Thursday, July 31, 2008

Make A Wish


Make A Wish
Originally uploaded by heidihvt

Happy Birthday Mom!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Don't mess with a crazy woman


Don't mess with a crazy woman
Originally uploaded by buckeyefan58.

Yep, that's right.

Pitter Patter

We've been together for approximately 9 years and married for 6 years. The time has arrived in our lives. The time when everyone asks, "Well, when are you two going to have little ones of your own." These words make me cringe as I think to myself, "We already have little ones of our own." Sometimes I do say just that but most often I just try to grin and say, "Oh no....we don't plan on having children." Of course this is then followed, "You're young yet. You have time. Your mind will change....." Guh. This wouldn't be so bad and I could deal but it's getting to the point that these conversations are coming up more and more often. In addition, I've found that people won't drop the subject and they nag. I'm starting to wonder if I should just answer with, "I'm unable to have children." Maybe that'd stop them in their tracks. No, they want me to hold their children when it's obvious that I feel quite uncomfortable doing so. And you know they then say, "Oh, she doesn't want to hold the baby for fear that she'll want one." No. Don't think so. I can count on my one hand how many children I've held. And as for my 3 nieces I've only held Cassidy and that took me days. It's one of those things that takes me time to get used to. After doing so I don't mind it. For instance, our friend's child Emma. She's a doll and truly a sweetheart, but it's not like I hopped right into picking her up. And you know what? Even if we were to have a child the next step would be people wondering when we'd be having our next child.

I don't want to offend anyone, but children just aren't my thing. When a child walks in the door at work, chills go up my body and my anxiety goes through the roof. Once again, not all children do this, but for the most part I can count on this happening. I don't think that having children is my calling. It's as simple as that. I can think of a million other reasons why I do not want to have a child. Too many to list here. Thankfully David and I are on the same page in regards to this situation. As we say, we will never 100% rule out having children and believe that whatever God wants will happen. But you can bet that we're trying every means possible to avoid having a child. We're also thankful that even though both of our parents would love to have a grandchild, they're accepting of our decision and support our choice. We love the fur-covered, four-legged kids that we have. We can kennel them or leave by themselves for several hours and not get arrested. And even more importantly, they fulfill our lives in so many ways.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Why Must You Act Stupid?

David and I had an enjoyable day at the North Coast Animal Expo. We met up with some prospective adopters and fosters and made a bit of money to go toward the North Coast Greyhound Connection.

Following our fundraising efforts we headed up to Cleveland for the Indians game. Given the recent situation with the Indians we weren't looking for anything miraculous. Just a relaxing night at the ballpark. To start off, we stopped by The Winking Lizard downtown and got a bite to eat. Upon entering we found that it wasn't just Christmas in July at Put In Bay, but everywhere that wanted to capitalize on the opportunity. The Lizard had Christmas music going and it was real hard to comprehend that it's still summer, yet in just several short months it will be Christmas again. Talk about messing with your head. In my attempt to try another beer I chose Magic Hat #9. It was listed as a fruit beer that has an "essence of apricot." Right. It wasn't bad but you could've fooled me about the apricot. Dinner was great with the exception of the assholes at the bar. They were there celebrating someone's 40th birthday but they were acting as though they were 21. No, make that 10. They were screaming and hollering, counting down shots, etc. to the point that you couldn't hear the person across the table from you. We weren't the only ones that found this quite annoying as all of the tables in our section looked just as annoyed. Near the end of our dinner the group left and we could finally hear the Christmas music again. Ahhhh.....

We then went down to the stadium and waited for the gates to open. We hadn't expected to make it to Cleveland and eat so fast so we were there earlier than planned. We got right in as the gates opened and went to the outfield so that I could possible get some photos of the Twins batting practice. We weren't there but a minute and heard, "HEADS UP!" as a ball came barreling towards me. The ball hit the seat next to me and David scrabbled to get it. Within another second there was another ball on the way. David could've gotten that ball too but chose to leave it for someone else. David's smile on his face was priceless. He's always wanted to get catch a ball at a baseball game. Although he didn't technically catch the ball, it was still a moment he had waited a long time for. 26 years. He was thrilled.

