Paula: The Good Times, The Bad Times, and the Body that Hates Her

Last week Andy called me from work and told me that he had been called into a meeting with his team leader, supervisor, and the plant supervisor. It was a spontaneous meeting And the conversation went something like this...

Supervisor: We want to have a meeting with the plant supervisor, the team leader, you and I.
Andy: Alright...when?
Supervisor: Right now.
Andy: Okay...

He must have gotten that look on his face because his supervisor told him that it wasn't anything bad.

Andy went into the room and sat down, still nervous. It is at this point that they started telling him how much they appreciate everything that he has been doing. For several months now he has been coming in 2 hours early several times a week (some entire weeks) and learning part of the team leader's job. He has also been cross trained in many of the other ares of the plant in the past year. Andy has also done most of the team leader's job when she is not at work.
In the meeting, they said that some people would have quit or complained by now because of the extra work load and the expectations that have been placed on him. The supervisor and plant supervisor commended him on his attitude and his willingness to learn. They told Andy that he absorbs new information like a sponge and is then ready for new challenges.

And then...he was given a promotion. And a raise. I'm so unbelievably proud of him. His hours are changing some too. He was working 7-3:30, but now he will have to go in earlier so he will be working 5-1:30. While I have to admit that it has got to suck getting up so early in the morning. Is there really a A.M. version of 3:30? Seriously?? However, he is enjoying the being done at 1:30 and I am loving having him home earlier.
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Last week was the girls' Spring Break from school and while we didn't do too much extraordinary, we did have a nice week. The girls played in the basement a lot, showing me that they can get along and solve their own problems.

On Friday, the last day of Break, I took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and games. However, before heading there for fun and excitement we stopped off at our local salons and Cassie got her eye brows waxed for the first time. As of late it seems that some of the hair on her face is starting to darken. Mainly eye brows and a little bit on the upper lip. We started with eye brows as well...honestly, I come from a family of uni-brows. Cassie inherited this wonderful trait as well.

Before: Uni-brow and hairy

She was very nervous going in and cried some, but after they did it the first pull she said that "it felt like pulling off a bandaid. Or like pulling the tape off when I tape her mouth shut." Huh???? Yes this is what she said in front of the ladies that were doing her and my waxes. So I had to clarify before Child Services was called. Every now and again when Cassie is talking up a storm and driving me insane I will use scotch tape and 'tape her mouth shut'. Cassie, however, made it sound like I duct taped her mouth on a daily basis...which by the way would eliminate the upper lip problem.

After all was said and done, Cassie loved it. She kept saying that she was so pretty now. And I kept correcting her by saying that she was always pretty...this just makes her eye brows look that little bit more defined and clean. And it is very true.

After: cleaned up and looking fairly good.
Next time I will have them round the insides a little more so it looks less treky looking.

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So, we've talked in the past about how my body hates me, right? And about how I'm very coordinated? Well...I have a story to show just how true these things are.

Sunday morning we were walking dogs and I rolled my ankle. Of course my ankle rolling and then giving out completely caused me to fall on the gravel road. I stopped my face from hitting the ground with my hands and surprisingly never lost the dog. As I was laying on the ground the dog, Emily, came back and looked at me as if to say, "why are you on the ground?"

Andy was a little ways in front of me and turned back to see me completing my fall to the ground and then rushed to see if I was okay. (fortunately he was the only one to see my embarrassment) I said that I was okay and I tried to get up and walk off the pain in my ankle. It wasn't really helping, but I was hoping. I then mentioned how my knee was really hurting and that I was sure it was scrapped up and that I'd have another bruise. I told Andy that I didn't want to look, but should. I pulled up my pants leg and what I saw made my stomach flip and Andy say "oh my God". It wasn't pretty. I had gouge in my knee and it looked like a flap of skin was hanging there some. I pulled my pant leg back down and thought about trying to walk this off as well, but I gave up and went back to the house.

Before: Open, fleshy looking boo-boo. This picture actually doesn't show how bad it really was.

Long story short...this was the end of my walking dogs for the day, I felt like a dork, and once we were back in town Andy and I headed for the ER. It was a blast and I came out with an air brace for my right ankle, 10 stitches in my left knee, a tetanus shot in my left arm, and antibiotics to be on for the next several days. Seriously, not that good of a time.

After: Bruises setting in now, the girls say my stitches make my skin look like they are lips.
It hurts to move my knee and just thinking about bumping it makes me cringe.

And now for the question of the evening. When you have an injured ankle/leg they tell you that when you are going up the stairs to lead with the good leg and when you are doing down the stairs to lead with the bad. Up with the good, Down with the bad. However, how do you do stairs when both legs are bad?? Yeah, I haven't figured it out yet either. For now I just do my best with as little moaning as possible and hope that I am not sweating by the time I get to the other end of the stairs. Yes, it is a sad life that I have here. I'm thinking of making a sitcom out of it. I'll just simply call it "Paula: Good Times, Bad Times, and the Body that Hates Her". Has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?
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I feel like I have so much more to post about, but sleep is a little more important and it is almost 11:00pm. I'll work on it tomorrow, if time presents itself. ;)