Santa brings out the worst in people

I had the meanest, jerkiest customers today, because... Santa Claus was coming to Petsmart. Oh, you read that right. A day full of people screaming at me for such things as the machine daring to ask them for a dollar for homeless pets or their child being sniffed by a friendly dog, because SANTA, symbol of holiday cheer, was their posing with their pets. After Santa left, the level of customer rudeness returned to normal. Which begs the question, what is wrong with people?!?

And, I found out today that one of my co-workers found my blog. So, hi Heather! :) She works in speciality, so she has a whole different kind of crazy customer to deal with.

Well, here's a cute picture of Eric snuggling with our newest bunny, Sonia, to make this post seem less like a whiny gripefest.

Ups and Downs

Well, my work situation has vastly improved. I talked to Debbie, and so for the last few weeks I've been working just under 40 hours a week, which is much more manageble. I've even had more than one day off a week for two weeks, which is shocking.

The downside of this month is that my Grandpa died. I flew down to Florida (luckily, above listed manager was totally understanding and didn't give me a hard time about having to miss work at the last minute) for the funeral, which was really depressing, as one might imagine. On the plus side, everyone in my family managed to behave, even the crazy one (I won't say which that is, on the off chance she or he might find this post.)

Eric's mother drove me crazy. Wait, that's not fair... drove implies past tense. What I meant to say was, she is driving me crazy, drove me crazy while I was in Florida, and will more than likely drive me crazy in the future. There we go. She kept pestering the Hell out of us to come down for Thanksgiving, even though we kept telling her that I'm a cashier, and the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the shopping year, so odds were slim but I'd give it a shot. I talked to Debbie, who thought I'd be able to get that time off, so I put in the request. The next day, my grandpa died, I missed this whole week of work. His mother doesn't seem to understand that I need to confirm with Debbie that I can still have that week off, since I just missed this week. I understand that if there was someone else at the store who hadn't taken any time off lately who really needed that week off, it wouldn't be entirely fair to let me go when I've missed so much work the last 3 months for family stuff. His mother doesn't. She also doesn't understand that when I'm blacked out (ie, not allowed to take time off) between December 15 and January 15 that it means that we will NOT be able to come down for Christmas or New Year. Here was our conversation:

His mother: Will you be down for Christmas?
Me: No, unfortunatly I'm blacked out between Dec and Jan 15th.
Her: Oh.....

(Much later)

Her: I'm really depressed that you won't be back for the holidays... are you sure you can't come back?
Me: Yes. No one in the store can take time off between Decemember 15th and January 15th.
Her: (thinking) Well, maybe you could come the week before Christmas.
Me: (amazed she's made it this far in life) Christmas is the 25th... a week before is the 18th... that's during my blackout time.
Her: Oh... what if you came before then?
Me: .... well, if we come for Thanksgiving, then that means we'd be home for a week and then have to come back.
Her: Oh, darn... well, at least you can come for New Years?
Me: (repress rage repress rage) No, New Years is January 1st, I can't take time off until the 15th.
Her: Oh................................................ are you sure you can't get the time off?

At this point I made an excuse to leave and let Eric deal with her. Ugh. On the plus side, rage makes me forget sadness, so the constant levels of irritation she provided helped me not be too upset for long.

Now, to go watch the Gators. Fingers crossed for luck; I'm worried.

~Katie

Work sucks

Ok, so if you didn't notice from my last post, I was a little depressed. I've had a couple of depressed days this month (which is a lot for me) and I think its because I have so little free time. Currently, I am on day 6 of working 12 days straight. While this doesn't match up to Amanda's most hectic weeks, I am working over 40 hours a week, with one day off if I'm lucky. The problem is, I don't know how to fix it. The most logical way to bring down my hours would be to quit at the yarn store, but I love that job. It can't give me more hours, so I have to have 2 jobs. I could quit at PetSmart, but then I'd have to find another job, and chances are I'd have the same problems I'm having now. Without the cute puppies. Life really sucks sometimes.

I'll post some knitting pictures soon, to give something a little interesting instead of all this gloom and doom.

I'm so ronreee.......

So ronery and sadry arone....

Alright enough singing. It does suck to be me though. Eric was at class this morning/afternoon, and I went to work at 5, waving to him at the bus stop as I drove by. I worked, got home at 10, and got a "Hi honey!" before he took the car out to go bowling with his friends. Before we got married, he always wanted to do stuff with me, but now he'll do stuff with me if I'm the only option. It wouldn't be so bad if I had other friends to hang out with here, but I don't. I was gonna post on the Girls of 121 blog, but I lost the password again so this pity-fest will have to go here. Sigh. I guess I'll go let Snoopy run around.

Man this is a depressing post.

Final Fantasy Football

So, I'm in a fantasy football league with Manda, Ralph, Jen, and Kevin. I'm insane. Manda is going to kill us all. So, I'm not looking to win. I'm looking to not come in last place. That's my goal. Me and the Evil Giraffes are not going to be complete losers. We will salvage our tiny bit of dignity and not totally suck. We will eat all the leaves on the tree, and hide berries where others may not find them ... wait, sorry, that's Eddie Izzard. Anyway, we won't come in last.

I hope.

~Katie

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-Football!