After walking around a bit we took the hike up to our seats. Our seats sit directly in the sun until sundown. Whew, it was hot. So hot I was willing to buy not 1, but 2 bottles of Aquafina bottled water and it was gone before you could blink. The game finally got underway and that's when things started to take a turn for the worse. Our section grew more and more crazy. David purchased a set of tickets for throughout the year. Each game has the same seats. Never before had things gotten rowdy in the section. I can only contribute the amount of alcohol consumption to the heat of the night. During the 3rd inning a group of guys started heading up the stairs. The first guy had a white dress on over his jeans along with a white baseball cap and veil. It was obvious that it was his bachelor party and they were already 3 sheets to the wind along with having double fisted beers. Of course the crowd started to join in hooting and hollering at him. The group of guys played it up as they climbed. I had our items in the seat on the aisle (it was not a full house) and I was in the second seat, then David. The guys passed, and the second guy, trying to be cute, gave the "bride" a "go team" butt tap. During the process his beer splashed all over my arm, the seat, my camera and bag, and my sweatshirt. Thankfully my camera was pretty covered. Oh shit, heads were about to start knocking. I was pissed. The third guy in the group genuinely apologized and said that if he had anything that he'd help to clean it up, but he didn't. I hate to sound like a bitch, but it just pisses me off to no end.

Just like anyone, work darn hard for what we purchase and for someone to come along and ruin what you have by being inconsiderate is unacceptable. And it's not just about the camera or even my arm. It's just the idea. I'm sick of dealing with inconsiderate people on a daily basis. We are all about a "me" society. It's no wonder why foreigners hate us. After this happened we then had to deal with the rowdy crowd bad mouthing marriage and how the guy's "scared to get married." or that "he's not going to have freedom after getting married." What the hell? For real. When did marriage become such a bad thing? I will never understand the ill concept of most bachelor or bachelorette parties. Let's go out and have a night of debauchery. Something that could possibly ruin your relationship and regret for the rest of your life. And if you're so scared to get married, then don't. It's that simple. This was the icing on the cake after a long week at work. I tried to deal but I was done.

By the 4th inning we started to pack up and made a stop at the bathroom to rid myself of the beer smell as much as possible and request a bag for my beer soaked sweatshirt. Hey, at least I had the sweatshirt to soak up the mess. While leaving we debated stopping at guest services to complain. We came to the conclusion it'd be a waste of time because it's not really their fault and what would they do. More than likely we'd just look like 2 weiners complaining.

I guess I just don't understand people's thinking. I have nothing against drinking by any means. I like to have a drink here and there socially. I like to take a moment to chill. I'll never understand why people take it to excess, make themselves look like totally idiots, and ruin it for those around them. They have nothing to show but an empty pocketbook and a toilet full of vomit the next morning. Right.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Hello Weekend

Needless to say Spencer's Cove has been defeated. After all of David's hardwork and great ideas we found out that it's not going to work. On Wednesday we went to the 'rents for a quick dinner. Upon coming home we found the wood door along with the plexiglass with a hole chewed into it. In addition Spencer was obviously traumatized (panting, drooling, fast heart rate, and wide-eyed). Poor guy. We truly felt horrible. It wasn't as if he was doing it to be bad or on purpose. He was truly freaked out. So no big surprise but we had to regroup again. Everything was placed back in it's original place and Spencer has been let loose with the other animals in the house during the day. He still remains muzzled and their bowls with any leftover food is picked up as to reduce Spencer's pushing bowls around, looking for food. Knock on wood but all has gone well. Everyone's still getting along and all is looking up in the Henry household.

