Details of life as I find myself changing my life for the better. Sure I could be mature and even tempered, but slightly crazy and an emotional car wreck are more fun.
Sabrina and I went to see Dr. Murray Tuesday. Technically it was her annual. Dr. Murray said she had been researching options, and all she had seen was stem stell research in California. Yeah, not really an option. We discussed her infections (that would probably only get worse), the constant fight between too firm poo and diarrhea poo. We talked about how she really hated it when I expressed her bladder and that she dripped pee all day every day.
So, Sabrina stood between us, happy and bouncy, and I knew that she really isn't going to get better. And I knew it was just going to get harder and harder for me. So, we decided to just do it. She was a beautiful, happy, loving dog. I hated holding the power of life or death over another creature. I desperately wanted her to live and get better, and I am desperately sad that she is gone.
My students are unbelievably sweet. I've gotten lots of hugs, a coffee cake, flowers and a slurpee.
I'm going to make a video montage, but in the meantime here is a clip from one of her last days. It seems really, really wrong doesn't it?
To Hemorrhage: to undergo a rapid and sudden loss. Yep. That is the word.
I take Cat to the vet today. He is so shockingly skinny, I'm not sure of how he can move around. He eats (a tiny little bit), he sits (looks happy?), but he doesn't really have his Cat spunk. He's basically starving himself to death. But he looks ok if you just look at him. And yet, we are going to the vet today to end his life. I don't want him to suffer, and I don't think he is healthy or happy. The vet agrees. Doesn't make it any easier. It sucks.
In the meantime, Sabrina goes to the vet Tuesday for a check-in. They all of the blood work etc over the holidays when the "tamale" incident occurred. I made the mistake of looking at my credit card bill yesterday. It looked like I'd spent about $1,000 at the vet alone in December. So, I sat down and actually tried to add up how much I've spent since August. It's not pretty. Especially since I didn't even add in all of the chicken, rice, pumpkin and dried cranberries I've bought. You might not think it adds up to
a lot being groceries and all, but if you look at the pumpkin alone...2 cans a day for two months at $1 a can... Yeah, it really does add up. I didn't add in the mattress pads, wet wipes, tissues and other general cleaning supplies.
Is she getting better? Well, she is way better than she was in August when the specialty vet let me take her home without her being able to stand on her own. She can walk two miles now. She still doesn't have control of her bowels or her bladder. And she has constant bladder infections. I am crazy about this dog. She is beautiful and loving and happy and I desperately want her to get better, but I just don't know if she is or if I can afford to keep trying. How Godawful is that? I don't have the money to take care of her. Ironically, looking at my bank statements and credit card, after today's visit to take care of Cat, I don't actually have the money to do anything else either. I am so unbearably sad.
Well, technically it is the night before Thanksgiving. Tonight I am sitting in Kirby's drinking cosmo's and happy to not be packing or unpacking. My computer is running painfully slowly which makes me want to hurt someone. I have no internet at home, so I should be grateful for what I can get.
I am sleeping on the floor for the 5th of 7 nights. My back is killing me, but do you know what? No one is yelling at the dogs or me. It is good.
Today? All in all it was a good day.
Today, I wasn't at school. We had 7 proof batches to finish yesterday. My ads managers managed to do 2. By 7pm I decided it was time to call it a night. So, we left. With the batches not done. The good part of being old and having done a job for a long time is that I know it really doesn't matter. I wasn't working, so that was cool. Sure, Monday will be a beating, but what the heck.
Today I discovered that my new next door neighbor? Besides being the most beautiful black woman I have ever met, she's a vet. She likes dogs. Thank you, Sweet Jesus.
Today? I filed a police report for my circular saw and sander. There is a chance that they are just packed and missing, but there is a better chance I left the garage door open as I did stuff and they were stolen. The policeman who took the report was a total sweetheart. He talked to me about making marijuana legal. He was fun, and I'm all for it.
Today, I took Sabrina for her 3rd laser treatment. When we left, she effing JUMPED into the car. Trust me when I tell you, it was a big deal. Please God let her keep healing. I love the fact that we are trying something new and fairly untested, and it is working. IT IS WORKING.
Tonight? I'm grateful for all the things going well in my life. And there is a lot. I'm a lucky girl.
