Bad Blogger, No cookie!

Life kind of took a hard left turn since I last blogged!

I'm breaking it down by life topics, in the hopes that I will determine if there really was a learning moment in this. I'm not sure that I could remember everything in a linear fashion, either!  This will ensure that everyone who needs to know does and will catch up those who haven't known what was going on.
  
Household stuff - The house has given me some trials, but I've learned, grown and now am stronger for what I've learned. Bought and began installation of a ceramic cooktop in the kitchen when I discovered the wiring coming out of the wall didn't match the wiring that came out of the cooktop and putting in a new breaker scared me a little.  So I called an electrician, who inspected and found that not only did I have a breaker box that was declared dangerous and illegal several years ago, the former owner had decided to "piggy back" one breaker box off another creating a very hazardous situation. And expensive....very expensive. Like hiccups, heartburn, "I'm going to throw up" expensive. So, I did what anyone else would do, I went into debt up to my very eyeballs and now I live in an electrically safe and sound house.


Changed the light fixture and redecorated the dining area. Added a new light fixture in the bedroom and finished painting that room. When I removed the ugly beige carpet in the master bedroom I found beautiful parquet flooring. Yes, there are damaged areas near the bathroom, but there's enough good parquet in the closets to replace the damaged areas. The question I'm still trying to answer is do I repair/refurbish and keep the parquet or just take it out throughout the house and replace it with wood plank flooring?

In addition to the cooktop, I bought a brand new refrigerator! Yes, that's a big first for me.  It's shiny and clean and mine, all mine! The wall oven will be the next big appliance purchase. I had a houseful for Christmas 2011 and was about to put the roaster full of dressing in the oven when I discovered the oven was about 6" more shallow than the roasting pan.  This 1960 oven will not even hold a full size cookie sheet...really??

 
Relationship stuff - Mr. Man was a good "mean time" relationship, but he wasn't worth a long-term investment. In the nicest possible terms, he had more issues than I was willing to deal with and I also wasn't willing to support him and his habits, the least of which was cigarettes. So I broke it off sometime in the early winter of 2012-2013 and have been much better for it. I can only hope and wish the same for him.

Maggie Mae

Animal stuff -  Let's see, last I wrote, I had Trina, the cutest little chihuahua mix I've ever seen. I was afraid that her ears would catch the wind one day and she would fly.  We added Hermione Freckle-toes to the mix while I was living in the apartment.  The students who ran the engineering summer camps brought her into my life.

Then January 2012, I saw a border collie on the adoption list for the local animal shelter. I met her and she was mine and I was hers. She was named Maggie Mae and although she was a senior dog, we fell in love with each other. When the vet, Dr. Gina, met Maggie, I learned that Maggie was much older than the shelter thought and she was loaded with heartworms.  She was old enough and frail enough that heartworm treatment wasn't an option, her teeth were worn down to the gum-line, and we just decided that I would love her for her as long as I could and keep her comfortable. She had a very good life here in the Typo household and she went to the Rainbow bridge late spring 2012.

Cinder Lou

After having Ms. Maggie around, I realized that I must have another Border Collie.  This breed matches my lifestyle and their intelligence and communication skills are just wonderful to have.  So, I searched and investigated breeders. Yes, I know about rescue dogs, that's all I've had for almost 20 years.  However, this time I went into this knowing how to find a reputable breeder and did.  I contracted for a puppy that was born April 2, 2012 and her name is Cinder Lou. Cinder is a tri-merle (meaning she's white, gray, and a liver-type color) and has one blue eye and one brown eye! My little Cinder is now 15 months old, 37 lbs and I call her my velcro dog because she and I have bonded so well. Her energy level is manageable, she has a Varsity ball that she plays with in the backyard to exercise her herding instinct, she keeps the squirrel population in line and tries to herd Hermione.


Health, wealth and travel stuff - Yes, this is an unusual grouping, but those of you who know m

Elbow should NOT look like that!

e, know there's a good story tying them all together.  Spent a week in Cozumel this spring at a wonderful, small all-inclusive hotel on the beach! It was going to be a week lying around in the sun, not thinking about anything important, especially not work stuff.  This was the first week in April. Flight down and transit to hotel was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.  Hotel knew I was arriving, handed me the key to my room, where I unloaded the bags, and took a short nap.  It was then, officially, 5:00 somewhere which meant it was margarita-time on the beach.  Met my BFF on the beach, pulled up my lounge chair and enjoyed my first two drinks over about two hours.  Got my third drink, plugged in my headphones to listen to Jimmy Buffet and took a walk in the surf, where I promptly tripped, fell and dislocated my elbow. Lessons learned: foreign doctors/clinics want cash on the spot ($1200), morphine does not even touch the pain of having an elbow reset, Mexican pharmacies just need to know what drug you've been prescribed - you get to pick the strength and number of pills. X-rays to remind me of my week in Mexico? Priceless.

Almost 5 weeks later, I was out on a date (yay me!) and the clouds burst and dumped rain by the bucket. In an attempt to save my date from being fully drenched,  I decided to make a run for the front of the restaurant; I tripped on a parking lot bumper, and fell full-length on my outstretched hand and broke my left wrist.  We did stay for dinner, at my insistence, and went to the ER for dessert. I broke my distal radius (yup, the long bone on the inside of your left forearm).

Got into see ortho a week later and he casted me for four weeks. Ran x-rays at the end of the four weeks and the bone had not set properly. So now? Now, I'm scheduled to go in for surgery day after tomorrow (July 6) to have the bone re-broken, plated and pinned into place. Which means a cast for much of the remainder of summer.

School Stuff - Last year, when I thought life was getting boring, I decided to apply to a master's degree program in higher education. I was accepted on probation , which meant I had to take 12 hours and earn no less than a B in each course. Since Spring 2012, I've gone year round (until this  summer, the summer of injury) and completed 15 hours towards an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies with Higher Education emphasis.  This program doesn't require a thesis, but does require a practicum and project.  I've decided that I'm going to look at some techniques to improve the grades of engineering students on probation.  To that end, I'm going to an intensive NACADA Summer Institute in several weeks to put together the plan of action for proposing and completing that project.

So. that's the doings in the Land of Typos. What's up in your world???