It's been quite a stressful week at work. Heck, it's been a stressful last month. Everyone's wanting to get their pet in, which is a good thing, but no one has money. Big surprise. I don't mind keeping busy, but a stressful busy is never healthy. I'm a crazy dreamer, so it's no big deal for me to dream, but when I dream about work you know I need a break. Soon enough. Only 67 days until the cruise.

Tomorrow we'll be heading down to the Northcoast Pet Expo and the Sandusky Bay Pavilion. We'll be there with the Northcoast Greyhound Connection. We've been down there for several events and haven't been all that impressed, but Hopefully it will be a nice event. In the afternoon we'll be heading to Cleveland for the Indians game. We hope to stop by the Lizard on our way up. We'll be praying for no rain tomorrow, or if it does hopefully it will be done before all of the festivities. Onward to the weekend!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Spencer's Cove

Alright, so the baby gate didn't work. We went out for a short run on Tuesday morning only to come back to Spencer, still behind it, with a severely scratched up hardwood floor. Ouch. After a bit of touch up with a wood stained marker it wasn't looking too bad. The scratches are still there but are pretty good camouflaged with the marker. Thankfully David didn't saw our door in half yet so we moved on to option 2.

David constructed a door out of plywood, hooks, and plexiglass. I must say that I was quite impressed. He then placed a rug underneath and near the door. We thought we had the answer. Not so. I came back from my run this morning and found the rug pulled up and more scratches in the floor. Man. Back to the marker. I called David to let him know, and he once again got his brain a' churnin'. He has now secured a piece of thick plexiglass to 2, 2 X 4's, which are then secured to the wall, on the floor. This way when he does scratch, he'll be scratching at the plexiglass instead of the floor. I don't even want to get my hopes up as to if this will work. We'll be going to dinner in a bit and then we shall see when we arrive home. I'm sure after time he will come to love his little cove, but for now he just wants to be free. Thankfully my husband is mechanically inclined. Here are some pictures of the contraption. Please disregard the primitive walls and wood. We're currently working on renovating them and also plan on painting the door once we find if this is our solution or not.




Monday, July 21, 2008

The Honeymoon's Over

Spencer has come into his own. I must say that we didn't expect it so soon. He's comfortable with his surroundings and is making it his own. His anxiety is gone, he's not in as much discomfort (pelvis), and now he wants to have fun.

This isn't all bad but we must be on guard even more than before. He's wanting to play more with Viking and Lily. Viking mostly wants nothing to do with him. This isn't anything new. Viking's always been an independent little guy. He's so human it's scary. And when it comes to Lily, he wants to play with her but given a 70 lb difference between them he can squash her pretty easily and we've already had a yelp or two. So we thought we had everything figured out...we'd just let them out separately. But his playfulness has now gone from wanting to play outside to wanting to play inside. And it doesn't matter if we walk him, he wants to have play interaction with the other dogs.

Once again, we thought we had it under control, but when David's been coming home the house has been in disarray. It's not like things are torn up, but it looks like Spencer's been trying to play. A simple answer to this is to kennel him, which we did the first several days we had him. We did all the right things...giving him treats, making it a happy place, but after several days he put his brakes on and wouldn't get near the kennel. And since I'm the last one to leave in the morning I have no way to get him in the kennel. And we didn't want the kennel to be a bad thing, so the muzzle was put on and he was let free to roam. Things seemed to go pretty well. We had a few scratches on our back door from him trying to look out the window (we now keep the shade closed and have had no further problems).

So everything was going well until Spencer started coming into his own and I think it's time to regroup. This is nothing new to us. We're the people that bought a playpen and made it easily cleanable for Lily so that she could "sleep" with us at night. And we're also the people that tore up ALL of our carpet in our house and refinished the hardwood floors to for easier cleanup of poopie accidents. Going into adopting we knew that all of this was a possibility, and we were willing to make changes, and the time has come.