Ladies and Gentlemen, what you are about to see is horrifying. In fact, I didn't even appreciate HOW horrifying until I was looking at the pictures on the computer.
I believe I might have mentioned the management company wants to show the old homestead. I got a phone call from the centralized showing service yesterday asking to show it yesterday afternoon. I didn't laugh out loud (trust me, it took effort) but I did decline. Went I got home, I cleaned up most of the poo, then thought, I need to take pictures to document the squalor in
which I am living these days.
So, here it is. In all its glory. Yes, I am disgusted. Upon entering, potential renters will be greeted with this view...please note the killer dogs behind the wood gate...
Normally, I wouldn't show my delicates to the world, but when I got home and started looking around at what needed to be done, I realized that my delicates were out and drying...those need to be put away. Don'tcha think?
Should they open the door behind the delicates, they get a glance at the garage, it is actually a little more organized because I took that picture last week, but it is chock full of my worldly possessions. Since technically, I'm not supposed to have a cat, my plan is to hide the litter box in the garage and the cat in the car when people come to see the place.
Back to the living room. Yup, it's a disaster.
And the big comfy chair? With no cushion because Buddy has EATEN it. . . also has pee on it because Sabrina won't stop getting on it.
The kitchen maintains the theme of horror...
What? You would like to see the patio. Oh, of course. Why, yes, that is poop on the patio. Yes, that is a dog walking in the middle of more poop. Welcome to my world.
Ok, perhaps we should go upstairs. Each night Sabrina goes to sleep with a new blanket under her. Each morning she gets up and I pick up under and take the blanket down to be washed because it is pee and poo covered. Behind her kennel you can see where ...well, I'm not even sure of how that happens, it falls out of her, that's all I can say. Gets on the wall when she shakes etc. I should have taken an after picture so you can know I really do clean up after her...often, but it is a constant job. For some reason I didn't take a picture of the rest of the room, but I like thinking about people seeing the size of the two kennels and thinking to themselves, wow, these must be really big dogs. Naa, they just need room to stretch ; )
Guest bedroom - frightful.
Back to the tour, the bathroom, it another biohazard altogether. And this one - all mine. I admit it, I'm lucky I'm showering at all. There are germs in that tub. Trust me when I tell you that. Cleaning the bathroom, so low on the list as to not even be worth mentioning. Now, really all I'm trying to do as far as the showing business go, is not have any evidence of the charge her on the move-out variety. They can know I live in squalor, I don't care. I just want to get all of my money back when I move.
My one worry has been that the mantle I had installed won't come down. I mean it might, but it is pretty solidly connected. It's the one thing I am hoping I can get away with leaving. People like mantles right?
Tuesday was my first day back at my house with both dogs and Cat. It was a bit chaotic. First, Cat may not be visible often, but I tell you what the boy shows up for breakfast.
Sadly, breakfast for Cat must start with his anti-acid medicine. He hates that. And he is shitty about it. As in, it is a big ole fight to get him to take the meds. And then he gets his new and improved, special wet smelly food for old cats food.
Sabrina then gets her many pills mixed up with peanut butter before being fed her super yummy wet dog food mixed with pumpkin.
I turn to Buddy and fill his dish with the 2 cups of dry food that he's always gotten.
If I could have filmed the expression on his face as he looked at me like, "Seriously, are you kidding me? This is what I get? I stay healthy, do what you ask? Always a good dog, and I get this crap?!?!?!?!
Background: the kitchen has been set up as Sabrina's new hang out. I have an area rug cut to fit, then a tarp laid out, then blankets on top. Then there is a tarp over most of the living area so that it is covered on the way out the door.
This morning Sabrina was in a very sassy mood. She was standing in the living room barking in a fierce manner to let me know she was not pleased with her present circumstances. As she barked, she bounced with ears flapping in the wind.
I finally got Sabrina and Buddy outside. I turned around to see that with each bounce she made, she pooped. I have a picture. I'll upload it soon. It was big poop. So, as I cleaned up, both Sabrina and Buddy began to let me know they didn't want to be outside anymore.
I let them in, and sure enough, she pooped outside too.
