Well, if nothing else, working gives us money which we pay our bills with, and buy food, and all those good things. Sometimes I totally understand your attitude though!

Il pleut, il pleut! BLEARGH!!!

Yes, April showers are necessary for those lovely May flowers but everything in my garden is drowning! No flowers are poking their timid heads out in this cold wet mess. Several of my clients have magnolia trees in bud on their properties. The buds have not opened - poor trees are too scared to flower!

Fortunately I work down at the beach. It's a lot easier to clean sand off dogs than mud.

Dagmar :swim:

[Deep sigh.] Somehow I knew you were going to say that. That you were going to tell me the truth.

Okay, I'm a little better reconciled as of this hour, but I've got a pain-in-the-butt writing project right now, all about the iPad, which is making work more annoying than usual.

Also I'm still wondering about that job that I was interviewing for. I am trying not to think about it, since telepathy doesn't work for me. I have no nascent powers of that sort.

Dagmar, we're definitely living in different climate zones. Today was distractingly gorgeous, if a bit cool. Tomorrow the rains return. My mood may very well match yours by Wednesday afternoon.

Dagmar~I hear you. Well, I kind of do. My family all lives in SLC and they woke up Saturday morning to 12 inches of snow. That melted. Then it snowed again. And that melted. Then they expected more snow overnight (don't know how much they got). But when growing up there I remember only once or twice having snow that late in the spring. The only good news is that the reservoirs will be full (but they might have some flooding).

Well Saef, I was going to tell you all kinds of things about how working gives us a sense of purpose, of fulfillment, of self worth. But at this point my job just pays the bills, so I figured I'd spare you all that stuff I don't really believe right now. But I do hope you get more out of your work than that. ;)

Dagmar, sorry to hear about all the rain. Would you mind sharing some with us? Florida is suffering from rain shortage. The friendly people on the weather channel tell me that there is some phenomenon keeping all the rain to the northern part of the continent and away from us. Some people are getting much too much, some of us too little.

My car died yesterday while I was driving over a very long bridge. Just.... died. Thankfully I was able to coast to a grassy area and get off the roadway, call BF, who came and examined engine and finally towed me with his very large truck. Thankfully he has an overabundance of vehicles and I'm borrowing his (very large) truck until he fixes my car. He is handy to have around. :p I have a feeling even if he can fix it and we don't take it to the mechanic, my job that pays my bills is going to be paying some significant bills in the next week.

Good luck with your car Megan! That must have been scary.

Beautiful weather here today-- high in the high 80s but then it's going to cool down to the 70s.

Dewey is still wearing me out. I feel like a truck has run over me-- plus my underactive thyroid might be somewhat to blame. Dh went out of town but comes back tonight for a few days. He's been missing Dewey and it will be helpful to have him around so I don't have to leave work to let him out in the middle of the day. Dh leaves Sunday (Mother's Day-- grrr) for Asia for a couple of weeks so I'll be on my own again.

Busy week as Prom round 2 is this weekend. Last weekend was her junior prom and this weekend is his senior prom. Still don't know the plans yet which is a little strange but I'm not pushing it. I think he may be surprising her but I'm not really sure.

Megan, scary about the car on the bridge! I'm glad BF was able to tow you.

Dagmar, funny how different the weather is between where you are and where I am and we're not even all THAT far away. The magnolias here bloomed weeks ago and our tulips are just finishing up right now. Peonies are getting ready to bloom any day now. Of course it's also been pouring rain nearly every day for over a week, but at least it hasn't been too cold. Until today in any case, it's a low of 39 predicted tonight! :brr:

Michele, I think one of the symptoms of underactive thyroid is "feeling of being run over by a truck." :lol: At least, exhaustion is one of them. I hope you feel better soon!

Anyone have mother's day plans? SIL is cooking for MIL so we are just attending this year rather than doing much of anything ourselves.

My Mother's Day plans include golf in the morning and gyros for dinner. I absolutely HATE going out for brunch or anything that day because everyone else is doing it and I really dislike crowds. I'd much prefer to go out for breakfast or brunch on an off weekend.

Of course Saturday we're doing the 5k to raise money for the police dog. And that night we'll have leg of lamb which I'm going to start marinating on Friday (leftovers for gyros).

I had my car die about a year ago. It was scary! We had come to a stop sign and just as I was accelerating through, it died. No power steering or anything! Thankfully we were in a pretty residential area so not too much traffic and I was able to get it over to the side and then it started right back up again. Turns out it was a defect as about a month later the dealership called to tell me to bring it in--some sort of computer glitch which they fixed and I haven't had a problem since. I'd have been terrified if it had happened on the interstate!

