So Much Going On Right Now!

I keep meaning to update this regularly and I keep failing miserably. In my defense, it has been very busy around here. Some of you may or may not have known that when Turkey Butt was assigned to his BMQ his civilian job fired him (such a big no-no). That meant that for awhile, his only income was from his 3 days a week on base. After searching and searching for another civilian job - he was offered two and opted to start work last week at a Cheese Factory in a town that is about a 20 minute drive away. For me, this meant that he was not only on base all weekend, but he would leave for work each weekday at 7:20am and not get home until 5pm. By the time Turkey Butt arrived home, it was pretty much time to start Elodie's bedtime routine. Needless to say, it has been hectic around here.

Did I mention that I recently got accepted into the Business Administration program at the local Community College? Well I did. Which should be great. Except I kept flip flopping about whether or not I should do it. On one hand, I'd love a career change and am planning to open my own business in the Fall so the practical knowledge would be great. On the other hand, can we afford for me to not be working for the next two years? Do I want to put off trying for Baby # 2 for at least two or three years while I finish school and get settled into a job in my field? So many what if's... And if you know me, you know that I hate to make a decision.

And this is where Friday comes into play. Friday afternoon I get a text from Turkey Butt. It was something along the lines of,

Hey, I got paid $### by the military.

And guess what? That the amount he got paid was a whole $700 less than I was expecting it to be! First off he was misinformed about how much he would be receiving as a day's pay, and secondly they only paid him for the first two weeks of this month instead of for the entire month. Seriously? It was bad enough when they decided not to pay him on the 15th, but I was then expecting he'd just get twice the money on the 30th. But no. Course not. Anyway, cut to later on that afternoon when I got my usual post- work day phone call from Turkey Butt. It went something like this...

Hey, the factory just went out of business and we all got laid off.

Yup. This is what we're dealing with around here. It's enough to make me pull my hair out to be honest. Especially since we just spent more money than usual on frivolous items to celebrate our 2nd anniversary thinking we were getting a big cheque from the military and a weekly cheque from the Cheese Factory. Ohhhhh boy are we just barely scraping by. But I guess there's one good(?) thing to come out of this - my mind has definitely been made for me on this school situation. We don't even have the money for me to reserve my seat so I'm thinking we definitely won't be able to afford for me to not be working for two years. Oh well. I can always try again in a few years when/if we're more financially stable.

On another note I might start looking after a sweet little one year old boy a few days a week. I'm enjoying doing a little baby proofing/ rearranging to make our house better suited for two busy little ones to play! If I can manage to get it finished today I will try to add some pictures of the play area I've created in our Dining Room. Oh fun, fun, fun! This is my life!

Time to Relax.

So, I finally took the plunge and gave my two week's notice to the Nursing Home that I work at. I've enjoyed it and I love the ladies, but it's almost entirely overnights and it's at least an extra 3 shifts a week on top of my shifts at my other job. The real turning point was finding out we're getting two new residents who each require a lot of care. Working alone with 5 residents was exhausting enough, expecially if one was under the weather, but 7 residents is too much! So I gave my two weeks notice and my last shift will be January 31st. Honestly, I'm nervous about the reactions I will get from the owners and residents, but I am SO happy to have time to myself. I've been too exhausted to spend any time with my family and friends lately, and life is too short for that. So, in the words of my co-worker Cee, "Yay me!" This is my life!

Coffee at 4am...

(image found here)

... such a bad idea. This is my life.

Lazy Blogging and Wedding Planning...

I've been on the computer on a dauly basis catching up on my favorite blogs and I've only just now realized that I haven't been writing any posts myself. As per usual, I am insanely busy with work. This week alone I've done 5 O/N's (with my 6th one tonight) and 3 evening shifts. It makes for a very busy Elle...

Also making for a very busy Elle? Wedding planning! The wedding is in less than 9 months. Gasp! We've gone back and forth a little on the exact date, but we've known since Day One (pretty much) that'd we'd marry in the Fall of 2011. It seemed SO far away once upon a time. Now it seems like it is coming so quickly. I've ordered a custom-made wedding dress from Etsy. It was cheap and if I don't like it, I figure i'll have lots of time to look for something else. I've booked the first few nights of our honeymoon at one of these cottages. I've created, printed and am in the process of writing on the envelopes for our Save The Date Cards. Our guest list has been finalized. It may start a family feud (and not the good TV game show kind) but we're happy with it and best of all, we don't have to break the bank and rent a bigger venue. We're looking into booking our Pre-Honeymoon at the end of March/early April. There seem to be so many great last minute deals that we're waiting til closer to the date to pick one.

