What a start to the week.

Today was the first day of the week for me, as hubby and stepson were off of school/work yesterday, and the girls had no school work. I fell asleep sometime after 1 am last night, got up at 6 this morning, it's now midnight, and I'm still going.

I took stepson to school, bright and early. I left at 6:45, got home an hour later. All I wanted to do was crawl back into bed, but my phone reminder went off--reminding me to call the vet for Snowflake. Called just after 8, and got a 10 am appointment.

I was about an hour at the vet's office. An elderly couple brought their husky in to be put to sleep. It was a beautiful dog, but could no longer walk. I felt for them...I've been in their shoes and it's awful. Then two women came in...it's not just at Wal Mart that people dress funny. ( www.peopleofwalmart.com if you want to check it out)

Woman #1 had a cat, and was wearing all black...with a dressy wool coat, black slacks--not jeans, pink and green striped scarf, and hiking boots. She even took the time to expose her socks and pull them up--they were thick black. She pulled them up, and then folded them over...odd. There is no snow on the ground, her boots weren't muddy so she didn't appear to have walked through any. The boots were very out of place with the rest of her ensemble. But she was well dressed compared to the other woman.

Woman #2 didn't bring her pet in...left it in the car and said she would go get it when it was her turn. She was wearing a black hoodie--so worn and faded that it looked gray, with a flared, shiny black polyester mini skirt, bare legs, and black hooker boots that went almost to her knees. Of course she had very bleach blonde hair, with lots of black roots showing, and it was permed. Ohio Valley style all the way!!!

I'm not saying I was well dressed. I was in black sweat pants, a t-shirt, Skechers, and my black Army coat. But, at least my pieces went together!

The vet looked at Snowflake, and agreed it may have been the food. He got a steroid shot to stop the itching--and hopefully keep him from pulling out more hair. (He was doing better for a couple days, but started pulling out his hair again). And he has antibiotics to clear up the skin infection caused by scratching and pulling out his hair. He should be feeling better already, and the skin will clear up in a few weeks. The hair won't grow back for months, most likely. We're to keep him on the allergen-free food for 6-8 weeks, and if he's doing much better we'll keep him on it forever. If not, we can change it to something completely different again.

Made it home around 11:30 I think. Helped Jessica with some school work. Played a little Super Mario Bros. with Ashlea, and then made some chili for dinner. Ashlea was bummed because she'd done several days' worth of work ahead, and it was all for nothing. LOL Their online classes are sorted by a scheduler. The scheduler tells them what they do for each day. Last week, teachers were supposed to update the scheduler...but her homeroom teacher didn't do it until yesterday. When the scheduler is updated, it moves all of the already completed assignments out of the way, and fills the spaces for the current day and all future days with new assignments. Instead of being over a week ahead, she now shows new assignments for those days.

After dinner, I waited for hubby to get home, and then went to the basement to work. I worked 7-11 tonight. It was an interesting night. I can't talk about the surveys that I do, but I can tell you a little something. One man answered the phone and asked where I was calling from. I told him Ipsos-Reid (company name). He said "Well, my caller ID says you're calling from Quebec! You people in Quebec need to keep your calls in Quebec! Us, Albertans, are doing just fine without you. Keep your calls in Quebec!" I thought his reaction was sooo funny. Apparently, there is a huge feud between certain provinces in Canada due to discrimination between the French and the English. I found out through several calls that unlike the states...where we are all united under the United States of America, in Canada they relate more to their provinces as countries than the country as a whole. People don't care much about the rest of the country--only their direct province. It's very interesting.

A couple more funny moments...a woman answered, and I needed to ask for a male. So I did. She said--in a very angry tone--"You're out of luck! No men live here! I'm a single mother!" then gave a very odd laugh. I quickly was able to calm her, and my screen said if a male wasn't available I could survey a female, and she ended up completing the survey. :)

And I've saved the best for last. One man was giving really crackpot answers, acting like he was completely stupid...said he lived near his barns, that he shoveled shit for a living, that he completed 6th grade twice and since 6 + 6 is 12 that means he had 12 years' education. Well, I have to record his answers regardless...there are people who look through them and toss out obviously fake ones--that's not my job. After about the 5th question, he said "I'm just pulling your leg, dear. I hate telemarketers and survey people, so I do my best to pull their legs anytime they call." He was quite funny, though...and took up some time for me. lol

When my shift was over, I took a very hot shower. Glad that my headache was finally gone. I had a horrible headache for most of the day. Finally...6 ibuprophen and 4 Tyelnol knocked it most of the way out. My headaches like that are hormone related. My Depo shot wears off after 6 weeks...it's supposed to last 12--and did when I took it years ago. So when I get the first headache at 6 weeks, I take pills to supplement. Those usually end the headache within an hour or so, and I'm good for another 3-4 weeks...but then they aren't enough, and the headache comes back again when the progesterone levels drop more. It'll go away in a day or two, and I'll get my shot in a couple of weeks and be good for another 6 weeks. I'd go on Seasonique or something similar, except I'm afraid that I'd forget to take it every single day. The last thing I want at this point in my life is to be surprised. LOL!!!!!!

When I came back upstairs, I noticed that my wonderful family had not bothered to turn on the dishwasher--after I loaded it, put in the washing tablet, and ASKED hubby to turn it on when they had finished eating dinner (portable dishwasher hooks up to the sink). Nor had dinner been put away. And there were several tubes of crackers open--we had chili, and love it with Ritz crackers. The outside cats hadn't had their evening food, and Snowflake's food was spilled on the table among all the other table mess. First thing I did was clean the kitchen, do up the extra dishes, clear the table, and now the dishwasher is running. I have to stay up until it's finished--going on 12:30 am now...I've been awake for 18 1/2 hours on 5 hours' sleep!!!!! I'm tempted to go to bed before it's finished. See, when the dishwasher is hooked up all night, the hot water tank doesn't heat...I have no idea why. It's a quirky thing. The water isn't running once it finishes, but the hot water is only lukewarm in the morning. Hubby takes a shower at 5 am...would serve him right to get a cold shower for not turning it on earlier. But I'm not mean like that.

Marsha and I have decided to postpone our meeting, since I haven't had time to get the layout ready for the project. DD14 needs blood work at some point this week. I think we're going to try for tomorrow--if she took her meds late enough tonight. She needed to take them so that we can get blood work done  12 hours after. If she took them at 8, that's too early. The lab is closed on Thursday, so our next opening will be next week since she sees the doctor on Friday morning.

While I'm waiting for the dishwasher to finish, I'm going to go play some Wii. :-) Hope I can get to bed within the next hour!