Day 1 of the cross country journey - torture. lol

May I just say that traveling with 2 dogs and 2 cats is a nightmare? My black lab mix is hyper and has no sense of personal space. She stepped all over the other animals and is oblivious to their screams so I knew we would need to segregate her from the other animals. I went out of my way to build a retraining wall to segregate her from everyone else. I also put a crate in the car so the cats had a hiding space and built the mini Dachshund an elevated seat so he could see out the rear window.

All of what I just described was demolished before I could back out of the driveway! lol. Ella was so hyper that she managed to shift the wall enough to get past it. The cats escaped the kennel and broke the seat for the Doxie. It was mass chaos for the first hour. They finally calmed down but anytime we would even pull off the freeway it was mass hysteria again. I was ready to murder Ella. She refused to stay in the back of the car. I wanted to tape her to the ski rack. lol.

All in all, the first day went well. Drove out of Cali and through most of AZ. Saw some cool terrain between the mountains and the desert. Made it in about 6 and a half hours. Nothing really exciting. Hot as hell. Around 109 for the most part. So we're staying in Tuscon tonight and then driving the rest of the way out of Arizona, through New Mexico, and into Texas tomorrow. Wish us luck! ;)

An Awkward Avian Experience

I stopped by Joann Fabric today to pick up some goods. Don't laugh at me but I'm making "curtains" for the car windows. I figure driving through all the hot, southern states with the animals in the car, it would be smart to block the sun from beaming in on them. So I find some cheap fabric and make my way to the cutting table where a bunch of women are all gathered around with their various items. Mind you, most of these women are in their 60s and 70s. Meaning they're feisty and more than willing to let their true feelings be known. lol. The gal behind the desk asked that we all take a number so they could help us in an organized fashion. As we took turns taking a number, I noticed a woman with a Cockatoo on her shoulder and a green parrot of some sort on her shopping cart. Now I must admit that my inner child was initially excited at the sight of pretty birds but adult hood soon took over and said "No, no....this isn't right. Birds shouldn't be chilling in the fabric store." All the women around me were starring at her like she was insane! Then, as if on cue, the Cockatoo pooped on the floor. A big, bright green, splotch of poo right on to the tile floor. The woman next to me was now starring at me in horror. The bird lady reached in her purse, took out a napkin, squatted down, cleaned the poo, and PUT IT IN HER POCKET! Now "horror expression" woman is doing the fake, silent, dry heave expression and mouthed "oh gross!!!" to me. A woman about my age who was further back in line asked if the white bird was a Cockatoo. Bird lady took off to go chat with her leaving me standing next to her large green parrot. The parrot was checking me out and making little sounds so I felt obligated to softly talk back to it. I didn't want to ignore it. I mean, what if it became offended and decided to peck my eyes out? Eventually bird lady once again returned, with an arm full of items. So at long last, it's BL's turn and she starts explaining what needs to be done with her fabric. She seems flustered as she has an arm full of items she's juggling and is trying to answer questions. She turned to me and said "Can.....can you.....". I instinctively reached my arms out to help take some of the stuff from her arms when she says "Here! Just hold this!" and thrusts her Cockatoo on to my arm!! So now I'm standing there wide eyed with this large bird perched on my arm. I'm hearing disgusted, low breathed comments of "Are you kidding me?" "That poor girl" and "Well some people..." all around me. The Cockatoo had it's back to me but now turned around to check me out. I didn't know what to do so I start gently talking to the bird and petting it. Don't get me wrong, I love birds but the fabric store is the last place I would have expected to be entertaining a large Cockatoo. Plus I can't shake the notion that now I appear to be the crazy lady who brought her birds to the store. So the woman sets her items down and fishes some measurements out of her pocket and proceeds to start a conversation with the people behind the counter. I'm standing there trying to be patient thinking any second now she'll turn around to reclaim her bird.........yep any second..................oh, here we go.....no........wait.........anytime now. After about 3 full minutes, it becomes clear to me that she has no intentions of taking the bird back. Now I'm feeling super awkward!!! I'm just standing there with this damn bird on my arm. What am I? A mobile perch?! So now I'm saying "Ma'am?.........Excuse me Ma'am?............MA'AM?! Yeah, hi, uh....I'm done with your bird now so if you could just..........(she turns back to the counter to answer questions).....Ma'am! Do I just put him back on your shopping cart? DO SOMETHING WITH THIS!!!" She finally took him and placed him on her shoulder never breaking her conversation with the people behind the counter. I did that awkward giggle and smile as I noticed my audience was starring back at me in sympathetic horror. Picked up my items and.......exit stage left to registers. lol. Just another day in comedic paradise. :)

