Second Day at Target and a Rough Homecoming

This morning went pretty well. I am starting to get the hang of working the line. I know I must be doing good when they forget about me every once in a while. I have worked my best to learn the ropes quickly and today they did have some hours to give that I was very tempted to take. I am glad that I didn't.

I came home and Peanut, our little English Budgie, was struggling to breathe and walking as if he were limp on one side. I remembered a vet that I passed on the way into work and wondered if they took care of birds. I knew whatever was going on was pretty serious. The odd thing is, he was fine yesterday. He was running around and playing like normal. He didn't eat or get into anything out of the ordinary. If he had, undoubtedly, the other parakeets who follow him around would have gotten sick, too. I called the vet that I passed on the way to work, and they agreed that they could see him right away. Eight in the morning used to be early for me. Now, I have already been up for five hours or so. Tim and I brought him in and the vet took one look and I could tell from her expression it wasn't good. She said she thought he had a brain tumor as he was very slow on his responses, seemed blind, and was showing behavior concurrent with nerve damage. He hadn't pooped yet that morning, either. While I was holding him, there were a couple of times that I thought he was going to stop breathing. The doc told me what I was afraid of when I brought him in. She said the most humane thing to do would be to put him to sleep.

I may have a lot of birds and I might just be crazy, but I love these little guys so much. I can tell you their stories, their goofy behaviors, and things that you just can't help but laugh about. I might have "eleven more", but the one I lost is mourned like the member of the family that he is. I keep thinking that I need to go and find him and see what he is up to or if he is behaving. A tear rolls down my cheek as I realize that isn't going to happen any more.

Peanut was a beautiful bird with a lot of life. He loved to be ornery and jump on other birds' tails just to be silly. He was the first budgie that the cockatiels ever saw and so he took great pleasure out of chasing them around and listening to them hiss. He was gentle and after he got to know the cockatiels, he would preen them and cuddle with them. He did that for Buster yesterday while Buster was in the hospital cage. He even sang Buster to sleep at one point. Peanut loved to be chased and would always put up a good chase if you wanted to put him somewhere or if you just wanted to play. He would routinely sing himself to sleep at night using all the sounds that the flock made in his song, including conure screams, quaker warblings, and cockatiel's whistles and their version of the "Big Rock Candy Mountain". Since we got two more budgies, he actually began to sound more like a budgie again. It was a shame that his life was taken from him before his first birthday, but we gave him all the life that we could. He was loved from the beginning and cherished. I will miss him greatly. He will always have a special place in my heart.

First Day at Target

Well, technically second if you count the orientation. After finding out my hours start at four in the morning, well, I don't know if I want to count being cushy in the training room from nine until one. This is where most people would be drinking an espresso (I *hate* coffee- it's a Diet Dr. Pepper for me) and grumbling about the morning. That will probably be me in a week. Right now I have the nervousness of starting a new job and worrying that I am not going to be good enough keeping me awake. In a week I am sure that I will be hitting the snooze and contemplating rolling over for that extra five minutes.

So far so good with little Buster. We have been rotating some of the members of the flock (that are his size and that we know get along with him) to put in the hospital cage with him. Angel seems to be his constant companion right now. He was like that when he was a baby, helping clean off the baby food on his siblings faces when I would feed them. He may not be the smartest, but sometimes I think he has the most heart. It was a laugh riot when I stuck the budgies in there. They would run around and play and goof and Buster would tolerate it for a while but then would get upset and threaten them away. We can't keep Miracle in there because then Buster just courts her. Here he has a major injury and he's courting his mate. That's love for you right there.

Still plan on having a to do list when I come home. I won't make it now because I want to see how I feel in five hours or so. I might be wide awake and I might want to sleep for the rest of the day. Time will only tell! This is how God has chosen to provide for my daily bread for a while, and I will take the opportunity to its fullest. God will provide and has provided a job for me that will help support me and I thank Him for it. God is a God of promises and He has promised my daily bread. Today, I know He will provide because He has said so.

New To Do List... The Same To Do List

Well, yesterday turned out to be much more stressful than I figured on it being. After getting home and getting myself something to eat after work, Buster got bit on the foot pretty badly. I am still not completely sure what happened. It didn't really seem to bother him, though it scared the crud out of me. His toe was hanging by skin only and I am pretty sure he's going to lose the end of it. I held it together and kept the bleeding at bay until Tim came home, and then we bandaged it up. Hopefully, that helps with infection as well as keeping that wound clotted. The funny part about it all was that I was ready to do my to do list even with his injury because working on stuff like that helps keep my anxiety at bay. While I was waiting for Tim, I put Buster in an empty kleenex box with a paper towel so I could monitor his bleeding and catch to see if it was seepage or if it was worse than that. I wanted to keep him still, so the box was perfect because it was just his size. Well, he wouldn't let me leave, and it wasn't because he was so enamored with his mom and needing the reassurance that he was going to be ok. He wanted to go back and play with the rest of the flock and if I left, he tried to go find them. Considering I don't even know what happened or who attacked him for that matter, combined with the fact that he has a very serious injury, I didn't think that was such a good idea. So, I sat around staring at my computer screen with a bird pouting in a box for several hours waiting for Tim to go home so I could have the extra hands I needed to wrap up his foot.