So that leaves us with, what should we do? We've had several ideas. We could just kennel Lily and Viking again. I'd feel absolutely horrible about this given that they have done nothing wrong and all they'd think is, "This huge dog came into our house and took over and now we're getting in trouble." Not a good idea. We thought about gating him in the kitchen but weren't too sure about that given that the cats have now taken to the kitchen being "their area." I'd hate to evict them from another place again. We've come to the conclusion to give him the downstairs bedroom. We will begin with just a baby gate but I can see us ending up sawing the door in half. We'd love to do that now but we want to make sure that this idea is even do-able before jumping the gun and possibly ruining a door. So the litterboxes will be relocated for the animals and the new area will be called Spencer's Cove per David. I'd love to end up making it secure enough that we'd be able to take the muzzle off while we're away. I understand the the muzzle is important and that he sees it almost as part of his body, but I'm sure he'd prefer it to be off.

Some people may think that we're taking this to extremes but I want to let them know that this is nothing special. We have friends that have greyhounds and smaller dogs. They co-exist great, but they only interact while fuller supervised. This will be no different than anyone else. In addition, when Spencer's fuller healed we'll be able to make playdates with our friends and their greyhounds.

Ah the joys of being pet owners, but we truly do love it.

Friday, July 18, 2008

I'll Never Be Perfect

During my time at my present workplace I've often been overlooked for restraining larger dogs due to my size. Doc will ask for the taller individual even though we're about the same size otherwise. At first I was offended but now I just pass it along as no big deal. It happened once again today, however they also requested my help. After successfully restraining the exuberant dog I heard the owner say, "Hey pup, she's putting all of her weight on your back end and she weighs less than you." Of course he was speaking about me. Once again I let it roll off of my back as no big deal, but I couldn't help but analyze the situation. At no time in my life have I ever felt that I was small. As a kid I was quite chunky. I've lost the baby fat but I'm just an average height. I do think of my weight and what I put in my mouth on a daily basis. That's beside the point though. I thought to myself, too often others judge each other. Instead of being just right, we're "too fat" or "too tiny." This then wears off on us as individuals and we feel crappy about ourselves. I quickly determined that our bodies will never be "perfect" whether in our own eyes or the eyes of society. But you know what? I'm okay with that.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Tales Of Sir Spencer

Things are still going great here at the Henry household. Spencer absolutely loves our backyard. I'm sure he can't wait until he's free and clear from his pelvis fracture so he can let loose. After the first few nights he has now made it through the entire night without waking up to do his business. He'll still wake up, shake, maybe walk around, and lay back down. But that's cool. We don't mind taking him out at night but we have a much more restful sleep when we don't have to.

For some reason he has taken to our mass of daylilies in our backyard. Originally he would just barrel through the long leaves. This left them looking "interesting." Now he has taken to actually laying on them. So they're looking quite sad. We're not sure why he's doing it. We can only guess that it's because they feel cool or something. It's cool with us though. If that's what he wants to do....it's better than laying in the dirt or mud.

It's taken some getting used to having a huge dog next to you at every moment. He's like velcro and follows you almost everywhere. This has made me slow down because I have to step around him alot of times.

I also think he's put on some mass. You can still see his spine more than I'd like but it's not as prominant as it once was. He has an awesome appetite. I think he's going to like our birthday celebrations around here...he definitely dug the cake he got. Let's just say anytime we've had some leftovers of the cake he's been quite interested.

Which leads me to the next thing. It's so different having a dog that is head level to counters. He's not what we call a "counter surfer," where they steal things off of the counter. But when you're standing at the counter his nose is right there checking out what you're doing. I find it quite funny.

Not that we didn't already know but Spencer is an awesome dog. So relaxed but has a huge personality. And after the first questionable day (due to our other dogs) everyone's getting around well and he's now truly part of our family. If anyone is interested in an interesting, personality filled, relaxed dog, adopt a greyhound. You'll have a forever friend. Spencer has spunk every so often but most times you'll find him just chilling. He lays down, rolls over, and plops his head down. It's quite hilarious.....

