Doggie Tail Tales

The Day at Petco

2011-03-05T17:26:00.000-08:00

March 5, 2011

Today is a regular grooming shift at Petco. I arrived at 11:15 am, and my first dog to groom was scheduled on 1 pm. So I spend two hours doing almost nothing. I sweep now and then. I toss the towels into the dryer and start another load of towels in the washer. The first dog is a lhasa-poo which I think he looked quite cute. I took him straight to the bathtub and get washing. I used sweet pea shampoo and conditioner. I handed-dry him as much as I can then put him away in the cage with two dryers set on the gate. I took the dry towels in and start folding and cutting out the friz part. The second dog came in, which is a black cocker. I bathed him with just shampoo and handed-dry him as much as I can then put him away in the cage with one dryer. I grab the lhasa-poo and set him up on the table and start grooming. The paper said to shaved-down with a #7 blade and do teddybear face with #5. Well, because it have a poodle sort of hair, #4 blade looked better than a #7 because otherwise, you can see the skin. I did the teddybear face bit longer than #5. I was glad that the costumer is happy with it. The cocker was just simple shaved-down with cocker ears and face/head. I spend somewhat too much time on his paws, just trying to make it look neat. I completed my work before 4pm. I was about to sweep up my work, when I was told to go ahead have meal break. So I ate the frozen meal. I learned that the microwave they have are not very good. Had to cook it twice as long, to ensure that nothing was still cold. After the meal break, I learned how to do the closing shift which was filling out couple of paperwork, lock the doors, turn off the lights, and of course making sure the floor are swept up and cages wiped clean. I left little before 6. Not a bad day of work. I discovered that I was scheduled to work on Tuesday and Wednesday at 1 pm. More hours of work for me, yay.

Maggie

Another Day in March

2011-03-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

March 4, 2011

I worked for a short time at Petco today. I arrived on time at 11 am. It was actually kind of overwhelming. I mean, I don't quite feel it that way, but the information I need to become familiar with are quite overwhelming. It is not just about the grooming subjects, but also about interacting with the costumers to help increase the percentages of costumers using Petco products and grooming services. While I do not have a dog to take care of, I tried my best to study the “special services” that groomer offer and it's prices. I tried my best to study how to use the computer system, to fill in costumer's information and so on.

A black chow-chow show up, appearing quite thick with undercoat, and generally matted. He is there to be shaved down, rather than bath & brush, which is fine with me. I took him unto the grooming table and start shaving him down. I wasn't even done with his major part of his body, when Charles, the manager, shows up to discuss with the workers about the “new” system that we will practice, to increase costumer's attendance to Petco.

Finally, I turned my focus on the dog and managed to get all the long fur off of him. Then I put him back in the cage. I cleaned up and did whatever I could around the shop, then asked if I can or should Mike (the bather) do him. Turned out that I can go ahead bath him. I had trouble getting him into the tub because he's old. Jenna, the grooming manager, and I lift him into the tub. The water system was strange. I had to let it run for like 20 seconds because it will come out very hot. So almost every time I 'turn on' the water, I have to let it run “uselessly' til it cools off enough to be use on the dog. Anyways, bathing the shaved-down chow-chow wasn't difficult. I blow dry him as much as I can then I guided him back into the cage. I place two dryer tube on him. I cleaned around the shop, sipping the vanilla coke... 30 mins later, I decided to handed-dry him because who knows how long it would take for me to get him completely shaved-down and looking better, where he has to be done at 4:30. I handed-dry him and then place him unto the table carefully. I did my best to shave him and so on. It was completed before 4 pm.

I enjoyed their varies of 'perfumes' they have to offer. My favorites are 'sweet pea' and um great I forgot what... I'll get back to you when I remember them better. Or I'll write them down.

I will be back to work at Petco 11 am on Saturday till 7:30, or early if I'm done with everything. Goodnight and have a nice weekend! TGIF.

Maggie

First Day of March

2011-03-01T17:22:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day of March of 2011.

Many good things has happened today. I got up little after 9 am, fiddling around with my iPhone, to chat with few people and listening to techno music. Then eventually I changed my clothes and did some reading: the Book of Mormon and Ensign. I wrote a brief journal on the Daily Devotion notebook. Then finally I went down stairs for lunch. I made myself a simple meal: melted cheese tortilla, dipping in homemade salsa, plus the Cola Coke drink. After making sure I have everything that are needed, I left the house. I drove my dad's red car to nearest Portland Community College (PCC), a small campus. It was drizzling with rain lightly, but I kept my hood up anyways. After asking where the test room located, I entered hesitantly and find that the lab room are full. I was told to wait for the available seating. Before I get comfortable playing the bejeweled game on my iPhone, I was lead into a different lab classroom and be seated before the desktop computer. The blank paper, sharp pencil and a calculator are provided. I logged into the test program with my username and password. With a deep breathe, I began. I completed the three parts of the test in two hours. I spend one hour during the writing test, about 40 minutes during the reading test, and 20 minutes during the math test. By the time I finally figured out how to use the calculator, it was too late. I returned to the test area, and get to be able to see the scores. Writing Skills score: 89. Reading score: 88. Math score: 33. I do not need any reading classes. A higher level of writing class are required. And of course, math classes are required. However, I do not signed up into this college to get a degree. I signed up for personal interest, to have one class to enjoy. I do not want to be a full time student. I am considering to have a Psychology class than to have a writing class. I got most of the things taken care of. Some I can do it myself at home online. I emailed the Psychology teacher for permission to take her class so I can be allowed to registered into PCC.

I stopped by Petco yesterday to require the manager to find out if there are any luck for me to be working there. I met a lady who's a manager as well, a manager assistant I assumed. I was told to wait for a bit for Charles, who is the head manager of Petco. I wandered around the store, read a book about Chihuahua. My young dog Frodo is mixed closely to Chihuahua type of breed. She finally came to me and asked me to return to Petco on Wednesday at 1 pm to do some paperwork and take care of something on the computer program. We shook hands and went our ways. On the way to exit, I was partly blocked by a man, who was looking at the box of plastic cage. Because I was in a good mood, I said a friendly hello. He was looking because he have a mouse at home, with a cat, and two little dogs. We had an idle but polite conversations, then finally I left.

Tomorrow will be a busy day for me. I have counseling at 9:15am in Portland. Visiting teaching at 10:45am at Arby's near 205 highway. Petco at 1:00pm for paperwork,to become officially employed. About time! Now it is after 10 pm, and I better type no more for the night and get some beauty sleep. Goodnight!

-Maggie Holt

2011 Is Here!

2011-01-01T15:39:00.002-08:00

Of course, many people are wondering or creating a list of new (or old) goals for the new year in their life. While most people aim to lose weight, especially because of all the parties for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year, I am suppose to aim to gain weight. Of course in order to do that, eat five times a day...not a meal...but little bit of everything. Eat like a Hobbit. It may require plenty of planning and good list of food that would keep up with me, that are easy and quick to snack on, yet healthy enough to help balance out the system my body needs in order to recover.

Turned out that I won't be able to spend 2011 in Virginia, where I lived for a year and half in Roanoke. So much for living on my own. Loved my job. Location was nice enough where everything is close by. Living with a guy was fun, but it was a wrong guy. A shame that breaking up can't last long, and makes things worse. For safety sake, because of my weak willpower or corrupted emotions, to continue my life, the best thing to do is to move out of state, along with the protective/restraining order in hand that will expires two years later. Yeah, it was that bad.

Where will I be? Back to living with my parents in Oregon. Excited? Not really. Pretty much everything crumbled and like many things, have to start over again. I know it is not fun indeed, but for successful people, it is for the best. Who knows what comes along now in the next new life. New life or same old? Good question. Let's see....Skimming through my past five years of my life...yes there's improvement here and there...but alas the pattern remains the same, same cycle I endure. Surely there is hope, but I don't quite hang on it it. Am I becoming too comfortable with my old self now? Ah the punishment I give myself whenever I begin to improve. Weird I know. It doesn't seem right at all...not normal at all....

Last Sunday of April

2010-04-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday the workers and I were part of the Dogwood Parade. We march around the town in Vinton with the other different groups, bands, and others. We march with several other people, holding a dog in hand, trotting along with us. Some of the dogs are dressed up in dog-outfit. One large white dog were colored all over, including glitters. An old golden retriever had several glitter design on the lower back. Yoda simply wears a red bandanna. One other group I saw are about Adopt a Greyhound, with several greyhounds marching along. I saw two groups of young womens doing throwing sticks, and others carry large color flags, and other group had large-air-balloon-thingie...I couldn't figure it out what it is really, but it's what they have. Then after the parade, we went back to work, and I groomed three dogs and didn't get home till almost 10 pm.

Then I got up at 7 AM to get ready for church. Rode with the family to the Ward in Salem so I can take my car and drove into Cave Spring Ward. The sacrament meeting was great: the 1st speaker talked about forgiveness and 2nd speaker talked about atonement I think. The Sunday School class focus on Old Testament, about the journey with Moses, Idols, Temple, and so on. So much information so little time. Then Relief Society lesson was about Repentance.

I went straight home to eat then cleaned up my bedroom (finally got my closet all set up and organized). Then I had about three hour nap, then had crepes and artichoke for dinner with the family. Now I'm back in my bedroom to fiddle with the blog and finally post something on this blog.

Adventure with a Rabbit

2010-04-19T06:14:00.001-07:00

I was downstairs, just enjoying my family for a moment. I was waiting for the oatmeals to be ready for breakfast. I sat near the fireplace with the fire going. Katie decided to have the fire going this morning, to get rid of bunch of sticks from outside. Yoda stayed near me, and Noli sat down with me and read to me two books, which I think is really cute. However, while I attempt to match and fold the socks from their laundry, Noli tap my shoulder and signed "rabbit" and point into the big room. Katie nodded with an expression "yup something's in there". I was like what? So I went in there with Noli. She pointed at the blue IKEA loveseat. She got down on the floor to look under it. I did the same. "Rabbit under there?" At first I don't see anything, till I saw movement. WHOA! The rabbit is INSIDE the seat. I saw the bottom of the couch being press down by rabbit feet.

I returned to the kitchen, wonder how the heck did it get in there. Katie explained that we remembered that Ammon took the black rabbit out to be held and played with for a bit in the afternoon, but Ammon must have put the rabbit somewhere and forgotten about it. The rabbit was out of the cage, free to roam the house all night. They tried to catch it this morning (we still don't know if it's a girl/boy), but end up hiding inside the loveseat. I know they wanted to take it back into cage where there's food & water.

I went back into the big room, wanting to see if I can figure out a way to catch it. The rabbit was out, so Katie and Ammon quickly join in. I said block the couch!! We grab the blankets and stuff it under the couch. Then Ammon and I tipped over the other blue IKEA loveseat, to prevent the rabbit from going under where we couldn't reach. But the rabbit somehow managed to get inside, so the blankets didn't help. Katie said we'll have to wait for it to come out, and returned to the kitchen. I was thinking, no wait I'm going to wait for it to come out. So I got down and reach in, and just gently put my hands under the rabbit, which makes it move. I coax it to the hole and got it out. Ammon got excited, and the rabbit got back inside. I asked him to help out. But his arm are too short I guess so we got Katie back in the room. We coax the rabbit out, then Ammon and I quickly tipped the couch over so it cannot go back inside. Then Ammon managed to catch the rabbit and put it away.

Whew.

Four Weeks

2010-04-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

It has been four weeks since I've last posted on this blog. I am so sorry for keep you guys at the edge to hear what's going on with my new job. On the bright side, I am going to get the new phone soon, hopefully this week, so I will be able to take bunch of pictures of the grooming work and have them posted unto the blog. It will be fun for you guys to have some visual idea of my grooming job. And even more fun to see the "before" and "after" photos of the dogs I will be grooming.

I've been earning some good money so far, which is something I'm keeping track of. I get paid every Friday. It was like this so far: $113, $269, $296, and $346.50. However, last Friday and Saturday were pretty slow, groomed only two dogs each day (unless I get four dogs each day instead of two) the payroll may be small. But we'll see how things are going.

Other than my job, I hope to be able to pay off some things that needs to be taken care of and have enough money saved to move into apartment by July, which is like two months from now. I couldn't wait!! Hopefully I can be able to afford the living on my own with my job. I know it is not a steady payment since it is a 50% commission. As long as I do a good job and keep customers happy and coming back for another one, I'll be okay.

Short Day

2010-03-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

"Honey, I'm home!"

I have two dogs scheduled for me for today at work, but one who's coming in at 4:30 ended up canceled and was rescheduled to the next day. The 1st dog was just a short hair Aussie. The morning bather named Toni bathed her and I just take care of the drying, nails, and ears. No biggie. I spend the rest of the time talk with Toni and Andrea. She told me that there will be a meeting coming up soon, though probably more like a party (free dinner). However, I will go to work at 11: 30 AM tomorrow to work on three, maybe four, dogs.

One thing I'm really excited to do is create fliers and website for her business. And yes she'll pay me to have it set up. I better get working on it and so on. Allow me to start working on fliers first as I learn how to do websites along the way. Whoo-hoo!

Have a nice day!

Two Days

2010-03-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

I have one hour to kill before heading to work for today. I had about 10 hours of sleep. I am all dressed for work and I had lunch (leftover chicken meat, potatoes, and two slice of homemade bread w/ jam). Today is Thursday and I should have two dogs for me. I was told that one dog is a touchy type of dog; doesn't like having paws and face touched. It'll be tricky for me to groom, which would take lot of patience and tolerance.

The first day of work, which was Tuesday, I groomed two dogs: a black toy poodle and a smooth-fur-coat terrier. I get to be able to leave early (not having to wait for the owner) and got home at 5 or 5:30. Just in time for dinner. So yes, I bathed and groomed them in less than three hours. Oddly, I've been sneezing and my nose were running. Allergies?! A ferret lives in Doggie Doos. That could be it?

The second day of work, which was Wednesday (yesterday), I groomed another two dogs: Pekingese/Maltese mix, though they looked very much like Shih-Tzu. I bathed and groomed them; it took me a while to groom due to their matted areas. I stayed behind to clean, meet the owner and watched E.R. TV show. I arrived home at 7 PM. I had lunch and I took the allergy pills before heading to work: No sneezing or running nose, but I became light-headed, or blood drained from the head, at the end. I drank a bottle of Nutritional Shake at 3 or 4. So it was odd.

