catching up while trying to stay in the moment

I'm writing this from the middle seat of a flight back from Connecticut because it's the only time I've had more than 15 minutes to digest anything and put words to "paper." I could tell you how I haven't really disappeared and how I've been on Twitter and I've been really busy, but the excuses are all the same, so let's just be happy we're back together now. Since last we met our hero, I've been spending a lot of time playing with our new dog and fretting about pretty much everything else to one degree or another. The new dog Mollie, she really is quite spectacular. I convinced the Puddin' to let me sign her up for a dog obedience class that also comes with two months of doggie day care. So when we go to work in the morning, Mollie goes to "school" and in two months our dog will be able to fight crime. We'll see if she gets a cape and mask by Thanksgiving.

In the angst venue, it's nothing horrible, just me being a fret-monster about all kinds of stuff. Should we add onto the house or move? If we move how much house can we afford? When the lease is up on my car what should I replace it with? What should we replace Rich's truck with, if anything and when? Is Sarah's super expensive arthritis medicine helping her or is it just the glucosamine? How do we let Ms. Kitty snack whenever she wants while keeping Ms. Kitterson from becoming even more of a sausage with legs? How do we reconcile my compulsive tracking of money versus Rich's more laissez-faire attitude about day-to-day finances with our desire for us to share a bank account and be a team? Should I keep trying to grow my hair out longer because my stylist assures me it will be great even though I'm a horrible long hair caretaker and constantly pull it back into a ponytail at every possible moment?

It's a wonder I can sleep at night, particularly with two cats and a 55 pound puppy sharing our bed.

Even with my lengthy list of "problems," life is still really really good. I think I'm just feeling a little out of sorts. The unseasonably warm weather has put me in a mood, despite my tendency to be freezing in anything less than 70 degrees. We're moving all of our office (and phone lines and internet lines and office furniture and pin ball machines) to a new location at the end of the month and coordinating that has been both fun and exhausting, and it makes me mindful of how a move of our house would be as well.

But to temper my list of worries, some things have been pretty cool. Next month is my parents' 40th anniversary and their relationship is a testament to partnership in the face of everything life brings. I just spent all day looking at rare manuscripts and taking photos of artifacts while touring one of the largest special collections libraries in the country. The Puddin' and I are talking about all our house decisions as a team and that has a really good feeling to it. Last month we raced $100,000 cars around a track just like go-carts as a team-building exercise for work (I've always wondered if you could take a corner at 70mph). And I'm really looking forward to NaBloPoMo this November since it was so much fun last year.

I just need to remind myself to enjoy the days that are happening now and not fret so much about tomorrow.

the circle of life in dog years

Thursday morning I was standing in front of the tub with the water on, about to step inside when Rich called up to me from the bottom of the stairs, "Baby, I need your help. The dog can't stand up." Well, I'm not sure what that means, but I'm pretty sure it requires clothes. I turned the water off and headed out to the backyard to find Sarah standing just outside the back door shaking like a leaf. Rich had helped her stand up but she was unstable and spooked. Her back left leg was sticking out to the side and she wouldn't move. Meanwhile, Mollie the spaz puppy was going in and out the back door over and over and over as if to prove that her legs were working just fine in case anybody was wondering. I eventually had to pick Sarah up and carry her inside and set her down in the living room. She lied down, panting, and seemed exhausted. I went back upstairs to shower and spent the whole time in the shower thinking I would be getting dressed and going to the vet with my dog.

After my shower, though, she seemed to be doing better and could walk around in the house. We left her while we went to work and she made it outside on her own and back inside at lunch when Rich went to check on the dogs. She has good days and bad, it seems, and this was just a rough morning for her.

I left early for my nail appointment at 4:30 since at 4:15 I had snapped my left index fingernail off closing the trunk of the car and could no longer type. Because of various scheduling issues and getting a new set of nails, I didn't leave the salon until 7pm. This was just enough time to get gas before going to the local SCA meeting to help with sewing projects.

I stopped to get gas and as I was pulling out of the station, Rich called to tell me Mollie had gotten a dog bone stuck on her jaw and he needed help finding a tool to get it off. Something told me I wouldn't make it to the SCA meeting. I headed the two miles home to find a very anxious doberman pacing in the living room and my husband holding a hacksaw in the dining room.

"Uh, I think I'd just rather take her to the emergency vet." "Can you just look at it?" "She is scared already. I'd rather pay someone else to fix it rather than make it worse and traumatize the dog."

I later found out he had already tried wire cutters and several other tools before calling me, so I guess any trauma had already been done. We headed in separate cars to the ER vet (Rich had a hockey game later that night) and they took her straight back. Forty-five minutes and $134.80 later, the dog was a little doped up but fine. They had to sedate her and cut it off with a dremel tool, so I'm glad we didn't try that at home. This is what it looked like on the way to the vet (yes, you know you're a blogger when you point your camera in the back seat to document the dog's mishap online).

We got a young dog for our old dog thinking it would add years to her life. While that seems to be working well, our old dog (with her new arthritis medicine) has been overexerting herself a bit and paying the price. Meanwhile our young dog is, well, being young and sometimes that means going to the ER vet instead of the meeting you had planned on attending. I told my mother it's like having a young kid and an elderly parent in the same house at the same time. They both like to play together, but we're doing a lot of tending to both of them right now. We'll see how long we can last with neither of them in diapers.

the action-packed weekend of Giggy and Ruh-ruh

We've been to five households in the last two days. I'm ready to go back to work to rest up from our weekend. Saturday, I was up before my normal workday alarm so I could get to the vet's office to pick up prescriptions for Sarah. I'm thinking of having Rich ask for some arthritis medicine from his doctor so we can get a prescription for some of this stuff. He just has to convince the doctor that he normally takes his Rimadyl in treat form but could probably mix a powder into his "cereal" twice a day. Hopefully, the online price will be cheaper once we sort out if this medicine is working out for her in the long run.

Then we headed to and 's long enough to eat lunch before I moved onto 's house to help her work on her pirate outfit for 's wedding next weekend. We made good progress on that and then headed out to the bachelorette party that involved swordfighting lessons and dinner at the Pyratez Tavern in Silver Spring. After dropping everyone off, I was back to KJ's by midnight.

Sunday,we got up early again to get some quick breakfast before the fellas met Shannon for shooting at the NRA range while Jake and I ventured to Target. When we pulled up to the Smith's, Regan was literally standing in the driveway vibrating in anticipation of my arrival. I've really missed that little girl (and the rest of her family) and it was hard to have to leave again so soon. It's also hard to explain to a little girl why you can't stay overnight or come back tomorrow.

We hit the road to get to Byron and Sarah's for some football watching and hanging out. Their cat is adorable and we had a nice relaxing time just chatting and yelling at the television. Then it was off to Rich's parents for a belated birthday dinner with the family.

We're on our way home now and while it was a jam-packed two days, it was a really good time, only lacking in our inability to squeeze in more visits with more folks that were so close. I have learned, though, that I'm not a good candidate for Rich's "pack in the morning" method of travel. I forgot several key toiletries as well as failed to pack any long pants, so I've been buying clothes to hold me over and may never wear them again. I think I'm much more of a "pack for several days leading up to any trip" kind of gal.

Oh, and 19-month-old Tommy calls us Ruh-ruh and Giggy because he can't pronounce our names. This is quite possibly one of the cutest things on the planet, particularly when he says "Giggy, more meow pwease" when he would like to see more pictures of the cats on my phone.