Cookies!!

Cookies!
Everyonce in a while, I get in the mood to make cookies. The Ice day was one of these.
So I made a batch of cookies. Since it is just the two of us, I halved the recipe, and I still got this many cookies (and this is after we ate a bunch). So I sent Landon off with a dozen to give to the guys to eat, and I will probably take some to work myself for everyone to eat, so I dont have them lurking around saying "eat me!"

Ice Day

Well, the roads around here were terrible, so I choose not to go to work today. I probably would have been fine, but I have had bad luck in the past with icy roads, in fact, most of all the accidents I have ever been involved in have been when I lost control on icy roads. So my philosophy, don’t go out, don’t wreck. Simple as that!
Plus, I am provided with a laptop for work, and can call in and get my voicemail, so I can do as much from home as I can at work. So there is no real incentive for me to go out in the nasty when I can do my work from home.
So it is an Ice Day for me today.
Picture from the front of my car. It has warmed up to 26 degrees, so it has started melting dark surfaces. That is good!

Duty to God and my Country

Ok, I just had a day that I hope is never ever repeated. I got the lucky jury summons in the mail, went and once again was lucky in that I got selected for the jury.
This was a criminal case, and not only that it was three separate cases all in the same trial.
I wont go into it, but after a full day of trial, we went to deliberate at about 6:00pm. I will tell you this, being on a jury of strong minded people when you yourself is strong minded is not an easy task.
My blood was boiling in that back room for people that had other agendas. I was trying to be impartial, and others were using their own backgrounds to convict the person. I think that that is so wrong. I know that it is life, but when you have someone’s entire future in your hands, I think you should be able to put aside your own prejudices for a minute and come up with an unbiased verdict. But as goes life, a persons life was altered because of the decision that was made by 6 “impartial” people. It is their life, and it was their choices. Now I just have to have faith that the person can make choices now to pull themselves out of what they created, and we judged. I do not want to have this responsibility again. EVER.

Update

Ok here is the update I promised.
Butch is doing fine, he is not using his leg like he needs to, but he also has not had the attention that he has needed. I have been having to go in early and leave late this week for work, and Landon has once again been gone all week, so he has unfortunately been kenneled all day everyday. His wound is healing well so taht is good! Here are some pictures.

C'est la vie

I am going to have to post an update on Butch, I keep meaning to, but I want to get a picture of his now healing scar, and I have not yet, so I have not posted…I will perhaps tonight!
On a different note, at work this week we have had our district managers in for a week long meeting to set them up for this years happenings in the company.
Yesterday I had one of the presentations on a new program we are rolling out. I practiced as much as I felt I needed to, and read through my presentations a few times, felt that I was pretty well versed in what it was I was covering. As I got into the room with the District managers, I knew that my boss was going to be there, and I found out earlier at lunch that my bosses’ boss was going to be there. Which made me a bit more nervous. I usually don’t get too nervous to do presentations, but when the two people fully responsible for my job placement are going to be there…It ups the stakes a bit.
Well, fast forward to the actual time of the presentation. I was sitting there quietly waiting for my time to present when my bosses bosses boss walks in…Holy crap!
To give you a bit of reference, this man is one of the few executives in our company. Meaning his direct boss is the CEO.
So I gave my 20 minute presentation. I felt that I did ok. I was told that I did not emulate the fear that I felt, that I looked relaxed and poised…I just hope that I did, and they were not just trying to make me feel better!
Geez I am glad that is over.
You would not think that 20 minutes would have that much effect on your job, but the way that the corporate world works, it really does. Those 20 minutes with all of the higher ups that have control over my career could make or break it.
I will say one thing. I am so glad that the head guy did not show up until right before. If I would have known that he was going to be in my session, I would have freaked out, and probably really screwed up.
C'est la vie

Word to the wise from the unwise!

Don’t ever make bread with yeast that has been in your freezer for an unknown length of time! You will end up with loaves 1 and 1/2 inches high! They taste fine, they will fill you up with the same amount of slices, they will just not work so well for sandwiches, toast, or a few other things! Good for dipping in soup though! Guess we will be having lots of soup for a while!

Arts and Crafts

I have never been the artistic type that sees the way something would look, and can do it and make it look like that. I usually have to mess up quite a few times before I can get something close to right.
My parents bought us all frames, and had us select shells that they brought back from their mission to put on the frames.
I got all of this when I went up there for my brothers wedding. They had a glue gun all set up. but I knew that I could not do it there, and still take it on the airplane home, so I just got my frame and my shells.
Came home, I have a glue gun somewhere, but I really cant remember where it is, so I got out the super glue. I now have no fingerprints due to all the super glue I got on my fingers, but the frame is complete!
Here is a picture of the finished product. The best I could do without being able to mess up..(super glue does not let you do redos!)