Let's hope the work today wouldn't be so mysteries with my body.

Doggie Doos

2010-03-22T09:28:00.001-07:00

It started off on Thursday where I received a forwarded (from my sister Katie) of an ad from Craigslist.com of a place that is now hiring for an experienced dog groomer. With a sigh, I emailed a respond to the ad of my resume, expecting nothing from it. On the same day, in the evening, Katie got a phone call who asked couple of questions about my working experience and was asked to come for the interview. I couldn't have the interview next day because Friday was when I teaches ASL Classes. So the interview was all set on Saturday at 5 PM. You could imagine me being excited and happy, but I wasn't. I was in the middle of sweeping up the floor, to prepare for the classes next day.

The ASL Classes on Friday was a success. The kids had fun; I had fun. It was all good.

Saturday: I showered and got dressed up and went to Ladies Luncheon at New Century Church. I really enjoyed that event very much. There are round tables with fancy design and decoration in different themes. I joked that it was a good idea for the wedding. I sat at a table #3 with two deaf persons, two hearing persons who knows signs (one of them are translator), and three other ladies. The funny thing about it was that there were three named Jennifer. A translator, deaf woman, and a hearing lady are named Jennifer. Fun Fun. The food are WONDERFUL. I couldn't believe how delicious it was. I could have gotten the second plate, but the speaker started. This lady talked about "What does it take to make you happy?" and used example of beautiful gift box but it's empty inside. She talked about her own life and how she discovered Christ and became a happy person. At the end of the talk, the gift box was filled with chocolate.

Then I finally left after chatting with the ladies and got home. I was about to get ready to change into dog grooming outfit when Katie said she needs me to keep an eye on the kids while she do quick food shopping with my car. So I keep an eye on the kids, mostly baby Abe. He was a good boy most of the time. Then I took him up into my bedroom to change clothes then took him outside with me, while I watch and wait for Katie to return home so I can quickly leave and be on the way to work. I was glad to make it about five or ten minutes early. The driving there wasn't too bad.

The groomer of 20 years named Andrea (I think) and there are two bathers. I missed the 1st bather's name who left shortly after brief hello. The 2nd bather's name is Gina and she will be my bather for the 2nd shift. I also met Andrea's mother who is partly the owner of the space, I think. They are very laid back people. I had fun chatting with Andrea. I groomed a yorkie/maltie mix. It was somewhat tough due to fine fur which was hard to keep it smooth looking, not sticking out. I stayed at the shop for like two hours or so. Then I finally went home (with $20 cash in hand) with a good news that I will start working on Tuesday at 2pm.

Yes, I got the job at Doggie Doos Grooming Salon. There is no website of that shop so I cannot post the link about it here. My work schedule is basically like this: Tuesday to Saturday = 2 PM to 9 PM. The payment are 50% commission as usual. Should be able to earn $315 per week. Right now for a start, I will be going slow. Starting with one or two or maybe three dogs. Then it will build up to four or five dogs per day for me.

Painting My Life

2010-02-15T14:09:00.003-08:00

I want to have control of my life.
I want to be happy with myself.
My future is like a blank sketchbook.
There are simple colors to choice from.
Each colors can be mixed or be use solo.
The colors are created along the surface of life.
Little by little...
Sometimes we can see it is becoming,
but sometimes we see it so confusing.
At times I focus intensively at a corner
till I become frustrated without so much
of an approval outcome as I wanted.
There are times where I wish I could
tear apart the sheet to thousand of pieces.
To hide the pain or overwhelm emotions
I force it to become worse, the messier the better.
Till it become nothing but black mucky surface.
But no pain or emotions in sight.
But the black remains and becomes a reminder.
I often frown at the white pure surface ahead of me.
It is too clean, too much for me. It needs something!
I would quickly grab something red and slap it across the surface
as if trying to give it as much pain as I can accept
But it is not enough. It needs something; I need something!
AT the moment of panicking, I managed to step back and breathe.
Gasping for some air, trying to calm down and clear up the mind.
Blinking through her tears, she stares at her mess. Another mess.
How many clean sheets she has to go through, again and again
Till there is nothing left, till it is too late.
I sit down and refuse to move, and look mournfully at the mess.

Before Christmas

2010-01-17T10:39:00.001-08:00

I found this uncompleted draft I typed out in the email and it is without address. So I wasn't sure who I was suppose to send it to. Instead I decided to post it here because I think it is well-written.
Dec 24th 2009
Today is a good day. I woke up in the sleeping bag on the green-plaid couch, looking out the bay window. It was black outside. The family room was lite by Christmas light that was hang around a small fake pine tree and on top of the fireplace. I sighed, wondering what time is it. I wrestled myself out of the sleeping bag and stumbled into the kitchen just to check the time on the microwave. 6:30 it said...or something around than as I could faintly remembered. I slide back in the sleeping bag to try to go back to sleep.
I woke up again with a muffle sharp barking sound. Ah Pumpkin, the short tan-colored fur young dog, wanted to play. The little black and white dog named Yoda was tugged in the sleeping bag with me, ignoring her barks. She kept barking till I pushed Yoda off the couch. I watched them as I slowly become fully awake. Yoda tugged himself under the chair, keeping Pumpkin at bay where she barked some more, begging to play. I saw the rest of my family are awake, too. My mom was holding 1 yr old Abe on a rocking chair. My dad was fixing something in the wooden tank box. After some random trains of thoughts and some time later, I got dressed and had small breakfast. My mom and my sister explained me what they wanted and needed from me, jotting down the list. I grab the purse and key and head out.
It felt so nice to drive along the country road again. The thick snow are still on the ground except for roads and other areas were shoveled away.
––––•(-• Maggie •-)•––––

45 Lessons in Life

2010-01-13T20:16:00.000-08:00

I got a forward from my mom and I thought I'd copy and paste them here. Enjoy.

45 Lessons in Life

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ''In five years, will this matter?".
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business...
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Let It Snow!

2009-12-05T12:51:00.001-08:00

Today is the first day of snow in Virginia. It has been snowing since early morning. Well, it finally stopped just now I looked out the window. I'm sitting on my bed with a body pillow across my lap so I can type on my laptop comfortably. I have a little heater running in the bedroom. I'm wearing three layers of clothes. I'm munching on honey-nut cheerios from a bowl and drinking water. I did two papers of water-color paintings this morning. It was a fun thing to do and experiment. My boyfriend's birthday is coming up in 17 days. All I could think of are Bats.

Surprised Kitty

2009-12-02T21:20:00.002-08:00

Yesterday was a strange day for me. I woke up and saw that it was a very gloomy day, cloudy and dull outside. I was feeling strange, which I thought was probably because of the dull weather. I struggled to wake up and get my mind to become alert to prepare for ASL class. But my mind was being fussy. I went downstairs to let Yoda out and to eat breakfast. It was when I noticed my body feeling sick: weak and achy. I told Katie that I think I'm feeling sick. I went back upstairs to resume what I was about to do, but I find myself taking many short sleep, almost unable to stay away. I was quite sleepy. I wondered if I have a fever, since my body was feeling warm but at the same time sometimes feeling cold inside. I went back down and took a thermometer. It was 99.8. Uh-oh? Katie didn't think it was a fever at all, but I think it is about it nevertheless since I know my normal temperature was slightly below general body temperature. I returned to my bedroom Managed to get about half way done, with short sleeps. Then finally I decided to bring my laptop and the papers and a book down to help keep myself away. I have an hour left to complete. I typed down the list of sentences and opposite words to be printed out. I sat on the couch with a scissor, waiting for the papers to be printed out then I'll cut them up but I fell asleep on the couch. Katie cut them out herself. Ammon woke me up five minutes before time for the class at 1pm.

I sat on the 'teacher' chair and waited for the all the children to be here. Earlier while I was sleeping, I thought of a fun way for me to demonstrate more of ASL about Thanksgiving but I do not have the energy to do it. So I had to create two games to get the students to do most of the work, allowing me to rest and give them brief instructions. Katie did good helping out with the class as well. The two games are basically having two groups, boys and girls. Group A have to sign a sentence they drew out of the cup and Group B had to tell them what they signed. They did a fairly good job and they had fun with it. The next game was simply taking turns in drawing out a small piece of paper that contain one word on it. One had to sign that word, say for example Cold. The class had to sign the opposite: Hot. Lastly, the oldest student Elizabeth, whom I think is 14 yr old (though she looked older), brought her book to sign for the class. It was a good book because it have good new words to practice on. Two weeks ago, I mentioned the idea of having a one-on-one with Elizabeth. Her mother told me that she liked that idea today. We agreed that we'll do that on Friday starting in January. Whew. I was told in the email that there was suppose to be another student wanted to join, but he/she hasn't show up. I think I would need to announce that those who wanted to join would need to wait till January.

Anyhow, as soon as I can say goodbye to all and return to my bedroom, I went straight to sleep. (no lunch) I slept for two hours. Then woke up in time when Ralph got home from work. We chatted on AIM for a bit then on Videophone for a bit. Then I went back to sleep. But I woke up feeling quite hot, and I decided to go check out the thermometer again and it came up 100.5. Finally a fever. I ate chicken noodle soup, bit of cereal, and some water. I noticed myself feeling slightly better, more like feeling restless, tired of sleeping so much. So Ralph and I get to chat some more on the Videophone. And I was starting to feel more and more at myself. Not feel too weakly like the previous chat. Then I decided to go ahead sleep for the night, which was about after midnight.

I woke up feeling quite fabulous, just tiny part of me feeling sick, but most of me feeling alert and full of energy! And I'm glad to finally type up a long email. I had three pieces of waffles and a cup of milk and after quickly changing my clothes, I ran out to feed the chickens after I was told that the weather wasn't too chilly. I gotta do something!

Little Poem of November

2009-11-14T08:19:00.000-08:00

A month of Thanksgiving.
A month of Harvesting
A month of changing
From the heat of the sun
To the cool wind in the air
From the green forest
To the colorful landscape

Missing October

2009-11-14T08:17:00.000-08:00

The whole month of October was VERY SLOW. [-.-] In fact, I've only worked TWICE that month at work. Lame I know. However on the bright side, each week on Wednesday at 1 PM I teach ASL Class at home. Just for $5 per person per class. So I earn $10 each week. The good news was that the other family decided to join into the class at the fourth week of the class, and I earned $20! Then even better, just last Wednesday, a gal who is close to my age decided to join, and I earned $35. (She gave me $20 to pay for four classes.) *[^.^]*

Some Updates

2009-09-25T23:05:00.000-07:00

I guess it is time for a bit of an update here.

As far as I know, it is neither a yes or no if I'm hired -more of a 'wait and see- with The Paw Wash, where I had an interview at a while ago.

As for Star City Bark Ave, my work hours decreases from two days a week into once a week. Instead of working on Fridays and Saturdays, I only work on Thursdays.

I'm very lucky to be living with my sister instead of living in an apartment during that situation. I still needed money nevertheless to make a living in paying the bills, gas, food and rent. Thankfully, I have enough birthday money to last a month or so, I hope.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
On a side note, life in Virginia isn't too bad. Some ups and downs as usual. Some days were productive and some days were a humbug. A bi-polar life indeed. I continue to enjoy using DeviantART site. Though I haven't posted more writings yet in the past week.

I recently explored many Deaf websites and decided to signed up into All Deaf Forums site. I like it so far because it is so full of interesting information to read and share with others. I also discovered that there is a Deaf Authors Forum but I did not signed up for it because many of my writings are all in DeviantART. However, I am very pleased to know that there are many deaf people who enjoys writing as much as I do.

Eventful Saturday

2009-09-12T14:49:00.002-07:00

A small muzzle nuzzling my face at five in the morning, a puppy refused to let me sleep. I managed to get up and let two of the small dogs outside. When they're done, we returned to bed together. A hand patting my leg, a sister motioned me to get up. She tapped her wrist with a worry frown. It was 8:30 in the morning. I sort of overslept. I set my sidekick cellphone alarm at 7 am but forgotten to turned on the vibration-mode. Go figures. I got up and got dressed and ready for work with a lazy attitude.

Because it appeared that all the cereals boxes are empty, I instead had two set of flour soft tortillas, spread with sour cream, a slice of ham and melted cheese for breakfast. I ate them all absentmindedly as I drove down the road. I merge into I581 from I81 highway, driving along on the fast lane, as usual. A white car behind me followed me for a bit, before he decided to turn on the flashing lights.

I smirked at myself and eventually pulled over to a stop at the shoulder of the highway. I rolled down the window and grab the blue wallet from my tan purse. I discovered that my driver license are nowhere to be found. I chuckled nervously at a cute young man cop and explained the situation. I have no driver license, no proof of auto-insurance, no registration papers, and that I moved into VA in July, bought this car in June. I handed him the military card instead. He muttered something about checking to see if this car wasn't stolen.

He returned and muttering something about license. This cute man are hard for me to understand. After several unsuccessful tries, he motioned me to get out of the car, to the back of the car, and pointed at the license plate. I finally got the pieces together. I was suppose to get a new license plate because the one I have is like a tag to the previous owner. So I needed to get a new 'tag' for my car to claim it mine. Once I understand what's going on, he motioned me to go. I quickly apologized and thanked him and returned to my car and hit the road. Yes, that's right. I got NO TICKET from him. Couldn't you believe how LUCKY I was?!

I arrived to work 25 minutes late and told the tale to the workers. I was pleased with the work today. I groomed three dogs (a Cocker and two mix-mutts) and managed to get them done at around expected due time. The last dog was completed on time at 3 pm. I thought I will get $110 but I got $152 paycheck. Just the right amount to pay 'rent' at my sister's house.

Job Interveiw

2009-09-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

Good evening family and friends.

I managed to hit the sack at midnight instead of 2 or 3 am. I got up around 6:30 am to prepare myself for the job interview. I flipped open my laptop. While it is warming up I got dressed and then I opened up information and varies of sites as usual. I studied the directions to work. I was about ready to jot down the information, the laptop restart itself: updating whatever into my laptop. Grrr. So, while I wait for my laptop to be done with, I ate breakfast: just a bowl of cereal and a cup of orange juice. Then I got the information down. After searching for my other pair of shoes and realizing that I left my keys in the car, I finally hit the road to work about 8:15 am.