Honestly, it's a bit of a mad house around here. But a good mad house. One filled with much more love than stress! Our animal babies are doing great. Little Man has doubled in length since arriving here and Adora had her 2nd birthday last week. They grow up so fast, sigh. As for Turkey Butt, he's busy with work and was busy training for an upcoming boxing match. Was being the key word. The amateur boxing rules have been changed and he's not a fan of the outcome of them and is questioning whether he wants to box anymore. Honestly, not having to watch someone trying to punch him in the face is just fine with me! Don't get me wrong, I would have been ringside at the fight had it gone on... but I'll be happy if that's something my eyes never have to see. Turkey Butt is undefeated in his amateur career but I know first hand that that doesn't mean he won't come home with cuts, bruises, and broken ribs (that was the worst). As it is, he regularly gets chronic nose bleeds because his boxing career has caused holes to form in the veins of his nose. Anyway, I will try to update everyone with more wedding stuff as it comes up. Enjoy your weekend, whether you're working, or just to relax at home with a loved one... or both, like me! This is my life!

Holy Windstorm Batman.

The radio has been warning us Valley folk  about Severe Wind and Rain Storms coming our way. Obviously, I've just been ignoring it. Oops. During the midst of it, you couldn't find a house with power (unless they had one of those fancy generators) within a 30 minute radius of my town. Including my town. Turkey Butt walked me to work and the only vehicles on the roads were police car's and fire trucks (and the fire trucks always had their lights on). We didn't run into any people (or Zombies - trust me, we were a little worried) on the 20 minute walk. But the entire town was pitch black, it was plus 15 degrees Celsisus, the wind was blowing Adora over and trees were literally being uprooted out of the ground. Down by the water, the visibility was worse as the fog was rolling in at an unbelieveable pace. It was straight out of a Zombie Apocalyse movie, I swear.

 To top that, I had to sit in the pitch black, creepy old Victorian nursing home all night. I waited and waited and by morning, the power still wasn't on. Trust me, it is very difficult to rouse 5 elderly ladies, get them breakfast and complete their personal care by the light of a flashlight. I managed it though. When my shift was through, I made the trek back through town - but in the daylight this time. It was amazing! Large trees cracked in half, power lines hanging like skipping ropes from their branches, trees uprooted in areas that I don't think had trees to begin with. I kinda felt like I was in a really tamed down version of Twister*.

It's 2pm now. The power only just returned... to our place at least. Turkey Butt and Adora have wandered downtown to see if they can find any food. Rocco and I are cuddling and awaiting their return. I'm certainly curious to see what the state of the town is now that the power has returned. I've heard it mentionned many times, "you know it's bad when Tim Horton's has shut down". On that note, I'm going back to eating Turkey Butt's Peeps:

and enjoying my time off before work interrupts my life again. Some tree trimming perhaps? This is my life!!!!


*I'm not comparing our wind storm to a tornado. I cannot imagine the ramifications of something like that. I am purely joking/using sarcasm to allay my night. Sorry if I've offended any one.

Just in time for the holidays...

Turkey Butt is having some MAJOR issues at work. His sous-chef (usually the boss of the first cook but in this restuarant they`re even) shoved a sheet pan into his chest for no discernable reason. This led to the two of them on the ground (Turkey Butt on top - he`s an amateur boxer) and the owner`s reaction... Told the Sous Chef it served him right. What the hell! Now I totally don`t agree with these elementary school antics but am definitely worried if this is what the job is coming to. So now, Turkey Butt is talking about giving his notice (with my FULL blessing) and finding another line of work til he hears back from the Armed Forces. Bad timing but SO necessary. Luckily he`s got some money coming in from his second job. And he`s got his jar of money to live off of (so long down south vacation). And all my Christmas gifts are bought and charitable donations given. I think we`ll be okay.

