven’t heard anything about the wedding at the library. I still haven’t got any guest lists. I still haven’t made any plans or even thought about them. Its getting close. I still haven’t exercised.

All that aside, I want to discuss doing something that is very unlike me. I’m not a bold person. I constantly worry about everything. TH asked me one Monday what my latest phobias were and luckily at that time I had none. I do now (lambings and colics).

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I boldly asked Dr. Farrell if they were planning on hiring me for another year. He answered they were and that I was doing an excellent job on small animals but needed some work on the large animal side. (How funny that this would be exactly the opposite of how I thought it would be when I graduated!). I feel really good that I have this job for another year. I hated looking for a job. Now, I would feel even worse since I know a lot of things but not everything. And I know how things are done here which could be done very differently at other places.

So I’m super glad that I have a job for one more year. This opens up new doors for new decisions. Mostly now, where are we going to live? I’d really like to move to Newville because it makes more sense. Joe and I both work in Newville. (Save the two days I work at HP.) Joe doesn’t want to because he wants more than one grocery store. I figure even if we had to pay more for rent, we would save money on gas and mileage. The other side of that is that I want to move the ponies here from Missouri. Of course, having a place to put the ponies is needed. An ideal place to live would have land on which we could board the ponies even if there wasn’t a barn. If that isn’t possible, I’m okay with staying here.

I have been looking at one place to board the ponies. I wanted to only bring two which fit conveniently into a single stall. My mom wants to bring a third as well. Anyway, regarding the place I looked at, its not finished. Its 100 acres that isn’t fenced off yet. It’s a barn that still needs some stalls made. Overall, the barn is nice. There’s some turnout pens-they’re just mud right now but its difficult to tell what it will be like in the summer. There’s a riding ring right next to the road which worries me since I want to get the ponies driving. (It only has hot wire too.) I asked about a farrier. I emailed that I was still thinking about it and asked what sort of health requirements (i.e. vaccines) that they required. The response was none. That really my horses only needed the 7 way vaccine available from Tractor Supply. And that the owner could help me give it so I wouldn’t rack up a big vet bill. I never told them I was a vet. I’m most certainly not going to if I can avoid it since I don’t want to be dragged into doing discounted vet work.

Joe and I haven’t talked too much about moving or about boarding the ponies. He’s hesitant about both. Regarding the ponies, he doesn’t want to bring the ponies in because of the cost. He said that it would make more sense to save that money to purchase a place. He said that maybe we should start talking to realtors. To buy a house? Granted, I’ve looked at some properties on line but is it time to buy a house? I’m just so worried that we would go buy a house then suddenly, my contract doesn’t get picked up. It could be years down the road. When is it safe to say that this is a job that’s going to keep me? When is it safe to say that this is a job that I’m going to keep? It’s a lot to worry about. It’s a lot especially when you have to make a $300000 purchase.  Ultimately, even though we haven’t talked in depth about it, Joe said I was the one that made the money so I was the one that should make the decisions. I also have that nice tax refund coming.

Its still early. I still need to figure out what I’m doing with my money. I have a wedding I need to save for too. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

First, some updates on other things. The warm February thaw of last week gave way to winter temperatures and four inches of snow overnight. Luckily, I was home when it started and have the day off today. I bought groceries but it wasn’t too bad. Of course, its going to make tomorrow’s large animal calls a little more difficult and I’m not looking forward to driving around in it. I’ll have the Chevy though, which is nice. The other nice think about this snow is that it had a fresh slate to lay down on. The warm weather had melted all of the snow from before. [Since the original writing of this, I have learned that it will be approximately 8 degrees tomorrow. Really, not looking forward to large animal calls. Brr!]

I have to get my taxes done in a couple of hours. Not looking forward to it as it seems from what I’ve learned on Facebook, first year vets are taking it hard. No refunds, often owing. Its so hard to imagine going from not making anything and paying large amounts for education to finally being paid and then having to pay on it. [I was in luck. Despite not having a form from MU which would have increased my tax refund to about $5000, I did net a refund of about $3100. I owe some to PA, broke even on the city.]