Butch Update

Butch is really frustrated with his lampshade, and really wants to go at those itchy stitches, but alas we cannot have any of that so lampshade it is. When I am not doing anything distracting like writing a post :) , I have been taking the lampshade off, and watching him. He has gotten so he will forget about it for a minute, then all the sudden, he lunges for the stitches, and I have to lunge for him, or make a loud distracting noise. He has gotten a little irritated at these tactics, and has started growling at me every time I tell him not to bother his stitches. If I did not feel so bad for him, this would be extremely amusing. I am sure it will be one of those things that I can laugh at in a few weeks, but right now I feel too bad for forcing him to wear a lampshade! He has such a hard time figuring out how to see, and walk with it on, I have a short video of how he has not quite got it. Sorry about the wigglyness of the camera...I am not too good at keeping her steady! He has learned to walk pretty good with it on hard surfaces, but take him out on the grass, and he does head dives, then steps on it, and falls over. We now take it off before he goes outside, and just go out with him!

Rough Night

Once again, poor Butch.
I feel so bad for the little fella. Landon picked me up from the airport around 11:30 last night, and had no choice but to bring Butch along since he was still all drugged out. It seemed that the jostling of the road was hurting him, because he started to whimper, and moan. It is so hard to hear him make noises that mean he is in pain, and there is nothing that we can do.
Butch is a dog that sleeps with us in our bed.
Circumstances as they are, we had to make a bed for him on the floor since he is still wobbly, and has that giant lamp shade around his head. We did not want to jostle him while we slept.
We finally got to bed around 2:00 , and about 3:30 Butch woke me up with his whine, and I did not know how to help him.
So I gave him some water, and then I guessed that he did not know what to do not sleeping with us, since he always has.
I made up a little bed for myself on the floor next to him, so I could give him some comfort since I did not know if the pain meds were wearing off, but I did know that we could not give him more until the morning.
So I slept on the floor. And not 5 minutes after I got settled, he wobbled over, and laid down beside me, turned out, he just wanted the warmth and comfort. Poor little guy.
The doctors told us that the surgery went well. They had to make the groove in his leg bone deeper, and said that there was quite a bit of wear and tear on the ligament, so they expected down the road that he will develop arthritis in that leg. I feel bad that we did not catch it until now since that meant that this had been going on for sometime.

Happenings of 2009 Already

When I have not been at my Parents house during this vacation that I took to support my brother at his wedding, I have been at my sister’s home with her 4 children.
I have enjoyed so much being able to spend time with my nieces and nephews and with my sisters and brothers. I know that I said this in my last post, but I do miss being close to my family, so when I do have a week or so to spend time with them, I try to make the most of it.
My brother’s wedding was beautiful, and his bride outshone everything. It was a very nice wedding, and reception, which they put together without very much help from anyone.
They planned most everything, and did a very good job.
I hope only the best for these two as they embark on their lives together. I know that they will have struggles just like the rest of us had, and continue to overcome, I only hope and pray that they can get together to figure out how to stay together!
They are a very cute set, and it is so good to see my brother so incredibly happy.
Now onto another topic...life.
Landon plays tonight, and still has to make it home by 7am to get Butch to the doctor to have his surgery. I am very nervous about this as my little wee dog is like my child, and it is a surgery. So I am freaking out! :) But I am sure that everything will go well, and my little tripod fella will be a tripod hurting fella with a lampshade on his head for a while until the stitches can come out. In the meantime, Butch is going to be left home during the day by himself while I go to work, and Landon goes off to play.
I was hoping that Landon would have a week or so where he was not working quite so much, because I would have felt so much better if someone could stay home with him for his first week after the surgery, but alas, he feels he need to go play, and bring home some bacon. I cannot take off either since I have just had a whole week off. So until he can get up and around this will be fine, but the vet said in a week or so when he needs to start his physical therapy I will probably need to come home from work during lunch to get him up out of his kennel, and walk around to get the leg working again. This is going to be tight as it takes about 35 minutes to get home from work without traffic. And it will be during lunch when there will be some traffic, so I hope that I can do it. I sure do wish that Landon was home….oh well.
Here is to the first test of the New Year to see how we handle small hardships!
I hope we pass!