briscogirl’s blog

I find that every single day I think about how much money T and I spend on gas in a month.  I mean really…it's just stupid!  We bought this huge diesel pick-up truck to pull our four-wheelers (when diesel was cheaper).  In his truck alone we spend $110 per fill up…granted we are only filling up every other week.  So that’s' $220 per month in diesel if he only drives to and from work!  Add in a four wheeling trip and we're at $330 a month.  Then we have my car…which gets decent gas mileage but I drive 25 miles each way to and from work.  It's been running me $70 a week to fill up my car….putting us at $280 a month just to fuel my car!  So, right now we are spending an average of $610 per month on gas…it's absolutely ridiculous!  If gas is going to continue to increase in cost then compensation needs to be increased accordingly!  My raise this year amounted to about $20 a week which doesn't even begin to cover the extra I am paying for gas.  T's raise was craptastic as well (thank you U.S. Government for screwing your service men and women once again). 

So many people have told me that we should downsize our vehicles and get something smaller and more fuel efficient.  Should we have to change our lifestyle because gas prices are ridiculous?  If we downsize our vehicles that means we won't have anything to haul four-wheelers with and we won't have anything suitable for transporting two German Sheppard’s in.  What so you suggest now….selling the four wheelers and getting rid of the dogs?  If you really even consider that to be an option you’re an f'in idiot! 

We have a commuter train station about a mile or so from the house.   T mentioned riding his bike to the train station in the mornings and taking the train to work (the train stops right outside the gate to the base).  The problem with this is that the train does not always stop in the town we live in so his schedule options are very limited.  T does not work a 'normal' shift…he's a drill commander.  Sometimes he leaves the house at 4am and doesn't return until 10pm…it just depends on the day.  So, for this reason the train really isn't an option for him.  The train that stops in the town I work in is on a different line than the one by the house.  I could take the train to a neighboring city but then how do I get to work from there?  It costs a damn fortune to take cab so that won't work.  My company has talked about having a shuttle run from this stop but apparently this isn’t happening because we haven't received any correspondence on it.   

I'm just frustrated, so very frustrated!  We are trying to save money and pay off some bills but we aren't getting ahead at all because we spend so much money on gas!  Oh…and since gas prices have gone up so have prices on everything else...can't we just get a break?  My husband actually said to me the other day,  "The first Presidential candidate that says they are going to lower gas prices is getting my vote."  This shocked me coming from a die hard Republican!  I really think that the state of the economy is getting the best of everyone!

NOTE:  Last evenign we went through our bank statement and figured out what we spend on gas in April...are you ready for this....$673!!!!!!  I about shit my pants!  And then this morning on my way to work I noticed that gas has officially hit the over $4.00/gallon mark!

All through high school I was a tomboy.  I hated dresses, makeup and the mere thought of styling my hair.  I wasn’t the popular girl, nor was I the unpopular girl.  I fell somewhere in the middle…I was friends with everyone.  Most of the guys in my class were giant assholes and because I wasn’t a girly girl none of them ever showed interest in me.  My graduating class was only 69 people so everyone knew everybody business and the drama was always too much for me.  Since graduation my life has been full…sometimes full of great things and other times full of anger or sadness. 

Right after high school I had jaw surgery to fix a nasty under bite, went to a private liberal arts college for a few years, got married, went back to school for another year, got divorced, met a guy in Vegas who was in the Navy, packed up my belongings and moved to California with the Navy guy (let’s call him T).  The move happened about 6 years ago and before that I no longer lived in my hometown so I really never saw anyone from high school.  I saw the people I wanted to see, that was my philosophy.  We never had a 10 year reunion so a girl I graduated with contacted me through myspace.  She wanted to try and get everyone together from school.  It just so happened that T and I were planning a trip home for Thanksgiving so a plan was put in place.  The last tally was that more than half of my graduating class is going to be coming to the big shindig (which is Saturday the 17^th). 

Let’s just say that since high school I have changed…a lot.  I now take pride in how I look, I wear make-up, and do my hair and I even dress like a girl now!  Last Christmas T and I ran into a girl that I was really good friends with in high school…she didn’t recognize me.  The jaw surgery changed my facial structure a lot but I was shocked that I looked so different that she didn’t know who I was until I told her. 

I have started to get very excited about this ‘informal reunion’.  It’s been 12 years since I have had contact with most of the people who will be there.  I think T is even excited.  The other night he told me to wear my hair curly (because I never did in school) and that we should go early and sit at the bar and watch people as they come in to see if anyone recognizes me. 

I know it’s petty but I want to see the eyes pop and the jaws drop when all those people from school, who never showed interest in little ol’ me realize who I am.  We’re taking the camera and T’s job is to get a picture of the look on people’s faces.  I don’t think I’m a beauty queen by any means but I have come a long way since school!  Not only have my looks changed but I’m a different person than I used to be.  I am a proud Navy wife, I have started and unbelievable career and I am finally getting that college degree after all these years. 

