Let It Snow!

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

[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

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

Needs A Title

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Doggie Photos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.