So, when I came back home at 10 to let her out and "express" her bladder (Yeah, I have to help her pee every time) I tried to use the sprayer on the house. The water wasn't coming out, and then it started to spray out the sides, and I swear I turned it off and then turned it towards me so that the water spraying out the side wouldn't hit me...you see where this is going don't you? Yup, I finally got the sprayer loose, and it popped off and all the water that had built up pressure sprayed me. Everything was soaked; dress, shoes, skivvy's. All of it.
Sure, sounds easy enough doesn’t it? But, no. That is not what the good Lord has in store for me!So, this is my last full day before leaving for Europe. I have to get busy. I haven’t packed, I haven’t cleaned.I haven’t gotten Euros. Nothing. I did manage to get Cat up to Mom and Dad’s. While on the way, I realized that Cat has no hair on his backside. The whole area near the tail,
hairless. And he is getting pretty skinny. I guess when you get to 15 or so things happen.
This morning I got up at the CRACK of dawn so that I could walk the dogs one final time before taking them up to Mom and Dad’s (Yes, I am totally grateful that my parents are willing to help me out. I know the dogs are going to get better care and be happier with them than anywhere
else, not to mention the amount of money that I’ll be saving.
So, as we are walking along I see a white lab approaching us. So, I tighten their leads and we keep going. But sure as shit, they get all excited, and Buddy puts on his bad ass mean dog face. He rears back, I jerk the lead, he falls into my ass and takes a big ole bite. Seriously. It hurts.
Exhibit A: The wound as it first appeared on my backside. OUCH
So, I had Mom check my derriere. She determined the fact that the wounds bubbled courtesy of the hydrogen peroxide to be good. She also said the wounds looked deep, so it needed to be checked while on the trip. I called Blondie to let her know of her extended Europe trip duties: checking the divas backside for infection. She was thrilled.
Exhibit B: Shot with bruising so that you can see the exact size of Buddy's jaw as it clamped onto my tender flesh. Also, teeth marks pre-infection. ha ha. I hope.
I have a lot of blog post drafts. Things that I start to write about but decide, nah. Or, I wander off, forget to finish and then come back and think, no, not so funny.
Let's see if I can get through this one.
I think I mentioned that there are two girls that live behind me that are not in love with Sabrina and Buddy. They wrote me a couple of notes, I responded immediately. Doghater #2 calls, I call back immediately. I got the electronic dog door back from being fixed and installed it immediately so that the dogs wouldn't be outside all of the time. Set the timer so that they would not be able to go outside until late in the afternoon. Seriously, I know the dogs can be annoying, so I have been trying to do what I can. HOWEVER, when she calls and I'm in the middle of class, I really am limited on what I can do at that moment.
Yesterday she calls me at 1:00pm. Her opening gambit? "Do you know why your dog has been barking through the lunch hour?" No, I don't. I can't remember what she said next, but I did tell her I was in the middle of teaching a class and that I had classes all afternoon, so I couldn't get home until school was out. She said something else nasty to me and got off the phone. I talked it over with Blondie, and she said she could watch my class, one of my editors would lead the class (yes, I was actually teaching) and I raced home.
I'm almost there when I get a call from a guy asking if I had two dogs. "Yeessss"
"I just found them running down Greenville Ave." Coincidence? I think not.
So, I get home, and he helps me get them in the house.
Yes, I went straight to Home Depot and bought a lock for the gate.
Then I went back to school and called her several times...no answer. Finally left a nice message asking her to call me back.
Then I called her boss, and I left a nice message saying it was about her employee Dog Hater #2 and could she call me back. (I figured odds are good, she'll call DogHater#2 and ask who I am. If she did call me back, I was just going to ask when a good time to call was because this is the only number I have and I am hard to reach too, so I was hoping to be able to call at a time when she could pick up, benign, but pointed.)
Then this morning I called Dog Hater #2 again. She answered the phone. (Shocking.) I was extremely nice. I started by asking her if she went over to my house after speaking to me. She didn't say no. She didn't ask me why. She said she left the house right after talking to me. (Anyone else think it is interesting that she was pissed I wasn't going straight home yesterday but she left the house immediately so why did it matter? Or that she didn't ask me why I thought she was at my house...) I told her that I wanted to let her know that I checked the timer, and it wouldn't open until 2 and that I went home right after we spoke because I got someone to watch my class. I also mentioned that when I got home there was someone on the front side of one of the houses next door and Buddy does bark if he hears someone... so perhaps he was barking at someone specifically.
