The Life of a Fireman's Wife

Jarrod worked Saturday. I hate it when he works Saturdays. I entertained myself by taking Clara to the dog park (which neither of us enjoyed -- too hot) and priming the living room with Abigail. We were supposed to go see Cars 2, but it was sold out. Around 10 o'clock I began to feel completely wiped out, so I went to sleep.

Jarrod was home Sunday, but I only got out of the bed twice. Once for two hours for my brother's birthday party, and once for about 3 hours to eat dinner and do some laundry. Other than that I was lying in bed, feeling miserable. What a waste of an off-duty day.

Monday and Tuesday he was at the fire station AGAIN. I was still home sick Monday. The doctor gave me some new asthma medicine, which did the trick for sure, but I think it gave me more energy than any caffeinated drink ever has. Hands shaking, foot bouncing, I decided I had to do SOMETHING. So I did. In about 4 hours' time, I made a trip to Lowe's, the bank, and the car wash, painted the walls in my living room, painted the ceiling and the vents (who would put a black vent on a white ceiling?) Cleaned my nasty hardwood floors, and rearranged living room furniture. The house looked like a construction zone when Jarrod went to work Monday morning: drop cloths everywhere, walls unpainted, furniture in the middle of the room, tools scattered all around. Now, for the first time since we bought the house, the living room looks like a living room! I am so excited. I can't wait to sit in there and watch movies. Now it only needs a new mantle (which Jarrod's granddad is building us) and a few new baseboards. And, of course, we need to move in the rest of the furniture and do a little decorating. Jarrod doesn't know I did any of this. Can't wait to see his face when he gets home.

Anyone who has seen my house recently knows what a huge improvement this is. Ignore the kitchen. It's got a long way to go.

Nighttime in our house usually consists of running around outside with Clara for a while, since it is nice and cool. This was not possible Monday night since I was still wheezing and feverish, and Clara did not understand. I took her outside and sat in a chair, but she did not run and play like she usually does. She just sat down in front of my chair and whined. I finally persuaded her to go play and seconds later found myself punishing her for chewing on the sprinkler. That was when genius struck. Seriously, this is one of the best things that has happened to me since Clara came home. I found a way to occupy her which does not involve me running laps around the fence or squeaking a toy endlessly. I simply connected the sprinkler to the hose, turned it on, and went inside. She played by HERSELF for over an hour. Huge milestone for us. She also did not wake me up once that night, also a first. (I still woke her up twice though. She was in my bed and I didn't want to wake up in a puddle.)

Clara Comes Home

Clara's adoption day has been long awaited. I first met her when she was only two weeks old. She had just opened her eyes and could barely walk. She could lie down across my legs and not take up my whole lap.

Precious, Right?

Anyway, Jarrod and I have been going to visit her periodically, and in between times we have been nesting. I always knew expecting mothers went through this process, but I did not know it also applies to expecting pet-adoptive parents. It does. I think we have dropped at least $200 at Petsmart in the past few weeks, and Miss Clara has everything she could ever need. I got excited the first day and bought her a tiny bed, because she was so tiny. I have to constantly be reminded that she, unlike the Yorkie at my mom's house, will not be a tiny puppy forever. 

She likes it, but it's not exactly the right size.

It's hard to believe how much she's grown in the three weeks we haven't seen her Below are pictures of our visit when she was 4 weeks old, and her adoption day, when she was 6 and a half weeks old. Pretty sure she doubled her size. She now weighs 13 pounds. 

Since her homecoming, Clara has been a busy girl. She has already gone to visit both sets of grandparents and met their dogs. Boo liked her the best (Jarrod's dad's white lab). We think she thought Clara was her baby. She was so excited. Clara and Toby (my mom's Yorkie) were not quite sure what to think of each other. Toby liked to tease Clara, and Clara fought back. She's anything but passive.

Things we have learned about her so far:

1. She does not understand what night is and what day is. We are working on this one. She thinks 8 o'clock is bedtime and midnight is time to wake up. Then she goes back to sleep, usually around 3 or 4:00. This girl's nuts.
2. She is afraid of changes in the floor texture. Seriously. Doorways freak her out. Anytime she has to go from tile to wood, concrete to tile, et cetera, she just freezes. She'll put her front foot out and test it first, and if she decides it's safe, she'll keep walking.
3. She loves the car, but only if you completely leave her alone and let her decide where she's going to sit. Sometimes she wants to be held, sometimes she wants to be in the seat by herself, and sometimes she wants to be in the floorboard. One thing is for sure though, if you put her somewhere, it will not  be the place she wants to be, and she will find a way to resituate herself or just cry and yelp the whole way. This is quite the independent puppy.