Cops and Coffee

Ah......humpday. Not that it really matters when you're unemployed. After a night of tossing and turning and generally freaking out about the move, I got up at 3:45AM and went to the gym. I felt much better afterwards. I came under the sudden realization yesterday that the house will be packed up and loaded into a moving truck in 19 days. Only 19 days!!!! Holy crap! We still don't have a rental home secured in FL. I started having a panic attack. However I sat down and listed out all that I need to accomplish yet and started to feel a little more in control. Plus I'm starting to get that uncomfortable "going to have to say goodbye" feeling in my gut. That's not helping. lol.

Anyway, went to the gym, took a shower, saw the hubby off to work, took the beasts for a walk, and then decided to grab some Starbucks. Walked in and there was a gathering of cops. Mmmmm.......men in uniform. I think it was God's way of saying "See? It will all be ok. Sip your coffee and ogle the beautiful creations. You're welcome." :)

Well, I'm off to run errands, clean, dejunk the house, set up appointments, and look for a house. Should be an eventful day!

Hmmmm......?

I was out driving around town today when I stopped at a light behind a truck that clearly belonged to a retired San Diego Police Officer. It was decked out in various forms of decals and bumper stickers. One of them though confused and bewildered me. It stated:

"SDPD: When seconds matter, we're minutes away"

Uh,.....how is that a good thing? Let me get this straight, when sheer seconds matter, when life is hanging in the balance by a few measly grains of sand in an hour glass; you're minutes away? How is that a benefit to me? I fail to see how that statement delivers a feeling of security and confidence. It did however give me a good chuckle!

A much needed update!

Hello everyone! I figured with all the chaos going on in my life right now, I could best keep you all updated through a single blog.

The Move -
As most of you know by now, we will be moving to Pensacola Florida at the end of July. In fact, roughly 26 days out. I'm in somewhat of a panic mode. So much to do and little time to do it but I'm confident with some concrete planning and organizing, I'll "get er done". We're headed out that way as a result of Jake being transferred. He'll be taking a 3 year instructor tour at his MOS (Military Occupational Specialty.... AKA - "job") school house. I was in P-Cola back in '98. There are some gorgeous areas around that way but the heat and humidity are horrible. That's going to take a lot of adjusting! Then of course there are the hurricanes, huge insects, gators, hurricanes, and hurricanes. lol. I also have a black lab mix whose afraid of rain. This should be interesting. All in all I'm pretty excited. I love to travel and am always up for an adventure so I'm looking forward to it. The rough part is saying goodbye to all my friends, most of which I consider family. That always rips my heart out. Thanks to modern technology I can at least stay in touch and share all I'm doing with them. It's not the same as spending time with them though and I'll miss them all dearly! My plans are to apply to Pensacola Junior College as soon as we get there. I'm hoping to get into their Physical Therapist program spring of 2010. Seats are very limited but it's a very detailed and thorough course. I looked at various colleges all over the country and PJC's Physical Therapy major has almost double the amount of required credits. Probably why they only accept about 25 people a year. It would be a lot of hard work but I really want to do it. I only have a few years to use up my GI Bill and I have a strong desire to get this degree. There are so many men and women coming home from overseas with multiple severe injuries and I think it would be truly rewarding to play a role in getting them through recovery and on with their lives. I'll keep you posted on that.

Family -
We're all doing well. Jake and I are happy, goofy as ever, and doing great. My sis moved back to MI recently to finish up her degree out there. I miss her like crazy but at least I know she's near old friends and family. Plus now I have an added excuse to go to MI for a visit! ;) All the animals are well. Can't believe the cats and Ella turned 7 this year and Krull will be 5 on July 4th. I'm taking them for frequent rides to get them comfortable with the car and ready for the long haul to FL. Oh yeay! Hahaha

Work -
Well, my job is no more. All in all it worked out rather well for me. My poor boss on the other hand. Yikes! We were a small sales office, just 3 people. The parent company is in the UK. The short version of the story is that they moved our operations to another office in WI, canned me and my boss, and kept the other sales rep on to work from home. My poor boss was with the company for 17 years. I feel horrible for her. She really got screwed over but I'm hoping things will work out well for her.

Well, that's all for now. I'll try to get on here frequently and keep the updates and random thoughts and observations coming. Thanks for taking the time to read this and hope you're all well! :)