So, call me petty if you want but I can’t wait to see peoples reactions!

My Buddy Lynn dog got hurt this weekend!  He apparently got his right front dew claw caught in the deck… we aren’t real sure how he managed that.  He came into our room around 3:00am on Saturday and cried at the bed.  I assumed he wanted in the bed and instead of fighting him I let him up.  Saturday morning I was up around 8ish and started cleaning the kitchen.  Hubs came out and said…”something is wrong with Buddy”.  I panicked because he is my baby and I hate it when he is hurt.  His foot was bloody and when he would bump it he would cry.  I called the vet, hubs botched about the money we would spend, we bickered back and forth, and then Buddy and I went to the vet.  Harley (our female) screamed as if someone was hurting her when I left the house without.  They have never been separated since we got her so she freaked out a bit.  Hubs stayed home to keep her calmed down.  At the vet they took my Buddy to a back room without me! They gave him a shot to numb the area but I could still hear him crying.  It was horrible and I was a mess.  About 15 minutes later a vet tech brought him back to me.  Can you say drama?  He was walking on his foot fine when we got there…now that his foot was all bandaged he was a big gimp!  Doc said he cut the nail off all the way to the pad, dug the inside clean and covered it with ointment and a bandage.  He said that once the numbing solution wore off he might be in some pain and that we shouldn’t leave him alone for 24-48 hours.  We went home and by the time we got there he had bled through his bandage.  I called the vet back and they said that since he is rather active the wound was not clotting.  They said if it didn’t stop to bring him back in and they would give him a tranquilizer.  A few hours later we went back for the tranquilizer!  We got home, he ate like he was starving…it was like he has smoked a bunch of puppy pot and had a crazy case of the munchies.  Once he stuffed his face he came into the living room, looked at me with his sad puppy eyes…and threw up all over my carpet!  Once that was over with he finally laid down like he was supposed to be doing all day!  Sunday he was fine…just his dramatic self.  If I say to him (in my sweet talk voice) “Oh, poor puppy, what happened to you foot”?  He puts his ears back, makes sad eyes and gives me his paw…its ridiculous!  Here are a few pics of his sweet little self!

Buddy 4

Buddy 5

There is so much truth in the statement…”if it’s not one thing, it’s another!”

Let’s start with Wednesday evening when the weather decided to be much more fall like than the 90 degree heat we had on Sunday!  My house is 100 years old so it’s probably not insulated as well as it should be and we sit only about a mile or so off of Lake Michigan so we always have a breeze blowing against the house.  Since we have moved into our house (in December 2005) we have had furnace issues.  The furnace will come on; run for a bit, then turn off….problem is that it doesn’t get to the preset temperature and the furnace never technically switched itself “off”.  So, the thermostat reads ‘Heat On’ so it never cycles back on again unless the furnace is reset.  Last winter our HVAC guy replaced the main board in the furnace which seemed to correct the problem (with a mere $600 price tag).  A few months later we were back at having the same problem.  Wednesday evening I turned the furnace on and it wouldn’t even get past 68 degrees and the damn thing would stop running.  So, throughout the evening I would turn it off and back on trying to get it to warm up.  Apparently while we were asleep the piece o’ crap never ran and yesterday morning it was a balmy 58 degrees in the house.  As you can imagine I wasn’t happy.  When hubs got home from work yesterday he went down and vacuumed out the furnace to see if that helped…and it didn’t.  He then took the top cover off the furnace.  This is where the blower and gas relay are located.  He vacuumed this area out and then we cycled the furnace…and it works…as long as we leave the top cover off!  Our theory is that either the blower or the gas relay is overheating causing the furnace to quit running!  We called the HVAC guy, told him what we thought and he is coming this afternoon to check it out.  We left the cover off all night and it has been running perfectly!  I’m sure that the new part we have to get will coast a fortune…money pit!

While hubs was working on the furnace Harley (our female Sheppard) was laying on the couch by me.  I looked over and noticed something on the inside of her leg.  I looked at it and it’s a large sore, pussy looking in the center and bright red all around.  Last night it was the size of a quarter and this morning it’s the size of a half dollar!  My boss is a big dog person so I took pictures of the sore and brought them in.  She said that I absolutely need to get her into the vet!  She said it could be several things, a reaction to a flea bite, some sort of mite, or a weird hot spot.  She thinks they’ll give me cortisone spray and one of those awful collars so she can’t lick it!  I called the vet; the first available appointment is tomorrow at 4:00pm.  I figured that hubs would be able to take her which worked out best because he works 15 minutes from the house, I work an hour away!  I called him to see what his schedule was tomorrow and of course he has an inspection and has to work until 4:30 or 5…fan-freakin-tastic! I will have to drive the truck tomorrow because the pups do not go in my car.  I will then have to leave work by 2:30 to get home, pick them up (I have to bring both dogs as they have major issues with being separated) and be at the vet by 4!  

