Just Wednesday

Weather has been wonderful here this summer.  Not too hot.  Not too rainy.  Lots of sun and blue skies.  Makes it hard to believe it’s August.

Rocky had a vet appointment this week.  Nothing serious.  Just a sprained paw – probably from running with Luci.  An allergy of some sort that required a shot.  And a very embarrasing (for him) rear end problem.  Something about a gland . . . and we’ll just leave it at that.  Oh, and they trimmed his nails.  Hubby had the pleasure of taking Rocky to the vet.  I was worried about it all day.  But everything turned out okay.  Except Rocky wasn’t too happy with Hubby for the rest of the day.  The allergy problem seems to be clearing up.  The sprained paw is back to normal.  And the other problem . . . well, it’s cleared up too.  The big guy weighed in at 72 lbs.  He’s 9 months old.  He’s not done growing yet.  He’s gonna be huge.

Rocky was a perfectly behaved dog at the vet.  Maybe I should let Hubby deal with the dogs at the vet from now on.  They seem to behave better for him.

MIL was in the hospital overnight earlier this week.  Blood was a little on the thin side and she was having some complications with that.  Of course, she was in her element in the hospital with all the staff fussing over her.  We had the standard issue family drama during the 24 hour hospital stay.  It’s a long story that makes me angry every time I think about it, so I won’t go into a lot of details.  It’s a work in progress.  I might write more later.

Yes, it’s been a very long week.

Whirlwind

Today was Mom’s birthday party . . . at our house.  Hubby and I spent the weekend getting ready for the big event.  Two days of work for a three hour party.  Mom was thrilled.  Sisters and Little Bro were happy that they didn’t have to do much of the work.  Rocky and Luci were so excited to have 14 new people to sniff and play with.  Miracle Girl (youngest niece) was not impressed with the big dogs but warmed up to them by the end of the day.  I don’t know what it is about my nieces being afraid of the dogs. 

 

Hubby was a big help.  When he wasn’t cleaning, he was cooking.  Don’t know what I’d do without him sometimes.

 

Luci and Rocky were in puppy heaven.  Trucker Man (my BIL and Hubby’s golf partner) loves the dogs and they love him.  Miracle Girl was not excited at all to see the puppies but they loved her.  The Cupcake Kid (youngest nephew) played fetch with them until they were wore out. 

 

Hubby went to bed early.

 

Puppies have been asleep for at least a couple of hours.

 

I’m ready to call it a day.

 

I guess that would qualify the party as a success.

 

Lazy Sunday

Well, maybe not a lazy Sunday but a considerably less stressful one.

 

I had to clean the deck chairs today.  Seems like somebody has been enjoying them without me. 

 

 

I’m not naming any names but I have my suspicsions.

 

 

Just look at that face.  "Gee, Mom, I didn’t mean to get the chair dirty.  Honest!"  I’ve caught him in the chair a couple of times lately.  Just sitting there just as pretty as you please like he owns the joint.  Of course he does but I don’t want him to know that!

 

After I cleaned the deck chairs, I took the doggies to the local do-it-yourself dog wash place.  Oh how I love this place.  You provide the dirty, stinky dog and the provide everything else AND clean up after you leave.  What a great concept!  I’ve been taking Luci there for quite some time, but we’re there more frequently since Rocky came to live with us.  I had no idea how hard it is to keep a white dog clean. 

 

See how pretty they are!

 

Since I was taking them by myself, I had to make two trips.  Hubby would have helped me, but he was conveniently playing golf this afternoon. Funny how that worked out.  Rocky went first and he was a total joy.  No whimpering.  No trying to get out of the tub.  No shaking.  Walked quietly by my side.  Sat politely while we were getting stuff ready and then again after we were done and I had to pay.  The only problem was getting him in and out of the tub.  But other than that he was as good as gold.

Luci, however, was the complete opposite.  She knew where we were the minute I turned on to the road to the place.  She started wagging her tail and shook the entire car.  Pulled me up to the door, had to visit everyone (human and canine) in the place.  Did a belly flop when she got in the tub, tried to lap up the water in the tub, then drank water out of the sprayer when I was rinsing her off.  Oh and she shook every 5 minutes.   I came home soaked.  Considering it was about 90 degrees today, that wasn’t so bad.  She certainly lives up to the Labrador Retriever Reputation. 

Luci and Rocky don’t like to be away from each other too much so it was a very happy reunion when I finally got back home with Luci.  You’d think they hadn’t seen each other for days.  

This is how they spent the rest of the afternoon.

Tired, clean, sweet smelling dogs.  Yes, life is good!

Sanity

Life has been hectic and complicated lately.  I’m trying to take care of a dozen different things at once and I have the feeling that I’m not doing any of them well.

 

But then I walk through the front door and see . . .

 

 

Actually, they’re a lot more animated when I walk in the door.  Tails wagging and licking my hands and trying to get as close as possible to me. 

 

 

This is their idea of supervising while I’m cooking supper.  This is where they stay when I tell them to get out of the way so I can cook.  Then they give me sad puppy eyes and wait for me to drop something.  Of course I always drop something.  Could you resist those faces?

 

 

 

This is the most recent close-up of Rocky.  It’s a little hard to get him to sit still for a picture.  Or keep his eyes open. 

 

 

Of course, Luci can’t be bothered to pose.  She has some serious sunbathing to do.  Yes, she likes to sun herself on the deck.  Then she’ll wait for the AC to kick on and then she’ll come inside and lay in front of the register in the kitchen. 

 

Their faces are the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see before I go to sleep.  Well, Luci’s face is the first thing I see because she’s right there by the bed when the alarm goes off.  Rocky is not a morning dog and it takes him a couple of minutes before he gets moving in the morning.  Both of them come to give me good night kisses before they snuggle up on the doggie beds.  Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and just listen to all of them snore – Hubby, Luci, and Rocky.  That’s the sweetest sound ever. 

 

Rocky is now 8 months old.  I can’t believe puppyhood is almost over for him.  He’s such a sweet gentle boy that I sometimes forget that he’s still just a baby.  But then he’ll run full force down the length of the backyard and crash into Luci and I remember they’re both just young dogs.  We still haven’t figured out what the "mix" is in Boxer Mix and we aren’t sure if we want to find out.  We’ve been told that we can have a DNA test done to solve the mystery, but I think that would take away part of his charm. 

 

Yea, life is a little hectic right now.  But those two fuzzy babies are what’s helping me and Hubby keep our sanity. 

 

 

 

False Alarm

Sorry to leave everyone hanging with that last blog entry.  It turned out that the situation wasn’t as dramatic as we were lead to believe.  Hubby and I have decided that MIL’s new nickname should be Drama Queen.  Oh, she’s still a very sick lady.  Congestive Heart Failure.  COPD.  All kids of related heart and lung problems.  We’ve added a serious case of Acid Reflux.  But luckily no heart attack, no stroke, no kidney failure.  Hubby and I talked to the doctor and got the straight scoop.  She has some serious health issues, but nothing is life threatening at this time.  MIL was in the hospital for 4 days this time.  She’s stabilized and back home. 

 

Hubby and I also got a bit of information that we didn’t think MIL ever intended us to know.  She’s been having her neighbors take her to doctors appointments because she doesn’t want us to know what’s going on with her.  There’s just one problem with that . . . she’s given Hubby and I permission to talk to the doctors about her care and she’s given Hubby power of attorney for her medical care.  Whenever there’s a serious problem, she calls us.  She wants to keep us in the dark about what’s going on with her health issues, but wants us to rescue her when there’s a problem.  We’re a convenience for her.  When we talked to the doctor about all of this, we asked if she might be a little confused about things and the doctor assured us that there are no problems with MIL’s understanding of the situation. 

 

For 13 years Hubby and I have made every effort to be available for her for anything that she might need.  Take her to doctor’s appointments, sit in the waiting room during tests and procedures, sit in the ER whenever there’s a crisis.  Drop everything and run whenever she needs us.  We’ve used up sick time, vacation time, personal time.  We’ve juggled our schedules and our lives to make sure that she was taken care of – because that’s what families do for each other.  But it’s not wanted or appreciated.

 

To say that I’m mad is a serious understatement.  It’s been four days and I’m still trying to process it all.  She says that she’s sorry and that she’s going to change - but I can see in her eyes that she’s not sincere about it.  I don’t think she’s sorry that she’s hurt us . . . I think she’s sorry that she got caught.  She’s telling us what she thinks we need to hear to keep us around.  I’m torn about what to do.  Half of me wants to let her deal with it on her own and walk away.  Half of me says that I can’t do that.  I was raised better than that.  I may be extremely mad at her, but she’s family and family always comes first.  Hubby can’t even talk about it.  The saddest thing is that regardless of what we decide – she’s going to make us look like bad children for not doing more for her.    

 

So, Dumb and Dumber Health Care has been scaled back a bit . . .

 

Time to Breathe

Between the addition of Rocky to the family, the part time job at the newspaper, and MIL’s health problems – I haven’t had a lot of “ME” time.  I can’t tell you the last time I read a book for fun or worked on my cross stitch or my knitting.  But things are starting to look up for me in that department. 

Rocky’s 9 months old now and doesn’t need quite as much attention these days.  I’m getting the hang of the part time newspaper delivery job and the hours aren’t kicking my butt anymore.  MIL’s health problems are still pretty severe, but I’m finally realizing that I need to set some boundaries or I’m going to be completely exhausted soon.  Long story and I’ll explain later.

Today wasn’t a totally “ME” day but it was close.  I did get some housework done – at my own pace without Hubby supervising.  I convinced Hubby to cash in the Applebee’s gift card that I’ve been saving since Christmas so I didn’t have to cook or do dishes – Bonus!  Finally, I had a chance to sit on the couch and work on my knitting.  I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderfully extravagant that felt.  I watched TV and knitted.  The dogs are sitting at my feet.  It’s quite the domestic picture. 

I should have listened to Hubby ages ago when he told me that spending some time with my hobbies would reduce my stress level.

Facing The Inevitable

MIL is in the hospital . . . again.

 

Another bout of Congestive Heart Failure.

 

Possibly a slight heart attack.

 

This makes the second trip by squad in less than two weeks. 

 

The COPD and the Congestive Heart Failure are ganging up on her and they might possibly be winning.

 

Hubby and I knew this day was going to arrive.  We dreaded it.  We’ve talked about it for months now. 

 

It’s here now and we have to deal with it.

 

I’m a strong girl and I can handle it. 

 

But I don’t want to.