Christmas Trees and Follie

Well, here is Follie. She is the newest addition to the clinic (for now). She has a broken leg/elbow and my partner fixed it today. Her overall prognosis is unsure at this point because the break was so bad and involved a joint, but she is young and seems to be doing well. Hopefully she will be placed in a home soon.

This is the Christmas tree on Day 1. It is pre-lit which is great. I haven't put anything on it yet because I wanted to wait and see how Dennis will react. I thought that if he had a few days to explore it, he would get bored and then I could hang ornaments. I'll let you know how it goes.

On another note, sorry for the pity party I've been throwing this week. I am grateful to everyone who has told me to hang in there, wished me luck or told me it was okay to have a bad patch.

11 months and counting

So, I woke up this morning in a bad mood, and by 6:20 I was pissed off and crying. Nothing in particular mind you, just crying. I managed to pull myself together and go to work. The day wasn't great, not the worst, but not great. I had to tell a lady with a very nice dog that her dog had cancer and there was nothing I could do other than keep her comfortable. I had to "ask" a couple to surrender a puppy with a broken leg to me because they didn't have the money to take care of her. By the way her name is Follie now and we will probably be fixing her leg tomorrow. I came home and ate "dinner" which was a bowl of cereal because I was too depressed to cook. Finally, as I sat cruising through my usual blogs I ran across "Digging a hole to China" and she reminded me that it was our LID anniversary. Maybe that explains my funk. I hadn't thought about it all day, but underneath it all my mind KNEW. If this is how I react at 11 months, I'm afraid what 1 year will bring. Wish me luck, strength and hope for the coming months and years. I really need it today.

Guess what I did on my day off

Ode to a Mammogram
For years and years they told me, Be careful of your breasts, Don't ever squeeze or bruise them, And give them monthly tests.
So I heeded all their warnings, And protected them by law. Guarded them very carefully, And my bra I always wore.
After 30 years of astute care, My Doctor found a lump. She ordered up a mammogram, To look inside that lump.

"Stand up very close" she said. As she got my boob in line, "And tell me when it hurts," she said. "Ah yes! There, that's fine."
She stepped upon a peddle. I could not believe my eyes! A plastic plate pressed down and down, My boob was in a vice!
My skin was stretched and stretched, From way up under my chin. My poor boob was being squashed, To Swedish pancake thin.
Excruciating pain I felt, Within it's vice-like grip. A prisoner in this vicious thing, My poor defenceless tit!
"Take a deep breath", she said to me, Who does she think she's kidding? My chest is mashed in her machine, And woozy I am getting.
"There, that was good", I heard her say As the room was slowly swaying. "Now let's have a go at the other one". Lord have mercy, I was praying.
It squeezed me from up and down, It squeezed me from both sides, I'll bet she's never had this done, Not to her tender little hide!
If I had no problem when I came in, I surely have one now. If there had been a cyst in there, It would have popped, Ker-pow!
This machine was designed by man, Of this I have no doubt, I'd like to stick his balls in there. And see how they come out!

Yes, I had a mammogram today. This is my second one so far. I had one about 5 years ago because of a cyst. This time my doctor just wanted a baseline. I encourage all you woman out there to get one done. I am only 35, but it never hurts to have a normal. I also know some of you out there are putting it off because it might hurt, but it really isn't that bad. I only cried a little, ha ha.

I did not write this, but I found it too funny not to repost. I would give credit to the author, but I couldn't find her name.

Finally some pics worth seeing

To all who have waited patiently.....

TIME....