What makes this suck even more is that I had a pedicure appointment, which I made a month ago for tomorrow night at 4:30 because Saturday is the Navy Birthday Ball!  I called and was able to change the appointment to 5:00pm so hopefully the vet visit will be pretty quick.  Buddy and Harley will just have to wait in the truck until I get done!  What a pain in the ass.

Oh…and did I mention that there’s also an issue if they put the big collar on Harley.  We are going to Lake Geneva for the Navy Ball on Saturday and we are spending the night there.  Buddy and Harley have a dog door so we never worry about them if we are gone just for one night…they can get in and out, they have plenty of food, and a 5 gallon water dispenser.  Well, if they put the collar on Harley she will not be able to use the dog door!  As a precaution I have asked a friend at work if she can stay at the house on Saturday in the event that Harley has to have the dreaded collar!

It’s one thing after another, after another, after another…give a girl a break!

Have you ever felt like you were the target of someone’s hatred and corruption?  I find that today I am really feeling that way and it’s very disturbing to me.  

First, let me give you a little background on my house so that this story makes sense.  Our garage sits at the back of our property.  Each street where we live also has an alley that runs behind the properties.  Most people pull into there driveways or garages from the alley, we don not.  We have a driveway on the street side.  Our yard is fenced and the back of the fence runs to the back of the garage…so we never see the back of the garage…unless we take out the trash.

Back in May (right before Memorial Day) the back of our garage was vandalized.  Someone painted a giant penis…yes a penis on the back of the garage in white paint.  The siding is light yellow so unless you really looked directly at the garage it was not really noticeable.  I was mad so I called the police.  An officer came to the house; I was escorting him to the backyard and through the back gate.  Apparently he didn’t like dogs and wanted me to “put them up”.  I just said, “Oh, don’t worry, they’re friendly” and kept walking so I am sure that pissed him off.  I have a rule, if I don’t know you and you are at my house for any reason, I will not put my dogs up.  What if this person tried to hurt me (granted he was a uniformed officer) but anyway…you get my point.  We went to the back of the garage and he wrote some information down on a little notepad…never asked for any of my information and left.  I never got a police report…nothing.  He did tell me that in cases such as this there really wasn’t anything they could do. Because we were mad…we left the penis on the garage hoping it would offend someone.

On July 2^nd or 3^rd we were again vandalized.  This time however, they used black spray paint and drew across the entire (26’) back of my garage!  Obviously this could not be left that way so my husband ran some chemicals through the power washer and blasted the graffiti off.  You can still see exactly where the drawing was as the chemicals were strong and faded the siding!  We didn’t call the police because they wouldn’t have done anything anyway.

This past Saturday my hubby and I went out of town for the evening.  We arrived home early yesterday morning only to discover not only the garage had been vandalized but they also tagged the side of my house!  I was furious.  The obviously spent quality time on it as well because they used markers to make their drawings!  The stuff on the house is on the outside wall of the master bedroom.  Had we been home we would have caught them because I am sure my dogs were going absolutely crazy (we have a dog door so they were able to get out and potty….I didn’t want anyone to think we just left them all night with no way to get out).  My husband believes that the drawing on the garage appears to be some sort of gang symbol…fantastic!  Again, we decided not to call the police because we didn’t think they would do anything to help us.

Well, over the course of the day yesterday and this morning I found that I was consumed by anger about this situation.  I decided to call the police…so I did.  I called the Chief of Police directly!  I left him a voicemail explaining that no one around us is having this problem and I feel that we are being targeted and I don’t know why.  I also explained that we believe it may be attached to some gang activity (hopefully that will get his attention).

I just don’t understand it at all.  Why us?  What have we done to deserve this?  I swear that if we ever catch the punks that are doing this that my husband will beat the living crap out of them!  We have an alarm system at the house so I’m not so concerned about anyone breaking in.  Even if someone did break in my dogs (2 German Sheppard’s) would eat them alive. 

More than anything I like to understand why things happen and this I don’t understand!

