Saturday Morning

What a week.  The first week I’ve worked all five days in a while.  Let me tell you, by yesterday I was really dragging.  

 

We’ve been letting Luci sleep upstairs on her little doggie bed this past week.  I’m giving Hubby’s idea a try . . .and it’s not been good so far.  No, she’s not using the potty in the bedroom – she’s getting up after about 4 hours of sleep thinking that it’s time to play.  The really funny part is that she goes to Hubby’s side of the bed to see what he’s doing so it’s not like he’s sleeping through the night, either.  I hear her tail banging against the wall and hear him talking to her, so I get up and take her outside.  She’s very good about doing her business, coming back in, and then going back to sleep.  The whole event takes less than 10 minutes, and I don’t have any trouble going back to sleep myself, so I shouldn’t complain.  She’s going to outgrow it and she won’t be a puppy much longer.  I guess I should just enjoy it while I can.  

 

Today is my little sister’s birthday.  L is 20 months younger than me and we fought like cats and dogs when we were growing up.  We shared a room, we shared clothes, we even had the same haircut when we were in elementary school.  She is a very tidy person and I’m not so tidy and she was always upset with me about the mess in our room.  At one point, my mom put a piece of masking tape down the middle of the room to make each of us our own side.  Just like on The Brady Bunch.  Bad thing was, my side had the door and her side had the closet.  We realized that we had to compromise in order to live in that room.  We get along great now.  She lives in the little town I grew up in about 20 minutes away from me.  I see her alot, but not as much as I’d like.

 

Not much on the schedule today.  Have to buy a birthday present for L and for my sister-in-law R.  They have birthdays within a week of each other and we’re having the family birthday party for them tomorrow at my Mom and Dad’s house.  That’s always big fun.  Eat lots of food, eat cake and ice cream, and visit with the family.

 

 

Also have to get doggie food and some other stuff at Wal-Mart.  And get lunch for Hubby and the guys he works with.  Hubby can’t get out for lunch so I volunteer to get lunch for him and the other guys on Saturday.  No big deal since I’m usually out doing errands anyway.

 

Time to get moving . . . 

 

 

Joyful Things

My mood is better today.  After my pity party yesterday, I realized that I can’t make T do anything and that she’s going to make whatever decisions she wants about her life.  She’s 32 years old and has that right.  I have to respect that, even if it’s painful for me to watch.  

 

So, I decided to look for things to brighten my day.  Here’s what I found:

 

The sun was shining on my way home.  It was chilly, but it wasn’t nice to feel the sun on my face as I walked to the parking garage.

 

I passed by a local high school on my drive home and happened to see a little league team practicing.  It seemed odd to see the little kids playing baseball in their winter coats, but it sure was cute.  That put a big smile on my face. 

 

Luci and Blacky were happy to see me when I got home.  After they did their potty business, they both ran up to me and gave me puppy kisses.  Nothing better in the world after a long day at work than puppy kisses. 

 

Played fetch with Luci and Blacky.  Luci chased the balls and Blacky watched me throw them.  Every now and then he’d take one away from Luci and run away from her with it.  His version of "keep away" I would suppose.  Then the neighborhood cat came into the yard and Luci lost all interest in fetch.

 

Cooked hamburgers and French fries for supper.  Not on the grill – once the sun went down, it just didn’t seem warm enough for me to be cooking on the grill.  Tried to talk Hubby into cooking them on the grill and he said he doesn’t  cook on the grill until it’s at least 60 degrees.  Big, home cooked hamburgers and a big bunch of fries.  Comfort food that doesn’t take a long time to cook.  

 

When it was time for bed, I put on my just-out-of-the-dryer warm jammies and got into a nice warm bed (thank heavens for heated mattress pads!).  I lay there for a little bit listening to Hubby and Luci snoring before I fell asleep.  

 

I was in a much better mood by the end of the day and I woke up this morning with a completely better attitude.  Even if Luci did wake up 30 minutes before the alarm went off thinking it was time to play. . . . and Blacky decided he wanted breakfast.  To see those two beautiful faces looking at you first thing in the morning – how can you be upset about that? 