On the veterinary medicine front, I made it through the weekend on call. Saturday was fairly slow with only a call for a greyhound with a broken leg. It was really broken too! I set it in a splint and then told them they needed to find a surgeon on Monday. I had a phone call and it was fine. Sunday, I had another phone call which started the cascade of emergencies. Shortly after the phone call, I got another one for a dog whelping dystocia. (Which brought up the phrase, ‘I know nothin’ about birthin’ babies.’ Which also seemed to be repeated by several people other than myself.) I went in to see them and the owner had managed to remove the offending pup. After which, the dog popped out another liver pup. Then we x-rayed her and another pup came popping out. We sent her home to continue on her own.  An hour and half later, she was having puppies again for a total of nine with three that died. During our time together, someone else with a dog that had some puppies called. She decided not to come after I told her she should. I would see her on Monday, and all would be well. Then there was someone with a dog that was ODed on pseudoephedrine. There’s really no treatment except slowing down the heart, fluids and sedation. We gave a bunch of sub-q fluids (after two failed catheter attempts) and then sedated her.  It may take three days for the drug to clear her system. In the dose they gave, they were really close to giving a fatal dose. Then I thought my night was clear. I didn’t hear back from the puppy people. I took a shower and went to bed. I was just starting to watch 30 Rock when my phone rang. It was a lambing dystocia call. 11:20pm! So I went out in the sleet which had started in the middle of the night and when I got there, not only was the lamb dead (as the owner had already said), the lamb’s head had been accidently pulled off. The lamb was really, really dead! After a lot of struggling, laying down in awkward positions, cursing my fate, considering calling my  boss  and lots of coaxing of the ewe, I finally got both front legs up and then I just kept pulling. I was hoping the legs wouldn’t come off and send me flying across the stall. They managed to hold and I was presented with a dead, headless, rotten ram lamb. He was big. He was solo. I left some drugs and instructions. I was home to shower again around 1am. I also cursed Joe because he had promised to come with me on LA calls but obviously, had lied. Veterinary medicine knows no time of day.

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The spring weather of last week got me into the spring cleaning mode. While I don’t plan on doing anything anytime soon, I can’t wait to do spring cleaning! The house, the yard, the everything!

Joe and I are far from clean. He tries to blame me more than himself. I might be more to blame. Our house is in a constant state of chaos. Chaos being dirty. Once a week, I do manage to vacuum the carpets. Once a week, while I have dog free time while Joe takes the dogs to the dog park. Much beyond that, cleaning is hit or miss. Maybe once a month.

The kitchen is pretty dirty too. Largely, being a function of not having a dishwasher. That being said, Joe is currently washing the dishes. I’ve become tired of having to do nearly a week’s worth all at once and then having dishes drying all over the counters. (Which neither of us seem to want to put up.)

 So my plan for this spring, is to rock it out one weekend or on my day off. Windows up, music cranking, hair pulled up and things are going to get done. Mopping and pine-sol to the woodwork. Cleaning the oven. Sorting the pantry and cabinets.

If we happen to stay in this house, I’m also wanting to paint the bathroom or kitchen. Bathroom first because I HATE the border in there.

Additionally, I’d like to have a yard sale. This state is crazy about yard sales. I’m pretty sure that Joe and I could get enough together to muster a small Saturday sale. I’ve actually decided though to wait until after our wedding so I can sell some of the things we’ve replaced with wedding gifts. Like dishes, pots, small appliances, etc.

The yard needs some work too. Mostly fertilizing it to guarantee that it actually will be green, some mulch for the flower beds and getting rid of the winter’s dying plants. (And of course, having a poo party again. ) I’d like to plant some daffodil bulbs or something too.

