Plan: To give up coffee while on vacation.

Day 1: Feeling pretty good, had a coke and donuts for breakfast while finishing up the move. Hello! Stress central right there, but not feeling a difference from the zero coffee.

Day 2: No headache, no problems. 10 am massage contributed to the sleeping feeling though. Good thing I'm on vacation and don't have to be productive.

Day 3: Coffee pot found, had a cup while changing addresses online.

3 days isn't failure, right?!?

The past month has been a whirlwind of work and work and more work. Seriously, like 65 hours a week. Summer has hit Belton, Texas, 3 days so far with the temp already reaching in to the 100's. That 100 degree weather is about 3 weeks early, and no relief in sight, (and no pool). What else have we been up to? Making life and career changing decisions, finding out we have to move, AGAIN! The place we are renting sold and so we have to move by July 1. Found a place 2 days ago, nothing like waiting until the last minute. Having horrible allergy problems and having to get steroid injections to be comfortable, with a nice cause of pleuritis on top of everything else. Yay, allergy induced asthma at 29, woohoo! A little vacation time coming up, 3 days spent moving and 4 days going to OKC to the battle in the saddle, check it out. I am excited! This week happens corresponds with my birthday (and 4th of July). OKC means some Teners shopping and Ted's food. That's about it in our world. Oh yeah, also had to buy new truck tires.

You'll notice I've added 2 buttons to the side of my profile. One is to money saving mom - I realize I'm not a mom, this isn't some subliminal preannouncement, promise! But money saving mom has great hints for menu planning, grocery shopping, couponing and more importantly, saving money! I've always been a couponer and menu planner, this just takes it up a notch. The second button is for EMealz, which is a great menu planning service. Every week a new menu is posted with suggestions for the week's menu. They also provide a grocery list. It so easy to adjust if there is a food you don't like or want to switch the order of dinners. Plus with having the grocery list printed, all you do is add what you need for breakfast or lunch and cross off what you have. Viola - time and money saved. Click that link for more info. This week has pecan crusted tilipia on the menu, yummy! And if you use coupon code savemoney, the 3 month subscription is only $13.00, not $15.00..

During the height of bluebonnet bloom here in Central Texas, I made my super sweet boyfriend drive around with me to look at flowers, for four hours. This is one of the many pictures we took.

Emergency call night - part deux

I started posting about my on call Monday night, but was interrupted by "emergencies" and never finished my final count. Finally home at 3:00 am, just in time to get up at 6:00 am by our monthly doctor meeting at 7am.

In addition to the above phone calls and emergency room visits, I also had...
1. Dauschund kicked in the head by a horse and now its eye is hanging out. (real emergency - took the eye out)
2. Bulldog in labor - need a C-Section (at midnight). More about this one in a minute
3. My miniature schnauser is shivering (at 2 am)
4. I have a question about my cats medicine that was prescribed today (at 1:30 am).

Dog breeders are a special group of people, as a general rule. Bulldog breeders multiply the specialness exponentially. These bulldog "breeders" were no exception. A little background first, they are new to the bulldog business but have jumped on the bandwagon to "try to make a little money" (haha!). They have visited earlier that done because their beloved pet sounded "congested" and was always snoring, even when awake. They had also called one of our other vets 2 times that afternoon thinking she was in labor, but alas, she was only breathing hard because its May in Texas and she's a bulldog. Well, around 9:00 pm, I get the call that she's in labor and needs a C-Section. Oh yeah, did we mention we're in South Austin (about an hour and a half away). While trying to get a feel for the situation over the phone, I began asking probing questions, such as, "Is she having contractions?" They of course didn't know how to tell if she was having contractions. I suggested that they should just come on up and I'll check her out, after agreeing to come up, we hang up the phone. I calculate their arrival time to be approximately 10:30 pm and anticipate meeting them there about that time. Of course possible parvo puppy is on its way in (see previous post) so it'll work out great in timing. Around 10:30 pm, parvo puppy has gone home sans the actual diagnosis of parvo and I'm waiting around. At 10:45 pm I get a call from them saying now they really think she's in labor and are about to leave their house. HUH!?!?! YOU AREN'T ALREADY ON YOUR WAY? is my livid response. They reply, oh no we talked to D, she's been doing this for 10 years and knows way more about bulldog breeding than you do, HUH!?!?! But she thinks we should wait until her cervix is open fully, then give her 4 more hours. WHAT ?!?!?I calmly explain at that point, that every hour from here on out, the emergency fee will increase by $50.00, starting at the $75.00 it would be right now. They finally arrived at 12:30 am for their C-Section. Moral of the story, pissing off the one who makes you bill because you are incredibly rude and inconsiderate of my sleep, will cause your C-section to be twice what it would have been if you had arrived at 10:30 like originally planned.

Once again on call, waiting for yet another "emergency". On my facebook wall, I posted what my 7:00 pm emergency was, a dog with bad gas. Really, you can't make this stuff up. The complaint was the dog was stinking up the house, they thought their septic system had overflowed. Can that wait until tomorrow? Apparently now, because they paid their $55 emergency fee and merrily came through the door. I on the other hand was not so merrily waiting for them to show up (45 mintues later than they told me, hrmf). So I sit here, waiting for another "emergency" to come through the door, this time "within the hour" with the self diagnosed parvo patient. Now in this area, its a very likely diagnosis, but the "I'm a former vet tech and can diagnose by sight and smell so you don't need to actually test the dog" tells me over the phone.

Here's the list of phone calls for tonight:
1. Puppy broke its leg - but I have no money, do you take foodstamps or treat for free?
2. My dog is having a seizure, do you think the abscess on his hip is causing it? I don't want to bring it in right now. Do you think its an emergency?
3. My dog has gas (see above).
4. My dog caught a bat and I think the bat is rapid. Does my kids need shots? Can you do them instead of going to the Dr.?
5. My dog was spayed today and now it looks like there is a string on her belly.
(duh!)
6. My puppy has parvo (also see above)

And its only 9 pm.

Sigh

Day 3 of the (more) Natural Diet

I paranthesized the more because my diet isn't technically 100% all natural, just cutting out most processed foods and as much wheat as I can (trying for all but I may miss some here and there). Not a weight loss diet by the way.

Breakfast: Banana, coffee
Lunch: Hamburger patty (no bun) with cheese, baked beans queso dip and cheesecake
Snack: Tangeolo
Dinner: Spinch/spring greens salad with dried cranberries, walnut pieces and vinegrette
Snack: Mango Fruit Bar