Marches on. Today as I sat watching college football it occurred to me that this weekend was the last of the regular season games. I love college football and look forward to it all year long. Now fall is almost gone and winter is coming. My next logical thought was about the adoption. It seems like we have been in this process forever. It has been almost 2 years since we started the paper chase. On Dec 29th it will be 1 year since our log in date. People ask me all the time have we heard anything about the adoption. It is hard not to snap "No we haven't not since the last time you asked me a week ago!" I know most people don't understand the process and are only asking because they care. Sometime I go whole days without thinking about the quagmire that is Chinese Adoption right now. I think it would be easier if there was such a thing as a time frame, but alas, every month is different. If adoptions continue at the pace they are right now, it could be YEARS before we get a referral. I apologize for the dark cloud, but some days are worse than others for me. We honestly thought when we started this process 2 years ago that we would have Alexandria home by now. Then the reality of the paper chase beat us down and took 11 months to complete. By the time we got our paper work to China, the referral times had started to lengthen and we thought surely by summer of '08 we would have a referral. Now here it is almost Dec of '07 and people who's paper work arrived in China over 2 years ago are just getting their referral. So if you do the math, best case, we would get a referral in another year, but.....that is assuming that referral time don't lengthen any more. Now you see the reason for my melancholy. Oh well, don't worry about me. In another day or two, my mind will focus on something else and I'll be able to put the situation out of my mind for a while. I promise happier post in the future.

Bonus Dennis post

Dennis loves his toys. This is a new toy Dan bought for the cats. They all play with it, but Dennis loves it. We had to take off one of the dangling parts because Dennis managed to get it off the toy, and I did not want to have to do surgery to remove it later.

Dennis loves his Daddy. Aren't they just precious sleeping there together. As you can tell, Dennis was much younger and smaller.

Dennis loves Cameron. This is my friend's little boy. Cameron is almost 11 months old. Recently we had a "play date". Dennis and Cameron played for hours and that night.....Dennis slept and didn't get into any trouble. I need to organize more "play dates".

Happy Thanksgiving.

Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving. I hope everyone is happy and healthy today. Don't eat too much. I am planning on spending the day with our good friends Frank and Leslie and their family. Dan is, of course, in Korea. We talked this morning, which was Thanksgiving night for him. The day was nothing special for him. He did manage to order a Domino's pizza for dinner. It only had pepperoni on it, however, because that is the only topping he could order with the language barrier. I know he can't wait to get home next month. I will probably have to endure lots of country cooking for a while so Dan can fill his grease quota.

finally what you have all been waiting for

A couple of pics I took today from the shipyard looking out across Okpo Bay

Food disasters

One of my favorite blogs to read is Notes from the Trenches. Today she was discussing various food disasters she has had over the years. At the end she asked for other peoples stories. After almost 15 years of marriage, I think I am passable, but I also don't cook very often. One of the worst disasters I can remember is during the early part of our marriage, I thought it would be great to make home made biscuits for Dan on his birthday. If you have ever tried to make biscuits from scratch, you know it is an art form. Well, I am not very artistic... they would have made great paper weights or hockey pucks. Dan gamely tried to eat them, but I haven't tried to make them again to this day. I have also had various disasters involving home made fudge etc. Is it any wonder that I don't enjoy cooking and would rather eat a bowl of cereal for dinner then bother to eat anything I have to cook.

Life in Okpo.......day 3

Well, I am slowly (very slowly) acclimating to the new culture and life here in Okpo.
All I can say is that wait until I get some time to explore and photograph the island.

Today I rode over to an offsite contractors to inspect some of the piping that will be installed in the second of the new build ships.
This is one instance that I can honestly say that ride was better than the destination. When I first arrived it was late at night so I missed out on the beauty of this place.....
The mountains are gorgeous as they rise up to the sky and then come crashing back down to the sea.....If you can try, and google Geoje Island and look at some pics....they are far and few between but worth the search. I promise to do better and get some posted here soon. Unfotunately, this is still a work assignment so spare time is rare.......
I will go ahead and seed your search with this link http://www.gfra.net/geoje_photos

The Dan has landed!!!

Dan called me this morning around 8am central time to say he was in his apartment in Korea. He sounded tired and worn out but okay. It was 11pm there and he was going to try to get some sleep before he has to leave for work at 6:30 am. Hopefully, he will have time to post some pictures and such once he is settled.

ALL BY MYSELF........................

