Feelin' stressed...

My poor sweet girl is trying to sleep and I'm at home sans Michael and just feelin' stressed. Blarg. I have an interview tomorrow at 9 (receptionist at an eye surgical center) and I don't feel particularly stressed about the interview but more so about starting a new job and school starts next week and Asia has to have that catheter in until Tuesday and Michael leaves for a conference next Wednesday and god I wish he didn't have to go. And I no longer have any closed toe pumps with a slight heel so now I have to go buy some. All my nice pants that I used to wear to work are a little too big now and don't fit quite right so I bought a new pair but they're too long unless I wear heels but you aren't supposed to wear open toe shoes on an interview. And because I've been home all day watching Asia like a hawk with no one to keep me company I think I'm going a little nutty. But did I mention that I'm getting my braces off next week? Catheter out and braces off--there are my silver linings.

Not out of the woods yet...

Well, we've had a pretty eventful couple of days around here. At the moment Asia is resting (passed out is more like it) in the living room and I'm trying to quietly keep myself busy while keeping an eye on her at all times.

Last night we took her to the emergency vet clinic to spend the night just because Michael and I are so ill-equipped to care for her at home so early in the recovery process. Yesterday she had to be rushed to the vet for some IV fluids and to have her catheter drained. What makes this so tough is that gas builds up inside the stomach as the stomach slowly gets back to normal and we periodically have to open the cath to get the gas out. Well, we weren't getting any gas and she was growing steadily more uncomfortable and becoming distressed. And then we went home but once we got there a thunderstorm was brewing and it was too difficult to know if she was pacing and panting because of the storm (her usual behavior besides trying to tear our house apart) or because she couldn't breath because of gas build up. So our vet called the emergency vet to fill her in on what was going on and Asia got professional treatment all night long.

And here I am sitting at home with her watching her to make sure she's doing okay and dreading having to wake her up in 30 minutes to expel some gas. It took her so long to go back to sleep the last time I did it that I hate to wake her. See, this is why we can't have kids. I would be a totally and insanely neurotic parent. All I have thought about for the last 48 hours is this dog and her well-being. She's as close to a kid as we're planning to get and it kills me that she's in pain and uncomfortable and there's little but time that can help her. Blarg. The vets said that the first 3 days are the hardest and tomorrow is day 3 so hopefully we can get through that and by then Michael will be home with me for 3 days to help play nurse. Thanks to all of you for keeping us in your thoughts:>

Always trust your instincts...

If I hadn't Asia might have died. Fck. Yesterday Asia very suddenly developed bloat. For those of you who have read "Marley & Me" this is what Marley has near the end of the book. But thankfully I was at home when it happened and the vets were able to see us right away and they saved our baby girl. The scary thing about bloat is that it happens suddenly and needs to be treated immediately or the animal dies. And sometimes the animal dies anyway.

But thanks to Dr. Fournier and Dr. Shaffer Asia is now at home and trying to rest. She's not out of the woods yet but she's doing a lot better and thankfully I can be home during her recovery.

I just feel so bad for her--she can't seem to catch a break. Between the allergy problems, heart worms, tooth extractions, general weirdness and now this...she just can't get ahead. But like Shana, we love this dog like a kid and we would go to the ends of the earth for her. She has been so brave through all of this and I just hope she will have an uneventful recovery.

A trip down memory lane...

As most of you know, Michael is still looking for a new job and that has been the dark cloud of gloom that has been hanging over us since last September. No, he doesn't have any job leads at this time but we're doing the best we can to keep moving in a forward direction. Part of that means we've decided to consult with one of our neighbors who is a realtor and who specializes in historic districts (especially ours) and she is going to come out and help us figure out what we could be doing NOW to get our house ready to go on the market should Michael get a job offer out of the area. I'm sure that the big list of things to do will make us feel a little nutty and overwhelmed but ultimately it gives us something to do that's productive and will make the whole moving thing a little easier.

And even tho we might not actually have to move, the job market here for people like Michael isn't ideal so we will, in all likelihood, have to move. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. So, yesterday we spent a couple of hours cleaning out our junk room, I mean guest room, and made our pile of books to sell and the pile of stuff for G00dwill and the pile of trash, etc. And we cleaned out a lot of stuff and it felt good to go through it. Not only will it make the future possibility of packing easier but I also feel like we did a good job of dejunkifying the room. And while we were in there I found all of our wedding stuff: extra invitations (can you say homemade x-mas cards--by god I am NOT going to throw them away), cards, receipts, my slip. And then I found the video of my high school graduation. And the day planner from my senior year of college. And the dog resumes Ang made for Shana. And tons and tons of cards and notes from all of my fabulous friends. It was fun to see all those funny little notes and all the different addresses where I've lived over the last 6 years. There were pictures and ticket stubs and the program from V@gina Weekend. And then I found the folder of stuff the Hum@ne League of Lankytown gave me on the day I adopted Shana. That part was really sad but overall it was a happy little trip down memory lane and it reminded me of how lucky I am to have such funny, amazing, super-smart and fabulous women (and dogs) in my life. That reminder is exactly what I needed.

Living the single life...

As most of you know, Michael has been on a sailing trip for the last 7 days and will be returning home tomorrow night. So, all week long I have been living like a single person and doing things that I don't normally do. Like, say, watching a lot of t.v. By my standards, it's a lot of t.v. And eating junk instead of cooking real meals for dinner. You know, eating D0ritos for lunch. D0ritos aren't lunch. You might eat them with a sandwich at lunch but no. I ate just that for lunch. What is wrong with me?

I did study. I did. And I did some laundry and bought groceries. I was somewhat productive. And after my final on Wed. night I just did nothing. I laid around, read books, and ate D0ritos. And today I took Asia to the vet to have her teeth cleaned (and have 6 teeth pulled--I swear that dog has got to be the one to get a PT job) and then ran errands. And I wasn't a total bum--I have gotten up by 7:30 every day which is sleeping in at my house.

And now the lazy party is over. Michael returns tomorrow and starting Monday the search for a PT job begins. And finishing the kitchen. Stupid kitchen. I can't believe I let myself be this lazy. I never do this. Maybe that's the problem. I don't let myself be lazy often enough and I just went hog wild. Oh, hell.

All kinds of wrong...

This is me not studying for my final because 1.) I'm a procrastinator and 2.) this is still really bothering me.

On Monday, I'm sitting in chem lab and there are 2 groups of 4 students at each table. A girl, we'll call her Insensitive Asshole or IA for short, sitting in a group at the far end of the lab bench is talking about her work study job on campus. She was talking about how she has to index some papers that apparently list all of the HIV positive students on campus and she was lamenting the fact that the students' names were blacked out with marker. She said "Believe me, if I could see through that marker, I would go look up all of them on F@cebook so I can see what they look like. I want to know who they are." And then she went on to talk about how the stack of papers was about 2" thick of names of students with HIV.

And I was so...surprised...and disgusted by her comments but I didn't what to say. So often I'm sitting in class and hear the other students talk about things that, um, highlight their immaturity. And I just ignore them because they are young and immature and, hey, they aren't having a conversation with me. But this crossed the line and I just sat there totally stunned by her insensitivity and asshole-ness. So, dear people of the internets, what would you have done?