CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Monday, January 26, 2009

So Far, So Good

So far, 2009 is doing OK. Much better than 2008 I must say. ;)

Surprisingly enough, things have flip-flopped around a bit. Work is going really well but the relationship I have with my mother, not so much. Believe it or not, I can handle this a lot better than the other way around. Things have gotten a lot simpler as I have been working on improving my relationships at work but trying to be seen as an adult in the eyes of one's parents seems near impossible. Meh.

The to-do list for this year keeps getting bigger and bigger. Hopefully getting everything done on "schedule" won't be an impossibility. I made my goals as simple as possible to make sure that I don't bite off more than I can chew. Now, if I can only stop sleeping all day, every non-working day, I'll be a happy camper!

Matty is still behaving a bit off. His obsession with running water is driving my utility bill up slightly because I forget when he's actually done with the faucet. I'm not due to be paid until Friday so I can't run out and buy him his own water fountain just yet. He's still using my bathroom closet as his own private litterbox but at least it's jheri-rigged in a way where I can clean it up easier and it's not ruining the carpet. He's still a bit skinny too. I can't wait until next week where my food order for his new diet will be available for pick-up at work. One of the doctors suggested I put him on a novel protein diet, either Hill's Prescription (tm) z/d or d/d. I ran out of the samples I was given and all I have is the "emergency" food, which he still throws up intermittently. My poor little Matty-moo. :(




On another note, I've been pretty good about getting to about half of my knitting groups. Last week, I wound up sleeping through them but I plan on going out to all of them this week. My friend Beth gave me a project to work on as part of teaching me how to knit socks. Right now, I'm about two-thirds finished with the first sock.

I'm also working on a utility pouch that I can wear at work, so I can carry all my junk (i.e. scissors and pens). That one's a crochet project. I had to re-learn the basic stitches but it's working out well.

The next post I write will have more pictures to share. The memory card in my digital camera needs to be replaced and I'm having trouble uploading new photos as a result. Bah!


One of the more inconvenient things about a new year is having to renew memberships to various organizations ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Especially when it's been almost six weeks since the last paycheck and grocery bills are going up. Here's are some of the ones I have to renew before week's end:

Veterinary Technician State Registration (RVT)
International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management (IVAPM)
National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA)
Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA)

OK so the last one isn't imperative but it's always nice to have something to belong to that not work-related. :)

One of my new friends on Facebook, who is involved with the IVAPM, invited me to help her co-host a chat next month on the Veterinary Support Personnel Network (VSPN.org) and I'm really eager for the upcoming weeks. Also, one of the Board Certified surgeons that works at my place of employ is graciously willing to let me intern with him in his program. Now, if we can only get our schedules coordinated to make this happen...

Now for the token Funky Bunch shot. :-P





I'm beginning to think that good 'ol Chunky Monkey here gained all the weight that Matty lost...

Thursday, January 1, 2009

New Years' Resolutions

Wow. I can't believe I actually put off updating this blog for almost six months. Whatta slacker I've been!

Hence the title and subject of this post: New Years' Resolutions. Because it's about time I made some. Time to make some (Life) changes and set them into motion. And hopefully some good things will follow. :)

I've always had trouble setting and keeping goals. That's got to stop. I'm thinking if I take the time to write some down now, and check in frequently, that I may actually make some headway and good things will get accomplished.

OK. Time to get started. Here goes:

1) Do a better job keeping this blog up-to-date. Enough said!

2) Stay in touch more frequently with the people who matter the most to me. Just treated myself to a brand-new address book (with Lesley Anne Ivory kitty cat artwork - couldn't resist!) and I'm starting my contact list from scratch. No more sending out cards (ie. birthday and holiday) LATE. No excuses. Also will help me rely less upon the internets and more on the hand-written art form of notecards.

3) To elaborate on the last item: will try to write and/or call friends at least once a month. Minimum. No more life of a hermit for me. No sir-ee.

4) Make sure I haul my butt out to ALL my SnB groups (I keep tabs on at least 4 different ones - YES 4 - in the area) at least once a month. Will aim for all meetups if possible. Can no longer afford to let my chronic fatigue rule my life because if this keeps up I won't have one at all. Inexcusable!

5) Do more scrapbooking this year. Haven't kept up with that in a while. If the budget can afford it, maybe I can make an Archiver's Scrap Mania night once a month. Getting out of the apartment every so often will kill two birds with one stone. A win-win. :)

6) Read one Jane Austen work monthly. JALS (Jane Austen Ladies' Society), an online club I just signed up for, is having a read-along starting this month. Persuasion is the first. I'll just keep going from there...

7) Spend as much quality time with my kids mentally as I do physically. The space in my head is constantly being "rented" so much by work-related coworker crap that I'm really not home when I'm home.

Now Matty, my 14 year old Himi, is having some issues that need to be investigated such as avoiding the litterbox and progressive weight loss. No more "checking out" at the home front. I'm off duty from now on.



8) Look in to furthering my veterinary career. Tech-ing, that is. Not doing the going-back-to-school-to-become-a-vet thing. Torturing myself with science classes I'll just struggle with anyway and wind up with oodles of debt is just not in the cards. But I need to do SOMETHING because I'm beginning to feel both stale and burnt. Blech!

9) Clean up my finances! Tweak my retirement plans and contribute more to them. Go back to watching the Suze Orman show every weekend because I don't know enough on my own and reading about it just frustrates me to no end. Pay off my outstanding debt - BAH!

10) Start, and FINISH, more knitting projects. So much I want to learn and make. Like socks. And cables. Not to mention, so much yarn and so little time - HA! And this includes
FINISH MY WEASLEY SWEATER. Gotta finish it sometime. I ain't getting any younger. :P



OK, well I did actually just finish my "V For Victory" scarf last night. I started it back in September for the WWII Museum for Veterans in need. But since Veterans' Day has come and gone (I didn't realize that it needed to be finished by then to be sent out with a group of scarves - OOPS!), I'm not sure what to do with it right now. Will look into it, now that it's done, before I go back to work next week from vacation.



Well, that should be a good starting point. Just need to check in and tweak the goals on a regular basis, but that is also going to be a goal in and of itself. I haven't been very good about it in the past but I hope to change that with this milestone year.

Milestone because, in March, I turn 40 YEARS OLD!

(Don't worry -- I don't dread it. I think it's going to be GREAT.)

Time to finish my 1st post of 2009 with the obligatory Funky Bunch picture. Hee!


Mindy the Sleeping Polydactyl Beauty