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Six Years

I truly can't believe that David and I have been married for 6 years. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday, other times it feels like eternity. Not eternity in a bad way by any means. Just as anyone, we're constantly changing and evolving both as individuals and as a unit. As we've changed, we've grown, and as we've grown, we've grown stronger. I wouldn't give up what we have for the world. As a child you dream of meeting "the right person." At times you think it may never happen. I can't say whether we're soulmates, as I don't know if I believe in them or not. However, if soulmates do exist I believe I have found mine. And thankfully we were so lucky to find eachother at such a young age that we can live our lives together to the fullest and grow old together. As individuals we don't necessarily fit into the "norm." As a couple that's true too. A couple weeks ago we were discussing our relationship and how oftentimes it's different than others. For instance.....

9 times out of 10 I do the driving. This has been true since we dated. I had the Tempo with a CD player so that meant I drove so we could listen to better music. It has since stuck, so you'll find be driving most of the time.

I'm a gadget person and David's more of a shopper than me. It was quite funny a few weeks ago when I got my new cellphone. David wanted to head out to the mall to shop, so off we went. As he was browsing, there I was messing around with my cell phone. I'm also the one that tends to be on the computer while he will watch tv.

I'm the one that tends to take care and pride in the yard. Don't get me wrong, he mows it pretty regularly, but I'm the one the will spend hours outside edging, weeding, and fertilizing.

He's more of the decorator type. I like this to be organized and fit together, but he tends to focus more on how things look and his creativity.

He's the one that tends to do the laundry, including folding. Once again, I'll do it, but it's something that he tends to complete without me even knowing it.

He cooks, whenever we cook. Cooking isn't something I find enjoyable, and frankly he doesn't either, but when it happens, he does it. He's quite creative too.

I handle and pay the bills. Of course this is a task that differs from family to family, so we're not all that odd.

As I sit here I'm sure more will come to mind. We've never claimed we're normal, but it's what works for us. And although we're the same, we're opposite in a lot of ways. Even so, we fit each other to a tee.


David's card to me sums it up quite well.....

You're the fizz to my soda,
the hip to my hooray,
the alphabet in my soup,
the echo to my yodels,
the grand to my piano,
the sleepy to my sunday,
the stars in my sky,
the love of my life.

Here's to the last 9 years of our lives and to the 100 more ahead. Happy 6th Anniversary.

Spencer's A Henry

Today at 11am Traci, our friend and member of Northcoast Greyhound Connection, came over and we signed papers to officially adopt Spencer. This evening we had all of the 'rents over for some pizza and to celebrate Spencer's addition to the family.




I also received this email from Traci after her visit today....

The official document has been signed and it is hereby decreed that "Spencer" shall heretofore be known as Sir Spencer Henry!!

Couldn't have gone to a nicer family!
Traci

Saturday, July 12, 2008

It's A Sneezy

Years ago David's 'rents took him to see Disney On Ice. At the gift shop he wanted a little Dopey doll. Since Dopey was the favorite there were none left, but the foreign salesman was quick to offer David another option. He said, "It's a Sneezy!" Being foreign it came out more like "Snissy" David has always remembered this and it will give us a good laugh from time to time.

Sitting here tonight David realized we now have 7 members of the family. He then went on to say, "We're the Seven Dwarfs."

David-Happy-He always happy with a smile on his face.

Heidi-Dopey-My favorite Dwarf, plus I can be kind of wacky.

Viking-Grumpy-He growls at almost anything even though he wouldn't act on it.

Natchez-Bashful-She tends to keep to herself and comes out only to get love.

Jax-Sneezy-He gets sneezing fits like you wouldn't believe.

Lily-Doc-She's our pack-leading princess with an attitude.

Spencer-Sleepy-He's a gentle giant always wanting to sleep.

As we sit here discussing it almost all of these could be interchangable but this is what we think fits best.

