One day I WILL have a job where I don't work weekends!!

This is a pic Rich snapped of me yesterday morning. It was my day off so I got to stay in bed a bit longer than usual. Sorry for the poor pic quality, it was on a cell phone in a dim room. This is a pretty common site in our room, from left foreground to right you have Tanner (the big choc lab), foster dog Maura aka "Emmy" on my pillow,me in the middle with my arm around Fiona who is not content to lay by you she must actually lay ON you, then Dickson in Rich's spot. The big lump under the covers is not a 5th dog or a dead body, it's just the pillow Rich puts under his knees at night. All the dogs wake up ready to play in the morning, but if you let them in the bed after the other person has gotten up and in the shower, they'll settle down for another hour or so.

So on my day off I did all sorts of exciting things--went to Wal-Mart, the dry cleaners, Petsmart, Bed Bath and Beyond..the works! I did buy a fabulous candle at BBB, it is Autumn Leaves by Yankee and it smells divine! I love all the Christmas ones, but felt it was a little too early for them and I finally burned all of Pumpkin Pie so Autumn Leaves is a perfect for late November. I made it to a yoga class, and it made me wonder why I don't go every week. It is perfect counterpoint for running because it stretches out all that running tightens up. And if you've never done yoga, it is much more of a workout than it seems. My abs and shoulders are really sore today! After the yoga and errands, I came home for some dog-time and we all hung out and watched Dr. Phil (napped thru that one) and Oprah. She had Jennifer Aniston on and I love her! She is costarring with Owen Wilson in Marley and Me which comes out soon. I want to see it but also dread it because it is so sad. Here's a story about when I read the book...

I bought it for my dad for Christmas a couple years ago, but figured Hey, if I'm careful not to spill anything on it, I can read it before I give it to him (tacky, I know..but it looked so good!). And it is an excellent book. It is hilarious, but it is about a dog. And dogs don't live forever. I know this, I know the book that starts with a puppy will end with an old dog that dies...yet that doesn't make it any easier to read. I had the book in my car and took it to the gym with me to finish. Well I start reading one of the last few chapters in the car in the parking lot waiting on Rich to show up. Then I start crying, then I start sobbing like my own dog just died but I can't stop reading....so by the time Rich showed up we just went home because I was too much of a blubbering mess to actually go in the gym and be seen by anyone. Anyway, back to yesterday. After Oprah, Rich came home from work and we had some delicious sweet tea vodka (Firefly brand of course, not the knock-offs!) and cooked dinner, grilled chicken and sweet potatoes if you were curious. We opened one of those boxes of salad greens, made salads, I got ready to put the lid back on the box to put it up and there was a dead bug stuck to the inside of the lid...he was definitely in there when we opened it. YUCK!! So we threw the salads in the trash and I saved the box to take back to the store because they are like $3 or $4 and I want a replacement! Then for dessert we had cupcakes from Cupcake. They are unbelievably delicious. Well, actually we had one as an appetizer and one for dessert. Yep, 2 cupcakes each and they probably each have 500 calories but they are soooooo worth it. I had strawberry and a cookies & cream, Rich had cinnamon swirl and a cookies & cream. Then we watched one of the Bourne movies, and Grey's Anatomy and called it a day. All in all a great day off!

Today we slept in, took all 4 dogs for a walk (in groups of 2, boxers and labs). Then Rich, who is SO wonderful for doing this on his days off, brought me to work. That means he has to come at 11pm and pick me up. And on his days off when I work day shifts, he gets up at 6:15am to drive me to the hospital by 7. I don't thank him enough for this. Parking downtown is terrible, so it really is the nicest thing he could do!! I barely wake up to tell him bye on the mornings he leaves early and I'm off..much less get up and drive him 40 minutes round-trip when I could be sleeping. Thanks babe! So now even though I have to work until 11pm tonight, it makes it better knowing that he (and a dog or two) will be out front waiting for me.

Sorry for the insanely long post-that's what happens when you're sitting in an ICU with nothing but a computer for 8.5 hours on a Friday night. Hope you all have a great weekend!