i'll tell you one thing, its always better when we're together.
an update has been requested... understandably, since i've not updated in like, 3 weeks! heres whats up:
1. school. I AM A COLLEGE GRADUATE. did i update about that already? i forget. i think i did... about how uneventful it was. well it turned into a real dumb experience when i got a phonecall about a week ago from the incredibly stupid college that they "are waiting on my advisor-signed degree audit that was due in february if i wanted to be part of the march '09 graduating class. and if i dont get that to the dumb lady by friday at 5pm, i will be deleted off the graduation list." um first of all, its really that easy to get DELETED from a list. one phonecall is all i get? not even a followup call, or an email reminder? and second of all, this hardly matters since I TURNED IN THE SIGNED DEGREE AUDIT ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27TH, when i was told it was due. and theyre JUST NOW getting around to calling me about it? so, very pissed off, i looked up the number to the admissions office to speak to "diane" who so conveniently did not leave her phone number to call back on the message. i tried very calmly to tell DIANE that this is not my mistake because i had the stupid piece of paper signed and in on time. DIANE explains to me that some of the degree audits were placed in the wrong graduation date folder and ope! what do you know.. there mine is! "okay. theres no problem. thanks for calling back" really diane? you couldnt have looked in that damn folder before you called me and pissed me off? i promise you i dont have an anger issue. but i do when it come to this college. its really very organizationally challenged and i've very sick of having to deal with their admissions and advising offices.
2. future school. after a VERY long time of decision making, i have come to what MIGHT be my final choice on what to do when september rolls around. for a long time i was sure i'd be attending cosmetology school to become a licensed cosmetologist by next september. however, i couldnt get myself to fill out the application and i just kept feeling like something wasnt right. and i started realizing that the problem wasnt me deciding what i want to do. the problem is the schedule that cosmetology school demands. andrew comes home in midjune (kind of... topic will be discussed further, below) and i dont feel like i'll be quite ready for a 8-6 school day 5 days a week, with 6:30-9:30 work schedule every night, and open to close on saturdays. a long distance relationship is going to be hard enough to figure out, and i want to give this a chance. hair school will not allow that for much hope. so cosmetology is on the back burner (but still cookin) for now. it looks like maybe going back to main campus (which i miss dearly) for a bachelors in business management is going to be my best bet. it'll probably take another year and a half to 2 years to complete... assuming that my credits transfer. this will give me the opportunity to keep my work schedule relatively the same, and give my entire life much more flexibility. college only gets more expensive, and cosmetology school isnt going to disappear.
3. work. still lovin my job. i've actually picked up like 10million hours to fund a trip i'll be taking in august (again, will be discussed further down the page). all of my coworkers are mothers who would rather be at home with kids. which allows me to pick up hours easily and happily! this week, i had to actually drop hours so i dont go into overtime. there will be a lot of weeks like that, throughout summer. and this makes me thrilled. i love my job. i love money. perfect.
4. life out of college. its only been about a week since the end of spring break... except i'm in like, eternal spring break right now. i like it. i like sleeping in a little. i like going into work extra early. i like being able to go to the gym at 11pm, without having to worry about going home and staying up even later slaving over art pieces, accounting problems and stupid ethics papers. i like having more time to get myself organized and plan out these next couple of crazy months!!! i've been reading books. and working on this awesome project i'm going to surprise andrew with. lots of fun things!