Make Them Wonder

Most of you know I dig graphic tees with different things on them. For instance my Jesus shirt. When we were in Texas I also got several other tees including this:

I figured I've changed my lifestyle for over a month and qualify for wearing it. Not to mention it fits perfectly with all of my other tees. Hey, I never said I was a fashion diva. Not even close. Jeans, tees, or scrubs. That's my wardrobe. So I put this shirt on today and couldn't help but giggle several times today. Let me explain...

Situation Number 1-Greyhounds are not allowed off of their leashes (unless in a reinforced fenced in area). As a recommendation we were told to purchase a Predatory Squawker (a hunting call maker) to keep near our backdoor. It's said that Greyhounds are trained using these and when they hear them, they should come. So if Spencer were to get loose it'd give us a better chance of having him return. So we went out searching a squawker at the local sporting stores. As I searched in the hunting section I looked down at my shirt and started laughing. Here's a girl that claims to be a vegetarian shopping in the hunting section. I'm sure I had the workers and other customers wondering.

Situation Number 2-Tomorrow is David's and my anniversary. For memories sake we wanted to go out to dinner at a restaurant that holds a special place in our hearts. We went there for all of our special occasions including the night before our wedding. The restaurant is Angry Bull in Huron. For those that don't know, they are a local "higher end" steakhouse known for their great steaks and seafood. So here I come walking in with my vegetarian tee. I had to laugh once again. You may ask what I ate. I ordered a loaded baked potato and had the bread with cherry butter (yum!) That may not seem like much but believe it or not even before I became vegetarian I never ate a steak at the restaurant. David and I would always split a plate and I'd steal the potato while he ate the steak. Guess we're cheap, but I don't mind and it's always a great potato. Some may beg to differ but it doesn't take much to please me.

So I'm sure I had some people wondering today as I went through the day wearing my vegetarian tee. Ah well, I've always said, act weird and make them wonder.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

First Full Day

Today was our first full day with Spencer. After our friends from Northcoast Greyhound left we had a quiet night surprising our parents with our new addition and finishing up with one more walk to get our "pack" together. I'm no Cesar Millan, but I can try. As time went on it got better by the minute. Getting him up the stairs was quite interesting. He's not quite used to stairs, ours aren't carpeted, and with his hips it was slow going. In the end he ended up getting carried upstairs. During our sleeping time we didn't have any problems and things went more smoothly than expected. Viking and Lily slept where they always do and Spencer slept on his bed in a new spot. He got up only once at night and it was at 1:30am. Once again we both ended up carrying down the stairs, he did his business, and then we headed back up to bed. Even though we slept well we were quite tired this morning when the alarm went off at 5:30am. While I was getting ready for work he was like velcro, following me everywhere. And after David left for work he whined. I can't believe he's already that attached to us. When it came time to go back upstairs to get ready for work he wanted to follow. At that point David was gone so I was on my own. Surprisingly after a few minutes he climbed up the stairs on his own. He stayed with me until I went back downstairs and he came down the stairs on his own once again.

His first trip in the car with me went well. He wanted to stand but finally settled and got comfortable. Once we got to work he started with some soft stool, but it progressively got better throughout the day. Everyone loved him at work and for the most part he did well. Again, he wanted to follow me everywhere and when I put him in the kennel he didn't care for it much. And anytime someone else was holding his leash and I left he whined and wanted to follow me. It's going to be interesting trying to get him on a potty schedule. We're not used to having to take the pups outside since they're litter trained. He's pretty good about letting us know but with his nerves he's having to go more often that he normally would.

You'll notice in pictures Spencer has a muzzle on. He is not mean. And he's the most docile guy. Just a sweetheart. He looked at the cats when he came in a just walked right on by not caring one bit. The muzzle is just a precaution during these early times to make sure we don't have any run ins. And believe it or not we're not so scared about Spencer attacking the other pets. If anything, Viking and Lily would go after him. We just want to keep things as settled as possible. Once time goes on he'll be able to have it off while inside. More than likely he'll always wear it outside. Greyhounds will see things out of the corner of their eyes and chase it as though it's prey. With Viking and Lily being so small he may see them in our large backyard as prey and attack unexpectedly. Once again, it's not that he's mean, but it's a trait that bred into them. Muzzles are almost like an extension to all greyhounds. They have them from such an early age and wear them almost nonstop. And if you go to a greyhound rescue function you'll see nearly all of the greyhounds have them on, especially in large groups. With this being said, we're still careful to give him enough time outside and while eating with the muzzle off.