SO- That means the checklist remained undone last night. I think that's perfectly understandable, don't you? So, I think I have a pre-made checklist for today, which is good. I have to be at work at four am tomorrow, so I want to try to get to sleep at about seven pm. I'll need to be nice and tired for this to work! So, here's to my exhausting, full, and to-do list filled day!

New Job and New Checklist

So, I had my Target orientation today. Things went well. I have to admit to feeling rather anxious about "unloading the trailer" at work because I have never done it before. I am worried that I am getting in over my head and I won't be able to do this work. I know God will provide and if I put my mind to it, I'll be able to do it, but I am still very scared. I know it will get better when I get into it, but it still gives me anxiety pangs.

I need to make my checklist and get on with the housework. I also should remember to write my work schedule on the whiteboard so Tim knows what days that I am working. God provided me a job, helping provide for my daily bread. I held Him to His promise, and He fulfilled it. My God is a God of His promises!

Checklist Complete and Then Some!

I started off with a fairly full checklist today. I didn't want to take any medicine and I wanted my day to be full to help with that. My goal was to make a crock pot roast, some homemade bread, clean up the kitchen, living room, and dining room from the disaster that was this weekend of going down to Chicago and generally trying to make the apartment presentable. I also wanted to ride my bike and crochet as a reward.

Well, the day started off as planned. I made bread and waited for it to rise, bake, and generally be edible. The roast went into the crock pot and boy did it taste all yummy when it was finally done. Tim helped with the dishes so they went by faster and so when I was cleaning from the breadmaking and the dinner making, and the dishes that just get made through the course of the day, it wasn't overwhelming. However, doing all those dishes made me realize that the sink was still leaking, so I had to go down and tell my landlords again. It was a rusted out garbage disposal. So, they replaced it and it is so quiet! I love it!

When I was finally done with enough that I could ride my bike, it poured rain. So much for that idea! When the rain finally stopped, it was getting dark so I knew that I wasn't going to ride today anyhow. After finishing all of the stuff on the checklist, I decided to do some extra chores, so I ran the vacuum sweeper and cleaned up one of the bird play stands. I trimmed Daffy's wings after she flew into the kitchen a half a dozen times today. She snuck into the pop can box and hid in there for a while. She decided she wanted some butt roast and jumped on the crock pot (I am so thankful that she didn't burn herself!!) She flew to the sink for some water and almost fell into the dish water and then flew in a couple of times and then turned back around the moment I yelled at her, so I figured it was time for her to get her wings cut. Now she'll have to walk and I doubt she can climb up smooth wood cabinets to get where she wants to go. Maybe she'll realize that she's a bird again! Oh! I almost forgot! She also went onto the counter top where I kneaded the dough to try to eat the bread. I guess she didn't care that it wasn't cooked. She's the only bird who is that stubborn in our flock. She's also been with me the longest. Wonder where she got that stubborn streak from. ;)

Now I think it's time to rest up, put on a good movie, crochet a bit, and relax. I have done everything I planned and more. God provided my daily bread today in a wonderful way- through my own hands making that bread. What a wonderful gift!

Let's Start off the Week Right

Well, I have quite the task at hand after the weekend. It's always hard to get ready for the weekly trek down to Chicago, especially when I have the responsibility to remember everything we need: food, clothes, bird stuff, sermons, Bible study stuff. Generally, I do a pretty good job, however, in getting all of that and preparing two meals ahead of time, I ended up making a pretty good mess that I need to clean up from. That will be on my checklist today as well as making butt roast in the crock pot and making a loaf of bread. I woke up ready to go this morning, so I know I'll get it all accomplished. And who knows, maybe I'll get a job interview for a full time job today, too! Who knows! What I do know is that God will provide my daily bread and He is a God of promises, so I know he'll do it!

Long Day

Today started off with a question mark. How on earth did I not notice the huge rip in Tim's black pants before I packed them? They could have easily been repaired had I seen it, but I didn't. So, this morning when Tim went to wake me up, it was to tell me that there was a huge rip in the backside of his pants and a question as to what to do about it. I told him to run to the nearest Wal-mart and get a new pair whilst I packed up our hotel room and five birds and ate breakfast. This happened at 7 am, Tim was back with new pants and I was finished with packing and getting ready by 8 am.

We got to church just a little bit later than usual, so I had to rush to help Tim get his Bible class materials out, the hymn boards set, communion ware set up, make sure his vestments were where they were supposed to be, start the pot of coffee (that I don't drink- that stuff is nasty!), and be ready to greet parishioners before the 9 am service. Oh, did I mention there is a twenty minute ride between the hotel and church? Yeah, lots of stuff to do. On top of that, our organist was ill, so one of the ladies of our congregation who hasn't played in fifty five years helped us out (and did a wonderful job) and our acolyte wasn't here, so I was the candle lighter. Oh, and I sang a solo for Communion because the folks there are not used to silence during Communion, that's what an organ is for. Wow! What a whirlwind! By the time service was over, I wanted a nap!!

I was able to come home and rest for a while. Poor Tim had to work! Can I have a weekend to recover from my weekend? Sometimes I think I need one!