She did mention that one day she was so frustrated she posted on Facebook asking for help. So, I found her facebook post:
Need advice: Lady next door has 2 HUGE dogs that bark all hours of the night, and day. When I called her to ask her to put them away, she copped a HUGE attitude and told me to "get over it". She said "I am sorry you hate my dogs, but there is nothing I can do". They bark at NOTHING..(air, wind, butterflies..etc) HELP!She said, "I am a teacher and have long days...what I am supposed to do?"
Really? They don't bark at all hours of the day and night (They are in by 10pm) I guarantee I didn't say get over it. And I might have said there is nothing I can do right now BECAUSE I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF A CLASS.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I did more Google research. She goes by an alias (literally) because under her real name all you find is an incident when she was a teacher (one year) when she had inappropriate relations with a student. Uh, yeah.
No, no, unwad your panties. They aren't as connected as you think.
So, with the recent passing of Valentine's Day, I have once again been faced with the gentle reminder that I'm really not a pro dater as it were. I actually have made it past 3 dates so few times that I don't even know what appropriate dating behavior is. Like what counts as normal behavior for a guy. (For instance, the first two weeks, the toilet seat was always down. It made me happy. I found a guy that always put the toilet seat down. Total crock. Now it's down to about 50% of the time.)
In addition, making it to almost two months was so very exciting that I went a wee overboard in the gift giving department for Valentine's Day. Well, first I got a good gift, then I thought of something better. Now, luckily I kept the first one (ok, it was a gift certificate, so it worked out I could use it ; ) because although he was very appreciative, let's just say the grocery store flowers, not quite equal to what I got him. Clearly, it is not as big of deal to hit 7 weeks as it was for me. I like the flowers, they were sweet, but still a casual, nice to know you but I'm not investing too much into this cause let's face it, this is still a new relationship kind of message.
On the other hand, we went out the night before, and he made etouffe for me Sunday, which I must add was totally delicious. So, that was very sweet, right?
This then leads to my friend, PR's, comment that dating for me is like age for dogs - you have to multiply by 7 to appreciate the true length of time so to speak. Cause really, this is probably like a year to most people. I am totally impressed with myself that this has lasted this long. And, I'll admit, fairly often I think, yeah, this isn't gonna last much longer.
Today, I finally opened my mail from Saturday. Included in the mail was an absolutely adorable "save the date" for a friend's daughter's wedding. She's 19. Adorable. Boy? Adorable. Wedding party? Adorable. And yet, the cynic in me thinks, good grief, everything is stacked against them these days. How in today's world of "you have to be happy" and "don't take that girl" and get a divorce when things don't go well, are they going to manage to get married and STAY married?
I will say that they were going to have a destination wedding, but I am so glad that they aren't. I hope that all of the people that show up for that wedding remember how important the part each person plays is. We will all have an obligation to help these two very young, very in love people to stay married. Ugh. The pressure.
At any rate, back to me. As things progress with Mr. Potential, I mostly think things are going well. We have fun, we enjoy each other's company. I'm still a little worried about a lack of excitement regarding Sabrina and Buddy, but I can't totally blame him for that. ( I came home yesterday to discover the towel I put on one of the chairs to protect it from their muddy little feet was ripped into shreds. Victim of the let's destroy shit game they so love to play.)
Sigh. This dating thing is tough. That's all I'm really saying.
You know you are ass kicking busy, when a coworker walks in your room and says, "Hey, what are you still doing here? I thought you had to take the dogs to the vet."
"I do, but it is after school."
"It is after school."
"What?!?!" Quick look at clock, sure enough 4:50.
"SHIT," I yell dramatically before grabbing my purse and hauling out of the room.
