Is there Such a Thing as a GOOD Monday??

This one held some promise, but it was still a tough day. It was our first Monday back to work after a week off. But we didn't make it to work until a bit after 9:00. Ken and I took Harry in to the Wound Care Clinic downtown. He'd had a sore on his leg for a few weeks now and this was the follow-up visit. The first time I saw the wound, he had just asked me to take a look at the back of his leg because it had been hurting. I'm no medical professional, but I could tell this was not a good looking sore. It was swollen and pussy and the area of his leg around it had turned a brownish-red color. I cleaned it off as best I knew how and we made an appointment to see his primary physician.

She took one look at it and said, 'Yuck!' Her nurse bandaged Harry up and they made an appointment for him at this Wound Care place at Franklin Clinic. It was almost a week before we could get in. In that time, I cleaned and rebandaged it for him each evening. I don't think it was fun for either one of us! During the WC visit, the health care professional - I don't believe she was a doctor, but was some knd of 'super-nurse' (my own technical term which I'm sure will catch on) - redressed the site with this gray, fuzzy cloth. She said it contained silver which is a great anti-microbial. Over that, she placed a greasy gauze, another gauze bandage then some really cool fabric tape. She said this could remain bandaged for up to a week without a change! This was a God-send as Ken, Mindy and I were leaving for the cabin I discussed in the last post. After just ten days, the wound site is almost completely healed. He no longer needs to bandage it. I'm getting us some of the fuzzy stuff to have on-hand for the future. It was pretty amazing.

After getting Harry's clean bill-of-health, we took him back home and made our way to work. I was expecting to hear about a possible job interview for me, hopefully this week. But no word yet. Maybe tomorrow. In the meantime, I spent the rest of the morning going through the 1,280 e-mails that were sitting there waiting for me. GULP! About 80% of them were 'junk e-mails' for technical mail groups I'd signed up for over the years, but still it took a while to get through those. There were a few I looked over...one announcing that Congress had approved a 3.9 percent raise for Federal employees for next year. We'll get that in January, and that will help ALOT. Another said Congress had passed a bill approving paid materinty/paternity leave as a separate paid benefit for Federal Employees. Probably not a benefit we'll get to use, but interesting. It seems that it would make keeping us Feds around to do the job keeps getting more and more expensive. It's already pretty attractive to contract out much of the work we do.

Speaking of contracting out, the one exciting thing that happened for me today was that I met our new DBA contractor. He'll be onsite for the next six months helping me with a lot of the hardware and database administration. If I end up getting that EDI Analyst position, he'll be pretty critical during the transition. He seems like a pretty nice man, eager to help.

After work, Ken and I picked up Mindy from Karen's house. Boy, was she in a foul mood! And it didn't get any better as the evening wore on. We barely made it through dinner without tantrums on all sides. I took her up to bed early and we read a couple of new story books that arrived today from Amazon. The first, Knuffle Bunny, is a very cute story about a young girl with a much beloved stuffed toy. The second, You're Not My Real Mother, was one I'd gotten so Mindy and I could continue our somewhat disjointed dialog about her adoption. I am not sure that she understands it yet, that she has birth parents far, far away. But we talk about it from time to time and I thought this book might help extend the conversation. I was reluctant to read it to her this evening, given her mood. But she insisted that we read the new books. I relented, read it and asked her some questions. She didn't seem all that interested, though. She picked out another book she wanted me to read instead. (sigh) I'm sure I'm doing this all wrong. lol

Mindy and I crashed in her rocking chair while listening to the radio. We all are pretty tired this evening. I'm glad she was in a pretty happy place before falling asleep. It usually makes for an uneventful night.

By the way, today is my Mom's birthday! We all celebrated at my parents' home yesterday. It was a fun barbeque event with family and friends. Both Joyce Ruisi and Marilyn Bixel were there. They are long-time friends of my mom's and happen to be pretty amazing women. My Aunt Lucy showed up from Texas just as the BBQ was starting. She had incredible timing and introduced several of us there to the wonders of sangria! Yumm-O!

Jerry and Chris Ausec attended from the Springs, looking every the dashing pair of dudes. Unfortunately, Susie couldn't make it this time. Mom added Susie and Mary both to Grace, asking God to protect and keep them from harm.

Uncle Bill and Aunt Wilma both showed as well and were such fun. I consider them to be that rare mixture of retro-cool.

Aunt Ruth and Uncle Don were there, too, bringing love and laughter to the party.

I didn't think to pull out the camera until pretty late in the afternoon. So, I didn't manage to get everyone in a picture. But here are a couple of the Colemans, at least. Next time, I'll do better!





Here Mom and Mindy are spending some girly time on the swing.




Ken is providing a perch for Juliet, Lucy's Yorkie just in from Texas. I just noticed they both have the same hair color. Maybe that's why they like each other so much!




And here, Mindy is showing off her new dress. I'd just bought it that morning. I got a size 6 because she was starting to outgrown all her size 5 clothes. But this barely fit! She also really liked the little 'pearl' necklace I picked up for her. She felt and looked like a little lady! :)

I have a couple more pictures from the party that I'll throw up later this week. But I had to show off my family first! I'm kinda selfish that way. ;)

Time for me to pop off. Given that not all that much out of the ordinary happened today, it did turn into a rather long post. Hope you don't mind!

Much love,

Kelley