11-20-12 Tuesday (Turkeys For Pets)

I still haven’t heard anything back about my snotty interview.  A related story > I was in the cafeteria the other day and saw Rhonda, someone I worked with at AAA (those were dark times).  I talked to her asking if she’d had been given a permanent position yet (she was a contract employee).  She said she’s a Loan Doc Specialist 3.  Uhhh, that’s what I applied for.  Small world.  I asked who her supervisor was.  “Zach, and he’s really great to work for.”  Uhhh that’s who I interview with.  I asked her about the job a little bit to get a feel for what she does.  As we walked to the cashier she says “oh, there’s Zach now”.  I shake his hand, Rhonda explains our connection via AAA, he remembers seeing that on my résumé, and then it felt real awkward especially since I’m not sure if he selected me.  I excused myself and went back to work.

Friday night, Jim and I were watching TV.  Dasher, as usual, was laying between us on the couch.  He stood up and started acting disoriented and terrified.  He couldn’t stand up well at all and didn’t respond to commands.  This lasted a few minutes.  It was scary.  He returned to normal.  The next day the intentions were to take him to the vet.  I Googled symptoms and heard a lot of similar stories on Facebook as well.  We decided to let it go for now.  It seems that it may have been a seizure.  One more though and we’ll take action.  I’m not ready for this dog to move out just yet.

Saturday morning I was cleaning the house and doing laundry.  As I cleaned the downstairs half bath I noticed it wasn’t flushing very well.  That toilet hardly gets used for solid waste.  I plunged it several times.  Later while in the kitchen I heard water gurgle.  I went to the toilet, lifted the lid and noticed the water had rippled.  Hmmmmm.  A little later I was upstairs with Jim.  I walked down stairs and water was everywhere.  It must have just happened since it was all still moving around on the floor.  I yelled for Jim and grabbed like 20 towels and threw them down on the floor in different places.  He got the almighty shop vac and sucked up the water too.  A little later I noticed all the wood that had been wet was ruined.  In front of the stairs, in the bathroom and in a small section of the dining room.  Even the wood that had the water on it for 30 seconds was ruined.  I’m guessing it sat deep below in the joints.  We have ruined floors in front of the kitchen sink and a few spots under the area rug from Dasher’s “accidents”.  It would appear that my construction grade Armstrong Engineered Wood Floors blow.  We’re debating on claiming it to insurance.  During Title Insurance class, the professor mentioned that the worst claim to put in is anything water damage as it will black list us with insurance companies for fear of future mold claims.  Jim is going to check with our agent.  I’m devastated but, hey, now I can say I’ve had wood floors.  I think we’ll have to replace the downstairs with tile.  Booooooooo. 

A day later I’ve looked at the floors and to see the damage I think you just have to know what to look for.  We might just have to deal with it for a while.  We’ll know it’s there but that might be the extent of it.

We purchased a 20 pound turkey.  Not as a pet or anything.  It’s frozen so that would be weird.  Anyway, a few weeks ago we bought a roaster to roast said turkey in for Thanksgiving.  I’ve never cooked turkey.  I started Googling around and found all sorts of tips and hints, recipes, cooking times, how-to’s, etc. I’m a bit terrified about screwing it up.  Dry turkey really sucks and 10 other people are counting on me to fill their stomachs with tasty turkey.  Oh, the pressure.

Several years ago, Jim built a large table top for our dining room table.  It was for a big holiday and disassembled after use.  We only used it once.  He built it to sit on top of the existing table so that we can comfortably seat more people.  It’s been reassembled for Thanksgiving, I ironed the table cloth and it’s partially ready for Thursday’s festivities.

On Tuesday morning, just because:

Now it’s time to publish this post and go to work.  Depressing, I know…

Have a great holiday!