Life changes

Just when I thought things were going to get back to (semi) normal, I was laid off from work on Nov. 14th. I was shocked and very sad, as that was the perfect job for me. I went right out and applied for unemployment, which is taking 3 to 5 weeks to process here in Arizona, and then went to see my friend who owns the most popular bakery/restaraunt in our town to tell her what happened. She immediately offered me a job, and I have been working for her as a waitress and barista since the 18th. I am very lucky to have a job during these times, the job situation here is dismal at best. I like working for her a lot, and the other people there welcomed me with open arms. The only bad thing is, is that I am on my feet all day, and after having sitting down jobs for the last 16 years, my feet are ready to disown me. I am in agony by the 4th hour of my shift, and I can't afford to buy really good server shoes, so I just have to tough it out. It is very hard. VERY HARD. But at least it's fun and I feed off everyone's energy, so that helps.
Hubby's job has been very slow. His foot is continuing to do well, just sore at the end of the day, but he is trying to walk more without crutches in his boot. The Dr. says that he could be in regular sneakers by Christmas! The ulcer is continuing to heal, and it looks like he'll be good as new after all.
We had a nice Thanksgiving, our oldest daughter and her boyfriend came out to cook dinner for us all, and our good friends came out (all from San Diego) too. Our youngest daughter and her lame-ass boyfriend and our little grandson came down, and our nephew and his wife were over as well. It was loud, and fun. I am going to attempt to clean the house tomorrow, now that everyone is gone. I'm takin' it easy today, since Thursday was my only day off last week. I have today and tomorrow off, thank God.
I won't be posting as much (yeah, like I did so much before), but I will try to once a week. I will also try to stop in my favorite blogs once a week as well.
Wish me luck!

Feelin' mushy...

I just wanted to share one of my favorite songs. I had a wild crush on Barry Gibb when this song came out, and this video just happened to be on TV one night while my parents were watching. I heard it from my room, came out into the hall and just stood there with goose bumps and tears in my eyes. He was so gorgeous and their perfect voices just reduced me to a puddle on the floor.
Anyway, just so you know, I got goosebumps and tears all over again just watching this video. Suddenly I was 13 years old...

Bee Gees - Too Much Heaven


The only way I could get a link to come up was to e-mail the video to myself from Youtube, then copy and paste the e-mail in this post, after deleting everything but the link. It worked! :)

Happy birthday Ben!

Yesterday was Ben's first birthday. I found him online at a local (well, 45 minutes away) shelter. This was the picture they posted with his information. I was just scanning through pics and stopped dead at his. I fell head over heels in love. The look on his little face just killed me, like he was so shy and sad, that he just couldn't bring himself to look at the camera. That's all it took. He's adorable.

This was taken about 2 1/2 weeks before I found him and we adopted him. I told hubby about him and listed all the reasons why we should get a dog for Storm, and he agreed. The very next day, I think it was January 4th, we took Storm down to meet him and see how they got along. They were instant best friends. The lady told me that Ben was very good with other dogs, and very sweet but shy with people. It took about 3 weeks of working with him to gain his trust. He would wag his tail and entire rear end when we would try to get him to come to us, like he was saying "Sorry! I want to so bad, but I just can't!"
Anyway, I love him so much and he's the best thing that's happened to Storm. He is a great dog and I'm so thankful I found him. We took them to the dog park on Friday evening and they had a blast. There were a lot of dogs, and my dogs got along with everyone. I was very interested to see how Storm would do, it's been since last winter that he'd been to the dog park, and he did great. I had a feeling Ben would be just fine, but you never know when it's their first time... anyway he was a very good boy.

Hubby's foot is coming along. The ulcer has filled in and now it's just a matter of the skin growing over it... I still treat it twice a day. It will probably be a few more months before it's closed up. The Dr. took x-rays again on Monday and is super impressed with how the bones are healing. His joint fusions are already at 90% or more! He said that by Christmas, hubby should be walking in a regular tennis shoe! I can't believe it! That was such good news. His foot was really swollen over the weekend from working last week, but the Dr. said it was normal and that it would swell off and on for the next year. This particular surgery (Triple Arthrodesis) is notorious for swelling. AND, he said that it has a high risk of breaking down or not healing... so that was extra special good news about his bones healing so well and so fast! :)
He's been doing ok at work, but yesterday and today they didn't have enough work for everyone, so he and several other people got sent home. That's nice. I was really hoping for a full weeks' pay this week. Oh well! I just don't have the energy to worry about everything all the time.

I got my fall decorations put outside in my entryway last weekend and started some preliminary cleaning for Thanksgiving. There are a few more things I want to get to decorate inside, we have a BRAND NEW Michael's in our brand new mall, and I'm hoping so much it opens in the next week so I can get some cool stuff. For those that don't know, Michael's is a big craft supply store. We had them in San Diego, and I am not the most creative person, but I loved Michael's. I felt like I could do anything when I was in there! LOL

Vote America!!

I wanted to vote today before I went to work. Silly me, thinking there wouldn't be a line when the polls opened at 6:00 am! Wrong!! I got there at 6:10, and stood in line until 6:50, then I wham-bam voted and raced to work... getting there at the stroke of 7:00! Whew. By the way, it has cooled off significantly, and of course I was not prepared to stand outside in the wind... so I was cold, but it was worth it.
Anyway, I hope you all will take the time to vote today. This is an extremely important election year, and 'lil old you CAN make your voice heard!
I am wearing red, white and blue today, an American flag necklace, and my "I Voted" sticker proudly on my shirt!

Just a funny-odd sidenote, I dreamt that I met Sarah Palin last night, and she was super cool. We became friends and just hung out. I really like her! :)

It's November... why is it 90 degrees???

Where the heck is Fall? I'm beginning to think that there isn't going to be one this year. I think the reason I didn't decorate at all for Halloween is because it just didn't seem like I was supposed to. My plans for putting up all my Thanksgiving/Fall decor this weekend fell by the wayside too.

It was too. dang. hot.

I am going to have to do it, however, since we are having Thanksgiving at our house. My oldest step-daughter is coming out and wants to cook. Sounds good to me!

Hubby is back at work today. I had to drive him there. He starts at 6:00 a.m. and I start at 7:00 a.m. I got up at 5:00 (my normal time) and spent most of the next 45 mins helping him get ready. I figured I'd just finish getting ready at work, since I'd be there REALLY EARLY (hub's job is like 3 minutes away from mine). Instead I went to the local donut shop, had an apple fritter and read the paper until 6:45. Then I went to work and fixed myself up. It wasn't such a bad way to start the morning, actually. I liked seeing all the people come and go and listening to their conversations.

Hubby has a Dr. appointment today, which is good because the Dr. will get to see what his foot looks like right after his first day of work. Hopefully it will look ok to him. We want to ask him when hubby can start driving again. Then I can just help him get ready in the a.m., and then he'll leave. He's been doing pretty good walking on it here and there, he actually walked gingerly on it for me without crutches across the kitchen on Saturday. It was so cool, and strange having him be above eye-level with me again. Even on crutches, he's bent over and shorter than me. I hope he is going to be ok at work. I talked to him on his first break at 8:00 a.m. and he said he was ok....but his foot was hurting a little from being down for so long.

He made me a Halloween cake on Friday. It was the cutest thing. Here is a picture of me and my little friend. My shirt says "Spooky" on it, and this is what I wore to work.

I was really surprised to see how long my hair is now. I didn't realize until it was up in the ponytails. I like it! Just ignore the double chin, please! :-/