Who knew Debbie Downer was in your blog community?

Ok so last week started out with doggie tapeworms.
Then a zoinked A/C inside and out at our house.
After that, an interview which threw us into the possibility of a move.

This week started off rocky too.
A tummy bug which kept us home Monday.
I filled out a job application for Chris that I was really excited about while I was home yesterday.
I checked out the listing today and it had been removed from the website so I called about it. The person who had previously given notice for this job had decided not to leave after all. So after spending almost 4 hours yesterday doing the online application, nada.

Tuesday, today - if you're counting - we got sent home from school early due to the tummy bug that keeps on truckin'.
I had to take our new adorable puppy back to the vet for removal of her sutures and to get her parvo vaccine.
She has been feeling pretty bad and I have called the vet several times to ask about it, but considering the fact that we have been dealing with a tummy bug for several days with Jaron, it had been back-burnered.
Anywho, I took her in today. They ran a test. She has parvo. I had no idea it could have been a deadly virus or I definitely would have taken her in sooner. The vet and I figured that she was still under the weather from all she's been through the last week or so.

They gave me the option of admitting her to the doggie hospital, spending at least $500, and then she has a 70% chance of survival. If I didn't go the expensive route, her chances are 50/50.

How do you tell your kids who were just given their very first puppy that a week and a half later, their dog is most likely gonna die?

I really like Bonnie. She's a good dog. Already she has proven that she's smart and sweet, and since we've had her, she's never even felt well - between her hysterectomy, tapeworm, and parvo. And all in about 10 days. Don't even get me started on the vet bills. OY!

We decided to bring her home and give her the best care we could. That means I am waking up every two hours to medicate her. I am hoping that our love and my consistent effort will actually put her at better advantage than sitting in a doggie hospital with an IV. We'll see.

For now, please let me urge you not to adopt any puppies from the animal shelter if you were thinking about it. Puppies are more susceptible to the ugly stuff that gets passed around in there and is the reason for all of Bonnie's anguish. Try to get an adult dog because they stand a better chance of survival if they contract one of these awful sicknesses.

It is no fun to tell your kids that when they wake up tomorrow morning their brand new dog might be in doggie heaven.

If anyone has any parvo expertise, bless your heart, please elaborate - I am at a complete loss.

Stuff.

The interview went well. It was in Big Spring.
It went so well, in fact, that Chris decided to have an opinion about whether he wants to move or not. I have been trying to drag it out of him for a while now to no avail. I guess it took a good interview to get him to talk.

He said that unless he finds an unbelievable job there, he'd rather not move.
WOO-HOOooooo! Lord knows I didn't want to go there...
Anyway, it's not completely ruled out because the way the whole thing kinda fell into our laps makes us feel like we should wait it out and see - but for now, neither of us really want to go there. There would have to be some pretty major changes in both of our hearts for it to happen.

We haven't gotten a new A/C yet.

The kids are well enough to go back to school tomorrow.

Cowboys lost. So bummed about that.

I was going to check my email today. I was kinda in the midst of a prayer-ful time because of some things I have been seeking God about. I have really been praying and praying and feverishly seeking. If you know me - it's borderline obsessive. 'Borderline' would be a generous descriptor. Anyway, to my inbox I went, hoping for some poignant job offer or other unsolicited answer to life's questions...
To make a long story short, when I went to my favorites list to pull up my email, I must have hit the wrong thing and this is what I pulled up...




It is as if God is trying to tell me something. Hmmmm.........

Sick day number two, week 4 of school.

I had to call in sick today because yesterday afternoon Jaron got real sick. He had a pretty high fever that was consistent in spite of ibuprofen and he kept complaining of a tummy ache.
Avery had a tummy bug last weekend, so I didn' t think that could be the problem.

In the night, Jaron confirmed that he did have a bug. Several times he confirmed that.
And today we are all at home with nothing to do but hang out in our jammies, clean up messes, and cuddle. It's not all bad, kinda nice really - except that my kids are sick, that part's not so good.

I wanted to blog about it, not just because I like to blog about mundane things, but also because several of my readers go to church with us and unfortunately, your kids were more than likely exposed to this bug too. I am sorry if your child gets sick.

I am just now remembering that I blew up a very slobbery balloon after Jaron when he couldn't blow it up for himself... (Not that I expect him to blow up his own balloons - he just wanted to try and be a big boy.) I hope I don't get sick too.

I have so much to blog about. Maybe today is the day for updation. We shall see.

The Belly of a Big Fat Whale

I have an interview on Friday morning.
An out of town interview.

I realized when I began to think about all the hassle of making sure I have appropriate childcare, constructing lesson plans, etc. - I may not be as 'jive' about the whole thing as I thought.

Then the realization hit me. If I get this job, we will have to find Chris a job in a little less than two weeks, switch the kids out of their school, their home, their town, their lives...

I won't be able to go to the Women's retreat - which ranks very high on my personal list. Stupid, I know - but legitimate to me.

I won't be a stone's throw away from my parents anymore.


I hate that town - the town where the job is. I said to my husband (and I quote) "I have a job interview for the PERFECT job. It is perfect in every way - EXCEPT that it would require me to reside in the belly of a big, fat whale."

So what happens when "perfect" turns out not to be so perfect after all?

This is where you start singing the theme song to FRIENDS, begin swaying, and bringing over plates of cookies.

I bet 6 of you comment and say something like: "sounds to me like you already have your answer..."

Being inside my head is no cakewalk lately, I tell ya!

31K.

She's been running a race - a good one I might add.
Not the kind of race that all you tennis shoe wearing types have been training so hard for lately - but a race nonetheless.