According to the map on the internet, it is about 45 - 50 minutes drive from home to Bedford, where the job interview located. I blasted on the music and enjoyed cruising down the road. The grooming shop is called The Paw Wash, that snuggled in the cute little downtown, just right off the highway 460. I arrived and parked 20 minutes early. (Suppose to be at 9:30 am.) The shop are colorful simple clean and manageable. I bathed & dried the dog, then I groomed her. It was a black toy poodle. Not too difficult to groom, except for her being snappy at the clipper whenever we --yes we, me and the groomer named Jennifer-- tried to shave her face. We gave up and settled for scissoring the face the best we can. [chuckled] She was adorable SMALL thing and we don't want to risk hurting her for trying to shave her face whenever she kept moving and opening her mouth.

Job interview are usually done by grooming one dog, but I ended up doing two and half dogs. It turned out that the two bathers turned up sick with flu. So I helped Jennifer with her work. Because I end up staying longer than I assume, I had to get my car out of the 3-hour parking lot. Luckily no parking ticket, but the battery died. Oops, I left the light on. I informed Jennifer and she got a man from the next door shop to come jump the car. He was a nice fellow. I parked my car in the correct place. Then resume the work.

I finished with work sometime after 4pm, and drove home, feeling pleased and tired. I had a can of sprite that Jennifer got for me because I did not have lunch. I got cash of money I earned from doing the work today: $50.

Am I hired? Not yet. Jennifer will talk with her husband first, to see if they can afford having bather AND a groomer. And she have someone to interview with next. I will find out for sure within a couple days.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. I was walking down the sidewalk on the way to The Paw Wash, when I heard a yell. I turned and saw a well-dressed lady waving at me. She cross the narrow road and said hi to Yoda. Oh brother. She was simply trying to get my attention so she can meet and play with Yoda. He have way too much charm in him.

♥

Dogs At Work

2009-09-09T07:39:00.002-07:00

[sigh] I tried creating a 'movie' clip with the photos of the dogs I took at work from the one program, but it doesn't work for some reason. So I decided to use this slide show. But I am disappointed with it because it is missing few photos. [frustrated]

Birthday Time

2009-09-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

I created a video with the photos I took at work and for some reason it did not work on the blog. I will keep working on that and get it posted here.

In the meantime, I decided to type out the fun I had today on my 26th birthday. I got up early in the morning because I have work. I went downstairs and sorta ruin the surprised. The family planned to give me breakfast in bed. But it was alright. The breakfast was yummy and fun: strawberry smoothie, bacon, orange-icing rolls & regular rolls, and the fresh strawberries. I had my sister to make a call at work to check if I have dogs for me: I have two dogs and they needed me nevertheless.

I groomed two West Highland Terriers: young & old. It is very fun to see the difference with them side by side. The elderly one named Misty were dirty, especially around the face. The young one named Tatter (I think) were high-spirited type of personality. I arrived to work around 9:30 and left around 12:30. West Highland Terriers are fairly easy to groom.

I returned home and found the family hiding in my bedroom. They created a Happy Birthday banner and hang on the wall above my bed. The drawings from the kids are adorable. The bedroom were extra cleaned up (mostly vacuumed which was needed to be done badly because the dogs chewed up the dead flowers).

We had a fun silly lunch: hash, banana, cheese garlic bread, and ham. Then we painted the mailbox covered, green as mountains and blue as sky. My hands got green from the painting. Then I relaxed with my precious laptop for rest of the evening, till dinner time that is.

Dinner was fun because while eating a plate full of rice and black beans, the family were to ask me 26 questions about myself. What's your favorite cookie? What's your favorite animal: both in fantasy and real life? Etc Etc. It was fun. As soon as we're done eating and asking/answering the 26 questions, we headed over to a large back room of the house where the presents were kept.

It turned out that they got a fun small net thing to play volleyball game with the balloon. We played for a while. I love that game. Then we played a new game: something to do with balancing the boat and the challenge of putting little things on it without getting out of balance or get knocked off.

Then finally it was opening the presents time. The presents are delightful and humorous. I got two colorful dog printed scrubs (cute cute), Celtic necklace from Ireland (love it!), scrubbing brush and sponge for dish-washing (inside joke), two bottles of car-care-stuff (they cleaned my car), sugar cookies (YUM) and my favorite of all..... BODY PILLOW!!!!! YAYAYAYAY

A Strength of a Woman

2009-08-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Needs A Title

2009-08-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

I found this writing where it has to be written back in 2006? I know it is NOT perfect, but I thought I'd post it here just because... mostly because I'm bored and wanted to do something fun with this website.

'Chapter 1'

Wandering aimlessly, she explored the unfamiliar landscape. Strange noises were heard. The light are dim, the sun hidden behind the thick clouds. Her long hair became heavy from the rain. She blinked many times as she tried to see her blurry environment. The air are thick with strange odor. She forced herself to swallow bales several times. She then knew where she was. The Land of the Dead. People died in the area--people who fought endless battles. Countless number of people suffered and died in the cursed land. There she wandered with a serious task in mind. It was a great risk she's willing to take. People marveled and feared for her. Some said she's a witch. Some said she's a fool. Land of the Dead--none ever returned alive. Anyone who enter shall join the dead.

Wearing a dark green hooded cloak, he watched the crowd from the corner of the bar. His sensitive ears heard many rumors. But one seem to caught his attention: [needs a name]. A name who whispered with respect or fear--as if a person are either a curse or a famous Queen.

"She is a great fool to enter the Land of the Dead. She will bring curse on us. We should have killed her. Better off dead here than there!" a man muttered between spits.

"She goes there because she's heartbroken. She was in love with someone. Now she does not care about life and wants to be dead," a heavy-boned woman claimed while cleaning a table nearby.

"She is a shy secret servant to our King. A deadly quest. What is it for? I know not!" grunted the old man.

Because few people asked me to try continue this story so this is 'chapter two'. I am not satisfied with it because I realized that I needed to add more details into the story about the Land of the Dead. What was so dangerous about it? What was it that makes people dare not cross the place? Gah!

'Chapter 2'

He tightened the dark green cloak around his chin as he marched through the rain. He was carrying a baggage sling across his chest, with a thick belt carrying a sword and dagger. “She’ll never survive alone,” he muttered to himself. Down through the wasteland, he carefully hiked, searching for signs of life. He found it after two days of hiking. It was a terrible place to be. The sleep was hard due to endless nightmares, of inexperienced battles and wars, of pain and death. The air so heavily damp and it rank with foul taste of dying souls. He was greatly relief when he found her. Eager to be done with and get out of the unpleasant place, he approached to her carefully, and spoke her name.

She turned toward him, with calm expression. “Why do you come?” she spoke quietly with a hint of threat. Before he could answer, “I do not need your help. It is for me be to be alone, my own duty and life and pledge. It is for me to have it done myself, for myself alone. It is something only a willing soul can make it happen. I do not need your help. Your help will interfere my quest. Please leave or I will kill you.” She glared at him with strong warning expression on her face, then turns away to resume her journey.

He allow her to walk several feet away before he began to follow her, unwilling to be pushed away. He nearly stumbled through a hole, which could have break his ankle. He cursed himself for being clumsy. He shifted his concentration to watch where he’s going while keeping the distance in between, rather than lull by her unexpected appearance. A strong looking woman of full figured, walking as if she lived in this area everyday, with extremely attractive face. He became puzzled with what he had heard of her. A shy secret servant to the King? Unlikely. Surely a King would wanted an attractive woman to be his, a wife or a concubine. Why a servant instead?

He mulled over with what he learned of her from collections of people he came across. Heartbroken and no long want to live. Secret quest given by the King. A beautiful disgrace. A witch. Not enough information. Most looked at him as if he was out of his mind for saying her name. Most seemed to be relief to learn that she was out of the city into the Land of the Dead. “She deserved it,” some muttered.

He glanced at the sky and the dull sun, calculated that it was soon dinnertime. Judging by the direction she’s leading, they should be out of the ungodly place by next day, if that was where she was actually heading to. There was a small town, at the edge of the river, running downstream into the wasteland. He knew a thing or two about it and hope to buy two horses for easier and faster transportation, to wherever she’s heading to. He hoped to learn it from her, secret or not.

Some hours later as the day darken into night, the land became eerily alive. Movements often caught by the corner of the eye, but never manage to spot what it really was. Sounds seems to deafening at each hour as they march onward along the pathless land. Now and then there were voices whispering of death and pain, vivid detail of the battle of hate and pride.

My Age

2009-08-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

13 days left till my 26th birthday. I am not sure if I should be looking forward to it or not. I know it wouldn't make much difference. We're all growing older day by day. Time is eternal: past, present, future. Ever changing horizon of life, for the better or for worse.

I wondered if I am becoming too obsessed of myself and of my issues? Should I just forget myself and go to work, without giving myself time to heal or put the broken heart together? "Time will heal" people would say. Would keeping myself busy and thinking less of myself would help me heal at all? What do I need to do exactly to be able to be happy again and not be so fearful of myself?

I merely wanted something I can find balance with myself and someone else, sharing the life together, so I can think of myself and my partner, giving better purpose and motivation to live for in my life. I guess that's why I liked being married.... I still hated being single. Though a thought in mind says the Lord can become my partnership in my life.... But it's not the same.

Work

2009-08-22T20:21:00.001-07:00

I had one cocker yesterday. She was badly flea-infected. She had a long bath, using three different products in effort to kill of the fleas. The cocker is seven years old, missing some teeth, where her tongue was hanging out of her mouth. She is overweight, which makes grooming somewhat difficult. Overall, she is a sweetie.

I groomed two cockers today. There were suppose to be three dogs scheduled for me, but one was canceled. They're both overweight, and groomed in similar style, except one include clean feet, due to allergies. One was fairly easy and quick to groom because she didn't have much hair to shave off. It was more like a trim down. The other, he was too big and lazy, so I decided to just groom him on the floor. He laid there on the side most of the time, letting me flip him over at times for me to work on both sides.

deviantART

2009-08-15T06:52:00.001-07:00

I've written and posted a lot of things on the websites lately. It is not in this blog because it is more about my job, with little information about my life. I've done a lot of writings--poetry--where I posted them into a website called deviantART. Feel free to read my works and you'll noticed mood swings, and you can learn a lot from me, of what I've been through and such with life. I'm human and so are you. We each have a life, in varies of degrees and situations. Enjoy!

Here's a brief stats of my works: daystarnite has 223 pageviews total and her 45 deviations were viewed 447 times. Her most viewed deviation is Grandma with 36 views. Here are the two examples of my poems from deviantart.

Hallway in School
Long hollow building
empty and quiet
lockers stands in single file
bold and blue
ringing bell breaks the silent
lockers became rocket noise
along with voices echoing
faces beamed, faces darken
hands reached out, hands in pockets
friends and enemies walked about

Sunbeam
Light dancing from the sky
to the carpet
Dust dancing under the light
among the wind
Warmth swims along
the beam, warming
Up the room, cozy and nice
A furry thing lay in the beam,
purring--softly with delight.

Oh Brother

2009-08-05T23:49:00.001-07:00

Oh dear, I just realized that I rarely updated this blog. I've been busy with many different sites. Anyhow, the new dog grooming place called Star City's Bark Ave. (cute/interesting name isn't it?) It is about 35 minutes drive from Huish's home. Though it is not far from colleges and single's ward. Perhaps after saving enough money or if I could earn up a reasonable amount each month from Star City's Bark Ave, I could move into an apartment in that area so I can attend to school and single's ward?? Just a thought.

Allow me to copy and paste what I've written in the email about my work...

Friday: I've only had two dogs; cocker spaniels. They took me a while to groom. Not that they're hard to handle, they are to be groomed somewhat differently. I use attachment comb (to cut at longer length) on their legs. I like it but at times I dislike it because it is easy to get caught/stuck and sometimes I had to go over it few times to make sure it got it all out evenly. I worked from 9 am to 3:30 ish. I crashed to sleep at 8 pm--couldn't stay awake any longer.

Saturday: I had another two dogs: gray small poodle and black small lab-mix. I worked from 9 am to 12;30 ish. The poodle are to be shaved and have clean face and feet. It had some matted on it's ear so it end up with really short ear cut which I couldn't make it look good. Silly fur ball. I thought that black lab-mix was just a bath & brush, but it's to be shaved. It wasn't difficult because she's an old dog. Except she doesn't like me touching her butt and tail.

Long Time No See

2009-07-24T23:42:00.000-07:00

Whoo-hoo! Now I'm back here again. I am wide awake after 2:30 AM on my bed. There are a lot to catch up here. Since my friends are in bed and I'm in a chatty mood, I thought why not do a blog now. I know that most of the information are already shared through email and instant messages which makes blogging somewhat harder to do.

I've only live in Virginia for almost a month. I am living with my sister and her family in her new home. After few idle job hunting, I finally got the job, of course, a dog grooming. I will start working there next week. I will be working on Friday and Saturday, for now. Soon or later I might take up to four times a week, since this grooming shop only opens four times a week: Wednesday to Saturday. The environment is ideal and cozy and comfortable. I liked the groomer/owner. She was a groomer for 10 years, have a 18 months old daughter. She told me that if all goes well, I may take over her grooming shop in a few years because she plans to be moving out. Sounds exciting. Who knows how long I'll be staying in Virginia....

Peace Be With You

2009-07-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

For the love of God.
Let him speak.
For he is among you
Please stop and listen
Be still and quiet
for he whispers still

Peace be among you
for ye may know for surety
that God is there.
He lives and loves you
Always and forever

A plea from the heart
seeking for peace and comfort
a sure source of them
is from God and only Him.

Seek after Him and ye shall find.
Peace shall be given like no others can.
May the beauty of the earth enlighten you.
Never forget his promises to you
for he loves you very much

Lay your burden to Him
He shall comfort and cares for you.
There is nothing too great for him.
For his yoke is easy and light.
Learn of me, he said.

