Overdue Update

It's time for me to put my lazy keyboard on task and post an update...

I haven't blogged in awhile... not necessarily because of a lack of material, but more because I didn't have my thoughts collected while in a position to blog. The last month or so has had some busy points and some awesome points, so I'll give a rundown.

I flew to Tennessee for Memorial Day weekend and had an awesome time with my folks. Just having the time away from work and responsibility was amazingly refreshing. We ate powder-sugar donuts, watched the entire first season of "The Big Bang Theory" (awesome television show), played around with on-demand fitness videos, played with the dogs, shopped at the mall, visited the Memphis zoo, and ate wonderful food - particularly all the fruit and chicken salads... Again, completely awesome. Unfortunately, while I was there, Mom and Dad's lhasa-apso - Maggie, died from some respiratory complications. I say this, not to be morbid, but because there is a follow-up story.

Shortly after I returned from Tennessee, Mom and I got to talking about Father's Day, and I wanted to get Dad a replacement puppy, so we embarked on a journey to find another lhasa-apso puppy... we spent some time looking at online breeders and found many cute puppies. I took a Saturday and went to one of the area pet stores where I discovered Millie (the most adorable, charming, spirited, mischievous red-headed lhasa ever). After a series of texts and phone calls, they decided they'd take her, and she went home with me that day. I had the great experience of having a tiny dog around for two weeks (the boys were fascinated by such an active squeaky toy), before this past weekend gave Sarah and I the opportunity to roadtrip to Missouri for an overnight stay and a puppy delivery. We met my folks at a motel in Independence and had a few hours to talk... and eat (we're good at that)... and visit. Despite being short, it was a lot of fun and made for a great weekend.

Those are the more exciting events from recent times. My husband's work hours have changed recently, which has been... an adjustment. For awhile, he and I started work at the same time (7:00 AM), so we got up together (a bit after 5:00 AM) and had a little bit of the morning together before he took off to work. Upon my return from Tennesse, his hours changed to him having to be at work at 3:00 AM, which meant waking up at 2:00 AM to leave at 2:30... luckily, that only lasted a week as him going to bed at 6:30 and getting up so early just wasn't working so well. For the past two weeks, he's had to be at work at 4:00 AM... not a vast improvement, but at least a slight improvement. It's been rough, and we feel like we barely see each other - particularly because I usually work the weekends, but it's alright. He likes working the dock from 4:00 - 7:00, before hitting the road, so I'm glad to see him happier all around with his job. He also now gets Wednesdays off, so that gives him a chance to pick up an extra shift or catch up on sleep... or, hopefully, mow the grass. We play around with the idea of me quitting the second job or taking a leave of absence over the summer so that we can go camping and fishing and such, but I hesitate to walk away from a paying job... just in case. We have a policy that requires us to give two months' notice for vacation, and I needed this past weekend off, so I called them to tell them (four days' notice) that I had to be off this past weekend... expecting that I would have an argument with them, which would force me to quit... The General Manager was perfectly fine with it, so it was no big deal... I think I was somewhat disappointed as I was prepared to quit. Probably a good sign that I'm checked out. I'd just like to have some time to tend my yard... enjoy all the rain we've been getting lately... I tell you, for this being the high desert, we are getting midwest style rains (except perhaps an increase in hail and tornadoes). Thanks to all the rain, my yard is an absolute jungle. It's very pretty this year, though, being all green... and it's been a cool summer, which is nice too. Apparently, though, I'm told by the natives that this means we'll be hit very hard over the winter.

The boys continue to attempt to eat and destroy everything in the backyard... I think we've replaced our cable roughly seven to eight times now... and it needs to be repaired tonight. We did put a halt to it temporarily when the cooler stand blocked it, but since we've installed the cooler, it's a little more exposed. My solution is to move the dog house in front of it tonight, thereby blocking it from them... again. On some level, I'm pretty sure they are proud of their wrong-doings... I've seen no remorse.

That's a wrap for today.