And then there’s the compost pile. Joe and I throw out a lot of food. A lot of things that could go into a compost pile. I feel even though we’re still wasting food, we’re not doing it as much if its being recycled into fertile dirt. Right? Just today, the things that could go into our compost pile but are instead going into the garbage includes-the obligatory bag of salad mix that I buy but never use, wilted beyond belief celery, about a pound of grapes, a dozen wilted roses, egg shells, potato peels, onion skins, a rotten onion, receipts, junk mail and muffin wrappers. I’ve investigated compost piles online. There’s a bin for about $50 from Lowe’s. Of course, I don’t want to buy it before knowing that I’m going to stay at this place. Stay here to put in my shredded paper, vegetable waste, rabbit poo, etc , etc. Apparently, you can also compost dairy products and fish/seafood waste. I’m skeptically that I want that in there. Defiantly not dog or cat poo. I did see how you could make an in yard dog poo digester. The other thing I am considering is a undersink compost pile. It consists of a tightly sealed bucket with a filter and small opening. Your kitchen waste goes into it before being transferred out to the outside big container.  I’ve done some research and mostly have a good idea of what can and cannot be put into a compost pile. I can wait! Why am I so excited for a compost pile?

Joe's Little Problem and Exercise

First, my little problem. Exercise. I hate it. I'm getting ready to eat my second grilled cheese. Yum. Anyway, for my birthday, I got an exercise book on Zumba from Jackie and Casey. I know they meant well. I know that I had talked to Jackie on FB about not having any motivation to exercise despite having a wedding a little over a year away. (A wedding that I have yet to actually plan anything for. I really need to talk to the MU library people.) More I started thinking about it, more I got insulted. And upset. I told many of my coworkers-not TH though because he would just laugh-and they were adequately insulted for me. Even if I told them that the intentions were pure, they were still insulted. Then I happened to be flipping through assorted blogs on Blogger and all I got in one period were about running and exercise. Does Blogger have it out for me too?
Anyway, I really need to start exercising. I started thinking about it and the nice thing would be that I get to buy new exercise clothes-some of which are pretty cute. And if I lose enough weight, I get to buy other new clothes. I'm not sure how to go about it. If I just show up at a Zumba class, I will look like a fool-panting ande sweating and the like. If I start running, the same thing may happen with the added risk of me collasping on the street someplace. I should look up some videos on NetFlix and do some exercise at home before venturing out into public.
So Joe's problem. When I got home from work, Joe jokingly said the he would check the voicemail because I didn't know how. Its true. He's shown me a thousand times and I still have problems with it. It didn't matter because the message was for him. It was Alyssa's mom. Alyssa is one of our techs. I'm not sure how she got the number other than off of Alyssa's phone number sheet. Alyssa's mom wanted to discuss her religion which is some universal church thing with Joe. Joe is now agonizing about how to politely tell her that he's not interested. Here's how it started. Our work Christmas party was held at their house. While we were there, Joe noticed a framed print/painting of some bearded guy. I laughingly told him that it was Santa. He thought it was Galileo or Copernicus or some other great thinker because Alyssa's dad was some engineer or something like that. I told Joe seriously this time that it was likely some religious figure. It goes without saying that religion shouldn't be discussed. Joe however needed to know. And he asked. And he was sucked into a long conversation about religion. I didn't bail him out. I'm not going to bail him out this time either.
I feel a little guilty about an incident at work today. About 9am, the receptionist asked me if a dog that was seen on Monday could be seen at 11 or needed to come in earlier because she was worse. I reviewed the record and felt that 11 would be okay. Somewhere in there though, the dog died. We all felt bad about it but even if the dog had come in, there would be little that we would have been able to do. The people were going to bring the dog in for cremation however by noon hadn't showed. I was getting ready to leave and was talking to one of the techs when they came. I hadn't seen the dog other than to pet it on Monday and for vaccines or something in September so I felt that it wasn't necessary for me to speak to the clients. Of course, then they walked past me sobbing. And I split. On my way home, TH passed me. I don't know why of course-emergency, large or small, to work on his house, to talk to the people. I don't know. I feel guilty for not talking to them. And feel a little guilty too that he could be going down there to do the job that I didn't. (Even if that is only a slim possiblity.) I should have said something. Sigh.

