She's Alive!!!

Drew resuscitated her!!!! Ok, I'm being a tab bit dramatic. My car is working!! Drew worked on it until 10:15 last night. He replaced the starter, which was the culprit. It was dead. To be honest, we knew that car was sluggish to start for the last month.  So the starter was giving us some warning, but it didn't do it every time. Anyways, it is fixed now. 

Now it's working great! I took it to work and all is good in the neighborhood !

Yay! She has another 150,000 miles left in her!  The Car is back to bring very reliable! 

             Rhonda and me... Besties! 

Rhonda the Honda DIED!

YES, Rhonda MY Honda died on my second day of WORK. I got in the car at 7:30 this morning to be there at 8:00 and my car wouldn't start! We had bought a battery pack jumper thingy before we left on our extensive road trip, so I put attempted to hook it up, but doubted myself that I had it hooked up right. I called Drew...NO answer, my Dad....No answer, my Granddaddy...He ANSWERED! He said I had it hooked up right...so I tried jumping my Rhonda. No avail......Oh noooooooooooooo......oh yeah it is not charged, well that is a problem.....what do I do????...I have to be at my second day of work in 20 minutes................

Our battery pack charger thingy that wasn't charged this AM when I needed it!! And believe me I had charged it....FAIL!

My neighbor Daniel, his car was still parked outside of his house... So I knocked on the door and he was still there and had  jumper cables!! Ok let's try that.... Didn't work and didn't work and now what>>>> I have to be there in 10 minutes.
I called HR and let them know that I will probably be late for my second day of work, which is hospital orientation.

Daniel then offered if he could take me to work....YES....AWESOME>>>>BEST NEIGHBOR EVERY!!!!!!!!!

So off we went and I technically wasn't late due to there policy of 7 minutes before and 7 minutes after  the designated time to be there. I clocked in at 8:06!!

Drew picked me up when work was over and he is currently working hard to replace the starter, which is thought to be the reason for this whole ordeal. 

I AM EMPLOYED!

After a little over 3 months of being jobless, I have one! I have put my resume (and myself) out there and applied to a lot of different jobs. There are quite a few options up here, with five different hospitals and four of them have labor and delivery, which is what I have been doing.

The job I have...Labor and Delivery Night Shift at the Native Alaskan Hospital. I have taken a traveler position. What does that mean? It means that I have a temporary job that will last 13 weeks. This job accepts nurses from any of the 50 states and will pay them a little extra and to help out with a nursing shortage. The hospital knows I live here, but I wanted a traveler position to see if this is what I want to do. There are so many options and it is nice to keep those options open.

This hospital serves the Native Alaskan's and it is magnet status! The only one in Alaska. Kinda excited about that status. For those non medical, Magnet Status is the highest certification a hospital can get in regards to nursing. 

If they like me, and I them, I might see about staying on after my 13 weeks are over.

Shelby and  Dylan gave me a basket full of goodies to get me through my first week of work. SO NICE!!!

Thank you Dylan, Shelby and Cooper!

Happy Belated Birthday, YoYo

We are bad parents, we forgot YoYo's birthday! Oh no. I didn't realize I had forgotten until just a couple days ago! Big Whoops! Anyways, he is 4 years old!

Drew and I have no idea when he was born, so we celebrate July 23rd, the day he was hit by a car. How did he get hit by a car?? Yeah well, my Mom did that and I was right behind her. Here is the story…..

Mom and I were leaving the lake in Clanton, AL, headed to Birmingham to look at wedding invitations in the summer of 2010. I was following Mom in a separate car, we were still on the "river road' and Yoyo runs out in front of Mom. She hits him and he flies across the road. His right leg was severely injured and his breathing was shallow, but he was alert and when asked what his name was, the owners, who came out, said "YoYo."

The owners.....lived in a single wide trailer, young daughter pregnant and the mother had some missing teeth. I asked who their vet was and they proceed to say they didn't have a vet! They also said and I quote...."We are just glad it wasn't the other dogs" SAY WHAT?!?!?!?! 

