Jump Rope

Does anyone remember those songs we used to sing when we jumped rope at school or at home when we were kids?

Cinderella dressed in yellow,
went upstairs to kiss a fellow.
Mad a mistake and kissed a snake
How many doctors did it take?

Or...

Hot fudge, call the judge,
(Kid's name) is gonna have a baby
Wrap it up in tissue paper
send it down the elevator what's it gonna be
Boy, girl, twins triplets...boy, girl, twins, triplets...

Or...the hardest one for me anyway

Blue bells, cockel shells,
Easy Ivy, overhead...
Then they'd swing the rope as fast as possible, probably trying to trip you up so they could have a turn. :)

Ahh, the good old days when life was much much simpler. Where the hardest thing was getting good grades in school, staying out of trouble and coming up with three names when you had triplets in your jump rope game. :)

Changes

A couple of weeks ago I came home from work to find Mike very upset. He was staring at his computer screen applying for as many jobs as he could. He turned around when he saw me and said I'd better start packing we were being kicked out. That sent me into a panic with me the only one working we were barely making ends meet as it was, let alone trying to find a new place to go and have to pay rent on top of it.

Needless to say I had a total breakdown that day, and I scared one of my best friend's half to death when she called me and I was crying so hard I could barely breathe let alone talk to her. I managed to choke out that I'd call her back, but she only gave me two minutes before she called me back in a panic, thinking something was seriously wrong and I couldn't breathe. She was on the verge of calling an ambulance for me. I managed to calm down enough to calm her down, then after talking to my sister Melinda I followed her advice and started looking up nearby apartments. The trouble was our three dogs, most of the apartments I looked at would only accept two and I knew if I had to I could give Jack back to Dad, but I didn't want to do that. I owe Jack my life the least I can do is give Jack a good one in return.

I heard back from the manager at Mountain Shadows Apartments about half an hour after I sent out e-mails to apartments that didn't give a lot of info on their pet policies. I asked how many pets were allowed and if they had a weight limit because a lot of places do. Jennifer, the manager there, told me that they had no weight limit. I told her we had three dogs and what breeds they were and she said even though they normally only allow two pets she'd make an exception for us because two of them were small. Plus it would only be $40 extra a month for all three of them instead of paying for them individually. I couldn't believe our luck. So we went down the following Monday to actually see the apartment, and despite that it's small, we love it. We could afford it if we were careful with our money so we went ahead and put down a deposit on it.

They even told us they could have it ready for us July 6th so that is when we are moving, within our three week time period that Arla gave us. Then on Wednesday Mike was offered a job, not only that a job he liked and he gets paid almost twice what I get paid. So he rubbed that in my face. I was very grateful and at the same time I felt very guilty. On Friday when I was having my breakdown and I had thought that maybe God had forgotten about us, that he'd stopped listening, or simply didn't care. I'd been so angry.

Of course as soon as Jennifer agreed to let us take our three dogs I instantly felt regret and I was on my knees instantly begging for forgivness as well as thanking him. I've always turned to my favorite poem when I've been most troubled because it makes me think that maybe, just maybe, while I'm focusing on just the one set of footprints in the sand I'm not focusing on whose prints they are and that this may be one of those times that the Lord is carrying me. I'm going to add it here because I just love the way this poem makes me feel.

Footprints In The Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky,
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there was only one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow, or defeat,
I could only see one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
"You promised me Lord, that if I followed you,
You would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you the most, have you not been there for me?"

The Lord replied,
"My blessed child, I love you and would never leave you.
During your times of trials and sufferings,
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."

After Mike got his job this past week, and we found a place to live where we can take all three dogs, and knowing we won't starve I know that it wasn't that God wasn't listening, that he wasn't paying attention or that he'd stopped caring. He hadn't done any of those things. He was just looking at the whole picture while we can only see one tiny piece of the puzzle. Everything happens for a reason, I realize that now, and I'm so grateful for the blessings we've been given this week. Perhaps this was a test of faith for me, and I was tried to my limits, but then God made me see that in times of my hardest sufferings and trials I can always turn to him for help.

Mike and I have had trouble dealing with strangers coming in to look at the house for a while now. People can't seem to keep their hands to themselves when then come to look. They pet and play with our puppies, play our piano, eat our candy and throw wrappers on the floor. We've even had some things go missing right after they've left. So now Mike and I will have a place of our own where no one will come in and pet our dogs unless we tell them it's ok, no one will touch our things, take our things, or eat our food without our permission.

