Hip Hip Hooray!

I spent a very rewarding day yesterday at the home of my sister and brother in law. It was my SIL’s second 30th birthday and she didn’t have any plans in particular except to clean. Now knowing how my birthday went off a couple of weeks ago I obviously could not let that slide so I texted her seeing if she wanted to hang out and get some lunch. She said sure and I was vague about the time or place because I had a plan.

This plan materialized just about the time I started to get on the internet yesterday morning so if I missed your blog yesterday I tried to make up for it today by fighting the evil comment monsters to do you true justice. 😉

So I’m sitting here and I think to myself, “Self, wouldn’t it be nice to take S out to lunch? Ah bugger we don’t have much cash left and I still have to finish (and start) her birthday present. Well lets call G and see what she says. Maybe we could take lunch to her.” So I called up my MIL, G, and we talked it over and I learned that Olive Garden was a favorite stomping ground and their Chicken Parmesan was a big deal for S as thats the only thing she ever orders when she’s there. I dug out a cook book and called my husband to check on cash flow and then my MIL and I headed to the store to get our supplies. I got all the stuff for Chicken parmesan with a side of fettucine alfredo and a caesar salad at the big blue W store and headed home to prepare. I also tossed in fancy plastic martini glasses (they were out of the champagne flutes) some balloons, a tiara, and a blinking magic wand for the queen of the day. My MIL got a bottle of sparkling grape juice as there would be minors there (and we don’t drink to be honest) and we were set. My SIL was none the wiser. J14 and I cooked up a storm while my MIL hurried home to drop off her groceries and then we were ready to surprise my SIL.

When my MIL got back she was carrying what looked like a black trash bag or shiny garment bag and I assumed that she wanted to dress up since my SIL is the trendiest gal I know. I went for my comfy jeans and a halloween t-shirt because I look like a roly-poly no matter what I wear and I certainly can’t compete with my size 4 SIL. My MIL came out of my house after changing and J14 and I started laughing as she explained her outfit. What I had thought was a trash bag was actually a shiny black vinyl trench coat that she and my SIL both got at a ridiculously low price of like 5 bucks on sale somewhere and she told us a story about my SIL coming over in her trench with a very short dress under it. When asked what she was wearing under said coat she replied nonchalantly, “Nothing.” and that has been the joke ever since so my MIL put on a very short sequined mini dress and buttoned up her coat.

When we got to S’s house my 4 y/o niece answered the door and I remembered that all the kids would be home for MLK day so things really couldn’t have been better for a girls day in. S was so surprised and so happy and we had a blast. Even my almost 2 y/o niece toasted with her sippy cup when I said, “To S and 30 and holding!” Sadly I forgot my camera, but we had a blast eating and chatting. My nieces were ecstatic to have J14 (the youngest and therefore favorite aunt) and my SIL and I got to talk. She gave me my birthday present that she’d had in her car trying not to forget it and I had a lot of fun with it as well- a digital photo keychain that holds 60 pictures.

Oh one more thing. I made a card for my SIL and it was completely gIMPed out. I edited this picture of my niece

and added the far left dress in this picture

the boa here

this tiara

And last but not least these sunglasses

and came up with this

Oh and for those of you who don’t know, gIMP is the poor man’s totally awesome PhotoShop and I love it. Its what I used to make those tombstone pictures a while back and I often use it for photo editing when I go on those benders where I have to digitize everything.

Updates and maybe some laughs

Pepper is finally home. The story is that the asshole vet wouldn’t let us take her home on Saturday without payment in full because ten years ago one of his vets killed one of my sister in law’s horses and then my MIL and FIL refused to pay for the malpractice that the idiot committed. He was trying to tube feed a horse and he said the thing wasn’t working but my MIL was standing there telling him that the horse’s stomach was swelling and then the poor animal’s stomach exploded when he kept pumping it full of food. As amazing as this sounds, the vet still wanted to charge my in-laws 650 bucks after all of that. Less than 20 minutes of failed treatment and the vet who did this is still working there now. So when the vet saw our last name he refused to allow us to make payments of any sort even tho it was obviously an unplanned emergency and on top of that he charged us 15 dollars a night until we could afford to bring her home. I couldn’t trust myself to right about this calmly at the time so I just tried to keep in mind that she would be taken care of by proffesionals and it would be better for her to be in their care then in at our house.

Well Jarell brought her home yesterday and she was tottering around as if she hadn’t moved in a week and knowing the bastard vet he probably had her in a cage much too small as further punishment to us. She’s lost a lot of weight- she was 40 when I took her in there and now she’s down to closer to 30 or 35 and skin and bones. Now I know this sounds like I’m over reacting, but this man didn’t know when we were coming in there to pick her up last Saturday and yet when we got there his staff had been instructed to send us to him if we had any questions about payment. When we went to see him he knew the exact amount that was owed to him by my in-laws and told us what it was as if it was somehow our fault. Apparently not too long ago he saw my MIL in a store and harrassed her about how she still owed him money. And I swear to god I would never darken their door again if it weren’t for the fact that Pepper has stitches that need to come out in a week. As it is, I plan to make sure word gets out about this vindictive man and his questionable business ethics. The fact that they refused to see a cat of my sister- in-law’s that had been hit by a car because of who her parents were requiring a trip to their regular vet 40 miles away. The trouble we had. And of course the information about that poor horse.