Well, Dan left for Korea at 8:15 central time this morning. He called me from Detroit at 10:30 and now I guess he is somewhere over the ocean. He said he might try to call me from Tokyo if he can find a Internet signal. I miss him, as usual. I'm trying to focus on the good things about this and I hope he really enjoys his new job. You can expect lots more random post from me this month. But since the most exciting thing I do at night is feed my animals you may not care. Ha Ha
By the way, how many of you have that song in your head now.......

tic toc

Well, today is thursday, November 15th, 2007.
I never thought I would be headed to Korea before I was headed to China....
Darcie and I are looking at this though as a great opurtunity.
Not only will I get a peek at Asia but I will get to log some serious! frequent flyer miles.
Hopefully those will come in useful when we book our flights to China.
For anyone that doesn't know, for the past 6 plus years I have worked a schedule of two weeks on and two weeks off. This new schedule will have me working 28 days(4 weeks) on and 28 days( minus travel time) off.
Thankfully we are kind of used to it since we have for the most part spent some amount of time apart due to our jobs since we have been married.
It's never easy to leave and it's always good to be home, this is our life....
Although plans are that once we get back from China for one of us to slack off work and begin raising Alex..........wow it seems so far away......
Enough rambling......

Lazy Monday

Today was my day off and since it was also my last day off until Dan leaves for Korea for a month, we decided to get out and get some air. We jumped on the Victory and rode to our favorite fast food restaurant (Popeye's is the shiz nit) and then to the State park near our house. The fall colors have finally started to show up this year and they were worth the wait. I feel blessed to live in such a beautiful area and I can't wait to show all my favorite things to our daughter one day.

Sammy

I said in the previous post that it was the last one about pets, and I didn't lie. This is Sammy. She was my girl, and the only female dog. She died last year from a brain stem tumor. She was Bogie's best friend and mate since the day we brought her home in 1995. She was a great "mom" to all our other animals and loved children. I regret that she will not be around to met our daughter when we finally bring her home from China. I miss her every day. And as a quick aside, for anyone who has ever loved a pet and grieved for them, never let anyone tell you the pain and loss isn't real. Don't let people make you feel weird if you cry or feel depressed. Okay, enough of the sappy stuff. Tomorrow I will write something cute and happy.

Bogie

Well, this is my final post about the pets. This is Bogie. He is our old man at 14 1/2 years old. We got him the first year we were married;when he was only 5 weeks old. He is a true character. He hates to get wet or dirty and refuses to get out in the rain. At our last house, he learned to pee off the porch to keep from getting wet. He knows which food bowl is his and refuses to eat out of any other bowl. He loves raw broccoli and sharing egg nog with his daddy. Time has started to catch up with him this last year. He is almost deaf and his eye sight is failing. He is on medication to help with his cognitive function as well. Otherwise, he is doing okay and I hope he will be around for a while longer. Seeing as how I'm his doctor as well as his mommy, I will do what I can to keep him happy.

WE GOT SOME DAWGS UP IN HERE!!!!!!!!!!

I am a 1998 Graduate of Mississippi State University. I am a huge football fan and I've had a great day. My beloved Bulldogs beat Alabama for the second year in a row. We are now bowl eligible for the first time since 2000. This also means, for those of you keeping score, that the Bulldogs have beaten Auburn, UAB, and Alabama. Let me tell you, there is little that could top this for me (with the exception of a referral from China).

Beta

This is Beta. The beautiful woman next to him is Alley, more on her later. Beta was another one of our Husky rescues. Back in 1999( man that was a long time ago) we lived near our county animal shelter. One day they called me and asked me to come by and look at some puppies they thought might be sick. While I was there I saw Beta. It wasn't love at first sight, but I did tell them under no circumstances were they allowed to put him down. I asked them to let me know if they couldn't find him a home. Two months later he was still there. Around the same time Alley came to live with us. She was 15 at the time and had just been sent to live with us from Southern Cali. Alley is my second cousin and had been in foster care since she was 9. We decided that a dog of her own would be good for her. At the shelter I introduced Alley to Beta and it WAS love at first sight. Beta was brought home and he blended into our family. Alley spent alot of time with him the first few months and consequently he is the most well trained dog of our group. He can sit, stay, shake, lay down, crawl, fetch and hug. When Alley was 18 she was no longer "legally" in our care and she moved back to Cali. For both of their sakes, I thought it best for Beta to stay with us. Alley is now married and living in Texas. She still loves animals and has several of her own. Beta remembers her when ever she comes back for a visit and is always happy to see her, as you can tell by the picture.