Probably should have missed the appointment. Damn dogs cost me $500 for annual, and Buddies gonna cost another $500 for dental. ShooshChaCha I know your bills are way higher, I'm still traumatized. ; )
I forget how utterly miserable the two weeks before Christmas break are EVERY, SINGLE, FREAKING year. I forget this is when we send off alllll of the people pages (about 100 or so) and we make sure all the other pages from first semester are gone, and we are returning all of the proofs. It's a lot of work. And this year, it turns out English may not be the mother tongue of half the staff. Really, that is the only explanation that makes sense. They don't understand the comma. (My dad is snorting at this point because, yes, I had problems with the comma into my twenties.) They also don't know the difference between men and man. And spellcheck. That is totally and completely a foreign concept to them. So, yesterday when I started saying I HAD to go to take care of the dogs, one of the editors-in-chief hopped up and said she would take care of it.
"Are you sure? My dogs are crazy."
"Yes, I can do it. You must stay here and keep grading."
"Sigh. Ok"
When she got back, she did warn me of what I would see when I arrived after 7:30 after being in the yearbook room all dang day . . . Notice Sabrina trying to look innocent. From this angle it doesn't look tooooo bad. . .
But then I got closer. That (blue thing in the middle of the feathers) used to be a very big, full, feather pillow sitting on my couch.
The white material used to be the lining. . .I think.
And, yes, I feel confident that I know who the culprit is. . . the joyful dog playing in the feathers. That dog. Notice the bag in the background. That is the first bag of feathers. There is a second. And it took ALL evening to clean up.
The fact that they aren't dead is a miracle. Cause death was close.
Why is it that life can't work in such a way that only one freaking bad thing happens at a time? Why is it that it ALL hits at once? Like baseballs at a dunking booth, they keep flying at you till you are underwater head to toe.
Well, 300 pages of ad proofs arrived on Wednesday afternoon. For the uninitiated, that means that 8 ads managers have 72 hours to check all of the pages, work on all of the corrections that need to be made (and, yes, there are quite a few), and then print all of the pages (that takes forever because the files are huge because of the photos).
I've really been working towards getting my house sold. It has not gone as I had planned. (Translate that as house not sold. Grr) And that means my finances . . .they just get more and more dismal. I'm running out of things to give up. Why does money have to be such a monkey on my back?
I am, without a doubt, totally ready to get my life under control. I'm giving up credit cards. Let my screw ups be warning to everyone else. Credit cards are evil. The companies are even more evil. Credit cards are a sucking cesspool of trouble. I realize many might have thought I'd learn this particular lesson much earlier in my life, but hey, glad I am learning it now.
None the less, this is totally demoralizing. I wish I had never gotten myself in this position, I am still praying that I can sell the house which won't totally solve the problem, but it will absolutely help. I have made a budget (not pretty) and I am working like the devil to stay within it.
I'm moving back home next weekend. I am totally ready to be back home. I miss my little house, and my little existence in it. And, as it turns out, the dogs are not particularly good at behaving when left to their own devices for 10 hours at a time. I should have gotten photos but they only lasted two days before destruction began.
I came home Thursday to find they had eaten a book, done serious damage to a pillow and before the evening was out, Buddy sniffed around a plant, got the vine caught on his tail or paw or something and dragged it off the stand when he walked away . . . breaking the pot and getting dirt every where.
Came home the next day and they had killed an orchid and dragged dirt everywhere. Freaking fabulous. Every time I open the front door I hold my breath and pray whatever they have done I can fix.
I clean up, they destroy. Quite a symbiotic relationship.
Yesterday, my throat started hurting. I'm now taking Vitamin C like there is no tomorrow and gargling with salt water. Oh, and drinking lots of TheraFlu cause I believe, when in doubt, medicate.
Last night was the Hi-lites dance which I usually enjoy chaperoning. FYI Hi-lites is a girls' organization and the dance is a Sadie Hawkins. Last night? Not so much. The boys have begun this new thing where they dance by bouncing up and down like pogo sticks. And then they start running in to each other. It is really annoying. They bounced into me and now I have a lovely bruise on my right foot. I basically spent the night breaking up a mosh pit.
On the up side, once it was enough of a problem to cause us to tell the DJ to stop playing "bouncy" music, he played a song that got them going again, we said to stop, he changed the song, the kids got mad, they were all gone by 10:45 - woohoo!! (Dance didn't actually end until 11:30.
School in general has been beating me down. It is hard to describe, but basically I spend my days being beaten my ants. One by one small annoyances and itchy, but in masse horrifyingly painful. I have lots to do now, but I just had another cup o Theraflu so I'll be taking a wee nap very soon.
Good news: Things with the drummer are actually going well, but I don't want to jinx it, so that's all I'll say.
Ok, that sums up the greatest of my life. Back to your usual program.
I would love to write about all sorts of exciting things happening in my world, but sadly, or more accurately strangely, there has been a pause in the action.
Car: I have it back. Hooray! (Did I mention that Blondie and I both have Ford Escapes. Her's is yellow, mine is blue. We have more school spirit than everyone : ) AND we have matching dents on our back left bumper. - we were meant to work together.)
Directories, although still not done, they have receded from the forefront of my troubles to being a slight bother waiting to torture me more but not at this moment. If that makes any sense at all. This probably deserves a post all of its own. I'm not even sure how I ended up in charge of all of the online student registration information getting from online to a format and design that worked for each of the 6 schools in the school district. I am eternally grateful that the Drummer, besides being a drummer happens to be one hellofa computer guy and could help me. I sucked him in by saying I thought I needed help with excel. Turned out to be a whole freaking lot more than that. He spent about 35 hours in one week on this stuff. Still shocked he didn't run like hell when he got the chance. Speaking of which . . .
The Drummer. Oh, he is confusing yours truly, that is for sure, but he is still around, still charming, still no action. I'd give details, but there are none to give at the moment. Technically I guess you could say we have only had 3 dates at this point. The last one being Saturday night, dinner and movie, but we spent a lot of time together working on the directories. I can't decide if that totally screwed the timetable up or what. Hard to tell.
The job. Ah, the job. Still adore Blondie cause she totally rocks, kids are doing great, but the adults still annoy and plague me. Same. As. Always. I do have my laptop back (finally) but we are having all sorts of problems with the computer lab which is annoying and might send one of my editors-in-chief into a total conniption fit if it doesn't get fixed soon.
The house. Well, still in my possession. It is getting showings, but no one has thrown a contact my way yet. It looks utterly fabulous and smells really good to boot. Pray, people. Pray. I would really, really like to move on. Not that my parents aren't lovely and doing an amazing job of tolerating the two dogs, the cat and me, but it is difficult none the less and I miss being surrounded by my own sheot.
Sabrina and Buddy are fabulous as always, although as mentioned the parentals aren't always totally convinced of that. They were boarded at Pappy's Pet Lodge last night to give M @ D a break (The non-stop rain combined with big dogs not getting exercise, not kind to anyone's nerves, I'll tell you that much.) At any rate, I pick them up and they got a little doggie report card. Behaved well, ate most of their food, were a blast : )
Cat is happiest when the dogs are gone, what else can I say.
My main goal this weekend is to find the keys to the storage unit. They have to be somewhere . . .now I just need to determine where somewhere is.
Busy as hell people. I am busy as hell. I have been working madly on the house. Had to stop though cause I am teaching at a Journalism workshop Sun - Wednesday. I leave Wednesday for Washington DC to spend time with the Bff and her family.
I have a whole nother post I'm creating in my head on the handyman working on my house. Nice guy, but he is driving me to drink . . . ok, more than I usually do.
In the meantime, the dogs have gone to the Canine Country Club for some r and r. He hasn't worn a collar in years because he gets upset, starts trying to take it off and then gets it caught in his mouth. Distressing for all of us to say the least. So, I bought a collar and a name tag for him and a halter so that if he tried to get the collar off then they could make him wear the halter. ( He used to try to escape all of the time, he really doesn't try any more, but we weren't certain of how he would behave.) So, Cat, is now chilling with the parentals. They have kindly been keeping me up with his happiness.
Cat is so happy - he may not speak to you when you return. I have the bag with the harness & receipt awaiting your return from MB's so you can return it. Of course, one never knows with a cat....he may be just waiting for us to relax and he will try to escape.
This cracks me up. He is a crafty bugger, and certainly he might be trying to lure them into a comfort zone before attempting to exit the premises. However, he is older now and, quite frankly, he enjoys Dad's lap too much to go out into the cruel world.
Another quick side note, if this were big sis's cat, he would be bringing them mice, frogs, birds and other things (some dead/some alive) to show his affection. I may have to remind the parentals about this if they start getting testy about Cat's love of the lap.
Many of you may remember my beginning days at the current abode. Sure the yard actually had grass back then, and it looks a little worse for wear, but that is not the point. This past fall my dear friend Helen helped me fix my front flower bed. I've been worried most of the winter about the roses that I actually thought would never bloom just to piss me off.Please to enjoy the fruits of my labors . . . As a side note, I think I may be growing a fine set of weeds too, but I'm just not certain. In the back, I recently planted a 100 freaking gladiolas... I knew there was a chance the hellion and her companion (well, mostly her companion) would be working against me. Yeah, they did. Please note the fabulous hole that Buddy dug in the middle of the bulb bed. And, what is really impressive to me, is they look so slovenly hanging out in the house. You would never imagine that they are creatures of destruction.
That's right when you have nothing nice to say. . .
When you are cranky and full of venom. . .
When theme week makes you want to beat your head against a wall because the new editors are NOT taking it seriously and you KNOW that you are going to end up having a crappy ass year because of the fact that they are screwing up already. . .
When you get that stupid stargazer lily orange pollen crap on your beautiful pale pink jacket that you adore, and although the dry cleaner told you she thought that they could get it out you would prefer a "yes, that is coming out" response. . .
When your stomach has been slightly cranky for two days, and you aren't sure why AND when you chose to wear an unbearably tight skirt today that actually required undoing the buttons so that you could make it through the afternoon without fainting. . .
When you spent an evening at the laundrymat (a story unto itself quite frankly) trying to get your duvet and comforter cleaned one of which very definitely still has a big ass pee stain (dumb dogs) on it and the other is at least dark brown so that you can't tell although you are uncomfortably aware that odds are that the pee stain is still there too. . .
When you are about to spend TWO hours in an inservice about something you might find interesting and want to learn about but still can't bear the thought of TWO hours on any topic. . .
Not the first one, or the second, but the third one. March turned out to be a long dry month for me. I missed a couple of opportunities, stood up by one guy (total loser, but did still suck), spoke to another and realized immediately that he was a no go. So, admittedly the identity of date 8 has changed several times as opportunities have arisen and crashed and burned.
So, spoke to 8 for maybe ten minutes on Saturday and made plans for coffee Sunday afternoon. Coffee got canceled because we both had stuff running over, so we pushed our meeting time back to 5pm last night and a quick dinner. It wasn't the best because I'd been in Plano all afternoon and the dogs would have to be fed, but I figured what the heck, I could have blown him off but then I might not get another opportunity any time soon because I'm pretty damn busy right now. We met at a pub in old Plano that I'd been to before with friends. I admit, I didn't really think that it would work out for various reasons, but what the heck, at least I could say that I made the effort.
So, 8 is a great guy. We talked for ages. In fact, I called my neighbors to see if they could feed the hellion and her companion so that I could stay and talk a little longer. Unfortunately, I also took the opportunity to drink 4 cosmos. Trust me, I paid dearly for that mistake, especially since earlier in the day Buddy took the opportunity to pee on my bed. I have NO idea of why he did that. (Maybe my handy man scared him? Don't know.) So, by the time I got home at 10:30 at night, I had no clean sheets, comforter, duvet etc. I slept with a blanket wrapped around me and no sheets on the bed. Oh, and I woke with a delightful little reminder of the previous evenings indiscretions that required several advil.
Tonight I have bookclub, so I will not have the opportunity to go to the laundrymat and clean the comforter which is too big for the washing machine. In addition, I have to buy a new mattress pad because the old one didn't come clean, and I'm just not sleeping on pee. Girls gotta have her standards, these are mine.
Back to the boy. He's an only child, nice looking, parents live in Plano, he works in Plano, divorced, two kids, easy going and a pretty good kisser. Yup. That sums up what I learned last night. Ok, well, more later.
If you follow the Twitters, then you pretty much know everything that happened in Topeka. I like to keep my audience fully apprised of all the minutia in my life activities.
We arrived in Kansas City Sunday afternoon. They had SNOW.
The rental car place tried to give us a small cadillac for six people. Literally, we walked out to the car. Stared at it for a minute. Counted heads again. Contemplated the car, then trudged back inside.
After much discussion and calling to the lot dude, we got a Mercury Mountaineer.
We had a lovely drive to Topeka. Since our flight left at noon, I was pretty sure the girls wouldn't plan out in their heads how meals would work. So, we got to Topeka and they were all starving. Worked great, cause I like to eat din din earlier than most . . .
So we are at Outback Steakhouse by 5pm where I fall victim to the most delicious of delicacies . . the blooming onion. I love that thing which is unfortunate since it is fried and no longer on the approved list of foods to eat. Damn gallbladder.
That meant when I got my oh, so tender and yummy steak, I ate about 2 bites before I stopped because my stomach was NOT happy. Chit.
Last year the girls wanted to watch Enchanted when we got back to the room. This year? Frost/Nixon. I'll admit, I wasn't sure how good it would be, but we really enjoyed it.
We got to the plant at about 9am. I love the plant. There are great smells. . . It's like magic markers, glue and gas exhaust all wrapped up together. A lovely little high ; )
We were in Kansas, so it was only appropriate that we follow the yellow tape lines through the plant. . . If we weren't certain that they were amazing, they had a big banner to help us out. . . The girls noticed immediately that there was a sign identifying the "big ass books" that they do . . . please note 39111 (no irony in THAT job number)
At any rate, after sniffing my way through the plant, we went to lunch and then had to head to the airport. Talk about a quick visit.
Sabrina was waiting for me when I got home, and I picked up Buddy last night. Turns out Buddy may have been too much for my poor Dad. He is exuberant in his love and he is a danger to kidneys due to his desire to leap into laps. (He is completely unaware that 50lbs is a lot of weight to drop onto a lap suddenly.)
So, this morning I dropped dog #1 off at the Canine Country Club because she plays well with others and I am going out of town in the morning. This evening I dropped dog #2 off at my parents because they apparently like him better than #1 and he does not play well with others, so it actually works out.
While there, She Who Must Be Obeyed (aka Mom) made a comment to the effect that my posts all read that the Dane was the one and I was so in love with the Dane. I decided to go back and re-read everything I wrote. It's weird. Is it possible that she is reading someone else's blog thinking it is mine? Cause really I can't find where I wrote that.
Sure I found where I wrote about the initial excitement, and the worry and stress. I found where I noted how nice he was, always willing to do whatever I wanted. But I don't see where I totally let myself go.
I say this, because I think that was part of the problem. I do stress out, so going slowly is part of the recipe for success in my world. Clearly, that didn't happen here.
In addition, although it is absolutely no ones fault, I think that when he heard about how impressive it was that he hadn't annoyed me and that I don't usually go gooey it somehow stressed him out and made him worried because that's about when he started trying to constantly take the temperature of the relationship as it were and started constantly apologizing. The stress of this past week on me didn't help anything especially with the constant calling.
I really do think he has trouble with the truth. He told me over and over that he always told the truth, and he didn't know any other way and four or five other versions of that, but the reality is "he doth protest too much." Know what I mean? Especially with all of the crazy stories he told. I thought the diamond necklace bought in Paris was over the top, big sis thought the getting fired one day and hired as a president of a new company another day was too much, but when it is all looked at together, he should have looked more like James Bond with that bio, don't you think?
As I continue my list of specific weirdness I hope to avoid in the next man, constant calling will have to be there somewhere. Call, leave a message, wait for return call. . . this is how it should work.
This shall be short and sweet. The backyard is a mud pit courtesy of the rain, and the kitchen is a mudpit courtesy of the dogs.
I will take the dogs to be boarded tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon I shall jet off to New York City with 14 students and the Stu Co sponsor.
I'm not quite packed yet. I need to eat dinner but that requires going into the kitchen where the dogs are currently residing with their muddy paws and wet backs.
It was a cold January morning when I looked out my window and saw both of the dogs sunning themselves. Are they crazy? Did they not know that they would do much better staying inside where the heat is on?
This weekend I thought I would get some video of the hellion and her companion playing. When I started the video, Buddy was on a chair behind me. So his first move was to jump on me.
Mostly, you just see how goofy the silly dogs are. Enjoy
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