 

The sun is shining again, the birds are singing, and spring is around the corner.  My mood is better and I’m going to have to work at it to make sure that it stays that way. 

My Two Legged Kids

It’s a beautiful day – the sun is shining, the spring flowers are trying to bloom, but today I’m in a "mood" about one of my two-legged kids – the stepkids.  I’ve been a part of their lives since they were 8 and 10 years old.  During their growing up years, we had the usual "evil step-monster" relationship, but things have gotten better as they’ve gotten older.  They’ve told me at times that I’m as much a Mom to them as their real mom.  I know that I’ll never take the place of their Mom, nor do I want to, but it’s nice to know they think of me that way.  I think of them as "my kids" and I love them with all my heart. 

 

Anyway, the mood I’m in today is because of T – the daughter.  To borrow a phrase from Dr. Phil, she’s running her life into the ditch and all we (her family) can do is  wait for the train to wreck so that we can be there to help her pick up the pieces of her life.  It’s very painful to watch someone you love – especially your child – make decisions about their life and the life of their children that you don’t agree with or decisions that you know are wrong or just plain stupid.  It’s especially painful because she has three kids that are having to pay for the stupid/wrong decisions that she’s making.

 

I’m sad because I can see the havoc that she’s bringing to her own life, the lives of her kids, and the life of The Ex.  I’m dumbfounded that this intelligent 34 year old woman can’t see the mess she’s making of her life.  I’m angry that we have to keep going through this drama all the time.  I’m worried about how all this is going to affect the grandkids as they grow up.  As surprising as it might sound, I’m worried about the toll that this is taking on The Ex.  Hubby and I and Jr. live over 300 miles away so we don’t see the day to day drama, but we’re aware of the situation and The Ex gives us updates from time to time.  T lets on that everything is fine and doesn’t tell us anything that’s going on until there is major drama.  The Ex lives in the same city as T and has a daily dose of the "continuing saga" that has become T’s life.  To be fair to The Ex, she has done everything in her power to get help for T, to get information about available resources for T, and to just generally be there any time and every time T and the kids have asked for her help.  Sometimes T is appreciative, sometimes T thinks that The Ex is a pain in the butt and should leave her alone.  In defense of The Ex, she’s just being Mom and trying to protect her child – even if the child is self-destructing. 

 

So, I’m trying to find joy in the other parts of my life.  Like I said, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the flowers are trying to bloom.  When I get home, I’ll have two doggies and a Hubby to give me love and affection. I might even fire up the gas grill and have the first burgers of the season.  Maybe that will help brighten my mood. 

Thunderstorms, Mud Puddles, and Sleeping Through The Night

I’ve discovered that one of the joys of raising a puppy is experiencing all the "first" things with them.  First snowfall, first bath, first rabbit chase – that kind of stuff.  This weekend Luci experienced her first true springtime thunderstorm.  I started to hear thunder about 4 a.m. Sunday morning and I figured it would wake the dogs, too.  Blacky hates thunderstorms and woke up when he heard the first clap of thunder.  Luci heard Blacky get up and she was up, too.  She didn’t seem afraid of the storm, she thought it was time to play.  We are continuing our experiment on letting Luci sleep upstairs with us, so she was in the bedroom, too, when the storm started.  Since she was up, I thought I’d try to see if she’d go potty in the rain.  I’m in my jammies, tennis shoes, and winter coat with an umbrella trying to get Luci to go potty.  She didn’t mind the rain, but she didn’t like the thunder.  She did her business and back in the house we went.  After I dried her off, she couldn’t get upstairs fast enough.  She wanted to play, but I sat on the floor with her and managed to get her back to sleep in about 5 minutes.  Took Blacky a little longer to calm down, though.  He sat next to Hubby’s side of the bed for a while and then came to my side of the bed.  After about 10 minutes or so, he calmed down and went back to sleep, too. 

 

We got up for the day about 4 hours later and that’s when Luci discovered mud puddles.  With all the rain, the back yard looks like small patches of grass in a sea of mud.  There are a couple of places that had mud puddles in them . . . and those are the places that Luci just had to explore.  And since she loves playing in water she couldn’t resist them.  Luckily I was able to convince her it was time for breakfast and she abandoned the puddles for a little while.  By the time she went back out later in the morning, the yard had dried up a little and the puddles were gone.  Now we have to be careful that she doesn’t dig in the mud.     

 

Hubby and I had a conversation over the weekend about putting Luci in the crate when we aren’t home.  I understand his position and he understands my position.  He doesn’t think it’s fair for a house dog to be in a cage – especially since Blacky has run of the house.  I just want to make sure she doesn’t chew up everything in the house if we leave her alone.  She’s still a puppy that likes to chew things and keeping her in the crate is for her own good.  I’m trying to prevent her from getting into trouble by chewing.  So we compromised.  During the day when we’re at work or we are gone for more than 2 hours, she will be in the crate.  At night, she is allowed to sleep upstairs with us on her little doggy bed but we keep the bedroom door closed so that we can hear her if she gets up in the middle of the night and needs to go potty.  So far the sleeping with us thing has worked – except for the storm she slept through the night all weekend.  The goal is to eventually let her have free run of the house just like Blacky – which I don’t think will happen much before her 1st birthday in September.  

 

So all in all, it was a good weekend. 

Good News Day

Yesterday was the big day . . . Luci got her stitches out and we got the official word that we no longer need the lampshade.  The vet said the incision had healed nicely and that Luci was a free dog.  Yea!!  She’s a very happy dog and spent the rest of the day yesterday running and playing.  As a matter of fact, it’s about 7:30 a.m. here now and she’s already outside.  It’s going to be a good day.

 

Blacky is happy the lampshade is gone, but now he has to deal with a rambunctious little sister.  Hubby is really happy the lampshade is gone and he couldn’t resist an "I told you so" look when I told him the incision was totally healed and that we didn’t need the lampshade anymore.  I prefer to think that the incision healed so nicely because I was such a stickler about following the vet’s instructions. 

 

The only bad news on the day was that Luci got car sick while we were going to the vet.  She’s not really a good car rider, but she’s been getting better as she gets older and can see out the car windows.  Yesterday wasn’t one of those days.  She got car sick on the way to the vet . . . while wearing the lampshade.  I didn’t discover it until we got to the vet’s office and I let her out of the car.  Eeewww . . . had to take the lampshade off and do a quick clean up before we went inside.  Then had to do a thorough cleanup of Luci and the car when we got back home.  Guess that was her way of saying "goodbye" to the lampshade.  Even though it was a little on the gross side, I had to laugh at the situation. 

 

 

MIL’s cataract surgery on Thursday went very well.  No problems or complications.  The total time spent in the surgery center was less than 3 hours.  Went back for the 24-hour checkup yesterday and doc said that she’s doing great.  She has another followup visit next week but we aren’t expecting any problems. 

 

Spent most of the day running errands so today I’ll do the domestic goddess stuff – laundry and cleaning the house.  Fun, fun, fun.  That will leave tomorrow for reading the paper and working on my cross stitch.  And playing with the dogs! 

 

 

Why Doesn’t He Ever Listen To Me?

Over the years, I’ve often said that it’s a good thing that Hubby and I don’t have any two legged children.  We have enough trouble agreeing on how to raise the 4 legged kids that I can’t imagine what it would be like to raise a 2 legged one with him. 

 

I’ve been a dog mommy now for, oh, 20 years now.  While I’m fairly new at this puppy thing, I know a thing or two about caring for my dogs.  I know their personalities and I know what they will and will not do.  I can predict it with a great deal of accuracy.  I know that if we take the lampshade off Luci, she will dig at the stitches and the incision site.  I know that Luci is not ready to stay out of the crate at night and sleep in the bedroom with us.  Hubby disagrees with me on both points. 

 

In order to maintain harmony in the house, I followed Hubby’s suggestion and took the lampshade off Luci last night.  Within 5 minutes, she was going for the stitches and the incision.  The lampshade went back on.  I explained that it might not be so bad if she pulled the stitches out, but if the surgical site gets infected, we are in for more vet bills and another (longer) session with the lampshade.  It’s better if we just tough it out for another day or so and then be done with the lampshade for good.  I did compromise that I’d take the lampshade off if one of us could watch her and make sure she didn’t dig at the site.  If she digs at the site or if we aren’t home to watch her, the lampshade is on.  Luci is supposed to go to the vet tomorrow to get the stitches out and I’ll get the official verdict on the lampshade. 

 

As for the crate, I won that discussion, too.  I agreed to a trial run last weekend.  Sure enough, she got up in the middle of the night to go potty and then was ready to play.  Yes, I’m the one that got up with her both nights!  She ended up going into her crate when she came back in, went back to sleep and didn’t make any noise for the rest of the night.  I told Hubby on Sunday morning that I hadn’t gotten much sleep all weekend and she was going to continue sleeping in her crate at night.  He didn’t actually agree that I was right, but he agreed that he didn’t sleep well either.  Closest thing I’ll get to "I was wrong and you were right." . . . and I’ll take it!!

 

But if he would just listen to me in the first place . . . .

 

My Busy Wednesday

I’m taking Thursday and Friday off this week.  Thursday I’m taking MIL for cataract surgery.  Friday I’m taking MIL for cataract surgery follow-up appointment and then taking Luci to vet to get the stitches (and the lampshade!) removed.  Not really vacation days, but it’ll be nice to be out of the office.  (Hubby, Blacky, and I will be doing a group happy dance once Luci is finally rid of the dreaded lampshade.  Luci will be out in the yard running in circles of joy.) 

 

But in order for me to enjoy my two days off and not worry about the office, I have to make sure that I get all my work done before I leave at 5.  If I don’t get everything done, then I’ll be thinking about what needs to be done and I won’t be enjoying my time off.    

 

Boss and Hubby have both come down with a bug that makes them feel like they’ve been hit by a truck.  I think it’s a sign that I’m going to come down with the same bug and be sick Thursday and Friday.  I feel fine now, but I’m going to be worried about this for the rest of the day. 

 

One of my co-workers called to say they can’t use the remote connection to the accounting program.  Thankfully we discovered that their internet connection is down and it’s not a problem with the server.  Server being down would certainly put a damper on two days off.  Whew, dodged another bullet! 

 

I’ve lost 7 of my fake nails in the last two days.  The reason I haven’t lost them all is that I picked off the thumbnails and can’t pick off the remaining nails.  Thankfully tonight is nail night and I will be getting them fixed.  Nail Girl is going to love me. 

 

I just had to run an errand for the boss.  It’s raining really hard here, which normally isn’t a problem but I just discovered that I have a hole in the bottom of my left shoe.  It must be a fairly new hole because it wasn’t there when I went to the bank at lunchtime.  My sock and the inside of my shoe is all wet.  I am walking around in my stocking feet hoping that the sock and shoe dry out before I go home.  Grrrr. 

 

Only an hour left before my two day vacation . . . .  I wonder how many things I can think of to worry about between now and then?!

How Did She Do That?

About 9:30 last night, Luci split the e-collar (lampshade) in two.  Don’t know how she did it, she just came in from going potty and the thing was split in two – the only thing keeping it on was the fact that it was attached to her collar.  Blacky looked at me like "I didn’t have anything to do with it, Mom."  She looked so funny that I had to laugh.  Then we had to figure out how to fix it.  I knew that if we left it off, she’d pull the stitches out for sure.  The pet store was closed and it wasn’t really a medical emergency that would have me calling the vet, so Hubby put it back together with Duct tape and we put it back on her.  She wasn’t too happy with it being back on, but then she realized that she now had the Duct tape to play with.  We went to bed and crossed our fingers that it would last the night. 

 

This morning I noticed that she was starting to get some of the Duct tape off, so I had to make a quick trip to get a replacement lampshade before I came to work.  That would be all I needed, additional vet bills because the dog swallowed Duct tape, chewed up her lampshade and swallowed the sharp little pieces. 

 

Imagine the phone call I had to make to the boss to explain why I was going to be late this morning.  Thankfully he’s a dog person and understood my dilemma.  Yes, he laughed. 

 

Only 3 more days until the stitches come out . . . I just hope the lampshade makes it!!

My Blacky Boy

Blacky is my 6 year old black lab/Irish Setter/Golden Retriever mix boy dog.  He’s been with us since he was about 4 weeks old.  We aren’t really sure how old he was because he was a stray that Hubby found wandering down Main Street.  One morning Hubby watched traffic swerving outside of where he worked and went outside to see what was in the road.  What Hubby found was a little black fuzzy puppy.  Hubby picked up the little guy and called me to see if I wanted to add him to our family.  The minute I saw Blacky and he chewed on the hem of my dress, I was sold. 

 

He was the center of attention for the first 6½  years of his life.  Goldie was content to take a back seat to the little guy – who grew up to be a 98 lb. big guy.  He’s the apple of Hubby’s eye and Blacky follows Hubby around whenever Hubby is working outside.  Other than a little hip dysplasia and arthritis, he’s a happy, healthy dog.  He’s a friendly, outgoing dog when you take him out in public, but if we put something new in the yard or someone new comes to the house, he’ll bark at the thing/person and run away until he can process what the heck is going on.  Once he figures it out, then he’s fine.   

 

Since Luci came into our lives, though, he’s had to switch from being the little brother to being the big brother.  Overall, he’s adapted rather nicely, but I can tell that he misses the days when he could have all the attention.  Sometimes he give me that look that says "Why did you have to get her?"  Since he had never been an only child, he took Goldie’s sudden passing pretty hard.  He liked having all the attention, but he didn’t seem to like being home alone when we went to work, and he was really tired of watching me cry every day because I missed Goldie so much.  Part of the reason we got Luci was so that he’d be part of a pair again.  He watches out for Luci, but he doesn’t want us to know that he’s watching out for her.  They play and romp in the back yard and he’s happy as a clam to finally have somebody to play with.  When he’s too tired to chase Luci anymore, he’ll sit in one spot, bark at Luci, and watch her run in a big circle around him.  The funniest thing he’ll do is tattle on Luci if she’s misbehaving.  He’ll come to the back door and stare at me until I go outside to see what she’s doing. 

 

I do get to spend some time with just him alone – he’ll come and put his head on my lap when I’m watching TV or stand next to me when Luci is running around in the yard.  I keep telling him that Luci is acting the same way he did when he was a puppy and that she’s going to settle down soon and things will be a little less hectic for him.  I don’t think he believes me, though. 

Wonderful Weekend

Luci is doing very well.  She doesn’t seem to be in any pain.  She’s not having any trouble getting around with the lampshade on her head.  We’ve nicknamed her "Crash" because she crashes into everything.  The incision looks good – no signs of infection and she’s hasn’t popped any of her stitches.  The rest of the family, though, is a little worse for wear over this surgery.  She’s crashed into each of us a number of times and that little plastic thing really hurts.  We’re trying to deal with the activity limitations that she’s supposed to observe. . . ever try to keep a 6 month old lab puppy from running or jumping?!   Luckily, the weather has been a little on the cold side so she doesn’t really want to stay outside all that long.

 

I’ve had a wonderful long weekend – even though I’ve been worrying and fussing over Luci.  I got to spend some quality snuggle time with all three of the animals.  Even Smokie came out of hiding a couple of times to snuggle on my lap when Luci and Blacky were upstairs asleep.  I got to watch some DVD’s that I’ve had for a while but just didn’t have time to see.  I took a nap on the couch.  Finally started a new cross-stitch project that I’ve been thinking about since just before Luci came to live with us.  Even spent some quality time with hubby on the couch watching TV. 

 

I think the relaxing weekend is my reward for the worrying that I did last week before Luci’s surgery. . . . and all the guilt I put myself through over the surgery.  I just have to get through the next few days of Luci and the lampshade, Luci’s activity restrictions, and making sure the incision stays clean and healthy.  It’s going to be an anxious few days, but I’m going to be off work again this coming Friday and I hope that it’s just as relaxing as this weekend was.