Lean not to your own understanding
For he knows all things, including everything of you.
Be not afraid for he is with you wherever thou goest.
Be of a good cheer and be not weary in good works.
For it shall be reward.

-Margaret Holt-

Love Is Like Music

2009-07-01T21:17:00.000-07:00

Love is like music.

Love is like music where it starts from scratch.
Starting with something small and simple.
Starting with hours of pratice.
It is not perfect but the effert is there.
With time and patience, it will improve and grow.

Love is like music where one by one it expands
Adding in extra tune and sound,
Creating the next level to something greater.
It may not be perfect, but it is better than before.
That those who listens would be touched.

Love is like music where it is powerful when played from within.
Starting from the heart and mind, bringing forth a sense like no others.
The sweet vibes whispering throughout those who paused to listen.
May it be stores within the heart of others and be shared to another.
May it be kept deep inside and be use during the time of need.

Love is like music if it is done right it purifies the soul.
The gentle magic of it bring sense of peace and comfort.
Out of many things from birds to insturaments,
Winds and flutes, soft trumming of the drums, and the heartbeat
Reminds us to love like music for we all seek for comfort and peace.

-Margaret Holt-

Catching Up

2009-06-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 22, 2009

I'm currently visiting my brother in California for couple of days. Actually, today may be the last day of visiting him and his family.... Yesturday, my dad, my brother, his wife and son and I went to Aquarium of the Pacific. I think we spend three hours or more exploring inside the museum or aquarium. I forgotten how beautiful the life in the ocean can be!My favorites are the jellyfish, seahorse, weedy sea dragon, leafy sea dragon, ray, and seals, I guess. I love how the jellyfish move and float in the water so gracefully. I love the cute little creature of seahorse, and sea dragon of both kinds. I think they're very beautiful and graceful, how they float, or more like glide, around in the water without using much movements.I enjoy the ray because I get to touch them. I stick two fingers in the sand on the bottom and they would swim by, with the flapper brushing against my hand. One of them actually carcess all over my hand. They feel very soft and slimy. I think they're very cute. I even get to touch the StingyRay which is completely safe to do so because I noticed they cut off the end of the tail. I even managed to stroke a small shark from head to tail as it goes by.I was amazed how colorful the coral plants are. Some are pure white, some are bright orange, or pink or even blue, I think... Some looks so soft and fluffy, which makes me wanted to touch them. At one area, I can touch or stroke a few of the coral plants.They have Otters but they're sleeping. They have Seals. I must have forgotten how playful they are. One was playing with a large plastic tube. It was fun and cute to watch. They have only two posion frogs, a yellow and blue one. I found one fish that have oddest name: honeycomb rabbitfish. I learned that lip gloss are made out of shark liver oil.There are pictures of me in the Aquarium but I don't have them yet... so I'll get them posted into this post when I receive them. Smile.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Abortion Day
Two days ago, I visited a high risk OB/GYN doctor. Dr Clock is a very nice lady. She does not strongly suggested the abortion like the first three doctors I have visited in the past two weeks. She lay out all the different options and ideas. She said that I am 25 to 50 percent chance of survival. We had a good discussion of get ideas what could happen if I tried to varies of things. If I try keeping the baby, being bed rested for 4 months and wearing oxygen, it would still be tough on my body and the baby. Not having enough oxygen will cause slow-growth to the baby. If I do survived the pregnancy, wither if the baby made it or not, my life span would shrink by 10 to 15 years off. However, Dr Clock said that I would have better chance in having a baby if I have lung transplant. But that is something to think about for the future.
After discussing much if there may be a chance or not or good idea or not of keeping the baby, it is still a high risk for my life. The best option is to have abortion. Surprisingly, the doctors quickly made some phone calls and got the appointment arranged the next day. Usually, trying to make an appointment the next day is difficult. Having that all settled, Dr Clock put in a "seaweed stick" into cervix to help dilate it overnight. It was not comfortable because it cause cramps. She gave me a pill that helps ease the cramping. Shortly afterwards I felt dizzy, lightheaded, weak, achey, and sometimes nauseated. The doctor said it is normal. I was put onto a wheelchair and wheel off to other office in the other building to have them take my blood. They took two tubes of blood.
I was told that I cannot eat nor drink 8 hours before the appointment, which means I cannot eat after 4 am. The appointment was set at 10:30 am. I had priesthood blessing last night which was very nice for me which it basically saying that everything will be alright and I shall find peace. I got new pills for overnight and before the surgery which was called "Valium". It helps ease the anxiety and sleep better. I slept like a baby till I was woken by my dad at 3:30 am. He cooked up a nice early breakfast. I had scramble eggs on toasted english muffins with bit of ham and a cup of chocolate instant breakfast. I took the valium again and after a few toss and turns, I slept like a baby.
I showered and got dressed into something cute and comfortable and packed up a few things. My parents and I arrived to the hospital slightly late. I rode in and around on a wheelchair because I was still feeling somewhat weak, or drowsy from the valium pill. We talked with a doctor, whom I wasn't paying attention to the name. We discussed about the aftermath of my previous surgery of repairing my stomach which failed to healed after the removal of the g-tube. I forgotten that I had struggles with the breathing that time and I had to stay longer in the recovery room due to MRSA. They discussed about what sort of sedation I should use that would not be difficult on my lungs. I hardly pay attention to it because I was busy chatting with my friend online with my sidekick.
We waited in a special room for family where it have nicer chair and a couch. We waited for like I think an hour. I was pulled out to sign the papers and got the name tag onto my wrist. Then we waited some more. I was about to go to the restroom but suddenly called on ready to go into the other room to prepare me for the surgery. My mom came with me as I was wheeled to the bed at the corner. I stripped down and wore the hospital gown and slippers. I finally get the change to go to bathroom then lay on bed to wait. The man poke in the IV needle, which oddly felt uncomfortable for a while. I felt asleep. My mom said that we've waiting for over a hour for the doctors finally gathered up and ready to take me. Finally after brief discussion of confirm that I understand what's going on and approve of it, they wheeled the bed to the operating room. They injected the sedate into the IV. I was awake where I carefully shift myself to the other bed, and start wearing oxygen mask, some sticky wires to monitor the heart and lungs, strapped down with a belt at the belly... then I cannot remember anything else anymore.
I woke up panting and shivering somewhat violently. I felt a hand to hold my head still, and someone put on a special air blanket that fills up with warm air. I calm down somewhat but still shivered. A nurse inject something into the IV that stops the shivering. I fell asleep. It took me a moment to realized that the procedure was over. I remember feeling some cramps, which I understand it is normal where the uterus are shrinking to normal size. I attempted to stay awake and nibbled on crackers and sipping apple juice but I felt nauseated. My mom came in the room. I gave up to sleeping some more instead. Then finally I felt awake and better enough to eat and drink. I felt better in drinking sprite instead of apple juice. I had something inject into the IV that help stopped the nausea. I lost count how many crackers I've eaten. I drank nearly the whole can of sprite. Seriously, I practically "fasted" for 12 hours. The surgery hasn't started till like after 3 pm I think. I woke up after 5. I took two antibiotic pills and received three new medicines from the pharmacy.
I felt even more alive, full of energy inside (the body still effected from sedate so it's sleepy), and even felt happy. I felt like I am happy to be alive again. It was almost being baptized again in a way. I was eager to do something fun when I get home, but my body refused to be awake, much rather going to sleep. I fell asleep on the chair for a bit, then ate tapioca pudding my mom made. Then had a good night sleep. It is almost 3 am right now. I woke up at 1 and decided to do something for a bit. I ate roman noodle soup and decided to write a blog about my experience.
Oh I almost forgot to mention, after the surgery, they also put in Mirena, a birth control that last 5 years.
I think that is about all I can say... Yes I am doing fine, feeling better than before. If you're worried about emotionally wise, I haven't felt any regrets or guilt. I just actually felt happy. I guess it is God's way of saying that it is okay. *HUGS*

Decisions Decisions Decisions

2009-06-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

Decisions are something we all face in our daily life. Most of them are small and simple that we often debate inside ourselves. Should I got to work or call in sick? Should I go do my volunteer service or stay home and watch my favorite TV show? Should I spend 30 minutes studying the scriptures and give a thoughtful prayer or do a quick reading and throw out a short prayer just because I got better things to do? Should I go help out my mom and hang out with her or stay in my bedroom fiddling with my laptop all day?

However, decisions can become something we do not want to face in our life, something that would make us feel torn between two things. Decisions that regards to letting go of something you hold on to dearly or keep hanging on to the end. Decisions regarding to life or death.

Update Update Update

2009-06-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

News Flash: I quit the job I love on May 9th, 2009. *pouts* I have only worked at Dirty Johnson's Dog Wash for 9 months. The boss loves me. A lot of costumers loves me. *sigh* Life goes on.

WHY?! I had to stop working because of my pregnancy. It was becoming hardship on my body, especially on my lungs, not to mention living in Utah on the mountain. A week after I quit my job, I moved out of my apartment and out of Utah!

Currently, I am staying at my parents house for a few weeks. I will be living with my sister Katie in Virginia sometime at the end of June. I am 14 weeks pregnant. (I could be wrong?)

I have two doctor appointments coming up this week. One with Dr. Chestnut who is a specialist with pregnant women with lung problems on Thursday. Other on Monday to do two types of test that I have to take to determined how much risk I will be in with the pregnancy. The doctor think I may have to have abortion. I doubt that I will need it. I will have to wait and see...

I am sorry for not giving you much detailed update because I am not in the mood to explain it all in here, especially after I've explained it over and over to people online or on Facebook.

Full Week

2009-02-06T21:38:00.001-08:00

I had a full week of dogs! I've been working from Monday to Friday, except for Thursday as my day off. There will be dogs tomorrow on Saturday as usual. However, today Mindi was there working, too. Tomorrow will be her day as well.

Today, one dog have only three-legs, who was the same dog I groomed before. A black lab, whom I shaved, are very vocal. He won't stop barking or whining or soft growling. I was glad to be able to just turn off my hearing aid.

Friday & Saturday

2009-01-31T21:15:00.000-08:00

I wrote down the names of the dogs I groomed yesterday on a paper and I forgot to bring it home with me today. I groomed 5 dogs, which was very fun and interesting. I was suppose to have 6 dogs, an aussie, but he didn't show up. The first dog was a puppy Shih Tzu., who's very adorable and sweet, and new to grooming. For a puppy, he did a good job at behaving well.

The two dogs came in, the breeds I know not. However, I noticed a black dog was barking that the back wall in a cage. I asked Cayla if he's blind. She explained that he's partly blind and very old, perhaps 20 year old. He fell off the table and hit his head last time. (I didn't groom him last time!) After I bathed a healthy dog, I took the blind dog, who's name I guess Shelbie, for a bath. He was stiff and boney.and not to mention his bad old breath. I was told that he only had four teeth. I groaned at the thought to groom over his bones. I wasn't looking forward to it. But I managed at the end.

Then the other two dogs came in, in the afternoon, are lhasa apso. They're easy and quick to groom, though this time the owner wanted everything shaved, including face and tail, instead of a "teddy bear face" and long tail.

Today (Saturday), Scott and I were at work from 9am to almost 6pm. I could be done by 4pm but this one dog, a Maltese, was matted. His name is Prince. I was told that the daddy didn't want Prince to be shaved but get the mats out. He may look like a uneven fluffy furball, but if you pet him, or feel him around his body, he's almost matted solid. I frowned as I tried my best to brush out the mats but there's too much mats and it would take too much time to get them off. Not to mention making it not comfortable for Prince. So I just do little trimming and left it be to be picked up and focus on the rest of the dogs.

One big black dog was in for a bath and brush. I believe it's an Aussie mix, but all black. Very pretty dog. The other Maltese came in, very easy to groom, just trimming for its fur were already short all over. A other dog, who claimed to be an aussie and yorkie mix (O.o?), came in, who are very easy to groom! Then a grey standard poodle came in last. I was eager to do some scissoring. It's fur was already short all over. Just needed some trim up. She's an old dog, planning to have surgery next day, so I heard. I brush her all up then trim trim trim trim! I didn't go for perfection, but at least looking better.

I was about done with the poodle with the owner for the matted maltese came in. I talked with him for clarify; what did he want me to do with his dog? He said I can go ahead clip out the mats, at the same time, try to keep it fluffy as possible. I told him, I'll try my best. I did what I can, using a long blade clippers to shorten up the long fur part then focus on the matted parts. There are mats behind ears, on all four legs, and both sides of the body. There's no way to make it look at least pretty enough. Mercifully, Prince's daddy let me shave off the body, but leave the paws and face fluffy. Yay! I got $10 tip.

Speaking of tip, I surprisingly got $5 tip for doing nail trimming. I sometimes had to step out of grooming room to clip the dog's nails for $8, when they wanted me to do it. This one black lab, which had to be muzzled and with spiked-chain-collar, had a broken nail. The nail was broken to the quick, which looks very owie. They asked me it should be cut or not. I told them I rather not cut it, but let it heal... I did my best, wrestling the dog, to clip his nails. But I noticed he bleed easily. I could not cut it short enough without making it bleed. It was awful! At the end, I suggested them to try going to Vet to have him sleep and cut his nails really short, which should help cut back the quick. His nail quick are too long. I guess they were pleased with the idea or appriecate the effort to get his nails cut, so they gave me $5 tip. Yippie.

I got $27 tips today, though it's all given to Scott for bathing the dogs. I got a paycheck for doing 36 dogs. It's suppose to be $602.80, but subtracting the price of the blue clippers, it's $415, 91. Not bad!

Our Dogs Slideshow

2009-01-24T20:22:00.001-08:00

Doggie Photos

2009-01-24T19:35:00.000-08:00

From shaggy ...

...to neat.

I could take a better photo than these but I do not have time for perfection, not to mention the camera memory card became full.

Looking for mommy...

Six Dogs

2009-01-24T18:10:00.001-08:00

Today, Scott and I had 6 dogs at work. At first I was not quite happy about it because all of them are to be groomed, except for one which was just a chihuahua. At least, to my relief, it was nicely scheduled where I get two dogs every two hours, so I didn't feel too stress out with the timing.