First, who says that and secondly, how many dogs do you have???   They had a total of seven and they lived in a pen no bigger than an average size bathroom. So I asked the question, Can I take your dog, get him help and if he survives, can I keep him?" They said, "SURE". Durwood, my uncle, showed up, he was on his way for a golf game with a friend. He helped us tremendously, because Mom and I were upset and crying...very shook up, to say the least!

Now to find a vet, the first vet we went to wouldn't accept him because the veterinarian wasn't there. I didn't hear this, but they told Mom and Durwood that every dog is an emergency... That lady needs a new job if she doesn't care anymore. They wouldn't even come out and look at him! They did help us find another vet in the next town over....Chestnut Creek Veterinary Hospital. Mom and I headed there and Durwood went to meet his friend, who was waiting to golf.

We left him at Chestnut Creek and decided to head on to Birmingham and do something while we wait to hear the fate of YoYo.  I actually picked out my wedding invitation that day. It was a combination of; that is a pretty invitation and we just hit and dog and in the scheme of things, it doesn’t matter what I pick.  I had taken a separate car to leave from Birmingham and head back to Phenix City, so I proceed to do that and half way back, the Veterinarian called from Chestnut Creek to tell me about Yoyo.

She had stabilized him with steroids, given him an anesthetic and took x-rays. She said he had hips fractures, broken ribs and his right back leg was very messed up. She said both ligament and tendons from the knee down were de-gloved. There wasn't much else she could do and suggested to take him to Auburn University.

OK, how do I do that, and how much do you think this is going to cost??.... She said to pick him up and take him yourself and then it would cost about $5,000 she thought to repair the leg and bring him back to restored health!!! I started bawling, there was NO WAY Drew and I, who were engaged, could do that.

At this point, Drew didn’t know about Yoyo. He had staff duty the night before (where you stay up all day and night at work and answer the phone) so he was sleeping. Since I didn't know anything I waited to tell him and let him get some sleep. Well when the vet gave me the price, he got a call! Drew said we should at least take him to Auburn and see what they say before we decide what to do.

Well, I was almost to Auburn as it was, so my awesome Mom, picked him up from Chestnut Creek, drove him with an IV hanging from the door down to Prattville, AL. I met her there to take him the rest of the way to Auburn University Vet Hospital. All together YoYo had a ride of 2.5 hours. The truck that had hit him became his life saving transportation. (to be dramatic). He was under anesthesia, had an IV with one liter of LR and cefalzozlin (antibiotic) hanging from the car. It was a trip...no pun intended! I was so upset too, I thought, we are just taking this dog down to Auburn to be put to sleep. There is no way we can afford this!

Well Drew pulled into Auburn's Veterinary Hospital just as Yoyo and I did! He picked him up, first time every meeting this dog, I can still see Yoyo, half awake, looking at Drew.

I need to add how sweet Yoyo was this entire time. He had these sweet sweet eyes that melted your heart when you looked at him. YoYo had Drew at Hello. So he carried him inside and I grabbed the IV. He was examined and more x-rays were taken. At this time, they came back to the room where Drew and I were waiting, and said that if they amputated the leg it would be cheaper, faster recovery, and with Yoyo being small and estimated at about a year he would probably do well. And the price came down to an estimated at $2,000. Wow, that is so much better than $5,000. OK, lets do it!! I guess we have ourselves a very expensive three legged mutt.

Yoyo during the week in Critical Care

Those EYES!

Resting with his Dad and pic of his sutures.

He was one out of 25 to receive an award at Auburn for being a cool dog and having a cool story.

He likes his trophy, Critical Care Superstar!

After a week of ups and downs in critical care at Auburn he came home with me. I had to miss the Family Reunion, which was the same day I brought Yoyo home. This dog was around the clock care. He had 5 different times he received meds a day. He continued to get out of this bandages all the time! Anne Gibble and her friend really helped us out. I didn't even know them well. I had just moved into the apartments and  Anne lived below me in the apartment building. They would come over and take care of him if Drew and I were working.

