walking in a winter wonderland

so, it's been a while since i last posted. oops. the holiday season is upon us and no one is perfect. work has been just that. people complain that our hours aren't good enough (we are open more than 10 hours a day, 7 days a week), that our prices are too expensive (i agree sometimes with that), and that they weren't going to do anything for their pet anyway because, and i quote, "its christmas"... i mean, really, your dog is DYING, and you won't buy it medication because why? oh! yeah, you really need to get a pair of chinos to gift wrap under the tree...

but i have actually gotten a nice little break from all that recently. lets see, what have curt and i really been up to?

ahh, for only a few hundred dollars we managed to insulate the attic... with recycled paper blown insulation that looks like snow... grey tufts of warm snowy dust bunnies to keep us snuggly all winter. best darn day ever. so rewarding. seriously, if you need a date, this was the best date EVER. EVER! the dreaded attic project is FINISHED! it is satisfying to see fluffy stuff fly into empty beams and become useful, we came out of it looking like diminuative grey-hairs, and we saved almost $3,000 by doing it ourselves. and our heat is on a lot less often... and we got a great work-out (i mean, seriously sore the next morning). overall, i think this was the best $500 ever spent. mmm.

that means that since we moved in, we have replaced the back door, the roof, the insulation, the windows, and replaced the crawlspace screens. we have torn down the old-english ivy and replaced the piping from the street to the house! i'm sure there's more, but i can't think of it right now, and this is pretty impressive for only having the house since july!

then mom and dave came to visit. of course, my luck, it rained the whole time, and the heat died the first night they were here (it was a little exciting because this the first time that something needing doing was covered by our home warrenty- but we did not follow the correct procedure by going through them first since they were not available, and ended up paying for the repairs ourseves as heat is just maybe, kind-of, necessary when it is in the low 30's outside). but we OVERCAME!!!! and had a blast. got family time in, some shopping, *enjoyed* the bourbon trail, and saw a most mind-altering movie.... good times.

and most recently, we returned from michigan where leeloo met all of curt's family! carol et al have all moved out to toledo, and are staying with mom and dad for the time being. we stayed at the steph et all household, and leeloo got to spend an agreeable couple days stealing cookies from little hands and cleaning up messes (cereal and crayons and cheese, oh my!). she was really, really well behaved! we had a blast, and set no alarms, and enjoyed good food, good family fun, and lights and snow. i love all my nieces and nephews, but there sure are a lot of them now. concentrated energy, that's what kids are! 4 kids 5 and under. wow. 5 with leeloo.

other new leeloo discoveries: see is making out like a bandit this holiday season. lucky dog! she also loves snow! there was 6-8inches in michigan and she happily trounced through it every chance she got. soo funny.

so, we are all cozy and happy this holiday season. we are happy to be home, and were even happier to have all these adventures. just have to fight off the glums at not going back to now england for the first time ever. just enjoying the high of yummy christmas life right now.

while we are all feeling grateful for how wonderful our lives are now, it is time to take a moment and appreciate just how easy oour lives are. in comparison, mr. snowy, beloved snowman squeeky toy of the masses, has just undergone his tenth, yes tenth, surgery. he has lost his tasselled hat, beautiful bow-tie, and has undergone several amputations. further surgeries to help stabilize him will be funded through the leeloo teething christmas foundation, and recovery time in hospice is covered by all her new toys...

that is about all for this end of the woods. we are both working through christmas and new years this year (being an intern sucks, but no complaints given how much time we did get this year!).

waahoooooo

here are the pictures of our great adventure in underground plumbing! it has been an experience. not only was it wonderfully fun to see the front yard play nice with a backhoe.

we had to pull out a bush to get the pipes changed out. and guess what?! the bush is still alive! i was worried that it wouldn't make it, but so far, so good. (yes i am obcessed about my bush. you may all giggle and tee hee).



so here is what the frony yard looks like now. it's a little hard to see, but the mound is a long way from settling, and there are chunks of clay (yes, i know, i moved from the horridclay of michigan to the clay of kentucky) as big as basketballs (note, the excellent sports mention. this is as close as i'll ever get!) so i need to have a date with a rototiller. and it is time once again to pray for rain.

in other exciting news, i got my time off for "christmas"! it pays to have a hubby who gets his winter break off of the usual cycle of holidays! yippee! oh i am so happy! la la lalalalalaallalalalalala! llama! it also pays to have accrued time off that can be requested. hehehe. life is good.

always something

first off, continuing the pictures of the house. they are sprinkled throughout. but now, the real gripe:

so, just when we felt on top of things here, our water bill shoots through the roof. turns out we have a leak in the water pipe between the street meter and the house. this is, apparently, our problem and not the city's. we are going to have our yard dug up and the pipes replaced. goodie. just how everyone sees their day off. and, this is not covered by our home-purchasers insurance which covers the house for one year. but not the property, it only covers from the foundation in and up. at least the ground is not frozen yet.

in other trying news, we are really strapped for vets at work. hard thing to imagine in a 4 vet practice, right?! well, part of the comforting idea that if anything happens to you, there will be other vets ready and able to come in and cover your clients until you return is the fact that you will sometimes be that vet for others in the corporation. so, i have been covering for a vet in loisville 2 days a week since she went in for surgery and needs at least 6 weeks medical leave. i work part time now at my own clinic. one of the other 4 vets works only part time in florence and part time in hyde park. hyde park just had a 90 day review with it's only full time vet, and apparently the meeting ended with :don't come back tomorrow! don't come back ever! so, we have to get a full time vet there too. that's one more vet down. so, i'm part time, dr o is part time, and dr j in no more at our clinic until we have a replacement... that leaves an equivalent of 2 full time vets in a practice that should have 2 vets there (maybe 3) 7 days a week.

long story short, were are all a little stressed right now. i get 2 days off for thanksgiving (nice gesture) but curt won't be free. grr. and christmas will be interesting to say the least. i worked my first sunday ALONE! all alone. all emergencies, no scheduled appointments, no other vets. i removed fishhooks and amputated adult dog tails... all went really (suprisingly) well. i rock as a vet! go me! woot! i just wish i had seen it coming, as i found out saturday night and had no time to talk myself down from the rapid rising panic.

leeloo is doing well in puppy class. we've only had 3 so far, but she is responding to me and is not a crazy flying furball at the end of the leash any more. (she is doing great at home, the distrations of other dogs, though, that is much more difficult).

mwah!

auds (the distracted)