I've decided to give the piano to my sister-in-law Becky. We won't have room for it and it is an old old piano that weighs a ton, it'd be a pain moving it time and time again. We can always get another piano later when we buy a house in the future.

Arla also called this week. She is trying to get a job and saw that the Post Office is still hiring people where I work. I wasn't surprised they are always hiring. So Arla asked me how to apply for that position. I had to go online and look myself because they've changed it a lot since I got the job over two years ago. And before anyone sends me any hate messages complaining about the Post Office - I don't actually deal with mail pieces. I key images as they come onto a computer screen, that's it. What happens to them after they leave my screen is beyond my control. If it's return to sender, or postage needed, we are just keying what we are instructed to key. That's beyond us to do anything about it. I helped Arla get to the right place she needed to be so she could fill out an application. I'm a little worried about it though, I don't know if she understands just how stressful my job is. They expect you to be fast and accurate and if you get over a certain error % rate they fire you. Also if you are late even once you don't stand a chance for a career position, and they might fire you. If you are one of those lazy people who like to have a job but like to call in sick they fire you. When I was first hired on they put you on a trail period and when I came to the end of that my manager told me she was surprised to find someone my age with so much responisbility. I'm always on time, usually forty-fifty minutes early and I just read until my shift starts. I'm never absent, never call in sick, and I'm over 100% in every platform I key. I've had three different managers there now. My newest manager after I traded shifts told me I was a model employee and she said if all the other employees were like me we'd have a perfect REC. But I work hard at my job to be the best I can be. It isn't easy and yes I get stressed out a lot sometimes. But I still give it 110% all the time. It might seem like a laid back job, sit in a cubicle, listening to movies, music, audio books or anything else you want to listen to all day, but they also monitor your speed, your accuracy, and your breaks. Any mistakes and they catch you on it. It's a hard job - but I love it. I've never had a better one.

So over all, Mike and I have a new home, he has a new job, Mike, the dogs and I will stay together as a family, I'm doing great at my job, we aren't going to starve, and we will at last have a place to call our own where no one will barge in to look at it whenever they want. I look forward to being able to afford a house some day soon. Now that we can afford to do so we are going to start setting money aside so we can buy a house - a place we can truly call our own.

Ironic much?

So my first day back at work turned out to be a pretty ironic and stressful day, but that's mainly due to Jack. After Jack had his surgery last week I made sure he stayed inside and as clean as possible so he wouldn't get an infection in the surgerical site or pop his stitches.

Yesterday I took Priestly down to get his haircut. He was getting really shaggy and all his fur hung in his eyes. So I left Jack in Mike's care and headed out to get that done. When I got back Jack seemed fine, until I saw something hanging out of his side later that afternoon. It was a piece of hot pink string, or that's what it looked like but it was actually the stitching thread that they'd used on him he'd popped at least four of his stitches. So I called the vet's and made an appointment for him the next morning - Mike was anxious to get him in worried that'd bleed all over the place. Mike practically swoons at the sight of blood, even his own, and yet he pretends that he's a vampire? How can those two things co-exsist?

I was almost hoping that I could be the one to take Jack in just in case they needed to restitch him and I knew how Mike would handle that. But work was busy (which I'm grateful for more money that we need hooray!) and I asked Mike to send me an update on what the vet said about Jack's condition.

I got a text almost as I hit my seventh hour of work. Jack was fine, they'd decided to take out all the stitches for good this time. But on the bad side of things despite how careful I was Jack has an infection. Mike told me I'd have to be the one to give him his pills. Again squimish. How is he going to handle kids? :)

Unfortunately for him I'm going to make him help. Jack can only have his pills every twelve hours and he had his pill so late tonight I won't be able to give him one before I leave for work tomorrow. So I told Mike just coat the pill in peanut butter and that'll disguise it so Jack will take it easily. Bet you dollars to donuts Mike freaks out - but I sure do love him. There's never a dull moment when married to Mike.

Vacation Time

Well, last week I turned in 40 of my hard earned annual hours so I could take Jack in to the vets to get a large lump on his side removed. He's had it ever since we've had him and it hasn't been the first one we've needed to remove. It didn't seem to bother him unless we touched it and then he didn't like it but he wasn't very aware of it either. So I made an appointment to get him in to get it taken off.


