How I Know I Love My Job

I think I had to work in hell before I could appreciate what a great job and a great boss I have.  So, as you all know I work at a law firm as a paralegal or legal assistant or secretary.  I've been called all three and at my small law firm in a small city in TN I perform all three duties.  So, my past jobs that I equate to being hell have given me a fine appreciation for where I am now and what I do now.  And as of today, at this very moment, here are the three top reasons that I know I love my job.

A.) I feel like do-do.  I went to the doctor today and got a shot. I have a fever and my inner-ear infection is making me dizzy but I'm at work.

B.) My boss and I have the same sense of humor and to help me feel better he put his big "banana fingered hands" (as described by my hubby) on my forehead (to see if I had fever which I do) and then to be funny he  tried to cast the demons out of my body.  We had a good laugh.

C.) He told me to go home.

Days like today make me appreciate the great place I work and the great people I work with.  Yay...now home to bed.

A New Measurement of Time

I think a lot of things in our life will now be marked by B.H. and A.H.  Before Hank and After Hank.  He was one special puppy.  I really am still heart broken.  I still wonder what did I miss.  Why didn't the vet in Jackson catch this and all the other things that go along with this and logically I know that it just happened.  Logically I know that the vet in Jackson probably did her absolute best...her best just wasn't up to the standards of our beloved Dr. Gordon.

Saturday I spent three hours at the vet with Hank and a friend.  Dr. Gordon ran every possible test imaginable and truly did everything she possibly could do in her small town clinic.  So, when she couldn't figure it out she sent us to a specialist.  We went to the specialist on Monday and had our worst fears confirmed.  At Easter I told my mom that I thought Hank had cancer but that the vet in Jackson didn't seem to think so and since she's the certified professional then I need to trust her.  Anyway, we finally figured out the cause of all of Hank's problems.  He had lymphoma and sarcoma (lung cancer).  The specialist in Memphis was actually shocked that he had two types of cancer.  She said typically a dog only has one.  Well, that's our special boy!  Always exceeding expectations.  The specialist informed us that chemotherapy wouldn't work on the lymphoma because he had been treated with steroids.  The mass in his chest was so large and problematic that he might not survive the surgery.  Jeff and I had thought that it might be time but we were willing to try anything to save our boy.  We went back to Dr. Gordon on Tuesday night with the knowledge that we'd try or we'd go home alone.  When we got to the vet she examined him again and reviewed the report from the specialist and agreed that he was ready to go.  On Monday night when we got home from the Memphis specialist Hank was just restless.  He didn't want us to touch him and he didn't want to stay inside.  Jeff and I both thought he wanted to go outside and wander off to die.  My grandmother said that and so did my mom.  Dr. Gordon confirmed our suspicions and said that's an ingrained trait that dogs have...to want to go curl up in a dark place and go to sleep.  Monday night the light and life just seemed to go out of his eyes.  When Dr. Gordon said we were making the right decision it really helped us.  It sucked.  It hurt.  But it seemed to be what he needed.

We buried Hank at my parents house on the hill with the rest of the dogs.  You know you have a great vet when she asked if we were going to take Hank with us and I told her yes and that he would go out with the rest of our pets and she started naming off everyone that is up on the hill.  She remembers.  She cares.  Like Jeff said on Saturday, "She's like Henco.  She's worth the drive."

So, now that our boy is gone we're trying to adjust to life without a dog.  That SUCKS!  I've always had a furry friend.  Last night we sat down to watch a movie and I missed having that big lug lay on the couch with me.  Yesterday and today I've walked into the kitchen to fix my morning green tea and he hasn't been in the dining room laying in the sunshine.  That has broken my heart.  I still expect to see him stretched out in there just getting all warm and cozy.  I didn't sleep very well last night and in my sleepy/awake haze I could hear pops and creaks in the house and I thought, "What is he doing?"  Then this morning I remember that it was just the house that Hank isn't there.  Last night I was picking up sticks in the yard so that Jeff could mow.  As I was picking up sticks I was remembering how much Hank LOVED to chew on the little sticks in the yard or he'd even chew on the acorns...weird dog.  I know everything I see is going to bring back a memory of him for a while.  I'm really trying to remember and cherish all the good memories that we had.  I'm trying to block the feelings of guilt that try to creep in because our boy was sick and we missed it for so long and then when we suspected we just went along with what the doctor said instead of going to Dr. Gordon first...or asking for a specialist or anything else that my mind is beating me up about.

And I'll try to wrap up this rambling post.  Tuesday we buried Hank.  After we buried Hank we ate dinner with my parents out on their back porch and had a really great time trying to talk about anything but dogs.  After dinner Jeff and I decided to head back to Jackson.  We walked through the house, out the front door and just stopped on the porch.  It was honestly the most beautiful sunset.  We all just stood there not talking, just looking.  And finally Jeff said, "Dyer skies.  Nothing like 'em."  And in my own mind I think that gorgeous, perfect sunset was a sign...from Heaven, from Hank, from God.  He's in Heaven and he's healthy and happy and better for it.  It was like a sign saying that we did the right thing.  He needed to go Home.  Help me remember that!

