Highlights of the Last Two Weeks

It's been two weeks since my last post and I honestly don't have a reason for why it has been so long.  Sure I am busy with school and work but what blogger isn't busy with life?  I know my life doesn't revolve around blogging, or it shouldn't, but I also want to put in a decent amount of effort into it.  I can't have a "journal" of my life to look back on if I don't post right?

Moving on to the highlights of the last two weeks...

October 29th one of my friends turned 21 so she had a birthday party at a local bar.  Costumes were welcomed so it also doubled as a Halloween party I guess.  I didn't put much effort into dressing up - a plaid shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots so I guess that means I was a cowgirl?  Like I said, not much effort went into that.

I considered going out at all a success in my book.  I haven't discussed this on my blog but since a breakup a year ago I haven't been very social.  It wasn't done purposefully but when you lose touch with those people you hung out with in high school and didn't really care because you had your boyfriend when you lose the boyfriend what are you left with?  Your family and yourself.  I'm definitely working on growing from this experience and breaking out of my shell to make new friends and meet new people.

I considered going out a success because there was only one other time I have gone out since the breakup in October of 2010.  Definitely room for improvement but I have to start some where and it's OK to start small.

The other big highlight to the last two weeks would have to be that Bo, our almost 6 month old puppy, started limping.  Today I took him to the vet and discovered that his elbow joint in his right front leg didn't form properly so his bones are rubbing on each other which is painful, or will be painful.  There is a surgical option but at this time we don't really know much about it because the vet said she would go with the other option for now.  That other option is anti-inflammatory medication and some chews that will help with joint health.  Bo will deal with this for the rest of his life but will be able to live a normal life for the most part.

Going into this I was scared that something would be seriously wrong with Bo and I wasn't sure how I would be able to handle that after going through something similar with Duke roughly 6 months ago.  If you missed what happened with Duke and want the story you can start with this post here, then read this post here, followed by this post, and finally this post.  I can't really go through it again because it makes me teary eyed still.  Duke is always in my heart and he won't be forgotten.

Sorry this post took a turn to the negative side.  Back to the positives, I went out to a party to meet up with friends and Bo while not 100% is going to be OK.

Tomorrow I will be running the same route I ran at the beginning of the semester.  Mission Accomplished! is the post I wrote about the first time I ran this route.  My goal for tomorrow is to beat my previous time of 19:07.  I haven't been "training" to do this but I have been more active that I was before I ran the route at the beginning of the semester so I think I can accomplish my goal.  Wish me luck!

I've got to study for a test for tomorrow night.  My goal is to do do better on this one than I did on the first class for this semester.

Do you ever consider something small as a success simply because it's a step in the right direction?

Are your pets simply pets or are they your fur-babies and are part of the family?

It's been a tough week...

Remember my Fight Like a Girl post from back in March?  Well, my grandma fought hard but Monday her time came.  Both of my parents left work to be with the other siblings at my grandma's home while I continued working and then went to my fitness for life class.

Tuesday everyone went on with their days as normal - my mom and dad went to work, I stayed home and did nothing productive, and my brother was either at work or out with friends.

Wednesday my mom rode with me to work so she could work a half day and I would pick her up after I completed my workout for fitness for life.  Visitation was from 6 to 8 with a prayer type thing afterwards for the family.  It was a long night of people I didn't really know other than by name talking to me.  After things at the funeral home were finished most of the siblings and some of their families headed to Wausau Mine Co. for some food.  Thankfully, I wasn't too hungry (until we got there and my brain told my stomach it was time to eat) thanks to a small twist cone I had prior to arriving at the funeral home.

Soft-serve ice-cream was not a random treat.  My grandma always told the grandchildren that we could stop for ice-cream so she wouldn't get osteoporosis.  It is the most vivid memory I have of my grandma - we had walked from her house to the library to borrow books and on our way back we stopped for ice-cream.  Of course if you know my dad (which I'm sure most of you don't haha!) it didn't take much for me to get him to make the stop for the ice-cream - it's very rare that he doesn't have some for dessert.

Thursday was going to be a long day so as soon as I got home I hit the hay.

Thursday morning there was more viewing time before the church service.  There were still a lot of people who showed up to pay their respects to my grandma and offer their sympathies to her children (or whoever they knew in the family) but there were less people there who were interested in talking to me - which was really fine by me.  The final viewing was followed by an hour long church service and then a lunch of scalloped potatoes and ham, fruit salad, chips, and desserts.

It was a chilly windy day so everyone was bundled up when we went to the cemetery for the burial.  Once our group was gathered around the tent it really wasn't too bad.

Afterwards I was dropped off at my car which I had left at the church so I could go to class to take my fourth and final test.  Had I done better on the previous test I wouldn't have had to take the fourth one but it's ok, it all worked out in the end.  I ended the class with a B - solid and good enough for me.

If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen me tweeting about the cherry on top of those two days being that I was sick.  Yup, I was lucky enough to be blessed with a cold and those two days (Wednesday & Thursday) were the worst, even with medication.

But this last week is in the past now - my cold seems to be pretty much cleared up and my grandma is in a better place so it is time to move on and tackle a new class and push forward with my other three classes.

No questions for you today.  Hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend and is well rested and ready to tackle Monday tomorrow!