The first two dogs are a grey quivering chihuahua named Elvis and a huge Bernese Mountain dog named Harley. Scott bathed the Bernese Mountain while I bathed chihuahua. Heehe. The owner of Bernese Mountain talked with me, asking if I could shave parts of it, but I told her that I rather scissor than shave. Scott and I did a lot of work brushing out. I had fun scissoring up the feathers of the front and hind legs and the tail. Trimming up the front chest part was pretty tricky. I pride myself for making him looking so handsome.

The next two dogs are a small terrier and a black labador (I don't pay attention to their names). A terrier was to be groomed completely shaved to its skin. It was not the usual #7 or #10. but with a #30 blade! It looked weird at first but actually came out quite a cute little thing. (I should have taken the pictures.) The black lab was to be shaved as well, but not quite too short. (Thank goodness.) Just shaved off enough to get any hair off... The lab have brown and blue eyes, though I do not think it's acutally blue but a big white blur as if he's blind on the one eye... While he seem to have cute fun persnoality, Pepper and Yoda decided to not like him at all. They growl at him whenever he gets too close. Oh well.

The next two dogs are a black cocker mix and a bichon. I was relief that the cocker mix aren't too bad because its fur are easy to shaved. She have pretty brown eyes. Usually cocker fur are thick and unruly. A bichon are somewhat diffcuilt where I cannot get the long blade to go through some knots. So instead I just sisscor up the legs slightly shorter, but came out not too bad. Trimming up the face in roundish shape aren't my favorite but I'm glad that its fur are not as curly and fluffy as a poodle, so I don't have to be so picky.

Short Note

2009-01-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday, I had only one dog which was a yorkie. I did not find it a big deal because Scott and I planned to stop by at Salt Lake Community College afterwards. I really liked the Student Center building! They have awesome features. We went into the Bookstore just to look around, though it was where I end up bought myself the VisTablet. I really liked my new toy: VisTablet, which is a drawing/mouse pad. For more details or to see what it looks like: The VisTablet.

I did not have work on Thursday and Friday. Then Scott and I had 7 dogs on Saturday! It was not stressful because most of them are just bath and brush. My favorite are the two adorable Pomeranians, whom I got $10 tip from. I also got a paycheck: $484.45 for doing 30 dogs. (I believe Tres White removed some money because he paid for my blue clippers.) The next paycheck should be on the 29th. Hopefully, it would be enough for February's Rent.

Good Day

2009-01-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

Today is a good day, though I am not exactly sure why. Probably less stressful. Good mood. ...

I drove over to work and got three dogs ready for me to bathe. A pomeranian Angel, a black hairy lab mix Dexter, and a small aussie mix (forgotten the name).

Angel is quite a spoiled dog; She came in inside her kennel box. Her grooming style was simply shaved all except for trimming up her tail. She wasn't too bad to groom, took me a bit of patience since she dislike having her legs or feet touched. I had to use scissor to clip fur off the legs instead of the clippers. Angel is a cutie, though I believe she's quite old. I liked Angel's mommy. She gave me some point out where she wanted me to fix on, then she helped holding Angel so I can clipped her nails without a fuss. I received $5 tip. She noticed that I am deaf and was impressed with my lip-reading ability. (I took off my hearing aid because the battery was dying.)

Dexter... Not a bad dog. At first I thought I would have to shave off the whole dog, but the owner preferred this time just trimming off the feathers. Trimming is my favorite thing to do. I eagerly grab the scissor and a comb and start shaping him up. The hind-legs are slightly tough because the fur texture are different. I did not trim up very short on the front-legs because it would look uneven. I trimmed up around the ears and head, to give it a smooth appearance. (I should have done a "before" and "after" photo of Dexter...)

Aussie: She's very cute with or without hair, though I believe is slightly underweight? I felt her backbone. Again, I wish I did a "before" and "after" photo of her, which is drastically different. She's very quick to groom: shave all off.

I got home at 4ish, greeted by Scott who's in a sweet cuddly mood. Scott was excited to have some good lead in selling his laptop... He received few phone calls and five text messages asking about his laptop. One was suppose to come by in the evening to take a look, but decided to come tomorrow instead. Bummer. But a few are planning to come in to take a look tomorrow...

Then we got ready and went out to Applebee's with Mike B. and a couple, Brother and Sister Wilson from the Deaf Ward. After the dinner, we played Apples To Apples card game at Wilson's apartment (not ours). I won the game.

Brother and Sister Wilson has been married for 37 years, I think. They had four kids and some grandkids. Brother Wilson is hearing and Sister Wilson is deaf. I think they're quite a cute couple.

Today is a good day, indeed.

Two Groomers

2009-01-11T23:15:00.000-08:00

Mindi came to work Friday and Saturday which was quite a surprised. She drove from Wyoming to work. I excepted to see her once or twice a month on Saturdays. It was slightly overwhelming working with her because it was quite difficult fitting in many dogs, where we only have 8 cages. Sometimes we had to tie up one or two dogs to the wall. I was glad to have Scott helping out with the bathing and cleaning both days. I had a brief asthma attack at work, but glad that the inhalor worked out. I forgotten how frustrated for me to use the energy to breathe and unable to work for a moment. I hope it won't happened again. I have three dogs scheduled on Monday. Things are finally picking up slightly better for this week. Whew. I will get the paycheck this weekend. Speaking of money, I got unusual high amount of tips on Saturday. I do not know how many I've earn in total because I gave most of them to Scott, paying him to bath 6 of my dogs on Saturday. (5 dogs on Friday.) Did I mentioned that I got $680.90 for doing 42 dogs?

Slow Week

2009-01-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

I've not been working at Dirty Johnson's Dog Wash since Monday, where I groomed only ONE dog... It's making me becoming more clingy to my money, hope to have just enough for February's Rent. My goal is to not to use the $1,000 saving as long as I can. I feel better to be able to earn enough money for the monthly rent, and not having to draw out the savings...

I spend a lot of time with my own private blog (daystarnite.blogspot.com). I did fun collections of beautiful photos, random topics, including a fun visual wish list. According to my list wish, it would cost over $1,000 to buy them all. Unless, I try finding them in cheaper price from criagslist or ksl. Scott's wish list are more expensive: over $2,000. I'm not surprised because they're are mostly electronic items. Not that we WILL buy them all, but it helps give us an idea if we would really want/need them and how much we can save to buy them in the future.

My wish list are simple: drawing notebook, the sims 3, full-size mirror, electric piano, a dresser, and a woofer. I know it may not add up to over $1,000. Scott added Wii and Wii Dance Pad into the list. *chuckled*

Saturday Work

2009-01-03T20:44:00.001-08:00

Scott and I arrived to work late after 9 am, but it turned out that the first dog aren't coming in till 1 pm. So we cleaned up the place a bit and then we went out to eat panda express for lunch.

The first dog was a Shih Tzu who's matted. Needless to say, he needed to be shaved off, head to toe. He has very cute personality, but disliked to be groomed. I was so glad that Scott was with me to help out handling this wiggling dog. He never tried to bite, but would cried or screamed and wrestled with us. He actually had a piece of gum stuck on one of his paws.

The second dog was a mini-Aussie, Baxter, with brown shade of color cut coats. He's VERY "perfect". Good personality, calm, obedience, sweet, etc...! Everyone just loves him. (See the photo)

The next dog was another Shih Tzu, with a picky-type lady-owner. I've groomed her dog before and I seem to passed her expectation. However, this time her dog has patch of mats behind the ears and each side of the cheek. The top of dog's head are matted, but luckily not as bad, which can be brushed out. He is not hard to groom, comparing to the first dog. His style groom are bobbed cut ears and ponytail on the head.

The last dog was a big dog, a cocker and poodle mix (or cockapoo), which was to be shaved short but leave the top of the head and ears long. However, I started grooming that dog at 6 pm! The last Shih Tzu was suppose to come at 2 pm, but forgotten to bring him in. So both of the Shih Tzu and Cockapoo came in at 4 pm! Cockapoos was scheduled at 4 pm, who refused to be put in earlier time. -sigh- Scott and I didn't get out of work till little after 7 pm.

To help speed up the grooming, I had Scott groom the other side of Cockapoo. Because of it's curly fur coat, it won't show signs of "mess-up". He had fun with a bit of hand-on dog grooming experience beside bathing and drying and brushing out the dogs. -smile-

Long day today.

Simply Working

2008-12-24T21:57:00.000-08:00

It turned out that I had to go to work at 9 am on Christmas Eve. I was somewhat surprised that the Self-Dog-Wash were already busy. Mindi, Scott and I began working. I had 6 dogs. All --except one-- are to be groomed. I got one dog done by noon, and three dogs done by 3. The two Westies were fairly easy and fast to groom. The last dog, which was a big terrier dog, was done by 4! I was surprised that I got things done well. I thought I would be stuck at work till 6.

I found out that Mindi officially moved and live in Wyoming now, and will be coming into Dirty Johnson's once or twice a month. She's happy there as long as she's with her girlfriend. Her girlfriend is cute.

There are few more "unquie" dogs: the one westie dog that came in today have one eye. One dog who came in the other day actually have FIVE toes. Usually dogs have four toes. I'm trying to remember what other dog that was very different or interesting... Hmm I think was about it so far.

Dog Fashion Show

2008-12-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

To think you could not get enough of your own dog, loving him/her so much, simply wanted to spoil him/her... Well, this check out--People go to extreme for their pets. Dog Fashion Show!

Isle Of Dogs Creative Styling Showcase

Pet Fashion Week NY 2007 - Buyer Runaway Show

To check out more go check out this website: http://petfashionweek.com/videolibrary/videolibrary.html

Stressful Day

2008-12-20T20:17:00.000-08:00

My husband dropped me off at work early morning. (Slightly before 9 am.) I was so anxious about how can I do the work without clippers. I quickly looked up my schedule sheet. I have four dogs, two small and two big dogs. Three of them are my regular costumers, and one was a new costumer. Two of the small dogs (one-eye black poodle & a bichon) are to be groomed. Two big dogs (a brown big dog and a white big dog--couldn't find the specific breed name!!?!!) are to be bath and brushed, though white one was matted which would take up time. Four dogs for the days sounds great, except for the clippers!

I talked with the worker named Konni Ford. --I liked her a lot, especially when it comes to communication.-- I explained the situation and asked her if she could call the two dogs to hold off a bit, to see if I can get the clipper to work again. Konni called the Boss Tres first. It turned out that Mindi (who works on Saturdays) wasn't coming. So I'm all on my own. (Her dogs are canceled, don't worry.) Tres said that he'll come over and see if he can get it to work. If not, then he'll take me to the shop.

The small dogs arrived and I got them bathed. Another small dog squeeze in, a black mini Schnauzer (with a tumor on the underside), just for bath and brush. Then a large dog (I forgotten or couldn't figure out the breed) came in. I got them all bathed. The last dog comes in later like at 2pm I think.

Then finally Tres took me into his Jeep and went over to PetSmart. I was slightly surprised how busy the store was. There was about 8 small varies of dogs for adoptions. Plus 8 or 12 Chihuahua for adoptions!! We went straight to dog grooming supplies. I found one clipper that was my preference and my type of clipper that stopped working. It cost like $186, almost $200. Because I do not have enough in my bank account that time, Tres was willing to pay for it, but he'll take that price out of my next paycheck. (Don't worry I got $606 paycheck today.) ♥It's a wonderful clippers colored blue with glitter sliver on/off button, including a #10 blade!!♥

I finally started grooming around 11:45 am. The schnauzer was done by noon. I was in the middle of working on the poodle when the owner start asking if it's done or when it'll be done. I was like hold on because the blades gets so hot that I had to slow down. I couldn't switch to other #7 blades because they're not working. I cannot remember when I finally finished Rocky, the owner give me a warm Merry Christmas & Thank-You & $10 tip.

By the time I was about to start working on a Bichon, the owner shows up. Grooming the body are fairly easy because it's fur were all fluffed up from the dryer, but there's other delay: she had a seizure out of blue. I quickly put her on the floor so she won't fell off the table. I asked Konni to call the owner about it. The owner said it's fine and don't worry. I was like um okay. So I waited till the Bichon return to normal and resumed the grooming. There's a lot of knots on the head, so it takes time to get it out, plus trying to avoid being bitten for doing that. The owner comes and goes which increase my stress trying to hurry but cannot make it perfect for doing that, especially when trying to get the knots out!

While I was trying to finish off a Bichon, my sister Katie and her family stopped by, whom I'm glad to see them all but it's all in a wrong time and day. I let them watch and play with the two little doggies of mine; Pepper and Yoda.

To top it off, Konni asked me about when the large brown dog. will be done---not just a bath and brush but to be GROOMED as well! Argh! The big white dog arrived sometime while I was in the middle of grooming the small dogs, so I haven't done anything with it yet, just simply trying to get small dogs done as much as I can.

I gave up trying to get the tiny knots out and just fix up the face in Bichon style with the sissor and call it done. I told the owner to bring her in again soon just for bath and brush so I can brush it out better.

I cleaned up the room by vacuuming up all those dog hairs then pull out the big brown dog. I grab the longest blade I have and tackled him. Most of the body aren't too bad, except for wrestling with him to shave the front legs. The owner called asking when it'll be done. I was like SIGH just gimme 30 mins! For the parts I cannot get the long blade to get through I simple grab the sisscor and chopped them off. I tidy up the face and paws and tail, then finally --after more than 30 mins-- SIGH all done! The owner repeatedly said thank-you and I think I got a $10 from her.

While I was grooming the brown dog, I was increasingly stressing out about the last dog which hasn't been touched. I asked Konni to bathe him for me, but then was reminded that he's matted which is better to be brushed out frist before having a bath. Timing wise I cannot do it at all. I was sending message to Scott begging him to come over to help me out. Not only I was stressing out, I was HUNGRY. I did not have any lunch.

Scott was busy volunteering to help a family with the moving into a house from New York. When he finally got my message, he was on the way. By the time he arrived, it was too late. As soon as I was going to start the white dog, the owner shows up. She wasn't happy. I had about 2 hours left till 6. I ask if I could just brush out as much as I can till 6 without a bath? I explained that I had similiar dog like it where it had to be brought back next time to finish off.... She was mumbling something about family coming home soon and such. She just took her dog home-- unfinished, untouched.