5. bootsie. =[ still down about it. get ready for a sob story. i've had bootsie, the best cat in the world, since i was like, 4. and in the last 9 months, her health was just getting terrible. kidney failure. dehydration even when she was drinking tons of water. the vet automatically warned us that shes an old cat and these problems are going to become increasingly occurring and regular until the end. however, bootsie is different than other cats and loves being around. so we told the vet she was fine and we'd do whatever it took to help her keep her health. in the last 2 months, we started taking her to the vet for weekly fluid drips by IV, to keep her kidneys flushed and running as well as possible. we gave her medicine every 2 days by mouth dropper thingys. we gave her special diet food. we brushed her fur since she wasnt able to clean herself anymore. we brought the litter box in the house so she wouldnt have to venture far. she didnt seem to mind any of this and continued to follow us around the house and squeak (she hasnt been able to meow for a long time) for attention. but even with the doctor visits and medicine, she had no appetite. some days she ate like a piggy (and that means one can of food, as opposed to a normal cat eating 2-3 cans). but most days she wouldnt even eat half a can. i took her to the vet monday, march 23rd for her regular fluid drip. usually the day before a fluid drip visit, bootsie hardly eats anything and is VERY ready for the vet trip. so when tuesday and wednesday came and went without her eating much of anything even with the extra fluids in her system... we couldnt deny the signs. bootsie is the friendliest cat you would ever meet. and even in that terrible week, she wasnt hiding and shying away from people, like cats do when theyre dying. however, she DID begin sleeping in my parents closet, instead of next to my bed, or on the couch. her eyes didnt light up when you entered the room; instead she stayed curled up and just slowly looked up at you. my bright, happy, sweetheart cat was drained. our cats have always been atheletic and thin.. not pudgy and fat like most. but she resembled a cat skeleton, rather than a house cat. wednesday night i came home from work, and told my mom that it was time. in the very few times we've discussed this tough subject, my mom has always said bootsie was my cat and the decision had to be mine. as silly as this all probably sounds, she was there for me through all the changes of my life so far, she would squeak at me and rub her face against me until i would stop crying about a broken heart, she would lay on the couch with me on the nights i just wanted to stay home instead of going out, and EVERY SINGLE NIGHT she waited just inside the door for me to come home from work or from nights out with friends. she was my shadow around the house constantly. i already had to work thursday night... so we decided that we'd take her to the vet friday afternoon to be put down. the morning of friday march 27th came too quickly. i didnt have to work so i stayed home in the morning and hung out with her. as the day went on, i knew my decision was the right one. she was in more pain than i've ever seen her in. she could not move her hind legs and was constantly crying and calling out. it was haunting. it was a pretty day out, so i walked outside on the porch with her so she could enjoy the air. and while outside, my mom pulled in the drive way, home from work. i brought bootsie inside as my mom was coming in from the garage. both of us already had tears running down our faces and were basically sobbing. and all my mom said was "lets do this hard thing." i wrapped bootsie up her same old towel and held her the entire way to the vet, instead of putting her in the cage. we walked in the vet with tears still rolling down our faces and all the vets knew. in the last 9 months they came to know me, mom and bootsie very well and understood our persistance with keeping bootsie going. they got to know her friendly personality, but were also very aware of her fading health. i walked into the room holding my tiny cat in my arms, and minutes later walked out with a kitty casket in my hands. the vets looked at us with wide eyes and shared our sympathy. but we didnt linger. we brought her home and said our last goodbyes as we burried her back in the forest where she used to lay.
since then, our house is struggling to find a new normal. our other cat, who hardly even paid attention to bootsie, is completely a mess. he doesnt leave me alone. he sleeps in my room. he now waits for me at the door. he meows until i give him attention. he laps the house just looking around. the litter box has been moved back outside. the cans of her special diet food remain stacked up in the closet. the medicine has been thrown out. there is just a lot of change. its amazing what an impact a pet can have on you. i've got co workers who say they dont need pets- their kids are enough work. but i dont think they realize what theyre saying and what theyre missing. it might seem strange to write all of this and feel so strongly about this. but bootsie deserves it. i miss her.
jeeze louise. i guess i should pull myself together before i completely switch subjects......