If It Quacks Like A Duck...

Then its probably my dentist. He’s a quack. I went for my last visit today. And for that I’m glad. Its not that I think he’s a bad dentist but there are just some things that I feel could be improved on.

To recap my dental experience-first, I had a difficult time getting in for an appointment once I actually had dental insurance. Eventually, he’d switch days that he was in Carlisle and Tuesdays would work. Everyone at the office was super nice and worked with me to get an appointment.

The first time I went it was just to get my teeth cleaned. I figured that I’d have some x-rays taken and they would find that one of my baby teeth had a huge gapping cavity in it which was the source of my dental pain. Then they’d fill it and I’d be on my way. That didn’t happen. I got my teeth handscaled and polished. None of that flossing business. Which actually made me happy because I can’t deal with that. And then I was to come back the next week and get two teeth filled.  Sure.

The next week, I went back and two teeth were filled. No x-rays were taken. I really hated getting the injections to numb the area. And the drilling hurt too! Especially when they did the big cavity next to my dental implant. I also had to fight to get some white fillings because he wanted to use metal. BUT they were in the front! They would show! Then I was to go back the week after-another filling. And then today for another filling, well two on the same tooth-finally the baby tooth. You would think that x-rays of a deciduous tooth that is 20 years overdue for falling out with a giant hole in it already would be a prime candidate for x-rays. And you’d be mistaken. I went in there confident that I would tell him to x-ray it but I didn’t. He’s a doctor too and knows his job without someone telling him how to do it. I know I hate that. So I didn’t. Somehow I feel the standard of care isn’t being practiced. So now my teeth are filled and I don’t really need to go back for several months…not that I’m going back at all. I’m finding a different dentist. One that will take x-rays. One that will not take out end of the day aggression on the patient. One that will tell the patient in advance how many cavities that need to be filled.

Anyway, today in addition to the dentist, I did my normal Tuesday routine. It consists of staying in bed too long, eating something, doing a chore (i.e. all the dishes), cooking something (a cherry crisp that didn’t crisp and ended up with butter oozing out), laundry, going to the bank and shopping. I bought the dogs some new toys which they are currently enjoying. I went to Kohl’s and couldn’t find Joe a Valentine’s gift. I don’t have any good ideas. I had good ideas for Christmas and now they are gone. So I bought myself a necklace and a purse. Its purple. I think I might be getting into having lots of purses again. In high school, I had tons of purses. In college, I sort of got out of that. Now even though I don’t carry a purse to work, I’m finding myself with more and more purses. Oh well.

Yesterday, Joe eventually got home and at 10pm we went to Applebee’s for some dessert. Joe got some slammers and I had dessert. It was sort of close to closing but we weren’t the only ones there. Our waitress wasn’t very good. We watched the MU KU game.

Its very windy and cold today. I’m not looking forward to tomorrow morning. Hopefully, the wind will have at least died down.

Happy Birthday to me!

So I wasn't going to blog about my birthday...

Until like a 1000 people posted birthday greetings on my FaceBook wall.

Until Joe not only got me some lingerie (ugh) but also got me the perfume I wanted (Ralph Lauren Romance) AND had flowers sent to me at work!

Until I got a card from everyone at work and even Dr.Hasco signed it. I also believe that Dr. Farrell referred to me as 'kid'.

Until Joe's mom and stepdad-Jackie and Casey- sent me a work out book. I don't know how I feel about that. Other than wanting cake.

We went out Saturday, but I hope Joe's home early enough that I can get some birthday dessert somewhere. Maybe some birthday french fries too.

Home Tour 2011

So I’ll take you on a little tour of my house now.

This is how my house sits in relation to the neighbors’.

This is the floor plan of our house.  The basement isn’t included. It has one big room that is finished but only used for storing things under the kitchen and dining room and then two small rooms that are used for various laundry purposes under the living room. The washer and dryer are in one room, the ironing board in the other.