I was distressed. I couldn't help but hide in the bathroom and bawled my eyes out. When I got a hold of myself, I step out to start putting things away and clean up. Scott showed up and I bawled on his shoulder. At least I got $31 tip today...

Crazy Morning

2008-12-19T20:46:00.000-08:00

Two days ago -on Wednesday- I arrived to work pretty much on time, although I thought I was going to be late. I usually park on the curb so the costumers can have the parking space, since there are not very many of them. There were quite a bit of snow. I almost got stuck but luckily the road is bit hilly, so I simply let myself roll down back unto the road. I parked on the other side of the curb where there's less snow. I took Yoda with me in my arm. Pepper was at home, to keep Scott in company.

I arrived to the door and it's locked. I guess the worker Cayla was running late. There's an old guy with a white toy poodle in his arm, waiting. We exchanged greetings and commenting about weather and the dogs. I got the text message from Cayla that she'll be late and was in a hurry. We waited outside by the door in the cold for a while. The man invited me to sit in his car so we can be warm while we wait. His car was leather inside which is lovely! We talked about where we live, and few little tales. He lives in Murray, grew up in Utah, his daughter lives in AZ, where he recently returned from, though he will visit AZ again for Christmas.

I got another text message from Cayla explaining that she's having situation with her mother in the hospital and don't think can make it on time. She tried to get a hold of the boss Tres White but no answer. I send Tres the text message about what happened. He replied that he'll give me the key so it won't happened again. Good idea. Then later finally informed me that other worker Sam is coming.

We waited for half hour. The man mumbled about having an appointment at noon so I offered that I can hold on to his dog named Angel so he can leave. He commented that he didn't want me to stand outside in the cold. I mentioned about my car. So he went ahead to walk with me to my car and put two dogs in. He asked me to make sure to call him when Angel finally in the shop.

The two dogs and I didn't wait long when Sam arrived and parked his vehicle at the curb. We got into the dog wash shop and I put the dogs away and trying to get everything starting with work. I was just about to grab the work schedule when I noticed Sam doesn't sound nor looks so good. He looked very ill. His voice sounds hoarse. I felt really bad for him. I was thinking to myself, "Better hope that Cayla will get here soon."

I busied myself with the dogs to bathe and groom. I was surprised to actually groom three dogs in three hours. Whew!

Aw crap, my mind seem to stop working now and it's getting late. Time for bed and I have early morning work at 9 am. Lets hope there a bad snow storm where work has to be canceled... I'll add more in later.

Beginning of December

2008-12-04T18:23:00.000-08:00

>>I copied and pasted into this blog from Deaf Wilson blog<<

I'm at work right now, with three dogs done, and two dogs drying in the cage. So I thought to take some time to do some typing here for the blog. Although I can update the blog at home, but everytime I tried, my mind just went dead. Being at work, my mind often runs really well.

I have not worked at Dirty Johnson's on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. I'm glad to finally have five dogs to bathe and brush and groom today. Things were quite slow after Thanksgiving. The Dog Wash place refused to remain idle: they busy themselves with remolding. The walls were painted in different colors. At frist, they tried light blue (I disagreed with that color), then next they did green one wall then dark orange other wall (much better!). They even painted the floor, tried almost white then switched to dark grey. They cleaned out the bathroom as well, where it use to be stuffed with junks. I am hopeing that the bathroom wall can be painted green... They (finally) considering/planning to add the door on the one wall. I do not know when or how soon. They replaced the front desk counter. I preferred the old one since it's out of metal not wood because dogs often peed on them. Peeing on the wood would make it worse... Tsk tsk.

It was an exciting news to hear of an addition nephew into the family. Katie Husish brought home a baby boy named Abraham Ryan Huish on the last day of November at 3 in the morning. Magnolia is still the only niece in the family. I hope she wouldn't feel so left out when growing up.

My index finger is healing rather nicely, though I needed to return to the doctor soon to have the stitches out, because it was bothering me. My finger sometimes swollen slightly.

The weather in Utah is still unusually nice, not too cold, and no snow. There's some snow on mountains but not as fully covered as it usually be last year. It makes me feel better and safe with the driving for work.

I think I better return to work now. Later Gator!
>> Maggie Holt Wilson <<

Healing

2008-11-26T22:04:00.000-08:00

My index finger is feeling less pain, less swollen, and becoming bendable. I can even get to type with that finger now. Well, not a lot but it's getting better. Yippie. I am waiting for Scott to contact me to pick him up from work. Probably at midnight. Which is an hour from now.

I was relief that working with dogs today are not too bad. There are only four large dogs. One already had a bath on the day I was send home, and it was just a groom. One white medium dog was a bath and brush, which got me slightly puzzled because it acted rather weird. Three of those dogs are to be groomed. The last dog came in at three and attacks the blower, so it took a while for her to be dried. Then by the time I'm all done with the dogs (and the clean-up) I left work at 6:30pm with a paycheck and $18 tip. I used that tip for gas. It went from almost empty to almost full. Not bad for $18. -smile-

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is coming so soon already! And I believe it's quite unusual to have nice clear weather lately, where I kept expecting snow storm coming any minute. Hmmm.

Index Finger

2008-11-25T22:30:00.000-08:00

A little follow up about my wounded finger:
My finger is still swollen, feeling warmer than my hand. I got the wrapping off couple hours ago. It feels better to have it off because it needs to breath. My finger is still throbbing and sensitive. I know that I can take pain-pills for it, but there's only two left in the bottle. So, I'm saving it for work. Beside, I slept almost all day, which was nice. I got oil-blessing by two priesthood holders in the evening. It was nice to the blessing and the Lord simply said that it will heal nicely as long as I take good care of it.
I'm nervous about returning to work this week because I do not know how I can be able to handle it: unable to use the index finger much, ya'know. Though, luckily the injured are on my left hand so it shouldn't be too bad as long as I take plenty of pain-killer pills. Hmmm.
>>I do have a photo of my finger ripped open before stitched up and if you wanted to take a look at it, please let me know and I can email it to you<<

HAPPY THANKSGIVING YA'LL!
Plan for Thanksgiving Day: Scott and I will be leaving our dogs at home, where Lynette can take babysit them. We will in turn babysit her dog while she work 11-hr shift on Black Friday. We're planning to go to Logan, where Scott's sister lives and the family will be there. I am very excited to hang out with Scott's family again. It seems like a short while ago, that I was with his family last year in Arizona, this time married not engaged. I love his family!

Bitten By A Dog

2008-11-25T01:19:00.000-08:00

I arrived to work at 12:30ish and started working on the 1st dog which is a small poodle mix. On the file paper said to be careful with the sore eye. I decided to give him a shave before the bath since it's very matted. I opened the cage and pat his head. Then I reach into take him, but he bit my left index finger quite hard. My finger felt beaten up, red and throbbing. I exam my finger and there's a small break skin which I think is no biggie.

I sighed and remind myself that some dogs are just odd fear bitter when it comes to taking them out of cage. If you try take him out of cage by hand you'll get bitten. If you slip on the leach/rope on the neck and lead him out and pick him up, he's harmless. I did just that and took him to the table. I sat on the chair and shave him up. I was going to adjust him, as in to turn him around, by lifting his chest/neck and move him, but he snapped at my hand. He grab my index and middle finger with his teeth.

I have been bitten many times before which rarely breaks the skin or hurts bad enough. But this kind of bite was not a bite, it was more like trying to chew my finger off! It took me a moment to finally freed my hand from his jaws. I was bleeding rapidly. I grabbed the paper towel and grab a hold on my finger. I got Cayla's attention that I'm bleeding. I started pacing around, trying to hold my hand up to slow down the bleeding. My body was in shock. I was like trying to breath deeply and trying to calm down. Then I sat back down on the chair. The large 1st aid box was set and open on the table. The guy whom I do not know start to tend my finger. Then I felt myself becoming pale and I became really light-headed. I tried to recovery by leaning forward over my legs, but it does not work. When the guy finish tending my finger, I lie down on the floor. I felt better, but my body was still in shock.

Cayla told me that she called the owner to come over to help get the muzzle on and she'll do the grooming and take care of few of my dogs, and I can go ahead go home. When I believe I'm okay enough to drive home, I left work. By the time I drove on I-15 highway for a while, the shock subside and the pain appeared. It made me preferred to be shock than to feel the pain. It was bearable, but unpleasant.

I arrived home and greeted Scott and DJ by showing them my injured hand. There's a trail of blood down my palm that was not washed off at work. I told them what happened. I took the bloody band aid off to wash the wound. It somehow got me in shock again. Scott and I pour the alcohol over the dog bite three times, then put on the clean new band aid. Lynette came over and tried hard not to gross out over my wound tale. But I asked if I needed to have stitches. Lynette who seem to have more experiences on wounds (she's a farmer) took a look and encouraged me to get it stitched up. We expressed concerned about budget, no medical insurance.

Lynette looked up online for free clinics in the area. Scott, DJ and I went out to try the one in Provo. But it turned out to be the wrong one. The gal gave us a card that listed the three clinic that can take care of those types of injures. There's one in Orem. We went over there.

We got in after 7:30ish. I filled out the papers and the waiting was only a few minutes. After quick questioning and check up, the Doctor who is red-headed and very nice took me to the other room. (Scott stayed with me the whole time.) I was very nervous, feeling like it'll be my first time getting stitches. It wasn't till later I realized I already had stitches before: my "wound" on my belly. Anyways, the doctor got my hand and finger clean up a bit then gave me two numb shots.

I told Scott that I like to have some distraction during the shot, so he did his best to do that by asking me math question. (I talked a mile when I'm nervous, so I couldn't help but saying whatever I feel or thinking.) When the 1st needle goes in, it oddly felt good. I was like talking outloud about how good it feels, feels so nice. Then I started laughing. The doctor poke in the second needle which this time doesn't feel quite as nice. I was like talking quickly about how it feels like the needle was going THROUGH my hand. Then I laugh again, just laughing at myself, feeling silly. When the two needles got out, I calmed down.

The finger began to swell slowly and started to feel like it's dying, numbed up. I had to poke that finger a few times because of curiosity and it felt so weird and stiff. While a few minutes of waiting, the nurse cleaned up my finger some more by squirting water on my wound. Then finally the doctor returned and sat down with the tools ready.

The doctor picked up the cloth that's soak with special soap. He dabbed my wound and look at him questioningly. I was like I don't feel a thing. He scrub up my wound quite deeply which caused it be bleeding. Scott was like, "why is he doing that? Trying to rip up your skin." I assured him that he's just doing some deep cleaning. Then finally, the doctor got the "sewing" tools ready.

At 1st I didn't want to watch it, tried to pay attention to Scott, but for some reason it wasn't helping. So I end up talking to the Doctor who asked me how long I work as a dog groomer and if I've been bit before, etc. I was surprised to see that it only takes two stitches, not three or four. Because my finger felt very dead or felt like it's not part of me, I can manage watching him stitching up the second knot and I can exam my finger closely. When it's all done, I asked the doctor if I can work next day since I have four dogs scheduled. He gave me a doctor note, asking me to have day off. He told me to keep my finger clean and dry for 7 days. The nurse wrapped up my finger with interesting bandages, which I am to leave it on for one day. I also got a prescription for the pills to prevent infection.

I went up front the desk to pay but the lady let me pass. Scott and DJ and I went to Walgreen to pick up the pills. Then we returned home. Scott and I changed the clothes into something nice and went to Olive Garden for "late" 4th month of marriage. It was nice to eat and relax there.

I am ready to go to sleep and I get some rest. Good Night. Hope you enjoyed my eventful moment from work. (Yes, I typed pretty good without my left index finger.)

All Week?

2008-11-21T13:17:00.000-08:00

I just found out that Mindi got the other job and can only work on Saturdays. Therefore it means that I can work from Monday to Friday. However, I decided to have Thursday off because I noticed lately that I do not get any dogs on Thursdays which is strange. But hey, it means more money! Perhaps more than $840 a month... Allow me to do the math... (Remember it varies.)

$35 = 1 dog
$140 = 4 dogs/day
$560 = 4 days/week
$2,240 = a month
$1,008 = 55% commission

I would get around $1,000 a month! As long as I get dogs that is...

Run Away

2008-11-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

I put the dogs outside through the kitchen window. We set up "fence" in our small yard so that way we do not have to go outside with them. I guess there's a gap in the backyard fence that they went through and escaped. When they eventually returned, Yoda was covered in poop, which stinks so bad. I had to grab him and toss him to into shower. I changed my clothes that I can get wet in and scrubbed him deeply. It was unbelievable. UGH.

New News About My Work

2008-11-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

I have been told or hearing that there will be some change in Dirty Johnson's Dog Wash. Mindi, the groomer, are going to move out of Utah at the end of December, more or less. Mindi worked at Dog Wash for 5 years. She'll be watching over me to make sure I can meet her costumers' standards or expectations, so she can recommended them to me while she prepare herself to no longer be part of Dog Wash.

However, we met a gal who's a groomer for 11 years. We didn't catch her name, though. She may be taking over Mindi's place. We shall see. I think she's going to have a "test" this coming Wednesday.

With the cleaning maid out of the way, I may be working extra day. As far as I know, I'll be working on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, if there's dogs ready for me to groom.

With possibly of having Scott with me to work every Saturday, Tres White, the boss, are planning to have him included into his workshop. He started cleaning out the tubs and doing the laundry and filling up shampoo-bottles today. The business is indeed becoming busier.

That's all for now of the News from my work.

Budget

2008-11-10T18:04:00.000-08:00

Speaking of money...

Scott and I had fun using the Excel program on the computer into budget chart or plan. I do not think I can be able to paste some Excel view onto this Blog. Anyhow, from what we've calculated so far, Scott will have about $1,000 a month and I will have about $840 a month. Since Scott's job is basic on per hour, mine is basic on commission, so my income varies.

My work now pays me 55% commission, since I've been working there for over three months. The $860 a month is basic on $35 per dog on 4 dogs per day on 3 times a week with 55% commission. However, if I found a second job where I can work for 24 hours per week for $8 per hour, I can earn around $768 a month, not including tax removal. Adding up the doggie and second job, I would make over $1,000 a month.