6. ANDREW!!! holy cow. 75 days til hes home!!! june 21st 2008, the deployment began. and at that point, the end seemed so far away that i dont think we considered what it would be like to think about coming home and having our relationship get a little closer to normal (it will never actually reach NORMAL status). the date of his return is constantly changing and circumstances seriously change daily, so i've continued to count on the original return date of june 21st, 2009. his replacements get there april 19th. they have to be trained for about 10 days to 2 weeks. and then he begins the long journey home. for a while we thought maybe he'd be home for my birthday at the end of may. then it turned into the first week of june. now it might be the second week of june, when i'll be on vacation. how funny would that be, that the day he is finally home, i'm not. but i've waited this long, so a few more days would be bearable (hardly). the military has never been great at setting a date and keeping it though, so i'm not getting my hopes up or down about when he gets home. at this point, i just want him home soon. god, listen to me. i'm actually starting to sound a little bit like a military girlfriend!
so now, in august, andrew and i are going to germany to meet his moms entire family! andrews parents met when his dad was stationed in germany with the air force. they got married and she moved to the states when she was pregnant with andrew. she passed away when andrew was 11. so by getting to know her family in germany this august, i'm hoping to really learn about her. everything i've heard so far makes her sound like an amazing mother and woman, and i'm very glad andrew is willing to take me along to germany to meet her family!! i've never been outside of the states so i'm very excited to have him show me around germany! i could brag about how well he speaks german and knows the culture and everything, but i wont...
they say distance (no matter how far away, or for how long a period of time) can make or break a relationship. and i can't believe that this has actually been a positive experience, but our relationship is stronger than many relationships of "boyfriend/girlfriend" status that i know or have known. easter sunday marks 10 months for us. that means that 90% of our relationship, we have spent apart from eachother. the fact that we've survived this is great. we met 2 weeks before he left. decided to be "together" 1 week before he left. and this is how far we've come! CRAZYYYY! so when i think about how "tough" its going to be living a 3-hour-drive away from eachother... its almost a joke. needless (and scary) to say, i've got a pretty good feeling about the future of our relationship. =]
alright steph. i hope you were prepared to read this saga about my life. haha. but there it is, in a nutshell.. i'll try to keep you updated a little better!!
1. school. I AM A COLLEGE GRADUATE. did i update about that already? i forget. i think i did... about how uneventful it was. well it turned into a real dumb experience when i got a phonecall about a week ago from the incredibly stupid college that they "are waiting on my advisor-signed degree audit that was due in february if i wanted to be part of the march '09 graduating class. and if i dont get that to the dumb lady by friday at 5pm, i will be deleted off the graduation list." um first of all, its really that easy to get DELETED from a list. one phonecall is all i get? not even a followup call, or an email reminder? and second of all, this hardly matters since I TURNED IN THE SIGNED DEGREE AUDIT ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27TH, when i was told it was due. and theyre JUST NOW getting around to calling me about it? so, very pissed off, i looked up the number to the admissions office to speak to "diane" who so conveniently did not leave her phone number to call back on the message. i tried very calmly to tell DIANE that this is not my mistake because i had the stupid piece of paper signed and in on time. DIANE explains to me that some of the degree audits were placed in the wrong graduation date folder and ope! what do you know.. there mine is! "okay. theres no problem. thanks for calling back" really diane? you couldnt have looked in that damn folder before you called me and pissed me off? i promise you i dont have an anger issue. but i do when it come to this college. its really very organizationally challenged and i've very sick of having to deal with their admissions and advising offices.
2. future school. after a VERY long time of decision making, i have come to what MIGHT be my final choice on what to do when september rolls around. for a long time i was sure i'd be attending cosmetology school to become a licensed cosmetologist by next september. however, i couldnt get myself to fill out the application and i just kept feeling like something wasnt right. and i started realizing that the problem wasnt me deciding what i want to do. the problem is the schedule that cosmetology school demands. andrew comes home in midjune (kind of... topic will be discussed further, below) and i dont feel like i'll be quite ready for a 8-6 school day 5 days a week, with 6:30-9:30 work schedule every night, and open to close on saturdays. a long distance relationship is going to be hard enough to figure out, and i want to give this a chance. hair school will not allow that for much hope. so cosmetology is on the back burner (but still cookin) for now. it looks like maybe going back to main campus (which i miss dearly) for a bachelors in business management is going to be my best bet. it'll probably take another year and a half to 2 years to complete... assuming that my credits transfer. this will give me the opportunity to keep my work schedule relatively the same, and give my entire life much more flexibility. college only gets more expensive, and cosmetology school isnt going to disappear.