I had to wake up early on Monday so that I could get ready and take him in. Of course Priestly threw the biggest fit when he saw Jack was going somewhere and as soon as I put him in his kennel he gave me the saddest eyes I've ever seen. Call me a sucker because I took him with us. We got down to the vet just in time for Jack's appointment. Of course he was nervous and tried to sit on my lap while we were waiting, which ended up with him knocking my purse to the filthy floor. Priestly was too excited to be nervous he knew that he wasn't in there for anything. But when I was asked to put him on the scale so we could weigh him Priestly had other ideas. When we finally got him to hold still long enough we discovered that he's gained almost two pounds since the last time we took him to the vet. I laughed because he doesn't look any different and he's still so light to pick up - I could hold him all day and never get tired. Pattie on the other hand if I pick her up my arms ache after five minutes. So Priestly is now a healthy 5 1/2 pounds of wiggling puppy.


After we were taken into the exam room and asked what we were in for I told him and he told me that I'd have to come back Tuesday or Wednesday to get that done because they were already booked up for surgeries that day. That made me very mad. There hadn't been any surgeries booked when I'd called and made the appointment and I'd even gotten the first appointment of the day. I told him that when I called I'd booked to get it removed, not looked at, but removed. He was probably very aware of how angry I was because he went and talked to the vet in charge of the surgeries who said we could get Jack in. Needless to say after I found out the price I will definitely not be going back to that clinc again. As far as I'm concerned they can burn his records.


Tuesday was Stephen's birthday. Jack was still very sore from his surgery the day before and has several stitches keeping the wound closed so he's not allowed to play until after those are removed. So I got up early and made Stephen's birthday cake then later that afternoon I loaded up the puppies and took them with me so Jack could get some sleep without the puppies howling downstairs.

It was fun, I still can't believe my baby brother's turned 22, but then again I can't believe I'm going to be 25 this year either. Mike wasn't able to go as he had school but I let the puppies out in the backyard to play and we did dinner and presents and cake. Brent kept saying that cake should come before presents because when you already had the cake it made you more excited about the presents. It made us all laugh. I went home right after cake so I could get back to Jack.


Wednesday we had a quiet day at home, something I'd hoped for when I asked for vacation time. Thursday I had invited Stephen up for dinner. He wanted lasagna with French bread and wanted to try my rainbow Jell-O. So I'd been working on the Jell-O for the past couple of days to get it ready as it does take quite a bit of time to get it together. I put that together as well as the lasagna in the morning and put them in the fridge for later. I told Stephen I'd go pick him up because he had no way of getting up here, but some friends were going to pick him up later because he was going to a dance. Stephen really enjoyed everything and had seconds of everything, but had a hard time finishing his Jell-O it doesn't look like much but it is actually quite a bit and that took him by surprise. We passed the time after dinner looking at some slideshows I've put together on my new laptop and watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and laughing at the jokes. Some things never change we both still like Ninja Turtles.





Friday I woke up very sick. Mike was alarmed at how warm I was and made me stay on the couch all day. He enjoyed playing doctor a lot. Running around and fetching things for me even though I didn't want them. He particularly enjoyed making me drink icky poo orange juice. Even though it is good for me I still hate it - but I drank it. Mom and Melinda dropped off some things for me that night and Mike had fun giving them to me. I think maybe he had too much fun playing doctor.


Saturday I felt a little better so we went to MAHARG night for dinner. But by the time we were done with that and our early Father's Day I was exhausted and just wanted to go home. So we came home around 8:00.


Sunday passed in pretty much the same fashion I was still pretty sick so we stayed home so I could rest up and try to get better before I have to go back to work tomorrow. I went downstairs and finished my bottle of water then refilled it with tap, sticking it in my usual spot on the second shelf. When I went to get it later I was surprised to find it gone. I asked Mike if he drank it and he smiled and shrugged. I told him that was my icky sicky water and he was going to get my sickies because he drank it. He told me it was only a little bit gone but then I revealed that I had just refilled it. That threw him for a loop and he made such a fuss that it left me rolling on the floor holding my sides to keep from falling apart I couldn't stop laughing.


Overall it was a pretty good vacation. I got to go see Chantel and the new baby again while waiting for Jack's surgery to be over with, I got to bake Stephen some of my favorite things to make, Priestly and Pattie got to run around Dad's big backyard, Jack now has two shaved areas - on the surgical site and on his leg plus he has hot pink stitiches - that way you can't miss them. Mike almost threw up when he saw Jack's stitches and that made me laugh, our small fan pooped out on us so now we have a bigger one and Pattie loves to sit there and let the fan blow the hair from her face, Priestly hasn't been allowed in Jack's kennel in case he pulls at Jack's stitches so he's discovered the joys of sleeping on the bed next to me. And I've discovered something too - no matter how rotten a week is you can always go back and recall things you really liked about parts of it.