Her race started 31 years ago today.
In her 31 years, she has been growing and learning and practicing for what is to come.
She has fallen (literally and figuratively), pulled muscles, and taken wrong turns - just like the rest of us.

But she has never stopped training - at every turn, looking for her place, her fit, her calling.

She is a light wherever she goes, a laugh to whomever she meets, a bright spot on this planet for sure. Her race, and her commitment to it, somehow encourages the rest of us to keep running, and to run well.

A person committed to excellence and purity of heart. A person dedicated to becoming THE person God wants her to be.

I am convinced that during the course of my own race, I will be impressed by the valiance of others. But I am not likely to encounter one who will leave such an indelible mark as my friend, my mentor, my sister.

I am blessed to know you and love you - as it is impossible to achieve the former without also giving in to the latter.

You are truly an inspiration.

On your birthday, be inspired and know that I love you more than any sister has ever been loved.

Happy 31 and (K)ounting...

A high dollar fit.

Just in case you're not in the mood to listen to whiney whimpering at its finest, consider this your fair warning.

I just paid some guy $125 to come to my house and tell me that I was about to have to shell out $3500 more to get our air conditioner working again.

$3500. Its much easier to type out than to write a check for that amount. It might as well be $10 million.

So $3625? Is that all?

That's roughly what I make in one entire school year after childcare expenses and taxes. It will take me an entire school year, going to work every single day - 360 lunches packed, 180 high stress mornings, 180 cram packed days to pay for it.

I NEED A FULL TIME JOB!!!! It has come to that. Period.

I don't know how to verbalize all the crazy emotionally charged bursts of thought going through my mind right now.

I cannot abide the thought that every day that I go to work for the next 8 1/2 months is only going to pay for the air conditioning unit that would have been paid for automatically by our home owner's warranty if it had crashed out just 3 short months ago.

Yes. I know I'm throwing a fit. A $3625 fit, laden with tears.

The gods must be crazy - part 3.

(this post pays homage to some very obscure and weird 80's movies entitled "the gods must be crazy I and II.")

What is going on? I need some direction here...
Today in my inbox:

Dear Angela,

I have an opening for a 6th grade Choir Director who would team teach with the Jr. High and High School teachers. Our web site is (removed to protect the innocent :) if you would like to look at our site.
Our 6th grade is in Goliad Intermediate School with the 5th grade and you would be responsible for teaching 2 show choir type classes a day. We have a 5th grade teacher who would be helping you as well. The rest of the day would be spent team teaching with the 3 Jr. High classes and 2 High school classes.
If you would like more information feel free to contact me by e-mail or by phone.

This position. This exact position is the one I finally broke down and called about some three weeks ago when I decided that I might never find a job in our district and that this would be as good a launching pad as any due to logistical issues related to the job's location and the experience I could gain. yada. yada. yada.
So three weeks ago I called about it, resigned to the fact that we might be looking at a move away from SA. According to the Administrator's secretary, the position had 'just been filled' so I decided I hadn't really 'heard from God' on that particular job.
Not hearing from God, or the confusion of wondering whether I have or not, is a strongly resonating tone in my life right now. I chalked it up to having let my desire for a solution (read: full time job) get in the way of what God must be trying to tell me.
I left no contact number and did not even give my name as an interested party after I found out that the position wasn't available. The opening dropped off the district's website and I erased it from my thoughts. Sort of.

Now this.
It turns out that this lady (the one who wrote the email) was my husband's jr. high choir director.
This job is in my husband's hometown.
The pro's and con's of such a thing are too numerous to list.
Suffice it to say, my current job is not as heavenly as it has been in the past.
This job could present a pathway to a new life for us.
There are so many complicated factors involved with a choice like this one.

A very big part of me - the part that worked so hard for a degree in a field that tugs at the core of who I am (a musician) wants this job very badly.
The other parts of me - the mom part, the wife part, the daughter part, the friend part - worries that making a decision with this much weight attached to it could (duhn, duhn, DUHN) forever alter the course of history!!!!
So much drama.

What to do!?!?!?!?!

Poor, poor baby.

Ok. so the dog.
You ever heard the phrase "eats like they have a tapeworm?"

She eats and eats and eats.

Today I took her to the vet.

Turns out, she has a tapeworm.

For reals.

She's been treated and will be fine in no time.

Until then, I am being tortured with an incurable case of the heebie-jeebies.

Seriously?
A tapeworm?

NO WAY!!

Bonnie Little Lass

Here is Bonnie, our new little bundle!
She's a doll.

Although we have no way to know for sure because she's a pound puppy, we think she must be yellow/chocolate lab and border collie.
She's definitely not full lab - hence the border collie assumption, and because she has green eyes and a pink nose, there has to be some chocolate lab in her - but it's really just a guess.

Either way, she's a mutt and so are we - so it's a fit. We are glad to have found a sweet puppy who seems to be unaffected by Jaron's antics and cute and small enough that Avery is not terrified of her.

So far Day 1 has been uneventful. I'll let you know when she really pops out of her shell on the next day or two how I feel about new puppies...

And then there were 5.

There are so many ways to title this post.



"Things I thought I'd never do again"



"Never say never"



I truly am at a loss. I have decided that there may be no better way to break into this realm of conversation than to just say it.









We. are. adopting.

"NO WAY"











Yes, we are. We have fallen in love and can no longer see our family as complete without her.





















A dog.











A mutt really.









And she will become a part of our family on Friday.











We do not have a name for her yet - but she is definitely rascally enough to fit in with the likes of us.





So there you have it - and then there were five.





Pictures to come later!!