3. work. still lovin my job. i've actually picked up like 10million hours to fund a trip i'll be taking in august (again, will be discussed further down the page). all of my coworkers are mothers who would rather be at home with kids. which allows me to pick up hours easily and happily! this week, i had to actually drop hours so i dont go into overtime. there will be a lot of weeks like that, throughout summer. and this makes me thrilled. i love my job. i love money. perfect.
4. life out of college. its only been about a week since the end of spring break... except i'm in like, eternal spring break right now. i like it. i like sleeping in a little. i like going into work extra early. i like being able to go to the gym at 11pm, without having to worry about going home and staying up even later slaving over art pieces, accounting problems and stupid ethics papers. i like having more time to get myself organized and plan out these next couple of crazy months!!! i've been reading books. and working on this awesome project i'm going to surprise andrew with. lots of fun things!
5. bootsie. =[ still down about it. get ready for a sob story. i've had bootsie, the best cat in the world, since i was like, 4. and in the last 9 months, her health was just getting terrible. kidney failure. dehydration even when she was drinking tons of water. the vet automatically warned us that shes an old cat and these problems are going to become increasingly occurring and regular until the end. however, bootsie is different than other cats and loves being around. so we told the vet she was fine and we'd do whatever it took to help her keep her health. in the last 2 months, we started taking her to the vet for weekly fluid drips by IV, to keep her kidneys flushed and running as well as possible. we gave her medicine every 2 days by mouth dropper thingys. we gave her special diet food. we brushed her fur since she wasnt able to clean herself anymore. we brought the litter box in the house so she wouldnt have to venture far. she didnt seem to mind any of this and continued to follow us around the house and squeak (she hasnt been able to meow for a long time) for attention. but even with the doctor visits and medicine, she had no appetite. some days she ate like a piggy (and that means one can of food, as opposed to a normal cat eating 2-3 cans). but most days she wouldnt even eat half a can. i took her to the vet monday, march 23rd for her regular fluid drip. usually the day before a fluid drip visit, bootsie hardly eats anything and is VERY ready for the vet trip. so when tuesday and wednesday came and went without her eating much of anything even with the extra fluids in her system... we couldnt deny the signs. bootsie is the friendliest cat you would ever meet. and even in that terrible week, she wasnt hiding and shying away from people, like cats do when theyre dying. however, she DID begin sleeping in my parents closet, instead of next to my bed, or on the couch. her eyes didnt light up when you entered the room; instead she stayed curled up and just slowly looked up at you. my bright, happy, sweetheart cat was drained. our cats have always been atheletic and thin.. not pudgy and fat like most. but she resembled a cat skeleton, rather than a house cat. wednesday night i came home from work, and told my mom that it was time. in the very few times we've discussed this tough subject, my mom has always said bootsie was my cat and the decision had to be mine. as silly as this all probably sounds, she was there for me through all the changes of my life so far, she would squeak at me and rub her face against me until i would stop crying about a broken heart, she would lay on the couch with me on the nights i just wanted to stay home instead of going out, and EVERY SINGLE NIGHT she waited just inside the door for me to come home from work or from nights out with friends. she was my shadow around the house constantly. i already had to work thursday night... so we decided that we'd take her to the vet friday afternoon to be put down. the morning of friday march 27th came too quickly. i didnt have to work so i stayed home in the morning and hung out with her. as the day went on, i knew my decision was the right one. she was in more pain than i've ever seen her in. she could not move her hind legs and was constantly crying and calling out. it was haunting. it was a pretty day out, so i walked outside on the porch with her so she could enjoy the air. and while outside, my mom pulled in the drive way, home from work. i brought bootsie inside as my mom was coming in from the garage. both of us already had tears running down our faces and were basically sobbing. and all my mom said was "lets do this hard thing." i wrapped bootsie up her same old towel and held her the entire way to the vet, instead of putting her in the cage. we walked in the vet with tears still rolling down our faces and all the vets knew. in the last 9 months they came to know me, mom and bootsie very well and understood our persistance with keeping bootsie going. they got to know her friendly personality, but were also very aware of her fading health. i walked into the room holding my tiny cat in my arms, and minutes later walked out with a kitty casket in my hands. the vets looked at us with wide eyes and shared our sympathy. but we didnt linger. we brought her home and said our last goodbyes as we burried her back in the forest where she used to lay.
