Dogs and People

I had a dream about my dog last night. I had to have her put to sleep over a year and half ago. She was a great dog and I really miss her.

And I have come to the realization (acceptance?) that people are who they are. No amount of wishing or hoping is going to change that. I need to deal with that and just be who I am.

Battles

"Choose your battles carefully" the saying goes... But how does one choose?

I know the rule is supposed to be that if it won't make a difference in ten years, then don't worry about it. Unfortunately, that rule doesn't seem to agree with my psyche.

Dealing with people is hard work. At my old job, it wasn't so much of a stress - I saw lots of people for small periods of time. It was easy to let things slide because I wasn't around anyone long enough for anything to get under my skin (except if I was training - but that's a whole 'nother ballgame). That all changed in the past year. At work and out of work I am around the same people for longer stretches of time. Things start to wear on me after a time and I'm not used to having to deal with being irritated so often. So how do people keep their sanity?

Obviously you can't nag every person about every little thing that bothers you (well you can, but you won't have any friends for very long), but there comes a point when you don't want to feel like a doormat anymore. You do your part to make life easier and more pleasant for the people around and you would just like the same courtesy.

So how do you know when to compromise/keep the peace and when to hold your ground?

How do you deal with the fact that the thing that is bugging you is so obvious to you, but the other person just doesn't get it? No matter how you present your point-of-view, it just doesn't get through...

How do you what's worth pursuing and when to let go?

How do you decide between what you want and what's best?

I give myself headaches trying to sort this stuff out!


On a lighter note, we have ten baby chicks that have been keeping us occupied. They were unexpected, but sooooo very cute!

Here is Mama Chicken with a very proud Papa - the chicks are about three weeks old here...

It's hard to get good pictures of the babies because they are constantly in motion. They are a lot of fun to watch and a lot easier to take care of than I thought they would have been, considering everything that I have read. Mama Chicken is being a very good mother to them all.

That being said, Mr. Rooster has to go. Along with any baby roosters that might be among the new tribe. I don't want any more unexpected babies - I just don't have the room for them, unless I build a new coop. I don't have the time or money for that, so it's not an option. Fortunately, I have found homes for the extra chickens. I plan on keeping Mama Chicken, the Brown Chicken and five of the babies - all hens of course. The rest will be sent off to new digs once I can tell which are boys and which are girls. I'm hoping that the babies will give me eggs next year... I didn't get very many this year at all. Last year I had eggs coming out of my ears and no one wanted any. This year I have a sizable list of people looking for fresh eggs and I didn't get any to give away. Welcome to my world.

What Storm?

This past week at work was very frustrating. Here it is Sunday night, and I'm still not de-stressed (un-stressed?) yet. I am really not looking forward to going in tomorrow morning. I was hoping that the big snow storm we were supposed to get would have given me another day of reprieve so I could further de-stress (non-stress?)... but it doesn't look like I'll be that lucky.

The way the news was hyping up this storm we were supposed to get today, I thought that I was going to be spending my day keeping my house from getting buried. The Weather Channel was calling it a "Monster Storm Watch". Puh-leeze. I may have gotten seven inches of snow. Big deal. It was windy tho'. I was happy to get back in the house after clearing the driveway. Which begs the question: Why does the snowplow guy wait to come down the street just after you get done with the driveway and you're back in the house? You think that is a rhetorical question that someone made up to be funny. Well it's not made up and it's not funny. And I'm not cleaning it up until tomorrow. So there.

Because I was planning on being snowed in today, I was ready to stay put. I enjoyed a pretty relaxing day, notwithstanding the thought of work nagging the back of my brain. I didn't do some of the things that I should have, but I still got some good stuff done.

I saw some great news today: The new season of Jericho is coming out February 12th. Wahoo!!! It's still a long way off, but at least I know it's coming. I can't wait.

I'm watching the Survivor finale now. The one thing I don't like about the finale shows is the whole "let's-honor-the-past-players" thing. That is one of the most boring parts of the whole season. I also didn't care for some of the new effects they tried this season either - especially that whole stop-motion thing they were using during some of the competitions. Thank goodness they didn't over-do it with that stuff.

As for the end - I'm rooting for Todd, but I wouldn't be sad if Amanda won. I think they both played good, but I think that Todd worked harder at it. I can't believe that Courtney made it to the final four. Being so skinny, I thought that she would have withered away weeks ago. I can't get over how anorexic she looks. Yuk.

I've also noticed lately that CBS likes to use OK Go when promoting new shows. I love OK Go. Good choice CBS :D

Puttering around the house today, I was thinking about the subject of meeting new people. Over the past month or so, I've had the opportunity to meet quite a few new people. I've also had the chance to introduce people to each other. I find it very interesting to see how differently people engage when meeting new people. Out of all the new people I've met lately, I've only observed one person that comes close to the way I react when meeting someone new. It kind of makes me wonder if my approach isn't right. But then again maybe not - I've gotten to know some pretty amazing people.