Long Few Weeks

Well, it has been a long few weeks, and super busy at best. And I doubt this next week will be much better, not with everything I'm doing. It feels like I've had very little downtime for myself lately, and Mom pointed that out to me last Saturday.

I guess it started a few weeks ago, Arla is still trying to sell the house we are living in even though no one is interested in buying it. They just want to look around and the Relator Arla hired hated our dogs. Like with a passion hates them because they barked at her when she showed up three hours late and no one was home. Of course Jack is going to growl and bark at her we have "Beware of Dog" signs on the sign on our doors for a reason. Priestly has also started playing the part of guard dog, a habit he's picked up from Jack, but Yorkie's are known to be good guard dogs. Priestly thinks he's the biggest dog in the house and puts even Jack in his place. When Jack has enough he tries to smack Priestly with his paw but Priestly is too fast for him.

Anyway, Jack had been feeling sick that week. Mike had woken up Tuesday morning to Jack breathing in his face. Mike pushed him away and rolled over to go back to sleep. Then he heard what he discribed as a wet raspberry sort of sound coming from the corner of the bed where Jack was and then it began to stink. Mike just thought Jack was farting at first but then the smell didn't go away. So he got up to check and was very angry when he saw Jack had had an accident because his stomach was so upset. I wasn't angry with Jack he had tried to let Mike know that he had to go out but Mike had ignored him. I was upset when the light was turned on at 2:00 in the morning when I had to get up to go to work in less than two hours. Mike cleaned up the carpet muttering to himself the whole time then went to his office to wait for me to officially wake up so he could clean the carpets with the shampoo machine. I couldn't fall back asleep so when my alarm went off at 3:30 I just rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom to get ready. Mike had put Jack in there so Jack kept me company while I got dressed and ready for work.

When I came out Mike was standing there, hands on his hips, glaring at me. Now, what happened wasn't my fault and I wasn't going to take any crap from him about it. When Mike told me what happened I couldn't help but laugh. The situtation was anything but funny but the faces Mike was making and the sounds he used to add to the story were too funny not to laugh at. Mike saw the funny side later that day and he got over it.

That Thursday I woke up to Jack breathing in my face and I rolled over to go back to sleep but when I heard him pass gas I was up and out of bed so fast that Mike thought something was wrong. He shot up and asked me what the matter was, but I didn't have time to answer I had grabbed Jack by the collar and was hauling him to the bedroom door, where I quickly unlocked and opened it for him, he ran down the stairs and was waiting by the back door to be let out. I felt relieved, until I got a text from Mike later that morning. He said that Jack had had not one but two accidents and that it was high time Jack got a kennel. So I took all three dogs down to my parents that afternoon and I went shopping for a kennel.

Now we have kennels for the puppies - they are the ASPCA brand and were only about thirty dollars each for their size. For Jack's size they were between seventy to eighty dollars. We don't have that kind of money right now so I looked for something else. I found a nylon kennel that you can fold up and store for only thirty dollars. It was perfect so I got that one and pulled it out for Jack to try when I got back to my parents. Jack seemed to like it, but unfortunately, Priestly liked it too. I couldn't get Priestly out of it, and finally turned it up so that the door was facing the ground and shook it gently to get Priestly to come out.

That afternoon Dad asked if I'd color for him. It turned out that he had a project he needed to get done for his safety calling for the stake. He had to outline and color certain areas on the neighborhood map and then write in the house numbers on larger maps. I colored two of the smaller maps and then wrote the numbers in on the larger maps. Dad was so pleased he asked if I'd finish them for him. I told him I'd finish them if I could take the smaller maps home because I wanted to go home. I was getting tired at this point and I still had to work the next day. So I packed up the colored pencils, markers, and maps as well as the dogs and headed home. I set up Jack's kennel in the kitchen with a few pillows and he seemed content enough to be in there. All three dogs slept in their respective kennels while I worked on the maps for four more hours before finally calling it a night and turning in.

Mike got home early from school and we went up to bed. But were not able to go to sleep thanks to a chorus of howling from downstairs. First Jack would howl then Priestly would echo him, then Jack would howl again and Priestly would echo him. Mike went down there to tell Jack to be quiet but came back fairly quickly and told me to come look. I got up and went down to look and saw Jack's kennel stuck in between the baby gate and the kitchen wall, he'd managed to flip his kennel over to the baby gate and push it open slightly but had gotten stuck. So we put him back and went upstairs. Mike bet me a dollar that Jack would get out but I told Mike he didn't have any dollars to spare as he doesn't have a job. A minute later Mike went to get a drink, but hadn't even left the room all the way when he called me again. I went over to see Jack sitting outside our glass livingroom door smiling a doggy smile at us.