So sorry for the long story, but that is the great, amazing story of how Yoyo became a member of the family. He had a price to pay, but he does really well with three legs and he is a happy little guy and if I can say so myself, he has a better family than he did before.

Happy Birthday YOYO!!

This weekend

Saturday we slept in and relaxed in the AM. In the afternoon, we went on a walk with Shelby and Dylan. They are our neighbors across the street and Shelby is from Auburn!!!! We have a cool connection that way. We went on a walk with them and their dog, Cooper.

Dylan, Shelby and Cooper

 Dylan and Shelby grilled chicken at their house and we brought over lettuce. Shelby gave me a tomato to cut and I was laughing and starting to cut at the same time. This is what happened.....

 

Sliced my thumb up really good! So note to self....pay attention to cutting with a sharp object. :)

Bobby got a hold of one of Cooper's toys that squeaked. Before we knew it, he had destroyed the squeaker and took it out of the bird. This is how we  found it.... Kill the squeaker!

Sunday, we went Stand Up Paddle Boarding (SUPing) and one our way there, we saw this......

A BEAR!!!! He was up on a hill and I saw him as we passed by. By the time we turned around, this is all we could see of him. He was enjoying some berries and didn't even look at us. We stayed in the truck.

On our way back through base.

Our Home

I mentioned in a previous blog that after just three days of being in Anchorage, we were offered a house on base.We were driving around with Lilly Pomeroy from Saudi and she was showing us some nice neighborhoods when we had a call from the military housing office that we were offered a four bedroom house. We qualified for a 2 bedroom, because we do not have kids, so we were pretty excited!

This pic gives you an idea of how the houses are connected. At least we are on the end. 

We arrived at this potential home and it was a little depressing for me, not gonna lie. This base has some beautiful new housing, but we were offered the old house. It is a four-plex, four houses attached.
It does have four bedrooms, but the bedrooms are small. Our master has our bed in it and one nightstand- that is all that will fit. So I have my room with a dresser in it and also made a little craft room.  Drew has his "Man Cave" and clothes in that room. Then we have a guest bedroom, we hope will always be full of people visiting Alaska!

We planted flowers! Grow baby grow!

As you walk in, all you see is stairs.

                                                   
Upstairs has the living room, dinning, kitchen, two bedrooms, and a bath.  If you go downstairs, we have two bedrooms, a bath and the laundry room.

Here is Alaska the entry is call the Arctic room, if it has a door leading into the house. We can close that door behind Yoyo and in front of Bobby to keep the cool air out of the rest of the house. Thanks for posing puppies!

Our family pictures as you go upstairs.

Upstairs: Living, dinning, kitchen and guest bedroom, the Man Cave, and Drew's bathroom. 

Above the TV are eight frames that I put scrap-booking paper in. Drew came home and I was just nailing randomly. So he
swooped in, measured and now all of them lined up perfectly. He was happy, it gave him a chance to be geeky. 

Our 10x10 Couch. It is HUGE! Thankfully it fits nicely in the living room.

Pretty Small kitchen

Dinning Room, no table yet, but I do have one picked out! I bought this rug for $5, here at a garage sale!

The Man Cave, this was the only one of our couches that would fit in this room

Drew has his clothes in here and his bathroom upstairs. Aunt Jo's lamps!

Guest bedroom!! Come visit! Our first visitors are my parents at the end of the month!

Our little deck :)

Backyard

Downstairs: Master bedroom, my bathroom, Laundry room and craft room (which also has my clothes).

Our bedroom

My bathroom

I made this about a year ago. It is a frame my mom found, I spray painted it white, covered sheet metal with fabric and glued magnets to my makeup.

I have my brushes and other makeup underneath the magnet board :)

 Bigger than our bedrooms is the ...Laundry Room

Got this desk off craigslist up here. Will organize and blog about it later.

My dresser.

I feel better about this place now that we have made it our own. It works for us and we have made it home.