We went to the orthopedic surgeon this afternoon to find out the plan for hubby's thumb.  Let's just say he was very nervous and scared going into the appointment.  We knew the stitches from last evening were more than likely a temporary fix and that they would probably need to be removed today, the are re-numbed and then a good look taken at the injury.  Well....it all worked out for the best!  Apparently the doctor in the ER last night knew what he was doing and the placement of the bone as well as the placement of the thumb tip itself were right on!  No surgery needed!  It's now in a splint, and bandaged up pretty good.  It has to remain covered for the next 4-5 days and it cannot get wet.  The biggest concern at this point is infection.  I guess because at one point the bone was exposed to air it makes his risk for infection much higher.  He is on a high dose of antibiotics and now he has 800mg Motrin because he wants to go to work tomorrow (he's a bit dedicated).  At night he'll take the Tylenol 4 but for obvious reasons if he is going to be driving to work he cannot take the Tylenol 4 all the time!  All in all he is very, very lucky to have his thumb and to have it all in tack!  Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

I arrived home from work last evening at approximately 5:10pm.  My husband was loading the 4-wheelers up.  We were going to take his son to ride my 4-wheeler for a bit.  I ran into the house to grab my old jeans when I heard what could possibly be the loudest scream I have ever heard in my entire life.  I glanced out the window and saw my husband bent over.  I ran down the stairs as fast as I could.  he met me at the door and very calmly said, "Can you take me to the emergency room now"? 

His thumb was resting on the hook to the winch on the front of my 4-wheeler.  The button to release the hook was pushed but it jerked in first!  He cut the flesh away from the bone about 3/4 of the way around his right thumb!  So, to th ER we went.  The ER we went to didn't have facilities to really assist him so they took him by ambulance to another ER. 

Initially we were very afraid that he may lose the tip of his thumb due to a lack of circulation.  Thankfully, the cut somehow missed the main blood supply to the tip of the thumb and he still has feeling.  Last evening they injected lidocaine into the open wound to numb the area for stitches.  I have never ever experience my husband in so much pain.  It was awful to watch him.  He was just gritting his teeth and yelling...awful, just awful.  They stitched him up and bandaged him up real good last night and sent us to the pharmacy for meds.  Thankfully it was late enough by this time that the pharmacy was not busy so it only took about five minutes and we were done there.

Once home we ate because we were all starving and then he took his first dose of Tylenol 4.  We went to bed shortly thereafter,  I was so afraid that I would bump him in the night that woke up about every twenty minutes or so.  When he woke this morning he said that the Tylenol really didn't work at all.  I read the info given to us about the medication and it stated that it was better to take the Tylenol 4 without food as food may decrease it's effectiveness.  Can I tell you how true this statement is?  He took it this morning on an empty stomach and he got straight up loopy!  He's fidgety and won't sit down and he's talking nonsense,  

We go to the orthopedic surgeon this morning at 11:45 (CST).  There will more than likely be some corrective surgery involved and he will probably lose his nail permanently.  We are however very thankful that he is not going to lose any part of his thumb.

Being a military spouse can be really hard sometimes.  Today is one of those hard days.  Along the way and through the years I have made many friends that have left an impression on my life in one way or another.  In CA I met Shawna and Cassie.  It was the first time I had been away from my family and they took me in and let me know I’d be okay.  In October 2002 a transfer with the Navy would take us to FL.  I said goodbye to two remarkable friends.  Shawna now lives in the U.K with her hubby and Cassie has moved on to AZ with her husband.  In FL I met Kimberly.  When the guys were away we were together.  We enjoyed one another’s company a lot and our dogs also loved to play together.  In December 2004 Kimberly and her husband left for Japan .  It’s just so hard to say goodbye.  Through Kimberly I met Katie.  Can we talk about inseparable?  We were together all the time.  We evacuated for a hurricane together, laughed together and cried together.  Then in December 2005 it was time for me to move again.  This time to IL .  Katie has also now moved along and is also in Japan (with Kimberly).  I have to admit, I’m a little jealous that they get to see one another on a regular basis!  Our situation in IL is a bit different. My husband is actually home every night.  We have never been able to make friends as a couple because his hours and schedule have always been awful.  Since moving here we have met a couple that we really do just about everything with.  We all get along well and always have a fantastic time together.  Well, on Saturday we helped them pack the moving truck.  They stayed at our place for a few nights so this morning when I left the house I had to say goodbye to them knowing that they would not be there when I got home!  It was just awful and I’m sick of it.  I’m sick of saying goodbye to all of my friends.  So, could Shawna, Cassie, Kimberly, Katie, Stacy & Hannah all please move to IL?  I miss my friends and I want you all back!

When you talk to someone at 4:00pm and they say they'll call you in a little bit does that mean that you should hear from them before you go to bed?  It's just something that has really frustrated me today.  I mean come on people, here I sit...alone, and some dumb ass punk recruit is making it so that my husband it too stressed out to remember to call!  F that...today I am over it.  I have worked all day, spent a total of two hours in traffic, come home, made dinner, written a paper for school, started laundry, played with the dogs, fed the dogs, and cleaned the house up a bit.  I feel like it's been an eternity since I have had an actual conversation with my husband.  I gotta say that I honestly don't recall the last time he said, "How was your day?"  It's just pure frustration.  I know that his job is very demanding but sometimes it would be nice if he recognized that mine is too.  All I can say is this...."It's a good damn thing I love this man so much!"

Briscos2