This is my life...

Mmmmmm.

I would kill for some of Turkey Butt's amazing Fettucine Alfredo right about now. But since he's in the middle of a 15 hour shift (yup, the restaurant industry is super lame), I'm stuck with the frozen, pre-packaged kind. Oddly though, with a bottle of Tangerine/Lime Sparkling Water, a chick flick (Letters to Juliet) and Adora to cuddle with, it's shaping up to be a pretty fantastic meal!

I am soooo BEYOND excited to spend all day tomorrow with Turkey Butt, though! I love Mondays!! Monday's being the one day of the week that Turkey Butt gets off as the restaurant he works at is closed. Monday's being the one day I refuse to pick up a shift (except perhaps the occasional O/N) so that I have time to spend with my two loves! Tomorrow, if the rain can ease up a bit, will be filled with a romp through the forest, some Crispix Mix making, and some wedding planning in bed while watching movies! This is my life!

A case of the grumps.

I think that once in awhile I am allowed to be grumpy! For instance, if I haven't been home for more than 5 minutes in the last 15 hours because I've been working. If my boss shows up late to relieve me, again. If I go to scrape the frost off my car only to realize that my perfectly-good-last-summer scraper is broken and the actualy scraping part of it is missing. If I notice a large pile of turkey fat on my back seat where Turkey Butt kept the turkey during our hour long drive to the cottage for Thanksgiving. The turkey he promised wouldn't spill on my backseat and made it seem like that was such a silly question for me to ask. If I try to pull in my driveway and have to wait for the delinquent from upstairs (and his buddy - the town's resident underage drunk whom i've caught shoplifting at a previous job) to stop smoking in the middle of the driveway and move out of my way. If I pull into the driveway and realize that the parking lot is full, again - and I won't be able to back into my awkward parking space. If I get out of the Jeep to find Turkey Butt standing in the door, ready to leave for work even though I've seen him for less than 10 minutes since 2pm yesterday. AND THEN, he gets huffy about my grumpiness and leaves without saying goodbye or even giving me a goodbye kiss, only making me MORE grumpy. HMPH! Today is a grumpy day. This is my life.

Say Yes To The Dress

I just finished working O/N three of four. To pass the time I've ogled the new IKEA catalogue, baked egg-less peanut butter cookies, created some Halloween crafts and watched wedding shows on TLC. I was actually lucky enough to catch a couple reruns of Say Yes to the Dress that I hadn't seen before. One of them involved a woman buying a dress to pair with fairy wings for her Wiccan wedding. I've got to admit, initially I was like, "Weird" but then when I saw it, I realized I kinda loved it. Reminded me so much of the movie, Ever After. Cute!

On another note, we found ourselves a wedding photographer for a third of the price of the "competition". I magically came across her add on Kijiji one night - for pet photography! We took Adora for a photo session with her in the local park on Thursday and it was really laid back. She happened to mention that she's done a few weddings which certainly peaked our interest. She then emailed me with an amazing deal - $1500 off because she wants to use our photos to bild her portfolio! Done!

This is my life!

It's been a busy week - working 7 shifts, planning our thanksgiving get together, hiring a pet photographer, contacting wedding photographers, etc. There's just no time left at the end of the day for much more than five minutes of a movie and sleep. I'd hoped to watch a horror movie a day for the month of October and then critique them for you - that's not going to happen. Let's just hope that I'll have more on my mind post-turkey day. Like Murder Mystery night, and our Haunted Housewarming party... Oye. This is my life.

Exhausted.

I have worked ten shifts this week. Turkey Butt is taking a driver's training course this weekend (on top of working his usual shifts) so I haven't spent more than 15 minutes with him since Wednesday night. Wednesday also happens to be the last night that I slept in my own bed overnight. I am so completely exhausted! Here's some proof:

- Threw on a shirt to meet up with a friend I haven't seen in months. Got distracted before I got pants on and realized I haven't fed the fish all week.
- Fed the fish in my shirt and underwear.
- Glanced in a mirror on my way to put on pants and realized my shirt was on inside out.
- And backwards.
- Realized that I haven't watered the plants all week.
- Or showered for that matter.
- Ate a PB&J on questionable bread. It was that or Mini Wheats and I didn't feel like opening the fridge.
- Started a new book. Still haven't written a review for my last book. Or the one before that, which my blog says I'm currently reading (NOT!)
- Put down the book every chapter because it requires much more thought than Facebook creeping does.
- Picked it back up every half an hour when I realized I've been creeping the same people over and over again.
- Tried creeping the people on Turkey Butt's Facebook. Turns out that's an epic fail due to the fact that we grew up an hour apart and previous to our relationship, had no common friends.
- Walked into the office with the brilliant plan of organizing it while Turkey Butt is away.
- Walked back out after I had only one foot in.
-Went back to Facebook.

Wow, I'm going to stop myself there. This really could go on forever. I am THAT exhausted. But there are too many things that I need to do - making sleep next to impossible. I WISH only for this second that I didn't give up caffeine because we're TTC. I could use an Iced Capp from Tim Horton's right about now.

Oye, this is my life.

Creativity Abounds.

Don't get me wrong, I love being a caregiver! It is easily the most regarding job I have ever had. The problem is that my lifestyle right now has "Caregiver Burnout" written all over it! I think I need to step back from the 3 jobs and the double shifts and the awake overnights and the dirty Depends and try a different line of work. A more creative line of work. I love writing and taking pictures and creating gifts for my loved ones but how can I translate that into a job that helps me pay the bills? Sigh... This is my life!

86.5 Hours and Counting...

My excuses for not updating this blog in a few months are endless:

-I'm putting in an 86.5 hour work week;
-Turkey Butt's computer conveniently leaves out every third letter typed making blogging annoying not therapeutic;
-Any free time that I can scrounge up is spent with Turkey Butt & our dog, sleeping, with my best friend Ay or with Aych and the rest of my family.

My reasons for getting back into the blogging habit:

-Okay, there's really only one: I have a follower who isn't my best friend Ay!!!!

Welcome to my life Lisa! Check her out at:

http://happilyeverafterinseattle.blogspot.com/

Now as for the goings on in my life, there are too many to remember! But here's a quick (and completely random) rundown:

-Turkey Butt & I have not found the house of our dreams (in our price range) so we're still renting.
-My dream apartment became a nightmare 5 days in when we were informed that they were being turned into condos and we had only a few months to move out or buy them.
-I've picked up job number 3 to test my sanity even more. I'm working 12 hours a week as a Personal Companion for a dementia patient in a local Nursing Home.
-We're purchasing puppy baby number two soon!!! We find out in 4 weeks if our breeder's golden retriever is knocked up. If so, Adora is getting a little sister in mid-October :)
-Turkey Butt and I are still going strong. It's not easy and we work really hard at our relationship but our love for each other has never waivered. And, if all goes according to plan, I will be Mrs. Turkey Butt in the Fall of 2011 <3

Hopefully that recap will suffice! I'm going to attempt a nap in 30 degree weather (Celsius) with only one fan to cool me off and an overnight shift beginning in 5.5 hours. Wish me luck. This is my life...

A Little Something From Ay.

My bestest Ay works with me at one of my jobs. This is fantastic since we can sympathize with each other about work stresses that most people couldn't even imagine. The following is a link to her latest blog entry. It'll give you an idea about what our work day's can be like.

http://lifeisfullofrandommoments.blogspot.com/2010/04/recap.html

As per usual, this is my life!

Hide and Go Seek Poop & Other Potty Tales.

Due to the nature of my two jobs (residential support worker for the elderly and adults with special needs), I deal with an excessive amount of human excrement. By now I'm used to it and can talk about it in great detail while eating, without a single gag. Occasionally it leads to highly disgusting (or humourous) stories that get shared with coworkers who are always trying to outdo you with their bathroom humour. Here are a few of mine, off the top of my head...