Everything will take time but it is truly going better than expected.

FYI Spencer is a pretty large guy. At almost 80 lbs he could stand to gain about 10 more. We're pretty good about bulky pups up (see Lily =)) so I'm sure he'll be an even better looking boy as time goes on.



Wednesday, July 09, 2008

It's A Boy!

We have been pushing around the idea of adopting a greyhound for quite awhile and finally made our move. Meet New Import aka Spencer. As with all of our other animals he does a medical history. He has no racing history but when he was taken off the truck he had a broken pelvis. Pelvis injuries are simply healed with rest and pain medication. In 3-4 weeks from now he should be fully healed and ready to have some fun. For the next few days we'll be in a trial period to see how things go. Given everything goes well the adoption should be finalized on Sunday.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Funk

This girl's been in a funk. Not necessarily a bad funk, just a funk. As I stated in a previous post I haven't been able to get off my butt to run. Actually, I have run but I just can't seem to get onto a schedule. The alarm will go off and I'll tell myself, "I'll run tomorrow," reset my alarm, and roll over for another hour of sleep. This wouldn't be so bad but when I'm doing it more days than not it's not a good thing. I'm maintaining my minimum of 10 miles a week but I feel like I'm doing so little versus what I was doing a couple months ago. Mind you I'm not training for a Half but still, I should have some fire under my butt. And it's not like I'm burned out on running. If anything I just getting to the "sweet" part. If I hold guilt over myself I tend to get myself going but there are some days that it doesn't work. So today I reset my alarm and slept one more hour. But come the end of the workday I told myself, "I gotta run," and held myself to it. It was tough with the humidity and the weather heating back up but as always it was worth the sweat and discomfort.

Not only am I having a funk in running but obviously my blogging too. I've backed off of my blogging for some unknown reason. I seem to always have something else going on, and I'm not really the type of person to sit down and write a line or two. It will always be a book.

So the only thing I can attribute this to is my medication I've been on for 2 months. It may be, it may not be. This was one of my biggest concerns of getting on the medication....going from one extreme to the other. Obsessive to not caring. There have been some changes, obviously, but I do have some obsessive characteristics that remain. I do know this, I feel a difference in my general attitude and day-to-day activities that I'm back to the ol' Heidi. The one I remember from high school. Of course I've had some changes that come with time and age since then, but it's nice to have that carefree, happy, positive attitude, even if it's chemically induced. For instance....I'm the only person at work today with a full work schedule?? Ah, who cares. It's going to be a good day and this too shall pass. As with everything I'm trying to find that happy medium and although I'm not there and may never be at least I'm trying and it's much easier to bear.

To quickly run through our past weekend. J and Cass came into town on Thursday and we had a cookout Friday with them and both sets of 'rents. That evening we found the perfect spot to watch fireworks. We climbed on the roof of David's work van and took them in. It was a moment to remember and one I hope to repeat in years to come. Following firework everyone came to our house for a fire and wine. On Saturday the guys had a day of golf while the girls had a "spa" day. Cass, Tara, and Ande' all got massages from Sita. And we just hung out in general. That afternoon we went to a Greyhound fundraiser and had a ton of fun checking out all the pups. Pretty cool. The evening finished with a graduation party for David's cousin. On Sunday we took a trip down to Mansfield with David's 'rents and Grandma. It was Grandma Maria's birthday on the 4th and we celebrated by taking her to lunch and the Kingwood Center. We had a full weekend and I had a ton of chances to take some pictures and experiment with the new camera, which I LOVE by the way. Be sure to check out the pictures. It will take me some time to get used to it and I'm sure I'll never use it to it's full potential but I can have fun trying.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