Sampson

Well, tonight I decided to talk about the youngest of our doggie pack, Sampson. He is a full blooded Husky with an impressive set of papers. Before you think the wrong thing, he was a rescue from his previous owner and when we adopted him we got the papers. Before Sampson was even a year old he had already been stolen, found, got mange and had his leg kicked by a horse which required surgery. After the surgery the owners decided they could no longer afford to keep him... ha ha so a friend asked me if I might want him. As it turns out, the same day I had my other 3 huskies at the clinic for a bath, so we introduced them all. Everybody got along and he came home with us. He is the sweetest, most pure of heart dog I know..he is also as dumb as a stump. It never occurs to him to disobey me and he eats every meal as if it is his last. No matter what stupid thing he does, I don't have it in my heart to get mad at him when I look at those beautiful blue vacant eyes.

Two for One

Tonight you get a 2 for 1 introduction. This is Two and Ninja (Fatboy and Freakshow). They are the defective cats in the house. Two was adopted when I was in Vet School. He is the only animal I adopted while in school. He was about 4 months old and missing about 60% of his tail. He was found at a horse barn, so it was thought he may have been stepped on by a horse. He is my snuggle bug and loves to sit in my lap. Ninja was dumped at our house one night, literally. Dan and I found her on our porch. She was underweight and missing one of her back toes. The area was infected as well. She is a daddy's girl and has little to do with me. She has crossed eyes and loves to chase laser lights. She and Two are BFFs and we frequently find them snuggled up together. As you can see Dennis has recently decided that curling up with them is a good idea. And for all of you who are sick and tired of me going on about my pets, the good news is this is the last of the cats, and there is only 3 dogs left.

Gabby

This is Gabby, aka Princess. She is our oldest cat and she HATES everyone but us. She was found at a gas station in my hometown when she was only 6 weeks old. My better half picked her up and we decided to take her with us. We intended to take her to the humane society once we got back home, but after a 4 hour ride to north Mississippi we were hooked. She is still put out by all the "strays" we continue you to bring home, including my cousin Alley, who lived with us until she was 18. She has her own bedroom and bathroom upstairs. We haven't the heart to tell her that it is going to be turned into the baby's room one day soon. She loves for me to carry her around and gets so distressed when I go out of town, that she gets sick.

headed east, not what you think

Dan here of the dynamic duo of DnD.
Recently my company offered me the chance to travel to South Korea.
Are you kidding me???Of course I will go.
So it seems that I will be travelling to South Korea as of November.
Exciting, but not quite China yet:(....
I will start to post more things when I get there and share some of my experiences...
At least I got most of my shots out of the way, OUCH!

Dennis

I thought I would start out by introducing everyone to the cast of characters in my life. This is Dennis, the newest addition to the family. On a good day I call him Dennis and on a bad day he is Menace. He was one of 8 kittens dumped at the clinic over the summer. After everyone was adopted, Dennis was returned. At the time I felt sorry for him, now I know that the person saw the evil underneath that I missed. (just kidding) Anyway, he came to live with us in June and has added spice to our life ever since. As you can see by the pictures below, he can find many ways to get into trouble.

Official first post.

Well, here is my official first post. I can't imagine anyone wanting to know about my boring life. This weekend has been eventful. Most of people who know me, know how much I love my car. It was my dream car and I rarely allowed anyone to drive it. Well, I finally traded it in yesterday. I didn't really want to, but since is was a sports car, it wasn't really consistent with a car seat. Besides that my better half couldn't stand to get in it. Now granted, you did have to lay down to get in and then roll out, but it looked really cool and went really fast. So, you might ask what did we get? Well a brand new CX-9 from Mazda. It is about as far away from a sports car as you can get, but I am enjoying the automatic transmission and not sitting 4 inches from the road. I guess I officially have a "Mommy Mobile". Now...If I were just a mommy...ha ha

DnD's New Blog

Lilli wants to know if you like the look of your new blog :)