So when we moved in, I had all sorts of great plans for each room which quickly faded with lack of time, motivation and money. Not to say that I wouldn’t have tried, it just was that I was very particular in what I was looking for. And damn it, I have a wedding to save for.

The dog room is an uninsulated walled in porch that leaks every time it rains. Its cold enough back there that shutting the door from it to the rest of the house keeps the house much warmer. We had to get a little space heater so the dogs wouldn’t freeze. Originally, I was going to decorate this room with dog print curtains, shelves and bins for their toys, the old futon whenever I got new furniture and dog pictures. After realizing how much it leaked, all those plans were canceled. Now it just houses the dog crates, dog stuff and the recycling bin.

Our kitchen-some things have changed since then such as now having a Keurig machine on top of the microwave but in general it’s the same. The kitchen is light blue with some stupid pansy border. The color is nice enough but I’d love to change the border. Maybe something with chickens or bacon.

 

Our dining room-We never eat in here. Joe has called it the most grown up room in the house and I have to agree. I’m only showing the dining room table and the bookcase. I’m especially proud of the book case because I think it looks like it should be in a magazine or something. Just full of neat stuff. The other wall has my diplomas and another framed thing with my tassels and pictures in it. I’d like to get a chair, lamp and refinish a black coffee table I have and set it all near the book case. I’ve had a hard time finding the chair I want or justifying the money to spend on it.

This is our living room. Its pretty much the same because I have a hard time figuring out what I want to do with it. Its rarely every this clean. It needs new furniture. We’re very rough on furniture.

Bathroom-I’m only showing this little bit because I don’t think the bathroom has been cleaned since July. I got the shower curtain at Target but they didn’t have any accessories to go with it so I made those little pictures out of felt. The bathroom is like sage green with a horrible border. The bottom half of the walls is white tile. I’d like to get rid of the border and repaint a brighter spring green similar to what’s in the curtain. In a perfect world, I also have a border with trees and owls like on the curtain. Since that’s not going to happen, I’m actually considering making stamps and stamping a border out.

Joe’s room-I don’t have pictures because I don’t think he’d approve. Its very minimal. We sleep there.

   

My bedroom-I don’t sleep in here any more. There is still a lot of things that I would like to have done to it. First, some curtains-white with blue flowered trim. I’m going to cover the seat of that white chair in blue flowered material. That green lump on the bed is my comforter which is always covered in cat fur. That being said, I have king sized sheets that I’m sewing together to make a slip cover for it since that’ll be easier to wash. I’d also like an area rug and some hooks for my closet door to help me hang up the clothes that are either on the bed or that chair all the time.

This is my office/animal room/sewing room. I just got it unpacked. It has a lot of work to be done. I bought a big carpet for it which is blue so that now the rabbit can be let out to run around more often. I finally hung some more pictures including all of those cow pictures that I kept buying off of ebay or from that antique store in Indiana and I also hung my licenses from Missouri and PA. I’d really like to do some more work to this room. Originally, I was going to have a bird theme to it because I have a cool birdcage hung in the window. I was going to get some bird prints off Etsy but then I remembered the cow photos. I wanted the room to be very girly since I sew in it but I like the cows too. I’m going to make some curtains in here too. I’d like to replace the milk crates with a book case. I’d like Joe to get around to hanging my green medicine cabinet. I’d like one of those fabric and ribbon bulletin boards for above my sewing table so I can put my ideas on it. I’d like a vintage dress makers form. I found one but decided I didn’t like it well enough. The one I really want is $350!

So that’s my house. I’m not sure if we’re planning on staying in it or not. If I can’t find a place with land in Newville, then we probably will since we’ve worked hard at destroying it already.