Wow... I knew Ol' Miss would get its ass handed to it, but damn... I got home from work and showered, turned on the game at 10:30... 31-0. Snap. I read a rumor (via Miss Mandapants' blog) that I'd be invited to join a fantasy football league. I'm excited, but very afraid that Manda will kick my sorry behind. Seriously.

Eric got his job offer, so he officially has a job after Law School. Minnesota here we come. He's taking Hindi right now, so I'm ever so thrilled, waiting for when I'll wake up to him practicing. And really, Hindi? Even for him that's pretty random. My mom was like, "Isn't he at all interested in Chinese?" and apparently, the answer is no. While it might be practical to learn to talk to your own relatives, my husband would rather throw a dart at the list of language classes and see what comes up.

Gotta go. Champange time.

~Katie

Designer Dogs = Mutts, You Moron

Ok, I am SO SICK of this whole designer dog bullshit. Somebody comes through my line at Petsmart, and they have a cute little dog, so I ask what it is and get something like, "Oh, its a peek-a-poo/puggle-poo/labradoodle/magical pixie dog". THE DOG IS A MUTT. Get over yourself. Not only that, but its a mutt you paid anywhere from $800-$1500 for. How do you sleep at night? Ok, let me restart.

There used to be mutt people and purebred people. Purebred people only bought dogs from breeders; they claimed you knew what the dog looked like, what to expect personality and health wise, etc. Then there were mutt people. Mutt people looked at the inbred, overbred dog population, and instead went to the SPCA or the pound, got an adorable little part whatever and SAVED ITS LIFE. Their arguments for the superiority of their choice involved rational arguemnts (a dog with mixed ancestory has a better chance against genetic diseased than a purebred) and slightly less fact-based, hopeful and emotional arguments (a mutt would get the best of both breeds). The designer dog movement takes those arguements from the mutt people, BREEDS MORE DOGS, and then attatchs an outrageous price tag to the little puppies. It dupes stupid people who have more money than ability to do research.

There is one reason a person should buy a purbred; love of the breed. If that person really loves the breed and wants to strive for a better, healthier future for that breed, then they can responsibly breed their own. Money should never be the reason behind breeding dogs, and that's the only reason behind the designer dog movement.

Please, if you want a dog, go to an animal shelter. If you really want a purebred, do like Amanda's very smart and responsible parents when they wanted a basset hound: find a local breed rescue and save a dog. But please: Don't breed or buy while shelter pets die.

And remember: the promises behind that cock-a-poo are a crock-of-shit.

~ Katie

Do Dreams Mean Anything?

So I had a dream last night. I dreamed that I got a tattoo. It was a thin band that went right over my eyebrows, dipped a bit in the middle, and had a small pentacle hanging in middle. Like a tattooed version of a priestesses headband. It was gorgeous and I loved it, but I worried about how obvious it was. I realized I could cover it up with makeup, or get my bangs back (they've grown out since that picture of me), but I never did it in the dream. And I talked to most of the people I know. Amanda and Eric were fine, my mom thought it was ridiculous, and my dad freaked out. Eric's dad did the whole, "I'm uncomfortable but I'm not going to say that outright" thing that he does. I woke up before meeting with my grandparents.

So I wonder if this dream is about how I treat my religion. I don't hide it per se, but I'm not usually too open about it. The reactions of the people in my dream to my tattoo were very similar to the reactions they had in real life to my religion. So what does this all mean? Should I be more outspoken? Should I talk with my loved ones (and Eric's parents apparently) about it more? I don't know. It does, however, really make me want to get a tattoo. Just not on my face.

~ Katie

Cleaning time

Ok, I've procrastinated long enough. Eric gets back next week, and I want the house to be clean, so here we go. Cleaning time. Cleeeeeeaaaaaning.

Any second now. No more putting it off. I'm just gonna get up and start. Now. Now? Now....

Nope. Sigh. Still procrastinating. Even this post is something to do other than clean. But its got to be done.

Ok, so I'm gonna run some errands. Then cleaning. Sounds good.

I am ready for some Football!!!

Ah, words I thought I'd never say. But, thanks to my lovely former roommate but still best friend Manda, I have learned to love the game. Not as much as her, cause, lets be real here, I can only watch ESPN for so long, but still, I like it a lot. If nothing else it gives me an excuse to knit for three lovely hours.

So not much else. Still waiting for Berroco to realize they need to post more corrections in the Norah Gaughan book; I may have to break down and call them. Oh, and I'm reading this book Unmasked. Its an erotic phantom of the opera story. So far, totally worth my time and money. Although I still want to slap Christine a little. And my hatred of Raoul has never been stronger. But what can I say, I'd let the phantom kidnap me any day. Mmmmm...

Woah. Sorry. Got a little distracted there. So I still need to figure out what the heck I'm going to blog about. You know, give this site a little direction. I could do my picks for veggie recipies, or knitting, or books... right now, I think it'll just be a little bit of whatever strikes my fancy.

And that brings us back to football. And speaking of erotica... I'm remembering another reason I like football so much. Tight pants over hot athletic bodies. Oh yeah. Football season, make me forget my troubles.

I'm back

Alright, so a year without a post is a bit much. But I promise to be better. Cross my heart.