Irritated and angry I grabbed Jack and took him back to his kennel before heading back upstairs. But I only made it halfway before I heard a thumpety-thump thumpety-thump and so I turned around and sat on the stairs to watch. Jack was standing up in his kennel on his hind legs and was pushing against the roof of the kennel to flip it over to make it move. Mike found this very funny. We decided that Jack would find a way to get up the stairs one way or another, kennel or no kennel so we let him out, took the kennel upstairs to our room and put him back in. He didn't move or make a sound the rest of the night. I still didn't sleep well because Mike was laughing so hard over the image of Jack flipping the kennel around the kitchen he made the bed shake all night.

I finished Dad's maps the following day after another 4 1/2 hours and about a week later I finished the large maps for him too by writing in the numbers. Victoria's family was going out of town and hadn't invited her so she asked to stay the weekend with us. So I had to go down there to pick her up Saturday night, even though she wouldn't get off work until 10:30pm. I told her that was fine.

The Thursday before she was supposed to stay our second microwave pooped out on us. So I had to go buy a new one Friday. I went with my Dad and when I stopped at the house Mom told me that we were invited to go celebrate Grandma Condie's birthday with her by going up to Tooele for dinner if we wished. Mike was all for it so I told her we'd go. Mom picked us up for dinner and we enjoyed spending the time up with my Mom and Grandparents exchanging stories and visiting. After dinner we went to Grandma's to watch her open presents but by this time I was getting tired. It was after 9:00pm and I'm usually in bed by then. We finally left close to 10:00pm and we got home a little after 10:30. I didn't get to bed until after 11:00pm and got up at 4:00am the next morning to go to work. So I was pretty cranky and tired.

I got a call from my friend Chantel around 6:30am that morning telling me that she had had her baby even though she was five weeks early and she wanted me to come see her in the hospital. Since I was going to Riverton anyway I decided to go down and see her that day. Mom called me later and told me to try and take a nap if I got off work early before coming down to Riverton. She said I'd been doing things for everyone else lately and she knew how tired I must be because we hadn't gotten home until late. I didn't have time for a nap though and I knew it. I wanted to get the bathroom cleaned when I got home and get some laundry going. Work was busy so I worked a full day and when I got home Mike was waiting for me. He told me that I looked exhausted and to go relax while he cleaned the bathroom for me (isn't he sweet?) so I relaxed for about forty minutes before getting ready to go.

When Priestly saw I was leaving again he threw a big stink. So I loaded him into the car and took him with me. I dropped off my items at the library and Priestly at my parents then went down to the hospital to visit Chantel and the baby. Then I went back to my parents and that was when I finished the big maps for my Dad. Then very tired at this point as it was almost 10:00pm I got Priestly into the car and we waited for Victoria in the parking lot.

Victoria spent the night and all of Sunday with us, and I took her home Sunday night. Monday I was so tired from doing things for everyone else all weekend I just wanted to stay home and relax. Mike, however, wanted chocolate chip cookies bad and begged me to make some. So I spent the next three hours making cookies and fixing dinner. I talked to Chantel who had brought the baby home and she too said cookies sounded good. Since we had a lot I promised to bring her some later in the week.

On Wednesday after I got off I went down to visit Chantel and to take her some cookies. It was nice just spending some time with her and seeing the baby again. To catch up on girl talk and just let off some frustrations that we both had been storing up.

So here it is Saturday again and this next week I'm on paid vacation from work. Jack is going in for surgery Monday morning to get a lump on his side removed so I want to be home for recovery time with him. Tomorrow we are going to Aunt Shirleen's for Alexis' graduation party for a bit, Monday is Jack's surgery and I'm going to see Chantel again while I'm waiting for him to be finished, Tuesday is Stephen's birthday. We don't have money for gifts so he wants me to make him my chocolate cake with homemade frosting and mini chocolate chips on top of it - it's Mike's favorite cake. Thursday Stephen is coming down for dinner one last time before they go to Thailand for a month. Saturday we are doing game night and Father's Day at Mom's and hopefully the rest of the week I can spend being with my dogs and husband and enjoying my time off. But that doesn't seem likely.