HIDE AND GO SEEK POOP...
Last night at work I was making the rounds, attempting to disinfect all of the bathrooms. It's fairly common on these rounds to come across toilets that haven't been flushed as well as toilet seats that caught more of the flow than the bowls did. On this trip, I came across some floating feces. Usually this wouldn't make for much of a story except this piece of feces was the length and width of a ferret and the damn thing WOULD. NOT. FLUSH. Every time I would flush it, it would disappear and just before I could turn away, it would pop it's stinky little head back out the hole. I seriously had to play hide and go seek with a piece of feces for ten minutes! Flushed it once, and it came back. Flushed it twice, and it popped out again. Flushed it a third time... and I got out of there before it could come visit again. I hope for the sake of the next person coming on shift that it stayed down, but knowing that crazy poop, it'll be back to play games again.

THE ANATOMY OF A COLOSTOMY BAG...
This doozy comes from the Nursing Home. Now, I'm not sure how many of you know what a colostomy bag is, so if after reading this story you're still a little confused, just promise me you won't try to Google it. Anyways, one night at the Nursing Home I came in for an overnight shift and was told we had a new admission. The trouble with new admissions and O/N's is that they're usually asleep by the time I come in and have to surprise them with introductions in the morning. This time i wasn't so lucky. Before the coworker I was relieving left, she told me to be warned that the woman had both a catheter and a colstomy bag that I may need to empty periodically during the night. I was also warned that she was given a bell to ring if she needed help with anything. For the record, let me note that before this occasion, I had never changed a catheter and had never even seen a colostomy bag let alone know how to change either. Cut to 3am when the dreaded bell starts to ring. I run into the woman's room to see how I can be of service. She informs me that she feels a little damp and could I please wipe her crotch area with a warm cloth. Sure, no problem. When I was done, almost as an after thought, I offered to check her colostomy bag to see if it needed to be drained. Honestly, at this point I think it was 3am, I had a bad case of the tired humour sillies and I was curious to see what a colostomy bag looked like. BIG mistake. Upon lifting up her nightgown, I realized the real cause of her "dampness". Her colostomy bag had EXPLODED and liquid feces was EVERYWHERE!!!! This is one of those Ohhhhh SHIT moments when I tend to stare slack jawed into space for 15 or 20 seconds before I clue into the fact that I'm the only one there so I'd better do something about it. Somehow, with the help of almost an entire container of baby wipes and a half a roll of hospital tape, I cleaned the mess and fixed the "leak". Of course, the next day they finally gave me a colostomy bag tutorial. Better late than never?!?

... this is my life.

An Oldie, But A Goodie.

Oddly work has been fairly average these last few days so i'll share one of my favorite nursing home stories. It revolves around a 94 year old lady I'll refer to as Cranky Pants and our ongoing love/hate relationship!

One evening I was helping Cranky Pants swing her legs over the side of the bed so that she could get up. Even though she follows the exact same routine day in and day out, she likes to yell at you and complain the entire time. This evening it seems I was a pain in her neck (believe me, i've heard it all). This was our exchange:

Cranky Pants: You're a pain in my neck!
Me: Well you're driving me crazy but I still love you! Do you love me?
Cranky Pants: (smiles) Yeah! (punches me in the jaw)

Now I'm not sure how many of you have ever been sucker punched by a 94 year old woman, but contrary to popular belief, it really did hurt! Luckily, it makes for a pretty hilarious story and gives me awesome bragging rights. And now, whenever someone talks about Senior Abuse, I just laugh and think, If you only knew. This is my life...

Paperwork.

When you work in the field that I do, you very quickly learn to DREAD paperwork! New medication? Paperwork. Two residents had an argument? Paperwork. Made a long distance telephone call? Paperwork. Resident picked their scab? Paperwork! ARGGG, it's really neverending. I can understand how some people might want to walk around with a blind eye after awhile.

Take this morning for instance; I had to fill out TWO pages of paperwork before 7am because a resident had a bruise. A BRUISE! If I had to fill out paperwork for every time that I had a bruise, I'd be a much larger contributer to global warming. This bruise was pretty extraordinary though. So large one couldn't possibly turn a blind eye towards it. Unless of course you're my oblivious coworker. The oblivious coworker who had supervised this resident's bath for the past FIVE days and failed to notice a bruise of this magnitude that has clearly been in various stages of fading for at least a few days now. Oye.

When is paperwork a more acceptable task? When it makes for a great story! Like earlier in the week when I had to write up a bunch of paperwork to address the issue of one resident giving another resident an unwanted lap dance in public. This is my life...