A Wish on a Friday

So, I've been having some deep, introspective e-mails with a friend about life, love and family.  Maybe they aren't deep and introspective for her but they have been for me and they have really helped.  She's one of the few people that I feel we really talk, deep down, nitty gritty, and still walk away smiling and happy and maybe better for helping me understand other people's perspectives.  I don't share my feelings a lot.  I try to be funny, smile and go on my way.  And like everyone I wonder and worry what other people will think so I usually just don't say what's going on with me deep down.  So, for one time only, I will put this here.  Where I really don't think people will read it anyway and it won't be in every one's face like it would be in an e-mail or on Facebook...

I want a birthday party!  Yes, I know my birthday is in January and I know it is June but for the last few years I feel like I've been jipped in the birthday department.  Granted, this year I was sick but no one wanted to do anything for my birthday after I was better and I felt silly and childish being in my...30s and saying, "Can we get together for my birthday even though it's February?"  Well...it's June and the feeling hasn't passed.

I miss all those great kid birthday parties at McDonald's and Burger King and skating and bowling.  I even miss the college birthday parties with drinks at a restaurant, or an apartment, or the shop or wherever we could find!  I wish I could get a bunch of friends together for a really great time.  Sad part is really great, fun, memorable nights aren't usually planned...they just happen.  And with everyone spread out, working real jobs and having kids and sick dogs, and busy, full lives it just doesn't happen.

But maybe one day I can have a cool, fun birthday party with all my favorite people and it will be a night to remember!

Or maybe just a random night that Toby Keith once sang about, "I'm as good one as I ever was."  One day maybe all the stars will align and we'll have a great night like that.  Maybe.  One day.

P.S. No comments or suggestions please.  This is just a random post to the oblivion...

Lesson Learned At Work

As you all know I work at a law firm.  Specifically, I work in the real estate department at the law firm.  Yes, occasionally there are some juicy and entertaining cases in real estate...but not typically.  Most of the time we just buy, sell and refinance residential and commercial real estate.   There are eight people on my hallway.  Six of us work in real estate.  Two work in family law (mostly divorce).  And yesterday I learned the BIGGEST lesson probably of my whole time as working adult.  DO NOT EVER send a picture of yourself topless, naked or suggestive...because one day that picture could end up in a divorce case and four or more women will be huddled around the file of your "sweetie" laughing at you.

Sad truth, this girl thinks the guy is single and maybe she thought she was safe sending him a picture of herself and that only his eyes would get to see her goodies.  WELL, SHE WAS WRONG!  And now she's evidence in a divorce case...and we ALL got to see her goodies.

Note to self: DO NOT EVER take topless, naked or suggestive pictures of yourself.  You never know where they will end up!  Thanks for the laugh skank.

Obsessed & Drive

UGH!  We watched Drive last night.  If you happen to have that in your movie queue I would totally recommend deleting it.  I could tell the style/type of movie they were going for but they totally missed in my opinion...on everything.  Ryan Gosling is not a BadA$$.  Just not.  Go back to The Notebook (of which I have never watched. Stupid Nicholas Sparks crap).  There were only minor moments of violence but the violence was so gruesome I almost couldn't finish my Nutella Rice Krispie Treat.  And I literally sat in the chair with my eyes covered asking, "Is it over yet?"  It was not "COOL" Pulp Fiction violence it was gratuitous violence that was not worth the time and cinematography.  UGH!  (Spoiler Alert!) He literally stomped a guys head flat.  I've never watched American History X or whatever the movie is where the guy gets curbed...but I imagine this being worse than that.  If you're curbed you still have a face... Two thumbs way down!  


On the flip side...I am OBSESSED with The Lucky One!  OBSESSED.  If I could find someone to go watch it with I'd go every single night (if I didn't think Jeff would flip about me spending $9.00 every night to go watch that movie over and over again).  I think I have watched the movie trailer for The Lucky One at least three times a day.  That is now my new fantasy.  What girl doesn't want to hear some (smoking hot) guy say, "You should be kissed every day, every hour, every minute."  Yeah, I think this movie is going to run dating for single guys and gals for YEARS!  Every girl will be looking for her personal Logan.  Sorry guys.  Someone needs to get Nic Sparks to stop writing all these books!  


Side note - Personally I have hated Nic Sparks for YEARS because the first book I read was The Guardian.  I bought it because everyone was buzzing about the author and there was a Great Dane in the story.  The dog got killed.  I've been on a boycott of his ever since.  How can you kill a dog?  Even if it is in a book?  Anyway, I haven't read anything of his ever since.  I've never watched The Notebook mainly because it came out right at the same time my grandfather died of Alzheimer's so...no, I haven't seen it.  The most recent movie I watched was The Last Song and I could probably win the award for the loudest cry in the theater because the dad dies of cancer and my father-in-law died of cancer.  I just wasn't expecting that.  So, again I was wary of anything related to Sparks but he has TOTALLY redeemed himself with The Lucky One.  I'm in love. I'm obsessed.  