No Cell Phone For You

Okay, time for the much (or not so much) anticipated story of coming home from Texas. We arrived at the airport earlier than expected. We're the type to get there atleast 2 hours before take off but given that we had already checked out of the hotel, were stretching for things to do, wanted to make sure we didn't have any problems finding the airport, or returning the car, we headed back around 3 hours total before take off. When we arrived there were no issues with the car return. When we arrived at check in there were only about 4 people ahead of us but I got to say Northwest doesn't have the check-in procedure down yet. As with most all airlines they have the self check-in kiosks. However, you must wait for someone to assist you with checking in your bags. Usually it isn't an issue as there is a person per 2 kiosks and things run relatively smoothly. As for Northwest this wasn't the case....at least in Detroit or Dallas. They had about 1 person per 5 of 6 kiosks. Add on to that no turnstile ribbons (Detroit) it can cause some chaos and take a lot longer than expected. No biggie given that we were there earlier than needed, but I would have to say it's something that they need to improve on.

We chilled near our gate reading our books. About 1 hour before take-off we decided to check our departure status. Our plane was not present so we figured we may be running behind. Sure enough the large screen said we'd be leaving at 6:26pm. However, it was out of a different gate. Thankfully that was the next gate over so we could basically sit in the same spot. Looking at the gates, they both had our flight number/arrival city, but had different times....even different than the big screen. We figured we'd wait it out and see what happens. Well, sure enough the plane was very late arriving and it was at the other gate, that'd we'd leave out of. Listening to some passengers of the previous flight I hear 2 families complaining about a flight attendent. One said they were yelled at for having there phone off upon arriving in the plane, even though they were still loading. The other stated that he requested blankets for all members of his family and was refused. I didn't think much of it. Little did I know I'd have a run in with the same attendent.

We boarded the plane relatively quickly after the previous passengers departed. We were geared, all ready to go. The captain came over the loudspeaker and said, "We're number 1 for take-off." We moved toward the runway only to turn to the left instead of going straight. The captain came over the loudspeaker once again and said, "It looks like some nasty weather about 8-10 miles away with 60 mph winds. We're going to turn off the engines and wait it out." At this point everyone was whipping out their cell phones to call their families to notify them. Everyone, including me. That's when she arrived. Carol, the flight attendant, came and hovered over mine and my mom's seat and stared at me. She finally said in a rude tone, "Your cell phone?!" I gave her a sheepish/questioning face and said, "Yeah..." She said, "It's supposed to be OFF." Once again sheepish/questioning, I said, "Now? But we're sitting still with the engines off." And she replied, "YEAH....." Kind of like "duh, turn it off." She walked away and came back within a minute to say, "I asked the captain and he said it's okay to use your cell phone." No apology or anything. Whatever. What's it with me and flight attendents? And mom can back me up on this one. I wasn't rude and there were others with their cellphones blatently out. Then as a kind geture they offered cups of bottled water, only to find out you had to share with the seat next to you. Yeah, weird.

So the storm came in with quite a vengeance and after 2 hours sitting on the runway, shakin' a bit, we took off. While the storm was going on there was a plane that took off. They made it up but went over the radio saying that it was a rough ride. Given that we were a 2 by 2 seater with only about 20 rows (super small plane) I'm glad we waited to take off. When mom saw our plane she about freaked saying she wasn't getting on the tiny thing. And that was before were knew about the storm. The take off wasn't too bad but we had quite a rough ride home. A lot of turbulence. The kind where you feel like you're falling in the air. I was surprised that I didn't find bruises on my arm from where mom continued to grab me. She white-knucked almost all the way home as I continued to give her reassuring thoughts, "We're going to be fine." We ended up getting into Detroit after midnight, and getting to our car and out of Detroit after 1am. So we didn't get home until after 3am. We were exhausted.