Here's a picture from last night. She stole Toby's toy because she loved it, and she fell asleep with it in the car on the way home. Sweet girl.



A Day in the Life

Today is a typical day in the insurance agency. One day I will write a book about this place. It continually amazes me how something can be so mundane and so interesting at the same time. I really enjoy psychology and all that it entails, so I am very interested in all of the people that come in and out of here.

Our office is located on the...less affluent side of town. The homes that surround the agency have cars parked in the yard and children playing outside in their underwear. We see police cars frequently around here. Naturally, our clientele demographic reflects our geographical situation.

 My absolute favorite customer's name is Maria. (It's actually not. I just said that in case someone she knows reads this, or my boss reads it and I get in trouble.) Maria is probably in her 70s, about 4 and a half feet tall, and hasn't bought new clothes in about the last 30 years. She has a thick Spanish accent, and she calls everyone mija or mijo. She's absolutely precious. Maria thinks this insurance agency is a bank. That's how it was explained to me when I started working here. I have come to learn that this isn't entirely true, but you would never know that by the way she interacts with us.I probably shouldn't go into specific detail, but long story short: this lady's hilarious. I love how friendly she is. And I love how sweet everyone up here is to her. She's kind of a VIP.

She is only one of the many people I enjoy seeing every so often. Another of my favorites, who I haven't seen in quite a while, is a self-proclaimed "book keeper." She is typically clothed in a spaghetti strap shirt (without appropriate undergarments) and a pair of cut offs. She is missing a few teeth, and once while writing a check she asked me how to spell the word "twelve." Like I said, this job is interesting.

Just to be clear, I really do enjoy my job. I couldn't ask for better co-workers or bosses. They work around my unpredictable college schedule, enable my caffeine addiction, and pretend not to notice my perpetual tardiness, and in return, I try to divert as much of the craziness away from their offices as possible (not as easy as it sounds.) In all seriousness, I take money from people and give them receipts. And when there are no customers, I am a couch...er...office chair potato. I spend my time on facebook, looking up recipes, playing internet poker (lame, I know, but I have to kill the other 5 hours somehow), and blogging. Life is good.

More VBS Adventures

The three and four year olds are starting to learn more in depth Bible stories, and some of them are a little confused. This reminds me of why I love children so much. Quotes from today:

"Jesus saw them and he said these words, 'Apple starts with A.'"

"Jesus loves all the children and that's why he had to get dead."

and my personal favorite:
"Nana's dead, but that's okay. So is Jesus."

Jumping on the Bandwagon

Lots of my friends have started blogging recently, and I really enjoy reading them. I have fond memories of xanga in high school (and some not so fond), so I thought it would be fun to start blogging again, with a slightly more positive and less selfish outlook on life.

Basically, I live a pretty boring life, but I do stay busy. I have learned that I am the kind of person who can't stand to sit still, so I pretty much fill my life with as much activity as I possibly can. Until recently I have been planning a wedding, and that took up every moment of time I had. But now, I find myself with actual FREE time. So, of course, I volunteered to help with Vacation Bible School at church. So I have the privilege of spending evenings this week with 16 children, ages 18 months to 4 years (yes, all at the same time), along with several mothers who can't stand to let their children cry for 2 minutes, so they tag along. I am enjoying it, but it's complete chaos. Yesterday a little girl decided to eat acrylic paint, staining her tongue and teeth a lovely shade of turquoise, I mixed up siblings that were 2 years apart and did not realize til the end of the day, and I wiped at least half of a can of shaving cream from a 3 year old's hair, clothes, and face. So that's life this week.

The wonderful thing about taking on too many commitments is that life is constantly changing. So, even though this little project is over on Thursday, I'm sure by then I will have volunteered myself for something else, taken on a new hobby, or both.

Soon to come: a blog about Clara, my baby yellow lab. She came home from the breeder today, and is currently spending the day with Jarrod while I am working...er...at the office (very little work actually gets done here. Let's just say if online poker was real, I'd be a very rich girl.)The next blog will have pictures, and maybe by then I will have figured out more about setting my blog completely up. This was just a quick introductory blog because I'm pretty excited about it.

Until then, stay classy, San Diego. (I'll work on that sign off too.)