But then again, my doggie work paycheck amount varies. I may have 3 or 5 dogs some days, or some dogs cost $40 to $45 instead of $30 or $35. I can earn from $650 to $1,500, more or less, a month.

Slow Days...

2008-11-10T17:55:00.000-08:00

My doggie work schedule will be on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Unfortunately, my work does not have much dogs scheduled for me lately. I did not get to work on Saturday. I found out recently that I do not have dogs to do tomorrow, either. Poor gal said that not one person came in today. We supposed it must be the rain that kept them inside. If my doggie work is not working very well so far, I shall start searching for a second job...

On the bright side, today is the first day of work for Scott. I will be picking him up at 11 pm. I'm currently relaxing in Provo Library since it's closer to where he works. Though the library closes at 9 pm.... With Scott's job, he should be able to bring home $1,000 a month.

Odd Furball

2008-11-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

I've been working for a full week at Dirty Johnson's Dog Wash, except for Tuesday when it was closed. And not to mention the cleaning maid in the morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Wednesday was the busiest or longest day of work. I worked from 8 am till 7 pm. Surprisingly, I wasn't exhausted at all.

Scott came to work with me everyday as well except for Monday, when he had to go run some errands, doing some job searches that is. It was nice to have Scott helping out with washing the dogs and some cleaning. While things are done or slow, he would use the internet at Blue Star Cafe to apply more jobs online or staying at work watching 24 on the laptop.

I have got interesting dogs coming in lately. A bichon missing a left-front leg. A small black poodle missing an eye. A senior yorkie missing all of the teeth. What's next...

Cleaning Maid - No More

2008-11-03T11:57:00.001-08:00

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I was in the middle of working on the laundry when a lady appeared saying that she's doing the cleaning around the house. I texted Alisha asking her if she knows about that lady. She forgotten to tell me that both of us no longer working around their house. They couldn't afford us anymore and this lady owes them money.
Rather than being dismayed, I accept it gladly, though I'll miss working there. I was quite relief because I wasn't so sure how I can make it, climbing up the hill in a car through the snow during winter season. And it gives me more time availablity to work at Dirty Johnson Dog Wash. I left a note saying that I enjoyed working around the house and wished them Happy Thanksgiving and Christmas then left.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Another Week Gone By

2008-10-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

♥♥♥♥♥ We're suppose to be working at Dirty Johnson's Dog Wash last Monday and Thursday, but there weren't any dogs scheduled for bath/groom. ♥ We spend most of the time window shopping. We're trying out different outfits that are fitting to our body frame. It was fun learning new things about ourselves and fashion. My fashion style are New York and slightly Gothic (pink & black). Scott's fashion style are British type and something else I forgot what. Our friend Lynette should seriously take a fashion career. The clothes at the store called Buckled made Scott looked oh so handsome! I was so tempted to spend $100+ on those clothes for Christmas presents for him. But we needed to save money because work is very slow this month. ♥ However, the good news is Scott had a job interveiw at SorensonVRS company in West Jorden last Wednesday. It appeared to have high chance of hiring him. *cross her fingers* It is a very good position because it's $10 per hour! Imagine having him working 35 hours per week there and earn big bucks! ♥♥♥♥♥

Today...

2008-10-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

Today is a wonderful day. I actually worked up to 4.5 hours as cleaning maid, and better yet, I didn't feel tired with the cleaning. I can keep going and going... I spend a lot of time cleaning up the kitchen because someone seem to be in a cooking mood during the weekend. There are a lot of dirty dishes and such. I decided to do some deep cleaning. I washed most of the dishes by hand because the dishwasher were full. For those are not easily wiped off, I used a spoon to scrap up the bits and bits off the counter. Because I could not find the broom, I just vacuumed up the kitchen floor to pick up all those crumbs I brush off the counters. Of course I vacuumed up the family room. I saw opened large boxes which turned out that they recently got themselves a new toy: Wii Rock Bank Drum! Then I finally tidy up mama's bedroom and bathroom, which was not too bad. Except for a fern plant appeared to be in a shedding mode. I vacuumed up all those loose pile leaves from the carpet. I could keep cleaning because there are laundry needed to be done, (I was ignoring that part while I was cleaning up the kitchen), the boy's bedroom and office to tidy up...

Scott and I will be working at Dirty Johnson's Dog Wash three times a week. Today was suppose to be the day, right after the cleaning maid, but it appeared to be no dogs scheduled for us to do. Oh well. Hopefully we will have dogs scheduled this Thursday. We will be working on Monday, Thursday and Saturday in Dog Wash. As long as there are dogs for us to do, that is. So far things are doing great, though it seems Saturdays works out better because it is the busiest day of the week.

Last week, we worked at Dog Wash on Friday and Saturday. Friday seem to be an "Old Large Senior Dog Day". Two of the dogs are mainly bath and brush while the one are being groomed. Big dogs makes good money. We enjoyed that day since it was not very stressful.

However, Saturday was busy. We had five dogs where nearly all of them are to be groomed. We worked from 9am to 5pm. A cocker spaniel takes longer for me to groom while two shih tzu dogs are quick to groom. The last dog I groomed was a beautiful black female lab. To think I have to groom her is silly because she's fine the way she is for she's naturally short-fur-coated breed! But it was fine anyways because I get paid to do it. Heehe.

Bits and Bits

2008-10-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

*HAPPY EARLY HALLOWEEN*

Couldn't you believe it's October already?!

Cleaning Maid: When I was carrying downstairs the basket full of clean folded clothes, I nearly stepped on Dusty, a dog. He was just laying on the step, never moved out of the way. I was lucky to walk down slowly and cautiously. It gave me almost a heart attack since I could have tumbled down the stairs along with the clothes. *muttering*

Dirty Johnson's Dog Wash: It is really nice to have my husband Scott coming to work with me to help out with all those bathing and washing works, which helped out with the timing better for me to groom the dogs, making things done faster and earlier; We can be able to go home slightly early than 6pm or have extra dogs coming in for extra money.

More Cleaning Maid History

2008-09-19T10:07:00.001-07:00

The house I worked at as a maid is a very nice home. The house was mostly decorated with fake leaves and ivy on window stills, top of fireworks, shelves, cupboards, table, etc. In some areas have small collections of dolls, fairies, mushrooms, and gnomes. I noticed that some room such as kitchen and bathroom have wide border wall paper on top and middle with maroon color. The parent’s bathroom is full of beach theme. There are seashells glued around the mirrors, cups, and baskets. There are large sea shells set around the hot tub. The artworks of mermaids are hang on the walls. The kid’s bathroom too have beach theme, but with lighthouse as part of the decoration. There is a candle shaped as lighthouse, few framed pictures of lighthouse on the walls. I liked this bathroom better because the master bathroom decorations are too much. Though, it makes one wonder if the parents grew up as pirates in the sea. That would make it a good story in the book.

I learned new things each time I work there. When I started working there, I noticed couple of things that needs repairing. I figured that it’ll be fixed soon. But it remains partly broken. Allow me to name a few. Couple of the cupboard doors are being hang by one hiedge. One cupboard door is completely off, and been sitting behind the toilet.

I will add more about the Cleaning Maid later because time ran out. Take care.

The Cleaning Maid History

2008-09-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

♥ I enjoyed being the Cleaning Maid. Cleaning a house three times a week wasn’t so bad. I learned new things each time I cleaned around the house. The house has three floors: upstairs, ground floor, and basement. I only clean on the upstairs and the ground floor. Once in a while, I would vacuum the basement stairs, and nothing more.

The ground floor contained kitchen, family room, living room, half bathroom, and a bedroom.

The upstairs contained a laundry room, a bathroom, two bedrooms, an office with three computers, and a master bedroom with master bathroom. There’s another maid who worked in the same house for two years. Her name is Alisha Groo. She is about the same age as mine, and knows some sign language.

♥ The family living in the house was quiet but interesting. It’s rare to see the father home. I have seen mama, a son and a daughter around. With school starting, the house was usually empty, except for a dog and two cats. The dog stays home while the two cats comes and goes. Earlier, the dog named Dusty, looks like a mess. I left a note saying that I’m a dog groomer. Mama asked me to shave him up. I groomed him well, and the family’s happy. Pretty soon, Dusty will need a trim up. One black cat is a mess, too; its fur is matted solid. Your face will curl in disgust if you pet it. I am no expert with cat grooming, so there’s nothing I can do.

What's Wrong With Thursday?

2008-09-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

$$ For three Thursdays in a row this month of September, I do not have work at Dirty Johnson's Dog Wash. It is making me becoming concerned about my budget for the month. The three thousand dollars were deposit into my mom's account - a payment in buying her car - and my checking account appeared very low. Yup, I'm poor once again. Don't worry, I will get the Cleaning Maid check tomorrow and a Dog Wash paycheck this Saturday. Hopefully it will add up to $300, more or less. $$

Happy Labor Day

2008-09-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 1, 2008
Happy Labor Day

RABBIT RABBIT. Today is Labor Day and the first day of the month. On 4th of September shall be my 25th birthday. An age I’ve been looking forward to and not a bad age to be married. I have two jobs to enjoy while my husband attends Utah Valley of University. We have only been married for over a month since July 22. We love it so far, living together in a sweet simple home in a basement for $550 a month. We will have to pay $200 extra for September because we split the $400 deposit into half when we move-in at the beginning of August. We shall be pretty tight on budget for a while. I believe after September ends, the budget should become better, unless something happens with the Social Security Income. With my two steady jobs and one on-call job, it may not be enough for the month expense. However, it can be taken care of if I add a third day of work at Dirty Johnson’s Dog Wash in South Salt Lake City. I know that they wouldn’t mind having me working three times a week because I’ve heard that customers loved how I did my grooming skills with their dogs.

Last Saturday was a great day, even though I worked from 9am to 7pm. A groomer named Mini and I worked with our dogs then worked together with the last three dogs. I groomed five dogs and received $37 tip. I bought myself a strawberry/peach smoothie with protein from Blue Star café across the street with my tip. It was not very stressful and I was happy that things went well, unlike the other Saturday. That day was like a total breakdown. I had few customers asking when I’ll be done with their dog which adds more pressure with the timing while I was juggling with 4 or 5 dogs. Some had to wait because it was still wet or I was in the middle of grooming a dog. It was crazy. By the end of the day, by the time I was finally grooming on the last dog, my mind stopped working/thinking. I was ready to get out of the room and pass-out. It was not a very good day. When I got home from work; Scott surprised me with some new arrangement around the basement -- including a creative desk in the bedroom -- and with dinner ready to be served. He was very sweet! He made a “desk” by using a long flat wood on the two blue storage box and covered it with a sheet and topping it with my laptop, jar of pens, stack of notebooks and Ensigns. In fact, I’m using the desk as I am typing this “blog” in the word document. The two new desk lamps from IKEA today looks fabulous on this desk. Though I know I won’t be using this creative desk very long because mom’s bringing in the desk from grandma’s place on my birthday.

It’s almost 9 o’clock and I better join in with my husband in the living room to have a family home evening. I wish you all a good night and a happy labor day!

Ruff House

2008-08-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

I finally got called from Ruff House on Tuesday to groom three dogs. They're adorable and sweet and easy to groom. I was excited to get extra money from the three dogs -- instead of grooming only one or two dogs. Unfortunatly, there's an accident. I do not know how it happened. I assumed that I must have poked the eye and it jerked away but the clipper caught the bottom eyelid and made a deep cut. It was bleeding and had to be taken to the Vet to have surgery to get it stitch up. Because of that accident bad enough to be taken to the Vet, the Ruff House won't charge the owner and had to pay for the Vet. No check for me. *FROWN*

Dirty Johnson's Dog Wash

2008-08-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

I finally got a paycheck last Saturday, which is about $185! Imagine one month of work at Dog Wash, twice a week... it should be around $370. Actually, work is going slow right now, but things will be picking up by next month. I am thinking about adding an day into Dog Wash, working three times a week. I should be getting over $500 a month by then. $$$

I enjoyed working at Dog Wash so far. I groomed a dog on Thursday which the owner is pleased with it, then on Saturday she returned which made me freaked out for a second, asking "what's wrong?" She only returned to give me $10 tip and commented with my work. I was relief and impressed that she took her time to give me the tip. It was very sweet of her. So far, most of the customers liked me and were impressed with my talents. (That's what the boss told me.) Yay!

Very Busy New Life

2008-07-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

Everything was happening so fast in the past few weeks in July.
♥July 14th: A dog became a member of the family.
♥July 22nd: I became a wife to ♥Scott Wilson♥.
♥July 24th: I became a new Groomer in Salt Lake City.
My life is getting better and becoming busier.

My Week Schedule:

♥Maid: Monday, Wednesday, Friday = 8am - 10am/11am, $10 per hour.
♥Ruff House: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday = Base On Appointments: 1 or 2 dogs to groom, usually small dogs, range from 1 to 3 hours, earning from $20 to $33 so far from each appointments.
♥Dirty Johnson Dog Wash: Thursday = 11am to 6pm & Saturday = 9am to 6pm, 4 or 5 dogs appointed each day, earning $20+ tips as well [perfect of gas money].
♥Wife: 24 hours for 7 days, not so bad so far, I'm loving it... ♥

Gold's Gym

2008-07-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

♥ Because I have been lectured that in order for me to eat more or gain weight, I should be exercising. Therefore, I became a member of Gold's Gym.
♥ The 1st day I went over was simply for a swim, with Scott. I actually swam six laps. I swam slowly in relaxing way plus resting for few minutes at each end. I enjoyed the Sauna room but I love the Steam room the most. When I stepped into the Steam room, I can BREATHE. It feels so wonderful to have some moist into my lungs.
♥ The 2nd day I went over is for my fitness training appointment. I learned that my body fat percentage is normal, not very low or none. The two guy trainers are very friendly, helpful and fun. At the end of section, one even bought me a protien drink. It's almost like drinking strawberry smoothie. It's really good. I trying to find the free time to attend the next appointment...