And can I just say...I now have a growing list of my top sex/kiss movies and The Lucky One is now # 2.  Forever there was never a list because there was only one movie that guaranteed an evening ending in the bedroom...that was The Departed.  (Don't judge).  When Leo goes to Vera's apartment and is so sexy and vulnerable...have mercy.  That scene does it for me every time.  What girl doesn't want a hot, brooding, moody guy (a la Mr. Darcy) to open up to them and for her to be the only one that was able to break through that hard outer shell to the softness inside.  Yeah, that was it for YEARS.  Until October.  Back in October we skipped Halloween (see previous post about that) and went to watch The Rum Diary with Johnny Depp.  In that movie he has a great scene with his leading lady.  That movie went to # 1 and bumped Leo & Vera to # 2.  Until Monday night.  Now Johnny is still at # 1 (best on screen kiss I've ever seen) and Zac Efron is now at #2 and Leo has fallen to # 3.  The whole scene with Zac & Taylor and the outdoor shower...have mercy!  If you ever come over to my house and there is now an outdoor shower on our patio for no reason why (no beach or pool at our house) then you'll know it's because of this movie!  I'm still thinking about it 3 days later.  Last night was my only free night at home and we watched our Netflix movie (Drive - BLAH!) and some DVR'd shows but I totally could have gone to see The Lucky One again.  


Friends...if you want to go see The Lucky One please let me know.  I will go with you!  

I Am That Girl and I Blame Jenny Lawson!

I did something today that I have never done before.  I went to the eye doctor.  Shocking, I know.  Well, I'm  -- years old and I've never had any eye problems so I've never had a reason to go.  My husband, who has terrible vision, thought it was the strangest thing that I'd never been before and decided it was time I started going.  Okay, fine.  So, this morning is my first ever eye exam and I've never met these people before in my life...but they know Jeff (nerdy, uptight, banker, mother f---er - quote from $5 Yo about bankers and Jeff in general - Ah-hahahaha!).  So, I guess if you know him you wouldn't expect him to be with "Mouth of the South Tori"...but he is.

And let me interject here that I LOVE Jenny Lawson.  She brightens my days and makes me laugh and entertains be beyond any other blogger and writer, to date.  Her first novel came out on Tuesday and I received my copy of her book yesterday.  Well, I didn't get to read much yesterday because we went to a Jackson Generals baseball game last night and got home late.  Well, I thought sitting in a waiting room and exam room would be the PERFECT time to start reading her book!  Well, the thing about Jenny is that she LOVES cuss words (yes, in the south they are cuss not curse words).

And back to today's eye exam.  So, I've read the Introduction and the first chapter and I'm plowing through the second chapter when the nurse comes in to do the "work up". I put my book in my purse and I'm all business.  I have great vision and I'm ready to amaze these ladies with my ability to read the fine print...and boy, do I!

She tells me to hold that little cup, wand thing of my left eye and read the smallest print I'm able to read and then she told me to hold it over my right eye and read the smallest print I'm able to read.  We went through about 4 or 5 screens of letters before we hit "that one".

Interjection # 2.  Have you ever seen that e-mail that has all the words with all the letters in the incorrect order but you can still read it?  And it says that the brain is able to figure out the word because the first and last letter are in the correct spot?  Well, think of that e-mail as I continue.

And back to the story...so, she hits the button and the next screen pops up and there are 6 letters across the bottom.  I've had 100% success rate so far so why would this slide be any different?  Well...it was.  And I blame Jenny Lawson.  The first two letters were random and don't really matter but for the sake of having something we'll say it was A and D.  Then the letter F...then the letter U...then the letter C...then the letter K.  Yes, I spelled out F-U-C-K to the nurse!  And she DIED laughing because...I was wrong!  It was F-U-O-K!  Again, I blame Jenny Lawson for making me see the word FUCK because I had just read it a million times in the first chapter and a half of her book.

So, now I'm "that" girl at the eye doctor.  I'm sure they can't wait for next year so they can see what other words I "see" on their magic screens.

In case you're wondering I have wonderfully healthy eyes.  My left eye is 20/20 and my right eye is better than 20/20.  And the only random thing in the whole experience is that I learned I have a freckle in my left eye!  So, maybe it's true I have freckles everywhere...or almost everywhere.

Can't wait for work to be over so I can get back to reading Jenny's filthily hilarious book!

Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole

Ingredients:

2 slices bacon, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs, boneless & skinless

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced onion

2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried sage

1 cup converted long-grain white rice

1 package (4 ounces) wild rice

6 ounces brown mushrooms, * wiped clean & quartered

3 cups hot chicken broth, or enough to cover chicken

salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons chopped parsley, for garnish

* Use "baby bellas" or crimini mushrooms. Or, you may substitute white button mushrooms.

Directions:

Microwave bacon on HIGH (100% Power) 1 minute. Transfer to crockpot. Add olive oil and spread evenly on bottom. Place chicken in crockpot. Add remaining ingredients in order given, except parsley. Cover; cook on LOW 3 to 4 hours, or until rice is tender. Uncover and let stand 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper, if desired. Garnish with chopped parsley.

WE LOVED IT!!