So now having written all that, I re-hee-heally need to laugh so here you go.

Things heard in our house that sound dirty but actually aren’t

• “Charlie is a little fat titty.” -My 3 y/o nephew describing J11’s kitten
• “Four play works but not for very long.” -J13 talking about getting all 4 controllers to work on the Wii

Things heard in our house that are dirty but just sound weird

• “I would, but I don’t want to put my hands on anything that might be in my mouth later.” -Jarell commenting on my suggestion of strip ping pong. (because of playing with a ping pong ball that kept landing on the floor)

Things heard in our house that are just plain strange

• “I need a good sock to blow my nose on. Cuz they keep in 99.9% of the snot.” -Jarell being manly

And now with that delightful image, I bid you all good night.

We had our dogs spayed back in November and kept them inside to make sure they healed right and all that good stuff. Aparently tho despite there being no evidence of it, my dog Pepper healed up externally but not internally because she split her sutures that had healed and dissappeared this morning. I was awake in our back bedroom on the computer when Jarell came up the stairs calling my name over and over and I ran out. He told me I needed to rush Pepper to the vet because her stomach was split open and she was bleeding all over the place and he didn’t think she was going to make it. I was strangely calm as I rushed into jeans and scooped up my purse and a ponytail to tame my bed head. I dropped Jarell off at his shop and J14 rode in the back with Pepper. I was still fairly calm but the spedomator said 68 or so in a 45 mph zone. We got the vet and they got her in and weighed and told me they’d get her sedated, cleaned up and sewed back up. I meanwhile was baffled and thankful and so very tired. I for the life of me cannot figure out how I missed that. The spot where the sutures were done had been completely healed up and there was no redness, no extreme heat that I could notice. Dogs naturally run warmer than humans so I would have had a hard time telling if she was too warm and I feel terrible. And she could run and go with the best of the other dogs- she’s got more energy than the other 4 put together. The only signs I saw that she might be in pain at any time were even somewhat deceiving. Since the day I brought her home she has been a bit of a baby about being picked up and she learned at a very early age that if she cried and carried on Mommy wouldn’t get mad when she did all the things that dogs aren’t supposed to do. So when I would scoot her across the floor because she refused to get out of the house (they’re strictly outdoor dogs) or grab the scruff of her neck to keep her from eating all the dog food instead of letting the other dogs eat and she’d yelp I assumed it was her Doggy Drama Queen act but now I’m not so sure. I’m sure she’ll be alright, but I’m worried and I feel guilty as always when an animal that counts on me to take care of them is injured. I think of all the mistakes I’ve made and feel like a terrible person especially when she was licking me while I was standing in the exam room with her as if she was comforting me. This dog is the worst behaved of all our dogs- she taught the others to dig under the fence and then to go over it, she hogs all the food and whether I put out 1 cup or 1 gallon she will try her damnedest to eat it all on her own while growling at the others to scare them off. She is also the only one who has learned to sit and shake. She looks at you with those big hound eyes of hers and tells you you’re and idiot and of course she’s the queen. Aaaaahhhh! Can’t wait to see the vet’s bill….

I feel like a heel

On Saturday Jarell and I went out to celebrate for my birthday. He took me to Joe’s Crab Shack and then we went and saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and it was so nice. As we headed home I had a bit of a feminine malfunction and was embarrased and unhappy due to the hormones that go along with that sort of thing. We had the kids at our house and stopped to pick up a pizza to take home for dinner. When we got there Jarell’s next oldest brother’s car was in the driveway and he was genuinely surprised about that as he had just tried to call him. We walked inside and I was being thankful for my extra long sweater that covered things till I could get changed. I walked up the stairs and heard “Surprise!” I had the impression of sparkling clean and a stack of presents on the table as I rushed into our bedroom to change, but was in a hurry due to the nature of my problem. When at last I was myself again I went back into the main part of the house and realized that the kids had cleaned everything and there were brownies fresh from the oven (which Jarell had been covertly telling the kids when to get started so that they’d be ready when we got home). He was saying to them, I told you guys not to worry about cleaning and they were saying, too bad and I felt like a heel for thinking they’d forgotten. Sweet kids, such wonderfully sweet kids. Jarell didn’t know that J7 was coming, but my MIL, J14, and my niece got there soon after we got home. We ate pizza and ice cream and brownies and I opened my gifts and everyone played with the Wii. It was so nice and such a sweet surprise. I got a book of Curry recipes which makes me ecstatic and a DVD Clue game which is confusing and fun. I feel bad about being so disappointed but I know part of that was PMS. I’m not sure whose idea it was, but they’re all great.