A Very Long Saturday

2008-07-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

I got up at 6:30am to eat breakfast, put on clothes, brush out the hair and collect things I need then finally hit the road before 8am. I arrived to the shop in South Salt Lake City area, 20 mins early for the 9am interview. I had a tour around the shop called Dirty Johnson's Dog Wash. I liked it immediately. I groomed a dog named Shakespeare. The workers and the boss are very friendly. The boss named Tres White bought this shop from his brother. The shop has been in business for four years. Tres expanded the grooming room a month ago. It turned out to be successful. There are two groomers and I believe Tres is planning to have me replace one groomer since I heard that she was pretty mean. Anyhow, to the point, yes I got the job! I will start working there on Thursdays and Saturdays with four dogs to groom each day. I got $10 tip for grooming Shakespeare and $20 for gas from Tres.

I drove back to Provo and celabrate by buying myself two chicken tacos and sprite at Del Taco with my tip money. I took about an hour nap I think then head over to Ruff House in Orem. I groomed two dogs and earned myself $31 check. Back at home in my apartment, I cooked up Egg Drop Soup for dinner. Very yummy!

I was about to start working on the blog when I got a message from Jon Roberts, asking me out for a movie. I drove over to West Jordan to meet him at the movie theatre at 9:30pm. I had BBQ chicken wrap and Spirte at Red Robin. Then we took our seat inside the Theatre to watch Dark Knight (Batman) with captioning. It is a long good movie that makes you think. I like it and I enjoyed the date with Jon. I finally arrived home at 2am and hit the sack almost 3am.

A very long day indeed...

Condo?

2008-07-14T01:57:00.000-07:00

There's no luck so far about the Condo. Heather and Veronica decided to live somewhere else which does not include me. I've tried University Villa but the female rooms are all full. It has bee full for two months!! My name is on the waiting list for now just in case. I missed University Villa apartment!! So many good times there! Good memories!! Espeically with Bridgette and Melissa. ♥ My wonderful favorite old roommates. ♥ Funny how they're both married now... I wonder when I will get married. Hmmmm.

Photos

2008-07-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

I would love to post photos of my new hairstyles and all that if only my sidekick have the camera! I can get it if I upgrade from this Sidekick ID into Sidekick Slide. But I'm starting to hear rumors that Sidekick devices are becoming bad or lousy. So I am not sure if I wanted to do it. My Sidekick ID has been working FINE so far. Though I have been using it somewhat less and less now that I am being hooked to my laptop because I spend a lot of time staying at home. -chuckled- I often called my laptop Precious. My precious laptop... What would you say if I should upgrade my cellphone into something different? Perhaps a differnt type instead of T-Mobile? Please leave me comments of suggestions. ♥

Second Week of July

2008-07-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

On Thursday the 10th of July was a very busy day! After only 4 hours of sleep at night, I got up at 6am and check for messages or emails in my laptop. Scott stopped by at my apartment to drag me out since I've been very blah all day, staying inside at home on Wednesday. We went to relax at Barnes & Noble bookstore; I had fun looking through the Illustration books (artworks where what you see aren't what you're seeing). Then we stopped by at Gold's Gym for a swim. I swam 6 laps across the pool. I relaxed in the Sauna room. When I tried out the Steam room, I was in heaven. I can BREATH! Then we picked up the two friends, JR & Bob and checked out a small house for rent. The guys were thinking of living there. It is three bedroom and one bathroom house for $675. (I think.) We went straight to church

New Life Of July

2008-07-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

Good Times Bad Times Gimme Some of That

BAD NEWS
I lost my Riverwoods Pet Hospital job on July 1st. I got a text message saying that it's my last day of work and I shall get the last check by mail. I must have had enough "accidents" that is too much for them so they released me. It is a big bummer for me since I love that job very much. I felt bit better when I had a good cry on the shoulder and watched Frist Knight with Kris Powell that night. At least I'm glad that I have those two jobs: Maid & Groomer, though it is barely enough for me to live on.

GOOD NEWS

I joined into this really awesome website which is simliar to Facebook, but it is created and approved for Young Single Adults. -- "Social Network for the Young Single Adults of the East Bay 3rd Ward in the Provo South Stake." Go ahead click on the link to take a peek. East Bay 3rd Ward

I am living in the Branbury Apartment for a month now. (Please feel free to check out its website to see all the free featured services.) Summer rate for Shared bedroom are only $159. However, I learned that the Fall/Winter rate for Shared bedroom are $289 while Private bedroom are $339 - $349. My Summer Contract ends in August 22nd. The Fall/Winter contract goes from August to April, 9 months long. I needed to quickly decided if I wanted to remain in Branbury apartment or search for another place where it is hopefully cheaper.

I found a Riverside Condominiums, not far from here, for only $825 for 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Splitting between three roommates would be $275 rent. Comparing to Branbury Private bedroom, it is cheaper. I already filled out the application sheet and I'm waiting for the approval. The plan with the Riverside Condo is to have three deaf roommates living together: Heather and Veronica and me. Would that be fun?

Seven Peaks Water Park

2008-07-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

There was a Young Single Adult Multi-Ward Activity taken place at Seven Peaks Water Park in Provo, Utah last night from 6pm to Midnight. We wore the wristband to be able to enter for free. There's music, pizza, soda pops, water bottles, and fun! I arrived by myself a little after 6:30. A "gay" friend of mine named JR did my hair; he braided them up into pig-tails. It looked really cute. I was overwhelmed by the large number of young single men. High percentage of them are cute, handsome and in good shape. My flirty mood became a shy mood. I spend most of the time hanging out with JR.

I cannot say for sure if all or most of the Deaf Singles attend the Seven Peaks. They're all scattered everywhere. I managed to found some of them, about 10 I would think... Though they're not all hearing, I counted those who knows ASL. -chuckled-

I spend the daylight nibbling on pizza and drinking Orange Soda Pop, two of them actually, and chatting with JR. Then when the sun set, I finally decided take a dive into the water. JR & I continued the conversation by floating on the tubes around the "River". The water wasn't too bad. However when we decided to join into the Wave Pool, the water was much warmer! The waves aren't very large, due to large amount of people I believe. I enjoyed the music very much although I didn't bring my hearing aids. No, I didn't go into the fun Slides and other Rides. I guess I was more of a casual mood than to play around.

By 10pm, I dried myself and put on a shirt and jacket to be warm and chatted some more with JR and my old friend from EFDY named Christina. She lives in SLC, attending 2nd Deaf Ward. The exciting part: a cute guy came up and start signing with us. His name is Mitch Laubaugh. He's a return-missionary, served in South SLC area. He's from Ohio. He lives in Orem and works as a MTC Teacher since couple of months. And the best part, I got his phone number! Heehe!

♥ HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! ♥

To Groom or To Be Groom

2008-06-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

Today is another wonderful day! The work at Riverwoods are very slow and relaxing. I spend most of the time just moving slow or sitting. I water & fed all the animals, cuddled with a yorkie, pet a cat, wrote two notes, did some laundry, did light sweeping, raked the backyard, ate some snacks and drank a can of orange juice as I go. Because there's like NOTHING going on at work, they decided to close the place at 1:30pm. Even though I get off work early, the hours of the week made up to 26.5 hours. I must have worked extra time on the other days. I will get a paycheck on Monday. Yippie.

I came home to relax for a bit. I was about to prepare myself for a free haircut appointment at 3pm when I got text message from Ruff House. I have a dog to groom! I got my hair trimmed and added more layers. Because I have extra time left before grooming time at 4pm, I order myself some Taco Bell to eat. The dog I groomed (and bathed) today was very easy & fast to groom. With a little over an hour I earned myself a $23 check today.

The Friday Kennel Tech

2008-06-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today is a wonderful day! After working two jobs in the morning, I still have the energy to work. Thankfully, I had a good 8-hr sleep last night. When I walked into Riverwoods Pet Hospital, something smells strange. I couldn't figure out what's from till I saw an adorable baby skunk! It's there to have a surgery to remove the stinky-glands. Later, I get to briefly hold a sugar glider. It looks very cute but pretty odd to have as a pet because its claws are very sharp and gripping. Later at the end, I saw a new-born baby hedgehog!! Its spikes are white and its eyes are not opened.

Doing the kennel tech tasks are becoming easier to maintain. Simply making sure all the animals have food and water, taking the dogs outside, picking up poops, sweeping outside and inside, mopping inside, dumping all the trashes into the bin, watering the hanging plants, cleaning the kennels/cages, doing the dishes, sometimes wiping the windows, and doing the laundry. Every now and then there will be some odd jobs around the clinic when I have extra time such as bathing two of the Doctor's dogs. If there's nothing else to do, I can play with the animals such as holding the baby bunny, playing fetch with a dog, holding the macaw bird, etc. Kennel Tech is not an all work and no play job.

Three Jobs In One Day

2008-06-27T17:24:00.001-07:00

I worked two hours as a cleaning maid, then two hours as a groomer, then four hours as a kennel tech today! Having three maids in the house makes the job done faster in two hours. I got $70 check 7 hours worth of work as a maid. I got $20 check from Ruffhouse for grooming a dog. I shall get paycheck on Monday from Riverwoods for 26 hours of work a week, which should get around $182. Total: about $272! My work schedule is basically like this:

Kennel Tech: Mon - Fri: 2pm - 6pm, Saturday: 8am - 6pm. (Usually get off from 6pm to 7pm depending on when I completed the tasks.)
House Maid: Mon, Wed, Fri: 8am - 10am. (Will be longer the coming week because one maid won't be there Mon & Wed)
Grooming: Tues & Thurs: 8am - 12pm, Saturday: 2pm - 5pm. (If I have an appointment, that is.)

If I wanted to, I can squeeze in having a date or two in the evenings. Other than that, I would need to make sure I get enough sleep, eat enough food, and get some things done, such as emailing, blogging, researching, paying debts/bills, running errands, etc. What a beautiful life!

Saturday Work

2008-06-23T09:32:00.001-07:00

Working at Riverwoods for 6 hours on Saturday was quite eventful. It's the day where I felt it was going fast yet slow at the same time. There were only five small dogs in boarding and two cats to take care of, beside all those pets that lives in Riverwoods. Things were quite easy to manage now that the business hours are shorter than on weekdays. They open from 8am to 2pm on Saturdays & 8am to 6pm on weekdays. While I plan to take my time with work, even though most of the tasks are done already, I end up finding myself getting into different types of tasks. I hosed and scrub down the outdoor beach-chair bench mattress thingie because the dog peed on it. I vacuumed off the dust and such from the Air Conditioners machine outside. I get to watch how the workers took a quick x-ray on the large iguana and giving medicine by squirting them into it's mouth.

When it was almost closing time, I sat at the front desk to keep the gal in company. The large iguana was given back to it's owner. She was just holding it, more like a hug, but she got bitten. It bit her cheek close to her lips. (I thought it bit her lips, but it's on her cheek.) It just bit and hold on. The doctor quickly give out orders to get things taken care of. They use a Popsicle stick to pry it's mouth open. Then she took the owner in to clean out the blood and wound. I busy myself with sweeping & mopping, so I didn't get much chance to see how serious the wound. But as far as I can see or hear, it wasn't too bad. That was quite an eventful day.

Remember that I mentioned drawf rabbits? Well I was wrong. It turned out that they're actually baby bunnies of giant rabbits. One is a new pet for Riverwoods and other belongs of one of the workers, I believe. No wonder their ears looks pretty big for their small adorable body. I'm curious to see how big they will be when they become full grown.

Third Week of June

2008-06-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

After spending the night coughing, I went to work early morning for the 8am to 12pm shift. I took the cage of two female rats with me to be given away. A gal name Heather wanted to have them. I replaced the dirty smelly bedding into clean bedding, and filled up the bowl with cat food. I cannot keep them because I'm allergic to the rats now. They make my skin itches whenever I touch or hold them. I was asked to go home and return to work at 3pm in the afternoon. Delightfully I hurried home. It was only 10 minutes drive from the apartment.

Animal Tales? Well, I accidentally let a dog out when I tried to enter the backyard, carrying in the rat cage. It was pretty scary to see an ugly fur-ball dog looks like he's going to run through the busy road. Luckily a worker showed up in time to catch the dog before he decided to run off farther. Riverwoods Pet Hospital sits right on University Ave street which is partly like highway than a regular road. I'm sorry that I had to say ugly because it looks like a pomeranian but it's very fat and furry which couldn't be a pomernian. I couldn't figure out what breed is it yet. I suppose I'll ask, if I remember to when I return to work in the afternoon.

The other day, a new boarding dog that just came in. I let him out to clean up the kennel. There's spill of water and food. The dog Matt acted like a scary-cat, with tail tugged tightly under between his legs. I crouch down low, trying to pet him, but he bare his teeth and nipped. I set myself in a way, he won't be crawling around too much. I stayed on the floor, holding my hand out to him. He still nipped whenever I tried to pet him. When I decided that I had enough, I just stood up and cornered him tighter. I press forward till he's standing low with his back at the corner, his paws hanging up. I carefully pet his head, and he doesn't nibbed. Then I let him go from the corner and he behaved better. It took him a while to get use to other dogs and the routine then he's a happy camper now. I just basically show him that I wouldn't let him to behave like that.

You should have seen how the drawf rabbit and tiny Yorkie played together on the floor inside. Sometimes the workers let two drawf rabbits out of cage to let them hop around. It's fun to see their cute white tail bounce when they hop around. They're very soft and light when held. How can you resist not having rabbit for a pet!

Two days ago, I was asked to hold an old dog while the nurse slowly take the drain out of the bloated belly. It's rather gross for me to think and see something being slowly drain out of the stomach, especially with the fact I had experiences to do with my stomach. *shuddered* And that day I couldn't leave work till 7pm because of the late doctor appointment. I had to wait for that last appointment to be over then I can sweep and mop the doctor office room. Though I shouldn't complain because I would get extra money for staying another hour. I was trying to leave work as early as I can because Heather Spreen happened to be in Provo that night. I wanted to visited her as much as I can before she had to leave. I got to visited her for about an hour or less. At least it's better than not at all. I missed her. I'm looking forward to see her again in August, when she returned to Utah from Washington.

That's all I can think of so far this week from Riverwoods Pet Hospital. Perhaps soon or later, I can set up photos of the animals from Riverwoods onto this Blog if I bring the digital camera with me. Or it would have been a lot easier if I could upgrade my Sidekick iD into a newer Sidekick that have camera....