since then, our house is struggling to find a new normal. our other cat, who hardly even paid attention to bootsie, is completely a mess. he doesnt leave me alone. he sleeps in my room. he now waits for me at the door. he meows until i give him attention. he laps the house just looking around. the litter box has been moved back outside. the cans of her special diet food remain stacked up in the closet. the medicine has been thrown out. there is just a lot of change. its amazing what an impact a pet can have on you. i've got co workers who say they dont need pets- their kids are enough work. but i dont think they realize what theyre saying and what theyre missing. it might seem strange to write all of this and feel so strongly about this. but bootsie deserves it. i miss her.
jeeze louise. i guess i should pull myself together before i completely switch subjects......
6. ANDREW!!! holy cow. 75 days til hes home!!! june 21st 2008, the deployment began. and at that point, the end seemed so far away that i dont think we considered what it would be like to think about coming home and having our relationship get a little closer to normal (it will never actually reach NORMAL status). the date of his return is constantly changing and circumstances seriously change daily, so i've continued to count on the original return date of june 21st, 2009. his replacements get there april 19th. they have to be trained for about 10 days to 2 weeks. and then he begins the long journey home. for a while we thought maybe he'd be home for my birthday at the end of may. then it turned into the first week of june. now it might be the second week of june, when i'll be on vacation. how funny would that be, that the day he is finally home, i'm not. but i've waited this long, so a few more days would be bearable (hardly). the military has never been great at setting a date and keeping it though, so i'm not getting my hopes up or down about when he gets home. at this point, i just want him home soon. god, listen to me. i'm actually starting to sound a little bit like a military girlfriend!
so now, in august, andrew and i are going to germany to meet his moms entire family! andrews parents met when his dad was stationed in germany with the air force. they got married and she moved to the states when she was pregnant with andrew. she passed away when andrew was 11. so by getting to know her family in germany this august, i'm hoping to really learn about her. everything i've heard so far makes her sound like an amazing mother and woman, and i'm very glad andrew is willing to take me along to germany to meet her family!! i've never been outside of the states so i'm very excited to have him show me around germany! i could brag about how well he speaks german and knows the culture and everything, but i wont...
they say distance (no matter how far away, or for how long a period of time) can make or break a relationship. and i can't believe that this has actually been a positive experience, but our relationship is stronger than many relationships of "boyfriend/girlfriend" status that i know or have known. easter sunday marks 10 months for us. that means that 90% of our relationship, we have spent apart from eachother. the fact that we've survived this is great. we met 2 weeks before he left. decided to be "together" 1 week before he left. and this is how far we've come! CRAZYYYY! so when i think about how "tough" its going to be living a 3-hour-drive away from eachother... its almost a joke. needless (and scary) to say, i've got a pretty good feeling about the future of our relationship. =]
alright steph. i hope you were prepared to read this saga about my life. haha. but there it is, in a nutshell.. i'll try to keep you updated a little better!!