I'm Back!!!

 

       Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

        Did you miss me? I missed you guys!

So, where have I been and what have I been doing? Well, let me tell you!

The day job has been…busy (and yes, that’s an understatement!). I’ve been using the phrase ‘Embrace the Chaos’ because…well…that’s what it is.

The DH caught a cold over the holidays. No big deal, right? Except, it was. I was worried about pneumonia or bronchitis but it turned out, they were the least of the issues. He fell, not once or twice, but three times, while he was having a coughing fit. The last fall was the worst….he broke a couple ribs (lower back, darned close to where he had his laminectomy) so we’ve been dealing with that. He is recuperating, thank God, but it’s going to take a while.

Brought the dog (my ‘little’ girl, Pepper) to the vet twice. First off, let me tell you that when I say ‘little’, I do mean it as she’s smaller (kind of) than her sister, Lacey. Anyway, she has arthritis in her hips, which we knew and are treating, but then, she got an infection so…

Now, I should probably explain that with the arthritis in her hips, she does not have the wherewithal to jump into the car. She just puts her front paws up on the seat then turns her head to look at me like ‘aren’t you going to help me?’. Well, of course, I am. What kind of a dog mom would I be if I didn’t? Gotta tell you, lifting her into the back seat is no easy task. She’s a big girl, even though she’s my ‘little’ girl. She’s a German Shepherd (and rather spoiled, I admit). She and her sister are the biggest shepherd’s I’ve ever had and I’ve been raising shepherds for over 45 years.

Get to the vet and open the back door for her, at which point she gives me that look again so I have to lift her out of the car. If anyone had seen me and recorded this, I’d be famous and rich from the video being seen on ‘America’s Funniest Videos’. To say I’m a bit uncoordinated would be an understatement and she didn’t help at all, which made me even more uncoordinated!

The vet examines her, agrees that she does indeed have an infection. He prescribed antibiotics (the same ones my DH was on a couple weeks ago) and then, the vet gets serious. We have to talk about her weight, he says. I tell him that she’s already on weight management dog food (although sometimes, she steals from her sister’s bowl—I didn’t tell him that) and then I defended her. Pepper is just ‘chonky’, I said. He’s a nice man, the vet, but he wasn’t having any of that. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “She is not ‘chonky’. She’s fat and she needs to lose weight (she weighs 141 pounds!!!!). Well, I couldn’t argue with that. I knew, but I was in denial…except, I know she has trouble getting out of the doggy door, not only because of her arthritis but because she is ‘fat’. She barely makes it through. It’s not her fault. Part of it is mine because when she looks at me in that way (you know what I’m talking about), she gets a cookie. Dog cookie, but still…

A blood draw reveals she has thyroid issues. A low functioning thyroid just like me. Ordered medication through Chewy as that’s what the vet told me to do…would you believe, she’s on the same medication as I am?!?!?! And I’m supposed to replace one cup of her dog food (at each feeding) with carrots or string beans. Hmmmm, if that works for her, will it work for me?

Have I been writing through all this upheaval (I don’t like upheaval or drama. I like things on an even keel but it hasn’t been that way since the holidays)? Yes. Sorta. Kinda. I know where I need to go in my current work in progress. I know where I’ve been, but for some reason, the words are not there to bring me to that point. I tried what I always do, which is jump ahead and puzzle it in later, but even that didn’t help, but I’ll get there. Tomorrow is another day and I will give it my best shot.

Oh, gotta go…Pepper is trying to get through the doggy door and needs some help…

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie