(5 of) 10 Good (?) Reasons …

… For Disappearing from Cyberspace

WTF?! I simply cannot believe it’s already New Years Eve. I mean seriously … where has all the time gone? It seems literally like yesterday that I was finishing up on the November Nablopomo. But here it is, 31 days later and I’m still scrambling to deal with last minute end-of-the-year things.

Anyway, now that I’ve managed to have a slight breather in between holidays, I thought I might catch y’all up with what I’ve been up to. What, frankly … has made this past month go by in a blur. And what has prevented me from being able to sit down long enough to read and respond to my other bloggie friends’ blogs.

Except, that there’s so much that I didn’t get to blog about over the past month that I need to break it down into two parts. So without further ado … here’s part of “The List.”

1. Lost and subsequently found our Kozzy-girl.

As you guys have probably been wondering … (thanks for your wonderful thoughts and prayers, BTW) the Sts. Francis and Anthony came through yesterday afternoon. I would have posted sooner, but as it was … my mind was already on the fritz.

After I posted yesterday, I ended up heading to the local office supply store and printing up a bunch of flyers made from my handy dandy lappie. And then I started handing them out to anyone I saw on the drive back to my house (all while randomly calling Kozzy’s name out to see if perhaps she’d respond). Well, so my next step was to go down our street to each of our neighbors and pass out the flyers. I got no further than four doors down when our neighbor told me that two women came down the street about an hour ago (probably when I was out making the d*mn flyers!) with a dog that look just like my picture asking him if he recognized this dog. He also said that they were planning on taking her to the local animal shelter if they couldn’t find the owner. So … after thanking our neighbor profusely, I set out to call our city animal shelter only to be told that there was no such dog matching her description there. However, the person I talked to told me to drop off a picture of her and she’d keep an eye out for my Kozzy. I had already planned on making the rounds of all the local shelters (including theirs), so there wasn’t more I could do until then.

Not more than an hour later, I get a phone call. From our city animal shelter. Apparently Kozzy WAS there earlier, but since they had just stepped in the door when I called earlier … they weren’t aware that this was the dog I was inquiring about. So I rushed over there and picked up our sweetie-girl. Who acted as if absolutely nothing had gone on. I told you she wasn’t the smartest dog. But … we love her to bits.

2. Got fingerprinted at local police office.

No … I did not get arrested and booked for breaking the law. Even though I know some people that may wish to see me locked up … the real reason my fingertips got slathered with black ink was so that I could officially submit my application for an RN license in another state. Oh yay! Now I can be added to a national database so that perhaps Gris.som on CSI can rule me out as a suspect on a homicide case.

3. Made an effort to exterminate a “rodent” problem.

Somehow methinks this statement might indicate that we have … ahem … unwanted “guests” in our house. Nope. That’s not the case. Actually, the particular “rodent” I’m talking about is myself. As in Emily, the Pack Rat. Let’s just say that between the two of us, Hubby and I have filled up eight extra-large garbage bags of stuff to donate to the local Sal. Army … and that’s just the beginning! I’m hoping by the time I’m finished, I’d have cleaned out at least 12 years of junk collected since moving into our house.

4. Became an Assistant Lego Designer.

Pretty funny, considering the recent post I had about Hubby’s cousin loving his Legos. But no … the “Head Lego Designer” in this situation was Hubby. He was asked by his local Ad Club to design a poster for their upcoming Addy Awards and his idea was to create one made up completely of Lego pieces. It took us a few evenings in a row (not to mention multiple boxes of Legos), but we ended up completing one design. I think we could have come up with more designs, but we were limited in time AND in Lego pieces. Maybe we should have asked Hubby’s 8-year old cousin to help us out?

5. Remembered why I became a “skirt nurse.”

In the midst of Hubby & I working on this Lego poster, Hubby got sick. With the Flu. But not just the fever-and-chills kinda flu. We’re talking the stomach flu. The kind of flu that requires a bucket or bowl at the side of the bed. The same one that usually requires another person getting a cool washcloth for the sick person in question. And the one where the non-sick person ends up being the one to empty said bowl-slash-bucket in the kitchen sink. (Okay, let me clarify that. This typically only happens when the sick person is either a husband or a child … and rarely when the sick person is the wife or mom.)

In any case … being the “non-sick” person in this scenario reminds me of one of the things I absolutely hated about being a staff nurse on a hospital unit. Not that I didn’t enjoy taking care of the sick … but if there was one thing I hated more than any other nursing task, it would be cleaning up after someone has “tossed their cookies.” Weird, considering I can deal with (and rather enjoy seeing) “ickier” things. Like open gaping gut wounds. Why something as “natural” as any one person puking reaffirms my need to no longer “work the floors” is definitely beyond me.

And the kicker? Let’s just say that three days later, the bug decided to hit me, too. And just like I hate dealing with someone else’s upchuck … I hate dealing with my own. Because I hate being nauseated. ‘Nuff said.

So that’s the end of Part One. Stay tuned for Part Two … which should hopefully be out tomorrow. Maybe.

If not … here’s to wishing every single one of you a Happy New Years!!