People Peeve

I work in retail, which means that I deal with people all day. I happen to work in a children's store, so I get to deal with small people and their parents all day. My pet peeve for the day is parents who ignore their children while they shop.

Some parents seem totally oblivious to the fact that their child is wreaking havoc in the store. We have kids pulling clothing off the tables, playing tag (really) in the store, chasing each other around the rounders and the all time favorite, hiding between the clothes. Are they blind and deaf or just incredibly stupid?? Listen up people: a store is not a playground, nor are we your personal babysitters. Watch your own kids and if they are acting up, discipline them. If they start screaming, leave. Nobody wants to listen to your child raise holy hell. Which brings me to my next point.

DO NOT SHOP WHEN YOUR CHILDREN ARE TIRED. Sorry for shouting but I wanted to make sure you heard me. Soooo many people seem to miss this point. They head off for a day of shopping with Junior shoved into a stroller and they expect him to stay put and happy for hours on end. It doesn't work that way. Small people get bored easily. They get tired quickly. Respect that and plan your shopping day accordingly. You can't shop all day with little ones. Accept it and know that one day they will be teenagers who wouldn't be caught dead shopping with you unless you are paying. When your child starts crying in that distinctive whiny "I'm tired" tone, go home. Get something to eat. Let them play. Something! Just get out of my store. Thank you.

windswept

We had some fierce winds here lately and three trees in our yard fell victim to the gales. One tree uprooted and fell on the other two, taking them out with it. There's one more tree that is leaning dangerously that needs to be taken out. Now, this is something my husband could do if he feels like taking a few days off work to sweat and wear himself out with the chainsaw, but he doesn't feel much like doing that. That leaves us with the professional tree removal services. Do you know how much it is to remove three trees??? $1,000, that's how much. Can you believe that?? $1,000 to remove some dead wood. But there you go. We don't want to do it, so we are going to have to pay for it. The price of convenience.

Superbowl antics

So, I'm watching the superbowl because you have to watch the superbowl even if you don't watch football. Or actually, I'm sitting on the couch, with my laptop, computing while the TV is playing in the background. I'm watching the commercials mostly. Some of them are completely lame too. There was one gross one where a woman's heart jumped out of her chest like something from a horror movie. Anyway, the second half is about to start. And I'm not going to get to see the rest of the game, or the commercials, because I have to go pick someone up at 9. Oh yes, and go get toilet paper because we have exactly 1/2 a roll left in the whole house. Dangerous times.

My husband just asked me if I was going to put anything about football butts in here. So I probably should. Football players have *nice* butts. Not that I'm looking or anything. Really. The camera just zoomed in and I happened to be looking. I thought maybe they had pads in their pants or something because they are just so nice and round, but I was told no, they are just nice and round on their own.

The dogs and a few cats are watching the game with us, but I don't think they're getting much out of it. One cat is on my husband's lap, one dog is licking my feet, and another dog is trying to put his head on my computer. About right for our house.

So, the game is back on and I'll go back to watching the commercials. Hope you all had a great game day.

dancing with the dogs

I don't dance with the stars - I dance with the dogs. Big difference. My latest dance was the other day when I decided to take all three doxies for a walk. Now taking three dogs for a walk at the same time is something that should be attempted only by a professional, but I figured, what the heck. For the first 10 feet or so all was well, and then they started running. And dancing. I tried to keep up, really I did. I untwisted the leashes a hundred times, I twirled to get the leash on the right side of me, I hopped over the leashes, I did everything but a flying splits. It didn't matter. Three dogs versus one person was an unfair fight to begin with. I lost. The dogs won. I stopped trying to keep the leashes straight, I stopped leaping, my shoulders sagged with humiliation and defeat. The only upside to this competition is the dogs don't know they won. I gave them a treat for winning but they thought it was because they are so cute. I won't be dancing with the dogs again anytime soon. My ego just can't take it.

back to the grind

So I started back to school two weeks ago. I'm enrolled in the veterinary technician program at a local college. It's a two year program and I just started. I am starting to wonder what I was thinking. Me, at 40, going back to school! Fortunately I am not the oldest person in the program or else I would feel really rotten. I don't know how the other woman feels. Hopefully she has thick skin. Anyway, I am trying to study around doing housework and visiting periodically with my kids to make sure they aren't smoking crack or something like that. So far I'm keeping up, but I start back to work on Wednesday, just part time, and I don't feel like I have any time right now, so when I'm going to study while working I just don't know. It's a good thing I like coffee.

I really love animals, (as you can tell if you have read prior posts) and I am looking forward to being able to work with them. I think it will be fun and rewarding. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is dealing with the clients. I mean, most people are nice and easy to deal with, but then you get the Clients From Hell every once in a while. The ones who don't want to put any money into their animals and think the vet should work for free. The ones who don't want to put any time into their animals and think the vet should do everything. And then the ones who are just all around jerks and nothing you do is right or good. I'm really afraid that I'll just haul off and punch one of them. Be afraid pet owning public: you never know where I'll end up.

Empty House

Our house is empty...of kids anyway. Our oldest of course is away in the Navy, our daughter is in Michigan, and our youngest left yesterday for Oregon. We'll probably still see our neighbor as she is feeding our daughter's rats, (I wasn't to be trusted apparently.), but for all intents and purposes we are kidless. It's kind of weird. I am anticipating food staying in the pantry longer than a day, quiet suppers, and complete control of the remote control.

Making sure we don't get lonely are the five dogs and six cats. I am thinking that they are not used to the quiet either because they have been barking their fool heads off all day. Not the cats of course. The cats have been caught sleeping peacefully on my daughter's bed. But the dogs have been barking at absolutely nothing. I guess they got so used to barking at all the comings and goings around here they have to bark periodically out of sheer habit.

Another thing I am looking forward to is not functioning as an amateur taxi service. I spend a good part of my time shuffling my son hither and yon. More yon than hither.

"Mom, can you take me to Andrew's house?"

"Mom, can you take us to the pool?"

"Mom, can you take us to the movies? And can I have money for the movies?"

And I don't even get tips.

Laid to Rest

We had to put our golden retriever, Casey, to sleep. It was an emotional time as we had had him for eleven years. My youngest grew up with Casey. I remember when we first got him and he used to knock Joel over in play. Poor kid would lie on the ground like a slug with this huge slobbering dog over him. Casey always protected the kids when they went on walks too. He would bound along by their side, warning them of snakes and badgers, as well as the occasional vicious bunny. He kept our livestock safe, keeping coyotes away with his deep "woof".

Casey developed kidney failure. We opted not to have the vet perform heroic measures on him, but kept him comfortable at home until he could no longer stand on his own. At that point it was time to say good bye.

Kyra went with me to the vet. We put Casey in the back of the car and the vet came out to the car so we didn't have to carry him. We took some last pictures and gave last hugs. The vet gave him a shot in the vein. Casey barely reacted. We pet his soft body until he was no longer breathing. With tears running down our faces we drove home and buried Casey between two rose bushes.

Our other dog, Penny, had died in her sleep some months earlier. I am sure that she was waiting for him to get to doggy heaven so they could run in the grass and frolic like they used to. I'm crying now, just writing about this, so I will end the post and wish all of you pet lovers a good night. Give your doggies an extra hug for me.