Michele~sorry DH is leaving on Mother's day. And two proms? Wow. My DD's school had a junior/senior prom together. I don't know about my DS's school, though.

My Mother's Day plans are non existent though *maybe* dh will plan something for Saturday. I doubt it though as he will need to plan/prepare/pack for his big trip. I actually work Sunday morning until about 11:30 and by the time I get home, dh will be gone. Maybe dd will do something with me? We'll see....

Yes, two proms. Dd's boyfriend goes to another high school and he is a Senior, while she is a Junior. This is a new boyfriend (about 1 month) so we'll see what happens after all of the proms are over. Luckily she only bought one dress. She borrowed a dress for this prom. We are going to have pedicures/manicures on Friday in preparation (at least I get something out of it!).

Michele -- Ohhhhh, puppy! :D
I've wanted one for ages. Unfortunately, since I'm still a substitue teacher and never know where I'll get sent next, that's kind of impossible. I wouldn't have the time to properly train her and take care of her. :(

Saef -- "Why companies are entitled to the majority of our daylight hours, our thoughts, our energy" --> I used to think about that as well when I was still working in the private sector. Now as a teacher, I've discovered the joys of working during the evenings and week-ends and holidays too. :rolleyes: No kidding, I'm in the process of finding ways to tuning this down to an acceptable minimum, otherwise I'll never hold good for the next 40 years.

And speaking of leading an interesting life, I've learnt that I was eligible to take the Agregation competitive exam--that stands above the one I passed 2 years ago, and that would give me more chances of working with high school pupils (and not only junior high level). This is going to be extremely tough, but this news (as well as beginning to work for that, uhm, now) is making me all giddy and bouncy. I guess this is the kind of stressor I need to enjoy my life... for the best or for the worst, time will tell. At least I sure won't be liable to gain on weight during that time. :D

I love most of what I do (except the poop and vomit and all that good stuff) but I resent that clients think I am on call every day and evening. I've had clients express shock and dismay that I won't be able to walk their dog (with about 4 hours notice) because I have concert tickets!

It's funny with the live-ins. The clients whose pets I'm staying with starting tomorrow have realized (going on 15 years I'm working for them) that the pets adapt readily to my schedule and that I have a bit of a life beyond their pets.

One woman who wanted to hire me sent me the dog/cat daily schedule. There were about 20 items listed each day and the routine varied from day to day. I don't imagine she had any kind of a life beyond the pets. She cooked for them, cleaned for them (yes, the vacuuming sched was attached), and entertained them every evening. Yikes!

Dagmar (it's sunny outside :dance:)

Dagmar - I thought of you just now when I passed a dog walker with six larage dogs, all trotting along happily. I thought that was a lot.

Until I saw her buddy only fifty yards behind her with 12 smaller dogs!!! Yikes! But they were all behaving and trotting along. Don't know what their magic was to keep such a large group calm.

For Mother's day we go out to dinner on Saturday evening. Mother's day is just too crowded.

My guess: If dogs are inherently pack animals, like horses are herd animals, then maybe the dog walkers have to establish their dominance as pack leaders & then the dog walkers can enforce a hierarchy among the animals & ensure there is no infighting. Kind of like our managers at work.

Speaking of which, my mood is improving somewhat as I just finished a full draft of that iPhone location tracking thing. It's not beautifully crafted as I'd have liked but it's readable & says what I think they were trying to say. Now we'll see what the internal peer review panel does to it. I may have to staunch the wounds & bandage it afterward, or graft on new body parts.

And I should be changing clothes to get to the gym for my private Pilates session shortly. I'll be using the machine called the Reformer. I swear, all I can think of while on that thing is Elizabethans torturing Tudor enemies in the Tower of London. That is, when I'm not thinking that there are probably some kinky individuals out there who have other, ah, more creative uses for the straps & padded bars.

ETA: For mother's day, my mother gets a phone call. And a card, if I can get my hands on a stamp tomorrow to mail it. And there's a shirt on its way to her in the mail, in her favorite shade of purple, and I am hoping it fits her & looks nice. She hardly ever buys herself new clothes anymore. It's like it's not allowed & she is still supposed to wear things that are eight years old or even older, just because they're there.

In Toronto each individual walker is limited to a maximum of 6 dogs at a time - large or small. I take out 2-4 at a time and do more walks than most. I find I have better control of the dogs and can train them and develop relationships with them with the smaller groups.

Dagmar :dance: (it's still sunny out)