Misc. Update

Well, there’s a big influx of blogs this week because I’ve been so busy the past week. Dr. Hasco was off trying to finish up his new house so we were all scrambling to cover various extra shifts. Monday and Friday, I worked double small animal shifts-morning at Holly Pike, afternoon at Newville. Both afternoons I was very, very  busy. Friday, I had some interesting cases including glaucoma in a micropthamic eye. Crazy. Apparently, the dog is doing very well but we’ll see for sure tomorrow.

Today is my grandparents 62<sup>nd</sup> wedding anniversary. Though its doubtful that Joe and I will make it that long since Joe’s already in his thirties and I am rapidly approaching mine, we can only hope for a marriage that is as great as what I see theirs to be. Tomorrow is my 28<sup>th</sup> birthday. I don’t have any particular thoughts about it other than I don’t really want to go to work and especially don’t want to cut any DAs (but do I ever). Joe and I went out last night in celebration. We went to Red Lobster where we were told that there was a 50 minute wait. This put Joe in a particularly bad position because I did not want to give up on Red Lobster but I didn’t want to wait that long either. We did stay and I had some fantastic seafood and then was promptly ill. Probably the four or so glasses of lemonade that I also drank may play into that. When I say I was ill, I mean like the type of ill that you shouldn’t easily bounce back from and shouldn’t go to a movie afterwards ill. But I did both with a little help from some chewable pepto bismol. After being ill and purchasing some yum-dum-dummiest noodles from Wegman’s, we went to Bed Bath and Beyond where I found out that Lenox in addition to making my favorite bird patterned china (Chirp is the pattern.), there’s bedding to match! Its terribly expensive but that’s what registries are for. Then we made it back to Carlisle and caught a late show of The Green Hornet in 3D which I thought was really good. 3D is cool. Seth Rogan may have lost a lot of weight for the role but he’s a big framed guy and being heavy suits him since his face was pretty much the same fat as before.

Tuesday was also a day of dietary upset that included drinking some milk way too fast. TMI I know.

This Tuesday, I have to remember to take the online test for Jeopardy!. I have to go to the dentist that afternoon for two fillings. One is a two part filling on one of my baby teeth. I am going to insist that he xrays this tooth because he hasn’t for any of the others. This tooth though, in being a deciduous tooth that has lasted twenty some years longer than it should, is probably more fragile and I would like to know the odds of it falling out or cracking any time soon.

We got some freezing rain last week-Tuesday into Wednesday. It wasn’t too bad. The neighbors lost some big branches from a tree but we didn’t. Even driving around wasn’t terrible. By the end of the day, it had warmed to nearly 40 degrees and all the ice had melted. We had the same Saturday morning and backing the truck out of the driveway became a challenge.

 Here’s a cute pillow I made my grandma. She likes birds.

I guess now, you’re pretty much caught up.

Chili Night

Welcome to February everyone! This post (i.e. today’s) was originally going to be about home decorating and have pictures of my house but I’ve been a little lazy.

Watching all of the snow and reading everyone’s posts about the ‘snowpocalypse’ in Missouri made me panic by default. I eventually would run to the store for supplies with included two cans of cherry pie filling. I was intending on making a crisp but never did. Oh well. I now have three full loaves of bread and no freezer space.

Despite some dietary issues today(milk + speed+ lactose intolerant=bad result), I did made some turkey chili. It was ground turkey or ground veal. While I’m generally opposed to the eating of baby male dairy calves, I make an exception when ground veal is on clearance. Why not? The calf is already dead.

The first time I made chili for me and Joe, Joe questioned why I made rice. I guess I never questioned it. At home when we had chili night, we would have chili, rice for sweet rice or for the chili, cheese, saltines and peanut butter. Mom used margarine for her saltines. The chili never had beans in it because Mom and I don’t like them. In the past, several times in fact, my chili has been called spicy spaghetti sauce. Its still good. Just add some beans yourself.

Anyway, I’m snuggled in my house and after posting this and eating my chili, I’m going to try to get some bills paid and clean the rabbit cage. I wish Joe was here. He’ll be home closer to nine. I hate his job as much as he does.