Letters to Lyla and Lottie

~ I feel like there's been a dearth of decent music out there lately. Here's some new finds I've come across that I find delightful~

Its official. The Man has safely returned from his 3-month hiatus and now rests securely where he has always been; on my back. In other words, I got a job!! When I originally envisioned making this post i thought it would be with melancholy and longing for my care-free days of working mid-time (mid-time: word I make up for not part time but not full time), but the road to employment has been so much harder and disappointing than I expected that I couldn't be more excited, happy and relieved to be gainfully employed. I don't know if its a function of the economy, time of year (summer=less psychosis=bad for me) or what but there has literally been NO jobs for me in S. Utah over the last three months of looking. I can safely say there was at best 15 jobs posted that even remotely applied to me in three months-which is NOTHING like the job market in SLC. It has been so frustrating. I looked at every job posting site there is, contacted facilities I would like to work at, even swallowed my pride and used my dad's "good old boy network" to drudge something up and was still so unsuccessful for so long. I guess the market is more condensed here bc so many jobs I heard about were filled before they were publicly posted. I only got two interviews and was offered the second position-the one I was really hoping to get. Shout out to Jenn who told me about the job- she found it one day in the Trib of all places. Thanks for looking out for me! You're the best!!!

It feels so good to have security and to not have to think about all the applications, interviews etc. anymore. Applying for professional jobs SUCKS!!! You have to individualize every resume for each job, write a cover letter, get letters of rec, have references on hand, attend at least two interviews per job, and some on top on that want detailed Vita's etc. It's so exhausting! I was sooo relieved when I got the offer. I felt really good about the interview--but it was really intense. It was a panel interview-members included the director of DCFS, the director of the District Attorney's office, an x-polygamist woman, and then people from the Family Support Center (this will make sense it a minute).

I'm not one to air my dirty laundry but I have really had a hard time this summer. There's more to the story but it was just hard for me to work so little and be HOME all the time. I always had projects and things to do but I've learned that I'm really not one who enjoys relaxing all that much. I don't know whats wrong with me but I just felt like CRAP not having a regular 9-5er. I guess I derive a lot of self worth out of wanting to contribute. Everyone is like that right? It has made me question the whole "stay at home mom" gig. DO NOT get me wrong-I anticipate motherhood being as hard or more hard than working-but what if I go crasy? I've thought a lot about my drive to live by The Man and I don't think its as much about making money so that we can have nice things-I'm really not that driven by wanting a house or a nice car or whatever. I think its about security and not wasting any opportunity to be ahead. This whole summer all I saw was dollar signs wasting away. I'm on a tangent now but basically, I've got issues and I'm really happy to be working again.

About the job. It's with The Family Support Center (FSC) out of Salt Lake. You can check them out here. Their mission statement...

Ty baby was robbed of his manhood last Monday. It was quite the traumatic experience- I feel compelled to share (what? if someones 6-month old kid got their nuts chopped off you can bet mother dearest would post about it). So, after refusing Ty baby food for a whole 24-hours, I dragged his sorry butt to the pet hospital at 8 am to begin what was probably the worst day of his life. I was already nervous and then to top it all of the vet tech made me hold Ty down while they sedated him. Why? I still don't know. Poor baby was whimpering like mad. I also saw the table and caught sight of one of the techs sharpening a knife (okay not really) but the smell and the sight just really creeped me out. I wanted to live in denial about the whole thing but that ruined it. When I got to my car I totally started bawling. I just felt so bad for him and couldn't remember why we thought this was a good idea in the first place.

So, the tech told me to call at 3pm and if he was awake I might be able to take him home that day- otherwise (which is the standard) they would keep him overnight to ensure that he comes out of the anesthesia okay. I really wanted to take him home that night bc I was sure he would hate sleeping in a kennel in a place the REEKS of urine. So, I call at 3 and the vet gets on the phone- I nearly crapped bc that can't be good right? He says, "well, normally with a pup this young and of this size, we have to keep em over night. I really can't believe it but your pup is up and at em' and well, come get him". I get to the office and this eighty year old women tells she'll she'll be back in a minute with him. She walks down the hall and around the corner...a few mins later I hear crashing,a bunch of dogs barking and a "now don't do that little guy". Then I get the visual of my 12-lb buddy bolting towards me and dragging the old lady behind him. At that pt I knew all was well- major surgery did NOTHING to calm my crazy jack. As I paid I asked the lady if there was anything I needed to know. She said "nope that's it"

The rest of the evening and next day Ty was his normal crazy self. We walked the long hot trail near my house-he didn't tire. We ran on the tread mill-he didn't tire. We went to my mom's where Ty went down the slip and slide repeatedly- he didn't tire. Then we went home. And things weren't right. Ty started moaning this god-forsaken moan and shaking uncontrollably, then started licking his parts-then I saw blood oozing. So, I called the office and they ran out to the parking lot to catch the vet who was just leaving to ask him what to do. He said he probably busted a stitch and that it was probably infected. He told them to give me some cream to apply nightly and that Ty would have to wear the cone-thing for the next TWO WEEKS.

Now, normally this wouldn't have been that big of a thing except that when I went to pick up the stuff I asked if it was bad that he got wet- she looked at me like I was a complete idiot and said that they can't get wet for two weeks and that this probably caused the problem. I then had a BF and asked why they didn't have post-op instructions. She then replied that they did and inquired about who helped me and why I didn't get any. THEN, I was really bent. It is bc some decrepit, ornery skank that has no job satisfaction didn't give me instructions that my baby is sick and has to wear a bloody cone around his face for two weeks. Obviously, I was really mad at myself for not employing common sense and making him stay out of the water (I will add however that my nurse mother and sister said it would be fine). Anyway, putting on the collar was the saddest thing- he fought it forever and then just gave up. After running into the coffee table a billion times, Ty went to the corner and whined for a good 20 mins. It was so sad seeing my crazy pup lay their tireless from depression (taking it too far? okay, I thought so).

Anyway, to make a long story less-long, Ty and I went to Panquitch that night (which was an awesome drive btw bc Ty insisted on sitting in my lap and his damn cone got stuck on the steering wheel and the blinker every two seconds) and Todd decided to hell with the cone, we'd just deter him from licking his wounds. Surprisingly, it worked. We just told him 'no' in a really mean voice a couple times and he never did it again.

I am happy to report that Ty is now doing fine and his stitches are healing well. He's back to his crazy self. I have no pictures bc I couldn't bring myself to take a pic while he had that little cone on his head. Ok, I think I've sufficiently convinced you all that I am a crazy person. So, until next time.